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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (June 15, 2011)
Arts & Entertainment Paul ‘Negrodamus’ Mooney Hits the Portland Stage By Rob Ingram Of The Skanner News N egrodamus, known to the entertain- ment, comedy and present world as comedian, actor, writer and ringmas- ter (whose ever heard of a Black ringmas- ter?) Paul Mooney is coming to Portland for 6 shows in four nights. And trust me, you are going to want to get to at least two of those shows. My advice is: make sure you are ready for a show full of fastballs and off- the-wall humor (with intellect) AND don’t sit too close to the front if you are sensitive. For any that don’t know who Paul Mooney is, you probably know a lot more about him than you think. After a stint as a ringmaster for the Gatti-Charles circus, he went to work as a writer for Richard Pryor, helping to build and create some of the most influential comedy to date. In fact, you might argue that Mooney is one of the first, and definite- ly one of the best to use humor to highlight politics. He even had a show stopped in mid-stride because of jokes about former President Bush’s mother looking like the Quaker oatmeal guy. With Live on Sunset Strip, Jojo Dancer Your Life Is Calling and the Richard Pryor Show to his credits, he helped to launch the careers of Robin Williams, Sandra Bernhard, Marsha Warfield, John Witherspoon, and Tim Reid. The work of Paul Mooney stretched and manipulated the comedy world with his raw edge, mixed with smarts, rationale and most of all- controversy. He worked on such shows as Sanford and Son, Good Times, In Living Color and the Chappelle Show, intro- ducing us to characters like Homey D. Paul Mooney Clown (Homey don’t play dat!), and of course the ever-popular Negrodamus- the Black Nostradamus. And don’t forget clas- sic movies like Bamboozled, Bustin’ Loose and Hollywood Shuffle. With a track record like that, it’s not hard to grasp the impact Paul Mooney has had on comedy, but it’s pretty simple to miss his impact on society. More often than not, we look to certain people to make us laugh, and that’s it. We don’t want to hear what they have to say about things that matter, nor do we think that they actually know or even care what is going on. But following the work and career of Paul Mooney, it is clear that he transcended humor and funny busi- ness a long time ago. Negrodamus, like Nostradamus, was (and is) more than what people saw, thought and accepted him to be. Sure he offered some prophesies, but his real work was much deeper than that. It was his sense of predictive and in depth thought that set him apart; the ability to have thoughts, approach them, challenge them, kick them around, take them apart and put them back together. And then to have the courage to stand behind them right or wrong and defend your thoughts. And that is what Mooney has done, except he’s added to abil- ity to have a gut-wrenching laugh at the end of all that deep thinking. As Mooney once See MOONEY on page 8 Portland Black Pride Events P ortland Black Pride (PBP) strives to show- case and celebrate the cultural and social contribu- tions of Black gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in Portland and across the country. Portland Black Pride will be sponsored by and pre- sented by PFLAG Portland Black Chapter, promoting the health and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans- gender, and queer persons, their families and friends through: support, education, and advocacy, to secure Page 6 The Portland and Seattle Skanner June 15, 2011 equal human rights. “There are Black Pride celebrations all over the country and one thing they all have in common. They are all united in celebrating the cultural and social con- tributions of Black gay, les- bian, bisexual and transgen- der people across the coun- try,” said Khalil Edwards, PFLAG Portland Black Chapter Coordinator. Black Pride has a series of events to take place during the dates of 6/15-6/19. The list of scheduled events includes: 6/16: Karaoke Party @ Local Lounge (9pm-2am), Youth Karaoke Party @ SMYRC (5pm-9pm) 6/17: Skate Party @ Skate World (630pm-10pm), Movie Night @ Pivot (9pm- 1am) 6/18: Pride Booth @ Waterfront (12pm-6pm), Chocolate City @ Crush (9pm-2am), Youth Party @ PSU (8pm-Midnight) 6/19: Pride Booth @ Waterfront (12pm-6pm), Families of Color Day Out @ Kenton Park (4pm-9pm), Hot Chocolate @ Darcelle’s (5pm-7pm)
