AFROLOGICS NEWSLETTER: cart + wheel

AFRONAUTS! How you be? Habari Gani? Kuumba, that's what? Today is creativity to take it higher day in that mysterous "holiday" of Kwanzaa, and how fitting that it lands on new Year's Eve!  I have been thinking about what I would go and do, and I realized that I am still in love with a New Year's Eve at home setting intentions, clearing the energetic deadwood, and celebrating my best poems ever--my kids. Right about now, however, they are feeling all elegiac as I have both of them cleaning their rooms--disaster! What to say about this final week of 2010? It was telling that Christmas sells were up beyond industry expectations: how else could we force ourselves to ignore the obvious? I am using "we," because even I rolled into the 99cent store and temporarily lost my mind. As Reverend Billy will tell you, we shop too much. We are addicted to shopping. It is our national drug of choice, along with TV consumption. I long ago threw out the TV, but as it invades the smaller screen of my laptop, I am confronted with ever encroaching psychic slop. Cue Parliment Funkadelic!

 

So we went shopping because of the embarrassment of the Wikileaked cables. Those embarassments are MULTIPLE, large among them is pure and simple mismanagement. How on earth did that many people need access to those files? Why were they never properly archived? Next among them, why are our diplomats so damn snarky? Can't they be nice? And this of course lead to the realization that most of us are not nice in our daily dealings at work either. In fact, if you are "in it to win it" in the small-minded game of office politics, you are NEVER nice, only polite for selfish motivation. Where is that credit card?! Oh wait, I have no card? Okay, I'll just use all the cash from my check I have not received yet! Right. There are the lies told to maintain de facto slavery on the continent of Africa which are revealed in those cables. There are lies to maintain a lot of things, especially the thought, the feeling, the zeitgeist that we are a supreme nation. Kinda clear that ain't true now. Shopping feels like we still have choices (have you been following the debate over an open internet), that we live in a free society (remember those new airport rules), where every one has a chance to make something of themselves (how about that college debt that you can't shake and a degree for a non-existent job), be of service just by clicking a box (remember Haiti) and express themselves without repercussion (have you tried being an artist or gay or both or Latino in Arizona). Keep playing this game if you like. The close of 2010 is turning the wheel AND the cart. If you look just beyond all the crushed, shiny, phony stuff scattered on your metaphorical ground, you will notice a road you have never seen before. Take it. Walk into the second decade of the new millennium daring to take responsibility for your own happiness.

 

BLOWIN' BACK DA FRO : deadlines! Discounted tickets for an array of items and a few fundraising campaigns are coming to a close at midnight.

Celebrate Dance Festival had a sale on for this extravaganza in Glendale. Here is the link to the regular box office, then use the following info TODAY tog et the discount: 30% off tickets Use promo code: DANCE11 - on line at - the box office or by phone 818-243-2539 don't wait there will not be tickets on Gold Star this year - Promo Expires 12/31/10

LA Idea Project also has a discount going for this brain-food-more-than-you-can-fathom buffet: Check out their website for the link to the discount for the conference on November 5 & 6 and for an upcoming dinner on Jan 15th! I'll be at both. Holla!

The A.W.A.R.D. Show at the REDCAT is close to selling out! Unfortunately, there is no block ticket for each night, so throw fiscal responsibility to the wind (um, or not) and go to all 4 nights. If you are of this world of dance, sorry, your buddies are scattered across all four days, so suck it up and go. Conversely, write a scathing blog ont he role of competition and send it to itch dance journal!

Viver Brasil is needing to stock up on their 100 @ $100 donors before 2010 is gone! DONATE!

 

 

LOVELY!

Well, if you have plans that are not really making you feel festive or you have no plans, I have the desire to dance without music, dance to ambient sounds in a parking lot or a park, in my dance whites, in silence, to ring in the New Year. Who wanna ride in this possee?  

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Get ready for the rest: 1.1.11

The International Year of People of African Descent

BREAKING GLOCAL PERFORMANCE ART NEWS!

http://www.unitedstatesartists.org/project/cat_lady

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As of 4 PM, Wednesday December 29, 2010, Kristina Wong is only $140 away from meeting her fundraising goal for her first ensemble work, CAT LADY!

 

She is working super hard over on Face Book making personalized videos for those who donate at the $50 level.  I am not kidding. So if you are an FB member, Join the House of Wong. Next follow the link to her page on United States Artists and make a pledge of $50 or more.  REMEMBER: when she "tips" your cash will be collected. So only pledge if you've got it cause this woman is going to make her money!

 

Why fund Ms. Wong? Well she has given us a string of incredibly funny, shocking and thought provoking one woman shows and is now ready to make ensemble work. All of her work has been funded by grant makers we know and love like The Durfee Foundation, The MAP Fund, and probably a few others I can't recall right now.  Time is of the essence!

But I will say this: the other reason to support Kristina is because she supports other local artists, wherever she happens to be! From Austin to Miami, to NYC and back to LA, Ms. Wong shares her cheese with the rest of us in the maze.

MAKE YOUR PLEDGE NOW! SUPPORT LOCAL ARTISTS WHO SUPPORT YOU!

OLMEC, exhibit @ LACMA

All my life I have wanted to visit these heads in Vera Cruz, Mexico, and here two came to LA to visit us. While the descriptions are very timid and often obsfications of the battle for historic realism--many contend that explorers from western Africa arrived long before Columbus--the collection is still fascinating. Go before it does.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Drum Day Dance & DJ

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Drum Day Give Away

See and download the full gallery on posterous

AFROLOGICS NEWSLETTER: trippin the light fantastic

PEACE&TIME, Afronauts! Did you catch the lunar eclipse on the Solstice? Were you able, sustahs, to participate in the "Fill em Up" global chant? Or if in LA, did you see the incredible double rainbow? This week, the sky gave us quite the celestial show. Meanwhile, here in the mud, we kept on rakin'! While Wikileaks threatens to release documents on Bank of America, Don't Ask Don't Tell gets repealed with ultra-right wing Republicans vowing to waste our precious time and tax dollars repealing it first thing, next term. Whaaaat? Under whose authority? Oh, wait, I forgot. Okay. And the Dream Act does not pass, bringing into focus the fact that higher ed, though allegedly the ticket to a better life, has become in the last 5 years a ticket to the poor house. Turns out that the cost of a university education far outstrips the rate of inflation and the rate of wage growth. In fact, the thing that college degree seems to be doing the most is pre-screening potential workers for employers who are actually offering jobs that do not require a college degree. What to make of this? One, expect the bursting of the education bubble. Two, dance artists can tell you how frequently they were told to make sure they got a 4 year degree as something to "fall back on" to now find that they struggle to make their work because they have to pay for that piece of paper, that only got them the right and go get yet another piece of paper! Can I get an amen from the MFAs?! Stay down in the mud, or make that show like the sky did this week--that's the choice presented to artists of all kinds when considering the advanced degree. What would it be to exchange knowledge, like a gift? You give me some childcare, I give you some books to read and talk to you for a while? Well, The Free University of San Francisco is launching, so we will get a chance to see. If you don't want to wait for the results, if you are still feeling the magic of a double rainbow right after a solar eclipse on the solstice, then let's make some magic together.

Afrolicious. Afrologia. Afrodelic. Afrologica. How big is your 'fro?
Fractal, improvisational, polemical, but always moving with spirit and in service to lifting us all up!
That's the Logic of the Afro--sign up, read up, be up

Holidaze are BLOWIN BACK DA FRO this week, with the epic, Emmy nominated LA County Holiday Show making its 51st appearance this year. For the first time, a dance company using African arts will make a presentation. I'm pretty excited because this is the group that I have been working with this Winter. This performance closes out our time together. How's that for the big finish! But if you know me, you know that this is only the beginning.  Holla if you want to take your work higher.

DOROTHY CHANDLER PAVILION

135 N. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA USA 90012

51st Annual L.A. County Holiday Celebration 

Friday, December 24th, 3 PM - 6 PM, doors open at 2:30; FREE admission and parking, but wristbands required for entry. Distribution begins at 11:30 AM

Traffic will be a mess, so go metro if you can.  From their site:

"Childhood Holiday Memories” is the theme for this year’s Holiday Celebration, broadcast live from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on KCET-TV. 24 groups and nearly 800 performers will present music and dance of the season from the many neighborhoods and cultures of Los Angeles.

Yup, everyone has just over 4 minutes, so this is an action packed show. Balle Fette will be on stage at approximately 4:15 PM, performing Goumbe a harvest dance & Simba, the tale of the Lion King with lightening speed and flash of Sabar. Wawwaw! I got to see a flash of Halau O Lilinoe during their tech rehearsal: hotness! So wade through the choral arrangements and wait for the hot dance numbers. Last year Catch Me Bird was in the show and has been featured in replays earlier this month. A wild show, but one that can be good to the local artist!

BARBARA MORRISON PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
4305 Degnan Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90008
Leon Mosley's Drum Day Give Away

http://www.facebook.com/drumdaygiveaway?v=info

Sunday, December 26, 2010, 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm; FREE for those who donate non-perishable food items, or suggested donation is $5.00

"The 4th Annual Drum Day Giveaway in historic Leimert Park Village will be hosted by Leon Mobley, a lion on the djembe, and draws in some of the most notable drummers in the world, to donate their time in support of Mobley’s vision. Leon Mobley and Da Lion will perform along with invited guests such as legends Poncho Sanchez and Paulinho DeCosta. Profile drummers such as Marvin “Smitty” Smith (The Tonight Show w/Jay Leno) Munyungo Jackson (Miles Davis / Stevie Wonder), Kevin Picard (American Idol Band / Tonight Show), Long Beach Drum Crew and Balandugakun Drum Crew will also take the stage and participate in the giveaways. Giving Drums and Performances all day long."  BLOW OUT COMB! First day of Kwaanza, too?! Gotta get to Leimert for this. Car pool, parking can get tricky around the park. Bring cash for the numerous street vendors (food, tshirts, jewelry, art) and don't forget your food donation! See you in the drum circle!

ONGOING CLASSES

Just about everyone has canceled for the holidays, but if you are inspired by Balle Fette's performance at the Chandler, you can go and take class with one of the soloist, Babacar N'Daye on Sunday.

Crenshaw Yoga & Dance,  5426 Crenshaw Blvd, Los Angeles, Sunday 3 - 4:30pm

Any one have plans for a holiday blowout of a dance class? Let me know!

LOVELY!

This year is coming to a close with mind-shattering revelations almost daily. Be present when your personal bubble breaks: I hear we humans make pretty good piñatas when we are open to learning the lesson. Be your own rainbow.

In love, 

-Anna

      

LivingHomes

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

AFROLOGICS NEWSLETTER: hyper extended

ALô beautifuls! Every so often, I find myself cruising along as a character in some bizarre series of coincidences and interrelated data; that is, after all one of my superpowers that I put to use in my biz. This past week's novella: black women, robots, environmentally based code writers/readers. It got me wondering about the future's past already being right in front of our faces. I marveled at the gorgeous Joyce Guy done as a photo sculpture for a dancing robot named Spins and had my brain twisted by Bina48, a Hansen Robotics android head with the consciousness of a a black woman named Bina downloaded into it. I was struck that I was looking at the relics of my culture for 2075. These two women will be/are a record. It got me wondering about other ways recording culture was or was not happening. The big articles this week on Afrologica have addressed timely events in which the past and present, the right to culturally define what matters, have been tampered with or at least controlled by very few. In Washington, DC, the battle rages over the exhibit Hide/Seek, with the Warhol Foundation announcing it will no longer fund The National Portrait Gallery if a certain video is not returned to the show. Here in LA, Italian street artist Blu had his MOCA-commissioned mural white washed the day after he finished it...by MOCA director Jeffrey Deitch. Have we just had our future truncated, re-routed and coded? Is the future looking back on this moment wondering why all art production must pass a cost-benefit analysis and a community review panel made up of clergy? Are robots hiding Black gestures and dance moves in architecture, awaiting a fleshly body to sense the data score and break it down on a dance floor? Ciphers and cybertecture, zealots and censors, WikiLeaks and sex by surprise..I had to watch V--often art makes much more sense than life, y'all--to get an "ovahstanding." The deal? First they came for..." Well peoples, not only do we have to have each other's artistic backs (regardless of genre), we also need to be honest with ourselves about our responsibility to the archive: a bit more self-awareness, a lot less self-censorship. It is time to bring it in a LARGE way, and if that means several small, networked audiences get to see, then rock it! But don't hold tightly onto your work, that's stingy and throw off our collective rhythm. And make sure you got your back up copies if you're trying to roll with an institution. Dance for the common good, not the common denominator. 

Afrolicious. Afrologia. Afrodelic. Afropoesia. Afrologica. How big is your 'fro?
Fractal, improvisational, polemical, but always moving with spirit and in service to lifting us all up!
That's the Logic of the Afro--sign up, read up, be up--you can move mountains, now make it beautiful

BLOWING BACK DA 'FRO this week is that eery silence right before the last minute shopping rush. Seriously. Making the 'fro stand on end is the more than 20 regional versions of the Nutcracker being performed this weekend alone. Egad! Paging Pat Payne & Gregory Barnett! I need an intervention!

TONIGHT

Pieter PASD

420 Avenue 33, Unit 10, Lincoln Heights, CA

Performing Process Continuing…

Wednesday, Dec 15, 8:30pm; Admission is FREE and you are welcome to bring drink,food, or free-boutique items to share.

Victoria Marks and Christine Suarez & Laiyle Weisman invite you out to an open floor of performance and discussion of making choreography for and in community. With all three having made recent works that took them out of the studio and to parks and rec centers, the night should be quite interesting.

DIY GALLERY

1549 West Sunset Boulevard

Saturday, December 18 · 8:00pm - 11:00pm, doors at 6 PM; FREE

TINY CREATURES REUNION SHOW 

"Final Show for The MOVEMENT movement performed by the mecca v.a, Inez Parra, Shabrena Barnard, Adrian Bayless, and Annie Gimps, puzzle pieces arranged, folks contributed...if you swing by that would be terrific we perform at 830 (dancie move step) and 1030 (sing song jig)"

Movement movement performs as part of the opening for BIG DEAL, curated by Miss Janet Kim.  I love watching Mecca dance. If you have not seen her solo work (she can be found often with Collage), go check this out. She teaches a burleasque ballet barre class, too. Yes, you will see the difference! Looking at the line up of artists, musicians, dancers, filmmakers, this is a BLOW OUT COMB!

Cracked Nuts

I love and hate the Nut Cracker. As a good little girl, I swoop and spun out of the theater each year we managed to get to Memphis to go see it for Christmas, by college years I was deep in my Pan African thang and could not be bothered. In Brasil I was hijacked b y Isaura Oliveira and taken to see Quebra Noz! I am still traumatised. This piece remains the quintessential Christmas choreography, so here are some really insane reinterpretations for you to check out if, like me, you have tried, unsuccessfully, to check out of the nut house:

Bob Baker Marionettes

1345 W. First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026; 213-250-9995

Bob Baker Marionettes presents The Nutcracker

Tuesday - Friday, 10:30 AM; Saturday & Sunday 2:PM Nov 17 -  Jan 30, $20, kids under 2 free, likely to sell out…

This man just won't stop, so you should go. Classic hidden LA.

Inner City Arts

720 Kohler Street, Los Angeles, CA 90021

Nutcracker Reloaded

Saturday, December 18, 2:00 PM; $10 http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/137684 

"is an urban retelling of the classic tale. Join the youth of A Place Called Home http://www.apch.org/ and special guest performers as they travel with Naima and the Nutcracker to the Land of Beats where break dancers, krumpers, hip hop dancers, Afro-Brazilian, Asian and Indian dancers entertain.  Great for the whole family." GREAT organization, so please support these kids!

coming up!

THE BROAD STAGE

http://www.thebroadstage.com/bodyelectric

Better go get you some tickets for the tiny but mighty dance series at the Broad!  2011 is looking hot. Diavolo kicks it off Jan 21 for a two night run then String Theory rigs the joint on Feb 18th and KCRW hosts the legendary Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane Company on March 18th to close out the series with a night of duets not seen since the 1980s. WARNING: not only are the tickets a tad steep, but the online ticketing interface is terrible. TERRIBLE! Good grief!

ONGOING CLASSES & WORKSHOPS

Last week, I chose to leave this section out, but I kinda missed it. I LOVE the idea of a modern dancer checking out a rumba class or an "audience member" deciding to find out just how difficult dancing really is. Here's the thing: I want to hear about some new classes and studios. Yeah, yeah yeah, the DRC has a listing, but this is AFROLOGICA,  ain't trying to list everybody and anybody. Tell me about a radical class you take. I mostly cover African-descended dance stylings and experimental dance here, because they tend not to get too much publicity anywhere else. I also want to hear about dance hot spots--places where there are a few studios in close proximity and  certain groove is afoot. Here is one:

Venice

Way west, you can find an interesting mix of African-descended dance classes, all at a pretty high level, almost through the week.

• Electric Lodge

• Kimberly Mullen's Afro-Caribe class has live drumming and a solid anchor in Afro-Cuban oricha dances. Saturdays, 10:30 AM; $20
• Dani Lunn throws down a samba funk inspired ballroom dance deconstruction class with a house band and fun fanatics. Wednesdays 7:30; $15
• Vida Vierra mashes the sweat out of you on Sunday with a mix of Afro-Brazilian dances from Bahia. Sundays, 12:30 PM; $15

Vera McClendon Davis Cultural Center

• Thiane Diouf had a very fun sabar bak class, teaching the basics of this intense Senegalese groove; it might come back. Mondays, 3 PM; $10

Studio Moon

• Anna B Scott, according to her students, gives an inspirational Senegalese class, teaching the inside of the dances to live drumming. Mondays 7 PM; $15 (me!)

All of this can be found near the intersection of Electric & California Avenues! Where is your dance hot spot, and what is its vibration?

LOVELY!

I am working to keep myself amused during the holidaze, so hit me up with some of your funniest costume failures. I'll post the more hilarious ones. If you've got video, do send! It's not so much that I need a distraction from all that the world is slinging at us, but that I need a reminder why it is so amazing that we keep doing what we do. Be love y'all!

in love, 

-Anna Bee

Dropping Shoe: White Washed Mural in LA

Some of you may have heard about MOCA in Los Angeles commissioining the Italian street artist Blu to create a mural, then white washing it (literally) for its anti-war, anti-capitalist message. Well, check out the reasoning of the new director of MOCA, Jeffrey Deitch, for his decision, a decision which many are comparing to the removal of the Wojnarowicz video from "Hide/Seek" at the National Portrait Gallery:

"Look at my gallery website — I have supported protest art more than just about any other mainstream gallery in the country," he added. "But as a steward of a public institution, I have to balance a different set of priorities — standing up for artists and also considering the sensitivities of the community."

In the LA Culture Monster interview, Deitch goes on to say that, "there were zero complaints" because he "took care of it right away." Now there are LOTS of complaints because he took care of it right away. Was this a preemptive strike to prove that MOCA merits continued public funding or was it a pure curatorial call?

The removal of this mural was a missed opportunity to have MOCA generate a series of collaborations/actions around the work to discuss the place of the veteran in society. Vic Marks could have performed her latest work, VETERANS, right in front of it with actual veterans. Aimee Allison and Aaron Glantz, former KPFA Morning Show hosts, could have brought their series Winter Soldier 2008 Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupations for a live public reading. I am sure Cornerstone Theater could have made elegant use of such an incredible back drop, not to mention veteran groups themselves having speak outs of various political stripes. The community would likely have benefited from engaging this mural as a catalyst for dialogue.

 

This all begs the question, are artists not considered part of "the community?"

 

 

Breaking National Arts Funding News

In a move certain to startle curators at public art instituions across the US, The Andy Warhol Foundation issued a statement today saying that it would no longer fund any future exhibits at the National Portrait Gallery. The Foundation provided over $300,000 to the embattled exhibit "Hide/Seek." According to their public statement, the Foundation had attempted through back channels to have David Wojnarowicz’s video, "A Fire in My Belly" reinstated in the show, obviously, to no avail.

 

What does this move mean?

As considered last week in this blog, an escalation of this situation has the potential to play straight into the hands of the small, rabid corner of the Republican Party that hews to a radical Christian Fundamentalism, one based in such a resolute ignorance of the laws of our nation as to make it possible for Rep Boehner to demand the removal of a video from an exhbit he never attended, a video he never saw, made by an artist he has never heard about, claiming the right to do so using suspicious interpretations of "rights" under the US Constitution. I think it reprehensible that the video was removed, however, removing the possibility of future Warhol Foundation funding to the National Portrait Gallery will severely restrict this adventrous group of curators in their ability to tell the stories of all Americans.

And that's great news for members of "The Family." Now all they have to do is completely tie up allocations to governmental arts agencies by demanding a thorough examination of the recent history of the use of "tax payers' dollars" to drive further wedges between art makers, art lovers, art consumers, art educators, entertainment consumers, entertainment producers...Yes, these are all false constructs, to a certain extent, but these divisions, real or perceived, will take on a new gravitas, playing more significantly in national policy than they have in recent memory.

 

For an example of the type of strategic trojan horse or "The Play" type moves we as art makers/lovers/funders can expect, one need only to look at a story that YES! Magazine is breaking today about a hidden attack on Social Security in the extension of Bush-era tax cuts. According to the article, the payroll tax break that is to go to the workers directly, in little bity increments mind you, is to be funded from Social Security, not from the General Fund. The article goes on to explain that in a few years when this temporary tax relief approaches expiration, it can be spun as a tax hike while simultaneously used as proof that Social Security is faltering; payments from Social Security to workers will be covered by the General Fund, which will then need to pay more into Social Security because more will come out...and I do hope you are getting the picture. 

Essentially, any local clergy member can now hunt out an "offensive" image, show, choreography, declare it a waste of tax payer dollars in these fiscally tight and morally wayward times, and force the hands of local presenters/museums dependent on public dollars. Now more than ever it is important to send congratulatory letters the public artists and venues that move you. A stack of letters from pleased tax payers goes a long way to support the work of the civic art producer/funder/curator. if you have not signed up for your local arts action network, sign up now. If there is not one, start one. 

Art production, touring, curating, and exhibiting cannot become the purview of private entities alone. Should that happen, those who need the vitality and inspiraiton that art making brings to life will have significantly decreased access to it. Let's not forget that a cornered art market, in all meanings of the phrase, also provides a DEEP tax shelter for the rich, depriving cities of much needed revenue in order to support things like publicly funded arts-in-the school programs, while giving them the power to shape (or eradicate) local art scenes.

Sign up for ARTS4LA if you are here in el Lay. Please post comments with links to other local arts advocacy groups.

 

Breaking Local Dance Arts News...

SHOWBOXLA, the labor of love birthed by Meg Wolfe some 5 years ago just received a grant from the Department of Cultural Affairs!

Follow this link to read a statement from Meg herself: http://ymlp.com/zO6CXq

This is pretty wonderful. Congrats, Meg!

AFROLOGICS NEWSLETTER: putting the foot on the world

In Portuguese, there is an old expression for traveling: pôr o pes no mundo; literally, put the foot on the world. When I first learned that phrase, I would imagine myself with these giant clown-shoe feet, walking on a tiny globe that spun only because of my stride. There have been moments this past week where I could swear that we are only moving because Julian Assange keeps spinning the globe with his big foot called WikiLeaks. To my mind, this is almost unfortunate. Assange's foot is casting such a large shadow that truly dubious activities--like telecom and rich media properties merging and collaborating to revise copyright laws--that we truly do not know where to look for the real action. Besides, as the Australian top diplomat said today, "the real party responsible for the leaks is the US Government itself for allowing the leak to happen in the first place." We can try an d convince ourselves otherwise, but trying will only get our freedom of expression further limited. This week, artists and innovators need to ask their representatives what is happening with COICA. You see, while WikiLeaks is all gangsta, rollin' deep droppin science and binary bombs in a self-assured, well-cooredinated attack, the US government has practically no coordinated policy that accounts for the rights of the citizenry  to self-express through media. We have a very raggedy patchwork quilt while the entertainment industry has a 300 thread count Damaskous cotton duvet. COICA, the latest attempt to make us all safe from pirates on the Internet (instead of the ones on the radio hawking lipo and home refi) will deal dirty with the independent artist. And that's a promise. if ou had any audio stripped from a video hosted somewhere, then you have felt the sting of DMCA. Well in advance of the passage of COICA, Homeland Secutiry (yup) has already taken down 80 sites, without warning, for copyright infringement. Not the foot on the world, but the foot firmly up the backside of due process. Let's hope that it turns out to be foot in the mouth. until then, don't let the chicken livered journalists "WIkiLeak" you into believing that we need great privacy protections and therefore, laws like COICA. We are back in the village: everybody knows your business. Get over it.

Afrolicious. Afrologia. Afrodelic. Afrologica. How big is your 'fro?
Fractal, improvisational, polemical, but always moving with spirit and in service to lifting us all up!
That's the Logic of the Afro--sign up, read up, be up--you can move mountains, now make it beautiful

Speaking of putting the foot out on the world, BLOWIN BACK DA 'FRO for the last several weeks, Los Angeles-based artists tore it up on the East Coast, and got new initiatives going just about wherever they landed. Viver Brasil hit the tour bus in the Mid West & South, as did Contratiempo. Meg Wolfe turned up in Praxis Place in Chicago, run by a former WAC graduate, Celia Bambara. Kristena Wong made Miami fall in love with her. D'Lo is in NY making magazine covers and what not. MKN & Santa Perversa took the road and ended up in the Bay Area building out a network of latina/o adult deliquents with mucho to say. Peter Harris took the Johnson Chronicles to the BIg Apple for a preview of his, well, balls.  Victoria Marks had her work with veterans aired nationally on the Tavis Smiley Show. Meanwhile Raphael Xavier damn near lives on the road between here and Mexico and here and Brasil and here and Philly--he is a frequent flyer program unto himself. Y'all are doin it to it! Locally Balandugu Kan announced its drum school and institute slated for a July 2011 opening and Balle Fette jumped into a new building in Leimert Park, setting up an array of small businesses like presto change-o! If you see smoke around Leimert Park, it is not a building on fire, but minds blazin out a new reality. SHAZAAM! WIth the holydaze upon us, there are a surprising number of things to do that are not chriskwanuuka related.

TONIGHT

LOS ANGELES CENTRAL LIBRARY

Mark Taper Auditorium, 630 W. Fifth Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071

Thursday, December 9, 2010; doors 7:30; Conversation 8:PM; Concert 9:30 PM; $15 SOLD OUT/ Concert only $5 at the door SPACE STILL AVAILABLE

This is Your LIbrary..Your Library After Hours

Good googa mooga, this is sold out, but for $5 you can catch the concert of the Holloys. But you know, Afrologica is/was interested in this for the very eclectic mix of folks/activities--conversation about food, music, culture in el Lay, stuff white people like, and food trucks--and all at the library downtown no less! BLOWOUT COMB but if you ain't headed there already, you missed it!

THIS WEEKEND

DIAVALO STUDIO SPACE

616 Moulton St, Los Angeles, CA

Saturday, December 11; 4 - 6 PM and again at 8 - 10 PM; tickets $15 - $20

Catalyst 2010 presented by Los Angeles Movement Arts

"An evening of interdisciplinary performances inducing sensuous experiences to wet your appetite for the imagined, the recollected, and the unexplored side of our 'self.'"

The Diavolo Studio Space is magical and holds numerous memories for the LA experimental dance scene. This evening's events will no doubt add to the scrapbook. Working under the theme of necessity is the mother of invention, 7 choreographers make work through/with  the art of 9 artists working various mediums, the dance artists will push themselves to create a work, since, well, they sold tickets and you will be there! Featuring Jim Tsou, Nguyen Nguyen, Nichol Mason, Michelle Shiu-Lin Lai, Heyward Bracey, Lindsay Ducos, Sara Silkin, in collaboration with the following artists and their respective forms -Humberto Howard | Visual Art | www.ultradesigncompany.com, Stella Chong | Visual Art, Bonnie Jiang | Culinary Art, Celeste Kim | Music, Stephanie Bates | Visual Art, Kio Griffith |Cooking & Live Video, Lyman Pon | Video, Charlie Liu | Video, Da Xu | "Whatever works"

LA FONDA RESTAURANT & LOUNGE

2501 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA

Saturday, December 11, 9 PM until 2 AM; $10 at the door

L'Esprit Afrique @ La Boa

Alright now. Yes. It is a "floor show," but as Gregory Barnett can testify, sometimes that is the hottest thang around. If you have not seen The Spirit in action, then take yourself and some friends out to get you some Emeka. Brother can throw DOWN. You want some rumba? Check. You want some samba? Check. You want some Manjani? Check. You want call and response? Check and Check. You want a duet with the lead dancer on stage? CHECK. No joke, get there. AFRO HALO with da pick still in it!

MILKBAR in the Old Sunshine Biscuit Factory

81st and San Leandro, Oakland, CA

Saturday & Sunday, December 11 and 12, 1 PM; $10 - $25 donation online or at the door

The Gutsy Series #1: Brunch Bites and Food-Inspired Choreography 

"BreadnButter is getting in one final performance this year so if you have yet to see EGGS, this is the moment!"  If you are in the Bay Area, this show will be pretty amazing

MALONGA CASQUELORDE CENTER for the ARTS

1428 Alice Street, Oakland, CA
Saturday, december 11 - Sunday December 13

MALAKI MATANGA 2010

Fua dia Congo, part of my Oakland Family, has its annual homecoming and is hosting a bevvy of local dance goodness. It would be great if I had one of those teleporters right about now. Yet another wonderful thing to check out in the Oakland Bay Area.

BARBARA MORRISON PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

4305 Degnan Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90008

Leon Mosley's Drum Day Give Away

http://www.facebook.com/drumdaygiveaway?v=info

December 26, 2010, from 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center, 4305 Degnan Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008, on the corner of 43rd and Degnan in the historical Leimert Park Village. Admission to the event is free for those who donate non-perishable food items, alternatively suggested donation is $5.00

The 4th Annual Drum Day Giveaway in South Central, L.A. will be hosted by Leon Mobley and draws in some of the most notable drummers in the world, to donate their time in support of the Mobley’s vision. Leon Mobley and Da Lion will perform along with invited guests such as legends Poncho Sanchez and Paulinho DeCosta. Profile drummers such as Marvin “Smitty” Smith (The Tonight Show w/Jay Leno) Munyungo Jackson (Miles Davis / Stevie Wonder), Kevin Picard (American Idol Band / Tonight Show), Long Beach Drum Crew and Balandugakun Drum Crew will also take the stage and participate in the giveaways. Giving Drums and Performances all day long

COMING UP

The A.W.A.R.D. SHOW at the REDCAT, January 13-16! Better get them tickets NOW!

LOVELY!

More to come! Headed out to make some dance! Subbing for the lovely Cari Ann Shim Sham* in Topanga at Yoga Desa!