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ODETTA MEMORIAL TONIGHT IN NYC

ODETTA with Seth Farber

WHO:       David Amram, Maya Angelou, Harry Belafonte, Oscar Brand, Tom Chapin, Guy Davis, Ruby Dee, Steve Earle, Wavy Gravy, Geoffrey Holder, Holmes Bros. w/  Seth Farber, Maria Muldaur & Marie Knight, Emory Joseph, Bernice Reagon, Sonia Sanchez, Pete Seeger, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Josh White, Jr., and Peter Yarrow & the Brooklyn Tech Chorus.   More special guests to follow, in addition to video tributes

TAKE #1 TRAIN TO 116 STREET or 125 Street OR take WEST SIDE HIGHWAY, GET OFF AT 125TH STREET -- STARTS AT 7:00 PM, EXPECTED TO GO PAST 10 PM

WHAT:       Celebration of the life and career of ODETTA, "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement"
                (December 31, 1930 – December 2, 2008)    

WHERE:  RIVERSIDE CHURCH, 490 Riverside Drive (at 121st Street), New York, New York 10027

WHEN:      Tuesday, February 24th at 7:00 pm.  (Doors open at 6:00 pm)  
Odetta was a transformational musical artist of the 20th Century, and "The Voice of the Civil Rights Movement." In a career that spanned more than sixty years, she was the first major influence on the careers of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Janis Joplin.  Free to the public, the Memorial Celebration will include video highlights of Odetta's life, in addition to song performances and words of remembrance presented by celebrated artists who knew and worked with Odetta.   "If only one could be sure that every 50 years a voice and a soul like Odetta's would come along, the centuries would pass so quickly and painlessly we would hardly recognize time."    (Maya Angelou)        
Media should check in at the Riverside Drive main entrance of the church by 6:00 pm.  
For more information, contact:  Douglas Yeager at (212) 245-0240, or Michelle Esrick at (917) 696-0104, or Sonya White (212) 491-9118.