Tom Miller (performance artist)
This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (December 2020) |
![](https://rightwiki.org/images/thumb/f/f4/f4a/Tommiller.jpg/180px-Tommiller.jpg)
Tom Miller (born October 5, 1965, in Hialeah, Florida, United States), is an American writer, film director, artist, painter, musician, actor, poet, and performance artist.
Early life
Miller was adopted by Nathan Anderson Miller and Alfreda Rowena Reed Miller and lived with his aunt, Alice Miriam Reed, who worked as a piano teacher.[1] Miller showed interest in playing the piano starting at age three and at the age of 15 he enrolled in an acting school run by Ruth Foreman, Florida's "First Lady of Theater". He worked there as an actor and sound and light technician for five years and appeared in several TV commercials and locally produced television programs.[1] Miller was inspired to learn to play the bass guitar and record his own songs after listening to bassist Paul McCartney. He recorded a 45 rpm record called “The Underground” at a recording studio when he was 15 years old. During his high school studies, Miller met Charles McWhorter and they began writing and recording songs together. They were joined later by guitarist John Williford and formed the Miami band, Penguin. Over a ten-year period, the band in its various iterations recorded and released five albums. After Penguin, Miller co-founded the band Middle Earth with school friend Don Traub. Middle Earth rehearsed for two years, played only two shows and then disbanded.[1]
Career
Miller began his career in Gainesville, Florida, in 1984. He performed in the bands Plastic Age, Middle Earth, Penguin, NDolphin, Bill Perry Orchestra,[2] The Space Masons, and Chicago's Vini and the Demons as the bass player.[3] He is the author of 45 chapbooks, and has over 50 CDs to his credit. His poetry has been published in many small press periodicals including Ploplop, Abbey, Poetry Motel, Moon and Jim Chandler's Thunder Sandwich. In September 2014, Miller wrote an interactive hyperlinked narrative entitled Project r, which explores the concept of reality using a mixture of Miller's stories, poems, articles and blogs and also has some autobiographical content. Miller is also the writer of the play, UMMU, another piece exploring the nature of reality. Tom Miller's UMMU was presented at the Acrosstown Theatre in Gainesville, Florida as a staged reading in July 2015.[4] It was later made into a fully produced and cast play and had its debut at the Acrosstown Theatre in Gainesville, Florida on May 12, 2017.[5] Miller was a candidate for the Gainesville City Commission in 1995.[6] He was the host of Gainesville's HempFests,[7] and was a plaintiff among several organizers in a 1995 First Amendment lawsuit which the city lost, both on its initial filing and on appeal. Miller's avant-garde variety show, The Tom Miller Show,[8] has been a staple of entertainment in Gainesville from 1984 to the present. In its current form, Miller's show is known as the Reverend Angeldust's Tabernacle of Hedonism with your Host, Tom Miller. Miller says the show is the "...longest running variety show in the United States.[9]" Miller has received significant press coverage for his writings, artworks, performances, and activism in Gainesville over the last two decades. He continues touring with live performance art shows, poetry readings, videography, and currently performs on electric bass with various groups.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "TOM MILLER BIOGRAPHY". Geocities.ws. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
- ↑ "ArtWalk: Artists Tom Miller and Bill Perry". Archived from the original on 2018-08-14. Retrieved 2015-12-07.
- ↑ RoegiersGainesville.com, Brett. "Possessed by the blues". Gainesville Sun. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
- ↑ "Performance artist hosts staged reading - The Independent Florida Alligator". Alligator.org. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
- ↑ Richards, Glenn (11 May 2017). "Things Get Real In Tom Miller's Unreal World of UMMU". Wuft.org. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
- ↑ "Gainesville Sun - Google News Archive Search". News.google.com. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
- ↑ "Ocala Star-Banner - Google News Archive Search". News.google.com. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
- ↑ "Article 404 - Gainesville Sun - Gainesville, FL". Gainesville Sun. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
- ↑ "Miller Tries Making Sense of Absurd". Gainesvilledowntown.com. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
External links
- Tom Miller: A Never-Ending Performance
- Tom Miller, Tabernacle of Hedonism Richard Spencer Exorcism.
- Tom Miller's Play, UMMU: NPR Interview
- Tom Miller Stares into Ted Cruz's Mouth: GAWKER
- Birdometer: Performance Artist Brings Awareness to Nature - Gainesville Sun
- Official website bio
- Truman Capote reading and impersonation
- Artist plays student
- Magic marker drawings
- Short films
- The Tom Miller Summer Unspectacular
- The Tom Miller Show
- Miller paints the mayor
- Twin Peaks marathon
- Tom Miller Tabernacle of Hedonism
- Tom Miller Operation Copenhagen
- Tom Miller Staged Reading
- Tom Miller Tabernacle of Hedonism
- Tom Miller Billiard Therapy