I never wanted to be a damn "artist:" I was driven to it scratching and screaming, by internal necessity, a combination of emotional vulcanism, indecent curiosity, and the desire to understand connections where everyone assured me there were none.  It saved my life, though: I'd been a suicidal teen.  Maybe, in my thirty years as an artist (ugh--the word!) I've saved a few others as well.  It doesn't matter, though--I'm driven.  When not creating, I'm just miserable.  When creating, I feel fit.

Mr.Fintushel lives in Santa Rosa, California

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My primary mediums are guitar, voice and Kora (a west African Harp). My musical world spans from my own back porch to West Africa. As I continue to grow as an artist, more influences dot this ever expanding musical map. This inclusive approach has led to discoveries that have expanded my musical vocabulary and shaped me as an artist.

My tradition follows the singer-songwriter path popularized by artists such as Paul Simon and Paul McCartney, incorporating a variety of styles from rock to African rhythms. Lyrically, I tend to follow the rule of 'the more personal the story, the more universal its appeal.' Although my lyrics come from personal experience, my goal is to reach a wider audience. My new album, Got it Right, continues to expand this patchwork to include rock, blues, folk, country and of course, the fruits of my recent African travels.

Mr. Pile lives in Santa Rosa, California

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A single phrase describing my work, borrowed from the late author Katherine Anne Porter, might be "a moral and emotional collision with a human situation."

By virtue of writing it, one seeks to grasp it. And even if one never gets a total grasp of that "collision", we are too mysterious perhaps? something of its essence, its mystery and dignity, are conveyed in the depiction.

A writer writes to investigate. But by giving work life on the page, by being as scrupulously true to her perception of the human moment as she can by allowing it to open in her hand, to some degree she offers it into a kind of 'dimensionalizing' amber. She gives it a resonance that, however small or quiet, will stand. Something is grasped or felt or apprehended, by both writer and reader, that was not available when both set out.

Ms. Frank lives in Santa Rosa, California

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