thatgirl006

Madonna Draws Blood

2012-02-07T13:07:00.001-05:00

by Rod Gailes OBC

In a world where "Every record sounds the same", where music audiences are fractured, where new music lacks any sense of excitement or artistic layers, and where digital downloading has discouraged the greats from even recording any more (Where r u @ Prince?), I am surprisingly NOT disappointed in Madge's "new" musical statement, "Give Me All Your Luvin'".

"I see you coming and I don't wanna know your name. I see ya coming and ya gonna have to change the game." This pithy pop lyric draws first blood in a Madge initiated cat fight with Lady Gaga! It's hillarous and so reminiscent of early Hip Hop "Beef" and "answer" records (Real Roxanne). "Why'dja have to make a record 'bout me!? The M.A.D.O.N.N.A," the material girl seems to be saying in blatant reference to the "love" and plagiarism of which Gaga has been accused. If you've been around long enough to know, You must join me in ROTFLMAO!

Go Madonna! This heifer is still winning 30 years into the game. She seems to be daring all comers to truly challenge her for the the "crown" or "step into my world" and join her team as clearly Nicky Minaj & MIA have. And didja catch the striking sing songy similarity to Toni Basil's "Hey Micky"? That, along with the cheerleaders, upends one of music videos earliest visual tropes. LOL!

Watching a still HOT, 50+ yo, sexually viable Madonna be flagrantly self referencial (complete with Cross embossed stripper gear & Marilyn Monroe wigs) with rap "stars" Nicki Minaj & MIA in tow cast as LITERAL cheerleaders, moments before her Super Bowl bow & just before releasing a new album, borders on brilliant pop culture commentary and exploitation! She's always done it so well.

I take the liberty of referencing another pop icon, Janet Jackson (who, I must say, did not leverage her Super Bowl shot into making her then upcoming album "Damita Jo" a hit). Let us adjust her lyrics from an interlude preceding the totally ignored Black Power anthem, "New Agenda" (give it a listen) to suit the occasion: "And to a world sick with (insert MEDIOCRITY), get well soon." -janet "New Agenda"

Culture commentator, Rod Gailes OBC is a writer/director for the stage and screen interested in building artistic fraternity with artists across disciplines. Follow him at:

twitter.com/TheeOBC

www.facebook.com/rodgailesobc
read more from Rod Gailes OBC

The Ailey Company celebrates Robert Battle’s Inaugural Season as Artistic Director

2011-12-02T14:57:00.001-05:00

by kristen irby www.kristenirby.com

In celebration of Robert Battle’s inaugural season as Artistic Director, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater hosted their opening night gala benefit at the newly renovated New York City Center. This one-night only performance featured Judith Jamison’s IF IT’S MAGIC with a live performance by John Legend, the company premiere of Paul Taylor’s ARDEN COURT, Lar Lubovitch’s sensuously seamless duet PRELUDE TO A KISS (performed by the prodigious Clifton Brown and Linda Celeste Sims) and Alvin Ailey’s masterpiece REVELATIONS, performed with live music and a cast of 50 including members of the AAADT, Ailey II and students from the Ailey School as young as 7 years old.

Guests included Honoree Kimberly B.Davis, President of JPMorgan Chase Foundation, beauty mogul Iman, AAADT Artistic Director Emerita Judith Jamison, Paul Taylor, former Paul Taylor dancer Carolyn Adams, Joan & Sandy Weill, Herb & Simin Allison, Carmen de Lavallade, Dudley Williams, Delores Brown, legendary opera singer and recitalist Jessye Norman, yours truly and a gaggle of enthusiastic revelers.

In his welcoming speech to a sold out audience Mr.Battle engaged with humorous banter and unyielding charm. Suddenly, the formal gathering felt more like a speakeasy rather than a black-tie event with tickets ranging from $500-$5000 per person. Battle spoke tenderly of a beloved uncle who passed away years before he was able to see his young nephew as the man he is today, the third person to lead the Ailey Company artistically, after Alvin Ailey and Judith Jamison, since the company debut in 1958 at the 92^nd Street YM-YWHA in New York City.

Alvin Ailey with Judith Jamison

Robert Battle, Artistic Director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

The lithe Alicia Graf Mack, with her characteristic grace and high-reaching extension, danced Ms.Jamison’s choreography to the accompaniment of John Legend, who held court at his piano performing a rendition of Stevie Wonder’s IF IT’S MAGIC.

Paul Taylor’s ARDEN COURT (1981) was ably danced by members of the Ailey Company. Here, the sinewy Samuel Lee Roberts stood out with his gravity defying ballon. Other notable performances included that of the vigorous Marcus Willis and the dynamically commanding Kirven James Boyd. Mr.Taylor eagerly joined the dancers onstage for the curtain call. He beamed with delight!

Arden Court

Kirven James Boyd

Iman, ravishing in a red Zac Posen evening gown, delivered a rousing introduction to the second half of the performance. She spoke passionately with piercing diction and thunderous, rolling R’s. As she disappeared into the wings, of which she floated into, a collective whisper of astonishment fell over the audience as if a phenomenon had been beheld.

I was slightly bewildered to see so few dancers onstage for the opening section of Ailey’s REVELATIONS, “I’ve Been ‘Buked.” Subsequently, after several young children joined members of the AAADT, I felt my heartstrings being pulled. Before I had a chance to collect myself the stage was overflowing with dancers. I was quite pleased with how effortlessly the Ailey School students and members of Ailey II were integrated into REVELATIONS. The students and members of Ailey II danced with joyful exuberance and precision. Many compliments to Melanie Persons and Tracy Inman, Co-Directors of the Ailey School, for not only delivering Mr.Ailey’s enduring legacy to a new generation of dancers but for also continuing the diligent work of the late Denise Jefferson.

After the performance invited guests sauntered to the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Hotel for dinner and dancing.

Carmen de Lavallade and Dudley Williams.

In 1962, the company was known as The De Lavallade-Ailey American Dance Company on its first tour to the Far East, Southeast Asia and Australia.

Judith Jamison

AAADT dancer Akua Parker with Dr.Joyce Brown, President of the Fashion Institute of Technology

AAADT dancer Marcus Willis looking fine and dandy in bow tie and suspenders

AAADT Director of PR Christopher Zunner with AAADT dancer Aisha Mitchell

Jessye Norman getting it in! When I saw Ms.Norman on the dance floor I nearly lost it! I broke into a sweat instantly. Hollie Wright made fun of me for about twenty minutes afterwards. I don’t normally get starstruck but hellooooooo….it’s Jessye Norman!

The color is green…

but not with envy!

Delores Brown Abelson, former ballerina with the American Negro Ballet. Mrs.Brown Abelson taught weekly ballet classes while I was a member of the Philadelphia Dance Company. She’d walk into the studio as if she’d just had a full beauty treatment adorned in pink ballet slippers, pink tights, a pink cardigan, a pink ballet skirt and a pastel colored leotard. I’ve never seen her with the same handbag twice! She found this statement piece while on holiday in Berlin

Bill Cunningham taking a picture of me as I’m taking a picture of him!

Bringing sexy back…with a sparkling, studded boot!

Photographer Dario Calmese with Broadway darling Hollie Wright

AAADT dancers Rachel McLaren and Samuel Lee Roberts-in a custom leather blazer-with Robert Battle

Rachel McLaren, Robert Battle, Kristen Irby (the Gucci blazer strikes again)

AAADT dancer Ghrai DeVore looking divine in a metallic, vintage inspired gown. Ghrai celebrated her 22nd birthday last night. I wanted to execute a birthday split for her but I didn’t want to tear my pants or compromise my Yves Saint Laurent Johnny boots

AAADT dancers Demetia Hopkins and Guillermo Asca. Demetia’s dress was designed and constructed by AAADT dancer Jermaine Terry. Demetia gets the Kristen Irby Award for Astonishing Couture Curiosities. Love it…

Corin Wright and AAADT dancer/designer Jermaine Terry in ruffled tuxedo shirt. ”I can get my leg up and I can make fierce dresses,” said Terry. I’m kidding! He didn’t say that…

Jermaine Terry gets the Kristen Irby Award for Renaissance Man in Ruffles

AAADT dancer Jacqueline Green starring as Stunning Simplicity

AAADT dancer Megan Jakel in a navy blue velvet gown with cut-out detail around the waist

AAADT dancer Kanji Segawa with his wife, choreographer Jessica Lang

AAADT dancers Kirven James Boyd and Antonio Douthit. Kirven is wearing a Barneys private label tuxedo and Antonio is wearing Theory

Member of Ailey II

Founding member of Battleworks Dance Company Erika Pujic in black and guest

AAADT dancer Micheal McBride and guest

Antonio Douthit, Mr. & Mrs.Mack with Jayte Taylor.

AAADT dancer Akua Noni in another design by Jermaine Terry

The Ailey Company will be performing at New York City Center now through January 1, 2012.

Thanks Kristen!

Please visit www.kristenirby.com regularly for more fabulous treats.

xo,

thatgirl

Evidence, A Dance Company Audition + Garth Fagan Dance Oct 5-9

2011-09-30T14:05:00.002-04:00

Ronald K. Brown's Evidence, A Dance Company is seeking one male and one female dancer to join the company. Strong dance technique, touring experience and performance background are preferred but not required. All ethnic backgrounds are welcome. Please bring current resume and photo to the audition. Studio will be open at 9:15am to warm up and register. Be ready to dance at 10 AM.

WHERE: MARK MORRIS DANCE CENTER

3 LAFAYETTE AVENUE

BROOKLYN, NY 11217

WHEN: Saturday, October 8, 2011 at 10 AM

If you have any questions please email: info@evidencedance.com

WWW.EVIDENCEDANCE.COM

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An exclusive invitation from our friends at Garth Fagan Dance

Two World Premieres at

The Joyce Theatre

Tuesday through Sunday, October 5 - 9

Garth Fagan Dance invites friends of Evidence Dance to join them as the company caps off its 40th Anniversary celebration at

The Joyce this week. Internationally-acclaimed as founder of one of America's longest-established modern dance companies - and as the Tony Award-winning choreographer of the Broadway hit The Lion King - Garth is known for his singular style, a fusion of modern, ballet and Afro-Caribbean dance. The Joyce season boasts two World Premieres: Madiba, which Garth describes as "a love song to Nelson Mandela," paying homage to the South African leader's indomitable life force (Madiba is Mandela's Xhosa clan name); and Liminal Flux, choreographed by long-time company member Norwood Pennewell, with music by Miles Davis and Chancha Via Circuito. Also on view are revivals of some of Garth's greatest dances.

Click on The Joyce Theater to see full program listings - and to buy tickets.

For more information, click on Garth Fagan Dance.

Garth Fagan Dance at The Joyce Theater, October 5-9

Wednesday, 7:30pm; Thursday-Friday, 8pm; Saturday, 2pm and 8pm; Sunday, 2pm and 7:30pm. Tickets, $10-$59.

2011 Dumbo Dance Festival September 22nd-25th

2011-09-16T16:06:00.001-04:00

http://www.whitewavedance.com/DDF_2009.php

Performance Schedule

Thursday, September 22nd at 7:00pm
OPENING NIGHT GALA (WHITE WAVE John Ryan Theater)
Friday, September 23th at 7:00pm, 8pm & 9pm
Main Stage Performances (WHITE WAVE John Ryan Theater)
Saturday, September 24th at 2pm, 3pm, 5pm, 6pm, 8pm & 9pm
Main Stage Performances (WHITE WAVE John Ryan Theater)
Saturday, September 24th at 11am - 4pm
Site-Specific Performances (Along the Pier 1 Waterfront)
Sunday, September 25th at 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Kids Can Dance (Brooklyn Bridge Park (Main Street Lot))
Sunday, September 25th at 1:00pm - 2:00pm
Outdoor Performances (Brooklyn Bridge Park(Main Street Lot))
Sunday, September 25th at 4:00pm - 5:00pm
Main Stage Performances (WHITE WAVE John Ryan Theater)
Sunday, September 25th at 8:00pm - 10:00pm
GRANDE FINALE (Fulton Ferry Landing - Entrance at Old Fulton and Water Streets)

All Festival performances and OPENING NIGHT GALA will be held at the WHITE WAVE John Ryan Theater located in DUMBO at 25 Jay Street, waterfront, except where otherwise noted. In case of rain, outdoor performances will relocate to the main stage. Seating will be prompt & on the hour.

WHITE WAVE presents the 11th Anniversary of the DUMBO DANCE FESTIVAL from September 22nd -25th at the WHITE WAVE John Ryan Theater 25 Jay Street, Brooklyn. WHITE WAVE’s Artistic Director Young Soon Kim founded the DUMBO DANCE FESTIVAL in 2001. Now, the Festival is recognized around the world as a prestigious gathering of young choreographers. Selected by a panel of eight eminent figures in the dance world, participating artists have the opportunity to share their artistic vision with a diverse audience including both aficionados and first-time dancegoers. The festival provides a safe haven for emerging choreographers where they can freely explore their creativity and create new cutting-edge works. Presented in conjunction with the 2011 DUMBO ARTS FESTIVAL, a multi-disciplinary celebration of the neighborhood’s diverse artistic community, the DUMBO DANCE FESTIVAL features exciting work from dance artists in Brooklyn’s vibrant contemporary dance scene, sharing bills with rising choreographers from throughout the United States and international artists from Canada, Italy, and Japan. There are no reservations or advance ticket sales, all seats are first come, first served and all Festival performances are presented FREE/$10 Suggested Donation.
For the second year in a row, we will present a series of site-specific works along the DUMBO waterfront. Designed to be interdisciplinary, these pieces are collaborations between choreographers, composers, live musicians, film and video artists and fashion/costume designers. Performances will take place simultaneously at four locations: Site 1: The wide shoulder/corner leading to the Pier 1 promenade; Sites 2 and 3: Two spots on the Pier 1 promenade; Site 4: The Stairs at Granite Prospect.
We also offer our annual Program for families: Sunday, Sept. 25 from 12noon-3pm at Brooklyn Bridge Park/Main St. Lot, Riverview Lawn. Celebrating the next generation of dancers… and their parents! Teachers in WHITE WAVE’S Kids Can Dance education program will lead a one hour class session of Hip Hop/B-boy and Modern Dance for kids of all ages. Following the class, twelve festival artists then take the stage for a family-friendly program of contemporary dance.
The 2011 DUMBO DANCE FESTIVAL comes to a close Sunday, September 25th with a GRAND FINALE performance on the scenic Fulton Ferry Landing, which overlooks Manhattan, framed by water and sky. Nine choreographers will present dance works with the dazzling New York City nighttime skyline serving as their backdrop. These renowned companies include Italy’s Marianna Giorgi/Insane Dance Company, Japan’s Maika Misumi, Pascal Rekoert/Flexicurve, The Murphy/Smith Dance Collective, Joe Celej, Arch Dance Company/Jennifer Archibald, Cari Cunningham/belle contemporary dance co., Julliard Graduate young star choreographer Julia Eichten, and WHITE WAVE Young Soon Kim Dance Company.

Please join us for

AN EVENING OF ART AND CELEBRATION …

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

GALA Celebration: 7:00pm - 10:30pm
The WHITE WAVE John Ryan Theater, 25 Jay Street

The Gala Benefit on Thursday, September 22nd at 7pm is a thrilling evening celebrating the opening of WHITE WAVE’s Fall Season. Witness performances by seven outstanding contemporary dance companies, enjoy a scrumptious buffet dinner of Korean specialties, and then dance the night away at our fabulous party!
Attendees will enjoy stellar performances by Julliard graduate and star choreographer Julia Eichten; a captivating solo by Khaleah London; New York’s most talked about rising choreographers: Pascal Rekoert/Flexicurve, Joe Celej, Allison Jones, Loni Landon & Yin Yue; newcomer Yvonne-Marie Sain, and of course, our hosting company: WHITE WAVE Young Soon Kim Dance Company. An after-party will feature a sumptuous buffet and dancing to live music.
Tickets are $100, $250 & $450 (VIP seating); all proceeds raised will directly offset WHITE WAVE’s production costs for our 2011/12 Season. Ticket information is available at 718-855-8822 and info@whitewavedance.com. Please join us for this great night of art and celebration!

BETTY - Live at Highline Ballroom NYC this Saturday!

2011-09-08T11:24:00.003-04:00

I have two words for you darlings: BETTY Rules!

Get your tickets now, thank me later.

xo,

thatgirl

kA'RAMUU KUSH - Filmmaker - Renaissance Man

2011-08-08T10:51:00.003-04:00

We just caught up with kA'RAMUU KUSH. Incredibly talented and equally as charismatic, he is definitely a "Real Gone Cat" by thatgirl006 standards. An accomplished actor, writer, director, producer... we are wondering if there is anything this Cat can't do.

A bit about his latest project:

SALVATION ROAD, starring Roger Guenveur Smith and Russell Hornsby, was a finalist in the HBO short film competition at the 2011 American Black Film Festival and was featured at the National Black Theater Festival this past week.

Business becomes unusual for an unsuspecting hitman when he senses that he has been witnessed executing his traitorous mentor by a 9-year old boy.
Watch the trailer for SALVATION ROAD

SALVATION ROAD an AFI thesis film trailer directed by kA'RAMUU KUSH from ka'ramuu kush on Vimeo.

This man-about-town graciously took some time during a busy week shooting a documentary film, about the 2011 National Black Theater Festival in Winston Salem, North Carolina, to answer a few questions...

TG: Name one thing that you do very well but you enjoy the luxury of having someone do it for you.

KK: cook :-)

TG: What is something that Detroit, New York and LA have in common that surprised you.

KK: nothing. they're all distinctively different.

TG: What was the most natural aspect of making SALVATION ROAD? The most challenging?

KK: communication with talent and crew. making the violence empathetic.

TG: What was the event in your personal history that has influenced your work the most?

KK: my mother's passing. may her name prosper!

TG: Share something that you believed when you were very young that you have found to be true now that you're older and wiser?

KK: what's meant for you comes when you're ready.

TG: One film you wish you had made or could have been in.

KK: gordon park's shaft or spike's mo' better.

TG: Nas or Jay-Z?

KK: can't call it... they're both hood classics.

TG: Facebook or Twitter?

KK: don't use 'em enough to choose.

TG: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater or New York City Ballet?

KK: DEEPLY ROOTED. i would say COMPLEXIONS but they're too technical.

TG: Clark's or Timberlands?

KK: can't call it... they're both hood classics.

TG: Does your work leave you any time for romantic pursuits?

KK: My work is my romantic pursuit.

TG: Bonus question - Mad Men: Joan or Betty?

KK: don't know 'em.

TG: What?? Darling, we must work on this! ;-)

KK: sorry, i failed to get through the first episode.

View more of kA'RAMMUU'S work here: http://www.youtube.com/karamuu.

xo,

thatgirl

South African Soul: LIRA with special guest Selloane SOB's TONITE!! 9:00pm

2011-07-26T14:19:00.001-04:00

by thatgirl

Not much needs to be said about either of these women but I will say this... they are both fantastic! If you have never heard of Lira or Selloane, I suggest that you take this opportunity to get acquainted.

Click here to purchase tickets

or

Check the thatgirl 006 ticket giveaway!!!

Watch Lira's beautiful video for "Phakade"

FUREE in Pins & Needles

2011-07-08T16:00:00.003-04:00

by Brandon Littlejohn

The Foundry Theatre presents FUREE in Pins & Needles A New Revolutionary Musical in Brooklyn. Starring members of Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE), this refreshed production of Pins & Needles is truly A New Revolutionary Musical Theater Experience in Brooklyn. If you like your entertainment with a dash of political activism and social justice on the side, FUREE in Pins & Needles is the show to see.

In 1936 the International Ladies Garment Workers Union acquired the old Princess Theatre (at 39th St. and 6th Ave) and began holding classes in drama, dance, and music for its union members. For eighteen months, the company worked in the factories by day and rehearsed Pins & Needles by night. Their goal was to create a new kind of theatre. One that was enjoyable for its members, but also focused on the major themes of their time: labor unions, racial equality, fair justice, commitment to freedom, and concern for the common worker. Sound familiar?

Now, almost a lifetime later, many of these same issues are serious concerns for those living and working in New York City and its boroughs. Just like their predecessors from 1936, FUREE members rehearsed three times a week for 6 months, while continuing to work their day jobs. The result was a moving, entertaining show that reshaped my opinion of “community theatre.”

With moves choreographed by Camille A. Brown, 1930s garb designed by Arnulfo Maldonado, and music, arranged by Richard Harper, the FUREE cast was transformed from activists by day to theatre stars and starlets by night. They delivered an impassioned performance that felt more like a testimony and less of a staged show. With each number, it became crystal clear that the members of FUREE were performing from a place of truth. They painted a picture of a landscape that hasn't changed much over the past 75 years—unnecessary struggle is still a painful reality for too many people.

The scene “In a Public Assistance Office” was a hilarious comedic performance about how frustrating getting a little help can be. Anyone that has ever been to a government office can relate (think Department of Motor Vehicles on its worst day!). Donna Douglas and Stephen Barnes really strutted their stuff in “Doing the Reactionary” with amazing footwork and grace. Earlyn Kizzy Ferguson gave an outstanding vocal performance of “There’s a Man Goin’ Round Takin’ Names” which sent the audience into an uproarious applause as the final note resonated in the house. Cynthia Butts, Nova Strachan, Wanda Imasuen, Marilyn Charles aka Lady Venus, and Shannon Barber offered stand out performances as well. When this ensemble took the stage, I didn’t want to see them leave. Perhaps the most moving scene was “Activists Born” where this Fab 5, sans 1930s costuming, shared their abbreviated personal histories revealing how they came to be proud and "FUREEous” members of this impressive organization.

This cast of community organizers was vibrating at the height of its artistic ability. That’s the best any director, or theatergoer could ask of any dancer, singer, or actor. That is to give the best of what you have to give and to fully lend yourself to the work!

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said it best: “Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.” It’s obvious that organizations like FUREE are still effectively marrying art and social justice issues in order to affect change.

Families United for Racial and Economic Equality (FUREE) is a Brooklyn-based multiracial organization made up of almost exclusively women of color. "We organize low-income families to build power to change the system so that all people's work is valued and all of us have the right and economic means to decide and live out our own destinies." For more information about FUREE check out www.furee.org.

A proud University of Michigan Alumnus, Brandon Littlejohn is currently working as a creative director/A & R administrator in New York City. Follow him at www.twitter.com/1987productions & www.facebook.com/1987productions.

FUREE in Pins & Needles through July 9th. Click here for tickets or call 212 352-3101. The Irondale Theater Center is located at 85 South Oxford, Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

xo,

thatgirl

Exit, Pursued By a Bear: KING LEAR

2011-06-22T23:53:00.001-04:00

by Rod Gailes OBC

Last night, I had the great pleasure of experiencing EPBB's pitch perfect 5 hour all male, theatrical extravaganza, "King Lear" and was WOW'd!!! Set in the 1980's "Ball" culture, the production contextualizes Lear as "Queen Mother" of "The House of Lear" dividing "her" lands among the most complimentary of her "daughters". We know the story, but this...this familiar tale is told with several tangy twists.

Towering on a series of heels that would give a supermodel cause to pause, force of Nature, Billy Porter, serves us a Bold, Saucy, scenery chewing, yet textured re-imagining of the titular Lear that is pure theater gold. Director Iskandar & his androgynous band of merry men revive the word "ensemble" in its truest sense. BRAVO.

Having never had the opportunity to see the unabridged Lear, I am convinced there is no more enjoyable way for it to be done than the one Mr. Iskandar has concocted. Lounging on sofas, chaise, chairs & ottomans, we, the audience, were treated to pre-show libations served by a cast chock full of Broadway veterans, a first intermission dinner of spiced rice noodles (and a delicious banana bread), and a second intermission potluck of desserts. Good food, good service, good company, and good THEATRE! All tucked neatly in a residential studio space (location a secret until invited).OMG! Boutique, private, underground theater at it's privileged BEST.

But lest one be seduced by the trappings, please know the evening includes more bravura performances than can be mentioned here. Soul Stirring vocal commentary by "The Voice", Mykal Kilgore is a welcome surprise at the start and end of each act, increasing in frequency as the evening progresses. Jon-Michael Reese's "Cordelia" oozes a regal sensitivity that belies gender specificity. The curiously ageless, Noah Galvin as "Fool" is a consistent joy, especially in his one on one counseling sessions with "the Queen".

Tyrone Mitchell Henderson as "Gloucester" is charming & heart breaking. Curtis Wiley's "Duke of Albany" was a cool breeze. And the list goes on and on through the more than 17 person cast.

A special shout out to "Regan" AKA "Kunta" AKA Aaron Moten (recent Julliard grad & one of the stars of the new OBC DreamTheatre/Shadow And Act film, "SOFT FOCUS")! His "Regan" is disturbingly vampyric and measured in ways it would only spoil to outline here. Suffice it to say, Brilliant!! No wig necessary.

If EPBB continues with this kind of visionary approach to creating unique evenings of theatre, the sky's the limit. I can't imagine what they have in store for us next!!. Stay tuned.

King Lear runs Friday thru Monday at a private undisclosed location thru July 2nd. Find it if you can! LOL (na-nu-na-nu-na-na)

Culture commentator, Rod Gailes OBC is a writer/director for the stage and screen interested in building artistic fraternity with artists across disciplines. Follow him at: twitter.com/TheeOBC

www.facebook.com/rodgailesobc
read more from Rod Gailes OBC

OK, It was FREE, you got dinner, and were encouraged to bring drinks and dessert. I just claimed my late pass and attempted to RSVP. (Any show with Billy Porter and Mykal Kilgore is a must see in my book!) And, drum roll.... it is completely SOLD OUT! Click here to try your luck with the WAITLIST. I know, it is indeed a sad day but thanks to THEE OBC, I for one, will be on the look out for future epbb productions!

thatgirl

Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center 35th Anniversary Season (This week!)

2011-06-20T11:13:00.002-04:00

To celebrate this 35th anniversary, the Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center presents 35 in 5. The Souls of Our Feet: People of Color Dance Festival will feature 35 dance companies & choreographers during 5 days of performances.

This DON'T MISS dance happening includes performances by Camille A. Brown, Roger C. Jeffrey's Subtle Changes and Germaul Barnes/Viewsic Expressions Dance among many other outstanding artists.

Get your tickets today!

Visit the Thelma Hill (THPAC) website!

Evidence On Earth

2011-01-15T13:46:00.001-05:00

by Rod Gailes OBC

Ronald K. Brown and members of Evdence, A Dance Company Photo: Basil Childers

The man loves music, and it shows. Michelle N'degeocello, Ledisi, even a Lalah Hathaway cover of Nancy Wilson’s “When Did You Leave Heaven”: all these and more pack the iPod playlists of Ronald K. Brown, founder and artistic director of Evidence, A Dance Company. This noted choreographer is known as much for dynamic music choices as for the choreography that breathes through them. “As much as I’m tryna fight it, I’m actually listening to Keyshia Cole,” he chuckles. The creation of “high art” in tandem with consuming the art of the common man is not new to the dance visionary. “This high art thing ends up being about class. I’ve created four pieces for the Ailey company, but I’m not the pulled up skinny elitist. I don’t carry that. So in that way I am a bridge.”

The building of said bridge started early. Brown reflects on his early inspirations. “At 18 I was in this circle of writers. Going to see Audre Lorde often. Hanging out with Donald Woods, Craig Harris. (Lorde)… was always asking the audience, ‘Are you doing your work?’ I’m 18 years old (at the time). What is my work?”

As it turns out that “work” has been to give “encouragement the way my mother gave me that encouragement. And ultimately to build a space where the company does that,” Brown insists. The company’s very name was inspired by ideas brought to light during this time. “These writers were doing work around identity, leaving proof that you were here, and leaving a legacy. And I decided, WE are evidence. We need to walk in the world with a sense of accountability and responsibility because we are evidence of all the people who have invested in us. Ok. That’s the name of the company,” Brown remembers fondly.

“When people come to see the company I want them to see a reflection of themselves. I want them to see the human condition and that it is connected to something. I’m actually trying to show you bodies, all sizes with their spirits free, beautiful in all the different colors.”

Photo: courtesy of Evidence, A Dance Company

Founded in 1985 by the then 19 year old wunderkind, Evidence celebrates over 25 years of ground breaking dance with the premiere of “On Earth Together,” a dance musing set to the music of Motown Legend, Stevie Wonder.

“3 or 4 years ago a presenter in LA met Stevie Wonder and he expressed interest in doing something with dance. She mentioned it to me and… I said let me figure out what it could be. Miss Jamison (of Alvin Ailey fame) had used some of his music…but no one had done a whole piece,” says Brown. With only two solos to Wonder’s music in hand, Brown began the process of crafting what will eventually be an evening of dance set entirely to “STEVIE”.

Ironically, it was Brown’s composition teacher, Bessie Schomberg, who had issued the challenge years ago lamenting, “I wish you could use just one artist for a piece.” So here it is, and who knew it would be, arguably, THEE ARTIST to whose music he’d be creating that piece?

Ron Brown Photo: Basil Childers

“On Earth Together” premieres February 8-13 at The Joyce Theater in Manhattan before making an epic journey into the stratosphere. Following the Joyce run, plans for the piece expand in May and June of 2011 when Brown intends to “play around with having some of the music sung live.” Vocal artists Kevin Everett, Gordon Chambers, Caron Wheeler, and Mackie Brown (daughter of multi-hyphenate artist/activist Oscar Brown, Jr.) are all rumored to be on tap to add a live presence to the lyrics & music of our era’s master songsmith.

With a 6 week workshop/run planned for Brooklyn’s new Bric House space in 2012, a US festival tour and a “sit-down” theater stint, we are quite possibly looking at a “Fela” style transition many believe will land Brown’s show squarely on Broadway and beyond.

Culture commentator, Rod Gailes OBC is a writer/director for the stage and screen interested in building artistic fraternity with artists across disciplines. Follow him at:

twitter.com/TheeOBC

www.facebook.com/rodgailesobc
read more from Rod Gailes OBC

*CLICK HERE To learn how you can support the creation of On Earth Together.

Brandon Victor Dixon in "Indomitable James Brown - The Music And The Man

2010-12-16T13:13:00.000-05:00

Don't miss this!! One Night Only!!

click here for tickets!

One Night Only!
After a sold-out run at the Apollo Theater's Salon Series, internationally acclaimed Burnt Sugar Arkestra, Tony nominee Brandon Victor Dixon (Color Purple, Lion King and Unchain My Heart) and Director Patricia McGregor (Fela) present a one-night only concert version of Indomitable: James Brown The Music and The Man on Friday, December 17, 2010.

Doors at 7
Show at 8
Le Possion Rouge
158 Bleecker Street NYC

Tickets: 866 55 TICKETS or
www.lepoissonrouge.com/

Standing: $15 in advance $20 at door
Seated: $25 (limited availability)

Director Patricia McGregor, Associate Director of Broadway’s Tony nominated Fela and co-founder of collaborative performance collective Angela's Pulse, infuses the staged concert extravaganza with dance and multi-media elements, while the Burnt Sugar Arkestra, conducted by Greg Tate, interprets Brown's music through their virtuosic skill at recreating and renovating musical styles of many genres. Lead actor, Brandon Victor Dixon (Color Purple,) brings Brown’s voice, movement and soul back to the stage in an unforgettable performance.

“James Brown was a true American icon. Although he died on December 25, 2006, his influence lives on. The consummate showman, his complex, exhilarating, and socially conscious work formed an entire musical idiom that is the foundation of pop music worldwide." said Patricia McGregor, Director. "Four years after his death, we wanted to create a performance that would celebrate his extraordinary life. The fusion of Mr. Dixon's ferocious vocals, and Burnt Sugar's dynamic improvisation, results in a unique and thrilling evening. “

This is a fast paced theatrical tribute to the man who defined a musical era in American History. This 18 piece band explodes with funk and soul, led by the incredibly charming and talented Brandon Victor Dixon. The band members channel his spirit through classics including "Think" "Say It Loud" and "Superbad."

Featuring performances by: Imani Uzuri, Shelley Nicole, Lisala, Luqman Brown, LaFrae Sci, V. Jeffrey Smith, Latasha N. Nevada Diggs, Karma Mayet Johnson, "Moist" Paula Henderson, Jared Michael Nickerson, Mikel Banks, Lewis "Flip" Barnes, Micah Gaugh, Curtis Stewart, Will Martina, Avram Fefer, Andre Lassalle, Bruce Mack, Christopher Randolph, Tiffany Rachelle Stewart and Eddie Brown.

Meet Brandon Victor Dixon
Broadway: The Color Purple; Harpo (Tony Nomination), City Center Encores! House of Flowers; Royal, The Lion King Cheetah National Tour; Adult Simba (original). Off-Broadway: The Scottsboro Boys; Haywood Patterson (Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Drama League, Outer Critics Circle, and AUDELCO award Nomination). Regional: Ray Charles Live!; Ray Charles (Ovation Nomination) Columbia University’s 107th Annual Varsity Show, as well as numerous other productions. TV: Quincy Jones’s America’s Millennium, ABC’s One Life to Live; Darryl (recurring) Law & Order: Criminal Intent; Dix (feature) The Good Wife; Clerk (guest star). Awards: Columbia University’s I.A.L. Diamond Award for Achievement in the Arts, National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts First Level Award, British Academy of Dramatic Acting scholarship, Presidential Scholar Semi-Finalist. Brandon, a Columbia University graduate, thanks family, friends, Jack Waddell, Abrams Artists, and Noble Talent Management for their continuous support and belief in him. Brandon also has a podcast on relationships called Finding Morgan Freeman, and a newly launched line of all natural lip balm and fashion apparel called RTK (RediscoverTheKiss).

Indomitable is presented by Bert Media LLC, Burnt Sugar Index LLC, Nikole Vallins, and Natalie Malotke.

This Wednesday - December 1, 2010 - is World AIDS Day

2010-11-30T14:41:00.007-05:00

HIV does not discriminate. Its effects cross geographic, racial, and demographic borders. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the approximate US HIV prevalence is a little over 1.1 million people. The estimated South African HIV prevalence rate is approximately 5.7 million people.

December 1st is World AIDS Day, a day dedicated to education about AIDS and the impact the virus has on communities all over the world. This is the perfect time to support an organization or person who is doing something to make a difference.

This World AIDS Day, I will make a donation to Ubuntu Education Fund, an organization that provides over 4,000 orphaned and vulnerable children and their families with life-saving HIV support services and essential educational resources in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Please join me in making a donation to Ubuntu. Millions of text messages are sent all over the world everyday. What if those text messages could actually raise money for the fight against HIV?

Wednesday, December 1, 2010 at 12:00pm we will send text messages for change.

How does it work?

Simply text UBUNTU to 20222. You will receive a text confirming your $5.00 donation. Reply with YES and a one-time donation of $5.00 will be added to your mobile phone bill. Want to give more? Great! You can make donations via text up to five times per month so text away.

If you have already made a commitment to another organization, please remember to make a donation or offer to volunteer. Every little bit helps.

Together we can make a difference!

P.S. Is your cell phone bill bringing you to tears each month already? Don't worry, adding an extra $5.00 to it is not the only way to get involved. I am supporting Ubuntu's Crowdrise campaign by raising money online as well. Click Here to make a one time donation using your credit card, join my team or create your own!

Torya (owner/creative director, thatgirl006, Inc.) is often referred to as a party girl, a shopaholic, music obsessed, a 'professional friend' and a typical (juggling way too many projects at once) Gemini. Despite the fact that in a random poll of friends and acquaintances, philanthropist wouldn't top the list, she sincerely believes that we can make the world a better place by simply treating each other with compassion and lending a helping hand now and then.

************************

In honor of World AIDS Day, a poem by Cornelius "Life" Jones

IT’S A BLESSING

Could have been gone

When I went to the river on my own.

Could have been gone

But I’m still here.

Could have been gone

When that train came flying down the track.

Could have been gone

But I’m still here

Could have been gone

When we were hit by a truck full of steel.

Could have been gone

But I’m still here.

Could have been gone

If I decided to fight back.

Could have been gone

But I’m still here.

Could have been gone

When I fell asleep behind the wheel.

Could have been gone

But I’m still here.

Could have been gone

Had I chose to live in fear.

Not knowing my status,

Would I still be here?

Think about the tragic stories

You hear on the news.

Think of your life

And the roads you choose.

Think about the information

that can help us live.

Then about the people

who chose to live in fear.

Some may say, “It’s life

things just happen this way.”

But I’m here to tell you

I’TS A BLESSING than I’M STILL HERE

On this awesome and beautiful day.

more from Cornelius at www.thefutureforward.net

Alas, Poor Brandy, We Knew You Kinda...

2010-11-20T12:46:00.001-05:00

BY t. tara turk

ABC

I don't watch Dancing With The Stars unless I know at least half of the people going in. This time around though I was game since there was my homegirl in my head, Jennifer Grey (from one of the best movies ever in life "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"). I haven't kept up with homegirl Jennifer but I think she grew up and had a kid or something. I definitely know she changed her nose and now she's unrecognizable but somehow that Baby In A Corner twinkle is still going strong.

Now, I'm not a HUGE Brandy fan as I feel like she will always be Moesha as Moesha is Brandy and then that, becomes a vicious circle, I don't have time for. Brandy's music is just kind of okay (I rate this by saying "Hmmm...if this person is in concert, do I run/walk/or ignore the announcement?" I would probably ignore a Brandy concert as part of me feels like it would be ripe with a whole bunch of people drinking Hennessey, sweating in their good clothes, talking loud and not listening to the music. When you pay money for live music, that's a fail.

Adam Larkey, AP

I curse the day I ever found out who Bristol Palin was and still curse anything remotely related to that family and their passive aggressive meanness towards, well, everyone but themselves. She's still a young woman so I won't diss but I do know she can't dance and that's okay because I can't sing. But I'm not on American Idol. Herein my problems with all of these shows: are they for the talent or are they popularity contests? Like I said, Brandy is not my friend in the head so I'm not going to the mat for her but I do know she can dance better than Bristol Palin (and apparently so does the guy who shot at the television when Bristol made it to the finals).

Anytime the word "Stars" is in the title of a show, you know there aren't any. "Stars" on TV usually means formerly famous people who fell to the waste side somehow and need to get their careers back on track. There. Now, that's out of the way, we can fully acknowledge that Bristol Palin is not a star. She is a daughter and a mom and hopefully bound for more education. Why is she on this show? Why did you people vote for her?

I'm going to say "you people" meaning all of you who have voting powers - be it online, phone, texting or at the ballot box - because you all are starting to scare me a bit. Your voting is becoming strong for shows like this and weak where your ancestors sort of died for you to go vote for things that matter like government. Do you need the candidates to dance a rumba for you to vote for elections? If so, let the powers that be know that because they're eager for you to help get back on track.

Now, I'm not weeping for Brandy. I'm almost sure she'll be fine. Even my homegirl in the head, Jennifer Grey, is going to be great as she can squeeze out a workout clothing line or two from this appearance. But we've fudged the lines when you start voting for Bristol Palin to stay on TV and not for Congress to pass legislation. I'm almost tempted to put you all on punishment. No TV until 2012.

T. Tara Turk's fiction has appeared in African Voices, Exit the Apple and the international anthology X24. Her plays have appeared at New Federal Theater, Ensemble Studio Theater and the Actor’s Studio. Her screenplays have been featured in such festivals as Reel Sisters, BHERC and on BETJ. Contact her at scruffdiva[at]gmail.com.

MTV's Teen Moms Are Still Babies

2010-11-13T22:26:00.001-05:00

BY t. tara turk

I absolutely love most reality shows and the ones I tend to gravitate towards are ones that deal with actual real life circumstances mixed with a little fantasy like "Top Chef", "Hoarders", "Real Housewives of Atlanta/Orange County/New York" (you could not pay me to watch Jersey, Beverly Hills or DC as I think that's where the trains jumped the track into Crazy Town). But originally I started out watching "Real World" (the FIRST one) and most of MTV's other documentaries. While some were trying to capitalize on crazy, MTV seemed like they actually started out trying to tell stories and promote a type of documentary television that would educate us, especially the "MTV True Life" series where they'd follow teens dealing with weight issues, addictions, serious relationship troubles, physical and mental obstacles or even crazy parental conditions.

Its "Teen Mom" series though is an all-together different series. Out of their "16 and Pregnant" series, they selected a few teens who's situations required further development. There's Farrah whose boyfriend died before she had their baby and whose mom was arrested for attacking her. There's Amber who has some serious rage issues with her off and on fiancé (so serious that she recently had her daughter taken from her by Child Protective Services and placed with the child's father). There's Maci who is striving to finish college and maintain a civil relationship with her ex (or they may be back on as the supermarket tabloids keep confusing me). And there's Catelynn who, along with her boyfriend, gave their baby up for adoption (for the sake of the child - what a thought) and are working on trying to grow up themselves.

Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images North America

This show has propelled these girls into a troubling spotlight. While critics raved that the show showed a realistic journey towards early pregnancy, the Moms themselves are now doing red carpets (pictured rt: Bristol Palin (Center), Maci Bookout (L) and (R) Farrah Abraham), giving tabloids interviews and still trying maintain (or pretend) a sense of normalcy. In essence, they've followed the footsteps of Kate Gosselin and become 'Professional Baby Mamas'. No education required for that. Just a hustler streak to get your money.

No good can come of this new trade. All current 'Professional Baby Mamas' are not doing so well - Jon and Kate are fighting and divorcing in front of their brood of eight. Brian Mashce from "Raising Sextuplets" was arrested and tasered for an argument with his wife. Nadya Suleman, better known as Octomom, is about to lose her house, which will make her lose her kids if she's not careful.

Is there a time when we look at the influx of these shows and ask what the point is? Are we ever going to be able to identify the moment where the show's goal remains to be about healing and getting better rather than putting the problem in the spotlight and watching it dance for a long time?

Tyler Perry is Not the Devil

2010-11-09T00:01:00.040-05:00

by Rod Gailes OBC

Last night my mother called me practically in tears after seeing TP’s latest, “For Colored Girls”. My stony silence and change of subject surely must have confused and disappointed her. I know she was looking for a like minded soul to celebrate what she called a “profound, really moving film”. There’s a legion of people who feel the same way. I saw them at the theatre on Friday morning with popcorn. They “amen corner'd” the poetry. They laughed with/at Thandie Newton and gasped at the horror of Beau Willie’s tragic choice. They LOVED it & applauded at the end. It’s how I imagine the reactions of the audiences who first saw a woman tied to railroad tracks in silent movies. They were in awe.

Tyler Perry knows his audience and they feel satisfied, fulfilled, and uplifted when they leave his movies. Being the modern day P.T. Barnum of melodrama, he took the model laid out by Lee Daniel’s “Precious” and Spielberg’s “The Color Purple”, “prettied it up with beautiful women and muscle-y men and dared us not to like it.I feel a strange bit of guilty pleasure that I, too, loved Janet Jackson in this movie. I loved Loretta Devine (who, for the purposes of full disclosure here, is attached to my play, UNSPEAKABLE, about the life of Richard Pryor). And I loved that it wasn’t as horrible as people said and was infinitely more entertaining than “Precious”. I loved it in the same way I loved Diddy not falling off the stage during “A Raisin in the Sun” a few seasons ago on Broadway. Was it a magical performance? NO. But hey, Diddy didn’t fall off the stage, guys! He showed up, remembered his lines, and made a bunch of people some money. That, however, is never enough for the “corner men and women” who sit on a Street called “ART”. They, the “mother/sisters” and neighborhood “Block watchers”, want not only Black movies to be green lit and produced but some other intangible, ether-like quality as well. “It’s gotta feel right.” And for some reason (a lot of reasons), they feel this just doesn’t feel “right”.

“For Colored Girls…” was always controversial even as a play. As a very small child, I remember showing a national tour ad of the show to my Great Grandmother. “That’s a play about bad women,” she said. Clearly the play’s frank discussion of sex, violence, abortion, etc. had reached her even though she would never see the actual show.

Many years later my own (Dare I say it?) dislike of the play would grow as it and monologues from George C. Wolfe’s “The Colored Museum” flooded my ears in countless auditions I held for aspiring actors.
Actors Note: Doing monologues from either of those “Colored” plays in my audition puts you behind the 8 ball. (But I digress.)

My personal feelings about the source material aside, every artist has his own voice. Ntozake has hers and Tyler Perry has his. The problem is that so many others have a voice but no outlet for having it heard. This is the minefield into which TP has stepped.

Whenever you choose to speak for the voiceless or tell mass media stories in their name, you must be prepared that they may not like what you say. In this case, it seems the artist community is not only incensed at WHAT the movie is saying (“Men make life hell for women” Which is Old Tired News) but THAT he continues to say it in film after film in not very interesting or original ways.

There is no universally loved filmmaker whose work ALL people love. Spike Lee deals with the race issue. Scorsese tells crime stories. George Lucas makes re-interpreted Westerns. Lee Daniels dabbles in the “freak show” relationship arena. And Oprah & Tyler are thought to be in the “She-Woman Man Haters” club. It’s their brand. Everyone has a shtick that’s their lane, and some people are just plain allergic to it.

While I cannot claim to be a TP “fan”, the debut of his latest film to CUH-ROWDS starting at 10:00am on opening day is a testament to his ability to package, promote, and create excitement and discussion about a Black movie that doesn’t feature drugs or crime or gangs. (We’ve come a long way since the ‘90’s). As a fellow filmmaker, my colleagues and I, will hopefully be the beneficiaries of this shift in studio tastes. #leaguesforever

That TP did not use his power to open the door for a Black female director (Kasi Lemmons, Gina Prince Bythewood, Caran Hartsfield, Darnell Martin) to tell this story is grating to many in the community, almost akin to a reverse “bullying”. The perception by the Black Hipoisie and culture police that he plucked fruit from the Negro literary tree simply to extend, upgrade, and diversify his brand for award season is also the source of much ire. To them I suggest the following: GOMYOM! Go Out Make Ya Own Movie!

40 Acres.com

We must remember that the film industry is just that: an INDUSTRY. At its best we sometimes get sensitive, beautifully crafted popular art. At its worst we get trash. “For Colored Girls” is neither of those. It’s just a popcorn movie, one that probably would be getting less flack if a capable female director had directed it shot for shot the way TP did. But it’s just a movie, a flick, a night at the show. Period. I know it means more than that to certain people, and having “Madea” adapt and direct this work feels like sacrilege to them. Ticket buyers who gave the film a 20 million dollar opening weekend, Tyler Perry, and Lionsgate, the film’s distributor, however, beg to differ. Far from sacrilege, to them it is AMAZING. (Eye of the beholder… Go figure.). Never have so many Black people so consistently supported a Black director’s body of work since the heyday of my hero, Spike Lee. As hard as it is to hear: “Somebody LIKES Tyler Perry movies!” and that’s why they get made with such frequency.

In my humble opinion, the cultural elite are irritated because a successful entrepreneur (not “ARTIST”) has dared to move from his lane of “Grandma-drag-burlesque-common man-philosophizing” into the, what had heretofore been considered, “art” lane. That he used all his power to do it and didn’t completely fall off the proverbial “stage” felt like a further kick in the gut to them. For better or worse, however, that is what the film “Industry” is about, friends: using your power to make as much mullah, dough-re-me as possible. I’d love to change that culture myself, but it takes a village... WE gotta do it together.

For all the Tyler Perry haters, BE ON NOTICE that he is not going away any time soon. In fact a great deal of the American movie going public and the movie industry, itself, doesn’t WANT him to go away.

For all artists of differing taste, we must work together, realize the cult of personality is not king, and make true, commercially viable entertainment and tell our stories OURSELVES. We’ll have no one to blame if we don’t … not even TP.

Tyler Perry is a rich man because a whole lotta “somebodies” with 20-dollar bills enjoy and are moved by his work (including my Mama). Let’s do what we need to do to get in positions to show ‘em how it’s REALLY done. Stay on your grind, “ARTISTS”! Improve your business skills and networking and gamesmanship so you too can be in the position of doing an adaptation of some Negro classic…. Or better yet a well-crafted, original story. Don’t be mad at Tyler Perry for doing his thing or Spike for doing his. The movies you want to see made do not make themselves. Get out there and do your thing.

And by the way, Tyler Perry is not D.W.Griffith and he did not make “The Birth of a Nation”… yet. So relax :-).

Photo: Joel Karie

Rod Gailes OBC is an Award winning writer/director for the stage and screen artist for social change, Rod Gailes OBC creates repeat viewing entertainment from provocative subject matter. “UNSPEAKABLE” his play on Richard Pryor is currently in development for Broadway. Follow him on twitter: TheeOBC.

Just Who is "For Colored Girls" For?

2010-11-06T12:44:00.004-04:00

BY t. tara turk

Ntozake Shange

My friend Bassey Ikpi wrote a FANTASTIC article on Huffington Post about the Tyler Perry "For Colored Girls" movie and why it's going to be hard to see it. So I can't really add much more to her dope diatribe except for the fact that Hollywood surely loves to make something where there shouldn't be anything at all.

"For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf" is actually the title of Ntozake Shange's choreo-poem (the first of its kind, ushered in by the legendary Woodie King, Jr.) that made it to Broadway some 35 years ago. Ntozake called it a choreopoem because Ntozake was a poet, dancer, actress, and bohemian, feather goddess who just wrote what she wanted to see. Now, "for colored girls..." (this is how it's usually spelled when you speak of it theatrically) is not even my favorite Ntozake choreopoem/play. My favorite is "Spell #7" which is a mixed gendered journey into love and realization of one's self. That piece is full of BOMBS (please don't read this Tyler Perry. You've done enough). I would hate to see it on the silver screen.

As a writer of many mediums (stage, screen and page), I believe that most projects come to us 'writerly folk' in a form for a reason. If I hear dialogue and I see movement, I know it's a play. If it's a story that almost feels epic in proportion, it's a novel. If I am disciplined, I can write the screen. Sometimes one can be adapted for the other. But sometimes they can't be. Toni Morrison, one of my FAVORITE writers (so favorite that I have some of her words tattooed on me since I EARNED them), is very difficult to FEEL on the screen. I know Oprah did "Beloved". But um.... so anyway, how about those elections? Seriously, even Ntozake considers Tyler's film "unfinished." Hmm...

Sometimes the machine of Hollywood and all its players, get so starved to make a "relevant" project that they forget to check the RELEVANCY of the story and its medium. There are exceptions (as always). Great artists abandoned great pieces all the time because the excuse, "I've always wanted to tell that story" is not enough to make a great piece. You have to be more respectful to the process of telling the story than "because you think you can."

Not sure I will see it. Super Professor Melissa Harris-Perry summed it up for me: "The play 'for colored girls...' changed my life. TPerry films make me wish I were dead."

Not All News is, Well, News

2010-10-29T13:30:00.000-04:00

BY t. tara turk

Christine O'Donnell via recent Gawker story

Blogs went crazy the other day after a seemingly immature dope gave Gawker.com a story about his one night stand (read if you dare) with with the circus show of a candidate, Christine O'Donnell. The craze was not what you think, however, as the story caused a backlash on Gawker.com as well as the dope who sold his story. Why the backlash? Well, primarily, it's not because we don't care about public figures' sex lives (we do) but it was because the guy in question was so horrendous and callous in his retelling of the encounter that many realized even a crazy lady like O'Donnell didn't deserve a "Mean Girls" style beat down from a guy, 15 years her junior, telling the story of how bad their drunk Halloween encounter was. It crossed the line.

Donna Brazile

On Twitter, women were appalled. I'm talking smart women like Donna Brazile who put some light on the point that however we feel about a candidate, our voting and news should pertain to where they stand on issues and if they did anything illegal or hurt someone in a way that was illegal. A bad sexual encounter (which actually turned out to be not even "sexual") doesn't qualify. If anything, the idiot's telling of how O'Donnell "groomed" herself actually gave her more sympathy with the public than even her own admonishing of the story.

This is what happens when some people think you can take information and put "news"

Maura Kelly, Marie Clarie.com

clothes on it. Gawker.com and Defamer.com, while sometimes entertaining, are not news sources and shouldn't act as such. Case in point, magazine Marie Claire blogger Maura Kelly is coming under fire on the sonic waves for being grossed out by the two leads of CBS's "Mike & Molly" (a show about two people who meet at Over eater's Anonymous - if you can't keep all the new shows straight like me). Kelly came under fire when she had this to say about overweight people:

"So anyway, yes, I think I'd be grossed out if I had to watch two characters with rolls and rolls of fat kissing each other ... because I'd be grossed out if I had to watch them doing anything. To be brutally honest, even in real life, I find it aesthetically displeasing to watch a very, very fat person simply walk across a room - just like I'd find it distressing if I saw a very drunk person stumbling across a bar or a heroine addict slumping in a chair."

Even the series creator, Mike Roberts, responded to this lowly blogger's bigoted rant against people (she apologized - kind of), causing more attention to, well, nothing. As one of my favorite comments on this story said, "If I have to debate you about common decency, then I really shouldn't be talking to you anyway."

Ginny Thomas is No Beyonce

2010-10-23T12:48:00.000-04:00

BY t. tara turk

It was bad enough that we had to endure Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas's BS confirmation where severe red flags were ignored in order to satisfy conservative and supposedly folks of color by electing his ridiculousness to our highest court. Now we have to deal with his crazy wife.

For those of you too enraptured with TI's recent parole violation (I, for one, am devastated) to know what I'm talking about, Ginny Thomas, wife of Clarence, decided last Saturday morning (7:30am in the morning to be exact - sleep much, Ginny?) to call the Brandeis Campus office of Anita Hill, the woman who testified that Clarence Thomas showed GROSS (literally gross) sexual misconduct towards her during their working relationship, and ask Anita, a notoriously private woman who has MOVED ON as she is now a professor at Brandeis University, to consider apologizing for her testimony against Clarence...19 years later. Talk about a grudge.

The media is a buzz about why Ginny is doing this now which baffles me because it's quite simple given the fact that Ginny has been a super Tea Party Conservative Party train for the past year or so. This isn't even as deliciously bad as the Beyonce/Idris Elba/Ali Larter movie "Obsessed." You might call this one "Boring" or "Ginny, Get A Life Already" (my Facebook friend's are saying more vulgar things that I giggle about but I won't mention them here). The real issue here is that Ginny, not very slick I might add, is trying to shield us away from her ethics issues by causing a distraction. You might call this "Quick, Go Look at The Black Woman and Not Me." Given our media tendency to follow the finger, that's exactly what we are doing. Even Stevie Wonder could see this one.

I find all of this interesting as Ntozake Shange's play gets Tyler Perry-ized in the film "for colored girls" as the play (I can't vouch for the movie yet) is all about self-love and empowerment from a black woman's perspective. Maybe we should do an intervention with Ginny Thomas so she can get herself together as she has not so difficultly shown us that the there is a hole there with her that she is either oblivious to or unaware of. Sad that in this day and age a white woman married to a black man is unable to see the damage she asks, twenty years later, another woman to apologize for telling her truth, especially when that woman is the same color as her own husband. This is not emotional for her. This is a bad game plan that violates so many people's privacy, including her own baffled family.

Mary Ann Chastain / AP File

Jenny Sanford, the ex-wife of scandal plagued Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina, should teach Ginni a thing or two about class. I wonder if there's a movie in this. A reverse "My Fair Lady" of sorts. I'd rather watch it on the screen than in the news. We are a bit busy in the news...with real issues.

thatgirl006 film review - CATFISH

2010-10-20T21:25:00.000-04:00

IDENTITY FRAUD

Swifty Lang

As the newest Oscar-worthy releases descend upon us faithful moviegoers, it is clear that Hollywood has recognized the dearth of the social-networking movies. Not one, but two films have been reeled-out to plug this nagging void. While the Sorkin/Fincher The Social Network garners rave reviews for their motor-mouthed portrayal of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerbug, the “controversial” Catfish has swooped from its Sundance obscurity (if such a thing is even possible) to take its rightful place amongst the date-night divisive flicks.

What exactly is so controversial, so shocking about this film? I haven’t really figured that out quite yet. What is that huge twist, that spoiler that I am not supposed to reveal to friends? If you are expecting a Sixth Sense or a Usual Suspects identity-swap, then you will be sorely disappointed. The greatest identity perpetrator amongst the film is its marketing department.

Catfish follows Nev Schulman a young, handsome photographer living in the New York as he develops a Facebook relationship with an inappropriately aged girl in Michigan. The filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost, train their lens on their loft-mate as he receives gifts both digital and brick mortar from this nascent genius. She apparently lives in a family that would give the Glass-clan a run for their money: painters, musicians, equestrians, all tucked away in this remote part of Michigan. And so the fantasy begins.
Nev’s late-night correspondences with Megan’s older sister via phone and text are all captured with an unflinching authenticity, yet they often play-out with a juvenile awkwardness that is closer to cringe-worthy than honest. Is this scripted?

There are, of course, holes in Meg’s story, the potential for her FB profile to be little more than imaginative cut-and-paste, so the trio of twenty-somethings who rolled out of a Ryan Mcginley Levi’s ad decide to ‘Go Forth’ and seek out the truth. What follows is a road-trip enhanced by the very tools used to create the online identity (screen-shots of google maps). The filmmakers miss an opportunity to truly capture the kind of desolation that would inspire such identity finagling. We see the world through a car window, and rather than creating the intimacy of a road-trip, the viewer is well aware of his/her outsider status. Sadly, this smacks of lazy cinematography, but why even concern oneself with such trivialities in the pursuit of truth?

To the filmmakers’ credit, the movie is not simply a game of “gotcha” journalism or an opportunity for the New York Intellectual to thumb its nose at a bunch of rubes. There is genuine sympathy, and some beautiful moments are captured. Because the film has been marketed as a digital-age ‘whodunit’ the distance for this viewer between the identity of the film and the reality of my 86 minutes begins to sadly play-out like a ‘whogivesashit’.
Catfish as a document of our digital age and how identity is created online is something worth seeing and preserving. But the shilling has trumped the content, no fault of the filmmakers. Expectations are the great killer of first-time counters, as this film well exhibits. Keep yours modest and you will enjoy.

Jonathan Lang is a film critic and writer. His graphic novel FEEDING GROUND is forthcoming in October from Archaia. You can follow him on twitter at @SwiftyLang

The Great Personal Business Trade

2010-10-16T12:15:00.000-04:00

BY t. tara turk

from Hulbert Waldroup's "Old Hollywood" collection

As an amateur old Hollywood (that means the biz and not the city) historian, I can tell you that a bunch of things have changed since the old days of conveyor belt starlets, one studio contracts and publicity stunts. Things have reversed themselves. Back then, actors were signed to one studio, loaned out, fined if they didn't show up, forced to train, set up with other actors they may or may not have liked and kept their private lives as private as possible. Drama was on the screen (or the stage if you were lucky enough to be on Broadway - back then, the stage was a viable competitor for the movies believe it or not). And the work, for the most part, was worth it.

I'm not old enough to be one of those "back in my day everything was better" types but I can tell you that that movies and theater back then were made with such purpose and care (unless it was blatantly supposed to be a folly of sorts). As I read Vanity Fair's recent Marilyn Monroe archives , I was struck by how much we thought we knew but didn't. And then I was struck by how much I know of "famous" people know and don't want to know.

The breakups recent Courtney/David, Christina/Jordan, Kim/Reggie (why are we talking about her again?), Melissa Etheridge/Tammy Lynn, Laura/Ben and Tiki/Ginny along with the rehabbing of Lilo (though Michael K's Dlisted makes Lindsay's Mom, "White Oprah," way more interesting), Dwayne Wade and Gabby Union's union is all just a bit too much to take in for reality's sake. Since when did private lives take over the entertainment industry? You're going to say Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, I know but at least they channeled their passion into some pretty damn good films.

Maybe the larger question is, with all this juicy material, why are we not using it for what it should be used for? While I'm on the fence about the Alicia Keys and Swizz Beats union (though it really isn't any of my business but since it's out there, I just formed an opinion since I can) at least she made a song "Unthinkable" about it that I actually happen to adore.

Without personal business we wouldn't be human but artists are supposed to use their personal business to do something larger than for themselves. Take it out of the tabloid sheets and put it on stage or screen for crying out loud. I bet a movie about the Kanye/Taylor Swift rift would blow out a movie about two single idiots forced to raise a kid together...Hmmm....

Showgirls of The Hill

2010-10-09T14:12:00.000-04:00

BY t. tara turk

Why are THESE women running for office and not for the screen?

Let's pretend that we can now accept that our POTUS (President of the United States) is being left alone to do his job and people are patient and letting him solve all the crazy shenanigans we got ourselves into years past. This gives us a chance to focus on the leading public office ladies of 2010 -2011 and what movies they should be in starring (instead of, of course, inserting themselves into our lives like the desperate ingenues they seem to be).

Sarah Palin - Are we done yet? Is the pig trying on new lipstick or something? Why are we still talking about her? What has she said that's new? Maybe there are millions of women who are indulging in their innocent girl crushes still and just can't shake that chemical she gives off but I'm immune so I'm unclear. I'm sure there are tons of right-winger-gosh-darn-Walmart-shopping women who would love for me to come to their side. What would it take? Sarah as The Lady in Red in the upcoming Tyler Perry movie. I mean why not? I would love for Sarah to tell us to kiss her backside with this "this note is attached to a plant/i've been waterin' since the day i met you/you may water it/ yr damn self." Bye, Sarah! Don't let the door hit you where the good spirit split you.

Christine O'Donnell - Seriously? I need some sort of Lisbeth Sandler (the researcher from "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" for those of you non readers - and the movie is coming out to help you anyway) to figure out how Christine went from mildly amusing on the Bill Maher show to running for office. Every time she opens her mouth, an entertaining lie falls out. I mean if she were cooler she could be Allison (Ally Sheedy) from "The Breakfast Club" and we could be Clare (Molly Ringwald) and say to her "Every time you open your mouth, you dump all these tremendous lies all over me." And then we could do her make up so she could go off and meet her shrink or get a job to pay for her rent instead of her supporters doing it. Or on her way to bust the Chinese for trying to take over America.

Sharron Angle - This is a SNL skit, right? Perhaps she really does have a condition that makes her not remember that she said stuff when she did but then wouldn't she remember that we have modern equipment - like video and stuff - that tapes these things so that if she forgets, she can remember and be flabbergasted like we can.She needs a handler - like Eliza Dolittle in "Pygmalion" - "My Fair Lady" if you want to hear music. I'm doubtful Sharron can sing so I'll stick with watching endless scenes of her handler to trying to get her in tip top shape in time for her to have a real conversation with the rest of America.

I don't want to take away anyone's shine because these women, while making Shirley Chisolm turn in her grave, obviously have some kind of charisma to them. I just don't want them deciding my fate as a citizen of this country. My hope is that their circus band of handlers will actually keep sourcing them out as entertainment in another arena. This is the age of several careers so if not the movies - there's always the Sarah Palin line a Walmart, Christine O'Donnell as the writer of the next Jason Bourne series or Sharron Angle as a Girl Scout Troop leader. Who wouldn't buy cookies from a lady with amnesia?

****************************************************************************

"I'm not the only one who can see "types" in the polls. You can check out the NY Times article below:"

With O’Donnell as Foil, Democrat Plays It Safe By Frank Bruni

****************************************************************************

According to Daniel Gwirtzman, Charlie Rose serves "granola for the brain" nightly.

2010-09-29T20:22:00.000-04:00

A Conversation with Daniel Gwirtzman

Jonathan Lang

“I am happiest when I don’t have to talk, or think, when my body can do the talking/thinking for me.”

-Daniel Gwirtzman

For an artist whose bio begins with the notion of kinetics trumping conversation, incorporating the language of the Ivory Tower as a leitmotif could seem like a misstep. However, Daniel Gwirtzman is as precise with his ideas as his performances are with movement. His work is not marred by robotic syncopation. Rather, he is the rare contemporary dancer who actually appears to be enjoying himself. I recently spoke to Daniel about his upcoming performance “The Lecture”.

JL: Why take on the University?

DG: I’m not sure I am taking on the Ivory Tower or Academia so much as exploring the idea that we have multiple intelligences. We tend to stratify things and confine them to their separate subjects. With “The Lecture” it’s exciting to explore this fusion that interests me. What is challenging to the intellectual side of one and what is challenging to the physical side, and where these two intersect. I’m not trying to make any judgment or case. It’s not a pitting against, rather it’s a bringing together.

JL: How does your piece address the disconnect between action and thought?

DG: What’s nice about having a score of lectures is there is a concrete platform. What I am aspiring to do is utilize that, and create a context so an audience member can do just that, see how we can marry action and thought. I am interested in starting with the obvious and stripping away layers to see how far I can go into the abstract world without losing an audience. For me, as a dancer, the idea of action and thought being separate is kind of foreign.

JL: Does “The Lecture” deal with distractibility, with this notion of being overloaded by stimuli?

DG: I think “The Lecture” is focused on reduction and simplification more than distractibility. The distractibility is allowing the audience member to process the audio and visual components of the piece at the same time. I am being attentive to over stuffing as well. I am not having video work. I am considering that these lectures are complete thoughts by themselves. It requires a different level of concentration. Hearing about the evolution of language, the evolution of our brains, of gender and how that affects behavior, the challenge is to give honor to these lectures, not competing with them, but letting them have a supporting role. What “The Lecture” is trying to do is synthesize something that is intellectual and give it a physical shape.

JL: Where are the university segments derived from and how does your experience as a teacher shape the performance?

DG: As an educator I love to teach, but I am not interested in making something didactic. I can’t say there is one university professor or lecture that inspired the performance. I was pretty adamant that mentioning Charlie Rose would be part of the press release because that is a huge source of inspiration for me, particularly his series on the brain. Watching him feels like granola for my brain.

JL: How can dance deal with the bridge between the literal and the abstract?

DG: First and foremost the dance must create a jolt; there must be a physical impact. One of the problems with the general audience member viewing Modern dance is they can’t get passed the fact that they are watching a person. They are not able to see it in an abstract way or in the same formalistic terms as you would view a Mondrian. There is a lot of resistance to getting passed the fact you are watching bodies. We are a puritanical culture. The literal in dance is something that is available to us immediately and what “The Lecture” is aspiring to do is show that just as a word has morphed over 1500 years, the same thing can happen to dance. We can start to find comfort in the palette of movement on its own merits and it does not need to be wedded to a specific narrative. I am interested in a certain neutrality of movement, a neutrality of the body. In my class work I am teaching, I am interested in cultivating a kind of anti-technique, in understanding symmetry, equality, a purity of movement without a specific style. With “The Lecture” I am starting with a place of comfort so we can then go to that place of abstraction.

The Lecture will be performed November 2, 2010, 7pm at The Ailey Citigroup Theater.

Jonathan Lang is a film critic and writer. His graphic novel FEEDING GROUND is forthcoming in October from Archaia. You can follow him on twitter at @SwiftyLang

Essential links for this post:

Get Tickets Here!

Who is Daniel Gwirtzman?

click the link and see for yourself!

Selloane CD Release Party @ Joe's Pub September 6th 9:30pm

2010-08-16T23:56:00.000-04:00

Savion Glover presents Sole Power June 21 - July 10 in NYC!

2010-06-13T19:02:00.000-04:00

Savion Glover returns to The Joyce Theater with
SOLE POWER

An interactive work that explores the listener's journey

June 21 - July10, 2010

"The vignettes presented in Sole Power demand the audiences' participation by inviting members to transmit their own communication to the hoofer, thereby, becoming a partner to the dance. Sole Power inspires an intimate conversation between the sole and the soul."
-Savion Glover

Savion speaks about Sole Power:

You have an insistence with communicating to the audience tap as sound in the past several years - can you expand on that idea?
SG: Tap, the dance, has always been about sound; a percussive instrument; music. I have never learned it to be anything else. I've been so blessed with this tradition from my teachers before me, and I'm simply trying to communicate this information clearly, with no room for misinterpretation.
So, if I'm an audience member, and I want to hear you perform these complicated rhythmic patterns or songs that I might identify with, what should I listen for?
SG: I want you to just listen; to whatever you hear. Tap is a way of communicating for me. It's all that I am. It's all that I've been and will be. It's a way of life. I'm very blessed. What I wish to communicate is simply joy. Gratitude. Praise. I hope I'm able to achieve this with each composition I create.
What do you think is the biggest misconception in the tap tradition?
SG: That it's a spectator sport, like basketball. And I love basketball (Mr. Glover laughs). But, I want the audience to listen. Take it in. I take in the audience every night. To hear the hooferz that have come before me.
Taken from an interview by Rennica Johnson for The Joyce. Click Here to read more.

Get your ticket to hear this brilliant new work today!

Savion Glover in Sole Power June 21, 2010 - July 10, 2010

Show times: Mon-Wed at 7:30PM, Th - Sat at 8:00PM and Sat at 2:00PM.

For tickets call JoyceCharge, 212-242- 0800 or purchase online now!
*Tickets start at $10!

The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street. For more information visit www.joyce.org.

Press inquiries? Email: torya@thatgirl006.com

*Savion Glover* Links

Savion Glover Productions
The Hooferz Club School for Dance

Eisa Davis performs at Joe's Pub this Friday - 9:30PM!

2010-05-25T12:18:00.000-04:00

Eisa Davis' talent defies category but you may know her as: Playwright, Actress, Singer, Songwriter, Yogi... the list goes on. If you don't know her, here's your chance...

This Friday!

May 28th, 9:30pm

Eisa Davis @ Joe's Pub

EISA DAVIS was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for her play Bulrusher, now published by Samuel French. She wrote and starred in Angela’s Mixtape, named a best of 2009 by The New Yorker. Other plays include The History of Light, Paper Armor, Umkovu, Six Minutes, Warriors Don’t Cry, and Hip Hop Anansi. Eisa was a resident playwright at New Dramatists, where she won the Helen Merrill Award, and the Whitfield Cook Award, among others. She has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Cave Canem, and the Van Lier and Mellon Foundations. As an actor, recent work includes her Obie Award-winning performance in the Broadway rock musical Passing Strange, now a film directed by Spike Lee. Eisa is also featured in the films Welcome to the Rileys opposite James Gandolfini (Sundance), Robot Stories, The Architect, Confess, Happenstance, Pretty Bird, Apparition of the Eternal Church, and Brass Tacks. She was Bubbles’ sister on The Wire, is a repeat offender on Law and Order (the mothership and SVU), and has guest starred on Damages and Mercy. She was just seen in the world premiere of Melissa James Gibson’s This at Playwrights Horizons. Eisa is a member of the Actors Studio, and a Usual Suspect at New York Theater Workshop. As a singer-songwriter, her album Something Else is available through iTunes and CDBaby. She sings her original music at venues including Joe’s Pub, BAMCafé, Symphony Space, and the Whitney Museum. Eisa studies yoga with Kelly Morris.

click here for tickets

May events from thatgirl006!

2010-05-05T15:54:00.000-04:00

Hey there lovelies! We have some sweet treats for your ears this summer so save these dates! You don't want to miss out.

Friday, May 28th, 9:30pm

Eisa Davis @ Joe's Pub

click here for tickets

Sunday, May 16th, 7:00pm

Selloane @ Madiba

Hear Selloane twice within the next few months: intimate, acoustic set at Madiba and her CD release party on June 27th SOBs!

This will be the official after-party for Ubuntu Education Fund's AIDS Walk team. Click here to sign up to walk with Ubuntu, team number 9293. There may be something special for walkers who attend this event afterwords but you have to be in it to win it ;-).

and the very next night....

Monday May 17th, 9:00pm

Rhett George @ the Triad

Currently featured in the Broadway hit Memphis,

Rhett George will take the stage to share the gift of music. The acoustic set will feature songs from his self-penned album, Something Better, as well as a number of brand spanking new songs! Rhett is a masterful songwriter. His hooks play on repeat in your head long after the music has stopped. The set will also feature guests Maia Wilson (Shrek, 9 to 5) and Daniel Watts (Memphis, The Color Purple). The Rhett George experience includes soul, R & B, Funk, Passion, Heart, Lessons and The Art of song… with just a piano.

$10.00 + 2 drink minimum. Purchase tickets. More about Rhett George.

Selloane @ SOB's TONIGHT!

2010-04-18T13:02:00.000-04:00

Selloane

@ SOB's Sunday, April 18th

8:00pm

click here for tickets

Selloane is an emerging artist that has combined her roots and experiences around the world to create her own soulful lyric interpretation.
Born in Welkom, South Africa, she began singing in church at the age of three. The voice of this child would soon be awarded the best soloist of the year at the Shell Road to Fame in South Africa. This major achievement granted Selloane her first recording contract with Gallo Music Group South Africa. She released Thel'u Moya with Gallo, and it is still considered one of the best gospel CD's released in South Africa to date. Selloane was also featured on Joyous Celebration 2 and 8 (Sony Music) as a guest artist. Joyous Celebration as well as Thel'u Moya has allowed her to perform and reach people in over fifteen countries. Recently she was featured by Putumayo on a Jazz Background CD. Selloane has been fortunate enough to work with great producers like Robert Sibony, Hugh Masekela, Jonathan Butler, David Moloele, Mthunzi, Namba, Manasse Letsoara, and Lindelani Mkhize of Joyous Celebration.
Selloane crossed the continent to Los Angeles to perform in Disney's The Lion at the historic Pantages Theater. Her Lion King experience did not stop there. She has been in the Toronto, London, US Tour, and now a cast member of Disney's The Lion King on Broadway. She played a leading role "Rafiki" on Broadway and both Lion King national Tours, Cheetah and Gazelle. Selloane has appeared on Jay Leno, The Today Show, The View, and the 2008 Tony Awards. She also was a featured artist at the 2008 Lunas Awards in Mexico City and has performed at The White House for President and Mrs. Bush honoring Ghana's President John Kufuor and Mrs. Theresa Kufuor. Recently she hast been in a play in South Africa called "Sheila's Day".
Selloane songwriting skills evoke passion and individuality. She writes with simplicity and honesty that leaves you deeply touched and breathless. She was featured at the 21st annual Easter Bonnet for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids with a song she wrote Thari e Ntsho, a definite highlight of the event which raised over $3.3 million dollars for the cause. The purity and power of Selloane's voice is one of uniqueness and passion. Selloane is one of distinctive talent that you rarely encounter and from the sultry sounds of her voice you know music is a part of her deepest self.

Evidence in Africa: Dance Troupe as Ambassadors

2010-03-01T11:15:00.000-05:00

Click HERE to read full New York Times article

GrindCity at Sullivan Hall this Friday!!

2010-02-07T15:55:00.001-05:00

Funk Fest Part 4:: Featuring Sophistafunk 10:30pm / The Rozatones 9:30pm / Grindcity 8:30pm / Lucky Chops Brass Band 7:30pm

Friday, Feb 12, 2010 7:30 PM EST

at Sullivan Hall

in New York, NY

Mobile post sent by thatgirl006 using Utterli. Replies. mp3

The "Beatest" Halloween Party is right around the corner

2009-10-23T16:20:00.000-04:00

And it's for a good cause!

This party will benefit Ubuntu Education Fund

click logo to watch footage of Ubuntu's 2009 gala!

Ubuntu Education Fund is a non-profit organization serving the township communities of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. We provide over 40,000 vulnerable children and families with vital resources needed to live healthy, prosperous lives.

8:00pm * Monday * October 26th

Lower East Side Toy Company
102 Norfolk between Rivington and Delancey

hope to see you all there!
If you know "what's what"
and you do because you're reading this
you won't miss it loveys! xo

Subway: F to Delancey St, J, M, Z to Delancey-Essex

the run down:

*music by DJ MK*

*live performances*
*good times*
*costume "walk off" with fantastic prizes*
*tricks and treats*
for all!!

Come in costume!
But most importantly...COME!

Good times await!!

Meet me at The Lower East Side Toy Comany Monday night and let the good times begin!!

-xo

6 Things I Never Told You" August 27th @ BAM 6:50pm & 9:30pm

2009-08-25T22:29:00.000-04:00

Justice League, Justice League America, Justice League International, Justice League Task Force, Justice League Elite, Extreme Justice...

If any of those names ring a bell, you know that these were the names used for a rotating roster of superheroes featured in comic books and animated television series from 1960-1986 (Super Friends).

Now, there is a new group of "Super Heroes" on the scene. This new group is called 6 Leagues their mission, to save the world one film at a time.

In the Summer of 2005, six award-winning Alumni the Graduate Film
Program at NYU came together and formed the collective, 6 Leagues, a New York
based, underground film collective.

Committed to the notion of collaboration and exploration, they created: "6
Things I Never Told You", a feature film anthology of cinematic snapshots
examining committed romantic relationships in flux. Each segment stakes out
a significant landmark in the time line of relationships renewed, dominated,
lost and longing for one thing: Control.

"6 Things I Never Told You"

WHEN:
Thursday, August 27 at 6:50pm*, 9:30pm

WHERE:
BAM Rose Cinemas (30 Lafayette Ave.)

TICKETS:
$11 per screening for adults; $8 for seniors 65 and over,
children under twelve, and $8 for students 25 and under with valid I.D.
Monday–Thursday, except holidays; $7 BAM Cinema Club members
Tickets available by phone at 718.777.FILM or
Call 718.636.4100 or visit www.BAM.org

*A Q&A with filmmakers and Actnow's Founder Aaron Ingram will follow the 7pm screening.
After party to follow 9:30 screening.

MORE:
Breaking from standard relationship film fare, 6 Things … examines black sex and sexuality without showing the act of sex. “Showing sexuality without showing sex allowed us, and the filmgoers, to explore the relationships on a different level,” says Thing Two-The Cable Box director Cinque Northern. “Black love and sex on the silver screen tends to not be nuanced,” explains Northern, “with 6 Things…, we show this love in different forms.”

6 Things I Never Told You (2008) 93min
Directed by 6 Leagues' Stacey L. Holman, Cinque Northern, Ed DuRante, Rod Gailes OBC,
Caran Hartsfield and James Richards
The film segments star Jamie Hector (HBO's The Wire), Novella Nelson (Antwone Fisher), Hassan Manning, Cherise Booth, Dominique Morriseau, Leopold Lowe, and Lela Aisha Jones.

Come on, how often do you get to witness the work of super heroes?? Get yourselves to BAM this Thursday!

L'Altruist presents Protea to benefit The Georges Malaika Foundation (GMF)

2009-06-24T17:24:00.000-04:00

PLEASE JOIN US THIS FRIDAY!

@ citrine

59 W 21 st btw 5^th and 6^th ave

friday, june 26^th

7:00 - 11:00 PM

music by dj mOma and friends

all proceeds benefit

The Georges Malaika Foundation- www.gmalaikaf.org

"Empowering Girls Through Education"

$20 advanced tickets available at www.gmalaikaf.org/rsvp_ny

and $30 cash at the door

event features:

silent auction and raffle

drum and dance performance

hors d'oeuvres by Ark Restaurants

media sponsor: Trace Magazine

hosted by:

L'Altruist

Georges Malaika Foundation

*Torya Beard, thatgirl006, Inc.*

Noella Coursaris, Georges Malaika Foundation

Meron A Demisse, United Nations Association - YPIC

Gilonne D'Origny, IMG

Adriana Henriquez, Georges Malaika Foundation

Amisha Kaura, Credit Suisse

Greg Kieser, The Robin Hood Foundation

Brian Leddy, Citiology

Don Matthewson, Barclays Capital

Sanjay Rawal, Illumine Group

Felipe Tewes, Focus Features

Aminah West, Reclamation Energy, LLC

Evans Wilson, One Wire

The Georges Malaika Foundation (GMF)
GMF is committed to solving the education crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo and raising the literacy rate for Congolese women. GMF sponsors young girls to attend school by providing them with the financial support and access to a schoolhouse. All proceeds from Protea will go towards funding the construction of the first schoolhouse.

Protea, a central and southern African flower, symbolizes diversity and courage and represents the courage and diversity of these young women. Join us in celebrating and promoting the future for these young women.

Unable to attend? Click here to make a donation and show your support of GMF's mission.

Work Hard. Play Hard. (& give effortlessly)

introducing DJ Dhundee

2009-06-03T16:01:00.000-04:00

DJ Dhundee!

check him out. there will lots about him from thatgirl006 in the coming months...

DJdhundee.com

sugarcutsmusic.com

"Camouflage" Screening TOMORROW NIGHT

2009-04-29T11:43:00.000-04:00

“CAMOUFLAGE”
OBC DreamTheatre Presents An Advance Premiere Screening April 30, 2009 7:00pm
NYU Alum Rod Gailes OBC screens his first feature film at The Cantor Film Center NYC

Years in the making, Rod Gailes OBC unveils his feature film Thursday, April 30th 7:00pm at The Cantor Film Center (36 East 8th Street near University Place) followed by a post screening discussion with the writer/director.

“Camouflage”* is a cinematic time capsule of “pre-gentrified” Harlem: before Bill Clinton, Starbucks, M.A.C. Cosmetics stores and multi-million dollar condos. This documentary-style narrative offers the audiences a ‘Rashomon’-like view of Jason Robbie’s life. A young man coming to grips with his power to choose a path beyond his current circumstances: promiscuity, drug culture and violence. Inspiring in its realism, “Camouflage” offers a window into the otherwise private subculture of urban youth.

An emerging force on the NY film scene, Rod Gailes OBC is a University of Michigan graduate and alumnus of the prestigious NYU graduate film program. There he studied under noted filmmakers, Raoul Peck and Nancy Savoca before directing the award winning classic, “Twin Cousins.” A Regional Student Academy Award Finalist, winner of the HBO Short Film Competition, and best short film in New York’s Urbanworld Film Festival, the film went on to further acclaim, winning the Ft. Lauderdale Film Festival and being featured at the Kodak Emerging Filmmaker Showcase in Cannes. Recently featured on "BET J's the Best Shorts". "A beautifully photographed, masterfully directed portrait of childhood." –Spike Lee

Key collaborators in the making of “Camouflage”: John R Angier, composer (Scores for the Televison series, Yugioh, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Winx Club, Cubix, Sonic X, The Shaman King, The Fighting Foodons, Dinosaur King, Ellen's Acres, Chaotic and hit show Kappa Mikey. Composed and performed with Donny Osmond, Joss Stone, Joan Osborne, Rubberman, The Beu Sisters, The Corrs, The Jonas Brothers).

Allyson C. Johnson, Editor (“Evening” Starring Vanessa Redgrave and Claire Danes, Mira Nair’s “The Namesake”, “Vanity Fair”, “Monsoon Wedding,” “The Wire”). Kioka Abbott, costume/ set designer, (Home & Garden Television’s new makeover show, “Under 1 Roof”).

Screening will be April 30, 2009 7:00pm at The Cantor Film Center, 36 East 8th Street (near University Place).
This screening is by invitation only. Priority seating offered with speedy response. RSVP to: info@thatgirl006.com.

* This film is unrated

####

Ubuntu Education Fund's 10-Year Anniversary Gala

2009-04-24T21:23:00.000-04:00

www.ubuntufund.org

On April 28th at 7pm, 550 luminaries in business, entertainment, the arts, and social entrepreneurship will gather at Terminal 5, 610 West 56th Street, NYC to celebrate the 10- year anniversary of Ubuntu Education Fund, a non-profit organization created to give the people of Port Elizabeth, South Africa the means to improve their own community. The Ubuntu gala will feature a live performance by legendary South African jazz musician Hugh Masekela, accompanied by special guest Paul Simon. Actor Kevin Bacon will serve as Master of Ceremonies for the evening, with fellow actor / activist, Alan Cumming, as auctioneer.

Benefit host committee members; Donna Karan, Vikram Chatwal, Andie MacDowell, Kyra Sedgwick, Timothy White, Mark Seliger, and Business leaders; Ed Ludwig (BD), Vincent Mai (AEA Investors LP), and Dan Battsek (Miramax) will be in attendance to show their support.

Ubuntu Education Fund is the result of a chance meeting between South African teacher, Banks Gwaxula and American student, Jacob Lief in New Brighton Township, South Africa. The two men are now long time partners in a common cause, rooted in an abiding belief in the power of education and ubuntu, a universal bond of sharing that connects all of humanity. Since that meeting, Ubuntu has provided over 40,000 orphaned and vulnerable children in South Africa with essential educational resources and comprehensive life-saving HIV support services. The dynamic initiatives of the ubuntu model generate a cycle of empowerment in the Port Elizabeth townships, emboldening vulnerable children and their families to lead their communities toward healthy futures. The seamlessly integrated services are comprised of four programs: Empowerment, HIV Prevention Outreach, Clinical, and Care and Support. The Ubuntu model of service provision transforms their community members into peer educators, community role models, advocates and equal partners in the sustainable development of South Africa.

“Over the past 10 years, Ubuntu has grown from an idea to a blueprint for socially-responsible community development,” said President & Founder Jacob Lief. “We comprehensively support our children so that they not just survive, but thrive. Tonight, we come together to celebrate 10 years of success, to honor our thousands of supporters, and to help South Africa’s children realize their potential.”

Please send your PRESS REQUESTS to: torya@thatgirl006.com.

GoodSpot + Angela's MIXTAPE + Camouflage NY screening

2009-04-20T02:10:00.000-04:00

GoodSpot @ 105 Riv Monday
+
Angela's MIXTAPE until May 2nd
+
Camouflage NY Screening April 30th

It's Angela's MIXTAPE ya'll!!

This is where I would try to say something here about how great this play is (it is fantastic, a really fun ride) but Eisa has already done it so much better. Listen to what writer/actress Eisa Davis says about it in
this intro video.

Angela's MIXTAPE!

photo by Carol Rosegg

New Georges
and Hip-Hop Theater Festival
present

ANGELA'S MIXTAPE
by Eisa Davis
directed by Liesl Tommy

with Kim Brockington, Denise Burse, Eisa Davis,
Ayesha Ngaujah and Linda Powell

design by Clint Ramos, Sarah Sidman, Jessica Jahn, Jane Shaw

APRIL 6 TO MAY 2
Mondays through Saturdays 8pm
opens April 9 at 7pm

OHIO THEATRE
66 Wooster Street, Soho

$35 premium seating (reserved)
$20 general admission + student/seniors

for tickets, click here
or call SmartTix at 212-868-4444

psm Ryan Raduechel asm Danielle Teague-Daniels
props/guy friday Johnson Henshaw
casting Paul Davis/Calleri Casting press Jim Baldassare
associate producer Anna Hayman
a joint world premiere with Synchronicity Performance Group, Atlanta

for more information + group rates, call 646.336.8077

CAMOUFLAGE"
OBC DreamTheatre Presents...
Premiere NY Screening of "Camouflage", first feature film from
Rod Gailes OBC
April 30, 2009, 7:00pm at The Cantor Film Center, NYC

click here to watch trailer

Promiscuity. Drug culture. Violence. Growing up in America. Growing up in Harlem.

Things are rough all over especially for Jason Robbie. A year after graduating high school, this 19-year old Harlemite is trying to find his way in a world laden with obstacles. With a dubious source of income, family problems, and a roving eye for the ladies, Jason struggles to better his life by realizing his dream to attend college.

Having a family member struggling with substance abuse is never easy. That, along with the pressures of an non-supportive school system, a pervasive drug culture, and omnipresent sexual distractions, makes it even more difficult for Jason. Does he pursue a career in the military as his Uncle Cash urges? Does he follow his mom's one piece of good advice: "Go to college"? Does he continue consuming his parade of female conquests or settle into the nurturing bosom of one good woman?

"Camouflage" is a cinematic collage capturing the essence of a very specific time and place in "pre-gentrified" Harlem: before Starbucks, Mac stores and million dollar condos. It offers a window into the otherwise private subculture of urban youth through its documentary style narrative examining a few weeks in the life of 19-year old Jason Robbie. Sex, Drugs & Video games: self-medicating distractions that keep millions of young people from focusing on positive, attainable goals. Can Jason break the cycle for himself? "Camouflage" is a racy, sometimes shocking, portrait of a young man swimming through a lifestyle with him as our willing but sometimes reluctant guide.

Screening will be April 30, 2009 7:00pm at The Cantor Film Center, 36 East 8th Street (near University Place)
This is a free event with RSVP. Seating is limited.
Priority seating offered with speedy response. RSVP to: info@thatgirl006.com

Angela's Mixtape

2009-04-15T01:46:00.000-04:00

I want you all to go see...

Angela's MIXTAPE

Just your average black macrobiotic revolutionary dancing family.

ANGELA'S MIXTAPE is a new play by Eisa Davis, directed by Liesl Tommy. Runs April 6 - May 2 at the Ohio Theater at 66 Wooster Street, NYC.

Using the rhythms of music and memory, Eisa tells the story of a radical upbringing on the dividing line between Oakland and Berkeley, California - in a family that includes her aunt,

professor and activist Angela Davis.

The music crosses styles and decades, but it's hip-hop and a b-girl stance that keeps the piece bouncing in the present.

Time shifts between the 70s, 80s, and 90s as smoothly as a DJ fading from song to song. Each track, each memory, has a built-in switch to the next, for theatrical momentum that keeps on building.

photo by Carol Rosegg

GoodSpot @ 105 Riv Monday April 13th

2009-04-12T22:42:00.000-04:00

Party people!! You don't want to miss GoodSpot this week.

Great Music, Cool People, Good Times and Absolutely No Door Drama!!

Resident DJ's *Stimulus* & *DJ mOma*

**with guest DJs:

*Jr Flo from Keys & Crates* visit his myspace page now!

*Special K* visit his myspace page now!

**105 Rivington between Essex & Ludlow**Lower East Side

Subway: F to Delancey St, J, M, Z to Delancey-Essex

trust me, there will NOT be a shortage of hotness in the place... come hang out! xoxo

2009-04-05T01:53:00.000-04:00

thatgirl006 is hosting GoodSpot
@ 105 Riv
Monday, April 6th

Trust me darlings, you won't regret it... Come party with us this Monday!

Resident DJ's *Stimulus* & *DJ mOma*

Hosts *thatgirl006* & *King Arthur*

**105 Rivington between Essex & Ludlow**Lower East Side

Subway: F to Delancey St, J, M, Z to Delancey-Essex

Looking for the perfect party? I got it: GoodSpot @ 105 Riv

2009-03-28T16:06:00.000-04:00

thatgirl006 is hosting GoodSpot
@ 105 Riv
Monday, March 30th

A sexy, laid back atmosphere, great music
and beautiful people to enjoy it with. Get your dance on or chill out with a cocktail. Either way GoodSpot is sure to be a seriously Good time!

Resident DJ's *Stimulus* & *DJ mOma*

Hosts *thatgirl006* & *King Arthur*

**105 Rivington between Essex & Ludlow**
Lower East Side

Subway: F to Delancey St, J, M, Z to Delancey-Essex

thatgirl speaks with Rod Gailes OBC, creator of COLORS: Dream of The Masta

2009-02-11T14:11:00.000-05:00

Rod Gailes OBC is the creator of the musical experience that is "COLORS: Dream of the Masta". "COLORS" is opening tomorrow night for a 3-week run at The Marlene Boll Theater in Detroit, MI.

“This compelling amalgam of music, dance, and the spoken word pierces like a laser into the consciousness of the spectator, making an indelible imprint impossible to ignore”.-University of Michigan Professor Emeritus George I. Shirley

thatgirl: "COLORS: Dream of the MASTA", unique title, tell me about about what you intend the name of the piece to imply.

Rod Gailes OBC: COLORS:Dream Of the Masta is ultimately about the human struggle to
return to the Dream of Creation: we are one human family. I read a children's book a couple of years ago called "Everything and Everywhere". It was the first children's book I ever saw
that explored and explained the notion of GOD or the Creator in a way that wasn't overly simplistic but not too far out there. It talked about the creation of the universe starting in the mind of God as a "Dream". That the creator "dreamt" us and everything that exists into being was a mind blowing but simple idea I wanted to explore further. In my estimation, LIFE and CHOICE are the greatest gifts we've been given, and probably in that order. The fact that we as a human race don't always make the best choices and have to live with the consequences as a group is very telling. As I dug deeper into that notion I started thinking about what we have chosen, what we have done, and wondering if those choices are in line with the Dream God had when we were created. We took the notion of choice and, at times in our history, re-invented OURSELVES as THE MASTER. I find that hilarious and ironic. And so the Master of creation had a dream for us and we as our own "new, self styled, self masters" have our own dream. Those dreams and the realization of them are very often in conflict.

thatgirl: Where did you receive your musical training?

Rod Gailes OBC: I started writing for musical theatre in college. I worked with an eclectic mix of gospel artists, classical composers, jazz cats, dance music people, and film score composers that really helped bring my musicianship to a functional place. I work principally with voice as an instrument of composition. In collaboration with everybody from church musicians to PH.D's in composition, I then craft things for performance and recording. It's a really organic and interesting process.

thatgirl: When did you start to feel like you could create a musical?

Rod Gailes OBC: In college I really got the bug to write. It was very "OUR GANG". A "hey let's put on a show" kinda thing. Somebody had to be the actors. Somebody had to choreograph. My skills we're in Writing and organizing so I became a writer/Director/Producer. I consider it a gift from God.

thatgirl: Who are your musical/theatrical influences?

Rod Gailes OBC: When I first started writing I was very influenced by provocative Pop music
artists like Prince. He's probably my biggest single influence. But I grew up listening to everything from Patsy Cline to Michael Jackson. Motown stuff and the very synthetic but melodic palette of 80's sounds. I was also very drawn to a bunch of things in the 70's: ELO, Elton John, and the great work John Farrar did with Olivia Newton John! Just amazing. I'm all over the map in terms of influences. But movie music was probably the biggest influence next to Prince.

thatgirl: Why did you decide to collaborate with Darnell Ishmel on this project? Knowing your other works an Operatic Baritone is not the obvious choice.

Rod Gailes OBC: Darnell is at the root of things a Gospel artist who BECAME and Operatic Baritone. He also has a very open mind when approaching some of the craziness I bring to him. We've worked together for many, many years. In the world of music there is no one second to him as a principal collaborator. Only my work in film with John Angier could even hope to rival the work I've done with Darnell and that's a totally different medium.

thatgirl: Why have you spent so much of the developmental phase working in the Michigan area?

Rod Gailes OBC: Michigan is an amazing hot bed of talented people. It's also a lot cheaper to develop this in the nurturing bosom of Detroit than in New York City. Y-Arts has been a wonderful partner in helping the show to grow and reach audiences. The idea that I could come home and help to build a creative community in the creation of new work was the other big impetus. Michigan is a great place to do creative work. I've been coming back to do that since I started making films. I would drive my whole cast and crew across the country just to work here. I love the energy and it's a part of my voice as a creator... DETROIT!

thatgirl: What do you hope to accomplish with this project? How does it fit in to the catalog of your work?

Rod Gailes OBC: We're going to Broadway and on a major National Tour. I'm also writing and Directing a play about the life of comedian, Richard Pryor for Broadway called UNSPEAKABLE. That's been in development a little longer. COLORS is supposed to follow it onto the boards. But the amount of development that needs to go into a musical is considerable. We needed to have this head start so we can hit the ground running when UNSPEAKABLE hits.

thatgirl: Who is your favorite character in COLORS? Is there a "lead" character?

Rod Gailes OBC: Because of the themes in the show there is no "lead" per se. But the role of "Dubin" is the closest to a "lead" if there were one. It's the role I created to showcase the amazing talent of Darnell Ishmel as a vocalist, band leader, and creative spirit. He's amazing in it!

thatgirl: When creating stage works you tend to go with ensembledriven pieces, why?

Rod Gailes OBC: That's where my head is. I believe in community and people working together. That's what I write about and try to make happen in my life and in my work. Everyone has a purpose. Bringing people together through art is probably mine. Ensemble work isn't about ego. It's about working together and making something great happen. I live for that.

thatgirl: Why do you think the world needs a "COLORS:Dream of the Masta" now?

Rod Gailes OBC: It seems we are finally ready for the message of love and
cooperation for the greater good. People are in that mindset now for a variety of reasons and
need an artistic meeting point. Art has a way of doing that: creating community. Television did it years ago. Michael Jackson and MTV did it in the 80's. But there is no artistic expression that is uniting people right now. I see COLORS as that kind of vehicle.

#####

The “Colors” special return engagement: 8:00PM Fridays and Saturdays, February 13th through 28th and Sundays, February 15th through March 1st at 4:00PM.

Tickets are $20.00 with Group rates available. Tickets are available online click here! or by phone at 800.838.3006. For reservations email colorsdreamofthemasta@gmail.com or call Y-Arts at 313-223-2751.

The Marlene Boll Theater is located at 1401 Broadway - Detroit, MI between Grand River and John R. inside the Downtown Boll Family YMCA We are directly adjacent to the Detroit People Mover Broadway Station. Proceeds to benefit Y-ARTS and The C.H.A.N.G.E. Foundation

The Artist Boot Camp

2009-01-08T17:11:00.000-05:00

I think this workshop will be valuable for artists working in any discipline. Secure your seats asap darlings.

LENORA ZENZALAI HELM AND
BAOULE MUSIC "empowering independent artists for self-sufficiency"
PRESENTS...

THE ARTIST BOOT CAMP

Calling All Artists.......Get Aligned For 2009

The Artist Boot Camp

The Artist Boot Camp introduces tools and resources and that can be used to build, expand and upgrade the artistic career. Participants will develop a step-by-step holistic strategy to help them achieve specific career goals.

This intensive one day workshop uses an aggressive and rigorous curriculum to help position the artist to "hit the ground running." The networking event immediately following the workshop will feature a power packed panel of industry professionals. The boot camp features lectures, hands-on activities, break-out sessions, one-on-one consultations and group discussions. Participants will leave with a 3, 6, 9 and 12-month action plan, CD of digital templates, workshop handbook, one-year After Care Package of resources and much more.

Although the workshop is designed to address concerns for artists of all disciplines, a portion of the workshop will focus on areas for those artists focused on careers in music.

Two locations/Two dates:
9 am - 9 pm

Saturday February 7, 2009
Westbeth Artist Residence - Westbeth Community Room
West Village, New York City, NY

Saturday, February 21, 2009
Hayti Heritage Center
Durham, North Carolina

THE ARTIST BOOT CAMP
Lenora Zenzalai Helm, facilitator

The Artist Boot Camp is designed to:
Equip artists with tools and resources to become employable
Clarify barriers to achieving skills or improving talents
Identify short and long term goals
Create a game plan to achieve goals
Network with industry leaders
Get connected to a mentor directly related to your goals

What You Will Learn In The Workshop
You are a small business! How to access resources for your business.
Tax benefits, write-offs and tax tips for small business
How to fund your business
Assembling your business team and master mind group
How to access the digital payday that could be happening for your career and songs
How to access grants, fellowships and commissions for your music/entertainment biz
How important is having a web presence? Can you achieve success without a website?
What is the true purpose of a business card
How to get a winning press kit
How to get noticed
Why you need an electronic press kit AND a regular press kit
How to use blogs, email-blasts; webcasts; teleclasses
What having a mentor(s) does for your career
How to avoid the trap of "becoming well-rounded" or "jack of all trades"
How to become a published songwriter
How to become a sought after teaching artist
How to earn money in your field
How to become a sought after background vocalist and session singer

What You Will Get For Successful Completion Of Workshop:
Digital Artist Pack of Templates for Success (includes: business plan, goal sheets, performance riders and contracts; artist agreement; producer/artist agreement; gig sheets, time management sheets, resume template, bio template)
Industry Contact List of telephone, emails
Notebook with Workshop Handouts
Handbook of Jobs in the Entertainment Industry w/job descriptions
Goodie Bag of Giveaways
Assigned an industry mentor for 6 months
One follow-up progress meeting (via conference call or teleclass)
Participation in a 12-month bi-monthly "After-Care" teleclass for alumni of the workshop
3, 6, 9 and 12-month strategic game plan with actionable steps to reach your goals
Coupons for discounts of related books, CDs, private consultations and/or private lessons by industry panelists
Discounts on recording session to complete a Demo Recording
Discounts on photography session to complete your Press Portfolio
Discounts on web design to complete your website or redesign your existing website

Fees:
Workshop Registration Fee - $150.00
Half Day (Session I) $99.00 Full Day (Session II) $150.00
Industry Panel Only $35.00
Refer a friend 25% off - Refer 2 friends 50% off (full-session only)

Early Bird Special - Pay before 1-20-09 - Full day at $125 Half day $75

Workshop includes:
9 am - 12:30 pm Session I
1 pm - 5:00 pm Session II
Industry Panel 6 pm - 7:30 pm
Networking Schmooze 7:30 - 9 pm

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
Arrival - Breakfast - 8:00 am - 9:00 am

SESSION I 3 segments - 60 minutes each
9:00 - 10:00; 10:15 - 11:15; 11:30 - 12:30
Personal Development & Financial Education for Artists
Tools & Resources
Career Development

SESSION II
1:00 - 2:00; 2:15 - 3:15; 3:30 4:30; 4:30 - 5:00 wrap up

Putting it into Action
(Personal Development/Financial Education, Tools & Resources/Career Development)

Actionable Steps
Identify 3, 6, 9, 12-month goals
Writing Daily Agenda
Business Plans

Mentor Connections

Please note: Workshop participants will be asked to complete a short introductory survey and bio upon registration to submit prior to starting The Artist Boot Camp.

ABOUT LENORA ZENZALAI HELM

LENORA ZENZALAI HELM, vocal musician, composer, lyricist, arranger, teaching artist, former U.S. Jazz Ambassador (1998-99) and MacDowell Colony Composer Fellow is a native of Chicago, Illinois. Helm's many achievements in music have spanned 25 years garnering her inclusion as a subject of biographical record for the 2005 through 2009 editions of Who's Who in America, Who's Who in American Women and Who's Who in the World. She just completed her fifth solo recording entitled, Chronicles of a Butterfly: A Story of Transformation, produced by renowned saxophonist Branford Marsalis and featuring Mulgrew Miller (pno); Doug Wamble (guitar) and Neal Caine (bass), due for release in 2009. A teaching artist for the last decade, she has served in arts organizations including Carnegie Hall, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Schomburg Center's Junior Scholar's Program, Def Dance Jam Workshop and Young Audiences New York. Since 2005, Helm is a Visiting Lecturer in the Jazz Studies and Voice Departments, teaching jazz and classical voice, vocal teaching methods, vocal ensemble performance and jazz vocal ear training, in the Music Department at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) in Durham, North Carolina. At NCCU, she co-directs their highly acclaimed NCCU Vocal Jazz Ensemble. Visible on the discographies of many internationally renowned musicians, Lenora can be heard on noted jazz recordings of saxophonists Dave Liebman, Antonio Hart, and pianists Donald Brown and Andrew Hill. Ms. Helm leads her own group, The Zenzalai Project, playing prestigious international festivals and concert venues. Helm earned her traveling and performing stripes on the road with many R&B, Pop and Jazz artists including Freddie Jackson, Michael Franks and South American pop star, Emmanuel. She is a member of the R&B vocal group SEPIA, with founder Marlon Saunders, and fellow members Arif St. Michael and Rosa Russ. Recent composition awards include the 2007 Encore Award and 2004-5 New Works Creation and Presentation Award for her jazz suite, Journeywoman: A Work in Progress both granted and administered by Chamber Music America and funded by the Doris Duke Charitable foundation. Notable film music credits include Ms. Helm's work featured in the film After Life by writer/director Lana, previewed and awarded in 2007 at the Arizona Black Film Festival and the Village D Cinema festival in Lisbon, Portugal. Helm is a SESAC writer and her publishing company, Baoule Works Music Publishing, is a SESAC publishing affiliate. She was the Artistic Director and is co founder of the nonprofit youth music program HARMONY Program Inc., which simultaneously provided New York City underserved youth ages 9 - 13 with an instrument and weekly beginning music instruction, while training college music students as teachers from 2003-2008. Lenora is writing her first arts education book, a career book for entry level teaching artists entitled Start Your Own Edutainment Business: Making a Career as a Teaching Artist. Helm is past president and board member of International Women in Jazz, and has served on the boards of New York City Arts in Education Roundtable, and GRAMMY in the Schools.

You can visit Lenora Zenzalai Helm online at www.lenorahelm.com

"As a Teaching Artist for Carnegie Hall's LinkUP! Lenora Zenzalai Helm is outstanding. She meets her students where they are and takes them to new levels of musical listening, understanding, and music making. As one fourth grade teacher put it, "When Lenora is in the building, there is an electricity in the air. The students get so excited and all start to ask, "When is she coming to OUR class?"
Susan Medley, D.M.A. Manager, School Programs, Carnegie Hall, New York City, NY

"Her performance skills and her strong, experience-based educational workshops and residencies provide substantive programming opportunities for presenters in a wide variety of venue settings..."
Stephen Barefoot, goingbarefoot, Inc., North Carolina Presenters Consortium

"What sticks in my mind was Lenora's innate ability to captivate the students and expand their minds to appreciate Jazz!
Bonnie Smith, Executive Director, Colleton County Arts Council, Walterboro, SC

"Lenora Zenzalai Helm is a highly imaginative, adventurous musician.... Singer, composer, arranger and lyricist, Ms. Helm uses all of her exceptional gifts to push the envelope and make very personal statements with her music."
Dr. Billy Taylor

"She is extremely talented, has an incredible range and is very versatile."
saxophonist/jazz educator, Dave Liebman

REGISTER NOW!!

ONLY 25 WORKSHOP PARTICIPANT SEATS PER SESSION!!!
(TO PROVIDE PARTICIPANTS WITH INDIVIDUALIZED ATTENTION)

Send check or money order to
The Artist Boot Camp c/o Lenora Helm
1801 Fayetteville Street
P.O. Box 20019-C
Durham, NC 27707

Pay online - Send an email to: Lenora@LenoraHelm.com

SECURE YOUR SEAT!!! REGISTER TODAY!!!!

Happy New Year!!

2009-01-05T15:39:00.000-05:00

Here's to a fabulous 2009!

We have some really special things in store for you. Looking forward to seeing you all very soon!!
xoxo

Spotlight Update

2008-12-17T16:45:00.000-05:00

Remember choreographer Ray Mercer? I thought so. He continues to do great things and here is an exciting update!

The Broadway community does a number of fundraising events each year to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Gypsy of the Year, Easter Bonnet and Broadway Bares to name a few.

presenters and winners/Gypsy of the Year 2008

The 20th Annual Gypsy of the year competition/performances were Monday and Tuesday December 8th and 9th at the New Amsterdam Theater (Mary Poppins). Many Broadway shows, off Broadway shows and National tours work for 6 weeks prior to the show to raise money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Cast, crew and stage managers from each show come together to create unique ways to raise money during the 6-week period. This often includes selling signed posters and other show related memorabilia.

The Gypsy of the year performance is a huge event for the theater community. Performances are open to the public and tickets are very reasonable. Theater veterans are on hand to speak about the importance of supporting Broadway Cares/Equity Fight AIDS and cast members from many Broadway shows present performance pieces created during the 6-week fund raising period. Awards are presented for top fundraisers and the best presentation.

The superstars of fundraising this year:
The cast of Equus, starring Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) was 1st Runner up raising $203,746, exceeding the previous record for a play. They auctioned the jeans that Radcliffe wears in the show to the highest bidders! Good work guys!! The Chicago company of Jersey Boys was the top overall fund-raiser with a total of $220,000.

The total amount raised by all participating shows this year was $3,061,000!!

Best Presentation
The cast of Equus was also 1st runner-up for best performance with a number featuring Radcliffe and the Equus "horsemen." The cast of the Lion King was awarded 1st place for "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" choreographed by Ray Mercer.

Here is a look at the Lion King presentation. Below is behind the scenes rehearsal footage followed by clips from the actual performance. Enjoy!

Next stop for Ray is Denver where he will set a new work on the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Company. Keep and eye out for his name in your Playbills, it's just a matter of time before he's choreographing Broadway shows as well!

More about COLORS: Dream of the Masta...

2008-12-02T15:56:00.000-05:00

I know that many of you are not in the Detroit area but I am sure that this or another OBC DreamTheater project will be coming your way soon.

COLORS is the Obama campaign platform "Yes we can" and "Change can believe in!" set to lyric, meter, melody and motion.

It's 1987. Mandela is in prison. And Black students at the University of Michigan are, quite literally, under attack: by racist jokes on campus radio, threatening voice mail messages to African Americans from their white counterparts, and an institutional system that seemed unconcerned with dwindling retention rates among urban minority students. In response, students marched, protested, rallied, and sat-in. One student put the struggle to Music. The music of COLORS: Dream of the MASTA.

Chronicling the journey from captivity to enlightened self awareness, COLORS: Dream of the MASTA is an original song cycle born of the Black student movements of the late 80's. It uses the sounds of gospel, folk song, rock, pop, and contemporary American art song to articulate the story of African people in America and moreover the epic saga of humankind and humanities stewardship for Mother Earth.

These performances are mounted in joyful hope of rekindling, galvinize, and celebrate the activist spirit that has moved communities forward throughout American history. The "change we can believe in" while symbolized and personified in our president elect Barack Obama, it is immortalized in the music of COLORS: Dream Of the MASTA. That spirit of change often starts in the optimistic mind of the young people.

The year is 2008. While Mandela is no longer in prison, Bush is still in office. The world is very different but very much the same. But with a renewed commitment to community building, a focus on brotherhood, and faith in our inner strength by post 11/4 Obamanian's, the future will be even brighter.

FROM GEORGE SHIRLEY - Joseph Edgar Maddy Distinguished University Emeritus Professor of Music (and 1st African American Tenor to sing at the Metropolitan Opera)

"I was excited, deeply moved, and profoundly impressed by the performance of COLORS: Dream of the MASTA when I saw it a few months ago in Ann Arbor. I immediately urged Rod Gailes and Darnell Ishmel to take this presentation to Detroit where its powerful message would have a special meaning for the youth of the city who are at risk. This compelling amalgam of music, dance, and the spoken word pierces like a laser into the consciousness of the spectator, making an indelible imprint impossible to ignore or forget. Its admonition to "get up" rather than "get down" is perfectly timed for this moment of unprecedented change in our land, a moment that I pray has dealt the Dream of the MASTA a fatal blow! See COLORS; rejoice in its artistry and the driving force of its spiritual power." – George Shirley

FROM OYAMO - Associate Professor of Theatre, University of Michigan (and internationally acclaimed playwright)

"If COLORS: Dream of the MASTA, by native Detroiter Roderick Gailes, were a meal, all of the diners would leave the table filled to capacity with intensely flavorful and nutritious fare. Memories of the meal would provoke hearty laughter, warm smiles of recognition, proud accomplishment, thoughtful reflection, inspirational hope for the future of our nation and renewed faith in the spirituality of all human existence. This is a feast you don't want to miss!" – Oyamo

Performance details:

Dec. 12-14, 2008

Marlene Boll Theater
Detroit, MI

Check out "COLORS: Dream Of the MASTA"

Proceeds to benefit Y-ARTS and The C.H.A.N.G.E. Foundation

GET TICKETS!

December 1, 2008- World AIDS Day

2008-12-01T15:00:00.001-05:00

Today is World AIDS Day let's all try to make a difference!

Mobile post sent by thatgirl006 using Utterli. Replies. mp3

holiday shows and shopping 2008!

2008-11-26T08:47:00.000-05:00

Alton Fitzgerald White in Can't Wait for Christmas @ The Triad December 7th & 15th

Broadway can't get enough of Alton Fitzgerald White and neither can we! I know that Alton has awonderful show in store for us all so get your tickets and get into the holiday spirit!

Details:

Sunday, December 7th @ 7:00pm
Monday, December 15th @ 9:15pm

The Triad Theater:
158 W 72nd St
New York, NY 10023
(212) 362-2590

Tickets are $25 if purchased at The Triad or visit smarttix for 10% discount!!

**Please note: there is a 2 drink minimum and The Triad is a CASH ONLY theater/bar.

############

Reminder:

Tappy Holidays @ Symphony Space December 12th @ 7:30pm!!

click image for tickets

Featuring some of the most talented tap dancers and musicians around. Take it from me... You don't want to miss this show!

############

Sales, great shopping and the Sold Out Guide:

Check She Finds (love them!) for their annual sold out guide. get everything on your list before they're all gone!

Minoritees is having a huge sale. Give the gift of a flossy tee to those on your list looking for that "funky sensation" and it won't break the bank!

The Funky Lala Black Friday sale: 30% off new items and 50% off sale items at Funkylala.com. Use codes GET30 and 50MORE at check out.

Check out the Bust Magazine Holiday Craftacular. (my personal favorite) Support these crafty babes while shopping 'til you drop. FUN TIMES!

New York Shop: Best Bets for the Whole Family
More than 40 exhibitors, activities for children and a portion of proceeds will benefit Room to Grow, a charity dedicated to enriching the lives of babies born into poverty.
Get your tickets now!

Working on your online shopping list for Cyber Monday? If so, you'll want to browse over 20,000 discount codes for online shopping available for cut and paste at retailmenot.com! If not... after you see how much you can save you may change your plans ;-)

For online coupons and online deals visit savings.com.

If you regularly do the research and compare prices to get the best deals on purchases you'll love Deal Alerter! Enter the item you are interested in and they watch it for you and send an email alert when the price drops!

Don't thank me, I do it for the love!

Tappy Holidays! Returns to Symphony Space Friday, December 12th!

2008-11-18T17:01:00.000-05:00

click here to buy tickets!

Back by popular demand for the THIRD year in a row, "Tappy Holidays!" is the must-see tap performance of the Holiday season. Presented by professional tap dancers Ayodele Casel and Sarah Savelli, this high energy performance features all live Holiday music performed by The Jackie Warren Trio and the percussive talents of some of the best tap dancers in the country. The evening is sophisticated, entertaining and a perfect way to bring in the Holiday season. Come hear "Winter Wonderland", "Sleigh Ride" and more of your favorite Holiday classics danced and jazzed up in a way that is sure to put you in the Holiday spirit!

Featuring Ayodele Casel, Sarah Savelli, Jason Janas, Jumaane Taylor, Michela Marino-Lerman, Lisa LaTouche, Maud Arnold, Travis Knights, Alexandria Bradley and Jason Samuels Smith!

Youth Groups: Tap City Youth Ensemble, Tappers With Attitude, The Legacy Dancers, David Rider's World of Tap, New England Tap, Columbus Tap Project!, The Legacy Dance Team

"Last year Ayodele Casel and Sarah Savelli brought a new winter vision to the stage. They gathered their pals--who happen to be phenomenal tap dancers like themselves--and took Symphony Space by storm." -Dance Magazine

Peter Norton Symphony Space 7:30 pm • Peter Jay Sharp Theatre

Day of Show $36; Advance $31; Members $28

2537 Broadway at

95th Street, New York, NY 10025-6990 | Tel: 212.864.5400

COLORS:::Detroit 2008 Premiere- LOOKING FOR MICHIGAN TALENT

2008-11-11T14:02:00.000-05:00

Calling all SINGERS, POETS, LYRICISTS, DANCERS, ACTORS!!!

Well darlings, here is an opportunity to get in on the ground level of a fantastic production that is destined to reach great heights! If you are in the Detroit area, will be or are willing to be there for the rehearsal and performance period, I urge you to audition. If you are not a performer don't worry, you are officially invited to attend the performance! Look out for reminders as performance dates draw near.

"Colors: Dream of the MASTA" is musical theatre production like no other, created, produced and directed Rod Gailes OBC and Darnell Ishmel.

COLORS: Dream Of the MASTA
by
Rod Gailes OBC

TABLE READ / REHEARSAL AUDITION

Thursday November 13, 2008 - 6:30 pm - 10:00 pm
New York filmmaker/playwright Rod Gailes OBC and Darnell Ishmel are seeking vibrant Detroit area talent for upcoming Michigan/New York productions of the new original off-Broadway musical "COLORS: Dream Of the MASTA."

A theatrical experience in the spirit of "HAIR", this original song cycle uses rock, pop, folk, gospel, and contemporary art song to chronicle American's social and political journey to its higher self.
Rehearsal period: November 24 through December 11th

Performance: December 12 - 14, 2008

Location: Marlene Boll Theatre, downtown Detroit

Must be over the age of 15. Ability to move, speak clearly, take direction is a must. This is a non-union call.

Natural talent, dedication, and ability to work effectively with others is more important than experience.

To confirm your participation, please complete the Audition Request Form or email Darnell Ishmel at darnell.ishmel@gmail.com

AUDITION REQUEST FORM
http://www.sendspace.com/file/z3gqpq
----------------------------------------
MORE ABOUT COLORS: Dream Of the MASTA

Click here to see Ecard of past COLORS casts

MORE ABOUT ROD GAILES OBC

An emerging figure of the NY fringe, OBC's films include "pharaoh jones" and the award winning classic, "Twin Cousins". Recently featured on "BET J's the Best Shorts", fellow NYU alum, Spike Lee, calls the film, "A beautifully photographed, masterfully directed portrait of childhood." Next year OBC brings to the stage "UNSPEAKABLE", a dramatic fantasia on the life of Richard Pryor and the pop/folk musical, "COLORS: Dream Of the Masta".

MORE ABOUT DARNELL ISHMEL
Darnell Ishmel Bass Baritone A Digital Portfolio

Contact: Darnell Ishmel
Phone: 810.515.7945 (voice)
Email: darnell.ishmel@gmail.com

CLICK HERE TO VISIT BLOG SITE
http://ishongo.blogspot.com/

Deeply Rooted Dance Theater Nov 6th

2008-11-03T11:34:00.000-05:00

a little love for all of our Chicago readers:

Deeply Rooted Dance Theater presents: HIDDEN TREASURES

Deeply Rooted Dance Theater's Hidden Treasures features a world premiere of ''Adagio for Strings,'' originally commissioned by the Chicago Sinfonietta to commemorate Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Choreographed by Artistic Director Kevin Iega Jeff and Associate Artistic Director Gary Abbott to Samuel Barber's well-known composition, and featuring costumes by Michael Stein, this dance portrays the struggles, pain, and ultimate triumph of individuals in the civil rights movement.

The evening includes audience favorites ''Heaven'' and ''Church of Nations,'' works created by Jeff and Abbott. These beloved mainstays of the company's repertoire showcase the crowd-pleasing technical prowess for which the company is known, and reflect Jeff and Abbott's unique insights on human experiences and the richness of the spirit. ''For me dance is a perfect catalyst reflecting the inner voice. It bares who, why, and what we are, and who we strive to become.'' says Jeff.

The program also includes the revival of ''Nia Keii'' choreographed by Jeff in 1982 to celebrate the birth of a niece. ''Nia Keii'' interprets the fluid expression of nature's elements-sun, land, greenery, and water- with vibrant new costumes by Michael Stein and music by Joe Sample.

Hidden Treasures will conclude with the audience favorite ''Heaven.'' Originally choreographed in 2004 as part of a suite of dances exploring the lives of those afflicted with HIV/AIDS, ''Heaven'' engages the entire ensemble in a joyful celebration of triumph over adversity. Incorporating popular music forms and social dances, ''Heaven'' bonds the audience and performers in a celebration of dance as a universal medium. Students from Deeply Rooted's various community classes will then join the company in special grand finale.

Date:
November 6, 2008 7:30 PM

Venue:
Harris Theater for Music and Dance in Chicago's Millennium Park

Tickets:
$30-$55

$40 Election Day Special through SeeChicagoDance&Save!

visit Deeply Rooted Dance Theater online to read more about the company

Alpha Omega on Halloween evening!!

2008-10-29T11:08:00.000-04:00

Alpha Omega Theatrical
Dance Company

warms up the season with a program that promises to get you tapping your feet and moving in your seats. The works range from abstract to the dramatic with tender moments, bold statements, Latin rhythms, and soulful sounds in the mix. Temperatures will rise whether it's the energetic Stevie Wonder suite, Eleo Pomare's classic "Narcissus Rising" or Enrique Cruz DeJesus' latest work, "Evolution" performed to the smoking sounds of Tito Puente's Big Band era of music.

Ghosts & Goblins welcomed!!

Friday, October 31 - 8PM
Saturday, November 1 - 8PM*
Sunday, November 2 - 3PM

Ailey Citigroup Theater
405 West 55th Street @ 9th Ave
New York City, NY

"They are highly experimental in their own right as dance companies go, but they add a freshness to the tapestry of dance styles moving forward and affirming life, making even the most demanding choreography look and feel fun" - Vice Magazine

Performers
Donna Clark, Durell Comedy,
Jolina Javier, Youthen Joseph, Elise King, Lilka Mimbella-Lopez, Angie Ng, Jinah Parker, Jennifer Roit, Eddie Stockton (DJ Dancer), Marco Vedoveto, and Roberto Villanueva

Tickets:
$25 - General Admission
$20 - Students
$75 - Show + Halloween Dance Party - * Saturday, November 1st

call 1-800-838-3006 to buy tickets.

*Move fast and reserve your tickets now! LIMITED SPACE!

A ticket to our November 1st Saturday Night Concert Performance followed by...
Our Halloween Dance Party with

* Renowned artists of the Lloyd Haber Int'l Jazz Ensemble with percussionist Warren Smith
* Meet the Performing Troupe
* Catered Food and Wine
* Prize for Best Costume

Mercy Corps - fighting world hunger

2008-10-07T12:08:00.000-04:00

This week the spotlight is on not-for-profit international humanitarian organization, Mercy Corps. "Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities." - mercycorps.org

On October 16, 2008 Mercy Corps is opening a new museum in Lower Manhattan called the Action Center to End World Hunger. The Action Center is a first-of-its-kind interactive public space that educates and empowers visitors to tackle the global challenges posed by hunger and poverty. To celebrate the launch, they have planned the Hunger Action Week, a week of seven events designed to raise awareness about global hunger and the steps we can all take to make a difference.

I urge you to read about this organization, visit their websites and attend at least one of the following events next week. After all darlings, life is not just about looking fabulous, being fabulous is taking time out to give back every now and again!

Mercy Corps' Hunger Action Week

October 16 - 22, 2008

**Unless otherwise specified, all events will be held in the Action Center to End World Hunger at 6 River Terrace, Battery Park City, Lower Manhattan.

Hunger Action Week Events:

* Opening Ceremony
Thursday, October 16, 10:30 am - 12:00 pm
RSVP for this event
The week commences with a ribbon cutting ceremony, press conference and public tours of the Action Center. We will host a continental breakfast for partners, supporters, donors, friends in government and media as well as all of the people who contributed to the creation of the Center.

* Words For Action
Friday, October 17, 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
RSVP for this event
Andy Borowitz hosts an evening of spoken word and storytelling with Poets House and The Moth. This event will feature poetry by Regie Cabico, Suzanne Gardinier and Tahani Salah and stories from Andrew Solomon and graduates of The MothSHOP Community Outreach Program.
Download the event flyer in PDF form Here

* SHaZaM!: A Day for Family Action Heroes
Saturday, October 18, 11:00 am - 3:00 pm
RSVP for this event
This October 18th, Mercy Corps and Children for Children will empower young people and their families to take action and become heroes in the fight against global hunger. Join us and learn how youth of all ages can make a difference at home and around the world! Featuring interactive activity stations with The Growing Connection (UN/FAO), Heifer International, PlayPumps International, The Full Belly Project, Media That Matters and City Harvest.
Download the event flyer in PDF form Here

* Give Food A Chance
Sunday, October 19, 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm
RSVP for this event
The Upright Citizens Brigade and Funny or Die will host a benefit comedy show at the Highline Ballroom featuring performances by Horatio Sanz, Matt Walsh, Chevy Chase, Jack McBrayer, Christopher Meloni, Seth Meyers, Jason Sudeikis, Will Forte, Rachel Dratch, Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Todd Barry, Bobby Moynihan, Casey Wilson, The Apple Sisters, Miriam Tolan, Jon Glaser, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, and more to mark the opening of the Action Center.
Download the event flyer in PDF form Here

* Education Exploration: Students Discover Action
Tuesday, October 21, 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Educators and students, grades 6-12, are invited to explore the interactive exhibits and to step into the shoes of a humanitarian aid fieldworker. School group workshops are available throughout the week by registering via email at education@actioncenter.org.

* Food Fight: Cleaning up the Mess
Tuesday, October 21, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
RSVP for this event
Mercy Corps and the Food Bank for New York City co-host a panel discussion exploring the root causes of, and possible solutions to, the current global food crisis. Confirmed participants include New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, World Food Prize winner Catherine Bertini and President and CEO of the Food Bank for New York City, Dr. Lucy Cabrera.

* Global Action Awards
Wednesday, October 22, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Mercy Corps hosts a cocktail party to celebrate the opening of the Action Center and the remarkable contributions of this year's Global Action Award winners. (By invitation only).

More Information: Learn more about The Action Center to End World Hunger and Mercy Corps' Hunger Action Week visit ActionCenter.org

"Mercy Corps works amid disasters, conflicts, chronic poverty and instability to unleash the potential of people who can win against nearly impossible odds. Since 1979, Mercy Corps has provided $1.5 billion in assistance to people in 106 nations. Supported by headquarters offices in North America and Europe, the agency's unified global programs employ 3,500 staff worldwide and reach nearly 16.4 million people in more than 35 countries." -mercycorps.org

Orfeh - new solo album "What Do You Want From Me"

2008-09-30T10:15:00.000-04:00

In Stores Today!
Sh-k-Boom records, Amazon and itunes.

Nothing about Orfeh is ordinary, and her name offers the first hint! Orfeh's mother had a premonition that she would become a singer and gave her a name inspired by Orfeu Negro, the 1959 film shot by French director Marcel Camus in Brazil (better known by its American name: Black Orpheus).

Orfeh grew up in New York and attended city public schools. Immediately after high school graduation she landed a record deal with EMI Records, headlining the early-1990s dance group Or-N-More. Although their single "Everyotherday" climbed to #1 on the club music charts, the group soon stopped performing and recording together. After Or-N-More, Orfeh's talents as a songwriter earned her a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell. She has written and produced songs for other artists and is a member of NARAS, which gives her nominating and voting privileges for the Grammy Awards. It is safe to say that she knows a thing or two about music!

Orfeh made her Broadway debut in the fall of 1998 as understudy to all the female leads in the original company of Footloose, she was soon sought after for more prominent stage roles. As part of the ten-member company of The Gershwins' Fascinating Rhythm, Orfeh belted out modern interpretations of Gershwin classics alongside talents like Adriane Lenox, Sara Ramirez and Patrick Wilson. The stage version of the John Travolta disco film classic Saturday Night Fever opened on October 21, 1999 at the Minskoff Theatre. Orfeh was featured as Tony Manero's jilted sidekick Annette, offering a powerhouse rendition of the disco smash "If I Can't Have You". She caught the eye of Rosie O'Donnell, who immediately booked Orfeh to sing the song on her popular talk show. Saturday Night Fever went on to run for 15 months on Broadway. Orfeh never missed a performance!

Orfeh has also been seen on the Broadway stage in highly-touted Actors' Fund of America benefit concerts of Dreamgirls and Hair and in two off-Broadway musicals: as rock icon Janis Joplin in Love, Janis and as trailer park stripper Pippi in The Great American Trailer Park Musical. and is presently starring in Legally Blonde as Paulette, the unlucky-in-love Bostonian hairdresser who becomes best friends with Elle Woods.

As an actress, Orfeh has guest starred on Sex and the City, Chappelle's Show Law & Order: Criminal Intent and in the movie musical Across the Universe, directed by Julie Taymor. As a voice over artist, she can be heard on video games Max Payne 2, Grand Theft Auto/San Andreas and The Warriors and is one of the primary female voices heard on MTV and VH1.

I highly suggest that you purchase a copy of "What Do You Want From Me" and go check Orfeh out in Legally Blonde. Trust me darlings, you won't be disappointed.

Click here to read more about Orfeh

Click here for contact information

Click here for music

Orfeh's portrait was added to the "Broadway Wall of Fame" at the popular theater district Italian eatery, Tony DiNapoli's (September 24th, 2008)

Orfeh with Legally Blonde Co-star Bailey (Elle Woods)

Visit Trixe and Trina to see additional photos from the Broadway Wall of Fame portrait unveiling and Orfeh's upcoming official CD Release party!

thatgirl006

Madonna Draws Blood

The Ailey Company celebrates Robert Battle’s Inaugural Season as Artistic Director

by kristen irby www.kristenirby.com

Evidence, A Dance Company *Audition* + Garth Fagan Dance Oct 5-9

2011 Dumbo Dance Festival September 22nd-25th

Performance Schedule

Please join us for

AN EVENING OF ART AND CELEBRATION …

Thursday, September 22nd, 2011

GALA Celebration: 7:00pm - 10:30pmThe WHITE WAVE John Ryan Theater, 25 Jay Street

BETTY - Live at Highline Ballroom NYC this Saturday!

kA'RAMUU KUSH - Filmmaker - Renaissance Man

South African Soul: LIRA with special guest Selloane SOB's TONITE!! 9:00pm

FUREE in Pins & Needles

Exit, Pursued By a Bear: KING LEAR

Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center 35th Anniversary Season (This week!)

Evidence On Earth

Brandon Victor Dixon in "Indomitable James Brown - The Music And The Man

This Wednesday - December 1, 2010 - is World AIDS Day

Alas, Poor Brandy, We Knew You Kinda...

MTV's Teen Moms Are Still Babies

Tyler Perry is Not the Devil

Just Who is "For Colored Girls" For?

Not All News is, Well, News

Ginny Thomas is No Beyonce

thatgirl006 film review - CATFISH

The Great Personal Business Trade

Showgirls of The Hill

With O’Donnell as Foil, Democrat Plays It Safe By Frank Bruni

According to Daniel Gwirtzman, Charlie Rose serves "granola for the brain" nightly.

Selloane CD Release Party @ Joe's Pub September 6th 9:30pm

Savion Glover presents Sole Power June 21 - July 10 in NYC!

Eisa Davis performs at Joe's Pub this Friday - 9:30PM!

May events from thatgirl006!

Selloane @ SOB's TONIGHT!

Evidence in Africa: Dance Troupe as Ambassadors

GrindCity at Sullivan Hall this Friday!!

The "Beatest" Halloween Party is right around the corner

6 Things I Never Told You" August 27th @ BAM 6:50pm & 9:30pm

L'Altruist presents Protea to benefit The Georges Malaika Foundation (GMF)

introducing DJ Dhundee

"Camouflage" Screening TOMORROW NIGHT

Ubuntu Education Fund's 10-Year Anniversary Gala

GoodSpot + Angela's MIXTAPE + Camouflage NY screening

Angela's Mixtape

GoodSpot @ 105 Riv Monday April 13th

Looking for the perfect party? I got it: GoodSpot @ 105 Riv

Subway: F to Delancey St, J, M, Z to Delancey-Essex

thatgirl speaks with Rod Gailes OBC, creator of COLORS: Dream of The Masta

The Artist Boot Camp

Happy New Year!!

Spotlight Update

More about COLORS: Dream of the Masta...

December 1, 2008- World AIDS Day

holiday shows and shopping 2008!

Tappy Holidays! Returns to Symphony Space Friday, December 12th!

COLORS:::Detroit 2008 Premiere- LOOKING FOR MICHIGAN TALENT

Calling all SINGERS, POETS, LYRICISTS, DANCERS, ACTORS!!!

Deeply Rooted Dance Theater Nov 6th

Alpha Omega on Halloween evening!!

Mercy Corps - fighting world hunger

Orfeh - new solo album "What Do You Want From Me"

Evidence, A Dance Company Audition + Garth Fagan Dance Oct 5-9

GALA Celebration: 7:00pm - 10:30pm
The WHITE WAVE John Ryan Theater, 25 Jay Street