James Brown News

For those craving a show after the show, stop by 54 BELOW, the performance venue located just below the legendary Studio 54 at 254 West 54th Street. Loosen your tie and enjoy as Broadway's superclub expands its late night series. Joining Tuesday nights' popular Backstage with Susie Mosher are late night events featuring bright and upcoming New York talent:

Composer and percussionist Adam Rudolph finds a similar shape of things via sound, enlisting the Go: Organic Orchestra, an ensemble of players who can be assembled anywhere, anytime. In the project's latest iteration, Rudolph has gathered his longest collaborating group of musicians based in New York, for a series of elegant, diversely textured pieces that form aSonic Mandala (Meta Records; release: September 17, 2013). Following a compositional and conducting approach Rudolph has honed over decades of contemplation, performance, and creation, the group delineates a space where contemporary classical, jazz, and global traditions effortlessly converge.

Fresh off work on Fox Searchlight's feature film BLACK NATIVITY starring Angela Bassett, Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker and Mary J. Blige - and directed by Kasi Lemmons - Otis Sallid, the creator of SMOKEY JOE'S CAFE, brings an exciting new musical project to life, HARLEM'S BIG OTIS JUMP UP BLUES REVUE. The REVUE will make it's home at Ginny's Supper Club located in Marcus Samuelsson's popular Red Rooster Harlem, (310 Lenox Avenue).

Anaphora Literary Press is pleased to promote the publication of 'East of Los Angeles,' a poetry collection by seasoned author John Brantingham. 'East of Los Angeles' follows life in that part of Los Angeles that few people dream of. Here, suburbs fade into the deserts and forests that ring the city. Here, Brantingham grew up with the ever present noise and light of the world's busiest freeway. The people he writes about are making the best of the lives that they have found. 'Our best writers weigh their words carefully, and John Brantingham is certainly one of them. He is a craftsman with a huge heart who cares deeply about people and stories and the chaos we call our lives. His characters are beautifully rendered, real and true, at once vulnerable and courageous. Wise and insightful, Brantingham's work brilliantly captures the light and darkness in us all.' -James Brown, author of The L.A. Diaries John Brantingham's work has appeared on Garrison Keillor's daily show Writer's Almanac, and more than 100 of his poems and stories have been published in the United States and England in magazines such as The Journal, Confrontation, Mobius, and Tears in the Fence. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for a poem in his chapbook Putting in a Window, which was published by Finishing Line Press. He is a full-time professor at Mt. San Antonio College in Southern California and one of two fiction editors of The Chiron Review, a nationally distributed literary magazine, and he lives happily east of Los Angeles with his wife, Annie, and their dog, Archie. ($15, ISBN: 978-1460925201, 5.06X7.81?, 72pp) Anaphora Literary Press is an independent publisher that has published dozens of creative and non-fiction books. Among these publications is the Pennsylvania Literary Journal, a tri-annual journal, which has published best-selling authors like Cinda Williams Chima and Carrie Ryan. The press is a member of The Independent Book Publishers Association and The Council of Editors of Learned Journals. Anaphora authors have done readings at major venues. Several titles have been assigned in college classes, and reviewed in major academic, trade and news publications. The Press's Director, Anna Faktorovich, is an English professor. If you would like to know more information about this topic, please contact: Anaphora Literary Press Director: Anna Faktorovich, Ph.D (520) 425-4266 5755 E. River Rd., Unit 2201 Tucson, AZ 85750 director@anaphoraliterary.com www.anaphoraliterary.com Ordering Information: Pay Anaphora by PayPal or Credit Card www.amazon.com www.booksamillion.com www.barnesandnoble.com Baker and Taylor: http://www.btol.com E-mail: orders@btol.com Ingram Book Company: http://ingrambook.com/default.aspx E-mail: orders@ingrambook.com Phone: (800) 937-8000

Broadcast Music, Inc., (BMI), the global leader in music rights management, will present the BMI Icon Award to Cash Money's Bryan 'Birdman' Williams and Ronald 'Slim' Williams at the 2013 BMI R&B/Hip-Hop Awards, to be held Thursday, August 22, at the Manhattan Center in New York City. The star-studded event, formerly known as the BMI Urban Awards, draws the entire entertainment community together to celebrate the songwriters, producers and publishers of the most-performed r&b/hip-hop songs of the previous year.

Coming up this week, 54 BELOW, the performance venue located just below the legendary Studio 54 at 254 West 54th Street, presents some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz and beyond. 54 Below also launched its series of late night events. Joining Tuesday nights' popular 'Backstage' with Susie Mosheris the '54 Piano Bar,' a new vocal competition - 'The Callback,' and more:

For those craving a show after the show, stop by 54 BELOW, the performance venue located just below the legendary Studio 54 at 254 West 54th Street. Loosen your tie and enjoy as Broadway's nightclub expands its late night series. Joining Tuesday nights' popular Backstage with Susie Mosher are late night events featuring bright and upcoming New York talent:

As part of Curve's on-going commitment to supporting and developing talent within the East Midlands, the Leicester theatre has announced the appointment of its first Associate Artists; Aakash Odedra Company, New Art Club and METRO-BOULOT-DODO.

Long Wharf Theatre, in conjunction with Supreme Talent International will present Smokey Joe's Cafe: The Songs of Leiber and Stoller, on the Mainstage as part of its summer season. The musical runs from today, July 10-28 on the Mainstage.

Agachiko has been turning heads since 2008, when the septet led by Kenyan-born, Boston-based vocalist Gabrielle Agachiko was formed. On her debut album 'Yes!,' released today, July 9 by Accurate Records, she brings an international sensibility to the incantatory spirit of Nina Simone and Abbey Lincoln.

Singer, songwriter and guitarist extraordinaire Gary Clark Jr. will headline the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem on November 14th.

Mad Cow Theatre has announced additional performances for the upcoming production of Dreamgirls, with music by Henry Krieger and lyrics and book by Tom Eyen, to be produced in The Harriett Theatre at 54 W. Church Street.

The 22nd Annual San Francisco Fringe Festival runs for 14 days, September 6-21, 2013, at the EXIT Theatreplex, 156 Eddy Street, in downtown San Francisco. This year, the run is longer (14, rather than 12 days) and extended to include three weekends. The only days the theatre is dark are Mondays.

Last night I had the privilege of taking a look back on an incredibly impressive recent string of major musicals starring the phenomenally talented Brandon Victor Dixon with the leading man himself, ranging from his work last year Off-Broadway in RENT as well as the Williamstown Theatre Festival mounting of FAR FROM HEAVEN, both directed by Michael Greif, through to his acclaimed performance in Kander & Ebb's THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS through to his new role portraying music titan Berry Gordy himself in the audience hit of the 2012-2013 season, MOTOWN. In addition to eloquently expounding on his various starring roles in those four major musicals and reflecting upon his time spent in each production, Dixon also opens up about his passion for performance in general and the importance of collaboration in the creation of any musical from the ground-up. Dixon also comments upon his experiences originating a role in Oprah Winfrey's recent stage venture THE COLOR PURPLE as well as recounts his association with COTTON CLUB PARADE - set to premiere on Broadway under a new title later this year - as well as the various incarnations of his stage piece based on the life and career of Ray Charles. Most importantly, besides all about MOTOWN and his work with Gordy and the cast on the hit show, Dixon also previews what we can expect from the cast of the show on tonight's A CAPITOL FOURTH PBS concert extravaganza, featuring Dixon alongside MOTOWN standout Saycon Sengbloh. All of that, first news on Dixon's upcoming self-penned solo album project, memories of working on THE GOOD WIFE, thoughts on GLEE and the modern performing arts revolution and much, much more!

UPDATE: BroadwayWorld has confirmed with a Theater of the Stars resentative that despite Holliday's tweets, only the Wolf Trap production has been cancelled. The production will run as scheduled in Atlanta, August 22-25.

Dave Stryker's Blue to the Bone IV CD Release will take place at Birdland in New York City Fri/Sat. July 5-6 – 8:30 and 11:00 pm.