Fantagraphics Books and Light in the Attic Records are excited to announce that author, lecturer, and music-man Pat Thomas is hitting the road with Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975. Meet the mofo behind the book that pays tribute to the Black Power Movement of the '60s-'70s. Heading up the West Coast and then across the pond to England, Thomas will be giving talks, signing books, and playing tracks at both bookstores and record shops.
While researching this book project in Oakland, Thomas discovered rare recordings of speeches, interviews, and music by noted activists Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Elaine Brown, and others that form the framework of this definitive retrospective. Listen, Whitey! chronicles the forgotten history of Motown Records' Black Power subsidiary label, Black Forum, which released politically charged albums by Stokely Carmichael, Langston Hughes, Bill Cosby, and Ossie Davis, among others. Obscure records produced by African-American sociopolitical organizations of the period are examined, along with the Isley Brothers, Nina Simone, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Watts Prophets, Roland Kirk, Horace Silver, Angela Davis, H. Rap Brown, Stanley Crouch, and many more.
Thomas will give a slide and music presentation, and then sign copies of Listen, Whitey! and the companion CD of the same title from Seattle-based Light in the Attic Records. The album features rare tracks from African-American activists like Dick Gregory, Eldridge Cleaver, and the Last Poets, with protest music by Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Gil Scott-Heron, Roy Harper, and more.
Listen, Whitey! features nearly 200 pages of text accompanied by over 250 large sized, full-color reproductions of album covers and 45 rpm singles — most of which readers will have never seen before. The book creates a cultural context for the iconic images and the accompanying album.
Tour Schedule:
Wednesday, April 4, 7pm
Book Soup
8818 Sunset Blvd.
W. HOLLYWOOD, CA 90069
310.659.3110
Thursday, April 5, 7-8PM
AMOEBA Records
6400 Sunset Blvd.
LOS ANGELES, CA 90028
323.245.6400
Saturday, April 7, TBA
Warbler Records & Goods
131 E De La Guerra St
SANTA BARBARA, CA 93101
805.845.5862
Tuesday, April 10, 7:30PM
The Booksmith
1644 Haight St.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94117
415.863.8688
Wednesday, April 11, 7:30 pm
Pegasus Books
2349 Shattuck Ave.
BERKELEY, CA 94704
510.649.1320
Sunday, April 22, 7:30 PM
Powell's City of Books
1005 W Burnside
PORTLAND, OR 97209
503.228.4651
Wednesday, May 9, TBA
University of Southampton
University Road, SOUTHAMPTON SO17 1BJ
+44 (0)23.8059.5000
Thursday, May 10, TBA
SPONSORED AND PRESENTED BY
THE WIRE MAGAZINE
Cafe OTO
18 – 22 Ashwin St.
Dalston, LONDON E8 3DL
Friday, May 11, TBA
Rough Trade East "Dray Walk"
Old Truman Brewery
91 Brick Lane, LONDON
E1 6QL
+44 (0)207.392.7788
Tuesday, May 15, TBA
Durham University
Lecture Room of the Music Department
The University Office
Old Elvet, DURHAM
DH1 3HP
+44 (0)191.334.6305