Uptown, Downtown, downtown Up into originality.

credit: Gaia Squarci

Steve Cannon and Rousing the Rubble

Steve Cannon (1935 – 2019), cultural impresario and founder of the Lower East Side art salon The Gathering of The Tribes, contributed to the P.S. 1 Museum exhibition catalogue “Rousing The Rubble” (1990-91) celebrating two decades of the art made from refuse and the detritus of African-American life by his art star friend David Hammons. Our composer Ramachandra Borcar was so inspired by Steve’s rap style essay that he imagined it being read by Umar Bin Hassan of The Last Poets. One high moment of production was when Ram succeeded in arranging for Umar (his group are hip hop forefathers) to record Steve’s essay poem during Covid at the Tempermill Studio in Detroit.

Excerpt from David Hammons: Rousing the Rubble

Steve Cannon

Do the wild Thang! Like David – on his bike – his two wheeler, his bicycle, into that little red wagon – give her back her stuff!

What the fuck?

Fuck & suck like in Mapplethorpe, Fuck & suck – do the wild thing – David on his bicycle into sights world of sounds – raw energy!

Crab grass Grab ass! Fuck-n-asshole Punk into funk – Blue Monk – putting on the culture, into Ornette – with his hornet travelin’ the spaceways – playing with Sun Ra – the Ra & his Solar Arkestra ! U dig! Jameel Moondoc (?) !

Who says J.R. – on his bench in the park – putting on the culture – the joke – shake a leg – break an egg! Change the joke slip the yoke – fuck you – fuck a suck such a fuck busted, U dig!

Making these connections, David & his concepts – bouncing off the wall – Mona Lisa – into Lisa – Moan into Lisa! “Grits ain’t groceries, eggs ain’t poultry, and Mona Lisa was a man” – David Hammons and his scene! The art scene, fuck that – U fill in the blank: Fuck that David Hammons & his travels – Uptown, Downtown, downtown Up
– into originality!

The Gathering of the Tribes

A Gathering of the Tribes is a multi cultural interdisciplinary arts organization founded by Dr. Steve Cannon (1935-2019) at his home at 285 East third street in New York City’s East Village. In 1990 Steve Cannon was visiting the Nuyorican Poet’s Cafe with artist David Hammons when he was inspired to create “A Gathering of the Tribes” first as a literary magazine to document the vibrant culture that was happening in the Lower East Side. The first issue was published with less than 1000 copies in 1991 on a Xerox machine. The Organization has published a literary magazine originally supporting marginalized artists from the Lower East Side since 1991. The collective grew to host a gallery in 1993 with the encouragement of its future curator, Dora Espinoza. Then included was a performance space where numerous exhibitions and concerts took place with notable artists and musicians such as the Sun Ra Arkestra, Chavisa Woods, Diane Burns, Katherine Arnoldi, Diane Burns, John Farris, Susan Scutti, Bob Holman, Ishmael Reed, Billy Bang, and David Hammons.

Steve's "Wall" / Flight Fantasy

This year’s Whitney Biennial includes a homage to the Lower East Side cultural impresario and blind poet, the late Steve Cannon. Steve figures prominently in our film recounting how his friend David Hammons created a wall mural [later titled Flight Fantasy] in his apartment in 1995 that also served as the alternative art gallery and literary salon he founded, The Gathering of the Tribes.

During our interview of Steve for the film in 2014 as he was about to move to another apartment, and fearing the loss of Flight Fantasy that he was certain would be painted over, our production had the entire wall extracted and returned to Hammons’s studio. Sadly, Steve passed away in 2019 — but he did foretell the fate of wall.

The Whitney curators sought Hammons’ input in organizing the 2022 Biennial, titled Quiet as It’s Kept, borrowed from among other sources including a Max Roach album [Mercury, 1959] and an art catalogue published for an exhibition Hammons curated in Vienna in 2002. This resulted in Steve’s “wall” being included in this year’s Biennial.

“At some point either the Guggenheim, the Met or the Museum of Modern Art is going to call up David and say it’s time for a retrospective. And why can’t this piece be part of that retrospective. And that’s the other reason I’m glad the original piece is in David’s hands. I feel safe and secure that he has it.”

~ Steve Canon