Wanda's Picks

Today we feature the director and founder of the Oakland International Film Festival, April 3-6, 2014 in multiple venues -- www.filmoakland.com (510) 238-4734, and the kick off of the www.1stSaturdays.com initiative. Williams Rhodes joins us to talk about his latest initiative, The Nelson Mandela Quilt Project, and an Art Open House fundraiser this weekend, Sunday, Apr. 6, 2014. The mission of the project is to create an international exchange – facilitating a dialogue between students of the Bayview Opera House in San Francisco and South Africa. Visit http://www.hatchfund.org/project/the_nelson_mandela_international_quilt  We close with a conversation with Ms. Faye Carol who is recipient of the Jazz Hero Award from the Jazz Journalists Association. James Knox, nationally recognized jazz journalist and photographer joins her to talk about the award and the ceremony April 12, 2014, 1-3 p.m. at Yoshis in Oakland, California. Music: boukman eksperyans Gran Bwaile (A Vodou Spirit) & Mandingue Drumming. We clo

Today we rebroadcast Friday, March 28, 2014: We celebrate with Founder and Artistic Directorof Cultural Odyssey 35th Year Celebration Apr. 3-5, 2014,Idris Ackamoor & Rhodessa Jones. Mr. Ackamoor is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, tap dancer, actor, director and producer. He is the founder and Executive/Co-Artistic Director of Cultural Odyssey. Idris curates and produces the Cultural Odyssey Performance Festival, and also records and tours with his acclaimed jazz ensemble. http://www.culturaloydssey  Ms. Jones is an actress, dancer, singer, writer, and teacher, Ms. Jones is Co-artistic Director of Cultural Odyssey and Founder/Director of the Medea Project: Theater for Incarcerated Women. Rhodessa tours her performances and speaks to "Theater for the 21st Century: art which precipitates community transformation.Lyrika Holmes joins us as featured artist at the 35th Anniversary gala. Ms. Holmes is an International performing artist "Lyrika Holmes" is an African-American recording artist, singer, harpist, s

We celebrate with Founder and Artistic Directorof Cultural Odyssey 35th Year Celebration Apr. 3-5, 2014,Idris Ackamoor & Rhodessa Jones. Mr. Ackamoor is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, tapdancer, actor, director and producer. He is the founder and Executive/Co-Artistic Director of Cultural Odyssey. Idris curates and produces the Cultural Odyssey Performance Festival, and also records and tours with his acclaimed jazz ensemble. Ms. Jones is an actress, dancer, singer, writer, and teacher, Ms. Jones is Co-artistic Director of Cultural Odyssey and Founder/Director of the Medea Project: Theater for Incarcerated Women. Rhodessa tours her performances and speaks to "Theater for the 21st Century: art which precipitates community transformation.Lyrika Holmes joins us as featured artist at the 35th Anniversary gala. Ms. Holmes is an International performing artist "Lyrika Holmes" is an African-American recording artist, singer, harpist, songwriter and teacher. Lyrika was born and raised by her parents in St. Lo

From March 13, 2014: Michael Morgan, current Music Director of the Oakland East Bay Symphony and the Sacramento Philharmonic, joins us to talk about OEBS's latest world-wandering chapter in their innovative and popular series exploring symphonic music from various world cultures with Notes from India 3/28, at 8 pm at the Paramount Theatre, Oakland, CA, which includes the world premiere of Where Shadow Chases Light, a new work by young Indian composer Juhi Bansal in her OEBS debut. Rev. Edward Pinkney from Benton Harbor, Michigan, founder of the Black Autonomy Network Community Outreach (BANCO), joins us to talk about his work to defend the poor against corporate power, and to reform the court system in Benton Harbor, a town with 70% unemployment and more people in prison per capita than anywhere in the world. He returns to CA for two events, in Los Angeles, Mar. 15, 5-8 p.m. on "Confronting corporate power and the police state." at the Southern California Public Library, 6120 Vermont, with Laura Garcia, edito

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!

We will open with Damu Sudi Alii and Jabari Alii, featured artist with First Edition which is performing Sat., March 22, 2014, 8:30 p.m. at the 57th Street Gallery in Oakland. See https://www.facebook.com/FirstEditionTrio/info  At 8:30 Danny Nguyen joins us to talk about World Water Day and his composition, “DANCE THE BLEU”, the College of Alameda's Dance Department and Nguyen Dance Company performance, co-sponsored by Oakland Sister Cities International Da Nang, Saturday March 22nd, 7pm. Free Admission in the College of Alameda Dance Studio, G-111. See http://alameda.peralta.edu/danny-nguyen/  At 9 a.m. Scottish playwright Linda McLean joins us to talk about Every Five Minutes which is going up at the Magic Theatre next week 3/26-4/20/2014. See http://www.aoiagency.com/2010/11/mclean-linda/We close at 9:30 a.m. with an interview with Yeye Luisah Teish who will tell us about the Moisture, The Water Cycle Continues. . . A Ritual Theatre Performance, 7-9 p.m. at La Pena Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Avenue, in

Dr. Carmaletta M. Williams, professor of English and African American studies at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kan., author of Langston Hughes in the Classroom: “Do Nothin’ till You Hear from Me” and Of Two Spirits: American Indian and African American Oral Histories and Dr. John Edgar Tidwell, professor of English at the University of Kansas and author of Montage of a Dream: The Art and Life of Langston Hughes, After Winter: The Art and Life of Sterling A. Brown, and Writings of Frank Marshall Davis: A Voice of the Black Press, join us to talk about My Dear Boy, Carrie Hughes's Letters to Langston Hughes 1926-1938http://news.ku.edu/2014/02/24/project-examines-how-letters-langston-hughes-mother-influenced-his-writings. We close the show with frequent guest Raissa Simpson, choreographer, master teacher and Artistic Director of PUSH Dance Company's premiere of "Point Shipyard," March 29-30, 2014 at MoAD-SF. She is joined by collaborators and performers: Katie Wong and Adriann Ramirez www.pu

Charlotte Hill O'Neal, visual and spoken word artist, musician, filmmaker, long time community activist and co Director of United African Alliance Community Center UAACC based in Tanzania, East Africa, stops by the studio on her Heal the Community Tour 2014. Since we last spoke she has a new CD, a new collection of poetry and a new film. See http://mamacharlottesword2011.wordpress.com/  Tyrone Davis is a Los Angeles based actor, director, teaching artist, TCG Leadership U Grant Finalist (2012) and Resident Education Artist with American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. He proudly serves as an adjunct drama professor at Contra Costa College, where he is now directing Suzan Lori-Parks's In the Blood through this weekend. Keeper of the Beat : A Woman’s Journey into the Heart of Drumming is an hour-long documentary in which Barbara Borden, an acclaimed drummer, composer and teacher tells her story in eloquent words and toe-tapping music. Filmed on four continents, the film is produced and directed by three-

Michael Morgan, current Music Director of the Oakland East Bay Symphony and the Sacramento Philharmonic, joins us to talk about OEBS's latest world-wandering chapter in their innovative and popular series exploring symphonic music from various world cultures with Notes from India 3/28, at 8 pm at the Paramount Theatre, Oakland, CA, which includes the world premiere of Where Shadow Chases Light, a new work by young Indian composer Juhi Bansal in her OEBS debut.Rev. Edward Pinkney from Benton Harbor, Michigan, founder of the Black Autonomy Network Community Outreach (BANCO), joins us to talk about his work to defend the poor against corporate power, and to reform the court system in Benton Harbor, a town with 70% unemployment and more people in prison per capita than anywhere in the world. He returns to CA for two events, in Los Angeles, Mar. 15, 5-8 p.m. on "Confronting corporate power and the police state." at the Southern California Public Library, 6120 Vermont, with Laura Garcia, editor of the Tribuno Del P

Colette Winlock, Lola Hanif and Lady Sunrise join us this morning to talk about hydraulic fracturing, the process of breaking up shale underneath the Earth's surface to extract natural gas supplies where a series of holes are drilled into the ground which are then pumped with a water/chemical mix which then forces the natural gas out through the fissures in the shale into previously-built wells for extraction. A.k.a. FRACKING, the impact on human beings, let alone the planet is not known, However, there are recorded medical instances of illness associated with fracking and numerous earthquakes (109) in places like Youngtown, Ohio which sits on the Marcelles Shale where there is no record of such since 1776.  Saturday, March 15, 2014 there is a huge demonstration in Sacramento against “fracking”. Health and Human Resource Education Center and Sacred Space Spiritual Support Group have organized a bus for Black folks in Oakland to show their outrage at the total disregard for humanity, Mother Earth, and life its

Diamano Courais in its 19th year presenting Collage des Cultures Africaines Dance and Drum Concert, March 5-9 in Oakland.Dr. Zakarya S. Diouf the company's Founder and Directorand Naomi Gedo Diouf,Artistic Director, with Dr. Esalima Diouf, doc. filmmaker, and Nimely Napla, guest choreographer join us to talk about this 4-day cultural tour of the Pan African Disapora in Oakland at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts (all classes) with the performance March 8, 2014 (6 doors for African Marketplace; 8 show) at Oakland Tehnical High School. http://www.diamanocoura.org/upcoming-events.htmlJulia Jackson (actor/writer) joins us to talk about her latest show, "Children are Forever (All Sales are Final!)”, at Stage Werx Theatre, 446 Valencia, in San Francisco, Friday-Sat., 8 p.m. Directed by Coke Nakamoto now, the play was developed with original direction in W. Kamau Bell's solo performance workshop a number of years ago. The professional comedian has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and was a semi-

Today we look at the US Prison Industrial Complex and its use of solitary confinement. We focus in the first hour on the case of the Angola 3 and Robert H. King, celebrated Humanitarian, Author, Activist and Doctor of Letters, who is the only free member of A3 with the death of Herman Wallace late last year, freed after 42 years in solitary confinement. Albert Woodfox remains inside and Tuesday, March 3, was the launch of Amnesty International's Campaign to free him http://blog.amnestyusa.org/tag/angola-3/  Dr. Angela A. Allen-Bell, Assistant Professor of Legal Analysis & Writing at Southern University Law Center, Baton Rouge, joins us to speak about her paper: Reassessing Solitary Confinement II: The Human Rights, Fiscal, and Public Safety Consequences, Hearing Before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights -Written Testimony (Feb. 25, 2014). Esther A. Vicente joins us to talk about Caribbean Basin Institute for Education and Culture which is hosting a fundra

Guests: Robert Moses,Choreographer And Founder/artistic Director, Robert Moses’ Kin  speaks about his collaboration with Black Choreographers Festival Here and Now, Mar. 6-8, Draft/By Series; Auntie Frances Moore speaks about her third annual program at the 61st & Adeline--Triangular Park in Oakland, March 23, 1-5 p.m.; Emily Pilloton, Designer, Activist, Founder of Proj. H Design; subject in, If You Build It, dir. Patrick Credon; Dr. John Silvanus Wilson Jr., President of Morehouse College speaks about interrupting or dismantaling the Cradle to Prison Pipeline for African American Men: As an advocate for the intrinsic value of education for all, Dr. Wilson Jr. has dedicated more than 25 years to the advancement of socially conscious and purposeful education; student success; and the good that comes from a college education. As a scholar, an educator, a consultant, a strategist and a fundraiser, he has moved universities and organizations forward with his efforts and vision.  In January 2013, Dr. Wilson t

Maria Moore's sister Kayla Moore was killed by Berkeley police one year ago today at the Gaia Building in Berkeley where Kayla lived at the time of her death. A vigil and speak-out are planned this afternoon and evening to commemorate this tragic injustice. Kayla Moore was a transgender woman of color living with schizophrenia who died when Berkeley police entered her apartment in response to a crisis call and forcefully attempted to arrest her on what they knew to be a false warrant. Maria Moore was born and raised in Berkeley, with her sister Kayla (Xavier) and their father. The women grew up on Dohr St, with their grandparents who lived across the street. Maria just turned 40, and Kayla would have been 42 this year. Kayla had been suffering from mental illness at a very young age, and Maria and her father tried their best to protect her. Currently Maria lives in Oakland, with her boyfriend and daughter.  The photos are of Kayla is holding her niece. Info: Berkeley Copwatch at 510-548-0425 or www.berkeleyco

Dr. Siri Brown, Ache Lytle & Mama Naomi Diouf join us to talk about a recent grant the Department of African American Studies at Merritt College received which took them and other educators to Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. There is a reportback tomorrow at Merritt College 10-12 where the educators will share curriculum developed during the intensive month long Fulbright project which looked at, Culture as Power: Teaching Afro-Brazilian History, Politics, and Culture--A Curriculum Development Project for Community College and High School Educators. The project reflects African American Studies’ deep-seated commitment to providing access to a global Pan African education for undeserved, students of color and it offers educators opportunity for professional and curriculum development and consisted of educators. Visit www.merrittafram.com Dr. Eugene B. Redmond, Poet Laureate of East St. Louis, Illinois (ESLI); Emeritus Professor of English, Founding Editor of Drumvoices Revue, and former Chairman of Creative Writi

Today we speak to prisoner rights organizers Misty Rojo and Samantha Rogers about Justice Now and the California Coalition for Women Prisoners community event Sunday, February 23, 2014, 3-5 p.m., "Is Orange the New Black," with Piper Kerman, activist and author of Orange is the New Black. Joining Piper on the panel are our two guests this morning along with other activists. The panel will be moderated by Shanelle Matthews of ACLU of Northern California. The event is at the Humanist Hall, 390 27th Street, Oakland: http://womenprisoners.org/  We conclude our show with a conversation with The Black Arts Movement & Its Influences conference Feb. 28-Mar. 2, at UC Merced, organizer Kim McMillon and presenter Genny Lim: http://ucmercedbamconference2014.com/ & http://blackbirdpressnews.blogspot.com/2013/09/call-for-papers-university-of.html Music: WolfHawkJaquer's "Cowrie Shell," Eddie Gale's "African Sunrise" featuring Destiny Muhammad on harp; Dwight Tribble's "Little Africa," closing with Billy Harper's "K

TANIA SANTIAGO, the Artistic Director of Aguas Dance Company in "Movendo com Capoeira" Friday-Sat., Feb. 14-15 at 8pm and Sun., Feb 16 at 7pm. Born and raised in Salvador, Bahia, Tania Santiago grew up in the heart of African Brazil. In Brazil she has taught, danced, and choreographed for many well-known companies including Olodum, an arts group famous for its Carnaval parade performances and credited with developing the music style known as samba reggae. While her specialties are folkloric and contemporary Afro-Brazilian dance, Santiago is also conversant in jazz, ballet, West African, Afro-Cuban and modern dance forms. Santiago has resided in California since 1997, and has taught packed classes regularly at ODC School & Rhythm and Motion Dance Program since 2005. In 2001, Santiago received a three-year grant from the California Arts Council to teach young people throughout the San Francisco Unified School District. In addition, Santiago performs with her own company Aguas (formerly known as Aguas da Bah

Today we speak about violence against women and the need to address this in forums like 1 Billion Rising in Oakland tonight and Love Doesn't Hurt, tomorrow afternoon, Friday & Saturday, Feb. 14 and 15, 2014. We are joined in the studio by amazing women creators and organizers: Luisah Teish, Mary Owen, Regina Y. Evans, Regina Jackson, Cheryl Chambers and Vanessa Scott. We open the show with an encore interview with actress and healer, Margaret Avery, Academy Award Nominee for her role as "Shug" in Spielberg's The Color Purple. She's in town as a special screening at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco. Next we have musician/composers Larry Douglas and Jorge Pineda on to talk Latin meets traditional Jazz re-arrangements at the 57th Street Gallery concert tomorrow, Sat., Feb. 15, 8:30 p.m. We close with an extended conversation with Nora Chipaumire's "Miriam," which opened last night at YBCA Forum for two more nights, tonight is an audience conversation following the hour long work. Presented by Black Choreo

Maria Moore's sister Kayla Moore was killed by Berkeley police one year ago today at the Gaia Building in Berkeley where Kayla lived at the time of her death. A vigil and speak-out are planned this afternoon and evening to commemorate this tragic injustice. Kayla Moore was a transgender woman of color living with schizophrenia who died when Berkeley police entered her apartment in response to a crisis call and forcefully attempted to arrest her on what they knew to be a false warrant. Maria Moore was born and raised in Berkeley, with her sister Kayla (Xavier) and their father. Maria just turned 40, and Kayla would have been 42 this year. Kayla had been suffering from mental illness at a very young age, and Maria and her father tried their best to protect her. Currently Maria lives in Oakland, with her boyfriend and daughter.  The photos are of Kayla is holding her niece. The Rally and Vigil are this evening Feb. 12, 2014, at 6 p.m. at the GAIA Building, 2116 Allston Way (above Shattuck). The Speak Out is at 7

Today is National Black AIDS Day. Our first guest, Dr. Malcolm John, an expert in infectious diseases, is director of the UCSF HIV/AIDS Program at UCSF Medical Center, one of the most comprehensive HIV and AIDS treatment programs in the country. In addition to his work at UCSF, John is an HIV consultant at the Larkin Street Youth Center, SF. See http://blackaidsday.org/  http://nationalblackaidsday.org/ Charles Curtis Blackwell is a poet, playwright, and performance and visual artist. His exhibit THE ART OF CHARLES CURTIS BLACKWELL, African Roots of Jazz Art Exhibition is up February 10 - April 20. Sunday, February 23 is Mr. Blackwell's Artist Talk @ 2PM on the 3rd floor Meeting Room at the Main Library, 2090 Kittredge at Shattuck in downtown Berkeley, (510) 981-6241 www.berkeleypubliclibrary.org Bryant Bolling and Zakiyyah G.G. Capehart Bolling join us to talk about their evening of Creative Jazz mixed with spoken word poetry at 57th Street Gallery  in Oakland, Feb. 8, 8-11 p.m. We close with an exended inte