*The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is celebrating Black History Month with a series of virtual and in-person events and programs to honor African Americans’ contributions to the genre, reports the Akron Beacon Journal.
For folks visiting the museum in person there’s the exhibit, “It’s Been Said All Along: Voices of Rage, Hope & Empowerment.”
The Hall’s weekly Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Vault podcast will spotlight African American inductees and their “unfiltered” induction speeches. This past Friday’s episode featured Gladys Knight and the Pips inducted by Mariah Carey, with Public Enemy inducted by Spike Lee and Harry Belafonte coming this Friday, The Miracles inducted by Smokey Robinson on Feb. 19, and Buddy Guy inducted by B.B. King and Eric Clapton dropping Feb. 26.
On the Hall’s Facebook and YouTube pages, there will be a performance and interview with Jackie Venson at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Texas native became the first African American woman to win the category of “Best Guitarist” at the Austin Music Awards a year ago and will perform a 30-minute set and field questions from Jason Hanley, the rock hall’s vice president of education and visitor engagement.
There will be a screening of the “Mr. Soul” documentary at 7 p.m. Feb. 18 with a panel discussion to include inductee Verdine White of Earth Wind & Fire and Patti LaBelle. The documentary takes a look at the public television variety show “SOUL!” that aired from 1968 to 1973 and featured Black literature, poetry, music and politics. To watch the screening, visit https://www.rockhall.com/events to register.
Here’s the trailer for “Mr. Soul.”
Rock hall inductees from Sly & the Family Stone will join an episode of the Tough Cookies podcast at 7 p.m. Feb. 20. Inductees Freddie Stone, Rose Stone, Larry Graham, Jerry Martini and Greg Errico of Sly & the Family Stone are the special guests on the episode. It’s hosted by Adam Weiner of the Philadelphia-based rock band Low Cut Connie. He interviews the celebrated performers and even performs several songs, plus takes a tour through the Rock Hall’s Legends of Rock exhibit. For more info visit https://www.rockhall.com/events.
A discussion on “Rewriting Rock: New Takes on Black Women in Rock & Pop History” will be at 7 p.m. Feb. 22 on the hall’s Facebook and YouTube pages. Authors Daphne Brooks, who penned “Liner Notes for the Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound” and Maureen Mahon, author of “Black Diamond Queens: African American Women and Rock and Roll,” will take a look at their new books on Black women in pop music.
The final virtual event will feature a performance and interview with Robert Randolph at 7 p.m. Feb. 25 on the hall’s Facebook and YouTube pages. The member of The Family Band will talk about his Gospel roots and perform from the rock hall’s Klipsch Audio Stage.
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