Connect with us

The Jawn

Essence Fest 2015

Published

on

ESSENCE FESTIVAL ‘BRINGS THE LOVE’ TO NEW ORLEANS WITH COMMEMORATIVE ‘DAY OF SERVICE’ ON JULY 2

 

In Partnership with NOLA FOR LIFE and Walmart

The 21st annual ESSENCE Festival celebrated the beloved city of New Orleans with a dedicated ‘Day of Service’. On Thursday, July 2nd from 10:00am – 2:00pm, 1000 volunteers teamed up with ESSENCE, NOLA FOR LIFE and Walmart to ‘Bring The Love’ to the community through a focus on achievement for local youth, promoting literacy and healthy living.

Essence Fest 2015 kicked off Thursday in New Orleans at the Mercedes Benz Superdome and ran for four days through Sunday, July 5th. Kevin Hart, Trey Songz and Lecrae were some of the celebrities featured on the “Now Playing” opening concert on Thursday night. Frankie Beverly and Maze returned to Essence Fest, however for the first time in five years, Maze headlined the main stage. Essence Festival once again featured the four club-level Superlounges offering up a more intimate feel than the main stage. Old School acts like Doug E. Fresh, and Slick Rick played in the Superlounges as well as Kool Moe Dee, Mystikal and Common.

The ESSENCE Festival’s ‘Day of Service’ included refurbishing local schools in the 9th Ward and New Orleans East, as well as a community health fair and book drive. The school restoration project consisted of painting projects and grounds beautification, while the Community Health Fair provided screenings, vision & dental services and life coaching. Supporters showcased their commitment by donating a new or gently-used book suitable for young-adults.

“With our inaugural ESSENCE Festival ‘Day of Service’ celebrating the resilience of New Orleans 10 years after the damaging effects of Hurricane Katrina,” said ESSENCE President Michelle Ebanks. “We are inviting all of our loyal Festival attendees, partners and friends to join our mission to ‘Bring the Love’ by giving back to our youth, supporting healthy lifestyles and encouraging a love of reading.”

“ESSENCE is once again proving its strong partnership with New Orleans and NOLA FOR LIFE as residents, visitors, volunteers, and community partners come together to improve the quality of life for our families and our children,” said Judy Reese Morse, Deputy Mayor of Citywide Initiatives for the City of New Orleans. “One of our major goals in NOLA FOR LIFE is ensuring that people are involved in their communities and see investments in all neighborhoods. This ESSENCE Festival ‘Day of Service’ will have a great impact in New Orleans East.”.

The final night of the Essence Music Festival took place at New Orleans’ Mercedes Benz Superdome Sunday, July 6. New newcomers like Lianne de Havas and SZA graced the stage. Regular headliner, Mary J. Blige played the main stage before Kendrick Lamar, the first rapper to close out the festival on their first appearance at Essence Fest.

Due to the rain late Sunday afternoon, Floetry opened the main stage at 7 p.m. to a venue with less than 50% of the audience in attendance. With both artist at opposite ends of the stage, Marsha Ambrosius they went into “Butterflies”, a tribute to Michael Jackson around 7:15pm.

Lianne La Havas touched the Ford stage with her new single, “Unstoppable” with the audience cheering in approval. The U.K. singer-songwriter stood and sang as the band rocked out behind her. After La Havas started her set, Ma$e powered up his set over at the Coca-Cola Art of Hip-Hop Superlounge. He reminded attendees of his many hits with “Tell Me What You Want,” “Lookin’ At Me,” and “Can’t Hold Me Down.” The Harlem rapper touched briefly on each song, reminding everyone of his roots in the music scene.

Tweet shortly followed suite after Ma$e on her stage at the Verizon Now Playing Superlounge, featuring songs from her LP Southern Hummingbird.

Mary J. Blige was nothing short of spectacular during her time on the main stage. NYC streets appeared on the screens behind her as “Real Love” came and went to “Love Is All We Need”. You could notice the singer enjoying herself as she bounced throughout the duration of the songs. Method Man made a guest appearance, putting his arm around her neck and bopping to the beat.

Kendrick Lamar was the last act for Essence Fest 2015. Lamar kicked off the stage with “Money Trees” and censored himself a bit before getting settled in to “Bitch Don’t Kill My Vibe”, “Swimming Pools” and “M.A.A.D City.” Lamar also showed love to his fan during his set “My first show I did was out here in New Orleans. I had about 200 dedicated fans, and I see some of them here tonight. I’ll never forget that.”

ESSENCE and its ‘Day of Service’ partnered with NOLA FOR LIFE and Walmart thanking the first 1000 volunteers for their love and support gifting them with an exclusive ESSENCE #BringTheLove T-shirt. To sign up to volunteer and get transportation information, visit www.essence.com/dayofservice.

Join the Festival community: follow us on Twitter @essencefest #EssenceFest and become a fan of ESSENCE Festival on Facebook.
Sponsors of the 2015 ESSENCE Festival include presenting sponsor Coca-Cola and major sponsors Ford, McDonald’s, My Black Is Beautiful, Samsung Galaxy, State Farm, Verizon, and Walmart. Superlounge sponsors include Coca-Cola, Ford, Verizon and Walmart. The All-Star Gospel Tribute was sponsored by Walmart.

Photo Credit: K/D/Morris

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

The Jawn

The Digital Black Business Expo

Published

on

“PMO is a digital department store designed as a one stop shop for our customers using a single front page to advertise varying businesses in the Philadelphia marketplace.”

Philadelphia!!! We are excited to have our first event to support the black community, its youth, elders, business owners, community leaders, and more. Come out and share your business & skills with the community on this lovely occasion. Join us Sunday, November 19th at Homeschool 5429 Chestnut St for the Digital Black Business Expo with special guests Shelly Shell Williams aka Philly’s Oprah of Urban X-Pressions and Patrice Hawthorne of Peaches and Herb!

Tickets Includes: Refreshments, performances, giveaways, speakers and more…
Business owners who purchase a ticket qualify for 3 months of free advertising on our home page.
Doors open: 10:30 AM
Entry Fee: $40-$50 https://tinyurl.com/2cjjhp22
Note: Children 13 and under are free and must be fully supervised by an adult.
Vendor applications are now available. Tables are $75. First come, first serve.

Sponsored by MAIN COURSE PHL

Continue Reading

Gaming

A Weekend of Gaming

Published

on

Philadelphia, the Tri-State and beyond! Checkout what our locals are hosting, and where to go for video games, trading card games and more. Madden, NBA 2K, One Piece and Yugioh? We have you covered. Email events@maincoursephl.com to have your event featured on our site.

SuperGameDay: TakeoverGame Day

Date & Time: Saturday, 11 AM – 6 PM
Location: Cherry St Pier, 121 N Columbus Blvd, Philadelphia, PA
Entry: Free
Click here for more information click here


PG April Playstation 5 Tournament

Yugioh locals @ Prodigy Games

Date & Time: Saturday, April 22. Doors open at 10 am, tournaments starts at 12pm.
Location: 100 N. White Horse Pike, Lindenwold, NJ, United States, New Jersey
Entry: $25 to enter. All entrants will receive your 5 OTS packs WHEN YOU TURN IN YOUR DECKLIST SHEET. All attendees will turn in their decklist the day of the event.
For more information click here


Waffles and Enthusiasm’s Yu-Gi-Oh! 3 vs 3 Tournament 

Yugioh locals @ Waffles and Enthusiam

Date & Time: Sunday, April 23rd at 5pm
Location: 500 W Germantown Pike Ste 2270, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462 
Entry: $75 per team ($25 per player), each player will receive six booster packs for participation.
For more information click here


OKND’s L.I.P. Center NBA 2K23 Tournament 

Date & Time: April 22nd, 2023 at 12pm
Location: North 59th Street
Entry: click here


Who Run Phill 2K – What’s the Bet Meetup Pt.3

Date & Time: April 22, 2023 at 12:00 pm
Location: 4101 B Island Ave, Philadelphia, Pa 19153
Entry: $5-$20
For more information click here


One Piece Card Game 1K Tournament – at AU Wilmington

Date & time: Saturday, May 6th. Registration opens at 11 am, tournament starts at Noon
Location: Alternate Universes 3617 Silverside Road Wilmington, Wilmington, Delaware 19810 in Talleyville Shopping Center
Entry: $30
For more information click here


Thy Geekdom Con 2023

Date & time: MAY 26 AT 4 PM – MAY 28 AT 7 PM
Location: The Greater Philadelphia Expo Center, 100 Station Ave, Oaks, PA 19456
Entry: $20-$40
For more information click here

Continue Reading

The Jawn

Serve a MAIN COURSE this Holiday Season

Published

on

Since the coming of COVID-19 and the onset of quarantine many families, friends and peers have struggled to ensure they have food. This can turn into health issues manifesting at work, school and around loved ones.

To push back, Main Course PHL is partnering with Broad St. Ministries and Philabundance to tackle this problem. All of the food collected will be donated to the organizations to help fight against this crisis. Put your #PhillySupportPhilly on display with your donation to those enduring the pandemic.

You can donate directly to our site 4542 Greene St, Philadelphia, PA 19144 from 10am to 6pm.

Please use the link to donate directly to Philabundance. Below is the list of goods and donations we are accepting:

Please use the link to donate directly to Broad St Ministries or to purchase from their amazon wishlist.

We cannot accept:

  • Open products
  • Prepared foods (cheese trays, vegetable trays, already cooked meals, etc.) Cans of food (exceptions: tomato products, beans, pumpkin puree, coconut milk) inaddition, the cans must either be large (#10 cans) or full cases. NO INDIVIDUAL CANS
  • Food that has been time/temperature abused

We can accept:

  • Oils, vinegar, rice, dry pastas, grains, flours, sugar, salt, dried spices
  • Raw whole produce (minimum 50 pounds) that will be good for at least 1 week
  • Raw protein (minimum 100 pounds) that will be good for at least 1 week
  • Cheese, must be vacuum sealed (minimum 20 pounds)

Continue Reading

Trending

Verified by MonsterInsights