Pop Eats Itself

1985: Cooling and Drooling

American blues singer Willie Dixon sued Led Zeppelin over plagiarism. Dixon claimed the lyrics of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” closely resembled Dixon’s composition “You Need Love,” which was recorded by Muddy Waters as a single for Chess Records in 1962. Dixon’s tune had the lines, “I ain’t fooling / You need schooling / Baby, you know you need cooling / Woman, way down inside / Woman, you need love”. Led Zeppelin’s contained, “You’ve been cooling / Baby, I’ve been drooling / All the good times I’ve been misusing / Way, way down inside I’m gonna give you my love”. It was settled, but more problems lay ahead for Zeppelin — see 2016.

“You Need Love” “Whole Lotta Love”

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

SCI organizing Juneteenth Celebration Saturday, June 17

SCI Social Capital Inc. organizing 3rd

annual Juneteenth Celebration in Woburn

 

WOBURN On June 17th SCI Social Capital Inc., the Woburn Public Library, Mayor Scott Galvin and the City of Woburn are hosting the city’s 3rd annual celebration of Juneteenth in partnership with St. John’s Baptist Church of Woburn, Woburn Welcomes and the Woburn Democratic City Committee, along with support from State Senator Cindy Friedman, State Representative Richard Haggerty, Woburn Recreation Department, the Woburn Dept. of Public Works and the Woburn Police Department.

 

The Juneteenth Woburn 2023 celebration will take place at Library Park on Harrison Avenue with additional activities happening in the Woburn Public Library on Saturday, June 17th, 2023, from 1:00pm – 7:30pm. The theme of Juneteenth Woburn is “Celebrating a World of Black Excellence”, and will feature a keynote address by Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell.

 

In the week leading up to the celebration event, the City of Woburn will have an official Juneteenth Flag Raising on Tuesday, June 13th at 12:30pm on Woburn Common. Media and the general public are invited and encouraged to attend the flag raising ceremony.

 

Juneteenth Woburn 2023 will kick off at 1:00pm with a panel discussion on Black Journeys of Resilience to Excellence – highlighting stories of Boston-area Black leaders who have modeled Black excellence through their personal and professional journeys. The panel will be moderated by Dr. Anthony Coston, President at Elise William Ventures, and panelists will include: Michael Bobbitt, Executive Director of Mass Cultural Council; Shawn Brown, Executive Director of Youth Guidance Boston; Beth Chandler, President and CEO of YW Boston; and Jillian Harvey, Director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Division at the Town of Arlington, MA.

 

The speaking program featuring remarks by AG Andrea Joy Campbell will begin at 2:00pm, and will include remarks by event organizer Philip Gordon, Woburn Mayor Scott Galvin, MA State Rep. Michelle Ciccolo, MA State Rep. Richard Haggerty, and MA State Senator Cindy Friedman. Following the spoken remarks, Juneteenth Woburn 2023 will continue with music and dance performances by Woburn Memorial High School students at 3pm. The event will conclude with a music concert from 4:00pm – 7:30pm highlighting Boston-area Black performers, headlined by hip-hop artist and producer Latrell James, and presented by Joey’s Home Entertainment.

 

From 1:00pm – 4:00pm inside the Woburn Public Library there will be family-friendly crafts and activities available in the Children’s Room, along with a Juneteenth Project Exhibit by student members of the James L. McKeown Boys & Girls Club of Woburn in the Maker Space on the Main Floor.

 

The Juneteenth Woburn 2023 celebration will also include food provided by Black-owned vendors and a Black Artist & Makers Market.

 

Everyone is encouraged and welcome to attend Juneteenth Woburn 2023 on Saturday, June 17th! Commemorative apparel is available for purchase on the SCI Juneteenth website – all proceeds will go to financially supporting the event. Event sponsorships are also available, please contact Philip Gordon for more information at pgordon@socialcapitalinc.org. Full event details can be found at socialcapitalinc.org/juneteenth.

 

Juneteenth Woburn 2023 is supported in part by a grant from the Woburn Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency, and a grant by the Mass Cultural Council. Major support for SCI Woburn provided by Cummings Properties.

 

About Juneteenth

Juneteenth is a holiday celebrating the emancipation of enslaved Black people within the United States – first celebrated on June 19, 1865 in Galveston, Texas and has since been observed annually on June 19th. In July 2020, Governor Charlie Baker signed into law a bill designating Juneteenth as an annual state holiday in Massachusetts. Juneteenth was recognized as a federal holiday on June 17, 2021, when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law.

 

 

SCI Social Capital Inc. was founded in 2002 as an organization focused on bringing people together. The mission of SCI is to strengthen communities by connecting diverse individuals and organizations through civic engagement initiatives.  Our story centers on cultivating connections, developing leaders, and creating strong, healthy, and inclusive communities where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive. SCI projects include youth-led campaigns to promote mental health awareness and provide food assistance; community events reflecting the diversity of the population; and the SCI AmeriCorps program providing support to youth by increasing volunteerism and providing leadership training and community service opportunities for youth. Vist socialcapitalinc.org to learn more!

 

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

36 novels, thrillers and young adult books to tempt you this summer

The Overnights

By Ian K. Smith

If you asked Ashe Cayne, he’d say his two favorite things are Shakespeare and golf. If you ask me, Cayne is one of my favorite fictional PIs. Cayne has swagger, style, striking wit and money to spend. Right before TV sweeps week, Cayne is hired to discover who’s threatening Morgan Shaw, Chicago’s top-rated news anchor. Cayne’s investigation collides with a police shooting of an unarmed Black man. Cayne is Black and an ex-cop. He knows “going after a Chicago cop is nothing short of declaring war.” He doesn’t hesitate. Smith’s dialogue-driven plot races to a breathless end. (Amistad, 368 pages.)

Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune

The Big Sugar

By Mary Logue

In her 1880s-set “Sugar,” Logue continues her entertaining chronicle of Irish immigrant Brigid Reardon’s life, one that’s become pretty chaotic. Brigid survived servitude in a St. Paul mansion and a murder conspiracy in Deadwood, S.D. She’s finally ready for a wee bit o’peace in her life. It’s not to be. While adjusting to being a homesteader in Cheyenne, the “‘magic city of the plains,'” Brigid discovers neighbor Ella Bates, hanging from a tree not far from her “soddy,” where Ella also had staked a homestead. What happened to Ella? Brigid means to find out. (University of Minnesota Press, 200 pages.)

Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune

Killingly

By Katharine Beutner

Bertha Mellish is a “defiant agnostic.” Her roommate, Agnes, wants to be a doctor. She worships “the earthly body” — Bertha’s in particular, all the “glories of her.” But it’s 1897. Instead of building a future, Bertha is missing in lush woods near Mount Holyoke College. The search for Bertha unveils the difficult choices women, LGBT women in particular, made (and make) to survive and to love. Like Margaret Atwood’s “Alias Grace,” “Killingly” is an evocative novel crafted from an actual historical mystery where, according to Beutner, the subversive elements of a 19th-century women’s college are “thoroughly intertwined with oppression.” (Soho Crime, 360 pages.)

Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune

The Puzzle Master

By Danielle Trussoni

“Wouldn’t you like to experience something so absolutely singular?” a character asks Mike Brink, diagnosed with savant syndrome after a high school football injury. Brink “reroutes his life … like a river” and embraces his singularity, becoming a famous puzzle master. When he’s invited to solve a strange puzzle posed by a convicted murderer, Mike finds it “impossible to walk away.” You won’t be able to, either. This immersive, brilliant book is a labyrinth of ciphers, cryptograms, logic puzzles, word puzzles, and a doozy of a conspiracy. Wouldn’t you like to experience a book so singular? (Random House, 384 pages.)

Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune

All the Sinners Bleed

By S.A. Cosby

On the anniversary of his election as the first Black sheriff of Charon County, Titus Crown is faced with the shooting of a high school student who has murdered a popular teacher. Titus “lives in a no-man’s land between people who believed in him, people who hated him because of his skin color, and people who believed he was a traitor to his race.” From this place, Titus burrows into the shootings, uncovering a serial killer whose crimes bring a long overdue reckoning. Cosby’s thriller is Southern Gothic at its most visceral and profound. (Flatiron, 352 pages.)

Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune

Zero Days

By Ruth Ware

Scottish author John Buchan’s “The Thirty-Nine Steps” began my love of novels where the protagonist is chased cross-country, forced to survive on wits and wooly blankets. Ware’s fast-paced fugitive story made me breathless. Jack (aka Jacintha), a cyber security stress-tester, discovers her murdered husband slumped over his computer in their London living room. Under questioning, Jack refuses a lawyer because it’ll be “weird and antagonistic.” After a pointed police interview, Jack realizes she’s the main suspect. She flees. While off the grid and on the run, Jack pieces together her husband’s final days, finding much more than his killer. (Scout Press, 368 pages. Out June 20.)

Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune

In a Hard Wind

By David Housewright

The body of a property developer is found buried near a communal garden in suburban Shoreview. Jeanette Carrell, a neighbor whose garden borders the site, is charged with the murder. Rushmore McKenzie, ex-St. Paul cop and unlicensed PI, reluctantly agrees to investigate as a “favor for a friend of a friend of [his] friend.” Carrell claims her threats to kill the developer “were mere utterances of an angry suburban housewife.” McKenzie digs beneath a gazebo, uncovering more than he bargained for. Housewright, one of Minnesota’s treasured authors, is right on the money with this one. (Minotaur, 320 pages. Out June 27.)

Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune

The Mistress of Bhatia House

By Sujata Massey

In 1920s India, women obey their husband’s demands in all things, especially areas of reproductive rights and body autonomy. With no available birth control and no access to doctors, Bombay’s child mortality and maternal deaths are high. Perveen Mistry, Bombay’s only female lawyer, is thrust into these tragic circumstances when she volunteers to defend a wealthy Bombay family’s young servant, who’s accused of aborting her fetus. Massey’s evocative mysteries featuring Mistry have always woven political, cultural and critical social issues into a compelling historical mystery. This one’s threads could be worn today. (Soho Crime, 432 pages. Out July 11.)

Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune

How Can I Help You

By Laura Sims

They are librarians in a “quaint town on the Platte River” and dangerous women. Margo’s a fugitive murderer; Patricia’s a struggling novelist. Margo’s a “killer nurse” hiding behind books she doesn’t read until she discovers Shirley Jackson’s “We Have Always Lived in the Castle.” Patricia’s “done making things up” until her pen decides Margo’s life is good plot fodder. Sims’ audacious story shifts between Margo and Patricia’s points of view in a battle of wits that’s mesmerizing. This exceptional novel is firmly in Highsmith territory (yep, another Patricia) and the ending is everything. (Putnam, 256 pages. Out July 18.)

Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune

What Never Happened

By Rachel Howzell Hall

As a child, journalist Coco Weber’s family moved from “the heart of Black Los Angeles” to Catalina Island where, years later, her family was slaughtered in a home invasion. Since then, Coco has filled her life with “words, men, and guilt,” which “demands ransom even when you’re broke.” Coco returns to the island to take care of an elderly aunt, escape an ex-boyfriend and “let it all work itself out.” Not going to be that easy, especially when elderly islanders are dying in unusual numbers. Howzell Hall’s prose is stiletto sharp and the plot’s a killer. (Thomas & Mercer, 428 pages. Out Aug. 1.)

Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune

Those We Thought We Knew

By David Joy

This searing stunner of a book is a lamentation on place, how for “certain groups in America, trauma was … inheritance.” It’s like a Nina Simone song that contains “an infinite sort of sadness,” yet closes with a promise of hope. Toya Gardner, a Black artist, has returned to her grandmother’s house in the North Carolina mountains, a county “you didn’t land on by accident.” Toya’s art reckons with a past that too many idealize. Ernie Allison, a white deputy, finds a Klan contact list of government officials in a drunk’s car. The intersection of their stories drives the novel. (Putnam, 400 pages. Out Aug. 1.)

Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune

Harlem After Midnight

By Louise Hare

For London-based jazz singer Lena Aldridge, autumn in New York (as a 1934 song describes) seems “so inviting” with its “thrill of first-nighting” and “promise of new love.” After a harrowing Atlantic crossing, Lena stays in Harlem to get to know her beau Will, earn a chance to sing at the Apollo and learn more about her late father Alfie’s side of the family. Lena discovers Will and Alfie have serious family secrets. Hare’s accomplished mystery shifts between Lena’s Harlem in 1936 and her father’s in 1908, when autumn in New York was “often mingled with pain.” (Berkley, 352 pages. Out Aug. 29.)

Reviewed by Carole E. Barrowman, special to the Star Tribune

The Wishing Game

By Meg Shaffer

In this charming love letter to books and reading, Lucy, a struggling teacher’s aide, longs to adopt Christopher, an orphaned boy in her class. But circumstances — no money, no car, too many roommates — stand in her way. Then her favorite children’s writer announces he’s publishing a new book, and she’s invited to compete in a contest on his remote Maine island. Lovers of wordplay and puzzles will delight in the contest trickery, and Shaffer invests us deeply in Lucy and Christopher’s happiness, ensuring that readers will revel in the book’s satisfying conclusion. (Ballantine. 286 pages.)

Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune

Everything’s Fine

By Cecilia Rabess

Can two ideologically opposed people fall — and stay — in love? That’s the question Rabess takes on in her bold debut novel. Jess and Josh, once university rivals, are new hires at Goldman Sachs, but being the only Black woman sets Jess apart. As she battles casual racism and a network of privilege, she finds her old nemesis taking her side. Romance blossoms, but Jess must make hard decisions about compromise. Rabess displays a sharp sense of humor, and her examination of entitlement and staying true to yourself in the modern political world rings painfully real. (Simon & Schuster. 336 pages.)

Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune

Lucky Red

By Claudia Cravens

This subversive twist on the American western has all the bells and whistles: sex, love, deadly snakebites, renegades, a hanging gone wrong, secret hideouts and shootouts on the high plains. The difference is its protagonist is someone usually relegated to the sidelines: the hooker with a heart of gold. Bridget, aka “Red,” with nothing but a broke-down mule to her name, enters bordello work in Dodge City, finding it more appealing than starving to death. Then she falls in love with a swaggering female gunslinger. Bridget’s journey is a powerful feminist battle cry, but it’s also rollicking good fun. (Dial Press. 304 pages. Out June 20.)

Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune

The Glass Chateau

By Stephen P. Kiernan

The characters in this bittersweet story of beauty in the aftermath of unspeakable tragedy have suffered but not surrendered. Set after the end of World War II, the story follows Asher, a Jewish shoemaker who lost his family and became an assassin for the French Resistance. Roaming the countryside, starving and alone, he comes upon a chateau where artisans make stained glass for a bombed cathedral. He discovers a talent for design, but the past threatens to derail his new life. Kiernan has written a lovely, moving elegy for those who were lost and resilient survivors who long for redemption. (William Morrow. 384 pages. Out June 20.)

Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune

The Glow

By Jessie Gaynor

Struggling publicist Jane Dorner believes she has found the perfect client in Cass, gorgeous, charismatic leader of an offbeat wellness retreat in New Jersey (not the best tagline, Jane knows). She’s determined to make Cass a star, no matter how dizzy some of her beliefs may be. But she’ll have to win over Cass’ husband, Tom (who might not be straight), and adapt to eating a diet of zucchini (and not much else). Gaynor has a blast satirizing the wellness industry, social media influencers and our obsession with beauty. They’re easy targets, but begrudging such well-placed, funny and knowing shots is impossible. (Random House, 302 pages. Out June 20.)

Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune

Holding Pattern

By Jenny Xie

Kathleen Cheng moves back to Oakland to live with her mother, Marissa. They’re not close, but Kathleen discovers her mother has changed. She doesn’t want to return to China anymore, and she wants Kathleen to help plan her wedding to a tech entrepreneur. Kathleen, meanwhile, accepts a disconcerting job to make ends meet: physically holding clients who pay for human contact. She can cuddle with them, but can she rekindle a close relationship with Marissa? The push and pull of the mother-daughter relationship feels real, and Xie brings humor, hope and cultural depth to a familiar story. (Riverhead, 288 pages. Out June 20.)

Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune

Save What’s Left

By Elizabeth Castellano

If you have ever dreamed of buying a beach house, Kathleen Deane has some advice: Don’t. When her husband, Tom, announces he’s unhappy and takes off on a cruise, leaving her with 37 antique clock radios and a houseful of regrets, Kathleen buys a rickety East Coast beach house, hoping to ease into retirement to the sound of the waves crashing on the shore. Instead, she’s drawn into clashes over permits, construction and every other small-town municipal nightmare imaginable. The novel walks the line between funny and outright wacky, and Kathleen’s battles will resonate with any homeowner. (Anchor, 304 pages. Out June 27.)

Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune

The Imposters

By Tom Rachman

Dora Frenhofer, the aging writer at the center of Rachman’s intricately constructed novel, understands that dementia is setting in. But before the inevitable darkness descends, she is determined to finish her final book. Trapped in her London apartment during the pandemic, she weaves a tapestry of riveting fictional stories that tie into her past. Rachman deals with dark subjects — death, the fear of irrelevance, terror of the unknown — but this beautifully written work is not depressing. With precision and dexterity, Rachman unfurls Dora’s potent legacy and builds a convincing argument for the power of art and storytelling. (Little, Brown, 352 pages. Out June 27.)

Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop

By Satoshi Yagisawa, translated by Eric Ozawa

This slim, entertaining Japanese novel reminds us how books can change our lives by assuring us we’re not alone. Takako, 25, thinks her future is on track until her boyfriend informs her he’s marrying another woman. Miserable, Takako quits her job and takes refuge in the crowded upstairs room at her uncle’s book shop. She begins to read the books there, which offer a wider view of the world, distract her from depression and reawaken her interest in the real-life stories flowing around her, including drama between her uncle and his estranged wife and the possibility of new romance. (Harper Perennial, 160 pages. Out July 4.)

Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune

Small Worlds

By Caleb Azumah Nelson

In his moving followup to “Open Water,” Nelson returns with another compelling story about generational, racial and cultural pressures on young Black Londoners. The son of Ghanaian immigrants, Stephen struggles under parental pressure to earn a university degree, while he longs to pursue his passion for music. When he refuses to follow the path set for him, he and his father grow estranged. “Small Worlds” also thoughtfully explores Stephen’s first romance and heartbreak, his loving relationship with his brother and how easily tragedy can derail dreams. Nelson’s prose can be an intense symphony or a delicate melody. Either way, this composition is masterful. (Grove Press, 272 pages. Out July 18.)

Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune

Family Lore

By Elizabeth Acevedo

Long before they left their home in the Dominican Republic for New York, the Marte sisters displayed uncanny talents. But Flor’s ability to predict death is the most unsettling gift of them all. When Flor decides to throw herself a wake, her family members wonder if she has foreseen her own end, but Flor refuses to explain her decision. Unfolding over three tumultuous days before the big event, “Family Lore” is a warm, big-hearted novel — Acevedo’s first for adult readers. She infuses it with humor, compassion and a firm understanding of how family history can threaten, yet strengthen, sibling bonds. (Ecco, 384 pages. Out Aug. 1)

Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune

The English Experience

By Julie Schumacher

St. Paul’s Schumacher ends the hilarious trilogy that began with “Dear Committee Members,” following the troubles of Jay Fitger, Department of English chair at undistinguished Payne University. In this final chapter, he’s charged with leading the annual trip abroad. In London, Fitger and a group of misfit undergrads are beset by challenges, while Fitger tries to figure out how to prevent his ex-wife from leaving Payne (and himself) behind. Schumacher skewers everything about the scholarly world with a cynical insider’s eye — professors, students, academia itself — but, surprisingly, ends this engaging farce with a bit of hope for the ever-beleaguered Fitger. (Doubleday, 240 pages. Out Aug. 15.)

Reviewed by Connie Ogle, special to the Star Tribune

Saints of the Household

By Ari Tison

Art, identity and the ripple effects of family violence form the heart of a debut novel by Minneapolis writer Tison. Brothers Jay and Max live a tightly controlled life in tiny Deer Creek, Minn., trying to protect their mom from their dad’s physical abuse. But when a confrontation with their school’s star soccer player spins out of control, the brothers’ futures and college dreams are at risk. In alternating chapters that capture Max’s visual interest through experimental poetry forms and Jay’s exploration of Bribri Indigenous storytelling patterns, Tison weaves a compelling, morally complex debut. (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 320 pages.)

Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune

She Is a Haunting

By Trang Thanh Tran

A haunted house in the southern Vietnamese highlands has a voice in this debut thriller. Jade Nguyen is about to start college in Philadelphia, where she’ll finally be able to carve out her own identity and meet the girl (or boy) of her dreams. But first she must survive summer with her estranged dad in the French colonial mansion he’s renovating for tourists in Da Lat. As Jade is haunted by increasingly disturbing dreams, she and friend-maybe-more Florence try to turn the tables on a hungry ghost and reckon with the legacy of Vietnam’s brutalized past. Sharp, sexy and well-paced. (Bloomsbury, 352 pages.)

Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune

Star Splitter

By Matthew J. Kirby

What makes us human? Our consciousness? Our bodies? What happens if the two diverge? In 2199, Jessica Mathers steps into a teleportation machine, then wakes up in a crashed lander with the ship’s crew buried nearby and her scientist parents nowhere in sight. As she stumbles toward safety, the limits of her understanding of science are tested by encounters with three survivors — one haunted, one sane and one monstrous — and the unexpectedly diverse life on a supposedly barren planet. In this space thriller, Kirby probes the human need to, as Robert Frost wrote, “satisfy a lifelong curiosity/About our place among the infinities.” (Dutton, 320 pages.)

Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune

Warrior Girl Unearthed

By Angeline Boulley

The clan from “Firekeeper’s Daughter” is back in Boulley’s sophomore novel, set in northern Michigan’s Sugar Island Ojibwe community — and they’re grappling with more missing young women and a black market for the tribe’s cultural items. Perry Firekeeper-Birch wants to go fishing, but she’s stuck interning at the tribal museum. When she breaks the rules to liberate ancestral remains, she’s drawn into harrowing encounters with those who profit from tribal heritage. The story sometimes bogs down in Native graves repatriation law, but Boulley’s fans will cheer the deepening web of Sugar Island stories. (Henry Holt, 400 pages.)

Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune

Big Tree

By Brian Selznick

“No matter how unstoppable the danger seems, no matter how unavoidable, there’s always something you can do,”writes the “Wonderstruck” author. On an Earth ruled by dinosaurs, two sycamore seeds are cut loose from their mother tree during a devastating fire, with a big extinction event looming. They journey toward a new home — on the wind, an insect’s back, a leaf — and encounter a mycelium network of Ambassadors, tiny scientists under the sea, and an ancient intelligence known as the Old One. The Caldecott winner’s diaphanous, black-and-white panels give the story of Earth’s web of life a deep emotional resonance. (Scholastic, 528 pages.)

Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune

When the Vibe Is Right

By Sarah Dass

Trinidad’s annual Carnival celebration meets Shakespeare in this enemies-to-lovers romance. Tess is an aspiring costume designer who lives and breathes her family’s fading Carnival masquerade band, Grandeur. But when rivals from a more popular band try to sabotage Grandeur’s Carnival season, Tess finds herself working with the one classmate she most wants to avoid, charming social media influencer Brandon. Dass creates a compelling slow burn full of romantic misdirection amid the island’s lush landscapes, Indo-Caribbean flavors (from fry bake and shark to pholourie and breadfruit fritters) and steelpan and soca beats. Should come with its own soundtrack. (Balzer + Bray, 336 pages.)

Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune

Funeral Songs for Dying Girls

By Cherie Dimaline

The author of the dystopian “Marrow Thieves” is back with one of the snarkiest, funniest ghost stories ever set in a cemetery. Since her mother’s death, Winifred Blight has lived with her father in the neglected Toronto graveyard where he works. After a humiliating romantic fumble with her best friend, she summons a ghost, Phil, who died as a teenager. Ghost sightings draw a pushy tour operator who might be the cemetery’s financial savior, if Phil agrees to appear on cue. Full of throwaway lines — “She was perfection in a pair of XXL jeans” — and sharp insights, this is Métis writer Dimaline clicking on all cylinders. (Tundra Books, 280 pages.)

Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune

Chasing Pacquiao

By Rod Pulido

Bobby Agbayani spends his free time dreaming about his comic book geek boyfriend Brandon. He just doesn’t want his whole Los Angeles neighborhood to know. Before he can come out on his own terms, rumors fly and one of his school’s most notorious bullies targets him. To survive the beatdowns, Bobby takes a job at Jab Gym, hoping for pointers from an aging trainer with his own regrets. A homophobic social media post by Bobby’s boxing hero, Manny Pacquiao, also adds to his struggles. The meditation on masculinity is woven with geek culture and the bonds of three best friends. (Viking, 272 pages.)

Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune

Gossamer Summer

By H.M. Bouwman

A fairy tale takes on a terrifying life of its own in this middle-grade adventure by Minnesota writer H.M. Bouwman. Sisters Maisie, JoJo, Bee and Amy’s lives are upended after the death of their Grandma Nan. Their new life in the country is isolated, and JoJo no longer has the heart to tell stories. Then they meet neighbor boy Theo and discover a portal to a magical fen with menacing “bone birds.” JoJo must grapple with her grief, write a new ending to save the fairy world and make it home in one piece in this thoughtful story of navigating loss. (Atheneum, 192 pages.)

Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune

School Trip

By Jerry Craft

In this sequel to Newbery winner Craft’s “New Kid,” aspiring artist Jordan Banks is back, this time contemplating whether to attend his dream arts school. But first, he and classmates from Riverdale Academy Day School have one more adventure together — a class trip to Paris. As the diverse group of eighth-graders is set loose in the City of Lights, they navigate school dynamics as well as the delight and strangeness of encountering a foreign culture. “You never see kids like us traveling in books and movies. I wonder why that is?” Jordan’s friend Drew muses. A heartwarming conversation opener. (Quill Tree Books, 256 pages.)

Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune

Transmogrify!: 14 Fantastical Tales of Trans Magic

Edited by G. Haron Davis

In a year when trans youth and their families are under attack, we could all use the empathy and playfulness this anthology unleashes. It opens with Saundra Mitchell’s tale of misunderstood magic and an unexpected romance that flickers to life at the drive-in. A debut short story by Minneapolis writer Dove Salvatierra leans toward the collection’s suspenseful side as the sole survivor of a failing farm family finds himself in a wary dance with a magical coyote that expands his view of the possibilities of love and gender. The collection is full of hope, pixie dust and heart. (HarperTeen, 416 pages.)

Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune

Actually Super

By Adi Alsaid

A teen grappling with despair takes a gap year to search for hope in this latest novel by Mexican-born Alsaid. Isabel Wolfe has always had to hold unwanted thoughts at bay. But the pandemic has lit a fuse of hurt and anger in those around her. A quest to find “Supers,” people who have unexplained powers that they use to do good, takes her from Tokyo to the Philippines to South America, where she discovers moments of connection even as she plumbs the human capacity to misuse power. Alsaid’s well constructed story is full of tiny truth bombs. (Penguin Random House, 288 pages. Out Aug. 22.)

Reviewed by Trisha Collopy, Star Tribune

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

Art Ain’t Innocent Collective to Bring Parade to Durham

Since 2018, the Durham-based arts collective Art Ain’t Innocent has spurred conversations around arts equity in the area—beginning with its name.

According to the collective’s website, the name emerged out of a conversation about artists and institutions taking responsibility for harm and acknowledging that art isn’t neutral. “Art Ain’t Innocent,” organizer Monét Marshall said, and thus, a name—and adage—was born.

The group’s previous projects have included the 2021 short film Eat Art, a call to pay artists fairly, and 2020’s Mural Project, during the thick of Black Lives Matter protests, in which the collective commissioned 48 Black artists to paint 44 murals downtown. 

This Saturday from 10 am to 12 pm, the group is running its inaugural Durham Art Parade, which will wind through Lakewood and Lyon Park. Ahead of the event, the INDY chatted with organizer Meg Stein, a co-founding member of the collective, about the parade and the work Art Ain’t Innocent does in the Triangle. 

Tell me about the mission of Art Ain’t Innocent—who are the main organizers? 

Art Ain’t Innocent is a multi-racial, cross-cultural, cross-class Southern arts visioning collective based in Durham, NC. Since 2018, we have been igniting conversations, actions, and creating community in alignment with our mission, vision, and values that prioritize actual arts equity. One of the main goals of our mission is to create more equity in the arts in Durham and to embody that vision in everything we do. We believe that art is powerful, that artists should be resourced and able to thrive and that all of this can happen in an equitable context that helps move all of us to the world we want to see and live in.

Art Ain’t Innocent is currently a collective of 7 artists, cultural organizers, and humans living and working in Durham. The group of us are the main organizers of the parade and came up with the idea. With the parade, we wanted to create a space for artists and the art community to be out together in physical space and to experience joy and celebration together. The last few years have been challenging for everyone and a lot of artists have felt isolated or directionless and have experienced difficulty from the decrease in art opportunities and gatherings during the pandemic. 

It always is a good time for a parade, but right now feels like an especially good time. So we’re the main organizers, but we absolutely couldn’t do this without the help of our 10 collaborators, who are all people active in the arts community who we are in relationship with and who share our vision and values. I also want to highlight one of our collaborators that is also the parade’s Grand Marshall, Jesse Huddleston.

What are you hoping artists and organizers gain from the parade? 

We hope that this parade brings people joy. Whether people come to the parade, hear about it, or see pictures or videos, we hope that their experience is one of joy and celebration. We hope the parade reminds people that artists are vital to our community and that artists are workers who need resources, support, and opportunities in order to thrive. We hope that artists feel seen and appreciated. We hope that people who create art or are creative feel emboldened to call themselves artists too and to keep making and creating. We hope that this parade is a reminder of how much all of us need art in our lives. 

We also want to highlight that we are intentionally not presenting this parade in downtown Durham. We have noticed that a lot of the time, art presentations and resources can be concentrated to downtown Durham and to the people who can afford to live and work there. We envision a world where there are both more resources for the arts and where more resources are spread throughout Durham. 

So for us, it felt important to present this parade outside of downtown. We picked a route in the Lakewood and Lyon Park neighborhoods in order to bring art to historically Black neighborhoods in Durham and to provide models for ways that art can exist in spaces throughout the city. 

I noticed on your website that it’s in Spanish and English, which is refreshing and really cool (I’m Latinx and it’s lovely to see this accessibility). Who came up with this?

That’s great to hear! Language equity is important to us and with the parade, we were able to more fully step into our vision for language equity with the help of one of our collaborators, Antonio Alanis who has been invaluable to this process and has truly made it happen for us. 

How can people volunteer/reach out to for more information about getting involved with the parade and attending?

We hope people will come out on Saturday! The parade starts at 10 am at the Scrap Exchange. I’ve attached a map that shows people the route and where to park. People are welcome to see the parade from any spot along the route. The parade will go until approximately 11:30 or noon and then will end at the Scrap Exchange where the floats will be on display in the parking lot for our after party. The after-party goes from 12-2p and is being DJ’ed by Gemynii and the Dou Nou Cuisine food truck will be there as well. Everyone is welcome to come see the parade and/or come to the after-party! 

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U.S. Capitol Display Gets First Statue by Black Artist, Embattled Art Adviser Lisa Schiff Is Under Federal Investigation, and More: Morning Links for June 9, 2023

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The Headlines

THE POLITICAL SCENE. Thursday was quite a news day in Washington, D.C., as politicians reacted to the bombshell that President Trump was being indicted in a case concerning his handling of classified documents. Before that, though, on Wednesday, a bronze statue was unveiled in National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol that depicts the acclaimed writer Willa Cather, who died in 1947. It was created by Littleton Alston, who became the first Black artist to have work included in that collection. (Each state selects two statues to be displayed there; the Cather piece came from Nebraska.) In other news from the Hill, Congress is looking to hire a new Architect of the Capitol, who oversees its home and various collections. (The last one was ousted amid scandal. He has denied wrongdoing.) A member of the team seeking to fill the job told the New York Times, “This is a uniquely complex role. A term we often use is a ‘unicorn.’ ”

Related Articles

A woman in sunglasses leaning against a couch beside a smiling woman wearing a black top.

ARTISTS SPACE. It is one of those special days when editorial calendars align, and a bunch of great interviews are all published at once. Grab a cup of coffee! Grab a cocktail! There’s a lot to read. Apollo romped around Reykjavik with hometown hero and performance legend Ragnar Kjartansson. “What I love about being from Iceland,” he said, “is that I really did not understand the idea of the art object until I was 35 or something. Like, you go to the museum here and you just see some Icelandic shit… there is no art history, and there are no objects of mega-value.” Sculptor Anselm Kiefer, an expert in mega-value, has a new show at White Cube in London and spoke to the Guardian. Two more stories from England: Painter Hurvin Anderson, who has a show up at the Hepworth Wakefield, is in the New York Times, and Lubaina Himid, who’s presenting work at the Glyndebourne opera house, is also in the Guardian.

The Digest

In a court filing, a lawyer for Lisa Schiff said that the embattled art adviser is cooperating with federal and state investigations into her business, which she is liquidating. The attorney also rejected claims made in a lawsuit against her that she was running a Ponzi scheme. [The Art Newspaper]

In November, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will present around 30 modern and contemporary Korean works collected by the late Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee that are now held by South Korea’s National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art and Seoul’s Leeum Museum of Art[The Dong-A Ilbo]

Around 40 prehistoric menhirs that were erected in Carnac, France, some 7,000 years ago have been removed to make way for a location of the DIY chain store Mr. Bricolage, according to an incensed French archaeologist. The local mayor said that the stones had “low archaeological value.” [AFP/France24]

Dealer Larry Gagosian gave a rare interview to the New York Post. While some gallerists have been opening in Tribeca and elsewhere, when it comes to “contemporary art nothing is supplanting Chelsea,” he said. And while he visits his artists at their Brooklyn studios, for a space “it’s a bridge too far, literally and figuratively.” [NYP]

This year’s shortlist for the Film London Jarman Award, which honors British artists working with moving images, consists of Ayo AkingbadeAndrew BlackJulianknxxSophie Koko GateKaren Russo, and Rehana Zaman. The winner of the closely watched prize receives £10,000 (about $12,600). [Ocula]

Norman Rosenthal, the former exhibitions secretary at the Royal Academy in London, said that he was not invited to the opening of its summer exhibition this year. “I think they would rather forget about me,” he said. “It was noted.” He also recommended Kiefer’s White Cube show. [Evening Standard/Yahoo! News]

The Kicker

BUCKLE UP. The big one, Art Basel in Switzerland, opens in a matter of days, and Bloomberg has a crisp preview of the festivities that also offers a look at the state-of-play in the art market. Amid uncertainty about the economy, dealer Marianne Boesky, who has galleries in New York and Aspen, offered some refreshingly candid thoughts. “Certain dealers you’ll talk to, they’ll tell you—no matter what day of the year or month—that sales are gangbusters and that everything’s perfect,” she told journalist James Tarmy. “But it’s not always perfect. It’s a bit of a rollercoaster.” Be careful out there, Baselers! [Bloomberg]

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LeBron James continues off-court evolution with…

LeBron James will, obviously, be a Hall of Fame basketball player. What he’s doing off the court, however, remains equally impressive. One of his latest projects, which you probably haven’t heard of but will soon, and done in collaboration with rapper Drake, continues what is a growing off-the-court empire. In fact, it might be one of the best things he’s ever done.

It’s a documentary called “Black Ice,” and James, along with Drake and Maverick Carter, are the executive producers. The documentary examines the history of racism in the sport as told through the eyes of Black hockey players, past and present. Two of the stars of the documentary are P.K. Subban and Wayne Simmonds.

It’s directed by filmmaker Hubert Davis, and it’s important because while the racial history of other sports in America like professional football, basketball and baseball has been extensively examined, hockey hasn’t been. At least, it hasn’t been in America, and one of the points of the documentary is it hasn’t been in Canada, either.

Why haven’t you heard of this film? It debuted at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival where it was the People’s Choice documentary winner. It will appear in AMC Theatres nationwide in America on July 14. The trailer is extremely powerful and you can view it below (warning: racially sensitive content):

This project is another example of what James has become. He’s one of the smartest and most underrated business minds in sports. He has quietly, and not so quietly, amassed an array of business interests and entertainment projects that are some of the best of any athlete in America. Maybe the best.

James is part owner of the Boston Red Sox, and he owns a TV and movie production company called SpringHill that he started in 2020 with Carter, his business partner. The company helped produce Space Jam 2. James was the lead actor (and pretty good in it). SpringHill also produces the HBO show called “The Shop: Uninterrupted” that James sometimes takes part in. Springhill’s worth is estimated at $725 million.

James and Carter are the executive producers in another groundbreaking project. This one will appear on CNN and is called “See It Loud: The History of Black Television.” CNN describes it this way: “…a five-part docuseries celebrating the achievements of Black actors and creators, examining the historical impact Black culture has on all culture. Today, we are in the midst of what is widely been referred to as the ‘Golden Age of Black Television;’ however, this ‘Golden Age’ is the culmination of an eighty-year struggle for Black artists to find a voice and fight for representation.  The series explores the vast history of Black television through through iconic performances across various genres including sitcoms, comedy, drama, unscripted, variety, and science fiction.”

Not watching the spellbinding Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray? You’re missing NBA history.

James has done all of this with little controversy around him. It’s almost impossible to find an American sports parallel of James, who has been in the public eye for so long, created so much wealth, and businesses, and has never gotten into any kind of significant trouble.

Also, all the while, he’s remained one of the greatest activist voices of our time.

What we’re seeing with James might also be just the beginning. He could own an NBA team one day. He could make deeper forays into Hollywood. When he retires from the NBA, and that will likely happen soon, he’ll be able to focus much of his efforts on his business ventures. Imagine one of the more focused athletes of our time with no NBA to focus on as a player.

James’ media projects often take you places you may not know much about, or even if they existed. “Black Ice” is a really good example of this. While the emphasis is on hockey in Canada, it will easily translate to people in America. Because almost no one knows this history.

This means, once again, James is doing something special … off the court.

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Ayesha Selden Wants Her Collection to Reflect the Black Experience

Ayesha-Selden-portrait
Portrait of Ayesha Selden. All images courtesy of Selden.

CULTURED: What do you think makes the Los Angeles art scene distinct? 

Ayesha Selden: What has been pleasantly surprising to me, coming from my hometown of Philadelphia, is the abundance of serious Black art collectors in LA. I’ve been able to build a community of collector peers here that share ideas, new artists, and curators. 

CULTURED: Where does the story of your personal collection begin? 

Selden: Have I mentioned community in the Black art space already? Because that’s where my story starts. I’d recently built my home in the View Park section of LA, and I knew I wanted to fill it with art from artists of the African diaspora. A few years ago, I’d reached out to a friend, Tony O. Lawson, who runs an online media company, Shoppe Black, and asked him who he knew in the art world that could point me in the right direction. He connected me to a London-based collector, Freda Isingoma, and the hour or so of her time that she invested in me was invaluable. From there, I linked with a designer I knew from social media, Cassandre Bonhomme, and she recommended a few artists for me to check out. One of them was b. Robert Moore, whose “Out the Mud” series resonated with me. I purchased my very first piece of art from him.

Ayesha-Selden-collection-home
Clockwise: Phyllis Stephens, 2022. Robert Peterson, 2023. Devin Reynolds, 2019. Sydney Cain, She Who Builds With Her Hands Makes Herself King II, 2020.

CULTURED: How would you describe your collection? 

Selden: My collection tells me stories. To date, I’ve mostly collected contemporary, figurative works that tell the story of Black people—mostly in America. Recently, my tastes are changing a bit because I have a lot of faces on my walls. I’ve added some pieces from Latinx and Southeast Asian artists. I’ve also developed a new appreciation for abstract works, which I liken to instrumental jazz music—you don’t always need lyrics to feel the music. Same with art. I can feel the colors and lines in a way I wasn’t able to appreciate years ago.

CULTURED: Which works provokes the most conversation from visitors? 

Selden: Okay, I need three here. A commissioned portrait of me that Robert Peterson recently completely gets a lot of conversation—it shows me on a couch with painted photos of some of the courageous women that have inspired me along the way. The other is a Kareem-Anthony Ferreira work that has such amazing texture and detail. Also, Rugiyatou Ylva Jallow’s work sits at the top of my staircase and stops people in their tracks. Her paintings tell the story of a mixed race woman, and her use of thread throughout her paintings is spectacular.

Kareem-Anthony-Ferreira-painting
On easel: Kareem-Anthony Ferreira, In the yard, by cousin Shea, 2023. On wall: Austin Uzor, Light show; dissolving stars, 2022.

CULTURED: How do you discover new artists and/or work? 

Selden: Someone needs to take my phone because I am constantly looking for new artists. Is addiction to art a thing? Is there a support group I can join? I find artists through Instagram, Artnet, Artsy, fairs I attend around the world, global auctions, art advisors, galleries I frequent, museums, talking to my collector peers and mentors, international group chats with collectors. It’s a way of life, if you will.

CULTURED: Which artist are you currently most excited about and why? 

Selden: I’m obsessed with Esther Mahlangu, a South African geometrical abstract artist, who paints designs used in the Ndebele tribe. I just purchased my fourth work of hers. Also, Austin Uzor, whose figurative abstract work you really need to see in person to fully grasp. It is stunning.

barkley-hendricks-photographer
Barkley Hendricks, Untitled (Self-portrait) 1975. 

CULTURED: What factors do you consider when expanding your collection? 

Selden: Can we talk about how the “factors” sometimes consider us though? Expanding our collection is sometimes limited by our reach and access. I’ve heard some pretty wild things from galleries as a Black collector. There are plenty of works I want and would like to buy, but as a Black collector, I often get a bit disappointed when I see how we are not given access like our white counterparts. Fortunately, this is not always the case, but baby…

CULTURED: What was the most challenging piece in your personal collection to acquire? 

Selden: Phyllis Stephens is a fifth generation quilt maker, and there was a large scale quilt work that was originally “sold” when I originally asked about it. I happened to be at a fair sitting with Richard Beavers, the gallery owner, when the sale fell through, and he looked at me and said, “Do you want it?”

LaToya-Hobbs-painting
Rugiyatou Ylva Jallow, Skygg, 2022.

CULTURED: How has your collection changed as your home and space has changed? 

Selden: As a relatively new but extremely active collector, one of my largest challenges is wall space. When I built my house, I thought I wanted a ton of windows for natural sunlight and views. Now, I find myself covering windows with art bearing easels because where else am I going to otherwise fit these wonderful stories?

CULTURED: What feelings would you like your collection to inspire in the people who experience it? 

Selden: Nina Simone, in an interview, once said, “An artist’s duty as far as I’m concerned, is to reflect the times. I think that is true of our painters, sculptors, poets, musicians…” I want my collection to tell the Black experience. Our pain, our joy, our strength, our struggles, our resilience, our beauty, our love, and our community.  

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Go DJ: Why Everyone Wants to Work With Kaytranada

In February, when Kaytranada’s stage manager, Tamir Schlanger, texted him to ask if he had a vision for his Coachella performance, the artist responded with screenshots of the giant metallic head from The Wiz, the 1978 musical film featuring Michael Jackson and Diana Ross. He wondered: Could Schlanger replicate it, but with his own head?

Out of context, the images were menacing — the almighty wizard, spewing smoke and lasers — but funny, too; one featured Richard Pryor’s character, a failed politician from New Jersey named Herman Smith, peeping up sheepishly through the hole in The Wiz’s eye. All smoke and mirrors. Was the 30-year-old producer-DJ commenting on the steely facade of celebrity? Was the production meant to highlight the dichotomy between Louis Kevin Celestin, the shy kid born to Haitian immigrants who grew up in a quiet Montreal suburb, and the Grammy-winning musical wiz better known as Kaytranada?

“There really was no thought process at all, honestly,” Kaytranada admits about a month after his performance, emphasizing that the decision was purely aesthetic: He was just a fan of the movie and noticed his own physical resemblance to The Wiz’s face. “I just wanted to make something iconic,” he says.

Prior to his Coachella performance, there was little disputing Kaytranada’s accomplishments behind the scenes, where he had cultivated a reputation as a personally reserved but musically boisterous tastemaker. Over the course of two albums, 2016’s 99.9% and 2019’s Grammy-winning Bubba, he established himself as a go-to producer and deft collaborator, a singular artist able to adapt his sound to the strengths of everyone from hip-hop stars like Chance the Rapper to experimental R&B singers like Kelela while still maintaining his distinct style: a feel-good blend of dance, R&B, Afrobeats, disco and hip-hop. In the process, he also became one of the biggest gay Black artists in a genre of increasingly influential music founded by gay Black artists.

Kaytranada has jokingly called his music “Black tropical house” and “futuristic disco,” though today, speaking to Billboard, he describes it as “a new era of new jack swing.” And there is a definitive swing that distinguishes his production style, which borrows from elements of the Haitian dance genre compas, including the slightly off drum placements that imprint his otherwise sleek productions with a soulful, human touch. What has become known as the “Kaytranada sound” — a term he feels sometimes boxes him into the past — lies in the tension between the comfort of nostalgia and the excitement of the future, and has earned him collaborations with artists he aspired to be like growing up, like Pharrell Williams.

“He has a refreshing energy and approach to music,” Williams says. “And we’re all so blessed that dance music is at the center of what he does — which is, make us dance in color.”

Kaytranada photographed on May 11, 2023 at Garibaldina Society in Los Angeles.

Marni top, pants, and blazer. Joelle Grace Taylor

Since he caught the internet’s attention with early SoundCloud remixes of Missy Elliott and TLC, along with a freewheeling, widely memed 2013 Boiler Room set filmed in Montreal that has amassed 19 million YouTube views (Top comment: “This party should have its own Wikipedia page”), Kaytranada’s vibrant dance music has captivated audiences across the world. But there was something different about the Kaytranada who DJ’d in front of a giant sculpture of his own head during a prime-time slot at Coachella’s massive Outdoor Theatre.

It wasn’t just that lasers shot out of that head as he danced playfully to hits spanning his discography or how he hyped up the crowd while premiering his remix of Beyoncé’s 2022 disco-funk banger, “CUFF IT.” Nor was it the guest appearances from Kali Uchis and Aminé the first weekend or H.E.R., Tinashe and Anderson .Paak the second — all Kaytranada collaborators whose relationships with the producer extend beyond the studio. Instead, it was the unmistakable confidence fueling his showmanship, which finally mirrored the assured and sprightly pulse of his music.

As someone who came up DJ’ing in Montreal’s experimental hip-hop scene, Kaytranada says he used to judge other DJs for “overdoing it” onstage. “I was like, ‘I want my ones and twos, and that’s it,’ ” he says. “I have the music, and I understand it. I just didn’t want to go extra.” Looking back on his reservations, “it was probably my confidence,” he admits, noting that having a stage manager like Schlanger who is able to bring his “random ideas” to life has also been a tremendous help. “I just didn’t think I deserved to go that far. But now that I have accepted myself, I’m like, ‘OK, I’ll perform with a big crowd. I’ll perform at a stadium.’ That kind of inspired me to do a larger-than-life show.”

“That show is really a visual representation of a decade of hard work,” says William Robillard Cole, Kaytranada’s manager since 2013. The Coachella set, he says, proved to be a “pivotal moment” in not only solidifying trust with the team at RCA, which Kaytranada signed to in 2018, but in establishing the artist as a “true major hard-ticket act,” noting that offers from bookers started pouring in almost immediately. “People are like, ‘Bring the head! Let’s do a tour with the head!’ ”

Robillard Cole attributes Kaytranada’s newfound confidence onstage in part to opening for The Weeknd on his 2022 After Hours Til Dawn stadium tour but also cites two pivotal things that happened long before: Kaytranada coming out publicly in 2016 and moving from Montreal to Los Angeles shortly after, where he has bounced among a series of long-term Airbnbs when he’s not on the road. “As he has gotten older and more comfortable with himself, he has really been able to develop a performance attitude,” says Robillard Cole. “Kay is an entertainer. It’s true to his soul. That dude loves to dance, he loves to entertain people, he loves to DJ, and to see the progression as a performer over the last few years, it has just been incredible to watch.”

Kaytranada photographed on May 11, 2023 at Garibaldina Society in Los Angeles.

Marni suit, Dries Van Noten top, Martine Ali jewelry. Dog Model: Angel Hernandez. Joelle Grace Taylor

In 2023, that progression promises to continue as Kaytranada heads to Europe in June to support another leg of The Weeknd’s tour. Later this year, he plans to release his third album, though he says it’s too early to discuss particulars beyond the heavier influence of new wave and industrial. And in May, he released a breezy collaborative record with rapper Aminé called Kaytraminé (get it?) that evokes that first sip of a frozen piña colada. Aminé says they selected album guests such as Williams, Big Sean, Amaarae, Freddie Gibbs and Snoop Dogg out of “pure fandom” and connected with each organically, with texts and phone calls rather than working through A&R — a testament, he adds, to Kaytranada’s likability. (The producer says his collaborations are now 60% people who approach him and 40% him reaching out to artists.)

“His master collaborator effect to me is because he’s so nonchalant about everything,” says Aminé, who met Kaytranada through SoundCloud in 2014 when he rapped over the producer’s early breakout, “At All.” “He’ll play the craziest beat and just be like, ‘Yeah, that was pretty cool.’ It’s so funny. I feel like a lot of artists go into sessions with producers who have big names or whatever, and the producers are really f–king intimidating sometimes. They’re like, ‘This is going to be a hit record, man! This is going to get you to the top!’ Corny sh-t that doesn’t really feel like yourself, and I think Kay is really good at giving artists room and just letting them flourish.”

His last album, Bubba, which showcased artists like Estelle, Masego and GoldLink, earned Kaytranada three nominations at the 2021 Grammys, including for best new artist, and a landmark pair of wins: best dance recording for “10%,” his funk-tinged, pay-me-now collaboration with Uchis, and the other for best dance/electronic album. The latter put Kaytranada in the record books as the first Black producer and first openly gay artist to win the category since it was created in 2004.

They’re notable distinctions, considering the foundational role gay Black men have played in dance music for the last 50 years. In places like Chicago, the birthplace of house, dance music was forged out of resistance, with underground clubs functioning as spaces of relative safety and freedom from the racist and homophobic status quo. While smaller clubs, festivals and labels across America center queer Black DJs, that history is rarely acknowledged at today’s typical major dance festivals, where straight white men overwhelmingly dominate lineups. As Chicago DJ Derrick Carter put it in 2014: “Something that started as gay Black/Latino club music is now sold, shuffled and packaged as having very little to do with either.”

“Being a queer artist, being from Canada and of Haitian descent — he’s an outsider in every respect,” explains Def Jam Records CEO Tunji Balogun, who says it was a “no-brainer” to sign Kaytranada to RCA when he was vp there. “But he’s still redefining what an electronic DJ is supposed to look and sound like.”

There’s a dexterity to Kaytranada’s interdisciplinary output that offers multiple points of entry into his work. “I always tell people Kay has three parts to his career: He’s a DJ, he’s a producer and he’s an artist,” says Robillard Cole. “Obviously, that’s not something that’s super common in the music business, and to run a career that has three parts, we’ve had to put in just as much work on the producer side as the DJ side and as much work on the artist side as the producer side. It’s all about strategic partnerships and relationships.”

Those different but connected roles have singularly situated Kaytranada in the dance world. He’s the rare artist who can release a hip-hop record on Friday, then DJ Electric Daisy Carnival on Saturday, as he did in May; someone who’s big enough to headline dance festivals but still eager to work with niche and emerging artists. “He’s either the biggest pop star in the underground or the best-kept secret in the pop world,” Balogun says. “He has dual citizenship. I think he’s becoming that go-to DJ that a pop star will call to freshen up a song, but he’s also still in the trap.”

When Balogun began following Kaytranada online after the latter released his sample-heavy 2013 mixtape, Kaytra Todo, on Jakarta Records, he at first didn’t even register him as a dance artist because he was “on some futuristic hip-hop sh-t. He definitely reminded me of a J Dilla descendant.” Today, he sees Kaytranada as a bridge, someone whose intersections connect music lovers across genres, cultures and generations, like introducing younger listeners to influences such as Madlib and J Dilla — legendary producers who themselves sat at the intersection of hip-hop and dance music and informed Kaytranada’s approach for Kaytraminé — or collaborators like Teedra Moses. (His remix of her 2004 song “Be Your Girl” has far surpassed the original in streams.)

While Kaytranada has intentionally operated “on the outer realm of the industry,” as Robillard Cole puts it, going forward, “the goal is to be the biggest dance artist in the world,” he says, “but [while] staying true to himself. Never compromising. It’s not a monetary goal for us. It’s more respect and critical acclaim than anything. I always tell people that cream rises to the top. It’s the same with good music.” He’s trying to help Kaytranada build a legacy, and paints the image of 25-year-olds flipping through a vinyl shop in the year 2080, geeking out over a Kaytranada record. “That’s what legacy is,” he says.

Kaytranada photographed on May 11, 2023 at Garibaldina Society in Los Angeles.

Marni top, pants, and blazer, Adieu shoes. Joelle Grace Taylor

No matter his accolades, some professional moments still send Kaytranada spiraling into self-doubt — he’s a Virgo after all, and identifies with the sign’s perfectionist tendencies. But he has increasingly come to understand his value. When I ask him if the remix of “CUFF IT” he premiered at Coachella will ever be released, he shrugs. Parkwood Entertainment, he explains, approached his team about the remix and sent him the vocal stems, but he disagreed with the terms of the proposed contract. (Negotiations are still pending; Parkwood did not respond to requests for comment.) He looks visibly disappointed. He worked hard on the remix and knows it would mean a lot to release it, both to the culture — when Beyoncé’s 2022 album, Renaissance, deeply indebted to house and disco trailblazers, won the Grammy for best dance/electronic album, she thanked “the queer community for your love and for inventing the genre” in her acceptance speech — and to his own career. But he also seems resolute.

“I know my worth. I know they reached out to me to do the remix for a reason, and then to be treated back like I wasn’t all that, it’s kind of weird,” he says. “I’m going to keep it at that. I know my worth.”


A different remix jump-started Kaytranada’s career over 10 years ago: his high-octane club rework of Janet Jackson’s “If,” which sounded like the singer had fallen into a vortex. He worked on the song all night in his bedroom after attending a Flying Lotus show in Montreal, inspired by the producer’s ability to fuse electronic elements with hip-hop. Under the moniker Kaytradamus, he uploaded the remix to SoundCloud at 5 a.m. before passing out.

This was in 2012, when SoundCloud was an influential hub for experimental dance music, and Kaytranada woke up that afternoon to an avalanche of notifications. He recalls peering at his phone and thinking, “What the hell is this?” before going back to sleep, too frazzled to comprehend the attention.

Offers to DJ started trickling in, including an invitation from Robillard Cole to play in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he was a business student at Saint Mary’s University, in January 2013. (It was the first time Kaytranada flew on an airplane since immigrating to Canada from Haiti as a child.) “I just never heard music like his before — ever,” he says. “The way he puts synths together, his basslines; everything was slightly offbeat.” After the gig, Robillard Cole asked Kaytranada if he had a manager, promising that he could double his rate at the time to $300 a set. He started organizing Kaytranada’s first tour from his accounting class.

Because touring in America required visas, they went to Europe instead. Their budget was $7,000 Canadian, which meant sharing hotel rooms and traveling by bus. The venues were small; Robillard Cole recalls Kaytranada DJ’ing in a jerk chicken restaurant in Manchester, England. But the risks — which included Kaytranada and Robillard Cole eventually dropping out of high school and business school, respectively — paid off. The tour got Kaytranada in front of influential people in the music industry, which led to his 2014 signing with XL Records, the storied British label that has been home to Radiohead, M.I.A. and Arca.

The deal let Kaytranada expand his clout in Europe, which at the time was more receptive to his music. (The United States is currently his biggest market.) It also helped connect him with bigger collaborators for his debut album, 99.9%, which features artists like Vic Mensa, AlunaGeorge and Craig David. “It was a super-big blessing to be signed with XL back then,” says Robillard Cole, “and we just did it as a one-off, which to this day is one of the best decisions [we’ve] ever made because it allowed us to come over to America and sign with RCA Records next and really grow commercially.”

Kaytranada photographed on May 11, 2023 at Garibaldina Society in Los Angeles.

Dries Van Noten suit, Ferragamo shoes, Acne Studios eyewear. Joelle Grace Taylor

Kaytranada came out in The Fader in 2016, shortly before the release of 99.9%. To his surprise, he found that as his career started to grow, so did his unhappiness, and he recalls thinking, “I’ve got to come out, or I’m going to go crazy.” “At the time, it was just to confirm to myself and to my brain and to the world that I am indeed gay, because I was gay all my life but I definitely suppressed it,” he says. “Growing up with a lot of kids who are just like, ‘Being gay is hell naw.’ In Haiti, hell naw. You cannot be gay.”

Though his anxiety spiked pre-publication, “his whole mentality and energy changed as soon as that article came out,” says his brother, rapper Lou Phelps. “Like he felt more free. He would be less reserved, less shy with the family.”

Though his success has played an important part in realigning mainstream dance music with its gay Black roots, Kaytranada doesn’t necessarily frame his impact in those terms. He recalls learning about dance music’s history in his early 20s through Maestro, the 2003 documentary about DJ culture featuring luminaries like Frankie Knuckles and Larry Levan, and thinking, “Duh — because [house music] sounded very Black,” he says. At the same time, it helped him to better trace his influences; as someone who grew up feeling like “a little weird Black dude” for listening obsessively to acts like Justice and Daft Punk, Kaytranada came to realize that those French electronic artists were themselves borrowing from Black musical genres.

Although he was bullied at his mostly white high school for being small, Black and quiet, kids also regarded him as a tastemaker, someone they approached in the hallways about what they should be listening to — which included everything from Kenyan rock to Linkin Park and the Black Eyed Peas. “I always thought I knew music better than anybody at my school,” he says.

When I ask Kaytranada if he thinks people who come to his shows or participate in dance culture should know about the music’s history, he seems ambivalent. “If you’re into house music, you definitely need to get educated,” he says. “But if you just love the music, that’s cool, too. I don’t really judge when it comes to that.” It’s the kind of noncommittal answer that he tends to give for questions about identity in general, a reticence that suggests he would rather let his work speak for itself. Later, when I ask if he has been able to find gay community in Los Angeles since coming out, he says, “Yes,” then pauses haltingly before acknowledging that he sometimes feels overlooked by the gay community at large for not “proving” that he’s gay enough.

“I thought it was going to be fun,” he says. “[But] it’s like, ‘Oh, you’re not the gay man I thought you was going to be. Oh, your taste is not like my taste. You need to be more gay.’ And that would affect me — but not anymore, because I know I’m really unique at this point. I’m just onto different things.”

Kaytranada photographed on May 11, 2023 at Garibaldina Society in Los Angeles.

Kaytranada photographed on May 11, 2023 at Garibaldina Society in Los Angeles. Commission tank and polo top, Amiri shoes, Martine Ali jewelry, FRED eyewear. Joelle Grace Taylor

It’s a charge he still seems sensitive about — not being as visibly queer as some other artists — though he insists he’s just being himself, the role model he felt he needed before he came out. Growing up as a hip-hop head, he recalls listening to Mobb Deep’s homophobic lyrics and questioning how he could ever be accepted in the industry. (It might be one reason he always listened to the beats of his favorite rap songs before he delved into the lyrics: “I was always looking at the credits,” he says.)

“Like, how are you going to accept a gay producer?” he recalls thinking. “That was not seen at the time. It seemed impossible.” Mainstream representations of gay men sent him into an identity crisis. “I couldn’t relate to that. I just couldn’t, and I was like, ‘I cannot be gay,’ because I was not into those things,” he says. “That was really a confusing period of my life.”

He points to Frank Ocean coming out on Tumblr in 2012 as a significant turning point in his own self-acceptance. “It kind of made things more possible,” he says, particularly in the world of R&B and hip-hop. And he knows, at this point, that he has become that person for others, too. “When I came out, a lot of musicians secretly came out to me, saying, ‘The [Fader] article moved me.’ And I was like, ‘Word.’ ”


In person, Kaytranada expresses himself with an ease that’s neither flashy nor restrained. Sitting outside of a restaurant on Melrose Avenue, he’s soft-spoken and reserved, burying his hands in his brown Martine Rose track jacket. But over the course of a couple of hours, he grows looser and more expressive, calling the finger sandwiches he orders “cute” (they are cute) and making casual reference to his boyfriend, a photographer he visited Universal Studios with the day before. (Kaytranada’s still a little shaken up from riding Revenge of the Mummy.) They were friends for a year before they started dating in January, and though he’s trying to implement lessons he learned from his last relationship, namely about boundaries, he says they’re together all the time.

At Billboard’s cover shoot the next day, he lies on the floor in a bright orange crop top, balancing against a fallen chair before ending up on his back in the yogic plow pose, his legs flipped over his head. (He started working out two years ago with the help of a trainer and considers himself a “gym rat” now.) Later, he struts out of the dressing room wearing a black suit with a pink wrap around his waist, steps up onto a table and poses like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, his right pointer finger directed skyward. He breaks into a grin as the camera flashes.

Kaytranada’s hands are studded with rings, including the two he bought the night before he won two Grammys. He’s still kicking himself for not superstitiously buying another one before this year’s ceremony, when he was nominated for best dance/electronic recording for “Intimidated,” his silky-smooth collaboration with H.E.R. (He lost — to Beyoncé.) “I bought chains instead,” he says. “I ended up f–king up.”

Kaytranada photographed on May 11, 2023 at Garibaldina Society in Los Angeles.

Kaytranada photographed on May 11, 2023 at Garibaldina Society in Los Angeles. Joelle Grace Taylor

Recognition from the Recording Academy, he explains, was never the goal. “My idols, the people I looked up to, they never really had Grammys, so it was whatever. But being nominated, it’s a whole different thing. It kind of alters what you’re aiming for.” Now, he says, he’s “trying to make Grammy-winning albums.”

He gave his two trophies to his mother. They are on display in his childhood home, on top of the piano he grew up playing. The awards feel symbolic, not only of his success as an artist, but as a son. Dropping out of high school was a sore spot for his mother, who didn’t see how music could be a viable career. “When I won a Grammy, it really felt like I graduated or something. Like, I have something that means a lot,” he says. “Your name is in history forever.”

In the beginning, when his parents failed to understand what he did, Kaytranada would show them a documentary about The Neptunes to help demonstrate. But “they understood the Grammys — we had a compilation Grammy CD,” he says, grinning. There was no explanation needed.

“I just want to be remembered as one of the greats in terms of producing, not only dance and electronic but also just production in general,” Kaytranada says. He has his wish list of artists he would still love to work with, but says his dream collaboration would be to produce an entire album for a pop star looking to rebrand his or her sound, similar to how Timbaland reoriented Justin Timberlake’s style when he produced 2006’s FutureSex/LoveSounds. He throws out Justin Bieber’s name as an example. “It’s a matter of longevity, too — and, you know, just happiness. Like, as long as you’re comfortable and you’re happy with your life, that’s a form of success — but don’t forget the money part.”

I ask him if he’s happy, and his voice goes up an octave. “Yes, I’m happy!” he says somewhat apprehensively, as if to acknowledge the corniness of the question, or maybe its impossibility, before dropping back down to his normal register. “I’m saying that looking away, but naw, I’m really happy.” He laughs, then tries one more time: “I’m definitely the happiest I’ve been.”

Kaytranada

This story will appear in the June 10, 2023, issue of Billboard.

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

Jesse Freeman: ‘As far as a Black art scene goes … it’s just foreign or not.’

Jesse Freeman, 38, is an American visual artist and writer living in Tokyo. His mediums include photography, filmmaking, collage and ikebana (flower arrangement). Jesse is a native of Baltimore, Maryland.

1. You are a multidisciplinary artist but how do you describe yourself? As nothing in particular.

2. What do you mean by “nothing in particular”? That I can do anything! So I do nothing in particular. It’s all the same idea. It all comes from an idea and then it goes to each (medium).

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RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment

‘Tommy’ revisited: Goodman Theatre reimagines The Who’s rock tuner 30 years after Broadway debut

Rock tuner re-imagined

Rock legend Pete Townshend and acclaimed director Des McAnuff, the creators of “The Who’s Tommy,” which premiered on Broadway 30 years ago, reunite for Goodman Theatre’s re-imagined revival. Based on The Who’s celebrated 1969 rock opera, the tuner tells the story of a young boy who triumphs over childhood trauma to become a pinball phenom. Ali Louis Bourzgui plays the titular role.

Previews at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, June 13-15, and June 21-22; 8 p.m. June 16, 17, 23; 2 and 7:30 p.m. June 18; 2 and 8 p.m. June 24; and 2 p.m. June 25 at 170 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. The show opens June 26. $30-$160. Masks optional. (312) 443-3800 or goodmantheatre.com.

In Goodman Theatre's re-imagined revival of "The Who's Tommy," director Des McAnuff, center wearing tie, revisits the rock tuner whose premiere he helmed 30 years ago.

In Goodman Theatre’s re-imagined revival of “The Who’s Tommy,” director Des McAnuff, center wearing tie, revisits the rock tuner whose premiere he helmed 30 years ago. – Courtesy of Liz Lauren


Portrait of an artist

Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre revives the Tony Award-winning “Passing Strange,” the musical by singer/songwriter/playwright Stew about a young African American man’s journey of artistic self-discovery. Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre artistic director Tim Rhoze directs.

Previews at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, June 9-10 and 16-17, and 6 p.m. Sunday, June 11, at 721 Howard St., Evanston. The show opens June 18. $35-$55. Masks recommended. (773) 939-4101 or theo-u.com.

Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre revives the Tony Award-winning musical "Passing Strange."

Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre revives the Tony Award-winning musical “Passing Strange.”


Janus Theatre at 25

Elgin’s Janus Theater celebrates its 25th season with a revival of Moises Kaufman’s courtroom drama “Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde.” Kaufman incorporates court transcripts, newspaper accounts and Wilde’s own writings to tell the story of the playwright’s late 19th-century trial on charges he committed “gross indecency” with another man, at a time when homosexuality was illegal in England. Artistic director Sean Hargadon directs the “read not dead, page to stage, scripts in hand” production, which is based on Globe Theatre techniques in which actors rehearse briefly and perform with scripts.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

7:30 p.m. June 15-17 and 22-24 at the Elgin Art Showcase, 164 Division St., Elgin. $15. Masks optional. janusplays.com.

In other news

Check with venues about COVID-19 policies.

• Alpha-Bet Soup Productions presents “Peter Pan and the Pirates” Thursday and Friday, June 8-9, and again July 6-8 at the Tivoli Theatre, 5021 Highland Ave., Downers Grove. $10. (630) 932-1555 or absproductions.com.

• The Second City opened its 111th main stage revue “Don’t Quit Your Daydream” this week at 1616 N. Wells St., Chicago. The adults-only show runs at 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 7 and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday; and 7 p.m. Sunday. (312) 337-3992 or secondcity.com.

• Previews begin Friday, June 9, for The Factory Theater’s “Lane Call: A Night of Closing,” the final production of its 28th season. Set in 1984 at a Venture big box store, the play is about young employees charged with closing up and preparing for a big inspection the next morning, who are also eager to attend a post-work party. The show opens June 16 at 1623 W. Howard St., Chicago. (312) 275-5757 or thefactorytheater.com.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

• Submissions of in-progress, physical theater works are due Friday, June 9, for consideration for inclusion in the July 10 “Scratch Night,” which showcases in-progress works as part of the upcoming 10th annual Physical Theater Festival in Chicago. Email scratchnightchicago@gmail.com or see physicalfestival.com.

• Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre presents the Chicago premiere of “Obama-ology,” Aurin Squire’s drama about a young, gay, African American man who takes a job with Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and begins to question his racial and sexual identity. Performances begin Saturday, June 10, at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre, Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes St., Evanston. (847) 866-5914 or fjtheatre.com.

• Collaboraction Theatre launches Collaboraction Radio, consisting of news, conversation, storytelling, interviews, digital theater and comedy, all of which is rooted in the pursuit of social justice. The show launches Saturday, June 10, and runs from 4-5 p.m. Saturdays on WCPT 820 AM.

• City Lit Theater offers an additional performance of “Aztec Human Sacrifice” on Monday, June 12, at 1020 W. Bryn Mawr Ave., Chicago. (773) 293-3682 or citylit.org.

• Teatro Vista hosts “The Dream Party,” a gala fundraiser for the company from 6-10 p.m. Monday, June 12, at Carnivale, 702 W. Fulton Market, Chicago. The party includes dinner, dancing, a silent auction and tarot readings. See teatrovista.org/the-dream-party.

Will Klinger and Kelly Anne Clark star in the Chicago premiere of "Being Seen," a comedy by writer/director Richard Gustin running at The Den Theatre.

Will Klinger and Kelly Anne Clark star in the Chicago premiere of “Being Seen,” a comedy by writer/director Richard Gustin running at The Den Theatre.

• Actor/producer/writer and former “Wild Chicago” host Will Clinger and award-winning Joseph Jefferson Award-winner Kelly Anne Clark star in the Chicago premiere of “Being Seen,” Richard Gustin’s comedy about an actress who answers an audition notice and finds herself navigating a famous director’s outlandish creative process. Performances run Wednesday, June 14, through July 2 at The Den Theatre, 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago. (773) 697-3830 or thedentheatre.com.

• Otherworld Theatre Company presents “PUFFS, or, Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic,” an unauthorized, unsanctioned, unlicensed parody of a popular young adult book series about a certain boy wizard. Performances run Thursday, June 15, through July 23 at 3914 N. Clark St., Chicago. The theater will donate a portion of ticket sales to Howard Brown Health’s trans health care initiatives. See otherworldtheatre.org.

• The Practical Theatre Company launches a summer sketch comedy show Thursday, June 15, at Studio 5, 1938 Dempster St., Evanston. “Vic & Paul & Dana’s Funny Summer Show!” runs through July 2. (847) 328-6683 or studio5.dance.

• Congo Square Theatre Company kicks off Juneteenth weekend with a celebration of Black artists and artistry. Blackity, Black, Black, Congo Square’s annual homecoming fundraiser, takes place from 6-10 p.m. Thursday, June 15, at LM Studios, 808 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago. The event includes dinner, dancing and entertainment. See congosquaretheatre.org/homecoming.

• “The Late Show” host and Second City alum Stephen Colbert hosts a Lookingglass Theatre benefit at 11:30 a.m. Friday, June 16, at 167 N. Green St., Chicago. “The Lookingglass Lunch Show With Stephen Colbert” will feature Colbert in conversation with ensemble members Atra Asdou, J. Nicole Brooks, Anthony Fleming III, Heidi Stillman and Matthew C. Yee. See lookingglasstheatre.org/lglunchshow23.

• Rebecca Gilman’s “Swing State,” which premiered at Goodman Theatre in 2022, makes its New York premiere courtesy of Audible Theater, whose limited run begins previews in September. Original director Robert Falls will helm the production, which features the original Chicago cast. See swingstateplay.com.

• Comings and goings: City Lit Theater named resident director Brian Pastor as its new executive artistic director. Lookingglass Theatre announced executive director Rachel L. Fink will depart the company this summer after five years in the position.

• The Factory Theater’s 29th season commences Nov. 3 with the premiere of “Wise Guys: The First Christmas Story” (Nov. 3-Dec. 16), about three religious scholars who race against time to catch the birth of God, or the son of God, or both, or neither. That’s followed by the premiere of “Party At The Pantheon: A Modern Greek Stoner Comedy” (Feb. 9-March 23, 2024), a modern take on Greek classics in which Dionysus throws a party for his friend Orpheus, who’s still grieving the loss of his wife, Eurydice. The season concludes with “Die Hard 4 Your Luv” (May 31-July 13, 2024), about terrorists holding a boy band hostage on New Year’s Eve in 1999. Performances take place at 1623 W. Howard St., Chicago. See thefactorytheater.com.

RankTribe™ Black Business Directory News – Arts & Entertainment