by Sandy | Aug 14, 2009 | Actors, Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Books, Film, Movies
Whether he is acting in a film of serious social commentary, “Traffic” and “Crash” or fun stuff, the “Ocean’s” films – (11, 12 and 13), Mr. Cheadle always stands out.
Whether crying with him in “Hotel Rwanda” or laughing with him as he “attitudes” his way thru “Talk to Me”, a story about 60’s/70’s activist, and Washington, DC, disk jockey Ralph “Petey” Greene directed by Kasi Lemmons, he just elevates it all to another level.
Also a stage actor, he appeared in Lori Parks Pulitzer Prize winning play, “Top Dog/Under Dog”, on Broadway to much acclaim. But, Don Cheadle also has an activist streak. While filming “Hotel Rwanda”, he learned the plight of people in the Sudan and after visiting Darfur in 2005, he’s made a committed effort to bring the horrors and violence of the region to the attention of the American people. He wrote a book with John Prendergast called, “Not On Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond”. An accompanying documentary was released in 2007.
Don Cheadle is outstanding.
by Sandy | Aug 4, 2009 | Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Books, Culture, Fashion
In 1968 she was on the cover of Ladies Home Journal. Amazing enough that an African- American woman was on the cover, but this woman was my color – Mahogany!
She was a first and paved the way, beginning in the 70’s, for the influx of models, in an assortment of colors, that started to parade the runway and appear on magazine covers in both Europe and the U.S. The mind set determining who was pretty and who wasn’t started to change.
Naomi Sims was smart, beautiful, elegant and black – thank you. 1948 – 2009 *R.I.P.
by Sandy | Aug 3, 2009 | Blogroll, Books, Culture, Writers
A local book reviewer described the latest Toni Morrison novel, “A Mercy”, as “ferociously beautiful”. (Actually, you can describe many of her books this way.)
Ms Morrison has such a fantastical, spiritual approach to her characters and plot, but she’s also got “edge”. She can set a tone, paint a picture, capture identifiable feeling/emotion and describe events so clearly and with such poetry that it makes you laugh or, it makes you cry. There are some passages in her much acclaimed book “Beloved” that are so painful that your throat clutches and closes. Her “truth”, cloaked in make believe, is sometimes difficult to handle – sort of a ground glass in the oatmeal type of thing. You feel it.
(“Beloved” won the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 and Ms Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993.)
I think she is amazing and a real gift. “A Mercy”, by Tony Morrison
“Writing was … the most extraordinary way of thinking and feeling. It became the one thing I was doing that I had absolutely no intention of living without.” Toni Morrison
by Sandy | Jul 9, 2009 | Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Books, Culture, Events, Exhibits
East:
11th Annual Harlem Book Fair & Arts Festival
This is the largest annual African American book fair and it’s free!
On Saturday 7/18/09, there will be 250 exhibit booths, 4 stages with music, story telling and activities for children.
Harlem Book Fair, July 18, 2009 – 11am to 6pm
Schomburg Center, West 135 Street, NYC
West:
The Los Angeles Black Book Expo 2009
This event celebrates its 5th year on 8/15/09. The day long program will feature authors, storytellers, spoken word contests and poetry performances. There will also be musicians, children’s events, panel discussions, editors, publishers, and more!
LABBX 2009
Saturday August 15, 2009 – 10 AM to 6 PM
Expo Center, 3980 Menlo Ave, Los Angeles, CA
by Bob Martin | Jun 16, 2009 | Art, Artist, Books, Culture, Events, Lecture, Live Performance
SAT JULY 11TH BIRTHDAY BLOWOUT “VIVA FRIDA!” FEATURES THE PHOENIX FRIDAS CRAFT COLLECTIVE
The Valley’s most popular craft collective, The Phoenix Fridas, returns to Tempe’s Changing Hands Bookstore on Saturday July 11 from 1 to 5 p.m. for “Viva Frida!” to celebrate the birth of the world’s most renowned Mexican female painter, Frida Kahlo.
“We play! We have pain and passion.
We love to paint and we live in Phoenix.
We are the Phoenix Fridas!
Rising up from triple-digit temperatures for the sake of art and craft!”
Last year’s event drew hundreds of Frida fans to Changing Hands, 6428 S. McClintock Drive, @ Guadalupe in Tempe; (480) 730-0205.
“This year we’ve ramped up our presentation to include cooking, a silent auction and photo fun,” says Carmen Guerrero, known as “Frida Beader.” Carmen, a jewelry maker and musician, will perform. A special look at the life of the artist also is scheduled.
Participants will be able to purchase original art and crafts from members of the Phoenix Fridas, including paintings, jewelry, hand-crocheted tops plus home and fashion accessories. A silent auction to benefit a local nonprofit will feature members of the Phoenix Fridas: Kathy Murillo, Emily Costello, Anita Mabante Leach, Lucia Madrid. April Edwards and Carmen Guerrero.
The Frida Photo Frame-Up, allows store guests to “pose” as Frida for a quick snapshot. “From Palette to Plate;” features food inspired by the bright colors of the artist’s palette will be presented by Anita Leach and will be shared with the audience.
Come make a special “Make and Take” craft with Author Kathy Murillo.
“Toxic Love” is a lecture presented by visual artist April Edwards.
The afternoon will rap up with a Panel Discussion by all the Fridas on how the artist has influenced their personal lives.
The Phoenix Fridas, voted Best Art Collective by the Phoenix New Times in 2007, take their inspiration from the late Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. The group’s members each take the artist’s name to create a personal crafty moniker.
Contact: Carmen Guerrero
(480) 834-5731
by Sandy | Jun 14, 2009 | Art, Artist, Arts, Entertainment and Music, Blogroll, Books
The PBS program and book, both called “Simon Schama’s – Power of Art”, reveals that although one of my favorite artists, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610), was gloriously talented, he was also a youthful offender – violent and incorrigible. Not a mischievous “Denis the Menace” type, but, as Schama labels him – a thug. He murdered a rival! I was shocked!
But, does his anger and madness show in Caravaggio’s art? Maybe.
Considered part of the early Italian Baroque style of painting, his work, perhaps as a way of seeking redemption, focused on biblical themes – but, if you look at the faces, you will notice that there are no cherubs or saints, his paintings are inhabited by the people that he found in the local taverns with all their blemishes and wrinkles. I’ve found his work to be vibrant and alive regardless of its theme – card players or John the Baptist – full of energy, often full of violence, always very up close and in your face.
BTW – Caravaggio was like Alfred Hitchcock, who always had a walk through in his movies and TV shows – the artist liked to paint himself into the middle of his scenes – with a table of card sharks, with a group of musicians and most notably, he served himself up as the “…Head of Goliath”.
Images: “David with the Head of Goliath”, 1607, oil on wood and “The Cardsharps, 1594” oil on canvas
