Artist Spotlight: @SolZahran

Londell Swales better known as Sol Zahran is a singer-songwriter, and instrumentalist. Sol’s passion from music dates back to his childhood. At the age of eleven, Sol had his first solo performance in front of his church’s congregation. This initial exposure would be the first of many star moments of his life drenched in a love for music.

Born and raised in south east Washington DC, Sol Zahran was first drawn to writing. He started out in the Writing Club during his teen years and also began to delve into performing arts. Sol reconnected with his original passion for singing after auditioning and being accepted into the vocal department of the Historical Duke Ellington School of Arts, a high school well-known for its renowned music, dance, visual arts and theater programs. During his years at Ellington, Sol obtained a musical diploma through his vocal training and education in classical and multicultural music studies.

After graduating, Sol pushed his music career to a higher level. He took his talents to The U Street Corridor, the center of Washington’s nightlife. U-Street was where he honed his skills by performing live at various venues and open mikes in the area. At the age of 17, Sol started to play keys in a hip-hop band Mello-D. The band was put on the Grammy ballot in 2007 and not long after, Sol became featured as singer with the band.

Ultimately, Sol branched off to form his own self titled band with base player Jerel Abraham, drummer Steve Johnson, and saxophonist Robert Stocks. Sol leads the group as a singing, song-writing, keys-playing performing artist with the ever evolving creativity and support of his talented band mates.

Sol Zahran’s sounds can be described as a combination of R&B Soul. However, Sol refuses to be limited, the musical style branches into rock, contemporary mixes, ballads, and is all inclusive by covering an array of musical styles.

Since coming together the band has released singles such as Where Are You, a favorite amongst his fans, and Pinky Swear. Sol Zahran is the process of working on a Live Mixtape to be released the Summer of 2012. Until then, you can catch Sol performing at various venues around the Washington, D.C area.

Haiku

tounges battling, we

fighting for power, kiss me

now, infinitely

 

 

Writers Write Poetry Challenge Prompt 6 Day 21 Prompt: Write a poem about a kiss in a form you haven’t explored yet

Parselmouth

Parsel Tongue (*click* the title to hear part of the poem in Parselmouth)

 

Her tounge spits bitter venom

She put everything into that bite she took

His actions, the catalyst for

Turning this beautiful young girl into a serpent

A devil

Writhing on her belly in her pain until

She finds strength in the hurt

Then she uses the sharp fangs he gave

To tear into him

from a Poetry Challenge that I am EXTREMELY behind in… but I will get done:

Writers Write Poetry Challenge

Day 21 Prompt 5 

Write a poem of any length about something that spirals or something that cuts.   

Red Alert Wednesdays. Keeping it RAW.

I might complain about DC (probably entirely too much), but there really is a bunch to do here. Lots of stuff closes early, in my book, and that’s really my biggest issue.

Recently (as in the last 3-4 months), a new type of event has opened. An event that SHOULD change what we view open mics as.

The event, called Red Alert Wednesdays,  just like it’s accidental acronym,  keeps things RAW.

The venue itself, Urban Eats Cafe, in Mt. Rainier, MD–just a hop,  skip, and jump from FOUR major metro stations 3 green line, one red line–is an extremely comfortable café. The kind that you walk into and automatically feel the urge to kick your shoes off and curl up on the big, comfy couch (yes, I’ve seen it happen), and the food is GREAT. The Mt. Rainier Burger is simply heaven on a bun. They cater to the vegetarian as well as the omnivorous amongst us.

The best thing about the event is the non-judgmental open mic. The kind we all crave, and can never seem to find. On any given Wednesday, you may hear a preacher giving parts of his sermon or a boy rapping about his experiences and his life. There is NO specific kind of person one NEEDS to be to fit in, and all artists are respected as well as listened to.

All of this is set to interludes of amazing music played by a great DJ, Chop the Butcha.

They call the open mic genre, spoken-hop, but it goes well beyond that into an environment that can be a safe-haven for anyone who has something to share.

I’ve shared at Red Alert more times than I have in my entire career as a “poet”–I’m speaking  from when I originally began writing at the age of… like 10. I get stage fright, yet I am perfectly at home in front of the crowd at Red Alert.

The event is hosted by two of my really great friends Dwayne B.–also co-host of the LEGENDARY Spit Dat (unfamiliar? just ask)–and Samantha G. There are also a handful of regulars (myself “the human lockbox”, Julie, Pastor Brian, Mama Deborjah, and many others who help keep the homey feel) who are just as important to the event as the hosts.

Red Alert Wednesdays feels like that open mic home you’ve always wanted, but could never find. Don’t pass up this gem.

The event takes place at 3311 Rhode Island Avenue in Mount Rainier, Maryland and usually starts at about 8:00 pm.

Located just past the Washington, DC line, a block from Rhode Island Ave. & Eastern Ave.–Just at the circle.

Unstuck.

Unstuck: 52 Ways to Get (and Keep) Your Creativity Flowing at Home, at Work & in Your Studio

 

 

It’s crazy how things can happen that can completely derail you. Sometimes it’s a chosen blindness–a simple ignoring of the “Dead End” sign before we took the steps that landed us on the path–in other instances, we get caught unawares–we simply ended up in a place where we get caught up by routine construction that has us scrambling to find a different route than the one we originally planned.

I am at a bit of both, creatively and mentally. I experienced a creative block that lasted an upwards of three years, and I have landed in a place where I feel compelled to reconsider my chosen life direction. The creative block has lifted for the most part–there are still some places where I am drawing a total creative blank, but if you have kept up with this blog, you will know that I have written poetry, which is a huge step for someone who could barely write a sentence without struggling in the past 3 years.

I feel like I’m rambling a bit, so I will get to the point:

A few months ago, I went to ComicCon in NY, and I purchased the above book. This was mid-lifting of my creative block, and so I, on a whim, figured that maybe this book would be helpful to get me back to the creative place I once was.

I hadn’t even looked at it since I have been back home, you know the drill… “I’ll get to it eventually…”

This is my eventually. I need things to keep myself occupied, so I will be completing one new project from this book every week, and will do my best to chronicle my journey. As it’s only once a week, I don’t think that I will be stepping on any of my fellow bloggers’ toes.

i wish i could make you move

get a rise out of you somehow

send a shiver down your spine

in anticipation

or dread

have you shaking in your boots

in fear

or in arousal

make you moan

in enchantment

or frustration

like the effect you have on me

Why not SHARE? #shitthatannoysme vol. 1

I have a huge problem with people who look down on less knowledgeable people without even attempting to rectify the situation. The point in obtaining knowledge is not to walk around believing that you know more than others, but to share the knowledge that you do have and/or are gaining.

If you come across someone who isn’t familiar with something you think they should know, it’s not your job to poke fun at their ignorance. That makes you come across as ignorant.  This isn’t to say that you should tolerate–or even not laugh at–all forms of ignorance, but to poke fun at someone who isn’t familiar with some obscure and not-relevant-outside-of-you book, movie, **TRIVIA, or etc. when you could just as easily educate them, doesn’t serve you or the general population in the slightest.

Bottom of the Bottle – (Incomplete Short Story–I might make into something longer if I feel up to it.)

I watch Michael pour another shot; we are celebrating. What, you ask? Nothing. You’re supposed to have a reason to drink though, right? He walks around passing the shots out, and everybody–that is, the ten of us gathered in the kitchen guzzle them down. My body is beginning to tingle, this is about our fifth or sixth shot at this point. We’ve also been drinking beers; I lost count at seven.

We toasted to some corny thing or the other–to friendship or great friendships–I don’t really care. I don’t even know what kind of liquor it was at this point. I was busy thinking of where Jennifer might be. Her and her boyfriend Mark came together.

I have crushed on Jennifer for a few months now, and I can tell she likes me too by her eye contact. We haven’t spoken since we met at Mike’s last party, but we do an excessive amount of staring. It’s not that I’m nervous to speak to her, but she’s been playing Siamese Twins with a new dude every party. She and Mark are probably off somewhere fondling one another. I sip on my beer and look around.

Art and Life

I just finished reading “A Christmas Carol” and “The Chimes”, two long short stories by Charles Dickens. While money is seemingly a focal point in both stories, the theme of the stories are much deeper. Dickens is speaking on how we allow ourselves to get caught up in money (or lack thereof) and no longer care about our fellow-man. I find that both stories are still relevant in our current society–over 150 years later.

I, just yesterday, read two Washington Post articles (links to similar articles arefound below) where people knew that someone was being harmed, yet did nothing in their power to help.

The first story is possibly familiar to you, especially if you live in the Washington, DC area. The Lululemon case, where a young woman killed her coworker and tried to make the scene of the crime appear as though they were both molested/raped and kidnapped.

The article noted that her death may have been prevented if the employees at the Apple store next door would have responded to the cries for help, screams, and grunts that lasted a whole 5 minutes. They even listened through the walls to decide if the screams they heard were real. Instead of calling the police or alerting the security guard who was in the store with them, they ignored the screams.

The next article involved a two year-old being run over by multiple cars in China while people completely ignored her laying in the street–I saw the video, it is enough to make you cry. It wasn’t as though the little girl was hit over by two speeding cars–no–in fact, the first car that hit her stopped with the back tire just over her body, and then slowly drove over her. Next, we see her laying in the street, while cars drive past, and even a grown man walks right by her body. All before the second car comes and runs her over for the second time. Finally, a woman–who was digging through nearby trash–comes and removes the little girl from the street. The entire time I watched with tears in my eyes, I wanted to jump into the computer screen to shake these people and scream at them. Make them SEE that baby girl they were killing by proxy.

These stories are not nearly as uncommon as you would think.

We have no sympathy–and damn sure no empathy–for the people around us. If you think that someone is even remotely hurt(ing), why not help? Is it so much of an inconvenience that a simple phone call to 911 is too much to help a screaming neighbor? If you watch your neighbors die, who will be left to help you?

Humans are becoming automatons. Perfectly okay to live within our own heads, in our own lives, at the cost of others. Yet we don’t mind extending our compassion to electronics and valuables. Things that are both replaceable and material where lives are not–and which also allow us to stay within our little boxes. I’ve seen more tears cried at the loss of a laptop than at a funeral.

I am not suggesting that you run towards the situation, don’t go knocking on a door if you hear screams–your life is valuable too, and horror movies aren’t necessarily that unrealistic. I am suggesting, though, that you take the time out to call the police if you think someone could be harmed. Better that you called in a false report than caused someone else’s death by lack of action. Pick the little girl out of the street. Stop ignoring people who could use your help–or even your guidance.

“First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.”

- Anti-Nazi pastor Martin Niemöller

Zombies: Movie Review

I spent this weekend in Manhattan for New York ComicCon. One of the largest comic conventions in America. I have noticed, in recent years an influx of Zombie related games, shows, and movies in American Pop Culture.

On Friday, I (only slightly regretfully) skipped the Con to walk around Manhattan. I enjoyed myself, but I missed a great deal of CosPlay (the term for people who dress as characters from their favorite comics, tv shows, video games, et al.). I did get some great pictures, though, which I will be posting pretty soon. Times Square was great, all bright and flashy, just like on TV.

As I was walking back to the hotel (after getting caught in a drenching rain), I decided to see a movie. I chose blindly, picking the first movie which happened was starting at the exact time I was walking into the theater.  This movie, titled The Dead, was, of course, about the living dead–Zombies. How appropriate a choice of movie to watch in The City that Never Sleeps, eh?

The setting for The Dead was, interestingly enough, in Africa–making for a more interesting background than most zombie movies that I’ve seen. This scene choice made for an unfamiliar setting, which made the movie all the more scary–much of the American audience isn’t likely to be extremely familiar with the location, making us even less likely to know what’s coming up around the next corner.

The opening of the movie takes place in the desert, with a lone white man–American–dressed in what appears to be a hijab. We see him struggling through the desert with dry, cracked lips–while being approached by an African zombie walking with a terribly broken leg; bone exposed. The movie then goes back to show how and why he ended up in the desert.

This sets the tone for what is to be an extremely exciting zombie movie. There are as many emotional moments as there are action and scary, jump-out-of-your-seat moments.

The movie manages to appeal to many different audiences without seeming sappy or displaying forced scariness. A great date movie choice for the squeamish girl and her protective boyfriend or the squeamish guy and his protective girlfriend, etc. I can assure you, though, that perhaps whichever type of couple sees this movie, both will walk out with hearts pounding.

The Dead has a few moments of unrealism–such as how some of the Africans, obviously from different tribes, speak in English to one another; and also the main character manages to get out of one-too-many undead-related jams–but they don’t make for any notable issues throughout the movie. I, the fan of voting for the underdog, did not spend even a second wishing that any of the characters were killed by the undead–instead I spent my time hoping that everyone made it to the end.

The movie was a great choice for my non-moviegoer soul. I do not really care to spend money watching movies which I usually only partly enjoy and typically end up wishing I had never seen in the first place. This one, though, was worth the $13.