Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

Who We Be :: A Preview In The Believer!

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Apologies for not being as up as I should be. Lots to write about in the coming days–including 2009′s landmark year for graffiti books and the new movement around cultural policy taking shape. But here’s what I’ve been up to lately…

I’ve been hard at work on the new book, Who We Be: The Colorization of America, and am proud to announce that the new issue of this month’s The Believer features a preview of what’s coming in the book. It’s a piece I’ve done about the great cartoonist Morrie Turner, whose 45 years of work are on exhibition through November 19 at the SF Public Library. Check that show out, and go find the mag.

In the meantime, BIG shouts to Ed Park, Andrew Leland and the amazing Ms. Gabrielle Zucker. Here’s a taster:

The night of Barack Obama’s victory, eighty-six-year-old cartoonist Bil Keane called his old friend Morrie Turner, himself a sprightly eighty-four. Turner was working on his strip Wee Pals in the office of his tiny bungalow in South Berkeley, leaning over his drafting desk, its surface worn to the curve of the wood grain, tracing and embellishing the pencil outlines in India ink on Bristol board. A Law & Order rerun played in the background. Inking a strip to the natter of a TV program: for Turner, these were familiar rhythms, warm comfort for forty-three years. At that moment, the last thing he wanted to hear was the news….

More bites here!

posted by Jeff Chang @ 3:03 pm | 1 Comment

One Response to “Who We Be :: A Preview In The Believer!”

Bob says:

November 12, 2009 at 6:24 am

Nice… any Hip-Hop in this new book?

Feed Me!

Revolutions

Damian Marley + Nas :: Distant Relatives
Born in Africa, made in Jamaica and the U.S.
Erykah Badu :: New Amerykah Pt. 2: Return of The Ankh
Everyone needs grown folk music
Flying Lotus :: Cosmogramma
Can we call this psych-hop?
Galactic :: Ya-Ka-May
Does the difficult job of reconciling the past + present of NOLA music into a vital, ringing masterpiece
Janelle Monae :: The Arch-Android
In which Monae’s robogirl thang starts making funky sense: a richly imagined revisionist pop history of two decades of ATL futurism w/nods to Outkast & Cee-Lo
Joyo Velarde :: Love & Understanding
Mama Quannum’s long-awaited album is a soul feast
LCD Soundsystem :: This Is Happening
Tasteful, eccentric, poignant, dumb, excessive. Ain’t no party like a 40-something’s party.
M.I.A. :: "Born Free" video
One of the most important music videos ever made. A timeless comment on this moment of fear and loathing.
Molina Soleil + Aju :: Shine Flow
Brilliant new EP from the underground, prod. by DJ Icewater…don’t miss it!
Reflection Eternal :: Revolutions Per Minute
A versatile, pleasing album topped by “Ballad of the Black Gold”, an instant classic…