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← Older posts Newer posts →FOREST WHITAKER TO RECEIVE NAACP CHAIRMAN’S AWARD AT THE 45th NAACP IMAGE AWARDS
February 4, 2014Two-Hour Special Airs Live on Saturday, February 22 on TV One at 9:00 p.m. ET (PT tape-delayed) One-Hour Pre-Show Airs Live from the Red Carpet at 8:00 p.m. ET (PT tape-delayed) Academy Award-winning actor, producer, director and 2014 Image Award nominee, Forest Whitaker is set to receive the NAACP Chairman’s Award during the 45th NAAP Image Awards, broadcast live on Saturday, February 22 (9:00 p.m. ET/PT tape-delayed) on TV One, the civil rights organization announced today. The Chairman’s Award, chosen by Chairman of the NAACP National Board of Directors, Roslyn M. Brock, is bestowed in recognition of special achievement and distinguished public service. Past honorees include United States Navy Vice Admiral Michelle Howard, Radio One Founder and Chairperson Cathy Hughes, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin, Tyler Perry, Former Vice President Al Gore and Dr. Wangari Muta Maathai, Aretha Franklin, Bono, then Senator Barack Obama, The Dave Matthews Band, and Danny Glover. “Forest Whitaker embodies the moniker of artist/activist,” stated Roslyn M. Brock, Chairman of the NAACP National Board of Directos. “His work in front of and behind the caera engages and entertains, and his sevice to communities around the world is truly inspirational. It is my honor and privilege to to recognize Mr. Whitaker with the Chairman’s Award.” Whitaker just wrapped an astounding year led by the success of “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,’” in whish he delivered a moving portrayal of Cecil Gaines, a butler at the White House through eight administrations and 34 years, as well as the critically acclaimed “Fruitvale Station,” on which he served as a producer. Both films garnered significant praise, including Image Award nods for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture and Outstanding Independent Motion Picture, bringing Mr. Whitaker’s total number of Image Award nomincations to seen, inluding a win for Outstanding Actor in …
Posted in Movie News | Leave a commentRussell Wilson Clinches Super Bowl Glory, Adds to Lure of Black History Month
February 3, 2014Rory’s Round-Up: Russell Wilson Clinches Super Bowl Glory, Adds to Lure of Black History Month By Rory Sharrock Throughout the 28-day period in February (29 during a leap year), newsreels, television series and online posts are flooded-stories celebrating the achievements of African Americans during Black History Month. Adding his name as the newest member on the list of legends honored in February is Russell Wilson, Super Bowl champion quarterback of the Seattle Seahawks. In just his second season in the NFL, Wilson, 25, has climbed to the summit of pro football after leading his squad to a 43-8 rout over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII. With the win, the Richmond, Va. native, who was a third-round pick (No. 75 overall) in the 2012 NFL Draft, became the second African-American starting quarterback to win the Super Bowl. Washington Redskins’ signal caller Doug Williams was the first to claim this feat after his Most Valuable Player performance in Super Bowl XXII. Ironically, both Williams and Wilson earned their championship glory following blowout wins over the Broncos. In the aftermath of Super Bowl XLVIII, all the talk focused on Seattle’s ferocious defense and how they manhandled the most prolific offense in NFL history. While the chatter for the defense is justified, no one can overlook Wilson’s impressive play under center. Although he didn’t take home the MVP award like Williams, Wilson was nevertheless stellar on the field at MetLife Stadium, completing 18-of-25 for 206 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed three times for 26 yards. These numbers were great, but perhaps his most important stat was zero turnovers. Wilson’s name is now forever linked with a host of heroes who are revered for their greatness during Black History Month. This proud moment is just one chapter in a potentially classic book. He is one of the league’s rising stars and he’s still in the infancy of his football career. He already has a Super Bowl ring and is blessed with the …
Posted in Fashion | Leave a commentWilbourn Sisters Designs Featured at High Tea with High Heels Fashion Show
February 3, 2014WILBOURN SISTERS bring Style & Elegance to High Tea With High Heels Affair Trumpet Awards Week . High Tea with High Heels is a proud tradition of the Trumpet Awards that combines the elegance of high tea, high heels and high fashion to create a truly unique event honoring a select group of distinguished women. In conjunction with Trumpet Awards Week festivities guests enjoyed a proper tea while enjoying an exclusive fashion show at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis, January 23. Honorees: Andrea Boone Commissioner, Constituent Services Office of Mayor City of Atlanta Kysha Cameron CEO Emeritus, Ryan Cameron Foundation Yvette Boyd President of DonLae’ Designs Deidra Cunningham Marketing & Public Relations Manager IKEA Atlanta Beth Davis President and Regional Market Manager Clear Channel Media + Entertainment Cassandra Gaines Muskogee Civic Center Director and Muskogee Multi-Cultural Tourism Coordinator Avarita L. Hanson, Esquire Executive Director Chief Justice’s Commission on Professionalism Jessica Hayes Vice President of Museum Operations U.S. Marshals Museum Carolyn House Stewart, Esquire International President Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. DeAndra J. Cullen, J.D. Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary Office of Fair Housing & Equal Opportunity Helen Kim Ho, Esquire Founding Executive Director Asian American Legal Advocacy Center Ivenue Love-Stanley, FAIA Managing Principal Stanley, Love-Stanley, P.C. Dr. Donna H. McCree Associate Director for Health Equity NCHHSTP Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Amy Palesch, Esquire Associate Refuse Hill & Hodges LLP Marian Pittman Vice President of News & Marketing Cox Media Group Laurie C. Reid, RN, MS CAPT., U.S. Public Health Service Office of Health Equity NCHHSTP Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Donata Russell Major CEO, Concessions International, LLC Lovette Russell Senior Consultant Coxe Curry & Associates Lauren Simmons Senior Catering Sales Executive Atlanta Marriott Marquis Jane E. Smith Executive Director Spelman College Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement Tisha R.Tallman President …
Posted in Music & Film | Leave a commentPharrell Williams’ GRAMMY-Winning Formula
February 1, 2014GRAMMY-WINNING PRODUCER REVEALS HIS DEFINITION FOR A SUCCESSFUL SONG GRAMMY-winning producer Pharrell Williams recently visited Conway Studios in Hollywood, Calif., to participate in an exclusive interview with GRAMMY rap community blogger Nick Huff of HardKnock.TV. Williams discussed the making of the GRAMMY-nominated hit “Blurred Lines,” how music brings him peace and why fans are crucial to a song’s success, among other topics. “Success is determined by the people who purchase and sell and stream and vote and request and share your songs,” said Williams. “In my opinion, that’s what quantifies the definition of a successful song …. The people make the decision … if it’s meaningful to people it will catch fire.” View more of Williams’ interview at HardKnock A Virginia Beach, Va., native, Williams emerged in the ’90s as one-half of the GRAMMY-winning producing duo the Neptunes. As the Neptunes, Williams and partner Chad Hugo produced hits for artists such as GRAMMY winners Babyface, Jay Z, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and Usher, among others. In 2003 the Neptunes earned Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical honors at the 46th GRAMMY Awards. That same year Williams picked up a GRAMMY for Best Pop Vocal Album as a producer on Timberlake’s debut solo album Justified. In 2001 Williams formed the alternative rock collective N.E.R.D. with Hugo and Shay Haley, releasing hit albums such 2004’s Fly Or Die (No. 6) and 2008’s Seeing Sounds (No. 7). Williams’ debut solo album, 2006’s In My Mind, peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. In November 2013 Williams released the hit “Happy,” which is featured on the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack and will be featured on his forthcoming solo album. Williams won four of the seven GRAMMYs he was nominated for at the 56th GRAMMY Awards, picking up both Record Of The Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” …
Posted in Fitness | Leave a commentLIFETIME PRESENTS THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL, PREMIERING MARCH 8
January 31, 2014The Trip to Bountiful is a television adaptation of American playwright and screenwriter Horton Foote’s Tony nominated play. Set during the final years of the Jim Crow South, the film follows one woman’s quest to reconnect with her past in order to ensure her family’s future. The Trip to Bountiful premieres Saturday, March 8, at 8:00pm ET/PT. ABOUT THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL In The Trip to Bountiful, Carrie Watts (Cicely Tyson), who was awarded with a Tony for her role in the Broadway revival, begrudgingly lives with her busy, overprotective son, Ludie (Blair Underwood) and pretentious daughter-in-law, Jessie Mae (Vanessa Williams). No longer able to drive and forbidden to travel alone, she wishes for freedom from the confines of the house and begs her son to take her on a visit to her hometown of Bountiful. When he refuses, Mrs. Watts is undeterred and makes an escape to the local bus station, where she befriends Thelma (Keke Palmer), a young woman traveling home. When Ludie and Jessie Mae discover she is gone, they call in law enforcement to help, but Mrs. Watts is one step ahead of them and convinces the local sheriff to help her on her journey home to Bountiful. Produced by Ostar Productions, The Trip to Bountiful is executive produced by Bill Haber (Rizzoli & Isles), Cicely Tyson, Hallie Foote and Jeff Hayes (A Day Late and a Dollar Short). The Trip to Bountiful premieres Saturday, March 8, at 8:00pm ET/PT. ABOUT LIFETIME Lifetime is a premier female-focused entertainment destination dedicated to offering the highest quality original programming spanning scripted series, non-fiction series and movies. In 2012, as a result of its aggressive programming strategy that doubled the hours of original programming, Lifetime posted its strongest year-on-year growth among the key demographics in 10+ years, while also …
Posted in Highlight | Leave a commentLegendary African-American artists of the 20th Century
January 31, 2014In Celebration of BLACK HISTORY MONTH, and THE MONUMENTS MEN, where historical works of art are featured, Sonya’s Spotlight features prolific and influential African-American artists Jean-Michel Basquiat and Hale Woodruff. Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat, born in Brooklyn, New York (December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988), was a Haitian-American artist. Basquiat first achieved notoriety as part of SAMO, an informal graffiti group who wrote enigmatic epigrams in the cultural hotbed of the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City during the late 1970s where the hip hop, post-punk and street art movements had coalesced. By the 1980s he was exhibiting his Neo-expressionist and Primitivist paintings in galleries and museums internationally, but he died of a heroin overdose at the age of 27 in 1988. The Whitney Museum of American Art held a retrospective of his art in 1992. Basquiat’s art focused on “suggestive dichotomies,” such as wealth versus poverty, integration versus segregation, and inner versus outer experience. He appropriated poetry, drawing and painting, and married text and image, abstraction and figuration, and historical information mixed with contemporary critique. Basquiat used social commentary in his paintings as a “springboard to deeper truths about the individual”, as well as attacks on power structures and systems of racism, while his poetics were acutely political and direct in their criticism of colonialism and support for class struggle. Hale Woodruff Hale Aspacio Woodruff (August 26, 1900 – September 6, 1980) was an African-American artist known for his murals, paintings, and prints. One example of his work, the three-panel Amistad Mutiny murals (1938), can be found at Talladega College in Talladega County, Alabama. The murals, commissioned and painted during the Great Depression, are entitled: The Revolt, The Court Scene, and Back to Africa, portraying events related to the slave revolt on theAmistad. Located in Savery …
Posted in 98TH ACADEMY AWARDS | Leave a commentTHE MONUMENTS MEN In Theaters February 7
January 30, 2014Synopsis: Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, The Monuments Men is an action drama focusing on an unlikely World War II platoon, tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners. It would be an impossible mission: with the art trapped behind enemy lines, and with the German army under orders to destroy everything as the Reich fell, how could these guys – seven museum directors, curators, and art historians, all more familiar with Michelangelo than the M-1 – possibly hope to succeed? But as the Monuments Men, as they were called, found themselves in a race against time to avoid the destruction of 1000 years of culture, they would risk their lives to protect and defend mankind’s greatest achievements. From director George Clooney, the film stars George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and Cate Blanchett. The screenplay is by George Clooney & Grant Heslov, based on the book by Robert M. Edsel with Bret Witter. Produced by Grant Heslov and George Clooney. Directed by:George Clooney Screenplay by:George Clooney & Grant Heslov; Based on the Book: The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel with Bret Witter Executive Producer:Barbara A. Hall
Posted in Cinema | Leave a commentTRUMPET AWARDS 2014, Xernona Clayton Street Unveiling & More!
January 30, 201422nd Annual Trumpet Awards Gives Tributes to Extraordinary Honorees for African American Achievement The Trumpet Awards Foundation recently wrapped up the 22nd Annual Trumpet Awards where an international cast of who’s who in the areas of religion, politics, public service, law, entrepreneurialism, and entertainment turned out to witness the Awards Show and the celebration of African American achievers. The festivities took place at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre on Saturday, January 25, 2014. The Annual Trumpet Awards was hosted by Melissa De Sousa, a NAACP Image Award nominated actress, and Laz Alonso, a NAACP Image Award winning actor. De Sousa was recently seen in the film Best Man Holiday. Alonso has several films to his credit which include Stomp the Yard, Fast & Furious, and Avatar; his television credits include, “Bones,” “CSI-Miami,” “The Practice,” and more. Celebrity guests, honorees, and participants who braved the cold weather and were seen on the Red Carpet included Tim Davies and the crew from Radio-One, Martin Luther King III, Chris Tucker, Congressman/Ambassador Andrew Young, Bobby Jones, Judge Mablean Ephriam, Danny Bakewell, former Chief Justice Leah Sears Collins, members of the staff of the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, and many others. Xernona Clayton, Chair, President, and CEO of the Trumpet Awards Foundation, and Creator and Executive Producer of the Trumpet Awards,and a national celebrity in her own right, presented the “Trumpet Award” to the honorees, including: DeVon Franklin; Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff; The Honorable Kamala Harris; Deryl and Cheryl McKissack; Charles J. Ogletree, Jr; Steve Pemberton; Alfre Woodard; the five Atlanta Bronner Brothers; and seven sisters of the entrepreneurial Williams Family from the Bahamas.Presenters for the 22nd Annual Trumpet Awards included Palmer Williams, Roland Martin, Sweetie Pie’s Robby Montgomery, and Nephew Tommy. Performers who provided the entertainment included award-winning recording artists Amber …
Posted in Photos, 57th NAACP Image Awards | Leave a commentAnthony Anderson to Star in ABC Comedy Pilot ‘Black-ish’
January 21, 20145:30 PM PST 1/16/2014 by Lesley Goldberg “The Game’s” Kenya Barris penned the semi-autobiographical comedy, with Laurence Fishburne attached to executive produce. A year after NBC’s short-lived comedy Guys With Kids, Anthony Anderson is back in the pilot mix. ABC has picked up half-hour single-camera comedy Black-ish, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. From writer Kenya Barris (The Game), the semi-autobiographical comedy centers on an upper-middle class black man who struggles to raise his children with a sense of cultural identity despite constant contradictions and obstacles coming from his liberal wife, old-school father and his own assimilated, color-blind kids. STORY: TV Pilots 2014: The Complete Guide [3] Barris will pen the script and executive produce for ABC Studios and Laurence Fishburne‘s Cinema Gypsy banner, with Principato Young Entertainment also on board to produce. Cinema Gypsy’s Helen Sugland and Tom Russo will also exec produce with Anderson and Barris as well as Principato Young’s Peter Principato, Paul Young and Brian Dobbins. This marks the second African-American-themed drama pilot so far this season. It joins American Crime, a racially charged legal drama from 12 Years a Slave writer John Ridley. For ABC, it’s the network’s sixth comedy pilot this season, joining British remake An American Education, fairy tale musical Galavant,Israeli adaptation Irreversible, Aussie paranormal effort Strange Calls and a romantic comedy from Jeff Lowell. Anderson, meanwhile, could have two series on the air if Black-ish moves forward. The actor has already been tapped to host [2]NBC’s game show Wall of Fame. E-mail: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com [4] Twitter: @Snoodit Photo Credit: Getty Images Source URL: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/anthony-anderson-star-abc-comedy-671723
Posted in Highlight | Leave a commentSeattle Seahawks’ Richard Sherman Defends Himself After Postgame Rant: I’m Not a Villain
January 21, 20149:46 AM PST 1/20/2014 by Kimberly Nordyke The cornerback, whose team is headed to the Super Bowl, went off on opponent Michael Crabtree in a Fox Sports interview with a visibly stunned Erin Andrews. Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman is defending himself after giving a heated interview Sunday night during which he went off on San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Michael Crabtree. The game ended with Seattle winning 23-17, sealing their appearance in the Feb. 2 Super Bowl against the Denver Broncos. The final play of the game involved a pass intended for Crabtree, but Sherman tipped the ball to teammate Malcolm Smith for the interception in the end zone. After the game, Sherman talked to Fox Sports’ Erin Andrews, who asked him about the final play. PHOTOS: Hollywood’s Best Football Movies “Well I’m the best corner in the game!” Sherman yelled. “When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree that’s the result you’re going to get. Don’t you ever talk about me.” Andrews, who was visibly stunned, then asked whom he was talking about, to which Sherman yelled “Crabtree!” “Don’t you open your mouth about the best,” Sherman yelled. “Or I’m gonna shut it for you real quick. LOB.” Andrews then quickly threw back to game commentator Joe Buck. Dan Bell, vp communications at Fox Sports, told The Hollywood Reporter that the interview was cut short as a “precautionary measure” over concerns of possible profanity, adding that network execs thought Andrews handled the interview “very well.” Meanwhile, Sherman also called Crabtree a “mediocre receiver” in a news conference after the game. Sherman, who regularly writes for the Sports Illustrated blog The MMQB, on Monday wrote a column for the site explaining what happened. After the game, “I ran over to Crabtree to shake his hand, but he ignored me,” Sherman wrote. “I patted him, stuck out my hand and said, ‘Good game, good game.’ That’s when he shoved my …
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