Top row, from l to r: Janelle j.RENEÉ Bechdol (Co-Creator and Headlining Singer), Holley Monelle Murchison (Co-Creator, Tour Manager & Host)

Bottom row, from l to r: Jamal ScienZe Monsanto (Headlining Emcee), Jemar Meezy Souza (Assistant Tour Manager & Digital Marketer), Michael Kraff Lawrence (Tour DJ)

This morning, we were featured on GOOD! Click the photo to check out the article and let us know what you think. Thank you for being a part of the #20BY20 movement!

I’m writing to you on my 28th birthday, grateful to be devoting this year’s celebration to a cause a million times greater than myself. Ladies and gents of TumblrLand, our Kickstarter project has officially launched! 

So far, we’re really happy with the pledges that have been coming in. Our goal? 20,000 by October 20. We’re calling it the 20:20 campaign (#20BY20 on Twitter). It’s an ambitious goal but with the funds, we’ll be able to reach the 16 schools that are on board for the kick-off of the tour this fall. This time, we’re expanding — that’s right, this will be the start of our NATIONWIDE tour. Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts and New York.

The cool thing about Kickstarter is, it’s a community that allows you to get rewards for projects that you back. For example, Nickey-Ann Leon (thank you, Nickey-Ann!) pledged $100 today and her rewards package includes a Hall Pass Tour t-shirt, custom 512MB USB drive (which looks like this) pre-loaded with a 1-of-1 Sing-O-Gram or Rap-O-Gram and a blooper video, an honorary Hall Pass, two free concert tickets and more.

It’s pretty awesome and scary at the same time because Kickstarter is ALL or NOTHING. So if we don’t reach the $20,000 goal, we walk away with $0.

Check out the project here: hallpasstour.com/kickstarter

If you’re compelled enough by it, join the #20BY20 movement by liking it (via Facebook), tweeting it (via Twitter), blogging it (on your personal site), telling a friend or pledging a dollar or two. The choice is yours but whatever you decide, we’re honored to have you on board.

Thank you for being here, right now, in this space. Let’s get this mountain moved!

<3,

Holley 

We’re just TWO days away from launching our Kickstarter project and we’re really excited about the cool rewards we’ll be giving away to supporters and the events we have planned around the city to raise awareness about the tour (and give away more free stuff).

Yesterday, we had the pleasure of working with the incredibly talented Alexis Casson to finish up our promo video. Here’s a shot of j. and I on set: 

(I even dabbed on a little make-up to wow you guys, *wink*)

Again, thank you SO much to everyone who’s supported us thus far. Whether you’ve attended a concert, told a friend or colleague about the tour of watched one of our videos, we appreciate you.

In the past two weeks, I’ve had five people either ask me when we’re coming to their state or if we can come to their school. Even greater that that, one of the students from the pilot tour texted me the other night to let me know that he got his diploma! That text made my evening. These are the moments that we live for and we’re ready for a whole lot more of them.

Look out for more tour updates in the coming weeks (including a date for our nationwide tour kick-off concert) and join us on Tuesday, 9/20 as we take the next step in kickstarting the Hall Pass Tour.

Enjoy your Sunday night!

Holley Monelle
(Co-Creator, Tour Manager & Host)

Look out for our Kickstarter project this month.

Our goal? Raise enough money to travel to all the schools on board for this fall’s nationwide kickoff. 

We hope you guys are ready. We certainly are, =). 

See you soon!

- HPT Team

We’ve got a LOT of content to capture this summer so we’re on the hunt for a super talented person to support our tour videographer. Here’s the scoop…

Job/Internship type:
Unpaid Internship (may lead to paid work in the fall, traveling with the nationwide tour)

Location:
New York, NY

Internship Length:
July 2011 - August 2011

Responsibilities include:

• being present at all Hall Pass Tour events and shows where headliners, j.RENEÉ and ScienZe are performing
• assisting with shooting footage
• assisting with editing footage

*Intern will report to tour manager and tour videographer.*

Requirements:

• HS graduate
• Must have prior experience with shooting and editing digital video
• Final Cut Pro & iMovie proficiency
• Familiarity with Vimeo and YouTube
• Mac savvy
• Ability to maintain, operate and troubleshoot camera equipment
• Team player with a sense of humor
• Prompt and efficient
• Attention to detail
• Schedule flexibility
• Must be able to work without constant supervision
• Passion for music and education is a plus

If interested and qualified, please email your resume, why you’re interested in working with the Hall Pass Tour, days and hours of availability for the specified project length and links to samples of your relevant video work to info@hallpasstour.com.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Holley Monelle, Tour Manager and Host

So, what do you guys think of the new site?

We’re excited to announce that our new website launches TODAY at 1PM. Set your alarms and head over to www.hallpasstour.com then.

Thank you all so much for the support! AND thank you to Apt No.7 for the new design.

We hope you guys like it.

Talk to you soon!

Holley Monelle, Tour Manager and Host

We’ve held on to this video long enough. Here’s the footage from our final stop on the tour at Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing & Visual Arts.

I (Holley Monelle) cried when I watched it for the first time because it mirrored exactly what we set out to do with the tour and it reminded me that this was never impossible. 

Thank you guys for all the support. We’ve got a great summer lined up and are looking forward to kicking the nationwide tour off this fall. Stay tuned for all the details.

Good morning! High of 80 degrees in NYC. Last day of Spring Break. Goodies in tow!

We’re feeling great and we hope you all are too. We promised to release footage from our fourth stop on the tour after accumulating 300 likes on Facebook. A BIG shout out goes to K. West from the Wadleigh Secondary School for making that happen!

Once we reach 350 likes, we’ll release the footage from the final concert. The team has seen it and it made two of us cry (I won’t tell which two, =P). So, if you like us, proclaim it to the world: http://facebook.com/HallPassTour

And now, without further ado, Period 4: Paul Robeson High School for Business and Technology

Enjoy!

Holley Monelle, Tour Manager and Host