LOGAN, UT — The Cache Valley Center for the Arts presents Grammy Award-winning a cappella ensemble, SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK® on September 7th & 8th at 7:30 p.m. in the Ellen Eccles Theatre. Sweet Honey In The Rock® has a career that spans three decades, two Grammy Awards, and a unique style and sound grounded in their experiences of the civil rights era. Since 1973, Sweet Honey In The Rock® has been empowering audiences of all races, genders, persuasions, walks of life and ages; to express outrage and compassion; to document the times, and to preserve and extend African American vocal traditions. This concert is being Sign Language Interpreted. Tickets for this performance can be purchased online at www.EllenEcclesTheatre.org or at the Cache Valley Center for the Arts Ticket Office in the Bullen Center at 43 South Main. For details about Sweet Honey in the Rock visit www.sweethoney.com. Tickets are $21, $26, $28, & $32 and may be ordered & printed online anytime without any additional fees. CVCA offers a variety of discounts including specials for groups of 15+, children (5-18 years), and USU Students. Select & Save 15% when you buy tickets to any 4 CVCA shows. No discounts will be available on days-of-show. “Sweet Honey In The Rock has played an important role as artists and activists,” said Wally Bloss, executive director for the Cache Valley Center for the Arts. “this a cappella sextet delivers a cohesive performance that fuses personality, power, and passion.”Founded by Bernice Johnson Reagon in 1973 at the D.C. Black Repertory Theater Company, Sweet Honey In The Rock®, internationally renowned a cappella ensemble, has been a vital and innovative presence in the music culture of Washington, D.C., and in communities of conscience around the world. Although the members have changed over 3 decades, they continue to sing and have helped to produce several records for children & adults. Sweet Honey In The Rock is Ysaye Maria Barnwell, Nitanju Bolade Casel, Aisha Kahlil, Carol Maillard, Louise Robinson, and Shirley Childress Saxton.Referred to as “a national treasure” by First Lady Michelle Obama, Sweet Honey In The Rock entertains audiences with an educational, entertaining, and inspirational production. Rooted in a deeply held commitment to create music out of the rich textures of African American legacy and traditions, Sweet Honey In The Rock possesses a stunning vocal prowess that captures the complex sounds of Blues, spirituals, traditional gospel hymns, rap, reggae, African chants, Hip Hop, ancient lullabies, and jazz improvisation. Sweet Honey’s collective voice, occasionally accompanied by hand percussion instruments, produces a sound filled with soulful harmonies and intricate rhythms.In the best and in the hardest of times, Sweet Honey In The Rock has come in song to communities across the U.S., and around the world raising her voice in hope, love, justice, peace, and resistance. Sweet Honey invites her audiences to open their minds and hearts and think about who we are and how we treat each other, our fellow creatures who share this planet, and of course, the planet itself.From Psalm 81:16 comes the promise to a people of being fed by honey out of the rock. Honey – an ancient substance, sweet and nurturing. Rock – an elemental strength, enduring the winds of time. The metaphor of sweet honey in the rock captures completely these African American women whose repertoire is steeped in the sacred music of the Black church, the clarion calls of the civil rights movement, and songs of the struggle for justice everywhere.Following up on their 2008 Grammy-nominated release, Experience…101, Sweet Honey returned to the studio to record Go In Grace, original music composed for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Together these two artistic treasures of the African American experience performed this once-in-a-lifetime collaboration throughout the United States during the 2008-09 season.Sweet Honey has been behind a series of recording projects including a new composition entitled “My Family” for a HBO documentary. In 2009 they received an invitation from First Lady Michelle Obama to perform at the White House in celebration of African-American History Month. In June 2010, Sweet Honey In The Rock® released the song “ARE WE A NATION?.” The song features spoken word verse written by Yonas, Nitanju Bolade Casel and Carol Maillard. Yonas, the 2009 Billboard Songwriting Award winner for Best Hip-Hop/Rap Song, performs the verse. This song has given Sweet Honey In The Rock® the opportunity to discuss their views on the complex issues surrounding immigration and Arizona’s law SB-1070. Sweet Honey grew out of the Civil Rights Movement, stood and sang in opposition to the apartheid movement in South Africa, and continues to stand for peace and equality throughout the world.Sweet Honey repertoire represents not only a collaboration of six musical geniuses and social activists, but also a culmination of the past half-century’s struggle for equal rights-a unified whole. They believe that as a nation, the laws we create should bind us together rather than tear us apart. Poised and graceful, the group’s current members are composers, music educators and choreographers hailing from diverse professional musical backgrounds. But onstage, these superpowers of song unite as Sweet Honey In The Rock. SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK will be at the Ellen Eccles Theatre on September 7th & 8th, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. Visit www.CacheValleyCenterForTheArts.org for additional info or call 435-752-0026 for more information. The Center is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and one hour prior to all show times. These two performances are made possible through the performing arts season at the Cache Valley Center for the Arts and the generous support from this shows sponsors including Cache Valley Bank; Hillyard Anderson, & Olsen, P.C. Attorneys at Law; and The Preston Citizen. The 2010-2011 CVCA Season is made possible in part by funds from the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation; Marie Eccles Caine Foundation – Russell Family; Conservice utility management & billing; Cache County Restaurant/RAPZ Tax Funds, Logan City Cultural Arts Grant; Utah Arts Council & the National Endowment for the Arts; and Wasatch Logan Arts Foundation. ###UPCOMING EVENTS AT THE CENTERAug. 23-Ongoing (M & W) – Yoga with Dennise (drop-ins welcome)Aug. 23-Dec 10 – Valley Dance Ensemble Fall Session: African & Modern dance classesAug. 27 -Ongoing (F) – Cache Children’s Choir from 9:45-11:30 AMAug. 30-Nov 15 – Play with Clay! at the Center – Ceramics for all ages & skillsAug. 30-Oct. 20 – Unicorn Theatre creative drama classesSept. 7-8 at 7:30 p.m. – Sweet Honey In The Rock Sept. 17 from 6-9 p.m. – CVCA Gallery WalkSept. 23 at 4:30 p.m. – Logan Youth Shakespeare – Macbeth intro meetingSept. 28 & 29 at 7:30 p.m. – The Unbroken Circle Tour: The Blind Boys of Alabama with Ralph Stanley and The Clinch Mountain Boys