Ghetto Youths Foundation in support of Nina Simone Project

Exciting press release from the Ghetto Youths Foundation:

The Ghetto Youths Foundation, with founders Stephen Marley, Damian Marley and Julian Marley are pleased to announce their support of the Nina Simone Project in her hometown of Tryon, North Carolina.


This support includes a donation from the Ghetto Youths Foundation as well as Stephen Marley's production of a Reggae Themed Tribute Album. The yet untitled album is to be released around the launch of the life size Nina Simone Statue in Tryon, North Carolina on February 21st, 2010, Nina's birthday, which will be a special period for this aligning of the Heritage of two great African American and African Jamaican Icons. February is also celebrated globally as Bob Marley Month and Black History Month as well as Reggae Month in Jamaica.


The album will be graced with several pop and reggae female artists, including Lisa "Simone" Kelly, Nina's daughter and executor to her estate, who also recently released her own critically acclaimed tribute album to her mother "Simone on Simone". The collaboration will also continue to infuse several live event projects being planned for April and September 2010 and coordinated projects in Ghana, Africa.


Zenos Frudakis' full sized model for the Nina Simone sculpture will be on display in Tryon on Sunday, 11th October in the Nina Simone Plaza (54 South Trade Street) from 10am-2pm.


This creative and philanthropic partnership is in keeping with the Ghetto Youths Foundation's mission to improve the lives of the disadvantaged and minority youths both here and abroad by educating and assisting this population with the ultimate goal to reduce poverty, social, family disorder and alienation that this group feels on a daily basis. The musical and civil rights heritage of Nina Simone and the Nina Simone Project has been recognized as an effective partnership in its dedication to educational scholarship, musical preservation and community development.


We invite the public to support this collaboration and to visit:
ghettoyouths.com and ninasimoneproject.org for more updates and information.

Preview of Nina Simone Sculpture

Zenos Frudakis' full-size-model for the Nina Simone sculpture will be on display in Tryon on Sunday, 11th October in the Nina Simone Plaza (54 South Trade Street) from 10:00am until 2:00pm.

Please join us to greet the artist and see his work for Tryon in situ.


P.S. The Rosa Parks program - sponsored by the Lanier Library - will begin immediately following at 2:00pm in the Tryon Fine Arts Center.

http://www.ninasimoneproject.org/project2.htm

Andy Stroud Anthologies

Currently being released is a series of anthologies of Nina Simone rarities, produced by Andy Stroud:

(click album covers to purchase - available for download)

Great Performances: College Concerts and Interviews

Rare and exciting DVD of Dr. Nina Simone performing for college students at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst and Morehouse College with interviews in which she discusses her opinions on the role of the artist, her relationship with students & race relations. Songs: Revolution, Compensation, Black Is The Color (Nina), Black Is The Color (Emile Latimer), Suzanne, The Assignment Song, Strange Fruit, Take Me To The Water, To Be Young, Gifted & Black , My Way. Produced by Andy Stroud.


(click here to purchase)

To Be Free - The Nina Simone Story

Nina Simone was one of those controversial figures American pop music puts forward from time to time, with the notable exception that she started her controversy earlier in the 1960s than, say, Bob Dylan. To see this African-American woman get angry about the racial situation in her country, right there on stage, was a shock to people who'd come to hear her sing "I Loves You, Porgy." Not that she cared; she figured that it was the artist's job to deliver the truth, and if the truth hurt, so be it. Of course, events wound up proving her right, but she never stopped being prickly about one thing or another. It was just part of who she was, and part of why her music has endured while that of some of her contemporaries has faded: she's still contemporary.

To Be Free: The Nina Simone Story is a 3 CD Career Retrospective (1957-1993) including her work for Bethlehem, Colpix, Philips, RCA, CTI and Elektra, PLUS a DVD featuring the 1970 Emmy-nominated never-before-released documentary. This package includes 54 songs, 8 previously unreleased tracks, including some never recorded elsewhere. The box includes all chart hits (U.S. and U.K.) and her most famous signature songs. An added bonus are liner notes which include track-by-track commentary from Simone biographer, David Nathan, and introduction by Ed Ward, NPR's "rock & roll historian", and never-before-seen photos from her family archives, recording sessions and performances.

Jazz Icons - Nina Simone Live 1965 & 1968

DVD: Jazz Icons - Nina Simone Live 1965 & 1968 Jazz Icons is doing for jazz what the Criterion Collection has done for classic and important films. This is the folk Nina (The Ballad of Hollis Brown) and the jazz Nina (Love Me Or Leave Me) presented here in live club and TV performances in typically Nina Simone spellbinding fashion. Nina recalls the passion, fury and angst of the Civil Rights struggle and the 1960s with impassioned renditions of Brown Baby, Four Women and Mississippi Goddamn. This collection of Nina Simone, a superb vocalist-pianist who absolutely defied catergorization, includes a stirring rendition of her signature song I Loves You Porgy. Featuring a 24 page booklet with liner notes by Rob Bowman, forward by Nina's daughter, Lisa Simone Kelly, rare photographs, and memorabilia collage.

Simone on Simone

Dr. Nina Simone's daughter, Simone, has recorded a big band tribute to her mother produced by Grammy-winning jazz musician and arranger Bob Belden: "Simone on Simone".








http://www.kochentertainment.com/specialty.htm

Protest Anthology

"Protest Anthology" is a collection of eight previously unreleased video interviews, in which Dr. Nina Simone expresses her views on political and racial issues, and eleven unheard tracks. This is the first in a series of five anthologies of Dr. Simone rarities, produced by Simone's ex-husband and manager Andy Stroud.

click here for more info

Tell It Like It Is

"Tell It Like It Is" is a 2 CD set of rare and unreleased tracks recorded during Dr. Simone’s tenure with RCA Records 1967-73. Roger Nupie, president of the International Dr. Nina Simone Fan Club, contributed to the selection of the material and wrote the liner notes. This release, produced by Keith Munro, includes as well an essay by Stuart Nicholson, and previously unpublished pictures from Nupie's archives.

click here for more info