Well, not sure what to say about this particular moment in the history of my life and the Atlanta Music Project! This is the kind of stuff that’s so amazing, you can’t even dream about it. My heartfelt thanks to the AMP staff, board, teaching artists, parents, students and friends who worked behind-my-back with Knock Knock Live to produce an unforgettable surprise. Special thanks to my amazing colleague Aisha Bowden, who is so good, she can do her job and set something up like this without me even knowing! Here’s how it all went down:

UPDATE: While video footage of Knock Knock Live is no longer available online, you can read Aisha Bowden’s blog post for an account of the events of that day.

How cool is it to have the support of such prominent people and companies?! A huge shout out to a rapper who has inspired me since high school and is easily my favorite MC, Common. Another huge shout out to the folks at Maaco and Meineke for supporting AMP with $50,000 and a brand new, custom-detailed, 15-seat passenger van for our students! Thank you also to Jupiter Band Instruments and Eastman Strings for the donation of 30 brand new instruments for our students! And final thanks goes to Knock Knock Live for having me on the show, what an honor. Are you kidding me?!! Can’t even believe I just wrote this paragraph!

Vroom, Vroom. Photo by Anthony Alston Jr.

Vroom, Vroom. AMP’s new wheels on site at the Gilbert House. Photo by Anthony Alston Jr.