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Portland Observer April 25, 1990
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ENTERTAINMENT
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Behind - The • Scenes Behind - The - Scenes Behind - The - Scenes Behind - The- Scenes Behind - The - Scenes Behind - The - Scenes Behind - The - Scenes Behind - The -
by Lisa Collins
On the recording scene, members of
the top-rated group New Edition are
once again dominating the airwaves
only this time not as a group but with
their own individual projects. Johnny
Gill has hit the hardest with his smash
Motown single, “ Rub You the Right
W ay,’ ’ which is winding its way up the
nation’s record charts. But so too, is
“ Poison” a cut off the new release
from BBD (Bell Biv’ & Devoe), which
is comprised of Ricky Bell, Micheál
Bivens and Ronnie Devoe. A solo
album from remaining member Ralph
Tresvant, is due shortly. And while it
may appear as if everyone is going their
own way, thr group is not breaking up.
Fact is, the individual pursuits of its
members will not interfere with prede­
termined plans for them to record this
summer and tour later in the year. In
fact, there isalso talk of a film, based on
their rise to fame, which will also fea­
ture former member Bobby Brown.
In other film news. Universal Pictures
recently announced that they’d signed
a two-year deal with Bill Cosby, to pro­
duce and star in several film projects.
(Meanwhile,after three months of ne­
gotiations, NBC has announced that the
Cosby Show will indeed be back for a
seventh season)
F.riq LaSalle has been tapped to replace
Denzel Washington in “ Love Field” , a
film which also stars Michelle Pfeiffer.
Washington withdrew from the project
due to dissatisfaction with the develop­
ment of his character. LaSalle, you
may recall, was featured as Eddie
Murphy’s rival for the affection of Shari
Headley in “ Coming to America.”
LA Gets New Phantom : Robert Guil-
liame, former star of “ Benson” , is all
set to take over as the Phantom in the
Los Angeles stage production of the
award winning play, “ The Phantom of
The Opera” on May 1. Guilliame says
that there are a lot of things that excite
him about the role, which also marks
his return to the stage. An accom­
plished tenor and veteran stage per­
former, he is however most thrilled
about going back to work. “ I’m a
worker, and I just enjoy working.
“ Black Am erican Film s-Capturing
The Legacy: was the theme of the
Black American Cinema Society’s
Eighth Annual BACS Awards. This
year’s honorees included veteran screen
actor William Marshall (perhaps best
remembered for his role as “ Blacula”
in America’s first black horror film),
Lou Gossett, Beah Richards, Danny
Glover and Virginia Capers. All the
awardees were on hand for the festive
occasion, as were “ House Party’” s Tisha
Campbell, who performed a rousing
rendition of “ Summertime” , Blau-
Underwood and Raymond St. Jacques
who served as presenteers and a host of
others. The honorees were visibly
touched and shared anecdotes about
each other. (Veteran actress Virginia
Capers talked excitedly about the fact
that she is the eldest in the filmmaking
class she is now taking at UCLA). The
event, is the brainchild of Dr. Mayme
Clayton, whose Western States Black
Research Center traces the heritage of
blacks in film, and boasts the nation’s
mostcomprehensive collection of Afri­
can-American films.
her star on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame. Speaking of which, the commit­
tee has announced it will posthumously
award a star to Marvin Gaye on Holly­
wood’s Walk of Fame.
Short Takes: Jim Brown, Bernie Casey,
and Isaac Hayes may recreate their
roles from the film “ I ’m Gonna Git
You Sucka,” if ABC picks up the op­
tion on a pilot of an upcoming fall se­
ries. The series, which would feature
them as over-the-hill crime fighters, is
titled “ Hammer, Slammer & Slade” . .
.Congratulation to August Wilson on
being awarded the Pulitzer Prize for
drama for his play, “ The Piano Les­
son” , which just opened on Broadway.
Hats off to Jan et Jackson who hosted a
lavish luncheon for members of the
black press at Chasen’s Restaurant in
Beverly Hills, just one day after getting
ODC Announces Ticket
Program for Minority Youth
In a striking example of partner­
ship between business, the arts and
social policy, Oregon Dance Consort
announced today the funding of a
ticket subsidy program for minority
youth by Security Pacific Bank Ore­
gon. Through the generosity of the
bank, 100 young people will attend a
performance of ODC’s annual mod­
em dance choreographers’ showcase,
Pulse & Impulse, at the Intermediate
Theatre of the Portland Center for the
Performing Arts, June 8-10. Assist­
ing in distribution of the tickets will
be three other organiztions: The
Portland Observer Newspaper, the
Office of Youth Services at the YWCA
and the Interstate Firehouse Cultural
Center.
SPECIAL FRIENDS: Raven-Symone from “ The Cosby Show" joins hands
with Kermit the Frog for a song in the Magic Kingdom as she guest starred
during the taping of “ The M uppets,. .a t Walt Disney World” . The NBC tele­
vision special, which will air May 6 at 7 p.m. ET/PT, also features noted actor
Charles Grodin along with Miss Piggy, Fozzie the Bear, Gonzo, Camilla and
the entire Muppet group. (C opyright 1990. The Walt D isney Company)
I
Judith Catterall, Project Director
of Pulse & Impulse, said:
“ The impact of this program has
a ripple effect that is potentially pro­
found. One of the goals of Pulse &
Impulse is to introduce new audi­
ences to the thought-provoking exu­
berance of modem dance by offering
them a sampler of styles from our
diverse multi-cultural modem dance
community. But I have been con­
cerned for years with the problems
of access: disadvantaged and minor­
ity audiences are continually denied
access to the common cultural expe­
riences of our society. Security Pa­
cific Bank Oregon is helping us to
address this problem in a direct, hands-
on manner that is meaningful to art­
ists and audience alike.”
You might ask yourself how did this
come about. According to Terry Cur­
rier, manager of Music Millenium East
it all started one day when Johnny Koonce
of “ Johnny and the Distractions” was
in the store. Terry asked Johnny if he
had ever done a compilation of his best
hits. Johnny said no, and that led to the
question of would he be interested? It
took three weeks for Johnny to decide
and he told Terry that he would like to
pursue the idea. In response to this
Terry contact A & M Records about the
purchase of a Masters license. He was
told the expense was cost prohibitive.
So he decided to explore the possibility
of producing the record through the
resources at Music Millenium.
So from an off-hand question a rec­
ord label was bom.
Even though Johnny and the Dis­
tractions are a straight ahead no-frills
party rock *n’ roll band, Terry firmly
states that Burnside Records is open to
producing good musicians whose chem­
istry is compatible with the Music
Millenium organization. The label has
a second act in the three piece rock
band the Blubinos.
Terry encouraged artists to submit
audio or v ideo tapes to Music Millenium
to him at 3158 E. Burnside, Portland,
EBONY Fashion Fair
hey LflRG
LOCK UP
Fn. 27
Sat. 28
NEROS ROME
CRAZY8S
A
Sponsored by
Portland Chapter
The Links, Inc.
Benefit of
LINKS EDUCATIONAL
SCHOLARSHIP FUND
University of Portland
Earle A. Chiles Center
Portland, Oregon
COLOR SCREAM
Friday, April 27, 1990
8:00 p.m.
Ticket Prices:
$20.00, $25.00
Tues. M ay I
TBA
KEY LARGO:
31 NW FIRST
223-9919
A PLAY BY
JOHN FORD NOONAN
DIRECTED BY
PETER FORNARA
MAY 4 -J U N E 2
THUR, FRI, SAT.
8 :0 0 PM
SUN. MAY 2 0 & 27
2 :0 0 PM
2 0 2 1 SE
..
M i
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F
"
haw™ ° rn e b lv d -
1
RESERVATIONS
t
’ « • «M S COMMISStOM
WALNUT PARK
VETERANS’ CLUB
PRESENTS
“New Attitude”
Tickets $10/Adv • $12/Door • $7.50 Students • Kids 12/under free
8Q/Q0
5000 N. W illam ette Blvd.
JOSEPHINE S OCEAN
z-
COMPANY PRESENTS
S aturday • A pril 28th • 8pm
JE F F E R S O N H IG H SCHOOL
S u n .29
M on. 30
■ M : ' \
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”
2 3 2 -7 0 0 5
OR 97218 by mail or in person. He said
that each tape will be listened to by
someone on staff. When asked about
his expectations for the label, he said
Burnside Records will promote the
Koonce project till such time that it is
not financially feasible. He felt there
will always be some demand for the
Koonce album becuase of the artist’s
popularity.
“ No matter how much hard work is
put into a record there’s a certain amount
of luck involved in the success of a
project,” Terry said.
APRIL
Thurs. 26
• ‘ J.-
COLUMBIA THEATER
•J
223 9919
3 1 N W FIR ST
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(
Portland Observer!
The 32nd Annual
Presents
:
Say You Saw It In The
Music Millenium Launches Record Label
by Danny Bell
Like many occurrences in the busi­
ness world, serendipity plays a major
role in initiating unforeseen projects. It
was through such circumstances that
brought about the creation of Burnside
Records, a new local record label pro­
duced by Music Millenium. Unlike
labels self-produced by the artists them­
selves, Burnside Records has the envi­
able position of being the product of a
successful record store, with two Port­
land outlets and an affiliation with
Precision Sound Marketing which has a
distribution network in 22 states west of
the Mississippi River including Alaska
and Hawaii.
z
TICKETS AVAILABLE AT:
Mrs. C’s Wigs. 707 N.E. Fremont
House of Sound,
3606 N. Williams Ave.
Earle A. Chiles Center
Ticket prices include one vear
subscription to EBONY, EM,
or six months to |ET.
WIN A TRIP FOR TWO TO ANY
DESTINATION SERVED BY AMERICAN AIRLINES
AND OR AMERICAN EAGLE IN THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES
Music Millennium • Women's Place Bookstore • Catbird Seat
Parnell Hopkins
By Tony Washington
One of Portland ’ s hottest and newest
R&B/Top 40 groups will showcase their
talents at the Walnut Park Veterans’
Club this weekend. Scheduled for Fri­
day and Saturday night, April 27-28,
the five-member group, featuring Par­
nell Hopkins on keyboard and vocalist
is an all home-grown product with one
member hailing from Chicago. Hopkins
has appeared at the Jantzen Beach Red
L.ion Inn and more recently featured on
KB MS Radio Scope. The group has
also appeared at Nieccy’s lounge on
Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.
Walnut Park Veterans’ Club has re­
cently undergone a reorganization after
a change in ownership.
Show lime for New Attitude is sched­
uled for 10 p.m.-2 a.m. Friday and Sat­
urday For more information call Floyd
Cruise at 287-2218.
SOUL EXPOSED!