GreenPiece: Eco-Activism in Poetry, Music, & Prose w/Host John Fugelsang - Thursday, April 21

In honor of Earth Day,The Inspired Word presents GreenPiece: Eco-Activism in Poetry, Music, & Prose - a star-studded fundraiser for the non-profit organization Rock 'n Renew http://www.rocknrenew.com/10/

Hosted by the wonderful actor/comedian/TV personality John Fugelsang.

Featured artists: Performance poet/multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter Ngoma Hill, musician Roderick Romero, Jarabe del Sol of The ReadNex Poetry Squad, the Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble, singer/songwriter/ pianist Justin Baron, actress/performance poet/climate change activist/filmmaker Shetal Shah, husband-and-wife duo Lythion Music, The Glazzies band, musician Sean Lynam, and spoken word poets Caroline Rothstein, Ceez Liive, Nathan P., Alysia Harris, Natalagé Davis, and Jonathan Walton!

100% of the proceeds go to Rock 'n Renew.

Rock n' Renew will be providing green door prizes and green trivia winner give-a-ways throughout the night.

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Did you know that each gallon of fuel releases 20 pounds of carbon dioxide into the air?

Did you know that approximately 5 million tons of oil produced in the world each Year ends up in the ocean?

Did you know that the amount of wood and paper we throw away is enough to heat 50 million homes for 20 years?

Did you know that over 40% of all tropical forests have been destroyed and another acre is lost each second.

Did you know that more than 100 million Americans live in urban areas where the air is officially classified by the EPA as unsafe to breathe?

Please join us on this special night and MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

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When: Thursday, April 21, 2011

Where: One and One Bar & Restaurant (downstairs Nexus Lounge)
76 East 1st Street (corner of 1st Avenue)
Manhattan, NYC
Phone: (212) 598-9126

Doors Open: 6:00pm

Minimum Donation: $20 (though you're certainly welcome to give more).

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HOST BIO:

John Fugelsang is an actor, comedian, writer and television host. He’s performed at The US comedy Arts Festival in Aspen and the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal. Film and TV credits include Coyote Ugly, Somewhere in the City, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Providence, Becker, Lifetime’s “Two Cups of Joe,” America’s Funniest Home Videos, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, McEnroe and Bullseye for CNBC, Beyond Belief, Watercooler for TVGN, American Classic for VH1 UK, Paul McCartney’s Live Town Hall and George Harrison: The Last Performance for VH1. Other TV credits include over 20 appearances on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher and regular stints on HLN’s The Joy Behar Show.

He received the award for “Outstanding NYC Monologist” at Lincoln Center from the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs. He’s been a contributor to CNN, FOX News, CNBC, NPR, Air America Radio, and FOX News radio, and has performed for American Troops on their humanitarian mission to Haiti.

He is currently developing a screenplay about Black Site Prisons for Inventure Films, writing a book about Christianity and Politics, and recently wrapped roles in the independent features “The Whole Truth” opposite Elizabeth Rohm and Eric Roberts and "Price Check" opposite Parker Posey. He is the son of an ex-Nun and a former Franciscan Brother/history teacher. He lives in New York City and Hollywood, CA.



ARTISTS BIOS:

Ngoma is a performance poet, multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter and paradigm shifter, who for over 40 years has used culture as a tool to raise sociopolitical and spiritual consciousness through work that encourages critical thought. For further info, please visit http://www.ngomazworld.com/


 

The Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble will perform an excerpt from SAME RIVER, their interview-based piece about water issues and the controversial natural gas extraction process known as “fracking”. Strike Anywhere is comprised of world-class jazz musicians, modern dancers, and actors. Performers collaborate through an ensemble-based, improvisational process to create politically-charged, original works that address socially-relevant issues.


Roderick Romero’s latest work is a collaboration with musician Laurie Anderson for the Novartis Campus in Basel Switzerland. He has designed and built over 30 Treehouses on four continents. Clients include- Sting, Donna Karan, Julianne Moore, and Val Kilmer. His band (with wife Anisa), Sky Cries Mary, has recorded over 12 albums and has toured throughout North America and Asia. In 1994 Sky Cries Mary was the first band to broadcast live on the World Wide Web. They then went on to play the Conan Obrian Show and the John Stewart Show.

Stepping to the stage in his trademark suit, cufflinks and fedora style hat, poet Nathan P. became the poster child of style, grace and class on the slam circuit in early 2000. With a voice that resonates bass, the sound of his words were as captivating as his words themselves. This talent and stage presence enabled him to become a Nuyorican Grand Slam Finalist in his very first year on the circuit. He ultimately became the host at the Nuyorican Poets Café for seven years. He's been in two off-Broadway productions: “Be Beautiful” and “An Evolution in Reinvention,” produced two books of poetry: “Madness” and “The Colors of My Mind," appeared on numerous CD’s, most notably his solo project “Chalklines on Black Asphalt." He is Special Guest Host of The Inspired Word and starting in June the Host of The Inspired Word's Tuesday Night Open Mic Joint.

Caroline Rothstein is a spoken word poet, nonfiction writer, and multimedia journalist. She is a member of the 2010 Nuyorican Poet's Cafe slam team, which placed second at 2010’s National Poetry Slam. A member of the Intangible Collective, she has been performing and competing around the United States for a decade.

Shetal Shah is an actress, performance poet, filmmaker and educator. As a P3 poet-activist for seven years (poeticpeoplepower.com), guest poet at Lincoln Center’s La Casita festival and avid fan of Mexican food, she’s thrilled to be part of GreenPiece! Shetal currently works on climate change issues with the Bolivian Embassy and Nord Sud XXI.

Alysia Harris is a wordsmith. She is a student at Yale University pursuing a PhD in linguistics, and a two-time national spoken word champion. She also appeared on the HBO Documentary Russell Simmons Presents:Brave New Voices. She has performed with Saul Williams, Buddy Wakefield, Anis Mojgani, Rita Dove, and Elizabeth Alexander.

Lythion Music is the husband and wife duo of James Harrell (composer, producer, multi- instrumentalist, engineer) and Ilyana Kadushin (singer, songwriter, producer, performance coach). Together they have been composing and producing music for television, theater, film, studio and live performance for the last ten years. In addition to their music, Ilyana is widely known as the narrator for Stephenie Meyerʼs “Twilight” series audiobooks. Other projects include: scoring music for Nickelodeon Television, Becoming Natasha, True Body Project, Being Bold, The Deep, God Loves Me Best, and Separate, But Equal, the upcoming documentary they scored and co-produced about the Mississippi photographs of Henry Clay Anderson which will be on display at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC. Lythion has performed for Wildlife Federation benefit raising money for animals affected by gulf oil spill. For more info, please visit http://www.lythionmusic.com/.

Ceez Liive is a recognized teen spoken word artist/poet. She has been featured at the Nuyorican Poet’s Café, Madison Square Garden, The Chicago Theater, The Saban Theatre and several other venues throughout the United States. Ceez won second place in the 2009 Knicks Poetry Slam and is a member of both the 2009 Urban Word Slam team and the 2010 Philadelphia Team. Her show “Ma Heels” premiered in December of 2009 in Dance Theater Workshop and was featured in the 2010 Hip Hop Theater Festival. She’s made appearances on WQHT Hot 97 and Kiss FM in New York City reciting poetry. The New York Times, The Bronx Times and The Daily News have written articles on her. In January of 2011, Ceez’ first feature film “Gun Hill Road” premiered at The Sundance Film Festival. Her talent to weave words and mesh experiences to educate and entertain makes her an up and coming performer to watch.





Singer/songwriter/ pianist Justin Baron is a Pennsylvania native. A blend of soul, rock, jazz, pop, indie and classical define Baron’s music. As a child, he casually accomplished prodigious renditions of Debussy, Bach and Beethoven. Using his uncanny ability to seamlessly fuse different genres, Baron quickly joined the Philadelphia singer-songwriter scene.



Sean Lynam got his start fronting Chicago ska band A Girl Named Craig and, years later, formed alt. rock band, Speak Her Language. Following impressive releases from both bands, Sean has since emerged as multi-talented and well-rounded solo artist. Influences from Elvis Costello and Jackson Browne help in defining a sound that's uniquely his own; Lynam has made appearances on Mancow's Morning Madhouse and Q101 (chicago's #1 Rock station), executed a number of successful Midwestern tours, and opened for bands such as Nas, Motion City Soundtrack, Allister, The Toasters, Matt Nathanson, and Punchline.

Jarabe is a member of The ReadNex Poetry Squad, a group of four artists who perform underground Hip Hop and Spokenword Poetry. Together they have blazed over 300 stages across the world and have also made over a dozen television appearances. As artists, educators and activists, they seek to alleviate ignorance by tackling various issues including, but certainly not limited to, race, gender, politics, history, social injustice, gentrification, poverty and segregation.

Jonathan Walton is a spoken word performer raised in the rural town of Brodnax, Virginia, who attended Columbia University and was mentored in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. The publishing of his second book (The Second Verse) prompted him to go on tour raising money for children in Northern Uganda and soon after he became a member of Poetic People Power and justice and poetry were fused together forever. Since 2006, Jonathan has been a member of World Vision's Speaker's Bureau and an Sponsored artists advocating for children around the corner and around the world. Now as the New York City Urban Project Director for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship he aims to create catalytic programs that will develop volunteers and students with the character and capacity that can change the world.



Natalagé Davis, a member of the 2010 Urban Word Poetry Team. She has frequently competed locally, and over the summer, participated in the 2010 Brave New Voices Festival in Los Angeles, where her team clenched the title due to her perfect score on her poem "Colors" in the final round, becoming the National Teen Poetry Team Champions. In her poem "Colors" she recreates a plea to an absent mother whose favorite color she has never known. Davis beseeches her mother, who loved “on a grayscale,” to allow Davis to be “the color that makes you smile. There is Technicolor lin- ing the inside of my elbows,” she continued. “So hug me, mom.” She was recently featured on the HBO special presentation, “Brave New Voices 2010,” a seven part series chronicling the teams journey through the festival and the final slam.



Made up of members Peter Landi on lead vocals and guitar, along with Gabe Burford on bass, The Glazzies are a band that tries to make every performance and recording of themselves as energetic and raw as possible. With some of Peter's main influences being Dinosaur Jr., The Vines, and Nirvana, The Glazzies sound as if their music would fit more in the decade that Peter and Gabe were born in. "Remember the name The Glazzies. A& R executives will soon be fighting to sign the band." - Page Six, New York Post

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Rock 'n Renew is a non-profit focused on delivering the most effective environmental education possible to students of all ages through partnerships with today’s most popular musicians. Rock 'n Renew utilizes the power of endorsement and interaction with today’s most important musical artists -- a process that delivers mind-opening relevance to this critical subject for students who are often physically and culturally removed from the need to protect and restore the environment. Rock 'n Renew raises money to support both its scholastic programs and three ecology action sites. The ecology action sites exemplify Rock 'n Renew's core mission, while serving as destination learning centers and replicable models for the local action projects that students are encouraged to pursue. Rock 'n Renew works to connect students curriculum to these local community projects in an effort to repair local food systems and ecosystems.

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Mike Geffner
Founder/Producer

Brigitte Viellieu-Davis
Artistic Director/Associate Producer

Marvin Mendlinger
Assistant Director