Pioneering fashion journalist Andre Léon Talley dies. (Photo: Google Images)
Andre Léon Talley, a trailblazing figure in fashion journalism has died. Talley was born in Washington, DC and raised by his grandmother Bennie Frances Davis in Durham, NC. According to his memoir A.L.T.: A Memoir, Talley’s grandmother worked as a housekeeper for Duke University. To escape the oppressive climate of the segregated American South and the sexual abuse and bullying he experienced as a child, Talley would escape into the pages of Vogue which he would purchase on the “white” side of town. Coupled with the fashion influences of the Black church, Talley would develop his signature style as he grew into an adult. Talley graduated from Hillside High School in 1966 and North Carolina Central University, an HBCU, where he majored in French literature in 1970. Talley also earned a M.A. degree from Brown University where he earned an M.A. and moved to New York for an apprenticeship at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA).
Introduced to trailblazing fashion editor Diana Vreeland by a classmate, Talley would meet Andy Warhol, which is how he began work at Interview Magazine. Talley also worked for Women’s Wear Daily as their Paris Bureau Chief and briefly at the New York Times, before landing at American Vogue, where his career and status as a pioneering and influential fashion journalist was cemented. Talley would work closely with legendary editor Anna Wintour, serving as Creative Director and editor-at-large for the iconic publication.
A force, Talley wrote two memoirs (A.L.T. and The Chiffon Trenches – May 2020), books on fashion and played a major role in advancing the careers and opportunities for African-American models and photographers. Below he speaks about meeting iconic model Pat Cleveland:
Talley also worked closely with Karl Lagerfeld, Tom Ford, Diane Von Furstenberg and Marc Jacobs.
Talley starred as a judge on America’s Next Top Model and wrote an influential 2018 op-ed for the Washington Post entitled, “The Historic Blackness of Tyler Mitchell and Beyoncé’s Vogue Cover.” At the time of his death, Talley had been involved in a protracted legal battle over a home he had rented since 2004 from George Malkemus, the former CEO of Manolo Blahnik and his partner.
Vogue is reporting Talley died of a heart attack. He was 73.
This obituary was written by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Follow Nsenga on Twitter @Ntellectual.
Legendary actor Sidney Poitier has died at 94.
(Photo: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)
The internet is buzzing with news iconic actor Sidney Poitier has passed away. Poitier is the first Black man to win a Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal in Lillies of the Field. He is also known for his work in groundbreaking films The Defiant Ones (1958), A Raisin in the Sun (1961), Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967) and In the Heat of the Night (1967),which interrogated issues of race, class, gender and social justice.
The Miami born, Bahamian-raised Poitier moved to the United States at age 15, eventually earning a role in Blackboard Jungle (1955). In a career that spanned six decades, Poitier won the best actor Oscar in 1964 for his portrayal of an ex-serviceman who helps East German nuns build a chapel in Lilies of the Field.
Poitier also worked as a director in television and film, most famously for a series of black-themed films co-starring Bill Cosby entitled Uptown Saturday Night (1974), Let’s Do It Again (1975) and A Piece of the Action (1977). Poitier directed the hit film Stir Crazy (1980) starring comedy legends Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder.
In addition to the Best Actor Academy Award, Poitier has been recognized for his excellence in the craft, civil and human rights activism, and being vocal about issues of representation on screen. Poitier, who grew up poor and left school in the 3rd grade to help his family, worked as a dishwasher. In order to pursue acting seriously, he taught himself to read beyond his 3rd grade education, dedicating himself to learning the craft of acting and filmmaking. Poitier’s investment paid off in dividends.
In 1974, Poitier was made an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II. He also received a Kennedy Center Honor (1995), the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama (2009), Golden Globe Awards for Lillies of the Field (1964), The 1982 Golden Globes Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement and a Grammy-award for narrating his autobiography, “The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography,” published in 2000. Poitier, a dual citizen of the Bahamas and the United States, was appointed Bahamian ambassador to Japan in 1997 by President Bill Clinton. He served in that capacity until 2007.
Poitier shares four children with his first wife Juanita Hardy, to whom he was married from 1950 to 1965. In 1976, the celebrated actor married former Canadian actress Joanna Shimkus, with whom he shares two daughters including actress Sydney Poitier. He is survived by Joanna, his wife of 45 years, five daughters and a host of grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his daughter Gina Poitier-Gouraige, who passed away in 2018. No cause of death has been given for the legendary actor’s death. He was 94.
This news article was written by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Follow Nsenga on Twitter @Ntellectual.
Writer, producer, director and star Aml Ameen (Melvin) embraces Aja Naomi King (Lisa) in a scene from the Amazon Prime film Boxing Day (2021).
In 2021, the box-office did not disappoint with outstanding films on the big screen and streaming apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu and Apple TV +. Films like Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog, Denzel Washington’s A Journal for Jordan, Ridley’s Scott’s House of Gucci, Aaron Sorkin’s Being the Ricardos, Jeymes Samuel’s The Harder They Fall and the Marvel Universe’s first Asian superhero film Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings have made a variety of lists as they should. I wanted to use this list as an opportunity to elevate some films that may have been undervalued or overlooked for a variety of reasons including subject matter, perceived lack of star power, genre or release date. Check out some of the top films of 2021, some of which you may not have heard of and others you may not wish to forget as we head into 2022.
BOXING DAY (Amazon Prime Video)
Looking for global Black love or remembering what being in love feels like? You’ve found it in this funny, heartwarming film that takes viewers from the Dirty South to South London. Inspired by writer, director, and star Aml Ameen’s life, Boxing Day follows Melvin (Aml Ameen), a British writer and former soap opera star living in America, who returns home to London for Christmas to introduce his American fiancée, Lisa (Aja Naomi King), to his energetic British-Caribbean family. Their relationship is put to the test as she discovers the world her fiancée has left behind including a superstar former girlfriend named Georgia (Leigh-Ann Pinnock). Marianne Jean-Baptiste gives an endearing performance as Shirley, Melvin’s mother who is getting her groove back following a painful heartache. Ameen and King show the magic that can happen when the Diaspora comes together in life and love.
KING RICHARD (Warner Bros.)
If teamwork makes the dream work was a film, King Richard would be it.King Richard is the engrossing story of a father’s determination to write his talented daughters into the sports history books, 78 pages at a time. Will Smith plays Richard Williams, the father who understands his daughters’ greatness and the context in which they are living, from the moment they were born. Partnered with a dedicated and focused mother Oracene “Brandy” Williams played brilliantly by the white hot Aunjanue Ellis, the Williams family endeavors to take Venus (Saniyya Sidney) and Serena Williams (Demi Singleton) to the top of a tennis world resistant to their presence or participation. Williams uses strategy, humility and confidence to engage legendary tennis coach Paul Cohen (Tony Goldwyn) who helps Venus hone her skills while Brandy literally keeps Serena in the game of life and tennis. Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green (Premature, Gun Hill Road) and executive produced by the Williams sisters and Smith, the film offers a humanistic view of Richard Williams as a loving father who makes sure two black girls from Compton, can rewrite their destiny, rise to the highest heights and belong wherever they choose to be.
MY NAME IS PAULI MURRAY (Amazon Prime Video)
The life of Rev. Pauli Murray is American history that is as important to the present as it is to the future. This documentary takes you on the journey of Murray, a non-binary African American woman, who was the first Black woman ordained as an Episcopalian priest and co-founder of the National Organization of Women (NOW). The filmmakers make plain that Murray lived many lives – a professor, lawyer, poet and activist — all of which changed the course of society for the better. Murray’s legal theories were so brilliant and influential Supreme Court justices Thurgood Marshall and Ruth Bader Ginsburg used them to win some of their most historic cases. This documentary offers few bells and whistles – simply Murray telling and extraordinary story of a fully evolved human being in pursuit of justice and happiness.
CANDYMAN (Universal Pictures)
In the fourth installment of the Black horror cult classic Candyman (1992) Director Nia DaCosta takes viewers on a journey into the modern-day horror that is gentrification and police occupation in Trump’s America. Against the backdrop of one of America’s most storied housing projects Cabrini Green in Chicago, Anthony (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), a visual artist, delves into an old tale about a murder in the housing projects. Anthony, who lives a bourgeois life with his lover Brianna (Teyonah Parris) who manages an art gallery, seeks inspiration for his latest painting in all the wrong places. Researching the story of what happened to Helen Lyle leads Anthony to roads less traveled and an introduction to Burke (Colman Domingo), a dry cleaner that holds many secrets. Written by DaCosta, Win Rosenfeld and horror maestro Jordan Peele, Candyman implicates all of the characters in the conjuring of this evil presence that refuses to die. With stunning visuals including art and cinematography and DaCosta’s intelligent reimaging of who Candyman is and what created him, makes the film feel more like a psychological thriller than a slasher like its predecessors. Candyman offers a smart window into the precarious world in which we’re living and why we should all be horrified.
SUMMER OF SOUL (Fox Searchlight)
Iconic musician and bandleader Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson makes his filmmaking debut with the documentary that is as much a historical document as it is an homage to Black musical excellence. Thompson, founding member the legendary Roots crew and son of a jazz musician, escorts viewers into a world of Black music, fashion and culture at the Harlem Cultural Festival held at Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park) over the course of six weeks in 1969, one hundred miles from Woodstock. This documentary features electrifying performances and chronicles the socio-political times in which Black people in America were living. Black musicians from all genres of music – funk, blues, jazz, classical, rock and roll, folk, gospel – played simultaneously personifying the influence of Black innovation and creation in historic Harlem, ground zero for Black Arts and culture in the 20th Century. Footage with spine tingling performances from Nina Simone, the Staples Singers, Stevie Wonder, Mahalia Jackson, the Fifth Dimension, Sly and the Family Stone and so many more, Summer of Soul shows the magic that happens when Black creatives and artists come together and reminds viewers of the cultural significance Black music played in a revolution that was not televised.
PASSING (Netflix)
With a cast that includes Ruth Negga, Tessa Thompson, Alexander Skarsgard and Andre Holland and a story based on a novel written by American novelist Nella Larsen, Passing is a must-see movie about the reality of passing at a time when being Black equated to having no rights and a life with no value to empowered Whites other than as unpaid or low-wage labor. One wrong move by a Black person could result in certain death or an uncertain future. The story takes place in Harlem where Irene (Thompson), a light-skinned Black woman married to Brian (Holland), a Black physician, unexpectedly runs into a former high school friend Clare, a light-skinned black woman who is passing for White and married to a wealthy White man John (Skarsgard) from Chicago. Writer, producer and director Rebecca Hall captures the tension between the women as their lives become increasingly connected. The psychological dance between Irene and Clare as they literally sidestep landmines in a race war — some of their making – in which they have the most at stake. With beautiful Black and White cinematography that makes one feel as if they are looking through a photo album, Hall visually demonstrates that issues of race, sex and class aren’t always as Black and White as they may seem.
FATHERHOOD (Netflix)
Fatherhood is a film about a happy family rocked by tragedy. In a refreshing departure from his usual role as the funny lead or sidekick, comedian Kevin Hart convincingly plays Matt, a broken-hearted father trying to raise his newborn daughter after the unexpected loss of his wife Liz (Deborah Ayinde), one day following childbirth. Matt tries to balance the difficulty of raising a happy and productive child as an only parent with professional and romantic aspirations while navigating the precarious terrain of dealing with parents and in-laws yearning to maintain their connection to their deceased daughter. Alfre Woodard delivers a powerful performance as Marian, Matt’s mother-in-law who is working through grief and the fear of losing her granddaughter. Hart holds his own in scenes with Woodard and Frankie Faison who plays, Liz’s father Mike. Lil’ Rel Howery, DeWanda Wise and Paul Reiser round out the cast playing the chorus to a devastating tragedy.
SWAN SONG (Apple TV+)
Cameron, a loving father played brilliantly by Academy award-winning actor Mahershala Ali finds out he is terminally ill just before learning he has a second child on the way with his beautiful and doting wife Poppy (Naomie Harris). Presented with a life-saving and life-altering solution to his demise, Cameron must decide whether or not to change life’s trajectory or to stay the course and accept the future he knows instead of the unknown. Through this process, Cameron learns more about life, love and his full humanity as a man. Ali Mahershala Ali’s the hell out of this role taking viewers on this precarious ride of uncertainty. Academy award-nominated actresses Harris and Glenn Close deliver stoic and weighty performances. It-actress Awkwafina plays Kate and Kate’s duplicated giving Cameron more insight into his decision.
This article appeared originally on BlackPressUsa.com. The article was written by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Follow Nsenga on Twitter @Ntellectual.
Rising opera star, countertenor and recent finalist on NBC’s The VoiceJohn Holiday — who recently made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera in Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice (December 16) and the New York Philharmonic in Handel’s Messiah at The Riverside Church (December 14 to 18) — stars in the film After/Glowby award-winning director Ryan McKinny.
John Holiday stars in Helio Arts’ film After/Glow. (Photo: Helio Arts)
A vibrant reimagining of Schumann’s iconic song cycle, Dichterliebe (A Poet’s Love), the film embarks on a sensual cinematic journey, which fuses poetry, song and spoken word by acclaimed poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph. The film is available exclusively at Helio Arts, a new online platform at the nexus of film and the performing arts. After/Glow is the first project of Helio Arts and is co-executive produced with Drax Productions.
The film features the virtuosic performance of Holiday and the original work and spoken word artistry of Joseph — a TED Global Fellow and Guggenheim Social Practice recipient whose opera libretto, We Shall Not Be Moved, was named one of 2017’s “Best Classical Music Performances” by The New York Times. After/Glow brings the spark of new love, the smoldering of desire and the haze of loss, leaving viewers basking in the raw power of intimate human connection. Holiday leads the cast, which is rounded out by Eboni Adams and DeMario Adams. McKinny won Best Rogue Director at the 2021 Seattle Film Festival for the film.
Dichterliebe (A Poet’s Love) was composed in 1840, during a year which accounted for nearly half of Robert Schumann’s song output. It also marked the year he married pianist Clara Wieck, who provided the inspiration for the work and fueled the composer’s attraction to love lyrics. Featuring texts from Heinrich Heine’s Lyrisches Intermezzo (from his Buch der Lieder),the 16-song cycle was completed in the space of about a week.
“When John Holiday mentioned to me that he was looking at the ridiculously difficult task of both singing and playing Schumann’s Dichterliebe, I immediately knew we had to make it into a film. But not wanting to leave poor Heinrich Heine and Robert Schumann to do all the heavy lifting, I asked Marc Bamuthi Joseph to write new poems, inspired by the originals,” said McKinny, himself a lauded opera singer who also served as writer and editor for After/Glow. “A story of love and sex, despair and death started to form, and the end result takes Schumann’s beauty, Heine’s romanticism, Bamuthi’s visceral sensuality, Eboni Adams and DeMario Adams’ stunning screen presence along with John’s herculean musical performance and rolls them together into something truly special.”
Founded by McKinny in February 2021 during the height of the pandemic when many opera and theater companies began offering their live capture of performances online, Helio Arts takes home viewing to the next level with commissioned narrative and experimental films — whether opera or other music, spoken word or dance — that allow viewers a fresh take on the classics and new works alike. The platform’s revenue-sharing model is also a way to support performing artists whose livelihoods have been among some of the hardest hit during the pandemic.
After/Glow was developed with the generous support of arts and entertainment company Drax Productions and produced by Tonya McKinny. Cinematography is by Ryan McKinny and Tonya McKinny.To stream After/Glow, visit www.helioarts.com.
ABOUT HELIO ARTS and DRAX PRODUCTIONS:
Helio Arts is a digital home for streaming performing arts films. On the Helio platform, viewers will find original content from independent creative teams and arts organizations like Houston Grand Opera, The Joffrey Ballet and Minnesota Opera. Helio blends all art forms for new and exciting digital content streamed right to the screen.
Drax Productions is a New York-based boutique production company that partners with and invests in creators in the performing arts, streaming, TV and film worlds to bring their dream projects to life.
This post was curated by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Follow Nsenga on Twitter @Ntellectual.
Desmond Tutu and his daughter Mpho at the lauch of their new book "Made for Goodness" in the Royal Geographical Society in London, 14 May 2010. (Flickr/Normann)
The world is mourning the loss of anti-apartheid activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Bishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu. Tutu, who had been dogged by rumors of poor health in recent years, passed away this morning at age 90. Known as the conscience of South Africa by Black and White South Africans, Tutu is beloved for his fight to end apartheid, free former South African president Nelson Mandela and to create a “rainbow nation” where all South Africans would enjoy freedom and equal access to resources and opportunities regardless of race.
In 1984, Archbishop Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent opposition to apartheid. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop of Cape Town from 1986 to 1996, becoming the first black African to hold each position.
A decade later, he witnessed the end of White minority-rule and chaired a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), established to document and uncover atrocities committed during the Nationalist party’s Apartheid regime. The TRC was based on the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa offered, “As Chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission he articulated the universal outrage at the ravages of apartheid and touchingly and profoundly demonstrated the depth of meaning of ubuntu (humanity), reconciliation and forgiveness.”
In a statement about Archbishop Tutu’s passing, President Ramaphosa said the following:
“The passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter of bereavement in our nation’s farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa. Desmond Tutu was a patriot without equal; a leader of principle and pragmatism who gave meaning to the biblical insight that faith without works is dead. A man of extraordinary intellect, integrity and invincibility against the forces of apartheid, he was also tender and vulnerable in his compassion for those who had suffered oppression, injustice and violence under apartheid, and oppressed and downtrodden people around the world.”
Archbishop Tutu authored the books No Future Without Forgiveness (1999) and Dios Tiene Un Sueno/God Has A Dream (2005) and co-authored several books including The Book of Joy with the 14th Dalai Lama in 2016 and several books with his daughter Rev. Mpho Andrea Tutu. Check out an interview about their book The Book of Forgiving, a guide to help perpetrators and victims embrace their shared humanity. This excerpt of the interview discusses the importance of concepts like Ubuntu (humanity) below:
Archbishop Tutu is survived by his wife of 66 years Nomalizo “Leah” Tutu, four children Mpho, Naomi, Trevor and Theresa and twelve grandchildren. No cause of death has been communicated. Rest in power.
This news brief was written by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Follow Nsenga on Twitter @Ntellectual.
bell hooks in 2010 (flickr/creativecommons/Esther)
Linda Blackford of the Lexington Herald-Ledger is reporting world renowned scholar, activist, womanist, professor and public intellectual bell hooks has died after a lengthy illness. hooks, who attended segregated schools in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, attended Stanford University after graduating from high school. hooks earned a master’s degree in English at the University of Wisconsin and then a doctorate in literature at UC Santa Cruz.
Born Gloria Jean Watkins, hooks used her great-grandmother’s name as her pen name in order to remain connected to her familial legacy of Black women. hooks wrote the name using all lowercase letters to focus more attention on the message than the messenger.
In 1981, hooks penned her first book, “Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism,” kicking off a tremendous career as an activist, scholar, poet and children’s books author. Hooks authored over 40 books exploring topics like intersectionality, economics, feminism, love and spirituality.
The 2018 Kentucky Hall of Fame inductee returned to Kentucky to teach at Berea College in 2004. The college launched the bell hooks Institute in 2010, which “houses her collection of contemporary African-American art, artifacts and her books in other languages.” Blackford writes:
“In a 2018 interview with former columnist Tom Eblen when she was inducted into the Kentucky Writers’ Hall of Fame, hooks said that she wanted important people to come to the institute to speak with local people. “Lots of people aren’t comfortable coming on college campuses for a talk. They feel like that’s not their place,” she said. The thing about the institute is that its goal is to be this sort of democratic location. No degrees required.”
Considered a giant in feminism, womanism and equality in academic spaces, hooks is often credited with paving the way for intersectional feminism and is praised for her influence and impact on feminist and womanist scholars and the direction of the canon of intersectional feminisms. A celebration of life will be held at a later date. hooks died at home surrounded by friends and family. She was 69.
To read more about bell hooks’ passing, click here. To learn more about the hooks Institute, click here.
This news brief was written by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Follow Nsenga on Twitter @Ntellectual.
Harlem, which could be viewed as Amazon’s answer to the “four fierce girlfriends in New York City” television trope, is an entertaining foray into the world of Harlem, complex relationships, career challenges and the growing pains of living in a storied neighborhood being ravaged by gentrification.
Harlem stars Meagan Good as Camille, an adjunct professor at Columbia University, living in a beautiful rent-controlled apartment, who is navigating the difficult process of landing a tenure-track job at prestigious Columbia University while figuring out a love life that goes from nil to a triangle in record time. Her close circle of friends includes Tye (Jerrie Johnson), a successful Queer tech entrepreneur who has risen to fame by developing an app that brings LGBTQ people of color together. Caribbean-American Quinn (Grace Byers) is an aspiring fashion designer with a boutique in Harlem bankrolled by her wealthy and brash mother Patricia, played by sitcom royal Jasmine Guy ((A Different World, The Quad, Dead Like Me).
Angi (Shoniqua Shadai) is an aspiring free-thinking singer, who lives on Quinn’s sofa, while she figures out how to earn a living as a singer in the Big Apple without selling her soul. Tyler Lepley (P-Valley, The Have and the Have Nots) plays the character of Ian, Camille’s lost love, Robert Ri’chard (The Steve Harvey Show, Chocolate City) stars as Shawn, the stripper with a heart who falls for Quinn and Academy Award-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg is perfectly cast as the no-nonsense newly appointed Academic Chair Dr. Elise Pruitt,who shakes up Camille and the department.
Add to the mix fabulous outfits, hair and make-up, beautifully decorated apartments, drinks and dining in fine establishments and messy relationships with partners and parents and you’ve got the makings of a hit.
Unlike some “girlfriends” series which struggle to convince viewers of a real friendship, the women of Harlem have great chemistry and offer performances that are thoughtful and provocative, particularly towards the end of the season. There are some obvious missteps, like the constant misuse of academic titles, academic language and dialogue that suggests the writers know very little about how academia works or the tenure process, so they should hire a consultant and get it right, particularly because many of the women in their desired demographic are Black women academics.
The decision to have Guy speak in a Jamaican accent, which sounds harsh and horrible, distracts from Guy’s otherwise impeccable performance. Opening up the series by privileging a tribe of Asian women as the referential point of a show about Harlem is highly problematic, especially when there are some Bantu tribes and Southern African tribes with similar practices that could have served as a reference. It’s hard to take creators seriously when they constantly talk about fighting to “tell Black stories” and then open up a series about four Black women in Harlem referencing an Asian tribe, as opposed to the incredible Black women of the Harlem Renaissance era, which would make better sense. I literally thought there was a glitch in the programming code until I realized it was Meagan Good’s voice in the narration.
Those glaring issues notwithstanding, the show still works because it is a fun show. Harlem provides laugh-out-loud moments (Get Out as a musical and the Black friends getting tossed out of a yoga class by a white woman for using the “N” word). Harlem also manages to address serious issues like gentrification, homophobia, sexism, interracial dating, healthcare inequities, microaggressions and the weight and precariousness of being a dynamic Black woman in America, regardless of Diasporic, sexual identity, professional or economic status, without sounding preachy or dogmatic.
Harlem is refreshing because it includes an openly Queer woman as central to the friendship group, which is not that unusual in the real Black girlfriends world but for some reason is an anomaly in the film and tv world. Queer and straight people can actually have strong friendships and Harlem shows how it’s done. Add veteran actress Tamara Tunie (Law & Order:SVU, The Red Road, Better Call Saul), and it’s easy to see why this television show has staying power.
While Harlem has been compared by some reviewers to “Sex and the City,” whose next installment, “And Just Like That” is returning to the small screen next week, Harlem clearly stands on the shoulders of iconic tv series Living Single and Girlfriends, just as Tracy Oliver, Harlem‘s creator, stands on the shoulders of executive producers and creators Yvette Lee Bowser (Run the World, Dear White People, Black-ish) and Mara Brock Akil (The Game, Being Mary Jane, Black Lightning, Love Is). Oliver, who starred as Nina in Issa Rae’s classic web series, “The Misadventures of An Awkward Black Girl,” wrote the hit movie Girls Trip, fan favorite Little and created the BET+ hit First Wives Club. To say Oliver is having a grand moment in entertainment is an understatement. Like Bowser, who recently executive produced Leigh Davenport’s show,“Run the World” (STARZ) and Akil, Oliver writes women extremely well and is able to weave together stories that are as funny as they are provocative in a way that is endearing, maddening, uplifting and poignant separately and simultaneously.
As Oliver continues to sharpen her pen as a writer and creator and gain more life experience, the narrative characteristics of her television shows will improve. The direction of the later episodes is particularly strong, due to the talents of women directors Neema Barnette (Queen Sugar, The Equalizer, Genius, Raising Dion) and Linda Mendoza (Girlfriends, Ugly Betty, Brooklyn Nine-Nine). Like many television shows, the first couple of episodes are pretty clunky, but they get infinitely better as the season progresses, so hang in there and allow the women of Harlem to capture your imagination.
With writers like Oliver and Stacey Muhammad (Queen Sugar, First Wives Club), a dope soundtrack, a talented cast, strong direction and executive producers like Pharrell Williams and Amy Poehler at the ready, Harlem is poised to be a show worth watching for many seasons to come.
This article was written by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Dr. Burton teaches film and media and is co-director of the Film and Media Management concentration at Emory University in Atlanta. Follow Nsenga on Twitter @Ntellectual.
The Caribbean is celebrating Barbados’ renouncement of Queen Elizabeth as head of state and establishment as a Republic. As a Republic, Barbados’ power will now be held by the people and their elected representatives, including a president instead of a monarchy.
Guy Faulconbridge and Brian Ellsworth of Reuters reported Prince Charles traveled to Barbados Sunday to attend the inauguration of President-elect Sandra Mason, which was led by Republican Mia Motley. Prince Charles gave a speech about maintaining a “friendly relationship” with Barbados despite the change in the structure of the relationship. The decision by Bajan legislators to become a Republic stems from an international movement to remove the vestiges and structures of colonialism and imperialism and to have more power and determination over the lives of the people.
Barbados will remain a republic within the Commonwealth, a grouping of 54 countries across Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe.
The world is reeling over the loss of visionary designer and artist Virgil Abloh. Abloh died today of a rare form of cancer called cardiac angiosarcoma, which he battled privately for two years. Best known for his “OFF-WHITE” collection, Abloh changed the face of fashion mixing street style (Hypebeast) with luxury brands and politics, influencing the direction of fashion and what constitutes luxury.
Abloh oversaw the expansion of OFF-WHITE, which started as a menswear line, into womenswear and in 2014 opened OFF-WHITE’s international flagship store in Hong Kong.
Photo from Virgil Abloh’s Figures of Speech exhibit at the High Museum in Atlanta. Design is from the “Temperature” collection which was presented in 2017 at the height of the refugee crisis in Europe. (Photo: The High Museum)
The New York Times‘ Vanessa Friedman writes:
“The artistic director of Louis Vuitton men’s wear as well as the founder of his own brand, Off-White, Mr. Abloh was a prolific collaborator with outside brands from Nike to Evian, and a popular fashion theorist whose expansive and occasionally controversial approach to design inspired comparisons with everyone from Andy Warhol to Jeff Koons.
Mr. Abloh transformed not just what consumers wanted to wear, bridging hypebeast culture and the luxury world, but what brands wanted in a designer — and the meaning of “fashion” itself.
For him clothes were not garments but fungible totems of identity that sat at the nexus of art, music, politics and philosophy. He was a master of using irony, reference and the self-aware wink (plus the digital world) to re-contextualize the familiar and give it an aura of cultural currency.”
Abloh, who referred to himself as a “maker” collaborated with many entities producing music, DJ’ing and exhibiting his work in museums around the world. On November 5, Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech, a mid-career retrospective of Abloh’s work, opened at the Garage Gallery at the Fire Station, the first museum exhibition of his work presented in the Middle East. The exhibition runs until March 31, 2022.
Born in Rockford, IL to Ghanaian parents, Abloh was a self-taught artist and designer. He studied civil engineering at the University of Wisconsin and received a master’s degree in architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He learned how to sew from his mother Eunice, who was a seamstress. His big break came at age 22 when he met rap superstar Kanye West and embarked on a journey that included performing a $500 internship at Fendi (along with West) and eventually becoming creative director of Donda, West’s fashion incubator. He worked on a series of collaborations eventually launching his own line, taking his shows to Paris and applying to for the LVMH prize for young designers in 2015. Abloh was a finalist setting the stage for the next phase of his fashion career.
Abloh advocated taking other designers designs, changing them a little bit and making it your own — a remix if you will. Abloh’s work was initially met with resistance in the fashion world but his masterful use of social media to discuss his theories around fashion, art and technology, helped the artist gain millions of followers, to whom he could sell directly. Abloh became a major influencer in fashion, art, music and technology and was celebrated for his intellectual approach to fashion and design.
In 2018, Louis Vuitton named him artistic director and in 2019, he opened a major exhibit of his work at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago titled “Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech,” which was exhibited throughout the country. On November 5, Figures of Speech opened at the Garage Gallery at the Fire Station, the first museum exhibition of his work presented in the Middle East. In 2020, Abloh established the “Post-Modern” Scholarship Fund, raising $1 million to encourage Black students to pursue careers in fashion. In May, Abloh styled Spike Lee for his role as Grand Jury president at the Cannes Film Festival.
Abloh,who was hospitalized at the time of his death, split his time between Illinois and Paris. He kept his cancer battle quiet, naming exhaustion as a reason for his inability to travel.
Abloh is survived by his wife Shannon, children Lowe and Grey, his sister Edwina and parents Nee and Eunice Abloh. He was 41.
Paintings of Godfather o Go-Go Chuck Brown.
(Google Images)
Chris Richards of The Washington Post is reporting Go-Go music, Washington, DC’s Black regional dance music has finally made it’s way into a Grammy category. Thanks to the viral pop cultural moment of Hip-Hop legend Questlove playing legendary Go-Go group E.U.’s international hit Da’ Butt and legendary actress Glenn Close shaking what her mama gave her at the 2021 Oscars, D.C.-raised rapper and awards and nominations committee member Kokayi asked the committee to add Go-Go music to the Regional Roots Album category.
You would think the popularity of the song in Spike Lee’s iconic film School Daze (1988) and the use of Go-Go beats by Grammy award-winning rappers and R&B legends like Salt-N-Pepa, Kid ‘n Play, Jay-Z and Beyoncé and so many others would have catapulted the DMV’s indigenous music into a category of its own, but that didn’t happen. Instead of going through the arduous process of creating a new Grammy category, Koyaki decided to pitch adding Go-Go to the Regional Roots musical category and the committee agreed.
Richards reports:
“Instead of drafting a formal proposal, he suggested that go-go simply be added to the best regional roots album category where it could compete against other musical traditions from communities across the land: zydeco, Hawaiian, Cajun, Native American, polka and the like. That way, instead of underdogging it against the starriest names in R&B — like E.U. did in 1988, like Chuck Brown did in 2010 — go-go music could be recognized on Grammy night on its own terms.”
In 2019, Regina Hall and E.U. opened the 2019 BET Awards with a rendition of “Do You Know What Time It Is,” “Da’ Butt” and “Run Joe.”
In 2020, a documentary, “The Beat Don’t Stop” aired on TV ONE, which is based in Silver Spring, Md. Don’t Mute DC is an organization dedicated to battling Black displacement and cultural erasure in the city of Washington. The #DontMuteDC uprising began April 7, 2019 with a springtime battle over music and public space on an iconic street corner, 7th Street and Florida Ave, NW.
With Kip Lornell’s, The Beat: Go-Go Music from Washington, DC and Natalie Hopkinson’s, The Musical Life and Death of a Chocolate City celebrated books on Go-Go music, the momentum has been growing to finally recognize the beauty, vibrancy and vitality of a black musical genre and culture indigenous to a city and region teeming with dynamic black folk and culture.
