Interview with Freedom4U Founder Greg Allen

Freedom4U Community Youth Concert in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA.

As the founder of non-profit organization Freedom4U on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, Dr. Greg Allen is a prominent community fund raiser, and advocate for local youth in the South Bay area of Los Angeles.

The Daily Fitchett: Dr. Allen, what is Freedom 4U?

Greg Allen: Freedom4U, in a nutshell, is an organization that offers youth positive activities and creative outlets as an alternative to drugs and other destructive activities.

Concert for Youth Sponsored by Freedom4U

The Daily Fitchett: What motivated you to do this kind of work?

Greg Allen: After spending many years as a drug and family therapist, I saw firsthand how the lack of fun and safe social outlets for young people could lead them onto destructive paths. I also saw a need for a better local support system that could connect our young people, help them to pursue their passions, and provide the tools to work through the many challenges of adolescence.

DF: How did the organization get its start?

GA: We began Freedom4U to meet a clear a need for young people in the South Bay and particularly here on the hill. While families may have resources in this area, our middle school and high school students struggle to find fun ways to socialize and connect with each other in healthy and safe environments.

Freedom4U Concert for Youth

Our schools are excellent. We are a community of doting and dedicated parents. Most of our children are enrolled in some combination of after school lessons, organized sports teams, and volunteer programs.

But when Friday night rolls around, most of our young people want to hang out with each other. And there is often not much productive for them to do. That was the beginning of our vision for "Freedom4U".

So to we started the organization in 2002. Since that time, we have served more than 2000 young people per year, creating a wide range of programs to fulfill Freedom4U’s guiding mission; ‘to coach young people to fulfill their potential’.

DF: What events do you offer?

GA: We have created a Friday night concert series that has become one of the most popular nights out for our high school students and given aspiring young musicians the opportunity to perform in front of their peers in a safe, local and drug-free environment. We have also put counselors in all of the local high schools to provide support for students in working through major life challenges, from family and social issues to substance abuse.

DF: We also noticed that you have regular youth jazz jam sessions.


GA: Right! We built a monthly Jazz jam session at Trump Golf Course for young people interested in jazz and other improvised music. For this program, we brought in the some of the best young professional and college musicians in Los Angeles to help instruct our young people and perform on stage alongside them.

Other effective programs consist of: creative arts, life skills workshops for middle school boys and girls, parenting education and support, the 5th annual film contest is coming up along with a photography contest, leadership and service opportunities.

DF: It sounds like the program has really grown.


GA: It has. In July, we hosted our second annual “Jazz Through the Generations” Festival here on the Hill. This event featured internationally-known jazz artists performing alongside the participants in our youth programs, highlighting the importance of mentorship in the arts. We had over 1000 people attend this annual event at beautiful Terranea Resort.

Watch Behind-the-Scenes Video of Jazz Through the Generations.

DF: I remember the event was huge. Paul Smith, David Benoit, and Barbara Morrisson shared the stage with the younger up and coming musicians. "Jazz Through The Generations" was very well attended and was a great concert as well. Speaking of which, when is the next one?

GA: July 17th, 2011! We'll keep you posted. The next event that we have coming up soon is our 4th annual fundraiser 'Evening with the Stars'.

We are just beginning to realize the full potential of Freedom4U to make a difference in the lives of our young people. Our Priorities are: Community: Investing in young people; Character: Supporting young people in their strengths and confidence; Creativity: Being a laboratory for new ideas to be created, developed and expressed.

Freedom4U can only fulfill this mission with the generous help of the community. Together we can make a real difference in this community, providing our young people with the community support that they need, a place to pursue their passions, and important tools and skills that they will carry with them forever.

The 3rd Annual Evening with the Stars Lineup:
Olympic Gold Medalist Ron Brown, Redskin Jeff Severson,
Dr. Jeff Miller, Olympic Gold Medalist Henry Tillman,
LA District Attorney Carmen Trutanich,
Bear?Bruin Tim Wrightman, Van Barbieri,
Producer/Composer Tom Harriman, 49'er Cedrik Hardman,
Redskin/Bruin Billy Kilmer, CEO Bill Harris, GA

DF: What are the details of 'Evening With The Stars', and who is invited?


GA: Here's the details, and as far as who is invited...everyone! Please come and support the youth on the hill. Here's the invite:

Come to the 4th Annual Evening with the Stars
Mix & mingle with sports and entertainment stars
While listening to live jazz music
Fabulous silent & live auction items
Exceptional Trump National dinner and wine included

with stars:
NFL Hall of Famer Deacon Jones
Super Bowl Quarterbacks Billy Kilmer & Vince Ferragamo
US Olympic Gold Medalist & NFL All-Pro Ron Brown
US Olympic Gold Medalist Henry Tillman
and other Stars

Join us in honoring TV anchor Ed Arnold with the
George H. Allen Lifetime Achievement Award

Jessie and Greg Allen at event.

Where & When:
Trump National Golf Club Grand Ballrom
One Ocean Trails Drive
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA. 90275

Thursday, April 21, 2011
5:30 PM – 7:15 PM Silent Auction
7:15 PM - 9:00 PM Dinner, Music, Program & Live Auction

Business Casual Attire

Tickets: $100 if received by April 9th, $125 until April 18th

You may reserve your place online at:
www.freedomcommunity.com, call 310-897-5043
email: awakening02@hotmail.com or mail check to:
Freedom4U, 336 Tejon Place, PVE, CA. 90274

The Founders' Circle at the L.A. Music Center

The Founders' Circle at the L.A. Music Center photographed by Lisa Kato Fitchett.

"The restrooms in the Founders' Circle are practically reason enough to pony up the $30,000 donation to get in." - a female patron overheard at the L.A. Music Center. Pictured here: The Founders' Circle, a private club for donors who support the Los Angeles Opera. The Founders' Circle serves a pre-performance dinner, and h'ors doevres, cappuccino, and desert during intermissions. Oh yes, and there's nary a queue for the restrooms. Reservations are required. The club is located within the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion on the South end of the Music Center Plaza on North Grand Avenue. --The Daily Fitchett, 3/10/11.

The 6th Annual Celebrate Dance Festival in L.A.

The Alex Theatre in Glendale, California photographed by Lisa Kato Fitchett.

Glendale, California - The dance community of Los Angeles packed the Alex Theatre on North Brand Boulevard for the sixth annual "Celebrate Dance", a varied program of over half a dozen preeminent dance companies representing some of today's most exciting talents in contemporary, jazz, ballet, and modern dance.

The Regina Klenjoski Dance Company oozed, pulsed, undulated, bounced, glided and sailed through the air in their fearlessly athletic and original "Emoticons", under the sure artistic direction of choreographer Regina Klenjoski. "Everybody Knows" - a pas de deux from San Diego based Malashock Dance company - showcased lyrical pairings, shapes and vignettes, making virtuoso lifts, partnering, inversions, and gravity defying leaps look easy under the mature direction of John Malashock, another veteran choreographer.

BARE Dance Company turned the stereotype of serious modern dance on its head with "Unoccupied", a light-hearted, fun piece demonstrating expressive capability, musicality, and a very connected delivery while never losing its sense of humor. "Tethered" (from Wayward Glances), a beautiful, athletic and thoroughly modern pas de deux by choreographer Michael Mizerany was made postmodern by being set to Henry Purcell's baroque era opera Dido and Aeneus. Terri Best Dance almost bent the passage of time with its unexpected slow shifts in tempo, deftly controlled timing, muscular suspension, well-honed choreography, and refined delivery in "Threshold". 

While it is almost unfair to pick a stand-out performance from such a collective display of creative talents, special mention must go to Monat Dance for showing strong classical lines and elegant, ballet-based modern choreography in "Beyond the Edge". Never confusing technique with artistry, the company danced with the musicality of Ailey, the refreshing modernism of the Joffrey, and with perfectly synchronized, artistic details of heads, arms and hands moving as one, the unique and total togetherness of London's Royal Ballet corps. 

Finally, this reviewer must point to the achievement of choreographer Jamel Gaines and Creative Outlook Dance Theatre of Brooklyn in its Los Angeles Premiere of "Prize", a piece exploring identity, race, political dissidence, war, and peace. Impeccably performed by a quintet of powerful dancers (Amber Hill, Epiphany Davis, Cara Maldonado, De-on Sass, Victor Reddick) and set entirely to the rising and falling tones and cadences of President Barack Obama's speech excerpts, the company showcased phenomenally strong, talented dancers articulating a decisive artistic statement without the obvious polemicism that could have cheapened the performance. Stunning, exceptional performances by the outstanding soloists and universal appeal reminded this reviewer of Alvin Ailey Dance Company at its very best.

The attendees comprised a Who's Who of the Los Angeles and Southland dance community, including choreographers Deborah Rosen, Sophie Monat, Terri Best, Michael Mizerany, John Malashock, Macarena Gandarillas, Mike Esperanza, and Regina Klenjoski; costume designers Denise Lichter, Tina Haatainen, Lilia Lopez, Bradley Lock, Liz Pelster, and Sue Julien; soloists Blythe Barton, Bradley R. Lundberg, Johnny Zhong, Anh Dillon, Joey Thao, Christine Marshall, Nicholas Strasburg, and Dana Vultaggio; award-winning lighting designer Eileen Cooley; and members of the major dance and fine arts press.

Celebrate Dance 2011 was a smashing success, with its strong and varied program, mature artistic statements, and outstanding young talents performing before a packed theater. Executive Producer Jamie Nichols (the founding force behind Pasadena-based Fast Feet dance company, honored at the 19th Annual Lester Horton Dance Awards with the Furthering The Visibility of Dance Award, among many other prizes and recognition) is the marketing director, fundraiser, press contact and sole producer for Celebrate Dance. Ms. Nichols currently teaches Contemporary Jazz at Live Arts Los Angeles and Movement for Actors at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Hollywood, California. Thank you for your contributions, Ms. Nichols. We can't wait to see what's in store for "Celebrate Dance 2012".

Midlife Crisis at the Long Beach Aquarium

Long Beach, California - Coming up in April, the members of the Adult Garage Band 101 rock camp, a.k.a. "Midlife Crisis" will rock the Aquarium of the Pacific on April 1st, 2011, from 6:00pm to 9:00pm. Midlife Crisis members are: Randy Berler (vocals and guitar), John Tailor (bass), Gregory Hex (vocals and guitar), Jim Crenshaw (guitar), Linda Thompson (drums), Barbara Jackson (vocals, keyboards, mandolin), Bob Warpehoski (vocals, keyboards), and Mike Grady(guitar). Adult Garage Band 101 is a class available to adult students of Long Beach School of Music, South Bay School of Music (Redondo Beach), and Peninsula School of Music in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA. Click on the picture here to see a bigger image of the poster and to get gig details.

Related Post: Restricted: No One Under 30 Allowed Midlife Crisis rehearses for their upcoming gig.

--The Daily Fitchett, 3/11/11.

Jam Session: Knypstra, Cser & Fitchett

Knypstra, Cser & Fitchett

Palos Verdes Estates, CA - A wonderful set of standards was performed at this impromptu jam session with bassist Ravi Knypstra, pianist Laszlo J. Cser, and Mark Fitchett. Professor Cser, formerly an instructor of jazz composition and big band arranging at Los Angeles City College, is very much an impeccable pianist with a sharp sense of musical humor.

--The Daily Fitchett.

Lion Dance

Related Post: Chinese New Year

I'm following up on my Chinese New Year post earlier this week with a little more about the Lion Dance. Thanks go to our friends Jenny Ru and Jeff Kind in Palos Verdes Estates for including us in this fabulous event, and kudos to the lion performers who danced through the crowd, negotiating stairs, party guests, doorways, and furniture while operating the lion's head, eyes, jaw, and limbs from inside the full two-man costume.

History of the lion dance: The story goes that once upon a time a monk had a dream in which there were many sorrows and evils plaguing the land. The monk prayed and asked the gods how he could prevent these evils from occurring. The gods told him that a lion would protect them and fight back the evils. The Chinese people had never see a lion before, but had heard stories that the lion was the king of all the other animals, so the monk combined all the lucky or magical animals he could think of and so made a lion.

If you look closely at any lion, you can see a red sash tied on its horn. It is told that the lion was disrespectful to the Jade Emperor. This of course caused the Jade Emperor to get very angry, so as a punishment he chopped off his horn (The source of his life) and the lion died. The Goddess of Mercy (Guan Yin) felt bad for him so she tied his horn back on with a red sash with golden leaves and chanted to he lion and he came back to life. And there - with a nod to Wikipedia for helping us out with the historical details - you have it.

Related Post: Chinese New Year

--The Daily Fitchett, 2/26/11.

Peggy Zask Gallery



Peggy Zask Gallery in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA



Candid photo of three South Bay area guitarists at Saturday night's wine tasting and art auction at Peggy Zask Gallery, 2/26/11, in the Golden Cove Center in Rancho Palos Verdes. Pictured below, from left to right: South Bay School of Music guitarist Tim Wingate, guitarist Mark Fitchett, and Alva's Music owner Matt Lincir.

Tim Wingate, Mark Fitchett, Matt Lincir

--The Daily Fitchett, 3/4/11.

Chinese New Year

Related Post: Lion Dance

Disappointed that I didn't bring my video camera for this, but at least I had the camera. Here are my snapshots of the exciting lion dance at a Chinese New Year's Party, in Palos Verdes Estates, California.

The lion dance is a traditional Chinese dance in which two performers (the lion's "head" and "body") mimic a lion's movements in a vigorous, martial arts stylized dance.

There were lights in the eyes of these lions, the eyelids could be controlled in order to "blink", and jaws could be manipulated by the front dancer inside the lion.

The lion performers wowed everyone in the crowd, and the kids especially loved it.

Related Posts: Lion Dance

--The Daily Fitchett, 2/26/11.

Jonathan "Sugarfoot" Moffett

Jam session on Super Bowl Sunday with Jonathan "Sugarfoot" Moffett

Thanks to Brian Daly for hosting this party, and to Gregory Scott Alban (Morgan Stanley) and Rockwell Sheraton (The Cinedicate) for putting together the jam session! Pictured here: Mark Fitchett (guitar), Jimbo Ross (violin), Shari Puorto (vocals), Dan Malouin (bass), and of course Jonathan "Sugarfoot" Moffett on drums. Read Modern Drummer's exclusive web interview with Jonathan Moffett here. --The Daily Fitchett, 2/6/11.

Lester Horton Award Nominees

Los Angeles costume designer Denise Lichter and
choreographer Regina Klenjoski, with
composer Mark Fitchett at the Lester Horton Awards

Lester Horton Award Nominees Denise Lichter (costume design), Regina Klenjoski (choreopgraphy), Mark Fitchett (original music score)

--The Daily Fitchett

Jacqueline Alban

Lisa Kato Fitchett and Jacqueline Alban

with Jackie Alban at the Founder's Luncheon for the Palos Verdes Junior Women's Club in Palos Verdes Estates

--The Daily Fitchett

Donna Butler

Blues singer Donna Butler at Jim and Claudia's 2008 Holiday Party and Musicians' Jam Session. --The Daily Fitchett, 12/17/08.

Blues singer Donna Butler

Corporate Sponsors

Peninsula School of Music was honored for our corporate sponsorship of the Palos Verdes Junior Women's Club, a club that raises money for groups that serve women and children in crisis in the South Bay.

--The Daily Fitchett

Sunday By The Sea

Jazz flutist Stephanie James and The Mark Fitchett Band performed at Sunday By The Sea, a fundraiser for Trinity Hospice Care, held at the home of Julian and Carolyn Elliott in Palos Verdes Estates, California. Pictured here: Allen Ellis (percussion), Chuck Turner (keyboards), Mark Fitchett (guitar), Anthony Alvarez (bass), Stephanie James (flute), and Greg Alban (drums).

--The Daily Fitchett

Don Knabe

Mark Fitchett, Lisa Kato Fitchett, Don Knabe

Peninsula School of Music owners Mark Fitchett and Lisa Kato Fitchett accepting the award for Best New Business from Los Angeles County 4th District Supervisor Don Knabe at Palos Verdes Peninsula Chamber of Commerce's Salute To Business awards dinner at Los Verdes Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA.

--The Daily Fitchett

Festival of Lights Parade

"Best New Business" owners Lisa Kato Fitchett and Mark Fitchett

Brrrr! Riding in an open top Jaguar as part of a parade held in December at night. Pictured Here: "Best New Business" Peninsula School of Music owners Lisa Kato Fitchett and Mark Fitchett riding in the Festival of Lights Parade in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA.

--The Daily Fitchett