aaduna rocked Bill’s Place: First ever Fundraiser!!!!

bill berry, jr., CEO/aaduna Inc., watches from the edge of the stage, aaduna performanced based fundraiser/friendraiser,   May 18, 2014 @ Bill's Place, Harlem, NY

Intimacy is akin to the multi-colored butterfly that rests on your arm without your knowledge and when you discover its unwavering beauty and serenity you revel in its inquisitiveness and embrace your feelings of being special…

You forget the shoulders touching distant cousins and your need for personal space that never really existed in urban landscapes that erupt in molten clamminess that sears your being to another, not known or experienced before.

The spoken word initiated the afternoon soaring truth to power and breaking down pre-conceived barriers of resistance born in misinformation…

Sing song voices drifted the words deeper into a collective consciousness while guitar and viola bolded and italicized the words.  Then,

That sax wailed, crooned and dipped into unknown territory reserved for imaginary beasts and reclusive fairies  as the piano, bass and drums dueled to find the supreme moment of birth to become triplets and then to unite with its parent that as all souls drifted, floated and found nooks and crannies that are best kept hidden, secret, our space. 

And even as I fantasized this new world that was being created in front of my mindset, I thought seven days, a few hours, a moment in time and then the words unknown and rediscovered reigned and baptized me in the spirit of the places, and experiences that were foreign and abandoned.   

I cried.

I clapped for joy.

I lifted my voice in the unison to the clamoring that punched through my spirit. 

I was home.  

I was alone.

I was found within the arms of others. 

I swayed, lurched, shouted, went to church and these beings that were unknown to me pushed me further and cajoled, and comforted.  Is this really the “word” the “music” my ancestors pulling me back to days that I forgot or simply neglected. 

I am the renaissance.   

I am home.

Blessed.

© 2014 bill berry, jr.   

The first fundraiser was a cultural and social success!  

Enjoy the photos & video clips taken by Lisa Brennan (below)

Ray Nat Turner, Giovanni Rentas, Theda Palmer Saxton, B. Lynn Carter, Scott Laudati, Kevin Jenkins, Cyd Charisse Fulton, La Tasha Nevada Diggs, Lisa Brennan, Bill Saxton, Isis Arias, Bill Berry, Cheeki PowPow, Iymaani Abdul-Hamid.  Present at event but missing from photo: Unyierie Angela Idem, Poet

Audible Chocolate -Lo Anderson (guitar/vocals), Cheeki PowPow (lead vocals) and Iymaani Abdul-Hamid

Bill Saxton (saxophone)

WATCH VIDEO CLIP HERE - Bill Saxton, All-Star Band!

Sean O'Grady, aaduna support and Isis Arias, MC

bill berry, jr. with Maria Franco

Isa Martinez-McDonald, Maria Franco with Lisa Brennan, aaduna visual arts editor

Isis Arias, Master of Ceremonies

B. Lynn Carter, Fiction writer

Kevin Jenkins, Poet

Unyierie Angela Idem, Poet

Giovanni Rentas, Poet

Watch a video clip here of Giovanni presenting, "Ave Maria"

 

Bill Saxton, Co-Owner, Bill's Place

Theda Palmer Saxton, Co-Owner, Bill's Place, Harlem, NY

Dr. Theda Palmer Saxton, Author:  "Heirs to Dirty Linen and Harlem Ghosts: Whitewashing Prohibition with Black Soap"                    (photo: google images)

Sean O'Grady, aaduna support extraordinaire

Cyd Charisse Fulton, Poet

WATCH VIDEO CLIP HERE - Cyd Charisse Fulton!

Scott Laudati, Poet

La Tasha Nevada Diggs, Poet/Writer

Raymond Nat Turner, Poet

WATCH VIDEO CLIP HERE - Raymond Nat Turner!

THANK YOU to all of the aaduna contributors present for sharing your talent, musicians, attendees, support staff and those who made donations to help make aaduna's first fundraiser a huge success -
 
We are so BLESSED! 






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