Category Archives: film

Asante Sana, Max Roach

Posted on by drumsintheglobalvillage

Damn.

Here’s a list of videos from youtube.

Damn.

AUG. 18 UPDATE: I got the following from Kalamu.

YOUNGBLOODS, ELDERS and FRIENDS:
 
 Legendary jazz drummer and political activist-musician Max Roach died yesterday. The funeral will be at Riverside Church in Manhattan on Friday, August 24th with services at 11 AM and viewing Max for the last time at 9 AM.  (Directions below)
 
 WKCR FM 89.9 will be playing Max Roach’s music 24 hours a day until Wednesday, August 22nd at 9 PM.   Youngbloods who haven’t heard his repertoire should take this chance to dig one of the greatest musical geniuses of the twentieth century.  
 
 One of the founders of Bebop in the 1940s Max played with Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Clifford Brown, Bud Powell and Coleman Hawkins, among many others. Generally regarded as the greatest jazz drummer of all time, Max was a creative genius who crossed over into many other genres and integrated political activism and his commitment to African-American self determination into music that included classical jazz, bebop, African, Afro-Cuban, avant garde and some music which can only be classified as “Max Roach Music.”
 
 Max traveled to Africa to expand the scope of his music. He played with ensembles from Japan and Cuba as well as with avant-garde artists and hip-hoppers.  In the 1970s and 1980s he organized a ten piece all-percussion ensemble, performed solo drum concerts, worked with a regular jazz quartet, founded a quintet (actually a sextet) featuring only Max and five horns without any chords or bass, and Max worked on innumerable innovative collaborations with other artists and performed with women jazz instrumentalists at a time when women were generally limited to performing as vocalists in the Jazz scene.    
 
 Max  Roach’s commitment to African-American self-determination was always a integral part of his music.  In 1960, before the main thrust of the Black Power movement, Max wrote the music for the incredible “Freedom Now Suite” with lyrics by Ossie Davis and featuring the vocals of Abbey Lincoln.  Max’s militancy got him blacklisted by the major record labels and many of the white-owned clubs in the 1960’s.  However, the white music moguls could still neither his musical genius nor his commitment to Black freedom and self-determination.
 
 With Charles Mingus, Max co-founded Debut Records, one of the first artist-owned labels in music history.  Following his blacklisting Max, Mingus
and other Black musicians including Eric Dolphy, Roy Eldridge, Abbey Lincoln, Tommy Flanagan, Booker Little and Jo Jones recorded the Newport Rebels album and set up the Jazz Artists’ Guild Festival as a protest against the commercialization of the promoters who controlled the Newport Jazz Festival. 
 
Max didn’t just survive the blacklisting, he prevailed.  As long as he lived, there was no force on earth that could still Max’s voice or make him dampen his message to gain commercial acceptance. After the “Freedom Now Suite,” Max Roach continued to dedicate his music to militant opposition to racism in America and oppression of African people on the continent and in the Caribbean. 
 
 Max’s greatest legacy will always be his music.  But inextricably linked to his music will be his commitment to freedom and to his people.  In the end, the people recognized Max’s genius and defeated the attempts of the racists in the recording music industry to marginalize him. Thus, Max’s victory is a lesson and a testament to the power of the people to define our own culture. 
 
 In the spirit of self-definition, let us join the celebration of Max’s music and his life.  Google him. Read about Max, his life and his times.  And listen to the round-the- clock festival featuring Max Roach’s music on WKCR at 89.9 FM from now until Wednesday, August 22nd at 9 PM. 
 
 Max’s funeral will be on Friday, August 24th at Riverside Church in Manhattan.  Viewing will be at 9 AM.  Services at 11 AM. 
 
 Riverside Church is on 122nd Street between Riverside Drive and Claremont Avenue.  There are entrances at Claremont Avenue and on Riverside Drive.  Nearest subway stop is the #1 at 125th Street (at Broadway).  Walk south one block to Tiemann Place, turn right (West) one block to Claremont Avenue, turn left (south) one block to 122nd Street.  You can also take the M4 or the M104 to 122nd Street and Broadway or the M5 to 122nd Street and Riverside Drive. For a map,
see: http://www.tiny.cc/Riverside815 .
 
 Peace,
 Ronald B. McGuire

AUGUST 27th UPDATE: Please listen to/watch today’s “Democracy Now!” to hear excerpts of the funeral and interviews.

My Award-Winning Filmmaker Nephew

Posted on by drumsintheglobalvillage

Ah, to be a proud uncle. 🙂

—————

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    

CONTACT: HEATHER MALLOY

310-402-4801


NEW JERSEY-BASED GREEN GLASS FILMS “ALGENY” SELECTED AS HBO’S BEST FEATURE FILM AT THIS YEARS 5TH ANNUAL MARTHA’S VINEYARD AFRICAN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL

PLAINFIELD, N.J.—New Jersey- based Green Glass Films won the top prize for feature filmmaking in this year’s Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, held last weekend. The competition was sponsored and judged by Home Box Office.

ALGENY, written and directed by newcomer Andrew Burroughs, tackles the billion-dollar machine that is the pharmaceutical industry. In this conspiracy packed thriller, its main character, played by Alfred E. Rutherford, is the victim of a bio-chemical experiment that can help or hurt mankind as we know it.

Tackling issues relevant and pertinent to the nation’s healthcare system and their motives for treating illness vs. curing illness, this riveting tale gives a look at how expendable corporations think civilian lives can be.

Garnering high praise early on, Burroughs was excited about being honored by his colleagues at this year’s festival.

“This great accomplishment is truly an honor and a dream come true.” Burroughs said. “I’m thrilled to take first place amongst distinguished film makers.”

***

About Andrew Burroughs

ALGENY marks the feature debut of Andrew Burroughs. A winner of Kodak’s “I Got It Made” sweepstakes, he works and lives in his hometown of Plainfield, New Jersey. His short film, STATUS, has been screened at over 15 film festivals nationwide, including the 2003 Hollywood Black Film Festival and the New York African Diaspora Film Festival.  He’s a working class filmmaker devoted to providing ground level opportunities to enter the world of filmmaking as the art more and more becomes global and participatory.

About The Festival

The fifth Annual Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival (MVAAFF), a celebration that showcases the work of independent and established filmmakers, took place August 8th – 11th, 2007 in Oak Bluff and Vineyard Haven, which is located on Martha’s Vineyard.

Dubbed “a filmmaker’s film festival,” the MVAAFF continues to stay true to its original mission: to shine light on the multitude of undiscovered talent which exists in the Black film community.

Founded in 2001 by Run & Shoot Film works, Inc., a New York-based film production company, the MVAAFF is a fun-filled, inspirational retreat committed to showcasing the works of emerging independent and established filmmakers. Under the keen leadership of the festival’s producers, entertainment industry veterans Floyd A.B. Rance III and Stephanie Tavares-Rance, the MVAAFF continues to gain national awareness and has carved its niche in the ever-growing arena of film fests.

Since its inception, the festival has been the launch pad for burgeoning writers, directors, producers and breakout actors. Some of the entertainers who have presented material at the annual festival include Vanessa L. Williams’ directorial debut of “Dense,” John Singleton’s “Four Brothers” and Vondie Curtis Hall’s “Redemption,” to name a few.

The movie’s website is www.algenymovie.com. The film’s trailer is there.

-30-

Ancient Culture, Ancient Love

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Ah, to control our own culture………. 🙂

Tell me this link (it kills me that I can’t embed it here! RATS!) doesn’t make you think, just a little bit, of Michael Jackson’s “Remember The Time”? 🙂

In fact, let’s put them “Side By Side” on this post. (If you’re an Elements-of-the-Universe fanatic like I am, you know I just made a REAL good pun :))

Harry Potter And The Never-Ending Wait :)

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The whole family in front of me had round glasses of some type—some Harryish, some real. 

We were in line, outside, in downtown College Park, Maryland.

For The Book.

Evangelists and snarky, too-cool passerby college students couldn’t spoil our mood. In front of me, mostly 10-year-olds, dressed in black cloaks and black wizard hats I’d see all evening. In back, mostly teens, sans stuff.

Darkness was setting. The Wait Had Begun.

I’m an Old School Geek, so this particular fetish took some time to develop. I mean, I just like the movies. But since this was the last one—the last book, the last Friday/Saturday midnight book release party—I had to go to Vertigo.

One little girl was going to make sure the Vertigo folks kept their word about the 10:15 p.m. opening. She stuck her face up against the window and announced, “Two minutes.”

The doors opened on time. Staffer Jennifer Cook was in full let’s-have-fun-kids mode—y’know, the way she always is with grownups who enter Vertigo. 🙂 Kids in tonight’s standard uniform, circled on the floor. She asked them how many have read all the books more than once. Most, if not all, raised their hands.

While looking at the long line, my eye caught something from my childhood: “Charlotte’s Web.”

(Jen to Kids: “Should we trust Snape?”)

That book spawned a great animated film and a live-action movie. But it never created its own culture. I wondered what it would have been like to have a “Charlotte’s Web” club, where kids would walk around dressed as pigs or spiders carrying signs saying “SOME PIG.”

(Jen to Kids, hosting a kind of Harry Potter version of “Jeopardy”: “The Weasley’s home is called THIS.”)

A palm reader was present, while a magician worked the crowd.

One beautiful young sister, looking about 10, not only had the full hood, but the Gryffindor scarf. You know the one.

Slowly, the line became a polite crowd. At least 100, including a tall guy who had on a trench and a “Mad-Eye” Moody eye.

The Bookstore Master Plan was also in effect: some of the patrons were looking at other books.

(Jen to Kids, announcing a Harry Potter quiz: “If you’re not careful, I’ll break out into a bad British accent.”)

Zero hour. Or, more appropriately, the Witching Hour.

My number was Four. I quickly squeezed my way out the store. Knowing now there would be no more.

"The Agronomist" Is On IFC This Month, Again

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Just letting you know.

Thanks be to IFC.

Here’s what I’ve already said about the documentary film. It’s about the power of Black radio journalism, the people of Haiti, and exhibiting the complete courage for, and commitment to, those most in need.

JULY 11 UPDATE: Found a link to the entire film. Here it is.