Corey @ I'll Keep You Posted

HO HOPPIN' (on the South Side)

Two legendary Harlem hoofers, a comedian who could "slap" you silly, a musician who could blow you silly, Bruce Nugent's brother, and a fabulous crossover singer make for some mighty fine vintage black male bonding in Chitown.

Chicago, 1947.

ROMANCE (without finance) IN THE DARK!

   

Listening to these caterwauling heffahs sing the blues about keeping still with some Negro in the dark can get your ass in trouble - especially if it's in the heat of the night! At least they had ROMANCE! Finding "what the others left behind" can be quite an adventure. Just light a few well-placed candles, burn some fine incense, crank up the old victrola and play some blues. Get a chilled bottle of white wine and drink it over one more time; every fear, every tear and every funny thing that you forgot to share with your significant other when your real life got in the way and made you forget.

And when the lights go out and the temperature starts to rise, be creative. Expertly rub a melted ice cube across his forehead, behind his ear, down his neck and across his nipples and then put them in your mouth and suck them. His nipples, not the cubes! Place one between his nutts and then watch him squirm.  Remove it with your tongue and I'll bet you'll get a few sighs & sounds in the dark this time!

And then it will get even hotter and the humidity level will rise, and instead of fucking each other - FUCK ROMANCE! By this time, it'll just be HELLISH and time to get the hell outta the house especially if you ain't got no electricity and it's already 102 degrees outside with a heat index of 112. 

After ELEVEN DAYS, we finally got the electricity back on this past Monday!  On the 15th, I was sitting right here at the computer when I noticed a Duke Energy van drive up in front of the house.  I thought they were coming to read the meter but the next thing I knew the electricity was out.  There I was running around pullin' on my drawz and trying to find the house keys to open the door before the service tech got away.  So I'm like "Hey, what's going on?  My electricity is off" and he came back at me like "Well, when you pay your bill you'll get it back on."  And when my look and demeanor said "YOU ARE OUT OF LINE" he corrected himself real fast and explained that he was just doing his job, and after all, it wasn't personal, you know!

I immediately placed a call to hubby at work and he said it was all a mistake!  Wow!  Some mistake, huh?  Unbeknownst to me, we fell behind on the bill back in April while trying to catch up with last winter's expenses.  I also didn't know that we had enterered into a payment plan with Duke Energy with a signed letter of confirmation to prove it.  But they didn't care about that EVEN THOUGH HUBBY DID EVERYTHING THEY OUTLINED IN THE LETTER TO THE LETTER SINCE APRIL!  They cut off the electricity very late Friday afternoon thinking we'd come home from work in the evening to no lights and no air and not able to reach them until the following Monday morning.  At least that's what I thought they were thinking!  It was like they were saying if you SUFFER through this hot ass weekend THAT WILL MAKE YOU PAY  US WHAT YOU OWE US!  After no less than six phone calls with those bastards, they said CALL BACK ON MONDAY BECAUSE WE'RE GETTING READY TO CLOSE AND YOU'LL JUST HAVE TO ... SUFFER!

They thought they had us in the fiery furnace!  And I guess they did physically if not spiritually & emotionally.  We vowed to get through it with love and bags of ice & two portable coolers in the kitchen.  I had to give food (and throw) food away in order just to save it but it made us reconsider our diet for the week.  We ate lightly and drank a lot of water.  We moved in the scent of incense and through the shadows of soft candlelight while Clara Smith moaned on the antique Orthophonic Credenza Victrola.  We pulled the mattress downstairs to the dining room. The trees outside with the pink flowers bathed us in its perfume as it floated on the night breeze and it was absolutely MARVELOUS! We talked, laughed, reconnected, and stayed cool with those ice cubes. 

But in a few days it was hot as a MODASUCKAIR!  I was getting up at 6:00 every morning rediscovering prayer through the flames of a candle, and getting the housework done before the heat of noon. But the dead and dark of night found me tossing and turning in the oppressive heat.  The air from the marvelous breeze was gone and there was nothing left but night sweats, endless thoughts and nocturnal demons.  I just don't have hubby's knack for zoning out and sleeping through Armegeddon.

Does anyone remember that fabulous blonde witch named Angelique on Dark Shadows? Remember how she used to stare into the flames to cast those spells over the folks at Collinwood?  Well, baby, I had to light another candle and pray!  Instead of witchcraft and complaining about all that was wrong, I thanked God for all the possibilities and all that was right.  It still got to the point of STIFLING and UNBEARABLE, so I considered my health and my options and decided to go home to mother!

Hubby was certainly welcome to come with me.  In fact, he wanted me to go stay with HIS mother, but HE chose to stay home and be MR. MAN and pay some strange kind of penance in an old dark house that felt like Hell. While I was at my mother's watching the Natalie Wood film festival on TCM, he was at home gagging and hardly breathing in his sleep.  As I kicked back in the air conditioning watching a full day of screwball movie musicals from the 1930's, he was outside cutting our grass, his parent's grass and washing cars on the HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR when the warning was out to beware of possible heat strokes.  All of a sudden, the attic floor became of utmost importance!  If it was 106 degrees outside THAT DAY, it was hotter in the attic but he decided to CLEAN THE FLOOR!  <blank stare!>

We had a big argument!  It was out of fear and there were tears, but all I wanted was for him to take care of himself.  Then I felt the need to be with him so I came back home but I couldn't take it. If we fuss and fight at 11:00, thank God we have the wonderful blessing of being back in love by 11:45.  He chose to stay home, and I chose to stay at my mother's but we still had romance without finance on the telephone and on the weekend. No, it wasn't all cute.  In fact, there were some challenging and uncomfortable moments, but through it all I will say that I am thankful for the experience. As sure as Duke Energy needed to turn our electricity back on, this experience was all about a reconnection to God, self, hubby, relationship and life.  I was able to snap back into myself because for awhile, it seemed as though I'd lost myself in my own anger and personal disappointments. 

Like Duke, I want to show my control. But since I don't have that real kind of energy, I have to release all the stuff that ain't working for me. If hubby wants to be crazy, I think I can step back and let him do crazy without saying a word.  There were lessons in the experience and I came out the better for it!  Lord Have Mercy, do you know that one reader of this blog even sent us some MONEY in the mail?  Hubby said SEND IT BACK!  I didn't ask for it neither did I solicit it, but it came right on time like blessings do and I kept it.  I sho' did!

The music?  I first heard Lil Green's original version as a little boy at my grandparent's annual Christmas dinner.  Lawd, those old folks pulled out that record and WENT IN!  Over the weekend, I asked my mother to sing it for me and she just looked at me and laughed.  I already knew that she had a "history" with this song like many young black women of her era.  I like the Nancy Wilson and Della Reese versions but they're not on Youtube.  (Romance) In The Dark is also simply known as In The Dark and should NOT be confused with the Billie Holiday song of the same name.

 

 

 

 

 

 

JUST TRYING TO HOLD ON

Depressed and downhearted, a most profound pessimist once murmured "Life's A Bitch and then You Die!."  As for me, I'm just trying to hold on and stay alive!  It's too hot to do anything else and I don't want to die in this heat!

Overwhelming financial issues, personal health issues, the ain't gots, the can't do right now's, or GETTING YOUR GAS & ELECTRIC CUT OFF FOR A WHOLE WEEK all at the same time ain't no joke.  Taking it one day at a time is more than just a cliche; sometimes we have to cope every hour on the hour.  One songwriter broke it all the way down and said MINUTE BY MINUTE - I'll be holding on!

Just the other day, I saw where Oprah admitted that she was just now learning how to swim.  She said that what she really learned turned out to be the perfect metaphor for an Aha! experience; fighting against the current is USELESS!  Just go with the flow!

Later on, some guy on Facebook said something about the folly of trying to get out of a fiery furnace.  It's useless!  Sometimes, we have to stay right there in the heat of the night and the moment.  We may come out a little weak or a little singed but if we get out - we'll be delivered right out in the nick of time.  We will not be consumed!

And then after Kevin E. Taylor allowed me to vent and rant - he simply told me to EXPECT THE GREAT (as the song says) after it's all over.  I can get with that!

For the next six days or so, I will NOT be posting on Corey @ I'll Keep You Posted!  I will NOT be on Facebook.  I will NOT be enjoying the air conditioning during what's predicted to be the hottest days of the summer (and in the Midwest) in the upcoming week.  I will have no light, no microwave, no email or anything that requires electricity.  Duke Electric pulled a very fast, very nasty trick on us by reneging on an agreement that WE upheld!  Dealing with them is like dealing with the devil.  But, oh God! 

So, I'll be back late next week hoping that I feel like creating a whole new series of posts that I've just been salivating to create.  To those who check in often, and to those who've just got into this - just hold on with me!

Thanks, Corey!

 

 

ARE BLACK GAYS THE NEW ENTERPRISE?

WHO is the black gay professional? Black Enterprise magazine asks the question and attempts an answer in their new issue which hits the stands Tuesday, July 19.  For the remainder of this month, the magazine will also be following "Black LGBT" issues at their website www.BlackEnterprise.com/BlackLGBT .  

Seven years ago, I left Corporate America or more precisely - got kicked out of it - and haven't looked back since! It would be nice if the company I used to work for made it on the magazine's 40 Best Companies for Diversity list? We shall see!

 

NFL HALL OF FAMER MICHAEL IRVIN COMES OUT ... ... ...

... in support of gay EQUALITY! 

Former wide receiver for the Dallas Cowboys, three-time Super Bowl champion, NFL Hall of Fame inductee and Dancing With The Stars finalist, Michael Irvin comes out FEARLESS and SHIRTLESS in support of EQUALITY on the cover of the August, 2011 issue of OUT! 

Irvin joins the ranks of a growing number of high-profile African American athletes who are just now beginning to speak up against the ignorance, hatred and homophobia in their communities.  Referencing his own past personal issues, Irving talks about a gay brother that he idolized and the unconditional love they both received from their father, a Baptist minister.   

"NFL Hall of famer Michael Irvin talks for the first time about his gay brother and explains why he’s on a pro-gay mission from God."  

" .... He points to churches that have skewed the word of God to persecute those who don’t share their dogma; he shakes his head at the black culture he says has gone adrift in a sea of homophobia; and he said it’s time to end the second class–citizen status of gays in the eyes of the law."   

Michael Irving says that when he stands before God, his stellar football career and the Super Bowls combined will be nothing but a footnote compared to his ability to get this wonderful message of love OUT!  At a time when black fathers, so-called ministers are killing their 4 YEAR OLDS SONS on a suspicion that they MIGHT be homosexual, a "pro-gay" mission & message of love from a black man is right on time!  The Out article ends with a notation that one will either love or hate Michael Irvin for his views, and so far, the only negative feedback that I've heard has been from ... you guessed it!  Black folks!

Bravo, Michael Irvin!  WE GET THE MESSAGE!  We feel the love!

 Read the whole article here:  His passion has most recently turned towards the gay community.

 

 

 

HERE'S TO THE LADIES WHO LUNCH!

Mary McLeod Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt, late 1930's-early 1940's

 "CHILE, HUSH YO' MOULF!  THEY AIN'T GOT NO CORNBREAD, CHITLINS AND COLE SLAW UP IN HERE!"

 The captions for this photo are endless and are now open.  I also like:

 "Mary darling, did I ever tell you about my husband's wooden leg?"

Mary: "Eleanor honey, ain't those Daughters of the American Revolution heffahs a mess the way they treated Marian Anderson last night?"  Eleanor:  "Yes deahh, but I think the Daughters of Bilitis are more our speed!" <wink!>

 

ANTHONY ANTOINE'S LOVELY BONES!

 

       

Anthony Antoine's got good bones, that's for sure!  In a previous life, he even played the bones! In 1856, an artist named William Sidney Mount called him the The Bone Player and captured Anthony right inside of his very own Dorian Gray-type portrait for all posterity.  Seriously though, don't you think Anthony Antoine is a dead ringer for the handsome musician who posed for Mount's painting?  Except for the fact that he's not dead and hasn't aged.  All jokes aside, ever since I started this blog, I've always wanted to feature Mr. Antoine in one way or another.  It's taken three years, but I've finally found a unique way to do it; connecting him to the past is just soo Corey @ I'll Keep You Posted! 

Back in the day, the musical instruments known as bones consisted of sections of the large rib bones & lower leg bones of animals.  They were usually curved and about 5" to 7" in length.  If you examine the portrait, you'll see how the player held them between his fingers with the convex surfaces facing one another while holding his wrist in such a way that the bones knocked against each other.  There is absolutely no reason to think that this musician was not as popular in his community as Anthony Antoine is in his.

Just look at that lovely bone structure!  That AA is a super FINE looking black man is a given, but you can trust that he's more than just a handsome face! 

Antoine has aptly been referred to as "a pop, hip-hop and R&B infused artist who has taken his music to a bold level of empowerment and affirmation." Indeed, this is the man who boldly answered the Chante Moore hit, Chante's Got a Man with DANTE'S GOT A MAN!  On his last full CD, Closets on Fire, he talked about curiosity and blaming it on the Hennesy long before Jamie Foxx ever really thought about it, and led us to the dance floor with his Ass Remixes. 

The musical evolution and "edutainment" of Anthony Antoine actually began in Newark, New Jersey where he grew up listening to the classic sounds of Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin.  Finding success in Europe, he worked with some of the industry's best producers, and as lead singer for the 80's group Swing, he's seen his singles chart on the Billboard charts and his videos played on MTV.  Anthony currently resides in Atlanta, GA where he continues to make music and occasionally appear in films.  He is a leading community activist especially as it relates to HIV/Aids prevention, and he is the proud father of one beautiful daughter.

The Bone Player may have been the hero of the slave quarters or maybe the free black Virginia community that he lived in 150 years ago, but today Anthony Antoine is the toast (and envy) of Facebook. One can often see countless photos of the man and his "friends" like Jennifer Hudson, Jennifer Lewis, Fantasia and Loretta Devine.  Humph! I know I'm jealous - 150 years of canvas and camera readiness on top of bone playin' dexterity & musical brilliance is nothing to side-eye or sneeze at.

On the flip side, I must note that the artist known as William Sidney Mount (1807-1868) seemed to have a great talent for painting good-looking 19th Century black male musicians.  In fact, he is known as one of the first early American artists to present black subjects without the gross physical & racial stereotyping that was so common during his time.  I would be remiss if I did not share the above paintings.  The top portrait of the brotha on the fiddle is simply known as Right and Left (1850) and the The Banjo Player (below) looks as though he could be related to the The Bone Player (both from 1856).

 

 

     

The ORIGINAL Brothers Johnson!

Long before the classic funk duo known as The Brothers Johnson blasted Get The Funk Outta Ma Face, the ORIGINAL Brothers Johnson - James Weldon and J. Rosamond Johnson penned Lift Every Voice and Sing, the Negro National Anthem.  James Weldon (top, right) wrote the poem in 1900, and his brother J. Rosamond later set it to music in 1905.

At the turn of the 20th Century, the Johnson brothers were two dynamic, outstanding young black men whose boldness and brilliance had no bounds.  More than just writers and  musicians, they were serious Race and Renaissance Men!  James Weldon Johnson's resume listed him as a politician, diplomat, anthologist, civil rights activist and lawyer.  His dazzling 1912 novel, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man helped ignite the African American literary flame that would burn throughout the 1920's.  Of the two brothers, James Weldon Johnson is the most well-known.  He died in 1938.   

*Though supposedly not autobiographical, Johnson is on record as saying the characters in his novel were certainly "based on" people he knew personally.  The  protagonist's clear ambiguity over his biracial identity & the coded references to his sexuality clearly influenced the upcoming generation of black male Harlem Renaissance writers who'd write about those subjects with slightly greater ease.

J. Rosamond Johnson trained at the prestigious New England Conservatory of Music and also studied in London.  He worked briefly as a school teacher but never really strayed too far from his musical career.  As a pioneer player in early black musical theatre, Johnson attained legendary status on his own as part of the team Cole and Johnson.  Bob Cole, with the Brothers Johnson wrote some of the most progressive and popular songs of the early 1900's.  J. Rosamond Johnson passed away in 1954.

Now that I've gotten who The Brothers Johnson were out of the way, let me tell you that my sole interest in this blog was to post vintage photos of the very handsome J. Rosamond Johnson. 100 years ago, he would have been my favorite brother and I know I would've had his  photos pasted in my Victorian scrapbook.  I'm sure he could have made me lift my voice, sing soprano, do the Cakewalk and a few other things as well!

 

 

 

LENWOOD MORRIS, Self-Portrait 1913

Just One Look! What is it in the artist's sensitive, perhaps even sinister gaze, that continues to emanate (and resonate) with kindred spirits down through the generations? However you interpret or sense it, almost 100 years later, there's still something about Lenwood! Evertime I look at his portrait, I have a certain sense of knowing and familiarity. 

There is little information to be found on this painter other than the fact that he studied at the Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia in the early 1900's.  Mr. Morris should not be confused with Linwood Morris who found fame with the Katherine Dunham Dancers much later on.  However, that there was an early connection to the renowned same-gender identified African-American philosopher Dr. Alain Locke only arouses my suspicions.  So, it's possible that my suspicions may never be confirmed, but in the context of SGL history, it's important!

This self-portrait is the only known Lenwood Morris painting to ever come up for auction. In 2007,  the Swann Auction House in New York sold it for $15,6oo. 

ADDENDUM: Included here is the Morris portrait of Dr. Alain Locke, the first African American Rhodes Scholar and Professor of Philosophy at Howard University.  Dr. Locke bequeathed many paintings, sculptures, books and memorabilia to Howard, but the Lenwood Morris painting is not dated.  I think it's beautiful!  *Thanks, Greg!

 

VINTAGE EVOLUTION!

Father Monte Carlo Capri and his young protege working Yacht Cruise Realness, The House Of Capri - early 60's.