Elevated Release Party and Concert
On Sunday, August 29, Richardson will celebrate the release of Elevated with a CD release concert and party from 5 to 8 p.m. at Gibb’s Lounge, at 1932 South Taylor Road in Cleveland Heights. The concert will also serve as a fundraiser.
“There are two things I’m about,” says Richardson. “I’m definitely about education. I really stress it to all young people, because no matter how intelligent you are, if you don’t have credentials, it makes it harder for you,” she says. “I always tell my family, friends, students and people I encounter that they should go back to school and go as far as they can. I believe in a second chance, a third chance, a fourth chance, in never counting people out.”
The second thing Dr. E is all about is hope: “I always try to give people hope that no matter what happens ... bad things happen to good people. Just don’t give up on yourself, because every day that you have another chance to live, you’ve got another chance to improve your life.”
Richardson is out there helping people improve their lives. Proceeds from her first concert on her independent tour went to the Cynthia B. Dillard preschool in Ghana. “I went there last February to visit the schools, and it really touched my heart,” she says. “The people there don’t have a well, don’t have water. They have to walk miles to get water that would probably make us sick.
“It moves your spirit when you go to someplace where they are so hungry for knowledge and education,” she says.
The proceeds from the release party at Gibb's will go to her alma mater, East Tech High’s Scholarship Fund. “I want to be associated with promoting the motivated kids, good kids who are going to school and want to go to college,” she says. “We’ll do whatever we have to do to make sure they have the money they need to get their degrees.”
Richardson, as Dr. E, will perform songs from Elevated, with the assistance of friends Russell Thompson, known for his involvement in the Gerald Levert band, and Dr. Mary Weems, professor at John Caroll University, who wrote "Breaking", which appears on the album.
“I’m really excited about how people have been responding to the album so far,” says Richardson. You really can’t keep a good girl down.
Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door. For more information about the release party and to purchase the album, visit www.giveusfreerecords.com. Give us Free Records is Richardson’s independent record label, through which she raises money for educational causes throughout the world.
LISTEN: Dr. E - "Good Girl Down" (from Elevated)
/media/Music/August/DrE.mp3
