Finder Of Lost Souls, Redstorm, Redstorm (Poet), EbonyEnergy Publishing, 2004, 0975509225, 9780975509227, 96 pages. .

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My Private Room I Opened the Door and There Was Light, Cheryl Katherine Wash, Aug 31, 2002, , 143 pages. An original collection of poetry with illustrations. Illustrations also on front and back cover..

Margaret's Story , Eugenia Price, 1982, Fiction, 427 pages. .

– On the tongues of spoken-word poetry aficionados nationwide you will hear the name of author, poet and motivational speaker, Redstorm, the winner of ChicagoÂÂ’s Best New Poet Award (2004), who will be featured on, Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry (HBO Television; September 19, 2004, 11:00PM Eastern). RedstormÂÂ’s appearance on HBO coincides with the release of his book “Finder of Lost Souls” (EbonyEnergy Publishing, ISBN: 0-9755092-2-5), the book launch and signing will be on September 11th at Borders in Beverly, 95th street in Chicago at 4:00PM.

The Chicago Sun-Times venerates, “Redstorm is to poetry, what John the Baptist was to Jesus, a purifier. His words leave no stone unturned.” “Red Storm is beyond buzz-worthy! His words are a testament of all people in struggle. He's a true wordsmith." Commented Bruce George, Co-Founder of Def Poetry Jam; and Stan Lathan, of Simmons Lathan Entertainment & Media Group states, “Red Storm spits the truth. He is truly a Def Poet.”

Born Darren Redmond, RedstormÂÂ’s poetry is not only urban observations, but from the authorÂÂ’s thirteen-year prison experience. Born and raised on the Eastside of Chicago, 79th Street, where he still resides, Redstorm attended Horace Mann Elementary and South Shore High School. Many wonder how such a gifted writer who came from a solid foundation end up in prison. Well, Redstorm simply chose at the time to run the gritty Chicago streets and became involved with gangs and drugs at an early age.

Since his release from prison in July 2002, Redstorm has taken the poetry scene, literally, by storm! He has since performed across the nation, his image and poetry was utilized in a television PSA for The Cease Fire Program/Chicago Police Department; he has appeared at the National Hip-Hop Summit Chicago 2004; and visited a number of universities and schools including: Howard University Youth Symposium, North Eastern University, South Shore High School and Hyde Park High School. Redstorm has also made it a poignant duty to assist in reforming drug addicts and gangsters; by visiting institutes such as Hull House Drug Prevention Center, the Juvenile Detention Center and the Cook County Department Of Corrections Div. #2.

I started performing behind bars, during the bad times. I use to entertain the brothers in the cell house by reciting the things I was writing from my cell for everyone to hear that was in listening range. That was in the early 90s. That's where I learned I had the gift to hold people's attention with my words and that they helped somewhat. A lot of the brothers use to pay me to write poems for them to send home and that's when l learned that books do sell and that a new hustle just dropped out the sky.

All my poems are my favorites. They are all very personal to me. That's the thing with me, I don't write fantasy , I write what I've lived and about what I've learned from that life. They say experience is the best teacher, well if that's the case, my experiences might not teach everyone but it will definitly teach someone.

Malcolm , some fools and my Grandmother. Part prophet/revolutionary , part street hustler and part Mama's boy. I don't know , I just get up there and spit and the people say that my stage presence is like a great preacher. So as they say, everybody don't tell the same lie. Whatever it is I hope I can make a difference in the lives of someone like me.

Well for me , Def Poetry helped change my life, it gave me hope , it gave me a new set of friends, it helped bring my confidence level back up after the drugs and jail had crushed it. Now people come up to me and say Redstorm, I saw you on HBO, or I saw you at this event and you are incredible. Redstorm was just created in 2002 and from that time til now I went from Dirty Red who wasn't shit to Redstorm , who the People say is THE SHIT. People in my hood still can't believe it.

All I know is this , you got everybody from porn stars to preachers in the music industry, from pimps to drug pushers. Everybody but some real live spoken word artist. If that ain't politics, I don't know what is. They scared of us , but yet in still, poetry is everywhere. So there is an opportunity there for us, but it will take certain front runners in our field to kick the door down and open the flood gates for the Prophets to arrive. But I still don't think the powers that be want people like me to have a voice that big because I might save too many lost souls which would in turn piss them off. They want people to stay lost and most of the music today has no food for the Soul , just a Fools gold, you know?

Big up to all the poets around the country, our time is here. Stop being crabs in the bucket and support the front runners so the ones in the back of the race can see the finish line. We need to be heard and it will take the support of the whole spoken word community to get one of us in the mainstream market. Could be me , could be you??? But it needs to be someone now.

CHICAGO(BLACK PR WIRE)(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 29, 2004--In the six weeks leading up to the March 27th Chicago Hip-Hop Summit, the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network's Hip-Hop Team Vote project, working in partnership with local grass roots organizations, was able to register over 30,000 new young voters, between the ages of 18 and 35, from the states of Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio and Indiana. Through hip-hop radio, artist television PSA's, the HSAN.org website and street team and grass roots door to door campaigns, the Hip-Hop Team Vote initiative continues to build momentum throughout the Midwest, as well as other regions of the United States since the beginning of 2004.

Last Saturday, at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Pavillion, thousands of young people newly registered to vote enthusiastically responded to the opportunity to raise questions with some of the nation's leading hip-hop artists and recording industry executives. The celebrity hip-hop panel discussion was led by Kanye West, Ludacris, Russell Simmons, Twista, Common, Shawnna, Loon, Jim Jones of the Diplomats, Def Poetry Jam's Malik Yussef and Red Storm, Babs from Da Band, Layzie Bone, Crooked I, Duane "Hump" Hobbs, White Boy, Nuisance and Ruff, G-Zuz from Soldierz At War and Five Star General James. Doug E Fresh and Dr Ben moderated the session. Some of the issues addressed ranged from the importance of the youth vote, halting police brutality and rap profiling and freeing U.S. political prisoners to raising public awareness about the HIV/AIDS epidemic, self-improvement as a basis for family and community development and using hip-hop to promote social change.

Russell Simmons, Chairman of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, declared, "The Chicago Hip-Hop Summit was full of energy and exemplified the growing power of hip-hop as a cultural phenomenon that represents the best generation of youth ever. The youth vote of 2004 will make a positive difference in the national elections."

Kanye West and Twista gave a freestyle performance of their latest hit "Slow Jamz." Afterwards, Kanye West stressed the importance of youth empowerment. "We all have to work on improving ourselves educationally and culturally and be prepared to speak out on the issues of justice and equality," he stated.

A highlight of the Chicago Hip-Hop Summit was the presentation of a National Achievement Award to George Daniels, Founder of George's Music Room, for his contributions to the entrepreneurial development in the African-American community. George's Music Room is a retail outlet for music established in 1969.

"The fact that we were able to register young people from throughout the Midwest in preparation of the Chicago Hip-Hop Summit indicates that there is an acceleration of interest and involvement of youth who are participating for the first time in the political process," concluded Dr. Benjamin Chavis, President/CEO of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network. "This is very encouraging and indicative of the rising power of hip-hop."

Back then, prompted by the critical and commercial triumphs of alternative rockers such as the Smashing Pumpkins, Liz Phair, Urge Overkill and Veruca Salt, Billboard, the bible of the music business, ran a lengthy front-page series branding Chicago as "the next Seattle" and "the new capital of the cutting edge."

The articles ran complete with a map of Wicker Park marking the location of every venue that booked live music. Major label talent scouts descended on our town en masse with their corporate credit cards drawn, wining and dining every garage band on the scene, and a dozen local groups were signed in the months that followed.

Many of these acts were dropped just as quickly -- the alternative-rock boom was already on the wane at the time -- but for a few months, Chicago was indeed as trendy as the grunge epicenter of Seattle had ever been. Suddenly, musicians didn't have to leave home and move to the traditional industry centers of New York, Nashville or Los Angeles in orders to take their career to the next level. They could try to grab the brass ring while staying in what Billy Corgan called "the city by the lake."

More than a decade later, Kanye's "College Dropout" is hanging steady at No. 8 after seven weeks on the Billboard albums chart, and it is approaching sales of a million copies. Meanwhile, another album, "Kamikaze" by Chicago speed-rapper Twista (which features several tracks that Kanye produced), is perched at No. 18. It debuted at No. 1 nine weeks ago, and it has already been certified as platinum, with more than a million copies sold.

"There has been so much talent that's come out of here, but it hasn't been as genre-defining as the 'dirty South' style, where you know right off the bat that this person is from somewhere in the South," Johnson says. "Whether it's Lil' John or OutKast or Ludacris, you know where they're from just from what they talk about or their vocal clarity or things like that."

Though Chicago has produced such staggering talents as Common, No ID, Rubberoom and Malik Yusef -- as well as novelty acts such as Da Brat and H.W.A. and one-hits wonders such as Crucial Conflict and Do or Die -- the city has often been written off in many corners of the hip-hop world. The New York-based magazine the Source even went as far as describing Chicago as "a city of 3 million muth----as that can't rap."

"L.A. got its time, St. Louis got its time -- it's just when there is a proper individual representing and the proper venue to display his talent, then everyone gravitates to the area and the artist," Dash says. "There's been a scene out there in Chicago for a long time, but now it's coming to the masses."

"I'm not that much of a trend-follower; I'm a trendsetter," he says. "People are always jumping on the bandwagon. I wouldn't be surprised if they are going down to Chicago to find the next Kanye or Twista, but those are people with small visions. They should've been there from the beginning. A true A&R [talent scout] has a true ear. It's like me -- if I don't get it first, I don't want it anymore."

Many veterans of Chicago's hip-hop scene are skeptical that we'll see a flood of local artists signing to the major labels, or that lightning will strike for a third time any time soon with another Windy City rapper topping the charts. They note that R. Kelly's rise to superstardom in the R&B world -- which coincided with the alternative rock explosion in the '90s -- did not automatically translate to a rash of signings of other Chicago R&B and soul singers.

They note that Common and West both achieved their greatest success only after they left Chicago for New York (though Twista remains here, and he even told me that he hopes to open a hip-hop club in town). And all three made their biggest impacts after connecting with other artists or producers -- Common with the Roots and their extended family (including D'Angelo and Erykah Badu); West with Jay-Z, and Twista with West.

Connections with the "right" producer arguably matter more in hip-hop than in any other genre of popular music. "As far as Chicago rappers getting signed, I see it happening more through Kanye, whoever he's worked with, or Twista and his camp, than the labels coming to town to sign people in the clubs or from the streets," says rapper PNS of Chicago underground favorites the Molemen.

Corporate consolidation of the major labels, ever-shrinking rosters, an increasing emphasis on the bottom line over artist development and the industry's tardiness in responding to the challenges represented by the Internet all mean that labels are signing fewer acts than before -- and independent artists arguably need the big companies less than ever.

"There are a lot of people in this city who I think are perfectly happy with underground success -- like the Molemen and the Family Tree artists," Tannehill says. "They don't have to worry about a label telling them what to do. It might take a little longer, because they have to come up with all of the money themselves. But ultimately, they can do exactly what they want."

In this regard, Chicago's underground hip-hop scene mirrors the city's post-alternative underground rock scene, with an impressive array of diverse and original talents, a dedicated and thriving infrastructure of independent labels and a devoted following in the clubs (though the live hip-hop scene, like the underground rock scene, is having a difficult time, thanks to the city's much-publicized post-E2 club crackdown). http://edufb.net/34.pdf http://edufb.net/5.pdf http://edufb.net/38.pdf http://edufb.net/76.pdf http://edufb.net/4.pdf http://edufb.net/1.pdf http://edufb.net/39.pdf http://edufb.net/45.pdf http://edufb.net/8.pdf http://edufb.net/15.pdf http://edufb.net/13.pdf