Jeff Robinson - Sax
St. Louis Missouri native, composer, radio disc jockey, actor, director, playwright and poet, Jeff started the band in 1995 as a bridge between music and theatre. Jeff is an alumnus of Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, where he studied with saxophonists Bill Pierce and George Garzone. He’s studied theatre with Oleg Tabakov, Artistic Director of the legendary Moscow Art Theatre Company and Shakespeare scholar Kristin Linklater. Jeff’s one man show about jazz legend Charlie “Bird” Parker entitled “Live Bird” has appeared on off-Broadway and Charlie Parker’s home town of Kansas City Missouri. Jeff has been nominated for several Independent Reviewers of New England Awards (IRNE) for his work as an actor and director. His radio show “Poetry Jam” is aired on WMBR 88.1 FM in Cambridge and is streamed live via the internet.
Jerome Deupree - Drums
Started playing at age 6. Self taught. His influences include British invasion, Blues and Jazz. World Music, and more. Playing professionally at 14. After finishing high school in 1975, he’s lived in Indiana and California before moving to Boston in 1981. he currently freelancing with a number of groups and singers. He’s worked in a wide range of musical styles…. Folk, Free jazz, Big Band, Rock, Pop, Country Western, Rockabilly and he’s even marched with a Fife and Drum corps. Jerome has performed with Either Orchestra, John Mellencamp, Patti Griffin and was the original drummer for Morphine.
Blake Newman - Bass
A New York native and graduate of Berklee College of Music, began playing double bass at the age of twelve and electric bass three years later. After years of classical training, he decided to move to Boston to study jazz. Throughout his career, Blake has striven for diverse musical experiences. He spent six years performing and recording with West African Mbalax band, Ibrahima Camara and Safal, culminating in a tour of Senegal in 1997. Blake has appeared in several productions at the American Repertory Theatre. He has recorded and toured with composer, clarinet player Evan Ziporyn and blues keyboardist Bruce Katz. He has written music for plays, dance companies and is also a very in demand private teacher. Blake is also a martial arts expert.
Every Sunday at the Lizard Lounge located at 1667 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA. There is a Poetry Slam starting at 7:30pm and a Featured Poet and Open Mic accompanied by the Jeff Robinson Trio starting at 9:00pm - there’s a $5 cover and you must be 21 to enter the venue - Sultry red lights, intimate tables, and wooden church pews give this small room one of the best ambiances in town.
THE JEFF ROBINSON TRIO CELEBRATE 11 YEARS AT THE LIZARD LOUNGE WITH NEW RELEASE
Recorded Live at the Lizard Lounge with some of Boston’s best Local Poets and Musicians.
April is National Poetry Month and Jazz Appreciation Month and the Jeff Robinson Trio, who are arguable the best Jazz Poetry Band in the country will be celebrating the release of "The Lizard Lounge Poetry Jam Eleventh Anniversary" on Sunday, April 27th 2008 at the Lizard Lounge. Located at 1667 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA. The event begins at 7:30 PM and there is a $5 cover charge.
The Jeff Robinson Trio (Jeff Robinson - Sax, Jerome Deupree - Drums and Blake Newman - Acoustic Bass) and an all-star band of guest musicians assembled at the Lizard Lounge on February 17th 2008 and "Jammed" with some of Boston’s best poetic talent to celebrate eleven years of poetry amd jazz at the weekly poetry jams at the Lizard Lounge.
The Poets:
Michael "Warrior" Bonds, Joyce Cunha, Tom Daley, Eric Darby, Regie Gibson, Trish Ginese, Christopher Johnson, Anaiis Nai, Rajdulari
The Guest Musicians:
Afro-DZ-Ak - Trumpet, Todd Brunell - Bass Clarinet, Ken Field - Alto Saxophone & Flute, Jim Gambino - Piano, Jane Potter - Piano, David Johnston - Guitar, Jonas Kahn - Guitar, Robert Rivera - Cello, Mike Rivard - Acoustic Bass, DJ Axel Foley - Turntables, Phil Neighbors - Marimba, Regie Gibson - Conga Drum
All the music was spontaneous improvisation!!
Released on the Poetry Jam Collective label, the release will be online only. It will also be available on "Down Load Cards" similar to the iTunes cards. You can only obtain these cards at the Lizard Lounge Poetry Jam, or our website PoetryJam.org, on and after the relelease party on April 27th. If you buy the card you will get a discount on admittance to the Lizard Lounge Poetry Jam for two months.
Poets on the Release
Tom Daley is a member of the faculty of the Online School of Poetry and serves on the tutorial faculty of Walnut Hill School for the Arts. He teaches poetry writing at the Boston Center for Adult Education in Boston, Massachusetts and poetry and memoir writing at Lexington (MA) Community Education. He has been a guest instructor in ekphrastic writing at Brown University and in poetry writing and performance at Stonehill College and SUNY Cobleskill. He has produced two gala evenings of performance poetry, “The Musician and the Muse” (2004) at the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center and “The Poetry Vaudeville Show” (2008) at the Boston Center for Adult Education.
Tom Daley’s poetry is forthcoming or has been published in numerous journals, including Harvard Review, Prairie Schooner, Barrow Street, Vox, Diagram, 32 Poems, Salamander, Archipelago, Perihelion, Poetry Ireland Review, Asheville Poetry Review, and Hacks: The Grub Street Anthology. His manuscript, Shim, was a finalist for the Emily Dickinson First Book Prize offered by The Poetry Foundation and the Brittingham and Pollak Poetry Prizes offered by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His poetry was nominated for inclusion in the anthology, The Best New Poets 2007. He graduated with highest honors in Creative Writing from the University of North Carolina, where he won the Charles and Fanny Fay Wood Academy of American Poets Prize.
Tom Daley’s - Great Falls Poet, songwriter, author, workshop facilitator, and educator Regie Gibson has performed, taught, and lectured at schools, universities, theaters and various other venues on two continents and in seven countries. Most recently in Havana Cuba. Regie and his work appear in the New Line Cinema film love jones, based largely on events in his life. The poem entitled "Brother to the Night (A Blues for Nina)" appears on the movie soundtrack and is performed by the film’s star, Larenz Tate. Regie performed "Hey Nappyhead" in the film with world-renowned percussionist and composer Kahil El Zabar, composer of the score for the musical The Lion King.
Regie Gibson has performed at: The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago Cultural Center, Elgin Symphony Orchestra Hall with the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra Hall with the members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Day of Art Festival, Chicago1s Steppenwolf Theater1s award-winning Traffic Series with David Amram (Composed music & collaborated with Jack Kerouac & Allen Ginsberg.),Harvard Universities Longfellow Hall for the Cambridge Poetry Festival, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH.
Regie has personally worked with: Gwendolyn Brooks (Poet Laureate of Illinois & Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry.), The Last Poets, Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez, Roy Ayers, Fareed Haque, Kurt Vonnegut, David Amram (Composed music & collaborated with Jack Kerouac & Allen Ginsberg.), Harold Levi, The Monks of the Drepong Gamong Monastery, members of the world famous AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians), Mos Def (Hip Hop artist), David Murray (Saxophonist with Miles Davis.), Sterling Plumpp (Professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago. & an author), Marc Smith (creator of the international (Poetry Slam phenomenon), Patricia Smith (3 time individual National Poetry Slam champ, columnist & author.), Reg E. Gaines (Writer of 3Bring On The Noise, Bring On The Funk2 with Savion Glover.), and many other artist in musical genres including World, Celtic, Hip Hop, Jazz, Funk, Blues, Salsa, Andelusian, East Indian, House, and European Classical.
Michael "Warrior" Bonds has performed his unique brand of spoken word actionist poetry and co-facilitated workshops nationally. he won international acclaim in Europe, performing and facilitating workshops at the Air Lift Project in Zurich Switzerland in 2005. He also recorded a new album in Geneva Switzerland produced by DJ Goo for Synchrovision Records featuring Bryonn Bain co-founder of the Blackout Arts Collective.
His CD "Gunz, Poems & Rosez" is on sale in Zurich at 6 Pack Records, Crazy Beat and other fine stores. His presence and poetry has been felt as far away as the UK London and Africa.
He is a member of the Black Scribes Society, Poetry Joint . Com and the Blackout Arts Collective which is an affiliate of the New York Foundation of the Arts.
His words will grab you and respectfully hold the collective attention hostage making certain you feel his experience, strength and hope.
The legendary Brian Jackson
told the Warrior:
"do the damn thing, brotha. you’ve got the gift. bless em! "
Voted both "Boston Community Warrior" and "Poet Warrior" of Hartford Connecticut in 2003.
In February 2005 the Warrior was a featured poet on Def Poetry Jam’s website www.defpoetryjam.com., the Def Poetry Jam co-founder Bruce George has respectfully embraced the Warrior G.R.I.O.T. as being
"a muckraker without trepidation."
Monti Smith producer of the Red Bull Word Clash said when asked about the Warrior:
Trish Ginese - Smartass, sweetheart, performing and visual artist, burlesque dancer, Agent Provocateur. Word Crafter. Stage Name: Blossom Blue. Currently learning Brazilian Portuguese and writing a fantastical screenplay to star Bill Murray. Longing to study with the Himalayan Masters and indigenous Shamans.
Impromptu Mistress of Fire Ceremonies. Have been known to sing What’s New Pussycat upon demand and show off my special comehitherboy dance. I also speak to trees, burn sage, and design spiritual altars out in the urban landscape. Have a strange sexual attraction to Cartman impersonators, a quirky endearing need to touch and caress everything including your body, a vast collection of flavored lip gloss, and I love to smell the pages inside of books. And I have really pretty hair, and that means something.
Eric Darby was a finalist at the 2005 National Poetry Slam and has been the featured performer at poetry and storytelling venues across the U.S. and Canada. A past host of the Detroit and Lizard Lounge poetry slams, he is currently a Creative Writing Fellow at Syracuse University.
Joyce Cunha, aka SlamMama, is the co-SlamMaster with Jeff Robinson of the Lizard Lounge Poetry Slam. When she’s not encouraging young poetic voices, she’s teaching children with learning disabilities as a 5th grade Resource Room teacher in a Boston Public School in Dorchester.
Anaiis Nai can best be described as passionate, an outspoken and tenacious native of Roxbury, MA, Anaiis poetry is honest sharing experiences of domestic violence, motherhood, and the reality of teaching our children in the United States; however, to limit her realm of truth to stateside would truly be a faux pas. In addition to being a regular and host of the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, MA Anaiis has traveled the world performing and speaking from university to club to Union Square, recently adding to her collective travels and performances: Tangiers, Casablanca, and Fes, Morocco; her poetry can be described as honest, introspective, and soul inspiring. brings to the fore what hurts us most by sharing herself one syllable at a time. When asked why she writes she has this to say: “I write because I have no where else to put my truth, no one I can be completely free with; paper has never betrayed me, it remains my most trusted friend.”
Anaiis has been featured on both page and stage, recently capturing the attention of the Boston Globe with the release of her book “Portraits” and featuring on local television program “Cambridge Nights”. But her history within the word delves beyond her roots in the New England area, having founded the first poetry slam in Jacksonville, Fl to slamming the stages of the New York Film Academy, and the world Famous Nuyorican Poets Café. Anaiis has proven herself to be a force within the evolution of words. Currently her projects include a theatrical adaptation of the photographic series “Surviving Torture” the atrocities of Sierre Leone and Liberia by Pulitzer winning photographer John Kaplan; as well as the debut of her first novel “Through My Daughters Eyes”. Her goal? Despite her many accomplishments and various projects Anaiis remains the humble yet consummate fan of words; in an interview during a benefit for the NOWAC (New Orleans Women Artists Collective) Anaiis had this to say, “I just want to reach that one in the back of the room who needed to know someone else has been there too… healing is like recovering from an addiction; you have to take it one day at a time
Tom Daley is a member of the faculty of the Online School of Poetry and serves on the tutorial faculty of Walnut Hill School for the Arts. He teaches poetry writing at the Boston Center for Adult Education in Boston, Massachusetts and poetry and memoir writing at Lexington (MA) Community Education. He has been a guest instructor in ekphrastic writing at Brown University and in poetry writing and performance at Stonehill College and SUNY Cobleskill. He has produced two gala evenings of performance poetry, “The Musician and the Muse” (2004) at the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center and “The Poetry Vaudeville Show” (2008) at the Boston Center for Adult Education.
Poet, songwriter, author, workshop facilitator, and educator Regie Gibson has performed, taught, and lectured at schools, universities, theaters and various other venues on two continents and in seven countries. Most recently in Havana Cuba. Regie and his work appear in the New Line Cinema film love jones, based largely on events in his life. The poem entitled "Brother to the Night (A Blues for Nina)" appears on the movie soundtrack and is performed by the film’s star, Larenz Tate. Regie performed "Hey Nappyhead" in the film with world-renowned percussionist and composer Kahil El Zabar, composer of the score for the musical The Lion King.
Michael "Warrior" Bonds has performed his unique brand of spoken word actionist poetry and co-facilitated workshops nationally. he won international acclaim in Europe, performing and facilitating workshops at the Air Lift Project in Zurich Switzerland in 2005. He also recorded a new album in Geneva Switzerland produced by DJ Goo for Synchrovision Records featuring Bryonn Bain co-founder of the Blackout Arts Collective.
Trish Ginese - Smartass, sweetheart, performing and visual artist, burlesque dancer, Agent Provocateur. Word Crafter. Stage Name: Blossom Blue. Currently learning Brazilian Portuguese and writing a fantastical screenplay to star Bill Murray. Longing to study with the Himalayan Masters and indigenous Shamans.
Eric 
Joyce 
Anaiis Nai can best be described as passionate, an outspoken and tenacious native of Roxbury, MA, 
