Category: News

This week, we’ll have a dance class on Funky Blues with Mike Sonder.

Funky Blues (8:00-9:30pm EST)
From Koko Taylor to Shemekia Copeland, blues artists often blend funk flavors into their music. We’ll work on the vocab and musicality of dancing to funk blues and we’ll have fun while doing it. Let loose and put some funky vibes into your dancing!

Level: All levels (material will be layered for beginner, intermediate, & advanced dancers)

Suggested donation $5-15
https://www.paypal.me/MikeTheGrosser

Zoom link to be posted.

Follow-up on Goals and Actions (8:00-10:15pm EST)

We’ll check in on the goal(s) we set last month, and set personal goals for next month. If you didn’t join before, we encourage you to join us this month, so you can set goals for next month.

After the check-in portion, Mike Legenthal will DJ some blues tunes in themed mini-sets (plus guessing) like she did for Tuesy/Powerhouse a few months ago, for folks who want to stick around. Both dancing and listening are welcome.

We plan to keep this as a monthly event going forward.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/76971193890?pwd=T201RGFYSm5IWmpYaGpGaXNhdHRQdz09

Meeting ID: 769 7119 3890
Password: 6yakKT

Dial by your location
+1 301 715 8592 US (Germantown)
+1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)
+1 646 558 8656 US (New York)
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
+1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
+1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)
Meeting ID: 769 7119 3890
Password: 358889
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kc3V2fMhpl

Civic Engagement: Your Voice Matters (7:00-8:00pm EST)

with Jen Delk

Most of us learned how a bill becomes a law from School House Rocks, but no one really explained how this works at the local level. Your vote is your voice, but there are issues that aren’t going to show up on your ballot. Elected officials are making decisions year round. Let’s talk about how to make Civic Engagement a conversation instead of letting someone speak for you.

Movie Night: “Bessie” (7:30-10:15pm EST)

This week, we’ll be watching “Bessie,” a biopic about Bessie Smith, the Empress of the Blues, starring Queen Latifah as Bessie Smith and Mo’Nique as Ma Rainey. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3704352/

We’ll be using https://twoseven.xyz/ to watch the movie together. Before movie night, create an account and download the plug-in. You’ll also need to have an Amazon account, but won’t need it to be a Prime account.
(Apologies to anyone in Canada who was hoping to join; the movie is not available there)

**Schedule**

• 7:30-7:45 – Gather and say hi
• 7:45-9:45 – Watch the movie
• 9:45-10:15 – Hang out and chat

**Donations**
If you’d like to send money somewhere this week, we’ve kept our donation pool open for the Okra Project’s Tony McDade and Nina Pop Mental Health Recovery Funds, which provide free therapy to Black trans folks ($175 raised so far).

Suggested donation of $5-15: https://paypal.me/pools/c/8q36HyNMeQ

Learn more about the Okra Project’s other work: https://www.theokraproject.com/

Celebrating Pride & the Blues (8:00-9:30pm EST)

Tonight we’ll have a community-participation celebration of queer/LGBTQIA+ blues artists! Come join the fun here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88326020362?pwd=VVg0WVI5aU0vV1B1M1pSM0JzMEZNdz09

**How it’ll work**
1. *Anyone who wants to* chooses a queer blues artist that they want to highlight. Sign up here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HbbDMnx70Nm2tB6Gw5g_r2HTIS6FseKrIJDaO7XZ3PQ/edit?usp=sharing
(That link has a list of queer blues artists and links to their Spotify page, to get you started if you’re not a DJ. If you have a fav who’s not on there, add them!)

2. Pick 3 songs by that artist and add them to this Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5Vp6viCEZDlJBXjRuzphRp?si=gaAKYv3JQeSc1GRlpfP5ng
If want a second opinion on if it’s blues, ask Jenn Martinez or Amy Blank. If you need help adding the song to the playlist, ask Jenn.
Do this before noon (ET) on Thursday.

3. Choose a sentence or two to say about that artist — what you like about their music, about them, something about their life or importance, etc.

The night of Blues Union, Julie Brown will play through the songs everyone chose, pausing for each artist’s intro. When your artist is up, you tell the community your sentence or two that you’ve prepared. Everyone can dance to the songs or just tune in to listen.

**Dress up!**
If you have an outfit you had wanted to wear to pride, feel free to wear it and/or post a picture to this Facebook event.

**Donations**
All proceeds will be split between to the Okra Project’s Tony McDade and Nina Pop Mental Health Funds, which provide free therapy to Black trans folks.

Suggested donation of $5-15: https://paypal.me/pools/c/8q36HyNMeQ

Learn more about the Okra Project’s other work: https://www.theokraproject.com/