DaVerse Lounge '13

I'm especially excited about this post.  You've probably seen Will Richey on this blog before if you've followed it for any amount of time.  Will has been a friend of ours since college, and during our college years, Will became involved in the Slam Poetry scene in Dallas.  Over the years, his love for poetry and art has evolved into a career and led to the founding of DaVerse Lounge.  Probably the best way to explain DaVerse Lounge is through this video.  As you can see, Will and everyone involved is this program are doing some really amazing things.  Will asked me to photograph his latest DaVerse Lounge evening a few weeks ago.  A lot has changed since the last time I went, and the evening has expanded far beyond the open mic aspect.  There are many local artists involved and more activities for the kids.  Bear with me, this is a blog overload, but I wanted to capture the evening as fully as possible....

This latest evening started off with a tour of some of Deep Ellum's graffiti art by Jerod Alexander for the guys.....

...and a talk by guest musician, DJ Reborn from New York for the girls...

...after the walking tour, some of the guys were able to create a mural of their own with Jerod's help...

Meanwhile, other artists were getting set up inside, displaying their own art and creating areas where kids could have the opportunity to do their own work.

The band getting set up - they accompany all the performers.

Getting ready....

There are artists creating art as the show is going on, so everywhere you look there is something going on.

Will getting the show started.

The performers were awesome.  The truly wonderful thing is that they come from everywhere and range from professional to so nervous you can hear their voices shaking as they recite their piece.  But everyone does it!  Sometimes you know that a performer is truly exercising all the courage they have to get up there and that is a beautiful thing.

Will's daughter also wrote and performed her own piece for the first time ever.  It was pretty cool to witness.