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Deep Roots
Students Make Deeper Connection With Civil Rights Now in its fourth year of operation at North Portland's Roosevelt High School, the Deep Roots Music Project has established a civil rights connection. For the past two years, Deep Roots students at Roosevelt not only collaborate with local musicians to write great songs, they also travel together each March on a living history trip to Alabama and Atlanta, Georgia where they explore museums and important places associated with the history of our nation's civil rights movement. Montgomery's Rosa Parks Museum, Selma's Slavery Museum and Edmund Pettus Bridge, Birmingham's Civil Rights Institute, and Spelman and Morehouse Colleges are all stops along the way for the young writers who call themselves the St, Johns Poets.
The 2010 St. Johns Poets will unveil their new CD, The St. Johns Poetry Sessions, Volume IV, at a free concert/art showcase event at Roosevelt High School on Saturday, May 8 (2 PM). Local musicians such as Stephanie Schneiderman, Jeremy Wilson, Madgesdiq, Liv Warfield, Paul Lesinski, Raz, Sam Densmore, Shei'Meka Newmann, Barry Hampton, Tony Smiley, and DLUX THE LIGHT provided writing tips, mentoring, and musical talent for this year's project.
Participants Travel from Near and Far to Take Part In Summer Workshop In July 2007, we hosted the first annual Deep Roots Music Project workshop and conference at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Among the goals of the weeklong workshop were to provide interested educators and social workers from throughout the country with the specific skills and knowledge they'll need in order to establish new Deep Roots sites in their communities. We also worked to develop strategies to help make the Deep Roots program even better for students and more sustainable for schools and social institutions.
Educators from Oregon, Massachusetts, Washington D.C., and California joined program founder Chris Gragg, and also Portland musicians Sattie Clark, John Henry Bourke, Dave Fleschner, and Madgesdiq, for an intense week of writing, examining song lyrics, and recording music. The other particiapnts were; Tara Julian (Boston, MA), Dina Varsalone (Boston, MA), Chris Stroffolino (Oakland, CA), Richard Brown (Roosevelt H.S. -Portland, OR), Shannon MCCarl (Reynolds High School - Portland, OR), Nann Alleman (Scapoose H.S. - Oregon), Chuck Laiti (Tigard H.S. - Oregon), Catherine Malinis (Girls Inc. - Portland, OR), Jill Silk (Girls Inc. - Portland, OR), Shyree Mezick (a former Deep Roots student participant who now lives in Washington, D.C.), and Anna York (Franklin H.S. - Portland, OR).
Questions? Contact Chris Gragg by email at chris_w_gragg@yahoo.com |
Portland Music Award Nominee: The 2009 Deep Roots CD compilation from Portland's Roosevelt High School is a Portland Music Awards nominee in 2010 for Best Portland Compilation,
Click here to
purchase, or to hear audio clips from the st. johns poetry sessions,
volume III
Deep Roots Releases 10-Year Anthology CD
For over ten years, teen writers and Portland area musician-volunteers have teamed up to write and record original songs for their annual music CDs. To mark our 10-year anniversary, The Deep Roots Music Project has released an anthology CD. Deep Roots: Music Project Anthology 1998-2007 contains 12 great songs, and at least one song from each year of the program's existence. In addition to the twelve songs, the anthology is packaged with an elaborate sixteen-page booklet that is filled with photographs, lyrics, cover artwork, student testimonials, and other choice bits of Deep Roots history. Among the volunteer artists represented on Deep Roots: Music Project Anthology are our good old friends Madgesdiq, Rubberneck, Luther Russell, Breanna Paletta, Mike Coykendall, Geoff Byrd, John Henry Bourke, Ezra Holbrook, Amelia, Sideproject, Andy Tabb, and Dr. Theopolis,
All revenue from the anthology CD's sale is used to ensure that The Deep Roots Music Project stays strong and viable, and continues to inspire young writers. To purchase on-line at CD Baby, click here Portland, Oregon web analytics company Webtrends Inc. is the generous sponsor for the 10-year anniversary Deep Roots Music Project Anthology CD.
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Support young writers and buy your Deep Roots CD now at CDBaby.com The Liner Notes Blog
Deep Roots Bulletin Board
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The Deep Roots Music Project
By
staying in close correspondence and organizing monthly meetings in
Portland, the workshop participants continue to share Deep
Roots with young writers.
