Arts Anyone?

Metropolitan Atlanta Community Band Springs Annual Concert with Flare

MACB has been the place to keep the music going in the greater Cascade area and across the city, long after high school. Earlier this week, the band performed at Douglass High School.

 Dressed to the nines with harmonious melodies accompanying them, the Metropolitan Atlanta Community Band (MACB) played to a packed house at Frederick Douglass High School  this past Sunday for its annual Spring Concert. Founded in November of 1996 by Dr. Alfred D. Wyatt, Sr., the MACB began as a small collective of band directors. Dr. Wyatt recalls years of conversation around developing the organization until finally placing a call for the initial meeting at his home with a small core group of eight or so musicians. Dr. Wyatt, the director of the band and a member of the Adamsville community, is a retiree of Atlanta Public Schools having worked in the system for more than 40 years, during which time he also taught music at Clark College…

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Southwest Atlanta's Jasmine Guy Directs "The Colored Museum," Opening This Weekend

Guy is back in the neighborhood, but this time as director of a True Colors Theatre Company production, "The Colored Museum."

Though born in Boston, actress Jasmine Guy relocated south with her family to Atlanta when she was young. Growing up as a preacher’s kid in the greater Cascade area, Guy found herself on the church pews often on Sundays at the Friendship Baptist Church where her father Rev. Dr. William Guy was pastor. As a student of Atlanta’s main performing arts school—then called Northside High—Guy knew there was a voice inside beckoning her creative talents to step forward. And they did, as she received a scholarship for a New York City acting school right out of high school. She decided to pursue a career in acting despite the lack of opportunities for black women in Hollywood at the time. She credits Hattie McDaniels, Lena Horne and Dorothy Dandridge…

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Deronte' Smith

11:54 pm on Friday, March 25, 2011

I just got in from the opening night performance - the play was all that and a bag of chips! Simpy hilarious, awe-inspiring, sweet and simple while sadly true. I think the play really plays up the differences in Black people and our African roots. If you can afford $18, do yourself a favor and catch it this weekend while tickets are discounted.   more ›

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Malone Captures Essence of Buttermilk Bottom Community

Atlanta native James Malone's body of work—spanning 60 years—is on exhibit at the Hammond's House, Feb. 13 through April 10.

Renowned artist James Hiram Malone—considered a pillar in creative arts by many in the Atlanta arts community—celebrates 60 years of work embodying the nuances of the African-American experience that both makes us individuals and a collective whole at the same time. Malone’s career began in 1947 when he produced a portrait of Dr. Charles L. Gideons, Jr., for an assignment as a student at Booker T. Washington High School. “I did not have enough money for lunch, so I would paint during lunch time,” Malone recollects of those early years. “Painting allowed me to endure my hunger pains and give me a mental escape from my impoverished reality.” Like many of the best artists, Malone often drew inspiration for his creative works from his …

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South Fulton Artist's Work is Like 'Gumbo'

Visual artist Corey Barksdale pushes the boundaries of contemporary art by mixing styles and blending techniques to create fresh, original art.

If the phrase “life imitates art” is true, then South Fulton artist Corey Barksdale is often imitated as he paints bold strokes across the canvas of life. Barksdale represents a growing trend in a new era of the arts where artists combine styles and mediums in creating their own original pieces. “My work is layered and very gestural,” he says of his most recent paintings; his current work blends ceramic pieces with encaustic, a mixture of hot wax with oil paint, creating a new style in what has become unofficially recognized as mixed media arts.   Studying at the Atlanta College of Art, Barksdale worked to develop his skill as an abstract expressionist. There he learned the style often reflected in his work called “free industrial,” …

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Broke-ology Tells a Story of Family Love

Kenny Leon directs a talented four-member cast in his latest play at the Southwest Arts Center.

Several hundred people filled the Southwest Arts Center Friday night dressed to the nines as Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company had its opening night performance ofBroke-ology, written by Nathan Louis Jackson. From the opening scene, the groundwork was laid for an emotionally-charged, provocative story filled with great drama and timely comedic relief. Afemo Omilami, a seasoned actor known for his work as co-director of Hosea Feed the Hungry and Homeless, gave a brilliant performance as an elderly man suffering from M.S. with two grown sons struggling with finding their own way. Both Enoch King and Eric J. Little give inspiring performances as the sons watching their father’s health deteriorate before their eyes and being left to …

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Deronte' Smith

6:44 pm on Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Tammy, I totally agree. The city of Atlanta is fortunate but Cascade is especially fortunate! And the SW Arts Center is a beautiful venue! For anyone who has not been they should put it on their schedule immediately.   more ›

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Leon Returns to Southwest Arts Center Friday with Broke-ology

Acclaimed playwright offers insight on black theater, show business.

Broke-ology, a fictional term best defined as the science of being broke, may be all too familiar for participants in the three-year-long recession and recovery effort facing the U.S. But the term is also the title of Kenny Leon’s latest stage play, a comedic drama encouraging people to stay linked to their roots no matter where life takes them. Broke-ology debuts Fri., Jan. 28, at the Southwest Arts Center.  Leon is well known for his film adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun, starring Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad and Audra McDonald, popularized by its long run on Broadway. The film exceeded expectations, receiving Emmy and Golden Globe nominations as well as winning three NAACP Image Awards. For those native to …

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Two-Decade-Old Greenbriar Mall Bookstore Has Lectures, Storytelling and Book Signings Set for 2011

Medu Books still serving southwest Atlanta readers, despite economic downturn

"We're still here," sounds like a phrase pulled from a Donnie McClurkin praise song; but, more than that, it sums up how many people and business owners feel about surviving the rocky economy in 2010. There is perhaps no one who knows this more than Nia Damali, owner of Medu Books at Greenbriar Mall. "One of our biggest challenges," says Damali who opened her doors in 1989, " is getting people to remember we are, in fact, still here."  Damali describes the change in the literary landscape as dramatic with respect to ebooks, E-readers and the advancement of technology in the industry. Indeed Medu is not the only bookseller feeling the tides of changes as major retailers such as Amazon, Borders and Barnes and Noble have all made adjustments …

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Procession of Leaders, King III Remember Leader on 25th Anniversary of MLK Federal Holiday

Martin Luther King III delivers keynote speech

Leaders from around metro Atlanta and across the country gathered for the celebration of the 82nd birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the 25th anniversary of the federal holiday honoring the civil rights leader. Platform guests included U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr., Georgia Governor Nathan Deal, Atlanta City Mayor Kasim Reed, U.S. Congressman John Lewis, and U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson. Within the walls of Ebenezer Baptist Church, hundreds lined the pews while hundreds more wait outside anxiously hoping to get in.  The excitement in the air was electrifying as the speakers rose to give praise and honor to the man who made an indelible impression on not only our nation but the world as a whole. Holder stepped to the podium …

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Cascade Crowd Leaves Standing-Room Only at Book Signing for Author Kimberla Lawson Roby

Fans brave icy roads, cold to attend Friday "Love, Honor and Betray" event at Barnes and Noble

“I have a dream…” was the speech delivered more than 47 years ago by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In it, the Nobel Laureate shared his vision for success and prosperity among his people. Today, King's dream is being realized by more people than he likely could have imagined; one such person is best-selling fiction author Kimberla Lawson Roby. Perhaps best known for her series featuring the infamous Reverend Curtis Black, Mrs. Lawson Roby treated southwest Atlanta fans with a book signing at the Barnes and Noble in Camp Creek Marketplace. With a groundswell showing of love and support, the book store had standing room only to the tune of more than 60 people in attendance to hear the author speak and get their copies of her newest release, …

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Time to Recognize Imani, the Seventh and Final Day of Kwanzaa

Thousands are celebrating Kwanzaa across southwest Atlanta; it's not too late to embrace the seventh principle of faith ("Imani" in Swahili)

Today is the seventh and final day of Kwanzaa and celebrants are recognizing the principle of faith, known as Imani in Swahili. According to the official Kwanza website, this principle encourages us to "believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle." Each year millions of African Americans, along with their African brothers and sisters, celebrate Kwanzaa, a seven-day long holiday introduced in 1966 by founder Dr. Maulana Karenga. This year more than three hundred people gathered in Atlanta at the Shrine of the Black Madonna earlier this week to hear the inspirational words of Karenga. "It's a celebration that brings black people together after the overly …

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Kim Rawks

9:59 am on Thursday, January 6, 2011

I should have went. It would have given me a better understanding of the holiday.   more ›