SCHOOLCHILDREN GET THE BLUES : SUNSET STRIP NIGHTCLUB TEACHES HISTORY LESSON WITH DOSE OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN MUSIC, ART.Byline: Amy Dawes Daily News Staff Writer From a sprawling, delta-style corrugated cor·ru·gate v. cor·ru·gat·ed, cor·ru·gat·ing, cor·ru·gates v.tr. To shape into folds or parallel and alternating ridges and grooves. v.intr. tin building on the Sunset Strip The Sunset Strip is the name given to the mile and a half stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's east border with Hollywood at Marmont Lane to its west border with Beverly Hills at Phyllis street. , a sound is rising up, a sound echoed by a rapt audience of Valley schoolchildren schoolchildren school npl → écoliers mpl; (at secondary school) → collégiens mpl; lycéens mpl schoolchildren school , some of whom are hearing it for the first time. It's the blues - a funky, captivating cap·ti·vate tr.v. cap·ti·vat·ed, cap·ti·vat·ing, cap·ti·vates 1. To attract and hold by charm, beauty, or excellence. See Synonyms at charm. 2. Archaic To capture. version of Elmore James' ``Dust My Broom "Dust My Broom" is a blues standard originally recorded by Robert Johnson, the legendary Mississippi Delta blues singer and guitarist, on November 23, 1936 in San Antonio, Texas. It was released on the ARC Records label under the title of "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom. ,'' and eighth-graders from Nobel Middle School in Northridge are loosening up and singing right along with the musicians on stage. ``Let me see you shake your head a little bit and get a little attitude about you,'' urges the commanding Sylvia St. James, a vocalist and music consultant who leads a major portion of this educational program, which is offered free by the House of Blues House of Blues (HOB) is a chain of music halls and restaurants founded in 1992 by Hard Rock Cafe founder Isaac Tigrett and his friend and investor Dan Aykroyd. It is a home for live music and southern-inspired cuisine, whose clubs celebrate African-American culture, specifically nightclub. Sheldon Strickland, the dreadlocks-wearing bass player for the band Black Coffee & Jam, steps to the edge of the stage. ``Did you know that all American music started with the blues?'' he asks. ``Elvis Presley didn't start rock 'n' roll rock 'n' roll: see rock music. , and neither did the Beatles. Does that bum you out?'' ``NO!'' shout the kids, who've just spent the morning becoming acquainted with the history of slavery The history of slavery covers many different forms of human exploitation across many cultures and throughout human history. Slavery, generally defined, refers to the systematic exploitation of labor for work and services without consent and/or the possession of other persons as and the contributions of African-Americans to the arts and technology. Asked what musicians they remember from their tour of the House of Blues gallery of greats, they shout out names such as James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3 1933[1][2] – December 25 2006), commonly referred to as "The Godfather of Soul" and " , Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding, Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an influential American deep soul singer, best known for his passionate delivery and posthumous hit single, "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay. , Muddy Waters and Ray Charles For the composer and conductor of the Ray Charles Singers, see . Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) known by his stage name Ray Charles, was a pioneering American pianist and soul musician who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues. . Just think of it as the little blue schoolhouse. Three mornings a week for the past two years, the Years, The the seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter’s life. [Br. Lit.: Benét, 1109] See : Time music hall in West Hollywood has hosted one of the most popular field trips in the L.A. Unified School District A unified school district is a school district which includes both primary school (kindergarten through middle school or junior high) and high school (grades 9-12). In Illinois, these districts are called unit school districts. , available to kids in grades five through 12. During the three-hour program, costumed performers Gwyn Gorg and Ella Raino enact the harrowing story of how Africans were captured and brought to America on slave ships, sold at auction and barred from education, and how the slaves developed call-and-response chants and spirituals both to boost morale in the fields and to pass secret messages about emancipation in the North. Later, as the freed slaves migrated, the performers enact how their music migrated and evolved along with them, profoundly influencing American culture. ``Pittsburgh, Detroit, New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. and the Harlem Renaissance, get ready for me!'' shouts Raino, as she pumps her arms in imitation of the imaginary train that is carrying her to the North. The kids also get a tour of the House of Blues' elaborate collection of native African and African-American folk art. Later, James quizzes the students, who come from widely varied ethnic backgrounds, on what they've learned that day. ``Can you all promise me that you'll help eliminate racism? Will you share what you've learned here with others? Raise your hands if you will.'' In a moment of temporary utopia, all hands go up. While eating a lunch of sandwiches and chips, the students give the field trip high marks. ``It kind of ties it all together, what happened back then and what's happening now,'' says DeAndrea Brackins, 13. ``Before this, I didn't realize what people went through back then,'' says Catherine Finelli, 14. ``I thought this would be like a museum, but they act it out for you, and it was really fun.'' ``It opened me up to understanding a lot of different kinds of music,'' says Kelly Kaufman, 13. Nobel English teacher Jodi Heffner says the field trip had dovetailed with her class's curriculum. ``We're reading about Harriet Tubman and the underground railroad, and we just visited the Museum of Tolerance The Museum of Tolerance is a multimedia museum in Los Angeles, California, with an associated museum in New York City, designed to examine racism and prejudice in the United States and the world with a strong focus on the history of the Holocaust. ,'' she says. ``This program fit right in, and it exceeded my expectations.'' In fact, teachers like the program so much that the International House of Blues Foundation, which funds and administers it, has difficulty meeting the demand. ``There are 650 schools in the district, and we're booked until October,'' Mark Princi, head of the foundation, said in April. ``We hanve to turn people down all the time.'' Princi says the foundation's limited ability to reach students (class size is limited to 100 students, often from several schools at once) is a source of great frustration. He estimates that 12,000 kids in Los Angeles and a total of 30,000 in the United States, when similar programs at House of Blues clubs in Boston and New Orleans are included, have been exposed to the program. But House of Blues founder Isaac Tigrett thinks big, and that number isn't nearly enough. Chagrined that musical education has been dropped from many high school curriculums, Tigrett and the foundation are working on a plan to bring blues education into the public schools. ``The dream is to develop a curriculum in the public school system,'' says Tigrett. The foundation, which has an annual budget of $1 million that comes from individual and corporate donations, is currently exploring the feasibility of a curriculum developed by the Seattle-based Experience Music Project, which is also building the Jimi Hendrix Museum there. Tigrett says blues education in the schools could function much like art history. ``You introduce a song, and then you describe what was happening around the person who was singing that song.'' Whether or not the plan is carried out, it sums up the ingenious mixture of public service and self-service that seem to characterize the business dealings of Tigrett, 46, the phenomenally successful entrepreneur who co-founded the much-imitated Hard Rock Cafe Hard Rock Cafe is a chain of casual dining restaurants. It was founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton, and their first Hard Rock Cafe opened near Hyde Park Corner in London, in a former Rolls Royce car dealerships showroom close to Hyde Park, where in 1979 they began to chain with Peter Morton in 1971. For not only does the Blues Schoolhouse Program, even at its present size, promote racial harmony and understanding, it also cultivates an audience for the musical culture at the core of Tigrett's expanding club chain. House of Blues Entertainment Inc., the core company, plans future clubs in Chicago, New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , Las Vegas, Orlando, and Paris ``What I know how to do really well it to create mainstream interest in our activities,'' he acknowlendges. ``Because it's not going to be old blues cultists like myself that take the music into the future. It's going to be the kids.'' CAPTION(S): 3 Photos Photo: (1--Cover-Color) From slavery to modern music, st udents are getting a lesson in African-American history in a unique program at the House of Blues. (2) Vocalist Sylvia St. James performs for students from Nobel Middle School in the Blues Schoolhouse Program offered by the House of Blues. Black Coffee & Jam play during the three-hour program, which educates students in African-American history three mornings a week. John McCoy/Daily News |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion