Sounds Like a Revolution trailer

“Sounds Like a Revolution is a feature documentary about the new wave of protest music sweeping across America.
The film features dozens of new protest songs and uncensored commentary from some of the most political artists of our time, Michael Franti, Pete Seeger, David Crosby, The Dixie Chicks, Steve Earle, Ani DiFranco, Anti-Flag, Fat Mike (NOFX), Jello Biafra, Henry Rollins, Ice T, Rage Against the Machine and more.”

Look for screenings in your area, check back here for more info and for a Minneapolis screening in the coming months.

www.soundslikearevolution.com

Jared Paul and friends are back in town for a night of punk rock, hip hop, and getting smart.

Featuring:

BUILDING BETTER BOMBS – http://www.myspace.com/buildingbetterbombs

Prayers for Atheists – http://www.myspace.com/prayersforatheists

Jared Paul – http://www.myspace.com/jaredpaul

Les Gavels – http://www.myspace.com/lesgavels

Plus local spoken word artists & activist groups presenting throughout the night!

@ 7th St. Entry, downtown Minneapolis

Tickets & Info: http://www.first-avenue.com/event/2010/07/substance-presents-building-better-bombs-or-marijuana-death-squad

facebook event here

$7 | Doors: 8pm | 18+

An extra special thank you to all the artists for their wonderful submissons to RAN • ART!  It was fantastic to see everyone’s artistic interpretations of the Problem with Palm Oil.

After much deliberation, the winner of the contest is…

Whipper-Snapper MPLS!

Andii Bunaag and  Nick Pyper-Holz collaborated on the piece. Pyper-Holz explained “We felt that a haunting visual would show how horrified we are at the situation. It does seem like the general public doesn’t know enough about the actions of the giant corporations. To be feeding our nations children on the ashes of our rain forests and the blood of endangered animals is repulsive.,” He went on to express “I personally feel betrayed by this company from my home state and am glad to have a hand in helping to stop them.”

Prints are available for sale at  Tarnish&Gold Gallery for $30 a piece.

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We would also like to thank The Lagoon Theater, The Riverview Theater, The Red Stag Supper Club, ComedySportz, Wet Paint, Chakra Kahn, Brave New Workshop, Pizza Luce, Blackdog Cafe, and Common Roots for their generous donations to RAN • ART.

Saturday, May 1st – Exhibit opens at 7PM, Music @ 9pm

Featuring:   Kill The Vultures,  Bouncer Fighter,  Phantom Tails,   and live art

@ Tarnish&Gold
1511 Marshall St. NE
Minneapolis, MN

$7 cover, $5 if you bike!

Come vote on what art submissions are best setup to take on the destructive practices of General Mills and Cargill.  Vote on your favorite piece during the event, the winning art work will be used by Rainforest Action Network’s campaign locally and potentially nationally, posted at a prominent public location in the Twin Cities.

We are still accepting submissions, up until May 1st.  To submit, please send an e-mail to ranart@livewithsubstance.org.  call 763.213.2192 with questions.

More info HERE

However, we did have a considerable amount of money stolen during the show.  We have setup an anonymous drop spot for anyone to return the funds and/or information at no consequence.  Click here to view the announcement regarding the incident and our call for any information that could lead us to recovering the funds.

Our workshops went great.  Thanks to everyone that attended them and thank you to Guante for a great job as co-facilitator.  We developed an email list and will help keep that group connected to our network of political/activist artists.  We appreciated this opportunity.

Rosa Clemente was awesome, speaking of the politics of hip hop, the hip hop political conference, and how hip hop got Obama elected, but we have to keep working to advance real progressive change.  There was a ton of talent at the community gathering Sunday and it was inspiring to see.  There was so many more great things that happened during the weekend.

Thanks to all the people that volunteered for the show, as well as all the performers who participated.  From the break dancing performance to start, Ill Chemistry’s charged set, through the Tru Ruts showcase, to Dead Prez killin it, it was a great show with a great crowd and amazing energy.  Thanks to everyone that made it happen.

Great work to Voices Merging at the U of M for organizing such an amazing weekend of events.  These students did an incredible job and we hope to help keep the energy generated moving, progressing the movement for justice via the arts and any way necessary.

More information, video and photo coverage, and follow-up information at:

www.vicestoverses.com

Minnesota Daily coverage – U celebrates hip-hop culture – 4/11/10

From Vices to Verses Hip Hop Conference this April w/Dead Prez

Again, to assist in recovering our stolen funds, go to:

Attention attendees

Check out the full article on RAN’s youth blog, RYSE, here.

Call for Artists

Deadline: Wednesday, April 28, 2010

RAN • ART – Take Action Against Destructive Agribusiness

Tarnish&Gold Gallery – NE Minneapolis

To submit, please send an e-mail to ranart@livewithsubstance.org

with the following information:

Name of Artist
E-mail
Title (if any)
Dimensions (inches x inches)
Medium(s)
Phone number (optional)

Once we receive your e-mail, we will coordinate uploading the file and transportation of the piece.

More information on the contest and exhibition below:

___________________________________

For a quarter century, Rainforest Action Network (RAN) has aggressively confronted multinational corporations over their destructive practices, exposing their disregard for human rights and the natural systems that sustain life.  Today, RAN takes on big agribusiness corporations to address their responsibility for the vast tropical deforestation undertaken to maximize the production of palm oil, used in 50% of all consumer goods.  New plantations decimate over 2.5 million acres of Indonesian rainforests every year, threatening hundreds of indigenous cultures and releasing a tremendous amount of heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere.

As part of RAN Rainforest Agribusiness campaign action in Minnesota, RAN is sponsoring an art contest and exhibition culminating in the selection of one image to be used in a billboard or public installation that increases public awareness of General Mills‘ use of socially and environmentally unsustainable palm oil sources.

Artists, illustrators, and designers are encouraged to explore the question, “What is the problem with palm oil?” as it pertains to the negative effects of big agribusiness, especially from Twin Cities giants Cargill Incorporated and General Mills.  All submissions are welcome, keeping in mind RAN’s past campaigns have embraced powerful images, satire, and spoofs of all sorts. The winning concept will put a clever spin on General Mills’ marketing and well-known brand images (such as Cheerios, Betty Crocker, Pillbury, and Hamburger Helper) to make the point.

Other winners will receive awards in the form of cinema tickets and gift certificates to local businesses.

Exhibited work will be for sale at the artists’ discretion, with a modest commission benefitting the gallery and Rainforest Action Network.

The deadline for submission of artwork is April 28.  This contest is open to all artists.  All static, two dimensional art is acceptable, including photography.  Digitally produced work must be vector or created at minimum 600dpi if it to be considered for reproduction on a large scale.

Submit digital images of your work here at http://livewithsubstance.org/ranart

Tarnish&Gold Gallery in northeast Minneapolis hosts the exhibition reception May 1.  Accepted work, originals or prints, must be ready to hang upon drop off.  Through popular vote and an ultimate decision by jury, one piece in the exhibition will be featured by RAN in coordination with campaign action.  This promises to generate considerable exposure for the artist and contribute to a vital campaign against destructive agribusiness.

Direct any questions to ranart@livewithsubstance.org or call Nolan Morice at 763-913-2192.

Rainforest Action Network:  http://ran.org/

The Problem with Palm Oil:  http://theproblemwithpalmoil.org

TARNISH&GOLD:  http://www.tarnishandgold.org

Connect on Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=326541619076

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Update! Details on the May 1st Exhibition!

Saturday, May 1st

Tarnish&Gold Gallery
1511 Marshall St. NE
Minneapolis, MN

Featuring live music from:

Kill The Vultures
Bouncer Fighter
Phantom Tails

Doors/Voting Begins @ 7:00 PM
Music begins @ 9:00 PM

$7 cover, $5 if you bike!

For directions, please click here.

From Vices to Verses: A New Era of Hip Hop and Action
Three-day conference at the University of Minnesota to highlight the transformative power of hip hop.

Substance will be facilitating a workshop on April 10th with Guante of Tru Ruts, as well as hosting the V2V show on April 10th (more info below).

V2V show featuring Dead Prez, April 10th at the Cabooze – presented by Substance, sponsored by Voices Merging.

more info below and at www.vicestoverses.com

Vices 2 Verses Hip Hop Show

Concert to accompany V2V Conference

Saturday, April 10^th, 2010

Dead Prez

Toki Wright, Maria Isa

Sabreena da Witch

Guante and Tru Ruts crew, Ill Chemistry

PosNoSys, B Boy Battle, DJ Mix.Well, live art

@ The Cabooze – 917 Cedar Ave S – West Bank – Minneapolis, MN

Sponsored by Substance, The Current, and Voices Merging @ the U of M

www.vicestoverses.com

Conference Press Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 1, 2010

From Vices to Verses: A New Era of Hip Hop and Action
Three-day conference at the University of Minnesota to highlight the transformative power of hip hop.

From April 9 to April 11, the University of Minnesota will be hosting “From Vices to Verses” a conference featuring workshops, performances, discussions and educational events centered on how hip hop pedagogy, activism and culture can educate, empower and transform communities.

Organized by Voices Merging at the U of MN, along with University and community partners, the conference will focus on three central themes:

· April 9: “I Used to Love H.E.R.: Bring Back the Love,” exploring hip hop feminism and women’s roles—past, present and future—in the culture.  Keynote speaker: hip hop activist and former Green Party Vice Presidential candidate Rosa Clemente.
· April 10: “Remixing Borders, Transcending Boundaries,” focusing on using hip hop as a tool to create unity and move beyond generational, national and cultural boundaries.  Keynote speaker: hip hop activist and author Bakari Kitwana.
· April 11: “Us,” focusing on hip hop’s power to heal and transform individuals and communities through organizing, activism and youth engagement.  Keynote speaker: educator and multidisciplinary artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph.

Other presenters include filmmaker Rachel Ramist, Chaka Mkali of the Hope Community Center, Sage Morgan Hubbard of Northwestern University, Ruth Nicole Brown of the University of Illinois, poet and activist Tish Jones, rapper/poet/writer Kyle “Guante” Myhre, photographer B-Fresh and many more.

On Saturday, April 10, noted Twin Cities performers Toki Wright, Maria Isa, PosNoSys, Ill Chemistry, the Tru Ruts crew and others will take over the Cabooze for a special concert.  More details TBA.

Registration for the conference is free.  For updates, see http://vicestoverses.blogspot.com.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Moira Pirsch        |        vicestoverses@gmail.com |        608.772.2597

_____________________________________________

Concert Press Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 12, 2010

Vices 2 Verses Hip Hop Show

Concert to accompany V2V Conference

Saturday, April 10^th, 2010

Dead Prez

Toki Wright, Maria Isa

Sabreena da Witch

Guante and Tru Ruts crew, Ill Chemistry

PosNoSys, B Boy Battle, DJ Mix.Well, live art

@ The Cabooze – 917 Cedar Ave S – West Bank – Minneapolis, MN

Sponsored by Substance, The Current, and Voices Merging @ the U of M

www.vicestoverses.com

Vices to Verses Hip-Hop Show A concert celebrating the transformative power of hip-hop, put on by local organizers, starring local acts, and benefitting the international community.

On April 10^th, The Cabooze will be hosting “Vices to Verses Hip-Hop Show” a concert to supplement a conference at the U of M celebrating the ways hip-hop pedagogy, activism and culture can educate, empower and transform communities.

Organized by Voices Merging and the Cypher Coalition, U of MN student groups, along with Substance (www.livewithsubstance.org), and University and community partners, the concert will supplement the From Vices to Verses conference (April 9^th-11^th, @ the U of M) by stepping off of theory and engaging in the scene that motivated the conference to occur originally.

National and well known political hip hop group Dead Prez will headline supported by a line-up of strong local artists including Toki Wright and Maria Isa.  Other performers include PosNoSys, Ill Chemistry, and the Tru Ruts crew will take over the Cabooze for this special concert.  The show will involved other elements of the hip hop community through a B-Boy dance battle starting at 9pm,  live art both on and off stage, canvas and aerosol, as well as spoken word performances by Voices Merging members.

Tickets are $15 at the door, $10 for students and conference attendees (a non-profit event).

• · Dead Prez is an American underground political hip hop duo composed of stic.man and M-1. They are known for their confrontational style combined with socialist and pan-Africanist lyrics.  The duo came together in Brooklin, New York and released their debut album in 2000 – Let’s Get Free, which featured a major hit with the song “Hip Hop”.  Dead Prez’s last performance in the Twin Cities was coordinated by Substance as well, during the Republican National Convention, September 2^nd, 2008 (www.livewithsubstance.org/category/ripple-effect).
  · Toki Wright – The first artist in the Rhymesayers Spotlight Series is none other than Toki Wright. Most known as opening act and hype man for Brother Ali, Toki is not only a well established emcee but one of the hardest working community activists in the Twin Cities area. In addition, Toki Wright has received numerous accolades and has a tour history that has taken him from New York to Uganda.

For updates, see www.vicestoverses.com

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Moira Pirsch        |        vicestoverses@gmail.com |        608.772.2597               |               for conference info

Jim Forrey             |               jim@livewithsubstance.org |               303.910.5111       |               for show info

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]]> http://www.livewithsubstance.org/2010/02/from-vices-to-verses-hip-hop-conference-u-of-m-this-april/feed/ 1 http://www.livewithsubstance.org/2010/02/buy-sell-trade-at-buffalo-exchange/ http://www.livewithsubstance.org/2010/02/buy-sell-trade-at-buffalo-exchange/#comments Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:21:31 +0000 erick http://www.livewithsubstance.org/?p=530 A huge thanks is in order to Buffalo Exchange in Minneapolis, and customers who gave us tokens. Several months ago, Substance was chosen as a participant in their “Tokens for Bags” program. With this, customers could donate a token to one of three organizations if they didn’t need to use a plastic bag from the store.

What would Nolan do without Buffalo Exchange?

Funding through programs that don’t restrict an organization’s programming is crucial in that it allows the organization to be flexible in operations and stick with the agenda. And, for a small organization like Substance, assistance like this is critical in keeping our virtual doors open.

So, if you’re looking to get your fix of recycled flannels, or trade in your hot pants, take a gander at the Buffalo Exchange.

The overturning of this decades old law by conservative activist judges seems inappropriate and unjust.  With this decision, corporations now have more freedom to influence elections than an average citizen, plus an obvious economic advantage.

See more on the story here:  minnesota.publicradio.org

Substance would like to encourage everyone that believes in democracy to step up and let it be known that corporations should not have unhindered ability to manipulate elections.  We also would like to cheer on pro-democracy activists like those at Democracy Matters and Common Cause for fighting for election reform; now is a more important time for this work than ever.

Check out www.democracymatters.org for more.