Monday, August 29, 2011

Join Us Fri. Sept. 9 From 6pm c-9pm c For "Ronald Herd II: The Most Known Unknown" Artist Reception @ The Metropolitan Gallery In St. Louis...Free & Open To The Public!!!

Pics: My Uncle Arthur The Martyr - The Lunceford Way by Ronald Herd II & "R2 Blowin' @ The Elmwood"

Ronald Herd II:
The Most Known Unknown

September 9 through November 7, 2011
at the Metropolitan Gallery
2936 Locust Blvd., St Louis, MO, 63103
(314) 535-6500
Hours: 11am-5pm Wednesday - Friday, and Saturday by special appointment
Accessible to persons with disabilities. 

Contact:
Bro. Ron Herd II aka R2C2H2 Tha Artivist
phone: 901-299-4355

The Nu-Art Series proudly presents Ronald Herd: The Most Known Unknown with an opening reception on Friday, September 9, 2011, from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Nu-Art Series' Metropolitan Gallery. FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!!!
***Artist Talk begins @ 7:30pm c!!!***

The exhibition will be on display through November 7, 2011.
About The Artist
Ronald Herd II, a.k.a. Bro. Ron, a.k.a. r2c2h2 tha artivist is not only an artist but a protean force of nature. He is a man of immense talents and a multi-faceted personality who is also a multi-disciplinary artist; a 21st Century Renaissance Man. A committed artist and activist, hence the term “artivist,” Bro. Ron uses his talents to participate in social justice movements and to highlight and address historical wrongs.

A graduate of John Overton High School (1998), Washington University in St. Louis (BFA 2002) and Bethel University (MBA 2009) respectively, for 13 years he has had successful one man and group art shows in the U.S. In 2004, his art was also featured in a group show in Paris, France, curated by the Hip Hop music supergroup The Roots. His W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Radio program http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe has a listenership of nearly 500,000, while his online W.E. A.L.L. B.E. TV Shows, and his weekly public access tv show “Real Talk With Tha Artivist” (http://www.youtube.com/weallbetv & http://www.weallbetv.blip.tv) have generated a combined viewership in the hundreds of thousands.

Tha Artivist has interviewed some of the most prominent movers and shakers, icons and iconoclasts of our times including crusading former 2008 U.S. Presidential Green Party candidate the honorable Cynthia McKinney, Jazz great Gerald Wilson, acclaimed historians the late Dr. John Hope Franklin and the late Dr. Manning Marable, renowned psychiatrist and author of "The Isis Papers" Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, the great comedian and 'huemanitarian' Dick Gregory, MLK lawyer and speechwriter ("I Have A Dream") Clarence Jones, award-winning author and journalist Patrice Gaines, author and activist the honorable Judge D'Army Bailey (the founder of The National Civil Rights Museum), celebrated U.S. Presidential portrait painter Simmie Knox, first Black NASA astronaut candidate and acclaimed sculptor Ed Dwight, The Father Of The Black TV Sitcom Eric Monte (Good Times, Sanford & Son, The Jeffersons), 80s art counterculture icon and the godfather of Hip Hop TV Michael Holman, among countless others.

Using his media acumen and investigative journalism instincts via his W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Radio platform, R2C2H2 Tha Artivist was among the first stateside to interview key participants in the Jena 6 movement as well as investigate the recent December 2010 hanging death of a young black man named Frederick Jermaine Carter in Greenwood (his work in that case led to the state of Mississippi to finally release the autopsy reports of the deceased after a several week delay) and the August 2009 surreal assault of an unarmed young Black male in Tallahatchie County chased by a drunken militia led by a tank driven by the son of the lawyer who defended Emmett Till's killers and a canine unit from Parchman Penitentiary, both outrageous and stranger than fiction events taking place in the both celebrated and infamous Mississippi Delta.

Bro. Ron is also an award winning author. In 2005, he self-published his first book "James Reese Europe: Jazz Lieutenant" (http://www.jazzlieutenant.blogspot.com). The book, which is both illustrated and written by R2C2H2 Tha Artivist and which deals with the legacy of World War One hero and early jazz pioneer James Reese Europe, was selected to be on the Smithsonian Institute's Jazz Books For Kids & Young Adults List.

2005 also saw the debut of "The Arthur 'Soldier Boy Grip' Taylor Chronicles" (http://www.soldierboygrip.blogspot.com), an online comic strip blog dedicated to the memory of his late great maternal grandfather who was a World War 2 veteran and member of the legendary Red Ball Express.

In 2007, R2C2H2 started The Jimmie Lunceford Jamboree Festival Movement http://www.jimmielunceford.com to honor the legacy of Jimmie Lunceford, the first Memphis City Schools High School Band Director & Jazz Swing Great. His efforts led to Jimmie Lunceford being honored with a brass note on Beale Street in Memphis, TN, in July 2009 and a Mississippi Blues Trail Marker in his hometown of Fulton, MS, in June 2011.

In Bro. Ron’s Own Words:
" My job an artivist (artist + activist) is to actively promote understanding, love and appreciation for the creative arts as well as for creative people. I use my art in particular to break down all types of walls and barriers that people put up either to justify their hatred, prejudice and indifference or because of their ignorance and naiveté towards certain issues and topics concerning people, history and culture(s). One of my main objectives in my profession is to teach the world how to love, not just tolerate black people and other beautiful beings and things! If I reach just one hue-man being then my entire existence in all its meaning will be totally justified!

" My art is created through the use and motivation of three of my main passions: art, music and history, in particular African and African American History. I think four of my biggest influences, Jacob Lawrence, El Greco, William H. Johnson and Paul Gaugin, have taught and convinced me that interesting stories can be told in a visually expressive and highly original individual style without the use of the written word. These artists among the countless others that I admire like Picasso, Charles White, Van Gogh, Romare Bearden, Lois Jones, Archibald Motley, George Hunt, Jean Michel Basquiat to musicians Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Run DMC, Louis Armstrong, Robert Johnson, Howling Wolf, Billie Holiday, Robert Johnson, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington and 2pac remind me through their prolific outputs that research is one of the most important ingredients in forming your own artistic voice. Before I create a series of related artworks I dive deeply into the subject(s) of my choice. I feel artists are like synthesizers, taking in all foreign information and materials, mixing it with the artist's experiences and knowledge and then compressing it into a product made in the artist's likeness or image based on the artist's own ideas and philosophies. All great art to me seems to be those works that have substance and tell unwritten as well as written stories that are to be retold and reinterpreted for years to come. Hopefully my dedication to my art will continue to lead me in this direction."


--
"Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world."

"If I could have convinced more slaves that they were slaves, I could have freed thousands more."

-Harriet Tubman

Friday, August 26, 2011

Tha Artivist Remembers Aaliyah...

 Aaliyah Dana Houghton
(Debut: January 16, 1979 – Farewell: August 25, 2001)
Celebrities Talk About Aaliyah (Including Beyonce, Monica, Ciara, Drake + more)

AALIYAH - It's Whatever - [WIDESCREEN HQ]  


Tha Artivist Remembers Aaliyah...
“Even Aaliyah couldn’t escape the allure…I can still recall where I was at and what I was doing when I heard or rather read the news, like when I first heard that Pac, Biggie & Lady Di died…It is a moment that defines a generation…By dying young it seems that she in effect cheated death by not becoming mediocre not from lack of talent but due to the nature of the beast which nurtures and then eats its young…The way she died will ensure her some remembrance ala Bessie Coleman, Buddy Holly & Otis Redding but will people decades from now recall her impact as an artist as so many of us in this generation had the blessing to witness in real time or rather when she was walking the earth?  Or will she become that footnote innovative transitional figure that paved the way for the successes of others only to soon be forgotten or marginalized after the last of our generation passes ala Lt. James Reese Europe, Florence Mills, Jimmie Lunceford, Louis Jordan and Johnny Ace?  There may have been better singers and better dancers but through sheer will and indomitable spirit Aaliyah Dana Haughton became one in a million. Rest In Soul Power.”~r2c2h2



Monday, August 22, 2011

Weds. (8/24/2011)*9pm c/10pm e/7pm p*W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Radio: The Chitlin' Circuit And The Road To Rock 'N' Roll: A Conversation With Preston Lauterbach

 

4 Years In The Tank Now It's Time To Get $Bank$

***Radio Free Dixie For The 21st Century***

August 2011 Theme: The Blackest August...
 
Air Date: Weds. August 24, 2011




Time: 9 PM C/10 PM E/7 PM P


Call-in Number: 646-652-4593


Show:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2011/08/25/tha-artivist-presentswe-all-be-radio


topic: "The Chitlin' Circuit And The Road To Rock 'N' Roll: A Conversation With Preston Lauterbach"


 ***Note: All Shows Are Recorded, Archived, & Available For Downloads & Listens 24/7 @ Their Same Link Of Original Broadcast.***

Promo Video 
 

 
About The Book
"The Chitlin' Circuit And The Road To Rock 'N' Roll"

Publication Date: July 18, 2011


The first history of the network of black juke joints that spawned rock 'n' roll through an unholy alliance between vice and entertainment.

A definitive account of the birth of rock 'n' roll in black America, this book establishes the Chitlin' Circuit as a major force in American musical history. Combining terrific firsthand reporting with deep historical research, Preston Lauterbach uncovers characters like Chicago Defender columnist Walter Barnes, who pioneered the circuit in the 1930s, and larger-than-life promoters such as Denver Ferguson, the Indianapolis gambling chieftain who consolidated it in the 1940s. Charging from Memphis to Houston and now-obscure points in between, The Chitlin' Circuit brings us into the sweaty back rooms where such stars as James Brown, B. B. King, and Little Richard got their start. With his unforgettable portraits of unsung heroes including King Kolax, Sax Kari, and Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Lauterbach writes of a world of clubs and con men that has managed to avoid much examination despite its wealth of brash characters, intriguing plotlines, and vulgar glory, and gives us an excavation of an underground musical America. 

About The Author
Author Preston Lauterbach lives with his wife and children in Memphis, Tennessee. The Chitlin’ Circuit is his first book.

Preston was born in Richmond, Virginia and raised in San Diego, California. He graduated from Flagler College and the University of Mississippi. For most of the twenty-first century, he has worked as an editor and journalist.

He is currently writing the hustlers’ history of Beale Street, which W.W. Norton will publish in 2013.

For More Information Visit
http://www.prestonlauterbach.com


W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Needs Your Support...Give To Grow The Movement!


Or You Can Mail Us A Money Order:

Attn: Ronald Herd II

The W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Group Inc.

P.O. Box 752062

Memphis,TN 38175

Create a Radio Show and Reach Millions.  Free for 30 days. Start now.

Monday, August 01, 2011

Weds. (8/03/2011)*9pm c/10pm e/7pm p*W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Radio: What Would Martin Say? A Conversation With Clarence Jones

 

4 Years In The Tank Now It's Time To Get $Bank$

***Radio Free Dixie For The 21st Century***

August 2011 Theme: The Blackest August...
 
Air Date: Weds. August 3, 2011




Time: 9 PM C/10 PM E/7 PM P


Call-in Number: 646-652-4593



Show:


 ***Note: All Shows Are Recorded, Archived, & Available For Downloads & Listens 24/7 @ Their Same Link Of Original Broadcast.***


topic: Weds. (8/03/2011)*9pm c/10pm e/7pm p*W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Radio: What Would Martin Say? A Conversation With Clarence Jones

promo video:


About Bro. Clarence Jones

Scholar/Writer In Residence,
Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Research & Education Institute,
Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA

Executive Advisor, Marks Paneth & Shron, LLP, 622 Third Avenue, New York, New York 10017
In a distinguished and heralded career, Clarence B. Jones served as speechwriter and counsel to Martin Luther King, Jr., was the first African-American to become a partner and Allied Member of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Wall Street investment banking firm of Carter, Berlind & Weill, Inc, (Sanford Weill, Arthur Levitt, Jr., Roger Berlind and others).

Selected by Time Magazine in its 1972 special edition of “The 100 Future Leaders of America.” Twice recognized in Fortune Magazine as “A Business Man of the Month,”

Founded successful financial, corporate and media-related ventures. Has provided strategic legal and financial consulting services to several governments around the world including The Bahamas, The Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Zambia. He has received numerous state and national awards recognizing his significant contributions to American society.

April 2008, Harper Collins, published his book “WHAT WOULD MARTIN SAY?” He is presently writing a book his autobiography, “Memoirs of A Wintertime Soldier” describing, among other things, parts of his life journey during some of his experiences in working with Dr. King.

Through his work in the civil rights movement, Mr. Jones has dramatically impacted the course of American history. . He coordinated the legal defense of Dr. King and the other leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference against the libel suits filed against them and The New York Times by the police commissioner and other city officials of Montgomery, AL. The Supreme Court ruling in this case – Sullivan v. The New York Times – resulted in the landmark decision on the current law of libel.

In April 1963, in addition to facilitating Dr. King’s preparation of his famous “Letter From A Birmingham Jail”, he also drafted the settlement agreement between the City of Birmingham and Martin Luther King, Jr. to bring about the end of demonstrations and the desegregation of department stores and public accommodations.

In September 1971, he again found himself at the center of history-in-the-making when, at the request of Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, he was asked to serve as “An Observer” and negotiate an end to the historic Attica prison inmate rebellion. This is described in a never before published account in his forthcoming autobiography.

Mr. Jones has been the subject of numerous television and radio interview programs, appearing in such notable media vehicles as CNN, The O’Reilly Factor, The Tavis Smiley Show, NY1’s One-on-One with Budd Mishkin, and NPR radio. A much requested speaker, he has addressed standing-room-only corporate audiences at Citigroup, General Electric and the U.S. headquarters of British Petroleum. He was the featured speaker at the university-wide lecture commemorating the 78th birthday celebration of Dr. King delivered to faculty and students at Stanford during Black History Month, 2008. (An event which was broadcast live to local radio stations throughout the Bay Area).

Mr. Jones has served on the prestigious boards of The Impact Repertory Theater & Dance Co. and The Theatre Development Fund NYC, in New York, NY; the Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in Hyde Park, NY; and the College-Bound Student Alliance in Boulder, CO.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia College, Columbia University as well as a Juris Doctor degree from Boston University’s School of Law. Additionally he was presented with an honorary Doctorate in Communications by Allegheny College in Allegheny, PA and a Certificate for NASD Allied Membership from The New York Institute of Finance.


Bro. Clarence Also Writes For The Huffington Post Check Out His Great Articles:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/clarence-b-jones

Official Website For "What Would Martin Say"

Check Out Bro. Jones' New Book, "Behind The Dream":


W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Needs Your Support...Give To Grow The Movement!


Or You Can Mail Us A Money Order:

Attn: Ronald Herd II

The W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Group Inc.

P.O. Box 752062

Memphis,TN 38175

Create a Radio Show and Reach Millions.  Free for 30 days. Start now.