The latest offering at Southside’s City Theatre is a solo performance by a one man force of nature known as Daniel Beaty. In his self-written production, “Through The Night,” Beaty presents a composite piece of one evening seen through the eyes of six interconnected characters: a child prodigy, a high school graduate leaving the projects for college, an ex-con, a record executive, an entrepreneur and the bishop of a mega-church. DANIEL BEATY Tapping into his formal theater training, God-given talent and his own life, Beaty easily morphs into each character with the astonishing ease of a chameleon and does so seamlessly as he introduces them.
by Genea L. Webb The Pittsburgh Steelers failed to make it to the Super Bowl this year, but Lester Troutman promises to get Pittsburghers out of the big game doldrums when his funk group Zapp takes the stage of the Homewood Coliseum Feb. 4. “People can expect a great show. We’re going to be as clean as New Year’s Eve Chitterlings. People are going to be dancing and praising the Lord all in the same night,” said Zapp drummer Lester who founded the soul funk band along with his brothers Roger, Larry and Terry Troutman and Gregory Jackson. ZAPP
ALTADENA, California (AP)—John Levy, the first prominent African-American personal manager in the jazz or pop music field, whose clients included Nancy Wilson and Ramsey Lewis, has died at age 99. JOHN LEVY Devra Hall Levy posted on his website that her husband died Jan. 20 in his sleep at his home in Altadena, California, less than three months before his 100th birthday.
This week I visited the Comfort Inn Conference Center in Penn Hills, The North Side Elks in the Hill District, Ava Lounge in East Liberty, Tim’s Bar in the Hill District and Ace and Deuce’s in Uptown. My first stop was at the Comfort Inn Conference Center in Penn Hills where the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. Lambda Lambda Zeta Graduate Chapter held their Founders’ Day Luncheon celebrating 92 years of Scholarship, Service, Sisterly Love and Finer Womanhood. Sweetlife Shea hangin’ out with her Uncle Rodney.
Thursday 2 Class Pictures Silver Eye Center for Photography presents “Class Pictures: Photographs by Dawoud Bey” from 12-6 p.m. at 1015 E. Carson St., South Side. Bey has been creating striking, large-scale portraits of students at high schools throughout the country and brings 27 of those images depicting youths from a wide economic, social and ethnic spectrum. This is a diverse group portrait of a generation that challenges popular stereotypes. The exhibit will run through March 10. For more information, call 412-431-1810.
The much anticipated feature film about the heroic Tuskegee Airmen has finally hit the big screen. What was intended to be the equivalent to a patriotic John Wayne war flick with Black heroes has turned into a raging controversy of whose vision/version is correct and the Internet is the battlefield. ‘RED TAILS’ CAST
A mere eight-hour day has been a dream of yours for years. Just eight hours of work? That would be heaven. As it is, you hit the floor running when the alarm clock goes off and you don’t stop until you flop into bed at night.
NEW YORK (AP)—On her last album “The Dreamer,” released just three months before her death, Etta James sings a mix of covers, from the R&B classic “Misty Blue” to the Ray Charles song “In the Evening.” But perhaps the most curious tune included on the disc may be the Guns N’ Roses staple “Welcome to the Jungle.” That a 73-year-old icon of R&B would tackle the frenetic rock song—albeit in a pace more fitting her blues roots—might seem odd. But the song may be the best representation of James as both a singer and a person —rambunctious in spirit, with the ability to sing whatever was thrown at her, whether it was jazz, blues, pining R&B or a song from one of the rowdiest bands in rock. ETTA JAMES (AP Photo/Jeff Christensen)
(NNPA)—Dear Gwendolyn: I am 28 years old and I have two children, both boys. I desperately would like to move into a better neighborhood. At present we live in the ghetto and my boys are beginning to get into trouble. Last school year they were suspended three times. Where they go to school boys are bullying them. My boyfriend does not seem to be concerned. He has no job and has not had a job in five years. For three months I had given him the rent money, but apparently he spent it. The school counselor heard about my eviction and is trying to get us another apartment. Although, I would rather move into a house in an affluent neighborhood.
When the name Hattie McDaniel is mentioned, the movie “Gone With the Wind” and the character of Mammy immediately come to mind. But McDaniel is much more than her Oscar-winning maid performance and New Horizon Theater is out to show audiences all of McDaniel’s nuances with the dramatic comedy, “Hi Hat Hattie,” which is the second installment but first production in the theater's 20th year season. HATTIE MCDANIEL and SHAUNYCE OMAR
