BareBones 2020 · OFFERINGS: Artists Respond to the Mourning, Grieving and Fires on Lake Street

Venus de Mars

BareBones Orchestra Music 2015 to 2019

A note from Venus de Mars:

My Barebones Orchestra member involvement credits list.

NOTE: This is a partial list, and I will update as I am able to collect up all past Barebones Orchestra involvements between the years 2015 and 2019 (The years I have been the Barebones Music Director)

The .zip files labeled with the year are the mp3 tracks in order and a .pdf score..the ones I created, used to conduct, and handed to all orchestra members (Forgive my bad spelling on them please).

Download and decompress and load the .mps files into whatever audio player you use and enjoy. I recorded multiple nights per year with my computer while conducting..all 5 years… some nights worked better than others…I chose the best recordings per year in my opinion either because of content or because of technological decisions.

I will be uploading each year over the next days till all 5 years are up, so check back..ALL five years will be available by Halloween if not before…and ONLY AVAILABLE through October 2020.

For our 2020 Barebones, I have made these archives all free for this month only!

THANK you all SO much for all these years of Barebones!! I very much miss this year’s performance and my work with a live orchestra and everyone.

Please stay safe.
We’ll see you all on the other side of this Covid virus madness!

-Venus de Mars
Barebones Music Director 2015-2019

2016 – 2018 – 2019 – Pablo Cortes – Lap Steel Electric Guitar
2016 – Stevie Sokolouski – Cello
– Jacob Carrigan – Trumpet
2016 – Charlie Mikey – Bass VI
2017 – 2018 – Reggie Neal – Bass/ 2019 – Bass and Saxophone
2019 – Ashley O’Neill Prado – Violin
2019 – Angie Lynch – Guitar
2016 – Arlo Sombro – Viola
2016 – Walken Schweigert
2015 – Melody Cordes-Eklund – Vocal Soloist “Ven Kan Segla”
2017 – 2018 – Rita Hardie – Violin
2017 – 2018 – Michael Hulburt – Banjo / Trombone
2017 – 2018 – Mollie Rose K. Siebert – Flute and Vocals
2016 – 2017 – 2018 – 2019 – Jonathan Townsend – drums and percussion
2018 – 2019 – Elliott Etzkorn – Alto Saxophone
2017 – 2018 – 2019 – Ryland Nelsen – Guitar
2017 – Serena Black – Soloist vocals
2015 – Chris Little – Drums
2015 – James Everist – Guitar
2016 – Justin Halverson Kasak – Guitar
2015 – 2018 – Laurel Chapmn – Sousaphone, Tuba, Conch Shell, Circular Saw, Bremmer (Bull Roar)
2015 – Angela Brewer – Violin
2015 – 2016 – Lynette Reini-Grandell – Violin
2017 – Matt Batchelor – Drums
2017 – Trever Hawley – Drums
2016 – 2017 – Mina Leirwood – vocals
2017 – Majentah Bloom – vocals
2017 – Julie Jao – Banjo
2017 – Giuliana Ciabo – Violin
2018 – Lisa Engler – Keyboards
2016 – 2017 – 2019 – Tom Carlson – Trumpet
2015 – 2016 – 2017 – 2018 – 2019 – Waffle – Trombone
2016 – 2017 – Eric Riese – vocals
2015 – Amanda Lynn – Fiddle
2017 – 2018 – Wayne Sayres – Saxophone
2017 – 2018 – Ann Viviano – Violin
2018 – 2019 – Michaela Waltz – Shakuhaticia
2018 – 2019 – Carlisle Evan Speck – Keyboards
2016 – 2017 – 2018 – Matt Gogola – Vocals
2016-2017-2018-2019 – Lisa Marie Carlson – Vocals.

About the Artist

Venus de Mars is a multidisciplinary artist and musician, best known as a singer-songwriting transgender rock star and leader of the band Venus de Mars & All the Pretty Horses.  Venus is also one of the foundational artists for Rifle Sport Alternative Art Gallery, creating its iconic big blue doors which fronted Hennepin Avenue and installations that included a Honda Civic art car parked halfway up the main staircase.  A chance tax audit transformed her into a champion of artists’ tax rights, after which the Venus de Mars Fund with Springboard for the Arts was established. Venus along with her wife Lynette Reini-Grandell, are the subject of rock-doc Venus of Mars [2004] by filmmaker Emily Goldberg.

Venus came out as transgender at a time when identifying as trans meant being classified as having a mental perversion and living as an outcast. Her refusal to live a shadow existence, instead embracing her uniqueness, complicated her musical and artistic career paths. She is now mid-process in writing a memoir reflecting her thirty-year trans journey and place in this fast changing, trans-embracing-backlashing world where we now find ourselves.

Venus is the recipient of multiple grants and awards, among them a Minnesota State Arts Board grant, a Bush Fellowship, a Minnesota Music Award, and is the subject of the award-winning rock-documentary Venus of Mars.  She toured with Laura Jane Grace and Against Me in 2014.  She has released multiple albums over her career. Her last release, an acoustic album produced by longtime collaborator Barb Morrison (Debbie Harry, Rufus Wainwright, Scissor Sisters, etc.), is titled Flesh and Wire. She and her band are currently working on an EP to be released in 2021 while trying to re-envision what the Covid19 landscape holds for the future of music.