Arts and Culture
“Tell No Lies,” A Novel of 1960s Freedom Struggles
By Mildred Trouillot
“Tell No Lies” by Barbara Rhine has all the elements of good fiction – a suspenseful story line, complicated love interests, complex characters who wrestle with universal principles like fear, betrayal, pride, political consciousness, friendship, gratitude, jealousy and love.
The writing is laser sharp. Every word contributes to the dramatic rise and denouement that comes in each short chapter. But the book leaps into the category of great fiction because Rhine masterly weaves fine technique and a very human story with two important political ideologies of the early 1970s: the struggles of the United Farm Workers and the Black Power movement – without ever being doctrinaire; fiery-red-and-black cover ablaze with UFW flags notwithstanding.
The individual and shared political engagement of lead characters James, Carolyn and Mary Lou, flows naturally. It is central to the story, precipitates the opening action and each step in James’ flight.
Like me, you might Google Nyame Jones (to see if he really existed) and end up spending a couple of hours reading about the Black Power movement, Amiri Baraka, Gwendolyn Brooks, the Black Panthers and COINTELPRO, government covert attempts to disrupt and destroy dissidents..
As the reader accompanies Mary Lou’s painstaking preparations for the big march – sending Carolyn into the camps to convince each strike breaker to march, arranging meals for hundreds of people – you will want to know more about Cesar Chavez and the horrific working conditions on American farms that he fought to change.
Knowing that Carolyn’s communist mom inspired her to risk her own freedom in order to help ex-boyfriend James, will compel the reader to know more about McCarthyism.
The reader of “Tell No Lies” is privy to a world in which peoples’ everyday lives find resonance in the words of assassinated African freedom fighter Amilcar Cabral: “Hide nothing from the masses of our people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories…”
When James asks Carolyn what that means she answers: Nothing is simple, that’s what it means.
“Tell No Lies” doesn’t take the simple route. It does not slough over tensions between white liberal thought and the Black Power movement; interracial couples; armed vs. non-violent resistance; the Mexican and Black communities in California, circa 1974.
Nor does it give a pass to the moral ambiguity of lying even for a worthy cause, or the difficulties of an unplanned pregnancy. The main characters each struggle to reconcile their own political ideology to understanding – or accepting – the other’s struggle.
From the first page, the reader knows that there will be no happy ending to “Tell No Lies,” because life is not simple. What the reader can’t anticipate are the soaring moments of the book that come when James, Carolyn and Mary Lou find peace around the green Formica kitchen table at the quiet house on Joseph Street.
“Like birds that had just found their branch, they shifted their weight together, then settled.”
“Tell No Lies, c. 2014, Bravura Press, 398 pages.
Arts and Culture
Kedrick Armstrong: New Music Director for the Oakland Symphony
The Oakland Symphony Announced Kedrick Armstrong as its Next Music Director. In addition to conducting the orchestra’s public concerts, Armstrong will also actively participate in the Oakland Symphony’s many education and community engagement programs, designed to inspire a love of music in people of all ages.
By Post Staff
The Oakland Symphony Announced Kedrick Armstrong as its Next Music Director.
In addition to conducting the orchestra’s public concerts, Armstrong will also actively participate in the Oakland Symphony’s many education and community engagement programs, designed to inspire a love of music in people of all ages.
Armstrong is the successor to previous music director and Conductor Michael Morgan, who passed away in 2021 after a 30-year tenure at the Symphony.
Armstrong will open the Oakland Symphony 2024-2025 season on October 18.
Armstrong, who is 29 and hails from Georgetown, South Carolina, is currently the creative partner and principal conductor of the Knox-Galesburg Symphony.
The Chicago Tribune has praised Armstrong for his ability to “simply let the score speak for itself.” He enjoys a wide range of repertoire, spanning early music to premiering new works, using his joy and curiosity for all music to cultivate understanding and collaboration within diverse communities.
“I am deeply honored and grateful for the opportunity to serve as the new music director of the Oakland Symphony,” Armstrong said. “As a Black conductor, I find it humbling to stand on the shoulders of both Michael Morgan and Calvin Simmons,” the most recent and the first African American music directors of the Symphony, respectively.
Armstrong led three programs at the Symphony between 2022 and early 2024, which showcased his broad knowledge of the classical repertoire and enthusiasm for spotlighting diverse voices.
On his Oakland Symphony subscription debut on Feb. 16, Armstrong led the world premiere of “Here I Stand: Paul Robeson,” an oratorio by Carlos Simon on a libretto by Dan Harder, commissioned by the Oakland Symphony.
Armstrong was selected unanimously by the Oakland Symphony’s board of directors and musicians after an extensive two-year search. “The search committee was overwhelmed by Kedrick’s scholarship and curiosity about all kinds of music, from classical and jazz to gospel and hip-hop,” said. Dr. Mieko Hatano, executive director of the Oakland Symphony. “We are thrilled to have him join us at the Oakland Symphony.”
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.
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.”
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).
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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