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Inside Plainfield, NJ’s neighborhood workspace, “from HERE”
Plainfield, NJ entrepreneurs can now get the help they need to make their businesses grow and thrive, thanks to “The Queen City Innovation Hub: Accelerator Program” which will be providing free tools, resources, and other forms of assistance to accepted businesses. The program will run from September 2022 through August 2023…
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By Gregory Burrus | Posted Friday, March 11, 2022
Today on Interviews by Gregory Burrus Productions, we encountered a truly fabulous, soulful multidimensional singer. As you may know, a live music career is a business that requires the performer to stay relevant in the audience’s mind. The performer in order to be successful must be committed to ensure long-term relevance. Dara Tucker has found many ways to stay in the minds of fans using multiple platforms and, as her bio proclaims, singer/songwriter Dara Tucker is no stranger to producing “composition as commentary.”
“Dreams of Waking (album) refers to the hope that our society will develop an awareness of the inequities that still exist,” Tucker said. “It’s the dream that we will become fully conscious and attuned to the hopes, dreams and needs of every human being.”
Happily for us, we were able to book Dara Tucker for a Jazz973 event at Clements Place Jazz. Having done some preliminary research, we wanted to catch up with Dara and understand more about her upcoming event and get to know a little more about this multidimensional person. Take a listen.
Dara Starr Tucker Interviewed by Lynette Sheard for Gregory Burrus Productions.
Dara Tucker has an extensive singing career with many successful awards and accomplishments. She began songwriting while living in Switzerland in 2003 and moved to Nashville in 2004 to pursue a career as a singer-songwriter. She recorded the first of her albums, "All Right Now" in 2009. It featured mostly Great American Songbook standards. Her second album, Soul Said Yes (2011), was a blend of R&B, jazz and Gospel and it made Amazon.com's top 10 R&B chart within a few weeks of its release. Tucker's third release, The Sun Season (2014), was recorded in Astoria, Queens, New York. It reached number 62 on the JazzWeek charts on September 22, 2014.
In 2015, Dara was interviewed by Tavis Smiley for his PBS television show, where she performed an original song she wrote with her sister, Diamond Tucker, entitled, "Giants" from The Sun Season. In 2016, she opened for Gregory Porter in Nashville at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. That year, Dara Tucker was a finalist in the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival's vocal competition. In 2017, she won the silver medal at the "American Traditions" vocal competition in Savannah, which requires singers to perform in 9 separate genres.
Dara has produced a docu-series on Nashville musicians called, "Music City Select" through her production company, GoldenTime Films. She is a contributor to the Huffington Post where she writes essays on her personal experiences as a minority and a woman in the entertainment business. Her article, "Here's to the Ladies Who Cuss" was featured on The Huffington Post Voices homepage. In my research, I found this comment:
“In the coming year, I will be more loving, and I will be kinder. I will also stake a claim in my own life. I am compelled to make room for myself. I will not always be pleasing or appropriate, but I will blossom. If something is deemed inappropriate for my life, let it be me who does the deeming. I will scream when I need to scream. I will shout and be heard. And I will cuss when I feel like cussing.”
This definitely leads us to the other Dara, who produces “composition as commentary.”
The great part about these interviews is the advanced research we do, and on this one our interviewer Lynette Sherd was way ahead of me. While I saw music, Lynette alerted me to the massively active and successful TikTok-er, Dara Starr Tucker.
Now, for those that think TikTok is just dance and jokes, you should know that the Economic Times reported that: “The rankings show that TikTok knocked Google off the top spot in February, March and June this year, and has held the number one position since August. San Francisco: Popular short video-sharing platform TikTok has surpassed tech giant Google as the most popular website of the year, says a report. Dec 25, 2021.” Well, being in the top ten is huge; knocking off number one is phenomenal.
Dara, as a social commentary person, definitely delivers on the statement that I love, which is producing “composition as commentary.” This is evident when you jump on the other Dara Starr Tucker channels. With 17K followers on Instagram, her individual videos have received in some cases over 12K comments. Meanwhile, her social commentary on TikTok has 687 thousand followers, with individual videos garnering 1.6K comments. The engagement she has is truly amazing.
More recently, we had the pleasure of listening to Dara Tucker when she was a guest performer at the James Moody Scholars event. The event was special for us as Linda Moody wanted to honor the James Moody Scholarship Scholars with a live music concert during her time here as the first lady of the TD Moody Jazz Festival. There has been a recipient each year of the scholarship and now there were enough of them to have a band with a rhythm section. You can read more here as the James Moody Jazz Scholars Honored His Legacy In South Orange NJ.
This is where we first heard her wonderful voice and we encourage all of you to come on out and listen to her sing. It's a treat you don’t want to miss.
Dara Starr Tucker is making her mark in the world of music and activism as a singer, satirist and social commentator. Her latest album, Dreams of Waking: Music For A Better World (2021), was featured on Grammy.com and in American Songwriter Magazine. On the album, Tucker embraces the urgent, topical works of songwriters of the protest era, along with her own compositions, as vessels for justice awareness, instruction and healing. Last summer, the album reached #7 on the Jazzweek National Radio Charts and reached #6 on the ITUNES jazz chart.
Additionally, Dara Starr Tucker is the co-writer of "Oklahoma," the title song on Keb Mo's 2020 Grammy-winning "Best Americana Album." Tucker's justice and musical commentary on social media has been featured with HBO and Yahoo News. She has toured as a member of master guitarist Charlie Hunter's trio, appeared on NPR's Jazz Night in America and made her national television debut on PBS. Most recently, Dara has performed at Central Jersey Jazz Festival, Newark Museum of Art Jazz Series, Birdland (VocalMania), Smoke Jazz Club and Minton's.
Join Us: March 23, 7 - 10PM, Clements Place Jazz. 15 Washington Street, Newark, NJ.
Click to learn more: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/jazz973-presents-dara-tucker-and-her-band-at-clements-place-jazz-tickets-295322667047
Gregory Burrus is a local live music ambassador, producer, promoter, event planner, and community partner. He combines his extensive corporate business and technology expertise with his love of live music and being a strong community advocate.
I love writing about it all. My mission is to help community groups, live music bands, and local nonprofits, reach their goals and accomplish their missions while enjoying the day-to-day process of life.
https://www.jerseyindie.com/ji-blogger-gregory-burrus
https://patch.com/users/gregburrus
By Sonia Schnee | Posted Friday, February 12, 2021
In April 2020, the first episode of Walt’s Kitchen Table Podcast made its debut on YouTube, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and other streaming outlets. It featured the host, Walt Blau, interviewing “the OG of storytelling,” his own father. “Hearing all sorts of crazy stories growing up created my thirst for knowledge and [joy] of hearing people's stories on where they have been and how they got to where they are,” Walt writes in the caption for the first episode.
For anyone who likes telling stories — and learning from other people’s stories — Walt’s Kitchen Table Podcast is a destination. From the founders of Jersey nonprofits, to the owners of Jersey breweries, it seems like everyone’s been on Walt’s podcast, and if you haven’t been on it yet, well… you should!
Check out our interview with podcast creator, Walt Blau, below, to learn more about the mission behind the podcast, and, of course, don’t forget to follow Walt’s Kitchen Table Podcast on social media.
Walt Blau, from CO, and I am an Area Field Manager for U-Haul.
When you gather with friends and family, where do you get together?... In the kitchen! Everyone you meet knows something you don't. I invite people on to share what they know that I don't. As for guests, I believe that everyone is extraordinary and accomplishes amazing things every day. I invite anyone to join me and share stories, good conversations, laughs, tears, and life experiences with me.
I started this podcast project due to my unquenchable thirst for knowledge and conversation.
That they, too, accomplish amazing things every day, and you do not have to be a rock star or famous or whatever to be extraordinary. This world is made up of awesome people, and don't sell yourself short!
Website: https://waltskitchentable.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/wktpodcast/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4WxRxeR3uPpnGCBG6oSJYg
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/213350080343983
