For the 30th Anniversary, we spent the 30 days of September in praise of the BLACK ROCK COALITION and our members. Check it out (most of) what we did:

Every Monday: On Membership Mondays, we featured (and will continue to feature) members through our social networks. Members, please don’t forget to fill out your member questionnaire.

Every Tuesday: We offered free rehearsal space for BRC members and our friends at Funkadelic Studios. Thanks Dawn! Folks like Unlocking The Truth, Omega Moon & T-Bone Motta, King Aswad, Jared Nickerson, Burnt Sugar, and Dope Sagittarius blessed the space.

Every Wednesday: We looked back on the 30 years since the BRC was founded and socially shared some milestones in the culture, in the music, in the organization, and in our lives. Thanks Lady Elix and LT for the fact-gathering and Wednesday night chuckles.

Other highlights: Th3     BRC Happy Hour (at Duff’s Brooklyn, 168 Marcy Ave btw S5th and Broadway, Brooklyn), 5-9p

F4     Launched a Booster.org Campaign for Limited Edition BRC 30th Anniversary T-Shirts

Su6      BRC 30^th Anniversary Kick-Off Party, The Bell House (149 7th St, Brooklyn), w/ Corey Glover & Vernon Reid, our youngest member-band Unlocking The Truth, Betty Black, and DJ SugarFreeBK. Concert from 7-10p, $15. Free after-party with performances by BRC family band Burnt Sugar, The Veldt and DJ CX KiDTRONiK. FREE (with food) from 10p-1a.

Th10    30 Years of BRC, Part 2 on Musical Chairs, WBAI-NY 99.5fm, 10p-12a

F11       National Support Black Rock Night (all members in Chicago went to Riot Fest to see Living Colour, Fishbone and Death; all members in NYC went to see 24/7 Spyz with Dope Sagittarius at The Living Room; other shows to be announced)

Sa12     BRC Team (The Riotous Guttersnipes) at Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls‘ Bowl-A-Thon raised money for our Original Rocker Scholarships

Su13     BRC Open Ears Listening and Archiving Party, The Black Rose (117 Avenue A, NYC), 7-10p

Th17    Black Rock & Reel: BRC Performance Highlights (1985-2015), Imagenation‘s RAW Space (2031 Adam Clayton Powell btw 121st and 122nd), 6-11p

F18      BRC Orchestra plays Band Of Gypsys @ BAMcafe (30 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn), featured special guests Vernon Reid, Corey Glover, Ronny Drayton, Stew, Michael Hill, Maritri Garrett, Kelsey Warren, Andre Lassalle, Wayne Livingston, Marcus Machado, and more, FREE, 9p

Sa19    BRC Orchestra plays Band Of Gypsys @ BAMcafe (30 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn), featured special guests Vernon Reid, Corey Glover, Ronny Drayton, Stew, Michael Hill, Maritri Garrett, Kelsey Warren, Andre Lassalle, Wayne Livingston, Marcus Machado, and more, FREE, 9p

Su20    BRC Vocal Clinic @ Metrosonic Showroom (143 Roebling, Williamsburg BK), 4-7p with Corey Glover of Living Colour, Free for members of the BRC and WMRC communities, $10 for everyone else.

F25      Opened submissions for Rock ‘n’ Roll Reparations, V. 3: The Million Man Mosh Edition. All songs submitted must address political and/or social issues that are affecting our community today. Fill out the SUBMISSION KIT here:

blackrockcoalition.com/submissions/music

Su27    Million Man Mosh 3 @ The Wind Up Space, Baltimore, 2-7p with Tamar-kali, Thaylo Bleu, and Throwdown Syndicate. With generous support from Oyin Handmade and Exit The Apple.

Will you join us?

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…

It’d been a while since the BRC had any organized presence at the ever-swelling musical juggernaut that is SXSW (the last time was around 1993).

So we reintroduced ourselves with a panel on a topic very close to our hearts (and our mission) called “Deep Roots of Rock: Making Rock Relevant Again.” Moderated by BRC co-founder Greg Tate and brought to discussion by Bevis Griffin (artist, author and Texas Music Hall inductee), Rob Fields (editor of Bold As Love and marketing strategist), and BRC President LaRonda Davis.

We had a great turn-out and lots of friendly-family faces in the house—including BRC-NY Director of Operations Darrell M. McNeill, BRC Board Member Bill Bragin (whose GlobalFest Showcase was the highlight of the night), Lincoln Center’s Jill Sternheimer, artist Dez Dickerson, Just A Band (from Kenya), and Buddy Miles’ daughter Chealsea Dawn.

You can hear the panel here on Soundcloud. Or check out the description here at SXSW.

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

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

Make Me Wanna Holler: Progressive Voices for Progressive Action

The resurrection of BRC showcase vehicle BLUNT FORCE TRAUMA featured live and loud sets by The Dust Rays (w/ Kirk Douglas + Mark kelley of the Roots and Ricc Sheridan of Earl Greyhound), Year of The Dragon (from LA w/ Dirty Walt of Fishbone), MilitiA.Vox (of Judas Priestess). DJ SugarfreeBK. Hosts Laina Dawes (author of “What Are You Doing Here”) and Kelsey Warren (of pILLOW tHEORY).

It was also the official after-party for the opening night of the week-long run of DEATH METAL ANGOLA in NYC. Do yourself a favor and support this awesome documentary, which is now also available on iTunes.

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