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TOSHI REAGON TO SING AND DISCUSS SONGWRITING AT NORTHWESTERN Singer-songwriter to tell the secrets of mixing music with social activism EVANSTON, Ill. --- Singer, songwriter and gay/lesbian/transgender activist Toshi Reagon has performed with Pete Seeger, Dar Williams and Ani Difranco....

OBIC http://www.chicagonow.com/profiles/OBIC TOSHI REAGON
TO SING AND DISCUSS SONGWRITING AT NORTHWESTERN

Singer-songwriter to tell the secrets of mixing music with social activism

EVANSTON, Ill. --- Singer, songwriter and gay/lesbian/transgender activist Toshi Reagon has performed with Pete Seeger, Dar Williams and Ani Difranco. On Thursday, Nov. 12, she will perform original music and share her thoughts on songwriting and social activism at Northwestern University.

The free, public event -- titled "So You Want to Write a Song"-- will celebrate the unique place songwriting holds within the genre of writing. Sponsored by Northwestern's Center for the Writing Arts, it will begin at 6 p.m. at the McCormick Tribune Center Forum, 1870 Campus Drive, Evanston. A question-and-answer session will follow.

Reagon whose mother founded the Grammy Award winning, all-woman a cappella band "Sweet Honey in the Rock" -- began singing as a teen at the Womyn's Music Festival in Michigan. She since has been called a throwback to rhythm and blues artists such as Stevie Wonder and Prince and to old school rock groups such as Led Zeppelin.

In 2008, Reagon performed with her mother, Bernice Johnson Reagon, at the 2008 Creating Change Conference of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Meeting. Elvis Costello has invited her and her band, BIGLovely, to back him up on a "Late Show with David Letterman." She left college for a professional music career when rocker Lenny Kravitz asked her to be his opening act on a world tour.

For more on Reagon, visit her web site http://www.toshireagon.com/about.shtml. For more on "So You Want to Write a Song," visit Northwestern's Center for the Writing Arts at http://www.northwestern.edu/writing-arts/events/index.html or call (847) 467-4099. ]]>