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| Other Words /Other Worlds Jazz And Poetry Marathon Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts continues to fulfill its mission to engage the Flushing and Queens communities in the arts, and builds upon its rich history of jazz programming, with the third annual Other Words/Other World Jazz and Poetry Marathon, which will take place at Flushing Town Hall on Saturday, April 21, in celebration of National Poetry Month. The diverse program gives a platform to aspiring and accomplished artists and writers alike, from the celebrated Welfare Poets, Ayodele Maakerheru and Asian Poets Collaborative, to open mikes and jam sessions for anyone/everyone. This year¹s Jazz and Poetry Marathon is organized and facilitated by arts educator and storyteller April Armstrong, who begins the proceedings leading a 10:00 A.M. Jazzy Storytelling family workshop with pianist Alva Nelson. Part of Flushing Town Hall¹s Saturday Mornings For Families Series, this two-hour interactive workshop engages kids grades K-6 in jazz and theatrical improvisation. Another highlight is Tea and Poetry with the Poet Laureate of Suffolk County, Daniel Thomas Moran, author of six volumes of poetry, the most recent of which is Looking for the Uncertain Past. Moran has read throughout New York City, the U.S. and Europe, as well as at The United Nations, and his work has appeared everywhere from Commonweal and The New York Times to The Journal of The American Medical Association, and The Norton Critical Anthology on Darwin. A Musical Poetry event features Ayodele Maakerheru‹songwriter, teacher, vocalist, player of many instruments, and collaborator of everyone from Lester Bowie and Ornette Coleman to the Fifth Dimension and Nona Hendrix‹sharing the bill with Nioka Workman, cellist and co-founder of the jazz ensemble Sojourner. Also featured on the schedule is Bamboo and Bones, the poetic, musical, educational team behind collaboration of award-winning playwright/poet Mallie Boman and bamboo flute Grand Master Allen Nyoshin Steir. Mallie Boman is renowned for her workshops and lectures, and has also performed and directed classical, modern and musical theatre, appearing on stage, television, radio and film. Boman has written award-winning plays and poetry and founded the critically acclaimed story-theatre company, Readers Theatre Workshop, which won her the Mayor¹s Award of Outstanding Achievement in Arts-in-Education. Mr. Steir taught instrumental music in the N.Y.C. school system for 37 years, where he established one of the most successful programs in the country for intermediate school students. He was featured on 60 Minutes when they discovered that most of the students in a special program at Julliard came from his classes. The 2:00 P.M. session features poets Everton Sylvester and Christine Campbell and poet/guitarist Frank Fields. Everton Sylvester is a founding member of the Green Card poets from Brooklyn as well as an English teacher in the New York City School system. Christine Campbell‹actress, poet, storyteller‹has won 2 AUDELCO Awards for Excellence in Black theatre including one for the lead role in Judi Ann Mason's Indigo Blues, at The Black Spectrum Theatre in Queens. Her father, Jamaican poet George Campbell, is considered one of the grand old men of Caribbean poetry. The singer-songwriter-guitarist Frank Fields has performed with Bob Hope at The White House; at The Royal Albert Hall in London; at Carnegie Hall with Up With People; and at The Olympia Theatre in Paris with the Smithfields, among many prestigious engagements over the last four decades. The Poetry Circle consists of five poets, one from each of New York City¹s five boroughs: Madeline Artenberg, Iris Schwartz, Barbara Liss, Jeffrey Hutterer and Laraaji Nadananda. The Poetry Circle members met at poetry workshop led by poet Harry Ellison and have published collections including Awakened and Luna Azteca. The Asian Poets Collaborative is hosted by poet Emily Cheng, a writer,actress, and performer based in New York City. She is a founding member of renowned spoken word group I Was Born with Two Tongues, which was named in A. Magazine¹s A List of Top 25 Most Influential Asian Americans. Cheng is also a founding member/former artistic director of Mango Tribe, a women¹s performance arts collective. She co-wrote and directed their premiere production, Mangoes, Cigarettes, and My Mama¹s Hands (Chopin Theater, Chicago), and the original production Sisters in the Smoke, which sold out runs in Chicago (Vittum Theater, 2002) and New York (HERE Arts Center Mainstage, 2003). Cheng will be joined at Flushing Town Hall by poets Taiyo and Jen Armas. The Welfare Poets are a collective of activists, educators, and artists who have worked together since 1990. Through teaching residencies and workshops, activism around community struggles and sharp-edged performances of music that incorporates Hip Hop, Bomba y Plena, Latin Jazz and other rhythms, the Welfare Poets bring information and inspiration to those facing oppression. They recently released and album called Cruel and Unusual Punishment, billed as ³a hip hop compilation to abolish the death penalty.² Another featured performer is poet Vincent Tomeo, who has published nearly 500 poems in places such as The New York Times, Comstock Review, Mid-America Poetry Review, EDGZ, Spires, Tiger¹s Eye, ByLINE, Mudfish, The Blind Man¹sRainbow, The Neovictorian/Cochlea. The Latin Stuff Review and Art With Words. He was the winner of Honorable Mention in the Rainer Maria Rilke International Poetry Competition. Tomeo makes his home in Flushing, NY. Concluding the marathon, from 8:15 P.M. to 10:00 P.M. is Urban Rebel Word in a Groove, which features Matt Jenson on piano, Jose Claussell on percussion, a bassist TBA. The event promises to introduce audiences to a Cuban poet named Riscardo Alverado. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Jazz News :: home page |