Page 4 Portland Observer SEPTEM BER 7,1 9 8 9
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Lisa Collins
ENTERTAINMENT
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BEHIND THE
SCENES
Like M other, Like D aughter? Keisha Jackson, the daughter of R&B
singer Millie Jackson was recently signed to Epic Records and is set to
release her debut album this fall. Yet, if it would seem that mother and
daughter have a great deal in common. Epic Records would have you to
know that there is a great deal of difference in the two. “ It’s not Millie’s type
stuff at all” , said Larry Davis, National Director of Black Music Promotion
for Epic Records. “ Keisha would be aiming at the same audience as a Jody
Watley, Janet Jackson or Shirelle. the first single is “ Hot Little Love
Affair” , but must because it’s hot little love affair, doesn’t mean it’s
Millie” . In fact, the label was set to launch a campaign to establish a
separate identity for the 22-yearold singer, who makes her home in Atlanta,
but decided it wasn’t necessary. Davis beheves what people will find most
surprising about Jackson is that “ first of all she can sing. People remember
Millie most for the trashy lyrics and monologues in her songs, but Millie can
sing too, and that’s what a lot of people overlook. This girl can really sing” .
Is It In The Genes? If vocal abilities are tied to genes, none would be
happier than new Geffen recording artist C hristopher Williams. Williams,
who is making quite a splash with his recently single “ Talk To M y self’, is
the great-nephew of Ella Fitzgerald. (Williams has often been referred to
as A1 B. Sure’s cousin, but the two, who are very good friends,-are not
related). At any rate, so high on the debut is Geffen Records that they are
going all out with a national radio promotion with Radioscope, a nationally
syndicated radio show. A lucky listener will win a cellular car phone and
$1000 to cover phone bills.
Ross B othered By U nauthorized Bio: Diana Ross joins the growing
number of celebrities who are a little more than annoyed by unauthorized
biographies that they call an intrusion into their privacy. Ross, who has
failed in her attempts to stop J. Randy Tarborelli’s upcoming “ Call Her
Miss Ross” , is said to fear the worst. The book, which is due out in
November, supposedly explores Ross’ romantic liaisons with Ryan O ’Neal,
Gene Simmons, Smokey Robinson, and Berry Gordy. The book also
touches on her curious relationships with Michael Jackson and Mary
Wilson, who’s mere appearance backstage at one of Ross’ recent Los
Angeles performance was said io have touched off a tantrum. (Wilson was
reportedly asked to leave).
W hoops...While it’s no secret that Whoopi Goldberg’s popularity has
been sliding, she may get a much-needed career boost with her role in the
upcoming him, “ Long Walk Home” . The story centers on the relationship
o f a black maid and her white mistress in the backdrop of the Montgomery
Bus Boycott and the often turbulent civil rights movement. Goldberg stars
opposite academy award-winner Sissy Spacek in the film.
T h ere’s No Place Like Home: In an effort to raise awareness to the
plight of the homeless, Stevie Wonder is kicking off an 18-month campaign
to raise funds to build shelters for the homeless around the country. The
project titled, ‘ Every Heart Needs A Home” will feature celebrity appearances,
public service announcements, and a series of benefit performances slated
to begin sometime in September.
Short Takes: Joan Collins is teaming with Mowtown Productions chief
Suzanne de Passe to produce a light mystery-adventure series, which is to
be based and filmed in Europe. Collins will also star in the project...Dancer-
actor Gregory Hines has been tapped for the lead in a science fiction thriller
titled “ Eve O f Destruction” .
ON THE MONEY
The Small Business Administration Restructures Its Minority Program:
In an effort to increases the chances that economically disadvantaged or
minority-owned companies participating in its 8(A) program survive in the
general marketplace as well as to cut down on widespread program abuses,
the SBA has restructured its program. Perhaps the most significant change
is the net worth of program applicants. Previously, applicants were required
to have a net worth of no more than $750,000 (including home and business
assets). Under the new rules, applicants the requirement was lowered to
$250,000. What’s more, limits have been set on a participants’ net worth
during the two phases of a company’s term in the program. The maximum
term in the program is nine years. Erline Patrick, who heads the SBA’s
Minority Small Business Office has said that among her own goals for the
program was to act more swiftly with respect to applications. The present
wait for applicants is up to one year. Patrick wants to cut that to no more than
90 days.
Rejection Gives B irth To Successful Newsletter: Jamie Foster Brown
says her successful “ Sister 2 Sister” , music trade publication, was founded
out of rejection. After several assignments to write a column for various
black music trade publications ended with rejection, a frustrated and
infuriated Brown decided to send the column out herself as a one-sheet
xerox, once a month. That was in May of 1988. Borrowing $600 from a close
friend, Brown, a former producer o f ‘ ’Video Soul’ ’ for Black Entertainment
Television, developed the idea into an instrument through which women in
the entertainment industry could keep in touch. By the time the newsletter
debuted in September, it boasted nine features. Columns like “ Who Does
She Think She Is” keyed in on key women in media and entertainment, but
Brown’s newsletter quickly became best known for its “ chatty-style:
gossip, and has earned her the nickname of the “ Rona Barrett of R&B” .
Brown then tackled advertising and within a year was generating revenues
upwards of $ 100,000. At present, the newsletter’s readership is estimated at
20,000, with subscriptions going for $30 annually. While, Brown’s newsletter
remains music industry-oriented, she hopes to expand to 32 pages and
increase circulation to 300,000 or more within the next five years.
In Short: It was quite a reception thrown by Bronner Brothers on the
occasion of their annual hair care convention and the launching of Upscale
Magazine at the Ritz Carlton in Atlanta.No expense was spared in the spread
for potential advertisers for the general interest magazine that made its
debut on the nation’s news stands this past July.
The High Cost of The New Home Technology: What do you think of
a microwave that will automatically prepare your food according to recipe,
a single touch screen that controls the heating, cooling, lights, appliances
and home security systems, or a whirlpool bath that can be pre-programmed
to draw your bath. In fact, the “ Autofill” tub goes for anywhere from
$3,874-$4,745, and is available. Sharp Electronics offers the microwave
that cooks toordcr for around $1,000, even if at present it is only available
in Japan. These arc just a few items reflective of the direction of automation
in today’s housing industry. However, the biggest news is the development
of a voice-activated home management controller, which while wired into
every electronic appliance, also monitors those appliances, enabling one,
for example, to dial from from work to cut off a TV set or coffee pot that is
still on. However, the system’s biggest obstacle is cost. The least expensive,
offered by Mitsubishi (and is still in the testing stages) is priced at $10,000.
Next week: find out how much it would cost you to build your own home,and
a look at some successful black real estate developers.
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I
t
cicmicmy
IECHJME)
ICIEIPCICT
by Garland Lee Thompson
IT ISN’T EVERY DAY YOU
M EET A C O L L E G E PR E SI
DENT, AND SH E’S BLACK
Everyday that I open my eyes, life
is just full of surprises. A good case
in point, recently I was standing at
the cashier’s desk in the restaurant of
the Winston-Salem Stouffer Hotel,
during the final day of the National
Black Theatre Festival in Winston-
Salem, N.C. (August 20,1989), when
a lady standing there, asked me about
my involvement with the 1st Na
tional Black Theatre Festival and she
noticed my Upward Bound Program
T-shirt from Portland State Univer
sity.
I explained to “ the nice lady"
that, in addition to being in the the
atre for many years and founding the
Frank Silvera W riters’ Workshop in
New York, in 1973, one of the
American Black Theatre Movement’s
most productive playwrights’ devel-
opemental theatres in the country. I
have also been teaching theatre, video,
working as the Cultural & Recrea
tional Coordinator of the Upward
Bound Program at Portland State Uni
versity for the past four summers
(now I am teaching at the Black
S tudies Department at Portland S tate
University).
The Upward Bound college prepa
ration program in the State of Ore
gon is one of the original pilot proj
ects of the nationally acclaimed fed
erally-funded programs, that began
at the University of Oregon more
than a decade ago. It now includes
similar projects at Oregon State Uni
versity, Pacific University, as well as
PSU, in Portland, Oregon. There are
many Upward Bound Programs at
colleges and universities across the
country now, which is, no doubt, the
frame of reference for Dr. Scott, with
the UB program in the country.
W E TO O K T H E STUDENTS
TO SEE EVERYTH ING OF
CULTURAL IM PO RTA N CE
I first joined the summer Upward
Bound staff in 1986 at PSU, under its
first director, Armando Laguardia (He
is now the assistant to the president
and interim Affirmative Action Offi
cer at PSU), who had been, himself,
a graduating, former Upward Bound
student from the University of Ore
gon. Write on, Armando.
B LACK TH EA TR E F E ST I
VAL, INTENSIVE NATIONAL
N ETW O R K IN G
So, to make a long story short,
“ the lady ” asked me for m y card and
I asked her for her’s in exchange, as
one does during these intensive na
tional “ networking” functions. She
only had a press release “ flyer” with
her at the time, on which she wrote
her name and information. It read:
“ Gloria R. Scott, president of Ben
nett College, Greensboro, North
Carolina.” I returned her pen at the
elevator, after which it hit me just
who she was; Dr. Gloria Randle Scott,
the president of Bennett College, a
proud black college, that was founded
in 1873, as a co-educational institu
tion, in the basement of the St. Mat
thews Methodist Episcopal Church
in Greensboro, North Carolina. It is
now a leading black college for sen
ior women. This is one of the first
times that I have ever casually, met a
college president, who is a woman
and black!
BLACK W O M EN C O LLEG E
PRESID ENTS, RARE
Some years ago, I had the pleas
ure of meeting the, then president of
Morgan State University, a black man,
college administrator (I believe it
was Dr. Robinson), who came to
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visit one of our play reading/critiques
at the Frank Silvera W riters’ W ork
shop in New York City. And later, at
a New York, Hunter College book
party for author, /Alice Childress, I
met the current black woman presi
dent of Spelman College, (add her
name here) but before she became
president (When she was still teach
ing at Hunter College). I did meet,
several years ago, the late Mattie
Cook, president of Malcolm-King
Harlem College Extension of New
<JL.
Aida to headline Portland
Opera's Silver Anniversary
Current production could be one of the grandest ever
performed In City of Roses. International cast engaged
by Stephen E. McPherson,
Special Correspondent
More than one generation of Port
land residents has come to love the
Portland Opera Company and to
expect good opera to emanate from
it. For the last 25 years they have
brought operas in the truly grand
style to the City of Roses. This year
they will celebrate their silver anni
versary with Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida,
York. But black women, who head
college and universities, are rare.
EM PO W ER M EN T O F BLACK
AM ERICANS THROUG H
EDUCATION
“ Bennett College continues its
commitment to excellence with the
development of an institutional long
range plan which will guide the di
rections of the College (a United
Negro College Fund member) from
1990-2001,” states Dr. Scott.
“ America must invest its dollars in
the long term returns that are neces
sary to have ‘ONE NATION.’This
means THE EMPOWERMENT OF
BLACK AMERICANS THROUGH a most masterful piece of opera, heed
with a good amount of tragedy, bal
EDUCATION.”
“ AFRICAN AMERICAN PLAY let and pageantry all wrapped up in
WRIGHTS, THEIR CRAFT AND one enormous package. It is quite
safe to predict that this production
LEGACY”
Needless to say, I can not wait to will please even non-opera patrons
return (Sept. 21,1989) to the Black and they too are urged to witness and
Studies Department of PSU and tell to enjoy its splendor. Aida is sched
Dr. Dasrrell Milloner, chairman, his uled to open the opera season here in
small faculty, staff and our students, Portland September 30th in the Civic
about the high-powered events of the Auditorium. It will continue for four
historical 1989 Theatre Festival. I performances.
During his career, Verdi is known
found that it “ fits like a glove,” my
to
have
been fascinated by things Af
returning class course in the BS Dept.:
rican,
however
it is interesting to ob
“ African American playwrights, Their
serve
that
Aida
was not written until
Craft and Legacy.”
well
past
the
midpoint
in his long and
Many of the playwrights, actors,
prolific
career.
To
be
sure
when first
directors, producers and theatre
broached
with
the
subject
he dis
people, about whom, I have been
dained
the
idea.
talking, I found were right there, in
At the time Verdi wrote Aida, two
winston-Salem (August 14-20,1989),
important
pieces of political history
among the 25,000 to 30,000 artists,
were
converging.
On the one hand,
audience and craft-people, who at
the
rise
in
nationalism
and the clamor
tended the festival. Write on, our
for
identity
in
Germany
was mani
1989 host, Larry Leon Hamlin, and
fested
by
the
lyrical
stage
of
Richard
your North Carolina Black Reper
Wagner.
On
the
other
hand
the re-
tory.
emergence
of
Egypt
and
its
impor
EN R O LL NOW FO R T H E N EW
tant culture along the Nile was be
FALL, AFRICAN AM ERICAN
ginning to attract more attention from
PLA Y W R IG H TS, AT PSU
For information regarding the fall the dominant European nations. With
1989, course on African American the building of the Suez Canal, Egypt
became an important entity when it
playwrights, scheduled for Tuesday
formed the first direct sea link be
evenings, call for time and dates
tween the middle east and the occi
(beginning Sept. 21,1989), the Black
dental world. It is with this in mind
Studies Dept. (503) 464-3472, NH,
that the Khedive of Egypt commis
3rd floor, PSU. Tell them, GLT, sent
sioned Giuseppe Verdi to write Aida.
you.
Its Cairo premier in 1871 caused
August 21,1989
TO: Fellow W riters’, Northwest great consternation in Europe, not
African American W riters’ W ork only because o f its grandiose nature
and pageantry, but also because its
shop
innovative musical nuances were
FROM; Useni Eugene Perkins
identified
more readily with Richard
RE: Status of (our new) Anthol
Wagner
rather
than with the passion
ogy
ate
melodic
line
that had become the
I know you ’ 11 be pleased to hear at
hallmark
of
Giuseppe
Verdi.
our next meeting on Sunday, August
Aida
is
an
Ethiopian
princess who
27th, 1989, at the Urban League
(3:PM-5:PM) we should have the
final draft of our manuscript. Please
come prepared to review your manu
script before we take it to the printer.
We are looking at a production date
around September 15th, so we will
have the anthology for our scheduled
September 24,1989 reception at the
YWCA Center, 5630 Northeast Mar
tin Luther King Blvd, from 2:PM -
5:PM. At this time, members will
read from their works and, hope
fully, w e’ll sell a few books.
Hope to see you on August 27,
1989.
In the interest of creativity,
Useni E. Perkins
is a prisoner o f war held by the Egyp
tians. She is forced to be the servant
of the Egyptian princess, Amneris.
Aida has fallen in love with Rada-
mes, an Egyptian warrior who later is
to lead his army in battle against her
father. Aida is torn between the
compelling emotions of the heart and
the conditioned allegiances to her
family and country.
Added to this complication is the
fact that Radames is passionately en
amored with Aida, but because of his
success in battles against the Ethio
pians, the king of Egypt has betrothed
his own daughter, Amndris, to him.
The Ethiopian king, Amonasro, is
captured by the Egyptians, but upon
learning that Aida and Radames are
in love with each other,prevails upon
Aida to have Radames disclose im
portant Egyptian military secrets.
Radames’ treasonous breach of
security is discovered and a tribunal
of the high priests passes down his
death sentence. He is to be sealed
while yet alive in his own tomb.
Aida surreptitiously enters the tomb
before it is sealed vowing as a final
tribute of her love to join him in
death.
All lead artists will be making
their Portland debuts. The title role
will be sung by the Hungarian dra
matic soprano, Katalin Szcndrenyi,
winner of the 1987 Verdi Busseto
Competition.
Amonasro, her father, will be sung
by the African American Baritone,
Mark Rucker, winner of the 1986
Pavorotti Competition. Later this
year Mr. Rucker will make his Euro
pean debut having been engaged
already by opera companies in New
York City, Nevada, Indianapolis, San
Francisco, Cincinnati and Chicago.
The Italian tenor, Giuseppe Gi-
acomni, will sing the role of Rada
mes and Bulgarian contralto, Mari
ana Paunova will take the part of
Amneris, the unrequited suitor of
Radames who also is the Egyptian
king’s daughter.
This probably will be the largest
production o f an opera ever staged
here in the Portland area. It includes
a chorus of more than 70 performers,
numerous warriors, captives, danc
ing girls and even a real live elephant
on stage.
Aida will be under the direction of
Portland Opera’s Robert Bailey . Its
music will be conducted under the
baton of Joseph Rescigno. The co
lossal historically correct sets and
e labórate costumes were al 1 designed
by Francis Reynders.
Tom Nelson, Captain of the su
pernumeraries is still looking for at
least a half dozen African American
males to assume non-speaking parts
as prisoners. Persons selected for
these roles will have to attend four,
three hour rehearsals and four per
formances. This also will be an en
tree into other productions. Those
interested African American males
should contact Mr. Nelson at 241-
1407.
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