Showing posts with label City Lights Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label City Lights Books. Show all posts

Monday, February 27, 2012

Speaking with Joanne Griffith, editor of Redefining Black Power

Show description for Sunday 2/19/2012 @ 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM




Our guest this afternoon, on the 5 o'clock hour, Joanne Griffith, editor of Redefining Black Power, new from City Lights Books.


"Redefining Black Power is an important, historical rumination on race, class, power and politics in the Age of Obama. The conversations with such figures as Van Jones, Michelle Alexander and civil rights icon Dr. Vincent Harding are thoughtful, probing, nuanced insights into the state of African-American political power at this historic moment. The book raises challenging questions, but rather than offer definitive answers, it provokes the reader to personally define 'Black power' and inspires all of us to continue the work of 'deepening the meaning of democracy.'" – Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

"I agree with economist Julianne Malveaux, who says the notion that Obama's election made America 'post racial' is utter nonsense, when you look at current rates of poverty, income and unemployment among black people. Van Jones, former Green Jobs Czar at the White House, intrigued me when he claims that the youth who believe that electing a black president changes nothing were right. Joanne Griffith, of the Pacifica Radio Archives, interviews these and other long distance runners for justice to provide a lively array of conflicting, complex and critical attitudes the first black U.S. president has evoked, to answer the question of whether it's time to redefine Black Power." -- Kathleen Cleaver


ArtistSongAlbumLabel

Countee Cullen (read by James Earl Jones)From The Dark TowerA Hand Is On The GateVerve-Folkways

Langston Hughes (read by Ellen Holly)I've Known RiversA Hand Is On The GateVerve-Folkways

Robert Hayden (read by Moses Gunn) Frederick DouglassA Hand Is On The GateVerve-Folkways

Paul Laurence Dunbar (read by Cicely Tyson)We Wear The MaskA Hand Is On The GateVerve-Folkways

Abbey Lincoln Laugh Clown, LaughAbbey Is Blue Riverside

Tadd DameronJust Plain Talkin'The Magic TouchRiverside

Kenny Dorham featuring Ernie HenrySposin'2 Horns / 2 RhythmRiverside

Eric Dolphy & Booker LittleFar CryFar CryNew Jazz (Prestige)

Frederick WilliamsBabylon A Turn The ScrewAn Evening Of International PoetryNew Alliance

George Russell All About RosieThe 3rd StreamRCA

Count Basie Little PonyClassic CountCBS

Billie HolidayMean To MeA Love StoryCBS
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Eric Dolphy Out ThereOut ThereNew Jazz (Prestige)

Sterling Brown (read by James Earl Jones & Moses Gunn)Ol' LemA Hand Is On The GateVerve-Folkways

Helene Johnson (Read by Josephine Premice)Sonnet To A Negro In HarlemA Hand Is On The GateVerve-Folkways

Arna Bontemps (read by Leon Bibb)Southern MansionA Hand Is On The GateVerve-Folkways

Langston Hughes (read by Ellen Holly)Mother To SonA Hand Is On The GateVerve-Folkways

Abbey Lincoln Lost In The StarsAbbey Is BlueRiverside

Abbey Lincoln Long As Your LivingAbbey Is BlueRiverside

Tadd DameronLook, Stop & ListenThe Magic TouchRiverside

Hank Mobley The BreakdownRoll Call Blue Note

Steve LacyCriss CrossThe Staight Horn Of Steve LacyCandid

Edward Brathwaite (Kamau Brathwaite)The EmigrantsRites Of PassageArgo (U.K.)
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Charles MingusLos Mariachis (The Street Musicians)Tijuana MoodsRCA

Roscoe Mitchell & Anthony BraxtonOff Five Dark SixNonaahNessa

Roscoe Mitchell & Malachi FavorsA1 TAL 2LANonaahNessa
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Art Ensemble Of ChicagoTheme De Yoyo (excerpt)Les Stances A SophieNessa

Interview With Joanne Griffith By Justin DesmanglesInterview With Joanne Griffith By Justin DesmanglesInterview With Joanne Griffith By Justin DesmanglesInterview With Joanne Griffith By Justin Desmangles

Art Ensemble Of ChicagoTheme De Yoyo (excerpt)Les Stances A SophieNessa
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Kenny Dorham featuring Ernie HenryThe End Of A Love Affair2 Horns / 2 RhythmRiverside

Bob Dorough & Bill TakasSmall Day TomorrowBeginning To See The Light Laissez-Faire

Monday, October 31, 2011

Will Alexander & Deep Time


Show description for Sunday 10/30/2011 @ 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Our guest this afternoon, in the 5 o'clock hour, poet Will Alexander. His most recent book, Compression & Purity, is new from City Lights. Also featured this week, new music from alto saxophonist and composer Darius Jones. His new disc, featuring Adam Lane on bass, and Jason Nazary on drums, is Big Gurl (Smell My Dream). We will also be listening in on the extraordinary 3 disc collection from William Parker Crumbling In the Shadows Is Fraulein Miller's Stale Cake.

Few poets writing today can compare with L.A.-based surrealist Will Alexander in terms of the intensity of his imagination or his radically experimental approach to language as material object. Through the use of automatic writing, Alexander practices a surrealism of the word, creating densely textured layers of signification from its sounded and written forms. Compression & Purity, volume five of our Spotlight poetry series, is Alexander's seventh full-length collection. Known for his visionary epics influenced by poets like Césaire, Artaud and Lamantia, Alexander here returns to shorter forms to address his ecological, cosmological and historical concerns. Highlights include monologues from the perspective of "The Blood Penguin" and "The Pope at Avignon," a song by the "Water on New Mars," and an homage to Cesar Vallejo, "Combustion & Leakage." In true surrealist fashion, the book also includes both an autobiographical lyric essay, "My Interior Vita," describing the evolution of Alexander's artistic consciousness through jazz and surrealism, and his disavowal of the autobiographical process, "On Anti-Biography." An imaginative tour de force, Compression & Purity confirms Alexander's reputation among surrealism's foremost contemporary practitioners.

"This new & rich gathering of Will Alexander's works – always in progress – marks him again as the true successor among us to the likes of Surreal & deeply explorative figures like Breton & Césaire. No other poet writing in America today does it the way that Alexander does – a range of words & images that startle & create new pathways for language & the mind-in-freedom (“alchemical, mesmeric, totalic,” as he names them in these pages). Compression & Purity, so aptly titled, is the work of a true American & world master – & a joy to have & read." —Jerome Rothenberg

“Even at its most confounding, most silent level, this work will unavoidably enter and leave you by a genetic thread of conscious mind woven beyond your 'domestic horizon,; your ‘provincial description' to a vibrating ‘celebration of un-brokeneness.’ This song, in the genealogical terms of cognitive evolution, sings us backwards ‘or forwards’ into a state where we are undifferentiated from the cosmos and can speak, as Will Alexander does, in the full range at once of carbon from dust to diamond.” —Ed Roberson

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ArtistSongAlbumLabel

Darius Jones Trio E-GazBig Gurl (Smell My Dream)AUM - Fidelity

Darius Jones Trio Michelle Loves WillieBig Gurl (Smell My Dream)AUM - Fidelity

Darius Jones Trio A TrainBig Gurl (Smell My Dream)AUM - Fidelity

William ParkerGreen Mountains (for Bill Dixon)Crumbling In the Shadows Is Fraulein Miller's Stale Cake.Centering Records

William ParkerPhiladelphia ClayCrumbling In the Shadows Is Fraulein Miller's Stale Cake.Centering Records
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Henry Threadgill ZooidLying EyesThis Brings Us To, Vol. 2Pi Recordings

Henry Grimes & Rashied AliLarger Astronomical TimeSpirits AloftPorter Records

Odean Pope featuring Marshall AllenThe TrackUniversal SoundsPorter Records

Roscoe Mitchell & Muhal Richard AbramsRomuSpectrumMutable
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Alice ColtraneLeoTranslinear LightImpulse

John ColtraneIndiaThe Complete 1961 Village Vanguard RecordingsImpulse
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Wasimxzama Khan NaseriKavaliMusic In The World Of Islam: Human Voice / LutesTopic

Dunya YunisAbu ZelufMusic In The World Of Islam: Human Voice / LutesTopic

Gadabursi Somali of OgadenLeader/Chorus Song (excerpt)Music In The World Of Islam: Human Voice / LutesTopic
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Interview With Will Alexander By Justin DesmanglesInterview With Will Alexander By Justin DesmanglesInterview With Will Alexander By Justin DesmanglesInterview With Will Alexander By Justin Desmangles
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John ColtraneChasing The TraneThe Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings

Sunday, August 21, 2011

10 Years That Shook The City

Show description for Sunday 8/14/2011 @ 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Our guest this afternoon on the 5 o'clock hour, Chris Carlsson, author, activist and most recently editor of the newly published collection of essays Ten Years That Shook the City

A collection of first-person and historical essays spans the tumultuous decade from 1968, the year of the San Francisco State College strike, to 1978 and the twin traumas of the Jonestown massacre and the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. This volume provides a broad look at the diverse ways those ten years shook the City and shaped the world we live in today. From community gardening to environmental justice, gay rights and other identity-based social movements, anti-gentrification efforts, neighborhood arts programs and more, many of the initiatives whose origins are described here have taken root and spread far beyond San Francisco.

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Michael SmithSay Natty / GoliathAn Evening Of International PoetryAlliance Records

Mushtaq SinghThe Respite / 4 Lines In Urdu TranslationAn Evening Of International PoetryAlliance Records

Art Ensemble Of ChicagoJa (Bowie)Nice GuysECM

Art Ensemble Of ChicagoCyp (Mitchell)Nice GuysECM

Mahmood JamalA Gift Of BloodAn Evening Of International PoetryAlliance Records

Mahmood JamalSilenceAn Evening Of International PoetryAlliance Records

Accabre HuntleyEaster Monday BluesAn Evening Of International PoetryAlliance Records

Joseph Jarman - Don MoyeOde To Wilbur Ware (Moye)Black PalladinsBlack Saint

Jim AgardStereotypeAn Evening Of International PoetryAlliance Records

Jim AgardGraffiti In A British Rail Waiting RoomAn Evening Of International PoetryAlliance Records
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Chico FreemanAscent (Freeman)The Outside WithinIndia Navigation

Cecil RajendraThe Animal And Insects ActAn Evening Of International PoetryAlliance Records

Linton Kwesi JohnsonDi Great InsohrekshanAn Evening Of International PoetryAlliance Records

Joe HendersonSerenity (Henderson)An Evening With Joe HendersonRed

Bennie Green Soul Stirrin' (Green)Soul Stirrin'Blue Note - Japan

Ernie HenryCleo's Chant (Henry)Presenting Ernie HenryRiverside - Japan
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Claude McKayIntroduction To If We Must DieAnthology Of Negro PoetsFolkways

Claude McKayIf We Must DieAnthology Of Negro PoetsFolkways

Bobby Hutcherson Ghetto Lights (Hill)DialogueBlue Note

Charles MingusMoanin' (Mingus)Blues & RootsAtlantic

Calvin C. HerntonJitterbugging In The StreetsNew Jazz PoetsBroadside Records

Kenny Dorham featuring Ernie HenryIs It True What They Say About Dixie?2 Horns 2 RhythmRiverside
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Jackie McLeanParker's Mood (Parker) excerptLive At MontmartreSteeple Chase

Interview With Chris Carlsson By Justin DesmanglesInterview With Chris Carlsson By Justin DesmanglesInterview With Chris Carlsson By Justin DesmanglesInterview With Chris Carlsson By Justin Desmangles

Jackie McLeanParker's Mood (Parker) excerptLive At MontmartreSteeple Chase

Charlie Parker - Dizzy GillespieShaw 'Nuff (Parker-Gillespie)BebopNew World Records
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Bud Powell - Oscar Pettiford - Kenny ClarkeShaw 'Nuff (Parker-Gillespie)i grandi del Jazz Bud PowellFabri Editori

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Empathy, Curiosity and the Ecstasy of Discovery in the Poetry of David Meltzer


Show description for Sunday 7/24/2011 @ 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Our guest this afternoon, on the the 5 o'clock hour, is poet David Meltzer, talking about his most recent book, When I Was A Poet, new from City Lights. Born in 1937, David Meltzer is a poet associated with both the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance. He was also included in Don Allen's seminal anthology, The New American Poetry. A child prodigy, Meltzer performed on the radio and TV in New York beginning in the late '40s. In 1957, after a few years in Los Angeles, where he was a part of the circle around Wallace Berman's Semina magazine, Meltzer moved to San Francisco, where he associated with such poets as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Spicer. One of the pioneers of jazz poetry readings, Meltzer formed a psychedelic folk-rock group, Serpent Power, with his late wife Tina and poet Clark Coolidge, recording for Vanguard records in the late '60's. He continues to perform with the music and poetry review, Rockpile. In addition to his many books of poetry, Meltzer published 10 erotic novels in the late '60s and early '70s, including the critically acclaimed Agency Trilogy, revisiting the genre in 1995 with Under. He has edited many anthologies, including San Francisco Beat: Talking with the Poets (City Lights, 2001).

A newly published report shows that the number of homeless children in Sacramento public schools has more than doubled in recent years, yet Mayor Kevin Johnson has issued no response whatsoever to this issue or the report itself. We must demand answers and accountability! Contact Mayor Johnson, and let him know he cannot ignore the homeless children of this city!
Demand answers and accountability!


ArtistSongAlbumLabel

Dizzy Gillespie & Don ByasA Night In TunisiaThe QuintessentialRCA - France

Thelonious Monk TrioRuby My DearGenius on Modern MusicBlue Note

Bud Powell TrioReets & IThe Amazing Bud PowellBlue Note

Dizzy Gillespie OrchestraTwo Bass HitThe QuintessentialRCA - France

Miles Davis SextetTwo Bass Hit (live)At Newport 1958Columbia

Miles Davis & John ColtraneFran-Dance (live)Live In Stockholm 1960Dragon

Betty CarterI Don't Want To Set The World On FireOut There with Betty CarterABC

Betty CarterAll I've GotThe Modern SoundABC

Shirley HornAnd I Love HimTravelin' LightABC
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Anita O'DayThe Way You Look TonightCool HeatVerve

Johnny GriffinThe Way You Look TonightPresenting Johnny GriffinBlue Note

Ella FitzgeraldMy Melancholy BabyTeddy Wilson & His OrchestraColumbia

Sarah VaughnNice Work If You Can Get ItAfter HoursColumbia

Thelonious Monk TrioNice Work If You Can Get ItGenius on Modern MusicBlue Note

Herbie NicholsRiff PrimatifThe Third WorldBlue Note
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Sonny Rollins featuring Thelonious MonkMisterioso (excerpt)Sonny Rollins Volume 2Blue Note

Interview With David Meltzer By Justin DesmanglesInterview With David Meltzer By Justin DesmanglesInterview With David Meltzer By Justin DesmanglesInterview With David Meltzer By Justin Desmangles

Sonny Rollins featuring Thelonious Monk

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Tommi Avicolli Mecca, Politics, Theater, and Victory




Show Description for Sunday 03/07/2010

Our guest this week on the 4 o'clock hour is the legendary activist, author, poet, and organizer,

Tommi Avicolli Mecca.

He is, most recently, the editor of Smash the Church, Smash the State: The Early Years of Gay Liberation(City Lights Books, 2009), an anthology of writings about the post-Stonewall gay liberation movement.

Also this afternoon, in the 3 o'clock hour we are joined by Manuel Jose Pickett, founding member of Teatro Espejo, and presently directing it's production of Ruben Amavizca-Murua's, Women of Juarez. The production, at the Wilkerson Theater, 1725 25th St. in Midtown Sacramento, in collaboration with Califonia Stage, runs through March 21st. For more information dial (916) 451-5822



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Cyro Baptista_____ Macunaima ___Banquet of the Spirits__Tzadik







Cyro Baptisita Mumakata Banquet of the Spirits Tzadik


Vincent Segal & Magic Malik Clube Da Esquina T-Bone Guarnerius Label-Bleu


Steve Coleman & Five Elements Ascending Numeration On the Rising of the 64 Paths Label-Bleu


Interview with Manuel Jose Pickett By Justin Desmangles




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Jayne Cortez & the Firespitters I Have Been Searching Taking the Blues Back Home Verve-Harmolodic


Cyro Baptista Typin' on Stars Banquet of Spirits Tzadik


William Parker Codex Long Hidden: The Olmec Series AUM Fidelity


Matthew Shipp The Crack in the Piano's Egg 4D Thirsty Ear

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Michel Portal featuring Vernon Reid Goodbye Porkpie Hat Minneapolis We Insist! Universal Music - France


Interview with Tommi Avicolli Mecca By Justin Desmangles





Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble Tatas-Matoes Congliptious Nessa


William Parker & Hamind Drake Sky (excerpt) Summer Snow AUM Fidelity

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Jayne Cortez & the Firespitters Cultural Operations Taking the Blues Back Home Verve-Harmolodic

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

A Poem Written By Frank O'Hara





SONG



Is it dirty
does it look dirty
that's what you think of in the city

does it just seem dirty
that's what you think of in the city
you don't refuse to breathe do you

someone comes along with a very bad character
he seems attractive. is he really. yes. very
he's attractive as his character is bad. is it. yes

that's what you think of in the city
run your finger along your no moss mind
that's not a thought that's soot

and you take a lot of dirt off someone
is the character less bad. no. it improves constantly
you don't refuse to breathe do you




1959







Lunch Poems
, City Lights Books, San Francisco