Steven Karl Zoltán Brust is an American fantasy and science fiction author of Hungarian descent. He is best known for his series of novels about the assassin Vlad Taltos, one of a disdained minority group of humans living on a world called Dragaera. His recent novels also include The Incrementalists (2013) and its sequel The Skill of Our Hands (2017), with co-author Skyler White.
Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden, known by her pen names Robin Hobb and Megan Lindholm, is an American writer of speculative fiction. As Hobb, she is best known for her fantasy novels set in the Realm of the Elderlings, which comprise the Farseer, Liveship Traders and Tawny Man trilogies, the Rain WildChronicles, and the Fitz and the Fool trilogy. Lindholm's writing includes the urban fantasy novel Wizard of the Pigeons and science fiction short stories, among other works. As of 2018, her fiction has been translated into 22 languages and sold more than 4 million copies.
Adam Stemple is a Celtic-influenced American folk rock musician, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is also the author of several fantasy short stories and novels, including two series of novels co-written with his mother, writer Jane Yolen.
Liavek is a series of five fantasy anthologies edited by Emma Bull and Will Shetterly set in a shared world.
Cats Laughing is a folk rock band, founded in the late 1980s in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and revived in 2015. Several of its members, including Emma Bull and best-selling author Steven Brust, are better known as writers of fantasy and science fiction.
The Reptile Palace Orchestra is an eclectic worldbeat band based in Madison, Wisconsin which specializes in lounge, klezmer and other Eastern European music. It began in 1994 with a gig at the Club de Wash, and since that time has become a notable fixture in the Madison music scene. Membership has varied, but the current line-up consists of Maggie Weiser, Biff Blumfumgagnge, Seth Blair, Kia Karlen, Bill Feeny, Robert Schoville, Greg Smith and Ed Feeny, and included Sigtryggur Baldursson of Sugarcubes/Björk fame on their first 2 Omnium releases, Iguana iguana and HWY X
Cordelia's Dad is a folk punk band from Northampton, Massachusetts, that combines folk and punk rock influences and was instrumental in the creation of the genre later to be dubbed "No Depression". The band formed in 1987 and was active until 1998, when the members relocated to different parts of the country. After releasing an album of older material in 2002 the band reunited in 2007 for their twentieth anniversary.
The Gypsy is a 1992 urban fantasy novel written by Megan Lindholm and Steven Brust. It blends elements of Hungarian folk tales with a modern-day detective story. The book contains many lyrics to songs that were later recorded by Minnesota Celtic-punk band Boiled in Lead for their album Songs from The Gypsy.
Gypsy or gipsy is an English name for the Romani people.
"Just a Little" is a song by the American rock group the Beau Brummels. The song is included on the band's debut album, Introducing the Beau Brummels, and was released as its second single, following "Laugh, Laugh". "Just a Little" became the band's best hit parade U.S. single, which peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1965. It also reached no lower than position #10 of the hit parades in Canada and Australia.
Boiled in Lead is a folk-punk/worldbeat band based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and founded in 1983. Tim Walters of MusicHound Folk called the group "the most important folk-rock band to appear since the 1970s." Influential record producer and musician Steve Albini called the band's self-titled first album "the most impressive debut record from a rock band I've heard all year." Their style, sometimes called "rock 'n' reel," is heavily influenced by both traditional folk music and punk rock, and has drawn them praise as one of the few American bands of the 1980s and 1990s to expand on Fairport Convention's rocked-up take on traditional folk. Folk Roots magazine noted that Boiled in Lead's "folk-punk" approach synthesized the idealistic and archival approach of 1960s folk music with the burgeoning American alternative-rock scene of the early 1980s typified by Hüsker Dü and R.E.M. The band also incorporates a plethora of international musical traditions, including Russian, Turkish, Bulgarian, Scottish, Vietnamese, Hungarian, African, klezmer, and Romani music. Boiled in Lead has been hailed as a pioneering bridge between American rock and international music, and a precursor to Gogol Bordello and other gypsy-punk bands. While most heavily active in the 1980s and 1990s, the group is still performing today, including annual St. Patrick's Day concerts in Minneapolis. Over the course of its career, Boiled in Lead has released nearly a dozen albums and EPs, most recently 2012's The Well Below.
BOiLeD iN lEaD, sometimes referred to as BOLD NED, is the first album by Twin Cities-based folk-punk band Boiled in Lead, self-released on its own label, The Crack. It received widespread critical praise after its release; record producer and musician Steve Albini called it "the most impressive debut record from a rock band I've heard all year." It is more strongly centered on a blend of alt-rock and traditional Anglo-Celtic folk than the band's subsequent albums, though the Hungarian dance tune "Arpad's Guz" gives a hint of the band's later eclecticism. Boiled in Lead's first vocalist, Jane Dauphin, plays a larger role here than on Hotheads, her second and final album with the band, singing lead on most of BOiLeD iN lEaD's songs and helping anchor its sound in traditional folk. Bassist Drew Miller also performs lead vocal on a few songs, including "Byker Hill", but after this album would stay strictly an instrumentalist.
Hotheads is the second album by Twin Cities-based alt-rock/world-music band Boiled in Lead. Like its predecessor BOiLeD iN lEaD, it is strongly centered on a blend of alt-rock and traditional Celtic folk, and has been called its "most roundly Celtic" album.
Old Lead is an album by Minneapolis folk punk band Boiled in Lead. It collects the band's first two studio albums, 1985's BOiLeD iN lEaD and 1987's Hotheads, along with two tracks recorded during the Hotheads sessions.
From the Ladle to the Grave is the third album by Minneapolis folk punk band Boiled in Lead. It was the band's first recording with drummer Robin Adnan Anders, whose influence helped push the band further beyond Celtic rock into explorations of other world traditions. These included Bulgarian, Russian-Jewish, and Turkish music, as well as their version of The Hollies’ “Stop! Stop! Stop!” which interpolated a traditional Egyptian melody. The song "Cuz Mapfumo" simultaneously paid tribute to Chicago-based Irish musician Cuz Teahan and Zimbabwean Thomas Mapfumo.
Orb is the fourth album by Minneapolis folk punk band Boiled in Lead. It was produced by Hijaz Mustapha of British worldbeat band 3 Mustaphas 3. Orb found Boiled in Lead exploring a wider range of traditional music styles than ever before, moving beyond the confines of the Fairport Convention-influenced Celtic rock of previous albums and adding material from Albania, Romania, Macedonia, Sweden, Appalachia, and Thailand. The album's title reflects this, suggesting an embrace of a truly global musical perspective. Bassist Drew Miller attributed the widening of the band's sound to the eye-opening realization that their European audiences were just as comfortable with American musical styles as with any European forms. "We came to the decision that since we're Americans, there's no reason we have to play all Irish material. So we don't." Brett Durand Atwood of Gavin Report praised the album's eclecticism, calling it "a one-world sonic showcase for the tunes of our brothers, sisters, and ancestors." Besides the many world-music influences, Orb also delves into punk rock and psychobilly with guitarist/vocalist Todd Menton's "Tape Decks All Over Hell."
Antler Dance is the fourth album by Minneapolis folk punk band Boiled in Lead. It was the band's first recording with vocalist/guitarist Adam Stemple, who replaced Todd Menton after his departure in 1992. Founding bassist Drew Miller has called this personnel change the most significant shift in the band's history. Fiddler Josef Kessler also replaced the departed David Stenshoel. Stemple's addition to the band led to a heavier, more heavy metal-influenced sound, as well as a strengthening of the band's ties to the science fiction and fantasy community. Two songs on Antler Dance were co-written by fantasy novelist and Stemple's Cats Laughing bandmate Steven Brust, and "Robin's Complaint" was written by Stemple's mother, novelist Jane Yolen. The album also includes covers of Boney M.'s "Rasputin" and Bruce Springsteen's "State Trooper", originally from his album Nebraska.
A Rose for Iconoclastes is a folk album by drummer Steven Brust, an author of fantasy and science fiction novels and a member of the Minneapolis-based band Cats Laughing.
Silver is the seventh album by Minneapolis folk punk band Boiled in Lead. The band's first studio album in 13 years, Silver also marked Boiled in Lead's 25th anniversary. The album also reflected a number of significant lineup changes. It was the band's first studio recording after the return of longtime lead singer Todd Menton, and the addition of guitarist Dean Magraw. Longtime drummer Robin Anders played on Silver and at the album's live release show, but would leave the group later that year.
David Rockne Stenshoel was an American musician and visual artist, most well known as a longtime member of Celtic-rock and world-music group Boiled in Lead.
