Afro-Punk - 2009 Brooklyn festival dates & lineup (Janelle Monae, Living Colour, Earl Greyhound, Saul Williams...)

Janelle Monae @ MHOW in April (more by Tim Griffin)

This summer Afro-Punk, BAMcinematek and Toyota will present the 5th annual Afro-Punk Festival, taking place July 3rd – July 8th, 2009 in the heart of Brooklyn, NY. The festival is the definitive destination for the global Afro-Punk community and audiences yearning to experience true AP culture!

Headliners at this year’s fest include Pure Hell and Whole Wheat Bread on July 4th, Living Colour and Earl Greyhound on July 5th, and Saul Williams and Janelle Monae on July 6th.

Schedule and more info, below…

Free and open to the public, Afro-Punk Festival 2009 will spotlight some of the most exciting young artists and bands from the US and abroad, presenting live music and films every night throughout the festival, along with several other key events including:

4th July
Pure Hell
Whole Wheat Bread
American Fangs
Game Rebellion
The Objex
Joya Bravo
& more

5th July
Living Colour
Earl Grey Hound
Tamar Kali
The London Souls
Apollo Heights
Sabatta
& more

6th July
Saul Williams
Janelle Monae
The Dallas Austin Experience
Elevator Fight
Chewing Pic’s
Peekaboo Theory
Blackie
& more

The AP Film Series

Afro-Punk Festival film program is co-curated by BAMcinématek with Matthew Morgan and James Spooner, and the outdoor concerts and events are produced by Matthew Morgan. Outside BAM’s Peter Jay Sharp Building, as well as at additional venues throughout Brooklyn, there will be free live musical performances, a skate park, and an Afro-Punk Block Party with DIY vendors.

27th June
PREMIERE: What’s On Your Plate?
You’ve read Omnivore’s Dilemma and Fast Food Nation and you try to buy local and organic produce at your neighborhood farmer’s market. But do you really know how what you’re eating ended up on your table? Through the eyes of two intelligent and inquisitive eleven-year-old girls from New York City, we follow the many paths, the conflicting economics, and the disparate decision makers who all play a part in what we eat. Ideal for families to watch together, the film presents a variety of perspectives on how food reaches our urban community and its associated challenges.

3rd July
Adjust Your Color: Petey Greene
Faubourg Treme: The Untold Story Of Black New Orleans
A Man Named Pearl
Eventual Salvation
Favela Rising
Hoods To Woods

4th July
The Anderson Platoon
Fred Hampton: Black Panthers In Chicago
Afro-Saxons
Attica

5th July: an all-day Spike Lee program
Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads
Making of Do The Right Thing
A Huey P. Newton Story
Do The Right Thing

6th July
A Man Named Pearl
Revolution ’67
Afro-Punk
White Lies Black Sheep

7th July
When We Were Kings
What’s On Your Plate?
The Night James Brown Saved Boston

8th July
Adjust Your Color: Petey Greene
Faubourg Treme: The Untold Story Of Black New Orleans
The Two Towns Of Jasper
Medicine For Melancholy

The AP Skate Park

The Afro-Punk Skate Park will be erected in GGMC parking lot adjacent to BAM at Lafayette Avenue and Ashland Place. The skate park is open for three days of the festival. Staffed by BMX and pro skaters who will give demonstrations, the skate park will provide free instruction for youth of all ages along with boards, pads, and helmets. Rounding out the skate park will be a music stage hosting a high-energy series of DJ sets and musical performances, and various contests including:

5th July
BMX Bulldog Bikes / Afro-Punk presents:
Urbanx – Battle For The Streets-Best Box Jump Contest
$5000 IN PRIZES include all expenses paid trip to the XGAMES Courtesy Of ESPN

6th July
Afro-Punk presents:
Urbanx – Battle for the Streets – Best Trick Contest
$5000 IN PRIZES including all expenses paid trip to the XGAMES Courtesy Of ESPN

NIKE SP SPONSORED SKATE CLINIC Run by Billy Rohan of OPEN ROAD

Open Road leads skateboarding programs in schools, after school, in city-wide events, and builds parks that are open to the public for free skating. We create free skateboarding physical education programs in response to several interrelated needs and opportunities. Open Road offers skateboarding sessions for all ages. Our sessions are lead by male and female instructors trained by Billy Rohan. We offer beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. Beginner and Intermediate sessions begin with warm up stretches in a sequence developed by Billy. Safety/equipment care is covered in every session.

THE BLOCK PARTY

12th June
On Clinton Avenue between Myrtle and Willoughby, July heats up with the second annual Afro-Punk Block Party featuring live music, DJs, and DIY fashion, food, and craft vendors. Not the usual street fair, the block party features the best underground and local artists and artisans.

What is Afro-punk?

When Matthew Morgan and James Spooner joined forces in 2002, their focus was giving a voice to thousands of multi-cultural kids fiercely identifying with a lifestyle path-less-traveled. The result was 2003’s Afro-Punk, the seminal cult classic film spotlighting Black Punks in America.

Since then Afro-Punk has become a cultural movement strongly reminiscent of the early days of Hip-Hop, and a touchstone for tens of thousands of Alternative urban kids across the nation (and the globe) who, tired of feeling like outsiders, have joined the Afro-Punk (AP) community.

Ground Zero for this movement is the annual Afro-Punk Music and Art Festival, launched in Brooklyn in 2005. Co-curated by Morgan and Spooner, the festival celebrates and unified the cultural cornerstones of Afro-Punk: music, film, skate, and most importantly, the fiercely independent and influential individuals that are the lifeblood of the AP community. Afro-punk has featured an intensely diverse group of artists over the years, including The Noisettes (London), The Dirtbombs (Detroit), Saul Williams (Los Angeles), and The Apes (Washington DC), as well as trend-spotting recent Grammy nominees Janelle Monae and Little Jackie at last year’s festival. AP has also garnered praise from a wide range of media outlets ranging from Pitchfork, URB, Vibe, and Nylon to Variety, Entertainment Weekly, and The Los Angeles Times, and was the subject of an “Urban Eye” video feature by Melena Ryzik in the New York Times last year.