N E W S * R E L E A S E


Contact:
Mark Lacy
(713) 521-3686
hifc@yahoo.com

May 9, 2000



TEXAS APPEARANCES OF GREGORY STEPHENS, ON RACIAL FRONTIERS


AUTHOR OF CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED STUDY OF BOB MARLEY TO GIVE SERIES OF MULTI-MEDIA PRESENTATIONS AND INTERVIEWS IN TEXAS MAY 24-31

Bob Marley passed away 19 years ago (May 1981). Yet his legacy grows ever larger: Time Magazine named Exodus "album of the century," and a new generation of artists in genres from rap to rock, from jazz to jungle, are remaking Marley's "new Psalms." Award-winning songwriter and journalist Gregory Stephens, author of the acclaimed book On Racial Frontiers, will give a series of lectures and interviews in Houston and Austin May 24-31. He will focus on Marley's "amazing musical afterlife"; on the political and spiritual dimensions of Marley's legacy as a global icon; and on the deep roots on multi-ethnic freedeom movements and art-forms, as seen in the work of Frederick Douglass and Ralph Ellison.

These appearances include public readings and book-signings at the Meyerland Plaza Borders on Thursday May 25 (7 p.m.), at the Alabama Theatre BookStop Saturday May 27 (7:30 p.m.), and at Austin's Book People on Wednesday May 31 (7 p.m.). Selected radio interviews are listed below, and additional interviews are being arranged.

In a review of a Minnesota appearance, Lynn Cason of Reggae Ambassadors Worldwide described Stephens as "a very positive person on a very important mission...a visionary man with a wake-up call."

About "Bob Marley's Zion: A Transracial 'Blackman Redemption'," from the critically acclaimed book On Racial Frontiers: the new culture of Frederick Douglass, Ralph Ellison, and Bob Marley, Roger Steffens says: "you will never think of the Soul Rebel in the same way again" after reading this. Stephens' presentations at Borders and Book People will make extensive use of video clips of Marley's interviews and performances. Using an examination of Bob Marley's Rastafarian faith as a starting point, the presentation will discuss Bob's attitude about his mixed-"race" heritage and his multi-ethnic audience, and suggest what the legacy of Marley and the Rastas can teach us about building more inclusive forms of community in which commonality and difference can co-exist.

The Book Stop appearance will include discussion of the story of Frederick Douglass--like Marley, another biracial icon, and discuss what are the implications of the history of Douglass and the abolitionists for contemporary race relations, educational reform, presidential politics, and multi-ethnic coalition building.


LINKS/BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Formerly a University of California Lecturer, as of June 2000 Stephens will be visiting Assistant Professor of Human Relations at the University of Oklahoma. An award-winning songwriter and journalist in Austin, Texas during the 1980s, Stephens' writing on Marley, race relations, and popular culture has been published in many forums, including the Los Angeles Times, The Beat, and the Village Voice. Stephens' interview with the Island Life Marley website is at:
http://www.bobmarley.com/blackhistory/stephens.html

His edutainment special w/DJ RJ: "White Boy A Follower? From Black Supremacy to 'One Love' in Rasta Reggae" can be heard in Real Audio at: http://ktru.org/realaudioarc.html or, http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~scottie

His book On Racial Frontiers can be ordered from Cambridge University Press, which has sample chapters on their web site: www.cup.org


RADIO INTERVIEWS

May 24, "Rice Radio Reggae," Scottie McDonald, KTRU 91.7 FM, 5-7 p.m.

May 25, drive-time news special, KTRU Houston, 5-6 p.m.

May 25, "Spoken Word," KTRU, 10-11 p.m.
[Rice University radio can be heard on Real Audio at: http://ktru.org/realaudio.html]

May 25, KTSU 90.9 (Texas Southern-Houston), 11:30-12 p.m.

May 28, "Jamaican Gold, KOOP, Austin, TX 11-12 a.m.

May 30, "Reggae Evolution," DJ RJ, KAZI 88.7, Austin, TX, 7-9 p.m.

May 31, "Eklektikos," w/John Aielli, KUT-Austin 90.5, noon.

[Contact Gregory Stephens at gstephen@weber.ucsd.edu; 510/528-8298]

[For local assistance in setting up interviews, in Houston contact Scottie McDonald at 713/524-7827 or email scottie@ktru.org; in Austin contact RJ at 512/302-0351 or email djrj@airmail.net]



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