Wanda's Picks Radio

Kim Nalley with Houston Person, who will be at the Rrazz Room, June 30-July 4, at Hotel Nikko in San Francisco open this Friday's show. Recently named one of the "Ten Most Influential African Americans in the Bay Area," Kim Nalley has an international reputation as one of world's best jazz blues vocalists. Described as "jazz's working class hero, a true man of the people," Houston Person came to national attention with a series of soulful albums recorded for Prestige in the 1960s. Person's fame grew still more with his successful 30-year musical partnership with vocalist Etta Jones. A passionate tenor saxophonist, alternately tough and tender, Person is now recognized as one of today's leading instrumentalists. Rikki Beadle-Blair, director of "FIT" which is screening at the 34th Frameline Film Festival, 1 PM Sat., June 26, at the Castro theatre in San Francisco, is our second guest. Next: Kim Shuck is one of two artists-in-residence at the deYoung Museum in San Francisco. The project: "Over and Out Past the Lines" concludes this weekend, with a reception, Friday, June 25 from 6–8:30 p.m. in the Kimball Education Gallery. Shuck and Michael Horse's project is an exploration of ledger art, poetry and beadwork. Shuck writes poetry and creates beadwork. Last: Interviews with choreographers for two companies appearing this last weekend of the Ethnic Dance Festival: Imani's Dream and Las Bomberas, June 26-27, at the Palace of Fine Arts. This original hip-hop piece, "A Rose That Grows From the Concrete," based on the Tupac Shakur's poem, was created in 2009 as a collaboration by the dancers & Artistic director, Caprice Armstrong, in Imani’s Dream. In "¡Hay bombazo en el batay!" Las Bomberas brings a contemporary Puerto Rican bombazo—a lively bomba gathering—to the stage.