Oprah Winfrey’s OWN Network has picked up a new reality series coming this fall titled, “Flex and Shanice.”
The show— which features the dynamic family life of “One on One” actor Flex Alexander and his wife, R&B singer Shanice Wilson — aired a test-episode on May 31st and garnered great audience numbers. According to Multichannel News, almost 500,000 people tuned in, which was a 25 percent increase in viewers in the 10PM time-slot compared to last year. The special was the night’s number one program for African-American women between ages 25-54 and 18-49, reported Eurweb.
“Saturday nights on OWN have become the place to be for viewers seeking great family entertainment, and we are pleased to share the newest members of our family with our audience,” said Sheri Salata, OWN co-president. “Flex, Shanice and their big, loud, loving brood are not unlike many families today who have combined resources in order to get through some tough times. Seeing how their love, laughter, and enduring faith in one another makes even the most challenging of days worthwhile is both entertaining and inspiring. We think our viewers are really going to connect with them.”
The reality show will not only focus on family, but will also delve into the financial issues that Flex and Shanice have experienced over the years. Flex sat down with Yahoo Music and said that the series will display some of the ‘ups and downs of the [entertainment] business.’ “You’re making money. You think it’s just going to continue to go on…and then reality hits, and you’re looking like, ‘Wow, there’s nothing in the account,” said Flex.
OWN’s Saturday nights will also include “Iyanla: Fix My Life,” “Six Little McGhees,” “Deion’s Family Playbook,” “Life With La Toya,” “Welcome To Sweetie Pie’s” and “Raising Whitley.”
article by Kacie Whaley via naturallymoi.com
Good Black News
Meshach Taylor, the actor best known for playing the only male character on the popular television show “Designing Women,” died on Saturday at his home outside Los Angeles. He was 67. The cause was colorectal cancer, his agent, Dede Binder, said.
“It is with love and gratitude that we sorrowfully announce that our darling, amazingly brilliant and dynamic, Meshach, the incredible father, husband, son and friend has begun his grand transition,” the family said in a statement.
Mr. Taylor played Anthony Bouvier, an ex-convict who became a partner at a design firm in Atlanta with four women on the CBS sitcom that ran from 1986 to 1993. He was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1989 for his role on the show.
In a career that spanned more than three decades, he appeared in films and onstage, including his screen debut in the 1978 movie “Damien: Omen II,” roles in the 1987 film “Mannequin” and on the television shows “Dave’s World” and “Buffalo Bill.” He has appeared regularly in television dramas since, including the series “In the Heat of the Night,” “Hannah Montana,” and “All of Us”. He recently appeared in two episodes of the television drama “Criminal Minds.”
In 1998, Mr. Taylor played Lumiere in “Beauty and the Beast” on Broadway. Earlier, he performed at the Goodman Theater in Chicago, where in 1985 he played Jim, the runaway slave, in “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”
“The eldest of three children of two former college professors, Taylor, a precocious child, first learned acting technique as a survival skill. ‘The kids called me the Professor, and I got beat up a lot,’ he says. ‘So I dummied up until I got into the 11th grade,'” the profile read.
“Even when he didn’t have any money, he always had style. He was on the cutting edge of men’s colognes, and he was always buying yachting magazines and GQ,” actor Joe Mantegna told the magazine.
He is survived by his wife, Bianca Ferguson, four children and four grandchildren.
article via CNN and nytimes.com
Karyn Parsons, best known for her role as Hillary in the TV show “Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” is raising funds for a new animated short about Janet Collins, the first black prima ballerina and soloist to ever perform at NYC’s Metropolitan Opera. In Collins’ journey, she overcame many great obstacles; at the age 15, the young dancer was asked to join the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, but only if she performed in whiteface.
After refusing to dance in whiteface, Collins went on to become a renowned Prima Ballerina, winning awards for her performances on Broadway. In 1950, Collins was honored with the Best Dancer of Broadway title, making Collins a pioneer in this industry for paving the way for other black dancers and companies such as Alvin Ailey and the Dance Theater of Harlem.
The short story will be narrated by actor/comedian/producer Chris Rock and presented by Parsons’ founded award-winning organization Sweet Blackberry, whose mission is to educate kids on the achievements of African Americans with inspiring true stories.
So far, the project’s Kickstarter page shows 18 days left to go in the campaign, with over $16,000 already pledged of its $75,000 goal.
For more information on Sweet Blackberry, click here to see the Kickstarter video and contribute!
article by Vanessa Martinez via Shadow and Act
A watershed moment, a major milestone, recently took place on Broadway, with the orchestras of four major shows led under the batons of distinguished African-American music directors and conductors. This marks the first time in the history of Broadway that this many African-Americans have been in executive roles in major productions running contemporaneously.
The men in front of the orchestra and behind the music are (L to R) Daryl Waters, music supervisor and conductor for “After Midnight,” recalling Duke Ellington’s years at the Cotton Club; Zane Mark, music director and conductor for “Holler If Ya Hear Me,” inspired by the late hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur; Joseph Joubert, music director and conductor for “Motown the Musical,” about Berry Gordy’s famous music label; and Shelton Becton, conductor, pianist and performer in “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill,” about the legendary Billie Holliday.
article via amsterdamnews.com
Bobby Womack, the multitalented singer-songwriter-guitarist who left an indelible mark on R&B and soul in the 1960s and ’70s, died Friday at 70, his record label XL Recordings confirmed. He had been diagnosed with colon cancer in 2012.
A gutsy singer and a superlative guitar player, Womack charted nearly 50 hits, the majority of them self-penned, during his career of more than 40 years. His No. 1 R&B entries were “Woman’s Gotta Have It” (1972) and “Lookin’ for a Love” (1974), a remake of a number he recorded with his family act the Valentinos for Sam Cooke’s SAR label.
Womack also notched a top 20 hit with “Across 110th Street,” the title number from the 1973 crime thriller starring Anthony Quinn and Yaphet Kotto; Quentin Tarantino appropriated the song for use under the opening credits of his 1997 pic “Jackie Brown,” and it was also employed in the 2007 Denzel Washington starrer “American Gangster.”
Born in Cleveland to a musical and religious family, Womack began singing and playing guitar at an early age. He toured the gospel circuit with his brothers. Cooke – also a product of gospel music, and the former lead singer of the Soul Stirrers – took the act under his wing, and recorded for SAR with a new moniker. After scoring a No. 8 hit in 1962 with “Lookin’ for a Love,” the group reached No. 21 in 1964 with “It’s All Over Now,” which the Rolling Stones turned into a top 30 pop hit the same year.
After Cooke was shot and killed in an incident at a Los Angeles motel in 1964, the Valentinos disbanded. Womack married Cooke’s widow Barbara three months after the singer’s death.
Womack initially made an impression as a sideman, playing guitar on crucial sessions at FAME in Muscle Shoals and American Studios in Memphis behind Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett (who also cut several of Womack’s compositions for Atlantic).
He recorded some lesser R&B chart singles for New Orleans’ Minit Records before signing in 1971 with United Artists Records, where he found his greatest commercial success. His hits for the company – which combined his trademark grit with a softer, acoustic-based sound – included “That’s the Way I Feel About Cha’” ((No. 2, 1971), “Harry Hippie” (No. 8, 1972), “Nobody Wants You When You’re Down and Out” (No. 2, 1973), “You’re Welcome, Stop on By” (No. 5, 1974), “Check It Out” (No. 6, 1975) and “Daylight” (No. 5, 1976). He also crafted some outstanding albums for the company, including “Communication” (1971) and “Understanding” (1972).
Womack segued to Beverly Glen Records in the late ’70s; there he recorded the mellow, widely praised album “The Poet” (No. 29 in 1981) and its 1984 successor “The Poet II” (No. 60).
He wrestled with a serious cocaine addiction that scuttled his career in the ’80s. He recorded sporadically thereafter, and published an outrageous autobiography, “I’m a Midnight Mover,” in 2006. His later life was marred by tragedy, including the murder of one of his brothers, the death of two sons, and the jailing of a third.
However, after making an appearance on Gorillaz’s 2010 album “Plastic Beach,” he enjoyed a latter-day renaissance. Gorillaz’s Damon Albarn co-produced the 2012 XL set “The Bravest Man in the Universe,” which served to reinstate Womack’s reputation as one of the top do-everything talents in R&B. He played a show at L.A.’s Wilshire Theatre earlier this year, and had been scheduled to perform several tour dates in Europe this summer.
Womack was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009. Watch him perform of one of his best, most well-known songs, “If You Think You’re Lonely Now” below:
article by Christopher Morris via Variety.com
Lupita Nyong’o is stunning — and her new ad for Lancôme proves this yet again. The beauty brand’s first ad featuring their newest spokesperson released this week, and Nyong’o looks radiant with her glowing, chocolate-colored complexion.
The Oscar-winning actress became endorsed by the beauty brand in April — and her first ad highlights Lancôme’s Teint Idole Ultra 24H foundation, a smooth blemish-free product which is “available in 28 shades for all skintones.”
The foundation is being touted as one of the brand’s more diverse products, which provides “endless perfection” for women of almost every complexion.
And with the current Vogue magazine cover girl promoting their product, Lancôme seems to be sending a message of appreciation for diversity and consumers of color.
article by Lilly Workneh via thegrio.com
What a treat and honor to receive a tweet from @newsone today, letting us know GBN made it onto NewsOne’s list of the 15 Most Share-Worthy Black Blogs and Sites of 2014! Not only do we support and admire newsone.com but we are thrilled with the level of company we are keeping on their list – favorites such as For Harriet, Shadow and Act, Black and Married with Kids, and Color Lines. We are also jazzed to learn about sites we can’t wait to follow such as Very Smart Brothas, Crew of 42, The Shadow League and The Frugal Feminista, among others.
Please click here to see NewsOne’s list in full, and thank you for your readership and continuous support. Onward and upward!
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (follow @lakinhutcherson)
Spike Lee’s breakthrough film “Do the Right Thing” put Brooklyn on the cinematic map, and now the city is returning the favor by declaring June 30 “Do the Right Thing Day.”
Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams made the proclamation on Tuesday, on the 25th anniversary of Lee’s seminal film. The celebration includes a block party this Saturday in Bedford-Stuyvesant, the neighborhood in which Do the Right Thing is set. On Sunday, Brooklyn’s BAMcinématek will kick off a 10-day retrospective of Lee’s films.
Check out our exclusive interview with Spike Lee right here.
“Many people don’t realize how profound and powerful the movie ‘Do the Right Thing’ actually was,” said Adams during the ceremony. “Spike created an image of Brooklyn that was beyond the headlines, beyond the stereotyping, beyond the negative images.”
The 1989 film, which was nominated for two Oscars, traced one hot day on a Bedford-Stuyvesant block as long-simmering racial tensions boil over and a cast of characters including Lee as Mookie and the late Ruby Dee as Mother Sister struggle to endure the rising mercury.
article by Evelyn Diaz via bet.com
Nathan Brown, 40, who was convicted of the attempted aggravated rape of a 40-year-old woman in 1997 solely based on her identification, was released from a state prison yesterday after serving 17 years of a 25-year sentence. DNA testing has proved what Brown has claimed all along: He was not the man who attacked the woman as she returned to the Metairie apartment complex where they both lived, his attorneys say.
“I sincerely ask for you to have mercy upon me when the time for sentencing comes,” Brown wrote in December 1997 to then-Judge Walter Rothschild, the month after a Jefferson Parish jury convicted him. “I understand what I’ve been accused of, but I’m not the man who did this (horrendous) crime. I live a clean and honest life, providing for my daughter and helping my family out.”
Attorney Vanessa Potkin of the Innocence Project in New York, filed papers in the 24th judicial District Court in Gretna on Tuesday, saying DNA testing clears Brown. She asked Judge Ray Steib to vacate the sentence and order his release. Brown was at least the 15th person exonerated by DNA evidence in Louisiana since 1999.
The Jefferson Parish district attorney’s office declined to comment, too. But according to court records, District Attorney Paul Connick Jr. did not oppose the Innocence Project’s request to test evidence for DNA.
Brown’s attorneys asked for the DNA testing last year. Prosecutors did not oppose the testing, and Steib ordered it to be done on Dec. 16, court records show. The company that performed the testing, Orchid Cellmark, excluded Brown “as the source of the male biological material that was testing,” Potkin wrote.
“Additional testing has identified the source of the biological material as a specific known individual other than Nathan Brown,” she wrote. “Because Nathan Brown is not the source of the male biological material that was tested, he was established by clear and convincing evidence that he is factually innocent of the attempted aggravated rape for which he was convicted.”
Stories about children shuffling through the foster care system don’t always end with a fairytale adoption — but Tyree Grant’s did. The 18-year-old high school senior was only six when he was forced to leave his mother and siblings. Grant spent the next two years moving from one family to the next, before being adopted by his parents Walter and Theresa Grant.
“I moved back and forth to homes, it was difficult. I fought, I screamed, I yelled, I cried — it hurt,” Tyree said. “No kid wants to be put through that situation.”
But the Grant family was a perfect fit. Tyree’s proud parents told NBC Today they knew immediately when they saw his picture that he was their son. And the feeling was mutual — by the time his parents asked if he wanted to be a part of the family, Tyree said he felt that he already was.
“I felt wanted, I felt accepted. There’s no better feeling than that.”
The Grio reports that Grant will graduate this year from the Bronx School of Law and Finance with an A average. The smart young man attributes his success to his family for their unwavering love and support and for helping him focus his time and energy on what matters most. “Just knowing that school is priority number one, I was able to move through all the distractions and still come out on top.”
Grant will attend Dickinson College next fall on a full ride scholarship — thanks to help he received from The Posse Foundation, a program devoted to developing college access and leadership growth for urban youth.
It’s no surprise that he is there planning to pursue law and policy with a minor in philosophy, considering his high school internships at law firms and participation with the World Changers Church New York.
Grant’s inspiring journey is a testament to the power of love, determination and faith — all things that the bold young man embodies. To see video of this story, click here.
article by Jessica Dickerson via huffingtonpost.com