Wanda's Picks  

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 funding commitments. Africa is the hardest hit accounting for 76% of AIDS deaths. Further, only three out of ten Africans needing drugs have access to treatment.We highly encourage all "mourners" to wear black funeral attire. In line with this year's World Aids Day theme of "Human Rights and Universal Access," Africa Action is calling for: * Universal access to drugs * Universal access to prevention services * Universal access to Care and * Universal respect for the human rights and dignity of those affected by HIV/AIDS. We will be demanding from President Obama that the U.S commits a fare share of resources to fighting global HIV/AIDS by fully funding the Global Fund and PEPFAR. Email: outreach@africaaction.org; 202.546.7961 Visit http://www.africaaction.org/ for more information on Africa Action's campaign against HIV/AIDS

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. Joey is also: Co-Director Project Mali. The greatest natural resource in Africa is Africans. Tuesday, Dec. 1, World AIDS Day Perfect Love is hosting a free Community AIDS Awareness Breakfast in East Palo Alto at New Sweet Home Church, 2170 Capitol Ave., (650) 325-1467. 9:00 AM: Loretta Devine, opening @ The Rrazz Room at Hotel Nikko, Friday, November 27 through Sunday, November 29, 2009, 8 PM Fri/Sat. and 7 PM Sun. The Rrazz Room is located at 222 Mason Street in San Francisco, CA 94102. Visit www.therrazzroom.com 9:30: Marc Bamuthi Joseph curator of Left Coast Leaning, Thursday-Saturday, Dec. 3-5, in YBCA’s “Forum Theatre,” 701 Mission Street, 8 p.m., www.ybca.org. Joining Bamuthi is musician, composer, Ambrose Akinmusire who is performing December 5, with Holcombe Waller, Denizen Kane, Erica Chong Shuch, Sean San José, Chinaka Hodge.

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 beatboxer will share a bill with Cuba’s Vocal Sampling on Dec. 5, at the Freight & Savage in Berkeley, CA. The six-man ensemble from Havana will be among the first wave of Cuban artists to tour the U.S. since a performance embargo took effect in the wake of the Buena Vista Social Club. Max Pollak, a soloist, performs what he calls RumbaTap, a form that combines foot-driven percussion with the organic flow of Afro-Cuban rumba; Rashidi Omari, a young Bay Area dancer who specializes in hip-hop contemporary dance, an expression derived from local Oakland culture marked by high energy and a frenetic pace. The Prescott Clowns, an Oakland youth performance group led by hambone artist Derique McGee, along with a student performance group from the San Francisco School, led by Sofia Ibor Lopez perform. Step Afrika! stepping, gumboot, out of Washington, DC, performs Saturday, Dec. 6, 8 PM at the Herbst Theatre, in San Francisco. Visit http://www.crosspulse.com/html/aboutkt.html

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.