Manny V, Kevin Spears aka KalimbaMan, and Food for Cougars perform!
$10 Door
Doors @ 7:30 PM
I'm a Puerto Rican American singer/songwriter. Grew up in Phoenix, AZ. My early influences and inspirations came from listening to Spanish folk songs at family holiday parties. In 2006 I released my first solo acoustic EP. I started to travel and fell in love with the East coast from 2008 - 2010 when I recorded my second EP Boston Recordings 2008-2010 with some very talented young musicians from Berkley and Northeastern.
I moved to Charleston, SC in 2009 and teamed up with singer/songwriters who introduced me to genres like Americana and Southern Rock. Spent a couple years playing over 100 shows all over the Southeast clocking in stage time with Sam Stringfield, GoBox Party Band, Ross Childress, and Cory White. The lessons I learned, and the experience gained, helped me grow tremendously as a musician.
I've been living in the city of Atlanta now since 2013, and am looking forward to taking my music outside the country and playing in Latin America soon.
Considered by many as one of the best kalimba players alive today, Kevin Spears musical gifts have astounded audiences around the world and rewritten what was thought humanly impossible on this exotic musical instrument.
Spears' blinding skill and musical creativity are often compared to innovative legends such as Herbie Hancock, Jimi Hendrix and Les Paul among others and his uncanny ability to play multiple musical and percussive ideas simultaneously in a live setting is iconic, pure and simple...
Spears music is an acoustic electronic mix of funk, afro-beat, latin, trance with a dash of rock that will move your feet and stir your soul.
In addition to making his own instruments, KalimbaMan (as his friends call him) performs internationally including a recent tour of Japan and has worked with and/or opened for artists such as: Victor Wooten, India.Arie, Eric Benet, Col. Bruce Hampton, Toubab Krewe, Wudasse, POS (of De La Soul), Arrested Development, Bill Summers (of Herbie Hancock band), Vinx, Jhelisa Anderson, Divinity (bassist for Beyonce).
Drawing from many musical influences from around the world, Kevin's music bridges Africa to America from Jazz to Rock, Funk to Flamenco with a powerful infusion of spirituality.
We call ourselves Food for Cougars because our music can be a form of substance to those who may be in need. Alternative understanding of who we are can be laid out like this; if there is a time where you find yourself cornered by slightly aging yet agiled feline who is need of some chow we have been known to be such eats. What we bring is a electic yet forceful expression which allows the audience to draw whatever conclusion they so please.
Our inspirations come from people like Johnny Cash, Duran Duran, Migos, Tom Waits, Jefferson Airplane, Jimmi Hendrix, Joy Division, Neil Young, and Two Chainz. We are not here to fill some status quo, however, we are willing to donate ourselves to any hungry cat that might need there gullet filled.
Food for Cougars Official Site
Food for Cougars on Soundcloud