UMass Amherst hosts Toni Morrison, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Sonia Sanchez, February 13

Sonia Sanchez

Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison, singer and social activist Bernice Reagon Johnson and poet and playwright Sonia Sanchez will convene to discuss Black Women in the Arts in the 21st Century at UMass Amherst on Thursday, February 13 (7-9:30pm).

POSTPONED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER

Hosted by the W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at UMass Amherst, the event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6:15 pm.

For further information, click here.

"Zinnias": new Robert Wilson opera on Black artist Clementine Hunter

Zinnias - The Life of Clementine Hunter

World Premiere at Montclair State University

A Peak Production

January 26 and February 2 • 8pm
January 27 and February 3 • 3pm
January 31 and February 1 • 7:30pm

Concept, Direction, Set and Light Design by Robert Wilson
Libretto and Music Composition by
Bernice Johnson Reagon and Toshi Reagon
Book by Jacqueline Woodson

A new opera based on the life of renowned African-American artist Clementine Hunter, Zinnias is an intimate exploration of one of America’s greatest natural talents. Born on a plantation in Natchitoches, Louisiana, Hunter's experiences revealed an innate talent for depicting life in the early 20th century through her paintings. Now, using her artwork and stories, Clementine Hunter’s touching and unique journey is brought to the stage through the collaboration of Robert Wilson, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Toshi Reagon and Jacqueline Woodson. The title of the piece refers to the vibrantly colored flower of the same name which was one of Hunter's favorite subjects to paint throughout her career.

For detailed information on this production--including ticketing and roundtrip bus reservations for guests coming from Manhattan--click here.

Alexander Kasser Theater
Montclair State University
Montclair, NJ
(map/directions)

Celebrate with Toshi Reagon and BIGLovely!

TOSHI REAGON & BIGLovely

invite you to

 Toshi's Annual Birthday Celebration

January 18-20

at Joe's Pub

Musician Toshi Reagon

Friday, January 18 -- 9pm

Saturday, January 19 -- 9pm

Sunday, January 20 -- 7pm The Sacred Music Show featuring Bernice Johnson Reagon [SOLDOUT!]

Featuring Judith Casselberry, Stephanie McKay, Marcelle Davies Lashley, Adam Widoff, Robert Burke, Fred Cash, Jason Walker, Josette Newsam Marchak

Tickets can be purchased online at joespub.com, where customers are able to select their seat from an interactive seat map when purchasing, by phone at 212-967-7555, or in person at The Public Theater Box Office (1 PM to 6 PM) located at 425 Lafayette Street, NYC.

Directions to Joe's Pub

We love Toshi!

By the time you get to the end of January, you might already find 2012 a little played out. But not if you celebrate with award-winning singer/songwriter/musician Toshi Reagon!

Toshi Reagon
(c)2008, Sharon Farmer 

Join Toshi for one of her four annual birthday shows at Joe's Pub (January 26-29) and catch the spirit. Get all the details and your tickets here.

Joe's Pub
425 Lafayette Street (between East 4th Street and Astor Place), Manhattan
(directions: scroll down)

Tribute to Odetta

Performances @ the Schomburg presents

Women’s Jazz Festival:
In Tribute to Odetta: This Little Light Of Mine
with Bernice Johnson Reagon, Lizz Wright and Toshi Reagon

Monday, March 28, 7pm

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
New York Public Library
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, Manhattan
(directions)

As both a woman and musician Odetta was a pioneer. There were others who had introduced African American songs and singing to the concert stage before she began her work. However, Odetta plowed a new road of expression and information as she wove together her distinctively powerful voice, her understanding of the classical approach, and a masterfully curated gathering of songs from a wide breath of American history and experience. Her repertoire included work songs, prison songs, freedom songs of the Civil Rights movement, blues, spirituals, and great American ballads. She could not be held to a category and her signature delivery of conviction and focus could reveal each song as a living poem, continuously unfolding in perspective and meaning.

 For information and ticketing, click here.

Create.

"and with every breath began to move...creating tomorrow…"-- Bernice Johnson Reagon

Toshi Reagon brings the power

Toshi Reagon and BIGLovely--plus their big crew of lovely friends--really rocked the Schomburg Center last night. This return engagement for Reagon's band, part of the Center's Women's Jazz Festival 2010, was precisely the jolt of joy we need, mid-winter, and in the midst of the often demoralizing struggle for truth in this country.

You know Reagon, if you're lucky, as a talented, versatile singer, songwriter and musician with a profound ear for sonic Americana--from folk to funk, from blues to rock. She masters each of these genres with vocal strategies that easily spiral and swoop from the expressively sinuous to the hard-charging, a combination of warmth and mischief.

She's the daughter of beloved singer-activist, Sweet Honey In The Rock co-founder Bernice Johnson Reagon and shares her mom's knowledge of the power of song to focus, unite and mobilize people. If you've been lucky enough to be in Toshi's presence, you know you can't walk away from her without feeling better about yourself as a human being. She aims for nothing less.


Take all that and multiply it by everyone on the two lists below. You're in the right place when you're watching a show where the audience doesn't have to be coaxed to sing along or clap in time. They do it because it just feels right. And they accept every type of song in the spirit of generosity in which it's offered.


BIGLovely's musicianship is all good, with Adam Widoff's soaring guitar work ringing especially true. Judith Casselberry, Marcelle Davies Lashley and the guest vocalists* formed a sturdy backup for Reagon, but each also got her own excellent moment. The diversity of these spotlights was mindblowing. A day later, I'm still having a hard time deciding on my favorite, although the intense Helga Davis--singing of rallying her life, her joy, her fear and her anger, without judgment or exception, thank you--might just be the one.  

If you happened to miss the Schomburg show (tsk, tsk, tsk), just be sure to get over to New Jersey Performing Arts Center where the Reagons, mother and daughter, will be holding court (Saturday, March 20, 7:30pm).

Many thanks and all praises to:

Toshi Reagon (guitar, vocals)

Fred Cash (bass)

Adam Widoff (electric guitar)

Robert Burke (drums)

Judith Casselberry (guitar, vocals)

Marcelle Davies Lashley (vocals)

*and featured vocalists:

Helga Davis

Stephanie Battle

Josette Marchak

Karma Mayet Johnson

Morley

A BIGLovely evening at Lincoln Center

Okay, you dance folks! I know you flocked to Lincoln Center Out of Doors last Thursday to see David Dorfman Dance--and dance those kids (and David) did; they were a tremendous force and incredibly moving in their repeat performance of 2006's underground--but you also got a hefty helping of Toshi Reagon and BIGLovely, a band most of you probably never heard of before, let alone heard. So, welcome to the rest of my world!

I've been a fan of Toshi Reagon, Toshi's mom Bernice Johnson Reagon (and her acclaimed women's acapella group, Sweet Honey in the Rock) and Judith Casselberry (formerly of Casselberry and DuPree) for many years. In fact, I recall with pleasure interviewing Toshi on WBAI, back in the day, when she was just getting notice, and I love everything about these women and their big, generous (BIGLovely) music. Their mellifluous voices and valiant, rocking rhythms got the crowd worked up, and their serious roots in social justice activism dovetailed with Dorfman's project (which is to say it resonated with underground's ultimate affirmation and images of renewal, rather than its ambivalence). All in all, it was a strong program and an unforgettable evening at Damrosch Park, and even the weather blessed it real good.

If you're craving more of Toshi's sound--or want to check it out for the first time-- you can catch the band at Highline Ballroom (431 West 16th Street, Manhattan) on Thursday, September 25. Click here for more information.