I'm a singer-songwriter and novelist living on Manhattan's Lower East Side. Born and raised in exurban San Jose, California, I fronted a frenetic and melodic Minneapolis quartet called the Penelopes in the early 1990s, performed odd bits of original (often site-specific) theater in and around Boston in the late 80s and mid-90s, and wrote my first novel after that.

Musically, my more recent solo work is both spare and lyrical, sometimes dark like a Leonard Cohen and sometimes bright like an Ink Spot, and rooted in an 8th-grade earful of Neil Young, the freewayland and exit-ramp towns of Central California, some made-up strain of southernness, and a punk rock thing that won't go away.

Because you asked, some say the music sounds like ice cream trucks, others say a hoarse dog barking.

Mark Boquist ~ drums

Paul Garisto ~ bass