Wanda's Picks

We honor the memory of Mamakye or Dolores Mae Dixon, who is making her ascension (Jan. 20, 1937-Oct. 16, 2011); Wadada Leo Smith blesses the show with a fabulous interview and conversation about his latest opus: 10 Freedom Summers debuting Oct. 28-30, 2011 at the REDCAT Theatre in the Walt Disney Concert Hall Complex. Visit www.redcat.org or call (213) 237-2800. We feature music from his CD: The Blue Mountain's Sun Drummer which features Smith on trumpet, vocals, flugel horn, mbira, and Ed Blackwell on drums and percussion. For those in the area support the fundraiser for Robert Jones and the Lyphedema Foundation by having a meal at Fresh Choice, Sat., Oct. 22 and Oct. 29, 2011, 11 AM to 9 PM. For a coupon and information about Robert call: (510) 253-8120 or email Marcus Gary, [email protected] Oh, and don't forget Maafa Commemoration Month activities continue. Tonight is Post-Afric Highways' play at the Sargent Johnson Gallery, 762 Fulton Street. Friday, Oct. 21, reception at 6 PM, reading at 7 PM. Sat., Oct. 22, play at 2 PM Bring the entire family out. It is a free event. Next week is a film, Traces of the Trade with the producer, Juanita Brown, and youth sharing poetry inspired by the Black Holocaust. The event is, Sun., Oct. 30, 1-4 PM at the Oakland Main Library, 14th and Madison. Visit www.maafasfbayarea.com

1. We open with director Lavinia Currier speaking about OKA!  2. Women & Girls Lead: A Public Media Iniatative to Focus, Educate, and Connect Audiences Worldwide: Shannon Farley, founding Executive Director of Spark, Deborah Holmes, Vice President of Communications for the Global Fund for Women, and  Gini Reticker, an executive producer of Women, War & Peace and directed both Pray the Devil Back to Hell and the third film in the series about Afghanistan, Peace Unveiled. 3. Beverly Lee: The Shirelles featuring Legendary Original Member & Co-founder Beverly Lee, The Originators Of The Girl Group Sound Celebrate Over 50 Years Of Making Music Together, perform, Tue-Sat, 10/18-22, 8 pm, Sun, 10/23, 7pm, $40-47.50. The Shirelles were an American girl group in the early 1960s, and the first to have a No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100. Formed in New Jersey in 1958, the quartet went on to release a string of hits. The Shirelles were the first major female vocal group of the rock and roll era, preceding Motown as a crossover phenomenon with white audiences. Unlike The Chantels, who had had their first hit in 1957, they were successful in Britain, first and foremost with "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" (1960).

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the writing, visual and performing arts of African people in the Diaspora. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work filled with raw unfettered passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay! Remember to tune in on Wednesdays from 6 AM PST to 7 or 8 AM and on Fridays from 8 AM to 10 AM. We also host special broadcasts from time to time.

The Power of Myth: Finding Joe with director, Patrick Takaya Solomon; Denise Michelle Harris, author and playwright speaks about Sweet Bye Bye at Black Rep; Christine Lee, director speaks about daKah Hip Hop Orchestra @ MVFF.  She is joined by Dakonductor Geoff “Double G” Gallegos.

This weekend I had the opportunity to visit with two of Africa’s more important artists, filmmakers, Gaston Kabore and Sidi Fassara Diabate. Kabore, honored at the 34th Annual Mill Valley Film Festival which continues through Sunday, October 16, 2011, graciously offered to translate from the French Diabate’s answers to me. Today's broadcast is a unique opportunity to hear from two directors from the African continent who agree that Africans need to continue to tell their own stories especially now. Today many African youth, mesmerized with the West, have forgotten the glory that is their own heritage. African greatness is not limited to European government hostility, in this case, French invasions nor is post-colonial independence (1960) an accurate view of the greatness limited to the recent history that is Burkino Faso (Mossi kingdom) in the case of Gaston or Mali in the case of director, Diabate, a country which was once “part of three West African empires that controlled trans-Saharan trade: the Ghana Empire, the Mali Empire (from which Mali is named). Both directors came to film through their study of history. Though Diabate has worked on every major film to come out of Mali for the past 20 years, Da Monzon,The Conquest of Samayana is his first major film which is in Bambara with English subtitles.  Gaston's two major films are: Wend Kuni or God's Gift and it's sequel Buud Yam, screening this evening,Tuesday, October 11, 2011,  at the Rafael at 7 PM. Visit mvff.com

Robert Henry Johnson is a dancer and playwright who mixes movement style and literary influences with equal fluidity. The son of jazz singer Lady Mem'fis and guitarist Robert Gonzales, he was one of the first students to graduate from San Francisco's School of the Performing Arts. He attended the San Francisco Ballet School on full scholarship. His performances are an arresting mix of muscular virtuosity, manic energy and naked emotion. The founder of the Self Care Reform movement, Marcus Lorenzo Penn, M.D. is a native of San Francisco, CA and currently lives in Oakland, CA.  Harnessing his many talents as a yoga teacher, photographic artist, public and community health physician, author, and speaker, Dr. Penn is passionate about living, seeing and moving through life fully.  He focuses much of his attention on providing health education and promoting good health and wellness through yoga and other preventive health practices. Juanita Capri Brown is a societal equity consultant specializing in racial equity and healing, strategic community engagement and organizational development.  Brown served as co-producer and lead facilitator for the 2009 Emmy-nominated documentary Traces of the Trade:  A Story from the Deep North. Fay Dearborn is a programmer at the San Francisco Documentary Film Festival, one of 3 film festivals produced by the non-profit SF IndieFest (as Assistant Director). Joshua Atesh Litle was raised in San Francisco, the son of a Turkish novelist and American cinema professor.  A longtime Hip-Hop fan, his first passion was music, and he worked as a bassist, composer, and DJ before picking up the camera. Always interested in social causes, he began directing projects for Amnesty International in 2009.  "The Furious Force of Rhymes" represents a culmination of his three passions:  cinema, music, and social justice.

Today we speak to Sascha Rice, director of the film, California State of Mind screening at the 34th Annual Mill Valley Film Festival opening tonight. We open with a conversation with Katie Selma about her monthly Amorpour The LoveBar. And we might speak to one of the winners of this year's Friend's of the Negro Spiritual's Heritage Awards. We close with Jeremiah Kpoh speaking about the monthly Kalakuta Music Series this weekend at Oasis Bar and Restraunt, and Johnny, leader of Lagos Roots speaks about a concert celebrating Fela Kuti's birthday.

We feature 3 directors from the 34th Annual Mill Valley Film Festival: Joshua Dylan Mellars, dir. Play Like a Lion; Nick Polizzi, dir. Sacred Science; Paige Bierma, dir. A Brush with the Tenderloin."

Artists Carla Oden & Sue Matthews speak about this year's contributions: "Illuminations: Día de los Muertos 2011" at SOMArts Cultural Center Bay Gallery, 934 Brannan Street (between 8th and 9th Streets), San Francisco, CA  94103?, October 8 – November 5.

Abigail E. Disney joins us to talk about the initiative: Women, War & Peace and her films, "Pray the Devil Back to Hell" and "Peace Unveiled" (2nd & 3rd films in the series). Women, War & Peace, a bold new five-part PBS mini-series, is the most comprehensive global media initiative ever mounted on the roles of women in peace and conflict. Women, War & Peace will broadcast on five consecutive Tuesday evenings: October 11, 18, and 25 and November 1 and 8, 2011 (check local listings). "Peace Unveiled, Disney," Gini Reticker, & Claudia Rizzi: When the U.S. troop surge was announced in late 2009, women in Afghanistan knew that the ground was being laid for peace talks with the Taliban. Peace Unveiled follows three women in Afghanistan who are risking their lives to make sure that women have a seat at the negotiating table. Visit http://www.itvs.org/films/women-war-and-peace Wonderful Bay Area singer Clairdee and I have a fabulous conversation, full of laughter and joy about her career and her encore performance at the Rrazz Room at Hotel Nikko in San Francisco, 8 PM, tonight, Tuesday, October 4, 2011.

María Fernanda Acuña, vocals, percussion & Venezuelan cuatro, was born and raised in Venezuela. She specializes in a variety of drums and Latin American percussion instruments. For her work with Quijeremá she has developed a unique drum-set incorporating folk instruments from around the world combined with traditional cymbals, snare and kick drum. Michael Warr, Poet Michael Warr’s books of poetry include The Armageddon of Funk (October 2011). His literary awards include the Gwendolyn Brooks Significant Illinois Poets Award. A frequent collaborator with musicians, visual and performing artists, Michael’s poems have been dramatized on stage, depicted on canvas, and set to original music compositions. Sheila E, drummer, became a solo artist in 1984, played with Azteca, the Latin jazz-fusion band led by her father, percussionist Pete Escovedo; she also played on two of his solo albums recorded for Fantasy Records. Prince discovered Sheila E. around 1983 and had her sing on "Erotic City," the B-side to his number one 1984 single, "Let's Go Crazy."Her latest is Now & Forever and the family performs at KBLX Stone Soul II Concert, Oct. 1, 2011. Zoë Elton works in film and theatre as a programmer, writer, director and educator, & the long-time director of programming for Mill Valley Film Festival. Don Reed wasn't able to join us, his mother is ill. We hope to have him on at another time to talk about his latest work: THE KIPLING HOTEL which picks up where the earlier show, E-14TH, left off. Ericka Huggins, Black Panther Party leader, activist, artist, teacher, joins us instead of Don, to talk about The Black Power Mixtape, a film which has had an extended run in the San Francisco Bay Area.