2008 Awards Dinner and Tiananmen Commemoration: Saturday, May 24th - 6:00 PM Registration, Dinner 6:30 PM - Golden Dragon Restaurant - 960 North Broadway, Chinatown

 VISUAL  ARTISTS  GUILD

 Cordially Invites You to an
Annual Awards Dinner
and
Tiananmen Commemoration  

Saturday, May 24th  

 6:00 PM Registration, Dinner 6:30 PM 

 Golden Dragon Restaurant 

  960 North Broadway, Los Angeles (Chinatown)

Dinner Ticket: $25  Donor ticket: $50

 

 In the spring of 1989, Beijing erupted with the largest spontaneous demonstrations the Peoples’ Republic of China had witnessed in its 40-year history since its founding in 1949.  The pro-democracy movement quickly spread to over 30 cities around China before the world witnessed the horrors of the government’s brutal crackdown.  As the Chinese people fled from the tanks and guns, they asked the international press to let the world know the truth. 
 

  They asked the world not to forget.

Please join us in honoring the following with the


Spirit of Tiananmen Awardees
To the following Pasadena citizens who have spoken out
and shown tremendous support in
pointing out the human rights violations in China,
China’s complicity in the military junta in Burma,
China’s repression in Tibert
as well as China complicity in the Darfur genocide and
questioning the wisdom of the City of Pasadena
in hosting the Beijing Olympic Rose for the 2008 Rose Parade.

Pasadena Former Mayor Bill Paparian


Pasadena Commission on Human Relations,
on their Commission Report which urged the City of Pasadena to
make a strong statement
about the human rights situations in China.

Chair, Ken Hardy  Commissioner Milena Albert, Terrie Allen, Michelle Bailey, Felipe O. Infante


Pasadena NAACP president Joe Brown
Pasadena Our Lady Assumption Catholic Church Father Gerard O’Brien


Excellence in Journalism Awardees
The following journalists covered the issue of human rights
regarding the opposition to the Beijing Olympics Rose Parade float
with insightful and balanced reporting.

Appo Jabarian (USA Armenian News Magazine)

Dean Lee ( Mountain View Courier)
James McPherson (Pasadena Now)
Terry Miller (Pasadena Independent)

Joe Piasecki (Pasadena Weekly)

Todd Ruiz (Pasadena Star News)

Honoring Champion for Freedom of Speech Awardee

Hu Jia (imprisoned) Zeng Jinyan (in house arrest)

Zeng Jinyan, Time Magazine’s 100 most influencial people in 2007 and her husband
Hu Jia are activists who brought attention to China’s dismal records in human rights
especially about AIDS and the environment.
Hu Jia was sentenced to three and half years in jail
after he published an article "The Real China and Olympics."


Date :         Saturday, May 24, 2008                      
Time:          6:00 p.m. registration, dinner 6:30 p.m.
Place:          Golden Dragon Restaurant
                    960  North Broadway, LA Chinatown,
Cost:           Dinner Ticket: $25  Donor ticket: $50
Dinner is 9 course Chinese banquet style, vegetarian table available
For information and reservation please call 310-539-0234 or
e-mail to ann.vag@gmail.com
Please mail check payable to Visual Artists Guild, P.O. Box 861132, L.A., Ca. 90086-1132 
Postmarked by May 19, 2008
Name________________________________Phone___________________Fax______________
e-mail______________________________________________________________
Address_____________________________________City____________St._____Zip_________
Number of tickets __________@ $25.00                        $____________   Vegetarian_______
Number of tickets __________@ $50.00                        $____________
Total enclosed      $____________
I cannot attend, enclosed is my donation for $__________________         

Background Information:  For more information on the Tiananmen Massacre, please click on http://www.visual-artists-guild.org and click on Tiananmen Story. 

Visual Artists Guild is a non-profit organization as qualified under Section 501 (C) (3) of the Internal Revenue code.  This is an all volunteers’ organization.


POSTED BY Administrator ON 05.18.08 @ 7:51 pm | 0 Comments

MoJow & the Vibration Army on the Cover of LA Weekly ~ Superheroes For Peace ~ Come & See MoJoW this Tuesday, May 20th, 8:00 PM at Tangier - 2138 Hillhurst Ave., Los Feliz

MoJoW & the Vibration Army  
Will Be Playing 
Tuesday, May 20th, 8:00 PM   
At Tangier - 2138 Hillhurst Ave., Los Feliz 90027 
323-660-1033  -  Price: $10 

Superheroes For Peace
 
MoJow & the Vibration Army on the Cover of LA Weekly
Story in LA Weekly below: 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
MoJow & the Vibration Army 
Superheroes 
By LINDA IMMEDIATO

Wednesday, May 14, 2008 - 12:00 pm

It was a memorable sight, like a Black Rock City version of the Saint Paddy’s Day parade: a 6-foot-8 redheaded man in a bright-green jump suit, like a leprechaun on steroids, with looping pedals belted around his waist. He’s playing a guitar, with a saxophone hanging behind his back. Improbably, he’s also on roller skates, lugging a portable amp in a child’s wagon, and by his side, a tiny woman in outrageous platforms, a green Afro and hot pants sings and shakes her pot of gold down Los Angeles Street. This parade of two call themselves MoJoW & the Vibration Army.

In Los Angeles, everyone has more than one thing going on. We are dreamers who often find what we’re looking for and then want more. In this, our third-annual L.A. People issue, we’ve found so many personalities to write about that we have decided to expand the concept from a once-a-year event to a weekly feature. In L.A., the baby-faced, 7-foot Spaniard with the NBA basketball could be the boy next door.
 

MoJoW is an amalgamation of their names. The “Mo” is for Moriah, “Jo,” for her husband, John, and the “W is for Whoolulurie, their official married surname, a fusion of their former ones (his Whooley, hers Lurie). You may have seen their roving show outside the presidential debates on Hollywood Boulevard, at antiwar rallies, at the downtown women’s shelter, while strolling Sunset Junction, or onstage at music festivals, bringing their homemade funkadelic grooves and spreading their positive, often-political messages.

“We really like to create music with a message,” says Moriah. “We like to entertain but also promote a spiritual, healthy lifestyle with respect to all things to make life better for everybody, whether that’s voting, spending more time with your family or turning off a light when you leave the room. But we’re not telling people what to do. We don’t think we’re above anybody. We just love each other so sincerely we try and let that shine through and encourage through our own example.”

Their love began with a bona fide whirlwind romance six years ago. Moriah was a practicing midwife in Arcadia, and John an accomplished musician and session player in Santa Cruz. They had twice run into each other, coincidentally, and Moriah took John’s number. There were no lightning bolts or earthquakes, or any other evidence of love at first sight, but a few months later Moriah decided to call John out of the blue and asked him to visit her. They spent 11 consecutive days together, and on the final day, they drove to San Francisco and got married.

The Vibration Army was essentially formed during those 11 days. The newlyweds moved to Joshua Tree, and after Moriah learned to play bass, they began writing songs together about human consciousness, spirituality and environmental responsibility. They didn’t get into politics until John was hired to perform at an after party for Dennis Kucinich, during the 2004 presidential race. Moriah tagged along and became an instant convert, driving the next day to the Kucinich headquarters in Cleveland to work for his campaign. Kucinich asked the Vibration Army to be his opening act, pumping up the crowd before he spoke. The Whooluluries went on a national tour with him, dressing in red, white and blue and performing original songs, including one Kucinich adopted as his campaign theme song, “Imagine the Dream.”

“It really shifted our perspective about the potential for honest democracy,” Moriah says. “But we try to be nonpartisan. People have to educate themselves and find what feels best for them.”

A year and a half ago, the couple moved to Los Angeles. They settled in Los Feliz, where they felt a strong sense of community, and came up with a game plan for infiltrating their new city — just show up. They searched for local happenings online and “just showed up” in full roaming show gear — matching outfits, platform shoes, dangling sax, wagon and all.

Eventually, word got out, and now the Vibration Army are invited to perform at everything from benefits and birthday parties to lectures and school assemblies, where they put on one of four different shows they’ve created for kids, on topics like bullying, recycling, healthy diet and exercise, and democracy. Though their shows continue to evolve, one constant is their flashy costumes.

“They really create a show,” says Moriah, who tailors them, like they do their songs, to the event. “And in a way, they remind people too that no matter who you are, there’s a superhero in everybody.”

POSTED BY Administrator ON @ 7:50 pm | 0 Comments

Parlor Performances Presents Socially Responsible Mega-Showcase! - Monday & Tuesday, May 19th & 20th, 7:30 PM - Steinway Hall @ Fields Pianos * 12121 W. Pico Blvd., LA

Parlor Performances @ Steinway Hall Presents…

Parlor Performances’ Socially Responsible Mega-Showcase!

Proceeds to Benefit Disaster Relief Organizations!

Monday & Tuesday, May 19th & 20th  at 7:30 PM     

         Steinway Hall @ Fields Pianos - 12121 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles 

(1 door w. of Bundy - Level P2)  ~ Park Free     

$15 up to any amount (cash or check only) 

8 mini-performances nightly by comics, musical satirists, solo theatre all addressing themes of Immigration, Globalization &/or The Environment!

The Sultans of Satire (Mid-East comic relief! – 3 different sultans each night!)   "Sultans" features an impressive line-up of today’s most talented comedians of Middle Eastern descent-more than a dozen men and women of Arab, Israeil, Iranian, Armenian, Greek & Turkish heritage.  

World’s wittiest bass player/songwriter/singer Jay Leonhart … "Add Jay Leonhart to the small, very exclusive list of jazz humorists… …Oscar Brown Jr., Dave Frishberg and Bob Dorough…" Don Heckman, LA Times * The show begins with Leonhart attempting to give the audience its bass lesson, but sensing that maybe the audience is not so devoted to bass viol studies, his "lesson" quickly and skillfully turns into a series of funny and touching songs and vignettes about life, with or without a bass in tow.

Award-winning monologist Jude Narita… Excerpts from Narita’s award-winning dramatic and humorous one-woman plays about Asian and Asian American women celebrating our differences, while illuminating the universal similarities of us all. Narita’s women are breaking stereotypes, creating true identity, surviving war, surviving internment, cherishing family, and holding onto their dreams for the future.

Fred Blanco’s Stories of Cesar Chavez… This one man theatrical presentation depicts the life and times of Cesar E. Chavez, one of the most inspirational and influential civil rights leaders of our time. The play offers a compelling look at the man and his struggle for equality through the eight various characters brought to life on stage.

Vicki Juditz (think Sarah Vowell!) hilarious, hard-hitting new show on Going Green!… "a born storyteller… what sets her writing, and her performance, apart is her sense of humor, and an eye for the incongruous and ridiculous." L.A. Times * Frequently compared to Sarah Vowell and David Sedaris, Juditz is an Ovation Award winner  (LA’s Tony equivalent). "Juditz employs empathy and a self-deprecating humor that lay bare the foibles and tragedy of the human condition, causing us to reflect on our own moral choices." LA Weekly

Stephanie Satie’s Coming to America; Refugees… "an intimate, affecting solo meditation on political and cultural persecution." Los Angeles Times  "Coming to America" presents a portrait gallery of 8 women whose lives have been transformed first, by extraordinary events in their country of birth, and then by their response to  America. This piece includes women from Afghanistan, Iraq, Armenia, Cambodia, El Salvador, India, Iran, Russia and the former Yugoslavia.

Just added! Brilliant political satirists Darryl Henriques and Betsy Salkind!

 

Steinway Hall @ Fields Pianos * 12121 W. Pico Bl. (1 door w. of Bundy * Level P2) * Park free! *

RSVP to Jeannine Frank * (310) 471-3979 * Jeannine@FrankEntertainment.com

 

POSTED BY Administrator ON @ 7:49 pm | 0 Comments

New Film “LEAVE NO SOLDIER” ~ Will be Screening Thursday, May 22nd, 7:30 PM - Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica - Presented by The OOA & The Peace & Civil Liberties Committee

The Office of the Americas & The Peace & Civil Liberties Committee  
 Invites You to a Screening of the New Film  
 "LEAVE NO SOLDIER"   
 Thursday, May 22nd, 7:30 PM   
 At the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica 
 1260 18th Street, Santa Monica
OOA LogoOffice of the Americas

Peace Calendar

 

Office of the Americas and the Peace and Civil Liberties Committee

invite you to a screening of the new film

Leave No Soldier

  Q and A with director/producer Donna Bassin 

The grief of war comes home when veterans pledge to "leave no fallen soldier behind."  Leave No Soldier follows two groups of veterans, divided by their politics, but united in their move from mourning to activism, as they respond to war abroad and domestic disaster on the Gulf Coast.  In 2006, echoing the sounds of combat, Rolling Thunder gathered on motorcycles by the thousands in the nation’s capitol to remember their fallen comrades and remind the government of its debt to those alive. Veterans for Peace marched from Mobile to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina to repair houses and lives and to demonstrate their opposition to the war in Iraq. We come to know intimately eight of these men and women who reveal their passage from grief and rage to agency and solidarity. 

May 22 at 7:30pm

Unitarian Universalist Community Church

1260 18th Street, Santa Monica

               NW corner of 18th and Arizona - enter Forbes Hall on 18th Street side. Parking Available in the  7th Day Adventist Church Parking lot on NW side of 19th St. Parking is also on Wilshire Blvd, 1 block North or Santa Monica Blvd. 1 block South

 

Rsvp by May 20 to nchollander@ca.rr.com

Earth

 



Ongoing Events:

Arlington West Memorial
Sundays from 7:15am to Sunset
Located in the sand just north of the pier at Santa Monica Beach in Los Angeles, California.  Erected by the local chapter of Veterans for Peace (VFP) and other volunteers. arlingtonwestsantamonica.org.  Volunteers are welcome!!

Peace is the Answer - Weekly Vigils
Various Times and Locations
Join us - greater numbers create more response for peace!!
For a list of vigil locations visit the Coalition for World Peace website.

Other Organizations:
Code Pink
Arlington West
Save Darfur
AFSC
Iraq Memorial


Join OOA, Volunteer or Donate

The Office of the Americas is a non profit organization dedicated to furthering the cause of justice and peace through broad based educational programs.  Visit www.officeoftheamericas.org for more about our history and work.

Volunteers

OOA always welcomes volunteers into our family.  Visit the website to download our volunteer form or give us a call to get involved today!

Donate

OOA is a 100% member supported organization. Contributions are greatly appreciated and 100% tax deductible. Donations can be made via PayPal.

Peace Calendar Submissions

Guidelines

If you have a Peace and Justice related event that you would like included on our weekly Peace Calendar submit your information in the following format:

Who
What
Where
When
Why

Email your event information to peacecalendar@gmail.com. Please remember to include contact information so that Peace Calendar recipients know who to contact for more information.

email:peacecalendar@gmail.com
phone: 323.852.9808
web:http://www.officeoftheamericas.org

 
Office of the Americas
8124 West Third Street
Los Angeles, California 90048

POSTED BY Administrator ON @ 7:49 pm | 0 Comments

THE GATHERING: Sunday, May 18th, 7:00 to 9:00 PM - Two Women, Two Voices: Mitra Rahbar & Stefani Valadez ~ At The Blankenship Ballet Company of Venice - 132 Brooks Ave., Venice

The Unity-and-Diversity World Council  Presents

The Gathering  

An Ongoing Sunday Evening Celebration

 Sunday, May 18th

7:00 PM  — 9:00 PM 

 

Two Women, Two Voices

 

 Mitra Rahbar   

 Iranian singer and songstress, singing original compositions of devotional meditation music
*Accompanied by composer and guitarist Rama Morovati

Stefani Valadez   

 Singer, songwriter, and guitarist singing songs of the soul 
*Accompanied by percussionist Jamie Papish

 

 

Mitra Rahbar and Rama Morovati were born and raised in Iran. They are now working on Mitra’s devotional and meditation album, from which they will be performing some selections. Mitra, a peace and human rights advocate, is inspired and motivated by her faith and love of the Spirit world.  Their original music is composed by Mitra’s husband Rama. Their music can be heard on various film scores.

 

Stefani Valadez is an enchanting singer, songwriter, guitarist and percussionist.  Valadez touches the heart and soul of her audience as she brings ancient love songs and prayers into a haunting and soulful, rhythmic present.  Her diverse repertoire includes songs from many lands- Mediterranean, Brazilian, Middle Eastern, Celtic, Mississippi Delta, the land of rock and roll…She has produced 2 CDs of her music.

 

 

at The Blankenship Ballet Company of Venice

132 Brooks Avenue at Abbot Kinney & Main St., Venice, 90291

$15.00 donation

(310) 396-8205  -  (310) 391-5735  

  stephen@fiskemusic.com   

 http://udcworld.org/thegathering 

 

POSTED BY Administrator ON @ 7:48 pm | 0 Comments