Join us at the Berkeley Public Library’s West Branch for All Your Favorite Music is (Probably) Black, a humorous, highly immersive, and historically accurate talk that uncovers the African-American roots of popular music genres that appear to be free of African-Americans. Utilizing a rich audiovisual presentation, Mark Montgomery French reveals the sonic secrets behind African-Americans’ cultural invisibility within the musical categories they helped define.
San Francisco-native Mark Montgomery French is an award-winning film composer with the group Spiky Blimp, an award-winning Creative Director and Co-Producer of Glide Memorial Church’s Sunday Celebration, host of the YouTube music review show “Still Got It” and the podcast “All Your Favorite Music is (Probably)…”, staff writer at PopMatters, and the manager of critically acclaimed queer country band Secret Emchy Society and classic power-punk band The Furys. He’s also a music historian noted for his talk All Your Favorite Music is (Probably) Black, the series 28 Days, 28 Black Music Documentaries, and Uppity Music—Your Guide to Unsung Black Departure Albums. He was formerly the co-leader of the ’90s progressive funk band Endangered Species.