Arts and Culture

Book Review: “Strange Fruit”

Published

10 years ago

July 14, 2014

The history books you had in school last year almost put you to sleep.

They were filled with dates and stats, dead people, lost battles, and towns that aren’t even around anymore. Who really cares about that stuff, anyway?

< p>You should, so you can learn about that which has made your life easier. And in the new book “Strange Fruit” by Joel Christian Gill, you’ll learn about people that history books have mostly forgotten.

Shortly after grad school, Joel Christian Gill did a series of paintings that he says “freed” him from the racism that his father and grandfather endured. But something was missing from his paintings: he was “coming up short” in storytelling.

That’s when he started doing comics, telling stories of “obscure Black history.”

Take, for instance, Richard Potter.

Potter was born around 1783. After his father ensured his education, young Richard spent many years traveling and he became fascinated with magic tricks. He tried, practiced, learned, and tried again until he mastered several tricks and invented some of his own – which eventually made him “very wealthy.”

And on his deathbed in 1835, he finally admitted something important: Richard Potter, America ’s first stage musician, was a Black man.

After his emancipation, Theophilus Thompson worked as a janitor. One night, he noticed that his employer had a curious game set up on a table, and Thompson studied it. He figured out how to the strange game worked, and it didn’t take long before he was playing competition chess – and winning!

He even wrote a book about it… and then one day, he vanished. Rumors swirled around his disappearance, but Thompson was never seen again.

In this book, you’ll learn about The Black Cyclone who started his biking career due to a great kindness from “family” and later, lay in an unmarked grave for more than 70 years.

You’ll read two letters from a man determined to save his daughter from slavery. You’ll learn about the baddest U.S. Marshall that ever lived – so bad that he even jailed his own son. And you’ll read the sad, sad story of the Malagites who lost their home off the coast of Massachusetts a mere century ago…

Are you always on your child to READ SOMETHING, anything, except a comic book? Well, “Strange Fruit” is a graphic novel, and you’ll wanthim to read it.

Through the art of the cartoon, author Joel Christian Gill tells nine stories of African Americans who did something astounding for the time in which they lived, thereby making a difference that resonates today.

These fascinating tales are somewhat marred by weird mini-vocabulary lessons, but that stops early on and the tales get more meaningful as things progress. Ultimately, I liked this book because I think it speaks to kids who want their learning more on the arty side.

There’s really no reason (except for font size) that an adult can’t enjoy this book, but it’s more meant for 12-to-17-year-olds. For teens who don’t know enough about history, in fact, “Strange Fruit” will wake them up.

“Strange Fruit: Volume 1” by Joel Christian Gill, foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.; c. 2014, Fulcrum Books, $23.95, 172 pages.

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Arts and Culture

Faces Around the Bay Dr. Carl Blake, Pianist

Born in Liberty, Missouri, Carl Blake, a virtuoso and respected pianist, made his most recent migration to the East Bay in 1999. One might have seen him performing recently at Noontime Concerts in San Francisco, or at the Piedmont Center for the Arts in Oakland. He is Director of Music at The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. He was also co-organizer and collaborative pianist at Herbst Theater for The Majesty of the Spirituals concert in 2022 and has held several church positions in the Bay Area.

Published

3 days ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Dr. Carl Blake

By Barbara Fluhrer

Born in Liberty, Missouri, Carl Blake, a virtuoso and respected pianist, made his most recent migration to the East Bay in 1999.

One might have seen him performing recently at Noontime Concerts in San Francisco, or at the Piedmont Center for the Arts in Oakland. He is Director of Music at The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. He was also co-organizer and collaborative pianist at Herbst Theater for The Majesty of the Spirituals concert in 2022 and has held several church positions in the Bay Area.

Blake obtained a Bachelor of Music from Boston University and continued post-baccalaureate studies in Jamaica before earning a Master of Arts in Music at San Jose State University. He was the recipient of two Fulbright residencies in Honduras and completed a third residency at the University of St. Petersburg in Russia. He has a Doctor of Musical Arts from Cornell University.

At age 19, Blake, then an undergraduate piano major at Boston University, was “discovered” by Impresario Dr. W. Hazaiah Williams, who is the Founder and Director of Today’s Artists/Four Seasons Arts.

Williams honored Blake by awarding him the first Marian Anderson Young Artist Award. Anderson personally presented the award at the Masonic Auditorium in S.F. Subsequently, Blake was presented by Dr. Williams in his San Francisco debut at The Herbst Theatre. Williams subsidized a year of study abroad for Blake at the Paris Conservatory of Music. Additionally, Williams sponsored Blake’s New York Weill Hall debut, where he has performed twice since. Blake performed several times at the Yachats Music Festival in Oregon.

Blake continues to perform nationally and abroad. His hobbies are reading, baking and travel. He says, “I’m still pumping ivories, as Belgian pianist Jeanne Stark described the disciplined practice of concert piano.”

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Arts and Culture

Oakland Jazz Great Offers Master Class as City Declares “John Handy Day”

World-renowned jazz master saxophonist John Handy, a McClymond’s High School graduate, was presented with a Mayor of Oakland Proclamation declaring Feb. 12, as John Handy Day in the city. Handy is most notably known as the featured saxophonist for Charles Mingus on “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” from the album “Mingus Ah Um” (1959) and on “Hard Work” from his own album “Hard Work” (1976).

Published

2 months ago

February 24, 2024

Oakland Post

(L-R) Del Handy, John Handy, Roger Glenn, and Joe Warner celebrate John Handy Day at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle, Oakland. Photo by Lady Bianca.

By Conway Jones

World-renowned jazz master saxophonist John Handy, a McClymond’s High School graduate, was presented with a Mayor of Oakland Proclamation declaring Feb. 12, as John Handy Day in the city.

Handy is most notably known as the featured saxophonist for Charles Mingus on “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” from the album “Mingus Ah Um” (1959) and on “Hard Work” from his own album “Hard Work” (1976).

“John Handy is a jazz icon and an inspiration to musicians everywhere,” said Ayo Brame, a 16-year-old Oakland tenor saxophone player who is enrolled at the Oakland School for the Arts.

In celebration of this day, the reception in downtown Oakland at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle was a gathering of artists, young and old, coming together in his honor and celebrating his 91st birthday.

Handy presented a Saxophone Colossus free masterclass for musicians. This class afforded a rare opportunity to learn about the saxophone from an aficionado. The class was free and open to all – saxophonists, vocalists, aficionados, students, and casual listeners.

“As a longtime friend for over 60 years, and fellow musician who has had numerous opportunities to share the stage with John, it has always been a pleasure performing with him and hearing his creative interpretations of the music and his gift of ease inspiring the next generation of jazz musicians,” said Roger Glenn, a multi-instrumentalist.

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Arts and Culture

Musical Chronicling Life of Betty Reid Soskin Set for Bay Area Debut

Betty Reid Soskin’s storied 102 years includes time spent as a WWII defense worker, activist, business owner, songwriter, National Park Service park ranger and so much more. Now the Richmond icon is the subject of a musical based on her incredible life.

Published

2 months ago

February 24, 2024

Oakland Post

Betty Reid Soskin. Photo courtesy of Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond.

The Richmond Standard

“Sign My Name to Freedom,” a San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company (SFBATCO) production which will focus on the life, music and writing of Ms. Soskin, will premiere at San Francisco’s Z Space Friday, March 29 and continue through Saturday, April 13. Tickets range from $15–$65 and can be purchased online at https://www.sfbatco.org/smntf

The musical is directed by Elizabeth Carter, while playwright Michael Gene Sullivan integrates Ms. Soskin’s own music throughout dialogue between what SFBATCO calls “The Four Bettys” as they progress through a century of experiences of this awe-inspiring American woman.

The cast of “Sign My Name to Freedom” features Tierra Allen as Little Betty, Aidaa Peerzada as Married Betty, Lucca Troutman as Revolutionary Betty and Cathleen Riddley as Present Betty Reid Soskin, according to Artistic Director Rodney Earl Jackson Jr. and Managing Director Adam Maggio. Other casting will be announced in the future.

Jackson said that having Soskin’s blessing to steward her life’s story is an honor and career highlight for him and that her journey stands as “a beacon for Black Americans, women and people of color all across the world [and] is a testament to the strength of the human spirit.”

San Francisco’s Z Space is located at 450 Florida St. in San Francisco. Check out the trailer here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-ap9N2XBB0