Pictured Marvin Tate and Adam Conway of the Marvin Tate D-Settlement. Photo by Hester
Afro Punk, The Rock and Roll Nigger Experience (documentary): The Marvin Tate D-Settlement, Hot House
On the Patti Smith Group's now classic Easter (1978), punk icon Smith erased the lines of politics, racial and sexual equality, and all the niceties that go with it with her banshee wail, 'NIGGA NIGGA NIGGA.!!!' But now 26 years later the concept of a 'Rock and Roll Nigger' seems just as revolutionary. Sure we've had, among others, the Bad Brains, Living Color, and Prince, but the social/political bent of rock—and most glaringly punk—is white territory. Director James Spooner's spontaneous and funky documentary Afro Punk picks up where Smith faded out and adds a spin on the topic.
A careening cross-country jaunt from N.Y. to L.A. with a multitude of stops in the heartland, Afro Punk collects a panoply of experiences through interviews and challenges the very essence of punk and race. Early on two comments from interviewees set the tone. 'Punk rock is political music ... .' 'I would say being Black and being a punk are the same thing ... .'
Ironically many of the performers interviewed caught more shit from family and friends for their punk aesthetics than they did from whites. The segment on dating is both hilarious and touchy, because of the color of the skin, regardless of punk's all-inclusive rainbow umbrella, it really does matter who dates whom.
More importantly Spooner exposes an intriguing take on socialism and race. Many of the participants talk of how they were the only Blacks in their local scene and Afro Punk backs it up with photos of packed venues of moshing slam-dancing white punkers with a solitary Black face sticking out. But this isn't to say the punk scene embraces a 'whites only' cachet. One Black lady rocker designed her look on African tribalism and managed to meld the inclusiveness of Malcolm McLaren's vision with Third World pride.
Afro Punk never says anything brazen or daring, except in its imagery. God-gorgeous-stop-me-mama Black boys and girls punked with mohawks and chains living the life. More telling is some of the live footage with Black punkers thrashing three chord riffs in typical punk fashion. But instead of long-flowing blonde locks, the screen is filled with long flowing dreadlocks. Afro Punk is a welcome comment just by its act of asking questions on political-social issues including gender, race, and sexual identity. 'Can't we all get along ... ?'
Ironically the musical guest at Afro Punk's premier was Chicago's most ribald funk/acid band, The Marvin Tate D-Settlement. Ironic because the D-Settlement strays far from any concept of punk. But who cares really, since this one-shot 'Greatest Hits' set was inflammatory, brutal, and downright scary. It was a welcome return—the D-Settlement disbanded over a year ago—especially since all that they personify live is what the Chicago scene has been sorely lacking. It was nuts. George Blaines with his mind-bending acid guitar solos, Tate go-go dancing with religious fury, Tina Howell wailing to the rafters, and Adam Conway (in black leather and a sweeping black velvet floor-length cape) twirling like smoke in the wind.
But the rhythm section was cranked over the top pushing the band into overdrive—can you say 'demonic possession?' Sure, I expected 'Trouble A-Comin'' and 'Mama's Got a New Boyfriend' to rock, but the set's closer, 'A Great Day in the Neighborhood' was a revelation. On 2002's American Icons CD its Curtis Mayfield slow-jam soul, but on this night it was funked up by a good 20 degrees. 'Neighborhood' had this jam-packed crowd slam dancing and jitterbugging with hardcore abandon.
Somebody call the cops.
Heads Up: Bitch and Animal at Subterranean March 18. Indigo Girls at the Auditorium April 24.
