December 14, 2004
Contact: Susan Gwynne
(805) 893-2098
e-mail: gwynne-s@sa.ucsb.edu

The exuberant wit and wordplay of Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam, featuring nine poetry slam champions, comes to UCSB Campbell Hall

Summary Facts:

• Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam
• Winner of the 2003 Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event
• Features performances by nine poetry slam champions
• Tuesday, January 18 / 8 pm
• UCSB Campbell Hall
• General public: $45 / UCSB students: $19
• Tickets/information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535

Russell Simmons’ Def Poetry Jam, winner of the 2003 Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event, brings its ferocious energy and wit to Santa Barbara on Tuesday, January 18 at 8 pm for one performance at UCSB Campbell Hall. Featuring the top poets from the smash HBO series Russell Simmons’ Presents Def Poetry Jam, the cast includes performers who became the surprise sensation of the Broadway season. Def Poetry Jam is conceived and presented by hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and Stan Lathan and directed by Lathan. The current 51 city encore tour is made possible in part by HBO and Motorola. Time magazine calls it “a fast-paced, highly charged evening,” while the Boston Herald asserts Def Poetry Jam is “fierce and fantastic, passionate and profound...a truly exhilarating 90 minutes of poetry in motion.”

Where the smash hit HBO series left off, this production takes over. This uplifting evening of entertainment brings nine performance poets with a new American voice together on stage. The result is an exuberant, insightful and comedic look at who we are and where we are today. The cast includes original Broadway cast members Black Ice, Georgia Me, Lemon, Poetri, Staceyann Chin and Suheir Hammad, along with Shihan, Flaco Navaja and Ishle Park. DJ Reborn, much in demand in Manhattan’s club and performance circuit, provides music.

Russell Simmons has brought hip-hop to every facet of media and pop culture. He has succeeded in music with his immensely popular label Def Jam Recordings; he has branched out into film with Def Pictures and television with HBO’s Def Comedy Jam; he has taken the fashion world by storm with his label Phat Farm. Salon.com claims, “Russell Simmons didn’t invent rap, but he is, perhaps more than any other individual, responsible for the music’s astonishing success....Hip-hop is no longer black culture or urban culture: It’s American culture.”

Black Ice, born Lamar Manson, began perfecting his craft on the streets of North Philadelphia and became the first spoken word artist signed to Def Jam Records. Georgia Me is the first and only person to win at Club 112 Apollo Night (voted the toughest audience in America) an undisputed six times. Lemon has performed in venues as diverse as St. John the Divine and Sing Sing Prison while appearing in Spike Lee’s She Hate Me. Poetri, in addition to his spoken word performances, has written, produced and arranged over 150 commercials for such organizations as Nike, NFL Films and Black Entertainment Television. Staceyann Chin, a New York City resident and Jamaican national, has won numerous poetry slams including WORD: The First Slam for Television. A Palestinian-American from Brooklyn, Suheir Hammad is widely published and has read her work on the BBC World Service and National Public Radio. Coming to poetry from theater groups like UNIVERSES and the Bomba and Plena group Yerba Buena, Flaco Navaja has appeared with Def Poetry Jam at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Shihan, from New York’s Lower East Side, has written for Pepsi, Reebok and MTV’s “Rock the Vote” campaign. Ishle Park, the Poet Laureate of Queens, New York, is the first Korean-American woman to compete in the National Poetry Slam.

Def Poetry Jam is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and sponsored by KCSB 91.9 FM. Tickets are $45 for the general public and $19 for UCSB students who must show valid ID at ticket purchase and the evening of the show.

For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.

Editor: For photos, please call
Susan Gwynne at (805) 893-2098.