Schedule of Events**For conference session information and descriptions, see the conference program page**
Exhibit Cost: FREE
White Lies, Black Sheep (directed by James Spooner, 2003) Sponsor: City Lights & Underground Experimental Film Series Cost: FREE - Parking is FREE and ample during Friday night screenings in the Main Library parking lot. To avoid getting a ticket, place a City Lights/Underground flyer visibly on the dashboard of your car. Film Summary A.J.'s real name is Ajamu Talib. His dislike for his African name is the least of his problems, still it says a lot about him.Brooklyn born and bred yet outcast by his peers, his only escape was music. A.J. found freedom in rock n roll.Tight clothes, straightened hair, popular with girls and partying every night, he is fully entrenched, in the debaucherous New York rock n roll scene. For once he feels like everyone else. Well almost. He begins to find that his chosen community, the white rock world, only seems to run smoothly for white rockers. A series of events force him to recognize hisfriends both exotify him and are in denial of his blackness. Black, but not "really" black. What's a young black rocker to do? "White Lies, Black Sheep" is one of those films where the locations and the city itself are as important as the story. Much like Taxi Driver, Wild Style, Downtown 81, or Kids, "White Lies" is sure to be used as a reference point, establishing for future generations just what New York was like, back in early second millennium. (84 min.)
White Lies, Black Sheep trailer, courtesy of the official Afro-punk website: Passing Strange (directed by Spike Lee [film] and Annie Dorsen [play], 2009) Film screening will be followed by Q&A with Stew, a performer in and book writer, lyricist, and co-composer of Passing Strange. Co-Sponsors: Indiana Memorial Union Board, Black Film Center/Archive, Archives of African American Music and Culture, Department of Theatre and Drama Cost: Free Film Summary A young black musician travels on a picaresque journey to rebel against his mother and his upbringing in a church-going, middle-class, late 1970's South Central Los Angeles neighborhood in order to find "the real". He finds new experiences in promiscuous Amsterdam, with its easy access to drugs and sex, and in artistic, chaotic, political Berlin, where he struggles with ethics and integrity when he misrepresents his background as poor to get ahead. Along with his "passing" from place to place and from lover to lover, the young musician moves through a number of musical styles from a background of gospel to punk, and then blues, jazz, and rock. He finally returns home to meet his mother to find she has passed away. The story is based on the life of Stew who is also the Narrator. (135 min.) Passing Strange theatrical trailer, courtesy of Spike: Afro-Punk (directed by James Spooner, 2003 - 66 min.) Film screening will be followed by Q&A with James Spooner, director and co-producers of Afro-Punk. Sponsor: Black Film Center/Archives Cost: FREE Film Summary Afro-Punk, a documentary, explores race identity within the punk scene. More than your everyday, Behind the Music or typical "black history month" documentary this film tackles the hard questions, such as issues of loneliness, exile, inter-racial dating and black power. We follow the lives of four people who have dedicated themselves to the punk rock lifestyle. They find themselves in conflicting situations, living the dual life of a person of color in a mostly white community. The style of the documentary inter-cuts interviews from scores of black punk rockers from all over the nation with scenes from our four protagonists' lives. They come from different regions, generations, genders, and sexual preferences but their stories are amazingly similar. Afro-Punk features performances by Bad Brains, Tamar Kali, Cipher, and Ten Grand. It also contains exclusive interviews by members of Fishbone, 247- spyz, Dead Kennedys, Candiria, Orange 9mm and TV on the Radio to name a few.
Afro-punk trailer, courtesy of official Afro-Punk website:
Presentation by Stew on his Broadway rock musical, Passing Strange Sponsor: Department of Theatre and Drama Cost: FREE Dinner/Discussion with Kandia Crazy Horse, rock critic and Senior Associate Editor for Village Voice, and Kamara Thomas, vocalist, guitarist, and bassist for Early Greyhound & Ghost Gamblers Co-sponsor: Hutton Honors College, Wells Scholars Program and Archives of African American Music and Culture Cost: Program is open to any IU undergraduate, but space is limited and advance sign-up is required. Sign-ups for this event will begin Tuesday, Sept. 22, 7:30am. For details on how to sign up, see http://www.indiana.edu/~iubhonor/hdextra/signup.php. Workshop/Demonstration on Negro Spirituals and other forms of African American music by Linda Tillery, vocalist and percussionist for Linda Tillery and the Cultural Heritage Choir, and former lead singer for rock band The Loading Zone Co-sponsor: Collins Living-Learning Center and Archives of African American Music and Culture Cost: FREE Workshop/Demonstration by Ike Willis, lead singer and guitarist for Frank Zappa Co-sponsor: Foster International Living-Learning Center and Archives of African American Music and Culture Cost: FREE Lecture by guitarist, vocalist, songwriter Suzanne Thomas of Suzanne & The Blues Church in COLL-E103, Topics in Arts and Humanities “From Juke Joint to Choir Loft: Sacred vs. Secular in African American Music” – Professor Mellonee Burnim, Instructor Co-sponsors: Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology and Archives of African Cost: FREE and open to the public Luncheon Talk Series, "Who Are Asian Pacific Americans?" featuring guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Suzanne Thomas of Suzanne & the Blues Chuch Friday, Nov. 13 @ 12noon-1:00 pm - Asian Culture Center, 807 E. 10th Street Co-sponsor: IU Asian Culture Center, Asian American Studies Program, and Archives of African American Music and Culture Cost: FREE This is an informal roundtable lunch discussion that allows students and community members to talk about specific concerns that affect Asian Americans. In observance of "National Adoption Month Awareness," Ms. Thomas will share her experience as an abandoned biracial child in South Korea where she had lived in an orphanage until an African American family adopted her into the United States at the age of five.
IU Soul Revue, Suzanne & The Blues Church, and Tamar-kali Cost: Free to IU students with current student ID; $15 for non-IU students and the general public
Tamar-kali is one of those rare artists. David Bowie has come to see her play. Nona Hendryx. Me'Shell Ndegeocello. And scores of lesser known artists seek her out when they seek inspiration for their own work. Maybe, it's the raw aggression with which she presents her musical lineage. She established herself as a dominant force on the NYC rock scene and took the random break from developing original material to lend her voice in support of such artists as Fishbone & OutKast. In 2002, Director James Spooner identified her as such a dynamic force in the underground punk scene that he featured her in his award-winning documentary, Afro-Punk. She has performed at Central Park Summer Stage, as well as Warped Tour, CBGB and festivals around the world. As one of the Easy Star All-Stars representing the rock edge in the band's roots-rock-reggae stylee, her haunting vocals can be heard on "Dub Side of The Moon," as well as "Radiodread." In addition to releasing the Geechee Goddess Hardcore Warrior Soul EP on her upstart record label, Tamar-kali heads her own production company & helms 3 solo projects: the Psychochamber Ensemble, Pseudoacoustic Siren Songs & the original electric configuration. Currently she is consumed with completing her 1st full length 'Black Bottom' for release Summer '09. Tamar-Kali, "Boot" music video, courtesy of Tamar-Kali's official MySpace page: |
