Soulful, fiesty, rough-around-the-edges and more brash than a hot pink dress at an all-white dinner party. No one was prepared for a 20-year-old High Point, NC native to make it through the rounds of the nation’s top talent competition known as American Idol, much less win the top prize. But despite the odds, Fantasia Barrino… Continue reading Fantasia’s “The Definition of….,” CD Preview/Review Link
Category: DMN Briefing Columns
Weekly published columns that appear in Friday’s paper version of Briefing and online @dallasnews.com/local voices, make sure you check for the new ones on Saturdays to add your .02 :)
Shaking It Up, Shutting It Down: A Chat With Sheila E.
Family, faith, working hard and giving back: on one hand, she’s a woman navigating through life just like the rest of us, balancing her hustle and humanitarian endeavors while sharing personal ups and downs with the world at large. On the other hand, she’s not like anyone else…..because this particular woman is Sheila Escovedo, better… Continue reading Shaking It Up, Shutting It Down: A Chat With Sheila E.
The Evil, The Fly, The Bizarre & The Basic: An Inventory of 2016
2016, like every year before it, has featured both positive and negative aspects. Some events have been blips that barely moved the needle of conscious thought while others, no matter our differences, have rocked us to our collective cores as individuals and as a society. For many, this election year cycle’s brought forth game-changing candidates:… Continue reading The Evil, The Fly, The Bizarre & The Basic: An Inventory of 2016
Act Like You Know: When ‘Tacky’ & ‘Tone-Deaf’ Go Viral
When you don’t know….you don’t know.” The first time I heard that expression was in 1997 when I first saw the film Hoodlum. Two characters were in the midst of a Harlem turf battle during a Depression-era numbers racket in Harlem, and mob boss Charles “Lucky” Luciano grouses to Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson about another gangster,… Continue reading Act Like You Know: When ‘Tacky’ & ‘Tone-Deaf’ Go Viral
“No Matter How Much You Wanna Switch….”
.Just over 26 years ago, Ice Cube cemented his hip-hop status with his seminal debut, Amerikka’s Most Wanted. Along with brilliant sampling and now-classic rhymes, Amerikka… featured a scathing interlude calling out those who insisted on ‘going along to get along’ rather than rocking the boat when it came to confronting racism: “A message to… Continue reading “No Matter How Much You Wanna Switch….”