ARTIST BIOS
Dog on Fleas plans to take over the world. Their strategy is to play honest, loose and ingenious music for kids and their adult counterparts, and since kids tend to listen to music over and over and over, they are encoding special messages into the songs. Sort of like the Beatles, only less psychedelic. Actually, the only agenda the Fleas have is to make good music for decent people. And for you too.
Dean Jones (band leader) - guitar, trombone, singing
Since 1999 Dean Jones has lead Dog on Fleas, playing intelligent, gutsy music for kids, and even more importantly, the other people in kid’s lives. Dog on Fleas’ latest album “When I Get Little” was featured on NPR’s All Things Considered, rated #7 on Zooglobble’s Favorite Kids Albums of 2006, #2 on the 2006 Kid’s Music That Rocks Top 20. “Cranberry Sauce Flotilla” and was rated #1 on the School Library Journal’s 12 Kid’s Albums You Can’t Live Without. Napper’s Delight continues this tradition as an album of surprises and delights in a mellow mood.
Jones has made a career for himself as a boundary-defying multi-instrumentalist, leading the Harmonica Virgins, For Sale by Owner Orchestra, the Car Tune Orchestra, and in other diverse musical settings with George Clinton, Big Sky Ensemble, Sonando, Uncle Buckle, Earmight, and others. Jones travels the world as a one-man band with Arm of the Sea Theatre, a troupe of puppeteers wielding giant puppets and big ideas.
John Hughes - bass, guitar, singing
John has been playing and recording music in the Hudson Valley and New York City for many years. Member of Uncle Buckle, John was also a member of Fighting McKenzie’s for a number of years among many other bands.
David Levine - fiddle, mandolin, banjo, singing.
David likes playing old time fiddle tunes until he falls asleep in the chair. He also likes sitting by the water, watching his kids sleep, and writing in his journal. David is the director of In Care of Students (incareofstudents.org) and he has created a unique approach for building community in schools. Using music, dialogue, writing, and student and staff training, he builds what he calls Schools of Belonging through his company incareofstudents.org. David has written three books Building Classroom Communities, Teaching Empathy-book and cd, (with guest appearances by members of Dog on Fleas), and The School of Belonging Teacher Plan Book. Each of these resources is available from the publisher at Solution-tree.com He feels that sharing music with others is the essence of community, family and friendship and he loves being a Flea!!!
Chris Cullo - drums and cymbals.
Chris is the fastest drum setter-upper we know. he can also drive his drums pretty fast because he has them on wheels. now he also has the smallest kick drum we've ever seen, so he can drive even faster.
Chris has many great qualities: he can talk with some degree of knowledge about almost anything, he has a cool family and likes to go on adventures with them, and he's the best drummer because he can drive the band along while remaining almost undetectable, or totally kick butt if he has to.
