Mark Anthony Neal's Blog, page 499

Nick Cave Talks His Lifework and Soundsuits at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

'Nick Cave is an artist and educator working between the visual and performing arts. In a conversation with Curator Chad Alligood, Cave talks about his lifework, including his Soundsuits in Crystal Bridges’ permanent collection. Utilizing a wide range of mediums, including sculpture, installation, video, sound, and performance, Cave’s solo exhibitions are seen throughout the world, including the galleries of Denver Art Museum; Chicago Cultural Center; Studio la Città, Verona, Italy; Jack Shainman Gallery, New York; and Seattle Art Museum. Cave serves as a Professor at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.' -- Crystal Bridges

The Syllabus: Michael Jackson + Prince + Blackness in the 1980s

Michael Jackson + Prince & Blackness in the 1980s #DukeMJPrince    Duke University | Fall Semester 2017Tuesday @ 6:15pm – 8:45pm | White Lecture Hall (107)Duke East Campus    Professor:Mark Anthony Neal, Ph.D. Twitter: @NewBlackMan | IG: @BookerBBBrown   
Course Description
Prince Rogers Nelson and Michael Joseph Jackson were born two months apart in the summer of 1958 -- three years after the landmark Brown vs. The Board of Education (Topeka, KS) and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and five years before the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Nelson and Jackson grew up in their respective mid-western cities, in part because of the social conditions of Jim Crow segregation and industrial job opportunities in the region, that were the very inspirations for the activist moments that they were born into.  As they ascended to the peak of their professions as recording artists and entertainers in the 1980s -- alongside others such as Whitney Houston, Eddie Murphy, Michael Jordan-- they were held up by an admiring multiracial public as evidence of the success of the Civil Rights Movement and the possibility of post-racial futures. But at what cost?  What was the price of Blackness? How did their ascent challenge conventional thought regarding the performance of Black masculinity and American masculinity writ-large? How was their ascendance tied to the production of Black hypervisibility -- normative to anyone born in the next generation -- and to what ends was this hypervisibility of value, and to whom -- this in the midst of Ronald Reagan’s Presidency? These and many other questions will serve as the basis for “Michael Jackson + Prince + and Blackness in the 1980s.”
Books    Beyond Blackface: African Americans and the Creation of American Popular Culture 1890-1930 | 
ed. W. Fitzhugh Brundage The Death of Rhythm & Blues | Nelson GeorgeRevolution Televised: Prime Time and the Struggle for Black Power | Christine AchamOn Michael Jackson | Margo JeffersonDig If You Will the Picture: Funk, Sex, God and Genius in the Music of Prince | Ben Greenman
I Would Die 4 U: Why Prince Became an Icon | toure Michael Jackson, Inc.: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of a Billion-Dollar Empire | Zack Greenburg

Trailer: 'MONK@100: A Century of Genius' Festival

'MONK@100: A Century of Genius' — a 10-day festival running Oct. 17 thru 26, celebrating the life & legacy of NC-native jazz icon Thelonious Monk — co-curated by Duke Performances & Ethan Iverson; hosted at Durham Fruit and Produce Co, in a space custom designed to celebrate Monk, in downtown Durham, NC.'  

Dick Gregory and the Chicago Playboy Club

'The late Dick Gregory recalls when he was booked at the Chicago Playboy Club – the first time a black comedian was booked for a white nightclub.' -- American Masters PBS 

Filmmaker Katina Parker’s CALL:RESPONSE Explores Police Aggression Against People of Color

'Southern writer Clyde Edgerton once wrote that it’s almost impossible “to write about race in America without bombast, outrage, or satire.” How else, he asked, can one “confront a system of structural inequality that has savagely circumscribed lives for generations?” This is true for filmmakers as well. But with her two-part film, CALL:RESPONSE, Katina Parker courageously engaged her audience to face this reality head on, unflinchingly. The Center for Documentary Studies, along with the Duke University Office of the Provost, commissioned the film for “Policing Color: Black, Brown, and Blue”—the Provost Forum on Race, Community, and the Pursuit of Justice held earlier this year in response to the September 2016 killing of Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte.' -- Center for Documentary Studies director Wesley Hogan

CALL:RESPONSE; Pt. 1 - CALL from Center for Documentary Studies on Vimeo.


CALL:RESPONSE; Pt. 2 - RESPONSE from Center for Documentary Studies on Vimeo.

Revolutionary Writers: The Playwright -- Suzan-Lori Parks

'Season 2 of the American Masters | PBS Podcast looks at the artists that challenge and shape our thoughts through the power of the written word. We begin with a new interview with Pulitzer Prize-winner and MacArthur “Genius” Award recipient Suzan-Lori Parks (Topdog/Underdog, The Red Letter Plays, Venus), who discusses her writing, inspirations and teaching the arts, and performs original music.'

Sarah Jones -- "T.R.U.M.P": Get Rich(er) Off America or Die Trying

'Tony-winner, multiple TED-talker and solo performer Sarah Jones, creator of Bridge & Tunnel on Broadway, Sell/Buy/Date, and new podcast Playdate with Sarah Jones, performs T.R.U.M.P., a parody inspired by 50 Cent's P.I.M.P. and the need to impeach "45 Pres" and vote out his cronies in 2018.'

The Women Of The Alt-Right

'Seyward Darby, contributor to Harper’s Magazine, joins us to discuss her latest article, “The Rise of the Valkyries.” Darby looks at the women of the alt-right, the white nationalist movement that backed Trump’s campaign. While it’s considered to mostly consist of white men, Darby follows Lana Lokteff, a prominent white nationalist who co-hosts a talk show called “Red Ice.”'

         
       

The Combat Jack Show: The Return of Bomani Jones Episode

ESPN commentator and humorist Bomani Jones, joins The Combat Jack Show to talk about his departure from "Highly Questionable", transitioning into his new untitled ESPN show (Jan '18), his Twitter clap back skills, his views on the state of America and much more.

Anita Hill + Louise Matsakis on The Google Anti-Diversity Memo & Sexism In Tech

'Louise Matsakis, an assistant editor at Motherboard, VICE's tech site, broke the story about James Damore’s controversial Google Anti-Diversity Memo. She discusses the memo itself, Danmore's firing, and the culture at Google and Silicon Valley at large. She's joined by Anita Hill, Of Counsel at the law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, who recently wrote an op-ed for The New York Times titled "Class Actions Could Fight Discrimination in Tech."'  -- The Leonard Lopate Show