Joe Hotham

Joe Hotham (Jo Hotham Nielsen) is an award winning Actor, Author, Farmer, Musician, Poet, Producer, Speaker, Stuntman, Survival Instructor, Trucker and Woodsman who's work ethic and trade coverage has earned him the nickname, "Michigan's Blue Collar Artist". Nicknames include a tribal name given to him by Native American elders, Stormbird, Kujo and Storms MacGregor as he is a member of the Scottish Clan Gregor/MacGregor. He grew up in a family (King (sept of MacGregor), Hotham, Nielsen) with authors, boxers, hockey players and musicians in the line, where he was exposed to sports and the arts at an early age. As a youth he attended school on the border of southwest Detroit's and Downriver's Ecorse and River Rouge sections around a highly diverse culture and artistic blend which influenced his arts and approach to life. Since his youth he's had a natural addiction and passion for the arts and has pursued them. After becoming a published poet while still in high school as a teen, his early twenties saw him break into the local music industry where he became one of Detroit's acid rap pioneers, start his own indie record label and the South Side Asylum network. Before long, he was crossing over into film productions as he was casted to play roles, help build sets and with his music talents and connections, do score work, soundtrack arrangements and coordination on Detroit TV shows for Comcast Xfinity (Maclean Hunter at the time) and Detroit TV62. He also began to use his industry connections and neighborhood reputation to work on projects and fund organizations that helped troubled youth get out of Detroit street gangs and get help from drug and alcohol addictions, sponsor talent shows, help fund programs for young mothers and gang tattoo removal programs. After 9/11, Jo got involved in the Army National Guard MIVDF unit and the Michigan Home Guard until he got Honorable Discharge from the Army National Guard MIVDF unit in 2019. During COVID's spread, Jo started a ministry called Fishfyre Outreach that went into the streets of Toledo, OH, Monroe, MI and Detroit, MI every weekend in 2020 to pass out free bibles, bottled water, toilet paper and pray for and with people on the streets, in traffic and with various homeless areas. To this day while working as a trucker full time, he maintains a balance of working in film, literature, speaking engagements and helping serve various communities and organizations. Jo also invests money and time in the following causes- American Indian Services of Michigan, Detroit Goodfellows, Fishfyre Outreach, Lions International and various organizations that help with suicide prevention and troubled youth programs. Jo belongs to the following groups: International Society of Poets, BMI, Teamsters, the Clan Gregor/MacGregor, American Clan Gregor Society Inc and Lions Clubs International.