Soul Thomas Evans is an Artist, Advocate, Owner of PoetCD.Com, Incorporated, and Fundraiser. He previously worked for seven years as an full time activist on issues such as dismantling Apartheid in South Africa, organizing the homeless, low income neighborhoods, the environment, women's rights, fighting racism, promoting profit sharing, and equality for gays and lesbians achieving a Bachelors in Political Science in 1991. After working for ACORN (Association of Communities Organized for Reform Now) in Washington D.C. he founded and directed COUP (Coaliton Opposed to the Unity of Prejudice) a 501 (c) 3 non profit in Tallahassee from 1992 till late 1994. Meanwhile he sold books for Southwestern for the equivalent of seven full summers to pay for his education living everywhere from Pennsylvania to Ohio to Michigan to Illinois to Hawaii ranking in the Top 75 out of over a half a million students who have sold books for the company in the 150 years of it's existance. Graduating from Loyola Law School in 1997 where he won Runner Up to Best Oralist and was the alternate member of their National Moot Court Team he passed the Florida Bar Exam and worked for two law firms that focused on the same civil rights, that he'd worked on as an activist before becoming a consultant to lawyers in 1999. In March of 2000 he cofounded http://www.PoetCD.com a national poet internet marketer and spoken word label with Al Letson http://www.AlLetson.com and Dwayne Rayner that is not only one of the few sites that have both video and audio of performance poets nationwide but also pays them in helping them distribute their products. Over the last five plus years they have released or helped financed the release of the following poetry products; nycSLAMS CD and Video, The Personal is Political CD, Perfect CD by Shane Koyczan, The Shane, Shappy, Sia Video, and Soul Book (2000), Bezerkeley Slam Video (2001 Unreleased), To Tell The Truth CD, Book and DVD, and PoetCD.Com Sampler CD (2002), soNORMul Book and CD and THE P5E SLAM FINALS CD (2003), The P5E SLAM FINALS CD (2004), A Beginning CD and The Two Years I Spent Saving Myself and Finding You Book and PoetCD.Com Sampler Volume II CD in (2005). In 2002 he left his association with the law to do and promote spokenword, returning in 2006 when he takes the New York Bar Exam. In committing to the belief that Quincy Jones was right when he said, "You are what you do," he started performing semi-professionally in 2000 with the release of his first CD, The Personal is Political featuring over 200 times in 15 cities in the United States between January 2000 to January of 2002. He followed that up with a 82 city, 200 show, To Tell the Truth tour that was featured in 12 different countries between 2002 and 2003 in support of his second CD of the same title. He toured the world in support of his third CD soNORMul doing another 175 performances in 4 countries between 2003 and 2004. His shows have great range with pieces that cover politics, humor, love, call and response, and literally get audiences to look at their lives in a meaningful way. Now residing in Astoria, New York City, NY with his wife he has helped raise significant amounts of money as one of the top fundraisers in the country for local art and athletic groups and schools in Florida and New York. His old Poetry Slam and the High School Poetry Groups they inspired can be found at http://www.P5E.com and http://www.Slanted-Eye.com . He currently has 4 Books (The Personal is Political, To Tell the Truth, soNORMul, The Two Years I Spent Saving Myself and Finding You and a video/DVD of both live and MTV style video clips that showcase most of his signature pieces, as well as a book of photography called For Jade. He just released his 4th LP a Double CD titled A Beginning ( Is Really an Ending in Disguise ) that features 37 of his unreleased songs and poems. His political advocacy work and future law practice in New York City will be at http://www.TomEvans.cc . Finally, he is currently working on a new book of his most recent photography to be released in the summer of 2006 (examples of pictures from the book can be found on the Photos Section of this site ) afterwhich he will continue his work in fundraising, law/advocacy and promoting spokenword. Voted Best Performance by an International Spoken Word Artist. Finishing in the Final Four in the Grandaddy of all Slams, the 2003 NPS Slam out of nearly 300 poets from the USA, Canada, Great Britian, Germany and France he also has won slams and featured at the two most premier spoken word venues in North America, The Green Mill (Birthplace of Slam) in Chicago and Nuyorican Poet's Cafe in NYC. He's won the Grand Slam Championship of Chicago's Wicker Park Team and slams in Berkeley 2001, 2002, Oakland 2002, Taos, NM 2002 and Austin TX in 2002 and placed third at the 2002 and 2nd (team) at the 2004 Southern Fried Slam, coaching the number 11 team at NPS in 2003 and being on the Pensacola Slam Team in in 2004. Additionally he's won slams in Memphis and San Francisco, Baltimore, Kalamazoo, Pensacola, FL and the Bristol (UK) International Slam for the last 2 years in a row. After three tours of Europe in 2004 he was voted by UK slam fans as Best Performance by an International Spoken Word Artist. Featured in these cities San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley, California, Notre Dame University, Eugene and Portland Oregon, Vancouver Canada, Denver, Colorado, Las Vegas, Nevada, Cheyenne, Wyoming, Chicago including the Green Mill, St Louis, Missouri, Omaha, Nebraska, Dayton, and Cincinnati, Ohio, Jacksonville, Pensacola, Delray Beach, West Palm, and Miami, Florida, New York City, Madison, WI, Decatur and Atlanta, GA, Birmingham, and Hunstville, Al, University of A&M, Notre Dame University in California, Memphis and Nashville, TN, Asheville, NC, Charleston, WV, Washington D.C., Baltimore, MD, Montclair and Trenton NJ, Santa Monica, Hollywood, Marin, Pasadena, San Diego, and LA, CA, Taos, and Albuquerque, NM, Flagstaff, AZ, and San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, and Houston, Boston, Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, Cleveland, Detroit, Bridgewater, MA., St. Augustine, St. Petersburg, Tallahassee, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, Boise Idaho, Milwaukee, WI, Montclair, Newark, Bridgeton NJ Detroit, MI Norfolk and Newport News, VA, New Orleans and Baton Rouge, LA, Winston Salem, NC, Brandon, Florida State University, London, Leicester, Cheltenham, and Bristol England, Munich Germany, Israel, Palestine, Prague, Czech Republic, Cape Town, Joburg, South Africa, Singapore and Bangkok, Thailand. What others say I came to the very first poetry slam in oxford (england) last year, to which you were a special guest performer, me and my friend also bought your cd's. hammer and tongue in oxford is now a mondo big thing, and has moved from that small and tiny basement to a local clubs downstairs (much nicer!!) we have played your cd to all of our friends and out of all of the poets we have heard you were voted the outright best. Thank you for your words, you have no idea how much they mean to us. Katherine Corr Has a way of commanding a stage that is nearly unmatched. Truly talented. A real pleasure listening to the myriad of ways he strings words together and creates images . Bisa Phillips from FSU. Turns pain into triumph, Stunningly intense performance. Vanessa Sithong/Los Angeles Soul Evans through his poetry has helped me realize I need to be more involved in the world and try to change it for the better. Lisa Wolf/Orange County Soul Evans came into St. Louis and in front of a crowd of nearly two hundred black people was able to move the audience in a way that I have never seen another non black artist do. Pieces like She's Slipping Away nearly ripped me a part while 4th Love had the audience falling out from laughter. April Jackson Everyone I know who saw you has been basking in the glow of inspiration ever since your performance. Lisa Macleod/Vancouver Soul Evans dropped in and it is obvious he is very dedicated to being a touring poet who knows how to rock the mike. He's an amazing performer. I'd book him the first chance I got! -- Thom Holcomb, Organizer of the 2002 Southern Fried Slam "Soul Evans opened our brand-new gallery venue with a truly powerful performance! Most of the audience and staff had never seen performance poetry, so they had no idea what to expect. Soul wowed 'em and won 'em over. My door guy was moved to tears, and the man who owns the space stepped up to the mike to thank us for a great show." --Solena Rawdah, events coordinator, Annie Bloom's Books, Portland Oregon "Soul's performance at the Verbal Tea was very energertic. I thought he read the crowd well and they responded to him. It's always good to be able to be versitile and it shows the mark of a good performance poet and I saw him manifest that." -- Ayinde Hill, Founding Member of Urban Scribes, Seattle, WA For bookings, help or contact call 718-607-1327