Douglas Light's writing has appeared in various publications, including the New York Times, KGB Bar Lit, Alaska Quarterly Review, failbetter, and Pindeldyboz. His fiction won an O. Henry Prize, and was selected for the Best American Nonrequired Reading 2003 Anthology.

Susan Shapiro has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, L.A. Times, Boston Globe, The Nation, Salon.com, Village Voice, People, Glamour, Cosmo, and Jane magazine. She is the co-editor of the anthology Food for the Soul, and the author of the acclaimed memoirs Lighting Up and Five Men Who Broke My Heart, which was optioned for a movie by Paramount Pictures. She has appeared on The Today Show, Dateline, Good Day New York, E! Entertainment, and prime time documentaries on ABC and the Oxygen network. She lives in Greenwich Village with her husband, a TV/film writer, and teaches journalism at NYU, The New School and Mediabistro.

Ed Pastorini studied piano with Lenny Tristano but loved the Beatles and Beefheart even more than jazz. His songs reflect all these influences as well as his literary heroes Joyce, Beckett and Pinter. Ed's raspy, accurate singing, trigonometrical melodies, stunning piano and guitar playing and the unmatched brilliance of his lyrics have made him a legend in the downtown scene. Artists with whom Ed has worked include Elysian Fields and Beth Orton.