Search Results
David Meltzer reads “Revelation”
Date: 9/25/2003Call Number: WP 001Format: CDProducers: Freedom ArchivesCollection: Materials Recorded and Gathered for "Wild Poppies"
Poet, David Meltzer, reads Marilyn Bucks poem called “Revelation”. Original recording with two takes. Recorded for Wild Poppies CD
Dennis Brutus reads Marilyn’s “One Hour Yard Poem” and his own, “Letter #18”
Date: 4/1/2003Call Number: WP 003Format: CDCollection: Materials Recorded and Gathered for "Wild Poppies"
Dennis Brutus, poet and former political prisoner in South Africa, reads “One Hour Yard” by Marilyn Buck, with intro on his support of her as a sister political prisoner.
and his poem, “Letter #18” about his time in prison. 2 intros about his work. Had to call poems letters because South Africa government forbade him to write poems. Recorded for Wild Poppies CD.
Staajabu reads Marilyn’s “Black August” and her own poem, “The Visit”
Date: 4/20/2003Call Number: WP 005Format: CDCollection: Materials Recorded and Gathered for "Wild Poppies"
Black poet/activist Staajabu reads Marilyn Buck’s poem, “Black August” on Black political prisoners and resistance and her own poem, “The Visit” on going to see a loved one who is incarcerated.
Carolyn Baxter performs “Thought You Were the One” by Marilyn and her work, “My Block”
Date: 9/15/2003Call Number: WP 007Format: CDProducers: Carolyn BaxterCollection: Materials Recorded and Gathered for "Wild Poppies"
Carolyn Baxter, composer, musician, actor and former inmate with Marilyn Buck, puts Marilyn Buck’s poem, “Thought You Were the One”, to music and performs her own, “My Block”, as well.
Rajasvini (Vini) Bhansali reads her poem, “Yellow Asters”
Date: 12/3/2003Call Number: WP 013Format: CDProgram: Wild PoppiesCollection: Materials Recorded and Gathered for "Wild Poppies"
Vini Bhansali reads her poem, “Yellow Asters” about Marilyn Buck and political prisoners. Bhansali was a poet/teacher at Dublin Federal prison.
Carolyn Baxter performs “Truthful”
Date: 7/4/2003Call Number: WP 014Format: CDProducers: Carolyn BaxterCollection: Materials Recorded and Gathered for "Wild Poppies"
Carolyn Baxter, writer, musician, actor and former prisoner with Marilyn Buck at Alderson Federal Prison sings and plays “Truthful” about the exploitation of young women in the ghetto.
Akwasi Evans and Mariann Wizard read Marilyn Buck’s poems
Date: 12/1/2003Call Number: WP 023Format: CDProducers: Mike KellerCollection: Materials Recorded and Gathered for "Wild Poppies"
Mariann Wizard, reads Imperatives , To the Woman Standing Behind Me in Line, and her own poem - The Real Dragon - about Marilyn’s eventual release from prison.
Akwasi Evans reads Marilyn’s poems Space and No Frills.
Wisdom of the Elders - Cry of the Earth Prophesy
Date: 1/1/2003Call Number: CD 492Format: CDProducers: Wisdom of the EldersCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Barbara Roberts reveals Iroquois and Micmac prophecy told at the UN by the late Onondaga Chief Leon Shenandoah with Onondaga Clan Mother Audrey Shenandoah translating. They tell of difficulties befalling the Iroquois nation, focusing upon recovery of the earth and development of unity between nations. The powerful concluding words from the Mi-kmak Delegation are translated.
The Black Panther Party Suite: All Power to the People
Date: 1/1/2003Call Number: V 285Format: DVDProducers: Fred HoCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
Founded in the wake of the assassination of Malcolm X, the Black Panther Party came to symbolize the apotheosis of the explosive late-1960s in American society. Everything about the Panthers was provocative: their Mao-ist inspired political slogans, their ubiquitous black berets and leather jackets, their clenched fist Black Power salute, their big Afro-hairstyles, their practice of openly bearing firearms, and their disciplined militancy and revolutionary political vision. The Black Panthers not only fired the imagination of their generation but also shifted the strategy of the African American struggle and all movements for justice and social change in the United States by seeking solutions rooted in a basic redistribution of power.
A composer/musician and Asian American, I came of age as a teenager in the late-1960s and early-1970s. The energy of this movement and the music of that time set the direction for both my life and my music. I even joined an Asian American counterpart to the Black Panthers (c.f., Legacy to Liberation: Politics and Culture of Revolutionary Asian Pacific America, AK Press). I believe that the same issues of 30 years ago continue today with even more urgency and intensity. That is why I envision ALL POWERTO THE PEOPLE! THE BLACK PANTHER MUSIC/VIDEO AND MARTIAL ARTS BALLET SUITE not as a docu-drama looking back to the late-1960s/early-1970s, but as an occasion to continue the energy, spirit and vision of that period and link it to today. This, I feel, would be the real and sincere way to commemorate and celebrate the Panthers.
Combining live music performed by the Afro Asian Music Ensemble with electric guitar and African percussion (eight musicians), live interactive digital video mixing and martial arts ballet choreography, the interactivity and dynamism of this one hour performance work creates a revolutionary VISION QUEST. The video component collages newspaper images, posters, flyers, video clips and text in a gigantic scenescape to serve as the only scenic design and narrative element for the music and martial arts ballet.
The martial arts ballet is based upon Chinese kung fu and wushu, to evoke and pay homage to the inspiration of the Chinese revolution and Mao Zedong upon the Black Panthers.
Day of the Gun - 1
Date: 1/1/2003Call Number: V 343Format: Mini DVProducers: KRONCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
KRON’s description:
In the fall of 1970 George Jackson skyrocketed to international fame with the publication of his book, "Soledad Brother, The Prison Letters Of George Jackson".
By the next year, he was dead.
The story of George Jackson is a story of the dark side of America.
In August of 1971 when Jackson was a 29 year old inmate at California's San Quentin Prison he became the central figure in the prison's bloodiest day.
Jackson obtained a gun and in less than 30 minutes a murderous rampage turned the adjustment center into a slaughterhouse. Six men, including Jackson were killed.
During his prison life, George Jackson was a polarizing figure, hated as much as he was loved.
In the end when George Jackson's cause had been lost, and the cult of hero worship contaminated his heart and soul, Jackson sought comfort in a few loyal friends... Marx... Lenin... And Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese revolutionary who predicted...'When the prison gates fly open, the dragons will emerge.'
On a hot August day with gun in hand Jackson would tell the world just that.
The ascendancy of George Jackson came at a time when America's soul and its people were coming apart.
The turbulent decades of the 1960's and 70's merged as one. The country's democratic institutions were severely challenged. Some advocated revolution.
The unpopular war in Vietnam had become the longest and most divisive in American history. The bitter struggle for civil rights confirmed the failed promise of equality for all. Riots turned American cities into burning embers.
The political assassinations of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy deepened the country's paranoia.
Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party wanted justice beyond the streets of Oakland.
The prisons of California had become a target for revolutionary change as well. The 'new left' viewed the growing convict population as symptomatic of the country's deeper social ills. Inmates were championed as political prisoners, vanguards of the coming revolution, victims of their fascist, capitalist oppressors.
When George Jackson emerged as the new god and leader of the left, those on the right saw him as the most powerful threat in the prison system.
