*4th Annual Special Tribute to North & South Carolina Area leaders, celebrities, & Jazz Saxophone Messiah John Coltrane Need a break from debates, commercials, and stress so that you can have some fun-filled, family-friendly, and live local ‘edu-tainment’ (education meets entertainment)? At the 4th Annual John Coltrane Music ‘Edu-tainment’ Festival (JCMEF), we spread love and light! This Saturday, October 6, 2012 from noon until 7pm, in Hamlet, NC (Richmond County, NC), we will spotlight inspiring facts about celebrities and leaders from the Piedmont, Sandhills, PeeDee and other rural areas in both Carolinas. We hope to live up to our theme: "Polishing the Diamonds In Our Own Backyard". We will feature performing acts while discussing natives who became class acts in: -education and entertainment to politics and law -music, movies, and media to restaurants and racing -business and banking to astronauts and engineers -Food and film to fine arts and future leaders While meeting, witnessing, hearing, seeing, and gleefully sharing artistic local talents peppered with exciting but little-known facts about this amazing region, you will leave energized, enlightened, entertained, and enhanced with a positive experience and renewed appreciation for the region too often referenced for underdevelopment, unemployment, drop-out rates, and adult illiteracy rates. We plan a fun and positive experience with a progressive purpose that spotlights talents, businesses, community organizations, and ideas that improve the quality of life in our region. The late legendary John W. Coltrane was born in Hamlet, NC on September 23, 1926 and passed July 17, 1967 before reaching age 41. He shared his trail-blazing saxophone talents throughout the world alongside other greats like Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Thelonius Monk, and many others. In his spirit of creativity, we are always seeking talented musicians, singers, dancers, authors, poets, story tellers, painters, artists, and other unique talents. And, we warmly welcome sponsors, vendors, volunteers, natives, visitors, and exhibitors to the Annual John W. Coltrane Music ‘Edu-tainment’ Festival (JCMEF) on Saturday, October 6, 2012, 12pm-7pm at the Waymon Chapel Faith Center, 451 Ghio Osborne Rd., in Hamlet, NC (off Airport Rd). We hope to focus on premium regional talent and feature diverse types of music—from Classical to Country;...Blues, Bluegrass, and Beach...to Sultry Soul and Sassy Salsa;…we’re talking Ragtime and Reggae to “family-friendly” Rock & Hip-Hop. We want the whole jazzy gamut: old-school Gospel to new-jack R&B and Go-Go. All ages & cultures are invited. We are targeting over 20 counties that are around an hour’s radius of anchoring Richmond County, NC, in our culturally rich NC & SC Sandhills region. Come prepared to share gifts, learn local facts, and have loads of family fun! October is the designated month of awareness for many national and family concerns, so the founder/Army veteran Gerard Anthony Morrison of Hamlet, NC sends a special loving salute and 20% discount on tickets to individuals and families of Cancer, Domestic Violence, and Depression education. Since the inception of JCMEF, the same 20% discount applies to all the following: -Educators/Students -Healthcare/Mental Health -Re-entries/reformed citizens -Non-profit/government employees -Military/veterans For requests to perform, vend, exhibit, receive group discounts (10 people ),...please provide contact names, availability, equipment needs (media players, electricity, etc.), county/state where you are located, and talents/bios/mission/products/services provided via: 1) Call/text (347) 28-MUSIC or (347) 286-8742 by mobile phone, or 2) E-mail 4JCMEF@gmail.com . *Special gratitude and homage to the visionaries and pioneers who researched, purchased, and preserved the birthplace of our local legend in the early 1980s: Mr. Turner James "TJ" Higgins-Tuskegee Institute & NC A&T Alumnus Dr. Alan Mask, Sr.- St. Augustine’s College Alumnus Dr. Fred D. McQueen, Jr.-Howard University Alumnus Dr. Wendell Wells III- NC Agricultural & Technical (A&T) University Alumnus #-Founder/Army veteran Gerard Anthony Morrison of Hamlet, NC sends a special loving salute to Military/Veterans, Cancer/Domestic Violence/Alzheimer’s Challenges, Educators/Students, Healthcare/Mental Health, Non-profit/government employees, Re-entries, and their families!