photo collage Adam Turner
Anna Shneiderman
Executive Director
Ragged Wing Ensemble & The Flight DeckExecutive Director
510-858-7383
CUBA first stop on 27 City Tour?
Members of the Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra informed producer Marvin X they would like to initiate the tour in Cuba rather than end in Cuba as Marvin had planned. BAM artists from coast to coast have suggested Cuba first, so we shall see. Since the BAM icons are elders, their schedules and health will determine how many will be able to do the 27 city tour. Poet Sonia Sanchez, 80 years old, told the producer, "Marvin, the very idea of a 27 city tour makes me tired."
BAM poet Sonia Sanchez
Straight Outta Oakland, BAM 27 City Tour is estimated to cost about 3 million dollars @ $100,000.00 per city, plus the Cuba Concert. We are seeking donations to make this tour a reality. What is the purpose? Ancestor Amiri Baraka would say, "It's about beauty and truth! It's about advancing the cultural revolution. It's about a United Front of all progressive people." For information or booking, email jmarvinx@yahoo.com. 510-200-4164.
Amiri Baraka, BAM Chief architect (RIP)Straight Outta Oakland
The Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour
Amiri Baraka and Maya Angelou doing the BAM BAM (RIP)
Graphic design by Adam Turner
Amiri Baraka (RIP) and Marvin X enjoyed a 47 year friendship as movers and shakers of the Black Arts Movement
The Black Arts Movement was/is the most radical artistic and literary movement in American history, sister of the Black Power Movement. Our mission is to spread radical cultural consciousness throughout the land. We thank the citizens of Oakland for establishing the first Black Arts Movement Business District in America.
BAM co-founder Marvin X and Lynette McElhaney, President of the
Oakland City Council
photo Adam Turner
Marvin X speaking at Oakland City Hall's Black History Celebration, Feb. 24, 2016
We especially thank Oakland City Council President, Lynette McElhaney, for pushing through legislation establishing the Black Arts Movement Business District. Also, thanks to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and Laney College President Elnora T. Webb for celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Black Arts Movement at Laney College. Mayor Schaaf said she will use her power as Mayor to support the BAM 27 City Tour by contacting mayors in other American cities. We urge her to do so ASAP.
We would like the BAM 27 City Tour to end in Cuba with a grand concert featuring the BAM Poets Choir and Arkestra, Francisco Mora's Afro Horn, Sun Ra Arkestra and David Murray. We need sponsors, promoters, booking agents to make this happen. If you or your city has a venue for the 27 City US tour, please contact Marvin X: 510-200-4164 ASAP.
Sincerely,
Marvin X,
Producer
BAM 27 City Tour
jmarvinx@yahoo.com
Icons of the Black Arts Movement
invited to join the
BAM 27 City Tour
Askia Toure
Sonia Sanchez
Marvin X and Danny Glover
Nikki Giovanni
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The Last Poets
Felipe Luciano, Last Poets
Haki Madhubuti
Mrs. Amina Baraka
Marshall Allen, Sun Ra Arkestra
Danny Thompson, Sun Ra Arkestra
Francisco Mora Catlett, Afro Horn
David Murray
FYI, David Murray, Berkeley native, now living in Paris, France, invites the Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra to a European tour ASAP! Thank you, David!
The Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra
The Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra
University of California, Merced
BAM 50th Celebration, 2014
Marvin X, David Murray, Earle Davis
Marvin X reading DOPE by Amiri Baraka (RIP)
Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra
Malcolm X Jazz/Arts Festival
Oakland, CA.
2014
Featured artists of the Bay Area
BAM Poets Choir and Arkestra
Tureada Mikell, Michelle LaChaux, Dr. Ayodele Nzinga, Tarika Lewis
Tacuma King
Kujichagulia
Paradise Jah Love
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Choreographer Linda Johnson, Val Serrant, Raynetta Rayzetta
Destiny Muhammad
Earle Davis
Zena Allen
Aries Jordan
Marvin X
TOWARD THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT 27 CITY TOUR
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Sun Ra
Marshall Allen, 91 years old, now leader of the Sun Ra Arkestra (He said, "Marvin I'm not 91, I'm 19." Marvin X says, "And he plays like he's 19!" Danny Thompson and Marvin X at University of Chicago, Sun Ra Conference, 2015. They performed and discussed the teachings of BAM Master Sun Ra and their relationship with him as fellow artists. All three are dedicated to the teachings of Sun Ra. FYI, all of us BAM artists were/are students of Sun Ra, students and/or associates of Sun Ra, the POPE of BAM, AB the High Priest. David Murray and Francisco Mora Catlett performed and were infected with the Ra doctrine. RA RA RA!
The Gemini twins: Marvin X and Sun Ra. These "Latter Day Egyptian Revisionists" (Sun Ra term) worked together coast to coast. Marvin X worked with the Arkestra in New York, Philly and the Bay Area. Both men taught in the Black Studies Department at University of California, Berkeley, 1971-72. The above pic is outside Marvin's Black Educational Theatre, San Francisco, 1972. Sun Ra arranged the music for Marvin's play Take Care of Business, aka Flowers for the Trashman. They produced a five hour concert (without intermission) at San Francisco's Harding Theatre on Divisadero. The production had a cast of fifty, including Marvin's actors, Sun Ra's Arkestra and the dancers of choreographers Ellendar Barnes and Raymond Sawyer, living legends of Bay Area BAM dance. See SF Sun Reporter archives for review.
Juan Felipe Herrera, currently, US Poet Laureate, performed with the Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra at the University of California, Merced, 50th Anniversary Conference, produced by Kim McMillon and Marvin X.
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Poet Ginny Lim, member of The Black Arts Movement Poets Choir and Arkestra
Left to Right: Zena Allen, Kora player, poet Marvin X, Tarika Lewis, violinist
Linda Johnson, choreographer/dancer
Dr. Cornel West and Marvin X
Cornel supports and will participate in the
Black Arts Movement 27 City Tour
Dr. Cornel West and Marvin X
