Planning your holiday shopping? Looking for a helpful holiday gift guide? Last year I wrote, “The holiday season is upon us. A time for giving. A time for peace. Among the many items on my Christmas list are the following recommended gifts for music lovers of all kinds.” Yeah, well scratch that idea this year. […]
Arts + Culture
A space for local and national arts and entertainment stories, with an emphasis on stories pertaining to the African American experience.
Posted inArts + Culture
Da Black Pearll shines in the local spoken word scene
Da Black Pearll, née Tinitha Warren, has been building a strong reputation for prose-poetry with an uncompromising womanist bent and a flair for ingenious wordplay. It’s no mean feat to prevail in the Twin Cities spoken word scene. Seems about everyone with an attitude and access to open mic night at one venue or other holds […]
Posted inArts + Culture, News, Opinion
Movies, Media & More – The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency DVD box set makes an excellent gift
The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency DVD box set makes an excellent gift By Dwight Hobbes The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency (HBO) is exactly why DVD is a great invention. You can plant yourself in front of the television, enjoy this box set half to death, then, when it’s over, grab some more snacks […]
Posted inArts + Culture, News
My Secret Language of Wishes: Gifted actors wasted on cloying, convoluted play
Cori Thomas’s My Secret Language of Wishes at Mixed Blood Theatre is a sterling showcase for gifted actor Brittany Bradford. Bradford plays Rose, a sensitive, brightly spirited teenager severely afflicted with muscular dystrophy and is utterly convincing. In fact, the full cast is quite capable with Nora Montanez, Taj Ruler, Jevetta Steele, Signe Harriday and […]
Posted inArts + Culture, Opinion
Entertainment, etc. – Next Day Air, Undercover Brother — double-barrel fun
By Dwight Hobbes Contributing Writer Here’s a do-it-yourself DVD double feature for you, if chuckalicious, rib-tickling comedy is right up your alley, whether as usual fare or just a change of pace: Next Day Air and Undercover Brother. If you don’t own either one, this is a great excuse to request them at your local […]
Posted inArts + Culture
The Haves and Have Nots: Tyler Perry rakes in more millions with new play
Tyler Perry’s license to mint money shows no sign of expiring anytime soon if ever. He began making morality plays a bankable enterprise in 1999 with I Know I’ve Been Changed, established his franchise character “Madea” the next year in I Can Do Bad All By Myself, and the cash register hasn’t stopped ringing since. […]
Posted inArts + Culture, News
‘Band Formerly Known as The Time’ sizzled at hometown concert Original 7ven played ‘scarifying’ funk/rock to raucously devoted fans
Excited energy abounded in Minneapolis’ State Theatre for the event billed “Original 7ven/Band Formerly Known as the Time Homecoming Concert” on November 5. The crowd flowed in, anticipation charging the air, part and parcel of which was nearly everyone decked out to the nines, clogging the main floor lobby, glad hands all around, seeing and […]
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Singing soul sister spreads the Gospel on CD — and on wheels
Self-described ‘biker babe’ Cynthia Jones keeps the faith in her music By Charles Hallman Staff Writer Shortly after its April 2008 release, the title track from Cynthia Jones’ 2008 CD Gotta Soul successfully stormed the radio airwaves. Therefore, the Kingdom Records gospel artist hopes a similar outburst occurs with her third effort, Journey of Soul, […]
Posted inArts + Culture, News
Movies, Media & More – by Dwight Hobbes
Buffalo Soldiers: historic cinema in more ways than one Buffalo Soldiers (DVD) is a marvelous exception to Hollywood’s rule of characteristically ignoring Black reality. In the process, it’s also a beautifully captured piece of Black history. On both accounts, one does well to thank God for small favors. For instance, what was the last Tinseltown-produced […]
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Great male jazz vocalists, new music ideas
Musician/vocalist George Benson’s latest CD from Concord is entitled Guitar Man. Having been one of 80 critics who voted in DownBeat’s 59th Annual International Critics Poll, I must say I’m a bit shocked to know that in the category of Rising Star Male Vocalist, Curtis Stigers’ name appears. He received 26 votes. I don’t remember […]
Posted inNews
Escaping Jim Crow American Caste
Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles: Although we see these cities today as places with large numbers of African Americans, they weren’t always that way. Isabel Wilkerson describes the great migration of six million African Americans across the country from the South in her book The Warmth of Other Suns. She is the […]
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Mpls recording studio expands internship program
The Hideaway Studio of Minneapolis, a music recording facility serving the local market and such artists as Snoop Dogg, Atmosphere, Brother Ali and Doomtree, is expanding its internship program, which is being done in conjunction with the studio’s recent efforts to make it a more accessible resource for mainstream and commercial use among the general […]
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’Godfather of Rap’ Blowfly belatedly gets his due in jaw-dropping bio-pic
By Kam Williams Contributing Writer Clarence Reid is a legendary songwriter who wrote R&B hits back in the 1960s and ’70s for everyone from Sam & Dave to KC & the Sunshine Band. What many people don’t know, however, is that he also donned a flamboyant costume, periodically, to perform raunchy rap tunes as his […]
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My Soul to Take: Tananarive Due’s newest novel a chilling trip to Armageddon
People say that summer colds are the worst, but that’s not entirely true. A cold stinks no matter when you catch it. The sneezing, the stuffiness, the raw throat and hacking cough are no fun at any time, and they always seem to arrive just when you least need them. But what if the virus […]
Posted inArts + Culture
Essence editor emeritus spoke at Black employees’ event in MN
Susan L. Taylor was the featured speaker at the General Mills Black Champion Network (BCN) Good to Great Speaker Series last month, held at the General Mills’ Golden Valley headquarters. Taylor, editor emeritus of Essence Magazine and founder of National CARES Mentoring Movement, encouraged the General Mills executives and staff to be change agents in […]
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Entertainment, etc. by Dwight Hobbes: A conversation with Fancy Ray: egotist extraordinaire
Fancy Ray “The Best Lookin’ Man in Comedy” McCloney is, let’s say, an acquired taste. Not so much his chuckalicious assortment of television commercials, the most recent being a spot for Hy’s Pawn & Jewelry where he literally tries to sell you the kitchen sink, the most famous being his hysterical send-off of Prince for […]
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Enduring firebrand Amiri Baraka brings ‘griot consciouness’ to Southern Theater
By Dwight Hobbes Contributing Writer Minnesota Spoken Word Association (MSWA) founders e.g. bailey and Shá Cage have achieved a triumph in bringing literary icon Amiri Baraka to the Twin Cities. MSWA offshoot Tru Ruts’ Freestyle Theater premieres bailey’s adaptation of Baraka’s Wise Why’s Y’s at the Southern Theater, a landmark event for which Amira Baraka […]
Posted inArts + Culture, Music
James on Jazz: Herbie Hancock performance an early holiday present
Where was I? Ah yes, Mr. Herbie Hancock. Last column, I mentioned his name. Imagine: It’s Christmas time, and you have this huge living room with a big black grand piano and enough money to hire Hancock to play for you all evening long. It’s just you (ok, maybe a few friends), Hancock, and he’s […]
Posted inArts + Culture
Eric Roberson: Soulful Grammy nominee sang at Dakota
On October 1, singer, songwriter, arranger and producer Eric Roberson introduced songs from his upcoming CD, Mr. Nice Guy, and delivered a crowd-pleasing performance at the Dakota Jazz Club in Minneapolis. This two-time Grammy Award nominee started out his career as an underground sensation, which has allowed him to successfully remain on his own independent […]
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Movies, Media & More, By Dwight Hobbes—New online column takes on Hollywood’s Blackout
“Movies, Media & More” — despite the nice, innocuous title — is neither nice nor innocuous. I just call it that because Movies, Media & More is more economical and eye-friendly than “Raising Three Different Kinds of Hell About the Insidious, Ruthless Racism by which Hollywood Determinedly Propagandizes a White-is-Wonderful Agenda that Would Warm Adolf […]