SURRON & CD Baby Distributes MP3/Digital-Downloads of Gospel Music Collection

Buy Our Music Yesterday, we "officially" began the process of distributing four (4) new albums through CD Baby Artist Services. The plan is to do an MP3/digital-download release first, then follow up with a physical distribution of a 4-Disc Box Set containing the entire "Collector's Edition".

For the Gospel music lover who enjoys a strong message in their songs and music that crosses various genres, be on the lookout over the next few days for our albums being delivered online to retail partners like iTunes, AmazonMP3, Rhapsody, and more.

Chef JJ & Play Pretty, Play Pals Project Partner Up On A Kids Cooking Show

Chef Joe "JJ" Johnson, the first winner of the Bravo Cooking Contest called Rocco's Dinner Party, has agreed to team up with Play Pretty, Play Pals Project to develop a new kids cooking show to get kids to start cooking and to help parents to be more conscious of what they put in their bodies.

We're scheduled to start filming the pilot on August 22nd, 2011 at Pellegrino’s Restaurant & Lounge in North Haledon, NJ.

If all goes according to plan, we'll be serving up Spaghetti and "grass-fed beef" meatballs, Watermelon Salad, and a Chobani Parfait on a TV channel real soon.

Threadless Community Loves Play Pretty, Play Pals Project Design Patterns

Threadless Design Challenge Today, we submitted several of our merchandise designs to Threadless.com to help bring more awareness to our anti-bullying campaign. With the help of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Plaxo we were able to send out multiple emails to our friends, colleagues, and supporters encouraging them to help our designs get printed by scoring it.

If our baggu bag, scarf, or wallpaper print design is printed our organization will get paid $2,500 in cash and prizes for our bullying prevention campaign. Help us spread the word. Thanks.

Give Back Your Foundation Celebrates The Everyday Philanthropist

Give Up A Week, Get Back A Lifetime Yesterday, we started filming the pilot program to a new reality docu-series that puts a lens on the lives of those among the richest who enjoy sharing their fortunes with those who don’t have that much.

Hosted by philanthropist, corporate speaker, winner of Oprah’s Big Give show, founder of two non-profits, and volunteerism expert Steven Paletta, each episode will feature heart-felt interviews on location (home, business, neutral site) with philanthropists and people from all walks of life, unique opportunities for people to receive “celebrity-style” perks & luxuries courtesy of a celebrity, and an online boot camp challenge


Give Back Your Foundation We traveled throughout NYC with Steve, the founder of Give Back, stopping in Grand Central Station, Times Square, Penn Station, and Union Square attempting to find (and film) as many random acts of kindness, philanthropy in action, and man serving man in small ways.

The purpose was to celebrate the "everyday" philanthropist by giving them the gift of giving, a 'Give Back Your Foundation' promotional give away coupon worth $5, $25, and $50.


Random Acts of Kindness As part of the show segment we profiled an “everyday” philanthropist who demonstrated a random act of kindness. One act was as small as a woman giving change to a homeless person on the street or volunteers giving their time to The Salvation Army. The highlight of the morning was when a good samaritan helped a blind person regain her sense of direction.


The Gift of Giving The objective was to elevate and celebrate the “art” of personal fulfillment and giving back. We believe our first film shoot with Stephen accomplished this and more. Thank you Stephen, Sean, Donna, Jeffrey, Gloria, Manpreet, Tamara, Andrea, Terrance, Gerard & The Ground Stone, and the Fresh Air Fund team for supporting our pilot program.

ZYBL and Play Pretty, Play Pals Project Join Forces To Promote Anti-Bullying Message

Z's Youth Basketball League Yesterday, we had the privilege of filming the launch of Lazarus Sims' (aka Z) youth basketball clinic at the Boys & Girls Club on Shonnard Street in Syracuse, NY. Coach Sims is a prominent figure in the Syracuse community and the SU men’s basketball coordinator of player development/asst. strength and conditioning coach.

The goal of the ZYBL is to bring basketball back to its true form with hard work and dedication. “I believe the best basketball is built on trust & relationships in teammates!” said Coach Z.

In a joint effort with ZYBL, we started enlisting Syracuse leaders, local businessmen, and athletes to contribute their unique talents, resources, and life lessons to a national cause around the issue of bullying.


Rest In Peace Coach Maz "My high school coach and mentor Joe Mazella, taught me the “Heart of The Game”, is through hard work and having a passion for basketball," Lazarus said. "Coach Maz challenged me both on and off the court to be a leader, a positive role model, and achieve my personal best. He also instilled in me the value of family and friendship as well as to NEVER turn a child away."


Z's Footsteps to Success To further reinforce his mission statement, Coach Z personally designed a line of colorful t-shirts with 10 of his 13 steps to help him teach his youth.

1. Family 2. Respect 3. Belief 4. Education 5. Honesty 6. Dedication 7. Drive 8. Trust 9. Desire 10. Hard work 11. Commitment 12. Sportsmanship 13. Eating right


Say Yes To Education Thank you Lazarus, Samuel, Lee, Fred, Joevon, Thomas, Greg, Michelle, Chelsea, Edmund, Oliva, and Chief Fowler for supporting our documentary project and helping us to advocate for the education of children on the issue of bullying prevention and youth violence on various levels.

Syracuse Leaders Support Bullying Behavior In America Documentary

Mr. Daniel G. Lowengard, former Superintendent of Syracuse City School District, welcomed us in his home earlier today so we could interview him for the 'Bullying Behavior In America' documentary. A long time advocate for fair funding for city kids, Mr. Lowengard had been a Syracuse Superintendent for 5 1/2 years, Superintendent in Utica for 8 years, and worked nearly 39 years in public education.

We're hoping to introduce our documentary, books, and digital media products to children in as many Syracuse and NYC school districts as possible.  Mr. Lowengard's support with encouraging Mary Anne Schmitt, President of Say Yes To Education, and others to embrace our program can go a long way in helping this goal become a reality.


Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler allowed our cameras to follow him for a day as he gave us a glimpse into his life as head of the Syracuse police department. He talked about their Crime Analysis Center, the rising number of recent killings in Syracuse, and what his department is doing to combat youth crime, gangs and gun violence.

The next day, Chief Fowler took us on a tour of the Syracuse neighborhoods and we discussed a new TV show concept we're developing called Police Chief, which will center around a boot camp program for bullies, juvenile offenders, and gang members to deter them from a life of crime and gang participation.

We're proud to say our Chief has agreed to participate. To be continued...

Stephen Paletta Could Host Give Up A Week, Get Back A Lifetime Program

Meet Philanthropist and Winner of Oprah's Big Give Show Yesterday Stephen Paletta welcomed us into his office so that we could interview him for the Bullying Behavior In America documentary. We were honored to hear about his two non-profit organizations (The International Education Exchange and GiveBack), his joy of being a husband and proud father of three daughters, and choosing between a life of "significance or success".

During the Q&A, Steve discussed the highs and lows of competing on Oprah's Big Give show and he shared his desire to develop his own reality TV program promoting volunteering, spiritual growth & healing, and giving back. Talk about divine intervention!

Today, we followed up with a 'Thank You' email and introduced Steve to a new program called 'Give Up A Week, Get Back A Lifetime' that we had created with him in mind. If all goes according to God's plan, we could be co-producing our first pilot program together in Haiti.

CEO of Urban League Interviews For Bullying Behavior In America Documentary

I Am The National Urban League Earlier today we filmed an interview session with Marc H. Morial, President & CEO of National Urban League, for the 'Bullying Behavior In America' documentary. In a distinguished professional career that has spanned 25 years, Mr. Morial has held roles as an Entrepreneur, Lawyer, Professor, Legislator, Mayor, and now current President of NUL, the nation’s largest civil rights organization. When asked what title he was most proud of? He simply smiled and replied, "Being a Dad".


Stacie J of Donald Trump's Apprentice 2 Show, and founder of The Jones Agency conducted the Q&A session with Mr. Morial at the NUL headquarters on Wall Street. The former Ford model, Subway franchise owner, and expert on Business was more than eager to learn about the Urban League Celebrity Empowerment Challenge initiative.

When the concept of a TV program with Mr. Morial and the Urban League was proposed after the filming, Stacie J openly welcomed the idea. It looks like we may have found our host of the 'Life After Football: The Plaxico Burress Story'.


Give A Child A Play Pals or Play Pretty Book Thank you Marc and Stacie J for endorsing our program and helping us to advocate for the education of children on the issue of bullying prevention and youth violence on various levels.

Alye & Her Friends Help Spread The Word About Bullying Prevention

The Girl With The Signs In case you haven't seen Alye Pollack's YouTube video called 'Words Do Hurt', she decided to take her heartfelt message to the streets of Westport, CT to share a very personal message against bullying and to get others involved in supporting the movement. We were blessed to meet Ariel Posner and her friend Saskia Pownall-Gray, who's father Dickon Pownall-Gray founded The Surviving Bullies Charity


I'm So Sorry, Alye! Our 4th day of filming started off with Alye and her close friends (Jessica and Ronan) making new signs at the Kruk's home. Then we walked around the small town of Westport getting signatures of support and talking to youths (Andrew and Dan) on the streets about the issue of bullying. Ronan even gave out "Free Hugs" to the girls who were kind enough to give us their time.


Words Do Hurt, Stop Bullying Thank you Ronan, Connor, Jo, Melly, Alye, and Jessica for helping us spread the word about bullying prevention.

Plaxico Burress & The Urban League In Partnership

11 a.m. Press Conference at The National Urban League It's 2:20 p.m. Monday, June 13th, and we just left the National Urban League headquarters in New York City. We were filming the LIVE press conference with Plaxico Burress, the former star football player for New York Giants.

In a commitment to volunteerism and community service, the standout wide receiver publicly announced a new partnership with the National Urban League and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

"I want to see every child have a chance to succeed," Burress said. "I have an opportunity to make a difference, and the National Urban League is on the front lines, creating opportunities."


Plaxico Burress Speaks Out Publicly On Youth Empowerment In his first public appearance since his release from prison, Plaxico Burress vowed to become a role model for young people. "So many people have helped me along the way, and I'm grateful for the chance to do the same for other young people," he said. Paul Helmke, Tony Dungy, Marc H. Morial, and Magic Johnson (not present) will serve as mentors to Burress as he embarks on this heartfelt mission.


Mr. Burress Collaborates With the Urban League On The ULCEC Initiative Leading by example, the initiative enlists leaders and prominent figures in a joint effort with the UL to contribute their unique talents, resources and life lessons to:

• provide at-risk youth in urban communities with tools and resources to fight childhood obesity;
• mentor youth and young adults;
• promote mental and physical health and fitness for youth and young adults; and
• inspire positive, strategic choice and healthy relationships that support youth’s readiness for college, work and life.

Burress signed a pledge to spearhead and inspire the Urban League Celebrity Empowerment Challenge, including a commitment to mentor youth and young adults on the principles of the campaign. Burress also partnered with the Brady Center to combat gun violence.

Welcome To The Evensong Service at Stanwich Congregational Church

A Family That Prays Together Stays Together It's day 3 of filming and the Kruk family invited us to attend Sunday afternoon worship service with them at Stanwich Congregational Church in Greenwich, CT.

The Evensong service didn't start until 5:30p.m., but we decided to visit the Prayer Garden with Pastor Chuck and Audra first. How do you cope with your child experiencing 'Bullying Behavior In America'? You consult Pastor Chuck and simply pray about it.


Evensong Service at Stanwich Congregational Church Pastor Chuck Davis is an experienced pastor, teacher, and missionary who serves as the senior pastor of Stanwich Congregational Church. He immediately embraced the Play Pretty, Play Pals Project and welcomed our camera into the sanctuary.


Alye Pollack Sings To 'Make A Change' Outside the beautiful church, Alye shares her passion for singing and the lyrics to a song she wrote with her friend Tracy Boyer called 'Make A Change'. She's excited to produce the song with Surron Music & Publishing Company and her stepfather on drums.

Young Social Activist Shares The Spotlight With Her Family

Meet The Kruk Family It's day 2 of filming and we decided to spend the day with Alye at her home hanging out with her mother (Audra Kruk), stepfather (Jason Kruk), and younger brother (Dylan).

For eighth-grade Connecticut student Alye Pollack, daily life at Bedford Middle School involved being tormented and called names by her classmates. The relentless teasing had made Pollack depressed; she had even considered cutting to cope with the pain.

Now her mother shares a very personal message against bullying and discusses the impact of Alye's YouTube video, which had drawn the attention of news outlets like CBS' "The Early Show" and over a half million viewers offline and online.

Bullying Behavior In America Features Alye Pollack

Hi! My Name Is Alye Pollack Meet the young social activist who helped launch an anti-bullying campaign movement. We had the pleasure of interviewing Alye during softball practice where she shared her personal story of being bullied.

During the softball game, we got a glimpse into the outgoing personality of Alye as she chatted with teammates between innings. As you can see from her brightly colored socks, she's very comfortable standing out from the crowd.


Now Alye's at bat and her softball team is down by 4 runs. There's a runner on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. Can she help her teammates to victory? To be continued...

Top Tier Talent Help Launch Anti-Bullying Campaign

In light of recent events, our authors, illustrators, designers, web developers, editors, DPs, musicians, singers, sound engineers, Broadway Stars, families, and friends have shown their support for putting an end to bullying by teaming up with Play Pretty, Play Pals Project and various campaigns, including Stop Bullying.gov, UPower Concerts, Pacer Center's Teens Against Bullying, Project54Tour, Threads 4 Humanity, and others.

Play Pretty, Play Pals Project has introduced a series of cross-cultural children’s books, music CDs, merchandise, animated shorts, interactive video game, and a documentary film story to show support for President & Mrs. Obama's anti-bullying movement, which has already taken national stage in the media.

Become a champion and buy a child an original Play Pretty book + girls character t-shirt or Play Pals book + boys character t-shirt for $35. To learn more visit: www.playprettyplaypals.com and click on the buy now button.

Lil' Chucky Charley Loves His Guitar and Bug Friends Sketches!

Meet Lil' Chucky Charley & His Country Bug Friends. As of Friday, May 20th we're four days ahead of schedule thanks to the brilliant penmanship of Mike Litwin. The three outfits, facial features, and bug sketches have all been approved so now Little Charley can travel the world like Huckleberry Finn.

Top Bugs: Miss Dottie the Lady Bug, Hop-A-Long Grasshopper, JJ Cricket, Daddy Longlegs, Jungbug (flying away from Lil' Charley)
Bottom Bugs: Mr. Boll Weevil, Shoofly Gang (Watts, Luster, Dim, Flash, Pops), Mr. Beetle Dee, Doodlebug Baker

Click To Learn More

A Special Thanks To Derek at Trod Nossel

Today, we finalized the sound recording and mix with Derek Mocarski on both the Play Pretty, Play Pals and Lil' Chucky Charley & His Country Bugs Friends storybook-music CD projects.

We'd like to say thank you to our friends, family, and recording studio partner (Trod Nossel) for all their support in helping to launch the Play Pretty, Play Pals Presents Bullying In America documentary project.


Darlene Cavalier - CEO/Owner of Trod Nossel Productions & Recording Studio
Rob Cavalier - CEO/Owner of Trod Nossel Productions & Recording Studio
Derek Mocarski - Studio Engineer
Brendan Morawski - Studio Engineer
Kevin Brown - Assistant Engineer
Jaqulyn Bartomioli - Studio Assistant
Christina Caputo - Studio Assistant

Broadway Stars Take On Play Pretty, Play Pals Anti-Bullying Campaign

New Play Pretty, Play Pals Kids Character Illustrations have been drawn in the likeness of our former National Basketball Association (NBA) youth dancer (Camille Jones) and Broadway Stars, plus the six (6) original songs written/produced by SURRON now bare their voices.

1. Play Pretty 2. Play Pals 3. Teasing 4. Bully Wooley 5. Tattle Tale Annie 6. Johnny & Alphonso 7. Play Pretty II

Now we're in full production on a documentary film story about the rise of anti-bullying campaigns and the effects of TV, the internet, and social media on bullying behaviors in America. The documentary will feature The Lion King performers along with leading experts in the field, anti-bullying organizations, and stories from individuals like Alye Pollack who have personally been affected.

Award Winning Illustrator Signs Contract To Develop Lil' Chucky Charley & His Country Bug Friends Project

Mike Litwin of Litwin Creative has signed on to develop the Lil' Chucky Charley & His Country Bug Friends characters and storybook-music CD project.

In light of his recent '2011 New York Times Best-Seller' top 10 listing with author Jennifer Fosberry of My Name is Not Isabella (#9) & My Name is Not Alexander (#10), it was a easy decision.

We're looking to have the characters developed by May 25th, 2011 (30 days) and the 48 page book with CD completed by July 22nd, 2011. If all goes according to plan, we'll be traveling to NC within the next 3 months to interview Mike for the documentary.

Building A Brand scheduled to Premier June 6th, 2011 on Wealth TV

Stanley Sweil, Play This Way’s Vice President of Licensing and Business Development is looking for a platform to bring more awareness to their brand and products. We just introduced them to our new program called Building A Brand (in addition to the Play Pretty, Play Pals documentary) as a potential strategic offering. We're currently producing six (6) unique episodes to air on Wealth TV (www.wealthtv.com).

We've designated 4 of 6 episodes to highlight clients (i.e. innovative people, brands, companies, products, etc.) to join the show's premise.

Deloney Publishing Group Collaborates With Surron Music & Publishing Company on Japan’s Nuclear Crisis E-Book

Authors Dr. Ervin Ray Deloney, Dr. Neal Zeigler, and Dr. Daryl McClendon have commissioned the creative publishing expertise of SURRON to create an ebook cover and typesetting design on their latest book called Japan’s Nuclear Crisis: Understanding and Reducing your Radiation Risk.

Deloney Publishing Group is a medical publishing company based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The company is dedicated to educating both young and old on relevant health topics, through creative formats, utilizing all forms of media; including print, film, television, audio and the internet. The company also provides support for health products and authors in the form of medical write-ups and ghost writing.

Lil' Chucky Charley & His Country Bug Friends Come Together

The Making of Lil' Chucky Charley & His Country Bug Friends documentary brought together some of the most gifted musicians, artists, and talent to the New England area to work with SURRON on the children storybook-music CD project.


Ten songs were performed by Ron Surrey with special guest appearances by Watina Barnes, Val Fairley, Jean Michelle Grier, Joshua Jackson, and Chris Horton our pianist and organist extraordinaire.

1. Lil’ Chucky Charley 2. Mr. Boll Weevil 3. Junebug On A String 4. Sweet Potato Pie 5. Catch The Lightning Bug 6. God Loves Common Things 7. The Hen House 8. Doodlebug Baker 9. After The Ugly Bug Ball 10. Daddy Longlegs

Listen to sample streaming clips



And a special shout-out to our Ace Bon Coon (Asa "Ace" Livingston) for bringing the mean bass guitar and a repertoire of bug character voices.

NYC Broadway Performers Lend Their Voices To Play Pretty, Play Pals Program

2011 'Tony For Young Actors' Award Recipients Join Play Pal, Play Pretty Project We're now in full production on the Play Pretty, Play Pals Music CD and documentary project. Our crew filmed the recording session with members of The Lion King cast who have agreed to participate in the program.

1.  KHAIL TOI BRYANT (The Lion King), starred in the movie 'The Perfect Holiday'
2.  EDEN SANAA DUNCAN-SMITH (The Lion King), 2011 winner of 'Tony for young actors'
3.  JOSHUA JACKSON (The Lion King)
4.  ALPHONSO JONES, JR. (The Lion King), 2011 winner of 'Tony for young actors'
5.  JEAN MICHELLE GRIER (The Lion King)


We're also thinking we should leverage this relationship on a BIGGER level by illustrating the likeness of our former NBA dancer (Camille Jones) and Broadway Stars into the new book project.

Contemporary Songwriter and Storyteller Sings About His Country Bug Friends.

Ron Eugene Surrey AKA Little Charles, is currently developing his 2nd children storybook-music CD project called Lil' Chucky Charley & His Country Bug Friends™, which is based on his life growing up as an 8 year old boy in Macon, GA.

We found these photos of Little Charles with one of his favorite guitars, then added a few bug friendly lyrics to his acoustic sound and let the adventures begin.

Listen to first recording of June Bug On A String

Self-Published Author Signs Agreement With SURRON to Develop Play Pretty, Play Pals Education Program

Author Patricia Tomberlin-Hightower has signed a co-production/marketing agreement with SURRON to develop a series of educational products around the Play Pretty, Play Pals books already self-published. Because of the various projects that we're looking to produce (i.e. Storybook-Music CD, Documentary Film, Animation Series, etc.), the goal is to introduce the program in 3 phases:

Phase 1

Development of 4 new book titles (Teasing, Tattle Tale, Respect For Others, Bullying), which contain 27 new Play Pretty, Play Pals characters (by March 15th, 2011), and production on a music CD project containing 6 original songs (by April 21st, 2011).


Phase 2

Illustrator Shawna Malone, has signed a contract with us to develop the characters and illustrate all four new book titles + a storybook-music CD package. Our plan is to engage and secure funding from a sponsor or investor to support the entire PPPP production, distribution, and marketing program.


Phase 3

Once funding for the PPPP Educational program is partially or fully secured we will work to finish producing the storybook-music CD project, documentary film, website development, and 4 books. God willing...Our goal is to develop the entire program by the end of 2011/Spring 2012.