I Speak Out with David Amram, Panama Soweto
and The Flobots

              Photos by Ashley Vaughan

Watch the I Speak Out video promo on YouTube!

"I want to speak for things, for the crucifix I speak out, for the Star of Israel I speak out, for the divinist man who ever lived, Bach, I speak out, for sweet Mohammed I speak out, for Buddha I speak out, for Lao-tse and Chuang-tse I speak out, for D. T. Suzuki I speak out. Why should I attack what I love out of life? Live your lives out? Naw, love your lives out." –  Jack Kerouac, when asked why he was a writer, 1959.

On Saturday, February 23, Jack Kerouac's first musical collaborator, composer and multi-instrumentalist David Amram returns to Denver to join forces with Denver's own nationally ranked slam poet Panama Soweto and highly acclaimed hip hop band The Flobots to explore how spoken-word poetry, scat and rap has emerged since the 1950s as a powerful form of autobiographical and social expression. This rare collaborative and intergenerational performance takes place in the Central Library, Level B2 Conference Center at 2 p.m. and is free and open to the public. Doors open at 1:30 p.m. Seating is limited. Pick up your free admission pass at the Information Desk in the Central Library starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday, February 23. You will not be admitted without a pass.

About the Performers

David Amram has composed more than 100 orchestral and chamber music works, written many scores for Broadway theater and film, including the classic scores for the films Splendor in The Grass and The Manchurian Candidate; two operas, including the ground-breaking Holocaust opera The Final Ingredient; and the score for the landmark 1959 cinematic novella/documentary Pull My Daisy. A pioneer player of jazz French horn, he is also a virtuoso on piano, numerous flutes and whistles, percussion, and dozens of folkloric instruments from 25 countries, as well as an inventive, funny improvisational lyricist. He has collaborated with Leonard Bernstein, who chose him as The New York Philharmonic first composer-in-residence in 1966, Jack Kerouac, Langston Hughes, Dizzy Gillespie, Dustin Hoffman, Willie Nelson, Thelonious Monk, Odetta, Elia Kazan, Arthur Miller, Charles Mingus, Lionel Hampton and Tito Puente. His most recent orchestral works are Variations on a Song By Woody Guthrie and Giants of the Night and his most recent book is Upbeat, Nine Lives of a Musical Cat. For David Amram's web site go to www.davidamram.com and for a short clip of Amram talking about his collaboration with Jack Kerouac visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wVk1_NAS3Q.

John-Claude Futrell, (a.k.a. Panama Soweto) was born in Manhattan, New York in 1976. His exposure to hip hop shaped his view of culture and art. His family moved to Denver in 1988 where he has resided since. He attended Atlanta, Georgia’s Clark University for a year and returned to Colorado to earn B.A.'s in African American Studies and Fine Arts from Metropolitan State College of Denver. He has volunteered his time to the development of young people, through such organizations as The Downtown Aurora Visual Arts, The Salvation Army, Denver Public Schools and The Urban League of Metropolitan Denver. Community development is extremely important to this volunteer, activist, and poet.

Panama Soweto has been involved in slam poetry since 2004. He earned a spot on the 2005 Denver Slam Team, was a member of the 2006 Denver Slam team that won the National Poetry Slam in Austin, Texas and is currently a member of Denver’s Slam Nuba poetry team that is currently ranked 4th in the nation.

Poetry has led him to share with many audiences; he has toured the country featuring his work in dozens of coffee houses and auditoriums. He has also been the opening act for such artists as Abiodun Oyewole of the Last Poets, The Chicano Messengers of Spoken Word, Les Nubians, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now and nationally recognized poet/recording artist Black Ice. He has shared a stage with such poets as Al B. Back, Corbet Dean and Mahogany Browne. He has read on the steps of the Colorado State Capitol during one of the many November 2nd rallies contesting the Presidential Election of 2000, Yale University and countless other colleges and high schools. He has also performed at the world famous Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado.

The Flobots are a pair of intelligent, visionary emcees, a battle-hardened, groove-fusing rhythm section, a classically trained violist and a jazz trumpet player or Jonny 5, Brer Rabbit, Andy Guerrero, Jesse Walker, Kenny Ortiz, Mackenzie Roberts and Joe Ferrone. Progressive in both style and message, the band's ability to drop from symphonic rock-infused crescendos into stripped-down string-laden break-beats has earned Flobots a reputation for both originality and authenticity. Together almost three years, the band regularly sells out Denver venues and is developing sizeable followings in California, Nebraska, Utah and Wyoming. After selling over 3,000 copies of their first recording, Platypus, the band released its first full-length record, Fight With Tools and have opened for acts like Public Enemy, The Coup, Lyrics Born, Immortal Technique and The Fray. For The Flobots web site go to www.flobots.com and for a video of one of their performances visit www.flobots.com/media/default.aspx?pageID=6.

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A sign language interpreter will be provided upon request with five business days notice. Call 720-913-8484 TTY or contact Lorrie.Kosinski@ci.denver.co.us.