You Gotta Have Game
Composition, sound design, and featured performance for a poetry album by Kimmika L. H. Williams-Witherspoon
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You Gotta Have Game is available for streaming and download on all major platforms.
About
This part of the journey with friends and loved ones is proof positive, that even though we may feel fragile sometimes and must fight our many myriad number of challenges, ills and even fatalities, we who continue to move forward, fight, struggle—holding on and never giving up, we don’t just survive—No, instead, with the right frame of mind, we thrive…because of love, joy, pleasure and our own happiness found! Pain is transitory… fleeting. Like the songwriter wrote: “Trouble don’t last always.” Embrace the moments that have made us who we are.
Life is a journey—not just a trip with destinations and an expiration date! Traveling is an action AND a process. These are the pieces that fill my heart and remind me to greet each day glad to be alive. It’s taken a whole lot of years; but I’m learning to love myself and those around me with verve! My hope/poem/whisper/prayer to you too…You gotta have game!
--Kimmika L. H. Williams-Witherspoon
Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon, PhD (Cultural Anthropology), M.A. (Anthropology), MFA (Theater), Graduate Certificate) Women's Studies, B.A. (Journalism); is a Senior Associate Dean of Strategic Initiatives and Innovation in the Center for the Performing and Cinematic Arts at Temple University and a Full Professor specializing in Urban Theater and Community Engagement in the Theater Department in the School of Theater, Film and Media Arts. Immediate-past President of the Faculty Senate at Temple University. Williams-Witherspoon is the author of Through Smiles and Tears: The History of African American Theater (From Kemet to the Americas) (Lambert Academic Publishing, 2011); The Secret Messages in African American Theater: Hidden Meaning Embedded in Public Discourse (Edwin Mellen Publishing, 2006)
A hybrid researcher/ scholar/performer, Williams-Witherspoon has had over 28 plays produced, 20 productions, 13 staged readings, 8 one-woman shows and she has performed poetry in over 120 national and international venues. Williams-Witherspoon is a contributing poet to 49 anthologies and magazines, author of 11 books of poetry, 9 book chapters, 7 journal articles and 2 books on African American Theater. She is the recipient of a host of awards and citations. Her scholarly work centers around pedagogy, women’s issues, the African diaspora, performance rituals and community engagement.
Track Listing and Personnel
1. Why
Adam Vidiksis, drums
2. Crack of Morning
Mike Boone, bass
Bruce Barth, piano
Justin Faulkner, drums
excerpt from Naima, Fly With The Wind (BCM&D RECORDS)
3. I Like
Adam Vidiksis, composition and sound design
4. Love Is
Mike Boone, bass
Bruce Barth, piano
Justin Faulkner, drums
excerpt from Naima, Fly With The Wind (BCM&D RECORDS)
5. Fragile
Adam Vidiksis, composition and sound design
6. Making Yum Yum
Tim Warfield, saxophone
Mike Boone, bass
Bruce Barth, piano
Justin Faulkner, drums
excerpt from Fly with the Wind, Fly With The Wind (BCM&D RECORDS)
7. 20/20
Adam Vidiksis, drums
8. Thank You
Manu Gajanan, keyboard
Nick Kruse, bass
Adam Vidiksis, drums
9. Coming Back Into Myself
Terell Stafford, trumpet
Mike Boone, bass
Bruce Barth, piano
Justin Faulkner, drums
excerpt from Naima, Fly With The Wind (BCM&D RECORDS)
10. Fragile Bag of Blood and Bones
Adam Vidiksis, composition and sound design
11. Kerplunk
Adam Vidiksis, composition and sound design
Details
Released Sep 14, 2023 by BCM+D Records
Credits
Executive Producers: David Pasbrig, Robert Stroker
Recording/Mixing/Mastering Engineer: David Pasbrig
Design: Greg Gonyea
Photo: Joseph V. Labolito
Recorded March/April 2023 at Boyer Recording Studio, Temple University
