Name: Steven Phillip Duncan

Grant Applied For: Small

Projects Program; city offers up to $1,000 “to make grant funds more accessible for small-scale arts projects.”

Money Needed For: costs associated with recording Phillips’ debut CD, Rock Paradise.

Sample Lyric: “I’ll buy a you a strawberry sundae with a cherry on top yeah give you money for you to shop. You’re nice you entice me you mix it with milk and make a shake I hope you wear silk a know is hard to fake.” (From “Strawberry Sundae”)

Background: In his artistic résumé, Duncan notes, “I have a history with music,” citing his experience as a “Guitarist, Keyboardist, Dancer, Songwriter Producer, Screenwriter, Vocalist, Actor, [and] Drum Beat Creator.” He adds that he also has “Artistic Direction abilities.”

Plan: In his application, Duncan says he will use 12 of his “apx. 50” tunes for Rock Paradise. That includes “Strawberry Sundae” and “Black Diamond,” a song about a high-school almost-girlfriend and her “so called wedding plans that supposedly I couldn’t seem to except.” Among the costs he hopes the city will cover is a $60 fee for changing his name.

Amount Asked For: $910

Status: denied

Upshot: It seems as though the District missed the boat. Duncan says he “just got an agency contract” for a local representative to send a screenplay of his to “25 major motion-picture companies.”