‘Express Newark’ Celebrates Poet Amiri Baraka

Written By Mike Greenblatt
Amiri Baraka

Express Newark is hosting a multi-media exhibition in honor of Poet-Educator-Activist-Producer-Actor-Orator Amiri Baraka [1934-2014] downtown Newark at 54 Halsey Street through July 19. The event keys in on Baraka’s groundbreaking 1963 book Blues People: Negro Music in White America, written when he was still known by his “slave name,” as he used to say, LeRoi Jones. The works of five artists will be seen through the lens of Baraka’s original text. This event is the culmination of a year-long series commemorating Baraka’s cultural legacy.

The 2017 sculpture by Derrick Adams, “The Holdout,” a pyramid-shaped object representing a pirate radio station, incorporates live DJ sets and discussions about gentrification. Adama Delphine Fawundu’s short film, Who We Be, continuously streams. From Accra Shepp’s photography of Occupy Wall Street protests to the large-scale circular textiles of Adebunmi Gbadebo (made from hair, cotton and indigo dye), one could lose one’s self for hours. For more information, go to Express Newark.

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Mike Greenblatt

MIKE GREENBLATT has been writing for Goldmine magazine and New Jersey's Aquarian Weekly for more than 35 years. His writing subjects fill the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

He's interviewed Joe Cocker, Graham Nash, David Crosby, Carlos Santana, Bruce Springsteen, Paul McCartney, Johnny Cash, and members of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. He was 18 when he attended Woodstock in 1969.

In addition to writing about music, Greenblatt has worked on publicity campaigns for The Animals, Pat Benatar, Johnny Winter, Tommy James and Richard Branson, among others. He is currently the editor of The Jersey Sound.

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