El Rey Theater, Los Angeles

 

Review of Artspeaks by LAUNCH.com

Art Speaks, Los Angeles

On January 28 and 29 at Los Angeles's El Rey Theatre, the Stolen Lives Project held two back-to-back "Art Speaks" charity concerts to help end police brutality. With appearances by various poets, artists, underground DJs, big-screen projectionists, and musicians from the worlds of jazz, Latin funk, rock, and hip-hop (including Blackalicious, the Freestyle Fellowship, Ozomatli, Aztlan Underground, Saul Williams, the Dwight Trible Ensemble, and Money Mark), the concerts certainly drew serious attention to deserving victims beyond the internationally (in)famous cases of Rodney King or Amadou Diallo.

On both nights, the El Rey bore no signs of overt commercialism--no street-team vehicles, no radio vans, not even any lines for exclusive guest lists. Even members of the press covering the event were still encouraged to make a $15 donation. For a cause such as this, the 18-and-older music lovers and charity supporters in attendance left all attitudes and immature behavior at the door, and instead mingled congenially on the dance floor, graciously clearing some empty space so that breakdancers could flex their moves and volunteers could maneuver through the crowd with collection baskets and anti-brutality literature.

The respect demonstrated for the show's artists was equally admirable. Undivided audience attention was completely focused on the stage for every participating performer. Youngsters in the audience even looked on in amazement as the Dwight Trible EnsembleÕs cellist, pianist, and saxophone player improvised during a slow-paced, vintage-jazz set; no one shrugged their shoulders, even if the B-Boy/B-Girl crowd was obviously awaiting headliners like Blackalicious and Freestyle Fellowship.

Quite a few surprises occurred the first night, with Mos Def taking the stage not to perform but to discuss issues and help inspire concertgoers to support the cause and get involved. However, judging by the resounding round of applause he received, you would have sworn he'd just performed "Ms. Fat Booty" or one of his many hip-hop hits.

The second night was sold-out, probably because of the previous evening's success as well as night number two's headliner, massively popular local favorite Ozomatli. Whatever the reason, scattered among the youth inside the venue were some older spectators, who sat around on the outskirts of the theater watching the younger generation express and expel its energy in all forms. And when Iriscience of Dilated Peoples (whose lyrics seemed consciously constructed for the night's anti-brutality theme) delivered a particularly brilliant, mic-rocking, a cappella-freestyle performance, these more mature concertgoers--some of whom had come to this concert to honor children or loved ones whose lives had been wrongfully taken by thugs in black, blue, or gray uniforms--all bobbed their heads in approval. They may not have been standing, dancing, or pumping their fists in the air, but there were there.

Since 1990, the Stolen Lives Project has documented and published (in Stolen Lives: Killed And Brutalized By Police) the names and cases of over 2,000 people (mostly people of color) killed by the U.S. police and border patrol. Go to www.unstoppable.com or www.stolenlives.org.

Marlos_Regis

Artspeaks 2001 Card Design by Jameel Jones