ASHGROVE MUSIC BACKS LIFE SUPPORT FOR LITERACY
Benefit Helps Get Lit Players Keep Culture Alive for At-Risk Youth
The Get Lit Players have built a launch pad for literacy among at-risk youth
with innovative programs that blend memorizing classic poetry and original
free-form spoken-word slams. Many minority teens on the edge of dropping out
have regained self-confidence and reconnected with reading through exposure
to great poets of diverse cultures and the prospect of becoming poets
themselves. Semi-finalists in the 2008/2010 Brave New Voices International
Teen Poetry Slam, the Get Lit Players have been featured in the LA Times, on
HBO, NBC and PBS and were invited to the White House by Michelle Obama last
year.
With California's brutal budget cuts about to further devastate arts
programs at LAUSD and in local charter schools -- hundreds of music,
theatre, visual arts and dance teachers no longer have gigs --- it's vital
to bring arts aid to these culture-stripped communities. Get Lit has taken
root in almost 40 area high and middle schools to date, touching over 10,000
SoCal teens. Its Adopt-a-School program will expand that reach.
All Funds from this event, sponsored by Ashgrove Music, will bring Get Lit
to Animo Inglewood High School, where desperate teachers welcome this life
support. They know that arts -- the oasis where students can find their own
voice -- are the prime reason many young people remain in school.
While last fall's Get Lit benefit featured a poem written specially for the
event by David Mamet and performed by Helen Mirren, this event will showcase
the Players themselves, plus performances by their outstanding musical
confreres from Brave New Music.
Headlining the afternoon of poetry and music is blues and gospel icon Bettie
Mae Fikes, who will be joined by the Bernie Pearl Blues Band. Alabama-born
Fikes made her gospel debut as a 4-year-old. At just 16 she enlisted in the
Civil Rights Movement, mobilizing music against segregation and for voting
rights through the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Freedom
Singers. Ms. Fikes has graced the stages of Carnegie Hall, Newport Jazz
Festival, the Library of Congress, numerous Blues Festivals and clubs
(debuting at the Ash Grove) and two Democratic National Conventions, and has
performed with Lightnin' Hopkins, Albert King, James Brown, Bob Dylan, Mavis
Staples, and others. Her throaty but velvety voice can vibrate a room until
the walls beg for mercy.
IGNITING, UNITING, KEEPING WORDS ALIVE
FOR MORE INFO on the event, call 323-930-0857
________________________________________________________________
WHEN: Sunday, September 30, 2 - 5 PM
WHERE: Home & garden of Jan Goodman & Jerry Manpearl,
939 San Vicente Blvd., Santa Monica 90402
WHO: Poetry performances, classic and urban, by the Get
Lit Players;
Music by Bettie Mae Fikes & Bernie Pearl
Blues Band
Brave New Music by Get Lit Players, musical classmates and Ashgrove friends
WHY: Sponsor a poet -- save a student
DONATION: $15, adults, $5 students, tickets online at
www.ashgrovemusic.com
HELP: Please pass this on to friends, especially
those who live west of the 405.
This great event is on Carmageddon day
and likely, many, if not most attendees
will be West-siders. Actually, the
last carmageddon didn't phase our audience, but....
_____
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