Comedian DeRay Davis discussed such heavy subjects as male and female relationships, family relationships and drug abuse during his DeRay Way Tour, which made a stop at the Pittsburgh Improv last month. “I don’t want to bore the audience or myself. Pittsburgh is a cool city and I want to come back,” Davis said. DERAY DAVIS From the way the audience responded to the comedian’s performance, Davis will get his wish. Davis realized he was funny after watching comics who played at a club where his uncle worked as a bartender.
Funeral services for actor Gary Coleman, who died from a brain injury, May 28 will be held this weekend in Salt Lake City. Details of the memorial were not set, and the service will be held either Friday or Saturday, according to Coleman’s agent, Shielia Erickson. It also had not been determined whether the memorial would be private or open to the public. The family hopes to have all memorial plans set by Thursday. GARY COLEMAN, left, when he starred in “Diff’rent Strokes” and right, current.
This week I visited the new hot spot in Downtown Pittsburgh called the Melange Bistro Bar, The Whim in Station Square, The Red Onion in the Hill District, Station Square Amphitheatre in Station Square, The Shadow Lounge in East Liberty and Heat Night Club in the Strip District. My first stop was the Station Square Amphitheatre where B. Marshall Productions held Pittsburgh’s first Spring Bling Concert featuring national recording artist Lil’ Kim, Busta Rhymes, Hurricane Chris and Roscoe Dash. The event was hosted by Rocsi of BET’s 106 and Park and co-hosted by J-Kruz of 101theBlaze.com and Vanessa of SteelCityLive.com. K. Chase Patterson with all the ladies at the “Return of the Kings” event held at Melange.
(NNPA)—Dear Gwendolyn: My friends left home last year for California and my parents forbid me not to go. I am now 14 and I think that I can make it on my own, especially if I can go and join my friends. However, they are older. My best friend is 18 and her boyfriend is 20. This is my concern: I am tired of being told everything like I am a child. I am practically grown now. I have missed many days in school and have been told that I am not going to be promoted to the next grade. I don’t care. Life will be great once I leave my parents’ home. Gwendolyn, what do you think?—Janelle
“You’re grounded!” If you’re like most adults today, you heard that about once a month when you were a teenager. You were grounded more times than a broken-down airplane: grounded for missing curfew (10 o’clock; nine on a school night), for not keeping your room clean (it was your room, right?), and grounded for not being respectful to your elders (no comment). You can laugh about it now, though. Your parents’ rules made you into a pretty good person and you knew they meant well. But in the new novel “Powder Necklace” by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond, a young girl’s mother makes some decisions that don’t seem quite right.
With the absence of WAMO 106.7FM, B. Marshall Productions was able to pull off what most promoters could not. His company presented Pittsburgh’s first Spring Bling Celebration, May 28 at the Station Square Amphitheatre by promoting the event heavily on his Facebook page, BET television, Brotha Ash Productions, SteelCityLive.com and 101theBlaze.com. SOLID PROMOTION—From left: Promoter B. Marshall, Margo Doss, with Marlo, a representative of Lil’ Kim, and Lil’ Kim at Club Heat in the Strip District. This event featured national recording hip-hop artist Lil’ Kim aka Queen Bee, Busta Rhymes, Hurricane Chris, Yo Gotti and Roscoe Dash. Straight Money Entertainment and Rovalike records started the show. The concert at Station Square’s Amphitheatre was a major success and so was the after-party at Club Heat in the Strip District.
New Horizon Theater ended its 2009/2010 season on a high note with a trip down memory lane in “I Gotcha! The Story of Joe Tex and the Soul Clan.” The production ran from May 21-30 at the Grey Box Theatre in Lawrenceville. The show was written by Joseph H. Plummer and David Barr III. It was directed by Eileen J. Morris. THE SOUL CLAN— Joe Tex and the Soul Clan from left: Wilson Pickett, played by Chad Eric Smith; Joe Tex, played by Ijasneem; Ben E. King, played by Charles Timbers; and Solomon Burke, played by Benjamin Blakey. Morris drew from her childhood memories of hearing Joe Tex’s music on her grandmother’s porch to direct a humorous and music-filled production. “I remember playing Joe Tex on my grandmamma’s front porch, teaching my cousins the latest Chicago dances and loving the sun falling on my face,” Morris said. “As a matter of fact, my brother and I won a dance contest that earned us $25 each for first place for doing ‘The Bump!’”
When Eric Burdon and the Animals first came to the U.S. as part of the British Invasion of the early1960s, guitar phenom Kenny Wayne Shepherd was still about a dozen years away from his first birthday. But before he signed his first recording contract at 16, Shepherd had cut his teeth on “House of the Rising Sun,” “Don’t Bring Me Down” and other Animals hits. ERIC BURDON That traditional passing down of blues lore will continue in July as both Burdon and Shepherd headline the 16th annual Pittsburgh Blues Festival. And for the sixth straight year, the three-day festival, which serves as the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank’s primary fundraiser, will be held at Hartwood Acres.
This week I visited Club Heat in the Strip District, CJ’s in the Strip District, Billy’s Gold Door in Homewood, the Shadow Lounge in East Liberty, Earl the Pearl’s in Homewood and Phase III in Homewood, Red Onion in the Hill District, and the Monroeville Convention Center in Monroeville. My first stop was the Monroeville Convention Center in Monroeville where Rayco War Promotions and Fever Stimulation Beverage presented “War in the East.” This event featured DJ Biz Markie, DJ Boogie of Boogstown.com and Cool V. It was off the chain and look out for more events to come from Rayco War Promotions. The dance floor was hot at CJ’s in the Strip District.
