The Amy Ryan Band was formed in 2014 when Amy, a seasoned solo performer, was featured at an open mic in Chatham, NY.

Max Hamel is an artist, musician, and experimental instrument builder based in Hudson, NY. Drawing on influences from circuit bending, feedback systems, and chaotic circuit designs, Hamel builds synthesizers that rely on intuitive touch, gesture, and textural sound to create exploratory interactive experiences for the player. Jen Kutler is a sound based performer and sculptor. She modifies found objects that are cultural signifiers of power, gender, queerness and intimacy to create atypical instruments. Her performances feature many of her instruments incorporated with immersive field recordings to explore common and discrepant experiences of familiar social tones in immersive sound environments. Matt Weston -- "a true innovator." -- Vital Weekly (Holland) "one of the more important talents you can find in the world today." -- Kathodik (Italy) "Weston plays his brains and heart out" -- Byron Coley, the Wire Percussion+electronics. Collaborated with Chris Cooper, Andy Crespo, Bill Dixon, Kevin Drumm, Ben Miller (ex-Destroy All Monsters), Smog, others. Member of Arthur Brooks Ensemble V and Arc Pair. Since 2009 Mike Griffin has been exploring sound by steadily releasing Parashi missives on a slew of tape labels including Tape Drift, GNS, Stunned, and his own Skell Records as well as playing in Burnt Hills, Urkas, and Mensheviks. Busy guy, for sure. Though prolific his mounting body of work continues to evolve & expand in new ways with each release, broadening the bleak & often ominous abyssal planes he’s become known for. Still, a distinct signature naturally permeates into his sound: every dark corner & shrill tone is uniquely & unmistakably Parashi.

Volume is a FREE reading & music series featuring prose, poetry and a short DJ set. Every second Saturday at 7:00 pm at The Spotty. Books are available for purchase and signing. This month's writers include: Chaya Bhuvaneswar is a physician and writer with work in Narrative Magazine, Tin House, Electric Lit, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. Her debut story collection, White Dancing Elephants, was released in October. Madelaine Lucas is the author of the 2018 Elizabeth Jolley Prize-winning story, “Ruins.” Her writing has appeared in The Believer, Paris Review Daily, Literary Hub, and The Lifted Brow. Sadie Dupuis is a poet and musician. She is best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist for Speedy Ortiz. Mouthguard, her debut poetry collection, will be released on November 1st. Jessica Hornik is the author of A Door on the River. Her poems have appeared in the Atlantic, Poetry, the New Republic, the Times Literary Supplement, the Yale Review, and many others. Followed by a DJ set from DJ Danniel Schoonebeek.

The Quartet returns to the Spotty Dog! Mark Dziuba Mark Dziuba has been performing and teaching internationally for over 30 years. Starting at age 14 the guitar has rarely left his hands. He has studied guitar with Pat Martino, Steve Kahn and Dale Schenekl, improvisation with George Garzone and composition with Paul Zonn, Sal Martirano, Herbert Brun and others. Mark directs the Jazz Studies Program at the State University of New York at New Paltz where he serves as a tenured professor. His workshops on guitar styles and improvisation have been featured at the International Guitar Festival (Bath, England) the acclaimed National Guitar Workshop for 25 years (various US and European locations) and the Crown of the Continent Guitar Festival (Montana). He has had the opportunity to teach and perform with a who’s who of guitarists including Julian Lage, John Scofield, John Abercrombie, John Jorgeson, Tal Farlow, Larry Carlton, Trey Anastasio, Reeves Gabriels and the list goes on... Mark has performed with Dewey Redman, Victor and Alison Krauss, Mark Egan, Steve Bailey, Jay Anderson, Anthony Jackson, Gary Willis, Adam Nussbaum, Joel Kroznik (Julliard String Quartet), Joan Rivers, Lucy Arnez and many others. In addition to his performing career Mark is also a published author of various guitar and improvisational learning materials (Alfred Publishing). His teaching pedagogy is “based on presenting information that’s fun and engaging while always providing convincing examples”. Mark is comfortable performing and teaching within a variety of musical styles and he is also an accomplished electric bassist, drummer, lap steel player and composer/arranger. His playing combines cutting edge eclecticism with sublime traditions which often defies description. A unique voice that invites the listener deep inside for a provoking musical experience. Otto Hauser Musician Otto Hauser is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and educator best known for his work as a drummer. In addition to solo performances, Hauser leads the ensemble Expectations and co-leads the trio Late Regulars. Over the past twenty years, he has performed on dozens of studio albums and hundreds of live shows across North America, South America, Europe, and Asia, working with diverse artists such as folk legends Kath Bloom, Vashti Bunyan, Mike Heron, Michael Hurley, and Bert Jansch; rockers The Black Crowes, Gary Louris, Philip Selway, Jeff Tweedy, and Tony Visconti; drum legends Steve Gadd and Bobby Previte; the unclassifiable Meshell Ndegeocello; and many contemporary indie and folk acts, including Nat Baldwin, Devendra Banhart, Richard Buckner, Espers, Josephine Foster, Fruit Bats, Cass McCombs, Juana Molina, Elvis Perkins, Sharon Van Etten, Vetiver, and Jonathan Wilson. Hauser endorses Istanbul Agop cymbals and C&C drums. Originally from Rochester, Hauser currently lives in New York’s Hudson Valley. Terence Murren Terence Murren is a string bassist, electric bassist and guitarist. He studied classical string bass and composition with Sue Powell and Annea Lockwood at Vassar College. A jazz musician at heart he has studied bass with Tim Ferguson, Steve Neil and Drew Gress; as well as doing course work with Mike Richmond at NYU’s Graduate program in Jazz Performance. Along with leading his own group, the Eternal Now, Terence is an active member of the cajun alt. country group the Doc Marshalls and Matt Bauders’ Doo Wop group The White Blue Yellow and Clouds. Stuart Quimby Stuart Quimby is a classical and jazz composer, as well as a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist - playing flute, most of the baroque wind instruments, Balinese gamelan, various other woodwinds, keyboards (esp. early synths), and several experimental instruments of his own design). In addition he’s been a music educator, network analyst and designer, digital security consultant, computer programmer, geometer, applied mathematician, lecturer on childhood education, toy designer and manufacturer, mechanical engineer, chef, restaurateur, and general fool. Quimby has studied with Richard Davis, Paul Robeson, Les Thimmig, Roscoe Mitchell, Robert Dick, Doc Cheatham, Jean-Pierre Rampal, and Frans Brüggen among many others. An abbreviated list of his credits include stints with Luther Allison and the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and performances with Paquito D’Rivera, Ben Sidran, Vassar Clements, Jimmy Schwall, Gordon Lightfoot, the Brüggen Quartet, several chamber groups and classical ensembles, as well as the jazz quartet M.2.Q, which he co-founded. He has recorded on numerous albums over the years in multiple genres. Quimby has spent almost four decades exploring psycho-acoustics, especially microtonal tunings. He designed and built several experimental instruments – including a guitar with movable frets and an organ that plays 43 notes per octave. He has published articles in national journals on microtonal techniques for the flute, pitch perception, and the multi-dimensional representation of wave forms.

As part of THE SPUD release tour, we’re excited to present an evening of readings/performances by Brielle Brilliant, Lace Carter, Leah Danze, and Ren Cook. The SPUD is a puzzle: thinking/watching/living a movie rerun. Brielle Brilliant is a writer, filmmaker, and prank caller. She is the author of The Curtsy Family (Thoughtcrime Press), the director of STREAKERS, and the voice behind Calls/Deliveries. Her series, Illocutionary Hay, can be found on exhibition at Open House Contemporary in Chicago, IL. Her book, The SPUD, is now available online and will be released in stores November 6th, through Featherproof Books Press. Lace Carter makes zines, paintings, tattoos, and objects of varying levels of usefulness. They tell stories about the pain and joy of the human experience. Leah Danze paints, draws, and makes creatures out of cardboard and clay. Her artwork explores the desire and dance for intimacy. Ren Cook is an ecologist and author of 'Mirror Girl' (2016).

Multi-instrumentalist, composer, Colin Fisher is an active voice in the Improvised and Creative Music Community in North America. Has been most active with duo project Not the wind, Not the flag which includes percussionist Brandon Valdivia. They have a substantial recording output that includes releases on Healing Power, Medusa, Inyrdisc, Already Dead Records, Barnyard records and others. They have an upcoming vinyl release on Pleasance records as well as a live concert recording with William Parker, coming out on New Atlantis records. I HAVE EATEN THE CITY is an improvising trio featuring cellist/keyboardist/laptop artist Nick Storring and percussionist Brandon Valdivia. They have many recordings, their latest a tape from UK label Tombed Visions. Recently Colin recorded a record with nyc/philly band Many Arms who then released their record “Suspended Definition” on John Zorn’s Tzadik label. A subsequent US/Canada tour followed the release of their collaboration. Colin is a member of bands - Bernice, Body Help, Caribou Vibration Ensemble, Ask the Oracle, Prince Enoki Insect Orchestra, was a member of the AIMToronto Orchestra who performed at the guelph jazz festival playing the music of Anthony Braxton with Mr. Braxton conducting and playing with the orchestra, was a member of the Woodchoppers Association who had a successful tour with west African Griot masters Jah Youssouf and Abdoulaye Kone, played guitar in Isla Craig’s Continental Drift, was a member of Anna Linda Siddall’s band, “Aural manifestations of metaphysical struggles and a warped sense of reality. These are sounds and patterns created as an effort to maintain relationships with nature, truth, and organicism – while skeptically accepting technological modernity and the digital world.” Lucas Brode, a native of New York’s Hudson Valley, is a guitarist & composer who draws from jazz harmony, experimental rock textures, and African rhythms. In addition to studying jazz guitar and composition, he spent several years learning percussive concepts from traditional Ghanian master drummer, Yacub Addy. Lucas often performs solo, leads his own trio, co-leads the Post-Rock / Math-Rock hybrid Hannibal Montana, and is an active performer and improviser in the NYC and Hudson Valley experimental music scenes. Past and present collaborators include G. Calvin Weston, Kevin Shea, Luke Stewart, Colin Fisher, Zach Cooper, and many more. Lucas tours regularly, performing at museums, galleries, cafes, DIY spaces, and traditional music venues such as the New Museum (NYC), Knitting Factory (NYC), the Mothlight (Asheville), Rhizome (DC), the Windup Space (Baltimore), Spread Art (Detroit), Cafe Mustache (Chicago), and Gallery 5 (Richmond) to name a few. He has shared bills with many well known rock bands and avant-garde musicians throughout his career, including The Antlers, Tatsuya Nakatani, Oneida, Ava Mendoza, Kayo Dot, Brandon Seabrook, and others. Lucas currently lives in Westchester County New York where he maintains an active teaching schedule.