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  • A Gathering of the Tribes

    A Gathering of the Tribes is an arts and cultural organization dedicated to excellence in the arts from a diverse perspective. Located on the Lower East Side of New York City, Tribes has been in existence since 1991.


  • A Gathering of the Tribes, 285 East 3rd St, 2nd Floor (between Avenues C and D)
    Phone: 212-674-3778
    Fax: 212-674-5776
    Email: Info@tribes.org


  • Tribes is a member of Chamber Music of America, Poets & Writers, Poets Society of America, St. Marks Poetry Project. We are Funded by NYC DCA, NYSCA & The Andy Warhol Foundation among others. All contributions are tax deductible.

  • Events Calendar

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  • The 16th Annual Charlie Parker Festival

    Throughout the forties, Charlie Parker revolutionized jazz and immortalized the Lower East Side by capturing its combustive atmosphere and translating it into music. It is no wonder that every year the Lower East Side returns a little bit of the favor by celebrating Charlie Parker, his life and his legacy, as well as his deep rooted relationship with this neighborhood, through A Gathering of the Tribes' Charlie Parker Festival.
    This year, A Gathering of the Tribes is please to present the 16th Annual Charlie Parker Festival, entitled "BIRD LIVES," from August 2 - August 29. More information about this year's festival can be found here

Latest Reviews

Gone Fishing, Again

by Christopher Heffernan

The cult classic Trout Fishing in America, written by Richard Brautigan and first published in 1967, has been released in a new edition by Mariner Books, a subsidiary of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.  The book has not been published on its own since the early ‘80’s when […]


Patti Smith’s Just Kids reviewed by Bonny Finberg

JUST KIDS –Patti Smith
Harper Collins, New York, 2010
279 pps.
Reviewed by Bonny Finberg
     Patti Smith has kept her promise to Robert Mapplethorpe to tell their story. By doing so through the lens of a generation of artists in New York at that time, she’s written our story as well. Her book […]


THE NYC LATTE COMPOSER FOR THOUGHT

by Phaedra Pinkston
Staten Island, New York vocalist/guitarist Dorian Spencer can be seen performing live around New York City making the commutes around town a little bit more relaxing for the always-on-the-go New Yorker.
Originally born in Puerto Rico, the self taught musician was greatly impacted by musical legend Jimi Hendrix additionally, all of Spencer’s songs are […]


The Highway Doom, Of the Memory, Of the Grace by Christopher Heffernan

Sam Shepard’s new book of stories, Day Out of Days, is a romp through the highways of America, through the personal history of the narrators, as well as through the historical past of the many areas of the States that the highways touch and pass through, that is often as brutal […]


Frances Chung: A Chinese American Woman’s Plight. By: Susan Yung

the winter wind sits in the living room
so we huddle in the kitchenin our winter coats looking silly
and too cold to do anything
but light a candle eat melon seeds
as I wonder
what do we wear when we go outside?
— poem by Frances Chung, p. 25, 1970
from “Crazy Melon & Green Apples”
On November 8, 2009, I picked […]



Latest Poetry

Tribes in April

Thursday April 1st,  8pm
Calling all musicians, poets, artists, singers, songers, ranters, ravers, and lovers.
All performers welcome — open sign-up begins at 7:30pm
Grand opening night will be Thursday, April 1st, 2010 and will feature an extended set by folk musician Danny Schmidt, as well as open floor spots. Amazing refreshments — alcoholic, edible, and otherwise — […]


Looking At: Sapphire poem

Looking at: Plate no. 4 “Homicide body of John Rogers W. 134th st., Christensen, October 21,1915, 88311 from EVIDENCE by Luc Sante
Im looking at
the properly dressed big black
hands of death
on the neat tile design
blood on footprints,
the shiny of shoes in corners
the stalwart jaw
of a witness.
Im looking at a century
inching into being
im looking at a photograph
of […]



Latest Essays

Gone Fishing, Again

by Christopher Heffernan

The cult classic Trout Fishing in America, written by Richard Brautigan and first published in 1967, has been released in a new edition by Mariner Books, a subsidiary of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.  The book has not been published on its own since the early ‘80’s when […]


Staying “A Head” of the Game

(crowd-sourcing)
Having met David Hammons twenty tears ago (if not more), I know his motto has always been, how to stay ahead of the game.
On a personal level, I’ve always thought of him as someone who never followed trends. His ideas about art have always been something new and different.
              For example, at one point he […]



Latest Fiction

Gone Fishing, Again

by Christopher Heffernan

The cult classic Trout Fishing in America, written by Richard Brautigan and first published in 1967, has been released in a new edition by Mariner Books, a subsidiary of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.  The book has not been published on its own since the early ‘80’s when […]


Armory & Accessories

An extremely long and image-dense New York art fair report by Janet Bruesselbach
Everything I shot from Wednesday to Sunday is here.
FIRST COURSE: The Armory Show
I registered as press in advance for this and showed up about ten minutes after the press conference to pick up my badge. I briefly glanced at Pier 92, where […]



Latest Videos

Steve Cannon for President!

www.News3Online.com


Obama’s speech on race

NPR link


Lester Aflick ‘I Dream About You Baby’

poem-idreamaboutyou.jpg

 

Publication party and reading for “I Dream About You Baby”, poems by Lester Afflick, at SOLAS, 232 E. Ninth Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues), Wednesday, June 11, 7-9 pm, free.

Book release Party July 19th 2008 4-5:30 pm @ The Bowery Poetry Club- Readers TBA

Fly By Night Press is proud to announce the publication of I Dream About You Baby, poems by Lester Afflick.

Born in Jamaica, Afflick was a vital force and fixture on the New York poetry scene from the early 1980s until his untimely death in January 2000. This posthumous collection of his finest poems has been compiled by Afflick’s dearest friends and most discerning readers.


Said the poet Hal Sirowitz: “He reminds me of the British painter Turner. Turner painted the turbulence of war and the ocean. Lester used words to paint the turbulence of life. The power of his metaphors combined with a deep voice, like Paul Robeson’s, made you marvel at the narrative.”

Another poet and friend John Farris explained: “Afflick’s death at 43 cut short a literary voice that was just beginning to find its maturity, a force that had just begun to hurricane density, that spoke to desert and crag, the heat of an unforgiving sun and maudlin existence, rendering the maudlin with a tool both dry and sharp. The poems in this collection represent Afflick’s vision: Island culture and alienation in an urbane and witty top hat.”

poem-idreamaboutyou.jpg

In conjunction with the book’s publication, A Gathering of the Tribes, in conjunction with Redtape Productions and Solas, will present a reading of poems in the collection by an array of Afflick’s friends and admirers, (including at press-time: Steve Cannon, Michael Carter, Steve Dalachinsky, John Farris, Marci Goodman, Ruth Siekevits, Carl Watson and others TBA) at Solas, 232 E. Ninth St. (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues), Wednesday, June 11,

7-9 pm.

For more information about the event or about “I Dream About You Baby”, poems by Lester Afflick, contact A Gathering of the Tribes, Inc. at 212-674-3778, info@tribes.org, or visit www.tribes.org.