the Goodness
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Harlem Shuffled to Paris
For those of you who are new to this ride, I’ll let you know now: I have a thing for Black Francophones. Random, perhaps. Anyway, I present to you a Moroccan singer named Vigon (pictured left with Stevie Wonder). Vigon performed in France starting in the mid 1960s, and at one time performed with a…
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no room for pride
Art from Immig-Art, anonymously contributed immigration experiences as a group art project. Immig-Art was founded by my friend, Kabuika Kamunga, a Congolese filmmaker and journalist based in Chicago.
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Alvin Ailey American Dance: back in chicago
the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is back in Chicago (at the gorgeous Auditorium Theatre). Those loyal darkjive readers among you, I warned you weeks ago that it was time to save up…. highlights of this year’s program include: Night Creature – One of Ailey’s most classically choreographed ballets juxtaposed within Ellington’s jazz idiom –…
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i miss van hunt
…I do. I don’t think I’m alone… am I? Blue Note has the Masters to album, Popular Machine, and he claims he can’t afford to buy them back. Wow. Sounds like some Frankie Lymon-like wackness**. Meanwhile, Popular Machine, originally slated for release in January 2008, has become more of a Popular Myth. I like his…
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Bust out your Piggy Banks…
Time to start saving up…. the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater is coming back to Chicago (at the gorgeous Auditorium Theatre). highlights of this year’s program include: Night Creature – One of Ailey’s most classically choreographed ballets juxtaposed within Ellington’s jazz idiom – the dance capitvates with Ailey’s sexy nocturnal rituals that propel the movement…
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Cult Movie of the Week: Jacksons an American Dream
Yeah, I said it. Angela Bassett, Terence Howard, dude from Welcome Back, Kotter Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, etc., in the story of Gary, Indiana’s most famous sons (and daughters). I recently pulled out my (second) dub of this. It’s a textbook cult classic: lines you can’t forget, larger than life characters… and untouchably-dope music. Since I couldn’t…
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Love is a Merry-Go-Round: Ginji James and “that thing”
I wanted to share this record with you….because I love it. From the 1971 (Chicago born-and-bred) album, “Love is a Merry-Go-Round”: it’s Ginji James with “Love Had Come to Stay”. It’s sitting-in-the-park music from Brunswick Records (recorded on South Michigan Avenue in Chicago). Sitting-in-the-Park music is that music you hear in your head when you’re…
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chickpea means love
I love Chickpea, or حمّص, a new Middle Eastern Restaurant on Chicago Avenue (just West of Damen). Fly ambiance, great lunch prices, fresh food, A Die Hard movie poster in Arabic, and a Genie pinball game. The owner, Jerry Suqi, told Time Out Chicago in November, “I came from Palestine when I was two and…
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Teddy (1971)
(runtime 00:16:16) Produced by the University of California at Los Angeles, Extension Media Center, and Directed by Richard Wells. This is a beautifully raw short film shot in 1971. The opening scene portrays kids, fresh out of high school, but already short on hope. The public domain film presents the first-person experiences of a black…
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Black Girl: Cult Movie of the Week
(1966, Directed by Sembene Ousmane) If you are unfamiliar with this movie, or Black Francophone film in general, change that…now. Black Girl is the story of a beautiful Senegalese nanny named Diouana (played by Thérèse Mbissine Diop, see above), who joins Robert Fontaine (Monsieur) and Anne-Marie Jelinek (Madame) on their trip to the French Riviera,…
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