art stuff
DC-based artist
Allen Uzikee Nelson (http://www.uzikee.com/), has a show that just opened at the Wilmer Jennings Gallery (NYC, info below). Uzikee has sculptures all over the city including one right around the corner from my house in front of the
Anacostia Community Museum. Check out his website. The exihbit is called the Ancestral Garden Sculpture.
October 22-Dec 23, 2006
Wednesday to Saturday 11am-6pm
Wilmer Jennings Galery at Kenkelba
219 East 2nd Street (at Ave B)
New York, NY 10009
closed Nov 23, 2006
info on Wilmer Jennings, the artist the gallery is named after:
http://www.artgallery.umd.edu/driskell/exhibition/sec3/jenn_w_01.htm
Wilmer Jennings
Born Atlanta, Georgia, 1910
B.S., Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia, 1933
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island, 1940s
Jewelry Designer, Imperial Pearl, Rhode Island, 1948-1979
Died 1990
Major Exhibitions
Black Printmakers and the W.P.A., The Lehman College Art Gallery, Bronx, New York, 1989
Against the Odds: African-American Artists and the Harmon Foundation, Newark Museum, New Jersey, 1989
Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s by African-American Artists; From the Collection of Reba and Dave Williams, American Federation of the Arts, 1993
some cool october birthdays
October 7: Imamu Amiri Baraka is a prize-winning playwright, poet, critic and activist who was appointed poet laureate of New Jersey. Among his many books are Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note, Blues People, Dutchman and The Slave, and The LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka Reader.
October 12: Alice Childress (1920-1994) was a playwright and novelist. Her plays include Florence, Mojo, Wedding Band, and Moms.. In 1978, she wrote the screenplay for the film based on her novel, A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich.
October 12: Ann Petry (1908-1997) was a novelist and children’s book writer. Her first novel, The Street, was the 1946 winner of the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship. Her children’s books were Harriet Tubman and Tituba of Salem Village.
October 13: Arna Bontemps (1902-1973) was in the forefront of the New Negro Movement. He published over 20 books of poetry, plays, children’s books, and literary anthologies, most of which were related to the Harlem Renaissance. A museum in his birthplace—Alexandria, Louisiana—is dedicated to his work.
October 18: Terry McMillan is the author of the bestselling novels Disappearing Acts, Mama, Waiting to Exhale, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, A Day Late and a Dollar Short,and The Interruption of Everything. She edited an anthology of contemporary African-American writing, Breaking Ice.
October 18: Ntozake Shange is a playwright, poet, novelist, and children’s book author who is well known for her “choreopoem,” For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide when the Rainbow Is Enuf, which was produced on Broadway and in film.
October 21: Ahmos Zu-Bolton (1946-2005) was a literary and spoken word poet and playwright who founded the arts journal HooDoo. He published several poetry collections.
October 27: Ronald Fair is a novelist and short story writer. The 1975 movie, Cornbread, Earl and Me was based on his novel, Hog Butcher. Three of his other books are Many Thousand Gone, We Can’t Breathe, and World of Nothing.
courtesy of http://africanamericanlit.suite101.com
Read about one woman's love/hate relationship with Hip Hop
Why I Gave Up On Hip-Hop
By Lonnae O'Neal Parker
Sunday, October 15, 2006; B01
My 12-year-old daughter, Sydney, and I were in the car not long ago when she turned the radio to a popular urban contemporary station. An unapproved station. A station that might play rap music. "No way, Syd, you know better," I said, so Sydney changed the station, then pouted.
"Mommy, can I just say something?" she asked. "You think every time you hear a black guy's voice it's automatically going to be something bad. Are you against hip-hop?"
Her words slapped me in the face. In a sense, she was right. I haven't listened to radio hip-hop for years. I have no clue who is topping the charts and I can't name a single rap song in play.
But I swear it hasn't always been that way.
My daughter can't know that hip-hop and I have loved harder and fallen out further than I have with any man I've ever known.
That my decision to end our love affair had come only after years of disappointment and punishing abuse. After I could no longer nod my head to the misogyny or keep time to the vapid materialism of another rap song. After I could no longer sacrifice my self-esteem or that of my two daughters on an altar of dope beats and tight rhymes.
Click here to read more
Dr. Billy Taylor is doing his thing at the Kennedy Center!
Look at all this good music coming to the Kennedy Center!!!
Rufus Reid Quintet
Oct 13, 2006 |
One of today's premier bassists on the international jazz scene, "his luscious sound and buoyant swing can levitate an ensemble clear off the bandstand" (The New Yorker).
Cyrus Chestnut Trio
Oct 14, 2006 |
Using gospel roots to transmit a joyful, contagious affinity to early jazz forms, the pianist reveals "an orchestral command of the keyboard and a sophisticated sense of swing" (People Magazine).
Kellylee Evans
Oct 20, 2006 |
The "charismatic" (JazzTimes) Canadian singer has a smooth style that glides through jazz, soul, and R&B. She performs music from Fight or Flight?, her latest CD.
Dr. Lonnie Smith Trio featuring Peter Bernstein and Allison Miller
Oct 21, 2006 |
Dr. Lonnie Smith, a gifted pianist and proponent of the Hammond B3 organ, is joined by guitarist Peter Bernstein and drummer Allison Miller to perform music from Dr. Smith's latest CD, Jungle Soul, and more.
Louis Hayes and the Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band featuring Jeremy Pelt
Oct 28, 2006 |
Exceptionally gifted bop drummer Louis Hayes was a member of alto saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley's original quintet. Trumpeter Jeremy Pelt joins the band for this special concert.
Kurt Elling
Nov 3 - 4, 2006 |
Grammy-nominated vocalist/composer Elling is back to showcase more of his "robustly expressive vocals and exquisitely silken phrases" (The Chicago Tribune).
Keter Betts Tribute
Nov 10, 2006 at 7:30 PM |
In a co-presentation with Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, the Center pays tribute to a local jazz legend, the late Keter Betts.
Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE: Blueprint of a Lady: The Once and Future Life of Billie Holiday with Nnenna Freelon (Dec. 7); All-Brown Program (Dec. 8 & 9)
Dec 7 - 9, 2006 |
This American company blends African, modern, ballet, and hip-hop dance styles to tell stories about the human experience. This engagement includes a collaboration with jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon.
A Jazz New Year's Eve: Freddy Cole & the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band
Dec 31, 2006 |
Ring in the New Year in style with a sizzling late-night jazz performance by vocalist and pianist Freddy Cole and the Dizzy Gillespie™ All-Star Big Band.
An Evening of Duets with René Marie and Kevin Mahogany
Jan 13, 2007 |
Two stunning contemporary vocalists come together for a special concert.
Dave Holland Sextet
Feb 9, 2007 | On Sale 12/11/06,
The Grammy-winning bassist-composer-bandleader returns to the Center with his newly formed ensemble.
The Barber Brothers
Feb 23, 2007 | On Sale 12/11/06,
Twins Rahsaan (saxophone) and Roland (trombone) Barber,named after famed saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk, make their KC Jazz Club debut with music from their CD, Twinnovation.
Jason Moran and the Bandwagon
Feb 24, 2007 | On Sale 12/11/06,
Down Beat critics chose Moran as the winner of Rising Star Jazz Artist, Composer, and Acoustic Piano, and the Bandwagon was awarded Rising Star Acoustic Group.
Jazz in Our Time All-Star Opening Night Concert and Award Ceremony
Mar 3, 2007 at 7:00 PM | On Sale 12/11/06,
The Jazz In Our Time Festival kicks off with a performance featuring vocalist Nancy Wilson with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra and a ceremony honoring many living jazz legends.
Ahmad Jamal and special guests Donald Byrd and Jimmy Heath
Mar 9, 2007 | On Sale 12/11/06,
NEA Jazz Master pianist Ahmad Jamal is joined by two fellow NEA Jazz Masters: hard-bop, jazz fusion, and R&B trumpeter Donald Byrd and tenor saxophonist and flutist Jimmy Heath.
Hank Jones Quartet featuring Roberta Gambarini, with special guests Paquito D'Rivera & Clark Terry
Mar 10, 2007 | On Sale 12/11/06,
Since making his debut recording as a leader in 1947, Hank Jones has continued to impress jazz fans for more than six decades. Part of the Jazz in Our Time Festival.
WPAS: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, trumpet
Mar 13, 2007 at 8:00 PM |
Robert Glasper
Mar 23, 2007 | On Sale 12/11/06,
"At 26, Robert Glasper is already impressive--a gifted jazz musician with a brilliant, energetic technique and a fresh, mesmerizing sense of melody and composition" (Baltimore Sun).
Three Tenors: James Moody, Nathan Davis, and Quamon Fowler
Mar 24, 2007 | On Sale 12/11/06,
NEA Jazz Master Moody picks up his tenor sax to join fellow tenor men Davis and Fowler.
Takana Miyamoto Trio with special guest Russell Gunn
Mar 30, 2007 | On Sale 12/11/06,
Pianist Miyamoto brings an unusual sense of storytelling to her emotional improvisations and compositions.
Wallace Roney Sextet
Mar 31, 2007 | On Sale 12/11/06,
The three-time Grammy-winning trumpeter/composer leads an ensemble that blends "styles into a powerful, almost intimidating whole" (All About Jazz).
12th Annual Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival
May 10 - 12, 2007 | On Sale 2/9/07,
The festival marks its 12th thrilling year with star-studded performances featuring the world's top female jazz artists.
Such Sweet Thunder featuring the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra
May 20, 2007 at 8:00 PM | On Sale 2/9/07,
The SJMO will perform Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn's Shakespeare-inspired compositions interspersed with soliloquies, scenes, and speeches from the Bard.
Happy Birthday Monk!!!
In the belly of blackness
or Monk on Frienship...
"The only rose without a thorn is friendhip"
That is a lie, dig.
Bud threw that dope
on my lap when the cops came
they put me in the belly
of blackness for 90 days,
pulled me from the womb
of the only friends
I have ever known,
Nellie and my piano
that hurt like death,
like a cat stepping
on the front of your solo
off key. shit,
if you ask me friendship
is a flower with the most thorns
if you doin it right.
----------------------------------------
I have a few other MONK inspired poems I will post them soon...
Kennedy Center to Stage Entire Cycle By August Wilson
Kennedy Center to Stage Entire Cycle By August Wilson
By Peter Marks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 4, 2006; C01
Presenting a boldly comprehensive showcase of the work of one of America's most important playwrights, the Kennedy Center announced yesterday that it will stage all 10 plays in August Wilson's epic cycle exploring the African American experience through the decades of the 20th century.
The month-long event, scheduled for the spring of 2008, will present each of the 10 plays as a staged reading in the center's Terrace Theater, under the artistic leadership of Kenny Leon, the Atlanta-based director who staged the premiere of the last Wilson play that the dramatist was to see on Broadway, "Gem of the Ocean." Leon is also directing "Radio Golf," the final piece in the cycle, which is currently making its way to Broadway. Wilson died in October 2005 at the age of 60.
Kennedy Center officials say that the festival "August Wilson's 20th Century" will be the first to offer all 10 of the plays -- which include two Pulitzer Prize winners and one Tony Award winner -- in one concentrated package. The plays will run in the chronological order in which they are set, beginning with "Gem," set in the early 1900s, and ending with "Radio Golf," which takes place in the 1990s. In between will come such familiar Wilson works as "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," "The Piano Lesson" and "Fences."
Click here to read more
Callaloo: The Hip Hop Issue
click the picture for a larger view of the cover, which feature artwork by poet and visual artist
Krista Franklin
Callaloo is one of the the longest running, most prestigiuous journals of African American and Diasporic literature out today. The latest issue wil hit the stores in two weeks and it's theme is work dealing with hip hop, another reason to get excited about this issue in particular is because it will feature the photography of Jati Lindsay, so you may want to pick up an copy (or two) and get him to sign it for you.
Also, big ups to my man,
Kyle Dargan who is the managing editor of Callaloo and a professor at AU.
Check out Callaloo here
good music over the next few days
Duke Ellington Jazz Festival
http://dejazzfest.org/duke/events.html
Wednesday, October 4 - Sunday, October 8
October 6, 2006
Burnt Sugar/The Arkestra Chamber
Created by writer/guitarist/producer Greg Tate in 1999, Burnt Sugar, The Arkestra Chamber, explores the connective tissue binding jazz, rock, funk, 20th-century composition, and African music. PART OF D.C.’s DUKE ELLINGTON JAZZ FESTIVAL.
Hosted By: The Kennedy Center
When: Friday Oct 06, 2006
at 6:00 PM
Where: The Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage
2700 F Street NW
Washington, DC 20566
US
Burnt Sugar/The Arkestra Chamber is the creation of writer/musician and now conductor, Greg Tate. A founder of the Black Rock Coalition bands, Tate is also former lead guitarist/songwriter of the BRC bands, Women In Love, Mack Diva, and Medusa Oblongata. Tate is also the author of the 1993 collection Flyboy In the Buttermilk (Fireside/Simon & Schuster), and a longtime staffer at The Village Voice and a regular contributor to VIBE.
Burnt Sugar has been performing in a host of New York venues for almost two years: CBGBs, Joe’s Pub, Lotus, Tonic, The Cooler, The Anchorage and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. In December they were the subject of a one-hour special on BET Jazz Live from the Knitting Factory. The special continues to air frequently on the channel.
Burnt Sugar’s established members are drummers Shazad Ismaily and Qasim Naqvi, bassists Jason Di Matteo and Jared Nickerson, pianists Vijay Iyer and Myles Reilly, flutist Satch Hoyt, synthesist Bruce Mack, guitarists Rene Akhan, Morgan Michael Craft, and Kirk Douglass, trumpeter Lewis Flip Barnes, electric dulcimer player Honeychild, cellist Julia Kent, and vocalists Justice X and Lisala Beatty. Special guests have included former Living Colour members Muzz Skillings and Vernon Reid.
Among others, members of the band have worked with Roscoe Mitchell, James Blood Ulmer, Steve Coleman, The The, Jeff Buckley, Gary Lucas, T. M. Stevens, Earthdriver, Carl Hancock-Rux, Freedy Johnston, WE, Hamid Drake, William Parker Big Band, Imani Uzuri, Tamar-Kali and Rasputina.
Geri Allen Trio featuring Ron Carter and Jimmy Cobb with the Afro Blue Vocal Ensemble of Howard University
Oct 6, 2006
Terrace Theater
Geri Allen
Ron Carter, bassist
Jimmy Cobb, drummer
Afro Blue Vocal Ensemble of Howard University
EXCLUSIVE KENNEDY CENTER ENGAGEMENT!
The New York Times hails Geri Allen as "a jazz pianist who dares to follow an unmarked road." And the Los Angeles Times has applauded her "devotion to the swinging roots of jazz." For her first headline engagement in the Terrace Theater, the pianist, composer, and Howard University graduate is joined by two living legends for exclusive Kennedy Center performances.
Along with D.C. native drummer Jimmy Cobb and NEA Jazz Master and Grammy-winning bassist Ron Carter, Geri Allen performs music from their new CD, Timeless Portraits and Dreams. Don't miss this extremely rare and exciting concert event - it's your only chance to see these three spectacular talents performing live together! Also appearing is the Afro Blue Vocal Ensemble of Howard University, which will back the trio on select numbers from the recording.
check out this WashPost profile on mentor and poet, Dwayne Betts...
From Inmate to Mentor, Through Power of Books
By Lonnae O'Neal Parker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 2, 2006; A01
The young black guys, in baseball caps and shorts, striped polos and slouchy pants, sit in a circle. They have "Letters to a Young Brother" by Hill Harper open on their laps, but the conversation has strayed from book talk to boy talk -- hip-hop, sports, school.
"When I asked, 'Why is everybody white, except the janitors are black?' the teacher sent me to the office," complains 12-year-old Kyle Turner of Columbia, and there are nods and murmurs of assent.
Teachers have it in for us.
Click here to read more
late pass...
I know i probably need a late pass on this but Mosaic Literary Magazine is transitioning from a print publication to a online one and are offering their magazine for free download in PDF, check it out here,
Mosaic Literary Magazine Archives
