Hands Together, Heart To Art Camp

This July, the Auditorium Theater of Roosevelt University will be hosting its award-winning summer camp Hands Together, Heart To Art for children ages 7-14. This camp is designed for children who have lost a parent to death. The camp runs in 2 session July 5-16 (ages 7-11) and July 19-30 (ages 10-14) from the hours of 9am-4pm with optional 1 hour pre and post camp child care.

This unique camp uses the arts of theater, music, and dance to help children process and cope with their loss. It also gives them an opportunity to build a support group of peers who have been through the same experience. Campers will participate in singing, dance, drama, music, and group activities involving art to assist in the grieving process . The cost for this camp is just $50 per child. Applications can be downloaded from www.hthta.org.

Families with multiple children or extreme need can apply for financial assistance through the HTHTA. Scholarship deadline is June 28.

-Erik

Pink Floyd Fights for the album

 

Well it looks like Pink Floyd won the legal dispute over their album.  The British High Court has ruled in favor of the popular group, ordering EMI Group Ltd to stop selling songs individually on the Internet.  Music group Pink Floyd sued for their legal costs and possibly more, after providing a contract that solely prohibiting selling the tracks “unbundled” (not in album or whole form). EMI thought the rule applied only to physical albums, not the Internet.

Pink Floyd signed with EMI in 1967 and became one of its most lucrative acts, with its back catalog outsold only by The Beatles.

-Ron

And the Winner Is: Billboard names Beyonce “Woman of the Year”

Is there anything Beyonce isn’t good at? LOL but really is there?  She sold countless album w/ her group Destiny’s Child and has had great success as a solo artist.  This year she was named “Woman of the Year” by Billboard magazine.  She will receive her honor on Oct. 2nd at Billboard’s annual Women in Music Event in NYC.  This year alone, Beyonce starred in the #1 movie Obsessed, had her own arena tour, and sand at President Obama’s inaugaration.

Associated Press

-Ron

Timbaland Drops New Video Game

Timbaland, the super producer has made hits for everybody, I mean everybody.  He’s produced for the Justin Timberlake, The Pussycat Dolls, Nelly Furtado, Jay-z, One Republic, P. Diddy, Danity Kane, The Game, Brandy, Ginuwine, Aaliyah, Missy Elliott, LL Cool J, Rihanna, Omarion, Brittney Spears and a host of other big name artists.  But he’s still hungry to conquer more mountains standing in his way and he hasn’t forgot where he first began: his music.

That’s why he’s teamed up w/ Rockstar Games to create “Beaterator”.  It comes out for PSP & Playstation (sorry XBOX gamers) on Sept 29th & Oct 2nd.  Rockstar had this to say about their new game: “Featuring thousands of loops and sounds made by both Timbaland and Rockstar, Beaterator puts the power to make professional-level music at your fingertips in a format that’s portable, accessible and fun as anyone can now create great-sounding music.”  Here’s the trailer for the “Beaterator”!!!

Look out Guitar Hero, you may have some competition in the future lol

-Ron

Who Is The Better Rap Duo: Taylor Swift and T- Pain or Fergie and Nelly???

We have now seen two of the most unlikely colabos of all time with Fergie out rapping Nelly on his own single and now Taylor Swift stepping up her street cred by doing what every real rapper does…get a T-Pain feature. So tell us who’s you think was better?

-Erik

3 Feet..No Pressure

I remember when I was about 12 years old and got my first basketball hoop in the backyard. Any time somebody would D’ Up on you real good on an inbound pass you could just say “3 Feet No Pressure!” and they had to back up. They knew they had to give you some space. But most the time when you’re under pressure it aint that simple.

 My family had moved from the South Side of Chicago to South Suburban Riverdale when I was 8. At the time I had never even heard of Riverdale ,or been to a suburb ,or even had a conversation with a person who wasn’t black other than a teacher. Alot of that changed real fast. My dad had been in  jail since I was 4, me and my mom didn’t have the best relationship, and to make it worse I was an only child (sorta) with no cousins within 10 miles or 10 years close to my age.

My only release was when I went back to the city to visit my God Brother Chris and his family. The problem was to them I was an outsider now. Like anybody else I wasn’t trying to be considered the lame of the group so proving myself was a constant thing. They all were great at sports but physically I wasn’t gonna be able to compete. My outlet became music. Hip-Hop, or Rap (whichever you wanna call it) to me was more than what my parents saw it as. Yeah it was a lot of reckless examples of violence, drugs, degrading women etc. But what wasn’t mainstream was the art form in it. The skill, the cleverness, the wit, the passion. The beat, the mic, the crowd, the delivery, the flow all showed me I could do me and didn’t have to be like anybody. I would still hoop  but writing became my release, it was my 3 feet no pressure.

What’s Yours?

-Erik