Creativity in Captivity

The Grammy-nominated musical duo known as Trout Fishing In America. A genre-defying band with undeniable musicianship made up of a guitar, a bass and two vocalist with 25 albums to their name.

The president and founder of Potter & Potter Auctions specializing in the sale of  rare books, paper Americana, vintage posters, gambling memorabilia and magic antiques and collectibles. Finding and auctioning rare and unusual objects is Gabe's passion. Widely regarded as an authority on magic history and collectibles, he co-founded the auction house in 2007, after conducting a not-to-be-believed appraisal of Jay Marshall's legendary collection. Since then, he's discovered and brought to market an astonishing variety of material, from original Houdini mementos, to rare posters, early books, circus & wild west, maps & atlases, photography, movie & music memorabilia, as well as historical documents, letters & autographs.

Diane grew up immersed in the musical soul of New York City.  Garisto sang on her first recording at the age of eight, and went on to record with artist like Billy Joel, Nile Rodgers, George Benson, Carly Simon, Laurie Anderson and Malcolm McLaren. She provided background vocals for Paul Simon on his Grammy-winning Graceland and toured internationally as a member of Steely Dan, but her career peak came in the mid ‘90s when she became a member of Laura Nyro's celebrated Harmony Group. As one of Nyro's famed backing trio, Diane toured the world with Laura and sang on the albums Live: The Loom’s Desire and Live In Japan. “Performing these songs today with a band of Manhattan’s top musicians and singers is my way of keeping Laura’s spirit vibrant and alive,” Garisto says. “For us and for her fans, Stoned Soul Picnic is a celebration of the art and soul of Laura Nyro.”

Our creative seasonal jam with musical showcases from The Fabulous Equinox Orchestra, Nicole Henry, Sons of Serendip, Maia Sharp, Trout Fishing in America, Larry Miller, Martin Burke, Middleman Burr & Aubrey Logan.

A finger-flicking French magician who is the winner of the Mandrake d’Or in France and the first French female magician to fool Penn and Teller in their famous American television show Fool Us. The daughter of Dominique Duvivier, a living legend in magic, she faced a double challenge: to make a name for herself under the shadow of her illustrious father and to become a highly respected artist in the predominantly masculine world of magic. Her father didn’t push her to become a magician like himself. As a child he never showed her any tricks: it was only at the age of 15 that Alexandra decided to become, little by little, the worthy heiress of her father’s empire. She has become a favorite artist of the biggest brands for their private events: Hermes, Louis Vuitton, Chanel and  L’Oréal. She has served as a hand double for some of the most famous names in the cinema.  Alexandra has eight shows to her credit: three solo stage shows, three shows performed as a double act with her father, a children’s show and a show performed entirely in English. With her sharp humor, her pure and engaging magic, her natural empathy with both young and old, she charms and amuses her delighted audiences.  She is the founder of a French Conjuring school and an instructor for the first ever diploma in magic recognized by the Ministry of Labor in France. In 2021, she and her father created the streaming channel www.doublefond.tv  to learn magic with the greatest masters.

The artistic directors of Pilobolus a rebellious dance company that tests the limits of human physicality to explore the beauty and the power of connected bodies. They bring this tradition to global audiences through their post-disciplinary collaborations with some of the greatest influencers, thinkers, and creators in the world. They bring their decades of expertise telling stories with the human form to show diverse communities, brands, and organizations how to maximize group creativity, solve problems, create surprise, and generate joy through the power of nonverbal communication. Pilobolus has created and toured over 120 pieces of repertory to more than 65 countries. They have been featured on CBS This Morning, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, NBC’s TODAY Show, MTV’s Video Music Awards, The Harry Connick Show, ABC’s The Chew, and the CW Network’s Penn & Teller: Fool Us. Pilobolus has been honored with a TED Fellowship, a 2012 Grammy® Award Nomination, a Primetime Emmy® Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cultural Programming, and several Cannes Lion Awards at the International Festival of Creativity. In 2015, Pilobolus was named one of Dance Heritage Coalition’s “Irreplaceable Dance Treasures”. In 2024, the book “Pilobolus: A Story of Dance and Life” was written by author Robert Pranzatelli tracking the company from its counterculture origins through its pop-culture triumphs and contemporary global acclaim.

Claire is from a family of artists where sketchbooks were ever present. Her father Glen is an animator, her grandfather Bil was a cartoonist and apparently her great granddad drew machine parts for steam engines. Her uncle Jeff is a cartoonist, her brother Max draws and animates… so does her cousin. And from the looks of it, her kids are following in her footsteps. After studying design at Parsons School of Design and l’École Supérieure d’Arts Graphiques in Paris, she began her career at Disney Feature Animation in California designing for Tangled, Frozen and Enchanted among other films. Over time, her work expanded to include picture books including Little Wonder, Prunella, Love is, Not Yeti, Make Way, Once Upon a Cloud, and a range of other collaborative projects. In the summer of 2024, Claire returned to Paris with her children, where you’ll often find her sketching in a café alongside her basset hound, Stanley.

Bassist, composer, educator and actor John Brown teaches at Duke University and currently serves as Vice Provost for the Arts, Director of the Jazz Program and Professor of the Practice of Music. He has performed internationally with artists like Wynton Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis, Delfeayo Marsalis, Elvin Jones, Nnenna Freelon, Cyrus Chestnut, Diahann Carroll, Rosemary Clooney, Nell Carter, Lou Donaldson, Slide Hampton, Nicholas Payton, Frank Foster, Larry Coryell, Cedar Walton, Fred Wesley, Bernard Purdie and Mark Whitfield, as well as giving regular performances as a substitute with the North Carolina Symphony since 1992. He has performed for President Barack Obama, and at major national and international venues and festivals in Asia, Europe and across North and South America. John has a Grammy nomination for his performance and co-writing on Nnenna Freelon’s 1996 Concord release, Shaking Free, and he has an Emmy nomination for producing the first Duke Student Arts Showcase. He has also produced and performed on recordings for Nnenna Freelon and Linda Lavin. The film One Night in Kernersville (documenting the first recording session of John’s Big Band) won “Best Short Film” at the Full Frame Film Festival, “Best Cinematography” at the Charlotte Film Festival and was featured on the Documentary Channel. John has also served multiple times as a juror and as Chair for the Pulitzer Prize in Music and for various engagements with the National Endowment for the Arts.

A multi-platinum songwriter who combines humor, wisdom and inspiration with soaring vocals and acoustic arrangements to give her audiences a “faith-lift.”  Jana is the founder of Together For Good Worldwide and Refugee Film School as well as the co-founder of Together We Can Change the World.  Her songs have been featured on television shows like 20/20, Entertainment Tonight, and Oprah, and movie soundtracks, sung by Reba McEntire and others. While her compositions were climbing the music charts, often sung by other artists, Jana was charting a different path. With a background in TV journalism, music, and stand-up comedy, Jana turned her concerts into Keynote Concerts, becoming a Certified Speaking Professional with two TEDx performances in addition to two concerts at Carnegie Hall. Jana Stanfield has delivered her Keynote Concerts in the United States, Canada, South Africa, Kenya, the Bahamas, Australia, New Zealand, India, England, the Netherlands, Dubai, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Spain, France, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Bali and Singapore.  Her TEDx talks were at NASA, and then in Chennai, India. To help girls without access to school, she and her professional speaking colleague, Scott Friedman, co-founded an international 501c3 called Together We Can Change the World, www.TWCCTW.com , with more than 15 projects in 5 countries to empower disadvantaged women and girls with education and job skills. She now lives in Bali, Indonesia, where she performs her music and humor.

Warren Etheredge is a Storyfinder™, a successful producer, published author, staged playwright, veteran festival programmer and much sought-after public speaker. He has conducted over 4000 interviews. He recently wrote and produced the feature doc, Downwind narrated by Martin Sheen which premiered at Slamdance 2023. Other producer credits include Personhood, Furever, All of Them, The Phantom 52, Last Requests , The Lost Mariner, Even the Walls. Every Beautiful Thing, and the webseries, The Enchanted Kitchen w/Sasha Graham. He teaches screenwriting/filmmaking at the University of Washington and Cornish College for the Arts. He is one of the founding faculty of The Red Badge Project, teaching combat veterans storytelling skills to cope with PTS. He has hosted multiple television series including the Emmy®-nominated The High Bar.  He served as the VP of Curation & Acquisitions for Tom Skerritt’s start-up, Triple Squirrels Media. He is the Co-founder/Curator for the Walla Walla Movie Crush, shorts programmer for The Seattle Jewish Film Festival and lead programmer for the Summer Shorts Film Festival.

A director, writer & storyboard artist with an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Ratatouille. Jim is a ASIFA-Hollywood Annie Award winner for his short films Your Friend The Rat. He directed the critically-acclaimed end titles for Pixar's Wall•E.  After Mr. Capobianco graduated from California Institute of the Arts, he started in the story department at Walt Disney Feature Animation on The Lion King and then proceeded to have an influence on many of the stories at Pixar Animation, including Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo, UP and Inside Out. In 2009 Jim finished Leonardo a short film now in the permanent collection of the MoMA NYC. Has published children’s books and is the voice of Gary Garbage on Netflix’s GoGo Cory Carson. With Aerial Contrivance Workshop, Jim was the 2D animation sequence director for Walt Disney Motion Pictures’, Mary Poppins Returns and wrote and directed the animated feature film The Inventor, a story about Leonardo da Vinci bringing the Renaissance to France and the future.

Chief Creative Officer and Partner at SuperBloom House, an independent creative company that transforms the way brands show up in the world. Heather holds previous roles at Virtue, the agency from VICE, and as VP of Creative across all branded content and brand-led entertainment at Vox Media, She has spent the last decade helping clients shape culture beyond traditional advertising. She led the charge across Beauty of Blackness (Sephora, streaming on MAX), A Woman's Place (KitchenAid, Hulu), and forthcoming Embodied (Novo Nordisk, AppleTV+)

In this special episode we celebrate the 99th birthday of The King of Late Night, Johnny Carson. Pat Hazell visits with Tonight Show Producer and President of Carson Entertainment Group, Jeff Sotzing about Johnny’s affection for variety acts. The show features the cast of Carson Tonight: master magician, Lance Burton; America’s Got Talent juggling duo, The Passing Zone (Jon Wee & Owen Morse); comedian, Cathy Ladman; ventriloquist, Jay Johnson; and jazz vocalist, Nicole Henry. All discuss their memories of Johnny and making their debuts on the show that launched their careers. Happy Birthday to Johnny Carson on Oct 23rd.

Comedian, actor, television writer, author and musician Paul Reiser is one of Hollywood’s most prolific creatives.2024 is a busy year for Reiser. On the heels of his new comedy The Problem with People which Reiser wrote, produced, and starred in alongside Colm Meaney and Jane Levy, Reiser has projects across a multitude of media formats. In March, Carter Burke, Reiser’s iconic character from Aliens re-emerged in a What-if… concept comic book from Marvel comics and he appeared in the independent comedy The Gutter, directed by Isaiah and Yassir Lester. Reiser also co-wrote the New York Times bestseller What A Fool Believes: A Memoir the candid, freewheeling memoir of his friend and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Michael McDonald. In July, Reiser will appear in Netflix’s Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, reprising his role from BH Cop 1 and 2. Recently, Reiser could be seen in Hulu’s critically-acclaimed comedy series “Reboot” by Modern Family creator Steve Levitan. He also took his first step into bloody, superhero glory in Season 3 of Amazon Prime’s Emmy-nominated The Boys playing “The Legend.” Reiser is widely celebrated for his roles in two hit shows for Netflix: Stranger Thing  and Chuck Lorre’s The Kominsky Method, for which he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor. Mad About You, the long-running Emmy, Peabody, and Golden Globe-winning comedy that Reiser created and starred in with Helen Hunt, returned as a limited series on Spectrum Originals. Reiser earned acclaim for his supporting role in the Academy Award-winning film Whiplash. The veteran actor has garnered praise for notable performances in films such as Diner, Bye Bye Love, One Night At McCool’s, and The Thing About My Folks, which Reiser wrote for his co-star Peter Falk. Reiser is a fixture behind the camera as well. He co-created and produced the seven-episode series There’s Johnny!, a seven-episode series which streamed on Hulu and Peacock. The show, a fictional story set behind-the-scenes of Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show circa 1972, co-produced with director David Gordon Green. His new standup special – his first in 30 years – will be released later this year via Comedy Dynamics.

A comedian and magician who headlined Cirque du Soleil’s Mad Apple, has been featured on America's Got Talent, Last Comic Standing, Conan, Sherri, Comedy Central's This Week at the Comedy Cellar and National Geographic Channel's Brain Games. Harrison was a senior producer for Primetime: Would You Fall for That? and story producer for VH1’s This is HOT 97. He was also the head writer for Tu Nite con Lorenzo Parro, the first late night show on NBCU/Telemundo, a staff writer for Tha God’s Honest Truth with Charlamagne Tha God on Comedy Central, and a long-time freelance writer for MAD Magazine. He is a recipient of the Andy Kaufman Award (2010) for creativity and originality in comedy, the Shorty Award in collaboration with Comedy Central and the New York Comedy Festival for "Best Emerging Comic" (2011), and the Magners Comic Stand-Off (2011). But the award Harrison is the most proud of is Tannen's Magic Camp "Camper of the Year," which means two things: (1) Harrison went to Magic Camp and (2) Harrison was a virgin until college. He co-founded the Harvard College Stand-Up Comic Society, the first organization at Harvard dedicated to the performance and appreciation of stand-up comedy, and one still popular on campus today.

An innovation strategist, design thinker and the author of The Wonder Mindset who is on a mission to transform companies, foster community and empower human potential. With over two decades of experience in spearheading strategic initiatives, she successfully led organizations through complex challenges, elevating design maturity and fostering cultures of innovation and growth. Sarah’s expertise spans digital strategy, design thinking, and corporate social responsibility, with a focus on leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as AI, AR in integrated Customer Experiences to create sustainable value and impact. As the CEO and Founder of Evolve X Wonder and Wander, Sarah built a thriving community and a dynamic portfolio of offerings that empower individuals and organizations to evolve and excel.

The Founder and Chief Creative Officer of the Nashville-based independent ad agency THE MAYOR. Tom produced award-winning work in four straight Super Bowls for Avocados from Mexico and RadioShack. He's also a contributing factor in the famous Farmers Insurance jingle "We Are Farmers" and starting the infamous Popeye's Chicken Wars. Tom's work has been featured in The New York Times, Fast Company, Forbes, and the Guinness Book of World Records. Four pieces of his work are in the permanent collection at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

A Creature F/X artist in the UK for over 30 years, Maria’s career began working at Jim Henson's Creatureshop in London.  She went on to specialize in art finishing, hair, fur and feathers. Her work has taken her on many adventures from Star Wars, to Harry Potter and Maleficent, to a number of epic historical films over the years. She has a passion for magic and circus and is a collector of hobbies.

With an unprecedented four Juno awards for songwriter of the year, Jim Vallance is one of Canada’s pre-eminent songwriters and the creative force behind top tracks for artists like Bryan Adams, Aerosmith, Joe Cocker and Glass Tiger. He played drums with the Vancouver band Prism, and wrote their first single, Spaceship Superstar (which was played on the Discovery Space Shuttle). After touring with Prism,  he became a session musician before a chance meeting with 18-year-old Bryan Adams determined his songwriting career direction. The two began a fruitful decades-long songwriting collaboration.  Adams’s album, Cuts Like a Knife, yielded three hit singles co-written with Vallance, and reached platinum. The follow-up album Reckless cemented the Vallance-Adams writing partnership in the annals of rock music. No. 1 on the Canadian and U.S. album charts, it sold five times platinum, with six Vallance co-writes in the Top 15, including the duo’s first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single, Heaven; and the No. 1 Mainstream Rock tracks Run To You and Somebody. Vallance concentrated on songwriting, penning a non-stop stream of hit rock ballads, including the now-famous chart-topping charity single Tears Are Not Enough, a collaboration with Adams and fellow Canadian producer David Foster. Jim’s creative talent has benefitted top international acts like Pat Benatar, Roger Daltry, Neil Diamond, Bonnie Raitt, Carly Simon, Joan Jett, The Go-Go’s, Rick Springfield, Tina Turner,  Rod Stewart, Anne Murray, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Chilliwack, Loverboy, Toronto, Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper, KISS and The Scorpions. Vallance went on to collaborate with Adams on songs for the Broadway show Pretty Woman: The Musical. He has served on the boards of SOCAN, the Songwriters Association of Canada, and FACTOR, is a member of the Order of Canada, and boasts 22 SOCAN Classic awards and the Lifetime Achievement Award.

A well-regarded producer of television specials and variety shows, George Schlatter, in 1967 pitched to NBC an idea that was a radical departure: a comedy special inspired by the hippie counter-culture, one which would take the idea of sit-ins, love-ins, and be-ins, and manifest that politicized, sexualized, consciousness-raising energy into comedic sketches. The special, Laugh-in, was so successful it became a regular television series, running from January 1968 to March 1973 and eventually becoming the #1 show on TV.  George is the author of the new book Still Laughing: A Life in Comedy featuring never-before-told backstories from the creation of one of the most beloved shows in television history. It also recounts the coming-of-age of one of television’s great producers, from his early nightclub days in Vegas, rubbing elbows with iconic mob figures like Mickey Cohen and John Stompanato, to his influential friendships with Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra, for whom George was asked to deliver a eulogy at his funeral.