Macalester-Groveland Community Council

O ‘Shea Irish Dance is led by director Cormac O’Sé demanding and technical art form of traditional and competitive Irish Step dance where dancers train as artists, musicians, and athletes. Teaching ages three to adult, OID instructors inform the whole dancer to train a healthy body in strength, flexibility, and fitness as well as a healthy mind in confidence, discipline, and performance.

Husband Material Trio is a 3-piece band comprised of Kurt Koefod, percussion; Michael Deppe, piano; and Eugene Monnig, guitar. They play new and old tunes from boogie-woogie through the blues, traveling musically along the Mississippi from New Orleans to Saint Louis to Saint Paul.

Michael Deppe began to play music in earnest after quitting 2nd grade piano lessons. Since then, he has participated in a wide variety of musical experiences, playing piano for fun and bass and guitar in several different groups and styles. He worked as a luthier early on, and made a mid-career switch to teaching third graders, which he does when he is not thinking about composing new songs.

Kurt Koefod’s musical world took shape at the tender age of 9 when he bought his first record–The Supremes “My world is empty without you, babe”–and he fashioned a drum kit out of Folgers’s coffee cans and Lincoln logs to play along. He eventually advanced to oyster-stripe Ludwigs in a nod to Ringo. He went on performing hiatus for several decades until Eugene moved in next door.

Eugene Monnig is the grandson of a Saint Louis piano man who enlivened every house party with stride piano jazz. Eugene went wrong early and took up the guitar, but his native musical language is rhythm and blues. He founded Saint Paul’s Cadenza Music in 1974 and sold the business to a new generation in 2019.

Maria and the Coins bundle big-picture pop ambition into earnest, indie sensibility. The five-some distinguished themselves in the Minneapolis alt-rock scene by fusing singer-songwriter driven pop hooks with the vulnerability and honesty of an indie band. 

Frontwoman Maria Coyne’s powerhouse vocals are matched with emotive storytelling often focused on moving forward, choosing to find the light amidst the darkness, and learning to be present in each moment. While the writing features nods to Coyne’s pop, country and musical theatre roots, the music finds its sweet spot behind alternative rock-influenced arrangements. The band has opened for local and touring artists such as Betty Who, Jeremy Messersmith, Delacey, and Reina del Cid.

Kashimana is a mother, musician, vocalist, composer, producer and teaching artist with a rich soulful blues voice that soars through their original compositions. The name Kashimana means ‘that’s their heart’ and you can hear Kashimana’s heart beating in the compelling sound of their music which is an exploration of Soul, R&B, Folk, Afro-funk and more. Kashimana often draws from her Nigerian heritage and experiences growing up in Nigeria and Kenya and living in the United States. Kashimana is a 2021 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, a 2019 In Common Composer in Residence, a Cedar Commissioned Artist ‘Phantom Cries’ and a Northern Spark Festival Artist in 2018 and 2019 ‘Applause Posse’ and ‘Soundscape of Stories’. Kashimana is also the co-creator of a MN Opera MNiature Opera ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ with Khary Jackson, a contributing artist and composer to The Art of The Revolution Twin Cities Community Album ‘Mama’ and a composer on a Sprig of That trio latest album ‘Eight Threads – The Only One’. Check out Kashimana’s latest single “Oh Yes Flow” on Bandcamp.