Veteran church keyboard artist presents gospel show, despite health setback

By Jeremy M. Lazarus

One of Richmond’s biggest gospel shows ever is headed to Trinity Baptist Church in North Side to showcase Richmond’s best known performers.

The free show that will feature such well known singers as Cora Harvey Armstrong, Johnny Branch, Thomas “Bo” Cummings, Henrietta D. Gattison, Bubba Johnson and the Rev. Almeta Ingram-Miller is scheduled for 3 p.m. Saturday, May 20, in the 1,000-seat sanctuary at 2811 Fendall Ave.

“Gospel Music Coming Home” is the brainchild of veteran church keyboard artist and gospel impresario Antonio L. “Tony” Winslow.

A former minister of music at Trinity, Mr. Winslow is taking on this project while still recovering from the stroke he suffered three years ago that paralyzed his left side and left him wheelchair-bound.

Refusing to lament his condition, the Richmond native instead is seeking to make his presence felt in creating a program to highlight and celebrate top area performers in the religious music field.

He said the vision of staging a huge gospel event highlighting fixtures in Richmond’s gospel scene came to him one night as he struggled with his life-altering physical condition.

“This is something I wanted to do, and this is something the community needs with all we’ve gone through with COVID,”

Grey Garrett is Virginia Rep’s Carole King

Free Press staff report said Mr. Winslow, who continues to play with one hand on Sundays at Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church. them my friends,” he said. “They have all served Richmond well, are veterans in the gospel music life and should be given the honor they are due.”

The Virginia Repertory Theatre has found its Carole King. Richmond theater actress Grey Garrett has been selected to play the award-winning musician in the regional premiere of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical at the November Theatre beginning Friday, June 23.

Virginia Rep announced her selection last Thursday. Ms. Garrett’s previous roles for the theater include parts in “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love” and “Murder, Croaker” and “Mamma Mia!,” the latter of which won her a 2023 Artsy Award for Best Supporting Performance in a Musical at the 14th Annual Richmond Theatre Community Circle Awards.

The musical will run from June 23 to Sunday, Aug. 6. Tickets can be purchased online at www.va-rep.org/_beautiful-carolenovember.html or by calling the box office at 804-282-2620.

Jeremy M. Lazarus/Richmond Free Press

Derby Day in Richmond

Several hundred people turned out last Saturday for the benefit Derby Day Party in Richmond to enjoy music, games, food and the 149th running of the Kentucky Derby and raise money for the Professionals Reaching Out to the Community (PROC). Leaders of the event included from left, Charmayne B. Vincent, chair of PROC; and the two co-chairs of the event, Janet Hawkes-Pleasants and Natalie Smith. Location: Bon Secours Training Center on Leigh Street. PROC is best known for sponsoring The Beautillion, an etiquette and leadership program for male high school students.

Arts in the Park

Sandra Sellars/Richmond Free Press

Michael Morris and Shameka Massenburg check out greeting cards by photographer Adam N. Goldsmith Art during the 52nd Annual Arts in the Park event showcasing more than 350 exhibitors from throughout the country. Painting, pottery and ceramics, jewelry, furniture, photography, woodworking, glass, and more were featured during the May 6 event.

“This music celebration is a way of bringing unity and musical fellowship back into the community now that we are trying to find our way back to normalcy,” he said. “”After COVID shut down in-person worship, gospel music services and concerts that are a staple in the African-American community were dealt a blow. Live streaming and online services just weren’t the same.” His goal for the event is to restore gospel to its rightful place in a setting in which “we can come together to celebrate God, musical gifts he has blessed us with and the precious gift of life itself.”

Mr. Winslow also has enlisted a longtime friend, Rev. Gina Whitaker Cannon, founder and leader of GMC Ministries, to serve as the emcee.

“I am elated and honored to participate,” Rev. Cannon said. While there is no charge to attend, Mr. Winslow said attendees are encouraged to contribute funds during the event to enable him to cover the expenses he has incurred.

“I’m taking on this endeavor all alone. There are no sponsors,” said Mr. Winslow, who lives on a monthly government disability check and has gone forward nonetheless.

Mr. Winslow

Mr. Winslow said the musical extravaganza will include two choirs, a 40-member Gospel Legends Choir featuring top performers and a 25-member support choir.

The East End resident said he received a warm reception when he started presenting the idea to people he regards as legends.

“These are people I have worked with over the years for whom I have great love and respect, and I am blessed to call

Mr. Winslow, who will celebrate his 55th birthday the day before the concert, started his journey into religious music when his mother, noticing his interest in playing piano, signed him up for private lessons at age 8.

A graduate of Marshall-Walker High School, he has played at churches throughout the Richmond area, and performed at weddings and funerals.

His contributions include founding the Rejoice Community Choir. He also was a music consultant and customer service representative for decades at Barky’s Spiritual Store in Downtown.

“This concert is just the kind of event he is called on to do,” Rev. Cannon said.

Playwright aims to open hearts and minds with premiere production

By Debora Timms

Brittany Fisher left her native Virginia for New York in 2021 to attend Juilliard’s Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program. Now graduated, she is still based in New York, but she never stays away for long. Her family won’t let her.

“My whole family is still here and they definitely guilt me into coming back very often,” the playwright laughed during a recent phone interview. “My grandpa, who had a big hand in raising me, is 93. He’s my bestie, so I try to come back and see him as much as possible.”

This time, Ms. Fisher has an extra reason to be back in Richmond – the play she wrote. “How to Bruise Gracefully” has already won a 2021 Kennedy Center award and it was a finalist in the 2022/23 Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition. Now it’s about to have its world premiere.

“This is my very first production, so it is very special to be able to share it with the Richmond community where I grew

Artful anniversary

up,” Ms. Fisher said. When the production by Cadence Theatre, in partnership with Virginia Repertory Theatre, opens on May 12, it will be a “full circle moment” for Ms. Fisher. The story was born during her participation in Cadence’s inaugural Chris and David Lindsay-Abaire’s Pipeline New Works Fellowship Program in 2018. As it grew, director Melissa Mowrey and actor Nena Nicole were involved in its first reading and now they’re part of taking it to the stage. Ms. Nicole, a Richmond native, spoke by phone about reprising the role of Vi, a young YouTuber with a secret. What starts as a typical day becomes an exploration of trauma, resilience, human connection and bodily autonomy through the stories and experiences of women.

“There is an honesty and a truthfulness to the writing,” Ms. Nicole said. “I ultimately wanted to do this because Vi’s so real. I really resonate with her.”

Telling the story in that honest way was very important to Ms. Fisher – for herself, but also for the story’s potential to get people thinking and talking.

“I hope people will keep an open mind. I want them to see the call to action that’s in the play,” she added. “I believe if you see or hear a story that moves you, well that is the beginning ground for people to become an advocate for others.”

“How to Bruise Gracefully” will be presented at the Libby S. Gottwald Playhouse from May 12-21. For tickets or more information visit www.dominionenergycenter.com/events/detail/howto-bruise-gracefull y and use the code GRACE25 to get tickets for $25 (before fees). Special pricing is applicable to online purchases only.

Visitors and exhibition guests helped celebrate the Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University on April 21. First-time ICA visitor Pamela Moye says her love for art drew her to the celebration, which featured short casual conversations, music, performances and new works. Since its opening in 2018, the institute at 601 W. Broad St. has become known for its innovative exhibitions, community connections and commissioning works from a diverse range of artists.

The Associated Press LOS ANGELES

A Los Angeles judge on Tuesday denied a motion for a new trial from lawyers for rapper Tory Lanez, who was convicted of three felonies in December for shooting hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion in the feet and wounding her.

Superior Court Judge Herriford rejected arguments from lawyers for Lanez that evidence was wrongly admitted at the trial he presided over. He said that the exclusion of the disputed evidence would not have made a difference at the trial.

Lanez, 30, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson, will now be sentenced for convictions of assault with a semiautomatic firearm, having a loaded, unregistered firearm in a vehicle and discharging a firearm with gross negligence. He could get up to 22 years in prison and faces deportation to his native

Canada.

As he was led from the courtroom back to jail after a hearing on the motion a day earlier, he pleaded with Judge Herriford to help him, saying “I could be your son. I could be your brother.”

Motions for a new trial filed immediately afterward with the same judge are a common precursor to appealing to a higher court, which Lanez’s attorneys plan to do. The motions are very rarely successful.

Lanez’s lawyers asserted that a post from his Instagram account was improperly admitted into evidence. They said that Megan’s testimony that Lanez urged her not to go to police because he was on parole and would be in serious trouble was both untrue and an improper allowance of prior bad acts. And they said DNA evidence that prosecutors used to argue Lanez was the likely shooter fell well short of industry standards.

Lanez’s attorneys were disappointed from the start of Monday’s all-day oral arguments on their motion.

They had an elaborate presentation prepared, complete with audiovisuals and witnesses, but Judge Herriford would have none of it, insisting instead on narrow legal arguments on the precise issues raised, the norm for such motions in California court.

They pleaded at length with Judge Herriford to allow them to present their arguments in the way they had planned.

“I feel that I would be ineffective if we proceeded,” defense attorney Jose Baez said. “Mr. Peterson has the right to due process for which he is entitled.”

They moved on under protest, and later filed a motion to have the judge disqualified.

Lanez’s lawyers, who did not represent him at trial, said the attorney who did, George Mgdesyan, made mistakes in his case because he was given so little time to prepare before trial when the rapper’s previous attorney dropped out.

Megan Thee Stallion, whose legal name is Megan Pete, testified that Lanez fired a handgun at the back of her feet and shouted for her to dance as she walked away from an SUV in which they had been riding in the Hollywood Hills in the summer of 2020.

Mr. Mgdesyan said at trial that Megan was lying in her testimony, and Lanez had not pulled the trigger. He said afterward that there was not sufficient evidence to convict.