Steve Hofstetter -
Author, columnist, and comedian Steve Hofstetter is often called the hardest working man in show-business. With all due respect to the late James Brown. Hofstetter's national TV debut came on ESPN's Quite Frankly, where Stephen A. Smith yelled at him for three minutes. Hofstetter has also appeared on CBS' "Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson", Showtime's "White Boyz in the Hood", VH1's "Countdown", Sundance's "On the Road in America", and ABC's "Barbara Walter's Special", where he thankfully did not cry. He is the host and executive producer of "Laughs" on Fox networks, where he only cries occasionally.
One of the top booked acts on the college circuit, the original writer for collegehumor.com has also released six albums. Hofstetter has written humor columns for the New York Times, SportsIllustrated.com, and NHL.com, where he publicly admitted to being a Ranger fan.
After hosting Four Quotas on Sirius Satellite Radio for two seasons, Hofstetter moved to broadcast radio, and his Sports Minute (Or So) was syndicated on over 170 stations and in over 30 newspapers. Hofstetter's second live comedy album ("Cure For the Cable Guy") reached #20 on Billboard's comedy charts. His third album ("Dark Side of the Room") was the first ever pay-what-you-want" comedy album, since people were going to steal it anyway. His fourth album consisted of an hour of 100% ad-libbed material, which is, frankly, nuts. And his fifth album hit #1 on iTunes' comedy charts, which is also a bit nuts.
Hofstetter's brutal tour schedule consists of over 100 colleges and dozens of clubs every year, and is fueled by an
immense online popularity, tons of press, and a Prius with great gas mileage. He reached 200,000 friends on
Facebook (still the world record), 400,000 more on MySpace, and high shelves in grocery stores.
While Hofstetter's live shows are routinely sold out, he is best known for his writing, first published at age 15, mainly
to impress girls. At 18, he co-founded "Sports Jerk of the Week", an irreverent website featured by press like USA
Today's Baseball Weekly, Sports Illustrated and CNN. And at 20, Hofstetter took a year off of school to head up web content for the New York Yankees. The Yankees won the World Series that year, which would have been wonderful if they hadn't beaten Hofstetter's Mets. Yes, he's also a Mets fan. Poor kid.
While an undergraduate at Columbia University, Hofstetter was a well-read columnist for the Columbia Daily Spectator and a voice of the Lions. After a summer writing for Maxim, ESPN, and Sports Illustrated for Kids, Hofstetter syndicated his column in several newspapers.
Without his glasses, Hofstetter also looks a great deal like Michael Rappaport.
Big Richard -
The world-class musicians in Big Richard initially convened in 2021 for a festival date.
The quartet showed up to the one-off like it had been together for years and quicklygraduated to club shows and dates. The musicians siphon from bluegrass, old time, classical, country, and pop. Bursting with jaw-dropping virtuosity; playfully irreverent stage banter; stunning four-part harmony; imaginative arrangements; a refreshingly eclectic repertoire; and a healthy dose of lady rage, Big Richard is poised to penetrate the Americana music world and beyond.
To date, the quartet has issued 3 singles, the Live from Telluride album, and it has new music on the way.
Jessie Thoreson & The Crown Fire -
Jessie Thoreson & The Crown Fire is an upbeat folk-rock band whose propulsive melodic
energy is grounded by upright bass and drums and buoyed by acoustic guitar and soaring vocal
harmonies. This music is inspired by lyrical stylings of the folk legends Joni Mitchell and John
Prine but draws from the grit and complexity of artists including Fiona Apple, Madison
Cunningham, and Lake Street Dive. The Crown Fire’s songs often speak to the musical
inspiration that comes from being surrounded by, and in relationship with, wild places.
The High Hawks -
The High Hawks are a group of musical friends who hail from various jam and Americana bands: Vince Herman, frontman and festival ring leader from Leftover Salmon; Tim Carbone, ace fiddler and multi-instrumentalist from Railroad Earth; Adam Greuel, ring leader and guitarist from Horseshoes & Hand Grenades; Chad Staehly, keyboardist from Hard Working Americans; Brian Adams bassist for DeadPhish Orchestra; and Will Trask, drummer from Great American Taxi. The six musicians/raconteurs were looking for a way to play music together, so they formed The High Hawks in 2019 and released their eponymous debut in 2021. “We have a real common musical bond, and we just wanted to find a reason to hang out as birds of a feather and play tunes with each other,” Herman explains. The band will release its second full length album, Mother Nature’s Show, on February 16, 2024, via indie roots label LoHi Records.