Bios: 

Michael Rendon comes from a musical family, where his grandfather Felix, “could play any string instrument there is” and his mother played polkas on her accordion during his childhood. In Junior High and High School Michael started guitar lessons and played with metal and thrash bands. Michael briefly sang for Denver-based funk band, “Blender” in the early 90's, and played bass, touring with the anarchist punk band “Dead Silence” in 1995. In the summer of 1997 Michael took up the violin and started collecting music from the Rom people. Favorite Roma/Non-Rom musicians include Stephane Grappelli, Taraf de Haidouks, Les Yeux Noir, Gogol Bordello, Fanfare Ciocarlia, Greg Harbar, Angelo Debarre, Kanizsa Csillagai, Marvin and Diane Piaf, and Tchvalo and Dorado Schmitt. While not playing music, Michael spends his free time living simply, fighting for a better world, raising bees with Minna, hunting for mushrooms, and serving as a Durango City Councilor.

Robert Aspen, aka Polka Bob, began his musical tutelage under the auspices of one Mrs. Stanley, a densely perfumed, painted lady of dubious moral temperament.  Encouraged to barrel through a repertoire of piano pieces by dead white men who wore wigs, PB soon became discouraged with his craft and left the iniquitous Stanley to pursue the rhythms and melodies of sport.  Aside from learning how to bang out chords on a cheap Yamaha and thump an African rhythm on a djembe, Aspen essentially abandoned his musical leanings until that day when the fates conspired to deliver unto him a piano accordion. Stricken anew by the muse of music, PB whipped himself into a veritable virtuoso of the instrument who musical critics all around Durango are lauding as “definitely audible.”  PB’s accordion can often be heard on full moon nights whispering sonatas to the wind at 8,000 feet above the sea.

 With roots in Sephardic-Judaism, Irish-Fur-trapperism, Nicaraguan-African-Indianism and American-Costa Ricanism, Nicole Mosher´s musical transgenerational influence is diverse. Born in Chicago, raised in Costa Rica and Colorado, her life experiences so far have one thing in common, music. Her biggest influences span a multitude of genres but to name a few, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Bunny Berigan,and Aurturo Sandoval, all trompetistas, all los mejores! Some of her favorite bands include JuanaLaCapilla, Manu Chao, the Beatles, both Fela & Femi Kuti Bands, Gypsy Kings and any conglomorate of members who ever played with Miles Davis! There´s an entire side of Nicole that goes on to include, cooker of Indian food, dancer of just about anything, African, Salsa, Middle Eastern, hip-hop, etc, surfer of H2O in all its forms, baker of biscotti and banana bread, tomato grower, tailor and artist, and quite possibly the craftiest conscious recycler you´ll ever meet. ¨Playing Roma music with Carute Roma has allowed my inner gypsy to come out and express herself. When I´m playing and see people dance, I see their inner gypsies come out to play. It´s all Pura Vida!¨ 

David hails from the suburban monoculture at the edge of San Francisco.  His first musical lesson, well learned, happened when he requested a Rush song at a junior high dance.  He wasn’t to gain any further instruction until college, when he enrolled in the great C. K. Ladzekpo's African drumming class at U.C. Berkeley.  It was just one semester, but C.K. got right to the heart of groove and polyrythmic understanding.  Still, it would be years later, when at 26, he finally bought a drumkit.  Since then he's put C.K.’s lessons into practice for folks who dance to rock, blues, funk, country - anything that animates the anatomy.  He’s recently loaded his tiny little drumkit onto the gypsy wagon.  Carute Roma seems to be thawing the ground around David's deep Russian and Baltic roots.   

Floyd Pepper was born with the name of Brian but has been known as Floyd in the musical community of Durango since dressing as the famous bass player from The Electric Mayhem of Muppet fame and performing “The Rainbow Connection” at a local talent show in 2001.Floyd has been a self-taught guitar player for about 10 years, since the time he moved to Colorado from Motown in 1998.  He caught the gypsy bug in 2005 and has been since inspired by the likes of Greg Harbar, Bibs Ekkel, Les Yeux Noir, Gogol Bordello and Ozzy Osborne.  Floyd also plays electric bass in a Durango local garage band act called “Pinhead.”  They play Punk-Rock-Surfabilly but also dabble in Swamp-Gypsy and Punk-Boheme playing their version of the famous Russian song “Dark Eyes” punk-style.  Floyd’s bass playing has been refered to by adept music critics as “audible” and “kick-ass.”  Floyd’s alter-ego is that of Brian Arens, a Master’s level Mental Health Clinician working hard to expose those inflicted with mental illness to the healing powers of gypsy music. His life-long dream has been to co-author a book with Jerry Nelson (the original puppeteer of Floyd Pepper) about the psychology of following your dreams called “Floydian Psychology.”

Alexii Carey plays the bass. That which he lacks in musical ability, he makes up with his sense of humor that  often can be offensive and in bad taste. Regardless, he continues to make wise cracks between songs. "The bass makes me feel so lowwwww!"

Brian Daniel Lock loves to play the mandolin.Stories abound as to the true origins of this man. Some say he was raised in the wild by a pack of wolves, while others maintain that he was born into a blue collar family in Chicago.Whatever the case may be, one thing is certain, Gypsy music is in his blood. Although his musical inspirations are too numerous to list his favorite semi-fictitious musician remains, Emmit Ray. Brian spends his time building stringed instruments and subverting the dominant paradigm.He lives with his family somewhere in New Mexico.

 Kelly Rogers rocks!