J. Michael Stovall - Illustrator

 

     J. Michael Stovall is an illustrator and graphic designer based in Texas. After working in advertising and marketing for over 15 years, Mike got fed up and chucked it all. Now he spends his days drawing and animating, with stints working at ADV Films in Houston as creative director, then in Austin, Texas as an animator on Richard Linklater's film "A Scanner Darkly" thrown in for good measure. He can now be found in Houston chasing that muse.

 

 

 

 

 

Bellamy Edwards
Writer

     Bellamy Edwards: A post-wave, quasi-modernist, swing daddy master who was raised in Edinburgh - the international city of culture - and educated there during the 'train-spotting' years. He left, forever, three weeks after finding his first 'real' job and took refuge in a commune of artists and radicals on a remote peninsula in the north of Scotland. Eventually he left with a caravan of gypsies and ended up in Jaffa, Israel where he bartered for a living in the five thousand year old market. There he raised enough money to travel through the continent of Africa, using Accra as his base. A few years later he was back in Europe, moving from city to city, always on the fringes of society, living precariously, hand-to-mouth, with tremendous style until eventually, ten years ago, he settled down in Amsterdam, returning to Africa whenever he can. 

     Bellamy is seeped in dark Juju and he grooves around like a bad thing. He once had high ideas verging on philanthropy, but they are now being replaced with nihilism and ennui as he watches society fragment and collapse into a gaudy, vulgar farce where only the banal and commonplace are of any consequence. When he was a small child his grandfather warned him, 'Never underestimate the mysterious power of stupidity,' and time and time again he is sadly reminded of this aphorism as culture becomes a word used only to describe bacterial growth in a petri-dish.

 

David Devereux
Writer

     Our Cad in London, David Devereux, serves to answer every mother’s question, it won’t hurt if I put just a little gin in his milk, will it?
 
   Thirty-odd years later, he will tell you “No,” as he swills down another immaculate cocktail and contemplates another trip into the sky. An author, expert on the occult, art collector, gourmet cook, aviation enthusiast and notorious bon vivant, his distinctive laugh can be heard from the beauties of the Savoy and Ritz to London’s more salubrious gin-mills - generally with a charming young lady or two in close proximity. His résumé is such that can only lead to writing: stand-up and radio comedy, a little light journalism, restaurant reviews, music, time as a bodyguard and a spell with Her Majesty’s Coroner are among the highlights of a life that has managed not to bore him too deeply – yet.
 
     His knowledge of slinging the booze comes from time behind bars, learning from old hands who still knew the value of tradition. “In a world of Slippery Nipples and various flavours of liquidised pseudo-fornication, I’d sooner spend time with a White Lady or a glass of Pol Roger,” he says. “I want my senses to be amused, amazed – shown new glories from what is, what was and what will yet be. The production-line mentality into which so many of us have fallen is no more than an illusive trap, from which any man or woman might escape with a little effort that is quickly, and richly, rewarded.”

     He is also frequently guilty of punning, but we try not to hold that against him. You can learn more about David at his website david-devereux.com.

Fredo Ceraso
Writer

     Born in Paris and raised in Queens by way of Kuala Lumpur, Milan, Port-au-Prince, Abidjian, and Atlanta, Fredo lived through the trans-formation of New York from the dingy streetlight yellow years of the 1980s into what it is today. His love for city's rich history, especially the subways, keep bringing him back home to Gotham. A constant explorer, he is a professional lounger, mixologist, and the brains behind Loungerati, a website devoted to lounge and jet set culture. His influences range from French New Wave to Cinecitta to Sinatra to West London Mod and Jet Set New York in the pre-Beatles 1960s. Fredo enjoys the formalism of the era but with an edge:
     When not pounding the pavement of the Naked City in search Cad-worthy subjects to write about, Fredo can be found on the bocce courts of Brooklyn's Carroll Park or in New York's premier cocktail lounges. He resides in Brooklyn with his wife Alli and their beagle.

Koop Kooper
Writer

     If Steve Irwin were alive today and was to head into the wilderness that is Sydney, Australia in search of what is commonly known as the Lounge Lizard he would most certainly search-for the sub species called Koop Kooper.

     Picture Steve Irwin trawling through the nite-spots on the lookout for Koop Kooper.

     'Well, by crikey this beautiful version of the lounge lizard is rare, mate. He only comes out at night, usually before he works the graveyard shift on radio. He is a writer and voiceover artist. He is known around town as a hepster who is always on the lookout for some crazy music. He mostly listens to lounge and loves the new stuff that is coming out these days such as Project Pimento and Don Tiki. Mate, he is a rare creature, an animal like the lounge lizard is pretty much extinct cobber. Now I've heard that he's been an avid collector of late fifties and early sixties furniture for over fifteen years now and has some truly amazing pieces. Clothing is naturally something that this swinger digs and he firmly believes that a well-dressed man should be a well-dressed man all the time in vintage threads and not just weekends.

    The Koop Kooper is a man who can cut a rug when required but more than likely this swingin' animal is most likely found propping up the bar. Diet includes the famed Blue Martini and most finger food. Working in the media as he does, he is often pictured at A-list events and is often likely to turn up at the opening of a letter. By crikey, you don't want to mess with this little fella. I've picked him up here and he's worried; he thinks I might be some strange fruit trying to get into his gab pants. Ohhh, look out. He's about to strike. Oooow, he just missed me. By crikey, he's good with his fists.....Must be why the ladies like him. He's manly but well dressed and he can pack a punch!

     Well, lets put him back into his natural habitat.....There ya go fella, oh there's nothing more gorgeous than a lounge lizard in the wild!"