Slave statue controversy continues

• By: Deanna Dewberry

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - 24-Hour News 8 first reported Tuesday about a fiery debate about art. Since then the controversy has grown even larger. The debate centers around a statue planned along the cultural trail.

The controversy concerns whether cultural trail leaders should update an image of a freed slave on Monument Circle or show a more modern image of African- Americans.

Asked after Tuesday night's meeting if he expected the vitriolic reaction to his work, world-renown artist Fred Wilson said, "No, I was blind-sided by this."

Still, Wilson believes the discussion generated by his proposed sculpture is both healthy and necessary. That's why he agreed to go on the Amos Brown talk show to continue the community conversation on Wednesday afternoon.

Most of the largely African-American callers supported Wilson's vision of erecting a sculpture of a freed slave on the southwest corner of the Indianapolis city-county building.

One female caller said, "We can't ignore our past and in fact, we should celebrate our past."

It's a past from which she says a strong people emerged. It's the image of strength that Wilson says he wants to portray. He plans to take the city's existing sculpture of a kneeling, subservient freed slave on the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in downtown Indianapolis and reposition it a bit, creating a new sculpture with the freed slave leaning forward while holding a flag blazing with colors of Africa — symbolic of the diaspora as well as his arduous journey from slavery to freedom.

But some callers said they believe a public street is not the place for the sculpture. One caller who survived an attempted lynching believes the image of a shirtless, shoeless freed slave brings back painful memories.

"If that goes up, I can't take it man," the caller, a Georgia native, said on the air.

Wilson, who is a 50-something African-American, says he understands. He believes his sculpture should be the beginning of the conversation on race and culture, not the end.

"This sculpture should be the catalyst for change," he said.

Leaders of the Indianapolis cultural trail plan a series of smaller public meetings. If you'd like to participate, you can call the Central Indiana Community Foundation at (317) 634-2423.

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CLIFTON DAVIS - Actor, Songwriter and Minister

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Davis was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Thelma vanPutten Langhorn, a nurse, and Toussaint L'Ouverture Davis, a Baptist minister.^[1] He was raised in Mastic, New York.

Clifton starred as barber Clifton Curtis in the mid 1970's television show That's My Mama with Theresa Merritt, Theodore Wilson and Ted Lange (who subsequently became a mainstay of The Love Boat). Davis' romantic interest with songstress and Broadway performer Melba Moore led to his co-starring role on her musical variety television show.

Davis made a guest appearance on the third episode of the first season of The Bobby Vinton Show in September 1975, singing "I've Got The Music In Me" and "Never Can Say Goodbye". He successfully sang the Polish lyrics with Vinton to the show's "My Melody of Love" theme song.

Before finding fame in acting, Davis worked as a songwriter, most famously penning The Jackson 5's #2 hit "Never Can Say Goodbye".

A triple heart bypass survivor, he participated in the "superstars" celebrity TV sports competitions of the seventies. He also appeared in the film Scott Joplin in 1977.

Davis released one acclaimed (and now hard to find) studio recording in 1991 on Benson Records titled Say Amen. He also appeared as a panelist in the second version of The Match Game.

He played the mayor of Miami in the 1999 film Any Given Sunday.

Minister

In addition to being an actor and a singer, he is also an ordained baptist^[2] minister. Davis holds a BA in Theology from Oakwood University and a Master of Divinity degree from Andrews University^[3]. For the last 25 years he has been an active part of Youthville, USA a children's services organization. He currently serves as National Spokesperson and Advisory Board Chairman. He is the emcee and host of The Most Soulful Sound, an annual gospel choir competition in Raleigh, North Carolina. He also hosts an annual celebrity golf tournament in Elizabeth City, NC at Elizabeth City State University, where he served as Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement. Since the end of 2005 Davis has held the position of Executive Director for Welcome America, a non-profit organization located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that produces the largest Fourth of July celebration each year in the nation.

Davis is a frequent guest host on Trinity Broadcasting Network. Davis also hosted the Gospel Superfest TV show from 2000 to 2008, which is syndicated by United Television.

Davis is the author of an autobiographical essay entitled "A Mason Dixon Memory" in which he recounts his experiences as an eighth grader dealing with prejudice on a trip to a southern state.^[4] A real life minister, Davis also portrayed a minister on the prime time series AMEN.

‘Lois Mailou Jones: A Life In Vibrant Color’ On View In D.C.

By Stephen May

Textile designer, teacher and painter, Lois Mailou Jones (1905–1998) was one of the finest American artists of the late Twentieth Century. An African American, she persevered through racial and gender discrimination to carve out an outstanding career as both a gifted educator and artist of exceptional talent.

Combining academic skills with African and later Haitian motifs, Jones created images that convey a love of life, compassion for others, passion for social justice and a deep sense of color and composition. Over the course of her long career, she documented the streets of Paris and Port-au-Prince and the scenery of Cape Cod, portrayed students and friends, participated in the Harlem Renaissance, recorded the Jim Crow years and the Civil Rights movement, and depicted African independence.

In spite of all these accomplishments, Jones never received the full recognition she deserved during her lifetime. A traveling exhibition, organized by the Mint Museum and its curator of contemporary art Carla M. Hanzal, should help correct that injustice.

Already seen at the Mint Museum and Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland, Fla., "Lois Mailou Jones: A Life in Vibrant Color" is at the National Museum of Women in the Arts through January 9. Its national tour is organized by International Arts & Artists of Washington, D.C. Included are more than 70 paintings, drawings and textile designs.

Jones was born into a middle-class Boston family and grew up spending summers on Martha's Vineyard, where her parents owned a home. Inspired by the island's bright colors, she began painting in watercolor, which she called "my pet medium."

After attending Boston's High School of Practical Arts, Jones apprenticed with a costume and stage designer. Enrolling at the School of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts as a design major, she won awards for dress designs and honed her skills in drawing the human figure.

Jones's early designs for cretonne drapery fabric, filled with color and intricate patterns, suggest that she could have achieved great success had she pursued a career in design. They demonstrate, according to art curator Lowery Stokes Sims in the catalog, "that Jones was capable of an adventurousness in form, a visual cacophony and compositional formats in her designs that indicate an awareness of Modernist conventions."

Spurred by advice to go to the South to "help her people," Jones taught for a year at a prep school in North Carolina, where she coached the women's basketball team and started the art department. On the side, she produced evocative watercolors of local homesteads and a view of a mother and daughter sitting outside a tree-shaded home, "Sedalia, North Carolina," which hinted at future achievements. These early works, notes Sims, "are Realist with a Regionalist character and [with] modulated earth tones…."

In 1930, Jones was recruited to teach at Howard University in Washington, the nation's premier black institution of higher learning. The position offered security and the opportunity to create an important training ground for black visual artists. Jones taught at Howard for 47 years, inspiring generations of students that included artists Elizabeth Catlett and artist/educator David Driskell.

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KCK native who became first black astronaut now soars as artist

By ALICE THORSON - The Kansas City Star

As a young man, Ed Dwight made history as the first African-American to train as an astronaut. That was in 1962, under the John F. Kennedy administration.

Today the Kansas City, Kan., native enjoys a different kind of fame. Over the last 3 1/2 decades he has built a national reputation as a sculptor of public works.

As the first black astronaut, Dwight made the covers of Ebony and Jet magazines and appeared in publications around the world. As an artist, he has devoted himself to chronicling the contributions of other black Americans to history.

Dwight’s celebration of African-American achievement includes dozens of bronze sculptures and paintings of jazz superstars. Many of them can be seen in a new exhibit at the American Jazz Museum, which will hold a public reception for the artist from 6 to 9 tonight.

Dwight’s best-known works include a memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. in Denver’s City Park; an African-American history monument on the Capitol grounds in Columbia, S.C.; and a memorial to the Underground Railroad in Detroit and adjacent Windsor, Ontario.

He recently completed a life-size grouping of President Barack Obama and his family called “The Inauguration of Hope.”

His new exhibit, “The Evolution of Jazz,” grew out of a conversation between Dwight and childhood friend Elmer Jackson, the chairman of the Jazz Museum’s board. Jackson lived across the street from Dwight when the two were growing up in Kansas City, Kan.

Earlier this year, the museum’s visiting curator, Sonie Ruffin, flew to Denver, where she chose 47 sculptures and 10 paintings from the artist’s 25,000-square-foot studio in a former airplane hangar.

Ruffin has organized the exhibit to tell the story of jazz from its beginnings in the beat of African drums to its development as a high art form in the hands of Charlie “Bird” Parker, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong and many others.

Dwight, 77, knew many of the artists he has portrayed, including Parker, whose boyhood home was four blocks from Dwight’s, and Lionel Hampton.

In a recent interview, Dwight recalled going to concerts at Municipal Auditorium when he was 10 or 11 years old with money he’d saved from his paper route.

“I’d go at 7 and sit right in front of the stage,” he said, a close-up experience that gave him memories beyond the music. “Lionel Hampton and Billy Eckstine used to ‘spit’ in my hair.”

Many of the works in the exhibit feature Dwight’s unique “negative space” mode of portrayal, in which he focuses solely on the essentials: the performer’s head, hands and instrument.

The idea came to him one morning, Dwight said, when the light coming through the transom of his studio highlighted only parts of his works.

“I cut away everything that the light wasn’t shining on and poured wax (molds).”

He did 10 of them, each in an edition of 10, and when he showed them, he said, “they sold out in 30 minutes.”

One of the most striking works in his exhibit features a keyboard being played by a pair of disembodied hands. It’s a portrait of Eubie Blake, a ragtime pianist who played well into his 90s.

Dwight’s aptitude as an artist surfaced in kindergarten and continued through high school. He received a scholarship to the Kansas City Art Institute, but his father, Ed Dwight Sr., who played second base for the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro Leagues, had other ideas.

“Dad talked me into engineering and flying,” he said.

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Kanye West's New Album "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" Has Cover Art Banned

by Matthew Ross

Kanye West's new album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, slated to release Nov. 22, has already found itself amidst some controversy over it's risque (and frankly, extremely weird) album cover.

According to Gawker, the original cover art for Kanye West's new album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, was banned, presumably by the FCC, because it featured nudity. The banned cover art of Kanye's album features a devilish looking African American man holding what looks like a beer, having sex with an armless female figure with wings and a polka-dotted tail.

According to Kanye's Twitter account, the "woman" in question on his banned cover is his"phoenix."

Here's what West had to say on Twitter about his banned cover art:

"Yoooo they banned my album cover!!!!! Ima tweet it in a few..."

"Banned in the USA!!! They don't want me chilling on the couch with my phoenix!"

So, apparently Kanye West owns an armless white woman with wings and a tail somewhere in his house. One can only assume it was expensive.

He follows up those tweets with some typical Kanye arrogance:

"I know that cover just blew yall minds ... I wish yall could see how hard I'm smiling right now!!!"

"In all honesty...I really don't be thinking about Wal-Mart when I make my music or album covers"

It's hard to read Kanye West's Twitter account and not picture them with comedian Aziz Ansari's voice.

On Amazon.com, it looks as if Kanye's risque banned cover has been replaced by a drawing of a head (presumably Kanye) wearing a crown sideways on a table, with a sword stuck in it.

So, in Kanye West's "beautiful, dark, twisted fantasy," he's king of an imaginary land where he gets beheaded?

Probably by Taylor Swift fans.

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This focused mid-career survey presents a selection of Fred Tomaselli’s unique hybrid paintings and collages from 1990 to the present. These layered paintings combine cutout images of plants, birds, smiling mouths, and hands (clipped from field guides and magazines) with passages of paint and actual prescription pills and hallucinogenic plants to create highly stylized, eye-popping compositions. Tomaselli’s artwork draws upon a wide range of sources from both popular culture and art history, and from his own hobbies of gardening, kayaking, and bird-watching. Growing up near the desert in southern California, Tomaselli felt the influence of nearby theme parks, with their manufactured reality, and the music and drug counterculture of Los Angles in the 1970s and 1980s. His distinctive melding of these influences coalesces into a folk-driven, utopian vision of the mythic American West and of lush gardens as sites of contemplation, loss, and possible redemption. One of the pioneering artists who moved to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in the 1980s, Tomaselli continues to live and work in the borough.


This exhibition is organized and toured by the Aspen Art Museum and The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College. The Brooklyn Museum presentation is coordinated by Eugenie Tsai, John and Barbara Vogelstein Curator of Contemporary Art, Brooklyn Museum.

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Think Again: New Latin American Jewelry

The Museum of Arts and Design presents the first comprehensive overview of contemporary art jewelry from Latin America to be seen in the United States. The exhibition was organized by Otro Diseño Foundation for Cultural Cooperation and Development, and curated by Valeria Vallarta Siemelink. Think Again showcases more than eighty works by over fifty Latin American jewelry artists/designers including Mirla Fernandes and Claudia Cucchi (Brazil); Valentina Rosenthal (Chile); Elisa Gulminelli and Francisca Kweitel (Argentina); Jorge Manilla and Alcides Fortes (Mexico); and Miguel Luciano (Puerto Rico).

Think Again: Latin American Jewelry encompasses a passion for jewelry making in South America, Mexico, and the Caribbean Islands where contemporary jewelry artists are inspired by their own cultural and artistic environment while reflecting the rapidly expanding international community of avant-garde artists. In their jewelry making, each artist/designer in the exhibition explores fresh ideas, innovative techniques and non-traditional materials. The contemporary works will be shown in context with a group of historical works primarily from Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico and Cuba, to further enhance the visitor's understanding and viewing experience.

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African art and language exhibition in Ann Arbor

By Kwadwo Gyan-Apenteng

It is undoubtedly true that Ann Arbor is a city where art resonates with its people. The passion for art is evident in the festivals and general attitude of the people towards it in their daily activities.

Thus when an international artist storms Ann Arbor, he comes prepared especially to meet the high standards and expectations of Ann Arbor art lovers.

Ida Abreu, Cape Verdean artist and sculptor stunned patrons and art enthusiasts when his art exhibition opened at the Palmer Commons in Ann Arbor.

Many art lovers and students thronged Palmer Commons to witness the electrifying event organized by the Department of Linguistics and the Center for African American Studies. (The exhibit has now closed.)

The Center for World Performance Studies funded the exhibition through a grant awarded to Dr. Marlyse Baptista, an Associate Professor at the University of Michigan, Linguistics Department and Center for African American Studies.

The purpose of the grant was to promote collaboration between the Linguistics Department and Centre for African American Studies and an artist of their choice. Marlyse Baptista showcased Ida Abreu’s work in An Arbor owing to the fact that Ida’s work is distinct, original and also in line with her study of language and art.

Ida exhibited 36 paintings. His pieces are unequivocally very lively and exquisite, unique and colorfully depicting diverse themes and concepts about social issues.

In one of the pieces he illustrated an ancient Cape Verdean myth about a woman who is feared as a ghost; he explained that the woman was feared and people always wondered if she was real. That piece brought nostalgic feeling to an art enthusiast who shared his experience about the African folkloric legend and how real the painting was.

Another captivating piece was about a drunk, an old man drunk in abstract art holding a gallon. It is a bright and vivacious piece that thrilled patrons at the exhibition.

Ida Abreu’s calm debonair is a contrast to his vibrant and psychedelic paintings. Ida has a distinct approach to art. He is influenced and inspired by his native country Cape Verde and his native creole language.

Ida takes such an utterly imaginative approach to his work making the pieces so believable yet in a playful and arguably abstract style that captivates his audience wondering or speculating about the true meaning of each piece.

Before the exhibition started Ida Abreu and Marlyse Baptista addressed a symposium with the theme Language and Art at the Palmer Commons.

Ida explained to the audience using his creole background as an instance: “I use a double language by allying the language of plastic art with the emotions that I can only express in my own native language, Cape Verdean Creole. I view my art as a conduit for the transmission of visual messages that are deeply rooted in the oral language of Cape Verde islands. My work is definitely a means of communication. It conveys messages and emotions that are less direct and immediate than those that music for instance can trigger but such messages and emotions can be deciphered and discovered with a little bit of observational investment and investigation of the techniques I use.”

In an interview with Ida he stated that, “The single most important objective of my art is communication. I combine my own personal experience to my craft and communicate this way with my audience”.

Ida believes that from the start, there is always a philosophy embedded in each piece of art but his philosophy is based on my own reality. He asserted, “In Cape Verde, we do not write about philosophy but we are deep thinkers and I personally always link every piece I create to my own personal experience, to the thoughts of the moment, to music or the imaginary”.

He further stated that “My personal politics definitely influence my work and given that I grew up in Cape Verde in the post-independence period when I had many exchanges with the radical youth that were active back then in Cuba and Russia, this experience created a certain dynamism and a sense of engagement that still run through my work. I am political in the sense that I am not a partisan to a particular political party but I sense that my mission is to describe what happens in my society even if this can be viewed by some as an act of civil disobedience.”

His work does not enter the frame of a particular social philosophy but each piece he creates is meant to represent instead a fixed moment, thought or image by giving them some space through which they can be imagined.

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Soprano Angela Brown donates personal papers to IU’s Archives of African American Music and Culture

Indiana University announced today (Oct. 14) that renowned opera singer Angela Brown, who honed her craft at the Jacobs School of Music, has selected IU's Archives of African American Music and Culture as the repository for her collected papers and an array of items related to her career.

"Being from Indiana and having graduated from IU, Angela is well-known, revered and has a legacy in this state," said IU Professor of Folklore and Ethnomusicology Portia Maultsby, director of the Archives of African American Music and Culture.

"The archives' location at IU and our collection and programming focus on African American music and musicians make us a logical and appropriate site for this incredible collection. The Angela Brown Collection will provide an invaluable resource for scholarly research and course development on African American opera singers, as well as broader issues on African American music and culture."

The Angela Brown Collection

The Angela Brown Collection will include recordings on cassette, videotape and DVD, photographs, personal papers such as certificates and awards, posters, programs and brochures, and magazine and newspaper articles about the singer who made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Aida in 2004.

"I am very excited that the dream of having an Angela Brown Collection is coming true through the IU Archives of African American Music and Culture," Brown said. "It is awe-inspiring to think that young people will be able to learn from my life's work as it unfolds. Hopefully, they will be inspired by my 'highs' and learn from my 'lows.' A huge thanks to the Archives of African American Music and Culture for deeming me worthy of being a part of such a prestigious collection. I am grateful and humbled for this to be in my home state of Indiana."

Maultsby is pleased to start archiving the collection while Brown is still in her 40s. As a creative artist gets older, Maultsby said, early aspects of her career may pale in significance in the artist's mind, causing some of the most interesting, formative items to be forgotten or left out.

"Angela's collection is a valuable resource because it allows us to chronicle the full development of the career of an African American opera singer -- particularly one who has maintained her participation in and allegiance to the African American musical tradition," Maultsby said. "This collection can inspire others who may have been advised to choose between the world of classical music and that of African American vernacular traditions. Angela, through her continued success, shows us that one music tradition does not have to be sacrificed for the other. It is indeed possible be Angela Brown the gospel singer, Angela Brown the R&B or popular music singer, and Angela Brown the opera singer."

Brown's general manager, Janet Jarriel of JEJ Artists, said the archiving project will bring cohesiveness and chronology to the singer's disparate collection of career-related items. "It also will make the collection accessible to other young singers who can see Angela's route," Jarriel said. "She didn't take a straight path, and she didn't start out wanting to be an opera singer. It's interesting to see how lots of different experiences in her early years influenced her career."

EDITORS: Angela Brown will be available to speak with media today (Oct. 14) after an 11:30 a.m. presentation at Indiana University's Musical Arts Center (south mezzanine). The presentation will include remarks from IU Provost Karen Hanson, IU Professor Portia Maultsby, Angela Brown and Jacobs School of Music Dean Gwyn Richards.

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Mary Lou Williams: The First Lady of Jazz

In the centennial of her birth, The Root takes a look at the long and varied career of one of jazz's unsung female piano virtuosos.

Throughout the history of jazz, men like Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk and Dizzy Gillespie carved out the basic musical fabrics that ranged from the boogie blues to fusion.

Yet there's one woman who is admiringly -- and indisputably -- the single thread that stitches together the many pieces spanning almost six decades. Mary Lou Williams, a virtuoso pianist, composer and arranger, was truly, as the Kennedy Center dubbed her, "the first lady of jazz.''

Williams, a musical prodigy who began playing professionally as a teen in the 1920s, was always ahead of her time. While most women who garnered fame in jazz tended to be singers, Williams composed and arranged music for Ellington, Benny Goodman and Andy Kirk. She mentored a generation of jazz giants, including Monk and Gillespie.

By the time of her death in 1981 at 71, Williams had more than 300 compositions and recordings in her repertoire, which crossed a broad array of musical styles.

The year 2010 marks the centennial of her birth, which is being celebrated with concerts and seminars to acquaint music lovers with her lesser-known legacy. She thrived without onstage theatrics -- choosing to let her music speak for itself, says Dr. Tammy L. Kernodle, associate professor of musicology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

"You can't box her in and categorize her or her work," says Dr. Kernodle, who also wrote the biography Soul on Soul: The Life and Music of Mary Lou Williams. "Mary Lou is a personification of genius that denigrates gender and social barriers."

Williams, for her part, was clear about her role in jazz. As she once put it, she used her music to "heal disturbed souls."

"I am praying through my fingers when I play," Williams said in a 1964 interview with Time. "I get that good 'soul sound,' and I try to touch people's spirits."

She was born Mary Elfrieda Scruggs in Atlanta in 1910 but spent most of her childhood in the East Liberty neighborhood in Pittsburgh. She grew up working class, one of 11 children of a mother and stepfather. Her mother played an old pump organ for the local church.

As a child, Mary Lou always sat in her mother's lap while she practiced. One day, Mary Lou closely watched her mother's fingers roll across the keys; minutes later, she was able to recount the exact melody. He mother, Virginia, shocked by her daughter's action, dropped Mary Lou and ran to tell the neighbors.

Virginia didn't want to tarnish her daughter's talent through formal training, so she let her daughter teach herself the instrument. Her stepfather, Fletcher Burley, encouraged her by purchasing a piano for their home. By age 6, Mary Lou was playing at private parties and eventually for public events. Around town, she became known as "the little piano girl of East Liberty."

At 12 she was touring with the vaudeville show Hits and Bits and then with the Orpheum Circuit with dancers Seymour James and Jeanette Taylor. Three years later, as a young teenager, she played with Ellington and his early small band, known as the Washingtonians. She eventually became an arranger for him and wrote the song "Trumpet No End" (1946).

In 1927 she married saxophonist John Williams; together they formed a small group based in Memphis, Tenn. Two years later, John was invited to play with Andy Kirk's Twelve Clouds of Joy band. (By this time, she'd taken to calling herself Mary Lou Williams.) Mary Lou first recorded with them in 1929, when the band's regular piano player missed the session and John urged Kirk to allow Mary Lou to take the absent musician's place. She would go on to pen numbers such as "Walkin' and Swingin'," "Little Joe From Chicago" and "Cloudy." Mary Lou toured with Kirk until 1942, just after divorcing John. She married trumpeter Harold "Shorty" Baker soon after, but eventually they separated, though never officially divorced. By this time, she had moved to New York.

Re-posted from The Root.com

To read more about this jazz ion, click here.

Rikers guard wins $54 million lottery jackpot

She's been homeless, bankrupt, a robbery victim and assaulted on the job -- but radiant Rikers Island guard Garina Fearon now has 54 million glorious reasons to start living la dolce vita.

The 34-year-old single mom from East New York, Brooklyn, who has endured a lifetime of hardship and poverty, told The Post she's the mystery winner of last Friday's Mega Millions drawing.

"I wanted a better life. I was struggling as a single parent," a beaming Fearon said yesterday. "I've really come back from nothing."

PHOTOS: $54 MILLION LOTTERY WINNER

She never imagined such joy was possible when she was down to her last $25 six years ago and forced to file for bankruptcy.

Hard times struck again two years later, when burglars robbed her apart ment while she was at work guarding danger ous inmates.

Fearon, who spent part of her youth in a homeless shelter with no stable family, went on to endure sickening abuse from the monsters in her care.

"She's had feces thrown in her face and on her uniform in the years that she's been there," said a fellow jail guard. "She's a tough young lady."

How she won is as re markable as her change of fortune.

Fearon said she bought the wrong ticket at a Sutter Ave nue bodega, where she went to play Powerball, not Mega Millions.

"I only play every six months or so," said Fearon, who has a 16-year-old son and a 14-year-old daughter.

She held on to the ticket all weekend, and didn't think about it until Monday, when she asked a co-worker for a newspaper. She scribbled the winning numbers on the back of an inmate pass as her shift ended.

As she waited for the bus, she made the amazing discovery.

"I was about to fold up the lottery ticket," Fearon said. "Then I saw the numbers, and I started running from one part of the parking lot to the other screaming."

She still hasn't come down from her high.

"I don't know what I'm going to do," she said. "It's something unexpected."

The first thing on her "to-do" list was to talk to supervisors at the Correction Department. She said she feels too loyal to the job to let it go, even with all that money coming her way.

"I'm going to go to my job to get some days off," Fearon said. "I don't want to resign."

Fearon said it was her correction career that rescued her from her financial ruin.

Her top priority is taking care of her ailing mom.

"I'm from Jamaica," Fearon said. "I have a sick mother. She has diabetes, and I'm going to buy my mom a house in Jamaica."

Fearon said she will take the lump-sum option, which will pay her about $30 million before taxes. Beyond that, she's not sure what she'll do next.

"I don't know anything about all this kind of money," she said.

ikimulisa.livingston@nypost.com

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/gilded_cage_for_jail_guard_YfbhNwgqc0ICMGZHedBeYO#ixzz11i4Z1FQ5

Wynton Marsalis Hits Cuba for History-Making Jazz Concerts

Re-post from The Root.com

Wynton Marsalis spent the weekend jamming with Cuban legends ahead of a concert series that will put musicians from the two Cold War enemies onstage together. The visit by Wynton Marsalis and his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra kicks off a season of unprecedented cultural exchange, with the American Ballet Theater scheduled to perform in Havana next month in honor of Cuban ballet legend Alicia Alonso. Marsalis had been to Cuba before, but it was the first trip for the Lincoln Center Jazz group. According to the article, Marsalis said at a press conference, "It's a great honor for us as musicians to come here to Havana because of the long tradition and the great musicians who have come from here." President Obama's more relaxed visa policy toward Cuba has musicians traveling between both places. What's better than Cuba, a country known for great jazz, hosting jazz greats from this country?

Read more at Yahoo News.

Teddy Pendergrass Widow and Son Involved in War of the Wills

When R&B crooner Teddy Pendergrass died in January, he was pretty much penniless. The place that he called home in Penn Valley, Pa., was foreclosed over the summer and will be sold in a sheriff's sale next month. The estate also has an outstanding car loan and a pending lawsuit by a former partner.

His money woes, though, have not stopped his second wife, Joan, and son Teddy II from warring over what's left of the late-entertainer's estate.

Teddy Pendergrass: Dead at 59

Apparently both wife and son have wills that state opposing demands: Joan's will says that Teddy II receives nothing from the estate, while Teddy II's will says Joan is to receive nothing.

It very well may be that the multi award–winning singer may have drawn up the wills in a state of mind that might not have been all there.

On Wednesday, both Joan and Teddy II met with a judge but left the legal process without a binding agreement. The parties are feuding moreso over the singer's legacy than money.

LaDonna Pendergrass Hollerway, one of Teddy's daughters, speculates that Joan only sees dollar signs in her future via books, films about Teddy's controversial life or a reality show:

"She was married to my dad for only a year, and she has turned my family upside down," said Hollerway, a hospital technician in Plano, Texas, to the AP.

On the flip side, Joan's attorney refutes the accusations about his client's monetary ambitions:

"To say it's a money grab is ludicrous - there's just no money to fight about," said Kevon Glickman to the AP.

At a recent tribute that was held at the opening of a documentary about Pendergrass' life, Teddy II and Joan had to take the stage together. Teddy II flat-out refused to hug or be photographed with her. Teddy II had this to say about his father's wife:

"We simply don't see eye-to-eye. What I do know is my father did what he intended to do - and that is, put me in charge for the family."

Joan's supporters say, though, that she was a diligent and caring wife, who bent over backward to tend to the mega-performer's every need. They say that she loved her husband dearly and cared for all his children as well.

Ruth Manuel-Logan

Toddler Dies in Hot Car While Pastor Dad Attends Church

A 1-year toddler roasted in a hot car Sunday, while her minister dad attended church.

The baby's body was discovered by her father, Odane James, (pictured above with wife, Tiffany) at around 3:15 p.m. Sunday, three hours after he left her in the vehicle. It was not known if James, who is the pastor of Holiness Born Again church in Miramar, Fla., about 20 miles north of Miami, was preaching on that sweltering 100 degree-plus day.

Church-goers immediately gathered around the 28-year-old father and his little girl, Kimberly. While some members tried to resuscitate the child who was not breathing, the remaining parishioners stood outside the place of worship crying and screaming as emergency personnel arrived. Hordes of police and an ambulance made their way through the crowd; the child was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

James, who emigrated to these shores from Jamaica nearly 20 years ago, has not been charged with the toddler's death, but police are still investigating.

Hours after the tragic turn of events, church members still remained on the premises in a state of shock, while police gathered information and statements from them and took pictures.

According to the organization Kids and Cars, which maintains a national database tracking deaths and injuries to children left unattended in or around motor vehicles, Kimberly, sadly, is the 49th child this year to succumb to this deadly practice.

President Janette Fennell told the Miami Herald, "The most important thing to understand is that this can happen to anyone. If anything, it does tend to happen to the better parents. As little as 8 percent involve drugs and alcohol. This can happen to college professors and dentists and ministers, really the pillars of our society."

Police: Paramedic sold stolen ultrasound machines on eBay

The Pennsylvania State Police arrested veteran paramedic Juan Torres on multiple counts of felony theft.

Torres, 44, from Glenolden is charged with stealing multiple state of the art portable ultrasound machines and selling them on eBay, specifically the Sonosite Titan Ultrasound machines.

"It looks like he sold up to, possibly, 15 ultrasound machines and the one in our case was valued at about $35,000," State Trooper John Sunderlin said.

Police say Torres' asking price on eBay for the machine was under $7,000.

They traced one stolen from Riddle Memorial Hospital to a doctor in Argentina.

In June 2009, Torres worked as a paramedic at Riddle.

Riddle officials reported their Sonosite Titan missing during that same time frame.

Main Line Health owns Riddle and the Paoli Hospital, where two ultrasound machines were reported stolen in late October 2007.

According to eBay records, at least one of those Sonosites went up for sale on eBay a few days later.

Torres also worked at a private ambulance company located in Feasterville, Bucks County. The criminal complaint says that gave Torres access to Doylestown Hospital's emergency room where two Sonosite ultrasound machines were stolen last spring.

Police have traced both to sales on eBay from a seller called bioteched.

"Everything was related to his eBay account; investigation showed that through those eBay accounts, we were able to trace who he sold the ultrasound machines to," Sunderlin said.

As Torres headed to the Delaware County Prison Wednesday night, his bail was set at $50,000 with State Police still looking for up to 10 more ultrasound machines he allegedly advertised on eBay.

Vernon Odom

2 accused of assaulting Pa. hunter arrested in Mo.

FRACKVILLE, Pa. - October 7, 2010 -- State police say two teenagers accused of attacking and robbing a hunter on state game lands in eastern Pennsylvania have been arrested in Missouri.

Police at the Frackville barracks say 18-year-old Philip Hemminger, of Black River, N.Y., and 19-year-old Andrew O'Connor, also from New York, were taken into custody Tuesday in Rolla, Mo. Police allege they were trying to pawn stolen merchandise, including guns stolen from Watertown, N.Y.

Police say both have been charged with robbery, criminal conspiracy, aggravated assault, theft and arson, among other crimes, and they face charges in Missouri.

Authorities say the teens left New York earlier this month and traveled to Pennsylvania, where their vehicle became disabled. Police say they then attacked a 32-year-old Tamaqua man who was archery hunting nearby. Police say they struck him with their weapons Saturday night, took his cell phone and drove away in his truck.

Hemminger's father, Philip Hemminger Sr., told The Associated Press that his son was being held on $400,000 bail. He said the family had been praying for the arrest of the two so neither they nor anyone else would come to harm, and he wanted to offer his deepest apologies to the hunter who was assaulted.

A listed number for O'Connor could not be found Wednesday.

Raging fire consumes South Philadelphia apartment building

Raging South Philadelphia apartment fire

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SOUTH PHILADELPHIA - October 7, 2010 (WPVI) -- A massive fire that tore through a South Philadelphia apartment building has been placed under control.

The flames broke out just after 5:30 a.m. Thursday on the 2000 block of S. 4th Street, near McKean Street.

Heavy smoke was seen when firefighters arrived. However, the smoke quickly escalated into uncontrollable flames.

Crews rescued some occupants on an upper floor. Philadelphia police rushed at least one occupant to the hospital.

There is no word on the severity of their injuries.

The building contained 11 units. Residents claim they heard no fire alarms, but were awoken by police and firefighters banging on their doors to evacuate.

The fire was placed under control at approximately 7:17 a.m.

The Red Cross temporary shelter at the Horace Furness High School had to be evacuated due to excessive smoke. It was relocated to Sharswood Elementary School, located at 2nd and Wolf Streets.

Classes at Furness H.S. are cancelled today due to smoke.

There's no word on a cause of the fire at this time.

Wyclef Jean Named Fellow at Brown University

He may not have won the right to run for president in Haiti, but Wyclef Jean is about to take on a new leadership role here in the States.

Rhode Island’s Brown University says the musician has accepted an appointment as a visiting fellow in its Department of Africana Studies for the 2010-11 academic year, reports Reuters.

The Ivy League school says the Haitian Grammy Award winner will engage in activities related to its Haiti Initiative, including lectures, faculty conversations and classes. Brown says Jean made his first visit to campus Monday and attended two inaugural lecturers.

The 37-year-old singer says his time at Brown will be “a period of learning and reflection.”

Jean announced a bid for Haiti’s presidency in August but ended it last month. No official reasons were given for his exclusion although he’s presumed not to have met constitutional requirements such as living in Haiti.

Jean grew up in New York and lives in New Jersey.


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R&B Singer Mario Declares Love for Mom After Allegedly Assaulting Her

Although R&B singer and actor Mario was arrested early Thursday morning for allegedly attacking his mother in the Baltimore apartment that they share, he says he still loves her and will stick by her no matter what happens.

The crooner's mom, Shawntia Hardaway, a former heroin addict, allegedly called police at 12:53 a.m. on Sept. 30 to report that a "mental-case was breaking up property" inside her apartment. Police met the distraught mom, who was sobbing uncontrollably, in the hallway of her building. Hardaway told police that her 24-year-old son, whose real name is Mario Dewar Bennett, had gone on a rampage. He had also forcefully pushed her to the point of causing bodily pain.

When Baltimore officers entered the residence, they discovered a damaged china cabinet, broken glass strewn all over the floor and a large hole in a closet door.

The shaken mom told police that Mario had also put his hands on her just three days prior. The young singer, who had in the recent past made quite a splash on season 6 of the popular TV show 'Dancing With the Stars,' allegedly pushed his mother with such force that she fell against a wall and struck her head upon impact. The investigators asked Hardaway if she feared for her life, and her response was a resounding, "Yes!"

What Hardaway failed to tell police is that the fight took place because of her drug addiction.

A source told US Weekly that Hardaway had allegedly withdrawn some money out of Mario's bank account. The former heroin addict also went on a spending spree with the crooner's credit cards. When Mario arrived at the apartment, he found that his mom had resorted to her old habit and was "cracked out on drugs."

The unidentified source stated that Mario, who was released on $50,000 bond, was absolutely blameless and that the second-degree assault charges against him could be dropped.

The only statement released by the multiplatinum singer, who started the Do Right Foundation two years ago to educate and inspire kids confronting family drug addictions was, "I will continue to support her anyway I can."

Hardaway's tearjerker story of her battle with heroin was aired back in 2007 on an MTV special, 'I Won't Love You to Death: The Story of Mario and His Mom,' when she had been sober for one year.

Ruth Manuel-Logan

T.I. Might Go to Prison, but Would Lindsay Lohan or Paris Hilton?

It's being reported that rapper T.I. (aka Clifford Harris) has a probation revocation hearing on Oct. 15. The rapper was arrested for drug possession with his wife, Tameka "Tiny" Cottle. The incident occurred on Sept. 2, and the couple was allegedly in possession of codeine, Ecstasy and Marijuana, which was uncovered in what police say was a routine traffic stop.

I spoke with someone familiar with the case and asked him whether T.I. was going back to prison. He said that although he isn't sure of the rapper's fate, there is an inherent contradiction in his case. While we can almost expect that T.I. will be punished for his latest violation of the law, the same can't be said for other celebs, like Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton. Both of these young women have been arrested time and again for one offense or another. In each case, they are typically given a slap on the wrist.

Artists like T.I. and Lil Wayne have done hard time for their violations of the law. We could try to argue that their crimes are worse than those of Lohan and Hilton (I don't agree with this point), buy you can't disconnect their experiences with the justice system from the disparities between white females and African American males.

According to the Department of Justice, black males are roughly 35 times more likely to go to prison than white females. Additionally, black children are nine times more likely than white children to have a parent in the penitentiary. T.I.'s children have already spent a year without their father. If his hearing doesn't go well, they may not see their father for a very long time.

This is not to say that T.I. didn't play a role in the creation of his problems. I've written publicly that I was incredibly disappointed after this latest incident. He not only disappointed me, but he also let down millions of fans who believed in him, and the children he's vowed to raise. But I wonder if this were Lohan caught with weed and codeine in her car, would there be a possibility of a prison sentence? Both she and Paris Hilton have been arrested for cocaine possession, and Hilton was recently videotaped in the car of a friend who ran over a woman and drove away. Lohan and Hilton have rap sheets that could probably rival those of T.I. and Lil Wayne, yet we typically expect that they are going to "MacGyver" their way out of every situation.

If a black male rapper were doing all the things that Lohan and Hilton were doing, would their trips to the courthouse be cute little celebrity appearances, or situations where they'd be expected to face real consequences? If these artists were sent to rehab or jail, would they be able to skip out of their sentences or miss court dates whenever they wished? What about black males in the 'hood being caught with dope versus college students who get drunk and high every weekend on college campuses? Do we consider all of these cases in the same way?

I won't answer these questions for you, since our perspectives as Americans vary widely based on where we come from and who we represent. But with almost no exception, we can argue that the experiences of black men in the criminal justice system are quite different than that of white females. This is true even if you're a celebrity.

Boyce Watkins, PhD

Memphis Teen Shot in Butt for Not Pulling Up Pants

No "pants on the ground" for a Memphis man who is accused of shooting a teen in the butt, because he didn't like how his pants were sagging.

Two Whitehaven, Tenn., youths, ages 16 and 17, were on their way to a woman's house Saturday to buy candy at around 7:30 p.m. According to a police report, as they strolled past the home where Kenneth E. Bond (pictured) stood, Bond angrily yelled profanities and ordered them to pull up their pants, demanding that they "do what he told them to do" because he's the adult.

The boys refused, and an argument ensued, with the boys calling the 45-year-old a "fat ass" who needed to "shut up." The boys then went on their way to the candy store without giving Bond a second thought.

Police investigators state that on their way back from the candy store, the youths passed the home again. Bond emerged with a semi-automatic pistol and began firing. The 17-year-old was struck in the buttocks. Reportedly, the bullet exited through the boy's thigh.

The teen was taken to a local hospital, then sent to another for further treatment and is expected to make a full recovery.

Bond admitted to police that he had shot at the youths and was booked in to a Shelby County jail. He faces two counts of aggravated assault and was released, after posting a $25,000 bond.

Bond is scheduled to appear in court for an October 11th hearing.

Ruth Manuel-Logan

Because of Unpaid Fee, Firefighters Let Home Burn

Oct. 6) -- A small rural community in western Tennessee is outraged and the fire chief is nursing a black eye after firefighters stood by and watched a mobile home burn to the ground because the homeowner hadn't paid a $75 municipal fee.

South Fulton city firefighters -- equipped with trucks, hoses and other firefighting equipment -- didn't intervene to save Gene Cranick's doublewide trailer home when it caught fire last week. But they did arrive on the scene to protect the house of a neighbor, who had paid his fire subscription fee.

"I just forgot to pay my $75," Cranick told ABC News. "I did it last year, the year before. ... It slipped my mind."

Later that day, Cranick's son Timothy went to the fire station to complain, and punched the fire chief in the face.

"He just cold-cocked him," Police Chief Andy Crocker told the Union City Daily Messenger. The younger Cranick was arrested and charged with felony aggravated assault, and South Fulton Fire Chief David Wilds was treated and released from a hospital, Crocker said.

Firefighters in South Fulton city are under orders to respond only to fire calls within their city limits, as well as to surrounding Obion County, but only to homes there where people have signed up for a fire subscription service.

Because Cranick hadn't paid his fee, firefighters doused the border of his neighbor's property to protect that house in case the flames spread, but wouldn't help him. He lost all his possessions, plus three dogs and a cat.

"They could have been saved if they had put water on it, but they didn't do it," Cranick told MSNBC.

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The fire began when Cranick's grandson set fire to some trash near the house, and the flames leapt up. Cranick said he told the 911 operator that he'd pay whatever fee was necessary, but it was too late.

"I have no problem with the way any of my people handled the situation. They did what they were supposed to do," South Fulton City Manager Jeff Vowell told the Messenger. "It's a regrettable situation any time something like this happens."

But one firefighting expert said the fee system isn't fair to homeowners or firefighters.

"Professional, career firefighters shouldn't be forced to check a list before running out the door to see which homeowners have paid up," Harold Schatisberger, president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, said in statement excerpted by MSNBC. "They get in their trucks and go."

Lauren Frayer

Harlem Week to Foster Arts, Culture

The economic recession has hit the African-American community hard, but supporters of Harlem Arts Alliance Advocacy Week are striving to keep art alive in spite of the tightening purse strings.

At the launch of the week’s events at Riverside Theatre on Monday, Broadway performers Doug Eskew and Brenda Braxton performed a song by Harlem artist J.C. Johnson that flourished during the difficult times of the Great Depression.

J.C. Johnson was a pianist and songwriter, who worked with jazz and blues greats like Ethel Waters, Lonnie Johnson, and Fats Waller. His album “Trav’lin” has been made into a musical and brings to life the Harlem of the 1930s. With a cast of Broadway professionals, the show is being offered for only $20 a ticket at the New York Musical Theatre Festival from Oct. 11 to 17.

Artists like Johnson thrived in spite of adverse conditions, as the Harlem Arts Alliance (HAA) hopes budding artists today will burgeon through a maintained link to their culture and their community.

“Frankly, the white folk have a recession, we have a depression,” said Howard Dodson, chief historian at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, as HAA presented him with an Arts Cultural Leadership award.

“Harlem has been established as a place where African and African Diaspora people live, create, and celebrate our centuries-long—our millennium-long—history and heritage everyday despite the economic and other struggles that confront all of us,” said Howard.

The HAA Advocacy week brings together groups to network and form a community of organizations that may then share resources and work together as a stronger force in obtaining grants.

Grants have been awarded to Harlem arts organizations by both private entities such as Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, and through government initiatives. Kathleen Hughes, assistant commissioner of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, was hopeful about the funding to be obtained for the community from her department.

“From 2007 to today, there has been a 37 percent increase in grants awarded to Harlem-based African organizations,” said Hughes.

“We’ve come a long way baby,” Hughes quoted an old Phillip Morris commercial, “but we still have a long way to go.”

“Amen!” came a voice from the back of the room.

Harlem Arts Alliance Advocacy Week includes seminars, exhibitions, concerts, and other events.

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Uptown Magazine and BMW Group Celebrate African American Success

The Joy of Success Honors Black Entrepreneurs in Washington DC

Uptown Magazine and BMW Group jointly sponsored “The Joy of Success” to honor African American leaders. The September 16^th event at B. Smith’s Restaurant is part of the year-long marketing relationship between BMW and Uptown Media Group that includes special events and integrated programs in connection with BMW’s Joy Campaign.

Event honorees including Joe Watson, Chairman of The Marathon Club, Donna Byrd, Publisher of The Root and Lamell McMorris, Founder of Perennial Strategy Group were celebrated by a host of who’s who in Black Washington. In addition, BMW Group made a contribution to the charity of choice for each honoree.

Through Matlock, BMW of North America’s African American Agency of Record, the luxury car maker saw a perfect opportunity to partner with Uptown Magazine and reach the affluent African American consumer.

"Uptown Magazine is thrilled to be a significant component of BMW's Joy initiative for 2010. Our yearlong integrated marketing campaign includes in-book, digital and event opportunities to spread BMW's message to the affluent African American consumer," said Len Burnett, Co-Founder and Group Publisher, Uptown Media Group.”

With over 100 major projects worldwide, BMW Group cultural programs have been an integral part of the company’s contributions to society for almost 40 years. Besides contemporary art, architecture and design, classical music and jazz are key components of this engagement.

About Uptown Media

Founded in 2004, Uptown Media Group is the only luxury lifestyle company targeting the Affluent African American (AAA) Market. UPTOWN Magazine affords luxury purveyors the broadest access to this highly sought-after demographic. Uptown Media Group, LLC offers traditional and innovative strategies, including UPTOWN Magazine (published bi-monthly with NYC, Chicago, Atlanta, Washington DC, Charlotte, Philadelphia, Detroit and National editions; interactive website UptownLife.net, UPTOWN Social event updates and Uptown's signature events. UPTOWN Magazine is available by subscription at www.uptownlife.net and on national newsstands, including Hudson News. UPTOWN Magazine, a toast to Luxury, Lifestyle and Living.

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Harlem Renaissance sculptor Barthé showed black strength, conflict in bronze

Last year, the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art offered a stellar show from a Harlem Renaissance master, Jacob Lawrence. This year it’s the Dixon’s turn with “Richmond Barthé: Harlem Renaissance Sculptor.”

Memphians can take in the work of this equally significant African-American artist all the way through Jan. 2, 2011, which is a good thing, since you will want to see this show more than once.

“So often we hear about the music and the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance,” says Dixon Gallery and Gardens curatorial assistant Julie Pierotti. “But it’s great to have the visual art piece of that puzzle and to be able to show that aspect of the story. (Barthé) was so involved with the culture and the energy of the Harlem Renaissance, you can really feel the music and the theater and the literature just by looking at his sculpture.”

Curated by Los Angeles Museum of African American Art founder Samella Lewis, the Dixon show assembles more than 30 bronze busts and figures by Barthé, whose classically conceived approach imbued his subjects with a serene dignity that countered African-American stereotypes of the time, especially images of black masculinity.

Born to Creole parents in Bay St Louis, Miss., Barthé (1901-1989) studied at the Art Institute of Chicago with the intent of becoming a painter. Instead, he became one of the preeminent sculptors of his generation, locating by 1930 to Harlem where he found acclaim and courted celebrity for the next several decades.

Tensions and dichotomies abound in his work, the outpouring of a Southern, African-American, gay man of the Catholic faith whose modernist technique was informed by populist subject matter. The busts of a Black Madonna and entertainer Josephine Baker, for example, become pensively kindred souls when viewed together. As Margaret Rose Vendryes observed in her excellent 2008 biography, Barthé: A Life in Sculpture, each work bears its own spiritual journey.

At times, the journey is unmistakable, as in the male bust whose fiat-like breath sings the history of black America into being in “Birth of the Spirituals.” Elsewhere, the symbolism is less overt if just as compelling. Positioned next to each other in the exhibit are two contrasting images of Jesus that speak to the religious core in both Barthé’s work and in the African-American struggle.

Neither image would be considered devotional art in the traditional sense, yet both comment on Christianity’s empowering role for generations of black Americans. In the huge bust, “Angry Christ,” stern eyes and a sharp jaw emanate wrath and corrective justice, while in the show’s centerpiece, “Bound Christ,” Barthé perfectly captured Jesus as fellow sufferer. In this and other works, bronze became the ideal medium for the artist, who found a warmth and fluidity of movement through the material that cast even the most archetypal subjects in vulnerable, ever-so-human terms.

As part of the exhibit, former Power House Memphis director Rehema Barber will give a noon lecture on Oct. 27, “Reflections on Barthé: Modern and Contemporary Depictions of Black Masculinity.”

“Richmond Barthé: Harlem Renaissance Sculptor”

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