Oakland in Popular Memory is a collection of interviews with 12 innovative artists from Oakland, California and beyond who are putting a new “there” in Oakland. The interviews cover topics like race relations in Oakland in the post-Oscar Grant era, postmodern literary theory, Occupy Oakland, and the changing landscape of the music industry during the digital revolution.

Through Matt Werner’s long-form interviews with artists like MC Lars, Chinaka Hodge, Saul Williams, Talib Kweli, Dahlak Brathwaite, Dave Smallen, George Watsky, Ise Lyfe, K.Flay, Kid Beyond, Rafael Casal, and Kool A.D., Oakland is seen as an engine of cultural innovation, as a city bustling with lively avant-garde art and music scenes, spanning from indie rock to spoken word to hip-hop.

Purchase today from Thought Publishing.

How many Oakland hip-hop artists fill their tracks with Gertrude Stein references and turn nursery rhymes into extended political allegories? How many tackle issues of gentrification in Oakland? Can’t think of any? Let me introduce you to Daveed Diggs. His free mixtape Small Things to A Giant shows that a new giant has stepped on to Oakland’s trend-setting hip hop scene.

Read my review of Daveed Diggs’s Small Things to a Giant on my blog.

TheRumpus.net just published the final interview I’m including in my book with Rafael Casal. I spoke with Rafael on February 11, 2012 about his third hip hop album Mean Ones, how the Bay Area is similar to the world of Dr. Seuss, his thoughts on Occupy Oakland, and why he moved to LA.

Read the full interview on TheRumpus.net.

23rd and Telegraph. Photo by Joe Sciarrillo

(Oakland, CA) March 2, 2012: “It’s exciting to see the city come alive” Oakland resident Kait Singley said about Friday night’s Art Murmur. “It’s exciting to see so much creativity coming out of everyone,” she said, pointing out how many parents brought their kids to the free art walk and seeing parents selling their art on the sidewalk with their children selling cupcakes.

Over a thousand people turned out to Oakland’s Art Murmur Friday night, March 2, and the attendees came from diverse backgrounds. There were young hip hop artists, dancers, street performers, and an interesting mix of students, Occupy Oakland folks, working professionals in suits, parents with their kids, can collectors, and hip grandmas.

Read the full post here.

See Joe Sciarrillo’s photos from the night on Google+.

She drew the portraits in pencil of Chinaka Hodge, Dahlak Brathwaite, Dave Smallen, George Watsky, Ise Lyfe, K.Flay, Kid Beyond, MC Lars, Rafael Casal, Saul Williams, Talib Kweli, and Victor Vazquez. Interviews with each of these artists will be featured in Oakland in Popular Memory.

View the album on Google+

What exactly did renowned U.S. writer and art collector Gertrude Stein mean when she said “there is no there there” about Oakland, California? In honor of Gertrude Stein’s 138th birthday today, I explored the meaning of this oft-quoted phrase on the Inside Google Books blog. Read the full post here:

http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2012/02/gertrude-stein-puts-there-back-in.html

Gertrude Stein. Courtesy of the Oakland History Room, Oakland Public Library

Little did I know that researching for an article on “Gertrude Stein’s Oakland” would put me on a collision course with Occupy Oakland and get me tear gassed today (Jan. 28, 2012).

Read the full story on Oakland Local: http://oaklandlocal.com/posts/2012/01/how-researching-gertrude-stein-got-me-tear-gassed-community-voices

Learn more at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/mattwerner/oakland-in-popular-memory-book-project/posts/157495

Learn more about Oakland in Popular Memory, my collection of interviews with artists from Oakland and artists who’ve influenced musicians from Oakland, by going to my Kickstarter page and Thought Publishing.

My interview with Oakland hip hop artist, playwright, and community educator Ise Lyfe was published on the literary website the Rumpus last month. Click here for the interview.

For more about Ise Lyfe and his work, see http://www.iselyfeonline.com/

Read the post here: http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2011/08/peering-into-jorge-luis-borgess.html

Matt Werner’s first book of short stories, Papers for the Suppression of Reality, co-authored with Dr. Shaka Freeman will hit bookstores on March 1, 2011. The book is being published by Thought Publishing. You can pre-order a copy of the book here: http://thoughtpublishing.org/purchase/

My interview with Oakland poet and playwright Chinaka Hodge was published on the literary website the Rumpus today. Click here for the interview.

Chinaka is known for her Def Poetry Jam appearances and play Mirrors in Every Corner. But her writing and artistic talents are wide-ranging, and include some pretty dope tracks with the Getback Crew: