Book Release Celebration for Traveling the Spaceways: Sun Ra, the Astro Black and other Solar Myths
Saturday, December 18, 3 p.m.
Featuring a concert of solo bass and guimbri by Joshua Abrams
As we near the end of the year, Corbett vs. Dempsey is happy to pitch one final shindig, a rich musical and literary event around the long-awaited publication of the book Traveling the Spaceways: Sun Ra, the Astro-Black, and other Solar Myths (WhiteWalls, 2010).
With essays based on presentations at a 2006 symposium at the Hyde Park Art Center, this book offers a cornucopia of ideas and images spurred by the musician and mystic Sun Ra. A companion to two previous books published by WhiteWalls, The Wisdom of Sun-Ra, and Pathways to Unknown Worlds, Traveling the Spaceways considers Ra’s work from art historical and musical perspectives, as well as looking at his growing influence on contemporary visual art. The book is co-edited by John Corbett, Anthony Elms, and Terri Kapsalis; contributors include Cheryl Lynn Bruce, Robert Campbell, Kevin Whitehead, Graham Lock, John Corbett, Victor Margolin, Phil Cohran, Kerry James Marshall, Calvin Forbes, Terri Kapsalis, Anthony Elms, Malik Gaines, Karl Erickson, and Glenn Ligon. Copies will be available for the first time on this occasion.
Music is of course required to properly fete this new tome. There’s no better musician equipped to do so than Joshua Abrams, an intrepid bassist and multi-instrumentalist, whose glorious new LP – yes, we love him for releasing a vinyl-only record! – Natural Information was released this year on Eremite. Abrams is very well known to creative music fans for his work with Nicole Mitchell’s Black Earth Ensemble, the trio Sticks & Stones, as a member of Town & Country, and in many other settings playing jazz, electronic, and improvised music. At CvsD, Abrams will play a solo concert of acoustic bass and guimbri, the three-stringed lute played by the Gnawa people of North Africa.
It will also be a wonderful excuse to come see Degree of Separation, the new exhibition of paintings and sculpture by Margot Bergman. Warm up and chill out with great music and a sunny Sun Ra celebration.
