Virginia SLAM!

Leslie Nuchow began Virginia SLAM! as a counter movement against the Virginia Slims' record label, Woman Thing Music. Leslie refused a lucrative offer from the label after learning that in order to buy a Woman Thing Music CD, you were required to purchase two packs of Virginia Slims cigarettes. It was clear that this was not a music project; it was a tobacco project to try to lure young people, especially young women, into smoking. Leslie decided to use the healing power of music to expose and SLAM! harmful industries and organizations. Virginia SLAM! produced two SLAM! concerts in 1997 and 1998, featuring the Indigo Girls and Shawn Mullins that focused on keeping the tobacco industry out of music.

SLAM! concerts bring together high-profile musicians and lesser-known acts, using the power of their music to SLAM! industries and organizations that are harmful to humanity. Virginia SLAM!, Inc. is a 501c3 not for profit corporation.

In addition to the larger concerts, Leslie has been performing mini SLAM!s for middle school, high school and college audiences around the nation, using her musical and political voice to empower young people to see through corporate exploitation and manipulation,  encouraging and inspiring them to find their own, true voices. Some of Leslie's mini SLAM!s  have included performances at the United Nations, the MGM Main Theater, and the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

Stories on Leslie and SLAM! have appeared widely in magazines and on television and radio, including, MTV; VH1; Dateline NBC; Good Morning America; CNN Headline News; Eye on America, CBS Evening News with Dan Rather; and In the Mix, a nationally syndicated PBS program for teens. After winning a nation-wide talent search, Leslie was invited to perform at the Lilith Fair in 1999. She shared the stage with Sheryl Crow, the Indigo Girls, Sarah McLachlan, the Dixie Chicks and Deborah Cox. She has also shared the stage with Shawn Mullins, Blessid Union of Souls, Patti Smith and Jill Sobule. Leslie has performed for Nelson Mandela, and is featured on Refuge, a 1999 compilation CD with Peter Gabriel. Leslie's first CD Tenderland, which is receiving constant airplay throughout U.S. and Canada, combines a voice of immense power and sensuality with politically and personally astute lyrics.  This fall Leslie will appear on The Rosie O'Donnell Show.

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Created: 6/27/2001  -  Leslie Nuchow