Mayor Bell kicks off his Birthday Weekend at Jazz Underground!

Join Mayor Bell as he kicks off his Birthday celebration at Jazz Underground for a casual evening of live music, food and fun.

Thursday, May 31, 2012 from 6pm – 11pm.

Live music from 7:30pm – 10:30pm with the Connection Band.

On Friday Jazz Underground will host national jazz artist Mike Phillips for two nights as a part of it’s grand opening weekend.  Tickets for the show are $30 for General Admission, $75 for VIP with couple packages ($150) and table of four packages ($300) which includes dinner, the show, champagne and an after show jam session.  The Saturday After Party will also feature DJ Frank Ski celebrating the Birthday of Jay Roberson.

For more information call (205) 202-3640 or visit www.jazzunderground5points.com.

Brought to you by Jazz Underground and The Group.

Expose Yourself, new music from Alvin Garrett

The Last Dirty Thirty :: Jay Robersons Official Birthday Bash with Mike Phillips and Frank Ski!

Jay Roberson’s Last Dirty Thirty will take place Saturday, June 2, 2012 at Jazz Underground in Five Points South.

Join Jay as he celebrates his birthday with jazz man Mike Phillips and the legendary DJ Frank Ski.

General Admission tickets for the Mike Phillips Show are $30 and $75.00 for VIP which includes dinner.  Groups can also purchase $150 for couples and $300 for tables of four both options include dinner and a bottle of champagne.

Mike Phillips will perform live between 7:00pm- 10:00pm.

Stick around for the Concert After Party and Jay Roberson’s Official Last Dirty Thirty Birthday Bash from 10pm – 2am with the legendary DJ Frank Ski in the mix!

Jazz Underground is located at 2012 Magnolia Avenue in the Five Points South Entertainment District.  The recently open venue features live music five nights a week, a cooked to order menu which includes steak, chicken, seafood, pasta and salads plus the House Special Chicken and Waffles.

For tickets or information call (205) 202-3640 or visit www.jazzunderground5points.com.

Jazz Underground Supper Club presents Mike Phillips LIVE!

 

Jazz Underground Supper Club presents Mike Phillips live for two nights! The popular jazzman will perform at the Jazz Underground Supper Club on June 1 and June 2.

Dinner Packages are on sale now!

Dinner Packages

$300 for a table of four which includes admission for four guest, dinner for four, champagne and after show jam session.

$150 for couples which includes admission for two, dinner for two, champagne and after show jam session.

$75 individual admission which includes the show, dinner and after the show jam session.

$30 General Admission tickets which includes the show only.

Doors open at 7:00pm.

Jazz Underground
2012 Magnolia Avenue in Five Points South
(Below Cosmos Pizza)
Phone: (205) 202-3640

About Mike Phillips

Mike began his musical odyssey at the age of five in his native Mt. Vernon, NY. After experimenting with an assortment of instruments including acoustic and electric bass, violin, piano, French horn and trumpet, he focused on the saxophone because it was the vehicle best suited to express his creative passion.

He diligently honed his talents throughout his formative years, painstakingly mastering the technical skills and self discipline required for the art form. More than that, Mike also developed a keen understanding of the unique and personal relationship between the musician and the audience.

In the summer of 1993, Mike made his presence felt on the music scene with his now legendary debut performance at the well-known New York City jazz & R&B spot, Wilson’s. Invited there by a friend who was playing keyboards with the house band, Mike literally walked on stage and, much to the surprise of the band leader, began to blow before anyone asked him to sit in. The looks of bewilderment quickly turned to smiles and the rest, as they say, is history.

Mike has been a regular there ever since, performing with such artists as Babyface, Rachelle Farrell, Brian McKnight, Boyz II Men and Prince. He has also showcased his extraordinary talent via performances throughout the US and abroad, touring with such notables as Teddy Riley & Blackstreet, Jonathan Butler, Simply Red, Wayman Tisdale, Kenny Lattimore and the incomparable Stevie Wonder.

In 1996, Mike was invited to perform at President Clinton’s Inaugural Gala held at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Other milestone events include the 80th Birthday Celebration for President Nelson Mandela in South Africa, a Superbowl appearance with Wonder, and the Billboard Music Awards. Mike’s television credits include Saturday Night Live, The David Letterman Show, BET On Jazz, BET Sound Stage, and The Tonight Show.

Mike’s artistry exceeds category, as shown by his recording sessions with an assortment of diverse performers including the late rapper Notorious B.I.G., mega movie star and recording artist Will Smith, vocalist Mariah Carey, and the gospel ensemble Anointed. And his collaboration with Teddy Riley on the Rugrats The Movie soundtrack added yet another dimension to the phenomenal sound and career of Mike Phillips.

Driven to be the very best, Mike has resolved to follow in the path of his mentors, the legendary saxmen Dexter Gordon, John Coltrane and Charlie Parker, and take his genre to another level. This determination to develop his craft has helped him reconfigure the jazz landscape by infusing blues, gospel and hip-hop elements into a refreshingly unique style.

Interesting Fact: After meeting Michael Jordan, Mike Phillips became the only musician signed to the Jordan Brand.

http://www.hiddenbeach.com/mikephillips/

4th Annual All In Casino Royale

On Friday, June 1, 2012, the UAB Minority Health Young Professionals Board will host the fourth annual All In Casino Royale to benefit the UAB Healthy Happy Kids Program, which encourages children to live healthy lifestyles that prevent childhood obesity. Our volunteer board invites you to join us in this effort to prevent childhood obesity by supporting the event as a sponsor.

Healthy Happy Kids is a hands-on after-school program that teaches children how to make and enjoy healthy foods and the importance of physical exercise. Students learn the basics of good nutrition, the food pyramid, and calorie balance. They also receive practical lessons on how to prepare healthy meals and play games that promote physical activity.

 

Since its inaugural year in 2009, the All In Casino Royale has attracted more than 1200 young professionals, business and community leaders from our region and raised more than $150,000. To date, with these funds raised by our board and through other community support, Healthy Happy Kids has been implemented in 12 Birmingham City Schools and has reached nearly 600 students.

For more information and tickets visit https://www.uab.edu/medicine/home/casino-royale

Author, entrepreneur and The Apprentice winner Randal Pinkett to address annual AABC Luncheon

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Randal Pinkett, entrepreneur, scholar, author and a winner of NBC’S The Apprentice, will address the Birmingham Business Alliance’s 26th Annual African American Business Council Luncheon in Birmingham on June 1, 2012, at The Club.

Pinkett became the first African American winner of the hit television show, The Apprentice, in 2005. He holds five academic degrees and brings a wealth of knowledge in the fields of economic development, technology and communication.

Pinkett is the author of Campus CEO: The Student Entrepreneur’s Guide to Launching a Multimillion-Dollar Business and No-Money Down CEO: How to Start Your Dream Business with Little or No Cash. His latest book, Black Faces in White Places: 10 Game-Changing Strategies to Achieve Success and Find Greatness, presents the strategies African Americans and other emerging majorities use to successfully navigate today’s rapidly changing professional landscape.

The annual luncheon is the seminal event for the BBA’s African American Business Council, which meets monthly to network, share business information and formulate solutions to business challenges in the Birmingham region. Sponsoring this year’s event are Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, Wells Fargo, State Farm Insurance, AT&T, The Jimmie Hale Mission and Cox Media Group.

Doors will open at 11:30 a.m. and the program will begin at noon. Ticket information can be found at www.birminghambusinessalliance.com. For more information, contact LeNá Powe at (205) 241-8139 lpowe@birminghambusinessalliance.com.

The Birmingham Business Alliance is a dynamic advocate, unifying voice and constant catalyst for economic development and business prosperity for the Birmingham region. For more information about the BBA visit its website at www.birminghambusinessalliance.com.

Old School Saturday::Thundering Herd Edition!

Join us at B.O.S.S. for Old School Saturday!  Frank Haywood host the Parker Alumni Picnic Old School After Party with DJ Hurricane in the mix spinning the best in old school hip hop and R&B.  $5.00 cover, drink specials and ticket giveaways all nite long!

Saturday, May 26, 2012 from 9pm – 2am.

B.O.S.S. Ultra Bar and Lounge is located at 312 20th Street South.

Drink specials and ticket giveaways all night.

 

Karlos Dansby’s Free Football Camp

Make sure you register for the Karlos Dansby Football Camp.  This camp is free for youth ages 8 – 17.

Camp Date: Saturday, June 9, 2012

Registration: 8:00am
Camp – 8:30am – 12:00pm

Spain Park High School
4700 Jaguar Drive
Hoover, AL

To register send an email with your name and age to KDfootballcamp@gmail.com

A signed waiver is required for participation.

Children’s Crusade 50th Anniversary set for 2013

The Birmingham “Children’s Crusade” of 1963 is classified as the civil rights movement most important chapter.  The children of Birmingham brought segregation to its knees. Fire hoses, attack dogs and jail couldn’t break their spirits nor stop them from being catalyst for positive social change.  President John F. Kennedy stated during the summer of 1963 at a White House meeting to plan what eventually became the Civil Rights Act of 1964, “but for Birmingham, we would not be here”.

On Wednesday, April 25, at the Birmingham city council’s committee of the whole meeting, plans were presented for the 50th Anniversary Commemoration of the Birmingham Children’s Crusade, set for May 2 – 10, 2013.  Council President Roderick Royal sought the help of Foot Soldier’s International, a local nonprofit organization in an attempt to jump start the city’s 2013 year-long activities.  The presentation was opened with a five minute pictorial video depicting the environment in Birmingham that led to the crusade, then showing the dream alive where all children around the world are no longer divided but together in love.

On May 2nd, more than a thousand African American students skipped their classes and gathered at Sixteenth Street Baptist Church to march to downtown Birmingham.  As they approached police lines, hundreds were arrested and carried off to jail in paddy wagons and school buses.  The Birmingham campaign ended on May 10th when Martin Luther King, Jr. and local officials reached an agreement in which the city promised to desegregate downtown stores and release all protestors from jail if the boycotts and demonstrations would end.  Across the South, the triumph in Birmingham inspired similar campaigns; in a ten-week period, at least 758 racial demonstrations in 186 cities sparked 14,733 arrests.  On June 11, 1963 President Kennedy made a historic address on national television, describing civil rights as “a moral issue” and endorsing federal civil rights legislation.  King later wrote, “Looking back, it is clear that the introduction of Birmingham’s children into the campaign was one of the wisest moves we made.

The council president’s request of the Foot Soldier’s International organization is warranted.  One of the principles is a Birmingham native and was one of the children arrested.  Gwen Webb Appling became the 2nd black female hired by the Birmingham police department, is featured in the award winning documentary ‘Mighty Times the Children’s March’ and is an active civil and human rights activist.  J. D. Appling has been in the travel and tourism business thirty years and skilled in tourism economic development.

The proposed nine day commemoration includes a festival, educational opportunities, film festival, concerts, children’s crusade march reenactment and rally, a musical and much more culminated by a red carpet awards event.  The Appling’s believe this nine day event could become the largest in Birmingham; the economic impact could be enormous. Many organizations and current events are being cultivated for inclusion and tour packages are being created.  The objective is to not only make this a worldwide civil and human rights event but a must attend tourism and travel event.

In nineteen sixty three this city was a place and time that changed the world and we have another opportunity in 2013 to change it again.

The 50th Anniversary Commemoration
The Birmingham “Children’s Crusade”
May 2 – 10, 2013

WHY SHOULD WE COMMEMORATE THE “CHILDREN’S CRUSADE” OF 1963:
We must remind our children that the same mantle that God gave the children in 1963, exist today.  That Martin L. King Jr., Dorothy Cotton, Diane Nash, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, James Bevel and the many other civil rights legends did not die in vain; the dream is still alive and well.  We must always remind them that freedom ain’t free and they are only free when the shackles are removed from their minds.  Teaching them they should always turn to each other in love and not on each other with hate; non-violence is still the way.  Our goal is to remind today’s children of the power they possess, just as in 1963.  They must now seize the opportunity to develop their God given skills and talents to become our leaders of tomorrow.

MISSION STATEMENT:
The Birmingham “Children’s Crusade” added a new dynamic to the struggle in Birmingham and is classified by some as the chief watershed of the nonviolent movement in the United States, and the Civil Rights Movement’s most important chapter.  The children of Birmingham brought segregation to its knees, and today’s young people possess that same power; the powers of resistance, rebellion, character and love for humanity.  Fire hoses and attack dogs couldn’t stop those children from being catalysts for positive social change, jails couldn’t break their spirit.
In order to exorcise the painful effects of the events that took place May 2 – 10, 1963, it is our charge and mission to explore this era and tell this story.

ENVIRONMENT:
From 1957 to 1963, there had been 18 bombings in Birmingham, but no arrests. In 1957, the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth was chain whipped by a crowd because he attempted to enroll his children into an all-white school. Ruby, his wife was stabbed.  Again, there were no arrests. In 1961, a black man was dragged from the streets to a shack and then castrated. There were no arrests. Freedom riders were almost beaten to death in 1961 when they entered Birmingham. But there were no arrests. The black children of Birmingham felt oppressed at every turn, and in the spring of 1963 they played a vital role in restoring humanity to themselves and to a race-divided America.  Birmingham, AL., May 2 – 10, 1963, a place and time that changed the world.

After intervention from the U. S. Department of Justice, the Birmingham campaign ended on May 10, 1963 when Martin Luther King, Jr. and local officials reached an agreement in which the city promised to desegregate downtown stores and release all protestors from jail if the boycotts and demonstrations would end.

Across the South, the triumph in Birmingham inspired similar campaigns; in a ten-week period, at least 758 racial demonstrations in 186 cities sparked 14,733 arrests.  On June 11, 1963 President Kennedy made a historic address on national television, describing civil rights as “a moral issue” and endorsing federal civil rights legislation.

NARRATIVE

The city of Birmingham is known worldwide as the epicenter of the modern American Civil Rights Movement and has led some scholars to call Birmingham the site of the Second American Revolution.
President John F. Kennedy stated during the summer of 1963 at a White House meeting to plan what became the Civil Rights Act of 1964, “but for Birmingham, we wouldn’t be here.”
The Birmingham Children’s Crusade:
•    Brought national force to bear on the issue of segregation
•    Was a major factor in the national push toward the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibited racial discrimination in hiring practices and public services in the United States
•    Showed that those who fought segregation would bring segregation to its knees
•    Shut down a city to fight social injustice
•    Defied police intimidation

APPROACH

As we review, dialog and discuss the bravery of those Birmingham students who sustained their courage and character for positive social change, we will ask them these questions.  What spurred thousands of children to action?  What gave you the power to rebel and resist?  How is it that children of all ages were the ones to garner the largest victory seen thus far in the civil rights movement?  How did character and the power of love form your actions?

We will ask today’s students similar questions.  What character qualities do I need to develop?  What sustains me?  What keeps me going in the face of adversity?  How can I be a catalyst for positive social change?  What skills will I need?

How can we inspire in today’s students a desire to experience anew the legacy of the children’s movement of 1963?  From our past they have the opportunity to develop their skills in personal growth, leadership, community involvement and relations, teamwork, communications, networking, public speaking and more.

The best and most appropriate approach is to commemorate the Birmingham “Children’s Crusade” and to rejoice in the triumphs achieved in the midst of the tragedies that occurred.  This 50th anniversary is our opportunity to turn pain and tragedy into triumph and victory.

RECOMMENDATION
Develop a week long commemoration, May 2 – 10, 2013, as the official “1963 Children’s Crusade”, declaring by Resolution and Proclamation the official “Birmingham Children’s Crusade” Week.

STRATEGY

• Activities will be centered around Kelly-Ingram Park and the Civil Rights District.
• We are creating an advisory board
• We will solicit input and marketing from the Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau
• We will solicit donations and contributions from corporate and community partners
• Establish a timeline with quarterly reports to contributing entities
• We’re open to suggestions from other organizations

PRELIMINARY ITINERARY

Thursday, May 2      Am – Kickoff Brunch with speaker (speaker – Council President Roderick Royal)
Afternoon/Evening reception at the Civil Rights Institute sponsored by city council

Friday, May 3        10:00am ‘Children’s Crusade’ March reenactment
Afternoon – beginning of ‘Children Crusade’ festival

Saturday, May 4    Continuation of ‘Children’s Crusade’ festival
•    Film festival – Carver Theatre (also show Mighty Times documentary)
•    Food and merchandise venders
•    Voter registration, medical screening, etc.
•    Spoken word, poems, etc. (centered around human and civil rights)
•    Concerts with local entertainment
•    Other events

Sunday, May 5        TBA

Monday, May 6        Civil & Human Rights rally

Tuesday, May 7        TBA

Wednesday, May 8        TBA

Thursday, May 9    Journey to Freedom: Songs and Readings from the Civil Rights movement

Friday, May 10        First Annual ‘Foot Soldiers International’ awards event – A Red Carpet event
•    Showing of “Mighty Times the Children’s March”
•    Participants in the documentary present
•    Producers and directors

Several of the events and activities will be fee based.

There are several collaborative events and organizations currently being cultivated for inclusion May 5th thru 10th.
1.    Birmingham Bar Association
2.    Aldridge Repertory Theatre, Inc.
3.    Leadership Birmingham Youth Forum
4.    Birmingham Civil Rights Institute
5.    Birmingham City School System
6.    16th Street Baptist Church
7.    The Southern Poverty Law Center

DJ Chocolate In the Mix!

The Alabama native, DJ Chocolate has made entertainment her life. Growing up, she knew that music would direct her path. After receiving her degree in Mass Communications at the University of Montevallo, DJ Chocolate launched her career in radio. She has worked with the best in the radio business at stations like; WJXM 105.7 in Meridian, Mississippi, WBHJ 95.7 Jamz and WAGG Heaven 610 in Birmingham Alabama, as Radio Personality and Assistant Program Director. She also worked as a producer for Radio One’s nationally syndicated radio program The Rickey Smiley Morning Show.

While working in radio, DJ Chocolate wanted to explore a new way of defining herself in music. Along with her mentor Dj D_Cas of Atlanta, she pursued the art of Djing. As a result, becoming a DJ was a natural transition.

Now, DJ Chocolate, is one of the region’s most sought after Female DJs. With her knowledge for Music, she is proving herself as a powerhouse. DJ Chocolate has been featured in magazines, on blogs, as a headliner in major events and concerts. This powerhouse Dj, is also a member of a few elite Dj Organizations, such as XSquad Djs and Connections Djs of Atlanta Georgia; and Mind Kontrol Djz of Birmingham, Alabama. With her new Mixtape Series entitled “Dipped in Chocolate”, she has created a outlet for fans to get the latest music by Independent & Major Artists.

Dj Chocolate is a gift to the Entertainment/Music World. She is changing the world with her talent. This quote is one of her favorite quotes, “Music is the mediator between the spiritual and the sensual life.” by ~Ludwig van Beethoven.

For more information about Dj Chocolate, please visit www.Djcholocate1.com

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