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black witch, the arts: featuring george 2.0 and festivals you should know!

September 17, 2010
Here comes The Arts! How have you been liking them so far? Been a blast for me! Let’s get this show on the road shall we? Starting with the third Wondaland feature! All the Wondaland Arts Society features have been simply wonderful! First Janelle Monae, then photographer Nastassia Davis! Who’s Wondaland feature number three?

Black Witch, The Arts: Featuring George 2.0 and Festivals you should know!
Words Olivia Haynes
Well, follow this lolita and see who is standing on the other end of the rabbit hole this time is none other than:

George 2.0
Janelle Monae’s official Masters of Ceremonies, George 2.0 announces every show, setting the mood for magic, wonder and esteem. Just like any of the other members of Wondaland, George 2.0 has his own projects for himself. Alum of Morehouse (Note how Morehouse keeps sending out ace men? Dr. King, Saul Williams, The 54’s – it certainly is an HBCU that honors its name and reputation), George 2.0 is always busy and his projects are eye-catching! His most noteworthy project is “Turn Off the Tv” (TOTV). George 2.0 best describes the project himself on the official site:

Turn off the TV is a sitcom mix tape that suggests that anybody and everybody can do what they see on television, as long as they turn it off long enough to be proactive about chasing their dreams. As almost all of the music and videos inspired by the mix tape were developed, recorded, shot, and edited with a Laptop, cell phone, or an improvised audio/video device, TOTV is proof that artists of any age and skill level can produce competitive content with little to no resources.”

Watch the opening credits:

My favorite episodes of TOTV:

Shepherd’s Words

Channel 12 – Charge a Dream (a jon genius joint)

I really like George 2.0’s poetics. I’m a Baltimorean so I appreciate a good poet and a wonderful poem (word to the wise: there is a very strong hip hop/poetry underground in Baltimore City. We take it straight to the artery.) I really dig George 2.0 works because it’s great poetry, and great art.

Want more 2.0? Check him here:

George 2.0’s blog, the best central hub to keep up with all that he’s doing
TOTV
@twopointoh, George 2.0’s Twitter

Don’t want none? That’s fine. Even if you weren’t watching, even if you weren’t listening, he’d still be doing this anyways. Speaking of turning off the tv, turn off the radio and listen to the next feature:

Atmosphere
This realistic hip hop emcee made Minnesota a musical contender, Atmosphere keeps the heart of hip hop alive in his words and the beats. Never talking about hoes and money, he talks about his experiences and the experiences of the world around him. I first heard him on Pandora and became an avid listener from thereon after, listening to him on his Myspace (say what you will about Myspace but it does serve as a great music hub). Here’s a couple songs of Atmosphere, courtesy of Youtube.

Your Glass House

C’mon

Please do check out his older stuff, but here’s this nice little free mixtape called Leak at Will.

I love “White Noise” and “C’mon”. “Mother’s Day” is simply amazing. I dig that Atmosphere is an emcee rather than another talentless rapper who’s simply going through the motions to make it big. Atmosphere puts a good spin on his words. He doesn’t pretend to be a gangsta or harder than he actually is and hip hop needs more emcees like him. And does Rhymesayers give you some déjà vu? It should, we just hosted P.O.S. at this year’s AfroPunk festival and he’s on the same label as Atmosphere. Atmosphere isn’t part of Doomtree, the crew P.O.S. runs with, but they are all hail from the same Minnesota cold. (And expect a few Doomtree features in future The Arts. Just like Wondaland, they’ve got quite a catch in individuals.)

So we went back down the rabbit hole to Wondaland and went straight to Minnesota, final stop is my spot: Baltimore.

Festivals, festivals, festivals. My gods, so many festivals, so little time. Every month is something new but I’ll try to keep it relevant. First up is:

Baltimore Book Festival
Every September is the Baltimore Book Festival, from Sept 24 to the 26th. Like reading? Like spoken word acts? Wanna eat free gourmet? The Mt. Vernon neighborhood hosts the 15th annual festival celebrating books and literacy in all its forms!

For the extent of three days, there’s so much to do! I really recommend visiting the Radical Bookfair Pavillion! Read and swap zines! There’s going to be a set on Feminism and the Representation of Women at 1 PM featuring Lisa Jervis of B!tch* Magazine and Sheri Parks, author of Fierce Angels: The Strong Black Woman in American Life and Culture. Parks will talk of the damage created by the mythical image of the “Strong Black Woman” that is very prevalent in the American cultural landscape. Super interesting! Not much of a rebel? That’s fine! There’s also a children’s park filled with wonderful writers, cooking demonstrations where you can try out the food, open mics and countless speakers such as Holly Robinson Peete and Rodney Peete! Check out the site to see more! If you love literacy, this is a festival you should be at (if you’re in the Baltimore area). I know I’ll be there!

Now, I’m not a big fan but I know plenty are of chocolate. Another year, another…

Baltimore Chocolate Festival
Lexington Market holds the annual chocolate festival. It’s every mid-October, the dates aren’t released yet. Because Lexington Market closes always on Sunday, the festival starts Thursday and ends on a Saturday. I’m generally not a big fan of chocolate but I love getting the chocolate covered potato chips, red velvet cake (my favorite cake), chocolate covered strawberries, apples or chocolate covered anything. I always prefer having my chocolate with something or not at all. The prices aren’t killer either and you’ll enjoy yourself!

This is The Arts and I hope you liked it. Next month, The Arts will be a special one. Why? My favorite holiday is coming up – Samhain/Halloween! That means next month will be featuring books on Witchcraft, Divination, Paganism and anything else magickal, titled “The Arts: Samhain Edition”! It will be on the external Black Witch site so keep your eyes peeled…or just follow me on Twitter: @thisblackwitch

There will also be a Black Witch sweepstakes called “Samhain Pickers”. Your prize: a divination reading from me either in the form of tarot, cartomancy, dream interpretation or natal charts. Sweepstakes starts October 1, where you’ll have all the details here on AfroPunk and how to enter (it’s extremely easy, I can assure you).

Next Week: Ask a Witch. That means y’all need to be sending in some questions! Ask anything! Ask why I feature Wondaland so much? Ask what’s up with my clothes? Ask me about what’s the best way to come out to friends and family and what’s not the best way? All your questions will be answered on my external site next week.

And I’m still on my traveling kick. I’m going to NYC tomorrow and will be there all day. I wanna hit up Haru Hana in Koreatown for their great okonomiyaki (and the shop boys don’t look bad either), any place with cell phone charms and trek to the Japanese Street Fashion shop Tokyo Rebel because I love Putumayo (my favorite punk lolita brand). I may pop up at Terminal 5 (guess who’s gonna be there? Hint: You know who I always see, my favorite thrival) to say hello to a few wonderful and thrivalicous friends. Wanna kick it with me? Lemme know! I always want to meet my readers. Show me your New York City!

*Sorry for the self-censor, I don’t curse >.>

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