ART PULSE

Please tell that you feel it/
We’re alive/
We are alive for the runaway dreamers and the closet

creatives/
We are alive/
We are alive for the young heart’s with aging bodies and

fresh faces with old souls/
We are alive for stories that only make sense through a

worn paint brush or a passed down poem/

We are alive with the energy of those who have built

before us/
We are alive because dreams are known to commit suicide when faced with self-doubt & rent/
Are known to get hit by stray bullets from friends & relatives
shooting their mouths/
begging you to live quietly/
We are alive to mentor the mediocre out of you
and fill you back up with your own mojo/
To connect our puzzled city so the finished product is

community/

We are alive because love is/
And so is hate, and there has to be a balance/
We are alive because culture is/
And so are small minds and segregation,
and there has to be a balance/
We are alive because art is/
But so is reality TV
and there REALLY has to be a balance/
We are alive because ART IS,
Let it breathe through you/
Let it imagine through you/
Let it love through you/
Let it love through you/

Let it love through you/

Gill Sotu isn’t strictly one thing.

He isn’t strictly a poet, a musician, a writer, a DJ or host. Sotu weaves poetry into musical performances and improvisational songs into hosting gigs with a forceful undercurrent of soulful, comedic, thought-provoking passion that engages and inspires his audiences throughout California.

Currently, he is the Artist In Residence at the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation, commissioned to write/direct two full length plays. Sotu wrote and performed all the poetic segments to Melissa Adao’s dance theatre showcase, “Hip-Hop CabHooray!” which won an award for Outstanding Production at the 2015 Fringe Fest. He has opened for Grammy-nominated legend Sheila E, partnered and performed with the San Diego Symphony, has been commissioned to create numerous poetry pieces for the United Way of San Diego, San Diego’s Fashion Week, and performed the closing number for TEDx San Diego in December 2013. Sotu has been featured on NBC 7’s Art Pulse TV and was named the 2012 & 2013 San Diego Raw Performing Artist of the Year.

Amidst regular performances, Sotu hosts events throughout the county and also conducts poetry workshops in schools across California and has facilitated poetry workshops within San Diego County’s juvenile detention center for over two years.