Taste of Soul 2017 has gotten Bigger and Better!  

The StarQuest stage which has always been a community favorite, featuring some of the its best local talent, as now become one of the Premier stages at Taste of Soul.  Hyundai Motors has now joined on to host the StarQuest Stage adding an All Star Celebrity line up to this year’s performances. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The celebrity line up includes R&B sensations Brandy and Melanie Fiona, rap legends Kool Moe Dee and Doug E. Fresh, DJ B-Hen, Candace Coles & The CJ Legacy Band and Raffia Ford.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The celebs will join StarQuest contestants, hoping for a shot at stardom.

 

“[Hyundai] is very pleased to be involved in Taste of Soul this year,” said Zafar Brooks, Hyundai’s director of Corporate Responsibility and diversity inclusion, in a recent interview with the Sentinel. 

 

 

“Watching the work that [Danny] Bakewell Sr. has done has inspired me as an Angeleno. To watch him make this a better place for so many people, has inspired me while watching it from afar...”

 

Brooks said that Hyundai had its first opportunity to actually engage in TOS last year.

 

 

 

 

“We had a booth and wanted to introduce Hyundai to the TOS community,” Brooks said. 

 

“We had a great time and the day after we had a conversation with the TOS community about allowing us to come back and having a bigger role. We wanted the opportunity to sponsor the StarQuest stage. As a part of that experience, we’re going to do a number of things to introduce our brand to the community.”

 

Hyundai has created a contest working in conjunction with the Sentinel called Hyundai Better L.A. It asks Angelenos how they are making their community better.

 

 

“We’re inviting people to go to hyundaibetterla.com or they could do it from the Taste of Soul app,” Brooks explained.

 

 

 

 

“When you go there you could click on the Hyundai contest and you could enter to win a new car… a brand new Hyundai Sonata SEL.”

 

Contestants should write a short explanation on how they are making L.A. a better place or upload a 60 second video.  The contest ends October 21 at midnight.

 

Artist Brandy sold over six million copies worldwide, of her first album, and produced three top ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including “I Wanna Be Down” and “Baby”, both of which reached the top of the Hot R&B Singles chart and were certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. “Brokenhearted”, a duet with Wanya Morris of Boyz II Men, became a number-two hit on the charts. The album earned Norwood two Grammy Award nominations for Best New Artist and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance the following year, and won her four Soul Train Music Awards, two Billboard Awards, and the New York Children’s Choice Award. In 1995, she finished a two-month stint as the opening act on Boyz II Men’s national tour, and contributed songs to the soundtracks of the films Batman Forever and Waiting to Exhale, with the single “Sittin’ Up in My Room” becoming another top-two success. In 1996, Norwood also collaborated with Tamia, Chaka Khan, and Gladys Knight on the single “Missing You”, released from the soundtrack of the F. Gary Gray film Set It Off. The single won her a third Grammy nomination in the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals category.

 

Mohandas Dewese (born August 8, 1962), better known by his stage name Kool Moe Dee, was one of the first rappers to earn a Grammy Award and was the first rapper to perform at the Grammys. In 1986, he went solo, releasing a self-titled album that ranked 83 on Billboard.

 

Kool Moe Dee released his second album, How Ya Like Me Now which was his most successful album commercially, achieving platinum status. He then went on to release his third album, Knowledge Is King in 1989, which went gold.

 

 

 

Doug E. Fresh, (born Douglas E. Davis) began his recording career as a solo artist, but rose to stardom when he and a new team of DJs known as the Get Fresh Crew (which included rapper Slick Rick) came to fledgling New Jersey-based Hip-Hop label Danya/Reality Records and recorded “The Show” and “La Di Da Di”, a tune that was completely voiced by MC Ricky D and backed by Doug E's beat boxing for the entire duration of the song. Both songs are considered two of the all-time greatest early hip hop classics and, as such, make up one of the first and only Hip-Hop singles to have two hit songs on the same record.

 

 

StarQuest judges for the adult stage, hosted by Karla Gordy Bristol are: Cee Barrett – Associate Director, BMI; Malcolm David Kelly – actor, “Detroit”; DomiNque Perry – actress, “Insecure”; Cornelius Grant – former Motown executive; Brenda Holloway – legendary singer; Jane Eugene – singer, Loose Ends and Kenny Lattimore – singer, songwriter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the kids stage, which has not announced a host yet, judges are: Brenda Lee Eager - singer, songwriter; James Leach – Sr VP, SESAC; Iris Gordy – former Motown executive; Kerry Gordy – former Motown executive; Rory Pullens – Senior Executive Director of Arts Education, LAUSD and two more to be announced at a later time.

Once again, 102.3 Radio-Free is set to rock Crenshaw Blvd. at the 12th Annual Taste of Soul Festival on Saturday, October 21. KJLH has a history of presenting the hottest stage at the event, and this year will be no different.

 

 

 

 

The “102.3 KJLH Radio Free” stage will proudly feature R&B Songstress Lalah Hathaway. This sultry singer, with her new CD “Honestly”, scheduled for release on November 3, will perform her classic hits live, on-stage.

 

Joining Lalah on the all-star line-up. will be  The Crossrhodes, featuring Raheem DeVaughn and Wes Felton. Both sons of jazz musicians, this incredible group meshes lush neo-soul crooning with socially conscious hip-hop word flow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

Next on the line-up is legendary DJ, Rapper and producer, Kid Capri and friends. This celebrated DJ, known for spinning the hottest songs on Def Jam Comedy, is sure to be lit!

 

 

 

 

Lastly, Southern California’s premiere R&B, Funk and Contemporary powerhouse band DW3,

 

 

 

new songbird songstress Yuna, known for her song, “Crush” with Usher, and The KJLH Gospel choir, will kick off the day with a powerful performance.

 

 

 

 

 

As always, you better come early and stay late … you never know what surprise guest will show up!

 

We’ll see you at the “102.3 Radio Free” stage located on the corner of Crenshaw and Rodeo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

94.7 The Wave music stage features: Ohio Players, The Gap Experience, On Tour, Chosen Recovery and Connect Band

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

94.7 The Wave once again joins Taste of Soul, now in its twelfth year as Los Angeles’ largest street festival. And, once again the source of smooth R&B and jazz for southern California is giving the people a noteworthy line up. The Wave stage is part of three musical powerhouses that enhance the TOS experience.

 

“Over the years 94.7 The Wave has continued to play a major role in the success of the Taste of Soul festival,” said TOS creator and L.A. Sentinel/ L.A. Watts Times publisher and CEO Danny Bakewell Sr. at last year’s event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“My good friend Pat Prescott is one of our community’s icons. Pat and the WAVE are a demonstration of what community partnerships and community empowerment is all about…”

 

This year, TOS nation will get to mellow out at the Wave stage to a stellar line up that includes The GAP Experience, the Ohio Players, On Tour, the Connect Band and Chosen Recovery. 

 

Gap Experience members are original band members who toured the world and blazed the charts with amazing hits like Outstanding, Burn Rubber On Me, You Dropped a Bomb On Me, Early In The Morning, Yearning For Your Love and All of My Love. With lead singer Max C, Gap Experience appeals to old and new followers by staying true to the heart of their music classics and infusing contemporary production and styling that produces a sound and live performance show that is “undeniably electric”, according to a band spokesperson.

 

The Ohio Players traveled the world and produced more than a dozen albums and received 14 gold and platinum awards for their labors. They also appeared on many national television programs from Dick Clark, Don Kushner, to David Letterman.  Since then there is a long list of Artists who have sampled or re-recorded their material to list a few: Snoop Dogg, Puff Daddy, Salt & Pepper, Too Short, Sound garden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Paul Jackson Jr., and Alex Bugnon. Hits include two number one singles on the billboard pop charts “Fire” and “Love Rollercoaster” and five number one R&B singles “Funky Worm”, ”Fire”, ”Sweet Sticky Thing”, “Love Rollercoaster,” and “Who’d She Coo”.

 

 

 

 

On Tour is a band put together 3 years ago with musicians that have one thing in common...the love for music!  And,  Chosen Gospel Recovery Singers  bring you “gospel recovery songs” in a variety of styles.

 

 

 

 

 The Wave will be looking for you at Crenshaw and Stocker October 21! 

“You have to take care of the people who do not have the power to take care of themselves. You have to represent them in halls where they sometimes are not represented in.  If you do not do that, then you are not really on a life mission that is worthwhile.” — South Coast Air Quality Management District Chairman William A. Burke, Ed.D., from the film, “The Right to Breath”.

 

 

For nearly a quarter of a century, Burke has been at the helm of the South Coast Air Quality Management District’s Governing Board (SCAQMD), the local government agency responsible for monitoring and reporting air pollution levels as well as adopting and enforcing regulations to improve air quality for nearly 17 million residents in all of Orange County and the most populated portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

 

Burke has been a leader in air quality and environmental justice, business, healthcare, politics, international affairs, and education in the Southland since the 1970s – He has recently been reappointed to an unprecedented eighth term on the SCAQMD Board.

 

            Burke was re-appointed last week by Speaker Anthony Rendon.  His new term begins on Jan. 15, 2018, and ends on Jan. 15, 2022. With his re-appointment to a new four-year term, Burke will be the longest tenured member and the longest-serving chairman of the SCAQMD Governing Board. He has served since he was first appointed to the post in September, 1993, by then-Speaker of the Assembly Willie L. Brown Jr.

 

All of Burke’s appointments have been for four years, except his first term in which he filled an unexpired term.  He is the longest continuously serving appointee of former Speaker Brown and the only Brown appointee to any board still serving today. In addition to holding this prestigious honor, Burke has the distinction of serving longer than any other previous Assembly Speaker appointee to any board in the State of California, and is one of the longest serving commissioners in the nation.

 

“I am looking forward with great enthusiasm to serving another four years on the SCAQMD Board,” Burke said. “We have accomplished a great deal, but we also have an enormous challenge ahead of us if we are to succeed in cleaning up the Southland’s smog. I am honored and appreciate the confidence placed in me by Speaker Rendon and the many other Speakers of the Assembly who have appointed me.”

 

Burke noted that when he first began serving on the SCAQMD Board, “on many days you could not see the San Gabriel Mountains.  Today, we have the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful landscape and [mountain] views that make Southern California so beautiful.”  He says that the SCAQMD has an ongoing battle to fight emissions, a task that he takes very seriously to improve the quality of life for all of California’s residence.

 

Communities of Color don’t always understand the importance of the work SCAQMD does in order to improve the quality of life for this community.  Dr. Burke, who has been a longtime advocate for improving the quality of life for those less fortunate and under served says that “communities of color are the most vulnerable,” stated Burke. “The very nature of the things SCAQMD advocates and supervises affects our community the most and I see it as my responsibility to insure that those less fortunate are provided the best resources to improve their overall quality of life.” Stated Chairman Burke.

 

During his tenure as SCAQMD’s chairman, Burke has made environmental justice a centerpiece.  He has initiated numerous environmental justice programs and events to ensure that SCAQMD works toward solutions for underrepresented communities most impacted by air pollution. And he has worked to empower residents of those communities to advise and assist SCAQMD in protecting and improving public health. 

 

Through these efforts, he has exemplified that civil rights does not dead-end at environmental justice, but that it is a continuation of the same struggle.  

 

Two of his signature programs are an annual environmental justice conference at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels and the Environmental Justice Community Partnership, a grassroots group that meets regularly to advise SCAQMD staff on key issues affecting their communities.

 

This week, Burke kicked off SCAQMD’s conference titled, “Making Sense of Sensors”, to help ensure that organization has an enhanced air monitoring presence in impacted communities.

 

In June, Burke hosted a town hall meeting in Compton to announce the initiation of the SCAQMD’s Community Air Toxics Initiative, to address concerns raised by residents about hexavalent chromium emissions from metal processing facilities in Compton and nearby Paramount.

 

In April, he chaired two town hall meetings to hear concerns from residents about the PBF refinery in Torrance. Under previous ownership by ExxonMobil, the refinery was cited for numerous air quality violations following a large explosion in 2015. 

 

In January, Burke hosted a luncheon on Martin L. King Jr. Day, titled “Lifting as We Climb,” to honor Dr. King and also show the distinct intersection of civil rights with environmental justice.

 

Social worker and author Maryum “May May” Ali, the daughter of his late, close friend and boxing legend, Muhammad Ali, delivered the keynote address.

 

Drawing on the same theme, in March, Burke hosted The Cesar Chavez Day of Remembrance – An Inspirational Day on the Environment and Air Quality luncheon in conjunction with the California Latino Legislative Caucus and the Cesar Chavez Foundation.

 

In addition to his major contributions to environmental justice, Burke introduced and SCAQMD carried out landmark programs for children and senior citizens, as well as research on the health effects of air pollution.

 

“During my upcoming four-year term, I want to continue to keep SCAQMD focused on environmental justice in all communities of color across the Southland,” Burke said. “We must continue the fight of reducing pollution from all sources until we no longer have disproportionately impacted communities and everyone can breathe healthful air.”

 (Courtesy Photos)