Performer:
Shirly's Variety Show Extraordinaire

Studio Quercus is pleased to present the first ever Variety Show Extraordinaire at Studio Quercus! Shirly the Drum Kit (in her second appearance at Studio Quercus) will anchor the house band that includes Bernie Jungle, Rob Reich, Dani Leone and Jacob Scheidler. This rollicking evening of entertainment includes the following performers: DJ Real and his musical comedy act; Rob Reich on the accordion featuring both original music and a world flavor. The Ukemamas strumming Ukeleles. Spoken word by Dani Leone, performance artist Cathleen Daly and short films created by Jen Ralston.

About the performers:
DJ Real is a San Francisco-based musical comedy act that has appeared in the San Francisco Sketch Festival, the San Francisco Comedy Competition, the Noisepop Festival and the Bridgetown Comedy Festival. And he's opened for Devo and Beardyman! Be warned - his dance moves may move you to tears. "…DJ REAL was a very strange, and strangely wonderful combination of lo-fi recording artist and Andy Kaufman comedian…" – SF Weekly

Rob Reich will be performing a set of music on his accordion, featuring music from around the world and his own original tunes. Rob is known for his delicate, nuanced playing. "Whether he's accompanying clowns and acrobats with his Circus Bella band, composing chamber settings for the poetry of e.e. cummings with Tin Hat, forging a cosmopolitan folk jazz sound with the collective Nice Guy Trio, or laying down fierce grooves with the Gypsy jazz-inspired combo Gaucho, Reich can be found in the thick of the creative action." - Andrew Gilbert, SF Chronicle

The Ukemamas Three Alameda moms who have taken up the ukulele: Rachel Stevenson, Amy Stewart-Deaker, and Rebekah Balboni.

Jen Ralston has been working in film and television for 20 years -- as an Emmy-winning sound editor and, more recently, as a writer. She co-wrote an episode of Treme (HBO) last season, and is currently making her own short films -- the first of which, "Finding DeeDee," took 3rd place in the PGA Weekend Shorts Contest last Fall. Jen will be showing short films between performances.

Cathleen Daly is performer and writer living in Berkeley, California. Her performance piece, How to be a Secret Agent Girl as seen on American Television and in movies won Best of the SF Fringe Festival, the San Francisco Examiner called it "a highly theatrical experience with profound flashes of meaning and delight. A free wheeling mélange of sketches, songs and dances combines razor-sharp satire with stylized visual panache". She's had poetry published in a variety of online and print journals and has two books out with Roaring Brook Press, Flirt Club, a tween novel and a picture book, Prudence Wants A Pet, which was chosen as an ALA Notable Children's Book for 2012."

Dani "L.E." Leone is a former food writer and current sports columnist for the S.F. Bay Guardian. She also writes short fiction, and has published two collections of short stories, most recently Big Bend (Sparkle Street Press). She plays steel drum and ukulele in Sister Exister. More importantly, she's a nanny. Dani will be reading and playing in the house band.

Jacob Scheidler is a guitarist with roots in the Midwest. Tonight he is rejoining his favorite house band for an evening sure to dazzle and entertain. He currently lives with chickens in San Francisco. Jacob will be playing guitar in the house band.

Bernie Jungle is a Bay Area songwriter who recently put out a new CD called: Greatest Hits. He's been playing the guitar and writing songs for four decades. He built Shirly the Drum Kit in 2001 to get into the band that became The Lipsey Mountain Spring Band, who played local shows, and toured nursing homes across the country. They also held a monthly Variety Show in San Francisco for four years. Bernie and Shirly can also be seen playing with Joe Rut, and with Rob Reich among others. Bernie will be playing in the house band and be the Master of Ceremonies for this special night.

Shirly made from what scrap was lying about Bernie's apartment back in 2001, old shelving, a belt for a hinges, tool box clasps and various saw blades and copper pipes …but she's much more than that. She's got Moxie! …and her own Facebook page, look up Shirly The Drumkit there for more information and photo's.