Press Release

PRESS RELEASE: SHORT

Contact:            Dale Wilson                                                            FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cell Phone:            313-282-7278

Email:                        epidemic44@gmail.com

DETROIT COMMUNITY REMEMBERS SINGER-SONGWRITER/POET DAVID BLAIR (BLAIR)

MEMORIAL SERVICE / LIFE CELEBRATION

Blair, born David Alan Blair, passed away on July 23, 2011. He was an award-winning, multi-faceted artist: singer-songwriter, poet, writer, performer, musician, community activist and teacher. Born Sept. 19, 1967, he grew up in Newton, N.J., but called Detroit his adopted home.  Blair performed all over the world and has friends on almost every continent. Blair’s work and life leave an indelible impression on the Detroit community as well as all of the communities he touched.

EVENT: Memorial Service/Life Celebration

PLACE: Unitarian Universalist Church

McCallister Hall

4605 Cass Avenue

Detroit, MI 48201

DATE: Sunday, July, 31

TIME: 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm  in the Sanctuary

followed by a potluck at 3:30 pm

A private family service will be held Saturday, July 30.

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More information on David Blair’s memorial can be found at www.dblair.org

PRESS RELEASE: LONG

Contact:            Dale Wilson                                                            FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cell Phone:            313-282-7278

Email:                        epidemic44@gmail.com

DETROIT COMMUNITY REMEMBERS SINGER-SONGWRITER/POET DAVID BLAIR (BLAIR)

MEMORIAL SERVICE / LIFE CELEBRATION

Blair, born David Alan Blair, passed away on July 23, 2011. He was an award-winning, multi-faceted artist: singer-songwriter, poet, writer, performer, musician, community activist and teacher. Born Sept. 19, 1967, he grew up in Newton, N.J., but called Detroit his adopted home.  In the words of Metro Times journalist Melissa Giannini, “Blair focused his work on the hope that rises from the ashes of despair.”

A 2010 Callaloo Fellow and a National Poetry Slam Champion, Blair’s first book of poetry, Moonwalking, was recently released by Penmanship Books. Blair, as a solo artist, and with The Urban Folk Collective, self-released more than seven records in the last ten years. His most recent album, The Line, with his band The Boyfriends, was released in 2010 on Repeatable Silence Records.

He has been nominated for seven Detroit Music Awards, including a 2007 nod for Outstanding Acoustic Artist. He was named Real Detroit Weekly Readers Poll’s Best Solo Artist and The Metro Times Best Urban Folk Poet.  In 2007, he also won the Seattle-based BENT Writing Institute Mentor Award. As well as being the recipient of numerous awards, he taught classes and lectured on poetry and music in Detroit Public Schools, The Ruth Ellis Center, Hannan House Senior Center, the YMCA of Detroit, and at various universities, colleges and high schools across the country.

Blair performed all over the world and has friends on almost every continent. Blair’s work and life leave an indelible impression on the Detroit community as well as all of the communities he touched.

###

EVENT: Memorial Service/Life Celebration

PLACE: Unitarian Universalist Church

Sanctuary

4605 Cass Avenue

Detroit Michigan 48201

DATE: Sunday, July, 31

TIME: 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm  in McCallister Hall

followed by a pot-luck at 3:30 pm

A private family service will be held on Saturday, July 30^th.

###