Friday Video: Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story.

From PBS.

While in Memphis for the Folklorists in the South retreat we visited the amazing Stax Museum and heard a little bit about working behind the scenes at the museum from Levon Williams, curator of collections.  The visit to Stax was inspiring, and an excellent example of the power of music to work toward change.  So this week’s Friday Video is a trailer from PBS’s 2007 Great Performances presentation, Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story. 

Stax was amazing for many reasons, especially its integrated approach to music in the same town where sanitation workers were paid less-than-human wages, leading to the Sanitation Worker’s Strike which was linked to MLK’s Poor People’s Campaign.   In addition to the genre-altering and community-building music, they also produced documentaries like the Wattstax concert and documentary in Los Angeles,  a film, according to PBS POV, that “captures a heady moment in mid-1970s, “black-is-beautiful” African-American culture, when Los Angeles’s black community came together just seven years after the Watts riots to celebrate its survival and a renewed hope in its future.” To enable everyone a chance to attend, tickets were sold for only a dollar each.  On many levels Stax was a movement a gave birth to a new form of music, soul music,  a raw and transcendent blend of gospel, blues, country, and jazz.

Here’s what PBS says about Stax and this film:

The legacy of Stax Records is a unique one that spans more than half a century. Stax Records is critical in American music history as it’s one of the most popular soul music record labels of all time – second only to Motown in sales and influence, but first in gritty, raw, stripped-down soul music. In 15 years, Stax placed more than 167 hit songs in the Top 100 on the pop charts, and a staggering 243 hits in the Top 100 R&B charts. It launched the careers of such legendary artists as Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Sam & Dave, Rufus & Carla Thomas, Booker T, & the MGs, and numerous others. Among the many artists who recorded on the various Stax Records labels were the Staple Singers, Luther Ingram, Wilson Pickett, Albert King, Big Star, Jesse Jackson, Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor, the Rance Allen Group, and Moms Mabley.

But Stax Records was more than just a label. It was a culture. While segregation was fervently supported in the South during Stax’s formative years in the 1960s, Stax was one of the most successfully integrated companies in the country – from top management and administration to its artists. With more than 200 employees, it was the fifth-largest African-American owned business in the United States during its time.

Teachers should take note that this film comes with a lesson plan including assignments that help students to both identify genres of music and the role Stax played in the community.  Check out the lesson plans by clicking here. 

For more information on the film and viewing options click here.  

“The Many Variations of the Arkansas Tattoo” in the Arkansas Times

Tesuansey Link. Photo by Brian Chilson of the Arkansas Times. Read the article to see more photos.

An article about the Us Tattooed Kids:  Arkansas Project came out in the Arkansas Times today.  Below you’ll find the first few paragraphs. Follow the “read more” link to read the entire article via the Arkansas Times site.

The next step in this project will be working toward a radio piece and a hardback book….and possibly more projects.

You can help us move the project forward by submitting your Arkansas tattoo photo and story and joining the conversation at the project’s facebook page here.

For at least a decade now, Arkansans — both native-born and transplants — have been choosing to mark their bodies with representations of the Natural State. Razorback tattoos have long been popular, but these Arkansas tattoos are more topographical, a marker of geography and a symbol of home. They range from simple outlines with a star or heart marking a hometown to ornate designs involving a birdhouse, a cotton plant or an area code.

For Cheyenne Matthews, co-host of the “Shoog Radio” show on 88.3 FM KABF, it’s the state Capitol, surrounded by stylized clouds and the word “Arkansas” inside a ribbon at the building’s base. The design, which graces her forearm, is part of a series of images created by Caleb Pritchett of Electric Heart Tattoos in Little Rock to help raise money for the show. “Everything we play and do is Arkansas-based,” Matthews said. “It’s a grassroots movement towards Arkansas stuff in general, events and music.”

Anthony Buckaloo and artist, Scott Diffee, the Parlor in Rose City. Photo by Brian Chilson.

Continue reading the story at the Arkansas Times here:

Click here to continue reading at the Arkansas Times site.   

Arkansas Tattoo Project Update: Visiting the Parlor in Rose City/North Little Rock.

Alinda Bennett at the Parlor gives Anthony Buckaloo his second Arkansas tattoo.

For the past few months we’ve been documenting the prevelance of Arkansas-themed tattoos and the stories behind them. The response has been amazing and generated many conversations about Arkansas as both a place and an idea.

Working in partnership with Shoog Radio on KABF, we’ve set up a Facebook page where people can upload their own photos and stories. To learn more visit the page here: Us Tattooed Kids: Arkansas Project.

And I’ve also been visiting with people, taking along my recorder and camera listening to stories about why people choose to mark their bodies with symbols of the place they call home. In the next few weeks a print piece will be coming out in the Arkansas Times and an audio essay for KUAF Public Radio will air later this spring. But I hope this project will keep going and become more community led. So if you’ve got an Arkansas tattoo or know someone who does, please spread the word and upload your photos and stories to the page above or contact me directly. We want to document a wide range of stories and voices, and we’d love to include yours.

Here’s a short audio clip from one of my favorite interviews so far, an interview with Anthony Buckaloo who, during the interview, is getting his second Arkansas tattoo from Alina Bennett at the Parler in Rose City/North Little Rock.

In this clip he’s speaking with Parlor owner Scott Diffee about his first tattoo, an Arkansas outline. During the interview he’s getting the tattoo shown above. He talks about growing up in a low income neighborhood in North Little Rock and how much he loves his home. Here’s a short clip.

[mp3j track="Anthony-B.mp3"]
I’ll be posting more clips this week from other interviews. Help us document the wide diversity of Arkansas tattoos and the stories and people behind them. Visit the facebook page here and tell your Arkansas story.

Friday Video: Alice Walker

From AALBC.

We’re back up and running with a Friday Video after a few weeks without a dependable computer.

This week’s video features poet, novelist, and activist, Alice Walker.  She’s most well known as the author of the novel The Color Purple and the person who saved Zora Neale Hurston from historical obscurity.  The name of this blog is drawn from a Zora Neale Hurston quote, and no doubt I’d never come across her work if it weren’t for the diligence of Walker, who revived her legacy and place a tombstone at her burial site.

A few years ago when working full time for public radio I had the opportunity to interview author Evelyn White about her then recent book, Alice Walker: A Life.   I’d loved Alice Walker for years—poured over Once during college and underlined 3/4 of the story “Everyday Use.”  But it wasn’t until I read her official biography that I began to fully comprehend the layers of Walker’s influence as author, social radical and freedom fighter. Walker is both loved and hated, lauded and discredited.  Her work brings out strong emotions, asking people to wrestle with questions of race, peace, environment, and self.  Her biography remains one of my favorite books of all time.

Yesterday ColorLines magazine posted this video, in honor of Walker’s 68th birthday.  It was originally released in 2010 by Google, but I’d never seen it until yesterday.  It’s full of timeless concepts, so it’s not dated.  It’s a long one, and I have not had a chance to get through the whole thing yet.  But what I’ve watched so far discusses her work in Gaza regarding International Women’s Day, her belief in the power and democracy of new media, and the importance of imagination in empathy and action.  She also talks about her “literary formothers,” including Hurston, her own mother, and others.

You can visit Walker’s blog here. 

If you have’t read it already, I highly reccomend her biography written by Evelyn White. 

Friday Video: Color Outisde the Lines: A Tattoo Documentary.

Filmmaker Artemus Jenkins. From Kickstarter.

Don’t forget, you can follow the Boiled Down Juice on Facebook and Twitter.  If you enjoy our posts, please tell a friend.  And thanks for reading!

This week’s Friday video is somewhat related to our ongoing Arkansas Tattoo Project research.  (If you want to know more about this project, go here to see all the recent posts.  You can also follow the project on Facebook and Twitter)

In researching various tattoo styles and forms of expression, I came across this Kickstarter video for an upcoming documentary.  Produced by Artemus Jenkins, Color Outside the Lines:  A Tattoo Documentary explores the work, culture, and styles the African American tattoo artists and their clients. It looks like it will also address the need for more black tattoo artists and some of the problems within the industry, including the prevalence of shops owned by white supremacists.

It looks really interesting.  Have you heard about it?   What are some of the tattoo documentaries you’ve seen and which ones would you recommend?

Arkansas Tattoo Project Update

Native Arkansan, Rapper Cboddy of Little Rock with the Little Rock symbol and ARK in graffiti-style letters.

From Cboddy:  ”I was doing shows from state to state and I got to represent where I’m from in a way.  And what better way than to put the official Little Rock logo stamped on my arm.”  

Discussing what he loves about Arkansas: “Everybody knows everybody, so to me I look at everybody like family.  Everybody is so open-armed, to me anyway.”

Recently we began a documentation project examining the diversity of ways people choose to represent their home state of Arkansas on their body.   The project is in its beginning stages, and we’ve taken the documentation process online so it can be community-driven and grow organically.

Since we started the online Facebook version of the Us Tattooed Kids:  Arkansas Project last week, thirty-six tattoo photos have been submitted and we have 236 likes!  We also started a Twitter account for the project, which you can follow here.  I’ve also been doing interviews with as many people as possible—either online or in person—and many of these stories will be featured in the upcoming article.  In case your unfamiliar with the project, you can go here to read all about it.

Here are just a few photo updates we’ve received and a glimpse into some of the things people are saying about their tattoos and the larger concept of Arkansas as home.  If you know of someone with an Arkansas tattoo, please spread the word.  We want to hear from you!  To read more and join the conversation, visit us online on facebook or Twitter.

Basic state outline uploaded by John Crouch, a native Arkansan and classical composer who now lives in Maryland.

From an email interview with Crouch:  ”I had been saying for about a year that I wanted it. I don’t know if I would have gotten it if I still lived in Arkansas, but living in Baltimore for 6+ years made me miss Arkansas.”      ”After high school in Springdale, my formative early adult years were spent in Fayetteville. Now I’ve lived in Baltimore for six and a half years and I’m still amazed at how much more interesting and progressive a small Southern town can be than a fairly large Northeastern (technically, to some, a Southern Mid-Atlantic) city. I’ve had more than one instance of proclaiming the virtues of my small college town and how it adopted progressive causes and issues years prior to Baltimore.”

Here’s a few more images that have been posted to the site.  We’re still waiting to learn more about them.  But the images are pretty strong as is.  What’s your story?  

Submitted by tattoo artist, Scott Diffee. Waiting for more info on this tattoo.

I've been wondering if there are other city specific tattoos besides Little Rock. There are! Tattoo by Scott Diffee at the Parlor.

Skyline of LR. Tattoo by Scott Diffee.

A Few New Tattoo Photos from the Us Tattooed Kids: Arkansas Project

This project is an outgrowth of an article and radio piece that are both in the works.  Due to the large response this research,  the project has grown to a more interactive format and will hopefully continue to grow and grow.  You can help us out by spreading the word.  Thanks!  

Follow the project here:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Us-Tattooed-Kids-Arkansas-Project/341024649259834  

  To read more about this project check out the previous post  or this post about how the project started.

Here are just a few new photos being sent to Facebook.  To see more go here.  The Tumblr page is in the works.  Stay tuned for that.

Here’s on from Rick Millard of Dardanelle, Arkansas, one of a few out there that have the Black Flag symbol merged with the state outline.

From Rick Millard. Tattoo by Ramses Shadow in Memphis. 2003.

From an email interview with Rick:  “To me Arkansas is the most geographically unique state that exists, and correct me if I’m wrong but what other states have: A delta region, mountains, plains, timberlands, all in the same state?, there isnt another state like this. plus Arkansas is the only place you can mine for Diamonds. there are so many wonderful people here, and places to visit, live and spend time. I could go on and on.”

And here’s one uploaded to the group from Benjamin Singleton.  

From Benjamin Singleton. Tattoo by Caleb Pritchet at Electric Heart in Little Rock.

From his facebook post: “For me, the most important aspect is the concept of home… thanks to caleb at electric heart for the design and application.”

~ Stay tuned for the article and the radio piece…..after that, who knows?

Follow the project here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Us-Tattooed-Kids-Arkansas-Project/341024649259834

Arkansas Tattoo Project Expanding: US Tattooed Kids Page

From US Tattooed Kids: Arkansas Project. Photo of Cheyenne Matthews' Arkansas Tattoo by Electric Heart Designs.

If you like what you read here, you can follow the Boiled Down Juice on Facebook and Twitter.  Thanks for reading!

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The Arkansas Tattoo Documentation Project is expanding!  In addition to the oral histories I’m compiling and upcoming article I’m working on, for a while now I’ve been thinking about how this project should be more community-driven and interactive.

And then the perfect opportunity presented itself.  Last week while interviewing several people at Pizza D’s in Little Rock, I got to talk to Cheyenne Matthews, host of Shoog Radio on KABF 88.3 FM, a show which showcases Arkansas music. When I mentioned the possibility of a Tumblr site, she ever-so-kindly offered to set up a Facebook and Tumblr page and serve as a co-admin so that more and more people can get involved in submitting their photos and telling their stories.  How cool is that?  She also came up with the names on the page, “Us Tattooed Kids: Arkansas Project,” which sounds way better than my ever-so drab, “Arkansas Tattoo Documentation Project.”  haha.  I’m really thankful she’s a part of this project.

The first phase of research will be an article and an audio montage of oral histories.  But I’d love to see this become a full-length book with portrait photography, quotes from interviews, and the like.   If these pages take off I think this could be a real possibility. So if that’s something you’re into, you can help us out by getting involved in the project and uploading your photos and stories.  It will be amazing to see the diversity of tattoos and reasons behind them.

In the beginning these pages will serve as part of the larger research project, but they’ll also have a life of their own and will provide people with an easy way of sharing tattoo images and stories.  The great thing about such sites is they’re so organic.  So we’ll see where it goes.  While folks are sharing their photos and stories perhaps these sites will also serve as platform to discuss what Arkansas means to all of us, both individually and collectively.

The Tumblr site is still in the works, but the facebook page is up and running and a few people have already uploaded photos.  And the response has been great.  In less than 24 hours we’ve got 70 likes.

So, please visit the facebook site, “like” the project and submit your own photos and stories.  Go here to check it out and please help us spread the word!   And if you want to know more about the back story of this project, go here.
Once the tumblr site is up I’ll post that too.

Thanks for reading and thanks so very much to Cheyenne Matthews for her enthusiasm and help!

Sincerely,

Meredith Martin-Moats

“Words As The Way To Freedom:” Jimmy Santiago Baca on Making Contact Radio Progam

From Poetrypoetry.com

Originally conducted in 2009 by Progressive editor Matthew Rothschild, this interview with Jimmy Santiago Baco aired two months ago on the Making Contact radio program.

“Words as the Way to Freedom” explores Baca’s discovery of poetry while serving time in an Arizona prison for drug possession.  He discusses how poetry changed the way he saw beauty, the trans-formative potential of discovering heritage, his experience writing a poem for the mother of an illiterate member of the Aryan Brotherhood, and what made him decide to return to his home community to help others find freedom through language and expression.

For a little back story on Baca here is an overview from his bio page.  (You can read the bio in its entirety by clicking here).

Instead of becoming a hardened criminal, he emerged from prison a writer. Baca sent three of his poems to Denise Levertov, the poetry editor of Mother Jones.  The poems were published and became part of  Immigrants in Our Own Land,  published in 1979, the year he was released from prison. He earned his GED later that same year. He is the winner of the Pushcart Prize, the American Book Award, the International Hispanic Heritage Award and for his memoir A Place to Stand the prestigious International Award. In 2006 he won the Cornelius P. Turner Award. The national award recognizes one GED graduate a year who has made outstanding contributions to society in education, justice, health, public service and social welfare. 

Baca has devoted his post-prison life to writing and teaching others who are overcoming hardship. His themes include American Southwest barrios, addiction, injustice, education, community, love and beyond. He has conducted hundreds of writing workshops in prisons, community centers, libraries, and universities throughout the country.   

You can learn more, find more links, and read more poems of Baca’s by visiting his homepage at http://jimmysantiagobaca.com/

Here’s the interview with Matthew Rothschild as aired on Making Contact this past November.

Nikki Giovanni to Speak This Evening in Fayetteville.

From the University of Arkansas News Wire

I just came across the news that  Nikki Giovanni —poet, activist, and educator—will be speaking this evening at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville at 7:00 PM.  The lecture will be held in the Arkansas Union Ball Room.   For more information contact Steve Voorhies at 479-575-3583 or email him at  voorhies@uark.edu

This is a wonderful opportunity!  If you’re in the NWA area and attend the event, we’d love to hear all about it.   If you’d be willing to write a short post about Giovanni’s talk please let us know.  No doubt it will be an amazing evening.

From the University of Arkansas Press release:

Giovanni will read from her poetry, talk of the struggle for African American rights in America and human rights around the world and stress the importance of education. The lecture is free and open to the public. No tickets are required but seating is limited.

Nikki Giovanni grew up in Cincinnati and first came to national prominence in the late 1960s with the publication of her first books of poetry, Black Feeling, Black Talk and Black Judgment.  She has published 30 books so far in her career, including poetry, essay collections and children’s books. Rosa, her collaboration with illustrator Bryan Collier, is a children’s picture book about the civil rights legend Rosa Parks. It was a Caldecott Honors Book and reached No. 3 on The New York Times Bestseller list.

Giovanni has been an outspoken voice for the African American movement all her life, and has lectured widely to promote equal rights for women and gays, opposed hate crime violence and, more personally, described her experiences as a cancer survivor. All of these themes have been prominent in her poetry, as well.

In 1987 Giovanni began teaching writing and literature at Virginia Tech, where she is now a Distinguished Professor of English. In the wake of the 2007 massacre on that campus Giovanni received national attention as she sought to comfort and rally her students and colleagues, telling them, “We are Virginia Tech … we will prevail.”

Giovanni’s appearance coincides with the university’s second annual McNair Scholars Research Conference, sponsored by the Graduate School and International Education. McNair Scholars are undergraduates from underrepresented groups, low-income families, or who are first generation college students. The conference is intended to encourage them to pursue graduate research degrees.