Award-winning
actor, singer-songwriter, comic and talk radio host (whew!) Jamie
Foxx (born Eric Marlon Bishop – who knew?)
comes here June 4 to pick-up the coveted Renaissance Award from the Gene Siskel
Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and to participate in
a lively chat about his career during a benefit gala at The Ritz-Carlton.
Proceeds will support the Black Harvest International Festival of Film &
Video as well as the film center’s presentations, lecture series and
discussions with visiting scholars and filmmakers, educational and public
programs. Single tickets: $400-$1,000; table sponsorships, $5,000-$50,000. Call
(312) 846-2072 or visit www.artic.edu.
Suggested attire: “cocktail glam.”
Highlights
of A
Night with Jamie Foxx: a reception, dinner, award presentation
by Dr.
Walter Massey, SAIC president, clips from Foxx’s
career and questions from gala guests. Robert Downey Jr.,
the 2010’s Renaissance winner and a Foxx pal, emcees. The
Renaissance Award was designed specifically for Foxx
by R.S. Owens & Co., creator of the Oscar statuette. Call (312) 846-2072 or
email jmangers@saic.edu.
Yep!
We’re there!
Curtain Call –
Darren Canady’s Brothers of the Dust, directed
by Daniel
Bryant, opens Friday at The Chicago Center for the
Performing Arts, 777 N. Green. Produced by Congo Square Theatre Co., it
features ensemble members Anthony Irons, Tracy Bonner, James T. Alfred, Velma
Austin, Shanesia Davis, Edgar Sanchez Jr. and Austin Talley. After
seven years of protecting the family land, Roy Colton
is visited by his brothers who’ve come to stake their claim. Peeling back the
layers of this family saga, sibling rivalry, betrayal and hidden passions are
discovered as a battle over family legacy ensues. Tickets: $30; for
Target-sponsored half-price Saturday matinees, call (312) 733-6000; for group
rates, (773) 296-1108. Previews: this Friday and Saturday.
Newsy Names – Chicago Defender’s Michael
House and Austin People’s Action Center’s Cynthia Williams
are among a half-dozen folk who’ll be honored by the Coalition for United
Community Action on June 2 at its
Grassroots Award Dinner at the East Bank Club ... Tickets
@ $50 ($150 for VIPs) are on sale for Tavis Smiley’s
Changing
the World One Conversation at a Time with Dr. Garrard
McClendon on Thursday, 7 p.m., at Kennedy-King College,
sponsored nationally by Nationwide and Enterprise and locally by the City
Colleges of Chicago. Dr. McClendon hosts
WYCC-TV20’s “Off 63rd,” a half-hour public affairs show that airs
live on Thursdays. VIP donation includes a WYCC one year membership and
two-for-one discounts at local venues and entry to the VIP reception. Call
(888) 993-9922.
B’day cheer to Mary Mitchell,
Fr. Michael Pfleger, Anna Mitchell, Theresa Robinson, Aquanetta Olive, Allene
Craft Brown, Kenneth Conrad, Rick McGuire, Charisse Witherspoon, Shatira Wilks,
Marcel Jean and Lisa Witherspoon ... Good
guy Atty.
Ernesto Borges (of TV’s “Bill Busters” fame) came to the
aid of a “Teesee” friend in distress who left the head lights on in her car
late, late one night and was in need of jump. After several denials, along came
Ernesto “to the rescue” ... Patricia Brooks
chairs Women’s Week, June 19-25, at DuPage AME Church. Christian Women
Denying Themselves for His Name’s Sake begins with a Sunday
Prayer Lunch at Abbington Banquets in Glen Ellyn. Rev. Dr. James
F. Miller is pastor ... A new author, Jeana Rénee Rand,
has emerged with the release of her first book, Eyes Open,
which depicts a segment of her adolescence while growing up with her brother,
sister and cousin. Rand, who owns a successful daycare center,
has an associate degree in Early Childhood Education from California College
for Health Sciences in Salt Lake City. The married mom of two sons is also a poet and will be publishing a
book of poems in the fall.
Whazup! Whazup! – Jackie Taylor’s
Black Ensemble Theater holds replacement auditions for All In Love is
Fair on Thursday, 6
p.m., at 4520 N. Beacon, seeking all ethnic types to sing soul music. Come with
a one-minute song and monologue. And more: BET has received a $25,000 grant
from Cubs Care, a McCormick Foundation fund, to help with general operations of
the theater ... Lifting Our Spirits for Christ
is the theme of Saturday’s Gospel Festival hosted by Sixth Grace Presbyterian
Church, 600 E. 35th St., 4 p.m.-6 p.m. On stage: Pierre Walker &
Project Sanctified, Sixth Grace Chancel Choir Singers, Allen Bruce,
Inspirational Singers, Chatham Bethlehem Presbyterian Choir, Kevin Porter Jr.
and more. Rev. Patrick L. Daymond is pastor ... Bethel
New Life celebrates its Annual Dinner & Fundraising Gala on Friday at
Garfield Park Conservatory with good music, good eats, good friends, a silent
auction and festive program. The $125 a ticket event begins at 6 p.m. and
continues ‘til 10 p.m. Contact Melissa Kelsey at (773) 473-7870,
ext. 140.
Partners – Brenda Palms Barber, executive
director of the North Lawndale Employment Network (NLEN) and CEO of Sweet
Beginnings, presented a basket of Beelove Honey-Infused bath and body products
to Mayor
Richard M. Daley at a press conference to announce a new
partnership between NLEN, Sweet Beginnings, the Chicago Dept. of Aviation and
the Dept. of Family and Support Services to create a new apiary (bee farm) at
O'Hare International Airport. Thirty-five new beehives will be maintained by
ex-offenders working at O'Hare.
Congrats
– to Shahari
G. Moore, third-generation Bronzeville resident, author,
screenwriter, filmmaker, historian and assistant professor of African-American
Studies at Olive-Harvey College. She’s been named visiting professor at USC
(Univ. of Southern California) where she teaches African-American History &
Culture for the Guy A. Hanks & Marvin Miller Screenwriting Fellowship
(a.k.a. the Cosby Writing Fellowship). Established in 1993 by actor-comedian Dr. Bill Cosby
and his wife, Dr. Camille Hanks Cosby, the program helps
writers hone their professional screenwriting skills, assists in script
development and deepens an appreciation for African American history and
culture.
Moore instructs
students who were selected from around the country to participate in the
program. Doreene Hamilton-Hudson, executive director,
says: “As writers of color, our responsibility is to educate while entertaining
our audiences of the many facets of our culture, history and personalities.
Her extensive background in history
and culture helps give writers a rich foundation of who we are, how our images
have been depicted over the years and what their responsibilities are as
writers of color to change or enhance how we are portrayed on the screen.”
Moore
just completed production on a short film, Swimmin’ Lesson,
featuring Kelvin Roston Jr., which she wrote and executive produced
with Dr.
Christine List, CSU professor and chair of English and
Communication Studies. The story is an adaptation of her flash fiction
narrative published in Warpland: A Journal of Black Literature and Ideas
by CSU Press in 2007 about a Hurricane Katrina survivor. Moore,
who received the Echoes of Excellence Award in 2010, spearheaded the initial
campaign that granted landmark status for the homes of three literary giants
and former Bronzeville residents: Illinois Poet Laureate Gwendolyn Brooks,
playwright Lorraine Hansberry and author Richard Wright.
For Early-Birds –
Half-off tickets are selling for Muntu Dance Theatre’s Summer Concert on July
16 at the Harris Theater, 205 E.
Randolph. This Far by Faith will feature vignettes by two guest
choreographers: Reggie Wilson, founder and
artistic director of Fist & Heel, and Theo Jamison,
dance instructor at Southern Illinois Univ. and the Katherine Dunham Center.
For tickets, call (312) 332-7777; use code "eebird.”
Fond Farewell – Got
a chance to bid adieu to Mayor Richard Daley during
a private intimate farewell fete on Thursday hosted by a select group of
prominent “mayoral insiders” at Chef Clifford Rome’s
Blanc Chicago Art Gallery. Located 4455 S. King Dr., Blanc Chicago is a lovely
well-appointed indoor-outdoor venue in the heart of historic Bronzeville. Check
it out! So long and farewell Mr. Mayor. You have indeed left a non-replaceable
indelible mark on Chicago. You will indeed be missed. God bless you and Mrs.
Daley! See you around...
Copyright 2011 Chicago Defender
