Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / March 9, 2006, edition 1 / Page 25
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http ://Vvww. thecharlottepost. com Cliarlotte THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 2006 D Section Winfred Cross Sounds Maysa’s clever elassie eovers Maysa Classic Soul Vanms producers Slianachie Records Doing a cover CD is becom ing 80 passe. Se^ns like it’s harder to find good new mate rial these days. Michael McDonald, Vanessa Williams and a few others have done well with cover CDs. Maysa can be added to that list. Once the lead singer for Incognito. Maysa has been eking out a decent solo career. Ihis should put her over the top, Maysas smokey alto fits these songs like marriage fits Will and Jada. She doesn’t try anything out of the way or over the top - she simply sings the heck out of each song. Each song is done in the jazzy'^^style that made the group Inco^to neariy irre sistible. Despite the paformances. some of the songs have gotten way too much mileage lat^y “Wishing On A Star.” “Betcha By Golly Wow” and “The First Time' Ever I Saw Your Face)” are popular remakes But Maysas tone - espjedally on ‘Tirst Time) is so dear it does n’t matter Maysa’s a bit mca« adven turous cai the rest of the mate rial. She handles Barry White’s “Playing Your Game. Baby” like a champ. It’s smooth and sexy, just the way White would have liked She’s neariy as se:^ cm “Don’t Say Goodni^t.” made famous the Isley Brothers. Actually, few of the songs were originally done by women, which makes this CD Rease see MAYSAy2D PHOTO/WADE NASH Darren Vincent, owner of Real Eyes Bookstore, started EclecFest in December. The event draws thousands. Mixing in NoDa EclecFest brings together diverse arts and coninierce By Cheri.s F, HcxJges cfwrtsJtod^es^thfcharlonepostrom EdecFest is what is says; an eclectic mix of art, music, food and shopping. The monthly event start ed in December at Real Eyes Bookstore in NoDa and has grown into an event that brings crowds to the arts district that mi^t not normally go, says founder and Real Eyes owner Darren Vincent. “Every month we do a ’ new theme and its every second Saturday It’s a chance for all the artists to come out and show their talents,” he said ‘T came up with EdecFest because we were doing forums in here and a lot of the artists were talking about leaving this district.” The reason was simple: gallery overhead is exp)en- sive for some of the newer artists. Vincent, as a busi ness owner, can under stand the galleries’ need to make money and as an art lover, he understands how the artists need a show case. “I think the artists make this district,” he said. “Wth that and the fact that we don’t have too much walk ing traflSc around here dur- ii^ the day, I wanted to create some kind of festival outside.” Vincent said about 50 artists participate in EdecFest and 82 p)ercent of vendors sell some kind of art. “They have Afiican sculp tures, paintings and Afiicanjewerly,”he said. The first festival, which was held in the cold drew over 1,000 visitors to NoDa, did more than sup- j)ort artists. Patrons dis covered the edectic shops in the area, benefiting mostly everyone, Vincent See ECLECFEST/2D ART REVIEW Exhibit focuses on children’s lives By Sandy Seawright iJiE cH.m/jrrE post Secret Games: Wendy Ewald Collaborative Works With Children, 1969-1999 Mint Museum of Art 2730 Randolph Rd. When Wendy Ewald derid ed to become an artist, she made the derision to make photographs that were more immediate and revealing than traditional portraits. As Ewald began working with children and had the children take photographs she says she found her lone ideas less interesting and other perceptions began to surface. This ejdiibit consists of 14 Ewald projects conducted all over the ^obe fix>m Johannes burg, South Afiica, in the Netherlands and in the Car- olinas. This is not an exhibit to view casually and it isn’t intended to make you smile. In the South Afiica project which was created in 1992, two years before the election of Nelson Mandela, everyone stands together in ti^t, pro tected groups. Many of Ewald’s projects focus on children fix)m deprived circumstances. In “Johnny’s Story” the poverty ridden house of this white boy is falling apart and perhaps about to fall off the side of the hill. It would be interesting to see Ewald work with children fixim affluence. The photos are so honest and revealing obviously Ewald establishes great trust with the children. In “The Alphabet Project” children photographed differ ent objects to represent letters of the alphabet. A photograph of a boot (the word bota writ ten on the photograph) repre sents the letter “B.” One of the most visually suc cessful projects here is “Black SelfTWhite Self’ Set in Durham following the merging of the predomi nately black city schools and the white coimty schools. Ewald asked the black and white students to do a photo graph of themselves as ‘hlack” and as “white.” ^e let them draw directly onto their negatives. Student Zavier Veron put a crystal bowl on his head to represent his ‘white” self Tb be white. Michael Green outlined his body in white paint. Another student cov ered his photo negative fix)m Rease see EWALD/2D CIAA entertainment Patti LaBelle added class and ele gance to the CIAA tournament while hosting “Showtime at the Apollo.” PHOTOSAVADE NASH Fantasia, the latest star to call Charlotte home, wowed the crowd at the Convention Center by singing her hits live. Steve Harvey brought the jokes and his morning show to Charlotte, replacing Tom Joyner’s popular show. All-Star remakes pay homage to Sly Stone k Winfred Cross Sounds Sly & The Family Stone Different Strokes By Different Folks Sylvester Steuxtrt, producer LegacyfEpic If you missed Sly Stone's return fit>m only God knows where ctn the recent (^ammy awards * telecast, you only missed a commercial for this recording. It seems those unlikely pairings doing Stone’s musdc were carefully calculated. Sony dug up scwne rid Stone stuff and added some of today’s *11” peoj^e. Tliat usually spells mess, but it turns out the calcula tions were po'etty mudi cor rect. The integrity of Stone’s songs wasn’t harmed and most remained recognizaWe. Thankfully, Sly & the Family Stone’s vocals appear c«i all tracks Actually, some of the new folks are very good. Joss Stone, John Legend and Van Hunt put a hurtin’ on “Fami ly Affair ” Maroon 5 handles “Everyday People” as if it were raised an funk You’d e?^)ect no less than Ixilliance fix)m The Nap^ Roots and Turn on with electric teachers Best Of The Electric Com pany Bill Cosby, Rita Morvno, Mot'gan Freeman, June Angela and Spider-Man Henry Behar, Bob, Schwartz, directors Shout! Factory As a child of the 1960s and ‘70s, I couldn’t have escaped the Children’s Television Workshop. It produced “Sesame Street,” which I rarely missed. But there was a funkier show called “The Electric Company” which taught phonics, pronunciation and to a lesser degree spelling. I know that now, but then I just thought it was a cool comedy show. Part of that show is now available on DVD. “The Best Of The Electric Company” is a four-disc set that spans its debut in 1971 to 1975. The show aired until 1985. It’s one of the funniest collections of clean sketch comedy youTl get. How could paDnunriation be funny? It’s all in the witty writii^ and the great per formers. Oscar, Grammy, Golden Globe and Emmy award winner Rita Moreno - the little woman with the great big voice - was a vital part of thQ cast and is featured throu^out this disc. Remem ber the “Hey, you guys” scream at the beginning of the show? That’s Moreno. Emmy winner Bill Cosby was also featured. Yes, it was before “Captain Kangaroo” and “The Ckisby Show,” but watdiing a younger Cosby lets you see greatness coming. And there’s Morgan Free man - Mster Easy Reader himself Freeman was way cool before movies and the Oscar thing. His segment of the program was my favorite. I actually learned fi*om Free man. He was pimp slick and cool without the seedy ele ments. The four discs contain full shows as well as spterial fea tures, which include a feature with Moreno, the founder of CTW and June Angela, a part of the cast fixim beginning to end. “The Electric Company” will bring back memories and even teach your kids and grandkids a thing or two. that’s what you get when comHned with Martin Luther on “Don’t Call Me Nigger, Whitey.” The title may sound corny, but the song is still rel evant despite the fact nigger is 80 overused these days St(Mie is credited as produc er, but many hands went into the rmiixes, including Will I. Am, Nile Rodgers, Steve Jor dan and the Roots. All are to be commended for the great effcrt. Ratings #(do
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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March 9, 2006, edition 1
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