100% of senior students at Chicago's Urban Preparatory Charter Academy have been admitted to college for the seventh consecutive year.
(Twitter: @timking1)
Taryn Finley of The Huffington Post is reporting 100 percent of Chicago’s Urban Preparatory Charter School’s senior class is college bound for the seventh consecutive year. Finley reports:
“Every senior at the predominantly black, all-boys charter school in Chicago has committed to a four-year college or university. At the school’s three campuses combined, the class of 2016 has been admitted to more than 220 schools…Overall, the senior class has received more than 1,500 college admissions and has been offered more than $15 million in scholarships and grants, according to CBS Chicago. Founder and CEO of Urban Prep Tim King said the students have been admitted to schools all over the country, including Georgetown University, Yale University, Morehouse College, among other schools.”
D'Angelo and Princess perform 'Sometimes it Snows in April' on The Fallon Show. (Google Images)
D’Angelo and Princess perform ‘Sometimes it Snows in April’ on The Fallon Show. (Google Images)
The internet is buzzing with celebrated musician D’Angelo’s tribute to Prince on Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show. D’Angelo performed Prince’s hit ‘Sometimes it Snows in April,’ along with actress/singer/comedienne Maya Rudolph’s cover band Princess. Rudolph, the daughter of legendary singer Minnie Ripperton, is one half of the band while Gretchen Lieberum is the other half.
Watch as the group pays homage to one of the greatest musicians of all time. D’Angelo, who has been referred to as heir to Prince’s throne, gets choked up at the end. True Prince fans will get choked up too as the world continues to mourn the loss of his purple badness.
This post was written by Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., founder & editor-in-chief of The Burton Wire. Follow her on Twitter @Ntellectual or @TheBurtonWire.
Zoe Saldana stars in 'Nina' for RLJ Entertainment.
(Cropped movie poster)
Zoe Saldana stars in ‘Nina’ for RLJ Entertainment. (Cropped movie poster)
Writing for the Huffington Post, The Burton Wire‘s founder & editor-in-chief Nsenga K. Burton, Ph.D., reviews Cynthia Mort’s controversial biopic starring Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone and David Oyelowo as Clifton Henderson, Simone’s caretaker, manager and confidante. Read an excerpt of Nsenga’s review below:
“The complexity of Simone’s story is lost in writer-director Cynthia Mort’s first feature film, where she boldly goes where no first time feature filmmaker should probably ever go, telling the story of an iconic figure whose life experiences and activism are central to her memory and identity. Simone is revered by critics and fans because of a willingness to be true to herself, at all costs, and to discuss painful issues like colorism and discrimination in her music and public life. Simone’s vulnerability and strength, which were on full display in her artistry, are missing from the film, which attempts to give audiences a peek into Simone’s turbulent life during the 1990s.
Mort explores Simone’s life as an ex-pat, whose return to the United States is marred by mental illness and the discovery she has been financially exploited by her record label. Simone’s meeting with her manager Henri Edwards (Ronald Guttman) to discuss her missing money spirals out of control and the “High Priestess of Soul” ends up in an insane asylum under the care of Clifton Henderson (Oyelowo), a nurse who looks out for her. Simone and Henderson flee the asylum and the United States and head to the south of France, where he becomes her caretaker/manager. Saldana does a solid job of capturing Simone’s whimsical and explosive nature although she struggles with maintaining Simone’s distinct style of speech. Oyelowo is convincing as Clifton, Simone’s caretaker who eventually becomes her friend, confidant and manager, even though his performance feels constrained. Perhaps it is because Saldana and Oyelowo lack the on-screen chemistry needed to give greater life to Simone and Henderson’s emerging and intense friendship, that the weight of their friendship is never really felt or conveyed.
While the performances are decent, the film suffers from more problems than the much, publicized make-up job gone wrong in attempting to physically transform Saldana into Simone. Despite title cards, the time period of the film is never clear because the narrative and stylistic elements are not reflective of the 1990s…”
Read the review in its entirety at Huffington Post.
Congo music and style star Papa Wemba has died. (Google Images)
CNN is reporting influential Congo music star Jules Papa Wemba has passed away, after collapsing on stage during a performance Saturday night at the Urban Music Festival in Ivory Coast. Andreas Preuss of CNN writes:
“Papa Wemba, 66, was considered a Congolese icon and world music star after merging his Central African heritage with Western pop, rock and rap. His style earned him the nickname ‘King of Rhumba Rock.’ Besides his musical influence, he popularized Sapeur fashion, an eccentric look with three-piece suits, shiny black leather shoes and flashy accessories.
Papa Wemba said he was inspired by his parents, who took great pride in dressing up on Sundays in the ’60s, ‘always well-put-together, always looking very smart.’ But in the era of Joseph Mobutu, Papa Wemba wanted to challenge the status quo, so he devised the acronym SAPE, roughly translated from the French for ‘the society of atmosphere-setters and elegant people.’ He dressed his band, Viva La Musica, in the style, and fans across Africa soon followed suit.”
“Born in 1949, Wemba, whose real name was Shungu Wembadio Pene Kikumba, began his singing career in religious choirs.
He helped modernise Congolese rumba music, with the genre that emerged – soukous – influencing music across Africa.
Together with his bands Zaiko Langa Langa, Isifi and Viva La Musica, he racked up hit after hit, including L’Esclave and Le Voyageur.
He appeared in two feature films, Life Is Beautiful (1987) and Wild Games (1997).”
In 2004, he was convicted of ‘people smuggling’ and spent 3 months in prison. He was convicted of the same crime in 2012 and was fined, but evaded prison time. Wemba would use his band to help Conglese people get to Europe.
Congolese Culture Minister Baudouin Banza Mukalay called Wemba’s death a ‘great loss for the country and all of Africa,’ and Congolese President Joseph Kabila has expressed his condolences.
Kinshasa rapper Youssoupha tweeted in French that Wemba’s death was a ‘huge loss.’
Legendary musician Prince has died at age 57. (Screenshot)
The Burton Wire is mourning the loss of legendary musician Prince Rogers Nelson, one of the greatest musical influences of modern music. Prince, a prodigy, a provocateur and a complete game-changer in popular music, died Thursday at his Paisley Park compound in the Minneapolis suburb of Chanhassen. He had been suffering from the flu while on a recent tour. He was 57. Tributes are happening all over the world.
Best-selling sibling gospel duo BeBe and CeCe Winans are the subjects of the musical, 'Born For This: The BeBe Winans Story,' premiering at Alliance Theatre in Atlanta (Photo Credit: A. Turner Archives/BMI).
Best-selling sibling gospel duo BeBe and CeCe Winans are the subjects of the musical, ‘Born For This: The BeBe Winans Story,’ premiering at Alliance Theatre in Atlanta (Photo Credit: A. Turner Archives/BMI).
Gospel music recording artist BeBe Winans thought his dear friend, music legend Roberta Flack, was crazy to randomly suggest via phone that he create a musical about his family. Four days later, inspiration suddenly hit the six-time Grammy award winner in his Montreal hotel room.
Winans opened up his laptop and began writing the first draft. He didn’t realize it at the time, but Flack’s muse birthed his tentatively Broadway-bound bio-play, Born For This: The BeBe Winans Story. “It was the weirdest thing I’d ever experienced,” he says with his legs crossed seated in the lobby of Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre hours before the world premiere. “It was like a faucet turned on.”
Born For This is a soulful production that chronicles the Detroit native’s relationship with his siblings, the massively successful, Grammy-winning gospel act, The Winans. Raised Pentecostal in a family of nine brothers and sisters, Winans, along with his best-selling younger sister, CeCe, relocated to Pineville, NC to join televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker on the television series, The PTL Club. Once the trailblazing duo migrated South, the teenagers were confronted with culture shock, bouts of homesickness and racism.
The dramatic work also depicts Winans’ attempt to balance fame with fortune. The easygoing Gospel Music Hall of Famer considers writing the play “medication.” “I didn’t know that was happening when it was happening,” he says chuckling over distant choir harmonies in the background. “I knew I wasn’t afraid to feel or admit what I was feeling.”
Honored earlier this year as a BMI Trailblazer of Gospel Music along with CeCe, Winans co-wrote Born For This with director Charles Randolph-Wright (Motown: The Musical). He recalls meeting Randolph-Wright over lunch, immediately impressed that the Duke University alumnus knew about Pineville. Randolph-Wright, a Paul Robeson award recipient, suggested to Winans after reading the first draft of the script that he make his coming-of-age story in North Carolina the nucleus of the plot.
“From that moment on, I knew that this was the man to do this with,” confirms a soft-spoken, skull cap-wearing Winans. “He knew my story. It’s always different when you speak to someone who knows your story. It was easy to entrust him with my story. The collaboration has been absolutely incredible.”
Born For This was workshopped over four years. Whenever the pair would meet at Starbucks, Wright’s favorite place, the former Royal Shakespeare Company and Alvin Ailey Dance Company understudy would assign Winans to write original music under strict deadlines. Winans, cast previously in two Broadway productions, shadowed Randolph-Wright during Motown: The Musical’s run. The prolific vocalist synonymous with marrying gospel, inspirational messaging, R&B and pop together says he sat in New York for nine years to meticulously study the lavish theatre culture.
“I wanted this caliber and that quality,” shares Winans. “In doing this piece [with Charles], I realized there’s a lot of time and work invested in plays. You are consumed when you do musicals and plays. Because we respect each other, we have what we have.”
Siblings Juan (r.) and Deborah Joy (l.) Winans star as BeBe and CeCe Winans in ‘Born For This: The BeBe Winans Story’ (Photo Credit: Alliance Theatre).
Admitting he was uncertain about the fate of Born For This, Winans adds, “You work on something, give it your all and there are no guarantees that it’ll reach any of the destinations that you plan for it. When it does, it just causes you to be grateful as well as humble.”
Premiering Born For This in Atlanta was Randolph-Wright’s suggestion. The playwright, set to executive produce a miniseries for NBC about the Underground Railroad with Stevie Wonder, had a great working relationship with Alliance Theatre. Priding himself on following people and being in awe of the theatre veteran’s sense of humor, Winans, exploding with interpersonal savvy himself, was sold on Randolph-Wright’s preference once he connected with the Alliance’s executive team.
“I understood,” states Winans. “They took our child, and it became theirs. They became incredible doctors, surgeons, nurses and all of those things you need in the delivery room.”
Winans, a composer of original music for the OWN church-based dramatic series Greenleaf, gives Atlanta props for consistently being supportive of him and his family. “Atlantans have always been there,” he proclaims. “I don’t care what. They’re coming to see us. It’s a great support city.”
The most rewarding part about developing Born For This to Winans is being able to revisit his relationship with his entire family. The show stars his nephew and niece, siblings Juan and Deborah Joy Winans. Winans says he and his relatives dismiss the “First Family of Gospel” tag that continues to peg them.
The Winans family, he adds, gets tickled to death anytime they hear or read it. “That was not our suggestion,” confirms a guffawing Winans. “People always label you, but we don’t see ourselves that way.” Further considering his family “cutthroat but in a good way,” Winans thinks his family is hilarious.
During the holidays, the entire Winans clan normally visits a city for at least a week to fellowship with one another. Winans believes audience members will be immersed in a snippet of that interaction via Born For This. “We have so much fun together,” he says. “We enjoy one another. That’s missing in the world we live in. They will see how close knit we are.”
A warm smile is plastered to Winans’ face just thinking about the progress he’s made with Born For This. He’s so engaged in conversing about the show, he prolongs heading back into tech rehearsals with the crew to record a pre-show announcement.
Winans is moved anytime he meets people expressing how he’s inspired them. The fearless icon hopes his existence can continuously encourage others to live out their dreams. He imparts some empowering choice words before he heads back into the main theater.
“You can survive,” expresses Winans. “You have a destination, a purpose for your life, no matter where you find yourself. Don’t be afraid to take risks. Don’t be afraid to fail. When it happens, get up, wipe yourself off and keep it going. If we’re representing the king, it should be first class.”
Born For This: The BeBe Winans Story is staged at Alliance Theatre in Atlanta from April 13 – May 15, 2016. Check the website for showtime.
This post was written by Christopher A. Daniel, pop cultural critic and music editor for the Burton Wire. He is also contributing writer for Urban Lux Magazine and Blues & Soul Magazine. Follow Christopher @Journalistorian on Twitter.
A group of mostly African American women who were ejected from a Northern California wine country train have filed a racial discrimination lawsuit.
The 11 members of the book club, all but one of whom is African American, say they were ejected from the Napa Valley Wine Train for laughing too loud and being disruptive during an afternoon excursion in August.
The lawsuit seeks $1 million each for the 11 women who claim they were humiliated and discriminated against when staff ordered them from the train after warning them several times to lower their voices
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3256587/The-Latest-Black-women-sue-wine-train-discrimination.html#ixzz46FpqxMuZ
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Members of the Sistahs on The Reading Edge Book Club. (Photo: Daily Mail)
Brendan O’Brien of Reuters is reporting 11 women have reached a settlement with a California wine train company they sued for $11 million for racial discrimination after they were kicked off the train for being too loud, their lawyer said on Monday. O’Brien writes:
“Members of the “Sistahs on the Reading Edge Book Club” came to an “amicable settlement” with the Napa Valley Wine Train company on Thursday, six months after filing a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Northern California, their attorney Waukeen McCoy said.
‘We hope that other businesses learn from this case and implement diversity and sensitivity training for employees,’ McCoy said in an email to Reuters.
The 11 women, 10 of whom are African-American, were ordered off the vintage train on Aug. 22 after other passengers complained the group was too loud. The expulsion sparked widespread anger on social media.
The women sued the company in October, seeking $11 million in damages for the violation of their civil rights.”
McCoy did not disclose the terms of the settlement and train company officials could not be immediately reached for comment. Two of the women were subsequently fired after the train company posted false information about the incident on social media.
'Ghost Brothers' Juwan Mass (l.), Dalen Spratt (c.) and Marcus Harvey (r.) make television history as the first African-American paranormal investigation team (Photo Credit: Destination America).
‘Ghost Brothers’ Juwan Mass (l.), Dalen Spratt (c.) and Marcus Harvey (r.) make television history as the first African-American paranormal investigation team (Photo Credit: Destination America).
Fashion designers Dalen Spratt and Juwan Mass, along with their barber Marcus Harvey, are the epitome of going where no man has gone before. The trailblazing trio is making history as television’s first paranormal investigation team of color on the Destination America show Ghost Brothers.
Ghost Brothers is a six-episode series that chronicles Spratt, Mass and Harvey traveling throughout various areas of the Southeast to uncover the supernatural in historic locations. Unlike Destination America‘s other sibling programs such as Mountain Monsters, A Haunting, Ghost Stalkers or Ghost Asylum, the team on Ghost Brothers marries together being inquisitive with a cool sense of humor in the midst of a suspenseful ambiance.
The concept for Ghost Brothers originally developed while Spratt and Mass were both roommates. Spratt, the more vocal of the three, suggested to his Clark Atlanta University classmate and frat brother that they hunt ghosts together. Mass, who remembers living with his grandmother on the Gulf Coast across from a cemetery, was reluctant but wanted to support Spratt’s vision.
“Loyalty has no conditions,” expressed Mass seated on the far right of a panel during a press luncheon at the spooky Graveyard Tavern in Atlanta. “If he’s going in, then I’m going in behind him.” Spratt, seated in the center, wanted to charter new territory, noticing instantly a lack of a black presence in paranormal activity.
“This whole idea came from thinking outside of the box,” says Spratt, a self-proclaimed fan of the horror genre. “I never saw a representation of myself on any of these shows. We handle stuff differently than everybody else. Trying something different landed this blessing to us.”
Spratt and Mass, who originally met at Clark Atlanta University (CAU) in 2005, started investigating possible locations in 2011. Harvey, who cuts both Spratt’s and Mass’ hair, overheard the idea and wanted to participate. “We all do our own thing in entrepreneurship,” insists Mass, “but this is beyond what our trade is. It’s good to go in with a fresh eye.”
Each episode of Ghost Brothers, according to the pioneering paranormal team, is a collaborative effort between them and the executives at Destination America. The episodic series melds together grainy black-and-white footage, historic reenactments and Blair Witch Project-style imagery. Some of the sites Spratt, Mass and Harvey visit on Ghost Brothers are a slave plantation in Louisiana, a murder hotel where they were enlightened on doppelgangers, a steamboat and a spot on the Underground Railroad.
Raised with strong family values that uphold faith, the men of Ghost Brothers agree that each scenario starts and closes with them praying with each other. Spratt, whose mother is the head pastor of a church, says, “You’re going into the most unfamiliar place, a place that you’ve never been to, and you don’t know if it’s good or bad. It’s the most frightening experience.”
Spratt continues. “We cover ourselves with the blood of Jesus before we go in all of these locations. We don’t bring anything back with us. We stay very close to our religious beliefs.”
Ghost Brothers premiered on Friday, April 15 at 10 p.m. ET on Destination America. Check local providers for channels.
This post was written by Christopher A. Daniel, pop cultural critic and music editor for the Burton Wire. He is also contributing writer for Urban Lux Magazine and Blues & Soul Magazine. Follow Christopher @Journalistorian on Twitter.
Celebrated Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius faces murder charges over killing his fiance Reeva Steenkamp. (Photo Credit: Google Images)
Oscar Pistorius and with girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, whom was convicted of murdering in 2013. (Google Images)
Zandi Shabalala of Reuters Africa is reporting disgraced Paralympic Gold Medalist Oscar Pistorius will be sentenced in June for the 2013 murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, after his original conviction was upgraded from the lesser charge of manslaughter to murder. Shabalala writes:
“Pistorius, 29, known as ‘Blade Runner’ for the carbon fiber prosthetic blades he used to race, faces a minimum 15-year jail sentence and cannot appeal after the country’s top court ruled in March that he had exhausted all his legal options.
Dressed in a black suit, he showed no signs of emotion during the brief court appearance and spoke on his cellphone as he left the court. He denies killing Steenkamp, saying he mistook her for an intruder at his home.”
Pistorius, who was originally sentenced to five years in prison for manslaughter, was released after serving one-year in prison. He was then allowed to live under house arrest while finishing the sentence at his Uncle’s home. After prosecutors appealed the initial ruling, in December, the Supreme Court upgraded his conviction from manslaughter to murder, which carries a penalty of 15 years. His new sentencing hearing will take place over four days.
Actors Kerry Washington (Anita Hill) and Wendell Pierce (Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas) star in HBO's political made-for-TV film 'Confirmation' (Photo Credit: HBO).
Actors Kerry Washington (Anita Hill) and Wendell Pierce (Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas) star in HBO’s political made-for-TV film ‘Confirmation’ (Photo Credit: HBO).
Whenever actor Wendell Pierce portrays a character on-stage or screen, he considers his roles teaching moments. The New Orleans native recently played Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in the HBO docudrama Confirmation, reenacting the controversial 1991 Senate hearings for the second African-American elected to the high court.
Originally from Pin Point, GA, Thomas was accused of sexual harassment by Brandeis University law, policy and women’s studies professor Anita Hill, played by Emmy-nominated actress Kerry Washington (Scandal). Hill, a University of Oklahoma faculty member at the time of the hearings, testified before an all-white male Senate Judiciary Committee that her former supervisor at the U.S. Dept. of Education and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) made inappropriate comments to her involving links he sent her to sexfreehd which is a popular pornography website, pubic hair and a Coca-Cola can.
The Thomas/Hill case signaled a redefining moment in American history, generating debates around race, gender and sexism. Human resources departments tightened up their policies, in many cases requiring employees to attend annual seminars. The ongoing reports gave birth to the 24-hour news cycle; more women were elected to Capitol Hill.
“The film is really about a time in our culture and history when we had this discussion for the first time,” says a cordial Pierce prior to Confirmation’s premiere during the 40th anniversary of the Atlanta Film Festival. “Before that time, people didn’t have those protections. There wasn’t a discussion around sexual harassment.”
A distinguished alumnus of Juilliard, Pierce, silent the bulk of his screen time throughout Confirmation, which was filmed in Atlanta, working in New York during the Thomas/Hill controversy. He faithfully watched the hearings everyday, referring to the rotating broadcasts as “fascinating yet painful.” “It was an amazing thing to see on television,” recalls the talented actor featured on HBO’s original programs The Wire, Strapped and Treme. “It was also very painful in the African-American community to see two established black folks at odds airing dirty laundry.”
Directed by Rick Famuyiwa (The Wood, Brown Sugar, Dope), Confirmation’s ensemble cast includes Jeffrey Wright, Greg Kinnear, Erika Christensen, Jennifer Hudson, Eric Stonestreet and Bill Irwin. Based on a book by political analysts John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, the teleplay was written by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and executive producer Susannah Grant. Washington, also an executive producer, and Famuyiwa contacted Pierce about playing Thomas.
Co-founding both a grocery store chain and a nonprofit responsible for erecting geothermal homes in his hometown, Pierce asserts that he doesn’t share the same political views as his character. He does admit to having preconceived notions about the Supreme Court Justice’s personality. On the other hand, Pierce, a Tony Award-winning thespian and Broadway producer, used his Southern origins as the common denominator to empathize with former President George Herbert Walker Bush’s nominee. “After awhile, I realized that it wasn’t how little we had in common,” he says, “but how much we have in common.”
“It was a challenge,” continues the actor whose film credits also include Ray, Get on the Bus and Waiting to Exhale. “Here is a man who’s been an enigma. He was being challenged and did whatever it took to go to the highest level of his career. If we never reflect on those issues, we are threatened and doomed to repeat the problems of the past.”
Pierce, who is currently in production in Atlanta on another feature, One Last Thing, co-starring actress Jurnee Smollett-Bell and working on the Odd Couple reboot, understands the importance of historical narratives having filmed five projects in Atlanta including Selma and The Vietnam War Story, a city ripe with historical narratives much like his hometown of New Orleans.
Pierce passionately discusses how Confirmation commemorates an important political and cultural moment in American history 25 years after the case was made public. Pierce, a stickler for studying his craft and advocate of constantly pushing boundaries, shares that he hopes to meet Thomas face-to-face in the near future. The opportunity to portray the legal eagle, he says, allowed him to further understand it’s not fair to judge any individual.
“Don’t assume that you know someone,” suggests Pierce, who authored his Image Award-nominated, post-Hurricane Katrina memoir, The Wind in the Reeds. “There’s a common thread in humanity that even though I may not agree with someone politically, I can find out who they are.”
Confirmation premiered on Saturday, April 16 at 8 p.m. EST on HBO. Check local listings for channel.
This post was written by Christopher A. Daniel, pop cultural critic and music editor for the Burton Wire. He is also contributing writer for Urban Lux Magazine and Blues & Soul Magazine. Follow Christopher @Journalistorian on Twitter.
Taryn Finley of The Huffington Post is reporting 100 percent of Chicago’s Urban Preparatory Charter School’s senior class is college bound for the seventh consecutive year. Finley reports:
