The first public sharing of a collaboration-in-progress between
poet S. Pearl and master sculptor Chukes. Saturday,March 29th, 4:30 p.m., at DADA - Debbie Allen Dance Acad., in Los Angeles. (Program starts at 5:00.) Tickets.
/e/herstory-25-women-in-art-x-men-who-love-women-tickets-1252682419839?aff=ebdsoporgprofile
PICKING TRIBES, my semi-animated short with art by Carlos Spivey (1988), screens in Chicago at Sisters in Cinema Media Arts Center on Saturday, July 27th, 2024, at 2:00. In person, 2310 E 75th St, Chicago, IL 60649. Shorts directed by seven Black women who are also featured in their Sisters in the Center Portrait Exhibit. Free. (And your donation will make it sweeter!) /JulySistersScreenings
July 24, 2024. Recently the ancestors welcomed the inimitable Bernice Johnson Reagon into their realm. The founder of Sweet Honey In The Rock, which is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary, is also a noted scholar, in-demand historian, composer, developer of civil rights-focused arts curricula and a lifetime unrelenting fighter for justice.
Here are links to my favorite of her compositions, "I Remember, I Believe." Wake up to this every mornin' and your path will clear. ~ ~ ~ S. Pearl
video: Democracy Now in 2003
/watch?v=jwoUBeOKwfY
audio: on Sweet Honey's album Sacred Ground
/watch?v=3qSAcd-P2Cs
photo: /
Screening in Chicago: My semi-animated short, Picking Tribes, screens at Sisters in Cinema Media Arts Center on Saturday, July 27th, 2024, at 2:00 CDT. In-person, 2310 E 75th St, Chicago, IL 60649. Each of the seven shorts is directed by a Black woman who is featured in their Sisters in the Center Portrait Exhibit. Admission is free and open to the public. (And your donation will make it sweeter!)
/JulySistersScreenings
Borrowing musician James Taylor's words (Fire & Rain)..."But I always thought I would see you again."
Barbara-O, I'm missing you deeply, my sistuh. Your SisterShip floats on our tears and the years of our learning and laughter together. ~ ~ ~ S. Pearl
(photo: Gerald Cyrus)
Wow! Next month will be 40 years since we filmed my documentary on Kamau Daaood, Life Is A Saxophone,
releasing it in 1985 on 16mm. The film opens Beyond Baroque's (@bblitarts ) 2-day International Poetry Film Festival in Venice, CA on Friday, April 26th.
Tickets: /e/international-poetry-film-festival-los-angeles-2024-opening-night-tickets-876250798727
Here's the film's trailer: /932821134/ccbe3d6683
I experienced the privilege of studying acting, briefly, in Lou Gossett's class (way back when. . . ). He was clear, generous and always brought a personal light into the sessions. Also got to discuss the pressure he faced in 1971 when he played the assassinated African leader Patrice Lumumba in the Los Angeles stage production of Murderous Angels. The play revealed info some governments did not want exposed. So happy to see him in the recent The Color Purple, working to the end. You're having a stunning exit, my brother. Thank-you for the legacy. ~ ~ ~ S. Pearl / (photo by Jesse Grant)
Looking forward to performing again with Pat Taylor's JAZZ ANTIQUA and
friends. It's all about dance and stories, Sat., March 2nd, 8:30 p.m. at Highways, in Santa Monica, CA.
/events/jazzantiqua-dance-music-ensemble-the-stories-we-tell
I'll be lyin' a bit on Strong Words' live storytelling show at @theautry in Los Angeles (in Griffith Park). Thursday, Feb 15th. 7:30 p.m.
Reservations required, advance tix recommended. Inside. Come early
and enjoy the museum.
/events/live-performances/strong-words-voices-city-autry-1
Here's Clyde Taylor breaking it down in an excerpt from my 1981 BET interview about the film Mahogany. The New York Times, Tue 2-6-24, posted a beautiful obit calling him a "Literary Scholar Who Elevated Black Cinema." (link below)
Always hip, always cool, his daughter said he eased out to the music of Alice Coltrane.
Link: /2024/02/06/us/clyde-taylor-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Tk0.i_WR.ppsWYFX-tV2F&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Yesterday, Feb. 6th, would have been Carol Munday Lawrence's /Khema's 81st solar return. She was the first Black woman independent filmmaker to produce a national TV series, Were You There, which was broadcast on PBS. Here she is in 1980 filming a segment in Harlem (center) with director Stan Lathan (left) and cinematographer Orlando Bagwell (far left, back to us). Her life and transition were honored this past Sunday at the Dharma Vijaya Buddhist temple in Los Angeles.
Artist ANGELA BRIGGS/ @khatitifineart creates with gourds. Several of her spirit related pieces are selected for the 43rd Annual Black Doll Show in Los Angeles, whose theme this year is "Conjure." At William Grant Still Gallery (@wgsarts ),
Dec. 2nd thru Feb. 2024.
/author/williamgrantstillartscenter/
