Regie Gibson

• spoken word

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 including 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 Lion King musical.

Regie has worked with: Gwendolyn Brooks, Roy Ayers, Fareed Haque, Kurt Vonnegut, David Amram, The Monks of the Drepong Gamong Monastery, members of the world famous AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians), Mos Def, David Murray, Sterling Plumpp, Marc Smith, Mark Strand, Reg E. Gaines, Savion Glover, John Legend and many other artists in musical genres including World, Celtic, Jazz, Blues and, Salsa, and classical European.

Regie is a former National Poetry Slam Individual Champion, was selected one of Chicago Tribune’s Artist of the Year for Excellence for his poetry. He has co-judge the Chicago Sun-Times Poetry Competition with Marc Smith and Mark Strand, has been regularly featured on N. P. R. and has appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry Jam.

“Regie, when you perform, you are supersonic and in the stratosphere, where you can see that the Earth really is a ball, moist, blue-green. Regie, you sing and chant for all of us. Nobody gets left out.” -Kurt Vonnegut

Stan Strickland

• Jazz

Singer, saxophonist, flutist, actor, Stan Strickland has performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Scandinavia, New Zealand and the former Soviet Union. In addition to numerous radio and television appearances, Stan has performed in many clubs and concert halls, including Jordan and Symphony Halls in Boston, Carnegie Recital Hall and Town Hall in New York, and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He also has performed with the Boston Pops Touring Ensemble. His work has been featured on recordings by Bob Moses, Marty Erlich, Webster Lewis and Brute Force. Stan has also performed with jazz greats Yusef Lateef, Pharoah Sanders, Herbie Mann, Danilo Perez, Shirley Scott and Marlena Shaw.

His acting experience includes the leading role in the Boston Art Group’s production of “Harlem Renaissance”, which toured across New England, and the current production of a play Stan conceived called “Coming Up For Air: An Autojazzography”, a Vinyard Playhouse production, with performances on Martha’s Vineyard and in Boston at the Boston Playwrights’ Theatre.

Stan has a M.A. degree from Lesley College in Expressive Arts Therapy, and is an adjunct professor there, having taught classes in music and movement therapy. He also teaches at Berklee College of Music, Tufts University and Longy School of Music.

Stan is Co-Executive Director of Express Yourself. It is centered on the fact that serious art-making has tremendous restorative powers, and since 1988, the multidisciplinary team of professional artists, working in partnership with adolescents in public mental health residential facilities, has been producing multimedia performance pieces that celebrate this fact.

In 1991 Stan received the Martin Luther King Music Achievement Award from the city of Boston, in 1994 the Cambridge Favorite Musician Award and in 1996 an award for Exemplary Service to the mentally ill from the Massachusetts State House.