Welcome to “The Sights + Sounds Show with Jeneé Darden,” where every week we tap into the Bay Area arts scene and bring you rich conversations with artists. On today’s show,a documentary about a musician who looks to Lucinda Williams for inspiration. Then, a singer honors the historical Compton's Cafeteria riot in the Tenderloin. Also, a documentary about hedge funds destroying local newspapers, and how journalists are fighting back. We close the show with a salute to trailblazing journalist Belva Davis.
Today's show is about people who paved the way.
ISMAY
The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival is this weekend, and there's a film screening that many artists can probably relate to. Have you ever felt stuck in your creative process or career and looked to those before you, who succeeded? ISMAY is an alternative folk music artist, dealing with some self-doubt as a creative. She's questioning whether to stay in music or remain a farmer in Petaluma. So she takes a road trip throughout the Deep South to learn the early trajectory of a music icon she admirers — Lucinda Williams. ISMAY chronicles this journey of self-discovery in the documentary "Finding Lucinda."
"Finding Lucinda" is screening on Friday, October 3 at the 4-Star Theater in San Francisco. It's part of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Out of the Park events. You can also watch the film on multiple streaming platforms.
Lucinda Williams herself will be performing at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass this Sunday, October 5.
Melanie DeMore
In 1966 a riot broke out in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district. People were fed up with police violence against transwomen and drag queens. This historic event became known as “Compton’s Cafeteria riot.” This is one of the first acts of organized LGBTQ+ resistance in the United States. Compton’s Cafeteria riot was a few years before the Stonewall uprising, which was the catalyst for Pride.
A new, free public art project called "Down on the Corner" is honoring the uprising. See it from October 3 to 11 on the corner of Turk and Taylor street in San Francisco, which is near where the Compton's Cafeteria riot took place.
"Down on the Corner" features a cast of queer, transgender and female dancers and musicians. Singer/songwriter Melanie DeMore created original music for the project. She is a three-time Grammy nominated artist.
Rick Goldsmith
Do you remember back in the day, waking up and going outside to get the newspaper from your porch? And you'd see newspapers lying on other porches and lawns in your neighborhood? Yes, many people get their news online, but that's not the only reason why newspapers have been shutting down. Hedge funds have led to the collapse of local newspapers across the country.
"Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink" explains this journalism crisis. Stream it on PBS.org or the PBS app, or watch it on your local PBS station on October 20 or on October 2 on KRCB at 9 pm.
Filmmaker Rick Goldsmith is a two-time Oscar-nominated documentarian, and the director of “Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink”
Belva Davis Tribute
In 1966, Davis became the first Black woman to be a television reporter on the West Coast when KPIX hired her. She was also a journalist at KRON, KQED and the radio station KDIA. One of host Jeneé Darden's greatest honors in her career was when Belva Davis presented Jeneé with her first ever journalism award in 2012 from New America Media.
Davis faced a lot of racism and misogyny in her career, but preserved. Read her memoir "Never in My Wildest Dreams: A Black Woman's Life in Journalism." She lived by her personal mantra, "Don't be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality. If you can dream it, you can make it so." Belva Davis passed away last week. She was 92 years old. We thank her for being a trailblazer.
