Thank you for staying with us through this long year! Though we haven’t shown you as much new material in 2022 as we did in 2021, we’ve been hard at work behind the scenes. We’re so pleased today to share with you the brand spanking new artwork for the Octavia of Earth Volume 2 EP, brought to life by artist & graphic designer Matt Applin III. Here’s what will eventually be on front and back cover (vinyl, anyone?).
HOW DID HE MAKE THOSE???
To see Matt’s behind-the-scenes wizardry, check out the video below (clicking will take you to view the video on our youtube channel to watch).
If you feel inspired after beholding this beauty (though I suppose that’s up to your eye…) and want to lend a hand towards costs for distributing the music, please make a tax-deductible donation today.
It’s no joke, I’m not kidding: Skip the Needle will debut brand new songs from the upcoming Octavia of Earth, Vol. 2 album THIS FRIDAY, April 1, 2022 as part of Little Village Foundation’s No Foolin’ artist revue at Freight and Salvage in Berkeley (scroll down to the bottom of the linked page for tickets).
Details:
Show starts at 8pm
Tickets: $20 general admission, $18 seniors, $10 youth
Proof of vaccination, photo ID, and masks required
Freight and Salvage is located at 2020 Addison Street, Berkeley, CA 94704
The venue is wheelchair accessible; please call the box office at (510) 644-2020 to confirm seating request. Accessible audio devices available as well.
Thank you for being part of our community! We’re so grateful to announce that we made our end-of-year fundraising goal and then some! We were aiming for $5,000, and we currently have $5,387 in our GoFundMe!
Thank goodness we’re starting 2022 off with a strong start. There’s a happy start for four of you, too. Here are the winners of the Sistah SciFi gift cards:
– JD D. – Nancy S. – Candace M. – Pam S.
Congrats to the lucky winners, and thank you all for your support!
Octavia of Earth, Volume 2 update
The six new tracks from Skip the Needle are getting mixed and mastered and will be ready for your ears soooooon. In the meantime, here’s a behind-the-scenes magic moment from the control room at Bird and Egg Studio in Richmond, CA from the recording sessions in December. In this pic, Nino Moschella runs the control room while Vicki Randle and Kofy Brown work on harmonies for “Manifest Destiny / Breakout”. Anand and band members Shelley Doty & Katie Cash hung out in the control room during this take and got an earful of pure love.
Okay, I know Christmas is over and Kwanzaa is in full swing already, but I just love playing Santa. Got some more goodies for you today!
VOICES from the past
Last year for the holidays, our friends at Voices: Lesbian A Cappella for Justice recorded a beautiful and tender rendition of the Latvian lullaby, “Vine Vinetas”. We remixed their recording into a video for our Equinox show, and thought you might like to see it this time of year, when so many of us are missing our loved ones. Click the image below to see the video for Vine Vinetas as part of a playlist of the songs from A Very Marianas Equinox.
Fundraising Update! 80% to our end-of-year goal!
We’ve met each of our benchmarks so far! We hit $4,001 on Christmas Eve and are now at $4,071, looking towards our goal to hit $5k by Friday!
Can you help us close the year strong financially?
We hope your solstice was a bright one. The holidays can be a hard time of year for many in our community, and with so many people separated from their families (chosen or otherwise) this year, we wanted to share some extra love with you. Read on for some special holiday treats!
Octavia of Earth, Vol. 2 Update
Last weekend, Skip the Needle recorded instrumentals and vocals for their new songs for Octavia of Earth, Vol. 2. Here’s a picture of the band (L-to-R: Kofy Brown, Vicki Randle, Shelley Doty, and Katie Cash) with Uncaged Library artistic director Anand Kalra during a break between takes. Photo by Nino Moschella.The tracks all sound AMAZING and we can’t wait to share them with you soon! In the meantime, please enjoy a behind-the-scenes snippet of the punk reprise of “Patterns” — click the image to view the video on youtube!
Holidays in Space: your new rewatch tradition?
Last year, we put together a variety special called Holidays in Space, featuring our own core team members Adrian Jazz Applin, Erica Dunkle, and Anand Jay Kalra, plus special guests Skip the Needle, Coco Buttah, Voices: Lesbian A Cappella for Justice, and Jose e. Abad. You can relive all the music, joy, and laughter thanks to the miracle of the interwebs. Click the image below for a playlist of all of the songs, kicking off with Adrian’s timeless parody of Mariah Carey with“All I Want is Christmas in Space”.
Finally, our fundraising campaign to support Octavia of Earth, Vol. 2 is going strong, thanks to you! We’re currently $74 away from meeting our benchmark goal to reach $4,000 by Christmas Day, so we can stay on track to hit $5k by the end of the year. Can you help us get there? Here’s that link again.
Thank you for reading this far, supporting our work in ways big and small, and above all, for being part of our community.
WOOOOOOO! We hit our first benchmark fundraising goal of $2,500 last night! This is people power! Meeting that goal means we can make our second installment of payments to Skip the Needle in time for Christmas and go into the recording sessions this weekend fully able to focus on the music.
Thank you so deeply to everyone who’s contributed so far! If you’ve been meaning to make a donation but haven’t gotten around to it yet, not to worry. We’re aiming to raise $5,000 on our GoFundMe by New Year’s Eve. To stay on track, we need to hit $4,000 by the 25th. Can you help us get there? We welcome donations at every size. Here’s that link again. 🙂
[Image description: Skip the Needle rocking hard on stage. Katie and Shelley hold their guitars facing each other in the foreground, while Vicki and Kofy hold down the rhythm section in the back. The band is on a small stage with purple lighting.]
If a financial contribution isn’t something you can offer right now, or if you’ve already contributed and want to keep the momentum going, please comment on and/or shareAnand’s facebook post about the GoFundMe – add a few words about what Octavia of Earth means to you for extra oomph. 🙂
Coming next week:
behind-the-scenes photos and a video or two from our recording sessions for Octavia of Earth, Volume 2!
Plus: looking back at Holidays in Space, one year later. How does it hold up?
Thank you for coming on this sleigh ride together with us,
I’m writing with my producer hat on today. First of all, THANK YOU for bringing your energy to our virtual variety series last winter and spring (or at least taking the time to read our emails)! It’s so comforting to know that our work has moved you and that somebody is out there reading these things. 🙂
Second, I have a happy update and a request. The good news is that the music for Octavia of Earth, Volume 2 is well underway! Skip the Needle is working on five new songs plus a reprise of Patterns. They’re scheduled to record in the studio on December 17 & 18!!! Here’s a behind-the-scenes sneak peek at a couple of the pieces they’re working on. 🎉 I can’t put into words how fulfilling it’s been to work on these songs together!
Overall, our contract with them is for $8,000, and we’ve already paid them $2,000 of that – paid entirely through audience contributions from our virtual variety series. Over the next few months, we’re aiming to raise the rest of the funds to fully pay the band, plus what we’ll need to finish the full project (mixing and mastering for the new album, dancers & camera for the music videos, editing everything, all that good stuff) – a total of around $20k. But we’re gonna do that one step at a time. Our current goal is to raise $2,500 by December 21st so that we can pay the band the second installment in time for the holidays. Are you willing and able to help us get there? You are?? Thank you! You can make your tax-deductible contribution at any size – $50? $20? $5? $500? It’s up to you.
Image: Anand and three members of Skip the Needle (Vicki, Kofy, and Katie) pose for a group photo in Kofy’s living room in November 2021.
If money isn’t something you have to share right now, I understand! There are many ways to help this project roll towards completion. The best thing you can do is tell your friends about Octavia of Earth – for example, you could text your BFF these links to Octavia of Earth, Vol. 1 on Spotify or Apple Music.
Whether your support takes financial or any other form, I’m grateful that you’re part of this community.
I’m stoked and grateful to have an OpEd in 48 Hills! Here’s the full text – you can also check it out on the 48 Hills website directly. 🙂 – Anand
Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006) was a visionary artist. Since the publication of her first novel, Patternmaster, in 1976, millions of people have read her words. Countless artists and activists—including Janelle Monae, Gloria Steinem, and Viola Davis—have taken inspiration from the worlds of her imagination.
But the accolades Butler received during her lifetime, her growing popularity in the aftermath of her death, and the privacy she maintained while she was alive have created a conundrum for those of us curious about the woman behind the legend. The enduring image of who Butler was as a person has blurred into a larger-than-life projection of whom we want her to be—a prophet (she wrote about a zealot elected to “make America great again” long before Trump), a sage, a poster child for feminism or Black power or nerds everywhere, an extra-human sibilant transfixed by futures only she could see.
The truth, of course, is more complicated. When I first entered the archives in Los Angeles that hold her papers, researching for what would become a musical of her life called Octavia of Earth, I joked to my co-conspirator T. that Butler seemed like the kind of person who would show up to a drum circle, play the same rhythm on a set of jingle bells for an hour, say nothing, and then leave.
Yet my first glimpse into her teenage diary placed all my preconceptions through the shredder. Here was someone deeply grounded in her experience of the world, who paid attention to the news and the writing on the wall alike and synthesized them all together to create new knowledge with layers and layers of depth.
Here was someone who had unrequited teenage crushes and felt awkward as hell, who dared to want to be something as outlandish as a writer in a working-class Black family where her mother and uncles served the wealthiest of Pasadena in plantation-style homes.
Here was someone who struggled with doubt, wage labor, barriers to accessing healthcare, the relentless cycles of oppression, making humiliating mistakes—the full catastrophe of life. Here was someone who made her way through a world built for people who were not like her and yet who persisted.
Here was someone entirely human in her magnificence.
Today, passages from Butler’s apocalyptic Parable series are indistinguishable from the morning news. In this moment of two-dimensional villains and saviors in the 30-second news cycle, we must fight to add nuance to our understanding of the world and its people, to listen for depth. We must tear down the statues of our oppressors and reimagine the pedestals beneath the feet of our heroes as mere sidewalks. We must walk arm-in-arm with our goddesses. We must listen to Black women, reflect, and act—not expect them to be superhumans who save the world for everyone else.
Fourteen years after her death, Octavia E. Butler’s best-known quotes may be those about the infinite nature of change, but the one that haunts me is about stagnation: “I think people can do better. I just don’t think we will.” May this prophecy be the one to prove Butler’s humanity once and for all. May she be wrong.
By now, you know what this email list is all about: Octavia of Earth, the musical inspired by the real life of science fiction writer Octavia E. Butler. We’ve done live workshops, recorded a studio album, released it on CD and mp3, launched that release, and now we’ve got even more exciting news. The full soundtrack album is now available to stream on all major streaming services, including Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Napster, MediaNet, Saavn, Pandora, and iHeartRadio. CD and mp3 copies still available from www.uncagedlibrarianmusic.com, too. : )
Making our music available to people where they already listen to music aligns with our value of accessibility. Because Spotify pays a third of a penny per listen, it’s not a viable option for revenue for an operation of our size. BUT every listen counts! So, please *do* add Octavia of Earth, Vol. 1 to your playlists, please *do* text your friends, please *do* share about it on facebork, twytter, and your livejournal you haven’t updated since 2009. Above all, please enjoy the music.
Love, Anand
P.S. Stay tuned for more excitement! Hint: you might want to start following 48 Hills on facebork and twittles.
Oakland, CA – September 12, 2019 / – Oakland-based Uncaged Librarian Productions, in partnership with The African American Museum and Library of Oakland (AAMLO), will host a record release party for Octavia of Earth, Vol. 1, a studio recording of nine songs inspired by the real life of black feminist science fiction author Octavia E. Butler. The event will feature a screening of the new docu-musical along with live performances, audience Q & A, and a signing and reception to follow. Attendees may also join the AAMLO facility tour ahead of the event at 4:00 PM. The event is free and open to the public. Octavia of Earth, Vol. 1 was recorded and mixed by multi-platinum producer James Earley.
The production was developed by a team of Oakland-based artists, with music by T. Carlis Roberts, Itoro Udofia, and Anand Jay Kalra, and Adrian Jazz Applin playing the title role. Grammy-nominee and longtime Bay Area favorite Melanie DeMore sang the role of Margaret, Octavia’s mother, on the studio album, and will join the cast to perform live at the record release event on September 28. “This is a beautiful project that moved me deeply,” said Melanie DeMore. “I think audiences will be filled with joy.”
Octavia of Earth tells stories inspired by the life of science fiction luminary and the founding mother of Afrofuturism, Octavia E. Butler, based on archival research and select interviews. The musical was developed in workshop at SafeHouse Arts in San Francisco in 2018, as part of the AirSpace fellowship for queer and trans artists of color. “Millions of people have read Octavia E. Butler’s fiction, but because she was so private in her lifetime, very little is known about her actual life,” said director Anand Jay Kalra. “I’m so pleased to be able to color in the sketch of her life more, and to share the magic of live music as part of that storytelling.”
Tender, funny, and magical, Octavia of Earth presents the human side of the mysterious founding mother of Afrofuturism. The live show incorporates documentary film components in place of spoken dialogue. Octavia of Earth focuses on Butler’s early years as a child and adolescent in Southern California, as a young adult struggling to find a path forward for her creative aspirations, and as an established author of critical renown but limited commercial success. The album is available for purchase in mp3 and CD formats and is available to stream for free for a limited time at www.uncagedlibrarianmusic.com.
Uncaged Librarian Productions lifts up stories that sustain the hearts and minds of social change workers in the Bay Area. In particular, ULP produces collaborative music, theater, film, and data that highlights the struggles and victories of LGBTQ people, people living with HIV, and people of color in our ongoing fights for dignity, existence, and liberation.
