When you look up the word biography, the Webster dictionary defines this as a written history of someone's life.  Well, I figured no one would be able to tell this story better than I could, which is why this won't be a traditional artist bio.

My life as a performer started very early on.  Classically trained in ballet, jazz, tap and modern dance, I stepped in, unexpectedly, as a back up dancer when a Destiny's Child dancer suddenly had to leave the tour. It was then I developed a deep sense of culture, style, and artistic influences.

I had the opportunity to work with all three of the ladies of Destiny’s Child, as solo artists and collectively together as a group.  

My latest work for the ladies includes co-writing Beyonce's "Get Me Bodied" and "Upgrade You"  off of her B’Day album, Kelly’s "Love" off of her second album, Ms. Kelly and Michelle Williams' latest first single "We Break the Dawn" off of her forthcoming CD, Unexpected, before getting back to making my own music for my second project.  

My father once brought me to this piece of land in downtown Houston....  He said he was building a compound there for his record label along with a studio for me to write and record my music. When I looked at this city block all I could see was this empty lot with an old plantation home in a homeless and drug infested area, but he had a vision and a dream that he held onto and made into reality.  This location is now the headquarters for a project he started in the spare bedroom of my childhood home. The name of the street is Hadley St. and this is indeed where I started the making of my album.  It was an eye opener and an evolution for me as an artist. I decided lyrically that I would tell my story, with hopes to inspire and most importantly spare no punches in holding back. This was the birth of Sol-Angel & the Hadley St. Dreams.

If I had to describe the sound of my record, I would like to think that it is as if The Supremes, The Marvelettes, Dusty Springfield and Minnie Riperton were to make the music they did in the 60's and 70's now with a modern touch.

When hearing this album, I hope the listener is taken back to a time when music was melodic, sweet, and soulful.  When music was less provocative and came from a place of inspiration and storytelling. I hope to have followers with an intelligent ear and that are willing to take risk.  Hadley is a long long road to travel, and this is just the beginning for me.

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The Cliks to Headline at the 2009 Main Stage at SF Pride

It’s remarkable that something so good can come from feeling so bad. As is the case of most great art, Toronto trio the Cliks have dredged the emotional mire of the past two years to create Dirty King, a rich rock extravaganza showcasing a sonic expansion for the band. With music as textured and layered as the deeply varied emotional terrain it treads, feeling bad never sounded so good.

Composed from a place of deep turmoil, lead singer Lucas Silveira began work on the Cliks’ second album following the highly successful tours behind sophomore release Snakehouse. The band’s incendiary live shows became the calling card by which they were known, and in short order, musical heroes Ian Astbury of the Cult and Cyndi Lauper hand-picked the band for their respective tours.

Though critically lauded and publicly adored, Silveira returned road weary and emotionally shattered. Having spent 400 days on the road touring behind Snakehouse, Silveira was eager to return home, but home wasn’t the reprieve he’d hoped it would be. “The album is based around defeat, lies, deception, loss of trust in others and yourself,” explains Silveira. “I wrote the album coming from a really lonely place.” Indeed, the album plumbs difficult depths in the form of relationships and identity politics, as did the band’s Tommy Boy debut, Snakehouse, but here, there is a redemptive quality absent from the band’s previous output.  The price of that, however, is eternal vigilance. “Dirty King is more about having risen out of the ashes, being on your feet, but constantly having to dodge people trying to knock you down,” says Silveira.

With their rise out of the ashes comes new sonic territory for the band. Their most adventurous album to date finds the band teamed with producer-engineer Sylvia Massy (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tool) at her Weed, California based Radio Star Studios. “She’s my kind of producer,” says drummer Morgan Doctor. “She doesn’t come from a singer-songwriter background, but an engineering background, so she’s more about creating sound and texture in the studio.”

Despite themselves, the Cliks couldn’t help but make a record that made order out of tumult and sense out of turbulence. With pop hooks lacing the rock spines for which The Cliks are known, the songs inhabit the specificity of the circumstances under which they were written, all the while appealing to broader audiences. 

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2008 Main Stage Highlights

"Just dance!" - Lady Gaga on the 2008 SF Pride Main Stage (Photo Credit: Jane Cleland)

Lady Gaga on the 2008 SF Pride Main Stage

Check out last year's Main Stage Line-up here

sfpride.org