Book Review: In the Midnight Hour: The Life & Soul of Wilson Pickett by Tony Fletcher

Book cover, black bakground, photo of black man bending over with a mic to his mouth singing and arm swinging backwards and the words In the Midnight Hour the life & soul of Wilson Pickett by Tony Fletcher

In the Midnight Hour chronicles two parallel tracks of twentieth century African American history: the Great Migration, when 1.75 million African Americans left the rural south for the urban north from 1910 through 1940, and the story of the black American experience in the middle of the twentieth century as told through music.  

#BlackPride4 Sentenced

Four faces of black people, two women, two men with words BlackPride4 under each one

Judge Cynthia Ebner, endorsed by the Stonewall Democrats, handed out sentences in the #BlackPride4 on Tuesday, March 13.  Last week word was sent from the City Attorney's Office that there would be no jail time requested from the judge. The city attorney proescuting this case made this clear for all three of the #BlackPride4.

Intense pressure put on the city of Columbus, including a National Day of Action to Free the #BlackPride4 organized by GetEqual and Black Queer Intersectional Columbus BQIC) on Monday, had an impact. Supporters of the #BlackPride4 had simple message: #Columbusisguilty -- not the #BlackPride4 who were arrested when they held a silent vigil during the 2017 Stonewall Pride march. The vigil was to call attention to the murders of black trans people and killings of black people in Columbus by the police. Immediately, when the #BlackPride4 began a vigil in the street, Columbus Police jumped on them and brutalized them.

EL NIÑO Theater Review

Hard on the heels of Rogue Machine’s winning the Best Season Ovation Awards El Niño - the indie theatre company’s first offering of 2018 - has blown into The Met. Playwright Justin Tanner’s dramedy takes place inside a Highland Park home, where 48-year-old daughter Colleen (Emmy winner Maile Flanagan) has taken up residence on her parents’ living room couch. As her mom June (stage and big and little screen actress Danielle Kennedy) and dad Harvey (theatre thesp Nick Ullett, who has performed on Broadway) try to show her the door, Colleen comes across as a Minnie quality moocher worthy of a Cab Calloway croon.

 

Reckless Endangerment of Northern Minnesota by Foreign Mining Companies: Part II

(If a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words, the DNR and PCA Will Have no Rational Choice Other Than

Denying PolyMet’s Permit to Build an Experimental Tailings Lagoon in Water-Rich Northern Minnesota That Will Have 250 foot High, Soluble Earthen Dam Walls)

 

By Gary G. Kohls, MD - March 12, 2018

 

For Part I, go to: http://duluthreader.com/articles/2018/03/08/12656_what_entities_are_behind_the_reckless_endangerment

Screening: First Daughter and the Black Snake

Cowby looking man in a wide brimmed beige hat on a horse with white background and black spots on its rear and the words First Daughter and the Black Snake

Tuesday, March 13, 7pm
Northwood-High building, 2231 N. High St., rooom 100
Parking in rear - "R" spots only
Join the Franklin Green Party at 6:00 PM for the open meeting of the Central Committee followed at 7:00 PM by a screening of Winona LaDuke's documentary First Daughter and the Black Snake. The Prequel to Standing Rock. (94 min. 2017). Winona LaDuke believes Big Oil is the black snake predicted in indigenous prophecy to bring the earth's destruction. When proposed new oil pipelines threaten sacred wild rice lakes, Winona dreams of organizing a spiritual ride, riding her horse against the current of oil "because a horse can kill a snake. fcgreenparty@gmail.com.facebook.com/FCgreenparty. 

#Columbusisguilty rally at Columbus City Hall

Many people holding signs outside

A group of #BlackPride4 supporters gathered in front of City Hall at 5pm Monday, March 12 to let Columbus City Council know that "Columbus is guilty!" They were calling attention to the Columbus Police Department and their treatment of the Black Pride 4 at last year's Pride parade. Three of the Black Pride 4 will hear their sentences on Tuesday, March 13 at 9am at the Franklin County Munincipal Court building, room 13A, 375 S. High St. They are  also asking for people to fill the courtroom at that time. The activists spoke about the importance of calling out the Columbus Police and city officials on their use of excessive force against black citizens in  general, and particularly the black trans people at the Pride rally. 

South High School students plan walkout on Wednesday

Black silhouette drawing of a gun with a red circle around it with a line through it signifying "no"

March 14, 2018 marks one month since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which left 14 students and 3 staff members killed and many others wounded or injured. Women’s March Youth EMPOWER is calling for students, teachers, school administrators, parents and allies to take part in a #NationalSchoolWalkout for 17 minutes (in honor of the 17 lives taken in the tragedy in Parkland) at 10am across every time zone on March 14, 2018 to protest Congress’ inaction to do more than tweet thoughts and prayers in response to the gun violence plaguing our schools and neighborhoods.  

 

7 days in … Confusion

Black and white sketch of heavy set Asian man with hair only on top of head, shaved on the sides and he's smiling and saluting

What the hell is going on in national politics? Nobody is doing what is in their, or anybody else’s, best interests. From congressional inactivity to party infighting and missed campaign opportunities, it has been a confounding week. America is going nowhere fast and not enough people seem to understand or care.

ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE

How ironic that Orpheus and Eurydice, an opera about hell, has one of the most exquisite expressions of paradise ever to grace the stage. According to The Victor Book of Operas by Louis Biancolli and Robert Bagar, O&E has “the classic, serene beauty that one associates with Grecian art.” That’s largely because composer Christoph Willibald von Gluck and librettist Pierre-Louis Moline derived the storyline for their 1774 opera from the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus’ (Russian tenor Maxim Mironov) descent into the Underworld to rescue his deceased beloved, Eurydice (Louisianan soprano Lisette Oropesa) and attempt to bring her back to life. Orpheus, but of course, was the son of Apollo and Calliope, the gods of music and poetry, and a chip off the ol’ Olympian block, he was antiquity’s peerless musician.

 

Videos of Take-A-Knee Discussion of Racism and Militarism

On March 1, 2018, I was very privileged to take part in a discussion of issues of racism, freedom of speech, patriotism, and war at Saint Mary’s Hall, a private high school in San Antonio “Military City USA” Texas.

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