Obvious Dog has performed their own blues and jazz throughout Wisconsin since 2001. In 2009 they (Bill Orth and Bruce Dethlefsen) joined forces with poet Cathryn Cofell to fuse poetry and music in a way that rocks and rolls antiquated notions of what makes us sing. Both Bruce and Cathryn are highly-published, award-winning poets and regional performance favorites, frequently requested for public radio and TV, readings, workshops and keynotes. Since the debut of the CD Lip in 2010, Obvious Dog has performed to packed houses throughout Wisconsin and Illinois.

“Cofell’s writing is refreshing, fast forward, deep diving, free flowing, free for all, shocking, heartbreaking, tear jerking, hilarious, yearning, Thelma & Louise, fearless, laying there in front of you just clear and murky as life. Tiny Little Crushes is a thousand points of light that have passed through Cofell’s colored glasses and been poured out into your eyes. She is so smart, hip, fast, and real.”
Charles P. Ries / Poetry Editor / Word Riot

Bill Orth has played guitar, bass guitar and sang for 50+ years, an accomplished musician in numerous rock, blues and jazz bands. Within the last 10 years he has recorded two cds of original music with the band ‘annaRANaway’. Many of his compositions have been created with ‘annaRANaway’ bandmate, Bruce Dethlefsen; together they now perform this and new material as Obvious Dog.

Bruce Dethlefsen is Wisconsin’s Poet Laureate. His collection Breather (Fireweed Press), won an Outstanding Achievement award from the Wisconsin Library Association. He also has two chapbooks, A Decent Reed and Something Near the Dance Floor, and his poems were featured twice on The Writer’s Almanac. He plays bass, harmonica, and drums and performs original music with poetry as Obvious Dog.

During the break, the following poets will poetize in their singular fashion.

Richard Roe began writing poetry in his mid-30s and has kept at it ever since. A preacher’s kid who’s lived in Ohio and New Jersey, he has a background in history and economics but, more importantly, in music, often playing music to accompany his poems. He has published three books of poems, most recently Knots of Sweet Longing. If he could start over, he would like to sing in opera, especially the rôles of Figaro in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Boris in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov.

Karla Huston writes in Appleton, Wisconsin, and is the author of six chapbooks of poetry, most recently An Inventory of Lost Things, Centennial Press, 2009. Winner of several writing awards, she has published poetry, reviews and interviews in many state and national journals. Her poem “Theory of Lipstick” was awarded a Pushcart Prize and appears in The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses (2012).