*Today is my Birthday!!!! Officially 24! You can give me a gift through support of my blog by becoming a patron on my Patreon page or sending donations to my PayPal account (email: svfreebird87@gmail.com). Any amount is appreciated. Thank you!
*I haven’t been able to post as frequently lately, since I have been working on other projects, but thank you for continued reading. Also, if anyone wants to help with the blog, click on the Contact/Submissions page.
Here are news and other important posts from the past few weeks:
*”Sun Ra’s Full Lecture & Reading List From His 1971 UC Berkeley Course, “The Black Man in the Cosmos” on Open Culture: “In 1971, he served as artist-in-residence at UC Berkeley and offered a spring semester lecture, African-American Studies 198, also known as “Sun Ra 171,” “The Black Man in the Universe,” or “The Black man in the Cosmos.” The course featured readings from—to name just a few—theosophist Madame Blavatsky, French philosopher Constantin Francois de Chasseboeuf, black American writer and poet Henry Dumas, and “God,” whom the cosmic jazz theorist reportedly listed as the author of The Source Book of Man’s Life and Death (otherwise known as the King James Bible).”
*Support Joy Kmt and bekezela mguni’s Tabernacle of Immaculate Perception Creating the World: “We transform the world with words, stories, art, ritual & activism. The Tabernacle of Immaculate Perception is dedicated to producing work that disrupts time as we commonly understand it and centralizes the humanity and stories of black women. The TOIP also works to create environments that are slightly alternate other-worlds, using soundscape, storytelling, poetry, interactive ritual and visual arts. When you pledge, you support innovative creation, workshops, ritual and art that is about creating space by and for black women….We will also keep you updated on the progress of the work of the Tabernacle of Immaculate Perception, which includes Testify, a traveling interactive performance-ritual-, workshops like Liberation Science, Shrining, You as Tabernacle, and more. We hope to bring it to your city soon!”
*Upcoming events from CCCADI:
–Spirituality and Social Justice in Brazil- A Panel Discussion on August 15th: “The Schomburg Center, Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI), Home Slice Magazine and Veterans of Hope co-present an evening celebrating African ancestry and activism in Brazil through the lens of Iyalorixá Valnízia Pereira, a priestess and activist from one of the most prominent candomblé terreiros (ritual temples) in the state of Bahia, Brazil. As Iyalorixá of the Terreiro do Cobre, Valnizia Pereira is responsible for the preservation of sacred rites, ritual music, dance, pharmacopeic knowledge and liturgical African languages that have been passed down to her for more than seven generations.”
–Mulheres de Axe, Celebration of the Sacred Power of Women of Spirit on August 27th: “Silvana Magda and Brazilian Week join with the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute and Senator Bill Perkins to present “Mulheres de Axe”, an event shedding light on the Brazilian women, the keepers of Afro Brazilian sacred traditions who have formed a network to challenge and combat misrepresentation of their historic sacred traditions and practices, violence against women, condemn racial discrimination, gentrification and the lack of resources available to youth and families of economically poor and disenfranchised communities. Visitors will enjoy a display and discussion of Ritual Candomble Dresses of Mulheres de Axe (Women of Axe) representing the different Orixas, African Yoruba Divinities, of the varied Candomble Temples of Brazil, a musical presentation of the diverse rhythms honoring the varied Orixas of Candomble, a panel discussion, and more.”
*Check out Floyd Webb’s timeline, Afrofuturism:Reframing Afrofuturism, a Historical, Spiritual and Conceptual History. Also, “The Strange Story of Afrofuturism” on Cool Accidents and “Afrofuturism: Space Is the Place” on Viva Scene.
*“Afrofuturism takes flight: from Sun Ra to Janelle Monáe” on The Guardian: “A new generation of artists are exploring afrofuturism – Outkast and Janelle Monáe take the philosophy to the mainstream, while Flying Lotus and Shabazz Palaces push jazz and hip-hop to their extremes.”
*Conversation on Chronicles of Harriet about the relevance and problems of the term Afrofuturism.
*”Spoek Mathambo and the future sounds of township tech” on The Guardian: “‘Township tech’ is more than just a music genre. As well as describing a particular strain of South Africa’s upcoming electronic music scene, it represents one of the country’s most vibrant creative hubs. The term was first coined a few years ago by DJ and rapper Spoek Mathambo – who appointed himself the prince of it in the process.”
*”Gilles Peterson Talks P-Funk & More With George Clinton” on Okayplayer.: Includes tracklist of music from and influenced by them.
*One Love Interview with afrofuturist DJ Lynnee Denise: “From DJ Lynnée Denise’s bio, with a light remix: “DJ Lynnée Denise is a cultural producer and independent scholar who uses DJ culture to create forums exploring music of the African diaspora. Her work is informed and inspired by underground social movements, theories of escape, queer studies, and Afrofuturism. Lynnée is the founder of WildSeed Cultural Group, an organization dedicated to providing “entertainment with a thesis.” Through an interdisciplinary approach, including podcasts and lectures, she examines the migration of Black cultural products, people, and ideas.”
*”The Black Panel at Comic-Con: ‘African American culture is American culture‘” on The Guardian: “Of the hundreds of panels available at Comic-Con, which drew to a close on Sunday, none are more respected than the long-running Black Panel, hosted by the comic book creator and Milestone Media co-founder Michael Davis. Unlike most of the other panels at Comic-Con, the Black Panel has nothing to sell, and features guests who also have nothing to promote. Instead, it is a discussion between audience and panel members about black culture, a way for prominent figures in African American entertainment to reach out to those who hope to emulate their paths to success.” David Walker talks about “the invisible world of black comic creators” on BadAzz Mofo and “Marvel Comics’ Storm and the rise of African women in American pop culture” on Washington Post.
*Interview with Shabazz Palaces’ Ishmael Butler on The Guardian: “Sure. Speaking of stars, I wanted to ask you about your collective Black Consellation.
IB: Yeah. As with most of the stuff that we’ve been doing, Shabazz Palaces, THEEsatisfaction, all of my relationships with Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes, OCnotes and Khalil Joseph, it all happened very serendipitously and organically. We never sat down and said, “Hey this is what we’re going to be called, this is our manifesto, this is what we’re going to do.” It was always in action and some other result sort of solidified what had been coined. Even the coining of it wasn’t by us, but other people who observed us. That guy did the video, they did the clothes, they did the artwork.”
*Trailer for The World Is Yours, an upcoming documentary exploring the relationship between hip-hop and the internet. The documentary features artists like Wiz Khalifa, Lil B, Odd Future, Chuck D, Talib Kweli, QD3, Action Bronson and others. Currently, they have a kickstarter for post production.
*Aja Monet will be at the Brooklyn Beat Festival in September (11,15,19) and she quotes my review of her show in Juky.
*On August 30th and 31st, Poetic Theater presents REDbone: A Biomythography, a multi genre and media experience based on the poems from Mahogany L. Browne’s manuscript REDBONE and directed by Eboni Hogan, at at Wild Project at 195 East 3rd St. Poetic Theater Productions and Mahogany L. Browne will be in conversation with Ursula Rucker about REDbone, Black Women Arts, Motherhood, and Balance on Saturday August 30th at 6:30PM.
*DJ Shadow & Cut Chemist Renegades of Rhythm tour playing music from Afrika Bambaataa this Fall!
*”The Rise of Nosa Igbinedion Interview by Kunga Dred” on The British Black List.
*”Superdream to the rescue” on ioL News: South African artist group Black Screen’s film project, Superdream about a security guard who gains superpowers.
*Film Forum will be presenting Thomas Allen Harris’ documentary, THROUGH A LENS DARKLY: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People, from August 27th to September 9th.
*Call for Submissions from collective Brooklyn Boihood for anthology, “Outside the XY: Queer, Brown Masculinity” centered on highlighting the voices of masculine-of-center and/or trans* men of color. Submissions are due August 31st.
*Feature on NBC of Summer Math and Science Honors Academy (SMASH) that encourages diversity in STEM fields.
*11-year-old, Ramarni Wilfred, has a higher IQ than Einstein and Bill Gates! (Surce: Naturally Moi)
*15-year-old Gideon Gidori wants to be Tanzania’s first astronaut! (Source: NPR)
*19-year-old, Keven Stonewall, is on his way to curing colon cancer! (Source: Black Youth Project)
*”Twitter’s real diversity problem isn’t in Silicon Valley offices. It’s … on Twitter” on The Guardian: “When so many people who build our technology are white programmers, does their culture matter as much as their products?”
*”Why We Need to Talk About Doc McStuffins and Race” on Black Voices: Basically, stop with the colorblindness.
*”Lucy: Why I’m Tired of Seeing White People on the Big Screen“ on HuffPost and “‘Lucy’ and the Absence of the Black Race in Origin of Humanity Theories“ on Shadow and Act.
*”Circus Freaks, White Voodoo Women, and the Amazing Afro” on Academic Hoodoo: Another variation of we like black stuff not black faces.
*According to The National Review, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Melissa Harris-Perry among others are “hipster-nerds,” whatever that means. Jealous much?
*New Music:
–Rebellum, Burnt Sugar Arkestra’s Avant Funk & Roll Splinter Cell, including Greg Tate, Bandcamp page.
–Kelly Jones‘ …because caterpillars don’t have wings
Sherese Francis: Futuristically Ancient 