We are looking forward to having lots of fun next week....Leeland on Keys has been added to the mix! This is a show for music lovers and musicians who wanna hear something!-->click here- http://ping.fm/khxcj

So excited about this show...Lemonade Jones w/ Special Guests: David “Fingers” Haynes & Teja Veal------>for more info go to: http://ping.fm/9etn0

http://ping.fm/diU3A>A Musical Tribute: Divas of the Decades (Fundraiser Concert Series)

All proceeds from this shoe will be donated to Different Shoes Inc. (Non-Profit Organization) Different Shoes Inc. has with two focuses: procuring new and used shoes that are given to those in need, and delivering youth-based civic, social and educational enrichment through the arts. Check us out at: http://ping.fm/clNKn Bid now for our cause!-->http://ping.fm/lPGBi

http://ping.fm/m6DT6>Lemonade Jones Live @ the Chocolate Bar 253, Trinity Ave, Atlanta--Thursday and Saturday~

Different Shoes Inc. Donation Appeal: Donate one pair of your pre-owned shoes!--http://ping.fm/WSLOX

http://ping.fm/6h5HT>Watch and listen to our students perform there Different Shoes skit and song! YEY!

Check out one of the biggest parties of the summer! ----> http://ping.fm/H1TiJ

We did it again! Much success to Youth and Urban Music and Different Shoes Inc! Brandi Reed...you already know! To: Dr. Sistah...and Mama...Millie it has already been writtten...thank you all!

http://ping.fm/dGN1N
-->Past and upcoming Lemonade Jones' Shows and more!

http://goo.gl/SSsJX

Check out my co-host interview with Chocolate Teddy Bear and Angela Bofill on LOL Radio-->http://ping.fm/SzAWP

Here's the link for details--http://ping.fm/Ydlrr>Caramel Thursdays: After-Work Jazz Jam Session & Networking @ the Chocolate Bar Downtown Atlanta!

Caramel Thursdays: After-Work Jazz Jam Session & Networking---->Caramel Thursdays: After-Work Jazz Jam Session & Networking...See you every Thursday in August!

LISTEN TO MY ANGELA BOFILL INTERVIEW AS CO-HOST W/ CHOCOLATE TEDDY BEAR ON LAYING IT ON THE LINE RADIO! http://ping.fm/6uhUF

My NPO, DIFFERENT SHOES INC. was out and about with UDIGG CARE INC distributing clothes and shoes to the homeless community in downtown Atlanta....great day...more to come!

For those who have not already...watch listen and support here----> http://ping.fm/Ydg1b

For a taste of Lemonade's music, click here: http://ping.fm/s79xr

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: YOUTH AND URBAN MUSIC INITIATIVE (Y.U.M.I) SUMMER CAMP 2011 SHOWCASE AND SHOE DRIVE click here: http://ping.fm/6eWns

http://ping.fm/kd4JW

Please watch and help me win the Jill Scott/Budweiser Opening Act Contest! http://ping.fm/YWZJy

UDIGG CARES INC. and Different Shoes Inc. Unite to Distribute Clothing and Shoe Wear

This marks the birth of a charitable partnership tour between UDIGG CARES INC. and Different Shoes Inc. The upcoming tour will be a cooperative effort encompassing various philanthropic events designed to address and heighten the awareness of Atlanta’s Homeless plight. In addition, it will provide practical action-oriented solutions and contributions with hopes of changing lives and ultimately affecting positive change within Atlanta’s neighborhoods and communities.
“I believe that in life we all have a personal obligation to help each other. Different Shoe Inc. is one of the vehicles that I use to carry out what I understand to be my life’s mission. Different Shoe Inc. is a non-profit organization (NPO) that focuses on community charitable contributions of new and used shoes coupled with exposing youth to the Arts. I am honored to partner with Big L” , says Tanya Reed, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Different Shoes Inc.
Big L expresses, “I have lots of friends and constituents that genuinely want to give. Some of my personal and business relationships can help embrace impoverished communities in a concerted effort to build bridges of help between those willing and able to give, and those in need. Through UDIGG CARES INC., the bridge that links the willing and able to the needy will be built.”

About Different Shoes Inc.
A nonprofit organization (NPO) with two focuses: procuring new and used shoes that are given to those in need, and delivering youth-based civic, social and educational enrichment through the cultural aesthetic of the arts.

Different Shoes Inc. provides two types of programs:
1) Youth and Urban Music Initiative (YUMI)
2) The Different Shoes Charity

YUMI: provides a vehicle for youth to create, document and share artistic ideas. Students are given the tools to assume responsibility and ownership for their individual and collective creative projects. YUMI focuses on the Atlanta youth through civic activism and the promotion of self-affirming messages in music and the arts.

Different Shoes Charity: provides Atlanta’s youth tangible and intangible support through workshops that facilitate self-esteem building, cultural unity and empathy. The Different Shoes Charity utilizes the “shoe” as a metaphor to represent individualized identity and the “path” as a symbol of shared experiences in life. Different Shoes Charity also procures new and used shoes and distributes them to those in need while providing relief support to victims of natural disasters and unforeseen life challenges.

Different Shoes Inc. obtains major donations from footwear companies, retailers, churches, nonprofit ministries, civic groups and schools, transferring the gained assets to people in desperate need of footwear.

About UDIGG CARES INC.
A philanthropic/charitable initiative established by Big L, CEO of UDIGG Records, to meet the shelter, food and clothing needs of the people in Atlanta’s impoverished communities and around the world.

Atlanta's local homeless Statistics

• The fastest growing group of homeless people is children under 9 years of age.
• Atlanta is the poorest city in the U.S. for children; more children in Atlanta live in poverty than in any other city.
• 48% of all the impoverished Atlanta children live in families with annual income of less than $15,000 a year.
• For children under age 6 living in female-headed families with no spouse present, the poverty rate is 58.8%.
• Children ages 6-17 living in female-headed families with no spouse present have poverty rate of 44.9%.
• Current welfare (TANF) benefits are $282 a month for a woman with two children. Could you find an apartment to rent on $282 a month?
• Fewer than 20% of those women and children living on welfare get any kind of housing subsidy.
• 98 million children in the U.S. have no health insurance. Eight million of those children without health insurance live in working families.
• Did you know that 40% - 60% of homeless people work?
• Minimum wage in Georgia is $5.85 per hour, which yields $12,168 per year, before taxes.
• HUD says you should pay no more than 30% of your income for your housing (30% of minimum wage yields $270/mo. for rent).
• The average two-bedroom apartment in Atlanta rents for $834/mo. (which is 30% of an annual income of $33,360 or hourly rate of $16+ per hour). Thus, you need to earn $16+ per hour to afford that apartment, according to HUD.
• 46% of the jobs with the most growth between 1994 and 2005 pay less than $16,000 a year.
• 40% of homeless men are veterans.
• The wealthiest nation on Earth has a wider gap between rich and poor than any other nation.
- Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless

CONTACT INFORMATION:
Metro Atlanta Task Force for the Homeless | 477 Peachtree Street | Atlanta, GA 30308 | Phone: 404.230.5000 | Fax: 404.589.8251| www.homelesstaskforce.org
SHELTER HOTLINE: | 1.800.448.0636
Tanya Reed | www.lemonadejones.blogspot.com | www.facebook.com/lemonadejones

Poe Man - Live, Cafe 290

Great Networking...

Priceless!

Museumbar: Mother's Day Brunch & Lemonade Jones Live!

Mother's Day Brunch & Lemonade Jones Live! (Sparkling Jazz/Soul Vocalist)
@Museum Bar (Atlanta's newest upscale restaurant, bar, lounge)
181 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd. SW, 30312
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Brunch from 10am-3pm (restaurant)
Complimentary Live Music from 2pm-4pm (lower level in the Archives Lounge)
Free Parking in Museum Bar Lot

Check out Lemonade Jones: www.lemonadejones.blogspot.com
Check out Museum Bar: www.atlantamuseumbar.com

For reservations call: 404-343-2086

Interview with Tanya Reed A.K.A. Lemonade Jones 04/13 by LAYIN IT ON THE LINE | Blog Talk Radio

Interview with Tanya Reed A.K.A. Lemonade Jones 04/13 by LAYIN IT ON THE LINE | Blog Talk Radio

Listen to a little talk radio featuring myself and Chocolate Teddy Bear of LOL Radio!

Lemonade Live w/ special guest Noel in Atlanta GA! (Cafe 290)

Hope to see you...this show will be charged with positive energy so come ready to

recharge!

Lemonade Jones' Stage on Lafango

Lemonade Jones' Stage on Lafango

Building an online presskit with Lafango...

Purple Honey Concert Series 4 Promo

Check out the promo for my show....!

Transition Styles

Check out this footage if you are looking for creative ways to make the transition from processed to natural!

Pickle Juice

Nicki Minaj said, "If I accepted pickle juice, I would still be drinkin' pickle juice!"

It's ok to want more for yourself and to not accept less! Watch the transformation in your life as you set standards based in the humble knowingness of who you are. Know thy self ladies and gentlemen!

Things are coming together for the month of April interms of performances...I will be at Cafe 290 again and in Baltimore Maryland with Purple Honey's Epiphany People....hola if you hear me!

I am the echo...

I am the echo resonating from the screaming, torched little black girl who is simply getting her hair combed...OUCH...YOU ARE HURTING MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

My hair does not fit the mold of typical western culture...my hair is kinky and it coils up and strinks if you do not detangle and seperate and plat it...my hair does not have to be washed daily and nor can it tolerate the stripping away of moisture that the average shampoo does...no my hair cannot be combed through while dry because it hurts...my hair has the potential to grow if I foster a sensitive environment for that. My scalp is the target for washing...I must rediscover what to do with my hair in it's natural state other then locks for length...my hair texture is unique to me my DNA, my Divine Abosolute Nature holds the code to it and only I have access...

So the question is, would I go to a Suave commercial audition? No, because I do not fit that particular mold.

I had a conversation with a friend regarding some auditions that she had been turned down at because she does not fit the look. However prior to attending auditions the requirement was that she would have talent with her specific instrument. What does talent have to do with a certain look? Nothing, they are two seperate things. If you are looking for a look and you are putting out and ad for audition opportunities, please don't waste people's time by not being specific for what you are looking for. If you want someone like Rihanna just say it. Don't drag people out of their homes to insult them by saying they don't look right to you. It's unproffessional and rude. If I am a size six why the hell would I go shopping at Lane Bryant and vice versa?

I am not saying anything that has not been said before, I am the echo of the rejected and displaced person. I am in the likeness of a creator that I have never seen before...my creator is evident in me. And the truth is everybody is different in every since of the words "body" and "different." My mold was broken when my Divine Nature Absolute manifested it's self in the flesh. Thank you GOD! I am leaning on my younger sisters for they are innovating ways and rediscovering self-care for women such as myself. Self care for my kind did not stop and the Madame....innovation, evolution, creation, adaptation, resourefulnes...that's what it is...pay attention and learn something along the way for the sake of our children...so they don't have to screem no more, and I won't have to resonate in the echo, so that I might find peace within me.

Definition of MOLD
1: distinctive nature or character : type
2: the frame on or around which an object is constructed
3a : a cavity in which a substance is shaped: as (1) : a matrix for casting metal (2) : a form in which food is given a decorative shape b : a molded object
4: molding
5a obsolete : an example to be followed b : prototype c : a fixed pattern : design

Poe Man - Live, Cafe 290

Nice footage of my original song!

Killing Me Softly - Live, Cafe 290

Some nice footage!

Thanks for coming out to Cafe 290!

...This gig was packed...my friends came out to support, I got flowers and a Gigi's cupecake and a suprise call...Could not have asked for a better V-Day 2011, thanks again: Carrie, Courtney, Don Seaberry, Teja Veal, Gary Harris, Asante Rhondes, Chantele Brown, Franchesca, Sedric Bogan, and John Scatena...feels like I am at the Grammys but I guess aint nothin wrong with practicing...Esperanza Spaulding won; taking everybody by surprise...no surprise to me, clearly she and everybody in her tribe believes thus a successful outcome! Much Love!

My V-Day Show...Join Me!

Soooo excited wish I had more time to promote....Don Seaberry(keyboard) and Teja Veal (bass) will be playin' with me. Chea! Delighted by this! Hadiya Williams designed my flyer it's soooo cute to me....I am happy!

We will be at Cafe 290, Atlanta GA this Monday...the actual Valentine's Date...I think it's leap year this year...somebody confirm please. The first set is 8:30pm and the second set at 10pm....Music for lovers so that should mean everybody...not just romantic lovers just those that love...

Same Drink...Different Day

No sunshine in the "A." But there is still life as I know it. Preparing to promote my shows for the month...one at the Chocolate Bar (Downtown Atlant) and the other tenative....come on Johnny lets do it! I have attached so much to the outcome that I have really hendered my progress over the years...get the hell out of the way me!!!! LOL! No seriously, my ego...not so much that it is vain but that my ego is so sensitive and worried about stuff that has nothing to do with me...."Move...B#tch...get out the way!" As in Ludacris' song!

Yet for some reason, I am optimistic today. Maybe because I spoke with two of my Atlanta based friends...one that I am sure is my friend...she came to me in a way that I least expected...her big old spirit in a little body...young based on age, old based on her past life...I can tell she has been here...God is giving her a little suprise gift that for some reason I believe she can handle...as her mentor...I just want to support her and be there for her in instances that I think a human being should be. I want to be there for her at times where I wish that somebody could have been there for me...but I know there will come a time when I can't. I know she is prepared. Thank you God. She has loving family that are supportive of her so, I think she is covered and so is her gift.

We must protect our gifts and our gifted ones. We must hold them tight when they don't want to be held. Held tight in prayer, meditations and positive energy...projected. Call on the angels to surround them. It's me it's me, it's me oh God standing in the need of pray. I pray that those who I believe to love me are sending angels of protection my way. I have a gift that has been compromised by esteem and just plain situations and people. But I sit here today proclaiming preservation for my self....sometimes you have to encourage yourself...who new that life was nothing more than a self proclaimed pep-rally...I didn't, but I sure do know now...no matter how you feel...speak the word and you will be healed! Same Drink...Different Day...just a creative way to say what my grandaddy would say."Same soup warmed over....." Yummy!

I fit in my skin...

First I would like to share what I am sippin on with you....for a nice Sunday afternoon I am having a refreshing glass(es) of pear wine (arbor mist) mixed with 50/50 tropicana mango and pinnaple juice and tonic water....chilled...yum...I am waiting for my 2 pieces of fried chicken to finish so that I can have that with my spinach, and baked beans ...I will eat...dress and then off to another music set. I say another because yesterday I went to see the Robert Glasper Experiment now renamed the RCDC Experiment (please google to learn more about the group if you are interested). Anyhow, Casey B. was on the 2 saxes and I believe something called a vocorder. I want to focus on him because number one I was his guest...I would also like to mention that Robert Glasper has some of the softest hands in the world and nice sweet energy....Anyway, I was soooooooo honored to be Casey's guest or at least one of them. Feels good to know that when you play with somebody over ten years ago...they could possibly remember you and let you come and see them perform for free...never played with Chris officially but did jam and play with him in the past...he did not remember me at all and told me he was trying to be nice...wow....so personal politics aside....

Casey B. is so passionate and spiritual with it. He seems shy or humble or both to me. His look is clearly a statement of artistic freedom and sexy all in one. Nice....fusion, pop, new wave, soul experimental, jazz, hip hop, r&b all aside...labels that real artists and gifted people hate, I would have to say that John Coltrane hovers over while Casey is in his spiritual zone...cool winds start to blow, that is how they let you know they have arrived....who are they...they are real to anybody who has literally had an out of body experience, anybody who has trusted to release creative control and let the muse direct you, control you. Casey is a jazz soul with a rockin roll spirit with a down to earth personality...forget everything in between. Casey you rock and thank you again for having me...the RCDC experiment felt just like what it reads; and experiment. Rock on Casey...what ever makes you happy just do it!

Since my last blog about rejection and acceptance...what my mother taught me has been reinforced..."Rejection is God's protection and redirection." Whenever I am unsure...something happens to reasure me, and I always come back to the reality...my reality is what I make it....sooooo I love my old friends but the reality is that I came to ATL to broaden the scope of my life experience..."Who want to come out and play with Lemonade....????!!!"

How does this all fit in....I was able to be happy in my skin as I watched others do what they do...yes I want to be on tour...but I must be patient for all that will come according the the creater other then that...I felt accepted because good people like Casey do remember...right there in my own skin...would not change being me for that moment in time. Thank you Miss Carrie for joining me....
P.S. India Arie and Michelle of Destiny's child was there too...India's very special....smile...

Human...Acceptance

Who does that? Who writes a blog on their perspective of "human?". Me...because that's what I said I would do yesterday at the end of my first blog entry ever on this new blog. Today not quit sure what I want to say about being human but because I said I would I will and here it goes. I think it's human to feel, to sense, and to intellectualize. I think it's human to be hypacritical, contradictory, and judgemental. I think it's human to want to be better than the next, to want to be included, to want to exclude, to want to be acknowledged and validated. I think it's human to see the duality of things thus being able to see and reason relatively. I think it's human to be bored but pretend that everything is sooooo exciting....ok now I am taking it far. I think it's important that every human experience validation, support, and shared interests at sometime or another. I think every human should at some point identify a measure or indicator of success and meet that and feel that...and hold on to that so that when things seem boring or uneventful you can tap your memory to trigger good feelings.

I think our feelings definitely sway our thoughts as humans...feelings trump even when you think you are being proffessional or non emotional...you are...the facts say...but what do you feel, how do you feel. Are you in control of your emotions? I don't think we can control them...we can just become more conscious and aware of them...we can objectivley feel them or view them....we decide to attempt to not express them...do your best in a world that teaches their sons not to express emotion as early as 5 years old. And with it being a patriachal, western society this "non-emotional" boy will inevitably grow into the man that makes the rules void of emotion and lacking sensitivity....a world that is kind of difficult for me to manuver through because...I am ruled by the tides and the moon...the eb and flow of my menstral...the "creative mind," of a singer...aka an artist aka a sister a daughter, a black bitch, and angelic being...a beautiful black woman, sexy, cute and any other adjective or label that I have been referred to as.

I am bored because sometimes people want to play with me and sometimes they just don't. I came to ATL thinking I would be embraced...but i have experienced rejection just like in Chicago...rejection. So then I ask myself should I return to my family or should I continue to explore a world in search of my new home or new found place of acceptance?...or is it that at 31 I still have not accepted who I am, or is it that I still don't even know who I am accepting? Or should I just accept that I am indecisive? Questions...Acceptance...I think it's human to want to be accepted, however rejection comes with the territory. My feelings of rejection are relative to my feelings of acceptance.

The First Time.....

This is supposed to be from my perspective....We share this experience called life but I am the only one that sees through my two eyes.  Thank you God for my sight.  With it I get to observe and envision....Since I was three years old I knew that I could sing and so could my kindergarten teachers....."Rain drops on roses...and whiskers on kitten....bright copper kettles and warm wolen mittens...."  Probably experiencing the music much like John Coltrane did when he first heard it.  No, I am in no way insenuating that I am nearly the genius of John Coltrane...I am saying that just as he found those vibrations to that "song" magnetic, attractive and almost hypnotizing so did I...at the age of three.  I am saying that my appreation for music became conscious to me at age three.  Anything before that, I have only heard stories...stories like I was 6 months old knodding and sitting up on my on to music...I think I remember that...but it's probably just my imagination.  My father used to sing and dance with us until he moved out, I was probably in third grade by that point.  His musical gifts are probably why my mom allowed him to stay up until that point...that's no low blow to my Dad, because his gift from God is so big that he can barely handle it.  I smile when I think of my daddy's singin and dancin' skills.  My mother on the other hand just knows what's good and even more, what's good to her!  She is usually right...she is a trend setter, an artistic visionary...who's talents can't be boxed in or held down...so she floats like and angel...just don't offend her...and the world is happy....I think if my parents knew how my visions of them shaped my perceptions of life they would feel special...but that's only if they knew the magnitude of their artistic gifts.....sooooo now if I am the combination of them both with a little sugar on top, my artistic perspective manifested must be pretty fabulous....to me that is...just to me. 

I hear it, I feel it, I see it I know it, I attempt to master it, I am in control of it and out of control of it, I am addicted to it, happy with it, frustrated by it, not responsible for it, neglectful of it, resting in it's sweet imbrace, saved by it's grace, focused on it, taking advantage of it...I am in a serious relationship with music...looks like our status is complicated.

The way I measure my connection to others through my gifts are through smiles, tears, hugs and mean mugs.   Indicators of impact, validation; good or bad.  A reminder that I am still human and that's all i can be in this consciousness...human....what does human mean to me...my next blog will be my perspective on being human!