It's that time again! The time when almost anyone who's anyone in the jazz world, along with the most zealous old vinyl collectors to even the casual fans head down to the Monterey County Fairgrounds to attend what is perhaps the greatest celebration of all spectrums of the jazz genre on Earth.
The Monterey Jazz Festival will kick off less than a week from now on the 19th, and it certainly has not lost any of its luster. It now boasts 10 stages besides the main Arena stage, and well over 50 performances during its three-day run. Among those who will be playing at the festival will once again be Herbie Hancock and the Wayne Shorter Quartet, although Brubeck is conspicuously absent. Read more »
Jeff Mackler, the Co-Director of the Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal,
giving a speech on Mumia's behalf and against the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
The Mobilization was one of 50 non- profit organizations represented at the
free festival.
As the 2008 Power To The Peaceful festival got into full swing, excellent performances by the likes of Rebelution, one of the biggest new bands on the stateside reggae scene in 2008, and the articulately lamenting rap duo of Oakland pianist-vocalist Kev Choice and Richmond MC Silk-E, were juxtaposed on the main stage by an impassioned speech by Jeff Mackler, the Co-Director of the Oakland-based Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal, to not just free Mumia, but also get the troops out of Iraq; the latter sentiment was echoed by underground San Francisco rapper Sellassie in an excellent bit of freestyle after Rebelution's set. Read more »
As the bus I took to the 10th annual Power To The Peaceful Festival rolled toward the western end of San Francisco's Haight Street (where it famously crosses Ashbury Street), the plain white stucco front of the apartment buildings on either sides of the street were transformed into three-dimensional facades coated in zebra stripes and rainbows. I stepped off the bus to grab a large latté, and some free wi-fi, in a coffee shop named Coffee To The People. As I sipped my cup and reviewed the acts for Michael Franti's impending celebration of pacificism to the extreme, I looked around the inside of the café and saw a collage of bumper stickers covering the walls, featuring quotes by everyone from Abbie Hoffman to Aung San Suu Kyi. Read more »
The gates open on 4:30 today for the 12th annual Greater Ozarks Blues Festival in downtown Springfield, MO (the address of the unnamed venue is 504 W. Sunshine, Springfield MO 65807).
This year will feature a local favorite, the ABS Band, along with several national-level heavy hitters during each of the festival's two days.
Read more »The 6th edition the Irie Jamboree Festival, considered to be the American Northeast equivalent of the likes of Reggae Rising or the Chicago Reggae Festival is set to kick off at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday at Roy Wilkins Park in Queens, New York City, New York, featuring top performers from around the Carribbean, with a particular emphasis on Jamaican performers and musics, specifically reggae and dancehall, from the country. Read more »
When Mayor Ray Nagin, the mayor of the City of New Orleans, stepped up to the podium for a hastily-fashioned press conference three days after Hurricane Katrina's passage through the city, he said that the city was, "In a state of devastation."
Being one of the five deadliest storms in America's history, the substance of the Mayor's statement goes without saying, and the economic damage (the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the storm would slow the growth of inflation-adjusted U.S. GDP by up to 1.5%, or keep the country from about $161 billion of purchasing power; according to a later report). It was also estimated by an agency with a similar level of authority, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), that more than 20% of New Orleans' citizenry at the time-- up to 105,300 people at one point-- was left officially unemployed by the storm.
While few are fundamentally unaware of the high cost to both the nation and the city as a result of Katrina, few are also aware of exactly why so many residents lost their jobs and why the economy of New Orleans in particular was so susceptible to the storm's damage.
