BIO

         avantRadio continues to poke its collective finger in the eye of Corporate America and its armies of winged monkeys. This collective of artists, dedicated to peaceful opposition to the takeover of American Society by sinister forces, was formed in 2002 as a reaction to the Bush administration's headlong plunge into war,
   avantRadio is a loose confederation of pointedly un-embedded actors, writers and musicians using radio theatre to speak up against war. Producer-writer Tom Allard and producer-writer J.E. Fowler form the core of this artistic collective. Others involved include Lizzie Harding-Wilkins, Jennie Webb, Susan Angelo, Maria Spassoff and Helen Kelly.
      avantRadio made its first live public performance in September 2003 opening for the great George Carlin at the Warner-Grand Theater in San Pedro. This was followed by an appearance for the ACLU as they honored librarians who resisted the more obnoxious elements of the Patriot Act.
      avantRadio decided to take a break after the 2004 elections and new offerings at this website have become more infrequent.
 
 

Tom Allard
    A Shawnee-Cherokee from the Cookson Hills of Oklahoma, Tom was raised in the Air Force and reared in a moving car. Thirty years in the theatre showed him everywhere the Air Force missed.  Along with more than 200 stage productions, Tom has also performed in nightclubs, feature films and television. Tom was a regular on ABC's "Land of the Lost."  His experience as bad-guy/ lizard proved good training for life as a radio writer/producer. During his 20 seasons at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga, California, Tom undertook many roles inlcuding  the title role in "Macbeth" and Mitch in "A Streetcar Named Desire." A member of the Loyal Shawnee band of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, he is a charter recipient of the 1999 Cherokee Nation Medal of Honor.
 
 

J.E. Fowler
A Sicilian-Cherokee from the Bay of Sheepshead in Brooklyn, Fowler was a a musician-songwriter-singer for more than 35 years. He  performed regularly at KPFK winter and summer fairs n the 1970s,  working with Mario Casetta, the folk dance/music maven at the station at that time. At the summer fair in 1977, it was Fowler's honor to back up legendary songwriter Malvina Reynolds, composer of such classics as "God Bless the Grass" and "Little Boxes." Fowler also works as a freelance writer, having published more than 700 articles in various publications. More recently, he performed the roles of Mr. Peachum in "The Threepenny Opera" and Peter Quince in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," both at Cal State Los Angeles.