Mini Interview with Kevin Carnes
20 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Interviews Tags: Area, artists, Bay, Broun Fellinis, Drummer, support
“Black Futurist” by TuffGyal 808
Kevin Carnes: Drummer for Broun Fellinis (shown here with David Boyce & Kwan Booth) Interview 2012
Q#1: Are you a Bay Area Native? and if not, how long have you lived in the Bay? Kevin: I grew up in Detroit, went to New Mexico State on a track scholarship (400 meters), dropped out and joined a punk band then moved to Houston, TX where I lived for a year before moving to SF in ’84.
Q#2: When did you start on the creative path you are currently on? Kevin: 1976, songs from that time of life made me decide to be a musician. Prince (dirty mind) made me want to play my own “original” music.
Q#3: Where do you find your inspiration? Kevin: Everything has a story to be told, everything makes some sort of sound.
Q#4: What was the first piece of vinyl you ever purchased? Kevin: the Yes Album (around ’71) had a song about chess and my father was teaching to play. My favorite purchase was Madhouse 8 (prince) I bought it because of the dope woman on the cover… this was in the 80s when I was a DJ. My first concert was Isaac Hayes when he did “Shaft”.
Q#5: Anything else you’d like to share? a joke/quote? Kevin: the only Fellini rule is FEELING IS FIRST and (for adults only) Don’t sweat the petty things, pet the sweaty things.
https://www.facebook.com/thebrounfellinis
Mini Interview with Kristi Holohan
19 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Interviews Tags: Activist, Area, artists, Bay, Community, Oakland, support, women
Kristi Holohan: Muralist/Muralist, Youth Director @Rock Paper Scissors Collective Interview 2012
Q#1: Are you a Bay Area Native? and if not, how long have you lived in the Bay? Kristi: Although I am not a bay area native, I know Oakland is my home. My biological family, scattered about the world, is lovely no doubt. In the past 11 years in Oakland I have found a kin here that doesn’t replace my biology but matches my intentional lifestyle.
Q#2: When did you start on the creative path you are currently on? Kristi: Being raised by a craft family in East Bum Mass-a-tucky (very rural Massachusetts), I had access to my mom’s paint studio and sewing machines and father’s full wood shop and garage at a young age. That was way better then anything on TV (and we stole full cable so that says alot). I mostly thought of art as a hobby until I had fantastic mentors in college and realized it could be more. I was wrapped up in union organizing as well as building opposition to GM foods, FTAA (Free Trade of the Americas), as well as involved in Students against sweatshops but still found time to volunteer teaching art to the Department of Mental Health and at the Survival Center. Living in Oakland has helped me to fuse my activism and art because there is a small economy to support it.
Q#3: Where do you find your inspiration? Kristi: I find my inspiration in nature. Growing up in the sticks nature is THE inspiration. My first painting (which I still have) was of flowers in my front yard. After moving to a city, I have found garbage to drive me to create. I love making from what is discarded, it’s funny when people buy it, it enters the market again in a beautiful new way and taunts commercial consumerism. I am also a teaching/facilitating artist and constantly find inspiration in my students/participants. It’s like a mingling of the minds to create an unstoppable force of unbridled and unending creativity. For me, teaching free classes is absolutely essential. I’m constantly nurturing the next era of the arts movement. It comes from the heart and the guts and letting the youth know there is support, even when they can’t afford expensive classes or institutions, is essential. Art will never come from those with simply the money but it comes from those with the means of expression. I’m working to show the tools and some techniques to express…and this drives me to keep going.
Q#4: What was the first piece of vinyl you ever purchased? Kristi: My first vinyl was Led Zepplin, Houses of the Holy. I still dig it, although my music tastes have grown to include so much more. There’s no beating the scratchy sound of a slightly dusty needle on the wax.
Q#5: Anything else you’d like to share? a joke/quote? Kristi: Something to share….ummmm…when asked for a joke I always think about some really inappropriate jokes that this elder once told me. We’ll save that for personal time though. I’m not going to announce that ludicroucy to the world.
Mini Interview with Penelope Adibe
14 May 2012 2 Comments
in Interviews Tags: Area, artists, Bay, Clothing, Clothing Designer, Community, Designer, Oakland, support, women
Penelope Adibe: Designer/Founder of Nneka & Co-Owner of Oakollectiv Interview 2012 (shown here with partner David Allen)
Q#1: Are you a Bay Area Native? and if not, how long have you lived in the Bay? Penelope: I have been in the Bay Area on and off now for 20 yrs. Originally from London: my mum German and dad Nigerian. I originally came over here for school and ended up staying. Lived also in NY and LA but kept coming back to the Bay Area. Oakland feels like home, its always such a relief to come back to Oakland from traveling or even coming back from SF to have people smile and say hello to you……I heart u Oakland
Q#2: When did you start on the creative path you are currently on? Penelope: It started when I was in a dance troupe when I was young.. my mum put me in a dance school at 4 and we would have to do these shows. The teacher would give the mums sketches of the costumes she wanted and my mum would have to make the costumes so I would sit around and watch her put them together. Then in high school I started making my own clothes and people would ask me to make stuff for them.
Q#3: Where do you find your inspiration? Penelope: I find inspiration all around me, whether it be people watching in Oakland (the kids coming out of the Art school in Downtown are always fashionistas), the web, watching what my favorite designers are doing or shopping vintage stores and watching movies.
Q#4: What was the first piece of vinyl you ever purchased? Penelope: First piece of vinyl was probably something cheesy like the The Muppet Show Volume 1: one of the tracks I remember was “Half way down the Stairs” By Kermit the Frog (lol!) I can even remember the words.
I would nick (steal)my brother’s vinyl, who is 9 yrs older than me, and I can still hear him complaining to my mum “Pennys nicked my bla bla album”. I can remember playing the Sylvesters “You make me feel” and Chaka Khan and Rufus’s Pink album cover (can’t remember the name) and that hair, I always wanted her hair.
Q#5: Anything else you’d like to share? a joke/quote? Penelope: hmmmm joke or quote? I’m not good at remembering either but this is what comes to mind…
Keep growing, learning and giving and don’t forget to smile 
Mini Interview with Paul Skee
14 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Interviews Tags: Area, artists, Bay, Bay to Hawai'i, Community, dancer, Father, HipHop, movement, support
Paul Skee: BBoy and CEO of Mighty 4 Arts Foundation Interview 2012 (shown here with his sun)
Q#1: Are you a Bay Area Native? and if not, how long have you lived in the Bay? Paul: I was born in San Francisco.. my mother and father were raised in the Mission, lived in Daly City then resided to Union City when i was 5. We would go to the mission on weekends for decades until my family all moved out to the north bay. straight up San Franciscan Bay Area representa! been there, lived there, got fam and respect there up and down the Bay as my mom and dads (rip) family is huge.
Q#2: When did you start on the creative path you are currently on? Paul: as early as i can remember. 5 years old when i first saw my older cousins strutting and breakin’ at fiestas in sf. blew my mind -that and everyone would throw money at them too.. lol.
Q#3: Where do you find your inspiration? Paul: inspiration for me comes from the next generation and from the wisdom that elders of these beautiful street art forms teach me direct, or indirectly.
Q#4: What was the first piece of vinyl you ever purchased? Paul: bought my first piece at musicland in southland… a corny bootleg compilation on some exploitation shit but the two dopest songs on there was jam master jay (run dmc) and roxanne roxanne.
Q#5: Anything else you’d like to share? a joke/quote? Paul: Even the Greatest Masters remain the Greatest STUDENTS
http://www.themasterculture.com/
Mini Interview with Shadi Rahimi
15 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Interviews Tags: Activist, Area, artists, Bay, Community, movement, Oakland, photo-journalist, Photographer, reporter, support, women
Shadi Rahimi: Photo-Journalist, Reporter, Activist (shown here w/Ahmed al-Shehat, the “Flagman” in Tahrir Square) Interview 2012
Q#1: Are you a Bay Area Native? and if not, how long have you lived in the Bay? Shadi: Yes I was born in Oakland and early on I was raised in Berkeley and Sunnyvale. My parents were consequential immigrants who’d been living in student housing at U.C. Berkeley. They hadn’t planned to stay. My dad was sent there with other students on scholarship from the Iranian government, at the time ruled by the US-installed Shah (king). Like many Iranians, my parents supported a revolution, which in 1979 took shape as an Islamic Revolution, but when it happened they became stranded in the U.S. So my dad started working a few jobs to finish school. My mom was pregnant with me. A few weeks after I was born, Iraq invaded Iran in another U.S.-backed war. That went on for eight years; my youngest uncle was killed.
I grew up in the Bay, while being told we were going back to Iran, soon. I was raised with a lens of “us” and “them,” the them being “Americans,” who early in life I experienced didn’t seem to like people like my family very much. I didn’t realize I was considered American too until I traveled abroad and people called me that. More importantly, I was raised knowing I had birth-blessed opportunities my cousins didn’t have, which I must embrace.
Q#2: When did you start on the creative path you are currently on? Shadi: I’d wanted to be an international reporter since I was little. I used to “interview” friends using my hair brush. National Geographic had inspired me. I imagined being a war reporter later, but life directed me to be more locally based. I was never a fan of school and had some incidents; in my senior year of high school I attended this junior college and tried to take photos for the school newspaper. But all I had was my dad’s old Nikon with a broken meter. I tried using disposable cameras. The editor of the paper was in my English class and told me to write instead. I ended up pursuing writing, and came back to photography in recent years, out of necessity, when I had to sometimes take photos to accompany my stories.
I think I take photos like a journalist, photos that tell a story. I’m more interested in capturing the moment than my settings, which I know can be bad, at times. I was always touched by the power of photography; when I was little photos of animals being used for testing and fur made me really upset, I wrote letters and put posters up on my walls. In my creative path now I guess I try to invoke that same feeling, using photo and video to communicate big messages that move people to think or act. I truly experienced that for the first time in Egypt this past year. I lived there for seven months and it was the only time I’ve seen media and arts – online and in the streets – directly impacting current events.
I saw photos of police and soldier brutality convince the unconvinced to support the revolution movement. I saw graffiti “Wanted” murals for a police officer who was shooting people in the eyes help support a push for his arrest. I saw video testimonies from the injured projected on the sides of buildings in neighborhoods far from Tahrir Square, to effectively mobilize masses. Later, videos of the military’s brutality were projected also onto the state television building – the site of a massacre of Coptic Christians by the army and thugs, which was fueled by media propaganda. Those campaigns were part of a grassroots movement called, “Askar Kazeboon,’ or “Military Liars,” which counters the power of state-controlled media.
Q#3: Where do you find your inspiration? Shadi: What I just described, those types of uses of arts + media + movement inspire me.
In terms of “subjects,” I’m inspired by people and movements. What I loved most about reporting is being able to enter a new life each day, and see how people live, how they think, what has shaped them. Each person in turn is part of or is impacting a movement of some sort. When I witness an event or experience a person, what I’d like to capture is a moment I feel can take you into their world. I’m inspired by war photographers who are able to transport you – and make you cry, gasp, and act. I believe the most powerful skill a storyteller can have is to make you connect with another on an intrinsic level that provides understanding beyond the facade we present to each other. For me, I think photography allows me that space more than words do.
Q#4: What was the first piece of vinyl you ever purchased? Shadi: I’m not that cool. I grew up listening to Iranian tapes and American radio. If I ever owned music back in the day it was given to me, and though I used to make little mix-tapes off the radio, the first record I remember getting was a Boyz II Men CD for my birthday (haha) by someone who didn’t know I was listening to Rage Against the Machine at the time.
Q#5: Anything else you’d like to share? a joke/quote? Shadi: I have a photo exhibit from my time in Egypt coming up in Oakland on Saturday, May 26 at 8 p.m. It will be at the Old Crow Tattoo and Gallery, 362 Grand Ave. Oakland. I just made an event page here: https://www.facebook.com/events/249944251769575/
I love collecting quotes, a different one moves me every day. But a lasting one I’ve posted on my website describes what I try to embody on behalf of the lions:
“Until the lion has his or her own storyteller, the hunter will always have the best part of the story.” -Ewe-mina proverb
Mini Interview with Mama Ayanna
10 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Interviews Tags: Activist, Area, Bay, Community, elder, Healer, Mothers, movement, Oakland, support, women
“Mama” by TuffGyal 808
Mama Ayanna: Activist, Poet, Mother, Healer (shown here with Malia) Interview 2012
Q#1: Are you a Bay Area Native? and if not, how long have you lived in the Bay? Mama Ayanna: No i’m not a Bay Area Native although i had a spiritual affinity with the Bay Area and i knew i was going to live here since i was a child. i have lived here in the Bay Area for most of my life, for over 40 years. My family has lived in the Bay Area since about 1860 or before.
Q#2: When did you start on the creative path you are currently on? Mama Ayanna: My current creative path began as long as I can remember. As a child i would talk and walk with the Ancestars. i was also able to talk to animals and considered myself their protector, going around destroying traps and leaving food for animals in the wild.
i and my sistars used to play in the woods, by the streams and ponds where I grew up, so i developed a relationship with the natural world at an early age as well. i was raised in a family with organic gardeners and farmers and grew up a an ecologist.
i began writing poetry when I was nine years old, but didn’t step out with the spoken word until I was about 23 or 24. i entered my life as an activist at the age of 18 and joined the Pan African Student Union when I attended San Francisco State. I became a member of the National Black Human Rights Coalition shortly afterward and was a founding member of Black August in 1979. I began producing at KPFA in 1985. i was also a founding member of the Oakland Chapter of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement in 1993. i have worked with and formed several women’s organizations including New Afrikan Women for Self Determination and the Conscious New Afrikan Women’s Healing Collective which created the Black Women’s Retreats and the Black Women’s Health and Healing Conferences. i find no separation between the political and the spiritual life. It is all life. As a mother of 7 children (6 sons and 1 daughter) it was important to me to work for the betterment of my community in to try to leave the world a better place for them and for the generations to come.
My level of spiritual leadership began to evolve when i (along with Rashidah Tutashinda) put the call out for a sistar’s healing circle and our first circle brought together about 60 women. i have been leading spiritual ceremony and participating in healing and talking circles since then. It was also during that time period that I began my spiritual study starting with Babalawo Fagbemi Ogundele and other spiritual teachers. Shortly after that I began to practice as a medicine woman. I was initiated into leading the “Sweat Lodge” or what I the “Purification Lodge/Ceremony” was part of my spiritual path.
My path really intensified when i (and Shaka At-Thinnin) opened our business “The Flowing Gourd”. It was one of Oakland’s first “green” businesses. i began practicing herbalism and aromatherapy. From that point on, my practice evolved as my knowledge evolved and Ayanna’s Magic Garden evolved from “The Flowing Gourd”. i received my Masters in Traditional Chinese Medicine in 2007. i am currently natural and Holistic Health Practitioner, Herbalist, Aromatherapist, Nutritionist, Massage and Tui Na Therapist, Doula and Spiritual Life Path Consultant.
Q#3: Where do you find your inspiration? Mama Ayanna: i find my inspiration in nature, especially from the ocean, the Bay, the rivers and mountains of California. i also get my inspiration through daily meditation, from the love of my man, the love of my family, and from my wonderful community.
i am especially inspired by how much creativity and genius i see and experience among the young people in the Bay Area.
Q#4: What was the first piece of vinyl you ever purchased? Mama Ayanna: i believe my first 45 was Dionne Warwick’s ”Walk On By” (i still think i can sing like Dionne Warwick, lol). My first 33 was Wes Montgomery “Bumpin On Sunset”, such a nice piece.
I’ve been listening to Jazz and Blues since i was a child. i remember singing Billie Holliday’s “Motherless Child” when I was 4 or 5 years old.
Q#5: Anything else you’d like to share? a joke/quote?
Mama Ayanna: “i believe in living.
i believe in the spectrum
of Beta days and Gamma people.
i believe in sunshine.
In windmills and waterfalls,
tricycles and rocking chairs;
And i believe that seeds grow into sprouts.
And sprouts grow into trees.
i believe in the magic of the hands.
And in the wisdom of the eyes.
i believe in rain and tears.
And in the blood of infinity…
i believe in living
i believe in birth.
i believe in the sweat of love
and in the fire of truth.”
- Assata Shakur
From her poem “i believe”
Mini Interview with DJ Child
15 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
in Interviews Tags: artists, Community, DJ, HipHop, Oakland, Producer, Reggae, support
DJ Child Project Groundation Massive (PGM) Interview 2012
Q#1: Are you a Bay Area Native? and if not, how long have you lived in the Bay? Child: No. I was born in the village of Oak Hall in Central “Pennsyltucky Pistolvania” …spent my teenage years in Philly & Boston. & now in East Oakland since 2003.
Q#2: When did you start on the creative path you are currently on? Child: From jump… growing up in a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, I had more chickens and goats as friends then other kids (for real.) Timothy ‘Bam Bam’ Rooster, Henrietta Hen, Judy Morning Daylight, Willow, Zorky etc. We had 52 chickens & 13 goats. I had to use my imagination from a very young age in every way. I feel extremely blessed to have grown up in a household where creativity was embraced. My whole family is in the arts (theatre).
Q#3: Where do you find your inspiration? Child: Everywhere (but i know that’s prolly what everyone says) So in an attempt to be more original—my momma, nature (especially flowers) & the streets (in that order).
Q#4: What was the first piece of vinyl you ever purchased? Child: 1st piece of vinyl ever bought for me was Puff the Magic Dragon on 45″…I could put in the back of this toy train and when I moved it, it would play. (see picture >>) 2nd record ever bought for me was the Footloose Soundtrack.
The 1st piece of vinyl I got for myself was Metallica’s “Kill Em’ All” which is still one of my top 10 records of all times. (And I didn’t buy it, I stole it from this dope used record store called Arborea—SORRY!!!)
Q#5: Anything else you’d like to share? a joke/quote?
Child: Fuck Babylon—-Love your Mommma.
Mini Interview with Bridget Goodman
15 Mar 2012 1 Comment
in Interviews Tags: Area, artists, Bay, film, ILM, Lucas Films, Mothers, movement, Photographer, support, Visual Artist, writer
Bridget Goodman: Digital Texture Artist, Painter, Photographer Interview 2012
Q#1: Are you a Bay Area Native? and if not, how long have you lived in the Bay? Bridget: Yes, native to San Francisco.
Q#2: When did you start on the creative path you are currently on? Bridget:I think it has always been with me so I believe I have always been on it. It feels like a continuing memory from something always here.
Q#3: Where do you find your inspiration? Bridget: From everything – thoughts, something I’ve encountered, life’s conversations, nature, sounds and culture.
Q#4: What was the first piece of vinyl you ever purchased?
Bridget: James Brown’s, Hot Pants! I was 6. I just had to have it.
Q#5: Anything else you’d like to share? a joke/quote?
Bridget: “Nothing makes a woman more beautiful than the belief that she is beautiful.” -Sophia Loren, Venice, 1955
Mini Interview with Michael Orange
09 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
in Interviews Tags: Area, Bay, Community, Oakland, support
Michael Orange: Purveyor of good culture & public/private space in the Uptown District of Oakland Interview 2012
Q#1: Are you a Bay Area Native? and if not, how long have you lived in the Bay? Michael: I’ve lived in the bay for eleven years and grew up as one of the nomadic sort. I’ve called North Carolina my home, but also lived in Milwaukee, Baltimore/DC, Detroit, and Chicago. I’ve lived in the bay just about as long as NC and have family who settled here during the Great Migration, so it’s officially become home.
We lived in a huge subdivision with hundreds of homes growing up in NC, and were one of 17 families of African descent in the neighborhood.
Q#2: When did you start on the creative path you are currently on? Michael: My folks would regularly host dinners and parties for all the families to connect. Since, I’ve learned of my grandfather’s similar work to bring distinguished thinkers and musicians such as Baldwin and The Duke to the Lincoln U campus.
This creative path is the one set before me – before me.
Q#3: Where do you find your inspiration? Michael: I’m so enamoured with people! I simply love to meet – PEOPLE!! It’s ruff moving so much as a Kid.. then not fitting in with too many of them anywhere you go, you learn to understand them very well. That is the gift. Some learn language well. Some sports. Painting. I love people and the way groups of people move with respect to one another. The twist is that I’m incredibly private and don’t care for people to know me so much, on the contrary.
Q#4: What was the first piece of vinyl you ever purchased? Michael: Haha – my first piece of vinyl was “We Are The World”!
Saturday mornings we’re reserved for pops, James Earl Orange, to play the vinyl and to assert his prowess as the greatest breakfast chef that ever lived.
Q#5: Anything else you’d like to share? a joke/quote?
Michael: We are the ones..
Top Ten Social’s organizational goal is to push the cultural, artistic and intellectual envelope of Afro-futurist urban expression and create sustainable models through innovative events like their Speaker Series, Performance Series, Fela! in Oakland, and The Gods Must Be Crazy revival www.facebook.com/toptensocial
Mini Interview with Lorenz Mazon Dumuk
09 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
in Interviews Tags: Activist, Area, artists, Bay, Community, Poet, support, writer
Lorenz Mazon Dumuk: Poet, Writer, sweet Spirit Interview 2012
Q#1: Are you a Bay Area Native? and if not, how long have you lived in the Bay? Lorenz: Yes, I was born San Francisco but been living in San Jose since I was 1 years old.
Q#2: When did you start on the creative path you are currently on? Lorenz: I feel I’ve been on and off this path throughout my whole life. Many times I find it difficult to be an artist. A lot of the world gives you reasons not to be one.
When I was child, I fell in love with music. I would always read the words to songs and sing them on the karaoke. At times, I would make those lyrics became mine after awhile. My infatuation with words soon translated over to me writing on my own. I started writing poetry quietly to myself since middle school. I had always enjoyed writing but was rather shy about it because I never felt I had anything important to say.
I would have to thank my friend Tony Santa Ana for helping me share my poetry. Around my senior year in high school he convinced me to try out spoken word. Back in 1997, I didn’t really have too many references to spoken word. I seen people read poetry but no one I encountered was doing spoken word at the time. He let me borrow his Last Poet and Gil Scott Heron albums, which awoke something in me really. Those albums taught me what I could do with this anger I had inside of me; taught me how I could create with so much fire; and taught me how important it is to change the communities I live in.
Sadly though, even though I wrote and performed I never really felt or owned up to being an artist. Three years ago this would change when I attended the APIA Poetry and Spoken Word Summit in 2007. There is something special about being around other writers with similar stories and struggles that made me feel less foreign in my own mind and body. Though this organization I found the compassion to foster the courage to own up to my voice. Here I pushed myself to continue to create as well as help engrain the importance to use my craft to build and strengthen the communities I surround myself with.
Q#3: Where do you find your inspiration? Lorenz: Life continues to be my biggest inspiration. From its grandness, its minute intricacy, its wonders, its fragility, and its people. Whether I am caught in a chaotic disarray, or meditating within silence of myself, there is always a story if I am present enough to listen to it.
Q#4: What was the first piece of vinyl you ever purchased? Lorenz: Being the youngest of three sons in my family, I would always listen to whatever my brothers had. So I never really owned any of the vinyl in my house except one: Gil Scott Heron’s “Small Talk at 125th and Lenox” which was a gift from my friend Tony.
Q#5: Anything else you’d like to share? a joke/quote? Lorenz: Let us never stop reading the books of our past nor forget our ancestors. For these prior struggles and from the love of those before are part of the reasons we are blessed to exist at all. However, we cannot live in our yesterdays as much as we long for its comfort. Let us always be present in the moments we are given and the moments we create. May we challenge ourselves to never stop dreaming and building towards the tomorrows we and our children ahead of us will inherit from us.
