Kehinde Wiley | The World Stage: Israel

It's crazy how time flies and I'll look back and I'll see that my last post was in March...and it's May now. Just like that. Crazy. Coordinating hundreds of people to get ready for San Francisco Carnaval Parade. Planning a wedding. Getting used to holding down a family/household. Chasing a speedily growing baby who at 9 months is giving me a run for my no-money. Trying to maintain some level of physical and mental health. and on and on...

Ya it's spring time and my life is just that. Still, I am going to trying to check this out before it ends on May 27, the bills at the BART station has been catching my eye for months. I was firstly intrigued by this bright image (of course), but mostly drawn by the Yoruba twin name Kehinde....but was like wtf does a Nigerian first name with a non Nigerian last name, got to do with Israel... I was hella confused.

But I did my research and found out. And I'm there. Someone who's all about putting images of black men into the "high" class of art and culture. So the shi shi pinky up side of me thinks I ought to dress cute and get out to see this, and nod my head solemnly and ask my hubby what room he thinks one of these may look good in.

Read about it

Check this article about him in GQ

Romanticizing My Heritage: Igbo

Nairaland is the place to be to talk about all aspects of Nigerian culture. Sometimes I get too sucked in, it ends up being a time warp. A lovely one nonetheless. I've found myself here from random google searches, to my husband and I doing research for our Igba Nkwu wedding ceremony, and to creating atmosphere for my book (*cough*).  Was just looking at some really cool photos folks posted of Colonial Igboland. Make me both smile & tear up. (More about this in another post)

 Check out that hair!

See more

Dance all Day for Ten Dalla!

You ain't gotta tell me twice!

For Hungry Girls who eat Fried Chicken when the Salad is enough

Yeah. I started a food blog. Check out my cool photos and shit.

Oh and send me some ideas while you're at it.

don't hATE. just appreciATE. (teehee)

I watch this Video a lot

To keep me inspired. As the bad-ass African Woman that I be.



See how that fool filming tried to make himself relevant? Just like a man. smh. lol

This Show Rocked my World

 Thank you! Our Daily Bread show for being so awesome! Thanks to Amara Tabor-Smith and an amazing cast and CounterPulse for sharing life with us and bringing us amazing shit. I balled my eyes out. This weekend is sold out, but I really think there needs to be a few more weekends of showings. A special bow for my dear dear friend and fierce woman Tossie Long. Her singing makes me want to change my life for the better! 

p.s. this is where the 'Sneeze of Shame' took place. *cringe*

Watch: Africa Straight Up

The Bob Marley Documentary

BOB MARLEY FILM Trailer from Bob Marley Film on Vimeo.


The cool thing about this project is that it was done by his family and so it shed some light on the personal part of his life and journey as told by his family and close friends. His music is so timeless and it's good to see his family come together to give him a well deserved tribute.

The documentary is set to be released for limited theatrical viewing tomorrow. You can view a list of cities and dates where it will be showing here . It will be streaming live on Facebook and fingers crossed...will eventually be available on Netflix. You can read a review about it on the Cocoa Diaries

The Afro-Urban Dance Experience: First Class Down: Nov 1: Track List & Video Post

 For folks who don't know. I started teaching a workshop for Adults & Teens in San Francisco. I will be documenting and writing about some aspects of it. Join the fun!

The Afro-Urban Dance Experience: First Class Down: Nov 1: Track List & Video Post: I had the best time of my life teaching and dancing at the first class of the Afro-Urban Street & Club Dance workshop . I couldn't have ask...

Crawling the Art of the Twin Cities

I've been playing this game of: if not one in the Bay Area ...in what other cities could I see myself possibly living? I may have just added the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul), Minnesota to my short but growing list. I've had hints of an interesting arts/culture scene coming from this area but never was quite convinced and since I hadn't visited and explored it as an adult it was never really on my map. Hmm...

From the homey streets, nostalgia-inducing buildings to the menu boards at Golden's Deli, an eatery that boasts fresh, local and tasty all wrapped in pretty. I was mildly smitten.
(I have been intrigued with the mysterious-to-me art of Menu signage and this place has one of the best I have seen in the country/world?)

After my delicious garden omelet and fresh squeezed lemonade I was able to get a sneak peak of the St. Paul art crawl which I unfortunately didn't get to check out in all its glory because I had other engagements elsewhere, but the little I did see made my heart pitter patter, and maybe my love for this place became full blown.

I met two artists/artisans who had items that I adored and I'm sure you will too.

The first was Storm

I think Storm is my Mid-west Jewelry concept counterpart...I always wish that I had the patience or diligence to make necklaces but I may have just been inspired to actually do it.  love the found pieces put together to create something new and fresh. I started making earrings from using old/broken jewelry and random found object things so this is really cool to me. From a little e-birdie I've found out she's a May baby. Lightbulb! Of course she is... her work is fabulous (not that I'm biased or anything). She is definitely a May Fly!

The second was "Deli Girl"

I love the bright colors of her pieces, and her unique style. She had originals, prints and sketchbook and journals. I meant to purchase a journal book (addict that I am) but had a brain fart and planned to go back but ended up not having time.

Still as much as I crushed on Twin Cities..Cali trumps... Weather, Racial & Cultural diversity, unlimited fresh healthy food options at low prices. So I won't be moving to the Twin Cities any time soon. I'll be back to visit though!

BouGhettaDiaries: N'Kale's Slawlad

For years I've been gently (and life-threateningly) coerced to post recipes of food and drinks that I make. This is hard because I'm a little bit of a careless mad scientist; I generally just go with my intuition, use whatever is available and most times things come out delicious, other times an acquired taste and the a few time just downright meehhh. But usually I generally find it hard to document and then subsequently share my recipes because I make them up as I go along.

This post is dedicated to my cousin who recently requested a recipe. I have some recipes that I've managed to somewhat document but I have only shared with close friends who ask. And now I'm sharing with the world!! mauahahaha. By the way these recipes are written in a not very precise manner...you have to guess some things and do it your own way. No rigid cups or teaspoons or western-culinary-correct terms of measurement or food preparation (okay maybe a few).

No promises or anything but maybe I'll do this regularly. We'll call it the Chef BouGhetta Diaries:
Recipes from a struggling health-conscious African with a hint of Hippie and broke. Never purist. My mantra: eat more veggies, some fruit, lean proteins and whole grains and never compromise on flavor.

And here we go

nKale's Slawlad
Ingredients

• 1 big bunch of fresh Greens (Kale or Chards work better than Mustard or Collard because these have strong tastes)
• 1-3 fresh carrots
• Raisins
• almonds (or any nuts you like)
• 1-2 each Plums, Apricots, Nectarines (firm)
• Apples if you want or have (can be used in place of stone fruits or in addition)

Dressing
Fresh lemon juice (1 lemon)
Olive Oil (about 1-2 tablespoons)
apple cider (or any fruit based) vinegar (about same amount as lemon) (you can substitute vinegar for a fruit juice that is sweet but a bit acidic i.e. pineapple/orange)
honey (about a table spoon to sweeten)
Black pepper (pinch)
Salt (pinch)

How to prepare
Julienne/Shred all the vegetables and fruits and mix in bowl
Chop nuts and add in; add in raisins
Douse with the dressing and let it sit for at least 30mins to 'cook' (longer is fine...)
It is ready when all the ingredients seem mixed in and relaxed...or the flavor of the greens is way strong


Send me a photo of you enjoying it!

-n

Chinua Achebe forces 50 Cent to rename movie

"You know, sometimes it's not the actual story/publication but the comment box that tells you what's really going on in the world"-N

Things fall apart for rapper as Nigerian writer makes him change forthcoming film title to avoid conflict with 1958 novel

50 Cent has been undone by one of Africa's greatest novelists, Chinua Achebe. The rapper's latest movie has been renamed ahead of its release, due to a conflict with Achebe's most famous work.
Things Fall Apart, published by Achebe in 1958, is Nigeria's most famous English-language novel. It has sold more than 8m copies worldwide. Unfortunately, 50 Cent was not aware of this. He spent much of 2010 shooting a film of the same name, the story of an American football player diagnosed with cancer. "It's a project that I wrote, produced and financed myself," he explained last year. Directed by Mario Van Peebles, it premiered at the Miami film festival in March and is expected to be released soon.
Read More..

 -p.s. I stole the title of the blog post

The Murmur of Oakland...A Place to Be

First Friday of the month just went by and I can't believe it has been a month since I went on my first First Friday Red Bike & Green ride.  This post could be very long but I'm not able to do that these days, but I just want to say that some of my thoughts and feelings that color this post are very well written by Chinaka Hodge in this blog post. Where she talks about Red Bike and Green and some of the things it opens up for her.

Well last night I went out on my first Oakland Art Murmur stroll (*collective gasp* from the people). I love living in Oakland and for the past few years have been internally passionate about creating a social connection here mostly in the form of trying to get my SF friends to come out this side of town to party, and hosting parties and other events in Oakland. I still am not up to par as far as really being immersed in the political, youth development, and art world that is unique to Oakland. I wish I was...but as a lot of my work and connections are in SF right now...well that's the way it is.

Artwork by Scott La Rockwell from the Smashbox Contemporary 1st Year Anniversary

ANYWAY so I went to Art Murmur because ms Tossie called and made me aware that it's possible to actually get dressed and go out and be involved, and see, and talk. Gosh. Sometimes I forget that. I am really such a homebody it's ridiculous.

 Oakland is changing y'all...or trying at least. And I'm still in the 'I don't know how I feel about it' phase. I'm not a native, nor have I lived here long enough to say 'I am Oakland'. But for the past four going on five years I've paid rent here, partied, thrown parties, have a lot of friends and 'community members' that also live here, and more recently ride my bike to the BART station. The look and feel of it has radically changed even in just the past 2 years.

Can't wait to get my Los Rakas Cd!

 Art Murmur was awesome, the persuasion being the inclusion or increase in display of Art from Black people and other people of color, hence increase of color in the stroll.

I went late (haha), and I'm still so shy with taking pics so there are not a lot of photos but I connected with some old and newly acquainted folks doing 'things'.
Anyka of www.bettiono.com celebrated the one year anniversary of Smashbox

Tossie and I ran into Alanna of www.uptownrunway.com who is hosting an event at Mosswood Park on Monday Sep 5.

 All in all it was a lovely time out. I didn't do the First Friday ride but I did bike to the Art Murmur...
Check out the rest of the photos on good ol' fb

Put this on your Tongue... Okay how about this?

It's summer time (okay the end of it) and my newest obsession is mixing some shites.

I always have one of these...phases. God help me. The problem with me is that I lack patience, dilligence and time to pursue it.

Well so yeah if I wasn't lacking those things I would be one of those people with a fancy blog and I would put up a recipe a day, take pictures of the products and write interesting narratives describing my process. But as I'm well-versed on the fact that I don't follow through, here's all you will get.

I'll just let you know, for this transient phase I'm into using my food processor to create homemade salad dressing using fresh herbs, oils and fresh produce, and using my measuring spoon to come up with seasonings from current spices on my rack and dried & fresh herbs from the garden out here.

I always have ideas and fixations going on in my head but also wary that I need to try to not do and be EVERYTHING!

Anyhoo, my friend Tossie was over the other day and requested (coerced me into making) some seasonings, so I was motivated and whipped her up some stuff.  The names and mixes are inspired by different types of 'sensibilities' and cultures of cooking food... from the Oregon coast hippies to Mama Iyabo on the streets of Lagos. I also listed what kinds of 'proteins' they will be good on. A lot of them are generally good for cooked vegetables & salad dressings as well.

We did some raw finger dip taste test and seems like it will be good. But I'll wait for more meals and experiments from her so we'll see. Here are a few of photos she took, after my custom seasoning mixing session for her (I took the one above)

Red, Bike & Green First Friday (August 2011)

I adore my bike. I do I do.

Oh gosh. I can't believe I'm writing a freaking blog post about my bike. This may be worse than posting pictures of food (lol I'll need to check with my sister).

Anyway back to my bike. One thing I love more than my bike.
Oakland.
One thing I love more than Oakland
Black folks.
One thing I love more than Black folks
My friends.

So...
My Bike + Oakland + Black Folks + My Friends = Hella Love!

So I just want to give a shout out to Red Bike & Green and myself and my friends for finally doing our first ride with that crew!

Red, Bike and Green is a community-building collective of Black urban cyclists seeking to improve the physical and mental health, economy and local environment of African Americans by creating a relevant and sustainable Black bike culture. (Learn more)

Almost 11miles in Oakland. It was so delicious. Took some photos throughout the ride (look ma no hands). There were a few hiccups in my ride...i.e. my gears being messed up so that 1st gear the easy gear is as hard as my 3rd gear, and my bike is the heaviest bike on the planet, so when I tried to go up that steep uphill freeway overpass...it was a wrap. But thanks to the guy who was sweet enough to trade bikes so I could make it over...lol even though that was a disaster because then I was so used to riding on this hard gear that his easy gear was like flipping me out...

all in all it was the best time ever. check out the rest of the photos on good ol' facebook.

Speaking of Bikes

This is FREAKIN Hilarious. Because it's SOOOOO True. This may be only funny to people really familiar with SF or from the Bay Area...but I'm dying laughing here.

Lol @ the Haight and the Castro. Financial District is sooo on point because I always see them fools with their fold up bikes getting on the Bart, and I curse the fact that Bart hasn't somehow considered bikes and commuting... *sigh*

And damn why did they have to play Tenderloin like that?

I got Freshlyground (Video Post)

Okay I have to officially say that I LOVE summer! And this love has been growing slowly over the past couple of years as I get older. Sure when I was younger I loved school being out and having summer off to travel, but now as an adult I really APPRECIATE it. I feel so free and fearless and welcome the change in life that summer typically brings for me.

I'm not a fan of hot hot weather; so being in the Bay (although it's seemingly gloomy at the time) is perfect for me haha! One thing really exciting in the Bay in the summer is MUSIC. My appreciation for live music is becoming akin to an obsession (okay maybe not yet).  I really don't like big mainstream artist concerts where I-watch-a-screen-projector-and-imagine-that-the-artist/- is/are-actually-on-stage.

I love smaller venues: i.e. Brick & Mortar in SF especially when coupled with bands like the South African group Freshlyground. Thanks to my friend Eboni Senai for alerting me to this show. It was awesome! I remember them from 2003/2004 and was into them, then kinda just fell off the tracks, but seeing them got me juiced again. I knew they would be the kind of group I would love seeing live and they did not disappoint.
The sound at B&M was kinda shit that night, but FG pulled through and still rocked out! That combined with the fact that I went with some pretty cool people I adore...ah!

So sadly no pictures...like a dumb butt I didn't charge my camera battery and lost my spare so even though I ran into Zolani the lead vocalist and Kyla Rose, violinist in the bathroom...all I could do was be like 8yqygf98haaivbeuabvefrack!! I was so heated over how stupid I was not being prepared for a night out of music...

But on the flip side, sometimes it's better to just live the moment and not document it all the time. Hehe...

Exhibit A: @ 3:45

Watch: A Tribe Called Quest Documentary

I was a latecomer to the awesomeness of ATCQ, I found out about them after they went their separate ways. 10+ years later they released a new documentary (thank goodness it's not a reality show) which from the trailer and reviews is going to be amazing.

It's in limited theatrical release but look for it on DVD and Netflix in the near future.

Don't Hate Me 'Cos I'm Beautiful

No I don't think anyone is less for whatever cosmetic & grooming situation they choose. Don't yuck my yum, I won't yuck yours. Some of my best friends are lace front wig wearers & sellers. Some of my best friends love the shit outta some make up. Sometimes I love both too.

On facebook a friend posted Keri Hilson's video for Pretty Girl Rock and I was pretty excited to see it because I think Keri may be pretty interesting. Starting out I thought the general concept of the video was pretty cool: vignettes'/timeline of different popular 'black' women in history rocking pretty. But then something felt off!  And the next thing I thought like my friend T and I say "Damn Beyonce ruined it for everyone"

I say this because although she was doing she was doing impersonations of Josephine Baker, Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diana Ross, Donna Summers, Janet Jackson, and TLC: Somehow these days I just see a lot of females artists and I can't shake that they are all re-styled using the same beyonce template. Because beyonce has already copied EVERYTHING and EVERYONE that can be copied. Lol.

And then I thought: Wait most women in there looks like the same kinda woman!

There are SO many iconic women... can I see some others shades & body  & hair types? 

* sad face *

the Janet & TLC were cool!

p.s looks like Keri is pretty good dancer

Night Club Map of Harlem Renaissance

"Perhaps exemplary of that renaissance, this map was drawn by Elmer Simms Campbell (1906-1971), the first African-American cartoonist to be published nationally (in Esquire, Cosmopolitan, The New Yorker and Playboy, among others). The map faces southwest, is bounded by 110th Street (in the top left corner), which runs along Central Park’s northern edge, and concentrates on Lenox Avenue and Seventh Avenue (“or heaven”)."

 Source

I'm digging this map. It would have been cool to happen upon it, while I was planning the May Fly Ball. Lol I don't know if it would have changed anything, but then I was searching for any and everything Harlem Rennaisance.

So I just recently started to NOT be deathly incapable of reading maps. Because someone has been forcing encouraging me to learn how and to use it. I've always just been a written word/oral learning type of person. I mean I've suspected that I have somewhat of a photographic memory, because when I went to school in Nigeria...I would Ace tests by simply scanning the text/notebooks the night before or minutes before the exam. And if you know anything about Nigerian style examinations...you know they were cumulative, happened at the end of the term, had a hundred plus questions and determined your grade for the semester. So no, not your run of the mill 5 question easy A high school 'pop' quiz. Okay why did I just say all this. Back to my topic...

anyway as I was saying I've just recently started to appreciate info-graphics and I'm slowly learning not to be afraid of them, because someone keeps showing them to me and making me interpret information from them *cough*. Fast Forward....to this map. Now this is a map that I adore, I want it enlarged and framed in my future live/work space.

It would be cool to have something like this for say Oakland or any cultural/community setting. I was actually thinking of it in terms of other concepts...like I would like to see something with Non-Profit organizations in the Bay Area that serve youth, or like Mamaput Joints in Lagos (lmao)... that would be cool. Actually what am waiting for?...I know a bunch of artists, data miners and social worker types. I could commission one!

* don't rob my stolen idea yo!

-N