STEVE LIETO,  during the past four years in Chicago, has played at numerous venues in the city and surrounding areas, supervising a cultural center, reading like a madman, studying Arts Management at Columbia, spending time managing local festivals, writing for local ‘zines, and currently starting a business. He has hosted a series of open mics and has appeared in several short films. Student organizing and participating in the college’s financial committee has been a passion along with touring as a part of the band "Friends like These." Steve first worked with Kinetic Affect on their "speak it forward" show, bringing the sound of a sitar to their work. Upon graduation from Columbia this winter, Steve plans to join Kinetic Affect on tour in New York, bringing with him his sitar, mandolin, guitar, and djembe.

 

NICH MUELLER has always had a sincere passion for his art. Nich gained his unique style of piano playing at an early age. He dove into the musical roots of blues, classic rock, and bluegrass, while also studying classical, pop, and jazz influences. Having participated in myriad musical and drama productions, he has also developed a strong passion for theatrical performance. Nich is just beginning to pursue his career in music, soon to graduate from high school. He currently plays jazz piano in the band Blue Progressive. A former student of Kirk Latimer, Nich sets out to incorporate music with each project, paper, and assignment, revealing to Kirk that students have much more valuable lessons to teach teachers than we tend to give them credit for. He last collaborated with Kinetic Affect on their show "speak it forward".

 

MICAELA KINGSLIGHT, born into a musical family, grew up on tour. At age 5, she recorded her first songs in a professional recording studio in Taos New Mexico. By age 9 she was performing with the Austin Girl's Choir in Texas. After moving to Kalamazoo, Micaela's passion for the guitar took off, leading her to collaborate with a variety of groups such as the Crossroads Blues Band, Fractal, Fortre Productions, and Sister Outsider. Micaela has been teaching guitar for over 7 years and currently teaches at Crescendo Academy of Music located in the Epic Center downtown. Recently she received the Emerging Artist Grant from the Gilmore Foundation to record an album of her original music, to be released in late November . She last collaborated with Kinetic Affect on their show "speak it forward."

 

JAMAL LARKINS grew up in Grand Rapids and while attending a private Catholic school learned how to walk long distances on his hands. His uncanny ability for balance is also evident in his superior singing talent. A home-grown vocalist highly influenced by Hip Hop, Jamal began his singing career in Detroit with a band called the Gorilla Funk Mob and took part in the Detroit Electronic Music Festival. Currently working to complete his first major solo project before the age of 30, Jamal spends endless hours volunteering his time working with youth and inspiring them in their artistic endeavors. Having worked with Gabriel Giron and Kirk Latimer previously in more intimate environments, Jamal looks forward to reaching a wider audience and challenging himself to write and sing vocals that complement Kinetic Affect.

 

MICHAEL MILLER, Wellspring's Artistic Associate, has been teaching, choreographing and performing with Wellspring since 1991. He began his movement studies as a competitive gymnast in Royal Oak and went on to explore music and dance at Western Michigan University. He taught Modern and Jazz Dance technique at WMU from 1992-2000. Michael has received two Emerging Artist Grants from the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo. Since 1991, he has been working with Wendy Rogers, a well known choreographer in the San Francisco Bay Area. The current project with Wendy is a four-year sight specific work studying the architecture of Julia Morgan. The piece will be performed in San Francisco and New York City in the near future.

 

LEVI STRICKLAND, a member of Kalamazoo’s unique modern music quartet, Blue Dahlia, started with Ska in his first band, Tom Collins and the Cocktail Shakers, releasing his first recording, Pick it Up. He then moved to heavy world beat music, playing with West African musician Nathan Njinhrina in his West Michigan band, Yoroka. Levi helped Yoroka produce the successful album, The Road is Long. In 2000, he released another self-titled album with the Kalamazoo-based, Pound and Beers. Strickland is influenced by jazz, a broad array of traditional music and deep-pocket-snap-your-backbone funk,  including Jaco, Marcus Miller, Joni Mitchell, Bela Fleck, and Miles Davis. Among his other talents, Levi is a webmaster and owner of Better Geek, LLC, an information technology company.