common ground

Music:

Member Since: 2/27/2006
Band Website: commongroundpoetry.com
Band Members: Natalie Patterson tap dances with words to inspire feelings that have long gone unfelt. In 3 years she has virtually gone from poetry fan to winning poetry slams and now is attempting a leadership role as co-slam master of the nationally recognized Los Angeles..NoHo Slam team.A native to Los Angeles, after high school with the pressure of college she attended California State University, Los Angeles. Within her first year she had enough units to qualify as a junior. She decided college and education would have to be done at a slower speed with the death of five relatives within a short span she needed time to heal. She turned to poetry as an avenue in which to express years of festering pain.Within her first year as a poet, Natalie not only placed in every slam she entered but also went on to make the Los Angeles slam team with the likes of Bridget Gray, a well recognized poet. She has performed all over Los Angeles including Da Poetry Lounge, The Cotton Club, Green, the Conga Room, Fais dodo’s as well as for private parties. Natalie can also be seen in a feature-length documentary entitled “Spit”, slated for release in 2006. She is also featured in the “Graffiti Verite” series.She has continued to spread her subtle yet bold message across the nation by being accepted into the NACA convention which gives her the ability to share her work at colleges across the nation. She has extended her goal into her community by co-slam mastering the Los Angeles slam team and continues in the community building by running and hosting a venue, The Siren Collective. She is currently working on her first solo poetry project and a two woman show with Mollie Angelheart together they form Common Ground. ............................................................ ...................Mollie Angelheart revels in the dualities and dichotomies of life: A poet with a learning disability, keeping her from reading and writing. An upstate New York girl who worked for years in the urban music industry. A woman whose work is introspective and personal, yet often about broad public and social issues.After graduating from Cal Arts with a degree in photography and a minor in film and video, Mollie worked for Sony’s urban music department before opening her own business. At the age of 22, her multi-million dollar recording studio catered to all the major labels. As a young business woman navigating an unforgiving industry, Mollie began pouring her thoughts and feelings into poetry, informed both by her work in urban music and the strong spiritual base her parents had laid for her in upstate New York. Encouraged to perform and compete, Mollie became a regular at LA area slams, eventually selling her business to focus full time on her poetry.Mollie’s work is conscious, without being pretentious, spiritual without being inaccessible, personal, yet universal. Her goal is to make a difference in the life of anyone who listens to her work or crosses her path.Mollie has appeared on television on a variety of shows including ESPN’s “Do Anything”, Bravo’s “No Talent Necessary”, an MTV pilot “Nights with Naudica” and most recently HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam”. She has performed live at universities across the country including Yale, UCLA, USC and Berkley as well as elementary and high schools. Had you known, you could also have seen Mollie at Sugar Shack in Harlem, Fifth Street Dick’s and Da Poetry Lounge in LA, where she still makes regular appearances. Mollie is one of four poets starring in a feature-length documentary entitled “Spit”, slated for release in 2006. She is also featured in the “Graffiti Verite” series.Mollie is Co-LA Slam Master, and one half of the group Common Ground along with Natalie Patterson.
Type of Label: None