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32 Venues to Host Nearly 80 Jazz Performances throughout D.C. June 5-15

The D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission (DCSEC) and the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival (DEJF) announced a partnership to host Jazz in the 'Hoods presented by the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, a series of nearly 80 jazz performances and showcases spread out over 10 days and 32 venues within the District. Jazz in the 'Hoods is a major program of the DEJF. This year's fifth annual DEJF celebrates New Orleans and runs June 5-15 with performances by the Marsalis family, Harry Connick, Jr., and Terence Blanchard among others.

“We are excited to partner with the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival to bring music and entertainment to our city in a widely accessible way with Jazz in the 'Hoods," said Erik Moses, CEO of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission.
Thursday, 04 June 2009 10:04
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Washington Informer “Radio Golf” is the final play in playwright August Wilson’s 10-play cycle to be shown at the Studio Theatre in Northwest. Courtesy Photo
The complex issues of gentrification and the responsibilities of Black politicians are superbly tackled in August Wilson’s “Radio Golf,” now playing through June 28 at the Studio Theatre in Northwest.
 
Featuring Walter Coppage as Harmond Wilks, a powerful politician who aims to be Pittsburgh’s first African American mayor, the production features a brilliant cast that nails the question of: how can African Americans move forward without abandoning their history?

Thursday, 04 June 2009 15:40
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Washington Informer Rome Neal portrays pianist Thelonious Monk in “MONK The Play,” at the Blair Mansion Restaurant through June 28. Courtesy Photo
There are some events that leave you breathless. There are musical, theatrical, and dance performances that offer total engagement of the heart, mind, and body.

Such a happening is what is in store for those lucky enough to catch a performance of “Monk The Play” every Sundays through June 28 at the Blair Mansion Restaurant in Takoma Park, Md.
Friday, 12 June 2009 02:38
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Washington Informer Odell B. Ruffin will portray slain hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur in the play “A Tupac Tale,” playing at Howard University’s Blackburn Auditorium on June 16, 17 and 19. Photo by Maurice G. Fitzgerald
The late Hip-Hop artist, actor and poet Tupac Shakur once said, “I’m gonna change the world; If I don’t, I will spark the mind that does.” The story of Shakur will be told from the eyes of local playwright and actor Odell B. Ruffin in “A Tupac Tale,” premiering at Howard University on June 16, 17 and 19.

The play, which Ruffin has worked on for the past year writing, directing, and producing, is a piece that he said is, “an interpretation of Tupac’s life while he was in prison as well as an examination of his relationships with women.”

The play looks to unearth parts of the infamous Shakur that are little known to his critics and even some fans.
Friday, 12 June 2009 02:30
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Washington Informer “This Child Will Be Great” by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf c.2009, Harper $26.99 / $34.99 Canada 353 pages, includes index Courtesy Photo
Being a political animal can be very rough.

Just the getting there is daunting, with the months-long campaigning and the lack of rest that comes with it. Once you’re in office, you’re responsible for things both light and heavy. Everybody knows your business, and they all have opinions about it.

But at least your political position won’t get you nearly killed.

In the new book “This Child Will Be Great,” by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, you’ll read about the life and life’s work of one woman whose country was constantly on her mind, even in the worst kinds of danger.
Friday, 12 June 2009 02:56
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Washington Informer Ellis Marsalis, on right on piano, is joined by Dr. Billy Taylor (far left) play and the Marsalis brothers Wynton, Branford, Delfeayo and Jason at the John F. Kennedy Center in Northwest on Mon., June 15. Photo by Roy Lewis
The patriarch of New Orleans’ most well known jazz family was honored during a sold-out concert at the John F. Kennedy Center this week that culminated the Fifth Annual Duke Ellington Jazz Festival.

Educator, composer, and musician, Ellis Marsalis, father of musicians Wynton, Branford, Delfeayo and Jason Marsalis, was honored during a 2 ½ hour concert that included family anecdotes by his sons and tributes by jazz master Dr. Billy Taylor and pianist Harry Connick, Jr.

Friday, 19 June 2009 04:57
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Washington Informer The American Poetry Museum’s newest exhibit, “The Washington Caravan,” will feature photographs of writers and poets in the museum’s Anacostia Gallery and opens on Sat., June 20. Photo by Robert Ridley
Combining poetry with photography adds an intriguing dimension to creative expression in the photography exhibition “The Washington Caravan,” which opens Sat., June 20 from 1 p.m. until 4 p.m. at the American Poetry Museum’s Anacostia Gallery located at 1922 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in Southeast.

More than 40 photographs of 20 poets and writers, who live and work in the D.C. Metropolitan area, will be exhibited. In addition to their portrait, each poet and writer is photographed with an object that has meaning or inspires them is some way. The photographs are the work of local photographer Mignonette Dooley who, along with poet Abdul Ali, co-curated the exhibit.

Friday, 19 June 2009 04:39
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Washington Informer Photographer Thomas Allen Harris is presenting his photographic documentary “Through a Lens Darkly” at the American Film Institute (AFI)/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival in Silver Spring, Md. Courtesy photo by Ann Bennett
African American filmmaker and photographer Thomas Allen Harris wanted to create a space for African Americans to tell their own stories “because the African American representation has been so distorted in film and on television,” he said.

Harris, 46, recently created the Digital Diaspora Family Reunion, a new media platform which taps into a vast network of Black photographic archives across the nation, bringing a fresh look at African American history and community.

Friday, 19 June 2009 04:34
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Washington Informer Marion Barry speaks to the crowd at the post-screening discussion on Sat., June 20 moderated by Juan Williams (far right) and panelists (left to right), the filmmakers Toby Oppenheimer and Dana Flor along with activist Lawrence Guyot, political analyst Dorothy Brazil and NBC News reporter Tom Sherwood. Photo by Victor Holt
Mention the name Marion Barry to any two people, and be prepared for a heated debate on the merits and failures of his life. While most of the debate lends itself to rumors of wrongdoing or the punch lines of jokes about crack smoking, few outside of the District have much insight into the life of Barry. That void has been remedied in good measure by filmmakers Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer’s new documentary “The Nine Lives of Marion Barry.”

Using Barry’s 2004 bid for his Ward 8 Council seat as a backdrop, Flor and Oppenheimer introduce the biographical grit that led to Barry being nicknamed D.C.’s “Mayor for Life.”

Friday, 26 June 2009 00:50
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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Farrah Fawcett, the "Charlie's Angels" star whose feathered blond hair and dazzling smile made her one of the biggest sex symbols of the 1970s, died Thursday after battling cancer. She was 62.

The pop icon, who in the 1980s set aside the fantasy girl image to tackle serious roles, died shortly before 9:30 a.m. in a Santa Monica hospital, spokesman Paul Bloch said.

Ryan O'Neal, the longtime companion who had reunited with Fawcett as she fought anal cancer, was at her side, along with close friend Alana Stewart, Bloch said.
Thursday, 25 June 2009 19:16
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