The rain can’t wash away the guerrillas – clearing up just in time for us to have a spectacular evening! Poets were spitting their words – seasoned vets Mo, Ted and Jeff were joined by newcomers Willow, Ronnie, Chris and Timothy Tattoo. Special shout-out to all the women who answered the call, Lyndi, Lacy, Kristen, Laurie and especially Cherie whose beautiful voice touched the soul. Vishal Kanwar, Sriram Gopal and Kristin Arant – got the circle bumping with fusion music featuring the live Tablas, flute and various percussion instruments laid against some hot beats. The sidewalk chalking was sic with Cesar & Wendy leading the charge. Folks are digging our new format incorporating musical features into our Ambushes. Pulling in quite an audience, including a full out dance party to end the evening – last night’s Open Mic exceeded our wildest expectations. We create the vehicle and YOU create the show. Much love, blessings and gratitude to all that came out and all those there in spirit. Next Lyrical Ambush is Monday, July 21, 7pm – you won’t want to miss it!
The GPI has been staying active despite wrapping up the DuPont Circle lyrical ambushes for the winter. We host the weekly open mic at Busboys & Poets from time to time (most recently on October 30), and also did a joint set with singer/songwriter/Ukele-hip-hop artist Jon Brahman at a group house in Mt. Pleasant on November 20.
Opportunities to perform still abound, and we're specifically looking for someone to take over compiling events from our calendar to distribute weekly to 700 subscribers on our listserv. Hollah at us if you're down at dcguerrillapoetry-discuss@lists.riseup.net!
Also, just to keep your inspiration flowing, check out this article in The New York Times:
Art . . . did not arise to spotlight the few, but rather to summon the many to come join the parade — a proposal not surprisingly shared by our . . . teacher . . . . Through singing, dancing, painting, telling fables of neurotic mobsters who visit psychiatrists, and otherwise engaging in what Ms. Dissanayake calls “artifying,†people can be quickly and ebulliently drawn together, and even strangers persuaded to treat one another as kin. Through the harmonic magic of art, the relative weakness of the individual can be traded up for the strength of the hive, cohered into a social unit ready to take on the world.
Beloved friend, son, lover, brother.
This spring, Laurie started actively pursuing an ongoing collaboration with Sol y Soul and the BlackOut Arts Collective, two other groups in the community doing work similar to that of the Guerrillas. The first concrete opportunity emerged in "The Other Side," a hip hop play put together by Sol y Sol, also featuring TriFlava.
We performed the show tonight in Space A at The Studio Theater as the closing act of the Hip Hop Theater Festival, which ran all week at a variety of venues including the Kennedy Center and Howard University. A packed house of around 200 people offered a standing ovation for the show, which one guerrilla in the audience described as "magnificent."
The Washington Post's Style section ran a front-page article today discussing the festival and its reflections of conscious hip-hop. After noting "The Other Side," and mentioning its appearance at the Studio Theater, the article quoted Sol Y Soul Director Regie Cabico (who also directed "The Other Side") at length:
"Hip-hop has created a generation where teens are attracted to poetry more than ever," Cabico said. "In the '70s, everyone wanted to be a rock star. In the '90s, everyone wanted to be a spoken-word poet. In this particular decade, you are seeing multi-performance artists coming together. . . .People are taking the power onto themselves. I feel we are heading into a new era. Who knows where it is going?
Thank you for holding this public hearing on Bill 17-177. We appreciate the opportunity to participate and have our views heard by the DC Council. My name is Laurelle Blair. My comments reflect not only my personal beliefs but also represent the memberships of Empower DC, the Washington Peace Center and the DC Guerrilla Poetry Insurgency (GPI). GPI is a network of artists who share common values including, freedom of speech and art as a vehicle for the expression of all citizens. Empower DC strives to provide advocacy skills to low and moderate income residents to assist them in preserving affordable housing, childcare and public buildings for public use. The Washington Peace Center is a 44 year-old progressive, anti-racist, anti-authoritarian nonprofit organization committed to peace and social justice through education and nonviolent action.
Delivered Monday, July 9, 2007
Thank you for holding this public hearing on Bill 17-177. We appreciate the opportunity to participate and have our views heard by the DC Council. My name is Laurelle Blair. My comments reflect not only my personal beliefs but represent the memberships of Empower DC, the Washington Peace Center and the DC Guerrilla Poetry Insurgency.
As DC residents we are denied participation in the formal channels of national government, thus we feel the protection free speech is especially imperative in our Nation’s Capital. We fear that the enforcement of Bill 17-177 could limit legitimate protests and demonstrations and have a chilling effect that may prevent some citizens from expressing themselves. Read the rest of this entry »
“Singing of my land, is my feeling, My love - the earth of this land – Iraaaan.†These are some of the lyrics of the popular rap star Yas from Tehran, Iran, who was a surprise “featured artist†at last night’s Guerrilla Poetry Open Air Open Mic. Yas, along with partner artists Farinaz, Sogand, and Mita, and a tremendous djembe drummer whose name I deeply regret that I can’t remember, performed a stunning musical set to cap off a night where over 20 performers blessed the mic beside the fountain we rock at every first and third Monday.
They didn’t perform in English, but the sweet sounds of Yas’ and the two young women’s melodic voices and rapid lyrics, Mita’s acoustic guitar, and Kima(?)’s keeping the drum beat, caught the interest of all who passed by on this comfortable late Monday evening which almost ended early when our original power source died at 8:50. These new friends of ours explained that they are in the United States as part of a cultural exchange program that will take them to Memphis, San Francisco, and other U.S. locations to perform their music, some of which will appear on Yas’ upcoming album.
The night was a special night from beginning to end. I counted 20 artists who kept the consciousness flowing like a fountain of resistance, as the circle filled with approving spectators and sidewalk chalk extraordiannaires. Some of the GPI superstars sang and spoke their grooves like Mo’s “Sittin on the Dock of the Bay†and Laurie singing her and Jessica’s piece “Together we are one.†It was great to meet Raj, and here his eloquent and unique Indian rap tune (this was in English), and to welcome Kit from Code Pink updating us on the discouraging positions of our presidential candidates on the issue of the possibility of war with Iran. All I could think while Shamar (another Iranian cultural exchange performer who played for us during the open mic) was jamming, was this is what we have to fight for.
But it was one of those nights when the looks in people’s eyes and the absence of any of the racism or even the stereoptypes that devastate our world, made me feel as I said I did at the U.S. Social Forum last week: like we are having an impact. I can’t think of a better way we could have spent the Monday of the week of the 4th of July. To hear Yas’ Iranian rap, visit him at www.myspace.com/yaspersian2 or www.yastunes.com. Farinaz and Sogand are at www.myspace.com/fsentegham.
Today's guerrilla gathering offered our first chance to check in with each other in awhile, as well as a spontaneous opportunity for a lyrical ambush that landed us on the nightly news broadcast of at least one local network affiliate. First, the notes:
- Jess is moving away in the next week: she handed off Treasurer duties to Laurie + Cesar Chavez connections to Jeff
- Jeff will help with compiling the weekly email calendar — Laurie and Jeff will be trading the responsibility every other week.
- Shahid will compile a list of ways to plug in for newcomers
- Discussed outreach to new organizers + the possibility of shifting wintertime lyrical ambushes from DuPont Circle to mobile ambushe
- Saturday, July 7, 6pm at Fire Swamp (a house) 1029 10th St.—Jeff's birthday kegger vegan straight edge (root beer and cream soda kegs and vegan hot wings)
- Next guerrilla gathering: Sunday, July 15 from 12 - 2pm at the Belmont House
Next, the low-down on a lyrical musical strike, guerrilla-style:
On Monday, June 18, guerrilla poet Jessica Philie teamed up with Joe and Bill from the Rhythm Workers Union to facilitate a workshop at Cesar Chavez School for Public Policy , Parkside campus in NE DC. Eighteen energetic and talented students learned about different types of drums and percussion, as well as performing poetry on the mic with accompaniment. The students worked on their own piece and also created a new melody and chant/hook that they performed at the end of the workshop. They are polishing up their group piece for the Class of 2010 and 2009 CAPSTONE Presentation at the school on Friday, June 22, at 11:30 am. They have been discussing issues surrounding the themes of racism, sexism, and discrimination, and created a spoken word/rap song, with at least four rappers spittin' their thoughts on the subjects. The workshop helped some of them come out of their shells a bit on the mic, and the students will get to test out those skills in front of their peers as part of their year end work. We had fun, learned new things from and about each other, and made some memorable music together. One of the best workshops yet!
