OC Art Blog’s Joy Shannon meeting Mikael Akerfledt (center) and Martin Mendez (right) from Opeth.

Joy Shannon is a the recording, performing and visual artist and author front-woman of the dark Celtic folk-rock band “Joy Shannon and the Beauty Marks”. Joy plays Celtic harp, cello, accordion and harmonium and sings. She has a bachelors degree in Visual Arts and Theatre Arts (with a focus in printmaking and theatrical makeup and wig design) and a masters degree in American Studies with a focus in cultural art history and the history of countercultures, both from Cal State Fullerton. Combining her focus on the arts and countercultures, Joy’s first full-length book The First Counterculture Celebrity: Oscar Wilde’s 1882 North American Tour (Plain and Simple Books, 2011) showed how Wilde’s tour influenced trends in art, fashion and music in 1882. Music: www.joyshannonandthebeautymarks.com