Los Angeles will host its popular Black Book Expo again this year at the L.A. Convention Center. This one day event will offer “authors, storytellers, spoken word and poetry performances, musicians, exhibitors, children’s book authors, emerging writers, publishers, booksellers, panel discussions, editors, book reviewers…”
The Los Angeles Black Book Expo (LABBX)
L.A. Convention Center – Saturday August 20, 2011
This last week seemed, to me, to be full of a “series of unfortunate events”. By Friday, the last thing I needed was another news show or tabloid paper. I wanted to be taken away, out of the realm of current happenings. (I know, “reality shows” aren’t really, but even they weren’t fantastical enough.)
I found an old copy of one of the most fascinating fantasies ever – “100 Years of Solitude” by Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Written in 1967, the book recounts the history of a family that presides over a South American town called Macondo. It is the perfect “did it happen or didn’t it?” story.
Critics refer to García Márquez as a pioneer of “magical realism”. His work is often time shifting, mystical and surreal, it takes the reader to a different space, a different time. (Which can be such a relief when the “real” world starts to crowd in.)
“100 Years of Solitude” is a magical story – a definite adventure, a great book.
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His birthday slipped up on me this year. The artist known as Bob Dylan was 70 years old on May 24. I salute and congratulate him!
Of course he is a Gemini. We all know that he writes, he sings, he’s a poet, he’s a musician – truly the classic example of the Air sign’s communication gifts. A few years ago, he received an honorary Pulitzer Prize for his “profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.” Nice, but, did you know that Bob Dylan also paints?! 
His book of his art work, “Bob Dylan: The Drawn Blank Series” (March 2008) has 170 of his drawings rendered in water color and gouache. Drawings done in restaurants, hotel rooms are presented here along with little notes or poems.
Over 200 exhibit booths will be featured at the 2011 edition of this annual free event including music stages, panel discussions and children’s activities. 
“The vision of the Harlem Book Fair is to partner with local
and national leadership organizations under the banner of literacy
awareness, affirming HBF as the nation’s largest African American
literary event celebrating family literacy, community empowerment,
and community cooperation. “
Annual Harlem Book Fair * Saturday July 23, 2011
11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on West 135th Street, NYC
(Betw. Malcolm X Blvd. /Lenox Ave and Fredrick Douglas Blvd. 8th Ave)
John Hawkes - Winter's Bone
This wonderful small film was not for me a detective mystery as some have called it, but rather a portrait of America’s primal self. A portrait that is not at all flattering, like racism, poverty and ignorance that we desperately wish would stay hidden in the shadows.
The film immediately lays the groundwork: opportunity (next to none), respect (yes mam, no sir), family and women. The mystery is less important then the culture. We are watching a lion’s pride, not a cartoon, this is real. The pace of the movie and the soundtrack adds to its realness and I can relate to the desperation. Unlike a documentary, I never get the chance to feel distant and sorry for the people whose lives are portrayed on screen.
Life is simplistic, we will all do whatever is called for in order for us to survive another day. For me, that is the real story. Not the “who did it” or the perils of drugs (Meth), we are all looking to get by.
Originally Posted Nov 9, 2006
Last night the Rolling Stones played to another packed crowd out in Glendale Arizona. It looked like some of the fans needed to be assisted in order to get to the concert and there were others that could easily have been Mick Jagger’s great great grand children. In a recent book about the Beatles, John Lennon supposedly wanted to be the Rolling Stones. I wonder what he would think about the Cirque Du Soleil-Love Las Vegas which is really a must see for me. I remember when the Brits arrived, almost everyone believed that it would last a few days maybe a couple of weeks.