Article Award (Deadline July 1) Elizabeth B. Mason Multi-Media Award (Deadline July 1) Cliff Kuhn Postsecondary Teaching Award (Deadline July 1) Stetson Kennedy Vox Populi (“Voice of the People”) Award (Deadline July 1) Click this link to read more about each award and fill out an application today!
The Emerging Crises Research Fund is now open for applications! To learn more, click here.
The 2026 application for the Indigenous Initiative Research Fund is now open! To learn more, please click here.
Pictured: Attendees and presenters of the IOHA 2025 Conference in Krakow, Poland
In September 370 oral historians from gathered from around the world for the biennial International Oral History Association (IOHA) conference, representing 55 countries, including more than 50 participants from the United States. I was one of the lucky Americans who attended. The conference took place in Krakow at the Jagiellonian University, founded in 1364! Sessions were in English and Spanish.
The 23rd IOHA conference started with a keynote address by Mary Marshall Clark from Columbia University, an OHA past president and active current member. She used her recent studies in Jungian psychology and psychoanalysis to suggest a more caring approach for the interviewer as receiver of a narrator’s story, stressed the importance of the interviewer-narrator relationship and above all the value of listening. Her emphasis on the human side of doing oral history was well received and set the stage for serious discussion throughout the week.
The presentations that followed consisted of lively and thought-provoking discussions on oral history in relation to community archives, family history, wartime, migration and refugees, ethics and new technologies. We all left feeling confident about the importance of our oral history work, no matter where in the world we are working. Recordings from all four plenary sessions together with a photo gallery will be available on the website of Polish Oral History Association: https://pthm.pl/home/ in November.
Among the U.S. speakers were: Doug Boyd, Adrienne Cain Darough, Natalie Fousekis, Michael Frisch, Fanny Garcia, Mary Gordon, Michelle Holland, Farina King, Leslie McCartney, Natalie Milbrodt, Sarah Milligan, Todd Moye, Kathy Nasstrom, Martha Norkunas, Troy Reeves, Stephen Sloan, Amy Starecheski and Angela Zusman;
IOHA participants didn’t spend all their time attending sessions. In fact, some of our richest moments came in the hallways, in cafes, the dance floor, or informal chats on the square, where we met up by chance or choice, connected over common interests, and always came away inspired by new friends and new ideas. I can say with some assurance that everyone who came to Krakow for the first time fell in love with the city. And, like me, we Americans went home with much to think about, having experienced a country that has suffered so very, very much and in a few generations has risen to a happy, healthy, well-run country.
The IOHA provides a forum for oral historians around the world. The next meeting is in Macau in 2028. Membership options are available for individual, student or professional rates. This is a great way to get involved in the international community, and exchange ideas with colleagues from around the world. Here is the link to join, https://ioha.org/join-ioha/.
View the video at The Funk Music Hall of Fame & Exhibition Center on YouTube: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC2jUqktpZH7x472KoVNNXdQ
Interview with JARA HARRIS and members of the FUNK group, “SLAPBAK” BAND on the Funk Chronicles, with your host, David Webb & Co-host Jasmine Summers “The Super Soul Sister” from the syndicated radio show called “The Dayton Scene Radio Show.” This interview was recorded at DATV Studios in Dayton Ohio on August 20, 2024.
The (“Fearless Leader”) Jara Harris started the Rock/R&B/Funk Band “SLAPBAK” in 1990, when Jara was only 20 years old. In 1991,”TJ” Quake joined the band as a production assistant/roadie, and then in 1995 he joined the band and became the (hype-man) and singing/rapper. In 1997, Jara Harris, John “Fingazz” Stary, and “TJ” QuakeShot wrote the song “Futurevoid” for the band. “SLAPBAK’s” debut album, Fast Food Funkateers, was released in 1992, and they released a follow-up album later that year.
Back in the 1990s When Jara started “SLAPBAK,” everyone thought the name meant the slappin’ of Jara’s thumbs up against his bass strings. Some even thought that it meant slapping’ back against society because he never drank, smoked or tried drugs in his life. Well, years later we discovered that “SLAPBAK” means none of the above, a matter of fact “SLAPBAK” isn’t even a noun.
It’s a verb…. it’s an untouched force of action. This band hates hype, just like their song says “Don’t Talk About It, Be About It” which means they are all about the delivery. This is the reason “SLAPBAK” hates bios or introductions before they hit the stage. The show and the music speaks for itself. They have an undeniable sound that Jara has finely tuned over the years he calls “Urban Crunch.” This is a sound made up of Funk, Rock, Hip Hop & Alternative that is mixed up in his own special way.
Here is some of the things I know for a fact. In the early 1990’s they signed to Warner Brothers and released their debut album “Fast Food Funkateers”. This record included George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Fred Wesley (James Brown), Larry Blackmon (Cameo), Dawn Silva (Brides of Funkenstein). Needless to say this only gave “SLAPBAK” the title “The New Keeper of the Funk” by 92.3 The Beat.
Their single “True Confession” had video rotation on BET and did well with radio. Since then Slapbak has produced 7 more cds. They have toured and performed with artists like Snoop Dogg, Mint Condition, George Clinton & the P-Funk All Stars, Bootsy Collins, Roger Troutman and Zapp, The Time, 2 Live Crew, Fishbone and Digital Underground just to name a few. Then “Shock G” looked up “SLAPBAK” after seeing them 8 years prior and asked Jara Harris of “SLAPBAK” to be Digital’s band as well as an opening act. “SLAPBAK” toured and recorded with them for several years. Shortly after the tour “SLAPBAK” started working with Verdine White from Earth, Wind & Fire.
This has always been a stand alone band. They’ve toured in Europe 3 times and they’re about to go back to support the release of their latest cd “Underground Mayhem. “SLAPBAK’s” music has mutated quite a bit over the years and like the music has, so has the band. Some musicians that came through the Slapbak camp have gone off to play with The Time, Nikka Costa, Erukah Badu, The Gap Band, Good Charolette, Ben Harper, 112, Jordin Sparks to name a few, but the new band is the most interesting combination yet. You have African-American, Caucasion, Mexican and Japanese ages ranging from 20 – 40. This wasn’t planned, this is just the pieces of the puzzle that fit. This band will make you a true believer that music is truly universal!!!!!
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The views and opinions expressed on Funk Chronicles are those of the interviewees/guest and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of The Funk Music Hall of Fame & Exhibition Center (dba TheFunkCenter). Any content provided by our interviewees/guest are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual or anyone or anything.
Here’s a link to the YouTube video, while I figure out how to display it here.
https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC2jUqktpZH7x472KoVNNXdQ
The tradition of the party host giving the perfect New Year’s Eve toast has been one that has carried on for hundreds of years. You may be considering what to say this upcoming holiday to all of your friends and family that gather to ring in the new year. To help ignite inspiration we thought we would share with you some of history’s most memorable New Year’s Eve toasts.
“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.” — Benjamin Franklin
“For last year’s words belong to last year’s language, and next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.” — T.S. Eliot
“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself, any direction you choose.” — Dr. Suess
“Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; ring out the false, ring in the true.” — Alfred Lord Tennyson
“We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“In victory, you deserve Champagne, in defeat, you need it.” — Napoleon Bonaparte
“Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties.” — Helen Keller
“There comes a time in every woman’s life when the only thing that helps is a glass of Champagne.” — Bette Davis
“Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.” — Ernest Hemingway
“Take everything in moderation, including moderation.” — Oscar Wilde
“Too much of anything is bad, but too much Champagne is just right.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald
“Each age has deemed the new-born year the fittest time for festal cheer.” — Sir Walter Scott
“Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow Creeps in this petty pace from day to day.” — William Shakespeare
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” — C.S. Lewis
“May you live to be 100 and may the last voice you hear be mine.” — Frank Sinatra
Wishing you the Happiest of New Year from the Toast of the Town team!
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