On Mon Apr 4 @ Webster Hall, NYC, we threw a benefit funkraiser to show our love for Bernie Worrell. Not only is he a member of the BRC Board of Directors, he’s been at the forefront of funk from jump. With a little help from our friends (most notably Nona Hendryx and Rob Max of Sweet Relief), we raised over $50,000 to help pay Bernie’s health and living expenses as he fights Stage 4 lung cancer and liver and prostate cancer. Many of his biggest supporters, oldest friends, and most notorious collaborators were there—Bootsy Collins, George Clinton, Living Colour, Paul Shaffer and the World’s Most Dangerous Band, Meryl Streep, Rick Springfield, Jonathan Demme, Mudbone, Leo Nocentelli, Questlove, Buckethead, Mike Hampton, Sarah Dash, Fred Schneider, Marc Ribler, Screaming Headless Torsos, and of course, The BRC Orchestra.

You can still donate directly to Bernie’s health and living expenses at sweetrelief.org.

ROCK ‘N’ ROLL REPARATIONS, V3: MILLION MAN MOSH EDITION

– For a free digital download code, send an email to BRC30@blackrockcoalition.org with ‘code’ in the subject.

– For a free copy of the CD, come see us at the next BRC event (send an email to BRCmembersinfo@gmail.com to be added to our weekly newsletter, ‘This Week in Black Rock’ for updates).

A FREE compilation of socially-aware tracks by over 30 Black rockers to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Black Rock Coalition. This 3rd installment of our Rock ‘n’ Roll Reparations series is themed for our Million Man Mosh initiative and features conscious tracks by the following:

– Fantastic Negrito (LA)

– Fishbone (LA)

– Sananda Maitreya (Milano)

– Three5Human (ATL)

– Sewer Rats BK (Brooklyn)

– The Negro Problem (Brooklyn)

– Tamar-kali (Brooklyn)

– M. Lamar (Brooklyn)

– GhettoMetal (LA)

– Imani Coppola (Brooklyn)

– Cole Williams (New Orleans)

– SATE (Toronto)

– Thaylobleu (Washington DC)

– Militia Vox (NYC)

– GKA (Brooklyn)

– Year of the Dragon (LA)

– The Family Stand (NJ/LA/Netherlands)

– Pussy Story (Santa Monica/Brooklyn)

– Suburban Dog (NJ)

– Black Angel Down (Baltimore)

– Omega Sirius Moon (OSM) (Brooklyn)

PLUS an extended, digital download featuring additional new classics from:

– Angelo Moore & The Brand New Step (LA)

– Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber (NYC)

– Sugar Fly (LA)

– GhettoSongBird (Philly)

– McRad (Philly)

– The Ki Ki Experience (NYC)

– Drue Davis (Brooklyn)

– Nikolitsa (Santa Monica)

– Blackbird/Shane Smith (LA)

– Angela Johnson (NJ)

It’s our most geographically- and musically-diverse collection. Representing Black rockers and progressive musicians from around the world on a socially-poignant journey from outrage to reflection to action to progress.

Another BLACK ROCK COALITION RECORDS release…

FREE PARTY. FREE MUSIC. FREE NEGROES MAKING REAL MUSIC.

Shout out to compilation artists Imani Coppola, Jason BK (of Sewer Rats BK), M. Lamar, GKA, Militia Vox, Omega Sirius Moon, Drue Davis, GhettoSongBird (all the way from Philly!), and Luqman Brown (of BuddhaBug Records) for coming out and helping us blast this important music all throughout the LES. Also, thanks to all the BRC fam who was in the house and to The Black Rose for showing us another good time.

More to come…

We continue our commanding ROCK ‘N’ ROLL REPARATIONS series with Volume 3: The Million Man Mosh Edition. It features songs by some of our most dynamic outsider voices as they express sonic social commentary on the world we’re living in today. Discover new favorites from Fantastic Negrito, Fishbone, Sananda Maitreya, Three5Human, GKA, Stew and The Negro Problem, Tamar-kali, Imani Coppola, The Family Stand, Suburban Dog, M. Lamar, GhettoMetal, Year Of The Dragon, Omega Sirius Moon, Sewer Rats BK, Militia Vox, SATE, Thaylobleu, Pussy Story, Black Angel Down, and Cole Williams. The extended digital download also includes culturally-conscious tracks from such talents as Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber, The Ki Ki Experience, Angelo Moore and The Brand New Step, Nikolitsa, McRad, Blackbird/Shane Smith, GhettoSongBird, Sugar Fly, Angela Johnson, and Drue Davis.   It’s all to continue the celebration of 30 years of the BRC doing what we do to support artists who are reclaiming their birthright to rock.

Rocking Since Birth: The BRC Celebrates 30 Years of Reclaiming & Correcting the Rock Aesthetic

Exhibited from Oct 8-Nov 27, 2015

In 1986, BRC Co-Founder Vernon Reid told John Lelund of Spin Magazine, “Blond, long hair, white. Our organization is a direct challenge to that mentality, that imagery. Because FIRST, ROCK IS BLACK MUSIC. Rock is everyone’s music, but the origins of rock are Black. And there’s no way you can get around that.”

For this exhibit, hosted at ImageNation’s RAW Space, we put together our largest collection of images from recent BRC events…and we barely scratched the surface. The images covered just a handful of shows from 2006-2015, but many of our heaviest hitters are front and center, seen through the eyes of some of the best live photographers out there (Earl Douglas, Jr., Petra Richterova, Scott Ellison Smith, Ed Marshall, Nivea Castro, Radcliffe Roye, and Joe Conzo).

Keep an eye out for where this exhibit may go next…

We all know the story…Once upon a time there was a band of immensely talented musicians fronted by Sophia Ramos and Mike Ciro. That band screamed their way through NYC, got noticed, got signed, got a record made, and then got the shaft from their label for being ‘unsellable’ (apparently in their eyes, black and brown people in a rock band presented a marketing challenge they weren’t ready to accept). Fast-forward 20 years, and they’re back—shelved album in hand—to remind everyone of why they turned so many heads in the first place. If you weren’t there and weren’t able to get your hands on “SHOT IN THE HEAD,” at the one-and-only reunion of SOPHIA’S TOY, let us know and we’ll see if we can direct you to the right people. Needless to say, they killed it. And justified their reputation as bad-asses as did BRC stalwarts MilitiA. Vox and pILLOW tHEORY. JULY 9, 2015.

‘Sisters, Songwriters & Sirens’ celebrates the important and often under-appreciated contributions Black women make to culture through music, expression, perspective, and visibility. Heading overseas for a 6-show, 12-day tour of France, this was the third time our host Chateauvallon had called upon the talents of our all-female lineup to bring audiences to their feet in the name of Nina, Tina, Betty, Rosetta, Abbey, Big Mama, Maybelle, Aretha, Memphis Minnie, Miriam, Maxayn, Joan, Grace, Chaka, Jayne, Nona and Sugar Pie…not to mention originals by members of the killer Orchestra led by powerhouse Tamar-kali.   The 2 performances at Chateauvallon sold out, Paris had a respectable crowd for a three-night residence, but we killed in Lyon—selling out the 1200 seat venue and having the people on their feet screaming for more by the 7th song. We hope to be welcomed back soon…

With Man Mosh I and II, (which we could not have done without generous performances from Living Colour, 24-7 Spyz, Ronny Drayton and Reverend Kim Leslie, Nona Hendryx, Burnt Sugar, DJ Afrika Bambaataa, The Sugarhill Gang, and others), we were able to bring folks together, call attention to the issue of unjust incarceration, and help raise money for Donovan Drayton’s Legal Defense Fund (glad he’s finally home!).

With Million Man Mosh III, we continued the spirit of community-building and action-taking with performances from the very-vocal Tamar-kali, Garland Jeffreys, and Dragons of Zynth with Saul Williams. This time, the focus was on policing and the need for loud and progressive voices for change.

Action Leaders: Malcolm X Grassroots Movement

UPDATES TO COME

Make Me Wanna Holler: Progressive Voices for Progressive Action (<click for the PDF)

Make Me Wanna Holler: Progressive Voices for Progressive Action