According to Sandy

Mr. Wilson is one of my favorite playwrights. He wrote plays for every decade of the 20^th century that would chronicle some part of the black experience in America. Through the use of his great ear for dialogue, Wilson was able to give us some insight into the daily life, both struggles and triumphs, of an assortment of universal characters that his audience could easily recognize. In 2005, August Wilson completed a ten-play cycle that is now being recorded to be enjoyed by future generations.

Tickets are sold out for just about all the live performances at the tiny Greene Space Theatre in NYC, however, the plays can be viewed online via webcast. I thoroughly enjoyed “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” a few days ago. True, the actors sit in seats in front of microphones, but they were so good and August Wilson’s stories are so compelling, that the imagination kicks in and provides the scenery and action. (For those of you not old enough to remember, we did this during radio programs all the time back in the day:)

“The Piano Lesson” is next on Monday 9/9/13 at 7PM EDT. The Greene Space site has a calendar of events, actor lists, etc.

August Wilson’s American Century Cycle

The Greene Space, 44 Charlton Street, New York, NY

• 1900s – Gem of the Ocean (2003)
• 1910s – Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (1984)
• 1920s – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1982)
• 1930s – The Piano Lesson (1986) – Pulitzer Prize
• 1940s – Seven Guitars (1995)
• 1950s – Fences (1985) – Pulitzer Prize
• 1960s – Two Trains Running (1990)
• 1970s – Jitney (1982)
• 1980s – King Hedley II (2001)
• 1990s – Radio Golf (2005)

BTW – the recordings are done in the order that the plays were written, not in chronological order as listed above.

LABBX, the Los Angeles Black Book Expo, returns on Saturday August 17, 2013. This free event, at the L.A. Convention Center,  will have “authors, storytellers, spoken word and poetry performances, musicians, exhibitors, children’s book authors, emerging writers, publishers, booksellers, panel discussions, editors, book reviewers…” all in support of having a glorious reading experience.

LABBX 2013

L.A.  Convention Center – Saturday August 17, 2013

Happening this coming weekend is a  fantastic yearly event involving over 200 exhibit booths, music, panel discussions and children’s activities. Great way to spend a Saturday in the city!

 “The vision of the Harlem Book Fair is to partner with local and national leadership organizations under the banner of literacy awareness, affirming HBF as the nation’s largest African American literary event celebrating family literacy, community empowerment and community cooperation.“

2013 Harlem Book Fair

Saturday July 20, 2013

Schomburg  Center for Research in Black Culture

West 135th Street between Malcolm X Blvd and Fredrick Douglas Blvd

Lunar New Year, February 10, 2013, marks the 4710^th year in the Chinese calendar – the Year of the Snake.

Not as fiery and intense as 2012’s Dragon year, 2013 should be calmer and more practical with a tendency toward stability, security and comfortable elegance.

FYI: The Chinese Snake is considered to be aligned with the Western Zodiac sign of Taurus.

Gong Hay Fat Choi!

Happy New Year!

The Schomburg celebrates Ms Catlett, painter, sculptor, printmaker, activist (1915 – 2012), with music and poetry on Saturday January 12, 2013 at 6PM..

“Inspired by the Civil Rights era, the late Elizabeth Catlett became one of the world’s most treasured artists of the 20th century- defining the courage, hope and beauty of African-American life in America. Join notable scholars, poets and artists remembering her life and contributions!”

“Art must be realistic for me, whether sculpture or printmaking, I have always wanted my art to service my people—to reflect us, to relate to us, to stimulate us, to make us aware of our potential…. I try to tell young artists, black artists, that there’s a great need for their work. Some are only interested in doing what they want to do, not what people need.—Elizabeth Catlett”

 For My People: A Musical & Poetic Tribute to Elizabeth Catlett

Saturday, January 12, 2013  *  6PM – 9PM

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY

(Sculpture: “Mother & Child”, 1959. Mahogany)

There has been lots of talk regarding the Mayan Calendar and its apparent end of days date, 12.21.12.  Last week, we celebrated 12.12.12 – a date thought by many cultures to be lucky, fortunate, blessed – best day to marry, to be born, etc. This week, we have the 21^st of December, 2012. A date said to denote the end of the world because the Mayan calendar, prepared around 3000 BC, ends, suddenly. Hmmmm.

I distance myself from “Dooms Day” scenarios and align myself with those in countries such as Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador & Honduras, where there will be joyous celebrations, with fireworks, on this date. They think of the following day, 12/22/12 as a beginning of the next phase – like a “sequel”. Perhaps, an opportunity to create something different than what went before. Exciting, but certainly not an ending. As amazing as the Mayan civilization was with all its accomplishments, I just assume that at the time their calendar was prepared, 2012 seemed a very long time into the future and due to the size of the rock (tablet size constraints)on which it was carved, they may have just ran out of room. (Yes, I’m being facetious, but you follow my drift – don’t send me any nasty tweets.)

I don’t know about you, but I would prefer to celebrate 12/21/12, while acknowledging the Mayans for all they have given us, which includes the chance for the world to start over.

See ya on December 22!

I love the Schomburg, it always has something going on. Currently, it celebrates one of our most famous photographers and film makers with Gordon Parks: 100 Moments

This event “…celebrates a photographer who transformed the visual story of America with his ever-questioning lens, highlighting—in particular—the significance of Parks’s photographs from the early 1940s. 100 Moments focuses on Parks’s photographic practice of documenting African Americans in Harlem and Washington, D.C., during a pivotal time in U.S. history. These photographs were taken when both cities were going through significant changes—arising from post-WW II urban migration, the expansion of the black press, concern for children’s education, and entrenched segregation and economic discrimination. “

“Gordon Parks: 100 Moments” until December 1, 2012

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, 515 Malcolm X Boulevard, NY, NY

FYI:  The Schomburg Library was the vision of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg. Of African/ Puerto Rican descent, he recognized the need to consolidate the culture, history and art of people of color. His collection was absorbed into the New York Public Library system after his death in 1938. It became a part of the “Division of Negro History” at the 135th Street Branch.

Los Angeles will host its popular Black Book Expo again this year at the L.A. Convention Center. This one day event will offer “authors, storytellers, spoken word and poetry performances, musicians, exhibitors, children’s book authors, emerging writers, publishers, booksellers, panel discussions, editors, book reviewers…”

The Los Angeles Black Book Expo (LABBX)

L.A.  Convention Center – Saturday August 20, 2011

Over 200 exhibit booths will be featured at the 2011 edition of this annual free event including music stages, panel discussions and children’s activities.

“The vision of the Harlem Book Fair is to partner with local and national leadership organizations under the banner of literacy awareness, affirming HBF as the nation’s largest African American literary event celebrating family literacy, community empowerment, and community cooperation. “

Annual Harlem Book Fair & Arts Festival – Saturday July 23, 2011

11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on West 135th Street, NYC

( Malcolm X Blvd. /Lenox Ave and Fredrick Douglas Blvd. 8th Ave)

This week Macbeth comes to a local PBS station near you. I have gushed about this play several times before here – and now I will again.

The filmed version of this Shakespearean play about ambition, greed and madness stars Patrick Stewart (always a theater actor, but, now perhaps best known from “Star Trek: Next Generation”). I saw him in the staged production on Broadway last year and loved it.

The action has been moved out of its original time and into 30’s/40’s war torn Scotland. Most of the original text remains, even with the modern presentation, but it all works anyway. (Towards the end of the play when Macbeth, ready to fight to the death, calls out, “Bring me my armor” – instead of a helmet and metal breast plate, he is fitted with a army issue “flak” jacket and machine gun. By this time, the audience was so wrapped up in it all, it didn’t matter.)

It may not be considered as deep and layered as Shakespeare’s  Hamlet or King Lear, but Macbeth is so much fun. It has 3 witches, 8 ghosts plus, a “moving” forest and a man with a violent birth.  Both Macbeth and his Lady wreak havoc as they totally embrace their baser nature and eventually self destruct. You are grabbed from the first scene and it won’t let you go until that pesky forest starts to inch forward, (I hope I haven’t given too much away) This is drama!

It is a rousing, rambunctious, and riveting tale of misdeeds, murder and mayhem. (Yes, I’m showing off- I love alliteration.)

Macbeth, William Shakespeare: PBS Great Performances (check local listings)