Broadway Meets Hip Hop - The Urban Nation Academy for the Performing Arts - Photos

Performing on the Veterans Plaza Stage, Urban Nation Academy students presented a musical review of Broadway show tunes, coupled with exciting hip-hop tunes and dances.

The Urban Nation Academy for the Performing Arts is both a music and dance performing arts school located in the heart of the Arts District in Downtown Silver Spring, Md. They are dedicated to providing quality music and dance lessons to children and adults alike in a professional, nurturing, and student oriented environment. For information, check out their website at http://www.urbannationacademy.com

The Broadway Meets Hip-Hop musical review was produced and directed by Dr. Rickey Payton, Sr., assisted by Artistic Director, Sherion Cosby, Acting Coach Lyndsay Rini, Music Director Glenn Pearson, Choreographer Shawn Cosby, Assistant Choreographer Roslyn Ramseur and Children's Coordinator Tomasena Allen. The performance band includes Glenn Pearson and Rickey Payton on keyboards, Kush El-Amin on bass and Michael Nicholas on percussion.

See more pics at

Slide Show http://www.flickr.com/photos/alanbowser/sets/72157627299204307/show/

Detail http://www.flickr.com/photos/alanbowser/sets/72157627299204307/detail/

Thumbnails http://www.flickr.com/photos/alanbowser/sets/72157627299204307/

Mike Nicholas DJs on Silver Spring's Veterans Plaza, August 11, 2011 from 7 to 9 pm. Free!

Please join us for another exciting Plaza Performance as we welcome DJ Mike Nicholas to the Plaza Stage on Thursday, August 11, 2011 from 7 to 9 pm.

Enjoy the quality entertainment of DJ Mike's extensive collection of oldies and current day hits.

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/

The Red Line Quintet Plays Veterans Plaza, Tuesday, August 16, 2011 at 7 pm. Free!

Please join us for another exciting Plaza Performance on Tuesday, August 16, 2011 when we welcome "The Red Line Quintet" to the Plaza Stage. The program is free.

Pulling from students from different sides of the Red Line, the Red Line Quintet is a self-sufficient jazz combo with members between 17 and 18 years old. The quintet plays a range of styles including swing, funk, Afro-Cuban, and contemporary, and features original arrangements and songs by its members. Past performances include Ike Leggett's Birthday Celebration, the Arts and Humanities Awards at Strathmore Hall, and the 2010 and 2011 Telluride Jazz Festivals in Colorado.

The Red Line Quintet is: Peter Leonard-Alto Saxophone; Kathryn Waychoff-Trumpet; Noah Maruyama-Keyboard; Grayson Flood-Bass Guitar; and Matt Volk-Drumset.

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/

Singer, Songwriter, Guitarist Gina DeSimone & the Moaners on Veterans Plaza, Tuesday, August 9 at 7 pm. Free

Please join us for another exciting Plaza Performance on Silver Spring's Veterans Plaza. On Tuesday, August 9, 2011 at 7pm, we welcome Gina DeSimone to the Plaza Stage.

Born and raised in the Silver Spring area, Gina picked up the guitar at age 9 and began taking lessons at a local music store. “I wanted drums,” she explains, “but my parents gave me a guitar instead. Turns out I love playing guitar, but I think my songs are so rhythmically oriented because there’s a bit of drummer in me.” As a teenager, Gina broke the stereotype of the female folk guitarist by playing lead guitar in rock bands. Today she backs up many of the area’s finest songwriters and bands. She began a lifetime of guitar teaching when the same local music store where she learned guitar called to ask if she was interested in teaching. In addition, to running a studio of dedicated students, she continues honing her skills by taking lessons from master guitarists like Al Petteway, Del Rey, Steve James and Mary Flower.

This year, Gina DeSimone was the featured acoustic blues player at the 3rd Annual Silver Spring Blues Festival. She also joined the Archie Edwards Blues Ensemble at the Festival's Market Stage.

Check her out online at http://www.myspace.com/ginadandthemoaners or at http://mysite.verizon.net/gina.d/gina/index.htm


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/

Broadway Meets Hip-Hop! On Silver Spring’s Veterans Plaza, August 10-12, 2011

Please join us for another exciting Plaza Performance on Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at 7 pm, when we welcome students from the Urban Nation Academy For the Performing Arts Summer Camp to Silver Spring’s Veterans Plaza.

Performing on the Plaza Stage, the Urban Nation Academy students will present a musical review of Broadway show tunes, coupled with exciting hip-hop tunes and dances.

The Urban Nation Academy for the Performing Arts is both a music and dance performing arts school located in the heart of the newly refurbished Arts District in Downtown Silver Spring, Md. They are dedicated to providing quality music and dance lessons to children and adults alike in a professional, nurturing, and student oriented environment. For information, check out their website at http://www.urbannationacademy.com/

The program will also be presented at 12 noon on Wednesday, August 10, 2011, Thursday, August 11, and Friday, August 12.

The Broadway Meets Hip-Hop musical review is produced and directed by Dr. Rickey Payton, Sr., assisted by Artistic Director, Sherion Cosby, Acting Coach Lyndsay Rini, Music Director Glenn Pearson, Choreographer Shawn Cosby, Assistant Choreographer Roslyn Ramseur and Children's Coordinator Tomasena Allen. The performance band includes Glenn Pearson and Rickey Payton on keyboards, Kush El-Amin on bass and Michael Nicholson on percussion.

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/

Visit the Silver Spring Town Center's YouTube page

Visit the Silver Spring Town Center's YouTube page. Vote for your favorite Plaza Performance.

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/

Warner Williams & Joyce Ettingoff Play Silver Spring's Veterans Plaza

Guitarist and songster Warner Williams is one of the greatest unsung heroes of the Piedmont blues—an Eastern seaboard style that incorporates fiddle tunes, ballads, country and popular songs, ragtime, and gospel. With a jaunty rhythmic finger-picked guitar style and an eclectic repertoire that ranges from blues to honky-tonk, jazz crooning to children's songs, Warner Williams is an old-style community entertainer of national significance. Joining Warner Williams on the Plaza is harmonica player Joyce Ettingoff from Silver Spring.

In this clip, Warner and Joyce play Take It Slow, Danny Boy, Honeysuckle Rose, and One Day at a Time.

These performances are productions of the Silver Spring Town Center, Inc. See more Plaza Performances at http://www.youtube.com/user/TheTownCentre#grid/user/54B3D9F47094BE13

Visit our blog at www.silverspringtowncenter.blogspot.com, follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/sstowncenter or on Facebook.

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

The Blues Ramblers Play Silver Spring's Veterans Plaza, Sunday, August 7, 2011, at 6 pm. Free!

Please join us for another exciting Plaza Performance on Silver Spring's Veterans Plaza. On Sunday, August 7, 2001 at 6 pm, we welcome The Blues Ramblers to the Plaza Stage.

The Blues Ramblers are Slim Fellows on Keyboards and vocals; Anton (Ace the Bass) Hannsman on Bass and vocals; Gary Venable on Drums; and Alan Gramley on Guitar and vocals.

They play an eclectic group of tunes consisting of jazz and blues standards, funk, some rockin' types of blues, reggae, ballads, etc.


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.

Warner Williams, Jonny Grave, Joyce Ettingoff on Silver Spring's Veterans Plaza, Thursday, August 4, 2011, 7 pm. Free!

Enjoy the acoustic blues guitar magic of Warner Williams & Jonny Grave on Silver Spring's Veterans Plaza, Thursday, August 4, 2011 at 7 pm. The performance is free.

The Silver Spring Town Center, Inc. is proud to present two guitar masters for your listening pleasure: Jonny Grave & Warner Williams.

Guitarist and songster Warner Williams is one of the greatest unsung heroes of the Piedmont blues—an Eastern seaboard style that incorporates fiddle tunes, ballads, country and popular songs, ragtime, and gospel. With a jaunty rhythmic finger-picked guitar style and an eclectic repertoire that ranges from blues to honky-tonk, jazz crooning to children’s songs, Warner Williams is an old-style community entertainer of national significance.

Jonny Grave's music is true acoustic blues from the Heartland, steeped in the traditions of R.L. Burnside, Fred McDowell and others. Unlike the more common Delta variety, Grave’s blues hails from the North Mississippi hill country, like the music of Bukka White and Junior Kimbrough. As a solo acoustic bluesman, Grave maintains a traditional grip on the genre while seamlessly adding a modern twist, incorporating the singer-songwriter, bluegrass, and Americana genres into the recipe.

Both six and twelve-string guitar, Dobro, and Appalachian fretless banjo (made by Grave himself) make up his repertoire of sound. Grave began playing guitar in his early adolescence, and quickly picked up the slide guitar technique from watching Washington DC bluesman Robert Lighthouse perform. Grave performs fingerstyle guitar (without flat picks) and emulates the styles of Leo Kottke, John Fahey and Chris Smither.

Joing Warner Williams & Jonny Grave will be Joyce Ettingoff of Silver Spring-- a wonderful harmonica player who plays throughout the metro Washington region, often with the band The Traveling BlueJayes.

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.

Don Muller performs on Silver Spring's Veterans Plaza, Tuesday, August 2, 2011, 7 pm. Free!

Please join us tonight for another exciting Plaza Performance on Silver Spring's Veterans Plaza. On August 2, 2011, we welcome local singer/songwriter Don Muller to the Plaza Stage. The performance is free!

Don Muller's music is folk rock, indie, and progressive, influenced by the Beatles, Yes, Jethro Tull, Eddie from Ohio, Les Paul, and the Smithereens. Learn more about Don, hear his music by visiting his website at https://sites.google.com/site/mullsmusicsite/home or checking out Don Muller on MySpace http://www.myspace.com/donmuller

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.