All things of art and culture, Poetry, music (live and authentic), social justice and activism, photography, architecture and interior design, biking, running, journal and essay writing, style (not to be confused w/ fashion), laughing til I cry and dancing til I sweat!
Nelson Mandela, Maya Angelou, Tony Bennett, Betye Saar, Radcliffe Bailey, Harry Belafonte, Prince, Marian Wright Edelman, Ruth Forman, Oprah (ok, I want to know how she thinks!), Maurice White, Bono, posthumous-Zora Neale Hurston, more to come...but the list is somewhat short because I've been blessed with opportunities to meet many of those I admire already, from Lena Horne, Betty Shabazz, Stevie Wonder, Cornel West, Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee, Jill Nelson, June Jordan, August Wilson...
Earth Wind & Fire, Oscar Peterson, Lizz Wright, Eric B. & Rakim, Jill Scott, Dwele, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Marcus Miller, Chopin, Schubert, India.Arie, Eric Roberson, Corinne Bailey Rae, Roberta Flack, George Duke, Mos Def, Grover Washington Jr., Richard Smallwood, Michael McDonald, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Chubb Rock, Heavy D, John Hendrix, Angelique Kidjo, Raheem DeVaughn, Parliament/Funkadelic, Ella Fitzgerald, Nuyorican Soul, Marvin Gaye's harmonies are hauntingly beautiful, Johnny Hartman, Vintage Natalie Cole, Larry Graham & Graham Central Station, James Taylor, Dave Gruisin, Bob James, some Evanescence/Vertical Horizon/Dave Matthews/Nickelback, Chuck Brown, Jonathan Butler, Dianne Reeves, the blues of Joe Williams/Lou Rawls/Ruth Brown/Dinah Washington, Ledisi, Stanley Clark, Olu, Olu Dara, Jackson 5, Prince, Dionne Farris, Vintage Nancy Wilson, Motep, Cherisse Scott, jazz standards, Doobie Brothers, classic hip hop, classic house, afropop, acapella harmony (whether negro spiritual, madrigals, ladysmith black mambazo, & yes-- bluegrass or barbershop!) I LOVE: a)live music (drum machines -yuk, there's nothing like a blood-rushin' live percussion!) b)a slammin' seamless dj mix and c)just some real soul...
Love Jones, Life is Beautiful, Amelie, Soldier's Story, Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, Love Actually, A Bronx Tale, Sidewalk Stories, Cinema Paradiso, Eve's Bayou, Set It Off, Boyz in the Hood, A Thomas Crown Affair, Mo' Betta Blues, Do the Right Thing, Officer & a Gentleman, Glengarry Glen Ross, Sometimes In April, Sophie's Choice, Akeelah and the Bee, The Great Debaters...
Independent Lens (PBS), Point of View (PBS), Inside Actors Studio, some Food Network/HGTV, The Game, Girlfriends (for Tracee's Wardrobe), Tavis Smiley Show, Turner Classic Movies (vintage style clothing!), CLASSIC Soul Train (highlarious!), Def Poetry Jam ...
We Are the Young Magicians and Renaissance by poet Ruth Forman; Life Lit By Some Large Vision - Ossie Davis; The Alchemist; The entire book of Proverbs & Romans Chapter 12; The Autobiography of Malcolm X; Your Blues Ain't Like Mine (R.I.P. BeBe); Bridges of Madison County, The Color of Water; The Wonders of Solitude; Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Alchemist ...
Ma, Nelson Mandela, Mary McLeod Bethune, Fannie Lou Hammer, Beah Richards, Gordon Parks, Mary Lou Williams, Gwendolyn Brooks, Barbara Hillary, California State Representative Barbara Lee, Martin Luther King Jr., Mattie Stephanick, Josephine Baker, Steve Biko, Shirley Chisom, Paul Robeson/Harry Belafonte/Danny Glover/Tony Bennett/Muhammad Ali/Bono (justice over celebrity), Ben Carson, Harriet Tubman, Margaret Burroughs, Joseph Lowrey, Sojourner Truth, Nat Turner, Cinque, Harold Washington, Madison Washington, the pre-teens/high schoolers/college students who - though young - risked their lives demonstrating for Civil Rights because they had the vision of freedom...