Marvin X, the itinerant, peripatetic poet, left no doubt he is the human earthquake in a concert at the University of Chicago in honor of Sun Ra, Black Arts Movement Master Musician, philosopher and father of Afro-futurism or Black Sci-fi, the man who claimed he was from outer space. The concert included original members of Sun Ra's Myth-Science Arkestra, Marshall Allen and Danny Thompson, along with Sun Ra conference planner, musician David Boykin, bassist Rollo Radford and drummer Isaiah Spencer. The conference was a celebration of Sun Ra's 101st earthday. Marshall Allen will be 91 on Monday, Marvin X, 71 on Friday, May 29.

 Marvin X and Sun Ra outside Marvin's Black Educational Theatre, Fillmore District, San Francisco, 1972.
 After the Sun Ra men began the set, they were soon joined by David Boykin and Marvin X. According to several members of the audience, the music was not focused until Marvin X began reading, then the music became melodious and lyrical.







Sun Ra musicians Marshall Allen, Danny Thompson and poet Marvin X, BAM associates since 1968.


Marvin X's rendition of Amiri Baraka's poem DOPE was a killer. The great writer Gregory Tate said,
"Marvin's reading of Baraka's poem DOPE was a monster!"  Thomas Stanley, Sun Ra scholar, author of The Execution of Sun Ra, said, "Marvin's reading of his own poems and DOPE was awesome. I had no idea!"


 Scene from Sun Ra's film Space is the Place, screened on Thursday at University of Chicago. Film was shot in Oakland-San Francisco Bay Area, 1972, during the time Sun Ra and Marvin X lectured in Black Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. The two also worked in the community at Marvin's Black Educational Theatre in the Fillmore.

Sun Ra: Astro Black Mythology and Black Resistance Symposium with a keynote address by Thomas Stanley