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Community Highlights: Meet Dennis J West of DWest Consolidated Inc

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dennis J West.

Dennis J West

Hi Dennis J, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My road to being a writer be it a ( Movie Script, Stage Play, a Book, Course Outline or Organizational Structure) it all started way back in the 1970’s growing up I used to write down everything. I started with writing down the hi-lites and all the happenings during the day or  If it was a really active day. I think that I would’ve  labeled me as a kid with “ADHD” or some other title. My youngest sister was born to be an educator, she was my first teacher, she was my first business consultant. My first few years in school were stellar (I was a good student in elementary grades.) In the seventh grade is when I discovered two things that changed my life forever. My two cousins Anthony and Melvin Bell were studying karate and me and every other young male that watched Kung Fu. It was a story of a Shaolin Monk played by David Carradine. The other discovery was young ladies “girls” starting to study karate with my cousins was one of the best things that could’ve happened to me. I became pretty good at karate. I started teaching and attending karate tournaments at a very early age. As I said earlier in my journal I mean I write everything down. One of my first loves was music, I started singing at a very early age, I started collecting music “buying albums at a very young age as well. It was that love of music that kind of jump started my career. For the next few years It was all music, producing music, managing singing and acting talent.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It doesn’t matter the branch of entertainment that you are in, It’s tough when I started you had to pay your dues, work your way up. Start off singing in a group, working with someone else as you sit under them learning the business. I did that one of my first mentors was a classmate of mine Nathaniel Culpepper Jr. his family had a supermarket. His Dad allowed him to put a record shop inside the washerette. He asked me to come in with him to operate it. We sold records and stereo equipment. Most of my early struggles were due to my age. When I was 19 or 20 managing music acts most of the time I had to deal with older adults that didn’t respect me nor my talent or position. I didn’t quit. I got a break in the late 70’s and early 80’s when I met a young lady at McDonald’s. She knew a guy that had a band and she attended school with him. Actually her cousin dated the drummer of the band. She took me to meet her cousin and the drummer of the group named Sequence 8. When he found out I was from Thomson, Ga a little town 30 miles west of Augusta. During that time the Post #576 used to book some pretty big acts. We met Marc and I. One of the first questions he asked me was “can I get them to play at the post”…I said yes. Just like that I’m in the band management side of things. Little did I know what was coming, booking a gig, we show up and play the show the club owner or manager leaves with the money. I can count the times that happened. (2) I developed a written contract and a deposit to protect my Band. It was a struggle nonetheless. We never gave up or into all the negative people we encountered.

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about DWest Consolidated Inc ?
DWest Consolidated Inc. serves as the Corporate Umbrella for all of what I do, and the way I like to market and position myself. ( Albranta Entertainment…Live events Music and Stage Plays, Albranta Music Group..Music Production, Albranta Management Group…Artist representation, Albranta MultiMedia…Marketing and Advertising, Albranta Food Group..Consultant to the Hospitality Industry, Albranta Publishing Group..Editing services, Book publishing and Music Publishing. These days I mainly write Books as well as publish Books for other Authors and I’m in the process of directing and producing a Stage Play.

What makes you happy?
This is an entire interview question within itself, the first thing that makes me happy is that I’m saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. That is first and foremost the main important thing that keeps me happy and sane. and the why is “I could’ve been dead, there were so many times where it could’ve went a different way, but GOD blocked it Secondly my children and my grandchildren love me to no end as well as numerous other bonus children and bonus grand children and 100’s of others I’ve mentored over the years. I’ve been endowed with certain talents that I know it was GOD and GOD alone that enabled me to become successful. Giving back however I can makes me happy. I just love to do this ( GO TO WALMART, ANY RETAIL OUTLET OR A RESTAURANT AND BLESS A TOTAL STRANGER BY PAYING FOR THEIR MEAL OF WHENEVER THEY HAVE IN THEIR CART) Oftentimes I like to do it when they have no idea what happened or who did it, let alone why I did it. I’ve recently retired from my W-2 job of 50 years to write fulltime and I’ve decided to reopen my karate school and be on the lookout in late June or early July.

Contact Info:

  • Website: www.dwestconsolidated.com
  • Instagram: dennisjwest
  • Facebook: dennisjwest
  • Linkedin: dennisjwest
  • Twitter: dennisjwest
  • Youtube: dennisjwest

 

Image Credits
All photos are from my personal collection

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