The UW's Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives (OMAI) is hosting free lectures on hip-hop culture and its classroom uses through Dec. 10. Speakers include rap pioneer MC Lyte (Oct. 8) and graffiti artist Carlos "Mare139" Rodriguez (Oct. 29). Most lectures will be delivered via video conference at the Pyle Center and the Lowell Center. Lyte has also partnered with the UW to offer a $100,000 scholarship for a high school senior interested in spoken word and multicultural activism. Applications are due Oct. 1. More details are provided in the complete lecture schedule, and information about the scholarship is available here.
Local guitarist A.J. Love and Mad Toast Live producer Andrew LaValley have teamed up to make a documentary about the Chicago blues sound. Love will direct, and LaValley will man the cameras. After completing a Kickstarter fundraising campaign, they'll film concerts at the Knuckle Down Saloon Nov. 16, 23 and 30. The movie will feature artists from both Madison and Chicago, including Billy Flynn, Peewee Hayes, Tom Holland, Queenie McCarter, Michael Morrison, Merle Perkins, John Primer and Oscar Wilson.
