Thursday, April 21, 2011

World Renowned Poetess Jessica Care Moore!! Wednesday, April 27th,2011

The Mahogany Urban Poetry Series is pleased to announce that we have Jessica Care Moore coming into our midst this Wednesday!! See bio,photos,and info below...make SURE you come out for this event!!
Special event price is $10!! She also will have books for sale!!

(photo by Corey Reese)

jessica Care moore is an internationally renowned poet/ publisher/ activist/ rock star/ playwright and actor. She is a five-time Showtime at the Apollo winner; has featured on hip-hop mega-star, Nas' "Nastradamus" album and was a returning star of Russell Simmon's HBO Series, Def Poetry Jam.

After her legendary win on the Apollo stage, jessica Care moore was approached by several book publishing companies, but in 1997, she paved her own path and launched a publishing company of her own – Moore Black Press. Which has released her first book; "The Words Don't Fit In My Mouth," and several thousand copies. A few years later, she followed up with her second collection of poetry and essays, "The Alphabet Verses The Ghetto."

Moore Black Press proudly published famed poets, Saul Williams and Shariff Simmons; Def Poetry Jam's co-founder, Danny Simmons, NBA basket-ball player, Etan Thomas, activist and poet, Ras Baraka and former Essence Magazine editor and author, Asha Bandele.

This bold and electric artist has shared the stage with the late Ossie Davis, CeCe Winans, Gregory Hines, Anthony David, Norah Jones, Amiri Baraka, Patti Labelle, Roy Ayers, Mos Def, The Last Poets, Sonia Sanchez, Talib Kweli, Nikki Giovanni, Steve Harvey, Maya Angelou and many others. In 1999, she was honored as Woman of the Year by the Harvard Black Men's Forum.

She is among the few poets who can attract more than the usual eclectic artsy crowd; bringing people from all backgrounds to fall captivated by her lyrics, verses and the universal raw truths in her poems. This Detroit bred natural born entertainer fuses a rock band with hip-hop and poetry. Her band, Detroit Read (pronounced "red"), fuses soul rock 'n roll sounds inspired by Prince, Betty Davis, Janis Joplin, The Temptations and Marvin Gaye. The performance is a combination of heart-pounding rock, acoustic guitar, house and raw hip-hop mixed with jessica's soulful raspy voice as lead vocalist.

jessica Care moore voices herself as a strong warrior in the fight against AIDS. She has performed for the United Nations World AIDS Day Commemoration two years in a row. She also organized the successful Hip-Hop-A-Thon Concert in (San Francisco), which helped increase AIDS education in the Black and Latino Bay-Area communities. She has performed at several AIDS WALK Opening Ceremonies in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Florida and Atlanta.

Her innovative and inspiring take on literacy among our nation's youth landed her opportunities to produce several art programs, concerts, and workshops for the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta, and worked as a facilitator for The Langston Hughes National Poetry Circle Project.

As an internationally respected author and poet she has rocked stages all around the world from Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Berlin, Paris, Holland, England, Scotland and many others. jessica Care moore teamed up with Impulse recording artist, Antonio Hart on the album "Here I Stand," and collaborated with Big Cat's rap artist, PBT, and also featured on The Last Poets Tribute Album.

Her talent does not stop at poetry, jessica featured in "Hugh's Harlem Dream" (STARZ), and starred in the award-winning independent film, "His/Herstory." She also captured the lead in the independent film, Under The Gun, which co-stars Umi and M1 of Dead Prez. She had a cameo appearance in the award-winning film, "Slam," and is one of the stars of the documentary, "Slamnation!" She is the producer, writer and star of the poetry and music themed show, "SPOKEN!" aired on the Black Family Channel, produced in association with Moore Black Press and directed by CEO, Robert Townsend. She is one of the featured artists in the PBS special; "I'll Make Me a World."

She is the playwright and author of "There Are No Asylums for the Real Crazy Women," a one-woman stage production that reveals the true life story of Vivienne Eliot, the late first wife of famous poet T.S. Eliot. Fusing her contemporary poetry, hip-hop culture, feminist thought and language, jessica offers a moving and innovative portrayal of an English woman born in 1888. She also authored and performed in the one-woman stage play "AlphaPhobia," a semi-autobiographical sketch about a female poet who believes the alphabet is trying to kill her.

Her literary work has received wide exposure, and her poems featured in several major anthologies including; "A Different Image," (U of D Mercy Press, 2004), "Abandon Automobile," (WSU Press, 2001), "Listen Up!" (Random House, 1999), "Step Into A World," (Wiley Publishing, 2001), "Role Call" (Third World Press, 2002), "Bum Rush The Page: A Def Poetry Jam" (Crown Publishing, 2001).

She is the youngest poet published in the "Prentice Hall Anthology of African American Women's Literature," by Valerie Lee, alongside literary greats, Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker, Octavia Butler Maya Angelou and many others.

Jessica was also featured in Essence, Blaze, Source, Vibe, African Voices, Bomb, Mosaic, Good News, Savoy, One World, BE, Ambassador Magazine and others. The poet/actors return to the "D" has been met with much buzz, gracing the covers of The Metro Times, African American Family, The Detroit News, and The Detroit Free Press.

This talented powerhouse was commissioned by The Apollo Theater to debut her new multi media solo theater show, God is Not an American. Her show sold out the Apollo Theater Salon Series in April, and after a return from touring in France and Amsterdam, she will bring the show back to NYC for encore performances in Brooklyn and Harlem in July 2009.





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