25 Jan The Shaker/Flynn
Music + Poetry
The Shaker is the folk/punk band of Simi Stone & Philip Marshall, who since 2015 have often performed with poet Nick Flynn, sometimes as Shaker Flynn, sometimes as Killdeer. The poems weave between the verses of the songs, building layers of meaning and surprising emotional resonances. The Shaker will perform poems from Flynn’s book Low at Woodstock Bookfest.
Nick Flynn is the author of 13 books, including Low and Some Ether, and a past winner of the PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry. His bestselling memoir, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, was made into a film starring Robert DeNiro and has been translated into 15 languages.
Philip Marshall is a songwriter and builder from Dublin, Ireland. He has been living in the Woodstock area for 23 years. Kerouac and the Velvets brought him to the United States, where he fell into creative arts scenes in Boston, North Carolina, and New York.
He worked for the sculptor Dan Graham in New York and has been building spaces to create ever since.
Marshall has been performing with Nick Flynn and Simi Stone since 2016. He loves when the poems meet the melodies and take flight. He is very excited to play Woodstock Bookfest and loves the community feel it brings to all.
Simi Stone, aka Simantha MollyLou Sernaker, is a vocalist, songwriter, violinist, and recording and visual artist born and raised in Woodstock, NY.
Stone began performing at the tender age of 7. She studied theater and dance at the New York Conservatory, as well as classical violin. Stone has recorded, toured, and collaborated with legendary talents including Natalie Merchant, David Byrne, Tamar-Kali Brown, Juliette Lewis, the Gypsy Kings, Neko Case, Sharon Jones, Gregory Colbert, Jools Holland, and the late Greg Tate’s Burnt Sugar Arkestra. She is a founding member of the afro-punk movement in New York City and fronted her own bands, Suffrajett and the Duke and the King. Stone also released two solo albums with producer David Baron (Bat for Lashes, Meghan Trainor, the Lumineers, Lenny Kravitz). She has performed at Royal Albert Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, the Beacon Theater, Carnegie Hall, and the Fillmore in San Francisco, as well as on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
Stone went to Marymount Manhattan College to begin her undergraduate degree in acting. She left school early to pursue her artistic endeavors out in the world. She is now completing her Bachelor of Arts in painting and political studies. For more information on Stone’s artwork, music, and performances, visit her website.
Get a Full Festival pass and you’ll get to take in the Story Slam on Thursday night. Then sail into the weekend: attending all the wonderful panels, both Little Bites and Big Libations Cocktail Parties, and both evening events. And share the bounty from our always-stuffed goody bag.
