Herb Jeffries, the jazz singer and actor who performed with Duke Ellington and was known as the "Bronze Buckaroo" in a series of all-black 1930s Westerns, died of heart failure Sunday morning at a Los Angeles hospital. He was 100.
By: Lee Edwards - May 29, 2014 10:50 a.m.
The 30th Annual Matteson Family Days festival, an event staple for the Village of Matteson, is taking place on Friday, June 27 through Saturday, June 28, at the Matteson Village Hall, 4900 Village Commons. This year’s festival is headlined by multi-platinum selling R&B group, En Vogue, on Friday night and Grammy award winning artist, Peabo Bryson, on Saturday night.
By: Deborah Bayliss - May 21, 2014 4:21 p.m.
Acclaimed author, poet, film-maker, screenwriter, activist and playwright, Sam Greenlee, perhaps best known for his 1969 novel, The Spook Who Sat by the Door, died May 19 in Chicago at age 83.
Early one Sunday this month, 56 people boarded a bus in a suburb of Washington, D.C., to make the trip to Broadway to see a play.
The all-day trip was part of a fundraiser organized by members of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, the oldest African-American female sorority of college-educated women. People on the bus ranged from a child under 6 to grandmothers. There were veteran Broadway goers and theater newbies.
For Anthony Mackie, landing the role of the Falcon in “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” meant more than inking his dream deal with Marvel.
Eminem and Outkast will headline a diverse lineup of more than 130 acts at this year's three-day Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago, Jane's Addiction lead singer and Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell announced last Wednesday.
By: Deborah Bayliss - April 11, 2014 11:12 a.m.
Remember the 1975 film classic, Cooley High, the Black cinema classic, filmed in and around Chicago’s Cabrini Green housing projects, based on the lives of African American kids coming of age in the 1960s and written by Eric Monte, co-creator of Good Times?
NEW YORK- Norm Lewis has been tapped to be Broadway's next Phantom in the megahit "The Phantom of the Opera," a move that makes him the first African-American to slip behind the famous mask on the Great White Way.
Mathew Knowles who was once managed Beyonce and Destiny’s Child, making gazillions in the process, is now down and out and can barely pay child support.
By: Deborah Bayliss - March 12, 2014 3:19 p.m.
On March 14, South African artist, Jabu, who now resides in Los Angeles, will be in Chicago for an exhibit at the Africa International House, 6200 S. Drexel Ave. The exhibit will include a panel discussion with Jabu and art curator, Soraya Sheppard about their experiences under the apartheid regime.
Five-time, Tony award-winner, Audra McDonald, known for her roles in both television dramas such as Private Practice and Broadway musicals “Ragtime,” “A Raisin in the Sun,” and “Porgy and Bess,” returns to Broadway to play legendary jazz singer, Billie Holiday in the Broadway premiere of Lanie Robertson's "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill."
The legacy of photographer, film director, musician, and social justice advocate, Gordon Parks, was honored with a $25 million donation from filmmaker George Lucas and his new wife, Mellody Hobson, President, Ariel Investments, to support construction of a new arts hall at the University of Chicago (U of C) Laboratory Schools that will be named after Parks.
By: Deborah Bayliss - February 28, 2014 4:11 p.m.
Brother Jacob & His Blues Crew, a blues band featuring a young African American blues singer, who has emerged on the scene with 10 years of performing already under his belt, will serve as the opening act for the University of Chicago’s (UIC) 24th Annual Blues Cabaret on Feb. 28 as part of the school’s Black History month celebration.
By: Lee Edwards - February 6, 2014 11:04 a.m.
In honor of Black History Month, the Chicago Urban League and the Gary Comer Youth Center are both hosting Black history film festivals.
By: Deborah Bayliss - January 29, 2014 10:51 a.m.
Chicago is maintaining its status as the place for major film and television productions, with an overall increase in filming activity, according to information released from the Chicago Film Office at the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE).
“This past year has been an outstanding year for film in Chicago with major films and six full-time TV shows in production,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
