February 10th LUNADA Literary Lounge Spring Season Opener
LUNADA Literary Lounge
Spoken Word * Música * Open Mic
Friday, February 10, 2017, Spring Season Opener, featuring:
~ ASHA
~ Joseph Jason Santiago LaCour
~ Raphael Cohen
~ Open Mic: Sign-up 7:15pm, 10 spots on the list, 5 min. ea.
The Lunada 2017 Spring season opener features spoken word at it’s finest, with passion and power by three poets raising roofs around the Bay. We amplify South Bay poet activist ASHA, righteous evolutionary Joseph Jason Santiago LaCour, and an excerpt from Rebel Elegant by Raphael Cohen, about the life of former NBA star Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf.
The Lunada OPEN MIC invites poets, emcees, musicians, storytellers, laureates and first-timers to share their voices under the lunar spotlight.
Hosted by Sandra García Rivera
$5.00 Admission
GALERIA DE LA RAZA
2857 24th Street, at Bryant
SF, CA 94110
LUNADA is the Bay Area’s only full moon bilingual literary ritual & performance gathering devoted to spoken word, música, song, and story. Located in the heart of the Mission District at Galería de la Raza, and guest curated by some of the Bay Area’s most dynamic word slingers and artists, each LUNADA features community poets, local legends, visiting mystics, and other mero meros of the stage. Voted Best Literary Night of 2016 by the SF Bay Guardian.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
ASHA is a South Bay-based artist, educator, and revolutionary whose work deals with issues of equity and social justice. She is originally from LA where she grew heavily into the underground hip hop scene and has toured London showcasing her poetry. Her music, art and spoken word act as a mirror into the passion and activism she lives out daily.
Joseph Jason Santiago LaCour is a mestizo Chicagoan raised in South Dallas now living in the Bay Area. As an early father of two beautiful daughters he held more jobs than he can count while writing and performing just enough to stay sane. As is the case for the vast majority of us, life as an Artist was nothing more than a dream deferred. And, now, at 39, a new moon is rising. Combining poetry and verse with graphic art and music, LaCour works to communicate a message of love through spiritual balance and self-exploration. He expresses an affinity for 90's Hip-Hop, Philosophy, Technology and global culture. His mission? To inspire the embrace of righteous evolution.
Raphael Cohen is a writer and educator whose work has appeared in Tikkun, Zeek, and 38th Notes. The author of Scrutinizing Lines, a poetry collection released in 2007, he’s performed throughout the U.S. and Canada, and has curated multiple Bay Area arts and cultural events. He’s taught creative writing at UC Berkeley’s Pre-College Academy, Marin County Juvenile Hall, The Bay School of San Francisco, among many other academic and community spaces. Originally from New York, Raphael’s called Oakland home for a decade and a half. He holds a BA from San Francisco State University and a MFA from Mills College.
His latest work, Rebel Elegant, a chapbook and solo performance blending poetry, biography, hoops history, and social commentary, pays tribute to former NBA star Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (recently dubbed "the Steph Curry before Steph Curry"), whose religious/political protest of the national anthem in 1996 is widely seen as having led to his ouster from the league at the height of his athletic career. The Rebel Elegant page on FB, is:www.facebook.com/RebelElegant1