NJPAC Alternate Routes NJPAC Alternate Routes Presents Toshi Reagon, Bernice Johnson Reagon and BIGLovely
NEWARK, N.J., March 17, 2010 – The New Jersey Performing Arts Center’s Alternate Routes series teams up genre-bending singer-songwriter, Toshi Reagon, and her band, BIGLovely, with her mother, the composer/scholar/teacher and founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock, Bernice Johnson Reagon, for one night only, Saturday, March 20 at 7:30 p.m. in the Victoria Theater. Tickets are $39 and are available by telephone at 1-888-GO-NJPAC (1-888-466-5722), at the NJPAC Box Office at One Center Street in downtown Newark, or by visiting the NJPAC website at www.njpac.org. All tickets can be purchased by telephone at 1-888-GO-NJPAC (1-888-466-5722), at the NJPAC Box Office at One Center Street in downtown Newark, or by visiting the NJPAC website at www.njpac.org. Alternate Routes is made possible, in part, by American Express, the Ford Foundation, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. For more information: www.njpac.org.
Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon have collaborated on previous projects together, including the musical score for the award winning films “Africans In America” on PBS and “BEAH: A Black Woman Speaks” for HBO. Their performances together are rare but always a welcomed opportunity. This concert will feature Toshi’s powerhouse band BIGLovely with Fred Cash on bass, Judith Casselberry on vocals and guitar, Robert Burke on drums, and Adam Widoff on electric guitar.
Known for energetic performances and a gift for writing engaging songs that provoke listeners to think and have fun at the same time, Toshi Reagon jumped into the spotlight when she dropped out of college after Lenny Kravitz tapped her to open for him on his first world tour. She has been touring and recording ever since, having shared the stage with the likes of Ani Difranco, Pete Seeger, Dar Williams, Elvis Costello and her own band, BIGLovely. www.toshireagon.com
For more than 40 years, Bernice Johnson Reagon has been a major cultural voice for freedom and justice; singing, teaching—speaking out against racism and organized inequities of all kinds. A singer of extraordinary emotional depth and vocal power, Reagon became active in the Civil Rights Movement while a college student at Albany State College in Albany, Georgia. She was a member of the original SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee) Freedom Singers formed in 1962 by SNCC field secretary Cordell H. Reagon, and in 1966, a founding member of the Atlanta-based Harambee Singers. Early in 2004, Reagon retired after thirty years from the acclaimed African American women’s a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey In The Rock, which she founded in 1973. www.BJReagon.com
New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), located in downtown Newark, New Jersey, is the sixth largest performing arts center in the United States. As New Jersey’s Town Square, NJPAC brings diverse communities together, providing access to all and showcasing the State’s and the world’s best artists while acting as a leading catalyst in the revitalization of its home city. Through its extensive Arts Education programs, NJPAC is shaping the next generation of artists and arts enthusiasts. NJPAC has attracted over 6 million visitors (more than one million children) since opening its doors in 1997, and nurtures meaningful and lasting relationships with each of its constituents. Visit www.njpac.org for more information.
Programming has been made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts and by funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.
NJPAC is a wheelchair accessible facility and provides assistive services for patrons with disabilities. For more information, call 888-GO-NJPAC.
Media Contact: Josh Balber, Public Affairs, 973-353-8051, jbalber@njpac.org
Source: New Jersey Performing Arts Center
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Tags: Alternate Routes, Bernice Johnson Reagon, BIGLovely, Music, Newark, NJPAC, Toshi Reagon
