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THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 1997
4BiARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Cleveland
tribute OK,
needs fire
By Winfred B. Cross
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Various Artists
James Cleveland; We
Remember Him
Various Producers
Intersound Records
☆☆☆
tl ames Cleveland’s death
has done little to keep him
from being one of the most
popular gospel singers of all
time. There’s not a Sunday
morning that passes without a
radio announcer playing a
song he sang, wrote or pro
duced.
It’s been years, but the trib
utes keep on coming. The lat
est is an all-star cast ranging
from pop to stomp-down
gospel. It’s an ecclectic mix,
but, for the most part, it
works.
Howard Hewitt is the lone
pop artist participant. He
teams with Kim McFarland on
“It’s In My Heart.” It’s a good
pairing, but I expected a bit
more fireworks from such
superb vocalists. It’s almost
too understated.
That is the basic problem
wdth this set. It’s good when it
could have been spectacular.
Even if you didn’t like
Cleveland much as a vocalist,
you had to give him credit for
being able to get you out of
your seat. This set borders on
being tedious.
It’s not because of the lineup.
Walter Hawkins is close to
being spectacular on “Please
Be Patient With Me.” The
Clark Sisters are almost there
on “Jesus Lifted Me,” a num
ber that bubbles with under
stated fire.
The rest of the CD is, well,
good. Spencer Taylor & the
Highway Q.C.s give a rousing
version of “Everything Will Be
Alright.” And Mitty Collier’s
version of “I Had A Talk With
God” is special.
I think this set would have
been better if it was a live
recording. Gospel singers tend
to work better that way. As it
is, the set is good. I just wish it
was spectacular.
Various Artists
Muggs Presents the
Soul Assassins
Chapter One
Produced by Muggs
abi
Columbia
☆☆ 1/2
I don’t know who Muggs is,
but I have to give him credit
for pulling together some of
the best talent in the rap world
to make this CD. He either
wrote or co-wrote all of the
material, a feat within itself.
The theme of this CD must
be depression. There’s not an
uplifting song to be found. But
that’s not bad because most of
the stuff has powerful mes
sages. I wish rap folks could
make these points without
using such foul language.
Members of the Wu-Tang
ClJ^ Cypress Hill, The
Fugees, Call O’ Da Wild,
Infamous Mobb, Goodie Mob
See SOUNDS page 5B
Isleys still love their work, music
By Winfred B. Cross
THE CHARLOTTE POST
L et’s clear up a rumor.
Jimi Hendrix did not
teach Ernie Isley of the
Isley Brothers how to play the
guitar. Isley didn’t get his first
guitar until he was 10 years
old. Hendrix had already left
the Isle/s band by then.
“First of all, whatever
(Hendrix) was doing couldn’t
be taught,” Isley said in a
Tuesday phone interview. “If
he could have, he would have
taught it to my brother
Marvin. He was more than a
year younger, but wasn’t
afraid to ask him anything.
Me, I was always standing off”
That was years ago. Isley has
certainly gotten over his shy
ness. He proves that every
night he gets on stage and
peels off Hendrix-like guitar
solos that’s infused seamlessly
into a funky dance song like
“Midnight Sky” or a lilting
ballad like “Summer Breeze.”
Lately, Ernie and brothers
Marvin and Ronald (aka “Mr.
Big) have been playing those
songs frequently. The Isle/s
“Mission To Please” tour,
named after its latest plat
inum-plus CD, is swinging
across the country with a
vengeance. Isley fans are once
again packing auditoriums to
see the group.
The Isleys play Charlotte’s
Ovens Auditorium March 14.
“Everybody is starting to
become aware of the Isley
Brothers again,” Ernie said. “A
lot of people who haven’t been
to a live concert in a long time
are coming out to see us.
They’ll get the whole nine
yards, from “Shout” to
“Mission To Please.” We know
we’re pushing a lot of different
buttons.”
'That’s a lot of songs and a lot
of history. 'The Isleys first hit
was “Shout,” which had a sec
ond Ufe in the ‘70s through
“National Lampoons Animal
House.” Then came a number
of hits with Motown like “This
Old Heart of Mine.” ’The group
did several other songs for
Motown - “I Heard It Through
'The Grapevine,” and “Reach
Out, I’ll Be There” to name
two - which were never
released.
“Other groups were like,
‘look, you’re giving these new
guys all the good songs. It was
very competitive,” Ernie said.
The Isley Brothers - then
Ronald, Rudolph (now a minis
ter) and O’Kelly (who died in
1986) - were allowed to leave
Motown after a two-and-a-half
year stay. They made history
by becoming the first group to
leave the label and immediate
ly have a hit record, “It’s Your
'Thing.” Ernie did his first gui
tar solo on “Layaway.” He
became an official member of
the group along with brother
Marvin and brother-in-law
Chris Jasper on 3-1-3, the
album that made them one of
many ‘70s black super groups.
“Three plus three was a
break from everything we had
done,” he said. “‘It’s Your
Thing’ had horns. This one was
guitar and keyboard driven.
“(His guitar solos) were one
more weapon in the arsenal.”
And a potent weapon it was.
From 1973 until 1984 the
group rolled 10 platinum (1
million copies) in a row. “With
catalog sales, each is double
Ernie (left, with guitar), Ronald and Marvin Isley will appear at Ovens Auditorium 8 p.m. March 14.
Says Ernie, “everybody is starting to become aware of the Isley Brothers again.”
platinum,” Ernie said.
“There’s not a lot of groups
that started in 1959 that are
still around in the ‘90s....For a
group to go all through that is
really remarkable.”
Isley credits the group’s
resurgence to its ability to
read the market and fate.
“Certain things happen
when it’s time to happen. It
was time, for whatever reason
by the grace of God. We’ve
even rejuvenated T-Neck (the
group’s own record label).
We’re on T-Neck, distributed
by Island. We were also
See Isleys Page 5B
Does being black in Hollywood count?
Non-whites still scarce on screen
By Lynn Elber
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES - One year
ago, the Rev. Jesse Jackson
used the Academy Awards as a
vehicle to protest the film
industry’s exclusion of blacks
and other minorities.
'This year, he could recycle
his script with virtually no
rewrites.
Although some Hollywood
observers find cause for limit
ed optimism, many agree that
nonwhites continue to face
enormous challenges in
launching and sustaining an
acting, writing or directing
career.
And while a few new films
such as “Rosewood” and “Set It
Off” honestly explore black
life, they are rarities in an
industry and a society — with
a new and troubling aware
ness of deep racial divisions.
“Change has been minimal
at best. Very, very minimal,”
said Frank Berry, an official of
the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored
People. “There is so much
room for improvement, for
growth, we don’t want to focus
on Band-Aid
cover-ups.
It is true
that A-list
actors such
as Morgan
Freeman and
Denzel
Washington
consistently
find work.
It’s true the
historical
drama
Washington
Ving Rhames stars in “Rosewood,” Warner Bros.’ searing
drama based on an actual story.
“Rosewood” got studio backing.
And unconventional projects
such as “Set It Off,” a heist
film with black women as the
heroes, are nurtured by small
er companies.
All suggest change. But
widespread, consequential
progress is not supported by
the statistics of groups such as
the Writers Guild of America.
Blacks represent just 2.6 per
cent of the WGA membership,
as they did a year ago. In the
past five years, employment of
black writers has increased
just about 1 percent. Hispanics
are about 1 percent of the
WGA, with Asians about .5
percent.
By comparison, blacks make
up 12 percent of the U.S. pop
ulation, while Hispanics repre
sent about 10 percent and
Asians about 3.5 percent.
“I don’t know what you could
point to to say things are get
ting better,” said Zara Buggs-
Taylor, the guild’s executive
administrator for employment
diversity.
Directors Guild of America
statistics also show that
minorities consistently are
bypassed in hiring. According
to the latest figures available,
for 1995, less than 4 percent of
directing work went to non
whites, including blacks,
Hispanics and Asians.
Among actors, recent years
have brought some improve
ment. Between 1991 and 1995,
employment of black actors in
the Screen Actors Guild
increased from 11 percent to
13 percent of the guild total.
For black actresses, there
was a 3 percent increase, to 13
percent.
Among minorities overall,
employment for actors rose
from 15 percent in 1991 to 19
percent in 1995; for actresses,
the figure went from 14 per
cent to 18 percent.
The number of minority
Oscar nominees, which initial-
u There is so
much room for
improvement, for
gro'wth, we don’t
want to focus on
Band Aid cover '
ups.
- Frank Berry
ly provoked Jackson’s criti
cism, is little changed.
Hollywood’s famed golden
symbol of excellence also is a
dubious monument to the lim
ited inroads made by non
whites.
Cuba Gooding Jr. of “Jerry
Maguire” and Marianne Jean-
ers nominated, but the two
black performers deserve to be
nominated,” he said.
If they had been made out of
a “sense of organizational
obligation,” he said, “we would
have started down a very
unfortunate path.”
But there are subtle signs of
Hollywood’s awkward han
dling of race. “Ghosts of
Mississippi,” about the murder
of black civil rights activist
Medgar Evers, received an
Oscar nod for James Woods’
portrayal of Evers’ killer,
Byron De La Beckwith.
A nomination for the actor
playing Evers was unlikely:
The character received bare
minutes of screen time as
Hollywood chose to tell the
story mostly through the eyes
of the white
participants.
“As we said
last year, the
Oscars are
the end of the
process, and
the paucity oi
nominations
is a reflection
of the need to
have more
people of
color involved
Jackson
Cuba Gooding Jr.
Baptiste of “Secrets and Lies,”
both black, are the only minor
ity actors nominated this year.
A handful of non-white nomi
nees are found in categories
such as best documentary
short.
Oscar’s record is defended by
Academy Executive Director
Bruce Davis, who said worthy
performances are recognized
without regard to color.
“It seems to me the good
news this year is not that
there were two black perform-
at the begin
ning, middle and final stages
of film work,” Jackson’s
Rainbow-PUSH Coalition said
in a recent statement.
“We said a year ago and we
say it today; Hollywood must
do a better job in reflecting the
cultural diversity of society.”
The coalition, which staged
Oscar-night protests in 20
cities last year, said the impact
of its plea has yet to be seen.
The group is weighing possible
action during the upcoming
March 24 ceremony.
For its part, the NAACP
plans a comprehensive exami
nation of the “deep-rooted
problem” of discrimination.
Berry said. 'That might result
in a future plan of attack
including “picketing to law
suits to anything in between,”
See Protest Page 5B