Sweet Honey in the Rock founder performs with daughter at Creative Alliance

“On Mother’s Day, we just need to think of the ground we stand on and the women who have helped us to take the steps we have taken in our lives. To me, that is usually a mother.” —Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, founder, Sweet Honey in the Rock

Sweet Honey in the Rock founder Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon and her daughter Toshi Reagon will perform together at a special Mother's Day celebration at the Creative Alliance located at 3134 Eastern Avenue in Baltimore City. Both mother and daughter are excitedly looking forward to their musical collaboration, which takes place at 8:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 11, 2013.

“Toshi and I have really enjoyed being mother and daughter and also sharing a passion for performing, producing and working in the area of African American history,” said Dr. Johnson Reagon. “We enjoy being women who are maturing in our fields. We always look forward to opportunities to collaborate together.”

According to Dr. Johnson Reagon, her daughter is her strongest musical collaborator. Toshi is a composer, producer, founder and leader of her own ensemble, Toshi Reagon and Big Lovely.

“Toshi and I have a very strong relationship, and we are really in each other’s corner,” said Dr. Johnson Reagon. “We also give each other space to operate as businesswomen and adults. We are very active in social justice issues. It’s a joy to come to an elder position in my years working in my career field and to find such a strong powerful woman in my daughter.”

Dr. Johnson Reagon is a scholar, singer/song leader, and has been an activist for over half a century. She is a profound contributor to African American and American culture. A native of Georgia, Dr. Johnson Reagon's singing style and traditional repertoire is grounded in her experiences in church, school, and political activism. 

As a composer, she has created a narrative of her social and political activism through her songs and larger compositions.  She performed as a member of the SNCC Freedom Singers during the 1960s, and founded an all-women acapella ensemble, The Harambee Singers. She founded and led the internationally acclaimed Sweet Honey In The Rock for 30 years until retirement. Paralleling her work in music, Dr. Johnson Reagon is one of the leading authorities in African American cultural history.  

 “I really don’t worry about what my legacy will be because that’s not my side,” she said. “I just try to take advantage of my training and opportunities to do important work in multiple fields. It has been a true blessing to operate on that side.”

Dr. Johnson Reagon talked about the uniqueness of motherhood.

Being a mother means having the opportunity to cover and ground another life,” she said. “My mother had eight children, was married and worked, but she said the true blessings in her life were her children. I think that as we come to a place where we pause around motherhood, we appreciate how special it is. On Mother’s Day, we just need to think of the ground we stand on and the women who have helped us to take the steps we have taken in our lives. To me, that is usually a mother.”

Taking the stage at just 17, Toshi is a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and moves audiences with her cross genre offerings of blues, rock, gospel, and incredible original songs.  She has opened for Lenny Kravitz, and performed with the likes of Elvis Costello.

“Our first and most important collaboration is as mother and daughter,” said Toshi.  “She has been an awesome mom. We now have an over 30- year artistic relationship. Whenever I need my mom she is right there next to me - and that is for any issue, not just issues of civil rights. We don't do a lot of shows together, but we are really happy when we get to. They asked and we had the dates open. We are both really happy to be coming to Baltimore.”

She added, “Mother’s Day is this big commercial holiday - but I have always loved it. I think about my mother, and all the mothers who have raised me, and all the mothers around the world who make a way out of no way.”

For more information about this performance, call (410) 276-165 or visit creativealliance.org.

Getting an education in music and the arts at Bowie State University just got a little easier, thanks to the legendary musicians who brought the world songs like, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” and “Solid.”

The Bowie State University (BSU) Foundation is hosting a special tribute concert from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on May 17, 2013 to honor the life and legacy of the late Nickolas Ashford and his widow, Valerie Simpson, who made up the award-winning duo, Ashford & Simpson.

 “Ms. Simpson will be in attendance for the event and we will introduce new scholarships for students while supporting the Ashford & Simpson Endowed Music Scholarship Fund,” said BSU spokeswoman, LeAmber Howell.

The event will take place in BSU’s new $71 million Fine and Performing Arts Center, which opened in 2012 and features specialized art and recording studios, dance floors, a photography processing lab and an outdoor sculpture workspace.

The 128,000 square-foot center, which school officials said will greatly enhance the education experience for students, includes a 400-seat main theatre, a 200-seat black box theatre and a 200-seat recital hall.

It also includes classrooms, laboratories and office suites.

 “What a privilege it is to celebrate Ashford & Simpson for their exceptional accomplishments as internationally renowned songwriters, producers and performers,” said Richard Lucas, vice president of Institutional Advancement and executive director of the Bowie State Foundation.

Established by the BSU Foundation, the Ashford & Simpson Endowed Music Scholarship Fund will honor their legacy and their continued commitment to providing a platform for aspiring artists, Lucas said.

BSU plans to award two scholarships each year, Lucas said.

Along with Simpson, Ashford, who died in 2011 at the age of 70, penned such soulful classic songs as “Reach Out and Touch Somebody’s Hand,” “You’re All I Need To Get By,” and “I’m Every Woman.”

Widely regarded as one of the best songwriting teams in music history, the couple wrote for many of music’s legends, including Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, Marvin Gaye and Ray Charles.

Married since 1974, Ashford & Simpson were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002. In addition to writing countless classics for others, the couple recorded 15 albums together, including four that went gold. Their final album was “Been Found,” a 1996 collaboration with poet Maya Angelo.

Prior to President Barack Obama’s first inauguration, Ashford & Simpson re-recorded their hit song, “Solid as a Rock,” and changed the lyrics to, “Solid as Barack.”

Simpson recently released a new CD, “Dinosaurs are Coming Back Again.”

The BSU tribute will feature jazz and gospel producer Jeff Majors, Baltimore jazz singer Maysa Leak, and jazz and pop singer Jean Carne. An All-Star band, conducted by Clarence Knight of the BSU Department of Fine and Performing Arts, will also perform.

“Whether Valerie Simpson will perform, that’s still up in the air,” Howell said.

However, Simpson will receive an honorary degree before the show. Ashford will also receive an honorary degree, posthumously.

“The goal is to increase enrollment and heighten awareness about the University’s fine and performing arts programs, including music, art, visual communication and digital media arts, music technology, and theatre arts,” Lucas said.

Tickets for the event are $200 for general admission and $275 for VIP access, which includes a pre-concert reception. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.bowiestate.edu or call 301-860-4300.

“The rain that fell on Tuesday was simply divine,” said Sandy Brown, co-founder and director of UpLift Solutions, a non-profit organization that helps to open supermarkets in food deserts. “It was as if God was raining down happiness for this community.”

Brown joined a host of elected officials, including Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, State Senator Lisa Gladden (D-Maryland), and City Council President Bernard Young at the groundbreaking ceremony for a new ShopRite Supermarket in Howard Park on Tuesday, May 7, 2013.

The Klein Family, owners of ShopRite, and city officials began work to restore the long abandoned site at 4601 Liberty Heights last year.

UpLift Solutions, which helps supermarkets open in locations without access to healthy and affordable food— food deserts— is assisting in the development of the grocery store by Klein’s ShopRite of Maryland.

“Our family is looking forward to starting the construction phase of this project and to bringing a neighborhood ShopRite to the Howard Park community,” said Marshall Klein, Chief Operating Officer of Klein’s Family Markets.

“Having a supermarket in the Howard Park location helps to re-gentrify the community because of all the other services the ShopRite will provide, including a pharmacy,” Brown said. Additional features of the project will include a bakery, an extensive seafood section and a separate Halal meat section.

“The new store not only fills a void in the community where there hadn’t been a supermarket for a number of years, but it’ll create 200 new jobs and I’m hoping that at some point it will offer an in-store health clinic that will be staffed by a nurse practitioner and will enable people to get care for very little money,” she said.

The last supermarket to operate in the area was Super Pride, which closed in 1999. Residents in the area said they are eager for the new ShopRite.

“This will make all the difference in our community, especially for the jobs, for the economic development, improvement commercial and vacant, and become more appealing for those looking to move here,” said Preston Greene, president of Howard Park Civic Association.

 “Fulfilling our vision of growing Baltimore by 10,000 families depends greatly on our ability to strengthen communities by bringing new economic activity to places like Howard Park,” Rawlings-Blake said. “We are grateful to Klein’s ShopRite for helping us eliminate a food desert in Northwest Baltimore, and for their commitment to hiring city residents.”

Construction of the 68,000 square-foot building, is expected to be completed by April 2014.

The Shawn Carter (Jay-Z) Scholarship Fund offers scholarship opportunities to any under-served student across the United States. Deadline to apply is May 31, 2013.

New York—Qualified applicants must be a high school senior, college student, and/or between the ages of 18-25, pursuing studies at a vocational or trade school. All applicants must be a United States Citizen and complete the on-line application not later than May 31, 2013.

The Shawn Carter Scholarship Foundation is unique in that it offers scholarships to single mothers, children who attend alternative schools, students who have earned a GED, students with grade point averages of 2.0 and students who have previously been incarcerated but have the desire for a higher educational opportunity. This group is generally not the recipients of college scholarships and is typically ignored by the Board  of Education.

The Shawn Carter Foundation offers scholarship opportunities to any under-served student across the United States who desires a higher education. One of the key questions asked by the Foundation when students apply for a scholarship is: What are your plans to give back to the community?

For more information or to complete the schoralship application form, visit: http://www.shawncartersf.com/apply/.