Band Aid to New Orleans Youth

Derrick Tabb has found a way to transform New Orleans youth from troublemakers to music players. He doesn't look the part of a typical band teacher, but every weekday evening in the French Quarter, he beats out the rhythm on his music stand as students play their chosen instruments. In doing so, he gives them an alternative to New Orleans' rough streets. He is competing with the drug dealers and gang bangers. His program, The Roots of Music, offers free tutoring, instruments and music education to more than 100 students.

Students credit Derrick Tabb with changing their lives. Many who were failing in school and heading down the wrong road now have plans to make music their careers and some even want to teach it themselves some day.



Derrick Tabb can relate. During a rebellious phase in junior high, his band teacher became his mentor and helped him get back on track. He is a professional drummer with the Rebirth Brass Band, one of the New Orleans’ most popular acts. The 34-year-old Tabb, a New Orleans native, strives to keep young people on the straight and narrow in the city with the nation's highest murder rate, according to FBI statistics.

He believes that many young people wind up in trouble because they have nothing else to do. The type of music support systems that helped him years ago has been struggling since Hurricane Katrina. Musicians scattered after the storm and budget cuts ended many school music programs.

Mr. Tabb chose to target 9 to 14-year-olds with his program because that's just the most vulnerable time of your life. He feels that if he catches them now, he can hold onto them for at least four or five years and guide them toward a positive path.

Students meet from 4-7 p.m. every weekday, year-round. They work with tutors on schoolwork, practice their music and eat a hot meal before heading home. Through funding from donations and sponsors, the group is able to provide bus transportation, instruments and food for free. He calls it his "no excuse" policy -- "you don't have any excuse why you're not here." With a 90 percent attendance rate, his formula is working.


Mr. Tabb attributes the success in part to the nature of music. "You're constantly learning something new," he said. "That's what keeps the kids coming back every day."

Since getting underway last year, The Roots of Music has already exceeded his expectations. The band marched in five Mardi Gras parades this season. The program also helped students improve their academic performances, with 85 percent having raised their grades in at least one class; some D and F students have become A students. And there are more than 400 children on the waiting list.

No previous musical experience is necessary -- many students don't even know the names of the instruments when they start -- but youngsters learn fast and it’s fun. But the program isn't only about fun. They also learn discipline and how hard work pays off. He insists on good behavior and keeps kids in order with threats of sit-ups, pushups or tasks like picking up grains of rice -- but these measures aren't just punishment. Discipline aside, Derrick Tabb wants young people to realize that music can help them build a better future.

Want to get involved? Check out The Roots of Music and see how to help.

http://www.therootsofmusic.com/

Jonathan Butler: Falling In Love with Jesus

Jonathan Butler is a born and brewed South African Grammy award nominee and an internationally acclaimed artist whose music has weaved hope and faith, inspiring fans all over the world.

Time dedicated to his music is time dedicated to a life changing experience, for this is a gifted man with a phenomenal voice and extraordinary musical skills. The message in his songs overflows with a depth and profoundness, whether he is talking about love, or love-changing topics.

With many years as a jazz singer, song writer and guitarist, Jonathan Butler, like a fine wine, has surely gotten better with time. Jazz affectionists in around the world have loved him for years. However, most have no idea that he has dominated the African gospel music industry for years. Now sharing stages with Grammy award winners like Cece Winans and Kirk Whalum at the Stellar Awards, he is quickly becoming one of the biggest gospel forces in the world music industry.

Janelle Monáe: Girl from Another Planet, Fugitive Android or Time-traveling Songstress

Janelle Monae is a girl from another planet, and she's invading your world. Open your minds, earthlings, and prepare to be launched into an alternate universe. "I'm an alien from outer space," declares Janelle Monáe on the first song of her debut album, Metropolis: The Chase Suite (Special Edition). Toto, we are no longer in Kansas anymore.

Be prepared for a sci-fi soundtrack with elements of musical theater, funk and the dirty south. Her alter ego, Cindi Mayweather, the heroine of The Chase, is an "Alpha Platinum 9000 android." She is on the run because she's fallen in love with a human being, a situation that is forbidden in the future landscape of Metropolis. Monae insists that her real identity is Cindi Mayweather, an android traveling through space and time to escape destruction ordered because she fell in love with a human, a fatal infraction of robots' rules.
Along the way, she's making music that moves into the future while drawing from decades past.

Monáe has carved out her own path by following her instincts. "I want to be looked at as a leader and a businesswoman…My goal is to help bring as many people as I possibly can together with my music." She may be living in a fantasy world of her own creation, but Janelle Monáe is confident you won’t want to leave once you’ve visited.

When her song "Many Moons" was nominated for a Grammy in December, it was in the urban/alternative category. At a Los Angeles show this month, she mixed 20th-century classics with her own futuristic songs. Monae delivered a sweet version of Nat King Cole's "Smile" while standing atop a barstool. Senior citizens danced the "Twist" when her band broke out into the Beatles' 1964 hit "I Saw Her Standing There."

Janelle Monae: The next big thing? Poised to (possibly) break out in a major way, Monáe certainly has the pedigree to justify the buzz. Once a protege of fellow Atlantan Big Boi, Monae signed to Bad Boy Records last year, thereby making Diddy one of her biggest cheerleaders. She plays herself in two episodes of the Sci Fi Channel's "Stargate Universe" this fall. Sightings of the singer-songwriter will include this week's "American Idol" finale, the Hollywood Bowl and concert stages across America this summer. Janelle Monáe is a Grammy Award-nominated American urban/alternative singer, and performer.

Monae clearly has her own sound and style. Usually garbed in a dapper suit-and-tie -- and sporting some sort of combination of a mohawk and Afro -- the lady stands out in a crowd. So, what's the problem? Well, her music is, shall we say, odd. Her dense, other-worldly songs manage to sound both futuristic and throwback to Motown. While interesting, her mass-appeal is questionable. Monae seems like a love-her-or-hate-her artist who isn't going to change for the sake of commercial success. In other words, the next Rihanna or Beyonce she’s not. We have no idea who her closest contemporaries might be without hearing a full album. Is she just another example of an artist whose buzz has been artificially created by the internet? Only time will tell.

Some of Janelle Monáe's musical influences include Judy Garland, James Brown, Michael Jackson, Jackie Wilson, Grace Brown, Karen O, Lauryn Hill, Mick Jagger, Stevie Wonder, Outkast, Nona Hendryx, Bach, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Fiona Apple, Björk, Anita Baker, and The Hives.

Beyonce to Portray Etta James in New Movie

Superstar entertainer Beyonce will play three different roles for her next movie: actress, singer and producer. The 10-time Grammy Award-winner will play legendary singer Etta James in Cadillac Records. In addition to acting in the starring in the movie, she has also signed as executive producer on the project.


The 1950s period piece is based on the Chicago record company Chess Records, its founder Leonard Chess and the lives of the music legends on the label. Other cast members include Jeffrey Wright as Muddy Waters, Cedric the Entertainer as Willie Dixon, Columbus Short as Little Walter and Adrien Brody as Chess.


Beyonce, who received two Golden Globe nominations for her last movie, Dreamgirls, will also record four songs for the soundtrack. According to her representative, a portion of her fees for the film will be donated to recovering addicts through her family’s charity, The Survival Foundation.