Feature Archives

While most Bay Area rappers have been "goin' dumb" this summer, Rico Pabon has been doing the opposite. Although the soulful, salsified beats on his new album "Louder than Fiction," give it the vibe of hand-clapping party album, Rico's words encourage folks to expand their minds instead of just losin' them. Whether performing with his Afro-Latin hip-hop band Agua Libre or dropping tracks with The Coup and dead prez, Rico reps like a Puerto Rican Chuck D. who ain't afraid to smile.

In a narrow alley off 24th St, a cluster of Nepali peasants raise their fists in resistance as two women smash chains of imprisonment. A small child with AIDS cries at the tombstones of her dead parents. Nicaraguan campesinos celebrate their bountiful corn harvest with music and dancing. Welcome to Balmy Alley, a corridor of more than 70 murals in the heart of the Mission district.

John Malkin of Free Radio Santa Cruz interviewed Russ Rankin, lead vocalist of Santa Cruz based punk band Good Riddance. Russ talks about the band, political influences, activism and punk rock and their new album My Republic.

Audio: Download the mp3 (1 hour and 7 minutes / 30.8 MB)

The quartet exploded onto the world punk scene with their 1995 debut For God and Country and quickly began to cultivate a reputation for combining a strong social/political message with energetic live shows. Read more

On Saturday, September 9th, musician and filmmaker Michael Franti and his group Spearhead with Guerrilla Management presented the 8th Annual 911 Power to the Peaceful Festival at Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park. "Be Peace Now" was this year's theme. In addition to the main stage of live music, PTTP also featured a second stage, an open-air art gallery, a healing arts tent, a DJ tent, food booths, an eco village, kid's zone, valet bike parking, and tabling and forums by social, environmental and political organizations. The festival began at 9am with morning yoga, and lasted until 5pm. Audio of Blackalicious | Middle East Peace Solidarity Audio | Photos: 1 | 2 | Report An afterparty was scheduled for later in the evening, an on Sunday afternoon the "Be Peace Now Yoga Jam: A day of Yoga, Music and Activism" will be held in San Francisco.

The 6th annual Art in Action performance, Stop the Violence, took place in Santa Cruz on August 3rd. 25 youth artists, many from Oakland, performed hip hop, spoken word, original music, dance and theater. Original art and digital stories created during a 10 day Art in Action camp in Ben Lomond were also shared.

The People’s Revolutionary Organization (PRO), which is based in Petaluma, organized Pirates of Propaganda, a day of workshops about youth radio, stencil and graffiti art, and writing and self-publishing using Indybay. The group organized 30 days of action in July. By putting on events and workshops all month, the PRO wanted to show that activism is, “Essentially about doing stuff, and taking initiative... showing that single issue politics can be connected, even within a small group of people.” On July 23rd, about 15 people gathered at Free Mind Media Info Shop in Santa Rosa for workshops about making radio, stencil art and graffiti, and posting to Indybay. Report and photos

In October, Modern Times Bookstore, an independent, collectively owned and operated progressive bookstore in San Francisco's Mission District, will be celebrating its 35th anniversary. For a while, it had seemed as though the bookstore would suffer the fate of many other local bookstores that have closed recently, such as Changemakers in Oakland, A Clean, Well-Lighted Place for Books in SF, and Cody's on Telegraph Ave. in Berkeley. A new collaboration with New College of California is one of the reasons for the store's security.