Songs
fnm pane C7
hottest recording artists, he's
also contributing music to
blockbuster motion pictures at
the same time.
In the last year. Elliott has
produced, written and/or
remixed songs for Destiny's
Child. Pink. Mya. and Kylie
Minogue as well as solo mate
rial for all three members of
Destiny's Child. He's also
helping to shake movie the
? aters with his music for "Scoo
by-Doo," "Austin Powers:
" Goldmember" and "Down to
Earth." Recently Elliott was
recruited to serve as music
supervisor and composer for
the live-action "Fat Albert"
feature, which is based on the
famed cartoon series.
While his mom is best
known for singing the gentle
ballads of Bacharach & David
and his father was a jazz drum
mer, Elliott's own musical sig
? ? nature is more aggressive,
' - made up chiefly of funky beats
and vibrant melodies. He's
incredibly musical and
diverse.
In recent years, Elliott has
?joinecttorces with a wide array
of stellar artists, including
Green Day. Eminem, Bone
Thugs-N-Harmony, Keith
Sweat, Barry White and Ziggy
Marley.
? But it is his work with
female vocalists that has him
on the fast track. Elliott co
wrote and produced four songs
for Pink's multiplatinum
album, "Missundaztood,"
including the title cut. He was
tapped to produce one of Bey
once Knowles' songs ("Hey
Goldmember") and remix the
first single ("Work It Out") for
the third installment of the
"Austin Powers" film fran
chise. For the "Scooby-Doo"
soundtrack, Elliott wrote and
produced "Thinkin" "Bout
You" for Beyonce's younger
sister, Solange Knowles,
which features Murphy Lee of
St. Lunatics. Elliott co-pro
duced Mya's vocals on the
Grammy-winning remake of
"Lady Marmalade" for the
"Moulin Rouge'' soundtrack
and wrote and produced a half
dozen selections for Mya's
next album. As a remixer,
Elliott retooled Minogue's
international smash, "Love at
First Sight."
"Not exactly sure how I
ended up working with all
these incredible women, but I
don't think too many guys
would complain," said Elliott
with a chuckle. But in his Bur
bank-based recording studio.
Elliott is all business. Tall and
burly, he's a dynamic ball of
energy, committed and pas
sionate about his art. "Whether
it's making music for an artist
for an album or hooking up
with a director for a film, it's
about the challenge of coming
up with something fresh,
something that really captures
the personality of the artist or
the movie. That's what excites
me and keeps me up all night
in the studio."
Staying up all night in the
studio is exactly what Elliott
will be doing for a while. He
has new record projects com
ing soon from Mya, Solange
Knowles, Dream and solo
material from Kelly Rowland
and Beyonce Knowles of Des
tiny's Child, in addition to
newcomers Hot Karl and Alley
Life (Interscope), Natasha
(Universal), Yasmeen (MCA)
and LovHer (Def Jam).
Aside from commencing
work on "Fat Albert," Elliott is
slated to create the title track
for the motion picture "Fight
ing Temptations" to be sung by
Beyonce Knowles, as well as
music for the films "Masters of
Disguise," "Suckaz" (starring
Jamie Kennedy). "Papi Chulo"
(produced by Forest Whitaker)
and "Lif Pimp." based on the
popular Internet character.
Center working with young actors
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
Some local al-risk teen
agers are enduring the dog days
of summer in the fashion of a
Broadway production, as writ
ers and producers of a play
about their lives that includes
dram;v comedy, film, music and
dance.
Through a creative initia
tive, sponsored by Winston
Salem State University's Center
for Community Safety and sev
eral other community agencies
and arts groups, these teens are
provided an outlet for directing
their energy away from mis
chievous behavior.
The results of their outlet
will be a series of live perform
ances titled "Celebrate Home
and Hood," scheduled to open
to the public July 25, 26 and 27
at the Southeastern Center for
Contemporary Art (SECCA) in
Winston-Salem. The goal is to
help these youths develop their
skills in creative writing, audio
visual technology, performance
. art. and marketing through an
intensive art curriculum known
as the Summer Film and Arts
Institute.
These youths are regarded
as "at-risk" because they are liv
ing in an environment where
violence is identified as learned
from peers and families, and is
often felt to be a survival behav
ior. The institute provides a
stipend for these youths, aged
13 to 17 years old, who have
been the focus of citywide vio
lence-prevention efforts.
"This is an excellent oppor
tunity for this youth population
to explore productive alterna
tives to the lives they are living
and learn skills that may help
them discover a way out," said
Lynn Rhoades, the project coor
dinator for WSSU's Center for
Community Safety.
The five-week institute,
which began June 24 and will
run through July 27, is a collab
oration of Winston-Salem State
See Center on C9
These teens - identified as "at-risk" because they are living
in an environment where violence is identified as learned
from peers and families, and is often felt to be a survival
behavior - are writing and producing a play about their
lives. The play, "Celebrate Home and Hood," will be per
formed July 25-27 at 5ECCA.
Mosley
from pa^e C7
Leroy Mosley died in 1993. Bits
of his father's life show up in his
son's fiction.
Mosley has heard a lot of sto
ries about what it means to need
an open door. Like Easy, Mosley's
own father became an orphan
- about age 9 and then "a wild boy
riding the rails." And like another
Mosley character, Paris Minton
in Mosley's book "Fearless
Jones," Mosley's father was
bom in New Iberia. La., about
an hour from the infamous
Angola Prison.
But as much as Leroy Mosley
told his son about growing up in
the South, he never talked about
riding the rails. Walter Mosley
said. "He never told me about the
inside of one box car. And toward
the end of his life, when I asked
him about it, he'd just cry."
And although Mosley has
been to Louisiana "a lot," he's
never been to New Iberia. "It took
so many years for my father to go
back to the South. He was so
afraid of it. It was so painful to
him, his history, that I've absorbed
a lot of it."
Being black in America is a
huge component of all of
Mosley's work. For starters. Easy,
almost always describes people by
their skin color: "eggshell
brown," "golden brown." "ochre
colored," "dusky bronze."
"muddy brown."
Mosley says it's vgy deliber
ate. "It's a whole different thing
when you're colored in America,"
he said, emphasizing the word
colored. "You're race conscious.
... Once, you're a victim and you
live in it, then you live by it."
Mosley also tries to be faith
ful to the way people talk and has
been praised often for his dia
logue. Some of his characters use
the N-wotd, and since there's been
much discussion about the word,
would Mosley think at sometime
in the future of having a character
make a point about not wanting to
use the word?
Mosley was very quiet for a
few moments, and annoyed. He
said he is "getting a little tired" of
talking about race. He then asked
what would be the point of having
a character say he doesn't like the
N-word.
"I don't think that I'm insult
ing anybody or denigrating any
body. ... I would never step outside
the writing to say, 'Well. I'm try
ing to educate you the reader.' I
definitely don't consider myself in
any way an educator."
Mosley doesn't consider race
a major component of his latest
novel. The "major" aspect of
"Bad Boy Brawly Brown" is
"fathers and sons," he insisted,
about Aldridge Brown and his
son. Brawly; Easy and his son.
Jesus; and Easy and his own
father. There is even a mention of
Easy's paternal grandfather.
Aod there's also, of course, a
mystery involved in "Brawly
Brown," said Mosley, and there's
"all kinds of concepts, like capital
ism and crime." It's about a loss of
a friend - his friend Mouse may or
may not be dead - and a relation
ship with a woman. It's also about
black male heroes. "I don't think
that it's kind of racially based."
How would he say his charac
ters are heroes?
"Easy is the easy one,"
Mosley said, "because he has
identified himself in a way that
many, many, many, many black
men live in this country." He tries
to live that life with dignity and he
tries to help others who also have
limited resources and can't solve
their problems in the usual legal,
social and ethical ways that many
Americans take for granted.
And though Easy takes a gun
when he's "doing something seri
ous," it is also possible to be a
hero in Mosley's world without
using a gun. Socrates Fortlow in
"Always Outnumbered. Always
Outgunned" has been released
from prison after a 27-year sen
tence for murder and rape.
Through his own will and deter
mination, Fortlow attempts to
make a new life for himself, and to
use that life to help others. "He
never carries a gun. Ever," Mosley
said.
Mosley also wrote the teleplay
based on that novel, which aired
on HBO, and starred Laurence
Fishbume. He said he goes to Los
Angeles about six times a year,
not only to see his mothei but to
talk about other possible film
deals, including one based on his
collection of science fiction short
stories called "Fqjpreland." His
first published novel, "Devil in a
Blue Dress," was made into a
movie in 1995. starring Denzel
Washington,
The last time Mosley pub
lished an Easy Rawlins mystery
was I997's prequel "Gone
Fishin,'" but fans have been wait
ing for the follow-up to 19%'s "A
Little Yellow Dog," which takes
place in the fall of 1963.
Mosley said he's involved in
lots of "stuff." He's now complet
ing another nonfiction book tenta
tively called "What Next?" about
the black response to terrorism.
"Black America is so incredibly
silent, especially our leaders,
about America's war on terror
ism."
There was terrorism in this
country before 9/11, jsaid Mosley.
He cited not just lynchings, but
also race riots, specifically the
Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, in which
more than 300 blacks were killed
and the whole black neighborhood
was driven out of town.
Mosley said the Tulsa riot was
not unlike watching people
streaming out of the World Trade
Center, right after the attack, past
his apartment nearby. "Who's best
qualified to actually solve the
problems that we're facing in
America today?" he asked. "Well,
black people are. Because we
understand how to live with peo
ple who hate us."
Mosley has written about
Easy in Los Angeles since Easy
was 28 in 1948 and was fired by
his white boss from his job in an
airplane factory and needed to
quickly find another way to pay
his bills, namely "doing favors."
Will he give his readers a taste
of what's to come?
Mosley looked into his lap,
concentrating, as if he was afraid
he would give something away.
"No. no, no, no. Nope, nope. Not
me," he finally said. "I will say
that the whole issue about Mouse
will be resolved in this collection
of short stories, which is coming
out next. That's all I'll say to my
readers."
I EVERYONE'S CONCERNS
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Friday Nights
at 9:30
July, 2002
Black Issues Forum
Friday. July 5 @ 9:30 PM
Church Folk
Visit unctv.org/bif.
Friday, .lulv 12 @ 9;30 PM
Rev. AI Sharpton
See unctv.org/bif.
Friday, .lulv 19 @ 9:30 PM
Roundtable
See unctv.org/bif.
Friday. July 26 @ 9:30 PM
Randall Robinson
See unctv.org/bif
?
A 30-minute review of
critical issues that affect
the black community and
influence the quality of living
for all North Carolinians.
Host, Jay Holloway
wf