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by Derek Powazek
Amy Tobin is an Oakland-based performer, vocalist, composer and writer. She sings a cappella, with electronics, and with full bands in clubs and theatres, and is devoted to a hybrid performance style that draws on experimental and rock music, cabaret and theatre.Since 1999, Amy has collaborated with drummer and producer Kevin Carnes, founding member of the broun fellinis and The Beatnigs, and drummer with everyone from George Clinton to Soulstice. Their band, A Little Friction, released the CD When Sparks Fly in 2006. They also released the EP 4 Choices in 2003.
Amy created and performs The Esther Show, a cabaret rock opera and modern interpretation of the biblical Book of Esther. The show has toured the U.S. and reinvented the Jewish holiday of Purim since 2002.In 2004, Amy was commissioned to compose and perform music for the poem “Praise” by Ilya Kaminsky. The composition is featured on Bridge Across the Blue, a compilation CD featuring stories of immigration through spoken word and music.
Other projects include composing and co-writing Lilith, a musical, with Synaesthetic Theatre founder Joy Leonard (1996); singing with San Francisco band The Beanweevils (1999); and performing as a member of the intercultural spoken-word collective Dhaia Tribe (2002).
As a producer, Amy has created multi-media arts events throughout the Bay Area for 11 years, supporting the work of emerging artists and generally doing anything possible to promote live performance. She received the Joshua Venture fellowship for Jewish social entrepreneurs in 2001, and was the founding Artistic Director of The Hub at the JCCSF.
Amy was featured as one of the “Heeb Hundred” in that magazine’s Spring 2005 issue, and as a member of the "Forward 50" by the Forward weekly newspaper in 2002. She has consulted with small and mid-sized arts and other nonprofit organizations, and now serves as the Executive Director of the David Brower Center.
Amy is a proud graduate of the Experimental Theatre Wing at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.