Pride Texas 2008 features a non-stop schedule of entertainment. The line-up is subject to change.

Performers Include:
Meshell Ndegeocello
The Pansy Division
Los Bad Apples
Amy Cook
Run of the Mill
Hedda Layne
Kings N Things
Flamin’ Desire

MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO

Meshell Ndegeocello (real name Mary Johnson) was born in 1969, the daughter of an American soldier - also a saxophonist - stationed in Germany. In the early 90's she was noticed and signed to Madonna's Maverick label. Plantation Lullabies, her first recording (1993, with Geri Allen, Wah Wah Watson, Dave Fiuczynski and Joshua Redman), revealed a bold new female artist to the public. Her frank attitude to her work confronted her audience with her deep vocal timbre, her raw texts that broached subjects that in 1990s America were still being avoided in mainstream music (sex, politics and race discrimination), and her original music that mixed funk's energy with a freedom borrowed from jazz and folk. The album Peace Beyond Passion followed in 1996, and then the extremely intimate Bitter in 1999.
In 2002 the album Cookie: The Anthropological Mixtape was released, a percussive album where its texts were concerned (the superb ‘Dead Nigga Blvd’, borrowed from a poetic dimension similar to Angela Davis and Gil Scott-Heron), and also an album with more radical grooves (Marcus Miller, Gene Lake, Sean Rickman). More recently, Ndegeocello has been involved in the film that portrayed the Motown label at the height of its fame (the multi-award winning Standing in the Shadows of Motown), and also a documentary on the go-go music scene in her hometown Washington. In 2007 Ndegeocello released The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams to critical acclaim. Ndegeocello has been nominated for nine Grammy Awards.

PANSY DIVISION

In 1991 in San Francisco, Jon Ginoli aspired to forming a band. Not just any band, but a gay rock band. Bassist/vocalist Chris Freeman took the bait and Pansy Division was born. Together, they started to write in-your-face lyrics with a good dose of humor. It was clear they were raised on a diet of '60s pop and '70s punk, their sound was suitably crunchy and catchy.
Not only has their music and stance defied stereotypic norms of rock musicians being openly gay, they also broke gay cultural stereotypes that gay people wouldn't be interested in rock.
Beginning in 1993, the band worked relentlessly, releasing an album a year for six years on Lookout Records. Their music caught the attention of former Lookout Records band Green Day, which took Pansy Division on tour for a couple of months in 1994 at the height of the mania surrounding their breakthrough album Dookie.
1998's Absurd Pop Song Romance was lyrically and sonically more serious than their earlier works. Their seventh and most recent studio album TOTAL ENTERTAINMENT! (for a new label, Alternative Tentacles) found a happy medium between the broad humor of the early records and the more (dare we say it?) mature approach of the previous album. In January 2006, they released a 30-song career overview entitled The Essential Pansy Division, which included a DVD of videos and concert footage.
Pansy Division has been in the studio during the last year working on their next album, and a release is planned for early 2009. A documentary film about the band has just been completed and will be playing film festivals throughout 2008. Also, Ginoli’s book, a memoir of Pansy Division stories and experiences, will be released in spring 2009.

LOS BAD APPLES

Just a few months after coming together, Latin hip-hop band Los Bad Apples has managed to stir up an exciting buzz and garner unprecedented attention. They even snagged an opening spot for Ludacris, Duffy, British Sea Power & Back Door Slam at a private SXSW showcase.
In March, the group finished recording their first CD, Los Bad Apples, and filmed a music video for their first single, Don't Stop. Univision television network expressed enough interest to join them on the set for an interview.
Los Bad Apples is characterized by an electrifying fusion of hip-hop with Reggaeton, cumbia, flamenco, samba and salsa. Band members include the sweet songstress Anita Benner on lead vocals and critically-acclaimed MC Zeale, a recent finalist in the World Rap Championships of 2007. Closing out the band are Joseph Serrato, Aldo Ramon and Greg Jones, former members of the Kumbia Kings, Menudo and Grupo Fantasma.

RUN OF THE MILL

Run of the Mill is an Austin-based band that plays classic country music with a rock-a-billy kick. The band is fronted by Will Ashlock (electric guitar, steel guitar and vocals) and his brother Tim Ashlock (acoustic guitar, mandolin and vocals) and backed up by Aaron Treptow (drums) and Brian Kremer (bass). Formed in June 2007, Run of the Mill hit the ground running, bringing some 1950s and 60s country twang to the Austin music scene.

AMY COOK

Initiated by a Kenny Rogers album at age five and baptized in the sounds of Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young – the trifecta as she calls it – Amy Cook is right at home in her adopted West Texas home of Marfa. Amy recently released The Sky Observer’s Guide, an intimate fire-side album featuring folksy, melodramatic songs reflecting the big sky and bright stars of deep Texas.
Amy came to Austin and Marfa by way of Los Angeles, where her music was featured on Dawson’s Creek, Laguna Beach and Veronica Mars. Leisha’s character referenced her on The L Word(“That was Amy Cook on Marfa Records”) and she has been featured in Elle, Venice and The Austin Chronicle and has performed at SXSW and Austin City Limits.
The reminiscence of The Sky Observer’s Guide’s “Pearl,” is beautifully typical of Cook’s oeuvre, soaked in delay, slide and strum, abetted by guitarist Brad Rice, bassist Bobby Daniel and drummer Nina Singh. From the upbeat drawl of “The Answer” to the sparse, cautiously optimistic “Sunshine,” The Sky Observer’s Guide is beset with an epic light and dark representative of its creator. “The songs might be melancholy, but there’s always something sort of hopeful about them,” she shrugs. “Probably because it’s the way that I am.”

HEDDA LAYNE

Walk into a Hedda Layne performance and feel the electricity. Move to her beats, groove to her rhythms, and be captured by her stage presence. Hedda delivers uniquely personal vocal performances accompanied by music styles encompassing jazz, dance, electronic, pop and blues.
Hedda Layne brings incredible energy to her performances, such as at her Fourth of July performance with the Austin Symphony Orchestra at Zilker Park in front of 100,000 people. No matter the size of the venue, the listener is given the feeling that Hedda is singing directly to them. Her musical journey has produced legions of loyal followers, and her Pride appearance is not to be missed.