the band

Michael Levin on reeds, Kraig McCreary-lead guitar, Bob Long-keys, Doug Lofstrum-bass, Alpha Stewart on drums

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Doug Lofstrom (bass)

Doug Lofstrom is a bassist and composer based in the Chicago area. Lofstrom has been
composing prolifically since the 1970s; his wide-ranging style reflects his ongoing
involvement in dance, film, theater and symphonic music. His works have been
performed by the St. Louis, Atlanta and Oregon Symphony Orchestras, and the Present
Music and CUBE chamber ensembles. He has taught music at Columbia College since
1986, and is the founding director of The New Quartet.
douglofstrom.com

Michael Levin (wind instruments)

Michael Levin has performed and recorded with a large sampling of local and
international artists, including Diane Schuur, Clark Terry, Barrett Deems, Bernard Purdie
and The Temptations. His solos are prominently featured in recordings by a long list of
Chicago House Music producers. He makes numerous appearances at clubs and festivals throughout the Midwest, including Ravinia, Chicago Fest, The Jazz Showcase, and The
House of Blues.
michaellevinmusic.com

Bob Long (keyboard)

Bob Long is an Evanston-based pianist, composer and songwriter. Long is a performing
and composing member of The Last Word Quintet and Adjunct Professor of History at
Elgin Community College and at Elmhurst University. He teaches piano at the School of
Rock Evanston.
facebook.com/bob.long.906/about

Kraig McCreary (lead guitar)

Kraig McCreary is a world-class journeyman musician based in Chicago. He has toured
and recorded with a long list of artists, and played sessions for numerous films and
commercials. His compositions in many genres have been featured on PBS, The Oprah Show, and many other programs. A multi instrumentalist, McCreary is a well-known and
respected producer/arranger.
kraigmccreary.com

Alpha Stewart (drums & percussion)

Alpha Stewart has been well-known as a versatile percussionist and drummer in the
Chicago music scene for over 40 years. Stewart has a reputation for sensitive and soulful
playing and appearances with various local artists like The Val Leventhal Trio, John
Temmerman Band and Lance Brown. He is an active presence in jazz, blues and fusion
jams throughout the city.

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Singer-Songwriter, Leader

Scott Wills

Scott Wills is an artist, musician and videographer based in Chicago. For the past decade he has focused on writing and recording original songs and instrumental compositions, which he releases through his record label, Manatauck Music.

The songs Wills writes span many genres, including American traditional, country, blues, jazz, cabaret and rock. His songs, known for their incisive, sardonic lyrics and emotionally articulate melodies, explore themes of transition, transformation, redemption, and mortality.  

“Growing up, I listened to Handel on the radio and Hank Williams on the jukebox,” he says, explaining his eclectic musical tastes. “I got fired up by the work of artists I heard and the way they affected me, songwriters like Jacques Brel, Randy Newman, Paul Siebel, Leonard Cohen and, of course, Bob Dylan. I decided to make a lifelong study and practice of songwriting.” He counts among his musical influences such diverse personalities as Louis Armstrong, Hoagy Carmichael, Mississippi John Hurt, Henry Purcell and Leonard Bernstein. “For lyric mentors I look to poets,” he says, citing Conrad Aiken, Elizabeth Bishop, TS Eliot, and Langston Hughes in addition to master lyricists Oscar Hammerstein and Stephen Sondheim.

Wills was born in Western Pennsylvania. His father was an engineer, his mother a classically-trained singer. He lived a peripatetic life, eventually landing in Chicago in the 70s where he became involved in the Folk Music scene lead by the likes of John Prine, Steve Goodman, Bonnie Koloc and Fred Holstein. After trying his hand as a performer, he took up graphic design to support himself and his family. His designs of logos, album covers and promotional graphics for such Chicago musicians as The Casualaires, Jump ‘N the Saddle, The Odd, and the Vanessa Davis Band helped to launch his fledgling design career. He continued to write songs and soak up musical influences.  

In 2001 Wills met composer and producer Andy Mitran at the Men’s Art Forum, and began a long and productive collaboration. At Mitran’s recording studio, Mitran Mitran, the two continue to co-produce and record original works, including Wills’ two solo albums, the virtual band Bad Wiring’s EP Good Medicine, and The Remberton Consort’s A Christmas of the Heart.  

In 2020, Wills’ northside Chicago home was invaded by colonies of rats. He demolished and rat-proofed his basement, and built a recording studio there (“I should have called it Rodent Records,” he quips), where he produces recordings of his and other artists’ music and poetry. He founded the Manatauck Music record label and its publishing arm, Dymaduzzin, as vehicles for his original work. His recordings feature collaborations with many excellent musicians from across the country.

Wills releases his music under several monikers, each with its unique attitude and musical slant. The band Claxton Clay projects a warm, spiritual vibe steeped in Americana, infused with country blues, cabaret jazz, and gospel. Mo Stanton is an edgier persona, with roots in rockabilly, alt-country, and New Orleans funk. The virtual band Bad Wiring explores sonic landscapes with surrealistic lyrics. The Remberton Consort is heavily influenced by the music of Medieval and Renaissance Europe. For about fifteen years, Wills and his wife, actor Betsey Means, hosted house concerts in their home, featuring a rotating parade of musicians, poets, and actors, including Val Leventhal, Al Day, Barbara Silverman, Steve Rosen and Lance Brown. The concerts became a community-building haven for all seeking live performances in an intimate, performer-friendly venue. In addition to his own work, Wills produces videos and composes music for Means’ production company, Womanlore Performing Women in History. Wills’s current album in production, Claxton Clay’s PlainSong, will be released in spring 2026. His music and music videos are available through Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, Soundcloud, Youtube, and other online sources. 

Multi Media Artist

Cara Winter

Cara Winter has been a working artist for over 30 years. She began in the theater, attending Interlochen Arts Camp on scholarship as a musical theater student. She then became a Trustee Scholar at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where she graduated with a BFA in 1997. Also a classically trained singer, Cara has performed with The New York Oratorio Society at Carnegie Hall, The Bach Festival Chorus of Kalamazoo College, St. Joseph’s Church Choir in Chicago, and (just once!) with the late, great Pete Seeger at Cooper Union.

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During the late 1990’s, Cara worked in experimental theater with several companies on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, including Expanded Arts, H.E.R.E., and The Hyperbolic Players. During this time, Cara performed and wrote, and then directed; plays under her creation were a gender-bent version of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, and the Off-Broadway premiere of The Illusion, by Tony Kushner. Cara has also performed in dozens of regional and stock productions, and toured the country three times with A Christmas Carol and The Adventures of Curious George.

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Cara is also an accomplished screenwriter and producer. Since 2013, Cara has developed over a dozen TV shows, miniseries, and feature scripts, and pitched herself and her projects to Lionsgate, 21 Laps, Hello Sunshine, OWN, and Lucky Chap. She is a founding member of Cottage Grove Productions, a Chicago-based film production company whose short films include Bosom (currently streaming on KweliTV) and Cottage Grove, which streamed on AMC+, and earned a Chicago/Midwest Regional Emmy® Award nomination.

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During the Covid-19 pandemic, Cara began making visual art. In addition to working with acrylic paint on canvas, Cara engages with text, spiritual mythologies, wood, bark, and the occasional found object. In 2021, in response to a deep need for tactile (as opposed to digital) writing, Cara purchased a 1950’s Smith Corona manual typewriter and began making original, one-of-a-kind works. This has morphed into a public art project, called typeface, an interactive experience which promotes reflection, face-to-face communication, and encourages audiences to have a new, different, and tactile relationship with the written word.

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Cara works primarily out of her in-home studio, coined ‘the treehouse’ for its majestic, second-story view of a 100-year-old maple tree. This exhibit of Cara’s, Black and Blue, is her first. She resides in Chicago, Illinois with her son, Avery.

NON:op

Inventory of Lost Books - audience participation

Inventory of Lost Books is a four-room, multimedia, participatory installation that raises awareness about the growing wave of book banning in the U.S. Created by book artist Amanda Love and composer/sound artist Christophe Preissing, the project invites the public to record short readings from banned books, building a collective archive of voices representing suppressed stories.

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The installation will be presented in the Chicago area and at the Cleveland Public Library from August 2026 through Spring 2027. The team aims to collect recordings from around 400 participants through neighborhood recording sessions and community partnerships. Anyone can participate—no performance experience required—and each recording takes just 5–10 minutes.

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Together, these voices form a powerful, immersive experience that highlights the cultural impact of censorship and the importance of protecting diverse stories.