corey.e.houlihan

A Long Island native, this now Georgia-based artist has long since found the stage as her home away from home, touring nationally and opening for some of the bigger names in the spoken word and hip hop scenes. Having honed her craft for over a decade, she uses her voice as a tool for progressive activism, presenting her unabashedly political and eloquently delivered spoken word poetry with audiences of both like and unlike minds.



In the early 1990s Corey discovered that spoken word poetry was a medium for artistic expression. After witnessing performance poetry at New York's "Knitting Factory" she realized that she'd been creating this art for years; that, behind the stacks of notebooks in her bedroom, there was a method and a direction for which to push her thoughts. She began frequenting open mics in the Long Island and NYC areas and fast became a regular at venues including the Nuyorican, Zen Den Cafe, and Pride for Youth Coffeehouse.



Corey has three recordings under her belt. Her first recordings were released in 2002 - "Hold the Line" and "Meditate on Madness." Both are compilations of poems she'd been performing publicly for quite a while and, with properly recorded tracks long overdue, she entered the studio with friend, fellow musician, and co-producer Freddy X Vasquez. Then in 2007, she re-entered the studio with an entirely new body of work and the intent to create a hip-hop-influenced record. For this project she collaborated with another friend/artist, New York based Sargon, and "sugar.honey.asphalt" was the product of their joint effort.



Successfully merging politics and verbal rhythms, she has had the opportunity to open for such acts as God-des & She, Adrianne, and several of HBO's Def Poets. A member of the Folk & Spoke Artist Collective, she has performed at festivals such as Homo A GoGo, Ladyfest South and MondoHomo, as well as many universities across the country. She was dubbed by author Michelle Tea as ".the missing link between Gloria Steinem and Eminem." Her ever-evolving, raw, and captivating performances -- delivered with an unmistakable cadence -- give way to intense and powerful live shows.