Wanda's Picks

Best of Picks 2009 Originally aired Dec. 19 2008 Ayanna Mashama, Chinese Medicine doctor, herbalist, community healer and activist, mother and grandmother, and Mestre Temba Mashama, Capoiera N'Gola, licensed family therapist, re: Winter Solstice 8:30-8:55 AM: Sistas Wit Style, A Caribbean Folk Performing Dance Company, Dance That Moves The World which is having its Seventh Annual Cultural and Holiday Show: “Back In De Dey”, a Caribbean Holiday Celebration featuring a Holiday Banquet & Cultural Show, Sunday, Dec. 21, the Lakeside Gardens, 666 Bellevue Avenue, Oakland, CA, off Grand Avenue (across the street from Children’s Fairyland). The dinner is free for children 17 and under, and $20 donation for everyone else. Doors open at 3 p.m., the dinner starts at 4 p.m. Call (510) 952 –6287/ (510) 387-7771 or sistas_wit_style@yahoo.com/ www.sistas-wit-style.com 9:00-9:25 AM: Stanley E. Williams, co-founder and Artistic Director of the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, which is celebrating its 28th consecutive season

8:00 AM Tania Santiago and Ramon Alayo about their show opening Dec. 4-6 at Dance Mission in San Francisco. 8:30 AM On the 40th Anniversary of the Murder of Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton Sr., along with Mark Clark, we speak to his wife, Akua Njeri, December 4th Committee, and son, Chairman Fred Hampton Jr., POCC, from Chicago about GROUND ZERO. 9 AM Baba Ken Okulolo speaks on the annual Musical Night in Africa at Ashkenaz Music and Dance Center, Saturday, Dec. 5, 2009 in Berkeley.

Michael Stulman, Africa Action on World AIDS Day, the theme for 2009, Access to treatment; Dedoceo Habi, director, "fearfull TRUTH: Real talk about HIV/AIDS in the Black community;" Raissa Simpson, JooWan Kim & Christopher Nicholas talk about "Great Integration: A Hip Hop Chamber Opera" opening in June 2010 and fundraising activities leading up to the grand performance with among others Ahmad Jamal.

We'll be speaking with John Iverson about his "mission" in Uganda, what it's like being HIV+ for 30 years, living with AIDS for 18. We might be joined by representatives from Africa Action, who can address the epidemic in Africa. WORLD AIDS DAY 2009, RALLY AND MARCH, December 1, 2009; TIME: 12:00 - 2:00PM at Lafayette Park to Freedom Plaza, Washington, DC. Every December 1, activists around the world commemorate World AIDS Day as a way of focusing the world's attention on fighting the devastating HIV/AIDS pandemic that has killed more than 25 million people in the last 3 decades. This year Africa Action is working with HIV/AIDS groups in and around DC to mobilize for a rally and march in front of the White House. We want to put pressure on the U.S. government to fulfill commitments to fight the global HIV/AIDS pandemic.This year's World AIDS Day commemoration will take the form of a mock funeral procession, as we highlight the sad fact that every day 5,500 people die from AIDS while our leaders backtrack on f

San Francisco jazz vocalist Kim Nalley stars in the world premiere of her new musical "Ella: The American Dream." Nalley penned this Ella Fitzgerald tribute, a quintessential rags to riches story that takes audiences back to 1930’s Harlem, the Savoy Ballroom and birth of the swing era which paved the way for musical greats including Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and a Savoy Ballroom dancer named Frankie Manning who popularized a new dance called the Lindy Hop. Based on new historical findings about Ella Fitzgerald's humble beginnings, this production will have audiences snappin’ their fingers, feeling optimistic and yearning for more with its original music, jazz standards and Lindy Hop dancing. Directed by Elly Lichenstein. The show opens: Dec. 31, 2009 to Jan. 17, 2010. Times are: 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 31 New Years Eve; 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, Jan. 2, 8, 9, 15 & 16; 2 p.m. Sundays, Jan. 3, 10 & 17; and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 13.

8:00 AM: "Beyond the Odds with Anita Johnson HIV/AIDS." Beyond the Odds is a multimedia arts project designed to illuminate the perspectives and personal stories of young people living with HIV/AIDS. Visit www.beyondtheodds.org Anita Johnson is a nationally-recognized, award-winning broadcast journalist and producer. 8:30 AM: Perfect Love with Michael Buck and Joey Tranchina. Michael Buck is an Inspirational Speaker, Peer Counselor, Community Activist, Founder & Creator of Perfect Love. He is also the creator and founder of ‘SISTHAS Supporting SISTHAS’, ‘Hepatitis C Info Series’, ‘NOT LISTENING’, ‘HIV/AIDS Nutritional Series’ and ‘UFAHAMU HIV, Swahili for understanding, is a collaboration of African and African American artists for the prevention of HIV & AIDS. Michael is a past board member of CAL-PEP, AIDS Community Research Consortium (ACRC). Joey Tranchina: Founding Executive Director, AIDS Prevention ACTION Network, (of which Michael is a board member), formerly CEO Hepatitis C Global Foundation

Special guests are Keith Terry and his dance partner Evie Ladin, who will speak about the "Second Annual International Body Music Festival," December 1-6, 2009. If you have ever gone on an obsessive search of a sound or song whose name and origin you didn’t know, you might relate to Keith Terry, the director of the International Body Music Festival, which returns for its second year to the San Francisco Bay Area early December in multiple Bay Area venues. In fact, Keith's obsession runs so deep that last year he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, the first to go to a body musician, someone who makes music purely with their body. This year the Festival director has tracked down human beatboxers, a flamenco duo, a highly rhythmic Cuban a capella group, Peruvian zapateo, and a sound Terry has heard for years and will spotlight. The festival also features Kenny Muhammad, a.k.a. The Human Orchestra, is known for emphasizing complex polyrhythms, non-percussive sounds, and a breathing “wind technique.” The beatbox

Parnell Herb & Robert Hillary King on Angola 3, the play; Don Little Cloud" Davenport on being black and Indigenous; Emory Douglas, former Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party from 1967 to the Party disbanded in 1980s. Mr. Douglas is recently returned from Australia and New Zealand; Mo'Rockin Project featuring Khalil Shaheed and Yassir Chadley who have a show this coming week, Monday, Nov. 30, 2009 at Yoshi's in Oakland.

We open with African Immigrants Social and Cultural Organization which is hosting a benefit Nov. 21, "Dance Until You Drop" 6-12 midnight, atthe Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 Ninth Street visit http://aiscs.org; Craftswomen: Belvea Sharp and Kysha Mitchell who are participating in the Women's Building's 31st Annual Celebration of Craftswomen, Nov. 28-29 and Dec. 5-6, 2009. The cast and director from "Drip" at Crowded Fire Theatre through this weekend, Nov. 20-21, 8 PM at the Boxcar Theatre in San Francisco. We close with: Dan Wolf, Tommy Sheppard, and Ellen Sebastian Chang, playwright, cast and director from "Stateless" at the Jewish Theatre in San Francisco.

Equally at home on stage or on screen, award-winning actress Loretta Devine has created some of the most memorable roles in theatre, film and television. Devine first captured national attention in the role of Lorrell, one of the three original “Dreamgirls” in Michael Bennett’s classic award-winning Broadway musical of the same name. She followed that performance with a fiery portrayal of Lillian in Bob Fosse’s critically acclaimed stage production“Big Deal.” Subsequent work in George C. Wolfe’s “Colored Museum” and “Lady Day at Emerson Bar and Grill,” cemented Devine’s status as one of the most talented and versatile stage actresses. Ms.Devine will be in town @ The Rrazz Room at Hotel Nikko, Friday, November 27 through Sunday, November 29, 2009. The Rrazz Room is located at 222 Mason Street in San Francisco, CA 94102. Visit www.therrazzroom.com

Guests: Marcie Hughes & Val Serrant speak about the a Stupa Benefit Concert this Friday, November 20, at The Unity Church of Berkeley, for the completion of the Stupa Park in the Santa Cruz mountains at Pema Osel Ling, one of our much loved sacred sites in the Bay Area. This will be a true Vox Mundi gathering of vocal artists. The music of Voice Divina, an improvisational ensemble that draws together women voices from South America, France, Lebanon and the US, will premier. Our next guest is Michael Cooper, who is featured with Con Funk Shun, November 18 – 22, 2009 @ Rrazz Room at Hotel Nikko in San Francisco. Visit www.therrazzroom.com; Tamika Nicole follows. She will talk about her sophomore release, "The Art of Letting Go" and her concert tonight @ Yoshi's San Francisco, Nov. 18, 10:30 PM; we close with Ari Wohlfeiler is an organizer with Critical Resistance, a national grassroots organization working to abolish the prison industrial complex. Critical Resistance works around the US to dismantle our re

8:00 AM Corey Action re: New Style Motherlode Hip Hop Dance Festival Nov. 20-22 http://www.coreyaction.com/wp_coreyaction/?page_id=199 http://www.sfhiphopdancefest.com/ 8:30 AM Hanif Muhammad & Dajuma Opara "Bridge to Bridge Fundraiser" 9:00 Opal Palmer Adisa and Colette Eloi "Dancing Diaspora" Nov. 13-15 http://counterpulse.org/performing-diaspora/festival/ 9:30 Black Beauty Doll Show Nov. 14 http://www.americanblackbeautydollartists.com/ We feature HB Hanif & The Sound Voyager's on Cedar Walton's composition "Bolivia" and Mark Wright's "Tabo". The other music is Corey Action's "Dancing."

Writer, Ann Marie Davis, "Ourselves Walking," http://annmariedavis.net/; Director, Vanessa Gould, "Between the Folds," film http://www.greenfusefilms.com/screenings.html; Doug Howerton, a member of Maxine Hong Kingston Veteran writing group, with a story in her, "Veterans of War Veterans of Peace" (2006 Kona Press). He has a new work based on the MOVE organization he was a member of. He is reading from his play, "Firing Blanks at Moving Targets," Friday, Nov. 13, 2009, 7-9 PM at "Art of Revolution," 1724 Adeline Street, in Oakland, CA, (510) 238-7017, $5-$10 (sliding scale). Visit www.myspace.com/metapoet All proceeds will be used to benefit programs and services for seniors. (Art of Revolution is moving to East Side Cultural Center, Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009. We close with Emily Kirsch, Ella Baker Center, "Community Convergence for Climate Change" 6-8 PM at Laney College, 900 Fallon Street, Oakland, Wednesday, November 18, 2009. There is a CCCC after party at the Monkey Lounge, 5708 Fremont Street, Oakland, CA,

Today we will celebrate Freedom Archives which is having a 10th Anniversary Party, Nov. 11 in San Francisco. We will have Claude Marks and Leticia Miranda on the air. Claude is the Project Director and a former political prisoner. Leticia is the youth program coordinator and an editorial intern at ColorLines Magazine. The Freedom Archives party is at 330 Ritch Street, in San Francisco at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $5 -$50 (No one turned away for lack of funds) and is Wheelchair accessible. Visit www.freedomarchives.org Celebrating 10 Years - preserving the past - illuminating the present - shaping the future

Sara Tavares' "Xinti" tour brings to SFJAZZ this evening (11/06) in concert at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco www.sfjazz.org; Gregory Maqoma/Vuyani Dance Theatre continues with "Beautiful Me" at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts tonight and tomorrow evening. He is also on a panel (free) Saturday, November 7, 10 AM to 11:30 AM at CounterPULSE, 1310 Mission Street, SF.RSVP@ http://performingdisaporasymposium.eventbrite.com/

We celebrate the work and life of Amiri Baraka with Cecil Brown, who hosts panels Sat., Nov. 7, at East Side Cultural Center in Oakland at Baraka's Birthday Party Celebration & Monday at the Jazz Heritage Center in San Francisco, and Justin Desmangles, who hosts a discussion with Baraka at the San Francisco Main Library, Sun., Nov. 8, 1 PM. Baraka just turned 75 and is in town through Nov. 9; Fannie Lou Hammer Opera: "Dark River" Nov. 12-22 at Oakland Metro Opera, oaklandopera.org, with composer Mary Watkins, Taiwo Seitu-Kujichagulia, actress, and director; Michael Dailey is Prince Charming in Opera San Jose's production of La Cenerentola, Gioachino Rossini’s 1817 tender and madcap version of Cinderella. Eight performances are scheduled from November 14 through 29 at the California Theatre, 345 South First Street in downtown San José. Dailey performs Nov. 14, 19, 22, 24. We close with show with a conversation with Capo Verdean singer, Sara Taravares who appears at SFJAZZ tonight, 8 PM at the Herbst. Visi

This afternoon we will speak to the cast: Dwight Huntsman(Thami), Scott Coopwood (Johan), Peter Van Norden (Smith) of SJ Rep's production of Ian Bruce's "Groundswell" through Nov. 8; they are joined by Chike Nwoffiah, playwright, filmmaker, and artist, James Bowyer who has an exhibit in the upstairs lobby; Jack Foley, playwright shares insight on his latest play, The Boy, The Girl, and The Piece of Chocolate, a ten minute play apart of the PEN Oakland Writer's Theatre presents a Night of Short Plays Revisited at Anna's Jazz Island, Sunday, Nov. 8, 3-6 PM; we conclude with a conversation with Rom Flemons, a member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, performing this weekend at SFJAZZ Sunday, Nov. 8, 3 & 7 PM at the Palace of Fine Arts. Visit sfjazz.org

Sharon McGriff-Payne, "John Grider's Century: African Americans in Solano, Napa, and Sonoma Counties from 1845 to 1925; Lisa Marie Rollins, Ph.D. candidate, Founder and Director of AFAAD, Adoptee and Fostered Adult of the African Diaspora; Connie Galambos-Malloy, Strategic Planning and Development Director at Urban Habitat; Lisa Walker, Director of Cross Cultural Student Development at the UC Berkeley, addressing the: 2nd Annual Gathering from Adoptees and Foster Care Alumni of African Descent: Growing and Creating Together: Organizing Across Differences this weekend, Friday-Sunday, November 6-8, 2009, 8-5 with some evening events. We were looking to speak to Gregory Maqoma, choreographer, "Beautiful Me" at YBCA in San Francisco. His cell phone died and we rescheduled and broadcast the interview in a special broadcast, Nov. 6, 3:30 PM.

John Handy, a living jazz legend is being honored with the coveted SFJAZZ Beacon Award for Lifetime Achievement, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009 at 7 PM at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco. Sunday’s concert, like many of John’s rare appearances is going to be historic just for the personnel SFJAZZ has assembled for this tribute. I thought at one’s tribute the honoree is serenaded, but in this case John is working—there are four bands, the first three will perform first and the second set will be with a newer ensemble. This afternoon when I called I caught him at a good time, but then John is a talker and his memory is phenomenal, so our hour jaunt along the banks of his memory lane ended up being a stroll down his discography as John shared both old and new stories of the past 61 years of his professional career playing Indian music with the great sarodist/composer Ali Akbar Khan and others, along with his sojourn with the great bassist/composer Charles Mingus and Randy Weston, whom he called one of his favorite boss

Cast and crew from the films: "Townbiz," directed by Mario Bobino, and "Everyday Blackman," directed by Carmen Madden. Townbiz has a theatrical release Nov. 10, 6:30 and 10:00 PM at the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland. David Roach, founder, Oakland International Film Festival where these two films debuted during its 8th Annual Season (10/8-14), join us also. You can catch this modern version of a Blaxploitation film tonight at 10 PM. The director and cast will be in the house 11/10. "Townbiz" exploits all the negative stereotypes re: black women, black men, black families. It's all about the sex, drugs and violence, but ultimately it's about a personal vendetta between a gang lord and his errant or dead beat father. The story has an interesting twist. It makes one see how much of the warring that happens is personal, yet the personal becomes bigger and people join the fight who have nothing to gain from the altercation, yet often loose their lives. Think about Bush Sr. and Sadam Hussain and George W Bush's vend