Bending Brains

#92 - Stephanie Robertson

Stephanie Robertson is a comedian from Chicago. You can find her producing and hosting a weekly showcase at The Vixen in McHenry, IL or at Zanies Comedy Club producing and hosting Roast Battle Chicago. Her most recent credits include opening for Rosebud Baker, Liz Koplitz, and Taylor Williamson.

#91 - Lillian Wong

Lillian Wong is a local Chicago musician who started her bass journey during the pandemic in 2020. She has a musical background from playing violin and oboe as a child, and always had dreams of playing music.  She began learning bass by watching videos on Youtube, and soon began posting her own covers online. In September of 2021, Lillian answered a Craigslist ad and officially joined her first band, Gnarly Gap, an indie punk band. Since then, she has joined two other bands: Wratheon (melodic death metal) and Hoverboard (aggressively dreamy alt-rock). She hopes to continue to grow in her music career, and to help inspire others in their own pursuits, no matter the age or dream.  

gnarlygap.bandcamp.com 

wratheon.bandcamp.com

overboardmp3.bandcamp.com 

youtube.com/@arugula666/videos

#90 - Katherrin Billordo

Katherrin is a first-generation American, multimedia visual artist from Chicago. Through paintings, sculptures, photographs, murals, and linocuts, she explores her Mexican-Argentine roots, colorful facets of everyday life, and philosophical concepts. She is motivated to create in hopes of portraying underrepresented perspectives, inspiring empathy, and establishing meaningful relationships.

At age 16, she founded the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Visionary Art Gallery. Seeking to provide more exhibition and networking opportunities for young visual artists, she independently organized four annual pop-up youth art galleries and hopes to expand them across the East Coast.

https://katherrinbillordo.com/

#89 - Emma Kleidon

Emma Kleidon is a piano technician who services instruments all around the Chicagoland area. On top of acoustic piano work, she also runs her own repair shop focusing on vintage electro-mechanical keyboards. You may have seen her online documenting rare and unusual instruments, along with the repair guides she posts on YouTube under Analog Emma. While most of her day is spent in front of keys, her primary instrument is the guitar, where you might have heard her in Crash Birmingham; a father-daughter garage rock duo from Plainfield, IL.

#88 - Alex Santilli

Alex Santilli is a drummer-percussionist/composer/producer who is Thee Sacred Souls touring percussionist and Drummer/Member of local Chicago group Late Nite Laundry. He also plays with countless artists here in Chicago in a wide variety of styles and genres. He is also a composer and producer of his own solo music under the name “the adventures of anacleto”, where he explores all instrumentation and composition. He is also a self working ethnomusicologist, studies the origins of music, its core pillars, and similarities throughout all cultures.

https://linktr.ee/Anacleto44?lt_utm_source=lt_share_link#429471729

#87 - Brain Graffiti

“We’re Matt and Jess and we’re the co-founders and primary runners of Brain Graffiti, an independent DIY music zine that covers the current state of independent music across the country.”

#86 - Roy McGrath

Roy McGrath is a Chicago based tenor saxophonist and multi-woodwind instrumentalist, composer and bandleader. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico and educated in Boston, New Orleans and Chicago, Roy brings to bear these diverse influences in his playing and composing. In addition to leading and recording his own ensembles, he is a member of several others as an in-demand player, recording artist, and producer. He has led four international tours to Mexico, Singapore, Myanmar, South Korea and China. As a composer and arranger, Roy is firmly in the jazz tradition, but his Caribbean heritage is an ever-present mind set, leading to wholly original works that are a true expression of who he is.  Menjunje features folkloric rhythms of Puerto Rico such as Bomba (Sica, Yuba, Cuembe), Plena, Seis Araucano, as well as Cuban Guaguanco, Bolero, Chachacha, and Son. For this particular project he flew in musicians from Puerto Rico: Drummer Efrain Martinez (Viento de Agua, Cultura Profetica, La PVC, and many more) and Eduardo Zayas (Charlie Sepulveda,  Mahya Veray, Bobby Valentin). As well as musicians from the Chicago area, Constantine Alexander on trumpet, Kitt Lyles on Bass, Javier Quintana-Ocasio and Victor “Junito” Gonzalez on Percussion, and Jose Carrasquillo on Cuatro. This project is a product of working in conjunction with the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center, the Puerto Rico Arts Alliance, the Walder Foundation, and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events of Chicago.  In 2022 Menjunje played festivals around Chicago and surrounding areas: Chicago Jazz Festival, Chicago Latin Jazz Festival, Glenwood Arts Festival, CU Jazz Festival, Mayfest, Mole de Mayo Festival. Also in 2022 Roy plays on supporting the release of Giovany Revelle’s self-titled album, which Roy co-produced, wrote horn arrangements, string arrangements, and coached the rhythm section. In 2017 Roy released his Latin Grammy nominated prior album, “Remembranzas”, a new batch of original compositions that incorporate folkloric Bomba rhythms and other Puerto Rican elements in a jazz framework. Originally, in 2015 the project was called the Julia al Son de Jazz project and was commissioned by Chicago’s Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center, where he worked as director of the youth Afro-Caribbean Jazz Ensemble for five years. The project used the writings of revered Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos as a springboard for new compositions that included spoken word recitations of her poetry. Its debut was followed by successive performances throughout Chicago including three dates for the Chicago Park District’s Night Out in the Parks summer concert series in 2016.  In 2017 Roy also led two special big band tribute projects: one honoring legendary Puerto Rican composer Rafael Hernández, with his son, Chali Hernandez singing, and a local All-Stars tribute to Dizzy Gillespie’s United Nations Orchestra that played the Chicago Latin Jazz Fest. Roy sang in school choirs before picking up the saxophone at age 16. After attending the Berklee College of Music Summer Workshop, he earned a full scholarship to attend Berklee’s five-week Summer Performance Program. Back in Puerto Rico, he honed his improvisational skills performing with jazz pianist and Beach Boys alumnus Carli Muñoz. Upon high school graduation, Roy was awarded a scholarship to Loyola University in New Orleans, where he studied under Tony Dagradi (saxophonist for Astral Project) and composer/arranger John Mahoney. He graduated in 2009 with BM in Jazz Performance. After graduation, Roy extended his time in New Orleans, performing in clubs, concert halls and the streets with a variety of musicians. He made three appearances at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and one appearance at the New Orleans French Quarter Fest. The next stop on his musical journey was Northwestern University in Chicago, where he graduated with a master’s degree in Music, studying under Victor Goines, saxophonist for Jazz at Lincoln Center and Director of Jazz Studies at Northwestern University. Graduating in 2014, McGrath decided to put down roots in Chicago because of both its historic role in the development of jazz and the presence of a large and vibrant Jazz & Latin music community in which he could continue to pursue his vision. He returned to Northwestern’s Pick-Staiger Concert Hall in 2016 to perform with Victor Goines and Branford Marsalis in Goines’ orchestral composition the “Crescent City Suite”. Roy released his debut CD as a leader, Martha, in 2014 with a quartet formed of fellow Northwestern grads Gustavo Cortiñas, Kitt Lyles and Joaquin Garcia, all bandleaders in their own right, and returned the favor by joining their ensembles: Snapshot (Cortiñas), Real Talk Collective (Lyles) and Rhythm Convergence (Garcia). The Roy McGrath Quartet was featured in the Jazz Institute of Chicago’s NextGEN concert series in 2015. Later that year, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) awarded McGrath a grant to take the quartet on a month-long tour of Mexico. Also in 2015, The Roy McGrath Latin Jazz Quintet performed at the Chicago Latin Jazz Festival. 2016 also saw McGrath joining alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón and traditional music ensemble Bomba con Buya for Folclórico: An Exploration of Jazz and Afro-Puerto Rican Music at the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center. As an educator Roy has taught masterclasses on improvisation at Dulwich College International in Shanghai, Suzhou, and Beijing, on four different touring occasions. Roy has taught in his home of Puerto Rico at the Universidad del Turabo and in Mexico City as well.

#85 - CHNNLL

CHNNLL is a Chicago-based vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. a.k.a. Chris Davidson tempers emotional subject matter with bold melodies, coating raw truths in hummable hooks. Check out his music and up coming shows. https://www.chnnll.com/

#84 - KNOTTS

Adalia Powell-Boehne is a singer-songwriter composer living in Cincinnati, Ohio. She is 1/4 of the band KNOTTS. When she’s not performing she’s driving her kids around or writing in her journal. 

#83 - James VanOsdol

I made a name for myself in Chicago media (WKQX, WGN, WLUP, WXRT) and a career for myself in the digital and marketing spaces. 

On the journalism/broadcasting front, I've earned multiple Lisagor awards in Chicago, as well as a national Edward R. Murrow award. As a podcaster, my long-running "Car Con Carne" podcast was named "Best Music Podcast, 2022" and "Best Music Podcast, 2023" by the Chicago Reader.