The traditions of storytelling and blues culture within the African American experience are braided tightly together. One cannot be analyzed without seriously considering the influence of the other. An important aspect of most African and diasporic music is the use of folk tales in song lyrics. This cultural retention first manifest as the African griot tradition, in which local and national histories were preserved through musical theatre. For centuries, this was the chief method of education on the continent of Africa. Through the Griot, knowledge of the natural world, was passed down from elder to youth. During the early years of Blues music in the United States, the incorporation of folk stories and legends within the music itself (such as Br’er Rabbit, High John the Conquer, Stagger Lee,and the legend of Voodoo Priestess Marie Leveau) was quite common. It is in this manner that folklore, mythology, legend, storytelling and the blues are all interconnected.

In keeping with, as well as honoring this connection, the African American Art and Culture Complex, (AAACC) is pleased to present a night that explores several contemporary African American artists working within the traditions of storytelling and the blues.

Musician, Quinn DeVeaux has packed houses and astounded audiences in the bay area for years with his smooth and dirty spank-you voice and cool melodic songwriting. Quinn DeVeaux and the Blue Beat Review, is a self-styled, crossroads of many musical roots. Quinn harnesses the likes of Ray Charles, John Hurt, Fats Domino and Bo Diddley. His songwriting is the classic influence made fresh. With all the style and subtlety of the great soul/blues singers of the earth bound golden days, his band keeps audiences in a state of joy.

Visual artist, Christopher Burch creates from the intersections of re-invention, mythology, folklore and history. Depicting, bodies, acts, objects and ideas within a process of co-emergence, slippage, and simultaneity. Burch’s aesthetic, fully realized as a surreal personal language, utilizes the grotesque, the abject, and the ironic, as accomplices within the stories his draws and paints. Truths and untruths hold equal value within his works; both hinge upon the human imagination as the locust of their power. Through storytelling, drawing, sculpture, and installation, Burch's works find their greatest strength in his eloquent, thoughtful manner of interpreting and investigating some of humanity's most disquieting realities.

Sargent Johnson Gallery will be open for an artist reception with Christopher Burch starting at 6pm.

Buriel Clay Theatre Doors will open at 8pm. Show begins at 8:30pm. Performance time is ninety (90) minutes.