By Gwen DeRu
CELEBRATE MARTIN LUTHER KING, Jr.’s BIRTHDAY…AND HIS DREAM!!
FIRST…. FOR CHILDREN…
TODAY…..Join the City of Birmingham Mayor’s Office Division of Youth Services (DYS) at its 2014 HE’S FIRST/SHE’S FIRST MENTORING SUMMIT. This event is especially designed for those parents, mentors, youth workers and community leaders who are looking for resources to further equip your 6th – 12th graders for a successful future. Taking place on Saturday, January 25, the summit is part of DYS’ Mentorpalooza for National Mentoring Month showing you that Birmingham CARES. HE’S FIRST/SHE’S FIRST will be held from 9 a.m. until 12 p.m. at the historic A. H. Parker High School. Youth and their adult mentor must be registered as a pair and attend the event TOGETHER! The 2014 Summit topics will include, but not limited to: On Your Mark. Get Set. Grow, Who Runs the World? Girls!, What’s Done in the Dark, Mindless Behavior, #NoFilter and much, much more. Drop-off or email completed registration forms by today to the following: DYS He’s First / She’s First Summit, 1608 7th Avenue North | Birmingham, AL 35203. Call (205) 320-0879 for more.
NOW…FOR LAUGHTER…
RORY AND THE RIFF RAFFS, 7 p.m. at the Carver Theatre. This is the best sketch comedy show since In Living Color. Get ready to laugh out loud at the sketch show that broke all the rules with its outrageously skits, wildly original comedy satire. Created by Rory L Kent Jr., Rory and the Riff Raff’s blasted into the comedy world with a mercilessly funny, Take –no-prisoners style not seen since In Living Color. Imagine a smorgasbord of ethnic Broadway trumped by the outrageously comedic elements of “In Living Color” and “Saturday Night Live.” The band provides a reverberating dynamic to the show. The band vitalizes the show with live instruments, experienced vocalists, and musicians. The dance team is composed of gifted men and women who exist in the upper echelon of the urban dance community.
HISTORY IN THE MAKING…
THE DREAM LIVES 50 YEARS FORWARD RENDITION – Don’t Miss the shining star of the 2014 MLK Day Celebrations…. A play that tells the story of the Birmingham Civil Rights Movement like no other on Monday, 6 p.m. at the Carver Theatre featuring Alvin Garrett. Logan, Alicia Johnson-Williams, Rickey Powell and Helen Lyles. It is written, produced and directed by Hollis Wormsby. Call (205) 327-9424 for more.
Student civil rights activists join hands and sing as they prepare to leave Ohio to register Black voters in Mississippi. The 1964 voter registration campaign was known as Freedom Summer. Photo Credit: Ted Polumbaum/Newseum collection)
A NATIONAL NEWSEUM EXHIBIT – This exhibit is in Washington, D.C. and should be seen by everyone. The Newseum opens “1964: Civil Rights at 50” Exhibit featuring powerful photographs of Freedom Summer, Friday, at the Newseum. It is a yearlong exhibit about Freedom Summer, a bold campaign organized by civil rights groups in 1964 to register Black voters in Mississippi.
“1964” features powerful images of Freedom Summer, from volunteer training sessions in Ohio to clashes with segregationists and the search for three missing civil rights workers who were later found murdered. The photographs were taken by Ted Polumbaum, a freelance photographer for Time magazine, whose passion for social justice led him to Mississippi in the summer of 1964. The Polumbaum photographs are part of the Newseum’s permanent collection on display through Dec. 28, 2014. “The exhibit powerfully illustrates the risks that student activists took 50 years ago to defeat segregation,” said Cathy Trost, vice president of exhibits and programs at the Newseum. “Photojournalist Ted Polumbaum recorded the dramatic events of Freedom Summer and left behind a remarkable collection of images capturing key moments in the fight for civil rights.” THEN…Saturday, at 2:30 p.m., Nyna Brael Polumbaum and Judy Polumbaum, Ted Polumbaum’s widow and daughter, will discuss his photographs and legacy as part of the museum’s Inside Media series. AND, “1964” is a companion exhibit to “Make Some Noise: Students and the Civil Rights Movement,” which opened August 2013. It spotlights key figures in the student civil rights movement, including John Lewis, now a U.S. representative from Georgia, and Julian Bond, who later became chairman of the NAACP. The exhibit also features a section of the original F.W. Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C., where in 1960 four African American college students launched the sit-in movement, and a bronze casting of the Birmingham, Ala., jail cell door behind which the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. penned his famous “Letter From Birmingham Jail” in 1963. LAST…, The Newseum’s Digital Classroom website features a free learning module called “Making A Change,” which explores the civil rights movement through the lenses of historical connections, media literacy, and civics and citizenship using videos, archival news footage and interviews. These standards-aligned lesson plans will help teachers enhance student engagement with Newseum content, their communities and their peers across the country.
FOR ART LOVERS….this weekend…
**MUSEUM OF ART EVENTS – Bridgman|Packer Dance Performance, Saturday, 2 and 6 p.m., FREE in the Jemison Galleries. The Museum is partnering with the Alabama Dance Council to present Voyeur. Voyeur uses the paintings of Edward Hopper as a point of departure, exploring private lives through dance, live video cameras, and imagery. Each performance will include an introduction 30 minutes before. AND…Spotlight on the Collection Slow Art Sunday, 2p.m., FREE at the American Galleries is Albert Bierstadt’s Looking Down Yosemite Valley, California. Take in the beauty and detail of this masterpiece at Slow Art Sunday.
JOHN SOLOMON SANDRIDGE’S NEW ART FORM – A New Art Form by Artist John Solomon Sandridge – NUMINOUSNEOISM – Birmingham Civil Rights Institute (BCRI) presents “Numinousneoism™, an exhibition by internationally acclaimed artist John Solomon Sandridge through March 23 in BCRI’s Odessa Woolfolk Gallery. Sandridge was not only the first African American to be contracted to do art for Coca-Cola, but his “Numinousneoism” exhibition is actually a new art that Sandridge trademarked. He is a talented sculptor, writer and speaker, and one of a few African-American artists who specialize in Western American art. Sandridge states that numinousneoism is, “a creative expression that comes from God through human imagination for the good of all life. It comes from that special place every child knows about. The innocence takes them where Universal Creativity communicates in them and through them. It’s not make-believe. Looking at Art is spiritual,” continued Sandridge, “Making Art is the Spiritual-Full-Experience. Art is my religion . . . reconnection with The Creator of Life (God). ” The exhibiton includes over 150 paintings and sculptures that reflect the theme of “American slavery killed millions of Africans. The aftermath . . . millions of Black-Americans making this country better for all.” Sandridge will promote his book, “Red Book and Cotton,” which is based on the history of his great-great-grandfather and mother. As a testament to his belief in the new art, Sandridge founded the The Number 2 Pencil Foundation, a nonprofit in Birmingham that teaches children and youth how to use numiousneoism to create, discover, and invent healthy ways to “Save Their Own Future. For more information call 205-328-9696 x 234.
FOR MUSIC LOVERS…..A Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther, King, Jr. and his legacy.
REFLECT AND REJOICE, Sunday, 3 p.m. at the Alys Stephens Center featuring the Aeolians of Oakwood University and Roderick Cox, Conductor and much more. Call (205) 975-2787 for more.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DAY OF SERVICE – Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve will honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 20) with a day of service project coordinated with Hands On Birmingham to work on Long Leaf Cottage, one of the Preserve’s original buildings, that is being renovated into an educational facility for the Preserve. Volunteers can register at http://www.handsonbirmingham.org/MLK.
SHOWTIME BIRMINGHAM STYLE 2014 – PERFORMERS ARE INVITED, 9 a.m. at the Sheraton Hotel to audition for the Sickle Cell Foundation of Central Alabama. Call (205) 780-2355 or 1-800-735-0405 for
HERE ARE A FEW MORE THINGS GOING ON…THIS WEEKEND….
COREY HOLCOMB at the STARDOME COMEDY CLUB. Often billing himself as the “ghetto Dr. Phil”, most of Holcomb’s standup material revolves around relationships, particularly relationships gone wrong. In addition to touring the country, he has appeared on Comic View, Def Comedy Jam, Last Comic Standing, and Nick Cannon Presents Wild ‘n Out. He has appeared in two comedy specials of his own, Corey Holcomb: The Problem Is You and Comedy Central Presents: Corey Holcomb. THEN, AT THE STARDOME… DON’T MISS… next week, weekend, COWBOY BILL MARTIN on January 21-26, HENRY CHO on January 30-February 2, JOHN CAPARULO on February 6-9, WENDY LIEBMAN on February 13-16, LUENELL on February 21-22, and DONNELL RAWLINGS on March 6 – 9. Tell Bruce that Gwen sent you. Enjoy some good laughter and fun times while you eat some great food with your friends. See you there! For more, call (205) 444-0008.
TODAY… ,
CHRIS MOORE with CHRIS FRYAR of SAC BROWN BAND, 8 p.m. at Ona’s Music Room.
FRIDAY…
**FRIDAY AFTER WORK, 4:30 – 9:30 p.m. at 25 West Oxmoor Road, Suite 26 in Homewood. Call (205) 572-1295 for more.
**UP, 10 p.m. at Ona’s Music Room.
SATURDAY…
**ONA WATSON AND CHAMPAGNE, 10 p.m. at Ona’s Music Room.
SUNDAY….
**PHASE II BAND AND SHOW, 9 p.m. at Tide & Tiger Lounge, 409 Graymont Avenue (across from Legion Field.) For more, call (205) 229-4829 or 502-3880.
MONDAY….
NAPPY NIGHT – Music at Boujee Lounge, every Monday at 204 Avenue U in Pratt City, 8 p.m. with good jerk food, vendors and music. See you there on Mondays!
TUESDAY…
**MUSIC with DJ BATMAN…at the New Tide and Tiger!!
WEDNESDAY…
**MUSIC with DJ BATMAN…at the New Tide and Tiger!!
**BAMA presents UAB Brass Quintet in a free concert – The Birmingham Art Music Alliance will present the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Music’s Brass Quintet in a free concert of newly composed music by BAMA members at 7:30 p.m., in the Samford University Brock Recital Hall, 800 Lakeshore Drive.
COMING SOON…,
FEBRUARY 1 – SICKLE CELL GALA at the Sheraton Hotel.
MARCH 8 – UNCF MASKED BALL GALA, 6 p.m. at the Sheraton Birmingham Ballroom.
NOW…. a BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT FOR JANUARY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU DR. JESSE J. LEWIS, SR., LeBOISE DeRU, JR., SENATOR LINDA COLEMAN, BETTINA BYRD-GILES, RENEE KEMP-ROTAN, DRU HARRIS EALONS, CHUCK GEISS, JAMES WILLIAMS, KYLE WHITMIRE, WILLIAM BARNES, HAROLD COX, PHYLLIS CONNELL, AUDREY PERRINE and LOUISE WASHINGTON…AND TO ALL CELEBRATING!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL YOU BIRTHDAY BALLERS…MANY, MANY MORE HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!! ENJOY!!
Well, that’s it. Tell you more ‘next’ time.
(People, Places and Things by Gwen DeRu is a weekly column. Send comments to my emails: thelewisgroup@birminghamtimes.com or gwenderu@yahoo.com)
