Born and raised in Kansas, Melora Creager comes from a musical family and received classical training. At 18 she moved to New York City to attend Parsons School of Design. While majoring in photography she began playing her cello in rock bands and became involved with drag performers. She formed "The Fingerlakes Trio," a falsely geeky classical group that performed covers of disco hits, before joining NYC's Ultra Vivid Scene who recorded three albums for cult British label, 4AD. It was her first exposure to the professional rock world -- UVS opened for label mates like The Pixies, Belly and Throwing Muses. Following a tour with Nirvana as a cellist on their In Utero tour she desired to do a project of her own, and she created Rasputina.

The concept for the group came to her fully formed; the idea was written as a manifesto. Her intention was to create an electric cello choir -- no boys or guitars allowed. Through want ads she recruited like-minded young cellists. Rasputina evolved, employing elaborate costuming, as they were unable to move about while forcibly stationary in their chairs. What began as strictly "Victorian Whites" -- bloomers, corsets and hoopskirts, has evolved into an amalgam of historical feminine icons -- Indian princesses, Hawaiian handmaidens and fallen medieval queens, Rasputina keeps their cultish following enthralled with intimate recitals and post-show receiving lines.

Rasputina works as an anomaly in popular music. By ignoring fashion trends and maintaining artistic integrity coupled with musical enthusiasm, the group has thrived as time has passed. They expose passionate fans to historical tales, and inspire young string players to seek alternatives to the classical world.

---

Faun Fables began in 1997, when Dawn 'the faun' McCarthy left the bands and cabarets of NYC for the wider world. She grew up in eastern Washington state enjoying drawing, dance, and make-believe amongst a large family. On EARLY SONG (1999) she sang with "a voice as haunting as an abandoned coal mine, while it dances with the even tempo guitar that seems to pluck itself," (CMJ). MOTHER TWILIGHT (2001) was called "A collection of songs that seem to rove wondrously through the mountain pines at dusk," (SF Weekly).

Dawn performs Faun Fables most often as a soloist or with frequent collaborator Nils Frykdahl of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. But she also enjoys working with other artists, musical and otherwise; THE TRANSIT RIDER, a Faun Fables full length musical inspired by her years in NYC, premiered 2002 in San Francisco with a cast of thirteen. (Its soundtrack will be released in 2004.) Faun Fables tour the world regularly, studying landscape, culture and the art of feasting with locals. In the years to come, Dawn hopes to combine studies in rural housekeeping with songcraft in various countries. She is based in Oakland, CA.