Lauren Jonik is an editor, journalist and photographer who lives in Brooklyn, NY. Deeply valuing the beauty of creative expression, she enjoys combining her love of music with her passion for writing and photography. In addition to contributing her talents to several online and print publications including Natural Health, Campus Circle, Collected Sounds, The Square Table, The Muse's Muse and Penwomanship, Lauren has a monthly column in the NYC print publication IndieSoundsNY. She also enjoys practicing yoga, attending concerts, travelling, meeting interesting people, visiting museums, haunting libraries and bookstores, participating in outdoor activities like mountain biking and hiking and being an advocate for women who have experienced chronic illness or who have survived violent crime. Lauren can be contacted at: lauren at soundaffects.net

Alice Barkwell was born and raised in La Grange, GA and currently resides in Columbus, GA. Before becoming fully immersed in the world of rock and roll as a writer and photographer, Alice was a school teacher. She graduated from Emory University and has a column in Playgrounds Magazine. Alice loves cats and is the proud mother of three sons and three grandsons. Some of her favorite bands include: Dishwalla, Everclear, Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers. To contact Alice, email: abarkwell at aol.com

Janet Reid Boltz is from the Detroit area and studied photography at the University of Michigan. She enjoys combining her love of photography and music, and can often be found taking pictures at concerts. She loves too many bands to name favorites, but many of them can be found in pictures on her website, www.reidphotography.com. If you would like to contact Janet, you can email her at janet at reidphotography.com.

Matt Boltz is a Michigan native who enjoys listening to and writing about both national and local music. He can be reached via email at soundaffectsmatt at hotmail.com.

Blair Bryant was born and raised in Louisiana. A senior at Southeastern Louisiana University, she has dreamed of becoming a publicist in the music industry since she was in high school. Just finishing her two-semester stint at her university's radio station, Blair is well on her way to achieving her dream, upon graduating in the spring of 2004 with a degree in Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations. Her favorite recording artists include Interpol, Beth Orton, Maroon 5, The Walkmen, Ben Harper, Damien Rice and The Raveonettes, just to name a few. Blair especially would like to thank Lauren for this opportunity to become a contributor to SoundAffects.net. You can contact her anytime at blair_eliza at msn.com.

Traci Curtis is a former radio personality who has "retired," yet still works in radio in Nashville. She started radio at KROQ in Los Angeles and has worked at stations in Texas, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. While she is not great with adjectives, at least her musician husband can add some "techincal wording" to her reviews. Traci can be contacted at tstuff2004 at yahoo.com.

Corinne Ferraro is a public servant living and working in the New York, NY area, where she takes great enjoyment in the local music scene. She previously obtained an undergraduate degree in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania and a graduate degree from Temple University and thanks WXPN of Philadelphia for harvesting her early musical tastes. Corinne also has a significant interest in theater, which fuels her interest in jazz- and caberet-influenced popular music, in addition to folk and alternative sounds. She has a background in classical vocal and choral music, which propels her particular interest in vocalization and vocal harmony. Outside interests include animal welfare, law, and public policy. Corinne can be reached at jerzgrll at optonline.net

Tracie Galinski, originally from New Jersey, discovered her passion for music early in life. Since the age of three she knew her future was to work in the music industry. Two decades later, that is exactly what Tracie is doing, and she revels in every minute of it. Tracie has very eclectic musical tastes and loves when people send new artist recommendations her way. Tracie can be reached via e-mail at TracieAware at yahoo.com

Lorena Gyulai grew up in Sylmar, CA and currently resides in Mesa, AZ. She has always been a patron of the arts, participating in school musicals and chorus concerts. It is her passion for music that drove her to study music theory and recording at Mesa Community College. Her plans are to move to California and pursue a career as a recording engineer. Lorena has also written work for www.lostinthesupermarket.com and enjoys writing screenplays and poetry, listening to jazz, going to concerts, and playing soccer. Based on her belief that talent deserves a closer look and more exposure, she became part of the Aware Rep Program to gain more experience in the music business and raise awareness on various artists. Her favorite artists include Dishwalla, Rush, the Beatles, Paloalto, Elvis Costello, Jets to Brazil, U2, and Jimmy Eat World. You can contact Lorena at smokingumbrella at yahoo.com

Wendy Herbst, of Sassmansville, PA, is a certified massage therapist by day and a photographer by night. In addition to working in the holistic health care field, she has been involved in photography for the past few years and especially loves photographing architecture and interesting people. An avid music lover, Wendy's favorite artists include G Love and Special Sauce, Jack Johnson and Norah Jones. In her free time, Wendy enjoys snowboarding, tennis, reading, writing and stargazing. Wendy can be reached at: wendyherbst1 at yahoo.com

Emily Ignacio is a true Chicagoan, and teaches sociology classes about globalization, labor issues, race, and gender at University of Washington at Tacoma. She strongly believes in the universal language of music, and it is this simultaneous belief in the power of music and love of humanity that led her to her profession. Because music is so central to her life and her teaching, you can find her listening to music in various places ~ coffeehouses, ethnic restaurants, train stops and various street corners, as well as concert venues. She loves many bands, but credits Pearl Jam, Fugazi, Public Enemy, Disposable Heroes of Hiphopracy, John Lennon, Marvin Gaye, the Last Poets, Gil Scott-Heron, Funkadelic and Parliament, and Jello Biafra among others for helping her understand social issues more fully, as well as, Dishwalla and Incubus for keeping her company while she writes about said social issues. If you would like to contact Emily, you can email her at eignacio at u.washington.edu

Ami Lieberman was homegrown in sunny southern California. She has always loved music in general, and her obsessions with certain musicians borders on fanatic. Reading, writing and going to see live performances are among the many things she enjoys doing. As a recent graduate of UC Santa Cruz, she is currently looking for a career in publishing. She is very happy to be part of the musically appreciative family here at SoundAffects.net. You can reach Ami at veryam at hotmail.com

Jenni Mehlenbacher grew up in suburban Detroit and studied film/video and audio production at Grand Valley State University. Music has held an important place in her heart since childhood, and she appeared both on stage and behind the scenes in orchestras, theatre ensembles, and as a member of a college entertainment board. Jenni's interest in recording and live music brought her to her current home in southern California.

Marco Nieves, born and raised in Puerto Rico, harvested dreams to know and grasp the English language since before he could pass Level One in Nintendo's Mario Brothers. But game systems, comic books and movies weren't enough. In fact, most of his education took place in his room with cheap headphones listening to music like Fiona Apple by age 11, Tori Amos and Bjork by 13. In that young age he had already realized many things: his musical taste wasn't understood, his sexuality had to be kept under covers surrounded by religious zealots and his passion for English seemed like it could end up in disillusioned stagnancy. His heart and his little dreams obviously could not be fulfilled by living in a small island in the middle of the Caribbean, so he moved out abruptly to live by himself by age 19 in New York. Currently a pet groomer, he also manages to travel all over the United States to bask under concerts in strange cities, a lifestyle that is as thrilling as it is treacherous (standing still now seems so wasteful). By now some of his dreams have come true, but there's still a lot more to overcome. If you would like to contact Marco, e-mail: bloody_andante at hotmail.com

Lauren Patrie is from Woodstock, Georgia. Inspired by rock greats such as Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles and KISS, she developed an enthusiastic passion for rock-n-roll before she even started school. Currently, Lauren works as a rep for indie label Handpicked Records, and also for Island/Def Jam. She enjoys photography, mullet-hunting, concerts (especially Butch Walker), playing her guitar, and one day hopes to work at WNNX-Atlanta. Her favorite local Atlanta artists include Butch Walker, Injected, Chrystina Lloree, theYARD, Supermatic, Aslyn, Cody ChesnuTT, and [minus]. Lauren also runs the fansite InjectedRawks.com. She can be contacted either thru magical space aliens, or by emailing her at muttrawked at injectedrawks.com.

Erin Russell is a freelance photographer who was born and raised in Los Angeles. She feels she was born a musician, but born without any musical ability at all . . . which is why she shoots music, her own interpretation. Her favorite musicians include: Ben Lee, Sigur Ros, Interpol, That Dog, The Beatles, Travis and so many more. Her work has been featured in several places. . . she can tell you where if you'd really like to know. She can be reached at: erin at erinrussell.com

Darcy Sachs was born in Atlanta where she lived before heading off to school in Boston. She is currently a junior in the College of Communication at Boston University where she majors in advertising. Darcy loves music, and has developed a hobby of photographing the many concerts she attends. Some of her favorite artists are Goo Goo Dolls, Will Hoge, and The Replacements. Darcy can be contacted at ifeellikelaughing at yahoo.com

Linda Spielman is from Pittsburgh, PA, where she studied Journalism & Communications at Point Park College. Having worked in radio promotions and music journalism in the Pittsburgh area for nearly 10 years, she combines her love of music in everything she writes about or photographs. Currently the music columnist for the E Resource paper in Pittsburgh, she also writes for a http://www.rocknworld.com. If you'd like to contact Linda, you can email her at MonaLinda1 at aol.com

Angeline Vuong was born and currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia, where she is an avid supporter of the local music scene. She is a freshman at Georgia State University with a double major in Journalism and Music Technology. Her biggest aspiration is to produce a record that combines diverse sounds such as the Black Eyed Peas, Rancid, Fiona Apple, and AC/DC all in one band. She loves all areas of music and hopes that one day genres will be discarded. Aside from being a student, Angeline also serves as a rep for the music services company, Sixthman, and she also writes and photographs for www.starstruck-mag.com. You can contact her at angeline.vuong at starstruck-mag.com.

Sara Zeno lives in a little house with her sister, cat and dog in western Pennsylvania. A violinist during her years of public schooling, she still tingles to Dvorak's New World Symphony (especially the fourth movement) and continues in her love of music, taking pride in her open-minded, eclectic taste. She strives to show her reverence and gratitude for life by committing to strict vegetarianism, holistic health care, patience with children and animals, cultivation of her patch of Earth, and opening herself to creative and artistic expression. She's been known to bellydance, meditate, cook and practice yoga. Feel free to contact her at sunnyflower at comcast.net.

Kait Ziskin is a singer, songwriter and chronic liar from NYC. When not wowing you with her obscure (usually misquoted) references, she studies various art forms at Tisch School of the Arts/ NYU. While all oppurtunities to be a Warhol star and the third Tom Tom club member have passed her by, she looks forward to a future quietly altering your visual perception. To contact Kait, email: kaitziskin at nyc.edu