August 2011

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I was about to begin the last few installments in RSP for this month when up crops a group on Facebook called “I Grew up in DC.” It’s amazing what you remember in your hometown. Next month marks 33 years when I left the city and as they say “loaded up the truck and moved to Beverly”… Well not exactly…

I spent about an hour reminiscing in this group about some of the memories of growing up in the city…Places and things that had become distant memories that suddenly found new life…Many of those things, no matter where you grew up everyone knew and understood…

We remembered things from the Good Humor Ice Cream truck to the milkman delivering milk in glass containers, to old fashioned home remedies for the common cold…As real schoolers we grew up in a time and place that we’ll never see again. Families were different, accountability was different, children were raised differently. It just seemed so much more stable…It’s great to look back and find strength in those things that keep us whole.

August 4 marks the first anniversary of my mother’s passing. I took a day...Taking time to acknowledge all the things that she gave to me that enriched my life…I would not be doing any of the things that I’m doing now were it not for her… When most of us were growing up we never believed that our parents would be gone...Parents seemed so forever. Legacies are forever. The legacies of our parents’ lives in us- and so it goes. That is how the branches of the family tree flourish.

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ADVENTURES IN MARLOLAND

A couple of years ago I wrote about Marlo Henderson. I had to share again what's going on and it's really great that he wailed on my upcoming single... 

Meet the man you've always known. I'm an avid album liner notes reader. I knew Marlo from reading album jackets before I worked with him when I was with the gospel group, Tommy T & Company.

Little did I know that years later we'd be working together. But even if I hadn't met him, there is a subtle familiarity that abounds when one continually sees names credited on some of the most notable music memories immortalized on wax. Especially when more than 50 of this wax went gold and platinum!

We all "know" guitarist, arranger, producer Marlo Henderson. If we've ever listened to Minnie Ripperton, Michael Jackson, Earth Wind and Fire, Patti Labelle,The Jacksons, Gato Barberie, Dusty Springfield, Brenda Russell, Ahmad Jamal, Joe Sample, Johnny Mathis, Denise Williams...Okay, this is just part of the list---so yes we know Marlo.

1970 Buddy Miles Them Changes. Henderson fingerprinted his contribution to the rhythm with guitar as well as background vocals.

1977 -The Emotions Rejoice Album. I remember my favorite song on that album Don't Ask My Neighbors Marlo laid a groove that was kick back and sultry. Where was I back then? Living just outside of DC. I remember the leaves changing to the colors of fall and grooving to this tune at my window seat.

1978-The DJ Rogers  My favorite tune from that album Love Brought Me Back. I couldn't believe that track. The strings were awesome on this gospel, r & B funk groove where Marlo held it down with a rhythmic funk  that reiterated the message, Hey, this is funk that 's hanging out with  gospel and R & B.

He's written for The Pointer Sisters,The Emotions, Ramsey Lewis, Booker "T" Jones, Deniece Williams, Tata Vega and Syreeta Wright and more.

He's also worked with the new school, when in 1993 he worked on Hip Hop Projects which included KRS-1 to Snoop Dog, Tupac and the east coast's Dove Shack.

And what is he doing now? Everything! His music and his world which I call Marloland is a serene, quiet, thoughtful mesh of music in its most spiritual form...

You feel it everywhere..Whether it's his unique plants and flowers, to the way they are arranged in the yard to the planters and interesting groupings of all of these elements. 

Everything in Marloland is connected to music...which equals peace which equals the joy of creativity...He continues to keep it real, with the production quality that we remember from back in the day...He has the subliminal wisdom of teaching to the real school preschoolers...All they have to do it listen.  

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MUSIC:

LULU: YESTERDAY AND TODAY

She was one of the biggest female singers in the UK in the 60s… Lulu, has been singing since she was 4 and came to prominence with her cover of “Shout” (it reached number 7) originally recorded by the Isley Brothers in 1959. 

When she made her film debut in To Sir With Love in 1967, she exploded in the US with a number one hit from the movie. It was the B-side of a record in the UK of her record "Let’s Pretend". She married Bee Gee Maurice Gibb in ’69 and had her own self titled show. The couple remained married until 1973.

She is still quietly soulful and unique. Her voice has gotten better through the years and she continues to hold her own…Now in her 60s, her voice is even more vibrant than when she charmed us as a teen in the film…

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MEDIA:

VIOLA DAVIS GETS REAL ON SCREEN

Viola Davis is a powerhouse of an actor. Her work is amazing and she can so transform her face and characters so brilliantly that you could probably be in a room with her and wonder what happened to Viola once she’s on the set. The more I saw her, the more I was spellbound by the depth of her vision…

The Julliard graduate won the Tony Award for her performance on Broadway in August Wilson’s  King Hedley II in 2001… Born in South Carolina in 1965, she was raised in Rhode Island where her family moved when she was two months old… “We grew up in abject poverty." she is quoted as saying. "Acting, writing scripts and skits were a way of escaping our environment at a very young age.”

The actress plays Abilene Clark in the film "The Help" which opens in theaters on August 10…The film itself is sure to garner a myriad of emotions. Ms.Davis does an amazing job in "period pieces".

There are so many words I could use to describe her artistry: focused, direct, captivating…Her star is rising and I can see that she is creating legacy in her performances…She is one of the brightest and the best in the Hollywood Galaxy.

 Her unforgettable performance as Mrs. Miller opposite Meryl Streep won Ms Davis an Oscar Nomination as best supporting actress for the role. She has  been on the big and small screen since the mid 90s and an actress for over 20 years.

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MEMORIES: STILL LOVING LUCY

August 6 would have been Lucille Ball's 100th Birthday...She was the Queen of Comedy back in the day and still maintains her reign to new schoolers and the new schoolers yet to come. I don't think there is any one of us who could ever forget Lucy growing up...Who knew that a woman could be beautiful and funny?  She had a signature look and there will only be one Lucy. 

She was a pioneer in the still very new prairie called television back in the day. She was an entertainer with firsts: the first woman to run a major TV studio (Desilu) and the first woman allowed to show her pregnancy on TV...She and her son, Dezi Arnaz, Jr. were on the first cover of TV Guide Magazine...Before she was an actress, Lucille was a model...She once worked in an ice cream store, but was fired for not putting bananas in the banana splits! Our first Lucy episode off camera? Interestingly so...

The legacy that she left in the world of entertainment is one that none us will ever outgrow...More of us watched Lucy marathons than not and more us had a favorite episode that still tickles our funny bones...

Quote from Lucille Ball: " I'm happy that I have brought laughter because I have been shown by many the value of it in so many lives, in so many ways."

We thank you Lucy. We much real love you.

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REAL FILM: 
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

 

Who could forget? That last scene of Planet of the Apes with Charlton riding horseback to see the Statue of Liberty half immersed in the sandy beach? I was 12 years old when I saw Planet of Apes in 1968. The ending was such I shocker, I totally wanted more. One of my first questions was, how did it ever get to this point? Well, all this and more are answered in the prequel Rise Of The Planet of the Apes…

I have long been pissed off at Hollywood for its talentless, relentless remakes of classic films believing that their "remix" will outdo the original. But with “Rise”? THIS is a prequel that was worth waiting 43 years for! Masterful in the way it referenced the original film it makes you want to watch the classic original. That is brilliant…But one thing I must point out. You have to watch past the end credits in the film because as they are rolling you gain more insight into how the rise of the Ape culture spread. This film also leaves it open for a sequel which I hope is as well done as this…All I can say is, when that ape said his first word, everybody in the theater said “WHOA!”

So what was so appealing about  Rise? It was something about the eyes of Ceasar,  and the breath of life that was brilliantly  given by actor Alan Serkas, the man in the virtual monkey suit. He worked it, too...Serkis is no stranger to the CG acting game. He also gave life to Gollum in Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit and King Kong in the 2005 re-make.

Performance-capture, or motion-capture, is a type of film-making that records an actor’s body and facial movements, which are then transferred to a digital model and rendered on computer.  Serkis wore a tight-fitting suit over his body and face when  playing  Caesar from baby to adulthood ,covered with markers that highlight the nuances of his movement, and recorded by a special camera...It's like Avatar in real life...He should definitely get Oscar recognition for this character because it's a type of acting that requires more...Yes, the actors back in the day had to go through hours of make up, but this new technology gives even more realism to the visual in film.

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 "Thanks for sharing the journey"

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