Sun 10/6 @ 7-9:30PM
Many Clevelanders will remember Afi Scruggs from her stint as a columnist for the Plain Dealer in the 1990s, or for the freelance journalism work she’s done since then for local publications such as Scene and Cleveland Magazine. She currently reports for FM90.3 WCPN.
But she’s had a more intriguing and diverse life than many of her readers know. Originally from Nashville, she earned a degree in Russian from the highly competitive University of Chicago and later, a PhD in Slavic languages from the Ivy League’s Brown University, an oddity for an African-American woman (She wrote about her challenges and her journey for the Washington Post after the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia suggested that maybe black students should set their sights on “less advanced” schools. She’s written children’s picture book, a memoir and a book of essays on knitting.
And she’s also a musician, whose current main instrument is bass, but who also plays keyboards and sings. She performs blues and rock, jazz and church music and hip-hop. She’ll be celebrating her 65th birthday and her 60 years as a musician with a performance at the BOP STOP she’s dubbed “Electric, Eclectic Afi.”
There she’ll play an evening of both her own compositions and some of her favorite tunes, joined by keyboard player Kerry Joe Holland, guitarist Jerome Mitchell, and drummer Rashon Blake, along with guest vocalists Dorianne Denard and Donnie Lynee, and a special appearance by rapper Sam Poetry.
Admission is $15.
electric-eclectic-afi-bop-stop
Cleveland, OH 44113