(NNPA)—Dear Gwendolyn: We as adults need to recall our younger years. This is the problem: My grandson wrote an article for the senior paper. The article was turned down. My grandson says that the editor of the senior class paper does not like him. I think there was a rivalry at one time over a girl. Well, whatever! That should not have had any bearing on my grandson—but it did. Just to prove his article was going to be viewed, my grandson printed it and had it distributed throughout the campus and throughout the city. Someone alerted the school and he was notified that he would not be marching with his class. He has worked so hard and is the third grandchild to complete a college education.
Awesome is the word that comes to mind when Angelea Erin Taylor recalls her recent trip to Los Angeles to perform as part of an eight-person Grammy Jazz Ensemble during this year's Grammy Awards. “I was excited to go to California and perform at the Grammys. That really excited me,” said Angelea, a 16-year-old CAPA High School classically trained junior that resides in Overbook. “We performed at events leading up to the Grammys, including the MusiCares Person of the Year Tribute, which honored Barbara Streisand, and the Grammy celebration after-party. We also recorded at Capitol Studios.” DREAM COME TRUE—Angelea Taylor, right, performed with singers from all over the country at the Grammy Awards this year.
ARIES You’ll have lots of contact with folks you wanted to hear from this week. Your telephone is your best tool, and you’ll enjoy talking and listening to many supportive and loving friends. A letter may arrive with an invitation. Lucky Numbers: 6, 10, 14.
This week I visited the Shadow Lounge in East Liberty, Tim’s Bar in the Hill District, CJ’s in the Strip District, and I wanted to show you some pics from the Greater Pittsburgh Homewood Coliseum, Kelly Strayhorn Theater and the Monroeville Convention Center. My first stop was at the Shadow Lounge in East Liberty, where First Fridays Pittsburgh held their annual event called “The Movement” featuring DJ SMI on the 1’s and 2’s. Thomas Agnew of Jenesis Magazine and friends chillin’ at the Shadow Lounge in East Liberty.
Thursday 19 Jazz jam CJ’s Restaurant & Lounge presents “The Roger Humphries & RH Factor Jazz Jam Session” at 8 p.m. at 2901-2911 Penn Ave., Strip District. There will be live jazz and fun every Thursday night. Must be 25-years or older and there is a dress code that will be enforced. No tennis shoes, sweats, or athletic gear. For more information, call 412-642-2377.
A good love song is timeless in singer Christopher Williams’ opinion. “No one can change a great love song. The tradition of a good singer always lives,” Williams said. And the balladeer performed his most popular ballads and up tempo jams when he graced the Kelly-Strayhorn stage on May 7 as the featured guest for New Horizon Theater’s annual black tie event. Proceeds from the event went to help New Horizon Theater continue to bring high-quality African-American themed productions to the Pittsburgh area. CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS
(NNPA)—Dear Gwendolyn: My mother has been dead now for over 20 years. Before her death her grandchildren didn’t come to give her as little as a glass of water. I decided the moment they laid her into the grave that I would break all ties with the grandchildren. However, now people are coming to me explaining that it has been too long to hold a grudge. I am not holding a grudge, but I just don’t want to have those same people grin and smile. I fear they would treat me the same.—Margaret
You are a very strong woman. You can do anything you want, go anywhere you want, and say what you’re feeling. You know where you’re heading because you’ve focused totally on the goal. Nobody messes with a woman like you, and few can tame you. That never stops them from trying, though. In the new book “She’s The One” by J.J. Murray, a movie director taps into a diva’s ego to help his brother capture the wildest woman he’s ever known.
On May 16, WQED will premiere their documentary, “Freedom Riders from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE” at 9 p.m. on WQED-TV. The documentary tells the story of the original 400 Black and White Americans who risked their lives and endured beatings and imprisonment to travel together from May through November 1961 on buses and trains through the Deep South, which violated Jim Crow laws. This month marks the 50th Anniversary of the Freedom Rides. To commemorate the anniversary and the historical event, WGBH Boston will take 40 college students, three from Pennsylvania schools, on the 2011 Student Freedom Ride.
Although there was a script, there was so much more than mere theater on the stage of the August Wilson Center for African American Culture. There was a rite of passage, a catharsis, a purging of the soul, a “laying on” of hands and healing of the spirit. It was a communal cleansing from a deathly conspiracy of deep silence finally unbroken in a story circle. “Uprise: Raising Black Men Project,” is the culmination of months of discussions, interviews and documentation through an engagement process with local arts, social service, criminal justice and education organizations. Led by siblings Carlton and Maurice S. Turner, collectively known as M.U.G.A.B.E.E. (Men Under Guidance Acting Before Early Extinction), and recorded by videographer Christopher Ivey, it yielded the ingredients for a hardy, spicy gumbo brewed by August Wilson Fellow (and New Pittsburgh Courier contributor) Tameka Cage served up over the weekend—“Testimony.”
