Summer is HERE!
Programs coming up August 1–15 ~
AfroSolo in the Gardens
Sat Aug 1, 1–2:30pm
In collaboration with Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, AfroSolo Arts Festival presents its 15th annual free concert in Yerba Buena Gardens.
Drummer Linda Livingston is accompanied by Daryl Bishop (bass), Reggie Brown (rhythm guitar), Rodney Connor (lead guitar), Lorenzo Macon (drums), and George Stanley (saxophone). Livingston started playing the drum set at age 21, quickly adding congas, timbales and trap drums to her repertoire. She has performed alongside Sheila E., Pete and Juan Escovedo and Lenny Williams to name a few. She is a member of the band “D-Hook,” performing smooth jazz and original compositions. Livingston is currently performing at San Francisco’s Cyclone Warehouse, where she has an acting role in The Emperor Jones.
William (Bill) Norwood’s career as a musician began at the tender age of 4, through the encouragement of his mother, Dorothy Norwood. He has performed with acts such as Robert “Magic Man” Winters, The Gospel Hummingbirds, Lenny Williams, The Drifters, Robin Duhe. He is currently involved in Top Shelf Classics and is a principle musician and coach with Industry Coach for TIBC-TV. For today’s concert Norwood is accompanied by Lorenzo Hawkins (keyboard), Arlington Houston (bass), Morris LeGrande (guitar) and Roussell White (trumpet).
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San Francisco Mime Troupe’s Freedomland
Sun Aug 2, 2–3pm
Pre-show music at 1:30pm
Fasten your seatbelts for another wild yet thought-provoking ride with the world-renowned San Francisco Mime Troupe.
In Freedomland, young Nathaniel returns from serving in Afghanistan only to find another war zone at home. Meanwhile the Mayor and the Police Chief – one desperate for votes, the other desperate to fund his militarized police force – ramp up the fear (and their shiny new tank) to fight the newest, drug threat to America… worse than weed, meth, coke, crack, or crank, it’s… SNORF!!
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Raq Filipina
Thu Aug 6, 12:30–1:30pm
Fusing her Filipino roots with Afro-Cuban, Brazilian and Caribbean rhythms and chill electronica, Bay Area vocalist Raq Filipina has crafted a highly personal sound that’s urgent and nostalgic, mysterious and welcoming, uplifting and challenging. An award-winning composer and performer who grew up in a musical family in the midst of Manila’s tumult, Filipina makes a striking first impression with her sensuous vocals. At the age of six, she began selling fruits and vegetables in the sidewalk market to earn pocket money, and the sights, sounds, and colors that inundated her continue to shape her compositions today.
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Pistahan
Sat Aug 8, 11am–5pm
Sun Aug 9, 11am–5pm
Celebrating Filipino and Filipino-American arts and culture, the 22nd annual Pistahan features several art pavilions and stages highlighting contemporary and traditional music, dance, art, crafts, cuisine, and artifacts. A trade expo offers products unique to the Philippines, including foods, books, jewelry, clothes and products for the home created from mother of pearl, bamboo, coconut, mahogany, marble, pineapple fiber and more. It’s the next best thing to a trip to Manila!
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Poetic Tuesday with Litquake
Tue Aug 11, 12:30–1:30pm
Enjoy line breaks during your lunch break, as some of the Bay Area’s best poets and musicians share their work in the great outdoors.
Indira Allegra is a Jackson Literary Award winner, former Lambda Literary Fellow, and has forthcoming work in Red Indian Road West: Native American Poetry from California. She has been interviewed by BBC Radio 4 and KQED.
José Luis Gutiérrez is a San Francisco poet whose work has appeared in Eratio, Jetfuel, The Cortland Review, Scythe, Margie, Letterbox, and DMQ.
Erik Noonan is the author of Stances (2012) and Haiku d’Etat (2013). Recent work appears in 32 Poems Magazine, Denver Quarterly, Samizdat, Sensitive Skin Magazine, [sic], The Small Press Book Review, and SubtleTea.
Emily Wolahan is the author of Hinge (2015). Her poetry has appeared in Gulf Coast, OmniVerse, DIAGRAM, Boston Review, and Drunken Boat. She is editor at JERRY Magazine and a member of the San Francisco Writer’s Grotto.
Ellisa Sun is a San Francisco-based singer-songwriter who aims to incorporate folk, jazz, and neo-soul into her tunes, drawing influences from artists like Jack Johnson to Amy Winehouse and Lauryn Hill.
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Sonex
Thu Aug 13, 12:30–1:30pm
Sonex is at the forefront of a son jarocho renaissance in Veracruz, Mexico, as these virtuoso musicians combine the folk music traditions learned from the elders with virtuosic performance skills and a fusion of elements of rock, jazz, hip hop and funk. This unique blend is a representation of contemporary Mexican culture, rooted in deep traditions that help them explore new musical frontiers.
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Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers
Sat Aug 15, 1–2:30pm
With a vast repertoire of vintage R&B, jump blues, and dance-inducing standards, the flammable Lavay Smith is the Bay Area’s undisputed queen of swing. Backed by her all-star Red Hot Skillet Lickers, she delves into the most soulful chapters of the Great American Songbook. The most sincere form of flattery in jazz is being yourself, and Smith puts her own inimitable stamp on material associated with a glittering pantheon, including songs made famous by Billie Holiday, Etta James, Sarah Vaughan, Patsy Cline, Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington.
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Children’s Garden Series
Fun, interactive programs for children under 10 and their adults. School groups and day camps are welcome. Hats are advised for sun protection.
Crosspulse
Fri, Aug 7, 11–11:30am & 12:15pm–12:45pm | Free
Using finger snaps, tight slaps, chest thumps, foot drags, hand rubs, and percussive dance steps, Crosspulse Ensemble performances are designed to entrance children with an international array of rhythms, instruments, and obscure musical practices. With five extraordinary artists versed in body percussion and a diverse array of traditions, Crosspulse features Keith Terry (jazz, body music), Evie Ladin (Appalachian), Omar Ledezma (Afro-Venezuelan), Bryan Dyer (beatbox), and Amber Hines (African-American spiritual). Creating a joyful noise that sure to entrance adults as well as kids, Crosspulse is a Bay Area treasure known for bringing body music into classrooms, theaters and nightclubs around the world.
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The Unique Derique
Fri, Aug 14, 11–11:30am & 12:15–12:45pm
A beloved Bay Area institution, the Unique Derique is a prince among clowns, an internationally esteemed performer who has honed a singular blend of physical comedy and hambone body percussion. Derique (aka Lance McGee) started clowning in Berkeley at 15 with Circus A La Mode and later joined San Francisco’s Pickle Family Circus. He’s also a licensed drama therapist and school counselor who teaches mindfulness. Whether he’s in a park, Harlem’s storied Apollo Theatre, or collaborating with Bobby McFerrin, The Temptations, or the late Sammy Davis Jr., the Unique Derique earns gales of laughter with his wildly imaginative skits.
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Special Project
Jazz Latino: Multi-dimensional Artistic Expression in the Americas
Wednesdays Aug 5 – Sept 9, 7-9pm (6-class series)
@Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD)
John Santos, Instructor
Members: $15 per class / $75 full series
Public: $20 per class / $100 full series
100 years have passed since the word jazz arose to crown what would become our country’s national art form. Jazz has come a long way in that time, and Latin American elements have played a major role in its formation, development, and current state, and will certainly affect its future.
Members sale begins 7/1/15
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Great recent moments at YBG Festival
More videos at the YBG Festival YouTube channel.
YBG Festival also recommends…
Live. Local. Downtown. Free.
Discover the unexpected at Union Square Live’s free outdoor music, dance, theater, film, comedy and more. Every Wednesday at 6pm and Sundays at 2pm.
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At the Children’s Creativity Museum:
Design a car and see how fast you can make it go when you apply science and engineering! All materials provided, just bring your imagination. (Ages 6+) July 11 & 25, 1:00pm & 2:30pm
Click for Details