CaShandra J. Plays Veterans Plaza, Tuesday, August 30th at 7 pm. Free!

Please join us for another exciting Plaza Performance on Silver Spring's Veterans Plaza. On August 30, 2011, we welcome jazz vocalist CaShandra J. back to the Plaza Stage!

A singer’s singer, CaShandra J. exudes her love of music in every note that she sings. Born and raised in rural Texas, she had every opportunity to be immersed in and around music. CaShandra J. picked up her first instrument at the age of 7. Her mother and father purchased an upright piano and started her on lessons. “I can remember always wanting to play a musical instrument and when my parents offered me the chance to take piano lessons, I was thrilled!” It was only a few years later that she was also taking lessons for violin and clarinet and playing in school ensembles. “I must be honest, I never was the best musician in class but I loved music so much, I didn’t really care. Music was my escape from the daily rigors of my school life and the people I was around. I just wanted to be next to it.” By the time she was in high school, CaShandra J. longed to leave her hometown in hopes of finding some place where she could just be herself. “I managed to maintain my sanity by taking art classes, photography and choir. I enjoyed it so much that I knew my happiness lied in creating.”

After finishing high school in only 3 years, Cashandra J. took off to college in a small community near Dallas, TX to study fashion design. After two years, she quit to find other avenues of education and self-fulfillment. “That was such a rough time for me. I had no direction and it was as if the music left my life!”CaShandra J. pick up and move again. This time she moved to Austin, TX, which was known for it’s live music. “Austin livened up my spirits again. This city had such a diverse music culture and I was always being exposed to new forms of music.” It was in Austin that she decided to start dancing in an ethnic cultural dance company. The company’s house band let her sit in from time to time to do covers of soul music. It was those experiences that ignited her love of singing and refueled her passion for music.

After receiving her Bachelors in music at Howard University and performing at a host of venues, CaShandra J. is taking her love of music to a new level. Look forward to hearing her new project, Life in Techni-Color, which is wholly injected with jazzy licks and soulful lyrics, due out in 2011.

Visit her website at http://cashandraj.com/index.html

Silver Spring's Veterans Plaza is located at the intersection of Fenton Street & Ellsworth Drive in downtown Silver Spring.

These performances are productions of the Silver Spring Town Center, Inc. Visit our blog at www.silverspringtowncenter.blogspot.com, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/sstowncenter or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/groups/8305814081/