Rick de Yampert
Rick is a freelance writer and musician who plays the sitar, Native American flutes, guitar, the Moyo drum and other percussion instruments. Previously, he was the Arts and Entertainment writer at the Daytona Beach News-Journal for 23 years.
Candice Beu
Candice is the eldest sibling of the international, multi-platinum selling, award winning pop group “The Beu Sisters”, winners of the Artists in Music Awards: Best Pop Artists of 2013. Candice and her sisters have been performing professionally for 22 years.
Adam Floyd
Adam is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist and singer performing with the popular Florida based bands “Coyotes and Towndogs” and “The Potlikkers”. Floyd plays guitar and violin and was honored to be selected for the National Student Exchange program to California State University. In Los Angeles, he studied under Andres Segovia’s friend Ron Purcell. This renowned school produced guitarists for “The Police” and “The Cars” among many others. Floyd graduated in 1992 with a Baccalaureate degree in Music Performance from the University of South Florida under classical guitarists Adam Holtzman and John Parr.
Hank Harrison
Hank holds a degree in Psychology from San Francisco State University. He is the author of several books, including “Love Kills: The Assassination of Kurt Cobain” and is also the father of Courtney Love. Hank shares his stories of being among the music elite while managing the Grateful Dead and gives us insight into the true rock ‘n roll lifestyle.
Beth McKee
With roots in Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and North Carolina, Beth McKee’s music is the gestalt of all the places she’s settled, including her current home in Central Florida. As the founding principal of Swamp Sistas, she mobilizes an ever-growing alliance of over 2,700 creative and active Southern women that’s inclusive of all ages and genres. Artistically, they collaborate, mentor, and promote women in the arts and philanthropically, they perform for targeted local causes and organizations like Second Harvest Food Bank with events like the Swamp Sistas La Las, Beth’s re-imagination of the traditional Creole house party.
RIGGS
RIGGS is the popular radio personality on 95.7 the HOG’s “The Morning Hog with RIGGS and Guy” and “Saturday Night Loud”. He has held music-related jobs for most of his life. Riggs worked at Turtle’s Records from 1983-1993, gathering a wealth of music & artist knowledge. Upon graduating from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor’s Degree in English, RIGGS went to work full-time at WNGM Television in Athens. From then it was on, a life of beer, babes & rock-n-roll. He thought playing rock on the radio would be a better gig than living in a teepee in the woods of Georgia, so to the beach he came, with nothing but a pair of shorts, flip-flops and a beat up Boombox with Metallica’s Greatest Hits. Always entertaining, he shares stories from his past adventures, failed radio promotions, and even odd jobs he held along the way.
C. August Wenger
C. A. Wenger has been a stage performer for over 20 years in both theater and music, participating in several local Daytona based bands, most recently with post-apocalyptic, spaghetti-western, surf-rock opera, Last Electric Rodeo. He is an avid proponent of local original music in Florida, having headed up Home Grown Roots Musician’s Organization and the Daytona Music Society. Among other writings is his monthly article for Static Live entitled An Original Music Manifesto where he breaks down the elements and various roles of a successful original music scene while showcasing local talent in those areas.
Mark Hodgson
Mark is an entertainer/performer, band leader, songwriter/composer who plays harmonica, guitar and keyboards. He was published in 1983 with Tennessee Swamp Fox Music ASCAP in Nashville, TN and has released LPs, cassettes and CDs since 1981. He has headlined concerts with notables B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Johnny Winter, Boz Skaggs, Three Dog Night, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Maria Muldaur, Brad Paisley, Tim McGraw, The Outlaws, Leon Russell and was a featured soloist with Foghat. He was a partner to saxophonist Noble “Thin Man” Watts for over 20 years and was a founding member of Bob Greenlee & The Midnight Creepers and Kingsnake Records. Hodgson currently resides in New Smyrna Beach and has performed regularly at The Garlic since 2009.
Jefferson Watson
Obsession with Metal music since hearing Obituary’s “Cause of Death” CD has given Jeff a wealth of knowledge about the scene and the artists within it as well as a sea of black T-shirts, enough posters to cover the Taj Mahal, and a music collection that keeps him sane. You can look forward to his knowledge and frequent attendance of metal shows to bring the Metal Compost page and its readers an entertaining article to read each month that will include honest reviews, band interviews, and cool photos.
Chris Rajotte
Chris Rajotte has lived and breathed music for over twenty years. He was a manager of Tower Records in Washington, DC and this afforded him the opportunity to attend any major live show that came to town. Over the years, Chris has been to over 400 concerts. He is a fan of all genres but, Metal and Hard Rock are by far his true loves.
Sauce Boss
Legendary performer (as chronicled in Jimmy Buffett’s 1999 hit “I Will Play for Gumbo”) Bill “Sauce Boss” Wharton brings his Florida slide guitar blues, his gumbo, and his own hot sauce to every multi-sensory performance. His show includes a culinary demonstration with audience stirring and sampling the gumbo. Sauce Boss is a powerhouse of energy with his one-man band.
Florida swamp-funk slide guitarist, Bill Wharton has been a musician for over a half a century. On his 1989 New Years Eve gig, Sauce Boss splashed a bottle of his Liquid Summer Hot Sauce into a huge pot of simmering gumbo, feeding the entire audience. The rest is history. 200,000 bowls later, he’s still feeding the masses for free at his shows. The Sauce Boss show is a soul shouting picnic of bluesy, rock and roll brotherhood.
One morning in the early ‘70s, The Sauce Boss walked out of his house and found a 1933 vintage National Steel guitar in his front yard. That lead him down the Blues path. Deep in the shed, he penned “Let the Big Dog Eat”. That Sauce Boss anthem was just on the top of the Roots Blues Charts for 12 weeks in 2016 with Albert Castiglia’s cover. And the tune is also in Jonathan Demme’s movie “Something Wild”, AND on Jimmy Buffett’s “Late Night Menu at the Margaritaville Cafe” album. AARP’s syndicated TV show, “My Generation” came to St Louis to do a feature story on The Sauce Boss.. NPR’s “All Things Considered” and “Morning Edition” have both covered the Sauce Boss. CNN and EXTRA sent film crews to New York City Sauce Boss extravaganzas, The Food Network’s series “Extreme Cuisine” visited the Sauce Boss on location in New York, and another Food Network series “Keith Famie’s Adventures” filmed a Sauce Boss show in Miami. The Sauce Boss is the only personality that’s been featured in “Living Blues”, “GQ”, AND “Gourmet Magazine”.