Kanye West’s Producer Malik Yusef, Shawn Amos & Harold Payne Donate Time to Perform at Free Festival Celebrating WWII Vets 5/28

Go For Broke National Education Center (GFBNEC) will launch its new Defining Courage exhibition on Saturday, May 28, 2016, with a Free Homecoming Festival in the Little Tokyo district of Los Angeles. Musical performances for the day include:  The Reverend Shawn Amos–who will perform a 1 hour set, Grammy Award Winner Malik Yusef, multi-platinum award winning singer and song writer Harold Payne, jazz saxophonist Michael Paulo and others.   To learn more, please visit www.GoForBroke.org.

Complete Performance Schedule:
12:30 – 1:00 PM nTyme 
The North Torrance Youth Musicians Ensemble (nTyme) is an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization dedicated to providing music education to the youth of our community from preschool through high school, regardless of ability. Whether string, woodwind, brass or percussion, ensembles, orchestras or specialty groups, nTyme offers programs to fit every child’s music education needs.

1:00 – 1:30 PM Kalyn Aolani
Influenced by Hawaiian music greats past and present, Kalyn Aolani gives her own interpretation of this music singing in the traditional Hawaiian “ha’i” style. Singing by herself or accompanied by her band with many years of Hawaiian music experience, Kalyn’s songs range from traditional Hawaiian romantic ballads to the more upbeat “chalangalang” style double-strum music.

1:30 – 2:00 PM Harold Payne
Harold Payne is a multi-platinum and Posi award winning songwriter whose soulful uplifting songs and husky heartfelt vocals have graced stages around the world. He has written songs for such diverse artists as Rod Stewart, Patti Labelle, the Temptations, and long time collaborator, Bobby Womack—literally from Peter, Paul and Mary to Snoop Dogg. His most recent charted music was “Daylight” by Kelly Rowland and the summer 2012 release “Bravest Man in the Universe” by Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Bobby Womack, co-written by Payne, Womack, Damon Albarn (Gorillaz & Blur frontman) and Richard Russell (XL Recordings head). In 2011, he flew to London to partner with Damon Albarn and Richard Russell to, collaborate on new songs for Bobby Womack. The album won the prestigious “Q” award in the UK for “Best Album of the Year.”  

2:15 – 3:15 PM The Reverend Shawn Amos
“Being a blues singer means having a journey of pain and loss,” says Shawn Amos. “But the music itself is all about joy, about finding your way out of the darkness.”
 
Shawn Amos had a Los Angeles childhood that was equal parts grit and glamor. He went to private schools and lived in a nice house, but it wasn’t exactly in Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood. His father, Wally Amos, was a former Hollywood talent agent who had become a celebrity by creating Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies. His mother, Shirlee Ellis, was a former nightclub singer who performed as Shirl-ee May. Old school, new tools — that’s the guiding principle Shawn Amos applies as he plays around the country. Each of his shows has a mission. As he puts it, “keepin’ the blues alive, one gig at a time.”  His newest album The Reverend Shawn Amos Loves You, was released to critical acclaim.

3:30 – 4:00 PM Michael Paulo 
One of the most versatile and cosmopolitan saxophonists in pop, soul and contemporary jazz for nearly 35 years, Michael Paulo has added his distinct saxpertise to a virtual who’s who of artists, including Al Jarreau, James Ingram, No. 1 Smooth Jazz Trumpeter and guitarist Rick Braun and Peter White, Oleta Adams, Kenny Loggins, Patti Austin, Jeffrey Osborne, Jeff Lorber, David Benoit, Carl Anderson, Bobby Caldwell, Johnny Mathis and more.

4:00 – 4:30 PM Malik Yusef – Spoken Word
Five time Grammy award winner and Kanye West mentor Malik Yusef is a spoken word artist, poet, musician and producer.  As a spoken word artist, poetry allowed Yusef the aesthetic freedom to comment on a wide breadth of personal and social issues while his lyrics remained commensurate with a global vision: to encourage the benevolence in all people. His voice incorporates street vernacular against backdrops of hip-hop beats, organic keyboards, guitars and horns.

Defining Courage Exhibition:
Pearl Harbor changed the lives of all Americans, but one group of citizens was affected beyond compare. Japanese Americans were literally stripped of their rights as citizens, and sent to incarceration camps. Defining Courage provides an opportunity for visitors to experience the results of fear mongering and discrimination and reminds us that as Americans, we are all citizens.  Through the stories of the Japanese American soldiers of World War II, visitors learn how to act with similar courage in their own lives. 
 
GFBNEC will debut its new interpretive exhibition and facilities to the public on Saturday, May 28, 2016. GFBNEC is located at 355 E. 1st St., Suite 200 in Los Angeles, CA 90012.  For additional information, visit http://www.goforbroke.org.

About Go For Broke National Education Center (GFBNEC)
Since its formation in 1989, Go For Broke National Education Center has been committed to educating the public about the responsibilities, challenges, and rights of American citizenship by using the life stories of the Japanese American soldiers of World War II. In order to share these stories, they began video recording the oral histories of Japanese American veterans, and today they have the largest collection of its kind in the country. The interviews have been incorporated into a complete curriculum with lesson plans and web-based project learning to share their story with youth across the country.
 
In 1999, GFBNEC dedicated the Go For Broke Monument in the Little Tokyo District of Los Angeles. On the monument are the insignias of the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Military Intelligence Service (MIS), 522nd Field Artillery Battalion, 232nd Combat Engineer Company, and the 1399 Engineer Construction Battalion. For more information, visit www.goforbroke.org/.