Photos: Veterans Day

While U.S. flags come out on Memorial Day, poppies are more identified with Veterans Day. Originally called Armistice Day and commemorating the Nov. 11, 1918, armistice that ended the fighting in World War I, the date is linked internationally to the opening lines of the haunting war poem “In Flanders Fields”:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow/Between the crosses, row on row.

The commemoration became a U.S. national holiday in 1935 and was renamed in 1954. Unlike Memorial Day, a holiday dating from the end of the Civil War and honoring those who died while serving in the armed forces, Veterans Day honors all veterans.

Andrew Guiding Young Cloud Morales offers a blessing during a Veterans Day ceremony.

Andrew Guiding Young Cloud Morales, from the Gabrieleno (Tongva) Band of Mission Indians, offers a blessing during a Veterans Day ceremony held at Plaza Park on Friday in San Gabriel.

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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Attendees stand among 201 flags installed for Veterans Day ceremony at Plaza Park on Friday.

Attendees stand among 201 flags installed for the Veterans Day ceremony at Plaza Park.

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

U.S. Navy veteran Ruth Pico and son Nathan, 8, stand among neat lines of white headstones in the green grass

U.S. Navy veteran Ruth Pico, left, with her 8-year-old son Nathan, pays her respects on Veterans Day at National Cemetery on Saturday in Los Angeles.

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) Color Guard members listen to a panel of retired military veterans

Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps Color Guard members from John C. Fremont High School in South Los Angeles listen to a panel of retired, Black, high-ranking military veterans discussing their military service and career challenges. The panelists also spoke about their work relating to the renaming commission, which seeks to assess the plausibility of renaming Confederate monuments. Later, the Color Guard members explored the Kinsey African American Art & History Collection exhibit at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

Maj. Gen. Leo V. Williams III takes pictures with John C. Fremont High School Marine Corps JROTC students.

Marine Corps Reserve Maj. Gen. Leo V. Williams III, center, takes pictures with John C. Fremont High School students, including Eenni Alay Mendez,16, on his right, while looking at the Kinsey African American Art & History Collection exhibit at SoFi Stadium. Williams took part in the panel discussion as well.

(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)

A little girl in a Dodgers shirt holds a baseball bat, ready to swing at an incoming ball as her father watches.

Allyson, 3, hits during the Dodgers Veterans Day batting practice event with her father, Marine Corps veteran John Lemus, on Friday.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

James Courson, Larry Stevens and Mike Valdivia are among veterans honored at a Veterans Day ceremony held at Plaza Park.

James Courson, 95, a WWII-Korean War veteran, left, Larry Stevens, 99, a WWII U.S. Air Force veteran, and Mike Valdivia, 97, a WWII Navy veteran, sit with others being honored at a Veterans Day ceremony at Plaza Park on Friday in San Gabriel.

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

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10 films you don’t want to miss at this year’s Bristol festival of African cinema

Bristol’s annual celebration of African cinema and culture Afrika Eye is returning from November 14 to 22. It features an extensive programme of film screenings and events, taking in street art, architecture, chess, politics, music, food, folklore, and more.

The event, founded in 2005 by two Bristol-based filmmakers, says its mission is to ‘offer audiences of all ages and backgrounds opportunities to explore the richness of African creativity, culture and history, using film and arts to challenge the stereotypes, dispel the myths and uncover more about the ever-changing social and political landscape of the continent of Africa and the diaspora’.

Afrika Eye’s director Annie Menter said: “Festival producer Esther Afikiruweh and I are delighted to be bringing our 2023 selection of films from and about Afrika to venues across Bristol this November. Films that dig deep into political issues, transcend the mundane, highlight the creative spirit and touch hearts and minds.

“We’ll have insightful interviews with directors, panel discussions and ‘in conversations’ to give context and breadth to our screenings and, as always, offer audiences the chance to have their say.”

Read more: Bristol Christmas Market 2023: Dates, travel, parking, food and everything you need to know

Read more: Only Fools and Horses The Musical is coming to Bristol

The full line-up is now available to book via this link. It includes:

Tuesday November 14: A screening at The Cube, Dove Street South, of Who I Am Not (Dir Tunde Skovran, 2023, 1hr 43mins), an award-winning documentary telling the heartfelt and moving stories of two South Africans learning to live with being among the 2% of people worldwide classed as intersex. Plus Kialy Tihngang’s British Council-funded project Toghu, combining animation, traditional Cameroon embroidery and the views of LGBTQ+ Cameroonians.

Wednesday November 15: Afrika Eye Winter Warmer at the Coexist Community Kitchen, Easton, a new chance to see Afrika Eye’s home grown documentary Rooted in Bristol, about local allotment gardeners of African heritage, and chat informally over tasty dishes made from allotment produce.

Thursday November 16: As a follow-on to an after-hours opening of Arnolfini’s autumn exhibition featuring the found materials work of Ethiopian artist Elias Sime, a screening of System K (Renaud Barret, 2019, 1hr 34mins), documenting the different ways in which artists in Kinshasa, DRC, are using the debris of city life, including bullet casings, bottle tops, plastic waste and much more to take art into the streets. With a live post-screening online interview with director Renauld Barret.

Friday November 17: At Trinity Community Arts, a screening of the internationally-feted Neptune Frost (Saul Williams and Anisia Uzeyman, 2021, 1hr 45mins), set in Burundi and described as an Afrofuturist romantic musical, with poetic response from Shakara and conversation with young black artists to follow.

Saturday November 18: A full day of screenings at Watershed, starts with the family-friendly true-life story Queen of Katwe (Mira Noir, 2016, 124 mins), about a poor Ugandan girl who dreams of becoming a chess grandmaster. The programme then continues with the Berlin Film Festival winning Sira (Appoline Traoré, 2023, 122mins), a gripping story of courage and survival centred on a young Faluni woman whose family is attacked in The Sahel on their way to her wedding.

A still from 'Sing My Sister'
A still from ‘Sing My Sister’
(Image: Afrika Eye)

Next is Sing my Sister, a music-rich trilogy celebrating how music and dance is empowering women in Mozambique plus a post screening ‘in conversation’ with director Karen Boswall. The day finishes with the SW regional premiere of the Sundance Festival prize-winning Mami Wata (C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi, 2023, 107mins), a supernatural thriller, shot mostly in Benin, inspired by folk myths from Nigeria about the power of revered water goddess and then it’s over to the café-bar for live music from Moroccan Gnawa maestro Mohamed Errebbaa & the six-piece band Tagna Groove.

Sunday November 19: The festival partners with the Curzon, Clevedon, for a screening of “W.I.T.C.H (We Intend to Cause Havoc)” (Gio Arlotta 2019 89 mins) an award-winning music documentary, spotlighting Zambia’s most popular rock band of the 1970s. To accompany the film, there’ll be music from DJ Collective KaBoom and food cooked by non-profit caterers Houria.

Afrika Eye 2023 will wrap on Wednesday, November 22, with an event in collaboration with Design West at The Architect, Narrow Quay, celebrating the work of Burkino Faso-born architect and social activist Diébédo Francis Kéré. The event will include a screening of An Architect Between (Daniel Schwartz, 2016, 19 mins), plus several shorts looking at the breadth of Kéré’s work.

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

Honeyland Festival In Sugar Land, TX, Honors Sugar Land 95 As Celebration Of Black Culture Kicks Off

festival, sugar land, honeyland festival, texas

The Honeyland Festival, a sprawling two day affair held from Nov 11-12 in Sugar Land, TX opened up on Nov 9 with an acknowledgement of the Sugar Land 95.


The Honeyland Festival, a sprawling two-day affair held from Nov. 11-12 in Sugar Land, TX, held a special acknowledgment of the Sugar Land 95 on Nov. 9.

The Sugar Land 95 refers to a mass grave containing the remains of 95 African Americans–94 men and 1 woman–found in 2018 at the location of a construction project in Sugar Land. According to the Houston Chronicle, it was important to both the festival organizers and Fort Bend county leaders that the history of the city be accurately told. 

Precinct 4 Fort Bend County Commissioner Dexter McCoy told the Chronicle, “The whole purpose of this festival is to celebrate Black culture. We can’t do that in this space without also honoring the Sugar Land 95. It was very important to invite them into the space because they are very much a part of who we are in Fort Bend County.”

McCoy continued, “Our ancestors were slaves who came here. And we also know in this community, the first Black sheriff of the nation came from here. The first Black state representative in the state of Texas came from here in Fort Bend County. Let us never forget where we came from.”

Sugar Land has been deeply involved in discussions about how to properly honor the individuals who died as a result of the State of Texas’ practice of convict leasing. Convict leasing was essentially slavery by another name, according to a 2021 article in the National Institute of Health. Convicted criminals, who were often Black and targets of racist laws called Black Codes, were turned over or “leased out” to private individuals to perform whatever labor they desired. 

Organizers of the festival expect it to draw thousands, and its expansive lineup includes Mary J. Blige, Jazmine Sullivan, Chloe Bailey, and Miguel, among others. Central to the festival’s appeal is its focus on Black culture. In addition to the music, the festival also celebrates Black art, food, and spirits. The Honeyland Fund, which was created to endow funds to Black creatives, has invested $1 million as part of the festival.

Fawn Weaver, Honeyland’s beverage curator, spoke to the Chronicle about how Black innovators in the mixology scene have not received their just due.

Weaver said, “Honeyland puts the focus on our whiskey or bourbon — things that we began — our cocktails. It’s never really been celebrated as it should. So much of what we drink in this country in terms of cocktails began with African-American bartenders.”

Staci Hallmon, vice president of Arts and Entertainment for IMG Events as well as an organizer of the festival, told Texas Standard about her motivation for choosing the Houston suburb to host the festival.

“Houston was so intentional for us in developing a destination for a Honeyland,” Hallmon said. “One, it’s one of the top five culinary destinations in the country. There are a significant number of black-owned restaurants and black-owned food experiences there across the board. And we’re working with so many of them.”

Hallmon capped her remarks by complimenting the diversity found in the Houston area, saying, “So, we’re celebrating all of that as a part of this experience and really bringing it to the center and making it an important part of the narrative of how culturally rich and diverse this area is and why it’s the perfect destination for us to mount our inaugural Honeyland experience.”

RELATED CONTENT: Shola Roberts Empowers Black Dancers Through Dance Grenada Festival

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Nitin Sawhney talks University of Huddersfield honorary doctorate

Acclaimed musician Nitin Sawhney has hailed his “special” long-term relationship with the University of Huddersfield after receiving his honorary doctorate from the institution.

“It is wonderful to receive this,” says Nitin, “particularly as although I’ve had a few honorary doctorates which I’m very proud of but this is particularly special I’ve had a great relationship with the university for a very long time.”

The multi-instrumentalist, club DJ, producer, songwriter and activist has added his doctorate to a raft of awards which include an Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement but music students at the university have been benefitting from his knowledge in the shape of internships and a scholarship for a number of years.

Nitin’s 1999 album Beyond Skin was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, and he marked the release of his latest, Identity, with a concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall. He has scored major BBC documentaries including Human Planet and Monsoon, the 2018 film Mowgli, but in 2022 he played keyboards on Pink Floyd’s ‘Hey, hey (rise up)’, the legendary band’s first new music since the 1990s which raised money for Ukrainian refugees.

“I’ve known David Gilmour on and off for many years and he asked me how would I feel about being a member of Pink Floyd for a track? And I said, ‘Well, I don’t know, you’re such an unsuccessful band!’ They were so, so generous and Dave insisted that I was part of the band. I’ve absolutely adored Pink Floyd since I was a kid but he was saying that all the photographs, all the interviews have to be us as a band. It was very generous of him .”

With his ongoing relationship with the university seeing students given the chance to work with his organisation, Nitin is passionate about giving budding musicians and producers the chance which his role with the PRS Foundation also offers.

“I feel very passionate about new music and talent development. The PRS Foundation is very much about inclusivity and diversity. Tt’s a real leader in terms of how we’ve created programmes like Power Up, for example, which help young black artists and black promoters and managers to really get a foothold in the industry.

“Nine out of the 12 Mercury nominees last year were people who’d been funded by the foundation. The year before that it was eight out of the 12 Mercury nominees, so clearly the foundation has its finger on the pulse of development new talent. And so I’m really very excited about continuing to work as the chair of its trustees and what the PRS Foundation stands for. I feel very proud of its achievements.”

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

The Noisy Cricket from Men in Black Arrives from Factory Entertainment

Posted in: Collectibles, Replica | Tagged: ,


Wield one of the most dangerous weapons in the galaxy as Factory Entertainment debut their latest replica from Men in Black



Article Summary

  • Factory Entertainment releases 1:1 Noisy Cricket replica from Men in Black.
  • Crafted with plastic and die-cast elements, including a display case.
  • Features LED light and authentic sound effects from the original film.
  • Available for pre-order at $450 for September 2024 release.

The good guys dress in black and Factory Entertainment is ready to be the protectors of Earth once again with their latest 1:1 film replica. Coming out of Men in Black, the Noisy Cricket is back, and this powerful piece can now come home. Sony Pictures allowed the Factory Entertainment team to faithfully bring this blaster to life from careful study of all documents the prop. The Noisy Cricket measures 4.3″ long and is crafted from plastic and die-cast elements. It will have an LED light as well as a collectors wooden case that will allow Men in Black fans to display it on the wall. Movie props like this are unique, and it is for a popular film that never sees new collectibles nowadays. Fans can bring home the Noisy Cricket home for a mighty $450, it is set for a September 2024 release, and pre-orders are found right here.

The Men in Black Noisy Cricket Has Arrived 

“Hey, Kay, nah, nah. Come on, man, you – you get a Series Four De-atomizer and I – I get a little – little midgy cricket?” – Agent J. The Noisy Cricket is small in size but packs a powerful punch! Sideshow and Factory Entertainment are proud to offer the replica based on the hero props as seen in 1997’s Men in Black. Sony Pictures kindly permitted the team of replica makers exclusive access to their archive to carefully study and thoroughly document every detail of the surviving props to faithfully reproduce what’s seen on screen.”

“Each replica is crafted from high quality materials including ABS plastic, acrylic and die-cast metal components which are either polished or chrome plated. It also features remastered sound effects taken directly from the film, as well as green LED lights, which is accurate to the first film in the franchise. Presented in an included wooden display case, each Noisy Cricket replica comes with a numbered limited edition plaque and certificate of authenticity. Don’t miss your chance to add this Noisy Cricket Prop Replica to your Men in Black collection today!”


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‘The Jazz Continuum’ explores Black social dance — from past to present

5 min

To connect with the Lindy Hop, a form of swing dance born in Harlem in the 1920s, you can look beyond the Lindy Hop.

At least that’s the premise of “The Jazz Continuum,” running at the Kennedy Center on Nov. 17 and 18. According to the vision of this performance-meets-party-meets-historical-eye-opener, there are echoes and affinities that link the historic dance style to more recent modes such as hip-hop and house.

Staged in different iterations at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and elsewhere, the production celebrates the decades-spanning ties between manifestations of Black artistry in music and dance, including social dance. Expect DJing, improvisation, tributes to hoofin’ legends such as Earl “Snakehips” Tucker and “Queen of Swing” Norma Miller, nods to musical styles including dancehall and go-go, and more.

“It’s not just a dance show. It’s not just a music show. It’s not just a show,” says “Jazz Continuum” creator LaTasha Barnes, an acclaimed dancer, choreographer, scholar and Army veteran. She calls the production an offering to “the truth of the continuum” in Black American music, dance and culture.

“That is to say, of American music, dance and culture,” she adds. “Because, if we’re honest, from the Black music experience and the Black dance experience, absolutely, we get what we call popular dance and music in America — and globally.”

As for the “jazz” part of the title, Barnes says, it refers not only to jazz music and dance, but also to jazz-associated traits such as “innovation, the coolness, the willingness to integrate all of the things around you to make something beautiful and evocative.”

This edition of “The Jazz Continuum” will be tailored to the Washington area. Local artists will help shape the piece during a five-day residency with Barnes at the Kennedy Center and then perform in the production.

D.C.-area specialties like hand-dancing — a type of swing dance — and Beat Ya Feat, a dance style rooted in go-go music, are likely to make an appearance.

Barnes, 43, is from Richmond, where she grew up in a family so passionate about dance that they had their own line-dance routine. “If you couldn’t keep up with the steps, they very gracefully guided you farther back in the formation,” she said by phone from Phoenix, where she is a member of the faculty of Arizona State University.

Barnes’s family also has a tradition of military service. At age 18, she enlisted in the Army, working in satellite communications in Europe and at the White House Communications Agency.

Before concluding her military career with the rank of sergeant first class, she was hit by a car and seriously injured. When a physical therapist recommended dance therapy, Barnes signed up for a class in popping, a dance style based in muscle contraction and release.

The practice accelerated her healing. “Dance literally gave me my life back,” she says.

End of carousel

From there Barnes got involved with Urban Artistry, a Silver Spring, Md.,-based nonprofit group focused on performing and preserving urban dance. Through relationships with other artists, she gained a keen appreciation for dance forms like the Lindy Hop and house.

Barnes became a whiz at house, typically performed to house music with rapid, intricate footwork and rippling movements of the torso. In 2011, she and a teammate won in a partnered category at the Paris-based Juste Debout competition, a prestigious forum for house dance.

She also began to notice patterns. “I was able to put together points of alignment, from authentic jazz dances through to contemporary hip-hop and other street/club dance forms,” she says. “And I became interested in how they lived and influenced each other.”

As an example, she points to a technique seen in house: stalking, in which dancers mirror, or riff off, each other’s movements. In Barnes’s view, stalking — a way to commune creatively with another person — echoes the partnering of Lindy Hop.

Barnes’s fascination with dance intersections has an intellectual component — at New York University she designed and completed a master’s degree in ethnochoreology, Black studies and performance studies. But it also, she says, “gave something really different and rich to my movement.” Her realization that other dancers, too, wanted to explore these intersections spurred her creation of “The Jazz Continuum.”

Interest in the show may testify to its canny balance of exuberance and historical and artistic insight. Alicia Adams, the Kennedy Center’s vice president of dance and international programming, says she doesn’t know of any project that explores Black dance history in quite the same way. The line of inquiry is especially valuable, she says, because “social dance is such an important piece of the fabric of society.”

For Diyanna Monet, a D.C.-based multidisciplinary artist who performed as a dancer and DJ in the Boston edition of “The Jazz Continuum” and will return for the Kennedy Center run, the production has been a revelation. She now sees jazz as the link between the way people move on the street to her own particular passion: the fusion musical style that is new jack swing.

“I see jazz in the way people speak,” Monet says. “I see jazz in the way people dance and how they’re able to sequence their phrases and make it all make sense.”

Conceptual heft notwithstanding, it was the sheer ebullience of “The Jazz Continuum” that wowed dancer and American University lecturer Ama Law when she saw it at Maine’s Bates Dance Festival in July.

“We were all dancing in the aisles,” says Law, who will perform at the Kennedy Center. “I mean, there was a point in the show where we just couldn’t even sit still anymore.”

As Barnes says, “The Jazz Continuum” is an opportunity “to experience community joy.”

The Jazz Continuum Nov. 17-18 at the Kennedy Center. kennedy-center.org.

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BMA Creates Paid Internships Honoring Valerie Maynard

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BMA Creates Paid Internships Honoring Valerie Maynard – Artforum





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Seattle Opera to Host Black Artists Market

(Photo credit: Seattle Opera)

Seattle Opera is partnering with Intentionalist, ARTE NOIR, and Wa Na Wari to host a Black Artists Market in support and celebration of local Black artisans.

Nearly two dozen booths representing Black artists and Black-owned small businesses will fill the halls of the Opera Center. The Black Artists Market coincides with the Seattle Christmas Market, performances of “The Nutcracker” at Pacific Northwest Ballet and “Little Women” at Seattle Rep.

“This Black Artists Market is an opportunity to celebrate the sheer quality and variety of artisanship in Seattle’s Black community,” said Dennis Robinson, Jr., Director of Programs and Partnerships. “Showing up for and supporting the Black-owned businesses in our community is vital for fostering strong and diverse local communities. We’re honored to share our space with the skilled artists and industrious business owners who make Seattle such a special place to live and work.”

The event takes place Dec. 16 from 11:30 a.m.–7:30 p.m. Attendance is free and open to the public.

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Grammys 2024: Top nominees include SZA, Phoebe Bridgers, Victoria Monét and, close behind, Taylor Swift

SZA didn’t quite make history with Friday morning’s announcement of the 2024 Grammy Awards nominees. But she came close on a ballot that saw women artists dominating the nominations for Best New Artist and Album, Record and Song of the Year in apparent record numbers.

A genre-blurring singer, songwriter and sly musical provocateur, SZA earned a field-leading nine nominations. They include nods for Album of the Year (for her critically acclaimed and chart-topping “SOS”) and Record and Song of the Year (both for “Kill Bill,” which takes its name from the 2003 Quentin Tarantino film and tells a similar tale of vengeance).

SZA’s nine nominations are almost a record, but not quite. Lauryn Hill and Beyoncé each had 10 nominations, in 1999 and 2010, respectively. Beyoncé’s six 2010 wins set a record for the most Grammys won in a single year by a female artist, which Adele tied with her six wins in 2012.

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Beyoncé, who won four awards at this year’s Grammys, has a total of 32 wins, a record for any female artist. But she has yet to win for Record or Album of the Year, two of the four most prestigious categories.

Should SZA take the prize for Album of the Year, she will be only the fourth Black woman artist in Grammy history to do so, following in the footsteps of Hill, Natalie Cole and Whitney Houston.

That said, the odds are good that a woman artist will prevail when the winners of the 66th annual edition of the Grammys are announced Feb. 4 during a CBS telecast from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.

With the exception of jazzy pop-and-beyond veteran Jon Batiste — last year’s surprise victor — the other seven Album of the Year nominees this time around are women. They include — in addition to SZA — Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, Janelle Monáe, Miley Cyrus, the all-woman trio boygenius and Murrieta-born, Temecula-raised Olivia Rodrigo, 20, who won three Grammys last year.

The similarly high-profile Record of the Year nominations went to many of the same artists, all but one a woman. The contenders are “Worship” by Batiste, “Not Strong Enough” by boygenius, “Flowers” by Cyrus, “What Was I Made For?” (from the movie “Barbie”) by Billie Eilish, “On My Mama” by Victoria Monét, “vampire” by Rodrigo, “Anti-Hero” by Swift and “Kill Bill” by SZA.

Likewise, Batiste is the only male artist to earn a 2024 Record of the Year nomination, for his understated piano ballad, “Butterfly.” The other nominees in this category — which honors songwriters — include Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” Del Rey’s “A&W,” SZA’s “Kill Bill,” Cyrus’ “Flowers,” Rodrigo’s “vampire,” Eilish’s “What Was I Made For” and Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night” (which, like Eilish’s song, is featured in the movie “Barbie).

Women artists also fared well in the Best New Artist category. The nominees include Ice Spice, Gracie Abrams, Coco Jones, vocal duo The War and Treaty (which teams Tanya Trotter with her husband, Michael) and neo-R&B singer Monét, who is nominated in six other categories. They will be vying against the three male Best New Artist nominees — Jelly Roll (whose first recording came out in 2011), Noah Kahan and Fred again..

Surprisingly absent from the list of Best New Artist contenders are such rising performers as Mexico’s Peso Pluma, Iceland’s Laufey and Louisiana native Lainey Wilson, who on Wednesday won in five categories at the 2023 Country Music Association Awards.

The winners will be determined by the 11,000-plus voting members of the Los Angeles-based Recording Academy, under whose auspices nominations in 91 categories are made and votes cast. More than 16,000 recordings were submitted for Grammy consideration. (A list of contenders in the major categories appears later in this article.)

Artists with San Diego ties who are 2024 nominees include singer and rapper Lecrae, recording engineer Joseph Lorge (who is the son of the late San Diego Union sports editor Barry Lorge), Alicia Keys and the Grammy-winning trio Nickel Creek, which will be vying for Best Folk Album honors against, among others, Paul Simon.

In a significant change, the number of nominees in the Album of the Year category has been reduced to eight, down from 10 the past two years. Ditto the number of nominees in the other three highest-profile Grammy categories — Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best New Artist. Whether this reduction will change the dynamics or shift the odds when ballots are cast remains to be seen.

If they do, SZA — real name: Solána Imani Rowe — could, at least in theory, top past winners Beyoncé and Adele. But to do so, SZA will have to trounce an array of fellow nominees, at least a few of whom have much higher profiles.

Taylor Swift arrives at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 5, 2023, in Los Angeles.

Taylor Swift has six 2024 Grammy nominations. She is shown arriving at the 65th annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 5, 2023, in Los Angeles. Swift has officially earned more No. 1 albums than any other woman in history. Her re-recording of her 2010 album “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version),” the third in her effort to re-record her first six albums, officially debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

(Jordan Strauss / Jordan Strauss/invision/ap)

Taylor-made?

Monét, Phoebe Bridgers and Canadian record producer Serban Ghenea each have seven nominations. Close behind, with six apiece, are Swift, Batiste, Rodrigo, Cyrus, boygenius (whose lineup includes Bridgers), Jack Antonoff and country music singer-songwriter Brandy Clark.

Swift has won three previous Album of the Year Grammys, the most by any woman artist. She had the biggest year of her already momentous career in 2023, when her record-setting North American tour drew 3 million fans and earned $780 million for its first 56 stadium concert stops. Interest in her is so high that USA Today this month hired a full-time “Taylor Swift beat reporter.” Her beatification may only be a matter of time.

So, unless there is an unexpected backlash against her from Grammy voters, Swift, 33, could well emerge as the biggest winner when the Grammy telecast is held in February. SZA, 34, may be hindered by the fact that — unlike Swift — she is not yet a household name with all Grammy voters. (SZA’s sole previous win was two years ago in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category as a featured artist on Doja Cat’s “Kiss Me More.”)

Antonoff, Swift’s frequent songwriting partner, is one of the most sought-after collaborators in pop music. He will be competing with himself, in a manner. He shares in two Album of the Year nominations (for his work on Swift’s “Midnights” and Del Rey’s “Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd.”), and two Song of the Year nods (for Swift’s “Anti-Hero” and Del Rey’s “A&W). Antonoff is also up for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical honors.

The 2024 nominees were announced during a 30-minute livestream on live.grammy.com and the Recording Academy’s YouTube channel by multiple artists and Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. The scheduled artists included St. Vincent, Vince Gill, Samara Joy, Kim Petras, Muni Long, Arooj Aftab, “Weird Al” Yankovic and Jon Bon Jovi, who will be honored Feb. 2 as the Grammy and Recording Academy’s MusicCares Person of the Year all-star concert in Los Angeles.

“We are thrilled to kick off Grammy season with this year’s diverse and genre-bending slate of nominees, representing the best of their craft and an incredible year of music,” Mason said in a statement released Friday morning. “From breakthrough acts to legacy artists, we are amazed by all the musicians recognized for their outstanding contributions to music today …”

Intriguingly, none of the latest crop of Album of the Year nominees qualify as legacy artists, at least not yet. That designation typically applies to veteran performers, such as 2024 Best Folk Album nominee Paul Simon and Bruce Springsteen, whose sole nomination this time around is so far down the list of 91 categories you may need a magnifying glass to find it.

The unprecedented dominance of women artists for Album of the Year, the single most prestigious Grammy category, can be viewed as a welcome development — and an overdue course correction.

The Recording Academy has been under increasing fire in recent years for its failure to recognize women artists. Between 2013 and 2018, only 9.5 percent of the nominees have been women and the number of women winners since then has not improved dramatically.

Mason has made a palpable impact since coming on board as the head of the Recording Academy in 2020, diversifying the nonprofit organization’s membership and spearheading a number of forward-looking initiatives that have earned him praise even from some staunch Grammy critics.

But the academy was jarred earlier this week by news reports that Mason’s predecessor twice removed — former academy CEO Neil Portnow — is being sued by an unidentified woman musician. She accuses him of drugging and raping her in 2018 in a New York City hotel room, a charge Portnow has vehemently denied. The academy said in a statement that the claims against Portnow are “without merit” and that the organization will “vigorously defend itself in this lawsuit.”

Morgan Wallen at the 2022 iHeartRadio Music Festival, on Sept. 23, 2022, in Las Vegas.

Country-music superstar Morgan Wallen did not make the cut for a 2024 Grammy Album of the Year nomination. He is shown performing at the first night of the 2022 iHeartRadio Music Festival, on Sept. 23, 2022, in Las Vegas.

(John Locher / Associated Press)

High-profile omissions

As is often the case when Grammy nominations are announced, some of the omissions may draw nearly as much attention as the biggest contenders.

Morgan Wallen did not get an Album of the Year nomination, despite being the top-selling country-music artist of this decade. His omission may reflect that Grammy voters — who also cast ballots to determine the nominees — haven’t forgotten the videotape of Wallen’s racially charged drunken rant in 2021, or his flaunting of pandemic masking rules (which got him booted from his musical guest spot on “Saturday Night Live”).

Also conspicuously absent from the list of 2024 Grammy Album of the Year contenders is the band Foo Fighters, which this year released its first new album since the 2022 death of its drummer, Taylor Hawkins.

Another MIA from that category is Drake, who has boycotted the Grammys in recent years to protest Black artists being overlooked in the nominations. He did, however, submit this year his joint 2022 album with British rapper 21 Savage, “Her Loss,” for Album of the Year consideration.

It didn’t make the cut in that category. Neither did the latest albums by Ed Sheeran, Luke Combs, Bad Bunny, Zach Bryan or the soundtrack “Barbie, The Album,” which did garner four nominations in a lower-profile category.

Recordings released between Oct. 1, 2022, and Sept. 15, 2023, was eligible for Grammy consideration. The first round of voting concluded Oct. 20. The final round is from Dec. 14, 2023, to Jan. 4, 2024. The winners will be announced Feb. 4 during the CBS telecast.

2024 Grammy nominees

Here are the contenders in 10 of the 91 Grammy categories. A full list of nominees is available at grammy.com.

Album of the Year

“World Music Radio” — Jon Batiste

“the record” — boygenius

“Endless Summer Vacation” — Miley Cyrus

“Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd.” — Lana Del Rey

“The Age of Pleasure” — Janelle Monáe

“GUTS” — Olivia Rodrigo

“Midnights” — Taylor Swift

“SOS” — SZA

Song Of The Year

“A&W” — Jack Antonoff, Lana Del Rey & Sam Dew, songwriters (Recorded by Lana Del Rey)

“Anti-Hero” — Jack Antonoff & Taylor Swift, songwriters (Recorded by Taylor Swift)

“Butterfly” — Jon Batiste & Dan Wilson, songwriters (Recorded by Jon Batiste)

“Dance The Night” (from “Barbie The Album”) — Caroline Ailin, Dua Lipa, Mark Ronson & Andrew Wyatt, songwriters (Recorded by Dua Lipa)

“Flowers” — Miley Cyrus, Gregory Aldae Hein & Michael Pollack, songwriters (Recorded by Miley Cyrus)

“Kill Bill” — Rob Bisel, Carter Lang & Solána Rowe, songwriters (Recorded by SZA)

“vampire” — Daniel Nigro & Olivia Rodrigo, songwriters (Recorded by Oliva Rodrigo)

“What Was I Made For?” (from the movie “Barbie”) — Billie Eilish O’Connell & Finneas O’Connell, songwriters (Recorded by Billie Eilish)

Best New Artist

Gracie Abrams

Fred again..

Ice Spice

Jelly Roll

Coco Jones

Noah Kahan

Victoria Monét

The War and Treaty

Best Rock Album

“But Here We Are” — Foo Fighters

“Starcatcher” — Greta Van Fleet

“72 Seasons” — Metallica

“This Is Why” — Paramore

“In Times New Roman…” — Queens of the Stone Age

Best Alternative Music Album

“The Car” — Arctic Monkeys

“the record” — boygenius

“Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd.” — Lana Del Rey

“Cracker Island” — Gorillaz

“I Inside the Old Year Dying” — PJ Harvey

Best R&B Album

“Girls Night Out” — Babyface

“What I Didn’t Tell You” (Deluxe) — Coco Jones

“Special Occasion” — Emily King

“JAGUAR II” — Victoria Monét

“CLEAR 2: SOFT LIFE” EP — Summer Walker

Best Pop Vocal Album

“chemistry” — Kelly Clarkson

“Endless Summer Vacation” — Miley Cyrus

“GUTS” — Olivia Rodrigo

“- (Subtract)” — Ed Sheeran

“Midnights” — Taylor Swift

Best Pop Dance Recording

“Baby Don’t Hurt Me” — David Guetta, Anne-Marie & Coi Leray

“Miracle” — Calvin Harris Featuring Ellie Goulding

“Padam Padam” — Kylie Minogue

“One in a Million” — Bebe Rexha & David Guetta

“Rush” — Troye Sivan

Best Dance/Electronic Music Album

“Playing Robots Into Heaven” — James Blake

“For That Beautiful Feeling” — The Chemical Brothers

“Actual Life 3 (January 1 – September 9 2022)” — Fred again..

“Kx5” — Kx5

“Quest For Fire” — Skrillex

Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical

Jack Antonoff

Dernst “D’Mile” Emile II

Hit-Boy

Metro Boomin

Daniel Nigro

Songwriter Of The Year, Non-Classical

Edgar Barrera

Jessie Jo Dillon

Shane McAnally

Theron Thomas

Justin Tranter

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

All The Times Celebs Have Said They Made More Money From Endorsements Than Their Actual Talent

All The Times Celebs Have Said They Made More Money From Endorsements Than Their Actual Talent
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY – SEPTEMBER 12: Cardi B attends the MTV Music Video Awards at the Prudential Center on September 12, 2023 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by John Nacion/WireImage)

Fame and fortune may go hand in hand for some celebrities, but the latter doesn’t always look the way you think.

Entertainers, athletes and artists alike have leveraged their name, image and likeness to secure brand deals (as they should) but it’s not out of loyalty to the companies they work with—they’re incredibly lucrative.

As ESSENCE, previously reported, celebrity endorsements are not a new practice, but the influencer industry has undoubtedly grown into quite the behemoth over the years. The market has ballooned from $1.7 billion in 2016 to $9.7 billion in 2020. In 2021, it grew to $13.8 billion and projected to reach over $16.4 billion.

What’s more, these windfalls are setting our favorite stars up for incredible wealth in a way that, according to them, their talent alone never would.

Here are a few instances of celebs getting real about their endorsement deals and their day jobs.

K. Michelle

All The Times Celebs Have Said They Made More Money From Endorsements Than Their Actual Talent
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – JANUARY 29: K. Michelle attends the Atlanta screening of “Single Black Female” at IPIC Theaters at Colony Square on January 29, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images)

The talented singer, songwriter and pianist has been candid about fighting for a chance to break into the music industry before finally finding stardom. She was able to showcase her talent after years of perseverance, and scored big with her 2014 hit album Anybody Wanna Buy A Heart, among others.

But she shared her deal with spirits company Jack Daniels was what really brought her the most financial success.

In an interview with The Shade Room, she candidly shares “I’ve never owned anything. I’ve never got no money from none of my gifts.” She adds, “I like to say, ‘I’m the first Black ever endorsed by Jack Daniel’s.’ I made more money and learned more business from Jack Daniel’s than I made with any music.”

Angel Reese

All The Times Celebs Have Said They Made More Money From Endorsements Than Their Actual Talent
DALLAS, TEXAS – APRIL 02: Angel Reese #10 of the LSU Lady Tigers speaks during a press conference after the LSU Lady Tigers beat the Iowa Hawkeyes 102-85 during the 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament championship game at American Airlines Center on April 02, 2023 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)

The LSU basketball darling took the world by storm after leading her team to victory earlier this year, she quickly racked up NIL (name, image, likeness) deals with major companies including Bose, JanSport, McDonald’s, Outback Steakhouse, Xfinity, among others. She reportedly pulled in more than $1.6M in less than one year from the partnerships.

In a recent interview with sports podcast I Am Athlete, Angel Reese who is a star player for the Louisiana State University Tigers said “The money I’m making is more than some of the people that are in the league that might be top players.”

Cardi B

All The Times Celebs Have Said They Made More Money From Endorsements Than Their Actual Talent
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY – SEPTEMBER 12: Cardi B attends the MTV Music Video Awards at the Prudential Center on September 12, 2023 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by John Nacion/WireImage)

The rapstress has solidified herself as one the industry’s brightest stars following the success of Bodak Yellow. Over the years, she has famously partnered with various brands like Reebok, Pepsi, Balenciaga and Steve Madden, and notes that the her day job as an artist is sometimes tough to navigate because of predatory intentions.

In a 2021 interview with XXL, she points out that an entity might offer her $2 million despite profiting $50 or $100 million. “I just feel like if you want to keep hiring me, I figured that you’re making a lot of money out of me. I just feel like that little two million, that little three million, I mean, sometimes even a little five million, ’cause I get five [million], $10 million deals. I just feel like, you gotta be making triple,” Cardi said.

In a 2022 interview with ESSENCE, she also addressed criticisms that she was more focused on securing deals than making music.

“Sometimes people are like, ‘Cardi’s not focused on her music. She’s just trying to make money with all these partnerships and business stuff. That is not true. I am focused on my music, but I have to make sure that I make a future for my kids. I always have a fear that, God forbid, you never know if something happens to me I want them to be set. God forbid, when something happens to people they have to wait for music to sell, I want my kids — if something happens to me, they’ve got money coming from music, they’ve got a little money coming from here because I have equity there. They’ve got money coming from there because I have equity here.”

Michael Jackson

All The Times Celebs Have Said They Made More Money From Endorsements Than Their Actual Talent
SANTA MARIA, CA – MARCH 7: Singer Michael Jackson walks into the Santa Maria Superior Court on the fifth day of his child molestation trial March 7, 2005 in Santa Maria, California. Jackson is charged in a 10-count indictment with molesting a boy, plying him with liquor and conspiring to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion. He has pleaded innocent. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Getty Images)

The King Of Pop has even acknowledged the inequities in the music business despite dominating for most of his life.

In 2002, he accused his record label of racist behavior and shared he thought they didn’t promote his album enough. “The recording companies really, really do conspire against the artists — they steal, they cheat, they do everything they can. [Especially] against the black artists.”

The artist had famously landed major endorsement deals with Pepsi, LA Gear, Suzuki, and Sony among others.

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment