Philadelphia Weekly

Dissing inaction: M.I.A. heats her beats with political commentary. (photo by janette beckman)

�in concert

M.I.A.

In a perfectly twisted way, it makes sense M.I.A.'s performing at the Armory, a venue named after a military weaponry depot and home to Drexel's ROTC. Her music's a veritable Molotov cocktail of dissent--explosive and powerful revolt bottled in shiny, happy global pop that tastes oh-so-sweet despite--nah--because of its bitter, bubbly bite. Almost a year after Kala's release, M.I.A.'s working the frontlines fiercer than ever. Fresh from getting photographed by icon-maker Juergen Teller as the face of Marc Jacobs' print ad campaign (one thing she and Posh Spice have in common), M.I.A.'s prepping to launch her own fashion line (the other thing she and Posh have in common). Expect bomber jackets, graphic Ts and leggings that'll beat anything Lindsay Lohan'll come up with. Style might be M.I.A.'s calling card right now. She started as a visual artist before becoming a performer, so who's surprised? No one. But music's still what M.I.A. does best. And live? She will blow you, and the Man, away. (Caralyn Green)

�Performance Art

Rockin' Mail Art Workshop

In his two-part presentation and workshop, performance art guru Chris Barr will speak about his ongoing project "The Bureau of Workplace Interruptions," part of his goal to free art from the minority elite and use it for social criticism. Barr will also instruct new recruits in the art of war against productivity. He aims to "create surprise, the kind that slices through the banal and opens up new places for [the] mind to wander," all while keeping the entire affair hidden from whip-cracking bosses and meddling managers. Wield crayons and pencils as swords of uprising; get creative with graphics and typeface. If aesthetically challenged, pen a letter. Barr will sort the results and send them to the hundreds of people from around the world who visit his site and write him begging for interruptions. Slacktivism at its finest. (St. John Barned-Smith)

�Festival

Odunde African-American Festival

Established more than 30 years ago to honor the Yoruba goddess Osun (pronounced O-shun), Odunde isn't your average street fair. Before the Greeks dubbed her Venus, the Yoruba of Nigeria's antiquity called upon Osun, a dark-skinned goddess revered for her sweetness. If you really want to experience Odunde, which means "the new year comes," go to your nearest library and read up on the African goddess pantheon. Then show up a bit early for Sunday's procession to the river with a basket of oranges and a bottle of grade-A honey. Stand shoulder to shoulder with scores of participants and try your best to imitate the call-and-response lyrics of devotional "hymns" sung in honor of the river deity of love, fecundity and abundance. After acknowledging the goddess, get down to hip-hop pioneer KRS-One and enjoy the energy that shakes up into the city every year in Grays Ferry from down deep in the grassroots. (Jazmyn Odokemi Burton)

�art

"Radio Rocks"

If you hear the artwork at the "Radio Rocks" exhibition at Larry Becker Contemporary Art, don't worry--it's not the voices in your head. Expanding the theme introduced to Philly in Esther M. Klein Gallery's "Odor Limits" exhibit, Dove Bradshaw's mineral sculptures are bringing us to our (other) senses. More accurately, they're channeling noise from Jupiter and the origins of the universe. While this sounds like a PR ploy or a claim of the tin-foil hat people, it's actually real and fairly simple: Bradshaw designed three cairns--cone-shaped rock formations used as astronomical markers in Neolithic times. Each cairn supports three crystal radios that receive audio frequencies ranging from world-band short-wave and microwave to commercial radio stations. For the first time in this international exhibition, live storm and solar wind patterns from Jupiter are transmitting via an audio telescope at a North Carolina astronomical institute. To continue the evolution- obsessed year in Philly, another sculpture transmits echoes from the big bang. Creationists can skip this frequency and crank up the volume (yes, modern cairns have dials to twiddle) of local AM and FM radio. Or try to tune into an alternative universe where former Philly DJs Kidd Chris and Booker are actually funny. Kidding. It's science, people--not magic. (Tara Nurin)