The Resurgence Features Singer Deja

Catch Deja at The Resurgence: The Return of The Philly Renaissance@ Soul II Soul, 6139 Ridge Avenue
Tuesday July 31, 2012
7pm to 10pm$10 Admission
This event is a live performance, Open Mic venue featuring poets, singers, musicians, actors and tap dancers! Tell a friend...

This young lady was brought to my attention by my co-worker Scott Booker. I watched her YouTube performance of an Adele cover and I though "this girl is good." As a result, she became the first recipient of my annual Dream Award; Deja received a cash award to help fund her dream to become a singer and a spotlight at a Wednesday night showcase at Warmdaddy's
Deja Ellison the daughter of Roxaine Ovid and Daryll Ellison attends Muhlenberg Middle School in Temple, PA. Deja started singing at the age of three when she would hear different family members singing oldies at family gatherings. Deja first hit the stage singing at the age of 6 when she performed for her dance recital at Dance Expressions. From there Deja has felt comfortable on the stage sin...ging, dancing, and acting. At the age of 8 Deja brought home to the city of Reading a victory at the world famous Apollo Theater in Harlem NY. She appeared on stage at the Apollo multiple times and gained confidence to proceed in her singing career. At the age of 9 Deja brought home another victory for the state of Pennsylvania as the winner of Miss Sunburst USA representing Pennsylvania. Deja represented PA at the national Miss Sunburst Pageant where she earned Best Talent in her age group. From there this young lady has been performing the National Anthem for the Reading Phillies, The Reading Express, Reading High School, and the Puerto Rican Heritage Festival. One of the biggest honors the young songstress achieved was when she was invited to perform to sing two solo’s for the world known Harlem Boys and Girls Choir. Deja has been an advocate for the Gilmore/Henne Community Fund where she performed the eye opening song “Reading” when the park cleanup project began to gain steam in the community. Today you can hear Deja as she performs at various community projects in the city of Reading.

The Resurgence Features Poet Just Greg

Catch Just Greg at The Resurgence: The Return of The Philly Renaissance@ Soul II Soul, 6139 Ridge Avenue
Tuesday July 31, 2012
7pm to 10pm$10 Admission
This event is a live performance, Open Mic venue featuring poets, singers, musicians, actors and tap dancers! Tell a friend...

Greg “Just Greg” Corbin is an international poet, writer, motivational speaker, hip hop artist, activist, workshop facilitator, community developer, and founder of the Philadelphia Youth Poetry Movement, which was established in 2006.

Greg Corbin is an accomplished artist sharing the stage with the likes of India Aire, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Musiq, Saul Williams, Kindred the Family Soul, and many other powerful artists of today’s movement. Just Greg has been writing and performing spoken word for the last four years of his eternal life lighting up stages on an international level from South Carolina to South Africa, London to Canada. This Philadelphia native and Lincoln University Alum began writing in his sophomore year after deciding to follow the footsteps of fellow Lincoln grads Langston Hughes, Oscar Brown, and the unclaimed Gil Scott Heron.

His thoughts broadcast across the airwaves with an unconquerable truth that is delivered in a unique and passionate style with a sense of urgency that could reawaken the desperation of the fifties, the movement of the sixties, the rebellion of the seventies, the strength of the eighties, the solidarity of the nineties, and the much needed solutions of today. This socially and politically involved artist writes with limitless potential about controversial topics ranging from religion to the politics of education, from the politics of love to the lack of parenting in today’s society.

Film/Television: Just recently his organization, the Philly Youth Poetry Movement was featured on the HBO docu-series “Brave New Voices” where he was highlighted as a mentor/coach featuring his astounding ability to work with and inspire the youth to courageously express their truth. Greg Corbin will also be featured on BET’s Lyric Cafe this Fall of 2009 airing on BETJ.

Published Works: Just Greg is currently working on a book publishing deal and a new album that will feature poetry and hip hop.

Greg Corbin is available for performances, artist residencies, workshop facilitations, speaking engagements, etc.

The Resurgence Features Singer Ashley Scott

Catch Ashley Scott at The Resurgence: The Return of The Philly Renaissance@ Soul II Soul, 6139 Ridge Avenue
Tuesday July 31, 2012
7pm to 10pm$10 Admission
This event is a live performance, Open Mic venue featuring poets, singers, musicians, actors and tap dancers! Tell a friend...

Ashley Scott is a talented vocalist from Philadelphia, PA. He began singing and discovering music at the tender age of 3 from listening and watching is aunt Helen Scott of The Three Degrees. A foundation of meaningful music was instilled from his parent’s record collection of artists like Earth, Wind, & Fire, Stevie Wonder, Chicago, The Delfonics, and naturally The Three Degrees. As a teenager, Ashley organized and performed in high school talent shows.

The biggest part of Ashley’s life and musical path came when he attended Howard University where he received his Bachelor’s Degree in Music. At Howard University Ashley studied jazz voice under legendary jazz drummer and vocalist Grady Tate and the late Webster Lewis. His voice can be heard with an ensemble of classmates on the Howard University Jazz Ensemble 1997 CD singing 4 selections. Ashley also joined the Howard University Gospel Choir, which has produced R&B artist Angela Winbush, Tawatha Agee of Mtume, Pure Soul, and Gospel great Richard Smallwood. During his tenure with the Howard Gospel Choir, Ashley has performed behind Edwin and Walter Hawkins and Dorinda Clark of The Clark Sisters. The choir was also privileged to perform for President Bill Clinton at The Department of Agriculture for the unveiling portrait of former Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy.

Ashley has performed throughout the Delaware Valley in both private and public concerts. He has sung background for Lady Alma and Jean Carn as well as shared the stage with Vivian Green, Bilal, and Grammy Award Winners Take 6. In the studio he has recorded vocals for Chavous, Giillian Grannum. and most recently he has written and recorded with Sarah’s Girl’s debut CD “All About Me.” Through God’s grace Ashley hopes to touch the world with his music and calm the angry souls with is soothing warm vocals.

The Resurgence Features Dancer Tapman Myers

Catch Tapman at The Resurgence: The Return of The Philly Renaissance@ Soul II Soul, 6139 Ridge Avenue
Tuesday July 24, 2012
7pm to 10pm$10 Admission
This event is a live performance, Open Mic venue featuring poets, singers, musicians, actors and tap dancers! Tell a friend...

Reggie TapMan Myers has been dancing for A little over twenty years. He has been raised in a dance
school since he was a little boy. Reggie Is a hip hop and master Tap dancer. He has been teaching dance for 10 years and has studied under many artist such as, Jason Samuels-Smith, Chloe Arnold, Dormeshia Sumbrey-Edwards, Jaye Allison, Robert Burden, Rennie Harris, Mr. Wiggles and a host of many other dancers. TapMan has opened shows for singer Mya. He is from NJ and currently lives in New York City. He teaches Hip Hop classes every Friday night downtown Manhattan. Reggie is busy working on many projects to keep Dance alive. You can and will always find him moving, even when the music is off. Reggie is certainly making a name for himself and continuing to dance into the hearts of many. His specialty is tap. He can tap dance forever. Check him out in the Big Apple. You never know he may make a stop in your neighborhood.

The Resurgence Features MC One Sun Lion Ra

Catch One Sun Lion Ra at The Resurgence: The Return of The Philly Renaissance@ Soul II Soul, 6139 Ridge Avenue
Tuesday July 24, 2012
7pm to 10pm$10 Admission
This event is a live performance, Open Mic venue featuring poets, singers, musicians, actors and tap dancers! Tell a friend...

"When I say Hip Hop, y'all say I love, Hip Hop!"... The One Sun Lion Ra born and raised in New York City and spending a significant amount of his life in Los Angeles and North Carolina has no artistic limits especially when it comes to his music. Combine that with the fact that he is the son of Lou Wilson eldest of the four Wilson brothers from the group Mandrill and you can expect nothing less than insane heat and intense passion when it comes to Ra's brand of Hip Hop and Spoken Word. Ra has performed all over the east and west coasts as well as overseas exhibiting his skills in the art of emceeing, beat-boxing, and performing spoken word poetry. "Real Hip Hop for Real Hip Hop heads", remains his credo, but perhaps a more fitting phrase for the flavor The One Sun Lion Ra brings would be, "Real Messages for Real People".

The Resurgence Features Poet Mary Pitts

Catch Truth Serum at The Resurgence: The Return of The Philly Renaissance
@ Soul II Soul, 6139 Ridge Avenue
Tuesday July 24, 2012
7pm to 10pm$10 Admission
This event is a live performance, Open Mic venue featuring poets, singers, musicians, actors and tap dancers! Tell a friend...

Mary R. Pitts, aka Truth Serum the Prophetic Poetess...CEO of 

Prophetic Presentations,'an artistic production company whose

mantra is, "speaking to the hearts of mankind VIA the ARTS!"

A blossoming 'POWER HOUSE' spoken word artist who is known for 

bringing insight & truth to those who have eyes to see & ears 

to hear...an upcoming novelist & screenplay writer...STAY TUNED

for her first novel debut this fall, 'SOUL TIES', & stage play

casting call...

The Resurgence Features Singer Zenia McPherson [VIDEO}

Catch Zenia at The Resurgence: The Return of The Philly Renaissance
@ Soul II Soul, 6139 Ridge Avenue
Tuesday July 24, 2012
7pm to 10pm$10 Admission
This event is a live performance, Open Mic venue featuring poets, singers, musicians, actors and tap dancers! Tell a friend...

Hailing from Baltimore, MD with roots planted in the West Indies, Zenia lives and works in Philadelphia,Pa. This young lady attended the Baltimore School for the Arts studying theatre. While living in Philadelphia, Zenia got the chance to perform on the world famous Apollo Theater Stage. She currently sings with the prestigious Urban Guerrilla Orchestra. Zenia also leads her own band, Zenia and the Natural Experience aka Z and the Natty Ex co-lead by Jonathan Michel, the Natural Experience breaths new life into standards and delivers power packed performances each time.

Check out her performance at The Apollo Theater...

The Resurgence Features Actress Kala Moses Baxter July 24

Catch Ms. Kala at The Resurgence: The Return of The Philly Renaissance
@ Soul II Soul, 6139 Ridge Avenue
Tuesday July 24, 2012
7pm to 10pm$10 Admission
This event is a live performance, Open Mic venue featuring poets, singers, musicians, actors and tap dancers! Tell a friend...

Kala Moses Baxter is a Professional Actress, Educator, and Radio Personality. 
She is a Barrymore nominated actress who has been acting professionally for 12
years, teaching acting for 20 years and performed in over thirty regional plays,
has been on television and in film. She started taking acting classes at Freedom
Theatre at the age of 10 and taught there for 10 years. Kala holds a Masters of
Fine Arts degree from the University Of Arizona and Bachelors in Communications
and Theater from Temple University. She has been a theater professor at Lincoln
University, adjunct acting instructor at Temple University, and given countless
numbers of trainings and workshops in Theater and Education all over the United
States. Her interactive workshops use acting, music, movement and play as a
teaching tool. She is also blessed to be a radio personality for Radio One’s
Praise 103.9, where she has the show Out and About
with Ms. Kala which airs on Saturdays from 10-2pm and The Dedication Hour
with Ms. Kala airing Monday- Friday at 6pm.Ms. Kala conducts interviews for the
radio stations website PraisePhilly.com with some of gospel music’s biggest
stars.  She can be seen in the national commercial and print campaign for
Saladworks. Ms. Kala is married and the mother of two beautiful little girls and
two handsome stepsons.

The Resurgence Features Actor Walter DeShields July 17th

Catch Walter at The Resurgence: The Return of The Philly Renaissance
@ Soul II Soul, 6139 Ridge Avenue
Tuesday July 17, 2012
7pm to 10pm$10 Admission
This event is a live performance, Open Mic venue featuring poets, singers, musicians, actors and tap dancers! Tell a friend...

Walter DeShields, a native South Philadelphian is a veteran stage, film and TV actor with several dozen credits including “Email 9/12” “To Be Young Gifted & Black” “VII Deadly Sins”,“Son of A Preacher Man” “Blues for an Alabama Sky”, “A Soldier’s Play”, “Night Watch”, VI Degrees”; “Raisin in the Sun”, “The Exonerated”, “Intimate Chaos”, and "Jeffrey all on stage. In addition, “One Last Dream of America” “Coochie Wars”, “Moment in Time”, “Retribution”, “The Playstation Killed the Puppet”; “The Gift” and “Booted” among others in front of the camera. Walter holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theater and English from The Pennsylvania State University.

The Resurgence Features Hip Hop Artist J Smith on July 17, 2012

The Resurgence is the return of The Philly Renaissance! Every Tuesday night we mix the creativity & class of The Harlem Renaissance with the grooves & energy of the Philly Soul Movement. Join us for live music, tap dance, poetry, theater, open mic talent & great food!

Tuesday nights @ Sole II Soul, 6139 Ridge Avenue
7pm to 10pm
Admission $10

This week we feature Hip Hop Artist J Smith

“J. Smith” started independently writing and recording music throughout his senior year. All of this work culminated in the release of a full-length mix-tape, “Kid in Me,” and his song “Smile Girl,” with a corresponding music video that has rapidly gained popularity on the internet. It’s gotten over twenty five thousand hits on YouTube alone.Yet his work has not even come close to ending. He has another music video out, to his song “Near Graduation,” which further showcases his admirable range, broad appeal and strong abilities.
However, J. Smith is distinguished from other hip hop artists by more than just his talent. The messages that flow through his songs prove that rap and hip hop songs do not have to be filled with the anger, violence and hate which so often seem prevalent. Instead, his lyrics employ wholesome language — instead of the seemingly ubiquitous profanity in rap music — and family-friendly subject material to which everyone can relate. His songs usually evoke themes like the emotional struggles one encounters in the transition from adolescence to adulthood, and his ambition to succeed in school, sports and his relationships, both familial and romantic. All of these positive attributes are apparent in his new song “Near Graduation.” With lyrics like “I’m gonna spread joy to the nation/I just gotta have patience,” and “If you got love just let it grow,” J. Smith shows that rap doesn’t need to have a negative message in order to be well crafted. He would rather rap about his life goals. Similarly, his music videos often use school as a setting, showing how important school is in his songs, and in his life.

Calling All Performers! Sign The Open Mic List For Tuesday July 17th!!!

Thanks to all who come out to The Resurgence last night. Kim Pinder-Garner did an AWESOME job! If you missed her performance stay tuned for clips which we will post to this blog...We will bring you awesome entertainment each week so please make this event a part of your weekly to do list.




The Resurgence, The Return of the Philly Renaissance 
@ Sole II Soul, 6139 Ridge Avenue, 19128


Tuesday July 17, 2012 7pm to 10pm
Featuring Jeff Murrell and our house band Side By Sol. Tickets are $10. Please purchase them at www.embacyentertainment.com

The OPEN MIC SIGN UP SHEET is open and taking submissions for Tuesday July 17, 2012. WE CAN NOT PLAY TRACKS. ALL PERFORMERS WITH MUSIC MUST PLAY WITH THE BAND OR BRING THEIR OWN MUSICIANS. If you have original music please upload the track to the sign up sheet and the band will learn your song. To sign up CLICK HERE

The Resurgence Features Jeff Murrell Tuesday July 17, 2012

The Resurgence is the return of The Philly Renaissance! Every Tuesday night we mix the creativity & class of The Harlem Renaissance with the grooves & energy of the Philly Soul Movement. Join us for live music, tap dance, poetry, theater, open mic talent & great food!

Tuesday nights @ Sole II Soul, 6139 Ridge Avenue
7pm to 10pm
Admission $10

This week we feature singing sensation Jeff Murrell

Biography

Jeff Murrell's story starts out like most great singers.  He started singing in church at the age of five.  He's sung extensively in the gospel community and has shared stages with some of the music industries' most popular artists. His resume of performances, songwriting accomplishments and recorded projects are impressive but for the new direction Jeff is embarking upon it's the story behind his story that makes the difference.
Jeff is one of three children and the only person in his family with musical genius.  Usually the gift is passed on genetically or it's learned because its student has been surrounded by musicians and singers.  But Jeff didn't have any of that.  His ability to sing was placed in him from the beginning.  No one but God can take credit for Jeff's phenomenal vocal ability and instrumentation.

Jeff's debut project entitled, "Broken Man" is a collage of songs written for women to inspire them to love themselves.  Ironically titled, this project comes from a man who has unfortunately experienced being broken. Jeff's mother passed away when he was just 17 years old and it was her that instilled in him the insight to see that God can take anything or anyone and make it beautiful. It was also the life she lived in front of him that taught him women are a precious commodity and should be loved and valued.  "It's funny how sometimes you don't know that you know something until it's too late." Jeff didn't realize all of these life lessons that his mother was teaching him until after she died.

After going through this hard place Jeff found himself in the obvious safe haven which was church.  He grew up in church and knew that it was going to be his faith that would save his life.  As the years went on Jeff's vocal ability began to grow and his range and control left people in awe.  It also got the attention of some major gospel artist which opened the doors for Jeff to travel nationally.  During this period Jeff also got away from the lessons his mother taught him.  In his travels he's met countless women with different names, faces and shapes; some in church, some wouldn't touch church if you paid them. But he also noticed that no matter what part of the globe these women were from, what economic level they were on or what their educational or religious background may have spoke they all were dealing with the same issue; looking to be validated, settling for less and wanting to be loved.  This discovery would bring Jeff back to the life lessons he learned - that God can take anything and make it beautiful.

Jeff's journey has led him to Grammy nominated music industry producer Herb Middleton whose resume is too long to list.  But the connection of these two talents has birthed such a groundbreaking project that is worthy of multi-platinum record sales and Grammy awards.  The Broken Man project will put every listener on an emotional roller coaster and have them in line waiting to get on again.

Open Mic Sign Up Sheet For July 10, 2012 Show

Thanks to all who come out to The Resurgence last night. We will bring you awesome entertainment each week so please make this event a part of your weekly to do list.




The Resurgence, The Return of the Philly Renaissance 
@ Sole II Soul, 6139 Ridge Avenue, 19128


Tuesday July 10, 2012 7pm to 10pm
Featuring a Tribute to Phyllis Hyman with Kim Pinder-Garner and our house band Side By Sol. Tickets are $10. Please purchase them at www.embacyentertainment.com

The OPEN MIC SIGN UP SHEET is open and taking submissions for Tuesday July 10, 2012. WE CAN NOT PLAY TRACKS. ALL PERFORMERS WITH MUSIC MUST PLAY WITH THE BAND OR BRING THEIR OWN MUSICIANS. If you have original music please upload the track to the sign up sheet and the band will learn your song. To sign up CLICK HERE