2009 Medal of Freedom recipients

Today President Obama awarded 16 Medals of Freedom. It is the highest honor that can be bestowed on a civilian. As such it is something that is not taken lightly.

I won’t address the slight controversy of Mary Robinson, the somewhat blatant political pandering in regard to Jack Kemp, Ted Kennedy,and Sandra Day O’Connor. At least I won’t comment on them here (see my political blog – VASS).

What I do find interesting is the awards going to Sidney Poitier, Desmond Tutu, Chita Rivera, Joe Medicine Crow - High Bird , and Rev. Joseph Lowery. I find their selections to be both interesting and about time.

Rev. Lowery was a critical component for the Civil Rights Movement. Like many at the time, he stood up when he was being shouted at to sit down. He worked hard to change the blatant and rampant racist attitudes in America just some 40 years ago. He may not be a famous as Dr. Martin Luther King or Malcolm X, but he represents the fact that far more people were involved and just as important in changing America for the better. Too bad schoolbooks, and the annual Black History Month tributes to Dr. King, don’t take the time to mention him or most anyone else.

Desmond Tutu is known for his efforts to free the majority of people in South Africa from Apartheid. He was a champion of Civil Rights in a nation far from our own, with even more extreme racist attitudes. It was that perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds that helped bring American support to his efforts, along with the rest of the world. It is that kind of attention that America refuses to give other parts of the world, including Darfur, which is a shame for us and not Archbishop Tutu who continues in efforts to bring peace and freedom to people all over the world.

Joe Medicine Crow - High Bird is the last living War Chief of the Crow Nation. He is also a recipient of the Bronze Star, and the Chevalier Légion d'honneur and is a noted author and historian. He has a Masters degree (a first among the Crow Tribe), and was the first among his tribe to go to college (as stated by President Obama). He is a symbol of how any American can succeed in the face of any adversity – even that of the Government and its caretaking of Native American Indians on reservations.

Chita Rivera, born Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero, is a favorite of mine. A Puerto Rican woman, she is an outstanding entertainer. She is the first Hispanic woman to receive a Kennedy Center Honors award in 2002. She got her start through chance, and made her career due to talent, perseverance, and a willingness to take on the Hollywood mentality head on. She has been in 17 plays, and over 10 movies and television shows in a career that has spanned some 50 years.

Sidney Poitier is perhaps the best known of all the recipients of the Medal of Freedom today. He is the first African American male to win an Academy Award for Best Actor – something not repeated for 4 decades. He was a symbol of change during a time when America was color-blind. He broke through barriers that every entertainer of color today no longer even know existed. He was the leading box office star in 1967, which is significant as it was also a time where in many place segregation was commonplace and African Americans were considered incapable of success.

He is a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire – not honorary but actual. He is the Bahamian Ambassador to Japan, since ’97. He directed the one-time highest grossing film by a Black director, Stir Crazy.

All in all he has been the symbol of success and dignity and intellect for over 40 years. He has been criticized, but there is no doubt that he contributed directly and massively in changing attitudes in America and across the globe.

Do each of these people rise to the order of

“especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors”

?

I believe so. Each helped change America, and in many cases the world. Each has helped make the worlds a better place. And every one of the abovementioned people did so for decades.

I don’t question why they have received the Medal of Freedom, I question why it took so long for it to be given to them.

American Idol is for pikers, Harlem is for talent

With all the people that go out to American Idol each year I have to wonder why those that are serious actually show up there. Because when you think about it, it is one of the least successful avenues an entertainer can take to get recognized.

I came to this understanding the second I saw something most probably skipped over today. The announcement of the 75th year of the Apollo Theater’s Amateur Night. For longer than any of the judges on American Idol have been alive this one venue has been grooming and introducing talent to the nation. And many of those that have gotten their start at the Apollo have become bigger stars than all of the American Idol contestants (and judges) combined.

The Apollo was the start for:

Women –

India.Arie
Pearl Bailey
Josephine Baker
Mary J. Blige
Brandy
Blu Cantrell
Diahann Carroll
Faith Evans
Eve
Ella Fitzgerald
Celia Cruz
Roberta Flack
Aretha Franklin
Billie Holiday
Lauryn Hill
Lena Horne
Etta James
Alicia Keys
Eartha Kitt
Stephanie Mills
Chante Moore
Nina Simone
Jessica Simpson
Angie Stone
Leslie Uggams
Sarah Vaughan
Dionne Warwick
Dinah Washington
Ethel Waters

Men –

Harry Belafonte
Tony Bennett
Chuck Berry
Ruben Blades
James Brown
David Byrne
Ray Charles
Chubby Checker
Nat “King” Cole
Sean ”P. Diddy” Combs
Sam Cooke
D’Angelo
Chico DeBarge
Bo Diddley
Fats Domino
DMX
Marvin Gaye
Ginuwine
Al Green
Isaac Hayes
John Lee Hooker
Ja Rule
Michael Jackson
Jay-Z
Jadakiss
Jaheim
B.B. King
Ludacris
Johnny Mathis
Maxwell
Brian McKnight
Prince
Lou Rawls
Otis Redding
Busta Rhymes
Sisqo
Keith Sweat
Muddy Waters
Barry White
Jackie Wilson
Stevie Wonder

Groups –

Bob Marley & the Wailers
Buddy Holly and the Crickets
Dru Hill
El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico
Fugees
George Clinton &
Parliament/Funkadelic
Gladys Knight & the Pips
Isley Brothers
Jackson Five
Jagged Edge
Korn
Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam
Martha Reeves & the Vandellas
O’Jays
Patti Labelle & the Bluebelles

Musicians –

Louis Armstrong
Charlie Barnet
Count Basie
Cab Calloway
John Coltrane
Miles Davis
Duke Ellington
Dizzy Gillespie
Benny Goodman
Thelonius Monk
Charlie Parker
Louis Prima
Tito Puente
Buddy Rich
Max Roach

And others –

Sammy Davis Jr.
Bill Cosby
Redd Foxx
Whoopi Goldberg
Dick Gregory
Steve Harvey
Jackie “Moms” Mabley
Richard Pryor
Chris Rock
Sinbad
Flip Wilson
Ossie Davis
Ruby Dee
Kid Capri
Doug E. Fresh
Sidney Poitier
Paul Robeson

And I have cut the list down massively. Yet if you are between the ages of 25 to 80 you know names on this list. In fact you probably know a couple of dozen of them.

Now with all that talent focused from one source you might think that the Apollo Theater would be the biggest thing out there. The proving ground for up and coming entertainers. That American Idol would make homage for a legend, and that someone would be highlighting the importance of the place. But you know that won’t happen.

American Idol is a great gimmick. The purpose is not to find great lasting talent, but to make a quick profit off of manipulated fame. William Hung never deserved fame, yet Idol gave it to him, and we were the worse for it. Thousands of performers that might have a shot at some kind of career in entertainment have their spirits crushed on national TV and never go forward. It’s a shame.

Now I don’t know the numbers, but considering American Idol has 2 winners a season out of tens of thousands, compared to several categories of entertainers numbering in the hundreds competing at Apollo (dance, groups, individual singers, comedians, ect) each week; I don’t need rocket science to tell me where the better odds are. And looking at the ultimate success of the Idol winners versus the Apollo again Harlem wins.

So if you want to see the future superstar entertainers of America, I suggest you turn off the television and take a trip to Harlem. Because that’s where the real talent will be.

America likes quality not color in movies

I just want to back track for a moment. At the end of 2008 there was a top of 2008 list that I think most have never heard of nor are they aware of who made the list. While this list is mostly for acting entertainers, movie studios and movie theaters it bears worth mentioning.

The Quigley Poll has been around for 76 years. It surveys movie theater owners and asks them whom they feel was responsible for the most revenue generation in the year. This is important to Hollywood as it confirms or changes how much an actor/actress is worth, and who they want to star in additional films. And it also influences what films will be made, indirectly. If an actor/actress who is know for dramas brings in enough to top the list for drama films, Hollywood with their tunnel-vision will make more of those types of films especially with that entertainer.

In 2008 Will Smith topped the list. Now that is very significant. He is only the second Black actor to top the list in 76 years. The last time an African American topped the list was 40 years ago, and he was Sidney Poitier. Just imagine that.

That means that all the success of Denzel Washington was not enough. Samuel Jackson didn't count. Even Jamie Foxx was not seen as successful enough. Not to mention Don Cheadle and many others over the decades.

This also means that Will Smith (the first and only actor to have 8 films consecutively gross over $100 million) has attained a level of acceptance in America not seen in 2 generations. In the late 60's America was forced to open it's eyes to all the people in the nation. Leading that charge on screen was Poitier. He opened doors that had been closed for the better part of a century. Then America looked away again.

This is important because Hollywood uses the excuse

"White people won't go to see a film or television show starring Black people. They can't connect with them."

That feeble attempt at justification enables television to mirror the 1950's mentality, and denies opportunity in front of and behind the cameras to thousands of qualified and non-White Americans every year.

But Will Smith has given just cause for that excuse to die. He again proved that America wants to be given quality, not just repetition, in their entertainment. It is the American spirit of competition that says the best demand equal time regardless of race or any other superficial factor.

I love quality Black cinema. I hate Soul Plane and other such trash. And I enjoy equally as much quality work of any capable actor/actress in multiple genres. But I cannot say that I will begrudge Hollywood if they finally join the rest of most of America in the 21st century. Will Smith is just one example, as is Spike Lee, Bill Duke, Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, Forest Whitaker and on and on.

Americans go to see the top actors/actresses in the top films. It's time that Hollywood look around and see who really is in the A-list, regardless of color.

Movie Preview: Don Cheadle starring in Traitor

The rise and fall of the stars in the entertainment industry is always fickle. Often this or that actor goes unrecognized for decades sometimes, though their work is of the highest quality. And all too often other factors restrict an actor as well.

Harry Belafonte made huge strides until his politics interfered, Rob Lowe was untouchable for a decade, alcohol and/or drugs has stopped careers of Mickey Rourke, Forest Whitaker, David Hasselhoff and many others for years if not forever; and for some drugs and/or alcohol ended their lives – Anna Nicole Smith, Marilyn Monroe, John Belushi, Heath Ledger, and on and on.

But perhaps the worst reason an actor may be overlooked is because Hollywood decides that the actor just isn’t “leading” material. In some cases that is true, but I think that for one performer it is way off. Don Cheadle.

Don Cheadle is a great actor. His performances have won huge acclaim, and even the smaller more artistic films he has been in have done modestly well. Hotel Rwanda was a performance that would have rocketed any other performer to the top of the A-list in both pay and movie roles. But perhaps the vocal and humanitarian efforts of Don Cheadle, to help end the 5 years and continuing genocide in Darfur, Sudan [efforts that I strongly support] scared too many execs. Or perhaps the fact he is Black has kept leading roles from him, as they once were for Denzel Washington and Sidney Poitier.

But he may get his chance to start getting the leads I think he deserves after his latest film Traitor comes out this month. This is the first film where Cheadle will have the leading role to himself in a big budget film. Up til now Hollywood execs have been fearful and only allowed him to co-star with other actors, which I feel he often out shone. His only other leading roles were in far smaller, limited release films – Talk To Me and Hotel Rwanda (which he was nominated for an Academy Award Best Actor).

This film is a topical one, dealing with the all too real difficulties of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, American influences in the Middle East, fanatical Islam and world politics. Prior films by Hollywood trying to depict these issues in the last 3 years have all failed both due to slipshod acting, and heavy handed scripts that were more self-aggrandizing political commercials than entertainment. But Cheadle has been very good at picking his films, and performing well in them.

The trailer gives us a hint that we may find a more Jason Bourne style look at these issues. Not just action for its own sake but a plot driven drama that uses the violence and confusion of war as a vehicle for the character to become greater than his surroundings. And the biggest question is if Cheadle’s character really is on our side or not. I expect that the film may well end without ever clearly defining an answer, just as the actual reality is equally undefined or clear in its outcome.

If my expectations are correct this will be a defining film for Cheadle. Like what Jason Bourne did for Matt Damon, and In the Heat of Night did for Sidney Poitier, this movie may well establish his rising star as not only the A-list actor he is, but a leading man with the ability to entertain all of us.

The movie trailer makes a bold statement that this will be a movie to capture you for at least its time on the silver screen. Don Cheadle makes that trailer promise far more tangible. I’ll see it and let you know more.

Sean Combs: A Raisin in the Sun - 1.30.2008.1

Sean Combs is many things. Grandstanding, self-aggrandizing, successful, lavish, intelligent, somewhat talented, and thoughtful. As you can tell by my description of the personas Sean “Puffy” "P.Diddy” Combs evokes mixed emotions in me.

I respect his drive and proven ability as a business man. I dislike the rap music and most of the clothing lines he has promoted and created a minor empire off of. He both exceeds and dwells firmly within the stereotypes of a Black man in hip hop. Perhaps neither is the real persona that his close friends and family know, but I can only go by what he presents to the world.

In a way I also admire the determination and self-confidence that Mr. Combs has. He has jumped into several different fields of the entertainment industry. Most have met with general success and moderate to high acclaim. Even the stuff you may not like is balanced by the work and effort he has place in other endeavors. Because of that alone you have to respect what he has done.

But all things are not equal. Sean Combs may be a decent hip hop artist, and a better producer, but he is hardly what might be called an accomplished actor. I in fact would barely call him an actor at all. His lack of training, minimal experience, and pairing with far better entertainers have never worked to his advantage. Suffice to say, were it not for his success in other entertainment and business genres he would never be in a major motion picture like Monster’s Ball.

It is that other than acting success that has given him the title actor. But I will give him the fact that he has tried to grow in his ability. His work in the theatre is part of that growth. The mixed reviews he received for his portrayal of the Sidney Poitier renowned role of Walter Lee in A Raisin in the Sun show that he is far from ready for such a prominent role.

“Then there's Combs, a music star who has appeared in a couple of movies but has no real stage experience. It shows. He has a tendency to act by protruding his lips, but seldom does much with the rest of his face, body, or voice. More importantly, he doesn't have a firm grasp on Walter's dreams; a major part of the plot concerns Walter's desire to buy a liquor store, but his emotional state doesn't seem to change whether he just desires it, sees the opportunity slip away, or experiences the final result of his attempts. The rest of Walter's major moments receive similarly ineffective treatment.”

Yet he brings in an audience that is new to the theatre. Many of today’s youth are unfamiliar with the stage, or the many rich stories that are found there. The stage is not something you can listen to on an Ipod, or be immersed in on a laptop, and thus has impacted few as compared to the past. This is most notably true among African Americans and minorities.

It’s a true shame. The youth of today have no idea what it’s like to have seen Dreamgirls live on stage. They love the movie, but no matter the emotional power of watching Eddie Murphy and Jennifer Hudson on the big screen, seeing it live is superior. At least that is the comparison I can make having seen the live play in my younger days, and the movie.

Couple that with the relative lack of knowledge by many in the hip hop generation of great actors and stories and I must admit a cringe escapes me. Sidney Poitier is a phenomenal actor, who rose up in a time (roughly a short 40 years ago) when America ‘suddenly’ realized that African Americans can do more than stand agape in the background. [I do NOT mean that to diminish the many Black actors that preceded the 1960’s. They made possible every actor after them, like Denzel Washington, Jennifer Hudson and everyone else. But I am commenting on the standard roles that America limited most of their performances to, wasting the talent that was available to the nation merely because of prejudice and racism.]

The rich stories that can be found outside of jump-scene, frenetic, CGI dominated, action oriented films of today are virtually beyond count. The best of which have often become not just one movie but several. And the actors in which often become the strongest and most famous actors we all recognize on site, or by a mere utterance of a line.

While this may all seem like a digression, it is not. My point of all this is that A Raisin in the Sun is now coming to a broadcast television near you. On February 25th, ABC will be broadcasting the televised version of the play. It will star Sean Combs in the title role, and will also have Audra McDonald, Phylicia Rashad, Sanaa Latahn and others reprising the roles they had when the play was revived recently.

This is a powerful story that delves deep into the lives and hopes of a Black family in Chicago. The fact that the timeline takes place in the past is irrelevant to its ultimate meaning. So I am happy that Sean Combs took on the role of executive producer to get it into a format that the youth of today can connect to. Sadly though the titular role is that of Walter Lee, which Combs portrays.

The good is that this will add diversity to a generation that has been fed films like Teeth, Soul Plane, and the Honeymooners (miserable remake of a television show). One can only hope it will inspire some to look for the original motion picture, and delve into the movies like In the Heat of the Night, that starred Sidney Poitier and other actors of that time. Perhaps it will be the first step of some on a career that will be grand and rewarding.

"Sometimes people come to a place and don't expect to get the message. This generation, they come for entertainment ... then they realize, 'oh man, this movie is really touching. It's making me really appreciate my family."' - Sean Combs

The bad is of course what I mentioned before. Sean Combs is not an actor, or at least of any serious quality. He does not deserve this role, on television or in a play. His fame may drive viewership and ticket sales, but he isn’t worthy. Maybe he will be one day, with far more training and a lot more work in less significant roles.

I hope that his involvement does not spew a trend, even more than has existed for some time, of rappers and hip hop artists that believe they have talent in every entertainment field because they are popular in one genre. It’s fatiguing to see the pitiful attempts of the majority that have already tried to cross over. Few are capable to any degree. And fewer are willing to take the time and effort that Will Smith, Queen Latifah, LL Cool J and one or 2 others have strived to do to achieve the recognition they deserve.

So is this a positive or negative? Should we be happy or upset with Sean Combs? Both. Like all his endeavors he provides a living visage of what yin and yang can be. Is ability may be lacking, but his spirit is strong. He may be unqualified for this role but it will draw attention and hopefully inspire. He will extend the life of this story, and the scope of a generation in what they consider art and worthwhile.

In the end we all will make our own decision on February 25th. I can only hope to be pleasantly surprised.