Fame (1980) is one of those movies that makes you wish you lived in a world so filled with youthful fervor that at anytime a group of kids might break into interpretive dance and jump on a cab.
We don’t.
But that didn’t keep us from cheering for the characters in the film (especially Coco and Leroy), and later the TV show (which featured Janet Jackson and Debbie Allen).
The story of students at a New York Performing Arts High School, the film follows the ebb and flow of their kinetic reach for stardom. The narrative is, despite pitfalls, like an infusion of fresh hope in admittedly hard times. It expresses a romantic image pairing sweat with success, art with desire.
A new Fame motion picture is scheduled for release this year, but somehow it seems superfluous. Those kids in the original are gonna live forever.
Wanna live forever? Wanna learn how to fly (again?) the Tofu Chitlin Circuit is having a screening of Fame in Bronzeville this Monday….
“If you want fame, well fame costs and right here is where you start paying with sweat!”
The Tofu Chitlin Circuit (a Bronzeville-based theater conservatory) is continuing their Family Reunion with the quintessential theater movie…”FAME!” Enjoy a screening and discussion.
Prizes for the best FAME gear!
When: Monday, July 27, 2009
Where: The Digital Youth Network
1050 E 47th Street
Chicago, IL 60653
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Film starts promptly at 7:00 p.m.
Donation: $3
more about TCC:
“Our mission is to bring the audience into the creative process of theater. Our conservatory is an educational platform that assists artists and audience members with intellectual dialogue, poignant interviews from theater practitioners, workshops, classes and of course performances!”
This weekend is the culmination of the Brave New Voices Youth Poetry Slam Festival. Mindblowing, bone-chilling work from youth that’ll renew your faith in “these kids today”.
Check out the Finals tonight at the Chicago Theater, hosted by Chinaka Hodge, and emceed by Chicago Spoken Word legend Kevin Coval:
Japan Pop Show (Quannum, 2008) was an album I first really heard in winter. A smart blend of samba and turntablism, with a smattering of funk and soulful hooks, I realized then that Curumin’s sound was built for summer. According to the New York Daily News: “It’s to Curumin’s credit that he kneaded this thick sonic dough into something not just digestible but delicious.” I think it’s more akin to a refreshing cocktail than a hunk of dough, but point taken.
A Brazilian of Spanish and Japanese lineage, Curumin performs his signature blend of Samba Soul in Chicago this Thursday. Check it out. Jive on.
The world-renowned French-Cameroonian sisters will be in Chicago this Thursday, ready to share their fusion of traditional African rhythms, jazz, and future-sonic soul. Not to be missed.
In collaboration with:
HotHouse | hothouse.net
Swank Society | swanksociety.com
Arte y Vida Chicago | arteyvidachicago.com
Ratio Nation | rationation.com
mark your calendars for Ron and Sonia’s 5th Anniversary Party for Africa Hi-Fi, thatafro-funk-highlife-house-shindig…. Saturday, July 11th at Sonotheque…
Sonotheque
1444 W. Chicago Ave.
AFRICA HI-FI SUPPORTS
NEXTAID , an LA based non-profit that uses music events to raise money for children in South Africa orphaned by the horrendous AIDS EPIDEMIC, and AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, working diligently to raise awareness and action against Human Rights Violations all over the world.
Woodson Regional is a gem of the South Side. I’ve always believed that. One of my favorite locations of the Chicago Public Library, bar none. The library, located at 95th and Halsted, boasts the Vivian Harsh Research Collection (all manner of Black Ephemera) and a really strong overall collection. 1 of only two regional libraries in the city (the others, save Harold Washington downtown are all “branches”), Woodson is stocked with literature and art from a good number of local sociologists, artists, and writers. Case in point, the temporary exhibit celebrating the Art (and activism) of sculptor Marion Perkins.
Born in 1908, he moved to Chicago as a small child. He worked as a dishwasher, freight handler, and postal clerk in his lifetime, and though in his artistic career he was lauded with awards (among them the Guggenheim Fellowship) he was never able to devote full time to his art. Perkins was not only an artist, he was an activist for social change, fighting for both Ethiopian freedom and civil rights in his own backyard.
Visit Woodson for Woodson’s sake, but don’t forget to carve out time to see the temporary exhibit: “To See Reality in a New Light: the Art and Activism of Marion Perkins”, at Woodson until December 31, 2009.
Quirky, funny, and sincere, with accompaniment ranging from jazz piano to the sound of tap dancing, Chicago choreographer Jaema Joy Berry explores the simplicity of movement in the context of human and musical interaction.
Running:
Friday – Saturday June 19-20, 8pm
Sunday, June 21, 7pm
3435 N Sheffield Ave (at Clark St)
Lakeview/Roscoe Village/Wrigleyville, Chicago
773-281-0824
Tickets!
$10 ($5 students)
you can get tickets at the door, over the phone, or from linkshall.org
This month A.R.O.M.A. presents “Passions of Argentina” featuring the music, dance and culture of Argentina. Djs Shannon Harris and Joe Bryl along with Argentinean natives, DJs David and Abel Pardo will play Tango and South American influenced rhythms. Live Tango performances by Tango Eclectique’s Maria Alferov and Humberto Decima. Live VJ show by Galina Shevchenko, and more….
Argentine tango is a social dance and a musical genre that originated in the lower-class European immigrant districts of Buenos Aires, and moved to the rest of the world. The modern Tango has a large African influence that was shaped by the candombe ceremonies of former slaves.
Chicago’s own young, vivrant, soulful, jazz ensemble Black Slang (featuring Corey Wilkes on trumpet and Yaw on vocals) performed this past weekend at new South Loop Venue The Shrine. The group draws as much influence from Herbie Hancock as Mos Def, and pushes the boundaries of musical genres til barely a shred remain. Black Slang has held a residency at Andy’s for over a year now, and I was excited to see the group on the new, state of the art stage of The Shrine. If you have yet to visit the new nightclub, highlights include: cocktails named after dictators, like the Noriega, Sadat, and Qaddafi; and the Shrine Dancers (an in-house troupe). Black Slang is:
vocalz: Yaw
trumpet: Corey Wilkes
bass: Junius Paul
keyz: William Kurk
mC: Phenom
You can catch Black Slang this Friday and Saturday Night (the 19th & 20th) at:
Tonight, Join my buddy Chris Hales (aka Tapedek) at the Chicago Art Department for an Art Opening (also featuring my guy Sean Alvarez on the Wheels of Steel).
Chris’s first solo show as a member of The Chicago Art Department showed an artist who knew what he wanted to do, yet was slightly unsure of his abilities. Though the show was pulled off with mild success, the thing that was missing was the attitude that personifies Chris Hales not only as an artist, but as a person.
This time around that mistake won’t be made again! “Mookie” has planned his revenge and has enlisted the help of others to pull off his second solo show at CAD. This one with little to no compromise. Come with no expectations and leave happy!
Mookie’s Revenge
@ the Chicago Art Department
1837 S Halsted
Chicago, IL
(6-10pm)
Happening on Monday at Links Hall (for the SAUCY in you) is Poonie’s Cabaret:
The quarterly Cabaret features artists working in many different creative realms – dance, music, contact improvisation, performance art, voguing, drag, burlesque, cheerleading, etc. Proceeds go to the Duncan Erley memorial Coming Out of the Closet Fund for artists whose work explores healing, gay activism, and spiritual and sexual transformation.
Monday, June 15, 8:00 pm
$5 suggested donation
tickets available at door or over the phone
Fame (1980) is one of those movies that makes you wish you lived in a world so filled with youthful fervor that at anytime a group of kids might break into interpretive dance and jump on a cab. 
