Page 4 Portland Observer JUNE 15,1989
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BEHIND THE
Lisa Collins
Everyone is s till ta lk in g about the statements Appolonm ia made w ith
regards to another Prince ex, when asked whether or not they were ever in
competition. Apollonia, whose reply appears in this m onth’s sissue o f Spin
said: “ not really. I mean herl.Q. is equivalent to her Bra s iz e -w h ic h must
be 32 now. 1 have nothing postive to say about her.” Speaking o f V a n ity ,
things ae going w ell for the beauty who was just recently been casted as the
bad g irl in ‘ ‘ A Heartbeat A w a y,” w hich stars Brigittes Nielsen as a secret
agent who stumlbes into a presidential assasination plot. The film is set to
begin shooting next month.
Ike T u rn e r W ill Oncew A gain Have to Facxe The M usic: Things have
not gone w ell fo r singer Ike Turner (T in a ’ s ex), who w ill be tried on charges
o f tmsportation o f cocaine and being a convicted felon w ith a concealable
firearm , as w e lll as possession fo r sale o f cocaine. A ll this in connections
w ith a drunk driving arrest filed in West H ollyw ood on M ay 22 after Turner
was spotted running a stop sign.
C ham pion Black C yclist Becomes H o t H ollyw oo d P ro p e rty : W hile
few know the name Marshall ‘ ‘ M a jo r’ ’ T atlor, H ollyw oo d is fin ding him to
make pretty good copy. In fact, at least three projects, based on the life o f
the champion black cyclist, are currently underway. O rion -T V appears to
have a head start w ith production slated to brgin this summer on “ D A rk
W in d < ” shich was inspired by T a y lo r’ s life . The T V mini-series w ill feature
M alcolm Jamal-Warner in the title role o f T aylor, who incidentally was
recently inducxted into the U.S. B icyclin g H all O f Fame. M eanwhile,
W hoopi Goldberg took an $80,000 film option to make a film based on the
1988 Taylor biography and the sports marketing firm , ProServ, is said to be
coordinating a tw o-hour T V movie (based on T a y lo r’ s life) at the suggestion
o f Arthur Ashe.
“ T h e re ’ s no one singing like m e,” said Gerald Alston “ The sound that
I had w ith the Manhattans, the producers brought over here (M o w tow n ) to
a contemporary sound, let me sing the same way and put the music around
me.” I t ’ s been two years since Alston le ft the Manhattans to pursue a solo
career. “ A t first, I was afraid, but m y faith was strong. When I was w ith the
group, i f I h ita wrong note, they were there to cover. No one’ s there to cover
now .” However, the success o f his firs t release, “ Take Me Where You
Want T o ” shows that Alston just may have made the adustment. A lston, a
balladeer, says the key to singing great ballads is “ to take seach song fo r its
personality. I ’ m emotional, a sentimentalist., Every song I sing, I put me in
it —as though it happened to me, o r that I know it could happen to me, and
deliver it just that w ay.” A lsto n ’ s latest release is an R & B version o f the
form er Eagles hit, ‘ ‘ I Can’ t T e ll You W h y .” ... In o th e r re co rd in g news, the
industry’svhottest producing te a m -L .A . & Babyfaceare looking forw ard to
prducing “ A fte r 7,” ab R & B group ju st recxently signed to V irg in Records.
But then i t ’ s really a m a tte r o f fa m ily ties as the gtroup features tw o o f
Babyfaces’s brothers and one o f L A ’ s cousins... A fte r two years out o f
public view , K lym a xx is hard a t w o rk on album n u m b rd r g fiv e --” The
M a x is B a ck.” Due ti be rekeased trge ebd i f ?” Ayugust, beginning o f
September, the alvum w ill feature some hip-hop and a little o f the go=-go
sound.
S hort Takes: “ 21 Jump Street” actress H o lly Robinson is putting the
finishing touches on her debut album and then preparing to go out on tour.
O f course, that w ill make it hard fo r her to spend tim e w ith her boyfriend,
Brian Robbins (who stars in “ Head O f The Class” ), but those are the
breaks...Jasmine G uy is h ard at w o rk laying tracks fo r her debut LP w ith
producers like Rex Salas, who is fast becoming one o f the most requested
producers on today’ s R & B nysuc scebe...Next week: F ind o ut w h a t’ s
become o f Sister Sledge.
ON THE MONEY
M a rla Takes G ia n t Step A t C rossroads: Actress M arla Gibbs recently
finalized negotiations fo r a $5 m illio n arts and educational center, the
Crossroads National Education & Arts Center, in Los Angeles. The fa c ility
houses a 1,200 seat theatre, a restaurant, cultural artifacts boutique, e xhibit
space and banquet facilities. A d d itio n a lly, Gibbs w ill have the option to
lease commercial space. The non-profit com m unity service center w ill
offer training programs fo r workshops fo r the physically handicapped.
B la ck A u to Dealers C ontinue N egotiations W ith Japanese M a n u fa c ­
tu re rs: W hile Japan claim s to be m aking headway in their resolution to do
more business w ith m inorities, black auto dealers say it ’ s ju s t talk. “ W e ’ ve
found that the Japanese in particular are totally unsymphathetic to our needs
as addressed in terms o f affirm ative action,” said B ill Schack, the n ation’ s
top black auto dealer. ’ ’ There’ s no preferential treatment being given to us
and we feel i t ’ s unfair. There are o nly 5 black Nissan dealers in the country
out o f 2500. We buy alot o f Nissan cars had have been very supportive o f
them and we feel that i f should be a reciprocal affair. We should be
exchanging services w ith them our dollars, and not purchase their products
as African-Am ericans.”
Shack Speaks F or A P rivileged Few: “ For blacks, the road to owning
dealerships is unorthodoxed. M ost o f us have come through some success­
ful in another business, then purchasing a dealership. Blacks havenot grown
up in the business, so to speak.” O f course, a great deal o f that is because
the automobile industry is very high-risk. According to B ill Shack, who
along w ith partner T im othy Woods, owns eight dealership (and grossed at
least $20 m illio n more than M otow n Records last year alone), “ the reason
more blacks have not entered this business is that the average investment is
about $1 m illio n . Now, because w e” re successful, i t ’ s perceived a s ” these
guys just jumped up and bought a number o f dealerships,” but I ’ ve been in
the business 20 years.” Fact is, Shack took a cut in pay to become a trainee
w ith Ford Motors in 1973. “ I couldn’ t pay my b ills but I decided I wanted
to be an automobile dealer because I saw the opportunity.” He later sold
everything he could to open his firs t dealership. Said Shack, “ it takes
perseverance. I had something in m e -in s tillc d by I guess my mom and my
parents that said, never give in.
Recent Study C ould H u r t B lack A d ve rtisin g Revenues: W h ile the
findings o f a recent Nielsen study showed that black audiences watched an
average 44% more T V than whites, the conclusion advertisers may come to
draw is that blackaudicncesm ight be easier and less expensive to reach than
earlier thought. What this could mean is that dollars earmarked specifically
towards reaching a black could be curtailed i f it is generally accepted that
network T V is the strongest medium to reach blacks. The study also showed
that the most popular shows among blacks featured blacks. Am ong the top
ten shows for blacks were: “ The Cosby Show” , “ Am en” , “ K n o t’ s
Landing” , “ Dynasty” , “ A m erica’s M ost W anted” , “ Cheers” , “ 21 Jump
Street” , “ The Golden G irls ” , “ 227” and “ A D iffe re nt W o rld ” , In fact,
the top-rated show among blacks was “ A D ifferent W orld:.
In S h ort: A North Carolina businessman has requested the assistance o f
conservative Senator Jesse Helms in getting the Rev. Jesse Jackson to repay
a $25,000 loan. Helms wrote a letter to Jackson im p loring him to “ w ork out
this situation.’ ’ ...Next week: we’ ll p ro file bla ck e n tre p re n e u r Cecile
B a rk e r whose fir m , O A O , landed a c o n tra c t w o rth over a reco rd $200
m illio n w ith N AS A.
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ÉNTÉfORÌNMENT
IBCLINIF
ßEPO ET
by Garland Lee Thompson
(M y apologies fo r being out o f
p rin t for the past three weeks, as I
was out o f town in New Y o rk, in
addition to having an auto accident
and computer equipment problems.
It was all just before the 41 st anniver­
sary o f the Vanport flood on May
30lh, 1948, w hich my fam ily was in
and survived. So I wonder i f that had
anything to do w ith it all? W ho
knows, “ the shadow d o !" )
1989 NEW YORK
OB IE AWARDS FOR
FRANK SIL VERA
WRITERS’WORK-
SHOP & INTAR HIS­
PANIC PLAY-
WRIGHT-IN-RESI-
DENCE LABORA­
TORY
A fter recently returning from New
Y o rk, I ju s t learned that the New
Y o rk V illage Voice Obie Aw ard and
Cash Aw ard ($500.00) has just been
presented to the Frank Silvera W rit­
ers’ W orkshop and the Intar H is­
panic Playwright-In-Residence Labo­
ratory. The 34th Annual Obie Aw ard
banquet was held in New Y ork C ity
on Monday, M ay 22, 1989 to an­
nounce the winners o f Obie Awards
fo r 1988-89.
A N E W C A T E G O R Y & A F IR S T
FOR A H A R L E M B LA C K T H E ­
ATRE
For years (1976 to 1985), w hile I
was firs t founding (in 1973) and run­
ning the Frank Silvera Writers’ W ork­
shop, we won AU D ELC O Black Rec­
ognition Awards every season dur­
ing that time period. It started w ith
the 1976 Board o f D irector Aw ard
that was given to me fo r (check this
out) “ Superior and Sustained Con­
tribution to the development o f
C om m unity Theatre.” (Is that im ­
pressive or what?) The Workshop
has won A U D E L C O Awards fo r Best
Musical, Actor, Director, Playwright-
ing, Sets, Lights, Costumes and even
fo r Sound Design (a category that
was created and firs t won by m y son.
Garland Jr., fo r Sound Design and it
was presented to him on the stage o f
the famous A p o llo Theatre in H ar­
lem). But this is the first time that the
W orkshop and lik e ly the first Black
theatre company above New Y o rk
C ity ’ s 96th Street, that has ever re­
ceived an Obie fo r a new special
award category; fo r contribution to
new theatre and playw right develop­
ment in the country.
F or the firs t tim e in 34 years, the
Obies included no playw righting
awards. “ The Largest and most
heterogeneous group o f Obie voters
ever,” according to Erika M unk o f
the V illag e Voice Newspaper, “ each
o f whom was enthusiastic about one
or several scripts, couldn’ t fin d a
m ajority for a single play.” As no
one got the Best New Am erican Play
a w a rd -a crucial one, w ith money at-
tached-the award committee decided
to reallocate it, not to an individual,
but to tw o groups who w ork w ith
playwrights: the Frank Silvera W rit­
ers’ Workshop in Harlem and the
Intar Hispanic Playwrights’ Lab. The
V o ice ’ s publisher, Sally Cohen, gen­
erously decided to make this devel­
opmental award permanent, even
w h e n - ” god w illin g and the creek
don ’ t rise,” next year-there is a Best
New Am erican Play. A declaration
o f faith in the future, in the future
specifically o f writers who don’t come
from or appeal only to the white
middle-class audience o f a certain
age.” Unquote. W rite on. Village
Voice.
I found it interesting, as founder
o f the Frank Silvera and I ’m sure that
my old friends at the Intar Hispanic
Playw rights’ Lab, w ill also, when
they read in the New Y ork Village
Voice (M ay 30th, 1989 issue) about
the little behind-the-scenes contro­
versy regarding the presentation o f
this new award The accompanying
statement was o rigin ally worded,
’ ‘The judges have voted not to give a
best play award this year....Therefore
they have, w ith the support o f the
Voice, decided to allocate the p la y­
w righting money in a d ifferent way.
The publisher d id n ’ t like this, de­
manded different wording (“ This year
the Village Voice is givin g a new
award to encourage young play­
w rights” ), and insisted that any
mention o f not givin g a p la yw rig ht­
ing award had to be severed from the
new award, despite the obvious rela­
tion o f the two. The feeling was that
to lin k the tw o events m ight insult
this season’ s playw rights. This is
nicely sensitive. B ut the overtones
are, w illy ni lly , a b it ch illin g , as i f the
true genesis o f the new Obie had to
be obscured lest something down-
beat, something antipromolional infect
the proceedings. So we end up w ith
the kind o f thinking that creates the
kind o f cultural environment which
fosters the kind o f theatre that makes
serious playw righting impossible, at
the very moment o f handing out money
to help make it possible.” Unquote
again.
W e ll, here we go again, Black
theatre fans. But I want the publish­
ers o f the V illage Voice to know that
i t ’s not our problem uptown in the
Black and Hispanic com m unity and
we, at the Frank Silvera W rite rs ’
Workshop, appreciate the award (after
sixteen long years o f hard w ork w ith
new and known playw rights o f every
color, age and sex), the cash and the
good thought. And we w ill let the
“ downtown New York Village folks”
batde it out among themselves, okay?
W rite on, y ’all!
V E T E R A N B L A C K A C TR E SS
W IN S O B IE
One o f the ‘ ‘divas o f divas’ ’ among
Black actresses, G loria Foster, how ­
ever, did received the 1989 Obie fo r
her w onderful performance in the
new American Black play, “ The
Forbidden C ity .” N ow let me tell
you, theatre fans, this is the new play
bv the late Black p layw right. B ill
Gunn (he passed away on A p ril 6,
1989, the opening press night), that
in my opinion, should have been
given the Obie for the Best new play
o f the season. It is currently per­
form ing at Joseph Papp ’ s Public The­
atre. I saw it at a special press per­
formance when I was in New Y o rk
during that tim e and it is pow erful
theatre, to say the least! W rite on,
G loria and Joe Papp, who directed as
w e ll as produced it.
As a playw right, founder and
presidentof the Board o f Directors o f
the Frank Silvera W rite rs’ W o rk­
shop, I w ill recommend at the next
board meeting that the W orkshop
accept the new Obie award “ to en­
courage new playw rights,” in the
name o f our late friend and b rillia n t
artist, B ill Gunn. I ’ m just sorry that
I or our vice president, Zebedee
C ollins, wasn’ t inform ed o f or in­
vited to attend the 34th Obie Aw ard
banquet to accept the new Obie in
person and in B ill G unn’s name. It
w ould have been the thing to do.
W rite on, because we miss you, B ill.
NORTHW EST
A F R IC A N
A M E R IC A N W R IT E R S W O R K ­
SH O P PR EPA RES F IR S T A N ­
T H O L O G Y O F N E W W R IT E R S ’
W ORKS
The newly formed Northwest
African American Writers Workshop
has received a $1,200.00 grant from
the M etropolitan A rts Commission
o f Portland. The new grant, accord­
ing to the Workshop’s founder, Useni
Perkins, executive director o f the
Urban League o f Portland, was raised
from $800.00 to $1,200.00
This exciting new anthology w ill
include poetry, short stories o f the
members o f the Workshop, and the
fin al scene from an unpublished play
o f my, “ Sisyphus and the Blue-Eyed
C yclops,” w inner o f the 42nd A n ­
nual One-Act play Festival in Wash­
ington, D.C., in 1973 (a Howard
U niversity Players’ production.) It
was also the opening play at the first
Black Theatre Festival at Princeton
U niversity in 1975.
“ Sisyphus,” was first presented
in Los Angeles at the Actors’ Studio
West, starring Paul Winfield and D’ Ur­
v ille M artin in 1970. It was pre­
sented next in 1971 by the Negro En­
semble Company o f New Y ork
(another Obie award-winning Black
Theatre), starring A1 Freeman Jr. and
A d o lf Caesar. Another production
w ith an extended run in 1975, starred
the " T o n y ” and “ Oscar” award
:
★ i t
nominee, Morgan Freeman, who is to r inis reason triat l am w orking hard
also a co-founder w ith me, B illie to publish some o f the best o f “ the
A llen and Clay ton R ile y , o f the Frank Silvera Years,” from among the more
Silvera W riters’ Workshop. This than 4,000 unpublished play manu­
w ill be the first lim e that the play w ill scripts currently in our files o f the
Frank Silvera L ib ra ry o f the L iv in g
be partly published.
This is a clear example o f how Playwright, at the archives o f the
d iffic u lt it is to have new plays or famed New Y o rk Schomburg Center
works by Black, Hispanic o r m in o ri­ for Research in Black Culture. W rite
ties, as w ell as W hite writers, docu­ on and you heard it here first, theatre
mented in a publication form . It is fans.
fflflis Vite
H
A M E R IC A ’ S
B IG T O P
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Vi
G IA N T
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