Tuesday, 5 March 2013

Good, Old, Classic Soul

Here's another video clip - - it features our Master Vocal Coach/Consultant, Jason "JJ" Sylvain and other amazing artists - Tony Hightower, Sammy Crumbley, and Ron Jackson (4.0).

Enjoy!


DAP 2013 - - Getting Ready?!?!

Hey everyone!

We are getting ready to unveil our participants for DAP 2013!!  They are an amazing group of talented artists - - so keep your eye on the following site - -DAP 2013 Blog

In the meantime, we have a link for you to watch - - - one of our possible "special" guests is featured - - let's see if you can find him or her?!

Enjoy the clip!

PLM





Saturday, 8 September 2012

DAP 2012 - Back in the News!! (Royal Gazette)

DAP 2012 member, Delijah Symonds was featured in the "Young Achiever" section of the Royal Gazette (Saturday, September 8, 2012).  We are so proud of her achievements and continue to support her as she prepares for Up With People next year!!  Check out the link below to read the article:

Delijah - Royal Gazette Article Sept 8, 2012

WAY TO GO, DELIJAH!!

PLM


Tuesday, 24 July 2012

Day #7 - Working until the end . . .

Day #7 started early as we had to prepared to leave Atlanta.  As stated in our Day #6 post, we went to the movies the night before and the films didn't get out until after midnight.  We got to the house close to 1am and had to pack, clean, etc.

Some of the youth decided to pack and sleep - - while others worked throughout the early hours of the morning so they can get a jump start on the day.  With the onset of fatigue, we pushed the group to gather all their belongings and we were able to leave the house just a little later than planned.  This "delay" almost proved to be our undoing - lol!

As one of our students was travelling on a domestic flight (to Las Vegas), he needed to depart from a separate terminal than the rest of the group (travelling International).

9:40 am - we dropped off the Bermudian bound group to the International terminal and travelling with Jason to the Domestic terminal to drop off Dylan.  Time was ticking away and it did not look as we were going to make it back on time.

9:55 am - Dylan was delivered to his flight and our rentals were returned.

10:00 am - Cut off time for check-in.  We are still on our way back to the International terminal.

10:10 am - We arrive at the International terminal, after getting word from Emma that they were unable to check in via Self-Check In.

10:12 am - We are manually checked in at the counter and are told to run to the gate - E27.

10:20 am - We are all through security and heading to the gate.

10:25 am - Everyone is at the gate and we have enough time to grab some McDonald's for the plane ride home.

We arrived on the island without any more problems and we passed through Customs as a group.  It was an amazing trip with a group of marvellous artists.  A special thank you to our sponsors:

Flanagan's Irish Pub & Restaurant

International Plastic Surgery

Lt. Col David Burch, JP


DAP 2012 - - WE LOVE YOU GUYS!!



Day #6 - Praise, Pointers, and Progress

Day #6 started with the group travelling to Fellowship of Love Church in Fayetteville, GA.  We were blessed with the sounds of Higher Standard, as well as the word from Pastor BaSean Jackson - it was a wonderful service.

After church, we travelled to Davenstar Media Group to sit and chat with Video Director/Producer, Chet A. Brewster.  Chet has directed numerous productions such as "The Queens of Comedy," "The Kings of Comedy Tour", and 9 Tyler Perry Stage Play DVDs.  We were blessed to have the opportunity to sit with him and ask questions about the business.  He shared his insight and provided a quick tour of his facility.

Here are some pictures from our time with Chet:






After this meeting, we were whisked away to an impromptu interview with Studio Steffanie at her studio.  Steffanie Haggins is the founder and CEO of StudioSteffanie Modeling & Entertainment Agency.  StudioSteffanie is consistently busy hosting TV programs, golf tournaments, political events, and various other corporate sponsored events throughout the Atlanta metropolitan area.  We were blessed to have her conducted an in depth interview with the team which will be broadcasted on TV One soon - keep an eye out for it!  Thanks again to sister Toni D for organising the interview and to Studio Steffanie - your time and energy was greatly appreciated!

Studio Steffanie

We then raced over to Camp Creek to do some quick shopping - which ended up being a good hour of "quick" shopping - lol!  We travelled over to Orange Room Studio where we had a final session with John Beal.  He congratulated the team on their accomplishment and provided a final copy of their track.  I believe this was the first time the group had heard the full song!!  The song is amazing and our team was very proud!  As we started to leave the studio, some emotions ran high and tears started to fall.  As usual, this started a flood of tears from others and they all supported each other to cope with our leaving.  After they gained their composure, we left the studio to go to dinner - - this time, we chose Olive Garden.

We arrived at the Olive Garden, but had decided that we were going to the movies after, thus the food was a bit rushed.  In fact, I am not sure if anyone was even able to eat their food!?  Jason joined us at dinner and provided his thoughts and love to all the students.  He expressed his appreciation for their hard work and encouraged them to always reach beyond their limits - - which started more tears.  We were able to say a quick good-bye to Jason (who was going to arrive at the airport tomorrow morning) and then we arrived at the theatre to see "The Amazing SpiderMan" and "Ted".  The movies ended just after midnight - - we said our good-byes to Toni (who was our running liaison for the week) - - and went back to the house to clean, pack and sleep.

Here are a few pics from our "good byes" with Jason:





Our final day will be posted soon!


Saturday, 21 July 2012

Day #5 (Part 2) - A little Higher Standard with some Juke Joint

After our adventure on Stone Mountain, we ventured to Fayetteville, GA to watch Jason at work with his amazing Praise Team, Higher Standard (HS), in their weekly rehearsal.  They were preparing a few selections for Sunday's worship experience at Fellowship of Love Church.  After introductions to the members of HS, Jason got right to work, taking the team through their paces, highlighting points and tips for our young artists.  He put Jahroy on drums to keep the pace, Dylan and Chiante were asked to watch Bro Dell Phillips (Minister of Music) on keys, and he had Delijah assist with the Alto part in one song.  They got to see how Jason conducts his team, allowing them to mess up, but pushing them past their own limits.  It was a good lesson for our group.

Here are a few video clips from our time with Higher Standard:





After a bite of lunch, (Subway, any one? - lol), we went back to Orange Room Studios to relax and review the track.  When we arrived, we were greeted by Guitarist Kyle Williams.  Kyle has performed with numerous artists in the Atlanta area and is a regular key player for Open Mics at Apache and Creative Live events.  Here is a clip of Kyle introducing himself to the group:




Kyle provided some excellent guitar tips for Emma as well as vocal tips for our singers.  We were unable to record his vocal performance for our group, but he was amazing!!  He jammed a little with Dylan and Emma (see video clip above) before we left to prepare for the evening's event - Sweet Georgia's Juke Joint - - the John Beal Collective!

After everyone was prepared and ready to go, we ventured out in the weather to Sweet Georgia's Juke Joint in the heart of Atlanta to see the John Beal Collective perform.  The jazz band consists of John Beal on keys, Kyle Williams on guitar, Tommy Why on Bass guitar, with guest artists on drums, vocals, and horns (these members change based on availability, etc.).  We were seated and were treated to an amazing performance by the band.  We watched them perform some wonderful songs including "Ribbon in the Sky" with Kyle floating on his sweet falsetto - it was a truly fantastic performance!





We were feeling our wounds as we had started our day quite early (4:45 am) to be exact, so we decided to leave after the first set and return to the house to get some much needed rest.  Our final full day would start at 8:30 am as we prepared for worship at FOLC.