According to Variety.com, Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced an eclectic lineup of nominees for 2014 induction today, including rap acts LLCoolJ and N.W.A., disco band Chic and New Orleans funk group the Meters.
Other newly-anointed candidates include Chicago’s blues-rocking Paul Butterfield Blues Band, British hard rock act Deep Purple, U.K. singer-songwriter Peter Gabriel, blue-eyed soul duo Hall & Oates, costumed Detroit metal act KISS, Seattle grunge icons Nirvana, Minneapolis’ shambolic punks the Replacements, vocalist Linda Ronstadt, singer-songwriter Cat Stevens, pathfinding guitarist Link Wray, Brit prog-rock kings Yes, and ‘60s British Invasion group the Zombies.
Stevens, LL Cool J, Butterfield Blues Band, Chic, Deep Purple, KISS, N.W.A. and the Meters are all repeat nominees; it is the first time in the running for the remainder of the field. Gabriel is already a member of the Rock Hall via his association with Genesis, inducted in 2010. The induction ceremony is set for April in New York, and will be presented on HBO in May.
Inductees are select by a panel of 600 music biz authorities, including musicians, execs and writers. Beginning today through Dec. 10, fans can vote online at rockhall.com/vote; the top five vote recipients will constitute a “fan’s ballot” counting toward the final vote tally.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
Posts published in “Commemorations”
ATLANTA (AP) — Patti Labelle and Queen Latifah both will be among those honored as part of the Black Girls Rock! awards show on BET in November. Black Girls Rock! founder Beverly Bond announced the show’s honorees in a statement Monday. Other honorees include tennis champion Venus Williams, screenwriter-producer Mara Brock Akil, ballet dancer Misty Copeland, community organizer Ameena Matthews and children’s rights advocate Marian Wright Edelman.
Actresses Tracee Ellis Ross and Regina King return as hosts of the ceremony, which will air Nov. 3. It will be taped later this month at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, N.J. Black Girls Rock! is a nonprofit organization that mentors young black girls and works to fight negative images of black women in the media.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press via thegrio.com
GEORGIA – An African-American couple is celebrating an extraordinary milestone in their marriage. Ralph and Tillie Lee Pullin have been husband and wife for an incredible 75 years. They tied the knot in 1938 after two years of dating. Despite inevitable ups and downs, their union is still going strong. Now the couple’s long-lasting devotion to each other is generating unexpected attention. They have received a proclamation from their mayor and a congratulatory letter from President Obama.
“I am so excited, I am telling you,” said Mrs. Pullin in an interview with local television station. Mr. Ralph Pullin, Sr, of McDonough, Georgia, said in the same interview that it was a strong attraction at first sight. “She had to sit on part of my knee! And that got my attention like– a live wire,” he said.
Though, their courtship was not without challenges. For two years, the pair kept their relationship secret from Mrs. Pullin’s mother instead telling her that Mr. Pullin was dating his wife’s older sister. The lovebirds finally wed on September 17, 1938. The pair – one of the longest-living married couples in Georgia — went on to to have 8 children. They have 6 grandchildren, 33 great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild, with another on the way.
Great news was delivered to two students last week who made history as the first-ever seniors with Down syndrome to be crowned homecoming king and queen in Florida. The night marked a momentous occasion for Travjuan Hunter and Semone Adkins, who celebrated with their families after they were announced winners during Friday night’s homecoming football game at West Orange High School in Orange County, Fl.
According to WKMG, Hunter and Adkins were among 12 other students up for the honor and the winning candidates were announced based on the number of votes submitted by the school’s student body.
The results were kept hidden until the coronation ceremony on the school’s football field where they were later revealed and dubbed Hunter and Adkins as homecoming royalty. The crowd cheered in support. The two students have reportedly been friends for many years — and their parents were overwhelmed by the news and glad they were able to share the honor together.
Adkin’s mother, Karen McNeil told WKMG: “It was a dream come true, because I always knew that she was going to be something great in this world and this is just the beginning for us.”
article by Lilly Workneh via thegrio.com
Dennis Kimetto of Kenya set a course record Sunday as he took first in the 2013 Chicago Marathon, his second marathon win of the year. Kimetto beat the previous record of 2:04:23 with 2:03:45, according to unofficial times. Kimetto and Emmanuel Mutai were neck-and-neck until the last half-mile when Kimetto broke out front. “I am happy because I broke the course record,” Kimetto said. “The [race] conditions were very good.”
Kimetto came to Chicago with a 2013 marathon win already under his belt. He took first in this year’s Tokyo Marathon with a time of 2:06:50, which set a course record for the race, just his second marathon to date. During his first marathon, in Berlin last September, he crossed the finish just one second behind the winner.
Kimetto is known for long-distance road racing. The World Marathon Majors points out Kimetto would hold the world record for fastest marathon debut if the IAAF recognized that stat. He set his personal best in Berlin with a finish time of 2:04:16.
article by Lisa Balde via nbcchicago.com
Congratulations go out to Pharrell Williams and his model wife Helen Lasichanh, who tied the knot in Miami yesterday (Oct. 12). The musician and his beautiful wife enjoyed music by pals Usher and Busta Rhymes, Us Weekly reports, and the Daily Mail adds that Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke were also rumored to perform.
The couple’s wedding photographer was none other than Terry Richardson, photographer to the stars, adds Just Jared. Never one to play by the rules, Williams, 40, ditched the conventional tux and instead opted for a red tartan suit. Lasichanh, looking gorgeous, skipped the white dress and instead wore a voluminous blue and green plaid gown. The two have a son together, 4-year-old Rocket.
article via huffingtonpost.com
article via huffingtonpost.com
Fortune‘s list of the 50 most powerful women in business includes a few women of color, among them Ursula Burns, CEO of Xerox at number 13; Rosalind Brewer, the CEO and president of Sam’s Club, a Wal-Mart company, at number 15; and Shonda Rhimes “Scandal” and Grey’s Anatomy” executive producer at number 50.
The list notes that Burns’ Xerox makes more than half of its $22 billion in revenue from business services other than copying. Madame Noire spoke with Burns, the first African-American woman to lead a Fortune 500 company, this summer before she received the Prism Award for Graphic Communications Management and Technology. “At all levels of leadership, we’re starting to see more and more women and African-American males. We’re just at the start. It’s evolutionary, not revolutionary,” she told us.
Brewer is head of a $56.4 billion company, one of three companies in the Wal-Mart behemoth. Not only is she driving up the numbers for Sam’s Club, which would be a Fortune 500 company on its own, she’s also a board member for Lockheed Martin, a company that also appears on this list of powerful women a couple of times. (Marillyn Hewson, the defense contractor’s CEO and president, is number four on the list.)
And of course we know who Shonda Rhimes is. One of the few women in the entertainment business to appear on the list, Rhimes is also among the youngest at 43 years old. (Marissa Mayer, 38, Yahoo’s CEO at number eight and Marianne Lake, JPMorgan’s 44-year-old CFO at number 49, are a couple of the others.) Not only are Rhimes’ shows – Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy — generating dollars for Disney’s ABC network, Fortune cites her impact on pop culture. In a related story, Rhimes says that the secret sauce for a show like Scandal is hard work. “You’re forced to innovate. There’s no resting on laurels,” she says.
Total aside, but when a fan asked whether Mellie will be given a love interest so that Fitz can see how he would react “to the table being turned,” Rhimes says, “Fitz is Mellie’s love interest.” Gah!
Number one on the list is IBM’s chairman, president and CEO Ginny Rometty who’s been leading the century-old computer company for two years.
article by Tonya Garcia via madamenoire.com
DUBLIN, Ohio — The Presidents Cup ended Sunday the same way it always goes — an American celebration after Tiger Woods delivers the winning point. Woods’ back flared up on him again in the final hour at Muirfield Village. He still managed to hang on to beat Richard Sterne, 1 up, to give the Americans the 18 points they needed to win the Presidents Cup for the fifth consecutive time. It was the third straight Presidents Cup that Woods won the cup-clinching match — all three with Fred Couples as the captain.
“It was a team effort this whole week,” said Woods, who went 4-1 for the best record of any player. “We really played well to give ourselves a nice lead.” The biggest surprise was not so much the outcome, but that the matches ended without going to Monday.
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is one of the nine people expected to be part of the selection committee for the College Football Playoff that begins in 2014, a person familiar with the decision told USA TODAY Sports.
The person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the committee has not been announced, also confirmed the following members: football Hall of Famer Archie Manning, Wisconsin athletics director Barry Alvarez, USC athletics director Pat Haden, Arkansas athletics director Jeff Long, West Virginia athletics director Oliver Luck and Clemson athletics director Dan Radakovich in addition to Rice, former Ole Miss and NFL quarterback Manning, former NCAA Executive Vice President Tom Jernstedt and former Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese as at-large selections.
The person said there will only be one sitting athletics director from each of the five power conferences, so those places are set. “It’s an all-star cast,” the person said. A second person familiar with the makeup of the committee who spoke on the condition of anonymity because it has not been announced said the committee also will include Lt. Col. Michael Gould, former Superintendent of the Air Force Academy and a former player for the school.
The first person said Rice’s diverse background made her appealing. A native of Birmingham, Ala., Rice holds degrees from the University of Denver and Notre Dame, and is a professor of political science at Stanford. She served as National Security Advisor from 2001-05 and Secretary of State from 2005-09. She also was Stanford’s Provost from 1993-99. She has been on faculty at Stanford since 1981.
GOOD FIT: Rice more than qualified for committee
LOS ANGELES (AP) — It’s a boy for Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez. A representative for the 47-year-old actress confirms that the couple welcomed their son on Saturday. Publicist Meredith O’Sullivan Wasson offered no other details. E! News reports Berry delivered the baby at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
This is the second child for Berry. She has a 5-year-old daughter with her ex-boyfriend, Gabriel Aubry. The two settled their custody battle over the child in 2012. This is the first child for Martinez. The French actor and Berry married in July.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press via usatoday.com