June 24, 1992...The Portland Observer...Page 9
Portland Observer
H
ENTERTAINMENT
Stevie Wonder’s Proudest Accomplishment
Is Martin Luther King Day
Strings Strum
Salute To Stars
And Stripes
Musician Hopes The Holiday Will Foster Better Race Relation;
Says he Always Felt He Was Special in Spite o f his Color
"Why should
brass bands have
all the fun on the
Fourth?”
Stevie Wonder
REPRINT FROM PARADE
Stevie W onder, who has been
praised time and lime again for his
goodness and generosity, would like
most to be rem em bered as one o f those
who made the birthday o f Martin Luther
King Jr. a national holiday.
“Every time I hear recordings of
Dr. King speaking, I cry because I think
about him,” W onder told Parade Con
tributing Editor Wallace Terry, who
interviewed him for this Sunday ’ s issue
o f the magazine. “His soul, his spirit,
his inner vision. America has it all
wrong thinking it’s a black holiday.
It’s not a black thing. It’s an American
thing. What he did, he did for all of us,
black and while. But there’s nothing
wrong with it being a black day in the
sense that we celebrate a black m an.”
W onder, who firmly believes that
“all evil can be conquered by love,”
said his faith might not have been as
strong if he were not blind. “It’s pos
sible that, if I could see, I w ouldn’t
have spent as much time dealing with
the concept of love. I might have been
made militant by what I would see. But
if I got my sight back today, my Belief
that love really does hold the key would
not change.”
Although W onder has been blind
since birth, he vaguely recalls light. “I
think I did see my m other’s face,” he
told Terry.
By the time he was ten years old,
Wonder, whose talent was evident from
the time he was two, had been signed by
Motown, the black record company, writ
ten his first song and had his first h it
Asked how he felt to be both black
and blind, W onder said, “ I knew I was
colored, I was Negro, but I didn’t ex
actly know what it meant. I knew I was
different and treated less than someone
else because of my color. And on top
o f that I was blind. I didn’t know why
there was such a problem about color,
when I was blind in the first place. That
seemed weird to me. But I didn’t feel
inferior. I felt I was special even when
I would hear someone say, * You really
sound good. You colored people sing
better than white people.’”
W onder said he worries about the
racial divisiveness, crime, violence
and drug abuse plaguing the big cities
like his hometown o f D ctroitand about
illiteracy and joblessness, which he
believes arc problem s everyw here.
“ But I’m very optimistic about the
w orld,” he said. “ 1 believe this isg o d ’s
island, and ultimately He will make it
right. Despite the damage that we have
done to it, 1 feel the beauty o f the earth.
I feel the beauty of G od.”
Although he would like to have
sight, he doesn’t dwell on it. “I som e
times talk to God about my sight, and
I say, I’d like to see, but it’s up to you-
-what you feel is best for m e.’ I’m not
a fool. Sight would make me more
independent. I would be able to see my
children, the mothers of my children.
My brothers and sister. But I’m not
going to stop enjoying what I have to
wait for it to happen.”
Sharing Good News
Motion picture producer-director Spike Lee, second from right, shares the
news at the Pepsi-Cola-sponsored prayer breakfast for the National
Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) that Black publications would
receive paid advertising for the promotions of this latest movie, “Malcolm
X." With Lee at the NNPA’s 52nd Convention at the Hyatt Regency on
the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, MD, are, from left, Rev. Frank Reid III,
Pastor, Bethel A.M.E. Zion Church, Betty Shine, Media Supervisor,
Pepsi-Cola Company, and Sonny Messiah-Jiles, Publisher, Houston
Defender. Black newspaper owners have long complained that motion
picture distributors generally send them many news and photo releases,
hoping for free publicity, but the distributors have been reluctant to use
paid advertising to promote their films. During a spirited sermon, Reid told
delegates representing 205 publications that reach more than 11 -million
readers that Black publishers should use their newspapers to
communicate to the African American Community the importance of
controlling its own economic destiny.
Dad’s Oil Service
heating oils
Best Cash Prices
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104 NE Russell
Portland, OR 97212
282-5111
Led by mandomaestro Ken C ul
v e r, the P o rtla n d M a n d o p h o n ic
Orchestra’s 25 mandolins, mandobasses,
mandolas and m andocellos-plus a few
guitars-w ill make a plucky attem pt to
upstage their brassier brothers with a
free Independence Day concert at Pio
neer Courthouse Square.
From 7-8:30 p.m., the orchestra
will present a program spanning many
musical styles: from lilting waltzes to
classical favorites to rousing renditions
o f patriotic anthems such as “The Star-
Spangled Banner." The soul-stirring
finale, of course, will be "The Stars and
Stripes Forever"—like you’ve never
heard it before.
After that display of musical pyro
technics, audience members should be
properly primed for the evening’s fire
works.
The Portland M andophonic O r
chestra was formed in 1984, and is
dedicated to the preservation, prom o
tion and performance o f the mandolin
family o f instruments. It has hosted
three W est Coast Mandolin Orchestra
Conventions and has presented num er
ous concerts, including performances
with the Portland Cham ber Orchestra.
The Fourth of July concert is a joint
production o f P ioneer C ourthouse
Square and the Portland Mandophonic
Orchestra.
Lisa Taylor
A bright new face on the pop music
scene, Lisa Taylor em bodies a unique
talent and spirit. Music lovers will get
their first taste o f L isa’s artistry with the
release o f her debut album on G iant
Records, titled Secrets O f The Heart.
Bom in Brooklyn and raised in
Youngstown, Ohio, L isa was steeped
in sp iritu a lity and
song from her earliest
days. Her entire fam
ily sang Gospel (her
m o th e r e v e n sang
with the great James
Cleveland). “I’ve al
ways known this is
what I wanted to do,”
recalls Lisa, “I can re
member singing when
I was five years old.”
As she grew, Lisa
segued into secular
m usic. A m ong her
early influences were
such diverse artists a s ____________
Earth W ind & Fire, ¡ js a -rayior
N atalie Cole, Billie
Holiday, M innie Ripperton and Jimi
Hendrix. Shortly after graduating from
high school, Lisa and the band Vegas
opened for the Tem ptations on a local
stage. Impressed with her poise and
skill, a member o f the Temptations
m anagem ent team introduced her to
legendary producer Notynan W hitfield.
L a te r, p ro d u c e r/s o n g w rite r S am i
McKinney began working on demos
with Lisa. “ After each song,” says Lisa,
“Sami would say, “W ell, I liked the
way you did that better than anyone
else; let’s make another.' A fter two
months, he asked if I was interested in
a solo career." Over the course o f one
year, the pair recorded sixteen songs
which they began to shop. Soon they
caught the eye o f G iant Records which
quickly signed Lisa as one of the label’s
first R&B artists.
A sampling o f the new album ’s
eleven tracks reveals a woman with
stunning range and
interpretative capa
bilities, alternating
b etw een sen sitiv e
ballads, mid-tempo
showcases and high-
energy dance songs.
“Fallen Angel" and
"D id You Pray To
day?" offer both a
sp iritu a l yearning
and a healthy appe
tite fo r ro m a n c e ,
w hile the first single,
" S e c r e ts O f The
H eart" is a touch
ing, revealing bal
la d . “ S a m i m u st
have been able to
read my mind,” says Lisa o f her pro
ducer and songwriter. “He captured the
things I feel.”
Though m usic has been # 1 in Lisa ’ s
life, she has a num ber o f other interests.
Back in Ohio she developed a passion
for philosophy and became an avid
reader; citing W hitman and Thoreau as
among her favorites. Beautiful, engag
ing and genuine, Lisa Taylor is a very
special performer. W ith such a m emo
rable debut effort under her belt, it’s
clear she’s destined for a long and fruit
ful solo career.
KMHD Adds Programming
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Congratulations!
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KMHD 89.1 FM , the jazz-form at
radio station operating from the Mt.
Hood Community college campus, will
be adding three hours o f new program
ming on Sunday afternoons.
KM HD’s general manager, John
Rice, has announced that the jazz sta
tion is now featuring one of the pre
mier announcers in the history of
broadcasting jazz - Pat Henry -
brought to the KMHD air waves via
digital audio tape.
“Henry is the man responsible for
much of what jazz radio is today,” said
Rice. “If you’re from the (San Fran
cisco) Bay Area and a jazz fan, then
you are already fam iliar with Pat
H enry.It was in 1959thatheputK JA Z
on the air,” said Rice in reference to
one of the very few successful com
mercial jazz stations in the U.S.
Station manager Tom Costello
explained that Pat Henry is providing
BET Presents Michael Jackson’s ‘Jam ’ June 19
"Jam," Michael Jackson’s latest
music video release from his "Danger
ous" album ,aired on BETFriday, June
19. "Jam " features appearances by
Chicago Bulls guard Michael Jordan,
Ruffhouse/Columbia recording group
Kris Kross and MCA recording artist
Heavy D.
BET will presented "Jam 2B E T,"
a one-hour special hosted by "Video
You’ve turned 6 years old
Lorenzo Richards!!
With Love From Your
Family
a three-hour show to KMHD. “It comes
to us on DAT -- digital audio tape -
which is state o f the art. Then on Sun
days, 2 p.m. until 5 p.m ., we plug it into
the machine and Northwest Oregon
and Southwest W ashington will hear
some great jazz, brought to them by
perhaps the most experienced jazz an
nouncer in history.” Costello went on
to say that Pat Henry tapes his show
individually for KMHD, but also pro
vides KPLU (Tacoma/Seattle), KSDS
(San Diego) and KCSM (San Mateo)
with sim ilar programming.
K M H D ’s development associate,
Kevin Tippett added the business per
sp ective to C o ste llo ’s com m ents:
“See’s Candies underwrites H enry’s
efforts. Thanks to their financial com
m itment to the jazz arts, Pat H enry’s
show is here to stay.”
For more information call KMHD
at 667-7233.
LP" host Sherry Carter which featured
videos from “NBA Superstars2", a 38-
minute production featuring action foot
age o f NBA superstars edited to music
from top MCA recording artists.
BET is the nation’s first and only
cable television network providing a
platform for quality programming tar
geted toward an African-American au
dience.
KMHD
FM89.1
...All Jazz, All the Time.
The Full Spectrum of Jazz...
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$10"
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32ND & E BURNSIDE
231-8926
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248-0163
...7 Days a Week, 365 Days a Year.
Mainstream, BeBop, blues, Fusion, New Age.
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