Page 4 Portland Observer JULY 27,1989
S& !
ENTERTAINMENT
Lisa Collins
behind the
SCENES
And Now A rsenio’s Steam ing: "Som etim e Spike has a ‘‘blacker than
thou “ altitude," said Arsenio Hall with regards to statements made by the
controversial filmmaker about Eddie Murphy. Hall recently took issue with
the statements on his popular late-night talk show. Hall subsequently spoke
to Radioscope’s Lee Bailey in an exclusive interview regarding the issue.
‘ ‘There is power in unity, and I think the thing that’s important is to sit down
and talk about it.Come together as men behind closed doors. Don’t go to the
press and criticize our brother. That’s absurd. Now, I said it on the air and
the next day Spike Lee was on a radio show criticizing me. Hall quoted
Spice as saying ‘I would have given him a piece of my mind but it was the
wrong place.’” Hall continued, " on the air he was apologetic, but in the
paper again the next day he was criticizing myselt and Oprah. And my thing
is ‘okay now, I tried to talk to you like men should talk arid you have this
attitude about the ghetto and being black, maybe a ghetto ass-whipping will
make you realize that to talk behind my back and constantly criticize me
instead of going about your business is not the way to go. Spike is no blacker
than any of the people he criticizes...the Bill Cosby’s...the Whoopi
Goldberg’s...the Eddie Murphy’s.. M eanwhile P aram ount Studios and
com edian Eddie M urphy have announced that they will be granting fel­
lowships next summer to film school graduates in three areas of film-
making: screenwriting, producing, and directing. In all, four fellows will
receive a year’s salary and will work with studio professionals in develop­
ment, writing, and distribution. Murphy is also supporting a minority
outreach effort, and the Paramount/Eddie Murphy fellowship will go to a
graduating senior at a college with significant minority enrollment...And
MGM/U A Television announced the signing of fellow Black pack member
Keenen Ivory W ayans to an exclusive w riter-p ro d u cer developm ent
deal. Wayans recently wrote, directed and starred in ‘‘I’m Gonna Git You
Sucka” .
Battle O f The Bands? A simmering battle between road crews of the top
R&B groups New Edition and Guy erupted into a brawl that left five men
in jail one in the hospital and one dead. The fighting began as the road crews
were setting up for the Budweiser Superfest. Road crew members battled
with baseball bats, microphones and other weapons. Anthony Bee, security
manager for Guy, was shot and killed when New Edition production
manager, Ronald Byrd, shot him twice.The feud started in Greensboro,
N.C., when Guy played past its time limit. According to witnesses, members
of New Edition were said to have flown some "m u sic” in from New York.
Both groups were subsequently kicked off the national concert tour which
is being sponsored by Anheuser-Busch. There was no comment from MCA,
or concert officials...In o ther recording news. Paula Abduls’s smash
single, "Straight U p” , led the field of recording nominees up for the MTV
Music Video Awards with six nominations. The awards to be hosted by
Arsenio Hall, will be telecast live on September 6 from Los Angeles...Speaking
of Abdul, heavyweight champion Mike Tyson admitted before a TV
audience (while hosting a special edition of Friday Night Videos), that he
was so intimidated by her looks that he walked the other way when he saw
her. (Note: Due to breaking stories, the Jennifer Beals piece will appear ftg*l
week).
S hort Takes: According to the insider track, Jan e t Jackson’s LP is
ru m o red to be a m onster. But don’t expect to judge for yourself until round
September when A&M is scheduling its release...Sister LaToya is sched­
uled to perform in Russia sometime next month...Next week: a look at
Hollywood’s first black musical in years.
ON THE MONEY
Upscale Beats Em erge To The Punch: In the midst of all the hoopla
surrounding Emerge as well as its financial dilemmas and reorganization,
29-year of Bernard Bronner, due this year to inherit the throne at the family
business—Bronner Brothers Corp.(one of the nation’s top black hair care
manufacturers), was quietly putting together a magazine of his own. With
$500,000 in support from the family and some personal funds, Bronner, a
marketing whiz, raised a little over $l million in start-up costs. Just last
month, his magazine, Upscale, billed as “ the successful black m agazine,”
hit the nation’s newsstands. Initial response for the monthly publication was
good, The initial order of 50,000 copies was instantly snapped up. An
additional 200,000 copies is also expected to sell out. And while Bronner
freely admits that all the talk about Emerge inspired him to get into
publishing, he says he’s not after the ultra-sophisticated.professional buppie
audience that Emerge is targeting. Instead, h e’s marketing his magazine as
a cross between essence and Ebony, and aiming to take a bite our of
Essences market share. Said Bronner: ‘ ‘ By the end o f next year, we hope
to outsell Essence.” Course, by that time, Bronner will also be wearing the
hat of CEO at the company his father, Nathaniel Bronner, founded. It is a
role for which, the younger Bronner, already a millionaire, has spent half his
life being groomed. He presently serves as interim president of Bronner
Brothers, which last year, boasted revenues topping $18 million...Meanwhile,
Em erge has been rescheduled to Em erge Septem ber 18th with its
financial problems behind them, according to Bob Johnson, president of
Black Entertainment Television. Said Johnson, whose BET owns about
35% of the magazine: "w e still have the challenge of making it a business,
but we certainly have it capitalized at enough money to get going and BET
is committed to it to the longterm. That if we need additional financial
support, we are prepared to make an additional investm ent. We think it’s a
magazine that will take the next generation of blacks into the year 2000 and
beyond, chronicling their achievements and outlining their challenges” .
H appy V alentine’s Day: Systems Management American (SM AJChair-
man and president, Herman E. Valentine, was a recipient the Black
Diamond Award presented at the 18th annual National Operation PUSH
Convention in Chicago, Illinois for his part in building a legacy of service
that reinforces the growth and development of minority enterprise. SMA is
the nation’s eight largest black-owned firm.
The High Price O f M arriage In N igeria: As economic difficulties
continue to grip Nigeria, tradition is perhaps providing the biggest blow of
all to its young men. Fact is, bride prices in Nigeria have skyrocketed and
all to many young countrymen just can’t afford to get married. Leaders
worry that the issue is prompting their youth to remain single too long. So
much so that some rulers have placed a ceiling on bride prices. As custom
has it, the price of a bride includes 30 to 50 jars of plum wine, cola nuts,
clothes and cartons of beer, as well as food for the guests. Simply translated,
without the equivalent of $400, one can’t hope to marry. O f course, that’s
a bargain in America where the average wedding now costs anywhere from
$5,000-10,000.
In Short: S tardom Has its price. Being a celebrity may look effortless,
but in many cases, it lakes equal parts of good strategy and cold cash on the
part of a capable strategist. One like Pat Tobin, of Tobin & Associates,
whose clients include controversial filmmaker Spike Lee. According to
Tobin, it can cost anywhere from $1,000-7,000 plus expenses (per month)
to sec that you are at the right place at the right time and get your fair share
of good press Next week: A look at the best business bets for 1990.
DDUADWAy
BDUND
DEDODT
by Garland Lee Thompson
JE FFE R SO N HIG H
LAUNCHES N EW SUM M ER
ARTS ’89 PROGRAM
Once again Jefferson High
School, “ the performing arts High”
of the City of Portland, takes "th e
lead” in the field of the creative arts.
Nate Jones, principal, and Deb
Brzoska, the Summer School princi­
pal, and counselor, Ken Berry, have
designed a very progressive new arts
program for their 1989 summer school.
And in doing so, they have assembled
an exciting staff of instructors, such
as Bruce Smith, African dance,
* ‘ brother Caton ’ ’ on drums and Len-
nie Edwards, who teaches in the “ state
of the arts” video department.
In addition to the these regu­
lar Jefferson Performing Arts Pro­
gram teachers, the new Summer Arts
’89 has taken the unusual step of hir­
ing special local artists and other
instructors as “ community resource
persons,” to assist and aid in the de­
velopment of several of the disci­
plines that are being featured at the
controverial and much publicized city
high school in Northeast Portland.
AN O RIG IN A L PIONEER
ALUM NI PERFO RM IN G
ARTIST RETURNS
As an alumni, who gradu­
ated with principal, Nate Jones, from
* ‘good old Jeff High,” I am delighted
to be apart of the "special commu­
nity resource team’ ’ staff. There was
no city-wide performing arts pro­
gram at Jefferson when I attended
the high school and became the first
Black male student to be selected
“ Best Male dance performer,” in
my senior class.
This did not happen by
accident. Believe me, it took a great
deal of long hours and hard work, as
I had to take myself "off-cam pus,”
after regular school classes and on
weekends on my own (when I wasn’t
in football practice or on the track
field), to secretly study dance move­
ment (modern, ballet, hindu & jazz).
And became the only African Ameri­
can member of the cast of “ Kiss Me
Kate,” a hit musical production of
the fifties at the oldest community
playhouse in town, the Portland Civic
Theatre. Y es.thatw hereinallstarteo
for me in the theatre.
“ NO ROOM AT TH E IN ­
HOUSE DRAMA
DEPARTM ENT
The “ in-house drama department”
at Jefferson, in those day in the fif­
ties, was pretty much a “ closed shop”
and elite clique that has no Black or
minority students, and when I dared
to “ tried-out,” during their little
annual student drama club auditions.
I was quietly told that " I lacked the
whatever or where-with-all to be ad­
mitted in "th eir chic, little private
club!” (Can you dig it)
So, theatre fans, since 1 could not
join these “ huddling little students
superstars,” I took “ my little Black
behind-the-times,” on downtown!
And as Sammy Davis Jr. use to say,
"A nd I did it my way!” "Shortly,
after a stint at the University of Ore­
gon (where I did one musical), I
booked this town,” "th e times” and
took a greyhouse bus to L.A. (LA LA
Land). Ten years later, I was off to
“ the Big Apple, New York, on the
first show I could get, or “ anything,
smokin’” , that was heading East!
* ‘There’s boat that’s leaving soon for
New York,” as the song from the
show,"Porky & Bess,” goes. Write
on!
THREE AW ARD-W INNING
BROADWAY SHOWS, THREE
NATIONAL TOURING COMPA­
NIES, OVER FORTY OFF-OFF
BROADWAY SHOWS & AN NEW
YORK OBIE AWARD THEATRE
CO., FILMS, T V ’S “ STARTREK,”
“ PERRY MASON,” ETC.,LATER
IN NEW.YORK....
My old buddy and former
roommate, actor, A1 Freeman Jr.
(“ One Live To Live,” the TV soap,
etc.), always use to tease me about
the fact that it took me some ten
years to get to New York, but I didn’t
finally get to “ the big league” the­
atre town, looking for a acting job in
“ the business!” But no, I went there,
instead “ to hire” a bunch of actors
for the show, in which I was working
my way east, Charles Gordone’s
Pulitzer Prize Play. “ No Place To Be
Somebody!” To be sure, that was
the way I felt like, being a young
Black person, living in Portland,
Oregon, during the fifties,with truly
“ No Place To Be Somebody,” and
daring to think about show business
and a career in the arts. “ Get a job,
kid and don’t be stupid,” everybody
around me said! So, I left! (W ouldn’t
you?)
Years later, my old school buddy,
Nate Jones, who had now become
the principal of our old high school,
flys into New York for an education
conference. We meet for a drink, he
tells me about, “ a coming class re­
union” (This town is big on class
reunions). And he asked me, “ why
don’t I come back home,” to Port­
land and work sometime soon, with
his “ hot” new performing arts pro­
gram at old Jeff High. Why not, I
said, since I haven’t been home in
years!
Four years later, and here I am,
generating a little script concept with
the video person, Lennie Edwards,
for a project that his summer arts ’89,
students have decided to do shoot,
based on the old “ Twilight Zone,”
TV series.
‘ ‘What goes around, come around,
as the world turns!” Write on, Nate
Jones, Deb Brzoska, Jefferson High
and the Summer Arts ’89. It’s our
anwser to part of “ the youth gang”
problem and why not!
COLUM BIA THEATER TO
PRESENT WORLD PREMIERE OF
PLAY ON RACISM AND “ SOUTH­
ERN JUSTICE”
“ A poor Black teenager
accused of murdering a rich white
classmate in a small southern town,”
is the theme of a new play, “ South­
ern Justice,” written by Portland
playwright, Dave Kanncr, and di­
rected by Gary O ’Brien. This new
works opens, Friday, July 28, 1989,
7:30PM,at the Columbia Theater
Company.
I spoke at length, with the play­
wright, who is having his first full-
length play, that he explained to me,
examines “ serious social themes
through the eyes to two reporters-
one Black and one W hite-covering
a murder trial. The new piece is
based on a trial, which the author
covered while working as a broad­
cast reporter in North Carolina in
1977.
The world premiere production
of “ Southern Justice,” a finalist in
the 1988 Terra Nova Theater play­
wrights’ competition in Eugene,
Oregon, will feature a cast, headed
by Bill Burger, Paul Jones (who
appeared last summer in “ Simply
Heavenly,” at Portland State Uni­
versity), Melvin Huston and Nancy
Wilson. It has received a grant from
the Metropolitan Arts Commission,
to aid in the production cost of the
show, that is scheduled to run at the
Columbia Theater Company, 2021
SE Hawthorne Blvd., Thursday,
through Saturday, August 26, 1989.
For further info, call 232-7005.
’DRUGS ALMOST DESTROYED
MY CAREER'
New Orleans TV anchorman
Warren Bell, Jr. returns to prime­
time prominence, and tells how drugs
nearly destroyed his career, in the
August EBONY.
Bell, 38, who had reached the
high point of his career in 1980 as the
city’s only Black prime-time news
anchor/apidly plummeted to the
lowest point in his life after turning
to cocaine use as a relief from career
pressures. " I destroyed my own ca­
reer,” Bell admits. " I had become so
very obvious and public and arrogant
with it, the next thing I knew I was
busted,” he says.
Taking advantage of a pardon from
the Louisiana governor, Bell started
the long climb to self- respect, ad­
mitting himself to drug therapy ses­
sions, and working his way back up
through the New Orleans broadcast
market to again anchoring TV news.
" It takes determination to make it
happen,” he says.
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A NO M V M O O U C ’ lO N l M l i l N T
THE W ORLD P REMIERE OF D/ kVE KANNER'S
SOUTHERN
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D IR E C T E D BY CARY O 'B R IE N
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28 - A U G U S T 2 6 ,
1 9 89
T H U M O O U C T IO N M M
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M A O l » 0 0 1 1 1 1 ■*
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ARTS C O M M I IJ IO N .
2 0 2 1 SE H A W T H O R N E
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R E S E R V A T IO N S : 2 Î 2 -. 7 0 0 5
THURSDAY, FRIDAY, SATURDAY
NIECEY’S RESTAURANT & LOUNGE
Come to where
Good friends meet and converse
in our air condition lounge
in a cordial atmosphere
A family restaurant
Serves you from 6:00 am-2:30 am
Parking in rear
5700 NE Union
249-1893
JAZZY FM 69.
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KING SWAP MEET
6728 N.E. Union
Portland, Oregon
97211
Telephone 288-0773
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100% Cotton Shirts $4.50/3 for $12.50
Sweat Suits and Jogging Suits
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We sell everything on discount for the Grand
Opening
Business Hours 10:30 am - 8:00 p.m.
Bring this coupon for
10% discount
Expires Aug 3rd
8PM