The gospel-influenced and classically-trained pianist and composer is in renaissance of interest and celebration thanks to the establishment of Billy Strayhorn Songs in 1997. The family-owned company's efforts include marking the centennial of his birth in 2015. The Bill Strayhorn Foundation, Inc's is committed to deepening appreciation for jazz music in general, starting with Strayhorn. Now longtime fans and new discoverers can enjoy Strayhorn: An Illustrated Life, a fine biographical coffee table book available from Bolden Books/Agate Publishing in Chicago.
Posts
10 Black Women Who Lost Their Lives to Violence
The women I want the world to start remembering forever are pictured here. Please click on their photos for more information about their lives and stories, as well as ongoing activism in their memories for this remainder of Black History Month. #SayHerName
Chicago play ‘Lines in the Dust’ Takes on Families and Residency Fraud in Public Schools.
It would be a disservice to relegate the play Lines in the Dust as a compulsory offering of social protest fiction and bandwagon outpour, seeking attention on entitlement that audiences passively care about its themes and subjects to indict structural racism in America. To applaud it on such terms demeans the work below its highest merit as an actor’s play; it simply uses … Continue reading Chicago play ‘Lines in the Dust’ Takes on Families and Residency Fraud in Public Schools.
Behind A Bitter Pill… Q & A with author Tiffany Gholar
One book with four different covers is just one aspect of the special story and brilliance behind 'A Bitter Pill to Swallow', just released from Blurb Books as the debut novel from writer and visual artist Tiffany Gholar. 'A Bitter Pill to Swallow' is a literal and figurative testimony of perseverance, triumph and concern for humanity in a novel debut more than twenty years in the making.
2015 will be hard to top but let’s try…
I could not have asked for a better 2015...In ways I could have never planned or imagined, nearly every part of my life as a constant and lifelong writer flourished in its own organic way: fiction, non-fiction, stories, novels, theater, entertaining, reading, teaching and activism. I was just totally blessed.
Happy Holidays!
"For where two or three gather together in my name, there I am with them." Matthew 18:20 "For God so loved the world he gave his only begotten son, so that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but shall have everlasting life." John 3:16 "Cast your cares on the Lord, and he will sustain … Continue reading Happy Holidays!
Girlhood
It is the most honest, determined cinematic viewpoint on black youth since 1994’s Hoop Dreams. Girlhood is stunning.
negression 