*Atlanta BlackStar has a new series called blerds, which features topics on technology, lifestyle, education and the arts. Rasheedah Phillips of The Afrofuturist Affair (correction) is one of the writers of the series and here is one of the articles, “Afrofuturism: Black Presence in Sci-Fi Worlds of Technology, Magic, Fantasy:” “This is where afrofuturism as a genre, lens, community, and practice becomes important, not as a response or reaction to the lack of representation, but as testament to the fact that not only have Black folk (along with other marginalized groups) already made it into the future, we are, in fact responsible for shaping it.” Also stayed tuned to a feature I will have on the series in the future.
*This show will not premiere until January 2015, but the art for it already looks cool! Greg Tate revealed an up coming show from Aisha Cousins and The Burnt Sugar House of Ideas, Brer Rabbit:The Opera at BRIC in Brooklyn. It is as he described a fabulation upon gentrification. Poster by LaRonda Davis.
*Black Girls Code partnered with General Assembly to bring more underrepresented groups into tech with Opportunity Fund scholarships. If you are part of an underrepresented group (women, person of color, veteran), apply here.
*Artist Najee Dorsey will open his latest exhibition, Leaving Mississippi — Reflections on Heroes and Folklore,
at Columbus Museum in Georgia on August 21s.
*Tim Fielder announced last week that his Matty’s Rocket film will be turned into a comic book and graphic novel to be published by Rosarium Publishing in Fall 2014.
*”Meet the Man Who Created the Most Radical Hero in Comics” on DisInfo: “Today marks the release of Genius #1, the
first in a five-part comic-book miniseries about a young woman from South Central L.A. who unites the city’s gangs and attempts to secede from the U.S. As one of our resident comics lovers said, it’s “fast-moving, smart, and appropriately cynical”; it’s also the rare instance of a black heroine, co-written and drawn by black creators, in a mainstream comic book. We asked co-writer Marc Bernardin (a veteran who’s done books for Marvel, been a deputy editor at Playboy, and written for the TV show Alphas) to write a piece charting his childhood voyage through the nerd-culture landscape—a landscape that rarely felt like a place he belonged.”
*”On this episode of Hard N.O.C. Life, guest host Shawn Taylor discusses the importance of the character, Storm, with an all-star panel: Storm writer Greg Pak, actress Maya Glick — creator of the Kickstarted Storm fan film Rain, and Storm superfan Jamie Broadnax.
*Review of Shabazz Palaces’ Lese Majesty on Metroland: “If there’s an overt jazz influence behind the group’s new album, Lese Majesty, it’s Sun Ra, whose Afrofuturism posits sci-fi visions steeped in an ancient Egyptian past, and is suggested in the album’s opening verse: “Focus. The light hath names just like the heavens and the stars. Reclaim us to 
further along the spaceways.” It’s weird, heady stuff that struts the line between technicolor imagination and deadly topical seriousness—a tension that may have originated with Ra but found its first hip-hop acolyte in pioneering DJ Afrika Bambaataa. And, indeed, the record asserts its third-eye vision as much (if not more) through beatsmith Tendai Maraire’s abstract constructions as through Butler’s lyrical flights. Arranged in seven suites, the tracks enshroud Butler’s vocals rather than providing them a saddle. Maraire will suggest the propulsion of, say, a two-step beat on album single “#CAKE,” without fully rendering it, abruptly dissolving the whole structure with a synthesizer sequence or processed mbira melody, before building again.”
*Sheena Howard, professor at Rider University, won the Eisner Award for her academic study of black comics. a collection of essays, Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation. Source: News Works.
*”Racist Things Steampunks Are Not Immune To: Dysconscious Racism” on Racialicious: “Dysconscious racism in steampunk is part of a larger attitude of escapism, usually exhibited by people who just think steampunk (and other kinds of fiction) is a fantasy, and whenever you try to engage with them about the political implications of their very problematic ish (whether it’s literature or world-building or whatever), they get their “Why Do You Have To Be So Political About This?” tantrums on and “Suddenly The World Is Ruined and it is Totally Your Fault” because you brought it up, so there.”
*Fundraiser for Delphine Diallo’s new book project, New York Portraits
http://vimeo.com/102569448%20w=600&=-480
*”Women In Red: Numa Perrier’s ‘Florida Water’ Reconstructs Image and Memory” on Shadow and Act.
*”11 Ancient African Writing Systems That Demolish the Myth that Black People were Illiterate” on Atlanta BlackStar.
*New Music:
–Ibibo Sound Machine‘s debut album. Listen to the full stream here.
–DJ Aisha Karimah‘s mixtape, REM State: DJ Set Volume Four
“REM State:
Probably one of the most eccentric soul-inspired mixtapes ever made, Aisha Karimah taps into the unchartered realms of the subconscious mind. REM State is inspired by the Rapid Eye Movement stage of sleep, is a crate digger’s audio interpretation of what scientists believe to be the most active and creative phase of the brain’s function. Infused with the perfect selections of soul-inspired music, REM State: DJ Set Volume IV is a futuristic immersion of mind, music, and soul – for those who feign music ‘on some other level.'”
VARIOUS ARTISTS PLAYLIST:
00:00 REM State Intro X Levels – Bilal
01:22 Here But I’m Gone – Curtis Mayfield
03:19 Ritual Union – Little Dragon
05:08 Alphabet (Dakimh Instrumental Remix) – WuTang
06:28 Nu-Hymne – Les Nubians
07:27 Seraphim – Earth, Wind and Fire
08:47 Trapped Being Human – Amel Larrieux
10:52 Black Milk – Massive Attack
13:30 Danger of Love – Zap Mama
16:19 Fogged Spacesuit – The Clonious
18:07 Back To The Universe (The Slapped Eyeballers Remix) – Dimlite & The Slapped Eye Ballers
20:39 Rainbow Rhodes – Hiatus Kaiyote
22:28 Moon, Turn Tides…Gently, Gently Away – Jimi Hendrix
23:12 Like It Like That (Instrumentals) – A Tribe Called Quest
24:10 Can’t Wait (Instrumentals) – Red Man
25:18 Heaven For A Sinner – Bonobo feat. Erykah Badu
27:08 Roberta Flack (feat. Dolly) – Flying Lotus
30:00 REM State Outro
BONUS AUDIO:
30:08 Midnight Breakfast (Instrumentals) – Ezasscul a/k/a Eaze
–Rondell Adams Presents FUTURISM NOIR 2 Mixtape: “In this mix Rondell travels deeper into the realms of Deep House and Deep Techno with emphasis on Jackin and African rhythms.” Listen here.
Sherese Francis: Futuristically Ancient 