Jon Rozzelle

An inhabitant of the dives in and around the Cave Creek foothills of Arizona originally hales from Charlotte, Jon Rozzelle has been writing, performing and recording music since the age of thirteen and gained notoriety during the 80's in the Mid-Atlantic Region of the United States as a musician, producer, engineer and arranger. Rozzelle's talents span a broad spectrum of musical abilities including, singing, writing, playing guitar, bass, keyboards, programming and sequencing. He has been a member of such bands as, The Spongetones, Madrigal, 14 Feet Wide and Cult Mechanics. Jon currently freelances as a Flash developer, designer, producer and writer.

Jon developed a love for Beatle Music while performing with the Charlotte based British Invasion quartet The Spongetones. Jon shared duties as lead vocalist, played bass and piano and toured extensively across the U.S. performing in venues like, CBGB's, The 9:30 Club, The Carowinds Palladium The Greensboro and Charlotte Coliseums and the Exit Inn in Nashville. Performing with The Spongetones instilled a strong respect for The Beatles musical skills and writing ability. But alas all good things come to an end and Rozzelle departed the band in late 1987 to design, develope and engineer a new recording studio.

Jon was a founding member of the Charlotte based Rap-core quartet 14 Feet Wide in which he played guitar and keyboards, Rozzelle also doubled as Producer for 14 Feet's self titled debut release and the band's second CD P.O.R.N. Jon continued with 14 Feet Wide for six years while developing his solo project, Cult Mechanics. Cult Mechanics is an amalgam of styles ranging from the power blues of Led Zeppelin to the thought provoking writing of A Perfect Circle." Cult Mechanics is still a work in progress and will never truly go away." exclaims Rozzelle. "It is an avenue, an open door if you will, which I intend on walking through every chance I get!"

Cult Mechanic's first release, Black is available through Amazon.com, I-Tunes, Rhapsody, CD Baby and others. Jon is currently working on material for a 2009 Cult Mechanics release entitled 7 Mag .

Ken Micallef

A New York City native whose seventh floor two-channel stereo masks the evils that blast from his tourist-ridden MacDougal Street block, Ken Micallef has been writing about music and audio for more years than his chin has doubles. Originally an artist, bon vivant, musician, and 6SN7 thief, Micallef has written for such publications as JazzTimes , Rolling Stone , Blender , Downbeat , Musician , Time Out , Interview and the Holy Roller Roundup .

Born in Detroit to a Maltese tailor and a queen of the south, Micallef showed an early aptitude for art, and line drawing became a passion. Multiple Scholastic Art awards led to enrollment at one of North Carolina's finer institutes of higher learning. Corporate slavery held Micallef in its grasp for a brief period, before he dropped out, tuned in and grew a goatee. After several attempts to build a snare drum from old playing cards and knickers, Micallef discovered the joys of jazz under the tutelage of Berklee School of Music instructor James Baker. The secrets of Tony Williams, Mickey Roker, Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette and Kenny Washington were divulged with much fanfare. That study and experience instigated a life-long love of jazz and jazz drumming in Micallef's brain. After several years of playing in the NC area -- big bands, trios, fusion ensembles, bar-mitzvahs and pool parties -- Micallef moved to New York and entered the two- year program at Drummer's Collective. Studying at night and working at the now-defunct Cash Box Magazine during the day caused Micallef to switch careers. Suddenly writing about music became more rewarding than performing it.

Micallef penned Billboard's first world music articles in 1990. In 1996, he wrote Rolling Stone's first “electronica” reviews. Later that same year Micallef reported in Musician magazine that Grant McLennan of Australian band The Go-Betweens had died. He had not. (McLennan did die eventually, proving Micallef's story to be oddly prescient.) Undeterred, Micallef soon began covering trendy music for Spin , Ray Gun , New York Magazine , Stereophile and Modern Drummer before settling into a comfortable existence as a freelance journalist, which continues to this day. Micallef credits Leacy and the ghosts of MacDougal Street with his success.

Micallef's first book, The Way They Play -- The Classic Rock Drummers (Hal Leonard) was published in early 2007. He is currently working on his next book, Jim Gordon -- Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs , to be released sometime before 2010.