Wanda's Picks

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

1. Gianna Ranuzzi, Director, Berkeley World Music Festival, www.berkeleyworldmusic.org with BWMF featured artist, Nigerian guitar master and singer Adesoji “Soji” Odukogbe attracted acclaim originally as the lead guitarist for the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s groundbreaking Afrobeat band. Odukogbe draws on an extensive background in Nigerian Afrobeat, highlife, and spiritual music, bringing a unique sensibility to his highlife guitar interpretations.He is a founding member of The Afrobeat ConneXion and The Nigerian Brothers, as well as being a side man for various acts, such as “The West African Highlife Band and Kotoja. He has recorded and played with Femi Kuti, Babatunde Olatunji and Orlando Julius Ekemode, among others. Soji is now stepping into the spotlight to lead his own Afrobeat Band, featuring guitars, drums, smoking horn section and intricate vocal harmonies evident in his successful solo project, In the Flow.

2. The BWMF ends at Ashkenaz Friday evening, June 12, with a fabulous afterparty with Thomas Mapfumo, Lion of Zimbabwe, truly a man of the people. Mapfumo is bringing a new CD, Danger Zone and a new book about his revolutionary life by Banning Eyre, Lion Songs: Thomas Mapfumo and the Music That Made Zimbabwe. http://www.thomas-mapfumo.com/

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

1. Gianna Ranuzzi, Director, Berkeley World Music Festival, www.berkeleyworldmusic.org with BWMF featured artist, Nigerian guitar master and singer Adesoji “Soji” Odukogbe attracted acclaim originally as the lead guitarist for the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s groundbreaking Afrobeat band. Odukogbe draws on an extensive background in Nigerian Afrobeat, highlife, and spiritual music, bringing a unique sensibility to his highlife guitar interpretations.He is a founding member of The Afrobeat ConneXion and The Nigerian Brothers, as well as being a side man for various acts, such as “The West African Highlife Band and Kotoja. He has recorded and played with Femi Kuti, Babatunde Olatunji and Orlando Julius Ekemode, among others. Soji is now stepping into the spotlight to lead his own Afrobeat Band, featuring guitars, drums, smoking horn section and intricate vocal harmonies evident in his successful solo project, In the Flow.

2. The BWMF ends at Ashkenaz Friday evening, June 12, with a fabulous afterparty with Thomas Mapfumo, Lion of Zimbabwe, truly a man of the people. Mapfumo is bringing a new CD, Danger Zone and a new book about his revolutionary life by Banning Eyre, Lion Songs: Thomas Mapfumo and the Music That Made Zimbabwe. http://www.thomas-mapfumo.com/

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

1. Barbara Range, Director, curator of the Brickhouse Art Gallery in Sac  and a founding member of the Sac Black Book Fair Committee and Faye Wilson Kennedy, Publicist, Blue Nile Press and founding member of Sac Black Book Fair, Terris McMahan Grimes, awardwinning author, and keynote speaker Saturday, June 6.

2. From the Archives Surprise

3. Kent Gash (director) & Jelani Alladin (Pharus) join us to talk about the Marin Theatre Company's Bay Area Premiere of Tarell Alvin McCraney's Choir Boy, June 4 - 28. Visit http://www.marintheatre.org/

4. Richard Torrence, writer and producer, Lord Why Can't I Do Right? Friday-Sat., May 29-30 at Black Repretory Group Theater in Berkeley. Visit http://www.makeyoufamousentertainment.com/

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

1. Barbara Range, Director, curator of the Brickhouse Art Gallery in Sac  and a founding member of the Sac Black Book Fair Committee and Faye Wilson Kennedy, Publicist, Blue Nile Press and founding member of Sac Black Book Fair, Terris McMahan Grimes, awardwinning author, and keynote speaker Saturday, June 6.

2. From the Archives Surprise

3. Kent Gash (director) & Jelani Alladin (Pharus) join us to talk about the Marin Theatre Company's Bay Area Premiere of Tarell Alvin McCraney's Choir Boy, June 4 - 28. Visit http://www.marintheatre.org/

4. Richard Torrence, writer and producer, Lord Why Can't I Do Right? Friday-Sat., May 29-30 at Black Repretory Group Theater in Berkeley. Visit http://www.makeyoufamousentertainment.com/

1.Darren Walker, BEAN founder

Having been a business man from a very early age, Darren Walker became frustrated with the challenges of limited access to people and resources that could advance his business and personal endeavors. Thus, Walker created Black Economic Advancement Network (BEAN) to provide a way for African Americans to connect with business owners and capital to make it easier to identify and support each other’s businesses.

At age 25, Walker—together with his friend and partner Dustin Young established GOES (Green Opportunities Energy Solutions). GOES was the first among the companies then incubating at Moore Norman Technology Center whose sales exceeded $1 million in its first year of operation at the Business Development Center where it started.

Darren Walker is the youngest of six children born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. He has been happily married to Lucy Walker for eight years, with whom he has two precious daughters, a toddler and an infant.

5th Annual San Francisco Green Festival, May 28-June 3

2. 8:30AM - Rachel Caplan (executive director, founder SFGF), and Jim McSilver director of OAKLAND ORIGINALS  

3. 9AM - Michelle Grace Steinberg director of BEYOND RECOGNITION, and Shadia Fayne Wood for OUR POWER FULL FORCE

4. Originally from New York, Suraya Keating is Shakespeare for Social Justice Director for Marin Shakespeare Company, Clinical Supervisor for an Expressive Arts Therapy Program at Martinez Hospital and master trainer in Expressive Arts and Drama Therapy. Suraya is also an Adjunct Professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies and maintains a private practice in the Bay Area.

1.Darren Walker, BEAN founder

Having been a business man from a very early age, Darren Walker became frustrated with the challenges of limited access to people and resources that could advance his business and personal endeavors. Thus, Walker created Black Economic Advancement Network (BEAN) to provide a way for African Americans to connect with business owners and capital to make it easier to identify and support each other’s businesses.

At age 25, Walker—together with his friend and partner Dustin Young established GOES (Green Opportunities Energy Solutions). GOES was the first among the companies then incubating at Moore Norman Technology Center whose sales exceeded $1 million in its first year of operation at the Business Development Center where it started.

Darren Walker is the youngest of six children born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. He has been happily married to Lucy Walker for eight years, with whom he has two precious daughters, a toddler and an infant.

5th Annual San Francisco Green Festival, May 28-June 3

2. 8:30AM - Rachel Caplan (executive director, founder SFGF), and Jim McSilver director of OAKLAND ORIGINALS  

3. 9AM - Michelle Grace Steinberg director of BEYOND RECOGNITION, and Shadia Fayne Wood for OUR POWER FULL FORCE

4. Originally from New York, Suraya Keating is Shakespeare for Social Justice Director for Marin Shakespeare Company, Clinical Supervisor for an Expressive Arts Therapy Program at Martinez Hospital and master trainer in Expressive Arts and Drama Therapy. Suraya is also an Adjunct Professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies and maintains a private practice in the Bay Area.

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

Guests:

1. Joe Driscoll, musician, composer, is making his San Francisco Bay Area debut with Sekou Koyate Sunday, May 24, 2015 at the Freight and Savage in Berkeley. http://www.thefreight.org/joe-driscoll-sekou-kouyate

2. Cheryl Lyn Bruce, portrays, "Shelah" in Tarell Alvin McCraney's "Head of Passes" at Berkeley Rep through May 24.

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

Guests:

1. Joe Driscoll, musician, composer, is making his San Francisco Bay Area debut with Sekou Koyate Sunday, May 24, 2015 at the Freight and Savage in Berkeley. http://www.thefreight.org/joe-driscoll-sekou-kouyate

2. Cheryl Lyn Bruce, portrays, "Shelah" in Tarell Alvin McCraney's "Head of Passes" at Berkeley Rep through May 24.

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

Guests:

1.As a youth living in Los Angeles, CA, Akubundu Amazu-Lott experienced first hand being profiled by the police. On at least a half dozen occasions he was pulled over at gun-point by the LAPD. This experience contributed to his understanding that African people in America were treated as second-class citizens. He made his way out of Los Angeles to SJSU. There he participated in sports (football) and received his B.S. in Business Administration and his Master of Urban Planning. He joined the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (AAPRP) in 1979 and is currently on the Central Committee and the California Chapter Coordinating Council. It is through his extensive study of Pan-Africanism and the struggles of oppressed people globally that he remains motivated to work for positive change. He has been an adjunct professor at SJSU for the past seven years in the African-American Studies Department.

2. Jimi Evins, artist, curator, speaks about his show this weekend at Studio/Gallery 1508 in Oakland, 1508 8th Street, West Oakland. Charles Curtis Blackwell joins Jimi Evins. He is a jazz poet and a playwright, performance and visual artist. His paintings have been shown from coast to coast and have received multiple awards. In 2009 he was one of three featured artists at Lighthouse for the Blind’s 20th anniversary Insights exhibit in San Francisco.

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

Guests:

1.As a youth living in Los Angeles, CA, Akubundu Amazu-Lott experienced first hand being profiled by the police. On at least a half dozen occasions he was pulled over at gun-point by the LAPD. This experience contributed to his understanding that African people in America were treated as second-class citizens. He made his way out of Los Angeles to SJSU. There he participated in sports (football) and received his B.S. in Business Administration and his Master of Urban Planning. He joined the All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (AAPRP) in 1979 and is currently on the Central Committee and the California Chapter Coordinating Council. It is through his extensive study of Pan-Africanism and the struggles of oppressed people globally that he remains motivated to work for positive change. He has been an adjunct professor at SJSU for the past seven years in the African-American Studies Department.

2. Jimi Evins, artist, curator, speaks about his show this weekend at Studio/Gallery 1508 in Oakland, 1508 8th Street, West Oakland. Charles Curtis Blackwell joins Jimi Evins. He is a jazz poet and a playwright, performance and visual artist. His paintings have been shown from coast to coast and have received multiple awards. In 2009 he was one of three featured artists at Lighthouse for the Blind’s 20th anniversary Insights exhibit in San Francisco.