From http://blog.felaonbroadway.com/…
Fela! is now playing on Broadway at the Eugene O’Neil Theatre. Info: http://felaonbroadway.com/index.php
Here’s a review of last year’s off-Broadway production of Fela! from C & D’s column in Arthur No. 31 (Sept 2008):
Happy monday,
Just a quick catch-up on Arthur doings.
We’ve got some new comics up on the blog, including an outta-nowhere submission from cartoonist Owen Cook remembering the great Dickie Peterson, bassist-vocalist of Blue Cheer, who R.I.P.’d on October 15. For an appreciation-in-text, have a good gander at Julian Cope’s just-posted “The Godlike Genius of Blue Cheer”, with its attendant Cheer stream. That’ll do ya.
“Weedeater” columnist Nance Klehm talks to folks who’ve been communicating with plants recently. ‘Nuff said.
Speaking of plant/human communication… Arthur proudly presents, or welcomes, or something, the Emerald Triangle Tour ’09 band of troubadours traveling around California this week celebrating the annual marijuana harvest. Catch the four chaps—Farmer Dave Scher, Andy Cabic (Vetiver), Jonathan Wilson and Johnathan Rice—playing their own and each other’s songs this week at a roadhouse near you.
Byron Coley and Thurston Moore claim they are prepping another Bull Tongue Top Ten, after their return to the electrofold just two weeks ago. Stay on your toes, ladies and gents.
“Do the Math” columnist Dave Reeves will be back with Part IV of his controversial “Defend Brooklyn” expose after he’s done with his latest gypsy roaming. Commentability has been restored to this series of posts, against our better judgment. I guess we’re hoping against hope that somebody will post something interesting in the Comments section, which does occasionally happen—see reader J. Reed clueing us in to his newly posted Lionel Ziprin videos…
We’re posting Chapters 5-8 of Vanessa Veselka’s incendiary new novel Zazen, this week, one a day from Monday to Thursday. Because it sucks to read longer texts on the internet, we’re offering each chapter as a downloadable, fully printable PDF. Print em out, you’ve got a book.
One more thing: yeah I know it says on the FAQ that Arthur is returning as a print magazine this fall ’09 but that ain’t happening, not with the economy the way it is. We don’t have the $$$ to start this baby up again and lose money month after month while we wait for things to “return”—especially when the ability to pay minimal bills via advertising and merch revenue may never return (not that it was ever enuff in the first place—oy vey!). But, hope springs eternal. Like, hope that people will buy ad space, or purchase a DVD or a CD or a back issue or a poster at the Arthur Store, or perhaps even tax-deductibly donate whatever they can spare. That’ll help keep Arthur in motion, on one plane or another…
Gratefully,
Jay
NOVEMBER 1 — EDWARD SAID
Palestinian activist, scholar, literary critic.
“It is part of morality not to be at home in one’s home.”
NOVEMBER 1 HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS
U.S.: DAYLIGHT SAVINGS ends. ALL SAINTS/ALL HALLOWS DAY. OLD CELTIC
NEW YEAR. England: Tradition of SOUL-CAKING, door-to-door begging
for cakes in remembrance of the dead. Originally soulers were the poor
and the cakes an exchange for prayers for the departed. Bonfires and
incessant ringing of church bells. GRAVEYARDS DAY.
Mexico: DAY OF THE DEAD.
ALSO ON NOVEMBER 1 IN HISTORY…
1787 — African Free School opens, New York City.
1836 — Seminole resistance to removal begins.
1871 — American antiwar writer Stephen Crane born, Newark, New Jersey.
1872 — Susan B. Anthony and her sisters arrested for registering to vote.
1879 — Thomas Alva Edison gets patent for electric light.
1907 — Alfred Jarry dies, Paris, France; a suicide?
1935 — Palestinian activist, literary scholar Edward Said born, Jerusalem.
Excerpted from The 2009 Autonomedia Calendar of Jubilee Saints: Radical Heroes for the New Millennium by James Koehnline and the Autonomedia Collective
OCTOBER 31 — STUDS TERKEL
American labor, oral historian, “common man” proponent.
OCTOBER 31 HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS…
HALLOWEEN. Druids’ SAMHAIN, Autumn sun festival. Ancient Roman
FEAST TO POMONA. Druids held human sacrifices and prayers…
ALL HALLOWS EVE, 10th century. ALL SAINTS EVE. Human sacrifice be-
came cakes left out for the dead, thrown into the fire in the
morning. In Brittany all wore black, etc. Old Celtic NEW YEAR’S EVE.
Struggle between old and new years. FESTIVAL OF INNER WORLDS.
ALSO ON OCTOBER 31 IN HISTORY…
1517 — Martin Luther launches Reformation, Wittenburg, Germany.
1795 — Renowned British lyric poet John Keats born, London, England.
1927 — Kemal Ataturk abolishes the fez, “emblem of ignorance, fanaticism.”
1961 — Uncle Joe Stalin’s body removed from public display in Red Square.
1984 — Indian prime minster Indira Gandhi assassinated in her garden, New Delhi.
2008 — American oral historian, labor journalist Studs Terkel dies, Chicago, Illinois.
Excerpted from The 2009 Autonomedia Calendar of Jubilee Saints: Radical Heroes for the New Millennium by James Koehnline and the Autonomedia Collective
From Fractured Atlas, the fiscal sponsor of Arthur Magazine:
We all know the arts need funding to survive. Fortunately there are philanthropic individuals, charitable foundations, and government institutions who recognize this need and provide support.
The Need
Most independent artists, however, including countless small or new arts companies, lack the all important 501(c)(3) tax status that makes those donations legal and desirable. That’s where fiscal sponsorship comes in.In a Nutshell
Fiscal Sponsorship is a financial and legal system by which a legally recognized 501(c)(3) public charity (such as Fractured Atlas) provides limited financial and legal oversight for a project initiated independently by an artist. That “project” might be a one-time project or an independent artist or even an arts organization that does not have its own 501(c)(3) status. Once sponsored in this way, the project is eligible to solicit and receive grants and tax-deductible contributions that are normally available only to 501(c)(3) organizations.The Catch
Anytime you’re dealing with the IRS (which regulates these issues), you can bet there are going to be some complicated legal issues involved. Many well-intentioned, legitimate organizations across the country provide fiscal sponsorship programs for artists. Very few of them are doing it legally, though, and most don’t even realize the danger in which they’re putting themselves and their sponsored projects. If the IRS ever decides to crack down, they could lose their 501(c)(3) status, and their sponsored projects could be forced to return any money raised under the arrangement.The Solution
Fortunately, Fractured Atlas is here to help. Our fiscal sponsorship program is legal, efficient, and affordable. Our program is open and accessible to artists and arts organizations nationwide and in every discipline. We won’t judge your work’s artistic quality or merit; that’s for others to decide. Our job is to give you the tools you need to raise the money to make it happen.
OCTOBER 30 — CLIFFORD GEERTZ
Radical American cultural anthropologist, anti-colonialist.
“There is an Indian story — at least I heard it as an Indian story — about an Englishman who, having been told that the world rested on a platform which rested on the back of an elephant which rested in turn on the back of a turtle, asked (perhaps he was an ethnographer; it is the way they behave), what did the turtle rest on? Another turtle. And that turtle? ‘Ah, Sahib, after that it is turtles all the way down'” – Clifford Geertz, Interpretation of Cultures
OCTOBER 30 HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS
Chan Kom, Mexico: At midnight the ANGELITOS, spirits of dead children,
come. Doors are decorated with flowers to welcome them.
Offerings of food are left for them and they stay the night.
DEVIL’S NIGHT. COVENANT OF GRACE DAY. LIQUOR IS QUICKER DAY.
ALSO ON OCTOBER 30 IN HISTORY…
1838 — Oberlin College becomes first in U.S. to admit women students.
1871 — French “pure” poet Paul Valéry born, Sète, France.
1885 — American poet, fascist-symp Ezra Pound born, Hailey, Idaho.
1938 — Martians land at Grover’s Mill, New Jersey & start “War of the Worlds.”
1958 — Boris Pasternak bows to Soviet pressure, refuses Nobel Literature award.
2006 — Radical cultural anthropologist Clifford Geertz dies, Philadelphia, PA.
Excerpted from The 2009 Autonomedia Calendar of Jubilee Saints: Radical Heroes for the New Millennium by James Koehnline and the Autonomedia Collective
OCTOBER 29 — TERRY SOUTHERN
Inspired American black-humorist, beat-era social rebel.
Still from Easy Rider, co-written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern.
OCTOBER 29 HOLIDAYS AND FESTIVALS
Iroquois FEAST OF THE DEAD: Held once every twelve years, the dead
are reinterred and honored, with a huge common grave dug and lined
with beaver skins. CANDY IS DANDY DAY.
ALSO ON OCTOBER 29 IN HISTORY…
1618 — British adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh executed for treason, London.
1897 — Land ownership and wealth theorist Henry George dies, New York City.
1901 — Leon Czolgosz electrocuted for assassination of U.S. President McKinley.
1929 — Pandemonium on Wall Street as stocks crash, capitalism in crisis.
1964 — Star of India and other gems stolen from Natural History Museum, NYC.
1995 — American underground satirist, writer Terry Southern dies, New York City.
Excerpted from The 2009 Autonomedia Calendar of Jubilee Saints: Radical Heroes for the New Millennium by James Koehnline and the Autonomedia Collective
Press release:
Motown had one, so did Stax. Three soul-deep acts and one smoking hot band to back them up. The triple-header of R&B: the soul revue. Once a mainstay of theaters, gymnasiums and VFW halls everywhere, the soul revue ultimately vanished in the late seventies as recorded sound pushed live performance out of the limelight and onto car stereos and refrigerator-sized boom boxes. The performers returned to their day jobs and the world was the poorer for it.
That is, until April 4th, 2009, when your Numero Group mounted the first Eccentric Soul Revue, packing Chicago’s Park West Theater with soul-hungry acolytes, satisfying them and then some with the real thing: a 17-piece band backing The Notations, Renaldo Domino, The Final Solution, Nate Evans, and Syl Johnson, putting on a show that combined 70s slick with revival-meeting fervor.
It was a magical evening, as the past lived and breathed and got on down, right here in the present. Those in attendance went home that night knowing they’d seen something that just wasn’t done anymore. And wanting more. If you live in Columbus, Ohio, New York, Brooklyn, or Washington D.C., the wait and the want is over. The Numero Group is taking this show on the road.
Eccentric Soul Revue hits the East Coast in November with the totally explosive Syl Johnson, the silky smooth Notations, and the man with the voice like Domino sugar, Renaldo Domino, plus special guests, a slide show, and an autograph line.
There is absolutely nothing else like The Eccentric Soul Revue. A ticket is a time machine. Be there.
Press release from the organizers…
Montague Phantom Brain Exchange #21
Wednesday, October 28th, 9pm Five Bucks!
at the Rendezvous
78 3rd St
Turners Falls, MA 01376Sord
Erin Schneider
video by Torsten Zenas Burns + Darrin Martin
lecture on OULIPO by Laura Duetsch
DJ Scott SewardHello! Please forgive our badly-needed, two month pause, but Phantom Brains are back with this stack of wild cards, greasy with the excitement of french fries. I implore you to read on:
Arthur Magazine 