By David Fortier

Welcome to “My Bristol,” a regular feature of The Bristol Edition, where I write about my hometown and what it means to me. Subjects can be anything from the 100 year-old rhododendron in the front yard to the empty lot downtown.

The subject might be dinnertime, a summer or winter day, a fall day on the front porch, weeding the garden, attending the Little League Eastern Regionals, a Blues or American Legion game or a walk around the neighborhood.

It might be something that happened early last month, which is just what this post is about, when Bristol’s Dante Cimadamore stopped by after launching his latest music project, an album entitled Extraordinary. Dante is a Bristol Eastern grad, and a classmate of the eldest son (Class of 2002).

Dante began a country-wide tour promoting the album in Hamden, June 3. When he came by a few days later, two days after launching the album on social media, it was to help me with this website and to help me grasp the significance of social media, something he has to contend with daily as an entertainer, and something I have yet to embrace fully, as evidenced by the lapse between his visit and my posting.

Dante performs original alt-pop songs under the title, Give Me Motion. He tells his story on the website, beginning with his sojourn from Bristol to West Hollywood where he slept on the couch in his sister’s apartment. The album is a kick, as is his website and YouTube site, where anyone can see what he has been up to, creatively, for the past decade.

Back then, Dante performed around town. Does anyone remember New Cambridge Coffee and Tea, where Parkside Cafe is currently? Yes, Dante played there a couple of times. Imagine, a high school kid singing his own songs, and some covers, tucked away in the corner of the coffee shop. Bristol people are amazing!

Aside from writing and performing his own songs, Dante is a member of the outfit that created and produces Famous Rap Battles of History. There is a picture of Dante with Epic Rap Battles co-founder, Peter Shukoff,on the Wikipedia page featuring the group.

I am about a month and a half late writing about this, but it’s not too late to check out Dante’s album, his YoutTube page and Epic Rap Battles. His album is available for purchase on a variety of sites, including Amazon, iTunes and Spotify.

Check out his youtube videos: Give Me Motion YouTube.

Check out Dante’s website, where you can listen to his latest album and (wink wink) purchase it: Give Me Motion.

If you have any similar stories about Bristol people carving out a special place in any field, from the arts to sciences, drop me a line at dfortier@bristoledition.org. I’d love to mention them in these pages.

At some point, I anticipate running “My Bristol” columns from readers.