1
P
heryl L e
t upport-
"To leep it
An er"), ho tunned t
cro e. with n experience he
h d upon fir t rri in in Hol­
ly ood. "When I fir t c me
out here, I too meetin
i th m n h o jut
belo the h d of the tudio,
nd in the middle of the meet­
in, he 100 ed t me nd id:
'you're pretty, you're o b­
viou Iy t Ie nre d nd he
p u ed.
Then, h id '0 h t do I
do with pretty, t l e nt e d
Blac girl? Do I ie m you up
with Tom Crui e? Do you
i ? Who g o e to e e the
movie?' He didn't y much
more except he wi hed me
luck lin my career. Well, I'm
h ppy to say I do have
creer. (Th n you very
much).
It i 1991 and a a youn
Black actr e s fighting the
odd and doing the be t l c n,
Sony 5t nd to ain up' to
1 billion in revenue over.
t life of the contract.
Columbi Pictur ill
produce J c on' film. The
fir r, mu ic-p c ed, cti on-
dventure, is I ted for
production I te this ye r.
The 0 c r e r e n "t the
only me in town, top
t rAndy Q rci • Kevin
Co tner, Danny Gl vert M rio
V n Peeble , W rr nton nd
Regin Id Hud l i n , Jodie
Fo ter, nd Sh ryl L e R lph
turned out for the Sixth An­
nual Independent Spirit
Aw rd .
Ch rte Burnett' "ToSleep
With Anger" topped off ith
four ward including be t
actor nod to# Danny Glover,
ho e accept nee peech
h iled the pre ence of an "in­
dependent fil mmaker" at the
controver ial beating of Rod­
ney King by LA police of­
ficers.
ctre
tbe
m
some
dented 3 per record. (Ne rly
double wh t many f hi u­
per tar pal like Madonna
ern).
ove rd ue
Do you
b com
A Battle of Titans: The 'Slave Revolution in
the Americas, (1791-1.865)
Detroit Mus9Um of
African-American History
March 15 - May 19, 1991
by Carolyn Wameld
Arts CO"'Spond,nt
n 0
Up r
Hello gain to 11 of you
relentle mu l c pursuer
have I got a ubject for you
thi week!! Did I he r you'
ay th t you wanted to be a
recording rti t, ell record ,
do big concert , and become a
uper tar?
Well, Did you now that
you and counties thou and
of other very talented per­
formers like yourself visual­
ize thi arne dream? What's
so special about you that will
advance you to the front" of
the line?
The hard core reality of the
entertainment business is that
it' not what you know, but
WHO you know! Now this i
• subject that a lot of eople
teriCl to 'a old, al\ e d es
. t hat are wit h i n 't he ins ide
circles alway seem, to go into
a mode of patience trying
denial.
When 1 talk to my col­
leagues or when I'm reading
some literature pertaining to
the subject of the music busi­
ness, someone is alway skim­
ming over the point that
getting a record deal relies
heavily on making a "good­
connection" .
that' out of thi world, and
write hit ong while tanding
on your forehead .... but that
doe n'l me an POPPy-tOCK,
if you don't have the ncce s-
ary contact .
You would probably be
treated on a secondary level
in order to make way for the
01) , daughter , cou in , and
long-I sting friends & a -
sociates of the industries well
e tablished leader '. But I
know that through all of thi
-s mac k i ng around that I'm
doing to your hope and
dreams, you're probably still
holding teadfasl. So I'll
hare some more helpful tips
that may be of value to you.
Fir t of all, the record com­
pany that you ign up with .can
make or break you, so you
must be very careful who you
sign a contract wi tho �Your ob­
jective should be trying to get
with a major label.
There are six major record
companies, and they are:
CBS, WEA. RCA/ARISTA.
A&M, CAPITOL/EMI
MERICA, POLYGRAM and
MCA. All of the other labels.
are either subsidiaries of the
major companies, or inde­
pendent record companies.
Secondly, bear in mind thpt
if the companies ate looking
out into what I call the secon-
By
WIIII.m
Lee .-
Idary field, (where thousands
of talented individuals are,
hoping and w ait i ng for that
magical expo r ie nce called:
"The Big Br e a k ") there are
s o m e qualities that major
labels look for.
. Works on paper (prints,
drawings and watercolors)
chronicle Caribbean revo ts
again t French colonization
during the 17th &: 18th cen­
turies. "Black in The French
Revolution: is the larger com­
ponent of thi exhibition.
Titan Historical. sig­
nificance, in seven segments,
portr ys the heroi m and
courage of Blacks in Haiti,
Guyana, Jamaica and Santa
Domingo.
Haiti became the first inde­
p � n d c; nt � ,1 a c k r e p y � 1 . �t i n
1804, ye 1 beg a n lYe e d 0 m 's
struggle in t 791. Known as
St. Domingue during the 17th
century. Port-au-Prince, its
capi tol, da res to 1751. Tous­
saint Louverture, Jean-Jac­
ques De s sa lf ne s , Henri
Chri tophe and Alexandre Pe­
tion played ma terful hands in
aboli hing stavery.
An important disclosure
concerning thi exhibition is
"European images of Blacks."
The exhibition curator, Dr.
Fritz Daquillard, "started col­
lecting as .a student, roughly
2S years ago and enlarged the
concept of the exhibit to
masterpieces 12 years ago,"
he said during the opening
reception.
Titans is historically im­
portant but artless. Daguil­
lards effort at collecting
mas te rp i e c e s is 'from
European print' houses.
Titans representations were
executed by neocta sic and
MAJOR LABELS are in­
terested primarily in those ar­
tists and groups that have
established them elve on a
local and/or regional level. If
they are to invest time.
money, and energy in a group
or individual, they must h ve
something commercially vi­
able to offcr! (i.e. original
performers, hit-song .per­
form regularly and have
management, a strong local
following, or good review
and local airplay and sales)
Some list huh?
Well you said you wanted
to be a. superstar!!
Meanwhile as you continue to
work toward these goals, keep
on networking and who
knows? You many discover
that you have an uncle in the
music busine s. Keep smil­
ing, and I'll ee you next
week in - "Music matters".
romantic arrts ts during the
French Revolution, a t'me
when France had ended ari -
tocratic rule and was setting
forth a democratic govern-
tern mi Ii ta rism.
Napo le an ' emergenc a
state-head and hi re-estab­
lishment of slavery
throughout the West Indies,
influenced romanticism in
art. Arti t expressed "im­
aginative and emottonal" plc­
torial represontation.
My per onal.aver ion to
Titan Art, especial 1 y
decamp� haunting rendering
"A Slave .Longing for
Freedom" is mockery to the
remorseless atti tude colonials
had toward lavery and its
real brutality.
YOU' CAN B� mull­
talented, playa million in­
trument , have a vocal range
ment.
NEOCLASSIC artis ts
helped the ma ses as jmila te
goal of the new "authority."
In a cribing national policy.
France mimicked Rome'
patriotic ideals that pubfic
duty and self-sacrifice were
mandates of state hoop. Artis­
tic representations reflected a
d Rober on is
photographer for bony,'
Jet & The Chronicle
Radioscope. _ . The Column
, ,
Of Harlem
Re.living the Glory Day
But Ed
reads the
From Bailey Broadcasting Se",ic,s
Via Serra Syndication
the' tage and when Ella
Fitzgerald al most got booed
off it. In another often told
Apollo tale, "the Godfather of
Soul" Jame Brown supposed­
ly showed up at the theater
wearing some borrowed
clothe and shoe • cli ngi ng to
his last hope of being a star
before jumping on the rage
and winning over the viciou
crowd with his funky brand of'
oul. (Ralph .a y it is not
true ).
At any rate, all those enter­
tainer blazed a path for
today' talent. In more recent
history Milir. , David Pea -
ton, and Luther Vandro s all
made their debuts at the Apol­
lo. And a hard as it may be to
believe, the Apollo crowd
wa n't that initially im­
pre ed with Luther' sing­
ing.
tougher then, .Acts weren't
always paid top dollar. On top
of that other Black weren't
allowed into see the m.
The clubs, often run by
mob ter ,catered triclly to
white. Ralph Cooper. the.
creator and host or the famous
Ama iuc r Night at Harlem'
Apollo theater says this weird
kind of rac is m indirectly kept
resident rolling in the dough
but eventually turned Harlem
into a ghetto.
The Apollo was one of the
fir t Harlem pots to cater to
a Black crowd. It's Amatuer
Night was started in 1934, and
ha given birth to ome of
entertainment' biggest
name. It wa the place any
Black inger, dancer, comic,
. or mu ician worth their alt
had to play!
E 11 a' Fit 7 g era IdS a r a h
Vaughn. nd Billie Holiday
are ju t a few who, on their
first amatuer night visit,
wowed the notoriou Iy tough
Apollo crowd who'll booed a
b d ct right off the tage.
Cooper. who after 57 years
till head. up the amatuer
night, rccalls when Sarah
Vaughn bogared her way on
\
In light of the recent Black
History month, we wanted to
take you o� a trek down
Harlem's memory lane.
The Savoy, The Chicken
Shack The Cotton Club .and
countIes other nightclubs
were all home to drove' of
Black stars including the
legendary Cab Calloway and
o the r entertainment legend
who ruled Harlem' nightcl ub
scene during the 30' and
40's. They changed the face
of entertai nment and by doing
o they laid the path walked,
danced, and ung by today's
Black tars.
. In a typical week the Duke
I. Ellington and Count Ba ie Or-
c he tras would be playing
• while vocali t like Ella
I Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, and
I Billie HaUday were tunning
I audience. with their �phi ti­
cated a y inging.
Cab Calloway ay back
• then Harlem wa Black
entert inment' he rt. And
while, it's tough for enter­
tainer now, it was tougher
then. And wh'le, it' tough for
'entertainers ng , it wa
Michigan
Citizen
Why aren't you?
• ••• •• •
Mall Thl Form Today To Receive Your Next I
O Y • I want to .ubecrlbe to th Mlchlg.n Cltlz n.
PI..... nd m th w .k1y ditlon to the Mlchlg.n Cltlz.n
for on. full y .r.t th Sp cl.llntroductory �.te.
One Ye.r at 21 00 D Senior Cltlz n or Fixed Incom. 18.00
... Sav .00 Off the N wat.nd Prlc • ... S.v 10.00 Off th N wat.nd Prlc •. '
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Got a que lion or a com­
ment on any RadioScope
tory, ju:.'t call the FeedbacE
Line at (213) 257-2354 .
CIty :.-...;.....----- Stat._ Zip Pnone ---
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