Dr. Sampson Davis
Dr. Sampson Davis’ life has come
gratifyingly full-circle. Born as the fifth of
six children in one of New Jersey's poorest
cities, Dr. Davis grew up in cramped living
quarters, surrounded by fragmented
families, crime, and drugs. Still, he was a
good student, able to strike the fragile
balance between being smart, yet socially
acceptable on the streets. It was the skill,
Dr. Davis says, most critical to his survival.
While attending University High School in
Newark, Dr. Davis met Dr. Rameck Hunt
and Dr. George Jenkins, two fellow students
who, together, drastically altered the course
of one another’s lives. The three bonded
immediately, sharing the same dedication to making more of their lives than
Newark usually provided. They became each other's primary support system,
studying and socializing almost exclusively together.
Dr. Davis speaks about his own life with complete candor in a style that is a
contagious delivery of timely messages. “It is extremely important that I stay
in tune with my community.” Dr. Davis focuses often on courage - courage
to cope with life's difficult circumstances, courage to set goals for yourself
and most importantly, the courage to accept responsibility for achieving
them. Dr. Davis notes that education saved his life. His immediate goal is to
“become the Michael Jordan of education” so that learning becomes a
glamorized trend throughout all communities.
Dr. Davis considers his 3 D’s - Dedication, Determination, and Discipline, as
the necessary ingredients to success. When faced with challenges, the 3 D’s
will prevail. It is clear that the compelling story of Dr. Davis and his
colleagues, Drs. Jenkins and Hunt contain a message that both young and
old can relate to and benefit from. Even Oprah has chimed in, calling The
Three Doctors, “The Premiere Role Models of the World”.
Dr. Davis received his bachelor’s degree from Seton Hall University,
graduating with honors, his medical degree from Robert Wood Johnson
Medical School and completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at the
same hospital in which he was born, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center.
Today, Dr. Davis is a Board Certified Emergency Medicine Physician at St.
Michael's Medical Center, Raritan Bay Medical Center and Easton Hospital.
He is the Assistant Medical Director of the Emergency Department at Raritan
Bay Medical Center. He is the Vice President of Physician Recruitment for
Physician Practice Enhancement. He also works directly with the Violence
Prevention Institute of New Jersey focusing on gang violence and
preventative medicine.



George Jenkins, Sampson Davis, and Rameck Hunt grew up together in Newark and graduated from Seton Hall University. Davis and Hunt received their medical degrees from the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and Jenkins received his dentistry degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry. The three doctors are the recipients of the Essence Lifetime Achievement Award. All three continue to live in Newark

Jamaican Soprano Comes to Maplewood, New Jersey

Thursday, December 4, 2008
Dawn Marie - Comes to Maplewood NJ Dec 19, 2008


An Atlanta resident since 1985, Dawn-Marie is now a much-admired soprano on the international circuit and one of the best-known classical performers in Jamaica. She sings an eclectic repertoire including opera, spirituals, art songs and classical arrangements of Jamaican folk songs. (She performs a concert of Christmas songs from around the world this Sunday.) Her new CD, Simply ... Dawn-Marie, includes all these forms (save the holiday fare) and a suite of nursery rhymes, all with simple piano accompaniment. It is -- no way around it -- an unusual mix.

She floats through Claude Debussy's angel-harp delicacies on the track "Nuit d'Etoiles." She bounces down a jaunty arrangement of "Sing a Song of Six Pence." If there's any sense to be made of the collection, it's found not in the music but in not-so-simple Dawn-Marie. Music took her away from Jamaica -- to Windsor, Ontario, Canada for music school, to Atlanta and the world for her career -- and music keeps bringing her back.

In Atlanta, Dawn-Marie is best known as a frequent performer with the Atlanta Opera, where she debuted in 1989 as Annina in La traviata. She has since been entrusted with a long line of second-female roles -- wives, mothers, best friends and maids-in-waiting -- usually with at least one demanding aria to perform. Simply includes the adolescent allegro "Non su piu" from Le nozze di Figaro and the first-feigned-then-felt romance of "La Canzone di Doretta" from La Rondine.

Dawn-Marie has also performed solo engagements for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Chamber Orchestra, the Atlanta Bach Choir and other classical groups around Atlanta. Her art songs on Simply are the most impressive (and also the most numerous). Her quietly contained performance of Manuel de Falla's haunting lullaby, "Nana," is particularly masterful.

Such songs have taken her around the world, but each summer she returns to Jamaica to teach and occasionally perform. There, she remembers the folk songs of her childhood and works to keep them alive.

"Our folk music is not written down, and they're not doing it anymore," she says. "I want the world to know our folk music and how beautiful it can be."

Not all the songs from the Jamaican suite on Simply take well to their arrangements -- the same is true of some of the nursery rhymes. "Me Alone," in particular, emerges with too much ornamentation. But the arrangements by Peter Ashbourne on "Liza," Olive Lewin on "Sunday Day Clothes," and Barry Davies on "Evening Time" are interesting and lively.

Somehow, embodied in Dawn-Marie, this crazy collection of music makes some smiling kind of sense -- laughing and lyrical, technically adept and playful. She sings of quiet domestic moments and simple island pleasures, but also the enlarged tragedies and romances of the stage. Jamaica and Atlanta, Windsor and the world -- it's all in there: the diary of a laughing soprano who sings her life complete.

music@creativeloafing.com

COME CELEBRATE

Saturday December 6, 2008

Saturday December 13, 2008