4D A & E/glie CtarIpBt ^ogt Thursday, March 1,2007
Paintings from the Jim Craig and Randy Johnson Collection
Continued from page 1D
formed of red and blue
concentric circles, “Man-
dala IV” looks like it might
be the work of Kenneth
Noland, The famous Wash
ington, D.C. color field
painter of the 1960s. Actu
ally it’s by a lesser known
contemporary artist, John
McCracken, which does not
take away from our viewing
pleasure.
A tall, handsome paint
ing, “Fresh Season,” by Jane
Wilson features a cotton
candy textured sky above
ground that looks almost
liquid.
The collection is , also
interesting because it is so
diverse from contemporary
optical art by Richard
Anuskiewicz, student of
Josef Albers, founder of
Black Mountain College
which operated in Black
Mountain in the 1940’s
until 1956, to works from
the 1800s.
Keite Young took long road
Continued from page 1D
no means is Young an overnight sensation
or a flash’in the pan. He’s been working on
his craft for 10 years.
"This is my third revision of this album.
A lot of hard work went into completing
this," he said.
It took almost five years for the project
to get done. Young said. But he isn’t rest
ing on his laurels. He's completed a sec
ond CD and is working on a third.
Poet Nikki Giovanni.
By Stephani-Maari
Booker
M/NNESOIA SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
MINNEAPOUS, Minn. - In
1968, Nikki Giovanni self-
published her first book of
poems. By 1972, she had
received her first honorary
doctorate, from Wilber-
force University in Ohio.
Over the past three-and-a
half decades, Giovanni has
accumulated more than 20
honorary degrees and a
dozen-plus keys to cities,
including New York and
Los Angeles.
Giovanni’s most recent
work alone, the children's
book Rosa (Henry Holt and
Co., 2005), has earned her
at least five more honors,
including the Oppenheim
Toy Portfolio Best Book
Award and the Child Maga
zine's Best Children’s Book
of the Year.
So how does Giovanni
view being one of the most
famous and honored Amer
icans in the literary arts,
credited with bringing the
Black Arts Movement to the
mainstream and being a
godmother of today's spo
ken word movement? How
does she view herself with
all the mounds of praise
heaped upon her, from
public awards to individu
als telling her that her poet
ry saved their lives?
"I’ve had people who’ve
been very complimentary,
yes," Giovanni responded
in a telephone interview.
"And I’m glad, but I’m not a
priest; I’m an acolyte. I’m
not trying to do anything to
anybody but bring a point
of view. I’m not running for
office. I'm not trying to
lead. I’m just trying to say
does this make sense, or
isn’t there some truth that
we can obtain from this?"
Acolytes (William Mor
row) is the name of Giovan
ni's new book of poetry.
When told to explain the
significance of the word for
her, she said, "We tradition
ally think of acolytes in a
religious context, but the
world needs acolytes at this
point; good people need
acolytes at this point. It's
the people that help you
create your rituals. And all
I'm trying to say is that we
need some new rituals. We
don't just need people fol
lowing along because
somebody tells you some-
, thing."
Giovanni appreciates the
accolades she has been
given, but she asserts her
right to be a human being,
period. You can’t let the
fact that people like you
make you make a fool out
of yourself. It sounds
funny, but if you stay hum
ble - that’s what the old
gospel song that says ‘live a
humble life' and ‘humble’
is not [that] you’re poor
and you wear dirty clothes;
don’t misunderstand, ^ut
that you have to keep
putting the work in per
spective, and the work has
to be true, and you have to
answer to, in my case, to
my ancestors. I always feel
like my grandmother is
going to read this, even
though she’s been dead 40
years. And so I want it to be
as truthful and as beautiful
as I can make it. But I’m not
a Pied Piper.”
When Giovanni was told
that she’s often credited as
the godmother of spoken
word, she expressed great
delight. "I love the kids. I
love the spoken word; I
love what they're doing. I
am disenchanted that peo
ple actually complain about
the hip hop generation.
They’re great kids, and I
think that they have strug
gled [to create something]
with nothing.
"[My generation] had seg
regation at least; we under
stood that was wrong. Now
the kids don’t have segre
gation, but they don’t have
band, they don’t have
school plays, they don’t
have a school paper, they
can’t work on the yearbook.
And these kids have found
a way to express them
selves. It’s an ancient way
that they found, because
they found it through
music, as did our ancestors
in 1619.1 think that they’re
a great group, and I'm glad
to feel that I have been a
part of helping to bring
their voice out."
The status Giovanni has
earned through her long
work history brings the
responsibility to keep
doing good work: "You're
fortunate: you get to do
something that you really
love and that's meaningful;
and that’s good, but you
have to do it again. You
have to come back again,
and writers, I don’t think,
have the same flexibility
like the [music makers]:
The people who sing songs
sing the same song. They
get a hit, and then they sing
another one just like that,
and they get another hit.
But writers, we have to
keep pushing that envelop.
You have to learn some-
The collection includes
artists who started in our
region like Frank Faulkner
and his gold three-dimen
sional work, “Untitled,”
who was born in Sumter
and Romare Bearden, who
was born in Charlotte.
This show encourages us
to trust our taste and our
interest. The two collectors
have a pet beagle. Scrappy,
and the exhibit also
includes paintings of bea
gles. And Craig studied to
be a violinist and there are
paintings of musicians.
This collection encour
ages us to live the good life
at whatever level we can.
The exhibit continues
through June 3. Hours are
Tuesdays from 10 a.m. to
10 p.m. Free admission on
Tuesdays from 5-10 p.m.
Wednesday through Satur
day from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
and on Sunday from 12-5
p.m.
For additional informa
tion, call The Mint Museum
on Randolph Road at (704)
337-2000.
The music. Young said, will appeal to
everyone. But the first people who catch on
are those who don't let radio dictate what’s
hot.
Want to go?
What; Keite Young’s performance
When: Friday at 8 p.m. &10:30 p.m.
.Where: The Jazz Cafe, located at 2127
Ayrsley Town Blvd.
For more information: log on to www.the-
jazzcafenc.com
fIM
SUN WILLMMS.
HUN fSSIIOin UWSENCE SUCY
FOUR OUVS FROM THE SUBURBS HIT THE ROAD... AND THE ROAO HIT BACK.
Nildd Giovanni simply an ‘acolyte’
thing: you have to learn to
listen, you have to keep
pushing yourself to the
edge a little bit.”
“Learning, listening and
pushing" describes Giovan
ni's life of surviving more
than a decade past a lung
cancer diagnosis. She wrote
the introduction to "Break
ing the Silence: Inspira
tional Stories of Black Can
cer Survivors” by Karin
Stanford (Hilton Publishing,
2005), and she’s in the
process of writing a “slow
and painful book” about
the impact of cancer in her
life: “My mother and my
sister both died of lung
cancer. But you don’t fight
cancer - you have to find a
way to live with it. That’s
what I feel about my can
cer, that it and 1 have made
a deal that we’re going to
live together a little bit
longer. It’s been 12 years,
and I’d love another 20 or
25. There's no reason for it
to kill me, and I’m not try
ing to kill it; I’m just trying
to stay alive."
Giovanni also credits her
ability to “tune out" doom
saying from healthcare
providers “because you
don’t need anybody telling
you why you really are sick
and why you’re going to
die. I fired one of my oncol
ogists, because he was
looking at my x-rays and he
said, ‘Well, you know,
according to this, you’ll be
dead by June’! And I said
‘Am I paying you, or are
you a volunteer?’ He said
‘No, you’re paying me." I
said. Then you’re fired. I
don’t need this."
“And I went and got a sec
ond and a third opinion.
You have to do things like
that, because as a friend of
mine who is a nun says
she’s wonderful - That’s a
call that you have to
answer.’ The Lord dials
your number, you’re going,
but you want to make sure
that that’s what is happen
ing, not that you have some
incompetent or some indif
ferent person killing you!”
People must be assertive
when it comes to their
health, Giovanni insists:
“You’ve got to take care of
yourself. Any time you’re
feeling like something’s
wrong, something is. Go
see about it. Don’t wait.
The first time I went to see
the doctor, because I knew
something was wrong, he
said, ‘Oh no, it's not.’ Well,
I couldn't accept that; I
knew something was
wrong, so I had to go find
somebody who that’s going
to find out what’s wrong.
And so when people say,
‘Well, I don’t see anything:
maybe you got a little high
blood pressure or some
thing,” you can’t accept
that That’ll kill you!
"You knew something
was wrong; you've been'
dreaming something was
wrong. In my case, my
father started to appear in
my bathroom: when I was
brushing my teeth, he
would be in the mirror. And
I kept thinking, ‘Why am I
seeing my father?’ He’s
been dead and he died of
an intestinal cancer - and
he wasn’t talking to me. It
just, it bothered me. But 1
said, ‘Something’s wrong.
Why is he in my mirror?'
And I still don’t understand
that. But it’s a lot of stuff.
And I don’t fight it.”
I
CitiSIde Builders presents
Actor's Theatre's productlOD of
by Regina Taylor
based on Ibe book by Micbael Cunningham and Craig Marberry
i
I
Mar. 8 at 7:30pm
Mar9at8nm
Mar. 10 at 8pm
Mar. 11 at 2:30pm
Mar.19at7:3apm
Mar. 18 at 8pm
Mar.17at8om
Mar. 18 at 2:30pm
Mat. 22 at 1:30pm
IPav What Yap Can NtghtI
Mat. 23 at 8pm
Mar. 24 at 8pm
Mar. 25 at 2:30pm
Waves of gospel songs, dance and story
telling flow freely among a sea of colorful,
multi-layered hats in this revival of last
year’s hit stand-up-and-testify musical.
01
iEljc Cljai-Ioitt Post
niE
ACTOR'S
THEATRE
CHARLOTTE”
t'SjF
650 E. Stonewall St.
Tickets; $23-$28
Group discounts avaiiable.
Cal! to reserve your seat!
704-342-2251
www.actorstheatrecharlotle.org