Bending Brains

Dr. Marc Colomer, Ph. D. is a cognitive neuroscientist and musician. In his postdoc at the University of Chicago, he investigates children’s social understanding and conceptual development in the early stages of their life. He asks questions such as how racial and other social biases emerge, with the goal of informing which solutions can reduce early signs of discrimination. As a hobby, he plays t...

Charles is an educator, artist, designer, musician, and podcaster. He runs his creative business: Custom Crafted Design - where he does all things creative. In 2022, he received his BA in Art Education and BFA in Studio Art & Design from Saint Xavier University. He has a podcast: Inside the Artists Studio - where he interviews artists from all backgrounds. Charles has also designed and printed the...

Trash plays in the world’s greatest and only country band of all time, Totally Cashed. When he’s not saving country music, he spends all his time tending to his horses and making delicious bagels for his friends, fans, and family. He’s also never told a lie. Catch Totally Cashed live at Schubas June 2nd for their release show

Mark Adkison is an Immigration Attorney and singer-songwriter in Chicago.  A graduate of UIC Law School (formerly known as John Marshall), he has been working with his family at the Adkison Law Offices since 2006. He specializes in immigration law, and works on cases that include extraordinary ability visas, citizenship applications, marriage applications, consular applications, asylum application...

Aaron Paulsen is a 20 year old content creator and musician. His content consists of comedic skits, in which he plays different characters, composes original music, as well as  incorporating his “one man band” style , in which multiple instruments are played at the same time. He first started making videos at 18 and has since then amassed over 350+ million views on all of his platforms.

Julia Hagen is a Chicago based painter with a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She creates urban landscapes with a colorful twist, portraying the mood of the place in both a realistic and whimsical way. She often toes the line between representational and imaginative, but always prioritizes the glow that nostalgia leaves. 

Spencer McCreary is a York, Pennsylvania based singer-songwriter who has fronted and founded the bands ‘Cardinal Harbor’ and ‘Public Disco Porch’. The latter being the most current project with a 2022 LP release of ‘Have A Great Life’. Check out the band’s music at the link below: www.publicdiscoporch.com”

Eddie Hokinson (Manager D) and Matt Bauer (Manager Z) sit down to talk about 10 years of DZ Fest in Hickory Hills, IL. For 10 years Eddie and Matt helped to grow DZ Fest. They took on the responsibility that very few could do or even understand. They are saints amongst men.  

Richard Reed Parry is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, best known as a core member of the Grammy Award-winning indie rock band Arcade Fire, where he plays a wide variety of instruments, often switching between guitar, double bass, drums, celesta, keyboards, and accordion. His new collaborative album "Heart and Breath: Rhythm and Tone Fields"  Susie Ibarra s a contemporary comp...

Priya Shah is triggering social consciousness to challenge barriers and empower communities from the inside out.  As a Chicago creative and entrepreneur, she has built a network of artists and collaborators dedicated to igniting social awareness and change through art and imagination. Shah began volunteering in developing countries at a young age, which inspired her to fill the gap between busines...

Megan Myrie (Domeríe) is a creative entrepreneur from Chicago. She likes to use her creative abilities to support and shine light on other people’s creative abilities. This is especially true for her design company MGD LLC, in which she creates brands for creators. Her pursuit of music and modeling is more personal, however, she hopes to be a source of inspiration for people with an interest in cr...

Aspen Noah may be a mental health technician from the north suburbs of Chicago but when he is done working long exhausting 16 hours shifts he transforms into a well talented, extremely creative music artist/songwriter. Aspen began writing music at the tender young age of 12, performing with the likes of Soulja Boy, Yung Jeezy, Young Money, Mike Posner, and more even garnering the attention of mult...

Mexican-American/ Puerto Rican singer-songwriter Mariah Colon was raised in Cicero, IL. and started her music career with just a keyboard and ukulele in her room. With diverse music inspiration from talented musicians in her family, Mariah incorporates the love of R&B and pop in expressing her day to day thoughts. Her first single "Roots" released in July of 2019. Since then, has released her debu...

Summer has spent the last decade as a Brand Strategist and Marketer, working in a variety of roles in some of the world’s best ad agencies and Fortune 100 companies. She currently works for an AI-based software company that is modernizing the construction industry. When she’s not working her 9-5 or running DIY GRRL you can find Summer spearheading The Monarch Club - East Humboldt Park’s Small Busi...

Niia is an American singer, pianist, and songwriter. She submerges herself in deep extremes on her 2022 project, Mouthful of Salt. As if born again in the wake of a tsunami’s destruction, the Los Angeles-based jazz/R&B artist slips in and out of oceanic calm like waking from a delicate afternoon dream. She carefully assembles thirteen tracks buoyed by cinematic ambience, airy piano, and vocal echo...

"Nez" is a Chicago-based Latina artist that specializes in painting, mural artwork and illustration. She studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and is now a freelance artist that enjoys making art that is nothing short of cute. She is best known for her cereal cartoon characters "Fruits and Stars" depicted in many of her recent works. She has worked on numerous community projects t...

Steve Albini is an American musician, record producer, audio engineer and music journalist. He was a member of Big Black, Rapeman and Flour, and is a member of Shellac. He is the founder, owner and principal engineer of Electrical Audio, a recording studio complex in Chicago. In 2018, Albini estimated that he had worked on several thousand albums over his career. He has worked with acts such as Ni...

Stella Got is a Tel-Aviv based musician, producer & sound engineer. Graduate of the Music-Technology department at Bar-Ilan University and was the first woman in the plugins department at Waves Audio. Today she's the house mixing/recording engineer at Assaf Amdursky's studio and an independent producer and sound engineer working with artists from various genres. Stella has released two solo albums...

Grant Milliren is a Midwest touring indie singer-songwriter from the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois.

Ayden Reda is a Chicago model, photographer, actor, and artist.

Hana Fujisaki is an award-winning pianist/organist/composer originally from Japan. She is a performing musician specializing in jazz, R&B, samba, salsa, and J-pop; as well as a choir director and an avid music educator in the city. Her biggest musical influences include jazz/fusion music and movie soundtracks of studio Ghibli, both of which are uniquely reflected in her creation. She is the keyboa...

Mitchell McLaughlin is an indie folk artist from Chicago, Illinois. He currently writes, produces and performs in Nashville, Tennessee.

Thaddeus Tukes is a multi-instrumentalist from Chicago, IL. He is the Jazz Big Band Director for After School Matters and the Vibraphonist for the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic. He is a graduate from Northwestern University where he majored in Jazz, Music, and Journalism.  

Eliy Orcko is a black American lyricist, song writer, and entertainer born in Elyria, Ohio and raised in Coral Springs, Florida. In their later years, Orcko became a solo act putting out singles, mixtapes, and EP’s under multiple aliases until they landed on the name “Eliy Orcko '' in 2019. It was then that they independently dropped their first album Only Human which laid the foundation for their...

Chloé Chanel is a Chicago native and creative artist specializing in visuals and music. Chloe’s creative journey began in childhood as she participated in theater, band and dance from the age of eight all the way into adulthood. She was first introduced to photography as a college sophomore when she joined a campus fashion/ modeling troupe and fell in love with capturing images. A few years after...