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+image: sitting on the throne of fire. theodore a. harris
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+intro
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"The public was betrayed on so many levels"
Nigerian Nobel literature laureate Wole Soyinka
“Hell what the people say”
Chuck D
There has been a crime committed in Nigeria. An election has been stolen. The only problem is that it is not clear who the victim is. There is no candidate who can definitively say that they would have won the ballot had it been a fair one so in an election that nearly all international advisors have derided as ‘deeply flawed,” Umaru Musa Yar’Adua has succeeded Olusegun Obasanjo as the President of Nigeria. And the people aren’t rejoicing. An election populated by regional candidates—and thus regional constituencies—has fractured the national outrage of Nigerians who want to holler but are not sure on whose behalf they should raise their voice. Without a victim, there is no clarity.
The most obvious reason for this malaise is that it is not clear why this election needed to be hijacked in the first place. As an outgoing President that had done much to cement himself in the hearts of his country men after nearly 30 years in the public sphere, including his distinction of ending his first term as the first African military ruler to have willingly succeeded power to a civilian elected government in 1979, Obasanjo must have been impossibly insecure to think that he needed to strong-arm the election to get his chosen boy, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, into his seat.
Often described as a humble man with a disciplined approach to life that borders on the anal, Yar’Adua is Nigeria’s first university-educated leader in over 40 years. His talent for bean counting is said to have been what endeared Obasanjo to him but it is his modest background that should have allowed Yar’Adua to resist being cast as yet another corrupt man posing as a national dignitary. At a time when many were looking for a “slow hand with an easy touch” like the Pointer Sisters, Adua’s perceived bent toward financial accountability and personal quietude may fit the bill. Though only time will tell what kind of government Obasanjo’s machinations will result in, a national outrage over the transition of power shouldn’t have been in the cards. What should have been an easy score morphed into yet another strike against the increasingly mythical idea of Democracy faster than George Tenet can say “slam dunk.”
Internationally, voiced condemnations over the blatant crookedness are barely audible over the muffled chuckles. For outside observers, the increasingly deadly conflicts among the more than 250 multi-ethnic communities that compose Nigeria—along with the consistent attacks on the oil refineries in the nation’s Southern region—are far more troubling than “yet another” election heist. In fact, many members of the international press have openly rued Obasanjo’s leaving in fear of the chaos they expect to fill his void. So when Obasanjo’s bid to have his rule extended Rudy-Giuliani-post 911 style was disregarded by a Nigerian public rightfully suspicious of men who refuse to abdicate the throne, it became apparent that his boy with the bowed head and vanilla persona would have to serve as his stand in.
With a monumental place in Nigerian history set, in spite of cited shortcomings that have dogged his second term in power, it would have seemed that a simple endorsement and some “old boy” back room politicking would have done the trick. This is especially true given the assorted band of political re-treads and long shots that stood as Adua’s competitors. But instead Obasanjo traded away the last remaining vestiges of national good will for points on the dollar. Call it steroid paternalism.
The result has been that the boisterous anger that has historically led wronged voters to give their lives in the name of their wronged political candidate has been muted. Instead there is a seething anger that has no proper channel for release. The frustrations and anger of a whole nation just hangs in the air like another deferred dream withering on the vine. The victim, you see, is the Nigerian public.
Rest in peace Ousmane Sembene. Thank you. |
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welcome to nat creole. you're right on time. |
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+ questions. answers
sydney james. artist | illustrator
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+ questions. answers
arthur alleyne. playwright |
I know I don't have to make "pretty" pictures. I choose my subjects based on what I know of them and what I imagine they were going through or went through in their lives. I add their pain with mine and create visually emotional images. more |
The actual spark (the seed) for the piece came from a viewing of a special on Avedon and seeing him speak so lovingly of James ( Baldwin)...Even before that I wanted to speak on society and celebrity and use Baldwin (one of my personal heroes) as a platform. I came to realize that not too many people have read his work or are familiar with the man and his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. more |
+ profile. our flesh and flames exhibition
theodore a. harris. amiri baraka |
+ excerpt. mercy, mercy me
dr. micheal eric dyson |
He tells us about the peoples' struggles, world wide, against oppression and exploitation. Our lives under racism and the twisted rule of capital. At times, the images he thrusts at us are sharp enough to make us wince with understanding and recognition. Harris' work is fundamentally about consciousness raising, and this is what art does. more
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"I Want You is an album stitched together by the conceptual thread of romantic pursuit. It hangs together on a marvelous erotic conceit: that romance is the core of sensual truth, its surest revelation, and that sex is merely the commerce of a higher spiritual economy. more |
+ profile
CéU. singer. songwriter |
+ profile. james a. porter collouquim for african american art |
Although CéU carefully avoids the drum'n'bossa sound that is so much the rage in her native country these days, there are definite hints of junglism in both the drum sound and in the manipulated cuica samples that are layered throughout her recent efforts. more |
Established at Howard University in 1990, the annual Colloquium is named in honor of James A. Porter, the pioneering Art Historian and Professor, whose 1943 publication Modern Negro Art set the standard for probing discourse on the subject of Black American Art.
more |
+ excerpt. the devil's mambo
jerry a. rodriguez
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+ profile. reena spaulings gallery
douglass singleton |
Nicholas Esperanza thought he was dead. He couldn’t open his eyes. Couldn’t move his body. Last thing he remembered was the buxom stripper popping the Ecstasy tab in his mouth while giving him a wild lap dance. The rest was a blur. Fun filled and crazy, but still a blur. So, maybe he wasn’t dead after all. Maybe this was a simply the worst hangover ever. more |
Reena Spaulings is an imaginary art gallery, or rather, it is a real art gallery that so wants to usurp the nature of what a gallery does that it refuses to exist in ways we expect. Exhibitions in random spaces scattered across New York City with artists oftentimes taking on aliases or intricate mythologies are what they present. more |
+ essay. fassbinder's despair
daniel garrett |
+ review. k-os
brook stephenson |
My own understanding and misunderstanding of the film proved interesting: watching the film, with its talk of the reparations that Germany was required to pay, I assumed the film took place after the second world war—but I was wrong, it took place after the first world war and during the rise of the Nazis. What this meant is that, as I watched the film, scenes that I thought were memories or fantasies were intended as present-time occurrences. more |
The album is great. It is better than the last two because with each album he reveals a different facet and grows as an artist.The music he makes is thick, light-hearted, heavy handed, torn, upbeat, down tempo, jazzy, show tune-ish, and catchy with healthy portions of singing, clapping and rapping. more
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.:: profile |
our flesh of flames exhibition
theodore a. harris. amiri baraka
atlanta | usa
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+ all images copyright 1998 - 2007, Theodore A. Harris |
"All art is propaganda but all propaganda is not Art."
Mao
There is some work that creates the dialogue that many of us would just assume be forgotten. It’s the work that seeps all ideas, thoughts, positions, viewpoints and assumptions right out into the open without the viewer knowing that his or her farthest thoughts had been laid bare. It’s the kind of work that makes people talk. So, we should be thankful that there are artists like Theodore A. Harris-- collagist, poet, and social justice advocate--that keep all talk on the table. On Sunday, June 1st, the opening for Our Flesh of Flames, a beautiful and expansive exhibition of Theodore's collages accompanied by the writing of Amiri Baraka and curated by Kevin Sipp, took place at the Hammonds House in Atlanta, GA. At the Hammonds House you will find an institution that understands acutely how to prepare stunning presentations of Art. Perfect for work as textured as Theodore's; perfect for work as relevant as Theodore's. But on that note, we’re going to turn the adjectives regarding Theodore A. Harris’ work over to the ever vibrant Amiri Baraka; because Amiri intimately understands the "truthoscopic sensibility" inherent in Theodore's work and, quite simply, he writes so well... |
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on the throne of fire after someone blew up america (for amiri baraka)
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collage eulogy for amadou diallo |
appeal to the secretary of the lower intestine |
collage for a phoney war |
Go to http://www.hammondshouse.org for more information. You can tell the good folks there that Nat Creole invited you. We'll gladly accept the credit. |
our bones have numbers on them |
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.:: essay. |
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useful misunderstaning: observing fassbinder's despair [pt.1]
daniel garrett |
Greed, madness, paranoia: that is one way to spend an evening. I saw Fassbinder’s film Despair in a screening at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan, following an invigorating stroll through the art galleries, where I had seen the work of favorite artists—Picasso, de Chirico, Andy Warhol, among others; and greed, madness, and paranoia were among the words in the museum’s description of the film, a not inaccurate description. However, my own understanding and misunderstanding of the film proved interesting: watching the film, with its talk of the reparations that Germany was required to pay, I assumed the film took place after the second world war—but I was wrong, it took place after the first world war and during the rise of the Nazis. What this meant is that, as I watched the film, scenes that I thought were memories or fantasies were intended as present-time occurrences. continue |
Daniel Garrett is a writer of journalism, fiction, poetry, and drama. His work has appeared in The African, AIM/America’s Intercultural Magazine, AllAboutJazz.com, AltRap.com, American Book Review, Art & Antiques, The Audubon Activist, Black American Literature Forum, Black Film Review, Cinetext.Philo, The Compulsive Reader, Film International, Frictionmagazine.com, The Humanist, Hyphen, Illuminations, Muse-Apprentice-Guild.com, Nat Creole.com, Offscreen.com, Option, PopMatters.com, The Quarterly Black Review of Books, Red River Review, The Review of Contemporary Fiction, The St. Mark’s Poetry Project Newsletter, 24FramesPerSecond.com, UnlikelyStories.org, WaxPoetics.com , and World Literature Today. His extensive “Notes” on culture and politics appeared on IdentityTheory.com |
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.:: profile. |
reena spaulings gallery
dead already
douglass singleton
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Reena Spaulings is an imaginary art gallery, or rather, it is a real art gallery that so wants to usurp the nature of what a gallery does that it refuses to exist in ways we expect. Exhibitions in random spaces scattered across New York City with artists oftentimes taking on aliases or intricate mythologies are what they present. Mysterious is-it-art-or-some-kind-of-joke installations and performances have mystified art patrons the last few years. continue
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Douglas Singleton writes about the arts for The Brooklyn Rail and about photography for Focus magazine. He also performs on-air reviews for WNYC radio in New York. His website, www.dispactke.com, features prose, photography, and multi-media. |
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.:: art |
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.::questions. answers |
+art copyright 2004-2007, Sydney James |
sydney james .
artist. illustrator
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I know I don't have to make "pretty" pictures. I choose my subjects based on what I know of them and what I imagine they were going through or went through in their lives. I add their pain with mine and create visually emotional images. continue |
For more, visit http://www.asiid.com, or catch her on Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/asiid. But what ever you do, contact Sydney when you have the opportunity and inquire about her work. She is a woman of ideas. |
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.:: profile |
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a fine day at the porter colloquium
washington dc | usa
phillip harvey |
Established at Howard University in 1990, the annual Colloquium is named in honor of James A. Porter, the pioneering Art Historian and Professor, whose 1943 publication Modern Negro Art set the standard for probing discourse on the subject of Black American Art. Since its inception, the Colloquium has eagerly attacked meaty subjects that deal in and around the historiography of African American art while other forums for discussing Art have seemed intent on remaining obstinate about the contributions Black artists have made to the global legacy of art. continue |
The James A. Porter Colloquium is held annually on the campus of Howard University in Washington DC. Visit http://www.portercolloquium.org to get more information. Then make plans to attend the 2008 version. Lets talk about Art. Baby. |
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.:: music | dance |
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.:: playlist |
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Chick Corea
Inner Space
1972 Atlantic Records
listen
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Justo Almario
Interlude
1981 Charly Records
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Sleepwalker
The Voyage LP
2006 Especial Records
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Space is the Place! Herbie Mann, Ron Carter, and Hubert Laws all appear on this stadium jazz classic! Pull up a lawn chair, take off the wife-beater, and feel the heat! |
The kind of jazz your pops listened to! Smooth and harmonic rhythms from this saxophonist. Just right for summertime!
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Some of the most innovative and edgy jazz today is coming out of Nippon, and this album totally exemplifies this! Super sleek harmonies and vocals! Smooth yet raging! |
The Foreign Exchange
Connected (Instrumentals)
2005 BBE Records
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Basement Soul
Sounds from the Floor- Volume 1
2007 Unique Uncut Records
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Bumpy Knuckles
Industry Shakedown
2000 Landscape Records
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Another one slept on! Dutch producer, Nicolay, keeps it heavy, heavy, heavy here. For the trunk! |
Another Euro collection! Delivers the balance and dynamism of the Euro underground music scene. A fun mix of beatz! |
Who didn’t sleep on this album? Bumpy has the credibility appearing with heavy-hitters like Gangstarr, AG, OC, and Pete Rock. in the past. Do you really want it raw? |
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singer. songwriter |
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watch the video |
Following her stint in New York where she was influenced by the sound of Hip-Hop, jazz singers Billie Holliday and Ella Fitzgerald, Lauren Hill and Erykah Badu, she returned home to São Paulo, thus bringing her sound and focus full circle. Her worldly travels freed her from convention and let her choose her colors from a larger palette. That freedom has resulted in music that is surprisingly mature and fully realized for such a young musician. continue |
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mercy, mercy me: the art, loves & demons of marvin gaye
michael eric dyson
Publisher: Basic Civitas Books
ISBN: 0-465017-70-3
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I Want You is an album stitched together by the conceptual thread of romantic pursuit. It hangs together on a marvelous erotic conceit: that romance is the core of sensual truth, its surest revelation, and that sex is merely the commerce of a higher spiritual economy. “It’s an opera about a relationship,” says Gary Harris, a prominent music business executive. “Love found, desire, desperation, the absolute ‘I got to have her.’ He meets her, gets her, loses her, sees her at the party and tries to get back with her. It’s all interwoven in this dramatic way.” continue |
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.::literature | travel |
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.::booklist |
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If rigorous academic readings bear fruit in knowledge,
then reading for interest or pleasure must bear similar fruit in imagination |
The Fugitive
Massimo Carlotto
ISBN: 1-933372-25-7
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My Father's Notebook
Kader Abdolah
ISBN: 1-841959-27-8
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A work of fiction by one of Italy’s premier crime authors, this story depicts the six years Carlotto spent as a fugitive from Italy for a murder he did not commit. If that does not draw you in what will? Eventually Carlotto returned and was acquitted but the numerous trials that took place just for that to happen could provide enough fodder for a soap opera on their own. Remember, this is a work of fiction. |
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A beautiful work told about an Iranian man’s endeavor to translate his father’s diary that was written in a Persian cuneiform that could be read by few Iranians of his or his father’s time. This story weaves history as seen by one who has lived through it and a son who seeks to learn more about his father through the translation of the elder’s writings. In telling his father’s story, Ishmael tells Iran’s story past and present. |
The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue
Manuel Munoz
ISBN: 1-565125-32-0
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Man Gone Down
Michael Thomas
ISBN: 0-802170-29-3
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An amazing collection of short stories by an author that has much to offer, The Faith Healer of Olive Ave is extremely well written with characters whose self-inflicted twists and turns in life mirror our own experiences. The prose itself is dazzling. Munoz’s previous collection of short stories Zigzagger was released in 2003. |
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Careful with this one, you might fall in and, if you do, will not get out until it is over. Man Gone Down is the story of an African-American husband and father who has four days to solve his troubles: paying for a home for his Anglo-American wife and their three children, paying for his two son’s tuition and figuring out just who the hell he is right after his thirty-fifth birthday. If that is easy then you must live in a different country, nay different world, than I do. The more you read about his past, the more you wonder how his present got so bright. |
To contact the chef, Brook Stephenson, our literary editor, send an email to bs@natcreole.com. |
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.::excerpt. fiction |
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devil's mambo
jerry rodriguez
Publisher: Kensington Trade Paper
ISBN-10: 0-7582-1710-2
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buy the book |
watch The Devil's Mambo: Poisoned Kiss
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Nicholas Esperanza thought he was dead. He couldn’t open his eyes. Couldn’t move his body. Last thing he remembered was the buxom stripper popping the Ecstasy tab in his mouth while giving him a wild lap dance. The rest was a blur. Fun filled and crazy, but still a blur. So, maybe he wasn’t dead after all. Maybe this was a simply the worst hangover ever.
He concentrated his thoughts and finally managed to sluggishly open his eyes. Bright sunlight gushed through the windows and made his head shriek in pain. He clamped his eyes shut again, for a moment uncertain where the hell he was. Esperanza reached into his pocket, whipped out a pair of Calvin Klein sunglasses and popped them on. Now he could see without his pupils melting. The room steadily came into focus. continue |
We are proud to have Jerry inaugurate the Nat Creole Authors Series which kicks off on June 25th, 2007 at the McNally Robinson bookstore in SOHO (75 Prince St.| New York, NY). Jerry will be discussing his work with Nat Creole Literary Editor Brook Stephenson and showing the short film prequel to Devil's Mambo . It would be nice if you could join us. |
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.::questions. answers |
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arthur alleyne. playwright
scribblin at the automat
james baldwin and richard avedon conversate |
The actual spark (the seed) for the piece came from a viewing of a special on Avedon and seeing him speak so lovingly of James ( Baldwin). Then after my first play Tragedy Tonite was performed I had one of the actors in mind for the role of James Baldwin. That was a little over two years ago. Even before that I wanted to speak on society and celebrity and use Baldwin (one of my personal heroes) as a platform. I came to realize that not too many people have read his work or are familiar with the man and his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. continue |
Writer and director Arthur Alleyne was told as a child to speak up, now we can't get him to shut up. He lives in Brooklyn and exists harmoniously in time and space. Scribblin’ at the Automat will was recently staged at Danny Simmons' Corridor Gallery in Brooklyn, NY and will soon be coming to your area code soon. |
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nat creole. |
Founder/ Editor:
Phillip Harvey
Managing Editor:
Kathi
Davis
Literary Editor:
Brook Stephenson
Creative Counsel:
Alain Mabanckou
Al Burton
Alexis Peskine
Alia Jones
Akintola
Hanif
Angelica Le Minh
Annika Connor
Arthur Alleyne
A. Van Jordan
Benjamin Austen
CD
Daniel Garrett
Delphine Diallo
Delphine Fawandu-Buford
DJ Center
DJ Silverboombox
Douglass Singleton
Dr William Oliver
Ed Myers
Ellia
Bisker
Ethan Pines
Farid Abdi
Gordon
Manning
Howard
Martin
James Adolphus
Janee' Bolden
Jerry A. Rodriguez
Jimmy Black
John Ballon
Jon Lowenstein
Julian Conway Wilson Jr
Kenji Jasper
Kijua Sanders-Mcmurtry
Kirsten
Telfer Beith
Kouassi
Kra Magali
Kurokobushi
Larry Scott
Latasha N. Nevada Diggs
Laylah Amatullah Barrayn
Malaika Adero
Marcia Jones
María Carolina Baulo
Michael Eric Dyson
Michael
Romanos
Mike Quain
Miles Marshall Lewis
Milton Allimadi
Mwalim
N. Corren Conway
Nia Woods Haydel
Nicole Thompson
Nyala Wright
Nelson Abdi
One9
Ocean Morisset
Ratha Nou
Ray Llanos
Reedfa
Regine Zamor
Renaldo Davidson
Robert Nolan
Ron Smith
Ross Ford
Sekou Aka Ducarmel
Shannon Cook
Sean Bidder
Steve Lodder
Sunni Knight
Sydney James
Theodore A. Harris
Tiago Molinos
Wang Shanshan
Yang Yingshi
Yazmine Parrish
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