28 PAGES THIS WEEK
THURSDAY. AUGUST 8, 1991
WELCOME NATIONAL BLACK THEATRE FESTIVAL GOERS
75c*nts
"The Twin City's Award-Winning Weekly '
VOL. XVII, No.50
ON THE
AVANT-GARDE
Fofcs, even the aftwtato ? including the back
sliders? got up and started hollering Amen!
I'm WBng jroul saw people who, as they say,
their handsback and forth y B they were listening to
the Bobby. Jonee Express. Waving their hands when
4^^** ft--?- ?? - - " iiAtniii liir bfe ALa " ALuklnii
tney Know tnai wnoever m ooing me singing oone
told the truth!
It got so good to Claudette Weston that she
handed her purse to a total stranger and proceeded
to both dance and shout? then moei
,p Yee slrl t teel like shouting myftlf. Ummmph.
somebody say Amen, Well! ?
rm telling you that the conservative republcans
-^ those that endured 'til thft-ftnd ^gfi|i
atandingfeitting in their seats shaking their heads as
If thfc-lerdGod himself had just declared that h*
| (God) was a democrat ? tnrflMS^Mmd have!
M8||i|ilitiPpWepped down from on high to per
sonally see to H that the Holy Spirit was aft they say
S||ps place."
Honey, if only you CQulda-ehoulda-wfohte-hada
giada-l-wasa-been there! " ' " :
Yes mam, Pm taking about the time whan it
seemed that all of tha earth stood ftML'TlMMHfi
when people saw this Ufa for what it Is and aint The
time ? the moment when wa each axpoeed our
selves to life's other side. The moment when we
reached into our
and doubts. When we reached out and told some
body that we had never even seen before. "Honey, i
am real. I am really hurting. I have my doubts. I don't
know how this la going to turn out I am realy soon;
but dont know who to teit I don't know what I am
going to do. . I am not all that I thouQht I would bft. |
have jurt realized that al this timet have been IMng
my Ma% dream based on the price of abaje of cot- J
iignTing, ins cocuXTiis, ms
? even fantastic. Afterai
Nicole NiBlack, and
^pbandThe
; all of
But we were
all watting intuitively for the moment Yfce, for the
n every piece of great music,
every great work of art has what artists, esoeciallv
composers, oaR the Goldsn Mean. It is this mathe
matical ptooe where . . .? Let-tot ma explain It this
way. Take a look at a large treft trunk and you M
ratfkre that the limbe^ta* n distance
on whether the limb goes up or out ? that limb will
either grow or fall off the tree! Than the area of the
jf
In Blues In (he Night, tha tun* "Wasted Life
Blues" as performed by Carol Woods was so very
powerful ? not only becausa of the music itseH ?
but bftcau? of where it was placed in the overall
mm. By the tima we reached the point where Carol
tify with ShakeftpftiSS h? deertadMhatUe to a
tale told by afooi fttanifyinq nothing." -?? - -?
And so, ladies rtdfmttamen, those of you vrtto
sit them on the sidelines of Mi wonderino about the
?i'Pff ,W?^' PpT pie WMippiW %#l tliv ff W? IVW If ?WVM % II IV
power of black theater and its ability to chanae us I
ftlftft In ail our western axpression
can funddfDontdl Questions of Mb qxIs~
tentialism ? be more powerfully sxpresaad than
through tha simple twBlve bar blues deviMed and
originated-by a black man. Mr. W.C. Handy?
^^Hitoabody naads tpeay/^PttUmwftmmmh.
Thousands celebrate Festival here
Stars, fans
delight in
gala opening
By YVETTE N. FREEMAN
? Chronicle Staff Writer
Thousands of people from
around the country have come
together this week to help celebrate
the second biennial National Black
Theatre Festival. But they are not
~ the only ones who haviTbeen over
- whelmed with Excitement
enthusiasm. Denzel Washington,
Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Antonio
Fargas and Avery Brooks, as well
as other celebrity guests, have all
expressed their delight in being
involved with and linked to such an
historical event here in Winston
Salem.
At a press conference held
Monday, Aug, 5 at the Stouffer
Hotel, which featured Davis, Dee,
Fargas, Lofton Mitchell, George C.
Please see page A3
? ? II I ? ? ? ?? ? a
Photo by ktk* Cunningham
Glynn Tlirman was ona of tha faatura0 calabrltlaa who racalvad
an award during tha gala opanlng faativttiaa.
? v ; ? -.tviw*"'. . " L. ? ? . -i ... +j*n?
Funds go for scholarships
Notables roast Brown
Chronicle Staff Report
For the first time in his life, activist
Dick Gregory posted bond to get out of
jail ? so he could attend a dinner in
honor of High Point businessman
Robert J. Brown.
"This morning I left jail in Little
Rock, Arkansas. It was the first time I
ever posted bond," said Gregory from
the podium. He was on the 31st day of
a water fast to protest retail sales of
drug paraphernalia. It was over that
protest that he was jailed.
"Bob Brown taught me that money
is not power; influence is not power;
information is power," said Gregory.
Nearly 600 friends and admirers of
Bob- Brown gathered Saturday night to
roast Brown and raise money for the
Kenneth A^Free scholarship fund,
which grants partial scholarships to
graduates of Greensboro's James B.
Dudley senior high sctidol.
Kenneth A. free, who has headed
the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference
(MEAC) since 1978, is the confer
ence's full-time commissioner.
Celebrities and VIPS were nearly
as plentiful as at the Black Theatre
Festival: roasters included Chicago
businessman Stedman Graham
(Oprah Winfrey's beau), Dr. Maya
Angeiou, and actor Whitman Mayo.
"I came all the way from California
to talk about this man who doesn't
have a hair on his head, " quipped
Mayo.
Seen in the crowd were
songwriters Ashford and Simpson,
many Washington, D.C. VIPs including
a three-star general.
Robert J. Brown is chairman and
CEO of B&C Associates, a manage
ment consulting and public relations
Please see page A2
No Festival
Funds from
the Chamber
By SHERIDAN HILL " . . ' ' "
Chronicle Staff Writer
Larry Leon Hamlin and other members of the
North Carolina Black Repertory board think the
Greater Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce
should be jumping at the chance to get behind the ?
National Black-Theatre Festival. ?
To them, the economic impact of the festival
should be as plain as the filled hotels, as obvious as
the black and white stretch limos idling outside the
Stevens Center, and as evident as the packed restau
rants in town.
They say that if the chamber fully appreciated the.
three or four million dollars the. festival is estimated to
bring into the area, it would have come forward with
support before now. . <
As yet, the Chamber has not made a contribution
to the National Black Theatre Festival, which is orga
nized by the Black Repertory Company. But the rea
Pieaae see page A2
- ? . i - i- ....... ^
Photo by Mke Cunningham
Marshall Bass (left) retired FWR executive, was one of many attending the
recent roast of Bob Brown (right).
Patrick Hairston: Saddened by ordeal
By SMfcRIDAN HILL
Chrontcfe Staff Writer
nesses while he was alaerman, but
Hairston asks: "Does It look like I got
money?"
Patrick Hairston begins to list people His company, Patrick Hairston Clean
he has helped during the past twenty ing, went bankrupt and took with it many of
years. From housing problems to college his financial resources, he says. He recent
tuition to gro
cery shopping,
he says he has
worked hard to
improve condi
tions for fTULoy
in Winston
Salem.
He won
ders where
-they are today.
"Some of
the very people
I've helped out
act like I'm a hardened criminal now," he
says. "The phone used to ring - not any
more. People used to come by - not any
more.
"I've helped people
all my life. But who
will come when the
helper needs help?"
- Pat Hairston
ly sold his
1988 Cadillac,
and a "For
Sale" sign
stands promi
nently in the
yard of his
small but com
fortable home
off Indiana
Avenue.
He may
need as much
as $25,000 in
legal defense fees in the coming months.
Charged with 21 counts of political cor
ruption, Hairston faces 315 years in prison
and a $5.25 million fine. The FBI indict
"IVe helped people all my life. But who ment alleges that Hairston, a former alder
will come when the helper needs help?" man , and Alderman Larry Womble
An FBI indictment charges that he requested donations to local chanties in
extorted thousands of dollars form busi
Please see page A 12
Photo by Mike Cunningham
Pat Halrston wonders what will happen next as ha awaits trial
In October.
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