(Let me open this chapter by saying I almost certainly do more name dropping in the next few paragraphs than you will ever hear me do in a five minute conversation in real life. Nature of the beast…) Like any film geek worth his salt, I knew the names of the filmmakers who either graduated […]
As a kid who grew up loving road trips, the 24 hour drive from Kansas City to Los Angeles didn’t phase me. Having spent most of my years in either Kansas or Louisiana, I didn’t understand when people talked about how ‘flat’ these areas are. Driving through Arizona and New Mexico gave me a new […]
First of all, B.E.T., go to your room and don’t come out and until we tell you to come out… Our seats ended up being on the far end from the stage but right next to the tunnel where all the celebs were going (they saved the floor for the VIPs for the most part). […]
This is one of those times when I’ve been struck deaf. It’s impossible…it’s impossible for me to address my love of music, my love of show business, the way I designed my image…hell, go ahead right now and type in his name in the Search button to the right and see how many times he’s […]
If my father was my benefactor, my biggest fan in the family was his brother’s wife, my godmother. My father is very laid-back, which is where I get it from. My aunt was the one who would stick up for me (all of us really) if someone was bullying us. I chuckle at how many […]
I first read The Autobiography of Malcolm X when I was 16 years old. The pages are turning yellow, but I still have the paperback version I bought half a lifetime ago now. In nearly every chapter, there was something in it that struck me like lightning. I flip through these pages now and see […]
I can remember with clarity the effect Roots had on me the first time I watched it. Awe, shock, pride, anger. I cried pretty good the first time I saw the scene where they whipped Kunta Kinte until he said his name was Toby. I was one of the first in my family to be […]
The Wire aired for five seasons on HBO. The main character of the show was the city of Baltimore, with each season looking at the city through a different infrastructure (the streets, the docks, politics, the school system and the media). I’ve done nothing to disguise the large amount of admiration for the show […]
My earliest memories of the movies were from the summers in Salina. The local theatre would play these Sinbad serials as matinees, and we’d all ride our bikes home afterward and play out in the street. Pirates, cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, what have you. E.T. was the first ‘Hollywood’ movie I remember seeing at the […]
Oh there been times that I thought, I couldn’t last for long But now I think I’m able to carry on It’s been a long, a long time coming But I know a change gonna come Sam Cooke, ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ I’ve expressed a slight dread to those close to me that […]
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