Coretta Scott King, 1927–2006, American civil-rights leader, b. Heiberger, Ala. She is the widow of Martin Luther King, Jr. After his assassination, she carried on his civil-rights work. In the late 1990s she and other family members supported the unsuccessful efforts of James Earl Ray, the convicted assassion of her husband, to win a new trial, believing that Martin Luther King was the victim of a conspiracy that may have included members of the U.S. government. In 1999 she and her family brought and won a wrongful death suit against Loyd Jowers, who claimed to have arranged King's assassination for a Mafia figure. Many experts, however, were not convinced by the evidence presented during the trial. She wrote My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr. (1969).

Celebrate her life and achievements on Friday, Feb 3rd, 2006 in the Bangor Room, Memorial Union @ 2PM.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2005, Columbia University Press.

History Department Public Lectures

Solsiree del Moral
Ph.D.: Wisconsin-Madison, ABD
Research: Teachers and Education in 20th Century Puerto Rico
Public Lecture:
“Race, Science, and Nation: The Cultural Politics of Schools in Colonial Puerto Rico, 1917-1938”
Thursday, January 26 3:30 PM
Bangor Room, Memorial Union

Edward Murphy
Ph.D.: Michigan, ABD (Joint Program in History and Anthropology)
Research: Property and Place on the Urban Fringe of Santiago, Chile, 1965-2005
Public Lecture:
"Specters in the Revolution: Dilemnas of Place and Home During the Chilean Path to Socialism, 1970-1973"
Wednesday, February 1 3:30 PM
Bodwell Lounge, MCA

Wiebke Ipsen
Ph.D.: UC Irvine, Dec. 2005
Current Position: teaching at Univ. of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana (spring 2006)
Research: Gender and Nation Building in Brazil, 1865-1891
Public Lecture:
"Wearing National Colors: Victory Parades, Gender, and The Politics of Demobilization in Brazil, 1870-1891"
Tuesday, February 7 3:30 PM
Bangor Room, Memorial Union

GALA - Bill Cosby

Saturday, September 24 at 4:00 PM and 7:00 PM

at the Maine Center For the Arts, University of Maine Campus

Bill Cosby is, by any standards, one of the most influential stars in America today. Whether it be through concert appearances or recordings, television or films, commercials or education, Bill Cosby has the ability to touch people's lives. His humor often centers on the basic cornerstones of our existence, seeking to provide an insight into our roles as parents, children, family members, and men and women. Without resorting to gimmickry or lowbrow humor, Bill Cosby's comedy has a point of reference and respect for the trappings and traditions of the great American humorists such as Charlie Chaplin, Will Rogers, W.C. Fields and Groucho Marx.

Tokyo String Quartet

Sunday, September 25 at 3:00 PM in Minsky Recital Hall, University of Maine Campus

This was quartet played of the highest order, truly fabulous playing. ~The London Times

The Tokyo String Quartet has captivated audiences and critics alike since it was founded more than 30 years ago. Regarded as one of the supreme chamber ensembles of the world, the quartet is comprised of violist Kazuhide Isomura, a founding member of the group; second violinist Kikuei Ikeda, who joined the ensemble in 1974; cellist Clive Greensmith, the former Principal Cellist of London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, who joined in 1999; and first violinist Martin Beaver, who joined the ensemble in 2002.

Sweet Honey In The Rock

Friday, November 4 at 8:00 pm

The Maine Center For the Arts, University of Maine Campus

For more than 30 years, the Grammy-winning a cappella women’s vocal group Sweet Honey In The Rock (named for an old gospel song) has raised their voice in hope and love, bringing messages of peace and justice to communities around the glove. They create music from the rich textures of African American legacy and traditions. The sextet’s repertoire ranges from spirituals to protest tunes to Caribbean rhythms. From blues to rap to traditional West African numbers. Their rich melded harmonies and lively rhythms (created with handheld drums and gourds) have made them international headliners, inviting audiences to open their minds and theirs hearts.

Without Borders Contemporary Arts Festival

Planned Sept. 8-11  

Contacts: Mike Scott, 581-4358, Owen Smith, 581-4389

ORONO -- The University of Maine New Media Program, in conjunction with a group of international and local artists, has scheduled "Without Borders 2" Sept. 8-11, a showcase of emerging new technology-based art that explores performance, video, sculpture, music and even environmental art forms.

Without Borders 2, being held at 10 Water St. in Bangor, adjacent to the Maine Discovery Museum in the former Freese's building on Main Street, is the second edition of the yearly Without Borders Contemporary Arts Festival in the Penobscot Valley region of Maine. 

The first edition, held on Ayers Island in Orono in late August 2004, was a gathering place for emerging international artists affiliated with art schools and universities in France, the UK, Canada and the US, particularly Maine.  

The artists created work that crossed the usual borders between artistic media and practices around the theme of culture and technology. The festival focused on artistic forms that utilize technology in either production or presentation of the work. It included a main exhibition and a variety of installation sculptures using new technologies as well as performances, live music and video screenings and workshops, all of which created a daily fertile exchange of creative ideas and artistic explorations, learning and just plain fun. 

This year the Without Borders Festival, titled "Re make, Re use, Re purpose," focuses on the effect of media and technology on art and communication. Additionally, several of the included performances will focus on the social and natural environment and cultural and social networks that make it possible to work for change.  

Emerging artists are coming from France, Italy and the United States, with the addition of work created by faculty members of participating universities. The goal will be to look at creative ways to address issues of social change through community networking. 

The festival also will serve as a catalyst to arouse wider public interest in the arts and to encourage artistic dialog and cultural exchange. It has real potential to be a stimulus for artistic innovation and provide a pivotal springboard for many artistic careers in the state of Maine and beyond. 

Festival sponsors hope such efforts this region might create an international gathering place for artists working for social change. 

The festival is free, runs 5-8 p.m. on Sept 8, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sept. 9 and 10, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sept.11. 

Without Borders is sponsored by the University of Maine art department and new media program, along with support from the French Embassy in Washington. More information is available on the Web site or by calling 581-4358. 

Participating Groups include University of Maine, Savannah College of Art & Design, Ecole Nationale Superieure d’Arts, Paris/Cergy and the MARCEL Network.

Paul Miller will be in Orono on September 13 and 14. He will be giving a lecture on Tuesday, September 13 at 8pm, Minsky Hall, UMaine Orono and a concert on Wednesday, September 14 at 8pm, Wells Conference Center, UMaine Orono.

 Paul D. Miller

DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid

 Paul D. Miller is a conceptual artist, writer, and musician working in New York. His written work has appeared in The Village Voice, The Source, Artforum, Raygun, Rap Pages, Paper Magazine, and a host of other periodicals. Miller's first collection of essays, Rhythm Science, was published by MIT Press in April 2004, and was included in several year-end lists of the best books of 2004, including the Guardian (UK) and Publishers Weekly. In 2005, Sound Unbound, an anthology of writings on sound art and multi-media by contemporary cultural theorists will follow Rhythm Science. 

Miller's work as a media artist has appeared in a wide variety of contexts such as the Whitney Biennial; The Venice Biennial for Architecture (year 2000); the Ludwig Museum in Cologne, Germany; Kunsthalle, Vienna; The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and many other museums and galleries. His 2004 solo show at the Paula Cooper Gallery in New York, Path Is Prologue, echoed his live music/theater/film performance, "DJ Spooky's Rebirth of A Nation, which ran simultaneously at the Lincoln Center Festival after premieres in Vienna and at Spoleto USA in Charleston, SC and continues to tour globally. 

But even with all this, Miller is most well known under the moniker of his "constructed persona" as "DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid". Miller has recorded a huge volume of music and has collaborated a wide variety of musicians and composers such as Iannis Xenakis, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Butch Morris, Kool Keith  a.k.a. Doctor Octagon, Pierre Boulez, Killa Priest from Wu-Tang Clan, Steve Reich, Yoko Ono and Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth among many others. He also composed and recorded the music score for the Cannes and Sundance Award winning film Slam, starring critically acclaimed poet Saul Williams. 

Miller's recent albums include Optometry (2002), a jazz project featuring Matthew Shipp, William Parker, Joe Mcphee, Carl Hancock Rux, Daniel Bernard Roumain, and High Priest from Anti-Pop Consortium; Dubtometry (2003), a dub remix of the same, featuring Lee "Scratch" Perry and Mad Professor; and Riddim Clash (2004), a collaboration with Twilight Dub Sound System. In June 2004, Thirsty Ear Recordings released his two-CD megamix called Celestial Mechanix, featuring eleven recent DJ Spooky remixes. Miller' s latest collaborative release Drums of Death features Dave Lombardo of Slayer, Chuck D. of Public Enemy, Vernon Reid of Living Color, and Jack Dangers of Meat Beat Manifesto. Drums of Death was released in April 2005 on Thirsty Ear Records. 

In addition to his numerous records and articles released under the DJ Spooky name, another important project was a collaboration with Bernard Tschumi, Dean of Columbia University's architecture department, and author of Praxis: Event Cities. This piece debuted at the Venice Bienniale of Architecture 2000. In the magazine world, Miller is co-publisher along with legendary African American downtown poet Steve Cannon of the magazine, A Gathering of Tribes - a periodical dedicated to new works by writers from a multicultural context and he was the first Editor-at-large of the cutting edge digital media magazine, Artbyte: The Magazine of Digital Culture. 

As DJ Spooky, Miller continues his globe-trotting appearances. In 2004 and 2005 he played at festivals from France to Mexico City, performed a DJ concerto in Oakland and at Yale, gave numerous talks at prominent universities and conferences like the Digital Independence Summit in San Francisco, and participated in the Microsoft's International DJ Summit.

More information can be found at www.djspooky.com