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jessica Care moore is an internationally renowned poet/ publisher/
activist/ rock star/ playwright and actor.
She is a five-time Showtime at the Apollo winner; has featured on
hip-hop mega-star, Nas' "Nastradamus" album and was a returning star
of Russell Simmon's HBO Series, Def Poetry Jam.
After her legendary win on the Apollo stage, jessica Care moore was
approached by several book publishing companies, but in 1997, she
paved her own path and launched a publishing company of her own –
Moore Black Press. Which has released her first book; "The Words Don't
Fit In My Mouth," and several thousand copies. A few years later, she
followed up with her second collection of poetry and essays, "The
Alphabet Verses The Ghetto."
Moore Black Press proudly published famed poets, Saul Williams and
Shariff Simmons; Def Poetry Jam's co-founder, Danny Simmons, NBA
basket-ball player, Etan Thomas, activist and poet, Ras Baraka and
former Essence Magazine editor and author, Asha Bandele.
This bold and electric artist has shared the stage with the late Ossie
Davis, CeCe Winans, Gregory Hines, Anthony David, Norah Jones, Amiri
Baraka, Patti Labelle, Roy Ayers, Mos Def, The Last Poets, Sonia
Sanchez, Talib Kweli, Nikki Giovanni, Steve Harvey, Maya Angelou and
many others. In 1999, she was honored as Woman of the Year by the
Harvard Black Men's Forum.
She is among the few poets who can attract more than the usual
eclectic artsy crowd; bringing people from all backgrounds to fall
captivated by her lyrics, verses and the universal raw truths in her
poems. This Detroit bred natural born entertainer fuses a rock band
with hip-hop and poetry. Her band, Detroit Read (pronounced "red"),
fuses soul rock 'n roll sounds inspired by Prince, Betty Davis, Janis
Joplin, The Temptations and Marvin Gaye. The performance is a
combination of heart-pounding rock, acoustic guitar, house and raw
hip-hop mixed with jessica's soulful raspy voice as lead vocalist.
jessica Care moore voices herself as a strong warrior in the fight
against AIDS. She has performed for the United Nations World AIDS Day
Commemoration two years in a row. She also organized the successful
Hip-Hop-A-Thon Concert in (San Francisco), which helped increase AIDS
education in the Black and Latino Bay-Area communities. She has
performed at several AIDS WALK Opening Ceremonies in New York City,
San Francisco, Los Angeles, Florida and Atlanta.
Her innovative and inspiring take on literacy among our nation's youth
landed her opportunities to produce several art programs, concerts,
and workshops for the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta, and
worked as a facilitator for The Langston Hughes National Poetry Circle
Project.
As an internationally respected author and poet she has rocked stages
all around the world from Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Berlin,
Paris, Holland, England, Scotland and many others.
jessica Care moore teamed up with Impulse recording artist, Antonio
Hart on the album "Here I Stand," and collaborated with Big Cat's rap
artist, PBT, and also featured on The Last Poets Tribute Album.
Her talent does not stop at poetry, jessica featured in "Hugh's Harlem
Dream" (STARZ), and starred in the award-winning independent film,
"His/Herstory." She also captured the lead in the independent film, Under
The Gun, which co-stars Umi and M1 of Dead Prez.
She had a cameo appearance in the award-winning
film, "Slam," and is one of the stars of the documentary,
"Slamnation!" She is the producer, writer and star of the poetry and
music themed show, "SPOKEN!" aired on the Black Family Channel,
produced in association with Moore Black Press and directed by CEO,
Robert Townsend. She is one of the featured artists in the PBS
special; "I'll Make Me a World."
She is the playwright and author of "There Are No Asylums for the Real
Crazy Women," a one-woman stage production that reveals the true life
story of Vivienne Eliot, the late first wife of famous poet T.S.
Eliot. Fusing her contemporary poetry, hip-hop culture, feminist
thought and language, jessica offers a moving and innovative portrayal
of an English woman born in 1888. She also authored and performed in
the one-woman stage play "AlphaPhobia," a semi-autobiographical sketch
about a female poet who believes the alphabet is trying to kill her.
Her literary work has received wide exposure, and her poems featured
in several major anthologies including; "A Different Image," (U of D
Mercy Press, 2004), "Abandon Automobile," (WSU Press, 2001), "Listen
Up!" (Random House, 1999), "Step Into A World," (Wiley Publishing,
2001), "Role Call" (Third World Press, 2002), "Bum Rush The Page: A
Def Poetry Jam" (Crown Publishing, 2001).
She is the youngest poet published in the "Prentice Hall Anthology of
African American Women's Literature," by Valerie Lee, alongside
literary greats, Zora Neale Hurston, Alice Walker, Octavia Butler Maya
Angelou and many others.
Jessica was also featured in Essence, Blaze, Source, Vibe, African
Voices, Bomb, Mosaic, Good News, Savoy, One World, BE, Ambassador
Magazine and others. The poet/actors return to the "D" has been met
with much buzz,
gracing the covers of The Metro Times, African American Family, The
Detroit News, and The Detroit Free Press.
This talented powerhouse was commissioned by The Apollo
Theater to debut her new multi media solo theater show, God is Not an
American. Her show sold out the Apollo Theater Salon Series in April,
and after a return
from touring in France and Amsterdam, she will bring the show back to
NYC for encore
performances in Brooklyn and Harlem in July 2009.
Contact: 313 974 5111
detroitbutterfly@gmail.com
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