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NPR Tiny Desk Concerts

2008

Intimate musical performances, recorded live at the desk of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen.

Bob Boilen

Producer · Known for NPR Tiny Desk Concerts

Bob Boilen is an American musician, music producer, music composer, and book author. He's the creator and host of NPR's All Songs Considered and Tiny Desk Concerts.

Ashley Loren

Ashley Loren is known to theatre lovers as the longest running Satine in the Broadway hit Moulin Rouge: The Musical. ​Ashley also starred in For The Record's production of BAZ: Star Crossed Love, Ursula in Reprise 2.0’s inaugural production of Sweet Charity directed by Kathleen Marshall, the Broadway revival of Jekyll & Hyde (and it’s national tour), and played Extraordinary Girl in Green Day’s American Idiot in LA. She won Best Featured Actress Film Festival award for her work in the film Be The Light, and featured on Season 2 of NBC's This Is Us and Season 1 of HBO's And Just Like That. After appearing on Season 8 of American Idol, Ashley was signed to Universal Music Group/Island Def Jam and traveled the world singing with artists such as Bono/U2, Angelique Kidjo, Lupe Fiasco, Dev Hynes/Blood Orange, and Yoko Ono. She has sung back-up for Carly Rae Jepsen, Melissa Etheridge and Iggy Azalea on NPR Tiny Desk, Good Morning America, The Today Show, LIVE with Kelly & Michael, The View, MADE, America's Got Talent, Howard Stern (siriusXM), Saturday Night Live!, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, James Corden and Ellen. Ashley has performed internationally with Broadway ROX, Spiegelworld's Empire, Nederlander Worldwide and with Amnesty International. ​Ashley has used the platform afforded to her to advocate for those with chronic and invisible illness, and increase awareness for Lyme Disease, a condition she was diagnosed with as young child. Her continued story of hope, resilience and strength while facing Lyme was brought to the world in a November 2022 profile in People Magazine, and during her keynote speech at the 2022 Global Lyme Alliance Gala in New York City, an event that raised $1.85 million for Lyme Disease research, education, awareness, and patient services.

Ira Glass

Ira Jeffrey Glass is an American public radio personality. He is the host and producer of the radio and television series This American Life and has participated in other NPR programs, including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Talk of the Nation.

Bear McCreary

Composer · Known for Battlestar Galactica, Outlander: Blood of My Blood, The Devil's Mouth

Emmy Award winning composer Bear McCreary was first launched into pop culture with his groundbreaking score to the hit series Battlestar Galactica, that was lauded by Variety as “the most innovative music on TV today.” It “fits the action so perfectly, it’s almost devastating: a sci-fi score like no other” (NPR). Io9.com ranked McCreary one of the Ten Best Science Fiction Composers of All Time, and recently WIRED Magazine declared him one of only five “Secret Weapons” of the television industry. McCreary was recently voted “Composers’ Choice Composer of the Year – Television” by his peers in ASCAP, the first award of its kind. Bear has conducted orchestral performances of his music throughout North America and Europe, appearing at Fimucité in Tenerife, and the International Film Music Festival in Úbeda, Spain. In July 2014, his music was performed by the L.A. Philharmonic and L.A. Master Choraleat the Hollywood Bowl, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. Attending the prestigious Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California, Bear completed degrees in composition and recording arts. However, his professional training came from film music legend Elmer Bernstein (The Magnificent Seven, To Kill a Mocking Bird). Bear was one of Bernstein’s select protégés, and learned the tools of the trade working with and orchestrating for the maestro. Bear spent his childhood immersed in film and television music; he is delighted now to contribute back to the genres that inspired him.

Robert Wisdom

Cast · Known for Burn Notice

Robert Ray Wisdom is an American actor, best known for his roles as Howard "Bunny" Colvin in the HBO drama series The Wire, Norman "Lechero" St. John in the Fox drama series Prison Break, and Harold Conway in the 2021 Hulu comedy film Vacation Friends. Wisdom was born in Washington, D.C., to Jamaican parents. He graduated from Columbia University with a degree in history and economics. He worked as a producer for NPR's All Things Considered before pursuing a career in acting. Wisdom has appeared in numerous films and television shows, including That Thing You Do!, Face/Off, Ray, The Manchurian Candidate, and The Good Wife. He has also had recurring roles on the television series The Practice, NYPD Blue, and The Shield. In 2012, Wisdom was cast as a series regular in the ABC drama series Nashville. He played the role of Coleman Carlisle, a music producer. The show ran for four seasons. In 2021, Wisdom starred in the Hulu comedy film Vacation Friends. He played the role of Harold Conway, a couple's therapist who becomes involved in a wild weekend with two other couples. The film was a critical and commercial success. Wisdom is a versatile actor who has played a wide range of roles. He is a respected member of the acting community and has won numerous awards for his work, including a NAACP Image Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Ashley Graham

Ashley Graham (born October 30, 1987) is an American model. She has appeared on the cover of fashion magazines such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Glamour, and Elle. In addition, she appeared in several Levi's campaigns. Graham has appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Entertainment Tonight, and CBS News and was interviewed by NPR about plus-size modeling. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ashley Graham, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

David Clennon

Cast · Known for The Thing, Gone Girl, Ghost Whisperer

​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia David Clennon (born May 10, 1943) is an American actor perhaps best known for his portrayal of Miles Drentel in the ABC series Thirtysomething, a role he reprised on Once and Again. Clennon was born in Waukegan, Illinois, the son of Virginia, a homemaker, and Cecil Clennon, an accountant. Clennon is well known for his political activism. In 1980, David Clennon provided the voice for Admiral Motti in NPR's Star Wars The Original Radio Drama. He was a regular on the TV shows Almost Perfect, The Agency and Saved. Most recently, Clennon played Carl Sessick (a.k.a Carl the Watcher) on Ghost Whisperer. In 1993 he won an Emmy award for his guest appearance on the series Dream On. Description above from the Wikipedia article David Clennon, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Annabelle Gurwitch

Annabelle Gurwitch is a New York Times Bestselling author, actress, and television host. Her most recent book is Wherever You Go, There They Are: Stories About My Family You Might Relate to (Penguin Random House), in which Gurwitch writes stories inspired by her hilariously dysfunctional childhood. Other books: I See You Made an Effort, (Penguin Random House) was a Thurber Prize for American Humor Writing Finalist and a New York Times Bestseller; You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up (Random House), and Fired! (Simon and Schuster), premiered as a Showtime Comedy Special. Co-host of the popular Dinner & a Movie on TBS, she's written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, amongst other publications and was a regular commentator for NPR's All Things Considered. Gurwitch is adapting Wherever You Go, There They Are for Janollari Entertainment and NBC. She adapted I See You Made an Effort with Liz Tuccillo and producer Sarah Condon for F/X, and You Say Tomato, I Say Shut up with Jeff Kahn, for Lifetime.

Sturgill Simpson

Cast · Known for Killers of the Flower Moon

John Sturgill Simpson (born June 8, 1978) is an American country music singer-songwriter and actor. As of February 2022, he has released seven albums as a solo artist. His first two albums, High Top Mountain and Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, were independently released in 2013 and 2014, respectively. The latter was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Americana Album, listed 18th on Rolling Stone's "50 Best Albums of 2014," and named among "NPR's 50 Favorite Albums of 2014." His third album, A Sailor's Guide to Earth, was released in April 2016 on Atlantic Records and was Simpson's first major-label release, later earning him Best Country Album at the 59th Grammy Awards while also being nominated for Album of the Year. Simpson's fourth album, Sound & Fury, was released on September 27, 2019, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Album at the 63rd Grammy Awards. He released two albums in 2020 - Cuttin' Grass, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 - which feature bluegrass interpretations of songs from across his catalog, and marked his return to independent music. His seventh studio album, The Ballad of Dood and Juanita, was released in August 2021. He has stated that The Ballad of Dood and Juanita would be his last album as Sturgill Simpson.

Jonathan Coulton

Jonathan Coulton, often called "JoCo" by fans, is an American singer-songwriter, known for his songs about geek culture and his use of the Internet to draw fans. Among his most popular songs are "Code Monkey", "Re: Your Brains", "Still Alive" and "Want You Gone" (the last three being featured in games developed by Valve: Left 4 Dead 2, Portal, and Portal 2 respectively). He has been the house musician for NPR weekly puzzle quiz show Ask Me Another since 2012

Ned Vizzini

Edison Price "Ned" Vizzini (April 4, 1981 - December 19, 2013) was an American writer who is the author of books for young adults. He was the author of four books for young adults including It's Kind of a Funny Story, which NPR named #56 of the "100 Best-Ever Teen Novels" and which is the basis of the film of the same name. Vizzini suffered from depression, spending time in a psychiatric ward in his early 20s, and authoring several works about the illness. He was found dead in his native Brooklyn, New York after an apparent suicide from a fall, aged 32.

Hallie Cantor

Hallie Cantor is an American television and magazine writer from Brooklyn, New Work. She graduated from Brown University in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature and Culture in English Literary Arts. She has been a contributor to The New Yorker's Shouts & Murmurs, New York Magazine, and NPR’s This American Life. She also worked as a staff writer for CollegeHumor, which is how she met Amy Schumer.

Paul Anka

Paul Albert Anka (born July 30, 1941) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known for his signature hit songs including "Diana", "Lonely Boy", "Put Your Head on My Shoulder", and "(You're) Having My Baby". Anka also wrote the theme for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson; one of Tom Jones' biggest hits, "She's a Lady"; and the English lyrics to Claude François and Jacques Revaux's music for Frank Sinatra's signature song "My Way", which has been recorded by many, including Elvis Presley. He co-wrote three songs with Michael Jackson: "This Is It" (originally titled "I Never Heard") "Love Never Felt So Good", and "Don't Matter to Me", which became posthumous hits for Jackson in 2009, 2014, and 2018, respectively. Anka was born in Ottawa, Ontario, to Camelia (née Tannis) and Andrew Emile "Andy" Anka Sr., who owned a restaurant called the Locanda. His parents were both of Lebanese descent. His father came to Canada from Bab Tuma, Damascus, Syria, and his mother was an immigrant from Lebanon. His mother died when he was 18. Anka sang with the St. Elias Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral choir under the direction of Frederick Karam, with whom he studied music theory. He studied piano with Winnifred Rees. He attended Fisher Park High School, where he was part of a vocal trio called the Bobby Soxers. Paul Anka recorded his first single, "I Confess", when he was 14. In 1956, with $100 given to him by his uncle, he went to New York City where he auditioned for Don Costa at ABC Records, singing what was widely believed to be a lovestruck verse he had written to a former babysitter. In an interview with NPR's Terry Gross in 2005, he stated that it was to a girl at his church whom he hardly knew. The resulting song "Diana" brought Anka stardom as it went to No. 1 on the Canadian and US music charts. "Diana" is one of the best selling singles ever by a Canadian recording artist. He followed up with four songs that made it into the Top 20 in 1958, including "It's Time to Cry", which hit No. 4 and "(All of a Sudden) My Heart Sings", which reached No. 15, making him (at 17) one of the biggest teen idols of the time. He toured Britain, then Australia with Buddy Holly. Anka also wrote "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" – a song written for Holly, which Holly recorded just before he died in 1959. Anka stated shortly afterward: "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" has a tragic irony about it now, but at least it will help look after Buddy Holly's family. I'm giving my composer's royalty to his widow – it's the least I can do." ... Source: Article "Paul Anka" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Cokie Roberts

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Roberts (née Boggs; December 27, 1943 – September 17, 2019), known as Cokie Roberts, was an American journalist and bestselling author. Her career included decades as a political reporter and analyst for National Public Radio and ABC News, with prominent positions on Morning Edition, The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, World News Tonight, and This Week. Roberts, along with her husband, Steven V. Roberts, wrote a weekly column syndicated by United Media in newspapers around the United States. She served on the boards of several non-profit organizations such as the Kaiser Family Foundation and was appointed by President George W. Bush to his Council on Service and Civic Participation. She received the sobriquet "Cokie" from her brother Tommy, who, as a child, could not pronounce her given name, Corinne. Roberts's mother was ambassador to the Holy See and longtime Democratic Congresswoman from Louisiana Lindy Boggs. Her father was Hale Boggs, a Democratic Congressman from Louisiana. He was Majority Leader of the House of Representatives and a member of the Warren Commission. After Hale Boggs was lost on a plane which disappeared over Alaska on October 16, 1972, Lindy was elected to fill his seat in Congress. Cokie was the couple's third child. Her sister, Barbara Boggs Sigmund, was mayor of Princeton, New Jersey, and a candidate for U.S. Senate from New Jersey. Her brother, Tommy Boggs, was a prominent Washington, D.C. attorney and lobbyist. Roberts began working for NPR in 1978, where she was the congressional correspondent for more than ten years. She was a contributor to PBS in the evening television news program The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. Her coverage of the Iran-Contra Affair for that program won her the Edward Weintal Prize for Diplomatic Reporting in 1988. From 1981 to 1984, in addition to her work at NPR, she also co-hosted The Lawmakers, a weekly public television program on Congress. She went to work for ABC News in 1988 as a political correspondent for ABC's World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, continuing to serve part-time as a political commentator at NPR. Starting In 1992, Roberts served as a senior news analyst and commentator for NPR. She was usually heard on Morning Edition, appearing on Mondays to discuss the week in politics. Roberts was the co-anchor of the ABC News' Sunday morning broadcast This Week with Sam Donaldson & Cokie Roberts from 1996 to 2002, while serving as the chief congressional analyst for ABC News. She covered politics, Congress and public policy, reporting for World News Tonight and other ABC News broadcasts. Roberts won the Edward R. Murrow Award, the Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for coverage of Congress, and a 1991 Emmy Award for her contribution to "Who is Ross Perot?" In 2000 Roberts won the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism. Roberts was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame. She was also cited as one of the fifty greatest women in the history of broadcasting by the American Women in Radio and Television. In 2002 Roberts was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was successfully treated at the time, but died from complications of the disease in Washington, D.C. on September 17, 2019.

Sayed Badreya

Cast · Known for Iron Man

Egyptian-born film-maker and actor Sayed Badreya realized a childhood dream by winning roles in major Hollywood films such as The Insider, Three Kings, and Independence Day. Growing up in poverty in Port Said, Sayed Badreya's dreams of movie stardom looked as bleak as the prospect of peace in the Middle East. From the Six Day War in '67 through the Yom Kippur War in '73, his only escape from the world he knew was the movie theater, where films transported him to a magical land. But it was here that he determined he was destined to be a part of that magic. After attending New York University film school, and then moving to Hollywood, Sayed first worked in the film industry as an assistant to actor/director Anthony Perkins, and then with director James Cameron on True Lies. His mission - to make movies that told the Arabic- American story, since it had yet to be told - led to the creation of his own production company, Zoom In Focus. Under this banner, he directed and produced the documentary, Saving Egyptian Film Classics as well as The Interrogation, which won Best Creative Short Film at New York International Film Festival. He also produced and starred in Hesham Issawi's short, T for Terrorist, which was awarded Best Short Film at the Boston International Film Festival and the San Francisco World Film Festival. In 2007, he played his first leading role in the English language motion picture American East, a film that he also co-wrote. 2008 was Sayed Badreya's breakout year. He captivated audiences as Abu Bakaar, the villainous arms dealer who kidnaps Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in the summer's blockbuster Iron Man. Also that year, Sayed played the comedic Palestinian cab driver opposite Adam Sandler in You Don't Mess with the Zohan. This summer, Sayed can be seen in Paramount Pictures' feature film El traspatio aka Backyard, directed by Oscar-nominated Carlos Carrera in which he plays a serial killer opposite Ana de la Reguera. Sayed can also be seen this summer in Movie 43, where he plays opposite Halle Berry. Additional forthcoming films include The Three Stooges, his fifth film with the Farrelly brothers; The Dictator, playing Sascha Baron Cohen's father as the original Dictator, and Just Like a Woman, with Oscar nominated director Rachid Bouchareb. Also, Sayed is going to a new frontier in the new video game Uncharted 3, playing Ramses the Great Pirate Captain. Most recently he completed his second leading role in the New York independent feature, Cargo, about human traffickers, directed by Yan Vizinberg. And he just finished co-starring opposite Oscar-nominated actress Melissa Leo in film The Space Between, directed by Travis Fine. Sayed has also worked as an actor, Arabic dialect coach, and Islamic technical advisor on Path to 9/11, a $40 million mini-series about the events leading up to 9/11 produced by ABC/Touchstone. Sayed's efforts to bring attention to Arab-Americans in the motion picture industry have received much coverage over the years on radio, television, and in major publications around the world, such as The New York Times, GQ, NPR, ABC's "Politically Incorrect" with Bill Maher, BBC's "Panorama," CNN, "Fox Report with Shepard Smith", The Hollywood Reporter and Egypt Today.

Bill Kurtis

Bill Kurtis (born William Horton Kuretich; September 21, 1940) is an American television journalist, television producer, narrator, and news anchor. He has been noted for his sonorous voice throughout his career. He is most known for narrating A&E's true crime series Cold Case Files as well as American Justice. Kurtis was studying to become a lawyer in the 1960s, when he was asked to fill in on a temporary news assignment at a television station in Topeka, Kansas. His reporting on a devastating tornado outbreak, led to an on air news reporter and later a very successful news anchor position in Chicago. In 1982, Kurtis joined Diane Sawyer on The CBS Morning News, the network broadcast from New York City. The two were also on the CBS Early Morning News, which aired an hour earlier on most CBS stations. He also anchored three CBS Reports: The Plane That Fell from the Sky, The Golden Leaf, and The Gift of Life. He became especially interested in investigative in-depth reports and documentaries. When he returned to Chicago and for a time resumed his anchor duties, he also founded a production company, Kurtis Productions. Kurtis hosted or produced a number of crime and news documentary shows, including Investigative Reports, American Justice, and Cold Case Files. Kurtis is the scorekeeper/announcer for National Public Radio (NPR)'s news comedy/quiz show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, and served as the host of Through the Decades, a documentary-style news magazine seen on Decades. Kurtis narrated nearly 1,000 documentaries, and Kurtis Productions produced nearly 500 documentaries for series like The New Explorers on PBS; Investigative Reports and Cold Case Files for the A&E; and Investigating History for the History Channel. He also hosted American Justice, produced by Towers Productions. For CNBC, the company has produced nearly 100 episodes of American Greed. Kurtis has received two Peabody Awards, numerous Emmy Awards, awards from the Overseas Press Club, a DuPont Award, and has been inducted into the Illinois and Kansas Halls of Fame. In 1998, he was awarded the University of Kansas William Allen White citation. Kurtis has also authored three books: On Assignment (1984), Death Penalty on Trial (2004), and Prairie Table Cookbook (2008). In the animated series South Park, Eric Cartman owns a board game called "Investigative Reports with Bill Kurtis", featuring a talking Bill Kurtis bust. The boys can be seen playing the game in South Park's season four episode "Cartman Joins NAMBLA" (2000) and season eight episode "Up the Down Steroid" (2004). The game can also be seen on the shelf of a hobby store in the episode "Cock Magic" (2014). A 1972 report by Bill Kurtis, while a correspondent for CBS News in Los Angeles, was used as the introduction to Dr. Dre's album Compton. Kurtis also contributed a spoken-word introduction to The Dandy Warhols' 2005 album Odditorium or Warlords of Mars.

Rebecca Sugar

Executive Producer · Known for Steven Universe

Rebecca Sugar (born July 9, 1987), is an American animator, director, screenwriter, producer, and songwriter. She is known for creating the Cartoon Network series Steven Universe, which has made her the first woman to independently create a series for the network. Sugar was formerly a writer and storyboard artist on the animated television series Adventure Time, until 2013. Her work on the two series has earned her five Primetime Emmy Award nominations. For her work on Steven Universe, Sugar was nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards for Short-format Animation for the episodes "Lion 3: Straight to Video" in 2015, "The Answer" in 2016, "Mr. Greg" in 2017 and "Jungle Moon" in 2018. In 2017, Steven Universe was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series at the 28th GLAAD Media Awards, the goal of the awards is to "[recognize] the most inclusive and accurately portrayed representations of the LGBTQ community in film, television, and other platforms" In July 2016, Sugar said at a San Diego Comic-Con panel that the LGBT themes in Steven Universe are in large part based on her own experience as a bisexual woman. In a July 2018 interview on NPR, Sugar said that she created the series's Gems as "non-binary women" in order to express herself, as a non-binary woman, through them.

Rick Najera

California born Rick Najera started his artistic career as an actor. He is an award-winning actor-writer-director-producer with credits in film, television, theatre and Broadway. Early in his career, he was inspired and mentored by Oscar-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg, Keenen Ivory Wayans and comedian Cheech Marin. Realizing there were few roles for him to play, he took matters into his own hands and started writing his way into Hollywood, and landed his first big writing gig on In Living Color. Rick Najera is one of three Latinos in the history of Broadway to write and star in his own show. Najera made his Broadway debut in 2005 with his award-winning sketch comedy show, Latinologues (TM), the longest running and only showcase of its kind for Latinos in America. Najera penned the holiday film Nothing Like the Holidays starring Debra Messing, Alfred Molina and John Leguizamo, which won him an Alma Award. He was also honored with two WGA nominations for his writing on MADtv. Najera has been honored twice as 100 Most Influential Latinos in America along with several other awards. Rick Najera's fourth book was released in 2013, Almost White: Forced Confessions of a Latino in Hollywood garnering a press tour and five-star reviews on Amazon.com. Rick Najera is the director of the annual CBS Diversity Sketch Comedy Showcase going on 12 years. Rick Najera is a regular contributor to NPR radio and is also a professional speaker (The World Bank, Google, Harvard Law School, Wellesley College, Stanford, CBS, CNN, Al Jazeera, UCLA and more). He is the writer of the multi-Emmy nominated Hulu original series, East Los High and producer of talk show, Latino Thought Makers.

Zach Robinson

Composer · Known for Cobra Kai, Super Troopers 3, The Breadwinner

Zach Robinson is an LA based composer, arranger, music producer, and electronic musician. After receiving his degree in music composition from Northwestern University, Zach worked closely as a collaborator with film composer Christophe Beck, writing additional music for feature films such as Frozen, Edge of Tomorrow, Ant-Man, Sisters, and The Peanuts Movie. In 2016, Zach co-composed and oversaw all music production of YouTube’s first developed sitcom, “Sing It!” created by YouTube superstars, The Fine Brothers. He also composed the music for the Fine's first feature film, F!@# The Prom, and the score for USA's "NFL Football Fanatic." Zach's passion lies in the fantastic. He is a mega-fan of classic B-film horror, space epics, lounge exotica, smokey noir, buddy cop movies, and 1980's retro-futures. Since 2009, Zach has created 1980's inspired electronic music under the pseudonym D/A/D (DEE-AY-DEE). His most recent album The Construct (2013) was named one of the best cassette releases of 2013 by NPR and received critical acclaim from numerous online publications including Pitchfork, Ad Hoc, and FACT Magazine.

Aimee Mann

Cast · Known for Little Big Awesome

Aimee Elizabeth Mann (born September 8, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter. She is noted for her sardonic and literate lyrics about dark subjects, often describing underdog characters. Mann was born in Richmond, Virginia, and studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. In the 1980s, after playing with the Young Snakes and Ministry, she co-founded the new wave band 'Til Tuesday and wrote their top-ten single "Voices Carry" (1985). 'Til Tuesday released three albums and disbanded in 1990 when Mann left to pursue a solo career. Mann's first two solo albums, Whatever (1993) and I'm with Stupid (1995), earned positive reviews but low sales. She achieved wider recognition for her soundtrack for the Paul Thomas Anderson film Magnolia (1999). The song "Save Me" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, but unfairly lost to Phil Collins for his mediocre Tarzan song. Mann won the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal. Following conflict with her record company, Geffen, Mann released her third album, Bachelor No. 2, on her own label, SuperEgo Records, in 2000. It achieved acclaim and strong sales, establishing Mann as a career artist who could work outside the major label system. In 2014, Mann released an album with Ted Leo as the Both. Mann also paints and makes comics, and has appeared in films and television series including The Big Lebowski, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Steven Universe, The West Wing and Portlandia. Her awards include the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album for Mental Illness (2017). She was named one of the greatest living songwriters by NPR and Paste.

Tanya Tagaq

“Tagaq doesn’t so much sing as plug herself into the Earth.” – Pitchfork From Nunavut, Tanya Tagaq is an improvisational singer, avant-garde composer and author. A member of the Order of Canada, a Polaris Music Prize and JUNO Award winner and recipient of multiple honorary doctorates, Tagaq is an original disruptor, a world-changing figure at the forefront of seismic social, political and environmental change. In its many forms, Tagaq’s art challenges static ideas of genre and culture, and contends with themes of Indigenous Rights, colonialism, environmentalism, racism and violence against women and girls, in particular MMIWG (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls). Tagaq’s bestselling, award-winning debut novel, Split Tooth, has been translated into German and French. A full-length feature documentary on Tanya’s life, career and art is currently in production. Split Tooth on stage, a collaboration with Kaneza Schaal and Christopher Myers, is scheduled to debut in Dusseldorf and BAM in 2021. Tagaq has collaborated and recorded with Saul Williams, Kronos Quartet, Bjork, A Tribe Called Red, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Fucked Up and more. She has composed pieces for the Kronos Quartet and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and created a sound installation for the National Maritime Museum in London. Tagaq has performed at many prestigious international festivals, including Dark Mofo, Bonnaroo, Big Ears, the Helsinki Festival, Aarhus and many more, and venues such as Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center. From CBS’s 60 Minutes to NPR, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, The Guardian and more, Tagaq’s music and writing has been covered by major publications in the USA, UK, Europe and beyond.

Sheila Head

Sheila Head is an Actress, Writer and Set Designer. Sheila’s playwriting credits include The Egg Game (The Present Company), Over My Head (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Enter Smoking, and Hollywood Nurses. Sheila was a staff writer for the ABC/Disney convergence project, where she created shorts, narrative interactive gaming projects, and interstitial programming for the Disney Channel. For Oxygen Sheila created The Ruth Truth, an interactive detective comedy based on her experience as a private eye in New York’s Chinatown. Sheila was also a staff writer for The Emmy-Award winning PBS animated series, Cyberchase. As an improviser, Sheila created the improvised sitcom Character Witness for Freestyle Repertory Theater. The live sitcom ran for two years and led to the development of over 50 original characters and a cable TV spin-off, The Uncle Charlie Show. As a comedy writer and performer, Sheila has appeared at The HBO Workspace, PS NBC, Luna Lounge, Stella, Solo Arts, Moonwork, HERE, the West Bank Café, Ars Nova, and in comedy festivals throughout the US and Canada. She has also written for ABC/Disney, Garrison Keillor, and has contributed to The Next Big Thing on WNYC/NPR. Sheila regularly appears in New York and Los Angeles as Sandra O’Day, an ex-con/motivational speaker with anger management issues.

John Aboud

Writer · Known for Penguins of Madagascar

John Aboud III (born March 7, 1973) is an American screenwriter, producer, comedian, and former journalist. He was an editor of the Harvard Lampoon and served as president in 1994 and graduated from Harvard University in 1995. Aboud worked as a freelance writer for magazines and websites. In 1996, he was among the first copywriters at Grey Advertising's online department, where he won a One Show Interactive Merit award. He wrote for Mother Jones, Wired, GQ, and TV Guide. Before moving to Los Angeles, fellow writer Michael Colton and Aboud founded and ran Modern Humorist (2000-2003), an award-winning online magazine and comedy collective based in Brooklyn. In addition to a daily magazine, Modern Humorist published three books with Crown Publishing, including the best-selling My First Presidentiary: A Scrapbook by George W. Bush. Modern Humorist also helped develop ad campaigns for Microsoft, Time Warner Cable and Amazon. For most of the ’00s, Colton and Aboud appeared regularly as panelists on Best Week Ever and other VH1 shows. They also appeared on I Love the 70s/80s/90s/00s etc. They have been panelists, separately and together, on CNN, Fox News, ABC News, CMT, NPR, The Today Show, and the DVD releases of Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place. During the Writers Guild of America strike of 2007-8, Colton and Aboud created AMPTP.com, a parody of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers' official website, AMPTP.org. He is half of the writing and production team Colton & Aboud; their production cards are designed like record album covers and can also be seen on their website. They were executive producers on the HBO Max show Close Enough for seasons two and three. We wrote for Comedy Central’s The Fake News with Ted Nelms, which won a 2019 Writers Guild Award for Best Variety Special. Other credits include the DreamWorks Animation film Penguins of Madagascar; TNT’s Leverage; Adult Swim’s Childrens Hospital and Newsreaders; and Fox’s animated shows Allen Gregory and Sit Down Shut Up. Colton and Aboud wrote and produced A Futile and Stupid Gesture, a biopic about Doug Kenney and the origins of the National Lampoon. They wrote and produced an animated Zoolander series that’s streaming on Paramount+; co-wrote the film The Comebacks; and have written pilots and specials for ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, Comedy Central, TBS, VH1 and Adult Swim. Their writing has also appeared in Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Fortune, New York and Time. They are the creators and showrunners of ABC’s Home Economics which debuted in April 2021.