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CJ Suitt

@suittsyouwrite

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NC✈️CA Writer.Cuddler.Poet.Brother.Friend.Fighter.Lover.Son. Heavy Breather.Traveller.Performance Artist.
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@tankandthebangas are bringing their funky soul dance party back to the Triangle for a Juneteenth celebration at Cat’s Cradle Back Yard on Saturday, June 20! Joining Tank and the Bangas will be psychedelic Latin orchestra ¡Tumbao!, R&B phenom Aiel J, and more. Tickets available now!

Tank and the Bangas Host a Carrboro Juneteenth Celebration
w/ ¡Tumbao!, Ariel J, + spoken word performances by CJ Suitt and Dasan Ahanu
Cat’s Cradle Back Yard
Saturday, June 20
Doors: 4 pm : Show: 5 pm

@tumbaoband @arielj.music @suittsyouwrite @dasanahanu

For Tank and the Bangas, music is a vessel for unbridled joy and transcendent connection—forces as integral to their essence as their wildly original sound. On their new album The Last Balloon, the New Orleans-bred outfit channel those impulses into something celebratory yet profoundly human, exploring themes of frustration, resilience, and self-realization with equal parts raw emotionality and playful exuberance. A shapeshifting collective helmed by lead singer Tarriona “Tank” Ball and multi-instrumentalist Norman Spence II, the globally beloved group completed the LP after winning a GRAMMY for 2024’s spoken-word powerhouse The Heart, The Mind, The Soul, moving from incendiary poetry to a euphoric collision of soul and hip-hop and forward-thinking R&B. As the final installment in a trilogy of albums that began with 2019’s Green Balloon (a critical triumph that earned them a GRAMMY nomination for Best New Artist), The Last Balloon ultimately solidifies Tank and the Bangas’ legacy as one of modern music’s most steadfast voices of sublime exhilaration. by @suittsyouwrite

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4 months ago

III..
I will never forget
The way the tree gave
So that I might be a home
The way the leaf falls
To remind me I am Autumn
A shifting sea|son
Water in|side of a pregnant horizon
Everyday a rebirth
A sound
Slow dripping out of the silence

Happy Mother’s Day Mama. Miss you everyday 🕊️❤️ by @suittsyouwrite

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5 months ago

Eclipse opens in just two weeks! See the remount of the 2022 Carolina Performing Arts commission 3/30-31 + 4/10-11, 7PM 🧱🔥 For tickets to Eclipse and registration for Southern Futures Assembly events, see links in bio + full schedule below!

Southern Futures Assembly:
3/30-3/31, 7PM: Eclipse performances*
4/1, 2-4PM: Restorative Circle***
4/7, 11:30-1PM: Bricks as Memory Lecture**
4/8, 10-11AM: Well Practice**
4/10-4/11, 7PM: Eclipse performances*
4/12, 2-4PM: Restorative Circle***

* ”Name Your Price” Tickets
** Free, Registration Requested
*** Free, Registration Required

🎥: @iximchemedia taken in Current Artspace + Studio by @suittsyouwrite

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7 months ago

THIS WEEKEND! Don’t miss 3731 by @suittsyouwrite at @hawriverballroom // for tix visit link in bio
🎥: @iximchemedia

About 3731:
3731 is an intimate, multimedia solo performance that turns the stage into sacred ground. This show explores how objects become portals to memory—unearthing stories of devotion, sacrifice, humor, and loss through poetry and song. Layering ritual, storytelling, sound, and projection, the piece asks how we carry our mothers with us, and how remembrance itself can be a radical act.

About CJ:
CJ Suitt (he,him/they,them) is a performance poet, arts educator, and community organizer from Chapel Hill, NC, whose work is rooted in storytelling and social justice. CJ was the Inaugural Poet Laureate of Chapel Hill, NC.

CJ co-directed, produced, and starred in a historical reenactment of the 1947 Freedom Rides, performed at many national and local music festivals, including Gnarnia, Shakori Hills and Bonnaroo, and acted in a production of Hands Up: 6 Playwrights, 6 Testaments. His career as an educator has allowed him to work with young people awaiting trial at the Durham Youth Home, older inmates whose voices have been silenced within the Orange County Correctional Facility, and high school and college-aged men pushing to redefine masculinity in their schools and communities. Additionally, he has collaborated with organizations such as Transplanting Traditions, Benevolence Farm, and Growing Change on the intersection of storytelling and food justice.

He is committed to speaking truth to power and aims to be a bridge for communities who can’t always see themselves in each other. taken in The Haw River Ballroom by @suittsyouwrite

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8 months ago

THIS SATURDAY & SUNDAY (2/14 and 2/15): Poet @suittsyouwrite will immerse us in his new show - 3731.

3731 is an intimate, multimedia solo performance that turns the stage into sacred ground. This show explores how objects become portals to memory--unearthing stories of devotion, sacrifice, humor, and loss through poetry and song. Layering ritual, storytelling, sound, and projection, the piece asks how we carry our mothers with us, and how remembrance itself can be a radical act.

Tickets at our link in bio.

Supported by @culturemillnc. taken in Saxapahaw by @suittsyouwrite

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8 months ago

Go see @suittsyouwrite CJ Suitt at @hawriverballroom THIS WEEKEND! Excited to see what CJ has in store for us with this double header show. Love to see my friends in their element! Photo credits: all these photos are pulled from CJ’s facebook page. Fun facts: CJ and I went to our junior prom together at Chapel Hill High School 21 years ago!!! We met in Ms. Blackwell’s class in 5th grade! We bonded on backpacking trips and in school shows, and have supported each other at artists and as educators! 🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶 taken in The Haw River Ballroom by @suittsyouwrite

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8 months ago

Looking for plans this coming weekend? Poet @suittsyouwrite will present his new show 3731 on 2/14 and 2/15, supported by @culturemillnc.

3731 is an intimate, multimedia solo performance that turns the stage into sacred ground. This show explores how objects become portals to memory--unearthing stories of devotion, sacrifice, humor, and loss through poetry and song. Layering ritual, storytelling, sound, and projection, the piece asks how we carry our mothers with us, and how remembrance itself can be a radical act.

Tickets at our link in bio. taken in Saxapahaw by @suittsyouwrite

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8 months ago

NEXT WEEKEND on 2/14 and 15: Poet @suittsyouwrite will be here to perform his new show, 3731.

3731 is an intimate, multimedia solo performance that turns the stage into sacred ground. This show explores how objects become portals to memory--unearthing stories of devotion, sacrifice, humor, and loss through poetry and song. Layering ritual, storytelling, sound, and projection, the piece asks how we carry our mothers with us, and how remembrance itself can be a radical act.

Tickets at our link in bio.

Supported by @culturemillnc. taken in Saxapahaw by @suittsyouwrite

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8 months ago

Feb 14 + 15 at @hawriverballroom — You don’t want to miss “3731” an intimate, multimedia solo performance by CJ Suitt that turns the stage into sacred ground. Get your tickets today — visit link in bio! @suittsyouwrite

3731 is an intimate, multimedia solo performance that turns the stage into sacred ground. This show explores how objects become portals to memory—unearthing stories of devotion, sacrifice, humor, and loss through poetry and song. Layering ritual, storytelling, sound, and projection, the piece asks how we carry our mothers with us, and how rememberance itself can be a radical act.

This performance is the culmination of an artist residency supported by Culture Mill.

🎥 @iximchemedia
📋 @proxemicmedia
🚦 @tommytomasimo taken in Haw River Ballroom by @suittsyouwrite

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9 months ago

In just a few weeks join me at The Haw River Ballroom for 3731 an intimate, multimedia solo performance. I will be exploring how objects become portals to memory—Layering ritual, storytelling, sound, and projection. The piece asks how we carry our mamas with us, and how remembrance itself can be a radical act. Ticket Link in Bio!! taken in The Haw River Ballroom by @suittsyouwrite

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9 months ago

I.
Here I am
Again
Light peeking out of the void
It’s been another long hard year
More ancestors added to the cloud of witnesses
My face jealous of the wind at my back
Loving me forward
I wish you were all here
In front of me
On this plane
To sing
To dance
To counsel me in this next chapter
I know …
I know…
I know...

I..
My birthdays are not mine
They belong to my mama
The push she did decades ago
The pull she is doing now from beyond
I feel it more and more on this day
Gave her flowers because
Because I couldn’t give her the world
Thank you.

III.
A year and nine months later
My family is not the same
I didn’t expect it to be
I expected change
But not
The silence
The shade we found
To hide from
The friction and heat of grief
Family gatherings put asunder
With the simplest of disagreements
Arguments over tradition
Forgetting intention
Mama whispers to me “when it gets hard to love, love harder”
I like to think my mama was lowkey an abolitionist
Knowing no person or relationship is disposable
I do my best to remind and remember
Remind myself and everyone else
Remember the steps she taught me in breath
It’s gon be alright she says
Death is a doorway to the love that gave us self

You
My son
Turned nephew
Turned uncle
Turned Jr baba
Culture keeper
Tender of the fire
You listener, poet, open mic homilist
Holder of space and words and worlds
You will be just fine
I’m here
I got you

III..
I will never forget
The way the tree gave
So that I might be a home
The way the leaf falls
To remind me I am Autumn
A shifting sea|son
Water in|side of a pregnant horizon
Everyday a rebirth
A sound
Slow dripping out of the silence

📸: @suittsyouwrite
#oneplusoneequalsthree by @suittsyouwrite

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a year ago

cultureatthemic Culture at the Mic: Local Artist Showcase at The Portal HQ +

Come check me out this Thursday with
@samcanney - author, featured poet and organizer of poetry community @thirdanglepoets

@ina.carino - aka Blue Haiku, award winning writer and innovative musician

Follow these amazing artists and their work and put 9/18 in your calendar!

In the words of @humblerodentlit
“Bringing the light, the love, the laughter and the interstitial ooey gooey for me and you is our hostess with the mostest @krystaldamuse
And all made possible by our incredible partners: thank you to @theportalhq for being a BEAUTIFUL home and to @peoplefirsttourism for providing the people, support and encouragement that all good communities need to grow”

Let’s Goooooo!! taken in Portal HQ by @suittsyouwrite

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a year ago