Readers
Alia Ayer
Alia Ayer is a poet/writer, font enthusiast and exceptional suitcase packer. She loves words, performing and the enlivening combination of the two.
Da Salon #12
Fred Curchack
Fred Curchack has written and performed seventy-eight original theatre pieces (fifty-one ensemble works and twenty-seven solos). His plays have been featured at dozens of international theatre festivals. He is currently Professor of Theatre at The University of Texas at Dallas.
Da Salon #3 & #13
Carlos Garbiras
Carlos Garbiras is an award-winning essayist and solo performer sorting out the deeply ingrained neurosis of a topsy-turvy upbringing in 90s Colombia, the immigrant experience in the San Francisco Bay area, the joys and stresses of modern relationships and the difficulties, indignities and absurdities of the post-pandemic life.
You can find him at telltalltale.com
Da Salon #3, #9, #14
Michael Giotis
Michael Giotis is a journalist for the North Bay Bohemian, East Bay Magazine and more, who performs as "Original Giotis" when given the chance. FMRL published Giotis' poetry collection Daybreak in 2018.
OriginalGiotis
Da Salon #7
Al Haas
Al Haas was a mild mannered Allergist until he caught the storytelling bug when West Side Stories came to town. Since then he has been telling wild (but true!) stories about his early life as a lost hippy soul. When he is not telling tales, he is writing and performing original songs.
Da Salon #16
Jacqueline Hayward
Jacqueline Grace Hayward is a performance artist, acting and speech coach, writer/editor, playful, creative and well-earned-wise elder.
Da Salon #12
Kary Hess
Kary Hess, MFA, is a writer, artist, and filmmaker exploring themes of “place” and how it contours our experience. She is the author of 1912, Poems of Time, Place, and Memory, creator of the SparkTarot® deck and guidebook, and producer and production designer of the feature films Pill Head and Wolf Story. She earned an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts and Writing from the California Institute of Integral Studies and recent bylines include the North Bay Bohemian, Pacific Sun, East Bay Magazine, and Boheme Magazine. Karyhess.com
Da Salon #2 & #7
Daedalus Howell
Daedalus Howell is the writer-director of the feature films Pill Head and Wolf Story, author of Quantum Deadline and I Heart Sonoma, editor of North Bay Bohemian and Pacific Sun newspapers, and a partner in the FMRL story studio.
Da Salon #1 & Co-host #7
Cheryl King
Cheryl King is a multi-hyphenate theater maker from NYC, now making her home in Santa Rosa. She performs with Shannon and Alia in Forbidden Kiss, a show she produces at The California, and teaches acting, writing and improvisation at Artaluma, in Petaluma. She expects to complete the first draft of her first novel, Twisted Flower, by the end of 2023.
Da Salon #10, #11, 13
Marla Pedersen
Marla Pedersen is primarily a visual artist based in Petaluma, CA. She has been an artist and art teacher working in the Bay Area since 2004. She’s reading from a memoir about her experience being diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer in 2021 at the age of 40. Pedersen teaches workshops and expressive arts in her home studio to all ages and levels. She hopes her story, her art, and her facilitation of art processes inspire and encourage others to make meaning through creativity.
Da Salon #16
Matt Reischling
Matt Reischling is a longtime singer-songwriter, published author, and world traveler. He has released eight albums, and in 2021, published a well-received nonfiction book called Almost Weightless: Essays on the Journey to Myself. His follow-up book, Transmissions from a Restless Soul will be out in early 2024. For more info, visit: www.almostweightless.com
Da Salon #4 & #14
Frances Rivetti
Frances Rivetti is a Northern-California-based British American journalist and author. She has written four books: two non-fiction, regional food history and culture books in her Fog Valley series and two award-winning novels: Big Green Country and The House on Liberty Street. She is currently working on a third contemporary novel set on the Sonoma Coast. Her author website is Francesrivetti.com. Find her on social media at fogvalleypress.
Da Salon #10
Scott Schafer
Scott Schafer is still trying to justify the expense of a Creative Writing degree that he received nearly twenty five years ago. While he still plans to finish his book, he's lately been more focused on finishing an album of original songs or trying to squeeze a laugh or two out of a crowd in an open mic comedy set. He describes himself as a (mostly) cheerful nihilist. His non-writing projects include making ridiculous video games in which you must unclog angry toilets or pick blackberries, and also once designed the world's only "Waiting for Godot" board game during times of COVID and wildfire lockdown. scottschaferenterprises.com
Da Salon #5
Anna Simson
Anna Simson is an artist, writer, mother, and amateur gardener.
She started writing poems in year two of the global Coronavirus pandemic.
Her artwork and poems can be found on iG at amsimson
Da Salon #6, #9, #13
Tony Vigorito
Tony Vigorito is the author of the award-winning and critically-acclaimed underground hits, Love and Other Pranks, Nine Kinds of Naked, and Just a Couple of Days. Visit TonyVigorito.com to read his numerous essays as well as extended samples from all of his books.
You may also follow him via facebook @tonyvigorito.writer, and instagram or twitter @tonyvigorito
Da Salon #2 & #5
Nicole Ward MacDonald
"Kali Ma" has been teaching yoga & meditation for 23 years as Yoga with Nicole, and is a proud mother, local business owner, and part-time celebrity in her own mind. Nicole caught the stage bug performing in the live musical Hair in 2021 with the 6th Street Playhouse, going on to write/perform her own piece as Eartha Kitt for DaSalon, and later serving as dramaturge for the live musical Ain't Misbehavin' in 2022 with Sonoma Arts Theatre. Learn more about Kali Ma at www.yogawithnicole.org.
Da Salon #6
Nicole Zimmerman
Nicole R. Zimmerman (she/her) is a queer Jewish American writer born in Brazil and living with her wife in Petaluma. She holds an MFA from the University of San Francisco and was a recipient of Creative Sonoma’s Discovered Awards for Emerging Literary Artists. Her writing appears in publications such as Longreads, Sonora Review, The Rumpus, and Creative Nonfiction. Nicole leads women’s writing workshops using the Amherst Writers & Artists (AWA) method.
Da Salon #5
Dawn Robinson
Seven is a Band whose singer lives on a boat in Sausalito.
At times the band consists of many musicians, at times just of one.
Da Salon #11 & #15