Wanda's Picks

Today we feature the music of Carmen Lundy from her latest: "Solamente." We open with "Going to the Ritual" by the late drummer/composer, Rashied Ali. Our guest this morning is Israeli-French filmmaker Simone Bitton, director of "Rachel," a new investigative film about the events surrounding the killing of peace activist Rachel Corrie.

Rebroadcast of the show: Maafa 2009: Hurricane Katrina, 4-Years Later.

Today we will speak to James Brooks, actor, along with the director and principle actress of a production of "Aida" on stage through this weekend at Mills College in Oakland, CA.

We will reflect on the Gulf Region, 4 years later on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. We will speak to policy makers and activists, those affected who left and those who now live elsewhere. We will talk about the cultural legacy of New Orleans and the South, what is needed to preserve this legacy and how people can help. Guests are: 6:00-7:00 AM Carole Bebelle & Viola Johnson: Aché Cultural Center and the New Orleans Rebuild-a-thon, New Orleans natives, Jordan Flaherty, Left-Turn Magazine, CeCe Campbell-Rock, Survivors for Survivors, Antor Ndep, Executive Director, Common Ground Health Clinic, and Malik Rahim, co-founder, Common Ground Relief, Katrina survivor.

7:00-8:00 AM Lolis Elie, Dawn Logdon, director, producer/subject: Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans with Angela Wellman, musician, scholar, founding director, Oakland Public Conservatory of Music. There is a benefit this evening for OPC. Visit www.opcmusic.org. Sunday, August 30, 2009, is "Maafa 2009: Hurricane Katrina," our 5th annual benefit/report back for Common Ground Health Clinic and LIFE of MS, Biloxi site, at Shashamane International Bar & Grill, 2507 Broadway Street in Oakland, (510) 868-4318. Donations for either of these organizations LIFE or CGHC can be sent to P.O. Box 30756, Oakland, CA 94604. Please make checks out to the organization. We are targeting care for the disabled community and the elderly. We will have poetry, music, and comfort for those directly affected. Please join us.

Robert King, advocate, prison abolitionist, author, was on the air listening--that's technology for you. I didn't see his number and therefore missed his call. King was on my first show a year ago, and has been my most avid supporter. He is also a Katrina survivor in the Diaspora--Austin, TX.

We celebrate the legacy of Casper Banjo this morning with Akili Banjo (Casper's niece), and friends Lee Williams, Tomye, and Charles Blackwell. We'll speak about Casper's life and work which is being celebrated in the exhibit: "3 Worlds, Myth, Bricks, Prints," Arias, Fuentes, Banjo, August 14 - September 19, 2009, at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, 2868 Mission Street, San Francisco. The commemoration is Saturday, August 29, 3-5 PM., (415) 821-1155, www.missionculturalcenter.org. Next we are joined by scholar poet, Kathryn Waddell Takara and her daughter, poet, educator, activist, Karla Brundage. They will speak about the Hurricane Katrina Fundraiser/Reportback, Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009, 3-5 PM, at Shashamane Restaurant, 2507 Broadway in Oakland. Big Chief Kevin Goodman speaks to us about the Mardi Gras Indian tradition and his life now in the Diaspora post-Katrina in Austin. Visit http://www.myspace.com/bigchiefkevingoodman We close with a conversation with David Alston, archivist, journalist, photographer about Michael Jackson, whose birthday is Aug. 29 (8/29/1958-June 25, 2009)

We will speak to directors featured in the upcoming film festival: Women Make Movies at the Roxie Theatre in San Francisco beginning Friday, August 28 through Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009.

Carmen Lundy is in town Thurs.-Fri., June 16-17, 2011, with her trio featuring Anthony Wonsey on piano, Corcoran Holt on bass, and Jamison Ross on drums. I have tickets for her 10 PM show at Yoshi's Jack London Square. If you are interested drop me a line at [email protected]

Here's the plan, but as with all things, stay loose just in case something changes (smile):Carmen Lundy, composer/singer, "Solamente," 8 AM, Ms. Lundy will be performing at the Culver City Club, lobby, Radisson Hotel, 6161 W.Centinela Avenue, Culver City, August 22, 7 PM. The cover is $15, (310) 649-1776 x4137. Visit www.carmenlundy.com Next in the studio is Mary Monroe, author of God Ain't Blind. She will be at Marcus Books in Oakland, 3900 MLK Jr. Way, (510) 652-2344, Aug. 21, at 6:30 PM. and Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2009, 12:30 PM, at the Alexander Book Company, 50 Second Street, San Francisco, CA 94105, (415) 495-2992.Visit www.marymonroe.org and email her at [email protected]. She answers all mail. Black August honors the memory of Comrade George Jackson, so this morning his friends, comrades, and admirers, Sundiata Tate, Kiilu Nyasha, Shaka AtThinin, and Nadra Foster, will talk about his legacy and work. Walter Rodney's tribute, piece written 30 years ago sheds light on what happened and puts into then current political and social context: http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/rodneyjackson.html We close with director Jennifer Grausman, "Pressurer Cooker," the story of a wonderful teacher who cares, Mrs. Stephenson, Culinary Arts faculty, a program she started in 1999, at Frankford High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she has been teaching this and other courses, like the current cheerleading, for the past 40 years. The film director's father founded the C-CAP awards program. Visit http://www.ccapinc.org

Special broadcast

This morning we will speak to Ulysses Owens Jr., drummer, about his work and the legacy of Rashied Ali who passed from this life a week ago. Ali played with John Coltrane and Coltrane's late wife, Alice Coltrane. We'll play some of Ulysses' favorite Rashied tracks along with some of my Ulysses's favorites, from his latest, "U.O. Project 'It's Time for U." "It's Time" is a wonderful work featuring vocals as well as instrumental work, all peppered with Owens' distinctive or perhaps the correct term is signature percussion. We'll take calls if you want to share Rashied Ali memories or reflections. We played music from a number of

albums, many from: "No One In Particular"

Rashied Ali Quintet featuring:Ravi Coltrane on saxes, Gene Ess on guitar, Greg Murphy on piano, Matt Garrison on bass and the unstoppable spirit of Rashied Ali on drums. Visit http://bitmunk.com/media/6341966. Thursday, August 20, we'll have a special broadcast from 1-3 PM. Guests will be from SF Playhouse's current staging of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," and perhaps Lolis Eric Elie, the principle or subject of "Faubourg Tremé: The Untold Story of New Orleans." There is a benefit for the Oakland Public Conservatory Saturday, August 29, 2009. The event is scheduled to coincide with the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The event is at 6:30 p.m., Saturday, August 29, at the Kaiser Center Auditorium, 300 Lakeside Drive, 2nd Floor. On hand to discuss the film with audiences will be its co-producer, co-writer and central narrator, nationally renowned New Orleans newspaperman Lolis Eric Elie. Director Dawn Logsdon and producer Lucie Faulknor will also bring their perspective and expertise to the panel discussion.

We'll be speaking with former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and Opal Palmer Adisa about the legacy and work of the Hon. Marcus Mosiah Garvey, founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Organization. He was the first victim of FBI surveillance (COINTELPRO). Next we'll be joined by Maalak, Soul Chi and Colette Winlock to speak about "Be Still Meditation" tomorrow. Judith Offer, playwright, "Compared to What," at the Oakland Public Library, 8/15, 2-4 PM at the Main Branch, 125-14th Street, West Auditorium, and Ronnie Stewart, founder, Bay Area Blues Society, which hosts the Blues Stage at Art and Soul in Oakland, 8/15-8/16. We close with a conversation with artists participating in Diáspora Negra - The African Legacy in Music and Dance in Latin America, at La Pena Cultural Center in Berkeley, Friday and Saturday, Aug. 15 & 16.