Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Reader Comments on Pull Yo Pants Up



Comment on Marvin X's Pull Yo Pants Up fada Black Prez, and Yo Self, Essays on Obama Drama


Marvin X is on the mark again with his accurate observation of the Obama era. The black community was so excited with Obama being the first Black Prez that they forgot he was a politician-not a messiah. Marvin X brings the community back to the reality of what Obama stands for-at the moment!


He has not given up on DaPrez, he simply wants people to see what he stands for and what he still has an opportunity to do for our communities.


Make sure you put Pull Yo Pants Up Fada Black Prez & Yo Self on your to-buy list

It will be the best book you will read in 2010!
--Carolyn Mixon


Pull Yo Pants Up fada Black Prez,

Essays on Obama Drama by Marvin X

Black Bird Press 2010

50 pages

$19.95


Black Bird Press

1222 Dwight Way

Berkeley CA 94702

www.blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com

jmarvinx@yahoo.com

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

On The Sunny Side of the Street

On The Sunny Side of the Street

Review: South of the Border

Review: South of the Border

Black Bird Press Review

From: Nefertitti Jackmon
Sent: Wed, July 21, 2010 8:30:02 AM
Subject: Oliver Stone's SOUTH OF THE BORDER

I had an opportunity to view South of the Border this past Monday. It discusses the socialist movement that is sweeping Latin America. I was not surprised by any of the information that I saw in the film, but I was further empowered. My father (Marvin X) has been sharing with me (and others) much of what was shown in the film. What it did reveal to me is that revolutionary change is possible even within my lifetime. It is not an idealistic dream of some people from the '60's. The seeds of change have been sown, they are growing and they can either blossom or be destroyed. Our knowledge and our understanding of our role in this world will either fuel this growth or kill the potential for positive change fueled by THE PEOPLE.

What you will note in the documentary is that the countries that embraced changed were empowered by the masses of the people. There are many who are upset over what has occurred in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, and Cuba, but this is the ruling minority. The minority who for years have controlled the wealth; they are afraid that their wealth and their way of living will diminish. This is true all over the world, even in the United States. Yesterday I heard a U.S. Senator discussing his lack of satisfaction with Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. He said that he is afraid of the change that is taking place in this country (he was speaking specifically in terms of the changes in the process of how the Senators agreed on her nomination) but to me it was symbolic of the overall fear that the wealthy/ruling minority fear will occur if Obama is bold enough to fulfill some of his campaign rhetoric.

The Latin leaders even challenged Barak Obama to show his solidarity with the people. They suggested that there were merely three conditions that must be met to show that he's concerned/unified with the people:

1) Pull out of the wars in the Middle East
2) Gosh, I'm so old and I forgot the second one, it was good
3) Invite Hugo Chavez to the U.S. (they all laughed)

So just two, and when I heard what they said, I felt that if he would follow through on those he would be worthy of the Nobel Prize which he has already been awarded.

The challenge is for us to encourage our brothers and sisters in African and Caribbean nations to look to the few strong leaders in Latin America who are charting a new destiny for their people. They have their own unique form of democracy, socialism and capitalism. Think out of the box, there's more than one way to get things done.

Go see the film and make your own informed decision.

To the Bolivarian Revolution!


Peace and Blessings,

Nefertitti



To: despierte@gmail.com
Subject: Oliver Stone's SOUTH OF THE BORDER opens Friday 7/23 in HOUSTON
From: despierte@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 20 Jul 2010 10:39:51 -0700

Greetings! Now that you were able to watch Oliver Stone's "SOUTH OF THE BORDER", please help us spread the important information in this film to a larger audience! Please forward the information below to your networks. THANK YOU!!


**PLEASE FORWARD**

Oliver Stone’s new documentary SOUTH OF THE BORDER
Opens Friday July 23rd in HOUSTON!



"I LOVED THIS DOCUMENTARY!" - Bill Maher

PROVOCATIVE...Oliver Stone’s celebration of the leftward tilt of South American politics comes as a cheerful surprise.”
- Stephen Holden, The New York Times

"An EYE-OPENING DOCUMENTARY...captures South America in a paradigm shift, wrenching itself free of centuries of colonial control."
- Owen Gleiberman, EW.com

COULD BE OLIVER STONE'S MOST IMPORTANT FILM.”

"Oscar-winning director STRIKES ONCE AGAIN into the political heart of darkness"
- Laura Emerick, Chicago Sun-Times

Synopsis: There’s a revolution underway in South America, but most of the world doesn’t know it. Oliver Stone sets out on a road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements as well as the mainstream media’s misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents. In casual conversations with Presidents Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), as well as her husband and ex-President Nėstor Kirchner, Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and Raúl Castro (Cuba), Stone gains unprecedented access and sheds new light upon the exciting transformations in the region.


• HOUSTON •

AMC STUDIO 30
2949 Dunvale Rd., Houston, TX 77063 • (713) 977-4431

Don’t miss Q&A on 7/23 after the main evening show with Luis Duno-Gottberg,
Associate Professor of Caribbean and Film Studies at Rice University

Ticket Pricing:

Adult: $9.75 - After 4:00 pm

Child: $6.75 - Age 2 - 12

Matinee: $7.75 - Before 3:55 pm

Senior: $8.75 - Age 60+

click here for more info

Organize group and get discount tickets:
- Visit:
www.amcnationalsales.com
- Register on the site.
- Purchase the GOLD EXPERIENCE TICKETS bundle (tickets good on opening
weekend for film). 50 ticket minimum at $7.50 each
- Select shipping method and follow checkout instructions.
- Please take into account shipping time if you plan to see the film on
opening weekend.
Purchase Group Tickets

South of the Border will play in these theaters and more nationwide:
NOW PLAYING
NYC
Cinema Village
NOW PLAYING
Los Angeles
Laemmle’s Monica 4-Plex and Laemmle’s Town Center
NOW PLAYING
Pasadena
Laemmle’s Playhouse 7
NOW PLAYING
San Francisco
Sundance Kabuki Cinema

Berkeley
Rialto Cinemas Elmwood

Palm Springs
Cinemas Palme d’Or
July 23
Phoenix
Harkins Valley Art

Dallas
AMC Grand 24

Houston
AMC Studio 30

New Orleans
Zeitgeist Multi-disciplinary Arts Center
July 30
Minneapolis
Showplace ICON at The West End

Seattle
Santa Barbara
Regal Meridian 16
Plaza d'Oro

Portland
Living Room Theaters
August 6
Salem (OR)
High Street Cinema


••••••••••••

Since hitting the big screen, SOUTH OF THE BORDER has been generating some heat!
· FAIR's Peter Hart weighs in on right-wing journalists and their coverage of the film and in particular the Larry Rohter of The New York Times.
· FOX& Friends lashed out and and attacked “South of the Border,” spreading outrageous ignorance in the guise of news.
· Activists in Los Angeles mobilized to counter a protest of the film organized by the Venezuelan opposition - Anne Thompson/Indiewire and Steve Pond/The Wrap report.
Some interviews, commentaries and reviews:

· The Washington Post's Ann Hornaday interviews Stone.
· Naomi Campbell interviews Venezuelan President, Hugo Chávez in GQ.
· Chicago Reader - "a better overview of the current political climate in Latin America than anything you’ll see on U.S. television." Review.
· Mark Weisbrot's recent Op-Ed: "Washington Still Has Problems With Democracy in Latin America."

Or, compare your knowledge about South America with some of journalism’s best…

Vote: Dumbest Mistake in a "South of the Border" Review!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Willie Ricks (Black Power) and Marvin X

Willie Ricks and Marvin X
TRANSFORMATION PLUS TV

WITH


www.harambeeradio.com
The TV screen is right on that page.

DALANI AAMON




Tonight's guest will be;




9:00 PM EST to 10:00 PM EST

Willie Ricks 60s Civil Rights Worker



The cry for BLACK POWER was coined by one Willie Ricks aka Mukasa Dada

Who Is Mukasa Dada?

1. Civil Rights Leader, Elder, Father, Organizer, Orator
2. Field Secretary of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
3. "The fiery orator of SNCC" - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his 1967 book, Where Do We Go From Here
4. "Willie Ricks must rank as one of those unknown heroes who captured the mood of history. In calling for Black Power, he caught the essence of the spirit, moving Black people in the United States and around the world who were poor, Black, and without power" - James Forman of SNCC
5. Popularized of the chant, "Black Power"


and


10:00 PM until





Marvin X, also known as Marvin Jackmon and El Muhajir

Talking about Oscar Grant and police brutality.


Marvin X was born May 29, 1944 in Fowler, California, near Fresno. Marvin X is well known for his work as a poet, playwright and essayist of the BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT or BAM. He attended Merritt College along with Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. He received his BA and MA in English from San Francisco State University.

Marvin X is most well known for his work with Ed Bullins in the founding of Black House and The Black Arts/West Theatre in San Francisco. Black House served briefly as the headquarters for the Black Panther Party and as a center for performance, theatre, poetry and music.

Marvin X is a playwright in the true spirit of the BAM. His most well-known BAM play, entitled Flowers for the Trashman, deals with generational difficulties and the crisis of the Black intellectual as he deals with education in a white-controlled culture. Marvin X's other works include, The Black Bird, The Trial, Resurrection of the Dead and In the Name of Love.

He currently has the longest running African American drama in the San Francisco Bay area and Northern California, ONE DAY IN THE LIFE, a tragi-comedy of addiction and recovery. He is the founder and director of RECOVERY THEATRE.

Marvin X has continued to work as a lecturer, teacher and producer. He has taught at Fresno State University; San Francisco State University; University of California - Berkeley and San Diego; University of Nevada, Reno; Mills College, Laney and Merritt Colleges in Oakland. He has received writing fellowships from Columbia University and the National Endowment for the Arts and planning grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities.


INTERESTED IN HOSTING YOUR OWN PROGRAM ON HARAMBEE ?

1 -866-851-5279 toll free or email dalani@harambeetv. com

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New digital recording system for replays


Over 30 countries and 100 cities

1-877-514-5454 ext 501 toll free

We are paying royalties to ASCAP, BMI, SESAC for all the
music on The Harambee
Radio and Television Network


Dalani@harambeetv. com


Thursday, July 15, 2010

Hustler's Guide to the Game Called LIfe

Coming Soon from Black Bird Press

Hustler’s Guide to the Game

Called Life


Volume II, the Wisdom of Plato Negro

Marvin X


Contents

Parable of Value

Parable of Plato Negro’s Republic of North American Africans

Plato Negro’s Republic and Morality

Plato Negro’s Republic, Newark: A Case Study

Parable of Leave Me ‘Lone

Parable of a Nigguh

Parable of Slow Dance on the Killing Floor

Parable of the Demons

Parable of Solutions

Parable of Da Corner

Parable of Lord Have Mercy

Parable of Jazz

Parable of Nigguh Please!

Parable of Helen Thomas

Parable of Parental Partiality

Parable of the Gaza Concentration Camp

Parable of the Wannabe Actor, Part II

Parable of Women without Men

Parable of Trinkets and Gadgets

Parable of the Man who could Write

Parable of the Man Who Talked to No One

Parable of the Man Who Fell

Parable of the Negro as Terrorist

Parable of the White Woman

Parable of the Dying White Man

Parable of the Tour

Parable of the Mike

Parable of the Reader’s Theatre

Parable of Stormy Weather

Parable of Ancestor Coretta Scott King

Parable of the Religious Haters

Parable of the Poet

Parable of the Oakland Pigs

Parable of Walter Riley

Parable of Oakland’s Day of Absence

Parable of I am Oscar Grant

Parable of Oakland at the Precipice

Parable of the Angel

Parable of Living in the Last Days

Parable of the San Francisco Negro

Parable of the Death and Resurrection of a City

Parable of the Spider

Parable of July 4, 1910

Parable of a beautiful day in the Bay

Parable of a City Traumatized

Parable of Oakland Police Riot

Parable of the Father who lost two Sons

Parable of I Shot the Sheriff

Parable of the Wannabe Actor

Parable of the Letter

Parable of the Moment

Fable of the horse, cow and bull

Parable of Prayer

Parable of the Death Angel

Parable of Pain

Parable of Malcolm’s Killer

Parable of the Immigrant

Parable of Bitch Led Nigguhs

Parable of the Neo-Haitian Revolution

Parable of the Butt Kickers

Parable of the Penguin

Parable of the Catholic Church

Parable of the Poetic Victory

Parable of how to stop killing in the Pan African hood

Platonic Negro Dialogue on the Poetic Mission

Parable of Woman Stoned to Death

Parable of Bobby Seale’s 73rd Birthday

Parable of Mythology of Pussy and Dick Hits Mississippi

Parable of Mythology of Pussy and Dick Hits Howard University

Parable of Mythology of Pussy and Dick at Howard University, Final Notes

Parable to the Common People of Oakland

Parable of a Pan African Love

Parable of Harlem’s Celebration of Amiri Baraka’s 75th

Parable of Nisa Ra on Mythology of Pussy

Parable of Plato Negro’s Great Grandfather

Parable of Fahizah Alim

Parable of You Don’t Know Me!

Parable of Mythology as Hottest Book in Oakland


Black Bird Press, 2010

1222 Dwight Way

Berkeley Ca 94702

300 pages

$100.00


Order now, pre-publication discount less 40%

Wisdom of Plato Negro in San Francisco Theatre Festival

Sunday, August 8, The Academy of Da Corner Reader's Theatre will perform parables from the Wisdom of Plato Negro at the San Francisco Theatre Festival, Yebra Buena Center, 3rd and Mission, downtown San Francisco. Performers include Rashidah Sabreen, music, Raynetta Rayzetta, choreography/dance, Paradise, reader, Talibah, reader, Valarie Harvey, reader,

Mechelle LaChaux, reader/singer.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Marvin X Calls for Black Arts West Theatre Festival






Marvin X Calls Black Arts West Theatre Festival
Marvin X, godfather of the West Coast Black Arts Movement, is calling a Black Arts West Theatre Festival in honor of Lorraine Hansberry Theatre founders Stanley E. Williams and Quentin Easter, also in honor of Margo Norman, who transitioned recently. Margo performed in the plays of Ed Bullins shortly before he hooked up with Marvin X to establish Black Arts West Theatre in San Francisco's Fillmore District.

Before Black Arts West came on the scene, there was Aldridge Players West, with Adam David Miller, et al. After Black Arts West, there was John Doyle's Grassroots theatre and Michael Cattlett's theatre.

And then came the Lorraine Hansberry. In 1972, Marvin X established Black Educational Theatre in the Fillmore, and in the late 90s, Recovery Theatre in the Tenderloin and throughout the Bay and Northern California. His play One Day in the Life is the longest running play in the history of North American Africans in Northern California. It ran from the late 90s into the new millennium.

Other theatres came and went, and few were able to survive on the meager budgets grant agencies doled out. The Lorraine Hansberry was the exception, partly because of their non-political stance as per the cultural revolution. But when they produced a performance of Marvin X's One Day in the Life, they transcended the apolitical. They'd also produced a work on the Black Panther Party, along with their signature work of August Wilson.

No matter the politics of Stanley and Quentin, and for that matter August Wilson, Marvin X considers them comrades in the arts. Any black artist with an iota of consciousness is all right with me. Actually, I appreciate artists period! Of course I appreciate revolutionary arts even more. But any black artists must have some degree of radical consciousness since he must confront and submit himself to the art of Western mythology.

Even the Lorraine Hansberry theatre brothers told Marvin X, "Marvin, the Black bourgeoisie would like to support you, but they cannot accept your language, if you could only alter your language they will support you." But when Marvin X submitted to the black bourgeoisie request, they did not accept his B script. Even Quentin Easter cried, "Marvin, you have taken all the chocolate out the milk!"

Marvin recalls one night at the Lorraine Hansberry: "The theatre was packed to overflow. Actually, when Stanley came he said, oh, no, this is a fire hazzard! People were seated on the stage."

Usually, I would go into the audience during my monologue, but not this night, the audience was seated onstage for lack of seats. They were from recovery programs from throughout the Bay Area. The Theatre District was horrified when all these recovering addicts took intermission on Sutter Street in the midst of the theatre district.

But more than this, Dr. William H. Grier was in the house. For those who don't know, Dr. William H. Grier is the co-author of Black Rage, the classic psychological study of North American Africans in the 60s. One of his sons is David Allen Grier, but his son Geoffery was playing the role of Black Panther c0-founder Huey P. Newton in my play One Day in the Life.

In truth, Geoffery was never able to match the psychopathic personality of Huey Hewton. Even though Geoffery had been a Crack fiend with me in San Francisco's Tenderloin District, he found it difficult to match the psychopathology of Huey Newton.

But Dr. Grier, being the psychiatrist he was, asked me how I was feeling before the play began.
I responded with a statement that didn't hardly satisfy the doctor. He told his son Geoferry, "I don't know what's wrong with Marvin. He has Mayor Willie Brown introducing his play. He has a packed house. He has a Jaguar car packed outside, yet he's singing the blues."

Dr. Grier, it's called Divine Discontent. In ghetto language, it's called an ungrateful bastard.

No matter, let us put together a Black Arts West Theatre Festival in honor of Stanley Williams, Quentin Easter and Margo Norman, now ancestors in the Black Theatre Movement. Of course, we can never forget Nora Vaughn and her Berkeley Black Repertory Group Theatre.
--Marvin X
7,11,10

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Marvin X in SF Theatre Festival






Marvin X in SF Theatre Festival
Marvin X will perform at the San Francisco Theatre Festival, Sunday, August, 8tl, at the Yerba Buena Center, 4th and Mission Streets, San Francisco. Marvin X will performs readings from his book The Wisdom of Plato Negro, Parables/fables. He will be accompanied by Rashidah Sabreen on guitar, choreography by Raynetta Razetta, Linda Johnson, and readings by Paradise, Hunia, Ayo Dele Nzingha and Marvin X.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Stop War on Iran


Stop War On Iran

Take Action Now!

July 1, 2010

PROVOCATIONS AND WAR THREATS AGAINST IRAN:
IS WAR IMMINENT?


In the final two weeks of June we have seen a number of serious developments in the Middle East involving the United States, Israel, and the Islamic Republic of Iran. While almost completely ignored by the U.S. mainstream press, there is considerable alarm around the world and especially in the Middle East. Some of these developments are unprecedented and could denote a sharp escalation in the U.S./NATO and Israeli campaign against Iran, or even all-out war.

Anti-war and progressive people and organizations should note the following:

* On June 18, a U.S. naval carrier group, reportedly accompanied by at least one Israeli vessel, passed through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea and toward the Persian Gulf. The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Force, , included and aircraft carrier, guided missile cruiser, Aegis-class destroyers and the German frigate GGS Hessen.

*According to Iran's Fars New Agency, the Israeli Air Force recently unloaded military equipment at a Saudi Arabia base near the city of Tabuk.. Even more ominously, the Saudi's are reported to have realigned their missile defense system to allow for an air corridor for Israeli planes in the event of a war with Iran.

* U.S. forces stationed in the Central Asian country of Azerbaijan have massed along the Iran/Azerbaijani border. The U.S. forces, which are part of the so-called war on terror, are supposed to be supporting the war in Afghanistan. Iranian revolutionary guards have called in tanks and anti-aircraft units to the area in what amounts to a war alert.

* On July 1, President Barack Obama signed an agreement negotiated in the U.N Security Council stepping up sanctions on Iran and its economy. However, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) publicly worried that China may undercut the sanctions.

* On June 28, Iran announced that it would not challenge the Israeli blockade of Gaza at this time. An Iranian flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid and flying the Red Crescent, the Islamic equivalent of the Red Cross, was en route to Gaza accompanied by Iranian naval vessels. The expedition reportedly had the diplomatic support of both Russia and Turkey.

* Yesterday, June 30, Ali Akbar Salehi, the Islamic Republic's vice president and director of the nuclear program, announced that Iran has produced another 37 pounds of uranium enriched to 20 percent. Iran has a right to do this under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty which it signed (and the Israelis have not signed). Iran maintains that their nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Significantly, the 20 percent level is far below the level needed to produce a nuclear weapon.

* There has been speculation that if the U.S. and NATO attempt to inspect Iranian ships in order to enforce the new sanctions, the resulting confrontation may lead to war.

* Among the world leaders who have issued strong warnings about U.S. intentions is Fidel Castro, who certainly knows what it is like to have your country threatened with military attack, including with nuclear weapons. In his published Reflections on June 27, he stressed the importance of the Cuban people, and progressives everywhere to be prepared to respond, even to the most horrendous catastrophe, which could be the outcome of a U.S.-Israeli war against Iran: "What would be [the worst] is to suddenly be made aware of news of serious events, without having heard any news whatsoever beforehand about such possibilities, thereby falling into confusion and panic...."

Much analysis is no doubt necessary to determine the seriousness of the above developments. It should be remembered, that almost all large military operations in this era require months, if not years, of meticulous planning. The fact that the Pentagon has not chosen to reveal their plans to the mainstream media does not mean that such plans do not exist. However, the most immediate task of anti-war and anti-imperialists around the world is to to respond quickly to these provocations emanating from Washington and prepare to resist any and all attempts to make war on Iran.

Take Action Now!