Monday, May 26, 2008

Renda Writer Wants to Perform on The Ellen Degeneres Show

For Immediate Release

Contact: Renda Writer
310-404-4184
RendaWriter@Hotmail.com

South Florida Performance Poet
Petitions for Support from Community to Get on TV


Boca Raton, FL – No spoken word performance poet has ever appeared on a daytime talk television show. Renda Writer is looking to make history as the first poet to do so. He has his sights set on The Ellen Degeneres Show and has taken a unique and collaborative approach to reaching his goal.

A fan of Ellen Degeneres since her days of stand up comedy, Renda estimates that it was a day probably about 8 months ago that he first got the idea to work toward appearing on the show. After mailing her a cover letter and a copy of his CD and hearing no response, he decided that he would need to step a little further outside the box in order to get the attention of the show’s producers.

So he created a petition and set out to get 500 signatures from people who would sign their names under the statement, “I am signing my name to state that I would like to see Renda Writer perform his poem, ‘Half Hearted’ on ’The Ellen Degeneres Show.’” Not only did he get the 500 signatures that he needed in less than 2 months time, but he also received some attention from the press with mentions of his petition in editorial articles written about him for his accomplishments both as a poet and as a fundamental organizer of events for the South Florida arts & entertainment community.

City Link, a free local weekly publication, placed Renda Writer on its cover and wrote a feature story about him that mentioned his petition in its 9/5/07 - 9/11/07 issue. The very next week another weekly entertainment newspaper, New Times, published an interview with the poet, giving him a chance to once again publicly state his ambitious intentions. Then, in December of 2007 a Miami-based full color monthly magazine, ENV Magazine (Entertainment News & Views), interviewed him for their “Local Celebrity Spotlight” section and gave him a third opportunity to mention his petition in print.

The South Florida resident plans to perform “Half Hearted,” a soft, romantic piece inspired by the swans in New York City’s Central Park. The poem appears on his 2006 full length debut CD release, “Eclectic Poetic” and was recently the inspiration for a glass sculpture by Yaacov Heller, a globally recognized and acclaimed sculptor, artist, and the owner of Gallery 22 in Boca Raton. It also received above average ratings in a song critique from Taxi.com, an independent A&R company widely recognized for its accurate critiques of songs for independent artists.

It’s been a few months now since Renda mailed a jumbo envelope to the production team at The Ellen Degeneres Show containing a cover letter, another copy of his CD, a picture of the sculpture inspired by his poem, and copies of all his recent press coverage, with the petition blurbs highlighted.

Since he has yet to hear the positive response that he eagerly awaits, Renda is now in the process of collecting signatures for a new, online cyber petition that will hopefully add support to the initial 500 signatures the show has as already received, as well as a second paper petition with 500 unique and new signatures that he just mailed off to the show in March, 2008. His new online petition can be found and signed at:
www.IPetitions.com/Petition/Renda_Writer_on_Ellen_Degeneres.

It should be noted that after signing the online petition, the website that hosts the petition will prompt the signee for a donation to the site. Such a donation is not necessary and is not needed in order to make the signature appear.