Black Habits - CONCERT/FUNDRAISER AT THE LULA LOUNGE

civyibon writes "Â Â Concert / Entertainment
Event Date: Tuesday, October 25, 2005Â Â Start Time: 06:00 PM
End Date: Tuesday, October 25, 2005Â Â Ending Time: 10:00 PM
UNITY IS STRENGTH â€“ A concert/fundraiser/teach-in
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25th, 2005; Admission $20

LULA LOUNGE, 1585 Dundas West (2 blks w. of Dufferin)

416-588-0307; Performances by: Pianist, Tiki Mercury Clarke,
Jazz/Contemporary singers Shelley Hamilton and Sacha Williamson; dâ€™bi young; Acapela singers, The Delightful Divas; Steel Pan composers, Hameed Shaqq and Earl La Pierre; Spoken word artists, Kamau and Nana Yeboa; Writer/Poet, Pamela Mordecai; The Poor Poets; CBC Journalist, Adrian Harewood. Also appearing Storytellers, Itah Sadu and Sandra Whiting; MCâ€™s Shelley Hamilton and Jamea Zuberi; Slide presentation from the Astrodome by â€œZINâ€ spoken word and Rap artist from Houston, Texas.

Obtain Tickets at: A Different Booklist, 746 Bathurst Street, 416-538-0889; Ashanti Room, 836 Bloor St., 416-588-3934; Women's Bookstore, 73 Harbord Street, 416-922-8744; Doors open at 6pm Show starts 7pm to 10pm. The Lula Lounge offers excellent food at reasonable prices.

Why fundraise for Hurricane Katrina

As I watched the incredible loss suffered by the People of New Orleans and the Gulf states my inbox was flooded with messages. I received a note asking for assistance for a woman who had been able to contact a friend in a sister organization here in Toronto. The woman was in a shelter with her 3 children. She had lost everything and was begging for help. The next day a wire was sent with $650 dollars that had been pledged. Another note told of a professor from the Southern University of New Orleans whose name had been spotted on one of the lists posted by a shelter. After I shared the strategy used to wire money to the woman and her 3 children, pledges were again taken and $2,500.00 was sent the next day to help the professor and his wife who reportedly had been left with the borrowed shirts on their backs. Iâ€™d visited New Orleans only a year before Katrina. Iâ€™d partied in the French Quarters, sipped martinis, and been serenaded in a blues bar. Iâ€™d always wanted to visit New Orleans, not because I wanted to experience the decadence of Mardi Gras or felt the need to affirm by femininity by being thrown a bauble after baring - well never mind! I wanted to get a sense of life in a Southern American city with a large, approximately 70% Black population. New Orleans was and is a study of race and class inequity - of white supremacy and of Black poverty and despair. As the horror of people being herded into stadiums and then described as being better off than they were before unfolded I heard my daughter say that it is horrible to face the fact that she belongs to the most hated race on earth. We can debate this, but how does a parent comfort a child who bears witness to what some describe as genocide? Each day I received more emails; telephone calls from people devising ways to help; wondering about sharing contacts from the region. And finally my friends and I began to plan. We spoke about organizing a caravan to travel to various areas of Toronto sharing music, panel discussions, Q&A sessions on various forms of racial hatred and genocide aimed at Black communities across Canada and the U.S. - perhaps even making links to events in Europe (e.g. recent fires in buildings occupied by African immigrants in Paris) etc. We would collect money and various items along the way that would eventually be handed over to an organization in perhaps Houston â€“ weâ€™d heard that because of the fear of disease people were being discouraged from entering the flooded areas. We thought singers, storytellers, poets against racial hatred and social injustice would join the ever growing caravan of love. Well, in some ways we got the caravan moving â€“ my friends and I. Despite the fact that researchers have noted that many are reluctant to help those they cannot for one reason or another, identify with or those they blame for their own demise â€“ like much of the worldâ€™s poor. Despite all of this, weâ€™ve held a teach-in and explored the meaning of â€œgenocideâ€ and the ways the term could be applied to Black life in Canada and in other parts of the world. We led discussions about what we saw on television and talked about what we would have liked to have seen. We planned a family brunch and organized speakers â€“ young spoken word artists to share their writings and feelings about the tragedy they were forced to witness. We brought people from the business community together to write cheques - to share their wealth. And we brought artists that reflect the diversity within the Black community. Black artists, young and old, hip hop and all that jazz, to share their talents at the concert/fundraiser/teach-in on October 25th, 6pm to 10pm at the Lula Lounge. Weâ€™ve been riding the caravan - of love. Come out and support us. Each one. Teach one.

by: Pauline Bullen"