BlackVoiceBox.com

In today’s world when we hear most of our African-American youth share their career dreams, I’ve seen more than a few adults roll their eyes or shake their heads when the child states aspirations along the lines of becoming a professional athlete, dancer, rapper, singer, Oprah, or essentially anything that would put them in the spotlight instead of “having to work hard.”

In the past few weeks I met a young man who is a musician, but is probably working just as hard enough not harder to live his dream as those of us punching a clock on weekdays.

Darnell Levine (www.darnelllevine.com) is a name that’s probably unfamiliar to most but once you hear his sound and see his dedication to his craft for lack of better terms, you get “it.” Darnell is a singer/songwriter who excels in the jazz and pop genres and some might say comedy as well. He’s released two solo albums, and his current CD “Journal Entries” is available on amazon.com.

This summer he is trying to make (are you listening Magic Johnson) history by becoming the first artist to ever tour exclusively at Starbucks. He’s named his mission “The Darnell Levine Summer Music Tour Experience Exclusively at Starbucks” and so far, he’s hit several cities around the southwest side of the United States including Lexington, KY, Cincinnati, OH, Nashville and he has one more week of touring.

Darnell is responsible for booking the locations, mapping routes, looking for sponsors, maintaining his website, creating design elements for the website, selling merchandise—and really, need I go on?

As everyone knows the rising economic costs have been hard on most, so can you imagine what it’s like for a (young) musician funding this tour exclusively on tips and merchandise sales because he’s following his heart and a lesson we all learned as a child, “finish what you start.”

So, while some of the children today just may be looking for the easy way out and the quickest way to the red carpet, maybe a few of them will be like Darnell Levine and try to make history as they pursue their dreams.

- L.C. Butler