The Stanzas
Greetings, fellow members of the world family, thank you for taking a moment to hear my songs.
My name is Bob McNeil. I am a writer and spoken word artist. In between doing freelance work for various magazines and newspapers, I work with my band, The Stanzas.Band/artist history
All the members of the band have been playing professionally for years. Joe Caravella, the Bassist/Guitarist, is the resident rock aficionado and he is a great composer of his own music. Preston Fulwood, a keyboardist, is a producer and session musician. Ray Lewis, the guitarist, plays the blues and funk. Ron Sandiford, a keyboardist, comes from a jazz background, but he feels comfortable playing other progressions of music. Marcus Thompson, the drummer, is a young and ambitious performer. I, on the other hand, am a professional writer of stories, essays and verses who has the honor of performing with talented musicians.Have you performed in front of an audience?Over the years, I have had the great fortune of being the featured poet at various libraries and universities. Whatever honorarium I receive, I share with my accompanists. Having made that confession, when the opportunity presents itself, I am always willing to perform.
Your musical influences
My influences are too diverse to mention right now.What equipment do you use?
Since I am a neophyte when it comes to technical things, I have to say something irreverent about equipment. If you give my band mates skulls, bones, tin cans, spoons and chicken wire, they will still find a way of making music out of that stuffAnything else?
I recall, at the age of six, poems planted a seed in my mental soil. Now, since the Autumn of Adulthood has descended upon me, I feel my harvest came in the form of being a Poetry Editor for BLACFAX and the publication of my two books, Secular Sacraments, as well as The Nubian Gallery, A Poetry Anthology. Both of the poetic compendiums can be found in various libraries, universities and bookstores.
In the aforementioned anthology, I compiled the work of Amiri Baraka, Dennis Brutus, Abba Elethea, G. Winston James, Jacqueline J. Johnson, Patricia Landrum, Dr. C. Eric Lincoln, Lamont B. Steptoe and Cheryl Boyce-Taylor, among many others.
I was influenced by Whitmanesque exuberance, the Imagists and the Negritude Movement. Furthermore, even after all of these years of being a professional illustrator, actor and writer, I still hope to express and address the needs of the human mosaic.
Besides writing professionally, I am an orator of some renown. For example, I had the pleasure of performing on W.B.A.I., an F.M. Station. To date, I was the Featured Poet at numerous libraries throughout the tri-state area. I look forward to performing again with my spoken word and music group, The Stanzas, in the future.Admin
Bob
@Bob McNeil
