La Peña

2nd Gen presents

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Thursday February 09, 2012 9pm
Word Becomes Flesh Special Appearance
La Peña's 2nd Generation invites you to a special musical performance by the Living Word Project members of Word Becomes Flesh.

On tour from Chile

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Friday February 10, 2012 8pm
Catalina Claro

Pianist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and singer Catalina Claro returns to La Peña after 4 years for a concert of her captivating original songs.

Catalina has written scores for films, TV, and theater and has shared the stage with Víctor Manuel, Ana Belén, Cirque du Soleil, y Tonino Carotone.

She is also an outstanding piano player with a master in digital arts from the Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain. She was awarded first prize as the best interpreter in the Chopin Competition sponsored by the late renowned pianist Claudio Arrau. She has also performed with Fura dels Baus, Luis Alberto Spinetta, and León Gieco and has toured in 20 countries around the world.

With her firm but melodious voice, Catalina sings and performs from her vast repertoire which includes Mexican songs, Neruda’s poems of love, Shamanistic songs from Peru’s rainforest, and original tunes. She has an unpredicted repertoire that has kept audiences attentively surprised. It is hard to pin down her style for she has no limits. Her genre is music.

Catalina has a natural passion for writing songs and for searching sounds that come from either the cyber space or those coming from the rainforest’s depth: “The music I write is truly feminine. It reaches softly into the profound. I believe that, as a musician, I am merely a vehicle. The musical ideas are not mine. They exist, and I just channel them,” says Catalina.

Radio Catalina

http://www.catalinaclaro.com/

Catalina Claro en concierto

Viernes 10 de Febrero, 2012. 8pm. $15 gen

16 años de estudio de piano clásico no fueron suficientes como para erradicar la música popular chilena del alma de Catalina Claro, quien se autodefine como intérprete, compositora y productora musical siendo estas las tres habilidades que ha desarrollado en una carrera donde la visibilidad de su trabajo no responde al éxito que ha tenido.

De entre los mas de veinte países que Catalina ha visitado, el Área de la Bahía es uno de sus paraderos favoritos. La multi-instrumentalista regresa a La Peña de Berkeley en un concierto que incluye sus mas recientes y originales canciones.

En su trayectoria se acumulan trabajos, conciertos, giras y trabajos instrumentales para películas, obras de teatro, documentales y, también colaboraciones con artistas como Tonino Carotone, Ana Belén, Luis Alberto Spinetta, Víctor Manuel, y León Gieco. Catalina fue tambien parte del staff musical del Cirque du Solei. Catalina es del mundo, internacional por donde se le mire.

Con su firme y melodiosa voz Catalina construye su repertorio con vitales materiales latinoamericanos. Desde las canciones mexicanas, los poemas nerudianos, hasta los sonidos naturales de la selva peruana. Es un repertorio de sorpresas que rescata de su audiencia el interés por escuchar mas.

Catalina tiene una pasión innata por escribir canciones y construir melodías con sonidos que pueden venir de la selva o de su computadora. “Las ideas musical es que me nacen,” alguna vez dijo catalina, “no son mías. Ellas existen yo solo les doy el curso necesario.”

Carnaval Celebration

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Saturday February 11, 2012 9:30pm
Sarava Zamba

Sarava Zamba (www.myspace.com/saravazamba, www.facebook.com/saravazamba) is a Brazilian ensemble based out of Berkeley, CA and founded in 2009. Our music can be described as a high energy Brazilian fusion that mixes tropical groove with hints of Samba, funk, and popular dance music. The music of Sarava Zamba is fun, filled with a festive tropical vibe. Sarava Zamba founding members include Leo Lobo/ vocals, acoustic guitar and percussion; Silvio Correia/ vocals, acoustic guitar and percussion, and Jair Silva/ back vocal and percussion. The band also has a drummer, an electric guitar player, a saxophone player and an additional back vocalist.

Film screening

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Saturday February 11, 2012 4:30pm
"The Inside Job"
The ongoing economic collapse has affected us all as well as the future of our nation. This academy award winning film examines the systemic corruption of the United States by the financial services industry and the consequences. Discussion will follow the film. Where do we go from here?

Amiguitos de La Pe�a

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Saturday February 11, 2012 10:30am
Rosina & Friends
Oakland musicians and artists who perform interactive and visual music that expands the imagination, love of music, social consciousness, and celebration of culture in children.

Marc Bamuthi Joseph's

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Saturday February 11, 2012 8pm
Word Becomes Flesh

This performance will take place at the Laney College Theater, 900 Fallon St. Oakland, CA, one block from Lake Merritt BART.

For advance tickets click here.

Tickets will be priced as follows:

$25 General at the door

$20 General in advance

$15 Early Bird Special (offered until January 23)

$15 Students w/ID & Seniors at the door

$10 Children 14 yrs. and under (available in advance)

La Peña Cultural Center in association with the Black

Choreographer’s Festival Present Marc Bamuthi Joseph's

Word Becomes Flesh

Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Artistic Director (The Living Word Project)

Joan Osato, Producing Director

Written and Directed by Marc Bamuthi Joseph

Word Becomes Flesh is a fluid evening-length choreopoem written in the form of a narrative verse play. Presented as a series of performed letters to an unborn son, the piece uses poetry, dance and live music to document nine months of pregnancy from a young single father's perspective. These performed letters incorporate elements of ritual, archetypes, and symbolic sites within the constructs of hip hop culture. Directed by Marc Bamuthi Joseph, and featuring Daveed Diggs, Dahlak Brathwaite, Dion Decibels, Ben Turner, Mic Turner and B.Yung, this Re-Creation of Word Becomes Flesh is commissioned by the National Performance Network Re-Creation Initiative, La Peña Cultural Center, Painted Bride, Dance Place and Youth Speaks with principal development support from Z Space Studios in San Francisco.

Word Becomes Flesh was originally commissioned by La Peña Cultural Center and premiered in November 2003 at the Alice Arts Center (Oakland, CA) and subsequently toured through 2007 nationwide to venues including Bates Dance Festival (Lewiston, ME), ODC Theater and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco, CA), On the Boards (Seattle, WA), New World Theater (Amherst, MA), Dance Theater Workshop (New York, NY), Live Arts Festival (Philadelphia, PA), Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago, IL), University Musical Society (Ann Arbor, MI), Miami Dade College (Miami, FL), and Dance Place (Washington, DC).

Considered the seminal work of Marc Bamuthi Joseph and The Living Word Project, this piece was chosen by the National Performance Network for its 25th Anniversary Re-Creation Initiative supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. Word Becomes Flesh is a National Performance Network (NPN) Re-Creation Fund Project sponsored by La Peña Cultural Center (Berkeley, CA) in partnership with Painted Bride (Philadelphia, PA), Dance Place (Washington, DC), Youth Speaks (San Francisco, CA) and NPN. This project has been made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts as part of American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius. For more information: www .npnweb .org.

The Laney College presentation is made possible in part by the James Irvine Foundation, the Clorox Foundation and the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Performance Network’s Re-Creation Fund

Marc Bamuthi Joseph (Artistic Director) is one of America’s vital voices in performance, arts education, and artistic curation. In the Fall of 2007, Bamuthi graced the cover of Smithsonian Magazine after being named one of America’s Top Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences. He is the artistic director of the 7-part HBO documentary “Russell Simmons presents Brave New Voices” and an inaugural recipient of the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship, which annually recognizes 50 of the country’s “greatest living artists”. He is the 2011 Alpert Award winner in Theater.

After appearing on Broadway as a young actor, Joseph has developed several poetically based works for the stage that have toured across the U.S., Europe, and Africa. These include Word Becomes Flesh, Scourge, and the break/s, which co-premiered at the Humana Festival of New American Plays and the Walker Arts Center in the Spring of 2008. Bamuthi’s Word Becomes Flesh was re-mounted in December 2010 as part of the National Endowment for the Arts’ “American Masterpieces” series, and will tour throughout North America and Hawaii through 2013. Mr. Joseph’s current evening length project, red black and green: a blues documents the eco-equity movement towards green collar jobs in Black neighborhoods. In addition, Joseph wrote the commissioned libretto, Home in 7 for the Atlanta Ballet in 2011, and is directing Dennis Kim’s Tree City Legends at Intersection for the Arts in 2012.

The Living Word Project (LWP) is the resident theater company of Youth Speaks, committed to producing literary performance in the verse of our time. Aesthetically urban, pedagogically Freirean, LWP derives personal performed narratives out of interdisciplinary collaboration. Though its methodology includes dance, music, and film, the company’s emphasis is spoken storytelling. LWP creates verse-based work that is spoken through the body, illustrated by visual and sonic scores, and in communication with the important social issues and movements of the immediate moment. LWP is the theater’s connection from Shakespeare’s quill to Kool Herc’s turntables; from Martha Graham’s cupped hand to Nelson Mandela’s clenched fist: a new voice for a new politic.

Black Choreographers Festival: Here & Now ~ 2012 is presented by: The African & African American Performing Arts Coalition (Aaapac) a S. F. based non-profit organization, founded in 1995 to create performance opportunities for African and African American performing artists as well as produce shows that reflect the aesthetic and cultural representation of the African and African American experience. K*Star*Productions was founded in 1996 to make cultural exchange experiences accessible to the community at large with a focus on African-American constituents.

La Peña Cultural Center is a not for profit organization whose mission is to promote peace, social justice and cultural understanding through the arts, education and community action. La Peña was founded in 1975 in response to the military coup that overthrew the socialist government of Salvador Allende in Chile on Sept. 11, 1973. La Peña is located at 3105 Shattuck Ave. in Berkeley, 2 blocks from the Ashby BART. Visit us online at www.lapena.org for a calendar of our monthly events, children’s programs, exhibits, and classes.

Report Back Concert

Sun, 12 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Sunday February 12, 2012 7pm
La Pe�a Community Chorus

La Peña Community Chorus Report Back Concert: Uruguay and Argentina, July 2011

Come hear about our travels, the friends we met, the songs we learned, the difficult history we encountered. The Chorus is bigger and better than ever with our 15 terrific new members and brand new songs!

http://www.lapenachorus.org/

Members of LP Community Chrous with Madres de La Plaza de Mayo

Temporarily Banned in Mexico!

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Thursday February 16, 2012 7:30pm
Presunto Culpable (Presumed Guilty)
Dir. Roberto Hernández (Mexico, 2010) 90min.

Mexican lawyers Hernández and Negrete researched Mexico City’s criminal justice system only to discover some astounding facts: 95% of verdicts are convictions; 92% of convictions are not based on physical evidence; and 93% of inmates are never shown an arrest warrant. To publicize their findings, they joined with filmmaker Geoffrey Smith and produced Presunto Culpable (Presumed Guilty), a documentary of their efforts to exonerate a man sentenced to 20 years for homicide with no physical evidence. In Spanish with English subtitles, the film is a first peek into the horrors of a justice system that essentially presumes guilt.

Presumed Guilty was banned by a Mexican judge within days of opening in Mexican theaters. While the ban only went into effect for a few hours, it sparked the interest of the nation, increasing ticket sales and setting off a firestorm of articles in the national and international press. The film is now playing in 47 cities and has been seen by over one million people— the most viewed documentary in the history of Mexico!

Legal wrangling about the film continues in Mexico. The temporary ban was lifted, but a judge ordered the distributor to erase the image of a key prosecution witness. The filmmakers, the distributor, and the Mexican film rating board argue that this would be the same as banning the film and have countersued, insisting that freedom of expression should trump individual privacy rights

Come see what the fuss is all about! Come and see how powerful a little documentary can be! Proceeds from the screening will be donated to La Peña Cultural Center.

2nd Gen presents

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Thursday February 16, 2012 Doors @ 8pm in the Lounge
The Lyricist Lounge @ La Pe�a

Demanding the return of REAL Hip Hop!!!

The Lounge brings revolutionary rhythms and lavish lyrics

Featuring:

IR Fiq

Yatta & Aaron

Greg Gee

JUS intellectual

DJ Apex

A Call to ALL MCs and Hip Hop Heads

No Dress Code

2nd Gen presents

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Friday February 17, 2012 10pm-1:30am in the Lounge
The Organizers' Bash: Bashing Capitalism

Benefit for Advance The Struggle.

Special guest performers and DJ's.

Amiguitos de La Pe�a

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Saturday February 18, 2012 10:30am
Miss Kitty
Combines her performance, song writing, and singing with her love of children to create a magical, interactive musical adventure.

A video shoot

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Saturday February 18, 2012 6:30pm
George �TraGiC� Doman

A member of Krip-Hop Nation: Hip-Hop Artists/Musicians with disabilities. George recently wrote and remixed Tupac Shakur’s “Brenda’s Got A Baby”, but instead called it “Brenda’s Got A Baby With CP”, because he has “CP” (Cerebral Palsy). He and Krip-Hop Nation are looking forward to have Bay Area, the birthplace of Tupac Shakur, and the disability rights movement stand or roll with us at this video shoot.

Dance Party in the Lounge

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Saturday February 18, 2012 10pm-2am in the Lounge
2nd Gen presents La Mixta Criolla

Singer & songwriter

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Friday February 24, 2012 8pm
Lichi Fuentes with Donna Viscusso & Hugo Wainzinger

Lichi's gorgeous vocals and moving lyrics have touched hearts and inspired Bay Area audiences since the 1980s. One of the finest Latin American female voices in the Bay Area, Lichi Fuentes is a multi-instrumentalist known for her strong voice and commitment to social justice. She is an established voice in the Bay Area's Latin American new song scene who has been described as a natural vocalist whose "commitment to social justice is a tangible force in her music." (SF Bay Guardian). Founder and lead vocalist of the group Altazor, Lichi is currently musical director of La Peña's Community Chorus and teaches music at elementary schools in the Bay Area.

2nd Gen Presents

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Saturday February 25, 2012 10pm-2am in the Lounge
La Pelanga

Dance Party in the Lounge. 2nd Gen presents

The La Pena 2nd Generation is a group of activists some of whom are children of the original founders of La Pena who have joined together to advance La Pena’s mission of social, economic, and environmental justice through grassroots activism and cultural awareness. The 2nd Generation seeks to bring the next generation of activists, issues, and culture to La Pena by fostering new progressive ideas, activities, and events to secure La Pena’s future for many generations to come.

Amiguitos de La Pe�a

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Saturday February 25, 2012 10:30am
Prospect Bear

An animated story told with live music and narration. Prospect Bear is an inspirational children’s story about following your dreams. Told with dj, violin and video the main character Shine is a curious bear cub who believes in her heart that she is meant to live more than just a traditional bear's life. She discovers her dream one day when she lets her curiosity get the best of her and follows the sound of music to Park Prospect. Shine soon finds that as much as she would love to follow her dream of becoming a dj, she may have to give it up.

Prospect Bear Band: DJ/Electronics (Elan Vytal): Introduces music, sound effects, scratches and projections. Singer: Narrates story and sings hooks. Live Musician: Plays lead lines and helps develop sound effects.

http://www.elanvytal.com/the-prospect-bear/

Queer folk trio

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Saturday February 25, 2012 8pm
Eli Conley and Hip for Squares
Queer folk trio Eli Conley and Hip for Squares bring us their final concert together. Indie rock band Dear Indugu and The Skinny opens.

Annual Pat Parker Tribute

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Sunday February 26, 2012 7pm-9:30pm

Featuring: Melanie Demore & Mary Watkins, Adam David Miller, Mamacoatl, Ava Square Levias, Kaylah Marin & Tasha Kame, Anastasia Dunham-Parker (Pat’s Daughter), Tureeda Mikell, Leslie Simon, Blackberri, Avotcja, Sandi Poindexter, & Val Serrant, Chelle & Friends. (Doors Open @ 6:30pm)

Wheelchair Accessible.

(Proceeds From This Benefit Go To Pat's Daughter Anastasia Dunham-Parker).

www.Avotcja.Org

Solo Performance

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Thursday March 01, 2012 8pm
Homeless in Homeland with Saria Idana
3 DAYS! Thursday, Friday, & Saturday March 1, 2, 3.

Saria Idana, is a theater, literary and recording artist committed to freedom of expression as a means to develop action connection and intimacy. Her work focuses on personal and global struggle along side human resiliency. She has worked with theater and dance companies in New York and Los Angeles including La Mama ETC, WE GOT ISSUES, Great Leap, Contra-Tiempo and the Moving Torah Company. Her poetry has been featured in print and on audio compilations and her spoken word album by the same title, and featuring her vocal and music compositions, will be released later this year.

HOMELESS IN HOMELAND is a 70min solo theater show about Jewish-American identity, the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and the human need for a place of belonging, of home. It is a piece of autobiographical-journalistic theater based on a trip taken by the mid 20’s age writer/performer to Israel-Palestine in 2007. Join Saria as she weaves poetry with dance, personal with political and speaks both on her own experience and in the voice of seventeen characters, American, Palestinian and Israeli.

Solo Performance

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Friday March 02, 2012 8pm
Homeless in Homeland with Saria Idana
3 DAYS! Thursday, Friday, & Saturday March 1, 2, 3.

Saria Idana, is a theater, literary and recording artist committed to freedom of expression as a means to develop action connection and intimacy. Her work focuses on personal and global struggle along side human resiliency. She has worked with theater and dance companies in New York and Los Angeles including La Mama ETC, WE GOT ISSUES, Great Leap, Contra-Tiempo and the Moving Torah Company. Her poetry has been featured in print and on audio compilations and her spoken word album by the same title, and featuring her vocal and music compositions, will be released later this year.

HOMELESS IN HOMELAND is a 70min solo theater show about Jewish-American identity, the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and the human need for a place of belonging, of home. It is a piece of autobiographical-journalistic theater based on a trip taken by the mid 20’s age writer/performer to Israel-Palestine in 2007. Join Saria as she weaves poetry with dance, personal with political and speaks both on her own experience and in the voice of seventeen characters, American, Palestinian and Israeli.

Solo Performance

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Saturday March 03, 2012 8pm
Homeless in Homeland with Saria Idana
3 DAYS! Thursday, Friday, & Saturday March 1, 2, 3.

Saria Idana, is a theater, literary and recording artist committed to freedom of expression as a means to develop action connection and intimacy. Her work focuses on personal and global struggle along side human resiliency. She has worked with theater and dance companies in New York and Los Angeles including La Mama ETC, WE GOT ISSUES, Great Leap, Contra-Tiempo and the Moving Torah Company. Her poetry has been featured in print and on audio compilations and her spoken word album by the same title, and featuring her vocal and music compositions, will be released later this year.

HOMELESS IN HOMELAND is a 70min solo theater show about Jewish-American identity, the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and the human need for a place of belonging, of home. It is a piece of autobiographical-journalistic theater based on a trip taken by the mid 20’s age writer/performer to Israel-Palestine in 2007. Join Saria as she weaves poetry with dance, personal with political and speaks both on her own experience and in the voice of seventeen characters, American, Palestinian and Israeli.

Golden Thread Productions Presents

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Thursday March 08, 2012 8pm
�What Do the Women Say?�

Pondering the Solo – This year’s program features Denmo Ibrahim, Jennifer Jajeh, Rohina Malik and Maryam Rostami - four women performers of Middle Eastern background who have written, performed and produced their own show. Profound, rambunctious and illuminating, this new generation of solo women performers tackles themes of displacement, dual loyalties and entitlement to expand definitions of citizenship, activism and womanhood.

Program Details and Participant Biographies:

Denmo Ibrahim is an Egyptian-American actor, playwright, entrepreneur, healer, and theatre maker based in San Francisco. Her recent work BABA was selected as the winner of the 2011 HIGHLIGHT series by Noor Theatre and performed at New York Theatre Workshop. Original commissions include new work for Golden Thread Productions, Theatre of Yugen, foolsFURY, Shotgun Players, Root Division, 111 Minna, EXIT Theatre, Bebersee Classical Music Festival and Loire Valley Festival. She is a co-founder of the award winning performance company Mugwumpin and the CEO of Earthbody, an organic day spa for healing. Denmo holds an MFA in Lecoq-Based: Actor Created Physical Theatre from Naropa University and a BFA from Boston University. She has spent years in the studio collaborating, devising, demolishing, and breathing life into new playthings. www.adenmoproject.com

About the work…Baba is a funny, highly physical solo show spanning an epic journey of an Egyptian father and daughter facing the tribulations of getting from New York to Cairo. Inspired by a true story, this intimate family tragedy reveals a humorous, calculating man who defies all odds to get his child’s U.S. passport minutes before departure. Along side his story, we meet his daughter three decades later in search of her origin to discover the man she never knew. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEEuIYgFLl8

Jennifer Jajeh is a San Francisco based artist. Her one-woman show, I Heart Hamas: And Other Things I’m Afraid To Tell Youdebuted in 2008 at New York’s International Fringe Festival. The show, a smash-hit in San Francisco where it ran for 12 weeks in Fall 2009, continued onto theatrical runs in Minneapolis Chicago, and Los Angeles in 2010-11. Jajeh has also produced and directed award winning independent film and video projects that have screened nationally and internationally in film festivals, museums, and universities. Her work has been profiled by the KRON 4 News, WBAI NYC, Link TV, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, and NOX Magazine Jordan. Named one of Fen Magazine's 2011 Artists to Watch, she is currently at work on a new web series, In Bed with Jen Jajeh. Jennifer is honored to be presenting alongside this group of talented women.

About the work…With the current ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, the threat of global terrorism, and the never-ending negotiations and hostilities between Israelis and Palestinians, it’s hard not to feel overwhelmed by all of the bad international news. That’s exactly how Jennifer Jajeh feels. And to make matters worse, Jennifer is Palestinian. Well, Palestinian American. Or more precisely: a single, Christian, first generation, Palestinian American woman who chooses to return to her parents’ hometown of Ramallah at the start of the Second Intifada. Join her on American and Palestinian soil on auditions, bad dates, and across military checkpoints as she navigates the thorny terrain around Palestinian identity. Weaving together humor, slides, pop culture references and live theatre, Jajeh explores how she becomes Palestinian-ized, then politicized and eventually radicalized in a fresh, often funny, searingly honest way. http://youtu.be/YRW4TzwNhVs

Rohina Malik is a Chicago-based playwright, actress and solo performance artist. She was born and raised in London, England, of South Asian heritage. Rohina is a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists, an artistic associate at the 16th Street Theater, and she was one of the four writers in the inaugural group of The Goodman Theater's Playwrights Unit. Her one woman play Unveiled had its World Premiere in May 2009 at the 16th Street Theater, where it received critical acclaim, and the entire run and extension was sold out. Unveiled received a second production at Victory Gardens Theater, a third production at Next Theater, and a fourth production at Brava Theater, San Francisco. Her plays Yasmina's Necklace and The Mecca Tales (a Goodman commission) were both developed and had staged readings at The Goodman Theater.

About the work… Unveiled is the story of Noor and Moroccan Mint tea. Racism. Hate crimes. Love. Islam. Culture. Language. Life. Five Muslim women in a post-9/11 world serve tea and uncover what lies beneath the veil in this compelling one-woman show.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7ATqM-IQ18&feature=related

Maryam Rostami is a San Francisco based drag queen and contemporary performance artist from Texas. Her work deals with the complexities of the modern condition through the lens of an overachieving child of model minorities. She involves audiences on a visual, intellectual and emotional level, and is dedicated to artistic engagement as an invitation for thinking about, looking at and talking to one another differently. Her drag/nightlife persona, Mona G. Hawd, uses lipsync, movement, narrative, dance and an exaggerated high femme medium to question ownership of images in our culture.

About the work… Persepolis, Texas: FOBspring to Drag Queenis Maryam’s debut solo show and played to packed audiences in at CounterPULSE in the summer of 2011. It is a compilation of many characters that respond to her experience growing up as a child of Iranian immigrants in Texas, reflected by the drag queen that she has become here in San Francisco.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwcyG1BcZ0s

***

Started in 1909 in the U.S., International Women’s Day (8 March) is an occasion marked by women’s groups around the world. This date is also commemorated at the United Nations and is designated in many countries as a national holiday. When women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to celebrate their Day, they can look back to a tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development.

Founded in 1996, Golden Thread Productions is dedicated to exploring Middle Eastern cultures and identities as expressed around the globe. We present alternative perspectives of the Middle East by developing and producing theatrical work that is aesthetically varied and politically and viscerally engaging, while supporting countless Middle Eastern artists in all phases of their careers. Our mission is to make the Middle East a potent presence on the American stage and also to make theatre a treasured cultural experience within Middle Eastern communities. We build cultural bridges by engaging the community in an active dialogue and facilitating collaborations among artists of diverse backgrounds with the aim of creating a world where the common human experience supersedes cultural and political differences. www.goldenthread.org

Jazz, Blues, & World Music fusion

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 04:00:00 GMT

Friday March 30, 2012 Doors at 7pm; Show at 8pm
Little Brown Brother

For advance tickets click here.

Little Brown Brother

www.littlebrownbrother.com

Jazz, Blues, and World Music fusion band Little Brown Brother

Little Brown Brother has been performing regularly in the Bay Area since it was formed in 2006 and has been featured at many different concerts, events, and nightclubs. Its members are Ben Luis on bass, vocals; Carlos Zialcita on harmonica, vocals; Chris Planas on guitar, vocals; Mio "Timbalero" Flores on congas, percussion; Rey Cristobal on piano; and Carlton Carey on drums. Vocalist Myrna Del Rio joins them for this performance and has been a featured artist at the Cadillac Hotel Concert Series, the People in the Plazas Concert Series, and at Yoshi's Oakland in March 2011. Ron Quesada and Kulintronica features a high-tech fusion of traditional Filipino music on the Kulintang gongs from the Southern region of the Philippines known as Mindanao along with modern guitar sounds.

Little Brown Brother was a featured group at the 2008 San Francisco Presidio Museum in 2009, the UC Berkeley International House in 2010, and the Asian Art Museum celebration of Filipino American History Month in 2009 and 2011. Filipino American Jazz Festival and has appeared at many events in the Filipino and Pan-Asian communities including the Asian Heritage Street Festival, the Jazz Appreciation Month Concert in 2010 at the SF Main Public Library, the SF Manilatown Heritage Foundation Banquet in 2008 and 2009, the SF

We invite you to support La Peña, its cultural programs, and its promotion of live music in the East Bay as well as the on-going performances by Little Brown Brother, a band dedicated to preserving and celebrating Filipino American jazz in the SF Bay Area and beyond.

About the San Francisco Filipino American Jazz Festival

The San Francisco Filipino American Jazz Festival, a non-profit 501(c) (3) organization, is sponsored by the Filipino American National Historical Society, and promotes, preserves, and celebrates Filipino American history, art, and culture. sfpinoyjazzfest.com

Go Ohana!

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 04:00:00 GMT

Friday April 13, 2012 7:30pm
Asian American Talent Showcase
Brought to you by RAMA Arts as the premier showcase of the best independent, up-and-coming Asian American artists the Bay Area has to offer. Named after the Hawaiian word for "family", OHANA! strives to build a continuous string of variety performances to showcase the very best Asian American musicians, spoken word artists, dancers, video and multidisciplinary artists, and visual artists from in and around the Bay.

Readings and discussions with Judy Grahn

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 04:00:00 GMT

Thursday April 26, 2012 Doors @ 6:30pm; Readings @ 7pm
Struggle, Then and Now: Intergenerational Voices on the Bay Area Lesbian Movement

Join us for an evening of readings and discussions with Judy Grahn and other community readers as they reflect on the continuing impact of the Bay Area lesbian movement of the ’60s and ’70s (and beyond!)

This free community event will feature readings and a roundtable discussion with Judy Grahn and other readers (to be announced) from the San Francisco Bay Area. The event is supported by a grant from the Horizons Foundation and is presented by Aunt Lute Books, a nonprofit multicultural women’s publisher based in San Francisco. “Struggle, Then and Now” will highlight the continuing impact that the legacy of the Bay Area lesbian movement has had on lesbian/bisexual women and their allies in the Bay Area today.

“Struggle, Then and Now” is part of A Simple Revolution, a project that promotes community dialogue about the history and legacy of lesbian activism in the Bay Area in order to record and promote awareness about this vibrant community’s past, present, and future. People of all ages and backgrounds are invited to share their perspectives on A Simple Revolution’s online community forum, and to send in prose submissions for the opportunity to be featured as a community reader on April 26.

Judy Grahn is an internationally recognized poet, writer, and social theorist who has won numerous awards for her work, including an NEA Grant, American Book Award, and The Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement (in Lesbian Letters). Grahn’s forthcoming memoir, A Simple Revolution, weaves together her stories about the Bay Area lesbian movement of the turbulent ’60s and ’70s with those of other feminist
lesbian activists and comrades such as Pat Parker and Audre Lorde. Aunt Lute Books has fostered the careers of lesbian and feminist authors such as Gloria Anzaldúa, Judy Grahn, and Audre Lorde since 1982.

For more information, visit: www.auntlute.com/a-simple-revolution.

Co-sponsored by Openhouse and GLBT Historical Society