Come by and check out a few of the regular events we're involved in around the city! None of these cultural happenings will cost you any money, but it is always helpful to donate to provide support for the venues that allow us to use their space to promote a culture of consciousness.
Black Box Griots are a group of poets who host a bi-weekly open mic night at the Exchange in downtown LA. Come by and catch performances by any of the following brilliant spoken word artists: The Bus Stop Prophet, Mike the Poet, Tendai Nyachoto, Jigsaw, Black Spinach, Luluminous, Richard McDowell, Beanie Maniphesto, Twin the Skid Row Poet, Juan Bueno, Anonymous, The Full Moon Poet, and possibly... you! Black Box Griots is brought to you by the Legacy Project, The Amar Collective, The Talking Drum Open Mic, and a mess of other good people. Preserve the word!
Viernes de Pelicula is our bi-weekly Friday night film screening at the Eastside Cafe in El Sereno. The films are hand-picked by Miguel Olivares, a conoisseur of all things cinematic, so you may even be in for a few surprise short films if you stay after the main event. If you're interested, then come by and support the Eastside Cafe while enjoying some organic films, popcorn, and friendly neighborhood creatures! The screenings are FREE, but donations are encouraged! Also, feel free to bring some food because each night is a potluck!
Musical Chairs is a new bi-weekly event developed by Beanie Maniphesto (of Amar/Black Box Griots/Def Valley Events). The purpose of the evening is to be an open-stage improvisation and collaboration in which a pool of performers rotates from instrument to instrument with unexpected consequences. The audience is welcome to participate, so feel free to join in however you feel you can!
For the past 3 years, the Tribal Cafe has served as a home for us and welcomed our mix of art, music, and activism with open arms. We've had too many shows to count there over the past few years, and they've all been a lot of fun. Starting in late 2009, we'll be booking specific nights at the cafe just to make scheduling a little bit easier on all of us. More details will be available soon, but for now you can get psyched about our next art opening at the space for the month of December!
For those who are not familiar with us, we’d first like to say hey, it’s nice to meet you. We are Amar. Three years ago, we came together as a community of artists, musicians, filmmakers, writers, activists, and other Angelinos with an aim to promote social justice through creative expression. We are united on the basic principle that the freedom to make and share art and ideas should not be constrained by economic status or social class, so we created Amar as a means for providing opportunities for people from all over Los Angeles to pool together resources, provide a voice to the voiceless, and encourage dialogue about the local and global issues that affect our society.
With the cancellation of art and music programs in LAUSD schools and the persistent sense of exclusivity in galleries and music venues, our efforts are needed now more than ever to ensure that art does not become increasingly monopolized by a certain class who can afford it, but instead remains something that is by the people and for the people. We hope our efforts as a group will ultimately culminate in a body of work that puts that principle into action. One of the ways we try to level the artistic playing fields is by doing something as simple as booking a show with bands from neighborhoods that would never play together otherwise due to their respective differences in class, race, or cultural background (for instance our last festival in August 09 which featured 50 bands from practically every neighborhood in Los Angeles).
As of 2009, much of our efforts began shifting towards trying to get the artists of Skid Row represented to people around the city who weren't aware of the neighborhood's thriving population of artists. Skid Row is a recovery community based in downtown Los Angeles that is filled with talent and unfortunately not always filled with the resources or publicity to match that talent, so we have committed ourselves to doing what we can with what limited resources we have to get the word out about some of the great things going on a neighborhood that is so often maligned by slanted media.
So what are we doing to help out? We're currently working on a self-published magazine that will feature the creative work of downtown's artists, poets, and writers and as well as discussing issues affecting the Skid Row community. This zine will be accompanied by a series of podcasts spotlighting different grassroots efforts to produce positive change in the neighborhood. On top of that, we're working intimately with a number of groups from Skid Row who are hoping to create a cultural center that would be run by the community and for the community. We have no interest in giving out handouts or taking on a misinformed paternalistic attitude about working with the homeless, but rather in developing and supporting sustainable projects that are based entirely on ideas and efforts coming out of the Skid Row community. We have been thoroughly moved and impressed by the artists, community organizers, and creative thinkers of Skid Row, and we're definitely committed to continuing work in this neighborhood for the years to come.
If you'd like to work with Amar, either in Skid Row or anywhere else in Los Angeles, then please send us a message or write us at info@amarcollective.com!
Oliwa and the Pleasure Circus Band - "Crooked"
The nine-member Pleasure Circus Band from first introduced us to their unmistakable brand of jazzed out psychedelic dance music at one of our festivals way back in early 2008, and since then we've been addicted to the otherworldly spectacle that is their live show. You can check out more choice cuts on their myspace, and it won't take you too long to discover that the demented gypsy-style brass of "Crooked" is only the tip of the iceberg. While they may have to go through some lineup changes due to some members moving away from LA, they will always be welcome to play with us and we're eagerly anticipating whatever Oliwa and crew come up with next!
Share-a-tories - "Sun Suspends Water"
Share-a-tories is the brain child of Ohio transplant Andrew Morehart, a maven of all things D.I.Y. who recently came out west to share his deliriously blissful experiments in fractured pop music. For someone who has only been here for a few months, this music pretty much sounds like a summation of everything that is awesome about California. You can check out his new album in our downloads section below or even buy one of the 100 limited edition CD-R's with individually designed artwork by Ashley Edwards. You can also catch Share-a-tories' first show with the Amar Collective at the Tribal Cafe on July 10th along with other fine bands.
Alpha MC - "Detox"
Aside from being involved with a mess of groups including Swim Team, Red Foxx, and Legendary Prospects, this young MC with ties to Project Blowed has long been a friend of the collective. Sometimes he'll even show up to drop a few verses on Ars Poetria's live sets, exhibiting a natural willingness to jump into a new sound and make it his own. This sense of sonic fearlessness and the raw talent to back it up is summed up perfectly on his recently-released album "Loving Life" featuring production from Maestroe, Dakim, Alwayz Prolific, and Kuest1, available for free in our featured downloads section below.
Psychic Hearts - "Fangs"
Psychic Hearts is the solo project of Sade from the guitar-and-drums duo Pow Wow. While still retaining some of the same influences that inform her work with Pow Wow, Sade approaches this project with a newfound sense of daring, taking the opportunity to explore much more atmospheric territory than her earlier work and even busting out the loop pedal now and again with some eerie consequences. In "Fangs", she constructs what may be her best arrangement of guitar and vocals yet. Sade will probably be playing some Amar shows soon, so keep an eye out because you don't want to miss her!
Tales of Banyan - "Beyond the Castle Gate"
Marcel Camargo, the soft-spoken mastermind behind the folk-pop genius of Tales of Banyan, tends to spend most of his time aptly complimenting the genius of others as a guitarist for artists like The Watson Twins, Inara George, local cinematic rock heroes Hour of the Shipwreck, and even legends from his native Brazil like Airto Moreira and Arthur Verocai. While Marcel's resumé may paint the impression of a virtuoso (which he most definitely is), the sheer beauty and simplicity of Tales Banyan is decidedly not based on virtuosity but rather an unrestrained love all things simple and gorgeous.
This is the brand new music video by Amar mainstay Bizzart. The track appears on his most recent album, "Future Stars and Small Wonders", a collaboration with producer Innaspace out on Joyful Noise Recordings. The video was directed by Nina McNeely, a choreographer and visual artist from L.A.'s unique half-band/half-dance company "We are the World". Check them out cus they're insane.
This is Son Ark rehearsing at their famed Valley Villains house, where some insane nefarious activity tends to go down. Dig around on youtube and you'll find footage of them imbibing various fluids and attaching cameras to toasters and playing other great tracks like "What's Your Name". Robin and Sherman and Chris and the gang have been playing with the collective for quite a few years now, and although haven't played with us in a while, these videos make us miss them a lot and want to send them a flirtatious text message asking them what they're wearing...
We're currently working on a downloadable pamphlet that will explain pretty much every possible way you can get involved (believe us, there are a lot), but for now the best way of getting involved is just sending us a myspace message or emailing us at info@amarcollective.com. We hope to hear from you soon!
as soon as december ends I will have more time and I want to get more involved in amar, I think of everyone often and I am greatful for your presence and existence.
hello. i was wondering if you guys would like to play at the event we're having at ucla. We're having a tent city on the 18th. so if you guys think you can just hit me up and i'll let you guys know more about the logistics and stuff. Im still not sure if we already have enough bands playing, but it'd be cool if you guys could play. thanks :)
CHECK OUT THIS FREE EVENT - THURSDAY OCTOBER 29TH 2009 w/ LIVE PERFORMANCE BY POSHLUST (MYSPACE.COM/POSHLUSTMUSIC)
PLUS, COME TO OUR HALLOWEEN EVENT SKA OF THE DEAD & DEAD MAN's PARTY - ALL IN ONE NIGHT! SATURDAY OCTOBER 31ST - HALLOWEEN NIGHT! ALL AGES! 6PM-2AM! LIVE SKA/REGGAE BANDS - ADMISSION: STARTING AT ONLY $6! DJ's SPINNING 80'S/ELECTRO/HIP-HOP/SPANISH ROCK +MORE SOUTH CENTRAL SKANKERS WILL BE GIVING OUT A COPY OF THEIR NEW ALBUM "WELCOME TO LOST ANGELES" TO THE FIRST 150 PEOPLE! WEAR YOUR COSTUMES! - JOIN OUR HALLOWEEN COSTUME CONTEST! (3 WINNERS! SCARIEST/FUNNIEST/SEXIEST) GRAND PRIZES AND FREE GIVEAWAYS ALL NIGHT!
Mientras tanto te invitamos a que pases a delhotel.com y descubras una parte de la escena regiomontana que no esta en el radio y que es parte de nuestra familia. En Ventura, Mr. Racoon, Album, Club Comfort.. y toda la musica de 60 TIGRES.
We're currently working on a downloadable pamphlet that will explain pretty much every possible way you can get involved (believe us, there are a lot), but for now the best way of getting involved is just sending us a myspace message or emailing us at 
![NUBA [Ericka Sance]](http://c4.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/57/s_6716aea98a4a4667a35040f6cb3e906b.jpg)
Online!
-catalyst