Wednesday, March 5, 2008

The Subculture of Sex Trafficking and Prostitution in Washington, D.C.

The Subculture of Sex Trafficking and Prostitution in Washington, D.C.

Saturday, April 19

9am-4:30 pm

Washington Community Church
9th & Maryland Ave., NE
http://www.wcfchurch.org/

Cost is $35

If you would like to have a greater understanding of what is happening right here in DC, then this is the workshop for you. Guest speakers will be from the MPD Prostitution Enforcement Unit, US Attorney’s office, Youth Investigations Branch, and the DC youth detention center. You will learn about recent local cases that have been prosecuted, understand the process of what happens to youth when they are picked up for solicitation, the John’s School (an intervention program for men who are caught soliciting), gang prostitution, internet crimes against children, and more.

Register here:
http://www.restorationministriesdc.org/dc_registration.doc

Brock Holmes & Carol Nicotera














Brock Holmes & Carol Nicotera
along with Doc Benjamin
preform a benefit concert

Where: Ebenezers Coffee House
201 F Street NE
Date: Friday, April 25
Time: 7PM
Suggested Donation: $20
All proceeds go to Restoration Ministries

Brock Holmes & Carol Nicotera perform a remarkable and entertaining repertoire that covers a wide mix of styles, including jazz, pop, blues, country, and swing, with a little rock thrown in for good measure. Brock counts as his musical influences Tommy Emmanuel, Lenny Breau, Joe Pass, Tuck Andress, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Martin Taylor, Jimi Hendrix, Bela Fleck, and the Ebo, while Carol numbers Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Patti Austin, Steve Goodman, Wynonna Judd, and Diana Krall among her favorite vocalists.

Brock & Carol have performed in the Washington, DC, area for more than 20 years. They met while doing the Hexagon Musical Revue, for which Brock was the musical director and Carol, a featured soloist. They then sang together in the award-winning vocal ensemble Brock & the Rockets. The Rockets performed to local acclaim and loyal audiences for a decade and gave a sold-out reunion concert at their favorite venue, the Birchmere. The Rockets' self-produced album, Out to Launch, was a sell-out.

Before helping launch the Rockets, Carol appeared in a number of local community-theatre shows, including her 7-year stint with Hexagon. After leaving the Rockets, Carol helped start up a new musical venture, Love & Madness – a four-person vocal ensemble featured in a Washington Post article about the local cabaret scene – that performed in local clubs and in an annual Pops concert with the McLean Symphony. She also takes great pride in having sung the "National Anthem" for several local sports franchises.

Brock has been performing in both private and public venues since the age of 3, when he figured out that "Frere Jacques" has only six notes in it and this was the hardest song he knew. Before coming to Washington, he performed as a singer and instrumentalist in a wide variety of venues, including as soloist in the European premier of Leonard Bernstein's Mass. While in DC, he has been musical director of Hexagon for its 20th and 30th anniversary productions, musical director of Brock & the Rockets, and leader of his polyrhythmic band Rhythm Warrior. He is currently musical director of the 53rd Hexagon show, “Stars and Gripes Forever.”

Under the name of Doc Benjamin, Dr Benjamin Keyes has played music for the last 37 years in coffeehouses, small stages, and churches throughout the country. In 1973 he opened the Ashville Folk Festival in Ashville North Carolina and was the opening act for Richie Havens in 1999 in St Petersburg Florida. He has produced 2 CD’s, one secular the other Christian and has continued to be seen in acoustic venues over the past few years. Doc is a singer/ songwriter with a 60’s/70’s flair and an entertaining perspective on the topics his written about. Cover songs have been reworked to fit his genial style and his favorite has always been the protest songs.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Esperanza One Day Workshop



Esperanza

Esperanza or Hope in Spanish rests upon a scrap of rock. She feels that it is her only security against the drowning sea. Large waves attack, continuing to reduce her island. Armless, at the end of her ability to help herself, she looks up to God for relief. Esperanza’s useless, stunted arms stretch out into wings. A miracle frees her from her former life on the island that had become a trap. Esperanza is a statement of hope in the power of God’s arm which is not too short to save, even when ours is.

September is Human Trafficking Awareness Month in the District of Columbia, and in recognition, RM will hold its first annual awards banquet on Friday, September 5, 2008. The purpose is to show recognition and honor for some unsung heroes in the U.S. and our community—-specifically direct service providers who are serving women and children who have suffered commercial sexual exploitation, as well as individuals or organizations that are pioneering efforts to end the demand for commercial sex.

Two awards will be given Ending Demand and Direct Service Providers. All nomination forms need to be received by July 15, 2008. The awards are valued at $1,000 each.




Karen Swenholt is a figurative sculptor who lives and works in Northern Virginia. Independently practicing her art for over twenty years, she continues to study at various studio schools including New York City’s New York Studio School, under Bruce Gagnier, Virginia’s Art League, the California College of Arts and Crafts and the Maryland Institute.The combined influences of the bright, loosely painted figurative work of Bay Area artists with the emotional power of abstract expressionism from her East Coast studies and origins have formed the foundation of Swenholt’s work today. The rough painterly surfaces of her sculptures pleasingly contrast with their grace. She is particularly effective in depicting the human face along with gesture to convey emotion and movement.Karen Swenholt is presently the Artist in Residence at Washington Shakespeare Company. She is a member of the National Sculpture Society and the Washington Sculptor Group. She is also a board member at the Anacostia Gracious Arts Program for under-privileged children under the instruction of professional artists and musicians.Her work can be found in many public and private collections including the home of Bono (U2); The House of Scientists, an historic Romanov palace in St. Petersburg, Russia; and churches in LaJolla, California and Portland, Maine. Karen Swenholt’s sculpture is represented by Foxhall Gallery in Washington DC and the Allen Sheppard Gallery in New York City. http://www.karenswenholt.com/