t* ' X - » • * ‘ * -^ i - ' ! v . i ' r r *_- 7« *•«- , v 4 T “ v.*S *» » »-‘Í ' * 5 '-’ *y '* ■ ^.AP«.»» H •»-•• h d R ». w - •• l mfeniNM P age A 7 T he P ortland O bserver • S eptember 18, 1996 (Elje |Inrtlnnb ©bseruer ENTERTAINMENT Once upon a time...when we were colored Travelling Photo Show PYP’s 73rd concert series M ary Ihurst C ollege is hosting a traveling photo-journal exhibit. Faces o f Liberty. The free exhibit runs from Sept. 9-26 and will be in the S treff G al­ lery o f Shoen Library on the col­ and 25 from 3-8 pm. T he stories include those of a G resham firefighter viciously ha­ rassed on the jo b for attending a gay-rights political rally and a V ernonia youth barred from play­ ing ju n io r high football for refus­ ing to com prom ise his privacy in a Huw E dw ards, C o n d u cto r and Music D irector, has announced the concert program for the Portland Youth Philharm onic’s com ing 73rd Season. Three o f the four Season C oncerts feature soloists. The sea­ son will begin with T he Fall Concert honoring the 50th anniversary o f Portland State U niversity. This con­ cert will include a M ozart piano con­ certo perform ed by the w inner o f the PYP Piano C om petition. The C on­ cert at Christmas, entitled "T h e Foun­ tain o f Y outh," will present w orks by and about young people. T he W inter Concert will feature soprano Jane Barthélém y, and the W est C oast pre­ mier o f A W inter Solstice by U niver­ sity o f H aw aii c o m p o s e r D o n W om ack. The season ends with the m andatory drug test. Faces o f Liberty puts human faces on what can often be com ­ plex legal issues related to civi liberties cases that m ake the news. For m ore inform ation call the li­ Spring Concert Tickets are available by calling FA STIX X (244-5073 o r I -800-992- TIX X outs ide Port land ), at many F red M eyer stores, or at the Portland C en­ ter for the Perform ing Arts box office brary at 699-6261 at 1219 SW Broadway. lege cam pus Library hours are from 9 ¿un to 5 pm through Sept. 19, when summer term ends. Monday through Friday, 9 am to 6 pm Saturday and 1 -5 pm Sunday. A special voter registration will be held in the gallery on Sept . 24 Stand with To Kill A Mockingbird Published in I960, Harper L ee's first and only novel. To Kill A M ock­ ingbird was an instant best seller and remains a beloved and widely read classic to this day. Now, the nationally acclaim ed N orthwest C hildren's T he­ ater brings this stirring and powerful story to the stage October 4 through 20 at the Northwest Service Center. Today, the novel is regarded as a What d o e s Jesse read? BY JOEV M t'RPIIV Frederick D ouglass read any­ thing h ecouldfind. M arcusG arvey read Booker T W ashington. C or­ nel W est read W EB D uBois. But what A frican-A m erican authors do the A frican-A m erican leaders o f today read? W ithout firsthand know ledge, it’s im possible to be sure. But it’s not im possible to speculate on a couple o f books sure to be on the bedside tables o f Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan. Ralph E llison’s Invisible M an is probably on Jackson’s reading list. The invisible man in E llison’s Invisible M an is not seen for the human he is but instead h e’s seen for the race he em bodies. T he novel chronicles his search for identity. Jackson bears a striking resem ­ blance to the narrator in E llison’s novel, m ost apparently in the ep i­ sode where the in visible man w atch­ es the shooting death his colleague, a more skilled, charism atic A fri­ can-Am erican orator. A fterthe kill­ ing, the invisible man rallies the people and elevates his prom inence by speaking about the death. Jackson fell under sim ilar t . cum stances 20 years after the be was written. He w itnessed the as­ sassination o f M artin Luther King Jr., a colleague and fellow orator. Jackson then went on national tele­ vision wearing his shirt stained with K ing’s blood and with the intent to succeed King. Jackson can relate to E llison’s creation, and sees in E llison’s book many o f the ideals Jackson strives for. Ellison wrote Invisible Man to explore the human u n iv e rs a l in the A frican-A m erican experience and the barriers preventing brotherhood am ong the races. Likewise, Jackson em phasizes the com m on ground all races and Madame Butterfly opens season For the third season in a row, Puccini, the m aster o f Italian opera, gets the opening call. So popular is M adam e Butterfly that a special fifth perform ance has been added. Portland O pera opens its 32nd season with o n e o f the m ost popular operas o f all time. M adam e B utter­ fly, P u ccini’s tragic tale o f unrequit­ ed love, tells the bittersw eet story o f the fragile but courageous young w om an, C io-C io-San, and her love for the cavalier--and unthinking— Am erican sailor, Pinkerton. Featuring the A m erican debut o f fast-rising British soprano Susan Bullock .as C io-C io-San, M adam e Butterfly spins its audience through a series o f em otional events that cul­ m inate in her ultim ate sacrifice as she chooses death over a I i fe o f sham e. cultures share in his speech at the 1988 D em ocratic National C onven­ tion. “ W hat D oes Jesse W ant?” Tim e m agazine’s cover asked in the 1988 presidential race, where Jackson w as a candidate. Jackson, like the invisible man, is caught in a sim ilar conundrum - the traditional m edia focuses on his race to the exclusion o f his m essage. F arrakhan’s bedside table d if­ fers a little. Instead o f Ellison, he probably has a copy o f M alcolm X ’s speeches before M alcolm broke with the Nation o f Islam. But he probably also reads The N ew Ne­ gro, a collection o f poetry and es­ says o f the Harlem Renaissance edited by A lain Locke. The N ew N egro em bodies much o f the independence Farrakhan ad­ vocates. “ W hoever wishes to see the N e­ gro in his essential traits, in the full perspective o f his achievem ent and possibilities, must seek the enlight­ enm ent o fthat self portraiture which the present developm ents o f N egro culture are offering,” Locke writes in the foreword. Farrakhan speaks o f a sim ilar nove from the “O ld N egro” to the N ew N egro” in his M illion Man M arch speech. “All w e’ve got to do is go back hom e and turn our com m unities into productive places,” Farrakhan sa id , “ but ev e ry tim e w e car- jack ...w e feed the degenerate mind o f w hite suprem acy.” T hese classic books hold m ean­ ing not ju st for leaders o f any race, but for any w ho read them. Their m essages hold pow er for all. Jo e y M urphy is a sophom ore m ajoring in jo u rn a lism a n d A fri­ can-A m eric an studies at Northwest- ern U niversity in Evanston, Illi­ nois. H e likes the O bserver a lot. But h e 's still g o in g back to school. masterpiece o f American literature winning the 1961 Pulitzer Prize and, o f course, most people are familiar with the Academy Award winning film version startingGregory Peck. N WCT is no stranger to awards themselves, being the national recipient o f the American Alliance o f Theater and Education’s O utstanding New Chil­ dren’s Theater Award in New York City last month. Diane Englert returns to N W C T ’s Mainstage after directing last season's Little Women. Englert is well known to Portland audiences for her work with Portland R epertory. T heatre where she directed last season’s criti­ cally acclaimed productions o f Angel Street and The Sisters Rosensweig. Tobias Anderson stars as Atticus Finch with Don Bum s as the malevo- lent Bob Ewell and Judy Sloane as the cantankerous Mrs. Dubose. Desi Stone is the Finch’s housekeeper, Calpurnia and Tracy Conklin is the local sheriff. Young Sara Naon takes on the chal­ lenging role o f Scout, with Matt I uck- er as her brother Jem and Brian Kettler as their neighbor Dill (acharacter based The past and future of science and technology In Nano; The Emerging Science o f Nanotechnology (Little. Brown), noted science writer Ed Regis takes us inside an imminent scientific revolu­ tion, nanotechnology. Profiling the visionary scientists and engineers who may soon make molecule-sized machines a reality, Regis explores nano’s implications, from medicine and manufacturing to computing and warfare In The Pinball Effect (Little, Brown), James Burke takes readers on a fascinating tour through history's most dramatic innovations-and shows "how sometimes the simplest act will have cosmic repercussions a hundred years later.” For example, he shows how the solution to early colonists' malaria ultimately led to the development of better car tires, and how clingwrap had its origins in fake-lacquer furniture. This is a journey through knowledge with all the twists and turns of a detective story. on L ee's childhood friend Truman Capote). M egg Luckcuck, a stand-out in last spring's The Hobbit, plays the u n fo rtu n ate M ayelle E w ell. Ken Dembo, Lorrain Bahr, Nancy Wilson, and Frank W oodm an are also featured with Stepen Rondel as the mysterious Boo Radley. The production’s professional de­ sign team includes set designer Jim W eism an, lig h tin g d esig n er Je ff Forbes, costumer Virginia Belt and sound designer Mar LaPierre. Motown Dresses For Success In Vibe Coined the “ Pow er” issue, VIBE M agazine’s Septem ber issue fashion spread features som e new faces from a fam iliar name. T itled "D ressed For Success,” the eight-page spread sets out to show case “new stars, new style, and a new spirit the M otow n.” The M otown m odels include: Johnny G ill -- his long-aw aited solo project, “ L et’s G et The M ood Right,” hits the streets O ctober 8th! The title cut is currently burning up the airwaves! Q ueen Latifah - stars in the up­ com ing N ew Line C inem a feature film, “ Set It O ff," this fall. Look for a new album from Latifah early in available at P O W E L L ’S C IT Y O F BO O KS 1005 W Burnside, downtown Portland • 503-228-4651 Motown recording artist Taral Hicks and Motown President/ CEO Andre Harrell POWELL’S BOOKS AT CASCADE PLAZA 8775 SW Cascade Avenue, Beaverton • 503-643-3131 S i06.7