11/29/2023
THE ARCHIVE:
In 2017, after returning to Seattle from living almost 9 years in Germany, I found the face, the demographic, the cultural character of my childhood city, neighborhood, and surrounding areas had changed so much, the acclimatisation period created an unfathomable sadness which inspired the production of this show.
To call it "gentrification" felt unfair. Most of my life, I grew up surrounded by middle class Black folks who worked for Boeing or the city, nurturing communities with thriving churches, little league sports programs that fed successful high schools, growing long powerful Martin Luther King Jr Day parades, and precincts of Black and brown folks who shared the south end of Seattle with a collective understanding brought about by our common need to be recognized as valued human beings, who made up the majority of the workforce that built America.
But, the tech industry had changed all that, coupled with the glutenous growth of a certain online shopping giant, the flood of digital workers in need of housing all but crushed these legendary safe spaces.
Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway's music reminded me of revolutionary times. They were the sound track of the healing required for Black nationalists who were the children of the Civil Rights Movement, still taking to the streets to seek the recognizing for citizenship, the justice and the human respect that was being passed to Black Lives Matter when I landed.
In an effort to remind those who were the creators, the founders, the purveyors of social justice, continuing the demand for liberation while cultivating a deep love for one another, it just seemed right to produce this show.
So, I talked to my old bosses, Steve and Tia Freeborn, of the OK Hotel, to see if this could happen at their new spot, The Royal Room, located in Columbia City. A neighborhood I used to take the bus as a kid with my neighborhood crew, to watch kung fu moves at the theater. A place that now seems as if many of us can barely afford the attempts to price us out.
I asked my good friend, Hans Teuber, to chart out all the music and act as musical director for the show, while I did all the rest:
gathered up players who I felt would have the dignity and the knowledge to take this material seriously; find old friends who would elevate the night with their voices, and introduced myself to amazing singers I had not met before, knowing they would do the songs the most justice. We comprised the following band:
THE BAND:
Joe Doria (Hathaway keys)
Hans Teuber (Flack keys, horns)
Jeff Fielder (guitar)
D'Vonne Lewis (drums)
Skerik (sax)
Ahamefule J. Oluo (Trumpet)
THE SINGERS:
La Tanya Horace
Timothy Davis
Christa Wells
Coreena
Caine Coldnote
Lisa Mansfield
Riz Rollins
Om Johari
Z aka Arzelia Jones Jr
and Mr Kj Jones
And the rest was a SOLD OUT NIGHT of utter 70s rememory bliss!
