Wanda's Picks Radio Show, Wed., Feb. 27, 2019

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

Marie Knight (Marissa Rudd) auditions for the legendary
Sister Rosetta Tharpe (Michelle E. Jordan).
Photo credit: Kevin Berne

TheatreWorks has selected two dynamic Bay Area actors to play the titular duo—Michelle E. Jordan, our guest this morning, as musical icon and 2018 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Marissa Rudd as her partner and future gospel legend Marie Knight. Jordan, a TheatreWorks veteran, received a Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for her performance in TheatreWorks’ Dreamgirls.


She has also been seen at TheatreWorks in It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues, Crowns, Go Down Garvey, Hi-Hat Hattie!, Shakin’ the Mess Outta Misery, and Ain’t Misbehavin’. She also performed in Blues in the Night with Maurice Hines and Freda Payne at the Post Street Theatre and Bricktop at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, and serves as the choir director of East Bay Church of Religious Science.

Gospel and Rhythm and Blues legends Marie Knight and Sister Rosetta Tharpe
Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

2. We rebroadcast our Tribute to Ntozake Shange, recorded Nov. 23, 2018. 

 http://tobtr.com/s/11191927

Wanda's Picks Radio Show, Wed., Feb. 20, 2019

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

1. Ricki Stevenson, founder of Black Paris Tours, has served as its creative thinker and CEO since its inception in 1998.  She dreamed of life in Paris at three years old, when her mother, a former professional dancer, took her to see Josephine Baker perform in Los Angeles and later, at ten years old when her Mom took her to hear James Baldwin speak on Stanford Campus. Ricki says the idea for Black Paris Tours grew out of traveling the world as a television travel reporter...becoming a person of the WORLD...always looking and finding more Black history outside than at home!! http://www.blackparistour.com/

2. Bryant B. Bolling holds a M.A. degree in African-Centric Musicology and a B.S. degree in Music Education. He joins us along with Mr. Jones, accompanist, and Zakiyyah Capehart Bolling, poet, to talk about TuBeNu Productions' "I Too Sing America – A Musical Journey through Slavery" for Black History Month 2019 at the Altenheim, 1720 MacArthur Blvd., Oakland, Feb. 22, 7 p.m.  It is a free event. Mr. Bolling portrays the life of Joshua, a newly emancipated man, who was forced into chattel slavery for more than 30 years. Mr. Bolling incorporates the use of the Negro Spirituals and poetry by Langston Hughes, Claude McKay and Countee Cullen. This narration recounts Joshua’s 
early life in Africa, his journey through the Middle Passage and the time he  lived in Tolbert County, Maryland, as an enslaved person. The presentation ends with Joshua escaping to join the Union Army two years before the end of the Civil War. Over 70 slides of the African-American experience will support Mr. Bolling's presentation.

Dr. Francis

Devin Cunningham, actor

3.  Jacqueline Francis, Ph.D., joins us to talk about "Black Refractions Symposium at MoAD-SF," Sat., Feb. 23, 10:30 AM to 3:30 PM. She is the author of Making Race: Modernism and “Racial Art” in America (2012) and a co-editor of Romare Bearden: American Modernist (2011).  She teaches US art history and researches critical questions about minority identities represented in historical and contemporary visual cultures in the Americas and Europe.  She is Associate Professor and Chair of the Graduate Program in Visual and Critical Studies at the California College of the Arts (San Francisco).  

Thomas Simpson, Actor

4.  Actors, Devin Cunningham and Thomas Simpson join us to talk about Black Eagles at AA Shakes

Devin A. Cunningham is an actor from Oakland, California who studied acting at PCPA- Professional Actor Training  Program. He is excited to be working on his third production with African-American Shakespeare Company. Some of his favorite credits include: Richard III, African-American Shakespeare Company, Cinderella, African-American Shakespeare Company, and The Toilet by Amiri Baraka. 

Thomas Robert Simpson, actor, director, producer, and writer, 
is the founder and artistic director of AfroSolo Arts Festival. 
Since 1991 he has concentrated on presenting Black art and 
culture through solo performances and the visual and literary 
arts.

For the past twenty-four years Simpson has produced the  award-winning  AfroSolo Arts Festival.  He has also  showcased celebrity artists such as award-winning actor Ruby Dee, comedian and political activist Dick Gregory, beloved teacher, poet and social activist June Jordan, sensational black gospel singer Emmit Powell,  along with hundreds of local theatre, dance and visual artist. 

 Mr. Simpson won a coveted Bay Area Jefferson Award for Public Service in 2006. In 2009 he was awarded a Certificate of Honor from the San Francisco Board of Supervisor.  Over the years has received awards from San Francisco AIDS Foundation’s Black Brothers Esteem Program, The Reggie Williams Achievement Award, the Oakland Supper Club to name a few. Since 2006 Mr. Simpson has also used AfroSolo’s Community Engagement program to focus on important issues in the black community, such as: health, justice and education.

Related Event:

The Black History Month Blacks in the Military Exhibition has been extended to February 28, 2019. The Hours are 1:00 PM to 8:00 PM Mondays through Sundays- Veteran’s War Memorial Building- 401 Van Ness Avenue- Veteran’s Gallery- Room 102. Visit http://alwmcsf.org/gallery/2019-black-history 

Show link:  http://tobtr.com/11191923

Wanda's Picks Radio Show: Wed., Feb. 13, 2019

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

1. Black Choreographers Festival Here and Now at 15. Today we speak to co-founder Laura Elaine Ellis, Executive Director of the African & African American Performing Arts Coalition (AAAPAC) and to presenting choreographer:

Dazaun Soleyn, artistic director of dazaun.dance, graduated from the University of South Florida with a BFA in Modern Dance Performance and Choreography. Soleyn is currently a freelance artist and an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco. For BCF 2019, Soleyn will show a work titled love me naked, which he describes as "a declaration of love of self through an exploration of vulnerability."

2. Kali Tambree joins us to talk about the upcoming conference: Thinking Gender 2019: Feminists Confronting the Carceral State, Feb. 22, 2019 at UCLA Luskin Conference Center. She is a doctoral student in the department of sociology at UCLA. She received her BA in Sociology and Africana Studies from Vassar College in 2017. She reads and writes the Black Atlantic. Kali is a prison abolitionist and seeks to provide opportunities for inside education. She is from Baltimore.

To contact Kali: thinkinggender@women.ucla.edu

3. V-Day 2019: Archival Interview rebroadcast with Gina Breedlove, 1 Billion Rising 6/22/2012

V-Day 2019 Vagina Monologues https://www.eventbrite.com/e/vday-east-bay-the-vagina-monologues-2019-tickets-53896983328

Wanda's Picks Radio Show, Friday, February 8, 2019

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!


1. Jo Kreiter, Flyaway Productions, Laura Elaine Ellis, Executive Director of the African African American Performing Arts Coalition (AAAPAC), Catalina "Caty" Palacios and Tanea Lunsford Lynx who are both members of Essie Justice to talk about The Wait Room, a site specific dance honoring women with incarcerated loved ones, April 19-20, April 26-27 at 1125 Market Street, a vacant lot opposite UN Plaza at Civic Center.


2. Howard Thurman Special with Rev. Liza Rankow & Rev. Dr. Dorsey Blake, Nov. 8, 2010. Upcoming programs at OneLife 2/17 & 3/7, both at East Bay Church of Religious Science, 4130 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, California 94609.

Don't forget to watch: Backs Against the Wall: The Howard Thurman Story, dir. Martin Doblmeier, (http://journeyfilms.com/batw/) on Public Television's WORLD Channel this afternoon/evening, 3 p.m. & 6 p.m. PT, Feb. 8. There are also local screenings on Feb. 9 and Feb. 12.

Visit http://tobtr.com/s/11178105

Elmina Trilogy @The Art of Living Black

Old Man Seated at Door of No Return; Elmina Trilogy

Artist Statement 
Wanda Sabir

Displayed is one portrait in a triptych called Elmina Fishermen. All photos taken on location in June 2016 at Elmina Slave Dungeon in Ghana, West Africa. I used a digital camera.

When I visit Ghana’s Elmina Village where one of the more infamous slave dungeon’s sits, right at the Door of No Return sits an older man mending his nets. I ask him if I can take his picture. He opens his palm. I put money in it, he lowers his hand and I snap the photo.

Just across from him is the Atlantic Ocean; we are still in the fort so we can see the beach filled with boats and fishermen. The two younger men are just in front of us. They do not look up, intent on their sewing.

All the nets are this bright green color. Fish must be colorblind—how else could they miss the striking contrast between the net and the water. Perhaps they are too busy trying to swim away to notice.


The older man is not the only one at the slave dungeon doors where the tour ends. He is the only one not making a big to-do over our exit or arrival. He just looks up as if to say . . . so what took you so long?

Elmina Village, Ghana West Africa; Elmina Trilogy

The guide, scripted of course, says to us, the Door is no longer one of No Return; it swings in the opposite direction now. 

The Photos:

Preparing for the Catch, Elmina Trilogy

1. Elmina Village. Ghana, West Africa (2016).
Digital Print. 24X22.
Price: $250.00.
Artist: Wanda Sabir

2. Preparing for the catch. Elmina Dungeon, Ghana, West Africa (2016).

Digital Print. 24X22. Price: $250.00.
Artist: Wanda Sabir

3. Seated at the Door of No Return, at Elmina Slave Dungeon, the old man reflects on her presence with skepticism and a bit of wonder (2016). Digital Print. 24X22. Price: $250.00. Artist: Wanda Sabir

Wanda's Picks Radio Show, Wed., February 6, 2019

This is a black arts and culture site. We will be exploring the African Diaspora via the writing, performance, both musical and theatrical (film and stage), as well as the visual arts of Africans in the Diaspora and those influenced by these aesthetic forms of expression. I am interested in the political and social ramifications of art on society, specifically movements supported by these artists and their forebearers. It is my claim that the artists are the true revolutionaries, their work honest and filled with raw unedited passion. They are our true heroes. Ashay!

1. Martin Doblmeier joins us to talk about his latest film, Backs Against the Wall:The Howard Thurman Story, airing nationally on PBS World Channel, Fri., Feb. 8, 9 PM PT. He holds degrees in Religious Studies, Broadcast Journalism and honorary degrees in Fine Arts and Humane Letters. Since 1984 he has produced and directed more than 30 films focused on religion, faith and
spirituality. Martin combines a lifelong interest in religion with a passion for storytelling. Over the years he has traveled on location to more than forty countries to profile numerous religious leaders, spiritual communities, heads of state and Nobel Laureates. His films explore how belief can lead individuals to extraordinary acts, how spirituality creates and sustains communities and how faith is lived in extraordinary ways. Visit http://journeyfilms.com/media/

2. Lisa Riley, One Degree of Separation Events and Travel, joins us to talk about Women of Color Entrpreneur Conference, at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose, March 16, 10 am-4 pm. Visit https://www.odostravel.com/events/entrepreneur-conference/

3. Shola Adisa-Farrar, a  Jamaican American Artist currently based in Paris, France is back for a three day residency, Feb. 14-16, Black Cat in San Francisco for a three day residency. Her music is Jazz with Caribbean flavors and a touch of Afrobeat. Her debut album Lost Myself (Hot Casa Records, 2016) has been playing on international radio stations since 2016 and last Fall Spike Lee, personally selected one of her songs to be featured in his Netflix show, "She's Gotta Have It" season 1. Shola has served as an American Music Ambassador to 5 African countries and has headlined concerts in over 10 countries on 4 continents, including US, Russia and France.

4. Mr. Bertram Clark, Collector, historian and Vietnam Veteran, feat. African American soldiers from The Revolutionary War to WWII in an exhibit opening Saturday, Feb. 9th 2-5pm @ the SF War Memorial Veteran Building | Veteran Gallery RM 102. For more info visit: http://alwmcsf.org/gallery/2019-black-history

Mr. Clark dedicates the exhibit to his grandfather and the millions of forgotten African American men and women who have served in America’s Armed Forces from the beginning. He is proud to share his collection which illuminates the African American contributions to America and to the global community. The exhibit includes a special acknowledgement to the nation’s oldest WWII Combat Veteran age 112 — the late Richard Arvin Overton  (May 11, 1906 – December 27, 2018). 

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Shortlink: http://tobtr.com/11178103