Don Letts is an unsung hero of British music. “Superstonic Sound: The Rebel Dread” is a documentary about the Letts family legacy that mirrors the history of BASS in the UK from Dub, Reggae and Punk to 80s pop, Hip Hop and Dubstep; a musical, cultural and personal link between past and present.
Don’s father was amongst the first Jamaican immigrants to Britain and he brought his sound system with him, introducing London to Jamaican Dub with its heavy BASS accent.
Don grew up in Brixton, immersed in Dub and Reggae. In the context of Enoch Powell’s Rivers of Blood speech and KBW – Keep Britain White - grafitied across the walls of London, Don became the lone Rebel Dread crossing musical and cultural boundaries between black and white. He became DJ at the first Punk club, the legendary “Roxy” where in between live Punk sets, he played hard core Dub-Reggae and fortunately for him…
Just a quick note that after their premiere at BAM last week, Wah Do Dem will be screening in NY and LA, at Cinema Village and The Egyptian, respectively, through this Friday and in Boston, at the Somerville Theater, through next week.
We’ve told you about this film before, and now you can see what it’s all about for yourself tonight at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Check out the info below…
Tue, Jun 15, 2010, 6:50pm Q&A with directors Ben Chace & Sam Fleischner and actors Sam Bones and Norah Jones
Directed by Ben Chace & Sam Fleischner With Sean Bones, Norah Jones, Carl Bradshaw
US, 2009, 75 min NY Premiere!
“A dynamic portrait of Jamaica and of vacation as experience, not escape… A full-moon jam by reggae group the Congos, which Max watches through the trees, is a sublime and awesome thing.” —The Hollywood Reporter
Brooklyn hipster Max’s (Sean Bones) girlfriend (played by Norah Jones) dumps him just days before their Caribbean cruise. Bummed, but determined to make the most of it, Max sets sail alone for Jamaica, where, after having all his stuff stolen and literally missing the boat, he embarks on a crosscountry, philosophical journey that yields surprising revelations. Directors Chace and Fleischner capture both the exhilaration and anxiety of being a stranger in a strange land where the 2008 US presidential election becomes an unexpected catalyst for crosscultural connection. This reggae-infused odyssey features music and appearances by MGMT, Santigold, The Congos, Yeasayer, and more.
BAM Rose Cinemas General Admission: $12 BAM Cinema Club members: $8
The folks over at Friends We Love sit with Dominican-American film director Albert Xavier to talk life, art and film. Check out the video below…
Film director Albert Xavier recounts how his artistic background prepared him for filmmaking and the development of his latest release, Hermafrodita, which is the first Dominican film to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
The Havana sun casts a golden, late afternoon light, lending a brief glow to a narrow street. Decaying houses, with their half-crumbling facades, somehow cling to their faded glory. The camera pulls back and reveals the silhouette of a man, rounded by age and good living, puffing on a cigar. At the age of 67, Luis Tiant has come back to Cuba, the island he had left at age 20 for a trip he thought would last a month and became nearly a half-century. But is this still home? What is home for an exile that becomes a star in his new land, leaving former teammates to play for their government and country in isolation and povertis home for a man who never had a sister or brother and whose parents are dead? Where can he go to sort out the guilt and the glory? And is it too late?
I’ll (hopefully) have a full review of the film next week, so be on the lookout for that.
Walter Rodney’s had a huge influence on my life. Besides the fact that I’m named after him (My full name is Omar Walter Ellis…), he’s one of the main reasons that Burden Clothing even exists.
That all said, when I heard about this documentary on the man by Clairmont Chung, I had to let folks know. Check out the trailer below…
This film covers the life of world renowned, historian, author, and activist, Dr. Walter Rodney who was assassinated on Friday, June 13, 1980, at age 38, in his native Guyana. It’s a story of a man who dedicated his life, and ultimately, gave his life in the struggle for equal rights and justice. He did so through his considerable intellectual gifts and actual grassroots involvement everywhere he went. He went everywhere. The people who knew him weave a tale of how they related to him and him them. In the process we see the growth of their friend, his ideology and how that changed over the years from his coming of age in racially divided Guyana through the cold war, the Black Power Movement, Pan-Africanism, Caribbean independence, and the idea of self emancipation. It’s about the influence of places on him and him on places as evidenced by the riots in Kingston, Jamaica, his role in Southern Africa’s struggle for independence and finally civil rebellion in Guyana where his life ended just a block from his birth-home. It’s a film about us: all of us.
Asho’s had a busy week, and he wraps it up with a special event up in the BX. Yes, it’s time for First Fridays at The Bronx Museum, once again. Check out the details below…
Cubanísimo!
3rd Annual Collaboration with The Havana Film Festival
of New York
FRIDAY APRIL 9, 6:00pm to 10:00pm
Music by DJ Asho
Performance by Pepito Gomez and his Sextet
(Traditional, Son & Timba)
Free! No Cover!
SHOW TIMELINE
6:00 PM Doors Open/ DJ Asho Spins on the 1’s & 2’s
7:15 PM Opening Remarks
7:20 PM Screening of 20 AÑOS (Animation, 2009, Cuba 12 min
7:35 PM World Premiere of HOMO ERECTUS (Fiction, 2010, U.S.-Cuba) 44 min.
8:20 PM Q&A with Homo Erectus director Alejandro Lora and producer Alberto Gonzales.
8:40 PM Performance by Pepito Gómez and his Sextet (Tradicional, Son & Timba)
9:45 PM Closing Remarks
The Bronx Museum of the Arts
1040 Grand Concourse
Bronx, NY 10456
718-681-6000
Subway Directions: Take the “D” or “B” to the 167 Street/Grand Concourse station. Exit at rear of station, walk south along Grand Concourse two blocks. Or take the “4” to the 161 Street/Yankee Stadium station. Walk east three blocks to the Grand Concourse, then walk north four blocks along Grand Concourse to 165th Street . Via Bus: Take the Bx1, Bx2, or BxM4 Express to 165th St. and Grand Concourse
This is a 1976 Reggae documentary about reggae and reggae artists in UK during the 70’s. The documentary explores reggae as it has traveled across the pond and what made it work in that time. Essentially the music was locally supported then it the sound expanded. Check out the video…
New film on the way directed by a close friend of the artist. Check out the details below…
In his short career, Jean-Michel Basquiat was a phenomenon. He became notorious for his graffiti art under the moniker Samo in the late 1970s on the Lower East Side scene, sold his first painting to Deborah Harry for $200, and became best friends with Andy Warhol. Appreciated by both the art cognoscenti and the public, Basquiat was launched into international stardom. However, soon his cult status began to override the art that had made him famous in the first place.
Director Tamra Davis pays homage to her friend in this definitive documentary but also delves into Basquiat as an iconoclast. His dense, bebop-influenced neoexpressionist work emerged while minimalist, conceptual art was the fad; as a successful black artist, he was constantly confronted by racism and misconceptions. Much can be gleaned from insider interviews and archival footage, but it is Basquiat’s own words and work that powerfully convey the mystique and allure of both the artist and the man.
