Steven Van Zandt to Host Virtual Roadshow Series to Benefit his TeachRock Education Charity Pilot “In Cleveland”

show features the legendary songwriter Neil Giraldo, and from-Ohio

celebrities Michael Stanley, Kid Leo, and Conya Doss.

Streaming Live Thursday July 16, 8pm ET

NEW YORK CITY, NY – Steven Van Zandt, a multi-platinum artist, producer, songwriter,

actor, entrepreneur, and founder of the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation and its

TeachRock arts integration program, will be holding a series of living-room style talks with

special musical and celebrity guests and education heroes from those cities discussing

music, education, and national issues.

The Little Steven TeachRock Roadshow premieres on Thursday July 16 th from 8-9pm ET

“in Cleveland,” and features songwriter and longtime Pat Benatar collaborator Neil Giraldo,

legendary radio DJ Kid Leo, musicians Michael Stanley and Conya Doss, as well as

Hough Reads founder Rhonda Crowder and a reunion of Little Steven and young activists

from the Columbus, OH Mosaic program. More guests are expected as well.

More stops to follow this pilot episode will be announced soon.

Proceeds from and donations to the RoadShow series will benefit TeachRock, the

nonprofit Rock and Roll Forever Foundation’s national K-12 curriculum initiative.

TeachRock provides teachers with no-cost interdisciplinary, arts-driven materials and

lesson plans designed to keep students engaged and in school. TeachRock lesson plans

are used by more than 30,000 registered teachers in all 50 states and offer distance

learning materials too.

To register for the Little Steven TeachRock Roadshow visit TeachRock.org/Roadshow . A

donation to TeachRock is appreciated but not required to view.

Chegg is the presenting sponsor of the TeachRock Roadshow. Additional sponsorships

and underwriting opportunities are available.

For additional information, please contact Michael-Ann Haders at

michael@rockandrollforever.org

# # #

About the Rock and Roll Forever Foundation and TeachRock

Launched by Little Steven Van Zandt and the Rock and Roll Forever Founders Board of

Bono, Jackson Browne, Martin Scorsese, and Bruce Springsteen, TeachRock.org has

provided free, standards-aligned resources to help teachers, students, and families

succeed for more than a decade.

TeachRock empowers teachers and engages students by using popular music to create

interdisciplinary, culturally responsive education materials for all 21st-century classrooms.

The more than 200 lesson plans in the TeachRock curriculum foster genuine learning

through arts integration in areas including social studies, language arts, STEAM, general

music, and more. From The Beatles to Beyoncé, from early elementary to AP History, in

the classroom or safely distanced—TeachRock offers engaging and meaningful material,

all at no cost to teachers, students, and families.

To access these materials and learn more visit www.teachrock.org

About the Guests

Neil "Spyder“ James Giraldo has been a professional musician, producer, arranger and

songwriter for over four decades now, changing the face of the pop charts throughout the

1980s with his collaborator, muse and wife, Pat Benatar. More than just an explosive steel

bending guitar player, Giraldo’s innovative vision helped him create the signature Benatar

sound, from its inception.

His impressive back catalog includes more than 100 songs written, produced, arranged

and recorded for Benatar, as well as many hits he helped create for John Waite, Rick

Springfield (Number One, Grammy-winning classic “Jessie’s Girl” and Top Ten hit “I’ve

Done Everything For You” included), Kenny Loggins (Top Twenty hit “Don’t Fight It” – also

Grammy-nominated), Steve Forbert, The Del Lords, Beth Hart and countless others.

Conya Doss’s voice reflects the sounds of the past, present, as well as what is yet to

come. Ms. Doss makes it no secret that her musical taste is a mix of genres (classical,

soul, blues etc…), in which she describes good music as being “Like Gumbo, it taste better

with time, the next day and the next….” Doss also holds a graduate degree in education

and teaches in the Cleveland public school system.

Kid Leo is a famed radio personality who is currently a disc jockey on Little Steven's

Underground Garage on Sirius XM Radio (channel 21). He first began in radio in 1973 at

noted Cleveland rock station WMMS (100.7 FM, "The Buzzard"); during his 16-year

tenure, WMMS was consistently one of the highest-rated radio stations in the country. In

1988 he left to work as an executive at Columbia Records, where he served until 2002.

Since 2004, Travagliante has been involved with Underground Garage. He also currently

operates his own consultancy, LJT Entertainment.

Michael Stanley is a singer-songwriter, musician, and radio personality. Both as a solo

artist and with the Michael Stanley Band (MSB), his brand of heartland rock has been a

staple of Cleveland, Ohio, and around the American Midwest since the 1970s.

Steven Van Zandt is a Musician, Performer, Songwriter, Arranger, Music Producer, Music

Supervisor, TV Producer, Actor, Director, Broadway Producer, TV and Film Composer,

Live Event Producer, International DJ, Activist, Historian, Teacher, member of the New

Jersey Hall of Fame, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and is recognized internationally as one

of the world’s foremost authorities on both Contemporary and Traditional Rock and Roll.

After helping create the “Jersey Shore” sound with the Asbury Jukes he became a

founding member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, and went on to become a

successful solo artist in his own right recording and performing solo with his band Little

Steven and the Disciples of Soul. In 2017 he released his first new album in over 15 years

returning to his Rhythm and Blues roots entitled “Soulfire” which Rolling Stone named one

of its “Best Albums of 2017.” In 2018 he released the “Soulfire LIVE CD / Vinyl box sets,

and 2 disc Blu-Ray recorded live during the “Soulfire Tour.”

This year Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul have released “Summer of Sorcery” his

first album of all original material in 20 years.

His songs have been performed by artists such as Jackson Browne, Pearl Jam, Jimmy

Cliff, Damian Marley, Margo Price, Gary U.S. Bonds, Darlene Love, Nancy Sinatra, Brian

Setzer, Black Uhuru, and more.

Steven Co-Produced the seminal Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band albums “The

River”, and “Born in the U.S.A.” He has also produced albums for Southside Johnny and

the Asbury Jukes, Gary U.S. Bonds, Ronnie Spector, Demolition 23, Majek Fashek, and

more. He Arranged and Produced “Introducing Darlene Love”, the critically acclaimed

album for the legendary Darlene Love, star of the Oscar winning documentary "Twenty

Feet From Stardom".

In 1985, Van Zandt formed Artists United Against Apartheid and wrote “Sun City,” a song

featuring over 50 major recording artists protesting the Apartheid system and considered

by many political experts to be one of the fatal blows to Apartheid, leading to Nelson

Mandela being freed only a few years later. He has twice been honored by the United

Nations for his political activism, including the “Sun City” project and film, and his

involvement in “International Peace Day” along with Peter Gabriel. He also established the

Solidarity Foundation to promote the sovereignty of indigenous peoples and to foster

economic development in harmony with the earth.

Steven Co-Starred in all seven seasons of the Sopranos, playing the principal character

"Silvio Dante,” a character that he created. He Starred in, Co-Wrote, Executive Produced,

provided the music supervision and scoring, and Directed (the final episode) for the award

winning series "Lilyhammer”, which was the FIRST original programming for Netflix.

In 2001 he launched “Little Steven’s Underground Garage”, his internationally syndicated

radio show and the most successful syndicated Rock music radio show in the past 40

years. Steven also created and continues to produce the first two channels of original

content on SiriusXM Satellite Radio, the Underground Garage (Channel 21) and Outlaw

Country (Channel 60). In 2006 he launched his record label, Wicked Cool Records, to

further support new Rock and Roll.

In 2018 Little Steven and the Disciples of Tour went back on the road with their “Soulfire

Teacher Solidarity Tour.” The landmark live tour benefited The Rock and Roll Forever

Foundation’s TeachRock program and reached the incredible goal of registering over

18,000 teachers (and counting) to use the TeachRock Music History Curriculum.

Established by Dr. Van Zandt (he gave the commencement speech to the Class of 2017

and received an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Rutgers University), the Foundation

creates education materials that use the history of popular music to create engaging,

multicultural lesson plans for history, social studies, language arts, music, and science

classrooms, all of which are available to educators at NO COST.

It marked the first-ever Rock tour specifically geared towards addressing this crucial

societal need. At each stop of the tour, The Rock and Roll Forever Foundation hosted

FREE TeachRock Professional Development Workshops, with educators and a guest who

attend also receiving a complimentary ticket to that evening’s concert.

“Music will forever be humanity’s most effective and consistent source of inspiration and

motivation, and, we have learned, music turns out to be our most solid common ground for

establishing communication between teachers and students which is where education

begins.” - Stevie Van Zandt

LITTLE STEVEN: ACTIVISM

- In 1985, forms Artists United Against Apartheid and wrote “Sun City,” an anthemic

Rock/Hip Hop/R&B song protesting the Apartheid system symbolized by the South African

resort, Sun City. Over 50 artists including Gil Scott-Heron, Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Bono,

Keith Richards, Run DMC, and Miles Davis, performed on the track which spawned a

conscious raising album of the same name. It was described by rock critic Dave Marsh as

"the most diverse line up of popular musicians ever assembled for a single session.”

As one of the first collaborations among major recording stars to support a political, rather

than a social cause, it is considered by most political experts to be a fatal blow to

Apartheid, leading to Nelson Mandela being freed only a few years later.

-Produces "Sun City: The Making of Sun City" which won the prestigious International

Documentary Association award for "Distinguished Documentary Achievement”.

-Twice honored by the United Nations for the “Sun City” project and film, and his

involvement with “International Peace Day” along with Peter Gabriel.

-In 1983 establishes the Solidarity Foundation to promote the sovereignty of indigenous

peoples and to foster economic development in harmony with the earth.

-Releases the single and video "Leonard Peltier" to raise awareness and try to free Native

American activist Leonard Peltier 1989

- Releases the single “Trail of Broken Treaties” to raise awareness about the U.S

governments continuing breaking of treaties made with Native Americans

- Releases “Native American” the subject of which was living in harmony with the earth and

the universality of Native American philosophy

- Solidarity Foundation pressures the Quebec government to cancel the Grande-Baleine

hydroelectric project due to its environmental impact and social impact on First Nations

communities 1994

- Solidarity Foundation publishes magazine "Native Nations" that deals exclusively with

Native American rights 1997

- Solidarity Foundation creates "The Language Project" documenting Native American

languages 1997

- Solidarity Foundation creates the "Encyclopedia of the American Indian in the Twentieth

Century" a comprehensive overview of Native American culture through profiles of key

individuals, organizations, government policies, and events that have defined Native

history since 1900. 2015

- Performs at the “No Nukes” concert in New York City

- Performs at the “Vietnam Veterans of America” concert

- Produces and performs at “LaBamba's Christmas Show for the Benefit of Missing

Children”

- Performs at the “Anti-Apartheid” concert in Central Park

- Performs in New Jersey for Passaic Fire Victims

- Performs at the “Amnesty International A Conspiracy of Hope” concert

- Performs at Hurricane Irene concert; a benefit in Tokyo for the University for Peace

- Performs at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert at Wembley Stadium.

- Co-writes “Maria” a song about Mexican migrant workers in Texas for Brian Setzer

- Co-writes “You Don't Have to Cry”, about the gasoline riots in Jamaica, for Jimmy Cliff for

the soundtrack of the Jonathan Demme film, “Something Wild”

- Releases “Solidarity” single for the union movement in Poland

- Releases “Vote!”, a thematic 12" single for the 1984 Presidential Election

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