Tag Archives: Amiri Baraka

Frank O’Hara, Amiri Baraka: “The Day Lady Died”

March 19, 2014 Frank O’Hara and Billie Holiday had probably never met, never exchanged a single word.   There’s no record of the two of them at any gathering. What I found instead is an  image of Amiri Baraka and … Continue reading

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Passing On: Amiri Baraka, Suzan-Lori Parks, Claudia Rankine

January 22, 2014 James Baldwin probably felt a tinge of jealousy at the sight of Amiri Baraka, Maya Angelou, and Toni Morrison at his funeral. Thousands of people there, and those three in particular, so eloquent in their tribute, but … Continue reading

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Amiri Baraka’s luck

January 15, 2014 He must have been one of the most photographed – certainly in the 60s, and probably long after that. But the picture that’s most stuck in my head is actually one in USA Today, taken late in … Continue reading

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Amiri Baraka: jazz side of the brain

July 18, 2013 I’ve always loved this account of jazz from Amiri Baraka: “Jazz enabled separate and valid emotional expressions to be made that were based on older traditions of Afro-American music that were clearly not not a part of … Continue reading

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