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InPrint
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2003 - 06:43 pm: | 
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Hi All,
HBF was bigger than ever. I've been going to it since it was 20 people and a little platform stage on 125th Street, which was only 4 years ago. There were about 18,000 people out there for this one. 135th was full- with mostly book stuff too, as opposed to earlier years where halfway down the block it turned into a generic black street art bazaar. The publishers had their tents in full effect, larger than ever before. Authors I ran into:
Eric Dickey
Brian K. Jackson
R.M. Johnson
Mat Johnson
Colin Channer
Victor LaValle
Shawne Johnson
Ishmael Reed
Walter Mosley
Victoria Murray
Rack O'Lamb
Jill Nelson
Karen Q- Miller
It was disorganized, as always, but more came off well than didn't. The reading stage was better (seats this time) but still a mess, big ups to all who were brave enough to read. There was a second stage/mic in the back for young slam poets, who mostly made me want to slam my hands to my ears.
Personal highlight: seeing Karem Abdul Jabar stroll the crowd. And seeing the whole thing the next day on C-Span2.
AALBC was in full effect. Mosaic was in the house.
Any thoughts, comments, Q's?
ps- Max R. got his tooth fixed. Big up to corporate sponsorship money. Maybe now The Quarterly Black Review will actually come out four times a year!
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yasmin
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, July 22, 2003 - 09:25 pm: |
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Hey Inprint...APOOO was in da house! I actually had a tent at HBF and yea I hear you about DISARRAY, NO ORGANIZATION AND all the bad and ugly stuff that come with events that are not coordinated well. Thank goodness the day was not a total lose and there were more highlights than down moments for me. I was blessed to have authors signing at the APOOO tent and this helped drastically to move books. Karen Miller, Daaimah Poole, Jill Nelson, Leslie Esdaile, Gwynne Forster, Donna Hill, Glenville Lovelle, Alex Hairston, Luke Thomas, Stanice Anderson, Victoria Christopher Murray all contributed to the success of the APOOO tent.
I was down near the 'angry poet' stage and can I say some of these folks were angry just for the sake of being angry. One poet was angry because a brotha had bad breathe...rotflmao...anyway my family and I had an EVENTFUL day. I'm glad I was able to FINALLY get a tent (didn't matter that I paid for one...they RAN out of tents and some folks didn't get one) and that the weather wasn't as hot as last year. One thing I missed as a vendor tho' was attending the panels and going to the different publishers collecting freebies. ;) Although many folks who attended last year and this year said that there were WAY more attendees this year and the lines were too long to wait around for any freebies that might not be available.
BTW...I knew there were a lot of folks but how do they actually try and count them for this type of event.
I wish I would have known you were going to be at the event maybe I could have put a name with a face.;) |
InPrint
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, July 23, 2003 - 11:00 am: |
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Damn, if I had known I would have come by. You guys have been nice to me on my new book and I would have liked to thank you.
Ways HBF could be better:
1. A printed, easily available map of booths, as well as a schedule of panels. I think most of the people there didn't even know the panels were happening. Maybe a screen on the street so people could follow the discussion.
2. A tent for the reading series, it would keep in the sound and eliminate the distractions.
3. A seperate generic black vendor section as well as multiple food and porta-potties on 136th St.
4. An after party. All that energy builds up and then there's nowhere to go. I'm actually thinking of throwing one next year, inviting writers, publishers, librarians, book clubs folks, etc. As long as Thumper comes and does his patented striptease for the crowd. Work it big man! |
Yasmin
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, July 23, 2003 - 12:38 pm: |
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InPrint...okay now you have to hit me offloop regarding which new book we reviewed which was written by you. ;)I agree with all of your suggestions regarding HBF (along with set up actually STARTING ONTIME for once in Max's life...sigh) and I would love to see them implemented.
#1 is easy and a no-brainer. He should be able to do that with no problem. Additionally maybe he could get one of the publishers to print out maps/panel session information which can be given out to folks as they enter the fair. Also they could announce the panels throughout the day on the main stage.
#2 Yep a tent makes sense and once again it wouldn't cost very much...also would encourage more folks to come and actually sit down maybe to originally get out of the sun but once they're there they might actually listen to the authors and decide to purchase their book.
#3 Now regarding the porta-potties Max was told last year he NEEDED them. A best-selling author asked him where were the porta-potties for this year...his response supposedly was..."he couldn't afford them." WTF?!?!
I agree regarding having all of the non-book and food vendors together. Actually there is a courtyard in the middle of the block which he could use for the food vendors which would be perfect! Max is still going through growing pains and there's still so much he has yet to learn and do. I just wish he would implement something new every year rather than lying/laying on past laurels.
#4 Hey start working on that after party! I'm game! Let me know if you need any assistance...I think with advance planning YOU can make it happen!
This was my second year at the Harlem Book Fair and I can honestly say that this an event that I plan to attend every year because there's just nothing like the charge/energy I get from NYC and then when you add authors and books...WOW it's on for me. Also for the money, I can't beat this event! |
InPrint
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, July 23, 2003 - 02:26 pm: |
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Y-
Me, I'm Anon O. Mous. I like coming here to bug with other readers, book lovers openly, without self-promotion or censorship (mine or others) getting in the way. I'm not big anyway, just another person who loves reading and writing, and that's all that's important. So my name is InPrint.
You're so right, the schoolyard halfway down the block would be perfect for food, etc. It's a good thing the weather was comparitively mild this year, or the tent thing would have been a bigger issue.
Speaking of bigger issues, I think the one here is the Black habit of doing things half ass, doing too much to be able to do it well, and shrugging off issues of quality. What is that about??? If we have enough to do 50 well, we'll try to do 100 poorly. Anytime the essentail issue of quality comes up, it's just a "at least we tried" shrug.
Max, for example. The panels were disorganized last year, all started late, some people were invited to participate months before the event and then removed from the panel without their knowledge, only figuring it out when their plane tickets never came. What is Max's reaction when more sponsorship money pours in? Instead of organizing the event he has, he makes it twice as big, on two stages, brings in C-Span and it's even more disorganized. One author, for example, didn't even know he was scheduled to be a panelist until he happened to see his name listed online a couple days before. Nobody ever contacted him about it in the first place.
I think Max tries. But he doesn't try to do things well, or give enough consideration to the people attending or participating (i.e. your tent story). He has been Extremely fortunate that he started this event at a time when black books were exploding, the Altanta Black Arts Fest was dying down, and corporations were starving a way to get at black consumers. I think we all benefit from what has resulted, but unless he gets it together, I worry that the scattered organization will speed up the demise.
In contrast, I've found the events done by Calabash (in Jamaica) and the Hurston-Wright Foundation (out of DC) to be extremely organized and respectful of all who've participated.
As for not enough money being around for toilets, I'll tell you this: it's estimated that he's pulling in a half a mil in sponsorship money now. And QBR sure isn't staying afloat on subscriptions and ad sales. |
Yasmin
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, July 28, 2003 - 07:54 pm: |
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Received from another list serv:
>>INFO: call for a revolutionary black book fair
===================================
Folks,
The fundamental purpose of the Harlem Book Fair is to hustle the capitalist/racist megapublishers. Hence, the Fair helps feed
and legitimize the new low level of published Black writers in all genres. A few $$$$ are passed over to the organizers (Max Rodriguez and his Quarterly Book Review assistants- checkout
<www.qbr.com>). Independent Black book publishers are there for the "Harlem/Black authenticity flava."
Gentrifying Harlem is the nostalgic backdrop for the ongoing literary gentrification of Black writing. It's so perfect for the bourgeois press's "human interest" sections.
The issues of geographical, gender, age and political balance is incidental. The issues of Black cultural crisis and Blaxploitation
in the publishing industry gets very superficial peripheral attention, if at all. In other words, don't expect anything more from the Harlem Book Fair but pimping and fawning the Great White Publishers.
Like the Black Arts Festival in Atlanta; in the absence of a strong Black social movement, negro wannabe capitalist rise to the ocassion and deliver/define our culture to the rulingclass.
We need to help build that new revolutionary social movement and its representative Book Fair... be it in Oakland, DC, Chicago,
Philly, Roxbury or Bed-Stuy. We know who to contact and how to raise the $$$$ to pull it off.
In Struggle,
Sam Anderson
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Reply by Marvin X:
I agree with Sam. West Coast writers, I call upon you to pull together for a revolutionary black book fair. My Recovery Theatre is available for such an event. The following people have expressed an interest or would be expected to participate:
Nathan Hare
Julia Hare
Angela Davis
Bobby Seale
David Hilliard
Devorah Major
Opal Palmer
Reginald Lockett
Ishmael Reed
Cecil Brown
Amiri Baraka
Sonia Sanchez
The Last Poets
Marvin X
Jamie Walker
Askia Toure >>
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InPrint
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 12:36 am: |
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Fascinating! Thank you!
First, Yasmin, what newsgroup was this found on?
It's an amazing throwback to sixties/seventies calls to arms. Stylistically, it can be read to the beat of Baraka's "Nation Time." Notice how the list of writers all over 50.
I agree whole heartedly with much of it, and differ significantly to some as well. White publishers are at the HBF in full effect purely to find a new revenue stream. Max is, in part, out to cash in. The vast majority of black writers there are there to become rich and famous, in that order.
I held back my bile at a panel in 2001 called "Black Male Writers- the descedents of Wright and Ellison, or just riding the coat-tails of the sistas." Not only was the topic moronic, but the panel was composed entirely of commercial writers. At one point, when asked what was the difference between commerical and literary fiction, Nelson George responded, "None, Sumner Redstone [CEO of Viacom] gets paid either way." It was only out of shock that I didn't storm the stage and put my foot in his ass right there.
On the other hand, I don't believe in art purely for the sake of politics either. I believe in art for the sake of it, the grace and beauty of it, the elevation of life in all its shades that great art represents.
The problem with the Black Arts movement (which many on this list, and its author, represent) is that they put politics first and art second, and as a result they usually ended up with second rate art. This is a new age, we need to be asking new questions, coming up with new answers and movements. Looking at that list, only a few among them has anything new to say.
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Chris Hayden
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 11:34 am: |
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In Print:
Re The Black Arts Movement--that was Art in the service of politics. There were far more important things going on than the need of the Artist to express himself--there was the need of the Artist to be treated as a full citizen, as a human being. Wanting to be part of this then, many artists subordinated their need for self expression to what they saw as the greater need of the group (and thus even themselves).
By no means did all Black Artists do this, by the way. Some thought it intruded on their rights as an artist (while greedily lunging forth to grab the fruits of the political struggle)and elected for self expression.]
One may listen to the last poets and pronounce them crude and inartistic in comparison with poets who came before and after--one may, find more craft, more skill, more "art" in them, but one cannot deny that their work makes more "artistic" work pale to insignificance.
Perhaps it was the time and place--I did hear them when they were truly new, fresh and revolutionary in the early 70's.
I wonder why "artistic" poets or writers cannot inspire the youth now? |
Cynique
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 12:47 pm: |
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Well, Chris, TuPac seems to still have the ear of the younger generation, seemingly telling them what they want to hear. His mother ought to have somebody who sounds like her son record some "Lost" tapes that will put a different spin on things. This younger generation could benefit from some mind control that would brainwash them into accepting a better set of values. That's the art of manipulation.
InPrint: the number one best selling book "The DaVinci Code" really provides some fascinating insight into the subtle role "art" played in the politics of religion. Obviously, illustrated art can be an effective medium because it is visual, whereas the prose of ideas is abstract. Are there any outstanding black painters out there? I'm sure there are. |
Kola
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, July 29, 2003 - 05:44 pm: |
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HI CHRIS,
I love Tupac Shakur, writer Paul Beatty...and Public Enemy...K.R.S. One...Lauryn Hill and Spike Lee. The chick who wrote "Getting Mother's Body".
All of these are clearly continuations of the Black Arts Movement--even if they don't see themselves that way.
We have India Arie, Jill Scott, the Roots and Erykuh Badu...ALWAYS illuminating many of the same points that you hear me making.
In music...and mostly amongst "black women" (the wombbearers)...there is a very vibrant underground sort of Feminist Black Arts movement going on, however, old timers like Amiri Baraka and Ishmael Reed...would not be comfortable with this new "womanist" energy--because the women are not just confronting race and color issues, but they are demanding the DEATH of the "pimp" and an end to "black male misogyny" as we've known it.
I don't see how the NEW Angela Davis...could really hold hands with Baraka and Reed and be "equal" on stage with them. As Sister Pearl Cleage has pointed out (God love her)--Baraka and Reed are two of the biggest misogynists that ever were. And let me add Marvin X (a man who casually refers to black women as "Ho's" in his email) to the same docket. Does he really want to hear what black women have to say today?
Could he withstand being followed on a podium by Kola Boof? I don't think so. And isn't the "flamboyant" behavior that I have been accused of...the Stock and Trade of men like Baraka, Marvin X and Ishmael Reed? Yes...I'm a sort of woman version of those men, although as a woman, I am immediately detested rather than respected. In other words--it would be "disasterous!". I might even have to knock one of them out.
You asked:
I wonder why "artistic" poets or writers cannot inspire the youth now?
KOLA:
Chris, you once mentioned having to endure the watching of ROOTS. So obviously, you were from a generation that predisposed you to being very sensitive and "responsible" for what happened to black people...as a people. You were expected to "Know your history" and to not trust "white folks" (with good reason).
But kids today are mostly raised by "makeshift" black communities who assumed that the revolution was over. They got a good job...moved amongst whites...slept with whites...saw themselves in movies and t.v. programs......and figured--"We're free now."
Blacks just don't talk about "the race" to the kids as much as they did when you were a boy. We've become complacent and "placated".
But my sons and the sons of say..Lauryn Hill...will be a different generation with a different PERSPECTIVE...on "how we liv'n". It's really the Black Woman who is now at the forefront of salvaging our cultural identity, our race itself and our future.
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