Bold As Love

Upcoming events + other links--March 5, 2010

• 3/5--Shelley Nicole's blaKbushe at WNYC Battle of the Boroughs: Brooklyn Throwdown
• 3/6--Peekaboo Theory at Crazy Frogs (Houston, TX)
• 3/6--Full Spectrum presents "The Infiltrators"
• 3/8--4 Women redux: A Tribute to Miriam Makeba, Odetta, Eartha Kitt & Abbey Lincoln at NYC Schomburg Center
• 3/25-28--The 10th National Black Writers Conference @ Medgar Evers College
• 3/26--The BRC's Nina Simone tribute returns to NYC's HarlemStage
• Ongoing: The 8th Lady Got Chops Jazz Festival
• Armond White on why the Oscars stink
• Danger Mouse finally able to release "Dark Night of the Soul". Dispute with EMI resolved. (via JP917)
• Glad Guru is recovering, but why did his nephew feel the need to make this video? More updates here.  Stranger and stranger, indeed. Can anyone say "Health Care Proxy"?
• An expert explains why captivity can turn killer whales into, well, killers (thanks @danamo!)

Sharing is. . .

You may have noticed that this green symbol has been at the bottom of each post.  It's a recently added widget that lets you share the post.  Pretty cool, huh?  So here's what I'm asking: If you like what you read, please feel free to share it with friends, colleagues, other artists, etc.  Doing so helps build this already great community of readers.  There's also a link to Digg, so if that suits you better, please feel free to use that one instead.

Hat tip goes to Bruce Houghton, since I've jacked his idea for a post.  Guess that's what happens with good ideas.

Thanks, all!

Primordial Punk launch party--Friday, July 11

Speaking of Afropunk, an event to look forward to is Friday night's Primordial Punk Debutante Ball.  This event is basically the launch of the Primordial Punk calendar, which features brown, tattooed punk rock girls, all tastefully presented.  The brainchild of Luqman Brown (singer, songwriter and bandleader of Funkface and runs Buddha Bug Records), LaRonda Davis (who also presides over the Black Rock Coalition) and Jana (designer extraordinaire from K Boom Culture), here's the statement taken from their MySpace page:

PRIMORDIAL PUNK represents what’s been missing from the cultural dialogue of beauty. It calls upon the talents of professional artists to challenge, confront, rearrange, and revisualize the standard against which AFRICAN-AMERICAN beauty is measured. To that end, we are mobilized to create a new vehicle through which to champion Black Identity and Pride. Expressed through an ancestral language of tattoos, piercings, and hair modifications, PRIMORDIAL PUNK celebrates the fact that our beauty is original, unapologetic and undeniable. It’s in our blood, of our culture. And ours to liberate, proclaim and exalt...

Sweetie, Chewing Pics, Black Betty and Apollo Heights will be performing, so try to check out this free event that also includes a Luq's other band Mackie Riverside backing the Brown Girls Burlesque.

Music is an integral part of this Black rock movement, but you can see that there's so much more to it.  It's about defying convention not just when it comes to sounds, but in every area of our lives as African Americans, and a highly sensitive one is beauty and how we define what we value.

Additional links:

• Primordial Punk site
• Primordial Punk on MySpace
• Previous posts on Afropunk here

links for 2008-05-20

• Santogold dubs 'hip-hop' comparisons racist
  Good for her.  An example of a Black person defining themselves, and all sorts of people/pundits are shocked.  Thanks to Theda for the heads-up
  (tags: santogold identity)

links for 2007-12-12

• Radiohead Makes Business Plans the New Punk Rock
  The broader thinking that's required if we're to grow the audience for Black rock.
  (tags: music+business)

The Whiteness of Indie Rock (just the links)

• A Paler Shade of White
  Honestly, I need to read this again and much more closely.  My initial impression was that great pains were made to set up an argument that didn't pay off as well as it could.
  (tags: race newyorker rock music)
• Is Indie Rock Black Enough? Presenting The Sasha Frere-Jones Score
  Idolator weighs in on SFJ's position.  Again, I need to jump into the original piece in order to comment.
  (tags: music race rock)

links for 2007-08-22

• Forty Years Ago: The Most Significant Music Album Ever and Unfortunate Questions of Blackness - Entertainment on The Huffington Post
  Jimi Hendrix, rock as Black music, and the authenticity question. . .still.  Ridley's on point.
  (tags: Jimi+Hendrix identity disconnect)

links for 2007-08-03

• It's money over music for many players in today's hip-hop world
  The flip side from Alan Light who "cites 'a really vital hip-hop underground' and a strong international scene."  Thanks to Glenn @ Coolfer for the heads-up.
  (tags: hip+hop)

links for 2007-07-28

• Maureen Mahon's interview with music cult heroine Betty Davis
  Maureen scores a rare interview with the reclusive seminal Black rock figure.  Read on.
  (tags: Betty+Davis bands history)

links for 2007-07-27

• Live365 Study Underscores Importance of Net Radio To Indie Music
  Thanks, Bruce, for highlighting this study, which show folks just how important it is to keep indie channels open and alive.
  (tags: Live365 internet+radio)