September 2010 AuthorsandArtistsMag.com
Authors & Artists Magazine This year has flown by! September is here and the weather is taking a turn for the cool…we’re loving it! We’re celebrating our two interviews this month with two women who have taken the artistic world by storm – Elizabeth Gilbert and Dominique Becton. Ms. Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, shares her experiences since the book’s publication and the release of the movie. Mrs. Becton, writer and director of the hit play, “I Need Thee” is gearing up for the October 23rd performance at San Pedro’s Warner Grand Theatre. In her exclusive interview, Dominique shares her experiences growing up in a creative environment and the journey to writing and producing this smash hit play. I had the pleasure of seeing the debut of this play. It is NOT to be missed! Thanks for the letters and encouragement. We love getting the love! Continue to send your events, review copies of books, CD’s and DVD’s, and we will continue to let everyone know the great finds that exist with the creative independent authors, artists, musicians and more! Keep moving forward to fulfill your dreams…you have a tremendous audience waiting!
Here we go….
Vol. 10, Issue 9 Gina Smith Editor & Publisher Marketing & Sales Chris Smith Enjoli Hall Amber Smith Richard Hall Authors & Artists Magazine Smith Publishing & Media Group 385 S. Lemon Ave. #E236 Walnut, CA 91789 P - (888) 841-7779 F –(909) 393-7447 www.AuthorsandArtistsMag.com
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Seven Questions Women Ask to Avoid Damaging Relationships by Chris Paster Excerpt
My life is a mirror of countless of men who are suffering from numerous issues in their lives. Some grew up with no DNA bearing father in the home, some have been abused, and others have never been groomed or mentored by a man at all. These factors along with societies ever growing moral decay plays a large role in a man’s inability to submit or commit to a loving relationship.
Contents Publisher’s Message………..Pg. 2 Authors……………………. Pg. 3 Authors on the Rise………...Pg. 5 Cover Story ……………….Pg. 6 Book Profiles……………….Pg. 9 Book Release & Author Signings……………………Pg. 10 Music …….………………..Pg. 12 Music Review ……………..Pg. 14 Performance ….……………Pg. 15 Film………………………...Pg. 18 Art………….………………Pg. 21 Galleries & Museums…...… Pg.23 Actors Profile……………. Pg.24 Film in Development……. Pg. 24 Calendar of Events…………Pg. 25
The fact that over 50% of young boys are being raised in single parent homes means that these young boys will become men who have no idea of what it is to be a husband or a father. Majority of men, especially those who grew up in a home without a father present, are afraid of failure. So, committing to a long term relationship or marriage with no experience or insight is like asking him to pilot the Space Shuttle to the moon. Because he has never seen or experienced a man who has submitted to the role of husband he is 90% likely not to do so. You may be one of those Millions of women who are in a relationship, or even engaged, allowing a man the benefits of marriage without a commitment or a covenant. You’re hoping that he will either one day marry you, or honor you and show you he truly loves you by setting a date without excuses, so you will move from being the fiancé and become his wife. Please allow me to help you today, if you are one of these women, he is either not going to commit or procrastinate until he is faced with an ultimatum and if you have to give a man an ultimatum to marry you please proceed with caution. READ MORE AT http://www.facebook.com/Jeremiah3and15#!/notes.php?id=804814512.
Women Food and God An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything By Geneen Roth #1 New York Times Bestseller
No matter how sophisticated or wealthy or broke or enlightened you are, how you eat tells all. If you suffer about your relationship with food—you eat too much or too little, think about what you will eat constantly or try not to think about it at all—you can be free. Just look down at your plate. The answers are there. Don't run. Look. Because when we welcome what we most want to avoid, we contact the part of ourselves that is fresh and alive. We touch the life we truly want and evoke divinity itself. Now, after three decades of studying, teaching and writing about what drives our compulsions with food, Geneen Roth adds a profound new dimension to her work in Women Food and God. She begins with her most basic concept: The way you eat is inseparable from your core beliefs about being alive. Your relationship with food is an exact mirror of your feelings about love, fear, anger, meaning, transformation and, yes, even God. She shows how going beyond both the food and feelings takes you deeper into realms of spirit and soul to the bright center of your own life, and reveals how your relationship with food is the doorway to freedom and what you want most: the demystification of weight loss, and the luminous presence that so many of us call "God." A knock-your-socks-off ride to a deeply fulfilling relationship with food, your body…and almost everything else, Women Food and God is, quite simply, a guide for life. Available at booksellers everywhere. See Video http://geneenroth.com/women_food_and_god.html
When Emotions Lie By Deondriea Cantrice Alicia believes that her marriage with husband Arlington is a fairytale come true, until Alicia is confronted by Piper, a woman that claims to be her husband's girlfriend. Alicia lets her emotions get the best of her and yields to the opinions of her friends Cassie and Myra instead of answers from her husband. Little did Alicia know, Cassie's advice is jaded by her own emotional issues of a lost love, wile, Myra is not emotionally available and hides behind her religious beliefs. Finally, Alicia looks to Ms. Shirley for wisdom and direction. When Alicia chooses to follow the advice that made her feel better, instead of advice that made the situation better she stands to loose everything. Will Alicia gamble her marriage for the sake of being right? When the truth is hid within the lie and lies tell the truth, where do you seek the truth When Emotions Lie? READ MORE www.deondrieawrites.com.
Elizabeth Gilbert: Talking with the Author of 'Eat, Pray, Love How has the success of the book changed your life? The success of it has probably been the biggest surprise. You have to understand that the book came out of the darkest, worst, most horrible, obnoxious time of my life. I mean, the book and my journey begins with me, in my bathroom, four o'clock in the morning, sobbing on the floor one inch away from the bathroom tiles. And then, suddenly, it turned into something that people are using and wanting and enjoying and at the very least, finding entertaining, it's just impossible to have imagined that something like that could have come out of such a dark place. So it's a surprise and an honor and a joy and a little bit surreal, a little strange. 'The book came out of the most horrible, obnoxious time in my life.' How are you different after "Eat, Pray, Love"? I still have the same interests. I'm still a writer. I'm still creative. I still have the same sense of humor. I still have the same way of relating to people. But internally, it's a totally different landscape. And I think the main difference is this relationship that I forged with myself in all those months spent alone, particularly in India, in those long, tedious, difficult, emotionally painful hours in the meditation chamber sitting—as my friend Richard from Texas said—on my lily white ass and trying to find some sort of center in all that maelstrom of thought and confusion and worry and anxiety and resentment and that whole soup that I was bathed in before I left. And to watch the evolution over time, over those months and see myself go from somebody who quite literally could not spend five minutes in silence in her own company without crying out of her own skin to somebody who could sit for four or five consecutive hours and be undisturbed by my own existence on earth—it seems like a simple thing but isn't. In that silence and stillness, I met this other voice that I never had before, which is this older part of me, this calm, sedate, affectionate, forgiving, wise soul that watches my comings and goings and my spastic fears and desires and anger and all the stuff that pulls on me and intercepts me before I get dragged too far away from myself. And she just says, very sweetly and with a kind of amusement, do you really want to go through this again? Because if you do, I'll do it with you. But, maybe we don't want to do this again. Maybe we want to actually remember what we learned and do a different thing. That's the central miracle of my entire life, I would say, is meeting that voice. I think that's the highest attainment of my life.
And hopefully, that's mine to keep. But, I don't take it for granted. And I know how easy it is to be swept away from that. That's what spiritual practice is for. It's to solidify that channel and to make sure that you get to have it. How did you integrate what you learned from your trips into your daily life? Madness would follow anybody who tried to keep the schedule of an Indian ashram in their normal life living in New Jersey. First of all, you would become an obnoxious human being if you were trying to do that. And secondly, it's impossible. The whole point of spiritual retreat is that everything else is stripped away and you are only focusing on your soul and your soul's journey and you're surrounded by fellow pilgrims and everybody's in this current and they're helping each other and they're pulling each other along. At the ashram I saw a lot of people who had been living in spiritual communities for 20 or 30 years. And while with some of them, I felt like they were meant to be contemplatives, with other people, I got the sensation that you're kind of hiding out. And I didn't want to do that. For me, all the spiritual lessons that I learned would mean nothing if they didn’t have a practical application. So I was eager, after my four months in the ashram, to come back home and put it into practice. I mostly use it in trying to arrange my life so that it is as unstressful as possible. I push every day against forces that say you have to go faster, be more effective, be more productive, you have to constantly outdo yourself, you have to constantly outdo your neighbor—all of the stuff that creates an incredibly productive society, but also a very neurotic one. I have these new policies toward my life, like I will not accelerate when I see the yellow light. I'll say no to things that I used to instinctively say yes to, invitations that are wonderful but I know will actually make me more tired the next day, more stressed. It's like protecting this wonderful little match that I lit in India. And I feel my job now is to cup my hand around it and make sure that the shearing winds of, you know, capitalism and industrialism and competition don't blow it out and that my own anxiety doesn't blow it out. 'I would love to tell you that I meditate and then do an hour of yoga and calisthenics and charity work for the rest of the day. I don't.' What are your spiritual practices? I would love to tell you that I meditate every day and then I get up and do an hour of yoga and then I do some calisthenics and then I do charity work for the rest of the day. I don't.
I have these new policies toward my life, like I will not accelerate when I see the yellow light. I'll say no to things that I used to instinctively say yes to, like invitations that are wonderful but I know will actually make me more tired the next day, more stressed. But I try to meditate more days than I don't. My writing practice taught me the important thing is steadfastness. It's not necessarily discipline. Discipline can become a prison. When your spiritual practices become another thing for you to be anxious about, they've lost their usefulness. I try to be limber with it and soft with it. But, if I catch a week going by where I don't sit even for ten minutes in silence and do what I call taking a bath in the self, then I'll say, Okay, something's gone a little too off here. Something else has to be cut because this is essential. I've also started to keep a diary. I've found that I only keep a journal when I'm miserable. And I'm in a really happy place in my life right now. I thought, Well, what if you keep a contentment journal where every day you write down the best moment of the day and you remember those moments and you charted them just as much as you charted your miserable moments? You know, why at the end of your life should you assemble thousands of pages of "Why am I so sad, why am I so depressed?" Instead, assemble thousands of pages of why you're so content. And it's been surprising to see what it is. It's simple. Walking out to get the mail and it's a sunny day and you see your neighbor's cat and you just realize that you're alive— that's enough. It seldom happens behind the wheel of a car. Seldom happens in a big crowd. It tends to be solitary moments, quiet moments, outdoors. So you build on that, learn from that.
Given what you've been through, what is God for you today? Gee, that's an easy question. What is God? [Laughter.] But, actually, I sort of do have an easy answer for it. It's something from the Gnostics who said that God is the perfection which absorbs. I think that's the loveliest and simplest and least politically controversial possible definition of divinity—that we are not perfect, as humans, and yet, we have access to a perfection that's beyond us that we can become absorbed in, sometimes just for five minutes, sometimes for a whole year, sometimes, if you're really a blessed saint, forever. Sartre used to say, exits are everywhere. And I like to think entrances are everywhere. Entrances to that perfection can be found in prison, can be found in a harried mother who's at her last nerve and suddenly, there's just this crack of a doorway into that divine perfection where you remember for a minute that you're more than this. I had this great moment in the ashram one day when this young Indian girl came out of one of the meditation chambers and she was radiant, you know. And she just looked at me with this radiant face. And I said, "Wow, what just happened to you?" She said, "I just realized, I'm not my thoughts. I'm not my thoughts." She's like, "Wow, like my life has changed. I'm not my thoughts. I'm more than that, you know. There's something else that's beyond it." And that's available to you at the supermarket. It's available to you in commuter traffic. It's available to you at home. It's available to you in a hospital. It's available to you when there's a fly on your face. It's available to you always. It's your right to find that and it's
your right to shape your life as much as you can to where you can access that as much as possible. READ MORE AT http://www.beliefnet.com/Holistic-Living/2007/09/Life-After-Eat-Pray-Love.aspx
Life is One Big To-Do List: A Woman's Life After 40 By Terri Lee Ryan Available at www.terryleeryan.com Written with hope, candor and a biting sense of humor, Terri Lee Ryan utilizes her life experiences as a platform in, Life Is Just One Big To-Do List: A Woman's Life after 40. Offering advice and solace in dealing with women's daily to-do lists including managing time-consuming mates, needy parents, a demoralizing divorce, job lay-offs and the aging process - she urges women to start living for themselves, not for others. Ryan shares her life and other women's lives at an age when their hormones are diminishing faster than they can take estrogen, their career options are dwindling, and the cellulite on the backs of their legs is multiplying faster than a virus! Ryan addresses the small and the not-so-small daily challenges women encounter that make them just want to hide under the covers instead of deal with life. Fun, honest and pertinent, this is a must-read for women over forty. "Fun and fabulous! I found myself hooked from page one - and I'm a guy...hilarious, and touching, this is one to put on your To-Buy list." - Thom Racina, television writer and author "Life lessons, punched up with humor. It kept me laughing, in between tears...a must-read for women." - Kelly Lange, author, "Maxi Poole" mystery series About the Author: Terri Lee Ryan is a marketing consultant and a career coach from Chicago, Illinois. She has penned several books and plans to continue writing on women's issues. Terri supports various charity organizations and enjoys playing tennis. She and her second husband live in downtown Chicago with her adopted cat of 16 years, Patti.
Moving 'Beyond Katrina' Through Poetry And Prose by W. Ralph Eubanks Available at www.amazon.com Beyond Katrina is poet Natasha Trethewey’s very personal profile of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and of the people there whose lives were forever changed by hurricane Katrina. Trethewey spent her childhood in Gulfport, where much of her mother’s extended family, including her younger brother, still lives. As she worked to understand the devastation that followed the hurricane, Trethewey found inspiration in Robert Penn Warren’s book Segregation: The Inner Conflict in the South, in which he spoke with southerners about race in the wake of the Brown decision, capturing an event of wide impact from multiple points of view. Weaving her own memories with the experiences of family, friends, and neighbors, Trethewey traces the erosion of local culture and the rising economic dependence on tourism and casinos. She chronicles decades of wetland development that exacerbated the destruction and portrays a Gulf Coast whose citizens—particularly African Americans—were on the margins of American life well before the storm hit. Most poignantly, Trethewey illustrates the destruction of the hurricane through the story of her brother’s efforts to recover what he lost and his subsequent incarceration. Renowned for writing about the idea of home, Trethewey’s attempt to understand and document the damage to Gulfport started as a series of lectures at the University of Virginia that were subsequently published as essays in the Virginia Quarterly Review. For Beyond Katrina, Trethewey has expanded this work into a narrative that incorporates personal letters, poems, and photographs, offering a moving meditation on the love she holds for her childhood home.
The World Has Changed: Conversations with Alice Walker By Alice Walker Available at www.amazon.com
The World Has Changed: Conversations with Alice Walker includes compelling conversations between acclaimed writer Walker and other significant literary and cultural figures, including Gloria Steinem, Howard Zinn, Pema Chodron, Claudia Tate, Margo Jefferson, William Ferris, Paula Giddings, and Amy Goodman. Each conversation represents a different stage in Walker’s artistic and spiritual development; taken together, they offer an unprecedented angle of vision on her career as well as on her personal and political development. Noted literary scholar Rudolph Byrd sets Walker’s work into context with an introductory essay, as well as with a comprehensive annotated bibliography of her writings.
Black Men STOP! By Gail Smallwood - Book Release You are either the source of the damage or the solution to recovery. Get this: There is no life boat on its way! You are all we have. Author Gail Smallwood makes the case. Learn more about The Black Fatherhood Project, visit http://blackmenstop.ning.com/page/black-men-stop-the-book.
Bitter in the Mouth: A Novel By Monique Truong – Book Signing September 20, 2010, 7:00pm – Book Soup, 8818 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90069 From Monique Truong, the bestselling and award-winning author of The Book of Salt, comes a brilliant, mesmerizing, beautifully written novel about a young woman’s search for identity and family, as she uncovers the secrets of her past and of history... This astonishing novel questions many assumptions—about what it means to be a family and to be a friend, to be foreign and to be familiar, to be connected and to be disconnected—from others and from the past, our bodies, our histories, and ourselves. (Random House)
Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self By Danielle Evans – Book Release – September 23, 2010 Available at www.indiebound.org
“Danielle Evans is funny as hell. Which only makes all the heartbreak in these stories more surprising and satisfying. The young women in this collection are always on the edge of real trouble but don’t be fooled, they’re the dangerous ones. Written with wonderful clarity and a novelist’s sense of scope, Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self is a fabulous literary debut.” – Victor La Valle, author of Big Machine
Women Have All The Power….Too Bad They Don’t Know It! By Michael J. Lockwood – Book Release Available at www.michaeljlockwood.com Women have given up their power and control in relationships by lowering their standards and compromising their values to please men. As a result, men have happily taken advantage of their misfortune by convincing them that he is the prize. Most men would prefer I keep these secrets under lock & key, but it's time to take back your rightful position. Here's what you'll learn... * Why men live for the "Thrill of the Hunt." * The techniques men use to get you in bed and away from the alter. * How to get out of your own way... You may be the greatest contributor to your relationship strife. * Ten things to never do on a date * Why many career women can't keep a man. * How to regain your rightful position of power in relationships. * How to keep home-wreckers out of your marriage.
The Best Of Gerald Levert Release date: August 31, 2010 Gerald Levert's first-ever Best Of collection, 'The Best Of Gerald Levert' features fifteen of his greatest hits. The album also includes the unreleased single 'Can It Stay' which is currently spinning away at Urban AC Radio. This career retrospective package spans two decades of solo hits, plus his hits with the groups LeVert and LSG, and with his father, Eddie Levert.
Confessions Release date: September 28, 2010 Celebrating sixty years in show business, the iconic Liza Minnelli is about to release the most intimate and revealing recording of her career, Confesssions, available everywhere on September 28th (Decca). A collection of American classics, Confessions features some of Minnelli's favorite songs of all time, arranged simply and elegantly, with accompaniment by her long-time pianist Billy Stritch. Though the album will surely stand as a landmark in her celebrated body of work, Minnelli maintains that the origins of Confessions were entirely organic, almost accidental. "It just sort of happened," she says. "I used to have these evenings at my house, usually on a weekend, and people like Tony Bennettor more surprising people like Janet Jacksonwould come by, and we would end up singing around the piano." Inspired by the intimacy of those incredible evenings, Liza decided to start recording some of her favorite songs with Stritch, and producer Bruce Roberts. Excited by how effortless the process became, she decided to keep going, giving the listener an up close and personal glimpse into her musical world.
Passion, Pain & Pleasure Release date: September 14, 2010
“While the words Passion, Pain and Pleasure immediately invoke sexual thoughts, for me they have become somewhat of a personal mantra because they so accurately describe this time in my life,” says Trey Songz. “The passion I have for my art fuels my drive and work ethic, while the sacrifice of my personal life to benefit my career will always be a source of pain. The pleasure that I derive from my work and my accomplishments make everything worth it. When I began conceptualizing the new album, these three words stuck in my head. They completely infiltrated my creative process, so it was inevitable that they became the album title.“
Back To Me Fantasia Barrino By: Michaelangelo Matos for RollingStone.com American Idol Season Three winner Fantasia Barrino comes across like an updated Patti LaBelle – a big voice equal parts gurgling and throaty, with a predilection for vocal melodrama. But on her third album, she’s more contained as a singer than the Idol norm, which fits the modestly scaled material. Revelations are few on Back to Me; instead, Fantasia and her collaborators – including guest Cee Lo Green (who sings on “The Thrill Is Gone”) and Ne-Yo (who co-wrote “Man of the House”) – bask in mostly stripped-down live arrangements. Fantasia is so innately old-school that the throwback “Collard Greens and Cornbread” – built on a sample of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s Motown staple “Your Precious Love” – sits comfortably on her like a stole. Available at www.amazon.com.
Exclusive Interview with‌‌ Writer/Director Dominique Lawson Becton The stage play "I Need Thee", written by Dominique Lawson Becton, is a modern day version on the biblical book of Job. Masterfully played by Pastor Michael J. T. Fisher, main character Aaron loses his home, job, money, a child and eventually his wife in a series of tragic events. Throughout Aaron's ordeal he remains faithful to God. The entire play takes place in the living room of his mother Lynne's home where we are introduced to a cast of colorful yet relatable friends and family members. CCM:
Hey Domi, thanks so much for the time.
DB: Thank you, I appreciate it. CCM:
Tell us about your upbringing?
Did you grow up in
a creative atmosphere? DB: I grew up in the church, my stepfather is a minister. All I knew was church and making sure God was the center of my life at a very young age. I did grow up in a creative atmosphere thanks to my mom. As soon as my mom realized that my brother and sisters and I could read she got us library cards. We'd go to the library every week. And she would make sure we read all kinds of books. She'd make us do art projects and encourage us to do some creative writing when school was out for the summer. CCM:
When did you begin writing plays?
DB: I begin writing plays two years ago. CCM:
What inspired you to write I Need Thee?
DB: The recession...lol, and the fact that I love the story of Job. I wanted to show the audience that no matter how hard things get in your life we should never turn away from God, and I wanted to show the audience a God fearing man. In some movies and plays we always see women whose faith in God is stronger than a man's faith in God. So I really wanted to show the audience what a strong man of God looks like.
Dominique Becton…Continued) CCM: In your play, you created authentic AfricanAmerican scenarios exploring serious themes with a certain depth. Where does that unique gift come from?
“I really wanted to show the audience what a strong man of God looks like”
DB: God... seriously. Before I would write a new scene or get writers block, I would pray and thoughts and scenes would just come to me. CCM: As a beginner, what was the journey from concept to opening night like for you? DB: I was nervous from the beginning of writing I NEED THEE to opening night. There were times when I would question God about me writing this play. I felt I didn't have enough experience all around to put on a production like I NEED THEE. I just kept saying to myself I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. CCM:
Tell us about the cast?
DB: Well I have a cast of 10, four of the actors are new. We have a new wife (Lisa), sister (Tiffany), friend (Kevin) and boyfriend (Que). Everyone gets along fine and they're excited about the show. CCM:
You’re married to Judge Becton.
What has his role been?
DB: Judge is the Executive Producer. He helps get obtain financing and oversees the production. CCM: How have you been able to navigate marriage and family with writing and directing this tremendous play? DB: One of the things that helps is my husband and I work together. We make sure we spend time together with our son. Just being able to work along side of my husband and having supportive family members makes it easy for me to focus on my gift and still be a good wife and mother. CCM: What message do you want people to get from I Need Thee? DB: The message that I want people to get from I NEED THEE is no matter what you go through, never give up on God. Bad times do not last forever. CCM:
What are you working on now?
DB: I'm working on ideas for another play. I also plan on writing a sitcom. My goal is to have a tv show in 2-3years. But I'm taking my time with everything and making sure that I keep God first in everything I do. CCM: What advice would you give aspiring writers and directors?
DB: I know we hear this all the time, but never give up. A door is bound to open. Be open to constructive criticism. Not everyone will like your ideas, so don't get bent out of shape when you don't get the response you were hoping for. Just go back to the drawing board. Do your research, if it’s going to other playwright's shows or doing research over the internet. Make sure you surround yourself with positive people and keep God first in all you do CCM: What is the coolest thing about being you? DB: Being humble, that's what I strive for. I just want to be a good person...
Toronto International Film Festival 2010 September 9 – 19, 2010-09-05 www.tiff.net
The Toronto International Film Festival has become the launching pad for the best of international, Hollywood and Canadian cinema, and is recognized as the most important film festival after Cannes. What began as a ten-day film festival has grown to embrace programming 365 days a year. TIFF offers screenings, lectures, discussions, festivals, workshops industry support and the chance to meet filmmakers from Canada and around the world. If you love film, you'll love it here. This month, we’re profiling some of the exciting movies being featured at this year’s festival.
Amazon Falls Directed by Katrin Bowen www.AmazonFalls.com
JANA is a fading B-movie actress who was famous for her roles in Amazon movies playing a variety of pre-Xena warrior-princesses. Nearing 40 she is desperately trying to keep her leg in the B-movie game and decides to pursue her fading career with a zealous fervor. But new roles are elusive and the clock is ticking. Will she admit defeat or finally get her break?
The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer Directed by Alex Gibney www.chelsea.com
Investigating the sex scandal that forced New York’s Governor to resign, Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney gains revelatory interviews from Spitzer, his most frequent escort and his Wall Street enemies that bring new perspective...
Chico & Rita Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal, Tono Errando Spain, United Kingdom www.chicoandrita.co.uk Oscar-winning director Fernando Trueba teams up with famed designer, Javier Mariscal to create an epic animated love story that occurs around the time of the Cuban Revolution.Highlighting a pivotal moment in the evolution of jazz...
Work of Art: The Next Great Artist NOW CASTING! Are you an emerging or mid-career artist with a unique, powerful voice interested in competing on a future season of Bravo’s hit show? Production companies Magical Elves (Emmy Award-winning “Top Chef”) and Pretty Matches are looking for artists from all disciplines whose work has clear long-term potential, and that reflects a strong voice that demands to be heard. Like last season - with cast from recent art school graduates to artists with gallery representation and pieces in the permanent collections of internationally-recognized museums – the producers invite artists from all career levels to come out for this potentially life-changing opportunity. Casting will hold open calls/portfolio reviews in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles during three dates in midSeptember. Stay tuned to this page for date and location information. If you’d like to be emailed as soon as open call dates and locations are available, click here and send your name, e-mail address and phone number to casting. Download this season's application to fill out and bring to one of the open calls/portfolio reviews; full application instructions are on the first page of the linked application.
Work of Art: Season One Winner - Abdi Farah At the young age of 23, Abdi is making waves in the art world. A recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, he was one of four students in the nation to be awarded the Scholastics Art and Writing Gold Portfolio and was named a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, granting him an audience with the President of the United States. In 2008, the Yale Norfolk Summer School of Art selected Abdi into their program, and the following year he spent time studying abroad in Southern France. Primarily a painter, he has a passion for sculpture and printmaking. With a supportive family behind him, an infectious smile, and the drive to succeed, Abdi’s career has only just begun.
Exhibitions: Work of Art: Abdi Farah Abdi Farah. Libation (detail), 2010. Resin, mixed media, spray paint, two parts: 72 x 84 in. (182.9 x 213.4 cm) each. Courtesy of Magical Elves
August 14–October 17, 2010 This presentation spotlights Abdi Farah, the winner of Work of Art, a recently concluded creative competition among contemporary artists from across the United States for a cash prize and this exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. The competition aired weekly as a Bravo cable television series—a reality show, much like others that have pitted aspiring chefs or fashion designers against each other. Though it may seem an unconventional presentation, contests such as Work of Art are not unfamiliar to art museums. In nineteenth-century France, the principal route to prominence for an artist was to enter his or (rarely) her work in a competition held every year or two at the Louvre. A jury of experts presided, selecting from thousands of submissions. Work of Art is a direct descendent of the juried-exhibition tradition. The judges for the Bravo show included art collector and series host China Chow; New York magazine art critic Jerry Saltz; and gallerists Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn and Bill Powers. Art auctioneer Simon de Pury participated as mentor to the contestants, and a different guest judge joined the panel each week. The Brooklyn Museum’s John and Barbara Vogelstein Curator of Contemporary Art, Eugenie Tsai, advised in the final selection of the winner. Luminous Bodies is the title that Mr. Farah gave to this exhibition when it initially appeared on the final episode of Work of Art. According to the artist, the title was inspired by a scene in the Star Wars movie The Empire Strikes Back in which the Jedi Master Yoda says to Luke Skywalker, “Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.” Produced over a period of three months, the figurative paintings, sculpture, and drawings on view reflect Mr. Farah’s investigation of the human body as a material entity that possesses the potential to transcend its physical being. The exhibition Work of Art: Abdi Farah has been organized by the Brooklyn Museum in cooperation with Bravo, producers of the television series Work of Art: The Next Great Artist.
Long Beach Museum of Art th
60 Anniversary Celebration Saturday, September 25, 2010 6:00pm – 10:00 pm www.Lbma.org
Galerie Adler Sebastian GĂśgel Antrieb Oil on Canvas 78.7 x 59.1 in. www.galerieadler.com Galerie Adler New York 570 Lexington Avenue, Suite 1502 New York, NY 10022
Galerie Adler is focusing on new and fresh international talents with a unique handwriting going along with strong and challenging themes. The artists reflect the self-image, the desires and dreams of human beings in today's society. They explore topics like youth culture, social conflicts, life and death, faith and despair as well as angst, loneliness, violence and other kinds of human abysses. Their work can be described as morbid, provocative, bizarre but also as ironic, mystic and grotesque. They provide a link between drama and humor. Adler’s program covers all media: paintings, drawings, photographs and especially videos and performances.
How We Roll Exhibit Now at the California African American Museum July 28, 2010 – January 2, 2010 Rolling through history and contemporary action, this exhibit offers insight into the engagement and cultural influence of African Americans in the sports of surfing, roller skating and skateboarding. How We Roll celebrates personal stories, cheers on the radicals who changed and belended the sports, and the artistry and livelihollds that have grown out of these respective fields. The exhibit is a mixture of sculptural art forms, intertwined with historical facts, personal accomplishments, vintage and contemporary photos, artifacts and videos. Capturing the daring spirit of these athletes, the show also reveals the little-known but dynamic presence of women in these sports; the entrepreneurial engagement; and, the growing green consciousness and leadership coming from African Americans in the related skating, surfing and skateboarding cultures. For more information, visit www.camm.ca.gov.
Actor Profile: a’Ali Salaam www.alisalaam.com
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a'Ali boasts a strong on screen presence and versatile Subscribe Today! deliveries. Authentic, believable and sincere he can take the viewer from tears to laughter in a most meaningful way. An intense and dynamic actor with strong retention and a passion for the arts, he is easily directed and a pleasure to have in any cast or ensemble. A congenial and thought provoking host and presenter; a'Ali will bring that extra intangible to your project.. Representation: Iconoblast Talent, USA (213) 814-4962, Gina Stoj Management, Aus & UK 0407-291-377
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Three Men and a Bride Hollywood actor Tom Selleck is set to re-team with actor Ed Danson and Steve Guttenberg for the third installment of the trio’s hit comedy ‘Three Men And A Baby’. Selleck, who played Peter Mitchell in the original 1987 movie and its 1990 sequel ‘Three Men And A Little Lady’, has confirmed that a third film is in the offing, tentatively titled ‘Three Men And A Bride’. The original film had three committed bachelors who are charged with looking after a baby girl one of them has fathered. The new film will apparently see one of the actors giving away their daughter at her wedding. ‘It is true that Disney checked my availability. And I know they checked Ted’s and Steve’s and then had a script written, I think tentatively called ‘Three Men And A Bride’, which kind of says it all about the story,’ dailystar.co.uk quoted Selleck as saying. ‘I hope it’s a good script, and if it is a good script I hope they do it, because it would be a real fun to get back with Ted and Steve. ‘The strongest of the two movies, I think, is the first one. It had more heart, and that’s what I hope this third one would have if we do it,’ he added. Currently, the project is being scripted. Production Company: Walt Disney Pictures, 500 S. Buena Vista Street, Burbank, CA 91521, 818-560-1000.
San Francisco International Festival of Short Films www.sfshorts.com September 8 – 11, 2010 Categories: Music Video, Short Films, Mobile Media Films
SF Shorts is about grabbing someone by the eyeballs and making them think, feel and react. It’s about what people see every day but now stare at in wonder. SF Shorts proves that entertainment can have human value.
Urban Mediamakers Film Festival www.umff.com October 14 -17, 2010 Atlanta, GA Categories: Short Film , Feature Film , Short Film Script , Feature Film Script, Music Video , Animation, Web Series, Documentary - Short , Documentary - Feature
Urban Mediamakers Film Festival (UMFF), showcasing independent films with a strong emphasis of work produced by or featuring people of African, Asian and Latin descent.
I Need Thee Stage Play October 23, 2010, 7pm The Warner Grand Theatre Long Beach, CA www.dominiquebecton.com
Laws of a Dream Stage Productions reprises their June 2009 smash sold-out musical – a modern day version of the biblical story of Job that answers the question: What do you do when you think God has forsaken you? Pastor Michael Fisher heads an incredibly talented cast of singers; the show is written and directed by Dominique Lawson-Becton with music direction by Kevin R. Arline, Sr.