I’ve covered some parties in my time, but TONE’s Juneteenth Gala with its “Black Future,” Afrofuturism theme on June 18th at Beale Street Landing, is one of the most incredibly inventive events I’ve ever been to. I’ve never been to anything like it.
A program describes the event as an Afrofuturistic “celebration of our freedom.”
Take Dame Mufasa, assistant director of TONE, which, according to the press release, is “a Memphis-based arts and culture nonprofit that aims to elevate the full spectrum of Black communities in Memphis.”
Describing his attire, Mufasa, who also is a rap artist, says, “It was more like a cyber Afrofuturist biker.”
He wore a silver arm piece on his right forearm and bicep. “A friend of mine made it for me. It’s made out of sheet metal and plastic.”
Mufasa also donned a black Givenchy suit. “We just altered it with the arm.”
He wore “leather gloves with studs,” “futuristic glasses with LED frames” that lit up, and eight necklaces.
And on his feet, Mufasa sported a pair of black-and-white leather O’Neal motocross racing boots, which he got for the gala. Asked if he could wear them again, he says, “I hope so.”
Since it was one of those warm Memphis nights, I asked Mufasa if he got hot wearing all that. “I thought it would be warmer, but I had no shirt under it. I had a cool breeze coming through.”
To Mufasa, “Afrofuturism is a vision of freedom and empowerment in the future. And that was done through what people chose to wear at the party.”
Mufasa says his attire symbolized the year 3005. “You can go with something like me, or a cybertech type vibe,” but “the future is freedom. As long as you lean into what makes you feel more free as a black person, that is Afrofuturism.”
As for how he felt about the gala, Mufasa says, “It was beautiful, man. The energy was really, really special. And everybody looked great.”
TONE marketing manager Kai Celeste Ross says about 120 people attended the gala. “We sold 100 tickets and kind of went over,” says Ross who also is a visual artist/photographer.
The event included a red carpet/cocktail hour, a seated dinner with food by caterer Eli Townsend, and performance by violinist V.C.R. Also, artist Derek Fordjour, who is on the TONE board, spoke, Talibah Safiya recited the prayer, Afrofuturistic author Sheree Renee Thomas did a reading, and Victoria Jones “closed it out.”
But that wasn’t all. An afterparty was held aboard the Mississippi Queen riverboat with DJ Space Age providing the music.
As for her outfit, Ross, who was busy with party preparations, says, “My outfit was very last minute. I think I got my outfit by 1:00 that day. I wore an oversized blazer like a man’s coat with thigh-high boots. I really dressed it up with a lot of gold accessories and things like that. Like I let my hair and accessories kind of do the work for me.”
Juneteenth celebrating continued the next day with the Juneteenth Family Reunion Festival on 10 acres along Lamar Avenue at the site of the Orange Mound Tower, formerly the old United Equipment Building. Duke Deuce was the headliner.
“We had about 1,400 people who registered, so it may have been larger than that,” Ross says.
This was the second Juneteenth Family Reunion Festival. The first one was held last year. “We came up with that idea during quarantine. We couldn’t do the gala and everybody hadn’t seen each other in so long, like a year. So, in 2021 we came up with that idea to do a family reunion.”
The festival and the picnic are planned to be annual events, Ross says.
