Questions for the Zeitgeist- March 8, 2008- The New Black?

1- If you are black and a lover of comedy, you are undoubtedly a fan of this woman. Robert Townsend should thank her; she was the singular reason his mockumentary/comedy "Jackie's Back!" is an underground cult hit in the black/gay/progressive community. Bette Midler should bow at her feet; she sang backup for The Divine Miss M back in her bathhouse days. 'Dreamgirls' director Michael Bennett (God rest his soul), Jennifer Holiday AND Jennifer Hudson should thank their heavenly stars that she exists; she defined the role of Effie White in the Bennett-directed 'Dreamgirls' workshop which would go on to be a Broadway sensation, winning a Tony for Holiday AND an Oscar for Hudson. She's no stranger to Broadway productions (landing her first broadway role in 'Eubie'); she's had an off-Broadway one-woman show ('The Diva is Dismissed', which garnered her a NAACP Image Award) and she is slated to return to Broadway in April as Motormouth Maybelle in 'Hairspray'. She's the spunky relative that we all wished we had; she's played Angela Bassett's mother in 'What's Love Got To Do With It', Whitney Houston's mother in 'The Preacher's Wife', Tupac's mother in 'Poetic Justice', Morris Chestnutt's mother in 'The Brothers', Jill Marie Jones' mother in the UPN/CW series 'Girlfriends', Will Smith's aunt on 'The Fresh Prince of Bel Air', Rockmond Dunbar's aunt in 'Dirty Laundry', Dean Davenport on 'A Different World' and (my favorite, after her turn as the flawed-diva-staging-a-comeback in 'Jackie's Back!') the ultraprovocative and completely campy talk-show host Delia Devaux on 'Living Single'. And these are just the roles I can think of off the top of my head!!! I hear she was funny as HELL in Tyler Perry's new movie 'Meet The Browns' (which I haven't seen yet), but she was THE comic relief in Perry's 'Madea's Family Reunion' as the over-the-top wedding planner. My question is...Why doesn't Jenifer Lewis have her OWN television show?

2- Speaking of Broadway...First Oprah produces 'The Color Purple'. Then Debbie Allen directs an all-black cast in a revival of Tennesse Williams' 'Cat On a Hot Tin Roof'. Now, Whoopi Goldberg is putting on her producer's hat- bringing Ntozake Shange's 'For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf' back to Broadway (starring neo-soul ingenue India. Arie). Is Broadway "under attack by the blacks"? Just how black is "The Great White Way" going to get?

3- Speaking of Oprah, why haven't YOU read Eckhart Tolle's "A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose" yet?





4- Richard Parsons leaves Time Warner/AOL . Stanley O'Neal is ousted from Merrill Lynch. Currently, there are just 5 black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies in the U.S.- Kenneth Chenault at American Express being one of them. Which begs the question...If Chenault leaves, will American Express no longer offer their "Black card"?





5- Black-on-Black LOVE, smoked bacon in macaroni and cheese, and some of the best barbeque in Memphis... Isn't The Food Network's new cooking show 'Down Home With the Neelys' one of the most delicious new shows on television?





6- White-on-Black love, perhaps a little taste of minstrelsy, and (possibly) a great new social experiment on the big screen... In Ben Stiller's forthcoming summer film 'Tropic Thunder', Robert Downey Jr. is essentially in "blackface". In the movie, he's playing a white man playing a black man. Is this going to go over well with movie audiences? Does it help that the movie is a comedy?






7-Papi Chulo A.P.B...At the height of the "latin explosion", he was the first face of Sean John. He also ramped for Versace and Kenneth Cole. Now, he's nowhere to be found. Where in the world is the first latino male supermodel Will LeMay? (UPDATE...The REAL RE-Edit has just recently learned that LeMay is NOT, in fact, Latino. Although he appears such, he is actually mixed Carribean and French/Canadian. Thanks for the heads up, Phoenix!!!) UPDATE #2...It has been concluded that although not Latino, THE REAL RE-Edit feels the 'Papi Chulo' moniker is still appropriate! UPDATE #3... According to a VERY reliable source, Mr. LeMay was seen today (4/21/08) walking his dog in the East Village NYC- guess he's being incognito!!!









8- Speaking of Sean John...Shouldn't we give Bad Boy Sean Combs (and Bad Mama Bethann Hardison) credit for hiring all black male models for his Fall 2008 show?





9- Some say they got away with murder (literally!)...

a-Now that he's being charged with two counts of robbery with use of a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery, burglary with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault with a deadly weapon and coercion in his second (though much less-publicized) trial, has O.J. Simpson's luck finally run out?


b- Not be outdone by Simpson, "Preppy Killer" Robert Chambers is now facing two counts of criminal sale of a controlled substance in the first degree, a dozen other drug-related charges and resisting arrest. Is this how a member of the Kennedy clan is supposed to act?





10- The REAL RE-Edit got hip to his garments while watching Robert Altman's fashion film 'Pret A Porter'. What happened to Mali-born Lamine Badian Kouyaté, the designer behind avant-garde fashion label Xuly Bet?





11- While we're talking about 'Pret A Porter', what happened to Jamaican-born up and coming model/Yves Saint Laurent muse Georgianna Robertson (who was featured in the movie)? Was she not supposed to be the the second coming of supermodel Beverly Peele?




FLASHBACK....For those of you STILL trying to get your Jenifer Lewis fix, I give you...the trailer from 1999's 'Jackie's Back'. If you don't already have it, go get this DVD... NOW!!!

Questions for the Zeitgeist- February 21, 2008

OK...Election fever has officially taken me over. Now, in addition to being the pop culture whore that I profess to be, I also risk becoming a politico! I have added CNN to my list of television channel favorites on my remote. (Well, I always had CNN Headline News in my favorites, but I gotta say...Wolf Blitzer's 'Situation Room' is a must-see on the daily for me now). Before we get to the REAL important stuff, let's take stock of what's going on in politics...



As of today, February 21st, 2008...

1- John McCain is trying to dodge the silver bullet that could kill his presidential hopes (a damning expose in The New York Times) by DENYING- with a capital "D"-that he had been , errrr, improperly involved with a female telecommunications lobbyist (who, incidentally, looks like a younger version of his current wife/sugar mama, Cindy. Hmmmm...)

2- Hillary Clinton is GAGGING over the onslaught of support her political rival Barack Obama has amassed by winning 11 straight electoral contests in a row. Apparently, Clinton thought by now it would be a toss up between her and a staunch Republican over who would be positioning themselves for the right to perpetuate the strangleholds of both the military-industrial complex and general corporate greed in this country (thanks for the warning, President Eisenhower!). Apparently, in addition to underestimating Obama's political acumen, she also hadn't counted on people actually believing Obama's "rhetoric" of hope and change beyond Super Tuesday.

3- Mitt Romney is cursing his advisors who told him to "suspend" his fight for the Republican Nomination and ascede to the Republican machinery by officially endorsing McCain, his former rival.



4- As a result of McCain's New York Times writeup, Mike Huckabee is chomping at the bit and restraining himself from issuing the almost irressistable "I told you so" while (literally)making his last stand at The Alamo. Maybe he'll take a break from building his bible-beating coalition aimed at challenging Roe vs. Wade long enough to reinvigorate his bible-beating conservative coalition to back him as the Republican Presidential candidate- whereupon, if hell freezes over and he indeed WINS the general election, he will undoubtedly challenge Roe vs. Wade as soon as he possibly can.

5- Barack Obama is probably finding it harder and harder to refrain from flashing a knowing grin as McCain and Clinton fight their respective sysiphusian battles for credibility. Or maybe he's scratching his head as to how he could beat Clinton 11 times in a row- by WIDE margins- and STILL have to wait until the contests in Texas and Ohio to find out if he will be the Democratic Nominee...

Think About It!!!

Now, onto your (never) regularly-scheduled program- Questions for the Zeitgeist!!!


1- Isn't the Fox Channel's animated series "American Dad" the funniest thing on TV right now? Isn't the resident alien Roger (who's voice is rather similar to the late great Paul Lynde) the most FEY cartoon character to hit animation since the Flintstone's resident alien The Great Gazoo?

2- Show of hands: who thinks they should just commit Britney Spears and check on her in 5 years?

3- But seriously, aren't we hoping against hope that Britney doesn't end up like Anna Nicole Smith?

4- With ABC's most popular show Grey's Anatomy seeming to have jumped the shark, wasn't it smart for Kate Walsh to jump ship over to her own "Private Practice"? Given his, errr, "experience" on Grey's, what is Isiah Washington going to do now that the show that allowed him to retain some semblance of dignity as an actor,"The Bionic Woman", is being cancelled?


5- Aren't we happy that the" blue-eyed soul" vocal powerhouse Taylor Dayne (who's new CD "Satisfied" is in stores now) is back on the scene? Shouldn't she do a shoutfest/duet with that OTHER blue-eyed vocal powerhouse Christina Aguillera?

16- If for no other reason than it showcases her infamous strut, isn't Naomi's commercial for Sobe Life Water the best 30 seconds a fashionista could ask for? (In the words of Beyonce..."Do the Naomi Campbell..walk! Naomi Campbell..walk! Walk across the room like Naomi Campbell...").


One more thing...Is Naomi EVER going to age??? Is she sleeping in the same hyperbaric chamber that MiJac is rumored to have slept in back in the day?



7- Aren't we waiting with bated breath for Queen Latifah's results from Jenny Craig?




8- Scarlett Johannson and Natalie Portman on the cover of W magazine or La Lohan on the cover of New York Magazine...which is hotter?





















9- Now that Fidel Castro has officially stepped down, will cigar afficionados be able to get a "good Cuban"?

10- With its REAL-LIFE modelling challenges and its well-connected (and well-meaning) judging panel, Is Bravo TV's "Make Me A Supermodel" poised to give Tyra's "America's Next Top Model" a run for its money?



FLASHBACK...Speaking of Taylor Dayne
Even though the name of her new CD is called "Satisfied", weren't we more than satisfied in the 80's when she begged us to "Tell It To My Heart"?

ICON Alert! The Year of the Luna

I'm continuing my ICON ALERT series with the undeniable beauty of the exotic bird Donyale Luna. For those of you who have never heard of her, or have heard of her but are unaware of her beauty here are some highlights. For fashionistas, her story is"required reading". ENJOY...




There are a finite number of non-debateably beautiful women born into this world. Often armed with flawless skin, hypnotizing eyes, raw sensuality, lush pillows beneath their chins and/or beautifully symettrical stems that fall into stilettos, they are worshipped creatures. There are even fewer of these creatures who have planted their stilettos on the expansive terra cotta of Earth, on the terra firma of The Runway AND before the unforgivably truthful tabula rasa of the camera lens. These are our "iconic" beauties; women who by virtue of how The Creator has put their lovely visages together warrant attention (whether they want it or not), inspire undying love (whether it is pure or not), demand devotion (from any number of demographics) and hone the skills of Beverly Hills plastic surgeons ("I want lips like Angelina!"). In some cases their mere existence leads to obsession by those mere mortals who feel they are lesser-endowed on the beauty scale. These are women who redefine what the concept of beauty is in the public consciousness forever just by virtue of the fact that they were born.


Yes, Grace Jones is indeed one of these women. So is the legendary Verushka. Add the ridiculously beautiful Sophia Loren to that list. While you're at it, "beauty-mutant" Angelina Jolie deserves more than a passing mention. Audrey Hepburn could fight it out with Halle Berry. The list would also include Naomi Campbell, Vanessa Paradis, Elizabeth Taylor and Iman.

However, this list couldn't possibly exist without the inclusion of one Donyale Luna.




Born Peggy Anne Freeman in Detroit in 1945, she superseded the rags to riches story of Diana Ross' meteoric rise through Motown by at least a decade. However (unlike "The Boss"), her life journey has not been turned into a Broadway play that gave way to a blockbuster movie that Beyonce, Jennifer Hudson and Anika Noni Rose would star in. Even if the planned documentary-style profile of Luna does eventually come into existence, the storyline of the movie "Mahogany" more immediately comes to mind; that of a woefully beautiful woman who leaves the confines of her ghetto upbringing to make her way in the topsy-turvy world fashion, where her kind of beauty would be celebrated by some and (much to her detriment) fetishized by most.


Luna's most commercial accomplishment (and perhaps her biggest source of anguish) was being the first black woman to appear on the cover of Vogue Magazine. As true fashionistas know, Luna booked the cover of British Vogue in 1966, a full eight years before Beverly Johnson would make history as the first black woman on the cover of American Vogue in the summer of 1974.
The cover shot would speak volumes about how Luna had to fight the establishment to pay homage to her kind of beauty- a photograph in which she covered her whole face with her hand, except for her boldly outlined eye. Reportedly, that shot was chosen so as to not offend the magazine’s regular readership. Maybe that's where Luna's reputed problems with her true lineage came from; she would often don blonde wigs and green contacts in desperate attempts to become "other"; she tried her hardest to convince anyone that would listen (in the press and beyond) that she was a mixture of Mexican, Chinese, American Indian and Irish blood-everything except African-American. Perhaps it was infuriating to her that despite all of her protestations to the opposite, through all of her accomplishments and through all of her runway "shenanigans" with fellow model and friend Pat Cleveland, she was still seen as only Negro.

The Luna/Mahogany story arc aside, if there were to be a comparison Ross' turn in that movie would be a poor choice. Luna's story was much more international. Lesley Hornby, on the other hand, would be suitable. Born on September 19th 1949 in the North of London, Hornby would morph into the Queen of Mod- Twiggy- courtesy of photographer Barry Lategan. Peggy Anne Freeman would meet photographer David McCabe during the same timeframe and reinvent herself in the form of Donyale Luna- courtesy of Donyale Luna.







Luna, like Twiggy, had "...the body of a starvation victim and the face of an angel". While Twiggy was being named "The face of '66" by British newspaper The Daily Express, Time Magazine in the U.S. had already named 1966 "The Year of the Luna". While Twiggy worked with acclaimed director Ken Russell and starred in his production of 'The Boyfriend' (which earned her the 1971 Golden Globe awards for "Most Promising Actress" and "Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy"), Donyale Luna was ensconsed in Andy Warhol's Factory with Pat Hartley and Edie Sedgewick. She would serve as Salvador Dali's muse ("She is the reincarnation of Nefertiti" he has famously uttered), appear in movies by Otto Preminger and make appearances in a Fellini film before the end of the decade. Adel Rootstein, whose mannequins have always been considered as the reflection of the "ideal beauty" (with likenesses of Twiggy, Sandie Shaw, Joanna Lumley, Janet Suzman, Joan Collins, Lord Patrick Lichfield, Marie Helvin, Dianne Brill, Yasmin Le Bon, Susanne Barscht, Ute Lemper, Karen Mulder and Jodie Kidd), would also create one that Luna would call her own.

Mary Quant (the "inventor" of the miniskirt) would flutter as Luna (like Twiggy) donned her designs. Jean Muir would swoon, having her seminal matte jersey dresses modeled with passion and conviction by the first black supermodel. Luna would then enchant Paco Rabanne and, later, Halston.










Although she invariably had problems being referred to as "Negro", Luna's exotic look of sun-burnished cafe au lait skin and high cheekbones is the prototype of quite a few of today's ebony beauties; a cornucopia of Beverly (both Johnson AND Peele), Naomi, Tyra, Miss Ross, Eryka Badu and even 'America's Next Top Model winner' Jaslene, this statuesque lovely remains an egg from which most of these 'chicks' would be borne; a woman who laid the groundwork for re-defining black elegance and regalness as a real alternative to the obligatory bubbly blonde it competes with.
















As tragedy often befalls most exceptionally beautiful women, Luna would leave this life early by way of an LSD overdose in 1979, at the age of 33...

The Kara Walker experience...She will NOT be ignored!!!

I don't pretend to be an art critic. But I know what I LOVE. I love when an artist actually has something to SAY, moreso than just the ability to CREATE. Truthfully, there are thousands of people out there armed with skilled hands, canvas board, and a degree in art history. There are also those without at least one of the three. However, when an individual has the "trinity" in ADDITION to an unambiguous and fearless point of view, things start to happen. Enter the world of Kara Walker.


Walker uses her art to connect the dots between antebellum America, its present-day residual effects on American culture, and what it is to be a PROUD, unafraid black intellectual post 1990. She dissects the post-colonial American Anthem, whose broad stripes and bright stars had protected the majority while imprisoning black people in the land of the free who had no choice but to be brave. She rallies on the way slavery and post-slavery has been glossed over in the American history book, reintroducing the subjects in real- and really disturbing-imagery, which is the way it SHOULD be rendered. Her visual ingredients (various incantations of Southern haughtiness, juvenile sexual degradation, fecal matter and situational despair) combine to make up the cocktail that sons and daughters of slaves had no choice but to swallow.


That cocktail is served without apologies this season as Walker's innermost thoughts come to life in her newest exhibit at The Whitney, aptly titled Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love. Her images, though only two-dimensional in most cases (save for the mixed media "films" she debuts at this exhibit), speak louder and more forcefully on the ever-persistent issue of race in this country than any three-dimensional preacher, historian or politician could. They are emphatic and erudite; the subject matter sensational and non-debateable; the result isn't agitprop but pure GENIUS. Its no wonder that the MacArthur Foundation felt the need to bestow its coveted "genius" grant to Walker in 1997.


Walker's main claim to fame thus far- mastering the 18th century art of cut-paper silhouettes and bending them to her will in the 21st century- has set many minds ablaze because she has taken this forgotten medium and applied it to the unforgettable issue of RACE in America (especially unforgettable if you're a person of color in this country). Although it sounds relatively artsy-craftsy, Papier mache it is NOT! Her black silhouettes on vast white canvases seem to speak to the typical black American's feeling of being the antithesis of what this country was seemingly planned to be while unmistakeably, inescapably being part of the whole grand scheme. However, if that were the only point she was trying to get across, it would seem too simplistic. It is what those black silhouettes are doing, having done to them, or finding themselves in the middle of that brings the point home.



While her signature and sword to date has been the black paper cutouts that gained her notoriety- and cult status- in the art world, Walker has not rested on her artistically pedigreed laurels. Now she has come of age and branched out, offering us small watercolor illustrations of her most introspective (and perhaps most specific)thoughts, leaving nothing open to interpretation. In her "Negress Notes", her subjects are beatific individuals with shrill intent and self-control; the accompanying text is always engaging, intelligently stated and appropriate- never apoplectic.

What can I say about Kara Walker? I can tell you that she is an artist that will not be ignored. I can also tell you that you won't grow weary-eyed walking through one of her exhibits; romanticizing post-slavery America "Gone With The Wind"-style is not what you'll find here. What you WILL find is Walker's version, titled "Gone, An Historical Romance of Civil War As it Occurred Between the Dusky Thighs of Young Negress and Her Heart" - which had art students and critics alike dropping her name left and right when she introduced the piece in 1994. You'll have no reason to walk hurriedly through the halls of her exhibit, ignoring the artists' perspective and categorizing it as just another "black history lesson", because after spending 2 minutes surrounded by Walker's offerings, you'll figure out that it is less black history and more lesson. It is the lesson of a place gone awry, a people splintered over idealogy without regard for the humanistic experience that we all deserve. It is hell on earth, delivered ethereally though paper, watercolor or mixed media. It is personal and universal. It is emotional and intellectual. Utilizing subtle yet powerful strokes, Walker seems to speak loudly to all four components of the exhibit's title- determining her complement, decrying her enemy, decreeing her oppressor and defining her love. After walking out of the Whitney that night, I don't think I'll ever be the same.




Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love" is on exhibit at the Whitney Museum in NYC through February 3, 2008

http://www.whitney.org/www/exhibition/kara_walker/index.html