MARVIN X ON “THE BLACK DIALOGUE BROTHERS TOUR”
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(L-R) Aubry Labrie, Marvin X , Abdul Sabri, Al Young, Arthur Sheridan, Duke Williams |Â Sausalito, CA, 18 June 2009
Photo: Michael Childs
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They came together at  the 65th birthday party of Marvin X, a group of men who ignited black liberation on the West Coast during the 1960′s while students at San Francisco State University, namely Abdul Sabri, Aubry Labrie, Duke Williams, Arthur Sheridan and Marvin X. Also Saddat Ahmed and Joe Goncalves, who went on to publish the bible of 60′s poetry, the Journal of Black Poetry.
The group traveled to Soledad prison to present and perform at the black culture club, chaired by Eldridge Cleaver and his lieutenant Alprentice Bunchy Carter. Arthur Sheridan had been contacted by Cleaver’s lawyer Beverly Axelrod to make the Soledad prison visit. Black Dialogue was Art’s idea and he became the founding editor.
This culture club was the beginning of the black prison movement in America, and when Black Dialogue met the club, it established a unity between the prison movement and black students who were also members of the budding black arts movement. Black Dialogue and the Journal of Black Poetry were major publications of BAM with influence coast to coast. These journals, along with Soulbook ( a RAM publication) and John H. Johnson’s Negro Digest/Black World, the New Lafayette Black Theatre, were critical publications of the neo-black intellectuals nationwide, spreading radical consciousness into the black liberation movement in general.
It was Art Sheridan who told Marvin X he might consider hooking up with a playwright named Ed Bullins and the two formed Black Arts West Theater in the Fillmore, 1966, a West coast version of what LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka, Askia Touré, Larry Neal, Sun Ra and others were doing in Harlem.
On Thursday night [18 June 2009], Black Dialogue brothers came together to present at a poetry venue hosted by Arthur Sheridan in Sausalito, a mostly white community near San Francisco, where Arthur is the Black Prince who lives in a houseboat in the Bay. California’s Poet Laureate emeritus Al Young was the featured poet. Al also contributed poetry to Black Dialogue and acknowledged Art for showcasing his early work, as did Marvin X. Duke Williams also read, although Duke was modest since he is a singer as well. Marvin read from his memoir: Eldridge Cleaver, My Friend the Devil.
The Brothers agreed to continue their Black Dialogue tour. Al Young agreed to join them [as his schedule allows]. They will co-sponsor and perform at Marvin X’s August 1st book signing and conversation (with James W. Sweeney) at the Joyce Gordon Gallery, 14th and Franklin, downtown Oakland.
Ladies, watch out! Marvin’s sister Debbie said she didn’t know her brother had such handsome friends.
Call 510.355.6339 for more information. Catch Marvin X’s classic play, Flowers for the Trashman, at the San Francisco Theater Festival in July.
– Marvin X
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