Adam Gaines & John Salerno – Jazz Fest 50

Posted on January 16, 2020 by stricklk@uwgb.edu

UW-Green Bay’s Jazz Fest is turning 50! Bird in the Wings is celebrating with a deep dive in to the world of a working jazz musician in NE Wisconsin. UWGB Music Professors, Dr. Adam Gaines and Dr. John Salerno talk with Kelli about their paths to becoming teaching and performing artists. Happy Listening!

Learn more about Jazz Fest HERE

About Our Guests:
ADAM GAINES is an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay. In addition to teaching the trumpet studio, Dr. Gaines directs jazz ensembles, teaches jazz history courses and works with music technology. Dr. Gaines has performed as a soloist in his native Kentucky, throughout the U.S. and internationally. In the Green Bay area he can frequently be heard performing with Gypsy Trip and with Brass Differential. He holds degrees from the University of Louisville (Bachelor of Music, 1999) and Ball State University (Master of Music, 2001 and Doctor of Arts, 2005). Dr. Gaines frequently travels to Slovakia and the Czech Republic to perform and to spend time with his wife Ladislava’s family.

JOHN SALERNO teaches saxophone, composition, jazz ensemble and other jazz related classes. Under his direction, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Jazz Ensemble has performed at both the Montreux and North Sea Jazz Festivals in Europe. As a saxophonist he has worked with a variety of notable groups and artists including The Spinners, The Jacksons, Engelbert Humperdinck, Roberta Flack, Joe Williams and many others. Dr. Salerno is a published composer and arranger, and has written works for a variety of styles and media. He is in demand as a clinician and adjudicator, judging at many jazz festivals throughout the country, including the prestigious University of Northern Colorado Jazz Festival. He directs the annual University of Wisconsin-Green Bay January Jazz Fest, and the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Summer Jazz Camp, two of the oldest and most popular jazz events of their kind in Wisconsin.

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Andrew Linskens & Cujo: Art-Hop Collective

Posted on June 24, 2019 by stricklk@uwgb.edu

Season 2 continues with Bird in the Wings’ first delve into the world of hip-hop! Yas! In this episode, Kelli chats with visual artist, Andrew Linskens, and hip-hop musician, Cujo. They discuss their respective lives as working artists and creatives, as well as their collaborations in the Art-Hop Collective. Demonstrating the power of the meeting of music and art, up-close and personal, from beginning to end.

About Our Guests:

Andrew Linskens is a local visual artist working in a variety of 2-D and 3-D mediums including painting, drawing, animation and sculpture. Visit AndrewLinskens.com and follow on Instagram to learn more and to view his work!

About Our Guests:

Cujo is a hip-hop musician and performer who has released two full length albums, Power of the Paragraph, and Rise, both available to stream and purchase HERE.

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Rivett and Young: The Path to Becoming an Artist

Posted on September 25, 2018 by jobrha12

This bittersweet podcast started as a chance for Kelli to sit down with two creative minds, Jim Rivett and Shelly Young, to discuss art and life. We are saddened to now post this episode after learning of Jim’s passing. During this episode, Kelli was given the opportunity to meet with Jim and Shelly Young to talk about finding self-satisfaction and genuine joy, both in their careers and personal lives.

What began as a deep but upbeat conversation has now become a reflection and celebration of the talent that this world has lost. Please keep Rivett’s friends and family in your thoughts as you listen to the wonderful dialogue these three got the chance to share. Thank you, Jim, for the beauty and knowledge you shared during your time with us.

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About our Guests: Jim Rivett (August 16, 1958 – August 23, 2018)

Maybe it’s because he was a junk-picking junkie who was addicted to scouring curb sides, attics, and flea markets for creative inspiration.Or maybe it’s just that he had dangerously high levels of adrenaline. Whatever the reason, Jim had an uncanny ability to quickly bypass clutter and zero in on missed treasures, like a brand’s authentic value proposition, for instance.

A Green Bay native, Jim’s earliest ambition was to become a serious painter until post-graduate study at the New York School of Visual Arts fueled his interest in design. While he always continued to sketch and take to the canvas, he was more often than not inactivity-challenged, which accounts for his 30+ years of success in advertising.

Don’t be fooled by Jim’s gentle spirit and soft-spoken manner. He had a wicked sense of humor and took pleasure in finding the most outrageous ways of achieving fun daily. Not to mention he was a man of profound integrity.

About our Guests: Shelly Young

After 10 years of producing numerous successful series at Wisconsin Public Television-PBS, while simultaneously contributing to various independent films and videos, Shelly met Jim in the aisle of an antique store. The rest, as they say, is history.

Shelly is the junk-picking yin to Jim’s yang. The Myrna Loy of antiquing to Jim’s William Powell. Full-time, however, she’s KHROME’s ace producer who believes “making moving pictures is the greatest job on earth” (and we’re all thankful she does). Using keen observation skills, Shelly develops full-bodied, client-reflective content, then cheerfully shepherds video projects from creative conception to complex completion, all while remaining radiantly composed in Bakelite bangles.

Despite the Tellys and Emmys on her shelves, Shelly’s true joy comes from her three fur babies and French vanilla iced coffee (hold the sugar, no cream). And anything chartreuse. Oh, and that vintage Blenko vase. On that divine mid-century table. With Russel Wright dinnerware.