Wake Up Hollywood

Joanna Duff

Joanna Duff is a singer-songwriter based out of Los Angeles. California born and Southern bred, she is known for her unique tone, relaxing vocals and emotion-filled lyrics that blend together with acoustic guitar, strings and keys. She started writing her own music and playing open mic nights while attending the University of Georgia in Athens, GA. Her debut album "We Are the Lucky Ones," produced by Sean McPherson, was released in 2015 and has gained her fans from around the globe. The album...

Cast of "THE 11TH GREEN" movie

THE 11TH GREEN A respected journalist uncovers the truth behind the mythology of President Eisenhower’s long-alleged involvement in extraterrestrial events. When his 85-year-old father drops dead of a heart attack, Jeremy Rudd (CAMPBELL SCOTT) is summoned to the exclusive California golf resort where he lived. Though estranged from his father for two decades (Jeremy’s muckraking Washington reporting flew in the face of his father’s career in classified aerospace programs), he is now forced t...

Ramsey Denison

Ramsey Denison grew up in a small town in Florida where he spent most of his childhood playing with firecrackers, watching Saved by the Bell, and making terrible movies with his friends at the television station where he worked as a teenager. A member of the editor's guild, Ram has cut over 30 television programs and worked on hit shows like Naked and Afraid, Catfish, and Criss Angel Mindfreak. His debut documentary What Happened In Vegas went to #1 on iTunes documentary chart in June 2018 a...

Abby Posner

Abby Posner has been a working musician in Los Angeles for the past 16 years. She is best known for her ability to play nearly any instrument that she can lay her hands on, twisting genres, and pushing the boundaries of folk and roots music. If you have seen Abby perform live, you know she can play a mean lead-blues guitar solo, or throw down a complex Earl Scruggs banjo riff. You also may have spotted her playing drums, mandolin, or bass while using her looping pedal. In addition to her ver...

Patrick Baker

Texas born & California raised, in Alameda, Patrick Baker aka &"The Dark Sea” lives in Los Angeles. Patrick grew up between two musical worlds: his parents record collection from the pop/rock of 60’s and rock/hiphop of the 90’s. Patrick used to bring his guitar with him to high school every day and spent 6 hours a day playing guitar. While studying jazz at SF State and songwriting at The Songwriting School of Los Angeles, he played guitar in bands in the Bay Area before moving to LA to learn...

Joe Laurean

Joe Laurean started playing guitar in 1988 one fall afternoon after discovering Guns 'N Roses. He was about 13 then and never looked back at life without having a guitar ever again. Since then, it's been his breakfast, lunch, and dinner. As a teen, Joe would skip most parties to try and make his fingers fret chords and practice, practice, practice. Fast forward to 2002, Joe was home one day in Pasadena in his living room, staring at his two guitars. Bam!! The idea came to him and his head sai...

Stars of the indie movie, PHOENIX, OREGON

Stars of the indie movie, PHOENIX, OREGON phoenixoregonmovie.com JAMES LE GROS (BOBBY) Thanks in large part to the independent film movement of the late '80s, the boyishly handsome James LeGros went from being an underrated bit player to a well-respected character actor. A Minnesota native, LeGros found steady work when he migrated to Los Angeles after college in the early '80s, but his real break was being cast by Gus Van Sant as Matt Dillon’s drug-addicted cohort in DRUGSTORE COWBOY. Since...

Stars of the indie movie "PHOENIX, OREGON"

Stars of the indie movie, PHOENIX, OREGON phoenixoregonmovie.com JAMES LE GROS (BOBBY) Thanks in large part to the independent film movement of the late '80s, the boyishly handsome James LeGros went from being an underrated bit player to a well-respected character actor. A Minnesota native, LeGros found steady work when he migrated to Los Angeles after college in the early '80s, but his real break was being cast by Gus Van Sant as Matt Dillon’s drug-addicted cohort in DRUGSTORE COWBOY. Since...

Alena Bernardi

Vocalist, Thought Leader, Songwriter, Theatre/Film Producer, and Innovator in Music Education. Alena Bernardi grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan in a grey brick house that stood on a dirt road with 3 acres of land. In the evenings, as a child, Alena would listen to her mother stumble through and eventually master traditional piano classics from Beethoven to Debussy, while her father would read science fiction novels to her and her brother in the bedroom across the house. At seven, Al...

Shawn Johnson

Since moving to AZ from MA,in 1996 Shawn Johnson has played McDowell Music Festival, Apache Lake Music Festival, The Marquee, Crescent Ballroom, Circus Mexicus,Tempe Arts Festival, Hayden Square and numerous other music venues. You can catch Shawn performing solo, as The Johnson Twins or as Shawn Johnson & The Foundation. Musical influences: Ben Howard, Ani Difranco, Barenaked Ladies, Blues Traveler, Ben Harper, Dave Matthews, Counting Crows,Ray Lamontagne Discography Sunshine For Someone 2...

The Milkman & Sons

The Milkman & Sons is a Brooklyn based band that plays Traditional Blues and Prohibition Jazz. They are known for their ability to take audiences in a musical time machine by playing the music of such varied notables as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Django Reinhardt, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Fats Waller, Hoagy Carmichael and Little Walter as well as original music written in a similar style. While the band is always fronted by singer, harmonica player and guitarist, Marcus Milius it usu...

Cast of "Nathan’s Kingdom"

Nathan’s Kingdom is a dark fantasy, coming-of-age drama about a young autistic man (Nathan) struggling to survive life’s hardships with his teenage opiate-addicted sister (Laura). When Social Services threatens to upend their lives, Nathan flees and takes his sister on a dangerous, other-worldly journey fraught with monsters, mythical wars and underground civilizations — in the hopes of finding a kingdom with the potential to transform both their lives forever. nathanskingdom.com Olicer Muño...

Mark de Sousa

Over the past two decades Mark de Sousa has contributed to almost 2 dozen films as an artist and computer graphics supervisor while working on multiple award- winning films including the Oscar VFX winning Titanic and Spider-Man 2. He started off his career at VIFX in Los Angeles, then transitioned to Sony Pictures Imageworks. During his 15-year tenure at Sony, he helped to create and oversee the Character FX department as well serving as a department supervisor on various shows for both live...

Anna Wyckoff

Anna Wyckoff – seeks to find the intersection where her passions overlap by creating portraits in multiple disciplines. As a painter, she explores the role of physiognomy as an expression of the individual in oil. Her latest project Invisible Cities, uses a series of large scale portraits set in Venice, Italy as emblematic of contemporary environmental decadence. As the Communications Director for the Costume Designers Guild, she serves as editor in chief of The Costume Designer Magazine and ...

Chacko Vadaketh

Chacko Vadaketh is a lawyer turned actor, host, voiceover artist, creative consultant, producer and corporate trainer. Born in India and raised in Malaysia, he has a degree in Law and Archaeology & Anthropology from Cambridge University (1983-86), is qualified as a Barrister at Law of Lincoln's Inn, London (1987), and is an Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya (1988). He is a former ASTRO (Asia Broadcast Centre)’s Arts Ambassador and a judge for the Theatre Category of the Kakis...

Ailie MacK

Ailie MacK (pronounced Ay-Lee) is Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter who engages her listeners with soulful vocals and thought-provoking lyrics. No matter what style she is inspired by - pop, alternative, rock, jazz, and blues - she aims to deliver lyrics and vocals that do the story justice, musical hooks that convey the emotion of the storyteller, and, hopefully, a spark of some kind - a connection, an inspiration, a laugh, an emotion, or a new perspective - to the listener. Ailie is extr...

Maurice Smith

A native of Mississippi, a state known as the birthplace of the Gospel and the Blues, Maurice Smith has been one of Los Angeles’ most sought after vocalist for the past few years. He has graced the stage with some of the finest artists the music industry has to offer such as Beyonce, Kanye West, Seal, LeAnn Rimes, The Mary Jane Girls, Sy Smith (Who was nominated for &"Song of the Year” by SoulTracks.com in 2010), Jessy J (Billboard Jazz charts #1 album, Hot Sauce, in 2011), and DeWayne Wiggin...

Kinna

Kinna is an actor, singer, improvisor, voice talent, YouTuber and teacher. She has over 20 years professional experience in the business and is a life-long student of her craft. Some of her credits include: Office Space, Where The Heart Is, CSI, Criminal Minds and Hawaii Five-0. Currently you can see Kinna in a national Folgers commercial and on the 2nd episode of the Mad About You reboot on Spectrum Streaming. You may recognize Kinna’s voice from Parcast’s True Crime podcasts, she was also t...

January 21, 2020

LAMONT MAGEE

LAMONT MAGEE has penned or had a hand in penning well over a dozen screenplays with two films, &"THE SPEAK” (2011) and &"A BEAUTIFUL SOUL” (2012) receiving theatrical releases. Magee also partnered with Enderby Entertainment (About Cherry, Combat Hospital) to create &"GET WYLDE” (2011) a teen, web series written by Magee and created by Magee and Brett Donowho (The Music Within, A Haunting at Silver Falls. At the close of 2014, Magee was staffed on the BET/CENTRIC drama &"SINGLE LADIES”, prod...

Cat Ivy

Cat Ivy is on the prowl, following her heart to discover life's core truths. Driven by the need to understand what makes us human and why humans react the way they do, Cat combines modern-day pop music with sounds of folk to help us arrive to simple and refreshing truths. Influenced by musicians such as Sara Bareilles, John Mayer, the Beatles, and Ingrid Michaelson, Cat reminds us that our hearts know the truth about ourselves and her enchanting melodies provide a map to help us arrive at the...

David Mickler and Brad Fletcher

Horrible Haikus is the creation of 575 Games, with both the game and the company being created by David Mickler and Brad Fletcher. Horrible Haikus was originally launched through a Kickstarter campaign in 2018 where it smashed its funding goals and gave birth to the greatest game humanity has ever known (according to that one drunk guy in the second test group). In addition to the Horrible Haikus game, a book of poetry was also released featuring some of the haikus as they were originally wr...

Joy Graysen

Joy Graysen is an LA based recording artist, performance coach and activist whose mission is to help people learn to trust love and find their true voices. Born Joy Holly Stimmel, in New York to Sam and Honi, Joy was a child of music. She began singing before she could walk or talk and, as a result, feels that music was her first true language. By the age of three, Joy could sing in three part harmony and play three instruments by ear. She felt more fluent with music than any other form of co...

Ken Caillat

Ken Caillat is best known for producing and engineering the Fleetwood Mac albums Rumours, Tusk, Mirage, Live, and The Chain Box Set, along with his daughter, Colbie Caillat's albums: Coco (2007), Breakthrough (2009), All of You (2011), and Christmas in the Sand (2012). He also worked on albums for Billy Idol, Frank Sinatra, Pat Benatar, Wilson Phillips, the Beach Boys, Herbie Hancock, David Becker and Alice Cooper, as well as with Christine McVie on her solo album.Ken's recordings have sold o...

Ken Caillat

Ken Caillat is best known for producing and engineering the Fleetwood Mac albums Rumours, Tusk, Mirage, Live, and The Chain Box Set, along with his daughter, Colbie Caillat's albums: Coco (2007), Breakthrough (2009), All of You (2011), and Christmas in the Sand (2012). He also worked on albums for Billy Idol, Frank Sinatra, Pat Benatar, Wilson Phillips, the Beach Boys, Herbie Hancock, David Becker and Alice Cooper, as well as with Christine McVie on her solo album.Ken's recordings have sold o...

Leah McKendrick

Leah McKendrick is a filmmaker/actress originally from San Francisco. In 2014 she formed Villainess Productions, aimed at creating content featuring women in diverse and compelling roles. Her feature film debut as a writer/producer/actress- the vigilante thriller MFA- was nominated for the Grand Jury Award at SXSW 2017 and dubbed "the first horror movie to speak to the #MeToo era" by the New York Times. Leah's romcom script Voicemails for Isabelle was preempted by Sony Pictures and will star ...

Doug Messenger

Doug Messenger was born in New York on Long Island on March 9, 1942. After his dad got a new job opportunity, his family decided to made a big move to Mexico City, Mexico where he spent most of his younger years from the age of 4 to 17. Doug's passion for learning landed him back in the United States where he studied at Princeton in New Jersey, earning a Bachelor of Science in Engineering. While traveling back to visit family in Mexico in the summer of 1962, Doug met the love of his life, Jea...

Doug Messenger

Doug Messenger was born in New York on Long Island on March 9, 1942. After his dad got a new job opportunity, his family decided to made a big move to Mexico City, Mexico where he spent most of his younger years from the age of 4 to 17. Doug's passion for learning landed him back in the United States where he studied at Princeton in New Jersey, earning a Bachelor of Science in Engineering. While traveling back to visit family in Mexico in the summer of 1962, Doug met the love of his life, Jea...

Alexander Carver

Alexander Carver is an author, screenwriter, and playwright, originally from Radnor, Pennsylvania. His stories have been published in such literary magazines as: ZYZZYVA, Foliate Oak, The Southern Pacific Review, The Satirist, Dark Matter, and The Writing Disorder. Razor Literary Magazine selected his story "Uber Trouble" as a prize winner in it's annual short story contest. His first feature film is set for production next Fall and O Jackie! is his debut novel. Today, Alexander lives in San...

Jody Hill

The Crummies are a cartoon band project started by Jody Hill in 1995 in Memphis Tn. After years of playing in metal, punk rock and classic rock cover bands Jody decided he’d like to start writing his own material but couldn’t decide on a style/genre to write in having been influenced by so many different styles of rock/pop music. After attending an Infinity Record Convention he rediscovered his love for The Archies and all things Bubblegum. So, after buying a Fostex DMT8, one of the first sta...

Tap That Production

Tap That Production, created and choreographed by Tellina Lee Zink, is an innovative celebration of tap dancing that combines funky fresh footwork with cheeky femininity and spunk. This invigorating and highly entertaining act features the talents of five experienced professionals, some of tap dancing's finest. The Tap That team are visionaries. They create unique productions that captivate new audiences and broaden the image of contemporary female tap dancers. They are content creators, kno...

Greg Leon

Greg Leon was born on May 19, 1958 and grew up in Glendale, CA, a foothills community of Los Angeles, and immediately made an impact on the blossoming live hard rock scene of Hollywood's Sunset Strip in the late 1970s. Primarily playing guitar and handling vocals, the acts that he fronted were Suite 19, with future Great White/Dokken drummer Gary Holland and then future Motley Crue drummer, Tommy Lee and the Greg Leon Invasion, with bassist Joey Vera (later of Armored Saint, Fate's Warning an...

Brent Paschke

Brent Paschke is a guitarist, producer, songwriter, and educator based in Los Angeles, California. He is best known as Pharrell Williams’ guitarist, having worked with the singer/songwriter/producer since 2001. Paschke accompanies Williams in the studio and on tour, and his guitar performances appear on such Pharrell projects as G I R L (2015 Grammy winner for Best Urban Contemporary Album) and Hidden Figures: The Album (2017 Golden Globe nominee for Best Original Score). Brent has also worke...

Sabrina Chaco

"Turning pain into beauty" Sabrina Chaco is a singer-songwriter, born on the Pacific island of Guam, raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, and is currently living in Los Angeles. She fell in love with performing and developed a strong passion for R&B / Neo-Soul while studying Vocal Music at the Oakland School for the Arts. As a proud Filipina and Chamorrita island girl, she brings the culture she’s experienced to her songs. Sabrina channels her liveliness, sense of truth, and emotional insi...

Noel Elgrably

Noel Elgrably grew up in the nation's capital but left his day-job selling insurance to pursue his calling as a stand-up comedian in.The son of a French-Moroccan father and Moroccan-Israeli mother, he offers an original comedic perspective on growing up as a child of immigrants below the. Noel's irreverent and ornery style of comedy reminds us that even though we think we’re different we're all the same when we’re laughing at ourselves. Noel can be seen performing regularly at area comedy cl...

Pete Hopkins

HopkinSound Founder and CEO Pete Hopkins is an accomplished vocalist, professional songwriter, producer, and musician. He writes and performs pop, rock, EDM, R&B, funk, jazz, country, and many other genres. As a modern programmer, he enjoys making massive beats and synth sounds. Pete developed his musical passion early in life surrounded by a family of performing musicians. He became fascinated with guitars and performance from a very young age and, while taking violin lessons, learned that ...

Sara Fletcher

Sara Fletcher is a multi-media actress spanning several platforms, including TV, Film and Web. Fletcher's TV career started on Comedy Central's Secret Girlfriend in the starring role; she also was the lead in the Josh Schwartz and Matt Miller's CBS pilot Hitched and was a series regular on One Love on Bounce TV. Some of her past guest starring and recurring roles on TV include: Perfect Couples, Friends with Benefits, The Glades, Family Guy, Grimm, Days of Our Lives, NCIS: LA and NCIS. Fletch...

KOPPS band

KOPPS tell a tale of society's ongoing need and want to constantly acquire more and more things, while bringing up the question on whether anything will ever be enough? Their new single " OH DANG DANG " (produced by Daniel Armbruster of Joywave), which premiered everywhere yesterday via Nakid Magazine, is KOPPS' satirical way of voicing concern of our nation's collective sanity around worshipping "stuff". &"OH DANG DANG” is a car crash of a song combining elements of pop, alt, and even a lit...

Stephen Lieberman

SJ Lighting, a design firm based in Southern California, specializes in theatrically based design for nightclubs and festival environments. Formed in 2001 by industry veteran Stephen Lieberman, SJ Lighting has established themselves as leaders in creating immersive design environments, at the forefront of entertainment technologies. Stephen has been involved in the nightclub industry since his childhood. His first job in a nightclub dates back to 1987, and he has yet to slow down in his pur...

Brian Justin Crum

With millions of viral views from his time on America’s Got Talent, Broadway credentials, and chart-topping singles, the singer-songwriter and entertainer Brian Justin Crum knew he was destined for stardom from a very early age. He first fell in love with performing after his mom, a single mother, put her kids into an after-school theatre program so she could work. At 7 years old was already telling his mother he was going to be a star. Fast forward years later and barely out of high school...

Mariel Austin

At age seven, Mariel Austin began learning many musical styles and genres through the San Francisco Girls Chorus. After starting trombone lessons at age thirteen, she wrote pieces for her jazz combo at Berkeley High School, where she graduated from in 2007. Thereafter, she studied Jazz Performance at California State University, Northridge, where she composed for the school’s Jazz &"A” Band and earned her Bachelor’s Degree in 2011. In 2015, Mariel graduated from New England Conservatory with ...

Kara Connolly

Kara Connolly has it all - charisma, a commanding stage presence, an emotive voice, and that rare gift for writing songs that are simultaneously heartfelt, sincere and undeniably infectious upon first listen. Given her ability to connect with an audience, it’s no surprise that Kara sold- out the iconic Hotel Cafe in Hollywood, the very venue that Katy Perry and Sara Bareilles got their start, before ever having released a single song. And now with her full-length album, Life in Rear View, rel...

Omer Avni

Omer Avni is an American producer, songwriter and musician, living and working in Los Angeles. "Having lunch with my dad growing up there was always 70's American rock music playing in the background, either that or "The Boss" was jamming really loud through the living room stereo." At 17, Omer received a full scholarship to attend Berklee school of music, and the reward for outstanding musicianship. Soon after, Omer traveled through the U.S and Canada on a guitar clinic tour. Omer went on...

Christine Gordon

A true force of musical nature whose freewheeling whirlwind of passion, energy and soul-deep artistic vision transcends genre limitations and the trends of the moment, Christine Gordon has done and been it all. She’s studied opera, sung jazz at NYC’s Blue Note and R&B at the Apollo, launched her songwriting career co-writing with legendary producer Nile Rodgers and held court for over a decade on in the French West Indies as the &"StBarthRockStar.” She’s headlined festivals all over the Carib...

Wes Smith

Wes Smith is an in-demand musician who has performed with world famous personalities including Stevie Wonder, Justin Timberlake, Robin Thicke, Aloe Blacc, Booker T Jones and Jazz Legend Poncho Sanchez, among others. Smith’s saxophones can be heard most recently within the ‘Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge’ Disney Land Theme Park and on Jennifer Lopez’ ‘All I Have’ show in Las Vegas, NV. He can be heard on the big screen on titles like ‘Dirty Grandpa’ (2016) and ‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part ...

Ben Wilkins

Born and raised in Ontario, Ben Wilkins moved to Montreal, Quebec, at the age of eighteen to study music at McGill University. He majored in Classical Trumpet and soaked up whatever he could regarding composition, arranging, singing, theory and jazz harmony – spending countless nights sneaking into the piano studios afterhours to write songs. Upon graduation, Wilkins received a scholarship to study Mandarin in China, and spent the better part of a year at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music ...

Karuna Tanahashi

Karuna Tanahashi is a multidisciplinary performer and creator. She graduated from Smith College with a BA in theatre, moved to Los Angeles 10 years ago to be an actress, and since then has acquired many titles - including singer, songwriter, photographer, filmmaker, fire dancer, and chocolatier. She loves talking about the creative process and mixing and matching various disciplines to create her own unique brand of art. Over the years, Karuna has acted on stage and screen; filmed and photog...

Dyan Kane

BEHIND THE CURTAIN.... Guns. Drugs. Booze. Broads. Cheaters. Liars. Broken bones. Broken dreams. Dead thugs in black Caddy car trunks. Fistfights on the corner. Prejudice. Bigotry. Misogyny. Oh, just a typical day in my hometown - Providence, RI - where working-class heroes STILL hi-five to Mob rule, the Catholic church and a good Italian meatball. Who rescued me from the fate many friends met at the end of a bullet, a bottle, a pill? Aretha, Sly, Tina, Teddy, Barbra, Stevie, Frank, Ra...

Adam Gust, Fia NyXX

Musical Director, Drummer, Producer, and aspiring media personality, Adam Gust, comes to Wake Up Hollywood three years since his last guest visit with a tale to tell. Nikhil Korula is the perfect person to host as he has played a prominent character in Adam's story of recovery and reinvention since then. Music, gender roles, education, a six month sabbatical on a cruise ship, and the course of Adam's current projects set the tone for his unique take on the pitfalls and positives of being crea...

Bugsy

Forget being politically correct—she’s here, she’s pissed off, and she calls herself Bugsy. Spitting bars and belting hooks on stilettos in the name of females everywhere, Bugsy’s music has the unique effect of making people dance and simultaneously burn the patriarchy to the ground. From the fun-loving bounce of her debut single &"Fuckboy” to the foot-stomping politically charged &"Boss Woman” (coming out in March), Bugsy combines silky R&B vocals with raunchy rap to give feminism the foul...