2330 International Blvd (at E. 14th St)
Oakland CA   

THE BLACK DOT ARTIST COLLECTIVE - MONDAY NITE JAMS
will present Creative Music Improv Jam Sessions
on Monday nites from 9 to 11 pm starting 11/01/99.

$3 donation requested.

THE IMPROV JAM WILL BE HOSTED BY EDDIE GALE!

BACKGROUND
The Black Dot Artists Collective formed in 1995 and played a major role in revitalizing the East Bay spoken word scene, with their rhyme ritual and ritual theater workshops at ProArts, La Pena, and other venues. When the Upper Room closed its doors in 1996, the Black Dot artists sought a space of their own in the same Fruitvale/ San Antonio neighborhood. Now the Black Dot Cafe could share the Upper Room's fate as well.

This spring, the building housing the Black Dot was sold. When the Black Dot's lease expired this summer, the new landlord raised the rent 25%. The Black Dot could not afford to continue renting both the main performance space and the smaller cafe space, so they gave up the former, and with it, several thousand dollars they had invested to rehabilitate the unit, replacing rotten walls, installing new plumbing and some wiring.

The Black Dot continues a program of workshops (jazz improvisation, drama, painting, Boots from the Coup's workshop on revolutionary art), spoken word Thursdays, and performances. Black Dot artists are implementing a hip hop curriculum in after-school arts programs for youth. But the collective will be without a space, and the artists out some money, without some serious change this weekend.

For more info, call the Black Dot Cafe at 510.533.6629