Loud at the Library is back at the James J. Hill Reference Library. It’s an evening filled with socializing, music trivia and some of the best the local music the Twin Cities has to offer.  

This Thursday, January 31, the featured artist is Desdamona, with Carnage and guests.

Desdamona is an international award-winning artist who’s opened for Wyclef Jean, GURU, Saul Williams, Ursula Rucker, KRS ONE and many Rhymesayers artists. She also co-founded B-Girl Be, a hip-hop festival focused on the influence of women in hip-hop.

There’ll be a cash bar, but show your library card and ID and you’ll receive a free beer, courtesy of sponsor Summit Brewing Company.

Doors 6:30PM

Music Trivia 7:15PM

Live Music 8:15PM

Tickets can be purchased online or at the door: $10 General Admission, $5 Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library Members

The James J. Hill Reference Library, 80 West 4th St., St. Paul, MN.

For more information: http://www.jjhill.org/classes_events/events.cfm.

Blasts from the past:

Intermedia Arts located in South Minneapolis; home to now defunct B-Girl Be but, a gracious hostess to many programs such as the Catalyst program, Media Active (youth produced media) etc. gave us a wonderful opportunity to interview Greta McLain and myself. From the Intermedia Arts Site. (SUPPORT INTERMEDIA THEY TRANSFORM LIVES)

For two years, fifth grade students from El Colegio Charter School and Bancroft Elementary School worked together to design and paint murals with powerful messages of hope. Led by artists Gustavo Lira and Greta McLain, students engaged in discussions about community and collabroation, discovered that art can be a tool for social change, and became leaders in their neighborhood through the creation of this inspiring community art project.

Enjoy this…

Art In Community: El Colegio Mural Project from Intermedia Arts on Vimeo.

Also some work I did for the Family Housing Fund. We worked on the issues of home, poverty and the ability to maintain and keep a home in this economy.

My statement from this project:

Although I have lived in the United States for nine years, the idea of home makes me think about what I left behind in my place of origin—Mexico. My family built a house there for all the children to use, and it remains a comfort knowing I still have that home if
I ever need it. Home, after all, is not only about security, family, and community, but about dignity, pride, and culture. And having one should be a basic right for every human being.

Personal and professional circumstances have led me to move a number of times in the past two years. This has been a struggle for me, but I often think about how difficult this would be for others, especially families. Adapting to new places, however, has given me insight into the unique challenges facing immigrants, an insight
I use in my art to address social issues. Check it.

Enjoy what is left of the weekend. Peace.

~Admin. Bero

“B-Girl Be Hip-Hop Diploma Scholarship” Announced at McNally Smith College of Music

The first music college in the country to offer a diploma in Hip-Hop is looking for more B-girls to join its ranks. To help recognize the contributions women have made in Hip-Hop, McNally Smith College of Music has just announced a new three-semester scholarship program called “B-Girl Be Hip-Hop Diploma Scholarship” to cultivate the next great female practitioners and other related recording, production and business professionals of the popular worldwide music form. Applications can be made at the college from September 19 until December 11, 2009.

The “B-Girl Be Scholarship” is available to young women performers and non-performers, and will allow a student to receive half tuition (a $15,000 value) free of charge.  Scholarship review panelists will include representatives from B-Girl Be, Intermedia Arts, and McNally Smith College of Music.  The scholarship winner will also have to meet McNally Smith College of Music admissions requirements.

Toki Wright, coordinator of the music school’s Hip-Hop studies program — and an outstanding emcee, poet, community organizer and recording artist for Rhymesayers Entertainment — lauded the scholarship decision, saying it will validate even more the work of women in the genre.

“Often in the media, the many rewarding aspects and innovations of women in Hip-Hop are overshadowed by their male counterparts,” Wright says. “The ‘B-Girl Be Scholarship acknowledges that women’s contributions are important and essential to sustaining and expanding Hip-Hop culture. The work of MC Lyte, Tricia Rose, Queen Latifah, and countless industry representatives demonstrate the power, talent and tenacity it takes to make it in the culture and business of Hip-Hop. “

McNally Smith College of Music’s Hip-Hop Diploma program, dedicated to Hip Hop Studies http://www.mcnallysmith.edu/academics/hiphop.aspx, got underway this year with 14 Students who will make up the music school’s first Hip-Hop Class of 2010.  The leading program in the country is designed for students who want to explore and develop in a cross-departmental curriculum that covers music, recording technology, language, music history, and music business.