Wanda's Picks

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay! 1. We speak to Britney Frazier who portrays Hedda Gabler in Cuttingball's production of the Ibsen classic.Directed by Yury Urnov, the work is up through Feb.28.

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers.  1. Women's March Team for San Francisco Bay Area: Renee McKenna is the San Francisco lead and expert on all things Women's March. Christina is on the Arts & Speakers team of volunteers for the march. She is a photographer and artivist from New York City, now in San Francisco: http://www.christinaecampbell.com Jamae Tasker is going to Washington, DC. 2. Ayodele Nzinga, director, Lower Bottom Playaz's production: "Mama at Twilight: Death by Love" at The Flight Deck in Oakland, CA, 1/12-29. 3. Al Letson, National Public Radio host, joins us to talk about: "Summer in Sanctuary" at The

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!  1. We open with a conversation with Dr. Evelyn Wesley about Making Miracles in Forty Days: Turning What You Have into Want a part of Wisdom Wednesdays at EBCRS. The process starts this evening, Jan. 11, 6:15 p.m. at East Bay Church of Religious Science, 4130 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland.  2. We conclude with a conversation with lead actor and director, Jerod Haynes and Seret Scott about Native Son, Nambi E. Kelley's adaptation of Richard Wright

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay! 1. Stacey Hoffman, Living Jazz Executive Director joins us to talk about the 15th Annual Musical Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Sunday, Jan. 15  2. Krissy Keefer, Dance Bridgade joins us to talk about the 40th Anniversary showcase Jan. 13-14 3. Glen Upshaw, Violence Interrupter, Oakland Citizen Humanitarian Award 2017   

From the Archives features this episode from 12/12/2012: 1. Ann Chinn, Executive Director of Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers (MPP), an organization that began this year to Commemorate the nearly 2 million Africans who perished in the Middle Passage of the transatlantic human trade 2. Baba Achebe Hoskins, member, The Brotherhood of Elders Council speaks about Kujichagulia or Self-Determination, Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012, at the Malonga Center, in Oakland. He is a 2011 City of Oakland Humanitarian Award Winner, a father, cultural worker and playwright. Baba Achebe currently facilitates a Transformative Manhood Group which is made up of fifteen elders who conduct a weekly, multi-ethnic intergenerational “Critical Thinking” session for between ten and twenty youth, thirteen to twenty five years old. 3. Artist, Activists: Malik Seneferu and Brotha Clint join us to talk about the Kwanzaa 2012 kick-off in San Francisco today at 12 noon at City Hall. Visit www.thevillageprojectsf.org  4. We close

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!                                                             

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay! 1. Oakland East Bay Symphony Celebrates Let Us Break Bread Dec. 16, 2016 http://tobtr.com/9645829

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!  1. We speak to Maestro Michael Morgan, Dr. Lynn Morrow, Ms. Ellen Hoffman, and Mr. Terrance Kelly about the Holiday Concert, "Let Us Break Bread" at Oakland East Bay Symphony, Dec. 11, 4 p.m. at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland. 

Oakland Symphony’s nontraditional holiday tradition – Let Us Break Bread Together – is back December 11, 2016 at 4 PM at Oakland’s Paramount Theatre. Enjoy many of your holiday favorites! 2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Black Panthers, and an important time in Oakland’s history. Oakland Symphony will pay homage by performing music from the time including Motown classics, gospel and protest music of the 60’s and 70’s. Let us Break Bread Together will feature Oakland Symphony Chorus, Linda Tillery, Vocal Rush, Kugelplex, Mt. Eden High School Concert Choir, and Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir.                                                        Maestro Michael Morgan, Music Dirctor and Conductor, Dr. Lynn Morrow, OEBS Chorus Director, Mr. Terrence Kelly, Oakland Interfaith gospel Choir, and Ms. Ellen Hoffman, Pianist and Composer We close with Rodney Leon, architect, Ark of Return, Tribute to formerly enslaved Africans, permanent exhibit at United Nations in New York City (pr

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay! 1. A Celebration of Food Justice Activism @ MoAD, 685 Mission, SF, Sat, Dec 3 at 10:00 AM with Bryant Terry, Chef-in-Residence at MoAD, Judy Juanita, author of Virgin Soul, a coming of age Black Panther woman story, and Jocelyn Jackson, Peoples Kitchen Collective in West Oakland.   2. Dr. Jeanne Theoharris speaks about her tribute to the political legacy of Mrs. Parks in: The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks (2013), to the political legac

Edward P. Jones is a New York Times bestselling author and has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the National Book Critics Circle award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and the Lannan Literary Award for The Known World. His first novel The Known World is about the ownership of slaves by a black master in the antebellum South. Reviewers lauded Jones for the novel's epic grandeur, vernacular, and lyrical prose, fully realized characters, and lively dialogue. Comparing Jones favorably with William Faulkner and Toni Morrison. After winning the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Jones told Publisher's Weekly : "I want to write about the things which helped us to survive: the love, grace, intelligence, and strength for us as a people." Jones also received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2004. His first collection of stories, Lost in the City, won the PEN/Hemingway Award and was short-listed for the National Book Award. The stories recapture the life Jones knew growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, especial

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay! 1. Director - NC Heikin began her career at La Mama Experimental Theatre Club in New York and went on to work on and off Broadway as an actress, singer, dancer, writer and director. Her most recent film, Sound of Redemption, The Frank Morgan Story (http://frankmorganstory.com/) about a troubled jazz musician, was produced by bestselling author Michael Connelly and premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2014 and theatrically in NY and LA

  This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay! 1. Cleavon Smith graduated from the US Naval Academy and Mills College. He is the writer of Vs., produced by TheatreFirst in their 2016-17 season. His short plays have been featured in the 2012 PlayGround and the 2015 Ohlone College Playwrights Festivals. He lives in Oakland and teaches in the English department at Berkeley City College." 2. Standing Rock Protest. Tiyesha Meroe, People's Community Medics. To help visit https://medichealercou

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay! From the Archives Ben Vereen (2013) joins us to talk about a new show at the Razz Room in San Francisco. We open with an essay about Nate Parker's Birth of a Nation. 

1.Poetic Response to the Elections with poets: Rafael Jesús González, Eugene Redmond, Marcus Lorenzo Penn, Sandra "Makeda" Hooper-Mayfield, Karla Brundage, Alan Laird, Ann Marie Davis, Raymond Nat Turner, Charles Curtis Blackwell, Karla Brundage, Zigi Lowenberg 2. 30th Annual Black Doll Artists Show and Sale, Nov. 12, 10-5 at the African American Museum and Library, Oakland 3. BACCHANAL DE AFRIQUE Nkeiruka Oruche, Artistic Director/Producer Nkeiruka Oruche is a Nigerian of Igbo descent who lives and plays with her family in Oakland. She is a dancer, musician, performer and educator specializing in street dance and music styles from Africa and her Diaspora. With over 15 years of experience and a passion for social justice and community-building, her goal is to work with people to use art as a way to lead healthy lives and create positive change in the world. Nkeiruka has worked with Amara Tabor-Smith, Loco Bloco, Dance Mission Theater, the Oakland Museum of California, Our Family Coalition, Youth Speaks an

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay! 1. Cleavon Smith graduated from the US Naval Academy and Mills College. He is the writer of Vs., produced by TheatreFirst in their 2016-17 season. His short plays have been featured in the 2012 PlayGround and the 2015 Ohlone College Playwrights Festivals. He lives in Oakland and teaches in the English department at Berkeley City College." 2. Standing Rock Protest. Tiyesha Meroe, People's Community Medics. To help visit https://medichealerco

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay! This morning we speak to Rev. Daniel Buford, Director, Prophetic Ministery at Allen Temple Baptist Church, Oakland, CA, about presidential candidate, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. We also speak about voting rights for black people in America. The show concludes with a conversation about California ballot propositions and City of Oakland Ballot Measures for the upcoming election.                                                         

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay! 1. Melody Shere'a and Monica Simmons join us to speak about the encore screening of there film, "Invisible Women: Being Black in Corporate America," Nov. 11 at the Valley Art Center at Holy Names University. 2. Mother and daughter, Opal Palmer Adisa and Teju Adisa Farrar join us to share poetry and philosophy of life. 3. We close with a conversation with Rev. Daniel Buford about current CA Ballot Propositions. This is a two part conversatio

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!   1. Frantz Jerome, Haitian political analyst, joins us to talk about the Island Nation. Frantz is very knowledgeable and has been a frequent guest on Flashpoints, Sojourner Truth and other radio programs discussing Haiti. He is a former professor at CUNY, well-known and respected in the NY community where he was the coordinator of a coalition of 80 Haitian grassroots organizations during the 1990's.  http://www.haitiemergencyrelief.org/Hait