Philly: 20th Annual International Locks Conference, October 4 and 5, 2014

Self-determination, Unity and Buy Black Alive at the 20th Annual International Locks Conference: Natural Hair, Wholistic Health and Beauty Expo‏

Bob Marley wrote and sung a song, “Get up, Stand Up” which encouraged people to be active in the pursuit of peace and justice. Fannie Lou Hammer also urged people to become active in the pursuit of justice by saying, "All my life I've been sick and tired. Now I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired" and "Nobody's free until everybody's free."

Assata Shakur echoed the call for unity and action by saying, "We can't afford to be spectators while our lives deteriorate. We have to truly love our people and work to make that love stronger." Lauren Hill reverberated “I won’t be compromised no more, I can’t be victimized no more. I just don't sympathize no more. Cause now I understand..." Before them all, Honorable Marcus Mosiah Garvey rallied the people to do for self, urging black people to wake up rise up by saying, "Rise up you mighty people, you can accomplish what you will." The key element expressed is self-determination, unity, and strong belief that as a people we can change conditions not conducive to living a whole, healthy, and productive life.

At the upcoming 20th Annual International Locks Conference: Natural Hair, Wholistic Health and Beauty Expo, attendees will have the opportunity to see and participate in a living example of self-determination, of the power of unity, networking, and buying black. The conference will be held on Saturday and Sunday, October 4 and 5, 2014, each day from 11:00 AM to 9:30 PM, at the Universal Audenried Charter High School, 3301 Tasker Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19145.

Just imagine 20 years of serving the community; 20 years of exchanging great information; 20 years offering good and healthy food; 20 years of cultural fashions; 20 years of honoring our ancestors; 20 years of soulful drumming and thought-provoking spoken word; 20 years of greeting and meeting new and old friends; 20 years of building, supporting, and helping to start new black businesses; 20 years of celebrating natural hair, our heritage, and our beautiful loving black families; 20 years of jaw-dropping natural hairstyling; 20 years of learning wholistic approaches to wellness; 20 years of serving as a model of self-determination and promoting our cultural expression and connections; 20 years of raising consciousness; 20 years of presenting scholars; and 20 years of a spiritual high. In a time when the streets and news headlines are full of murder, grief, injustice, and police brutality, the 20th Annual International Locks Conference: Natural Hair, Wholistic Health and Beauty Expo offers a necessary and momentary break to allow folks in neighborhoods to breathe in the healing energy of love, unity, knowledge of self, and to regain strength and courage to keep fighting for justice and to be introduced to strategies and solutions to the ills that our communities nationwide are facing.

The Kuumba Family Organizing Committee chose “Long Road to Consciousness” for the theme of its Annual International Lock Conference: Natural Hair, Wholistic Health and Beauty Expo to celebrate the 20th year of producing a two-day event that is bigger than an Afro, much more than a fashion show and unique natural hairstyles, more than the selling of crafts and quality goods, more than the sharing of wholistic health services and eating good foods. The authentic and original Locks Conference has served as an example of what self-determination (doing for self) truly means, an awakening to new thought and actions. Doing self is a communal concept and has grown into multiple natural hair shows around the country, more and more black people starting businesses, more folks examining their history, refining their sense of self, connecting to Aboriginal Indigenous and African culture, and returning to their natural selves. “Consciousness” is defined as an internal knowledge, an awareness of one’s own existence, sensations, thoughts, and surroundings, and the state of being awake intellectually. The 20th Annual International Lock Conference: Natural Hair, Wholistic Health and Beauty Expo is continuing the tradition of promoting the idea of building and supporting black businesses, honoring ancestors, and learning more about and unapologetically celebrating natural hair, cultural expressions, the strength of family, and good health. This much-anticipated national autumn opportunity for family gathering, spiritual renewal, and networking has always been held the first weekend in October.

The Locks Conference features two full days of informative workshops, panel discussions, leading experts from the natural hair care field, world-renowned scholars, authors, activists, and artists from a myriad of professions, live musical performances, martial arts demonstrations, soul line dancing, self-defense for women, live food demonstrations, children’s workshops, a Kuumba marketplace full of gifted craftspeople, talented vendors, service providers from around the country, a cultural fashion show, and a stunning natural hair show and competition. As special additions, the conference will also offer the opportunity to view the explosive film Urban Kryptonite and to give tribute to the UNIA centennial year and Black August.

By popular demand, the conference will again include a wholistic health, healing, and wellness pavilion offering a wide variety of demonstrations and services such as massage; reflexology; muscle testing; Reiki; sound, breath, and crystal healing; herbal remedies, and soul sweat /aquatic therapy. Furthermore, in keeping with the request for elevating consciousness, the Kuumba Family Organizing Committee is proud to announce the expansion of our popular Ida B. Wells authors’ corner at the Conference dedicated to literacy and domestic harmony. In addition to being available for inspiring discussions and book signings, many talented authors from across the country such as Dr. Marimba Ani, noted historian Runoko Rashidi, Kevin A. Muhammad, Wallace Durham, and Dr. Akosua Ali-Sabree; Dr. Ali Muhammad, Professor Griff, Professor Salim Haji Amir Ali, D’Jehuty Maat-Ra, Cochise Tarak Saa, Ras Ben, Nekhena Evans, Minister Enqi Sangreal, Minister Alif Allah, Dalani Aamon, and Norm Bond will also be presenting informative workshops during the conference.

The complete list of presenters and artists is impressive and longer than this space allows. The organizers acknowledge that although the conference is 20 years young, and it is still full of excitement, opportunities for growth, lots of shopping, and good food, all the ills in the world will not be solved at the event. However, the loving feeling, sense of unity, sharing and exchange of life affirming information will certainly add to attendees having a positive experience. The conference organizers are putting out two special calls. One call is for drummers of the African Diaspora far and near to come and participate in a drumming tribute for our fallen youth, a tribute to the ancestors and prayers for our warriors’ safety. We need to acknowledge that we are the people and answers we have been waiting for and rise up the drum vibration that sends messages and speaks unapologetically to our spirits. The second call is for all those people who have been supporting the original Locks Conference from the very beginning in 1994 and beyond to bring either an early Annual International Locks Conference flyer from the first ten years or a program booklet from the years of 1995 to 2004 for which they will receive a unique gift. Remember that the 20th Annual International Locks Conference: Natural Hair, Wholistic Health and Beauty Expo is for the uplifting of our lives.

The Annual International Locks Conference, a private, not-for-profit community educational and cultural event organized by the Kuumba Family Organizing Committee and the Hair-ITAGE Society, is also sponsored by Zuresh Natural products; Unitees, Inc.; Chic Afrique; Amadi Wellness Connection; the Money School; Ujima Press RC; Sweet Spot Desserts; Locs Socks; Nubian Essence; I Munch Cafe; Akoma Ntosoa: United Hearts Cultural Academy; GMI Contractors; and Zaki Associates. A small donation is requested. Mark your calendar and make a plan to attend the conference which will be held on Saturday and Sunday, October 4 and 5, 2014, each day from 11:00 AM to 9:30 PM, at the Universal Audenried Charter High School, 3301 Tasker Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19145.

For more information, to volunteer, or to register for our annual hair show and competition, and/or to see a detailed schedule of the speakers and activities being offered at the 20th Annual International Locks Conference log onto the web site:www.Locksconference.com or email: info@LocksConference.com or contact the a contact the Kuumba Family Organizing Committee at (888) 305-3186.

Advance tickets can be purchased at www.eventbrite.com/e/20th-annual-international-locks-conference-nat...

Black Theatre: Fetch Clay, Make Man

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Marin Theatre Company
Another RAVE review of "Fetch Clay, Make Man!"

BY JOHN MARCHERSEPTEMBER 1, 2014THEATER

In February of 1964 Muhammad Ali, then known as Cassius Clay, won his first World Heavyweight crown after Sonny Liston refused to come out of his corner at the start of their fight’s seventh round. The boxers had a rematch clause in their contracts, and Liston’s capitulation to the young upstart (and Olympic champion) raised the spectre of a fixed fight, especially given Liston’s mob connections. The rematch was originally scheduled for November of that year, but delays lasted until May of 1965, in part because Ali had a hernia operation. In between, a lot went down.

Days after the fight with Liston came the revelation Clay joined the Nation of Islam as a convert and a storm of controversy erupted when the movement’s leader, Elijah Muhammad, announced Clay had changed his name to Muhammad Ali. Malcolm X introduced Ali to the Nation and encouraged him to join. Two months after the announcement, X broke with the movement, and was later assassinated in February of 1965 by Nation associates. Rumors of retaliatory death threats began to circulate around Ali, and supposedly even extended to Liston. Promoters didn’t want to touch the fight in lieu of all this, so it was eventually held in an ice rink in the tiny Maine town of Lewiston. On a historical side note, only 2,434 thousand people filled the rink’s 4900 seats, making it the smallest crowd to ever attend a heavyweight championship fight.

A slightly bizarre sideshow took place during all of this when Ali summoned former actor Lincoln Perry, aka Stepin Fetchit, to join him at his training camp in Chicago, and later introduced him during a press conference as his “secret strategist” (two days before Malcolm X’s assassination).

Will Power manipulates the timeline of Ali and Perry’s meeting for dramatic purposes in his thought-provoking, entertaining play Fetch Clay, Make Man, having Ali summon Fetchit just days before the fight in order to learn the secret of Jack Johnson’s “anchor punch,” which Ali believes Perry knows. In doing so, he creates a play that successfully examines both men’s legacies through their individual attempts to succeed as black men in a white man’s world. Power’s play suggests these two trailblazers, misunderstood by many and maligned by more, were two very different men who fought the same fight with different tactics.

Set in Ali’s locker room in Lewiston, with a goon from the Nation named Brother Rashid guarding (and sometimes blocking) the door, Fetchit shows up wondering why he’s been summoned, and as it soon becomes clear, because he has little else to do. The first black film star to become a millionaire was by this time scorned as an Uncle Tom, viewed by many as a traitor to his race for his part in perpetuating some of the worst black stereotypes on the silver screen, or worse, barely remembered, along with the hows and whys of his former success and how much he drove his own career to what was then an unprecedented level of success. The play frames Fetchit’s rise and fall during unobtrusive flashbacks with movie mogul William Fox. In the locker room, once Fetchit learns what Ali wants from him, his old ambition kicks in and he sees a potential opportunity he can play to his own advantage.

Ali has a maelstrom of things to contend with as he prepares for the fight including a wife ill-suited to her new role as a chaste, modest Muslim; pressure from the Nation to act as a mouthpiece for the movement; the fall-out and resulting threats in the aftermath of Malcolm’s assassination; and preparing for a formidable opponent he knows will try to destroy him. Fetchit initially won’t play along, claiming ignorance about Johnson’s secret punch while angling for his own aims, which include using Ali to reboot his film career. But as the men talk,  Fetchit also becomes keenly interested in Ali as a person, and as a man, and it’s the development of mutual respect and trust between the two men amid a hostile and potentially explosive environment which forms the satisfying core of the play. The denouement is almost as graceful and satisfying to watch as Ali himself during his prime.

The production currently onstage at Marin Theatre Company boasts a superb cast. Roscoe Orman does a marvelous job of peeling off one layer at a time in revealing the man behind the character of Fetchit in a sharp, masterfully timed performance. Eddie Ray Jackson is a physical marvel as Ali: he’s quick, cut, and it’s easy to imagine him holding hold his own in the ring. Selling the physical part would be enough of a challenge, but he matches that with a portrayal loaded with nuance, empathy and wit. As Clay’s wife Sonji, Katherine Renee Turner smolders and then burns in a magnetic, convincing performance, reminding one of why Ali once said, “My toughest fight was with my first wife.” Jefferson A. Russell is so believable and menacing as the converted thug Brother Rashid I found myself wishing Ali would take him out with a single punch, just like he was about to do to Liston. Robert Sicular did fine work in the smaller role of William Fox.

Derrick Saunders’ taut direction flows smoothly. The set design by Courtney O’Neill works well, as does the video design by Caite Hevner Kemp which effectively frames the action on stage with real images from the time. The costumes by Heidi Leigh Hanson work well, but some budget considerations were observed from the small theater’s second row.

Fetch Clay, Make Man runs through September 7th. There are a limited number of discounted tickets available on Goldstar, but even if they’re gone by the time you read this, I encourage you to see it before it ends.

Marin Theatre Company

Beheadings, Islamic States and Crusaders

Isn't it the height of hypocrisy for Europeans and Americans to be cry the beheadings by the Islamic State or ISIS while Euro American drones, guns and bombs slaughter Arabs, Africans and Indigenous people throughout the world? Even sadder is much of the behavior of ISIS is matched in many if not most of the so called Islamic States in the area, such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Gulf States. There are regular beheadings, executions, torture chambers, dogmatism and sectarianism in these lands. Imagine America is horrified at the beheading of an American citizen but what did she do to the American citizen Dr. Allacki and his son in Yemen? Smashed them to smithereens with US Drones, without charges or conviction in a court of law. So who are the real savages, vandals, gangsters and criminals.

If truth be told and it must, there are no good guys in this global quagmire, except the suffering masses who are just beginning to suffer from the bloody drama that is rapidly unfolding in the Middle East and Africa. Wait until the Crusaders return in the fullness of their capabilities. Will not prophesy be fulfilled as the armies near Jerusalem?

Madmen cannot be restrained for they operate under another logic that includes no fear of death. How can one defeat them? Even death is Paradise they seek. Imagine souls of the young men and women flocking to the ISIS territory must derive from some cancer deep in the global body politic, some spiritual deficit in the society that would make young men and women turn into death angels.

This desire to spurn materialism for martyrdom is surely a reaction to national and global politics, both can be totally disgusting, especially societies connected to the West's umbilical cord of free market economics or the desire to rape and plunder nations for conspicuous consumption. Follow the money until one is disgusted with the very idea and this is the moment the death angel leaps into action, for the angel can see the 1% will never turn in their butcher knives, never turn into Buddha heads (Mao).  So the angel is open to another point of view, no matter in confronting the Beast he must don the persona of the Beast as well. For sure, there is no compromise, it is liberty or death, dogmatism or death. But was he ever free in the old regime? No, he was beheaded by the king if he did not sing the Parrot song. In his desperation, a new madness sounds good so he accepts the new way--or is it the old, some behavior beyond the cave man days. Is it learned behavior from the Cave man colonial master? We cannot fantom such barbarity, and it cannot be allowed to spread. If they would acquire and use Drones, it would be more civilized, wouldn't it? But the knife, it is so savage.

For all the ISIS savagery, it doesn't come close to the savagery of the US trillion dollar annual global killing machine.
--Marvin X
3 September 2014

Congratulations Marvin X for receiving the 1st Annual Pillar Award for your Eldership and tireless work and pioneering spirit in the Black Arts and Black Power movement, thank you for introducing Eldridge Cleaver to Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, thank you for sharing your journey and testimonies, thank you for teaching us how to fight institutionalized racism and white supremacy with your strong example of self-determination through Black Bird Press, thank you moving forward to educate the masses through theater and poetry even after you got 'White Listed' from professorship in the UC System because you taught THE TRUTH, thank you for rising from the jaws of Cointelpro like a Phoenix to continue the struggle!!! We Stand Strong on your Legacy. Bless you Baba Marvin X. Ase, 

-Toussaint Haki Stewart with the Elder Zone.

Marvin  X to be honored at Los Angeles Black Book Expo 

September 13, 2014

"Congratulations! Marvin X, you have been nominated to receive the LABBX Spoken Worlds Pavilion Humanitarian Award of the Year, for unlimited service to the community of Poetry and Spoken Word, educating and enlightening seekers of Truth. For your poignant and insightful works benefiting humanity and for your tireless search for Truth, Justice and Clarity of Thought."--Denise Lyles-Cook, Director,

LABBX Spoken Worlds Pavilion

Marvin X's Poetic Mission

Poetic Mission: A Dialogue on the Role of the Poet and Poetry

ACADEMIC JOURNAL ARTICLEBy Lewis, Rudolph
Journal of Pan African Studies , Vol. 4, No. 2

PEER-REVIEWED PERIODICAL

Peer-reviewed publications on Questia are publications containing articles which were subject to evaluation for accuracy and substance by professional peers of the article's author(s).

Additional information

Article excerpt

Overview

Recently (24 January 2009), Marvin X, a well known writer and co-founder of the Black Arts Movement (BAM) sent out by email a provocative piece titled "Poetic Mission." On the surface the concern was the controversial investigation of the murder of the Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey. But "Poetic Mission" goes farther and makes an argument about the role of the poet and poetry.

Here are some excerpts from "Poetic Mission.":

   The mission of the poet is to express the mind of a people, a
   culture, a civilization. He extends the myths and rituals, taking
   them to the outer limits like a Coltrane or Eric Dolphy tune,
   stretching, transcending all that is, was and will be. His tool is
   language, from which he cannot be limited by political correction
   or submission to the culture police on the left or the right.

   The poet is a healer in the time of sickness, inspiring wholeness
   and celebrating the positive. He must point out contradictions and
   lies....

   The poet's mission was well defined in Mao's classic essay Talks on
   Art and Literature at Yenen Forum. The poet is either part of the
   problem or part of the solution--is he with the oppressor or the
   oppressed? Or we can recall the words of ancestor Paul Robeson,
   "The artist must become a freedom fighter." For whom does he write?
   Does he write to satisfy Pharaoh and his minions, or is his mission
   to liberate the suffering masses from ignorance, although he should
   never consider himself superior, since the teacher always learns
   from his students. If he listens, the poets will come to know the
   pain and trauma of his people and his duty is to relieve the pain
   and trauma with visions, plans and programs for the collective
   good.

   The poetic challenge is to take people to new vistas of
   consciousness that reveal the soul, individual and communal, which
   are one. Language is a communal experience that is not the property
   of the poet. He can add to it with his imagination, but is there
   imagination without myth-ritual? What is the source of imagery
   except the collective myth of a culture or civilization.

   In time of struggle and crisis, the poet must become a propagandist
   who whips defeat into victory, sadness into joy. Truth is
   paramount--there are lives at stake, hence this is no game, no job
   for money, no position for publicadoration, no ego trip. Call it
   revolution, change of the most radical form. Marvin X, "Poetic
   Mission." 24 January 2009

Reading Marvin's "Poetic Mission" provoked a slew of questions, which I emailed to him and others in my address book. Poets Jerry Ward, Jr., Mary Weems, and C. Liegh McInnis (with a poem) responded. Marvin responded to a number of my questions, directly. Below I will I place them in a Q & A format. After which, I will present the other responses.

Rudy: Maybe the subject should be "poetic missions." The heart of the problem for the poet is to discover what is the Mission, isn't it, if there is such a thing?

Marvin: Everyone, whether poet, scientist, lover, street sweeper, dope fiend, must ultimately define his/her life's mission or purpose. This is why brother Ptah suggested and I included the 13th Step in my How to Recover from the Addiction to White Supremacy.

What is the mission of the poet--words can kill or heal. Sonia Sanchez says, "Will your book free us?" Apparently not since the stores are full of black books and we still ain't free.

The dope fiend must come to understand recovery is only a step--once clean and sober then what? Only to sit in meetings claiming sobriety while still drunk on recovery--so after recovery, then discovery of one's mission.

Remember that Nancy Wilson song, "I Never Been to Me"? So we can be poet, mother, wife, husband, yet never discover our true mission in life, and even when we discover our mission, we may be too fearful to execute it. …

Marvin X receives 1st Annual Pillar Award at Oakland's Pan African Family Festival, Mosswood Park, Labor Day

Congratulations Marvin X for receiving the 1st Annual Pillar Award for your Eldership and tireless work and pioneering spirit in the Black Arts and Black Power movement, thank you for introducing Eldridge Cleaver to Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, thank you for sharing your journey and testimonies, thank you for teaching us how to fight institutionalized racism and white supremacy with your strong example of self-determination through Black Bird Press, thank you moving forward to educate the masses through theater and poetry even after you got 'White Listed' from professorship in the UC System because you taught THE TRUTH, thank you for rising from the jaws of Cointelpro like a Phoenix to continue the struggle!!! We Stand Strong on your Legacy. Bless you Baba Marvin X. Ase, 

-Toussaint Haki Stewart with the Elder Zone.

Marvin  X to be honored at Los Angeles Black Book Expo 

September 13, 2014

"Congratulations! Marvin X, you have been nominated to receive the LABBX Spoken Worlds Pavilion Humanitarian Award of the Year, for unlimited service to the community of Poetry and Spoken Word, educating and enlightening seekers of Truth. For your poignant and insightful works benefiting humanity and for your tireless search for Truth, Justice and Clarity of Thought."--Denise Lyles-Cook, Director,

LABBX Spoken Worlds Pavilion

Russia and America at War in Ukraine--Putin dangles Nuclear War threat

Ukraine Crisis: Putin Dangles Nuclear War Threat

US Senators Advise Sending Defensive Weapons

By Esther Tanquintic-Misa | September 1, 2014 11:21 AM EST

US senators have advised sending defensive weapons to Ukraine so the latter can fight off pro-Russian rebels as President Vladimir Putin dangled the threat of nuclear war.

View Full Image

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) walks past U.S. President Barack Obama (C) during a group photo at the G20 Summit in St. Petersburg September 6, 2013. At top left is British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Robert Menendez, head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator John McCain and Representative Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, all believe the U.S. must help Ukraine in its sovereignty war against Russia.

Menendez told CNN Ukrainians must be provided with defensive weapons that will make a dent on Russia's ambition to seize the country.

More importantly, give Ukraine the weapons they need so they can fight, McCain told CBS's Face the Nation.

On Friday, Ukraine's volunteer fighters expressed dismay over their seeming non-winning stance against the enemy. They said they can hardly sustain the fight against the better equipped pro-Russian rebels what with the latter's armaments and military tanks compared to their "small arms and a few RPGs (rocket propelled grenade launchers)."

But Mr Putin warned Ukraine's defenders to lay easy on meddling with their affairs, lest Russia be triggered to unleash its most important weapon.

"I want to remind you that Russia is one of the most powerful nuclear nations," the Russian president said. "This is a reality, not just words."

Speaking at a youth forum, Mr Putin said Moscow does not have intentions to go into "large-scale conflicts." But a report by state-run Itar-Tass quoted him telling the same audience that Russia is "strengthening our nuclear deterrence forces and our armed forces" to make them more efficient and modernised.

Thus, "it is better not to come against Russia."

Ukrainian volunteer battalions said the enemy fighters have dug up artillery positions in eastern Ukraine ready to fully seize the region. NATO, based on satellite images, alleged there are over 1,000 Russian soldiers already inside Ukraine. Britain, meantime, said Russia has moved 4,000 to 5,000 military personnel into the sovereign nation.

Latest data released by the United Nations revealed at least 2,593 people have died in war-torn eastern Ukraine since the conflict began in April. An average 36 people die each day.

Meantime, leaders of the European Union threatened Russia with a new round of maximum sanctions if it does not back down on its intentions to invade and seize Ukraine.

The sanctions, however, won't be really a new list but more of tightening the restrictions already imposed in July on Russia's financial, energy, and defence sectors.

"It's totally unacceptable that there are Russian soldiers on Ukrainian soil," British Prime Minister David Cameron said. "If [Russia] carries on in this way, the relationship between Europe and Russia, Britain and Russia, America and Russia will be radically different in the future."

To report problems or to leave feedback about this article, e-mail: e.misa@ibtimes..com.au

To contact the editor, e-mail: editor@ibtimes.com

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Marshall Allen and Sun Ra's Arkestra in London

SUN RA ARKESTRA - UNDER THE DIRECTION OF MARSHALL ALLEN - FOUR DAY RESIDENCY CELEBRATING THE CENTENARY OF SUN RA'S BIRTH

Photo by Fabio Lugaro

Monday 16 June 2014, 8pm

SOLD OUT

Tuesday 17 June 2014, 8pm

SOLD OUT

Wednesday 25 June 2014, 8pm

SOLD OUT

Thursday 26 June 2014, 8pm

SOLD OUT

A pleasure as ever to welcome back one of the greatest big bands of all time - The Sun Ra Arkestra. This year marks the centenary of Sun Ra's birth and these four nights promise to be a very special celebration of one of the greats. Operating under the direction of saxophonist Marshall Allen - who himself is celebrating his 90th year, the Arkestra have made Cafe OTO their home in London and this will be their sixth residency here. With such a massive, joyous songbook and the kind of well organised chaos that sees their legendary 3 hour sets move deftly between rolling grooves, sing-along chants and atonal blasts of mischievous brass the Arkestra never disappoint.

"Resplendent in sparkling red robes, Allen commanded the stage from front left, orchestrating, directing, and choosing soloists. He was full of energy at 85 years old, and needed it as the Arkestra presented two typically far reaching sets totaling nearly 165 minutes" - AllAboutJazz

LINE-UP: 

Marshall Allen / director, alto sax, flute
Tara Middleton / vocal
Vincent Chancey / flugelhorn
Cecil Brooks / trumpet 
Knoel Scott / vocal, saxes, dance
Charles Davis / tenor sax
Danny Ray Thompson / baritone sax
Dave Davis / trombone
Farid Barron / piano
Dave Hotep / electr. guitar
Stanley Morgan / congas, perc
Elson Nascimento / perc, surdo
Tyler Mitchell / bass
Wayne Anthony Smith Jr. / drums


SUN RA 

Sun Ra was one of the greatest and least known jazz artists of the last four decades, whose influence on diverse musicians is little known to the general public. A pianist and band leader, his style ranged from retro swing to avant free, and often in the same piece. His band could play a swinging Gershwin tune and almost imperceptibly soar into their free cosmic equational tones as if they possessed a single mind. 

Ra was a keyboard improviser of great originality, but his foremost talent was for inspiring and teaching creative musicians to improvise freely but together. This tension between freedom and coherence was something he explored with abundant energy and skill. 

Sun Ra died in 1993. The Arkestra performs today, under the direction of alto saxophonist Marshall Allen. 

MARSHALL ALLEN 

Photo above by Fabio Lugaro 

As a young musician, Marshall Belford Allen (b. May 25, 1924) performed with pianist Art Simmons, Don Byas and James Moody before enrolling in the Paris Conservatory of Music. After relocating to Chicago, Allen became a pupil of Sun Ra, subsequently joining the Arkestra in 1958 and leading Sun Ra's formidable reed section for the next 40 years. Marshall, along with John Gilmore, June Tyson and James Jacson, lived, rehearsed, toured and recorded with Sun Ra almost exclusively for much of Sun Ra's musical career. As a member of the Arkestra, Allen pioneered the Free Jazz movement of the early sixties, having remarkable influence on the leading voices in the avant-garde. He is featured on over 200 Sun Ra recordings in addition to collaborations with Phish, Sonic Youth, Digable Planets and Medeski, Martin & Wood. 

Allen assumed the position of Arkestra Musical Director in 1995, following the ascension of Sun Ra in 1993 and John Gilmore in 1995. Marshall continues to be committed to the study, research, and development of Sun Ra's musical precepts and has launched the Sun Ra Arkestra into a dimension beyond that of mere "ghost" band by writing fresh arrangements of Sun Ra's music, as well as composing new music and arrangement for the Arkestra. He works unceasingly to keep the big-band tradition alive. 

www.elrarecords.com 

Marvin X honored at Oakland's Pan-African Family Reunion

It's that time of year again! Our PAN AFRICAN FAMILY REUNION is right around the corner on LABOR DAY, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2014 ( Click Here for Facebook Invitation) and we can't wait to celebrate our beautiful lives together with you. 

Our PAN AFRICAN FAMILY REUNION is a free day of sunshine in the park with a great variety of music, live art, dancing, and games for adults and kids alike. This is an event like no other set to purify our souls and reinvigorate us with the promise of our bright future! We serve free lunch from 12pm-2pm, have arts, crafts and food vendors, performances, and a full day of hanging out with friends and family. 

This year has been more expensive then any past year, mostly because permit and fee costs have gone up for us. We really need your help covering some of these expenses to keep this event successful year after year. PLEASE GIVE WHAT YOU CAN, WHETHER THAT IS $3 OR $100. Every dollar helps. 

We aim to make every year better than the last and look forward to celebrating this year with you!

Your Brothers and Sisters. 
Afrocentric Oakland

P.S. Poet, activist, scholar, essayist, organizer, publisher Marvin X will be among the elders honored at this years festival.