Sean Jones ties an AWC exhibit to a new composition tonight with “Flying Girls”: https://www.wesa.fm/post/installation-nigerian-artist-inspires-musical-composition?utm_source=inboxedition&utm_medium=email#stream/0
Kelsey Wooley Jumper is directing a production that premieres tonight and continues out into next week: http://folklab.ticketleap.com/other/
Another exciting segment of City of Asylum’s National Jazz Series, Thursday night: http://www.alphabetcity.org/events/kaleta-super-yamba-band/
We Want The Funk is on Friday and Saturday. The August Wilson Center just sent me a brand new S.O.S. track that we’ll check out on The Soul Show.
One question that always arises is how intact is the current lineup of an old-school band like S.O.S., Brick or Con Funk Shun.
In the case of War, we know that original member Lonnie Jordan is all alone, supported by a cast of journeymen; fortunately, in that case, three of the others from the original seven (including Lee Oskar) are all together in the Lowrider Band. I hope AWC or the Trust might consider having them soon. Everyone’s getting older.
Back to “We Want The Funk”….i haven’t yet researched the S.O.S. or Brick lineup, but there is no question that Con Funk Shun is in amazing form, with their two co-leads on vocals, Pilate and Cooper, still in place, as well as hornman Fuller. The recent Hartwood show was tight and energetic. Their album of a few years ago (first in years) was very, very impressive, right down to a daring cover of Mayfield’s “Move On Up.” Their own new compositions showed the above-average lyricism and careful arrangements of old.
One of the elements of my multimedia cross-platform project for black music/arts is a shared, web-based calendar. Sub-calendars managed by artists, venues and other stakeholders automatically merge into a master calendar that I present weekly on The Soul Show. In parallel, the new soulshowmike.org website publishes the calendar within the site, as well as feeding it to FB, Twitter and a newsletter (via free subscription). Several artists now have sub-calendars that are synced to the master. More to come.
Funding for this project (blog+calendar+…) was provided by the Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh Program, a partnership of The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments.