If you are still around after the Rapture on Saturday, you should check in with acclaimed illustrator G.B. Tran, who will be talking about his amazing graphic family memoir VIETNAMERICA at Locust Moon Comics (4040 Locust St.) from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
A chronicle of Tran’s family’s journey from Vietnam to the United States during the war, VIETNAMERICA has been three years in the making.
The Library Journal writes of the book:
“This will be called the MAUS for the Vietnam War, and for good reason. Similar premise: clueless American-born son of immigrants confronts the legacy of family pain predating his birth. Similar outcome: a kick-in- the-gut graphic novel… he purposely fragments the plot, shifting points of view, narrative voices, and settings while the reader—as did Tran—must assemble the pieces to learn how his parents became the people he knew.”
Here’s an interview on ABC News with Tran (sorry about the commercial):
Everything from beautiful rugs to lavish dinners to Peter Gabriel tickets are up for grabs this Saturday. The University City Arts League‘s Annual Art Auction is 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Wilson Student Center on the University of the Sciences campus at 42nd and Woodland.
A preview dinner will precede the auction. SOOP Catering, run by former RX owner Greg Salisbury, is supplying the grub. Dinner begins at 6 p.m., the public silent auction starts at 7 p.m. and the live auction runs form 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Auction tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for kids 13-18 years of age. Kids 12 and under get in free and must be accompanied by an adult. Tickets are available at the door or at the UCAL office at 4226 Spruce St.
Other items include two plane tickets to anywhere in the United States, a tour of the Philadelphia Inquirer and attendance at a morning news meeting, and a week’s stay at an Orlando resort. More information is available here.
If you haven’t had a chance to see the Curio Theatre Company‘s staging of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, you are in luck because they just added three more shows. The wildly popular performances have been packed every night since the show opened on April 22. The run was originally scheduled to close this Saturday.
The added shows at the Calvary Center (4740 Baltimore Ave.) will be May 19, 20, 21 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10/$15 and are available here.
Music that traces its history to a wrecked slave ship near what is now St. Vincent centuries ago is coming to West Philly tomorrow.
Umalali (the Garifuna word for “voice”), a musical ensemble consisting of Garifuna women from the countries of Belize, Honduras and Guatemala, is visiting West Philly this Wednesday, May 4, with two performances at Crossroads Music (801 S. 48th Street). The first show is for children and their parents, and starts at 6 p.m. Children’s tickets are only $5 and the accompanying adults go for free! The main performance begins at 7:30 p.m. All tickets can be purchased here.
The Garifuna culture traces back to 1635 when a ship carrying people from present-day Nigeria to be sold into slavery wrecked off the coast of St. Vincent in the eastern Caribbean. The people who survived the wreck were absorbed into the indigenous Carib population and created their own unique culture. Four centuries later the Garifuna culture was recognized by UNESCO as a “Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.” It’s mostly Garifuna women who should take credit for this recognition, because they carried on the teaching of the language and passed on songs from generation to generation.
The tour that stops in West Philly is the result of a 14-year process of recording Garifuna songs – first in their original setting – and then in a studio. Belizean musician and producer has led the project, which has become like a Buena Vista Social Club for the Garifuna music and culture. The resulting album, “Umalali: The Garifuna Women’s Project,” was recorded in a studio set up in a thatched-roof hut in the village of Hopkins, Belize.
Here’s a video preview of Umalali: The Garifuna Women’s Project.
Making rugs in Afghanistan is almost like a form of journalism. Many rug weavers recreate the devastation their country has seen for decades in textiles that include scenes of war and destruction. An exhibit that includes a large selection of these rugs opens today at the Penn Museum (3260 South St.).
Battleground: War Rugs of Afghanistan runs through July 31. Today’s opening includes a ribbon cutting at 1 p.m., a special lecture by Brian Spooner, the curator of the museum’s Near East Section and a “make your own rug” craft activity from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The museum will also screen the film Painted Trucks, a 1972 documentary that shows the Afghan tradition of painting trucks. The film, made by two Fulbright scholars, shows the country in a more peaceful time and has become a favorite of the Afghani community. The filmmakers will be present for a discussion after the screening.
Below is a short video narrated by Brian Rose, an archaeology professor at Penn, that shows the rugs in detail.
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