Attention Black Bike Riders.

(and to the non black riders, please tell your black friends, solidarity helps us all)



Ever been on one of the many organized bike rides in LA, seen another black person and thought "Would it be weird If I say hi?".



It isn't weird, and you should say hi. This is your chance.



I'm pleased to announce the FREEDOM RIDES. This one is for the brothers and sisters.



I want to invite all black riders of every skill set, regardless of
bike (road, track, cruiser, mountain) to come and meet your fellow
Black, bike enthusiasts. Take a ride around Los Angeles with us, Sunday
Feb 22nd. We will be meeting at Bikestyler Customs on Melrose and
Larchmont at noon. We start pedaling at 1pm. (NO CP TIME haha!)



Route TBA.



CONTACT JAMES (AT) AFROPUNK (DOT) COM with questions, comments, sugeestions etc.



FREEDOM RIDES

Black SOLIDARITY Bicycle Ride

Sunday FEB 22.

Gather at Noon, Ride at 1pm

Meet at BIKESTYLER CUSTOMS - 5621 Melrose ave @ Larchmont, Los Angeles, CA 90038

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Afro-Punk and Dante Fried Chicken presents


SOUND CLASH




with live performances by:


SPANK ROCK


the NOISETTES (u.k)


EARL GREYHOUND


YO MAJESTY


SANTO GOLD


APES


OCT. 19th, New York City


http://www.ticketmaster.com/venue/47 for tickets


see you there!



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oct news letter
if you would like to get this monthly in your email give me your address.

http://www.whiteliesblacksheep.com/newsletters/oct3blast/oct3blast.html

http://www.urb.com/media/images/afropunk/

check it out. that was a fun ass festival.

go to
http://www.whiteliesblacksheep.com/newsletters/sept1blast/sept1blast.html

If you want to have these newsletters sent to you directly (6-8 a year) than just hit me back with your email address.

James

check out this interview. afropunk, white lies black sheep and race politics (and some pictures of us behind the scenes of white lies)

http://schememag.com/fresh/punk-you-film-rock-race-according-to-james-spooner/

you can read about the now in progress in the following publications.


NEW YORK OBSERVER (weekly nyc paper) - "conquest of the apes" mention in the short list section to run june 27th (a jacobs)

THE NEW YORK SUN (daily news, opinion, sports, arts, entertainment, and lifestyle articles along with classified) - events in listings (j daniel)

TIME OUT NEW YORK (popular weekly regional listing and feature mag, a&e) - running photo and the series will be listed in their A&I section (m anderson)

NEW YORK PRESS(New York's alternative newspaper. Interviews, opinion, arts, listings, restaurants, music, bands, books, movies) - feature preview in june 27th issue (j portwood/ b jam)

FLAVORPILL (free weekly email magazine of cultural events going on in New York) - preview (j lancaster)

URB (largest electronic magazine in america) - 6 page feature. issue tba. (r rocker)

the new york metro wrote the following article today.


Say it loud: I'm black and I'm punk!
'Afro-Punk' festival provides a platform for alternative black music, films

by nana ekua brew-hammond / metro new york

JUN 29, 2007

PROFILE. If hip-hop icon Jay-Z was taken to task by DMX for wearing flip-flops on vacation, you can imagine what it's like for filmmakers James Spooner, Cinqué Lee and the tribe of Mo — and the faux hawk-rocking, body-pierced and tattooed, rock music-loving black punks they belong to. Spooner's 2003 documentary "Afro-Punk" deftly chronicled the experiences of four black punks in particular, and as a result garnered critical acclaim, screening invitations from domestic and international film festivals, and a devoted audience of punks and open minds.

Sold-out screenings at BAM led Spooner to suggest that the arts and culture organization let him host a festival of his own. Friday marks the festival's third year of programming.

"We're providing an opportunity for alternative black programming and thinking," says Spooner of the festival's mission and this year's theme, black rebellion. It focuses on the Black Panther Party's contributions to alternative black thinking. Spooner will screen his new film, "White Lies / Black Sheep," a mockumentary he says isn't 100 percent auto-biographical but is definitely informed by the issues he grappled with as a black punk. He called the experience therapeutic.

"I've gotten all the validation and whatever I need," he says of his films, which he hopes will build a supportive community for this often-stigmatized subculture. "I also recognize that there are people who are in the place that I was, now." Not to mention the fact, he says, that people who look like him can still expect harassment from fellow blacks.

Cinqué Lee (Spike's brother),whose own mockumentary "UR4 Given" is screening at the festival, says he believes he's been the butt of jokes particularly because of his hair. "It's not really a style," he says during a break after a long week spent editing sessions for a film he's working on. Several days before, a young black girl laughed at him on the train. "I felt so f-cking embarrassed for her. Here we are, the only two black people on the train and she's laughing at this black guy she doesn't even know. Out loud. The whole ride." Ironically, Lee adds, "Everyone was embarrassed for me though."

That said, incidents such as this — and the films, music and art inspired by them — make the community stronger. "You change the way you look, or you own it," Lee says. For Spooner, it means more creative ways to tell the diverse stories of black punks. On the phone in L.A. where he recently moved to pursue screenwriting and filmmaking opportunities, Spooner says ultimately, "The goal is that 'Afro-Punk' doesn't need to exist."

go to

http://afropunk.com/events/juneblast/blast3.html

to get the latest update on the afro-punk festival.

if you would like to recieve it as an email in the future hit me back with your address.

thanks

james

read all about it here.

http://afropunk.com/events/juneblast/blast1.html

I've posted the MTV spots. Not the best piece on me but it's probably the best press. Thanks Viacom.

check them out.



new link.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=1943006576