LOU GOSSETT, JR. DROPPING KNOWLEDGE!

LOU GOSSETT, JR. appears in the final two episodes of BET's "The Book of Negroes."  We had an amazing chat a couple of weeks ago, some of which appears in the current TASTY CLIPS in the Los Angeles Wave.  Here I present more of the knowledge he dropped on our world today, his close call with Charles Manson's cult, hanging with Jimi Hendrix, his favorite films, and more.
 
50 years later, do you think we're living in Dr. King's Promised Land?  "We are, but a lot of us in the DNA are still used to fighting for freedom.  White folks in their DNA are fighting to keep control. We’re in the land of the free and the home of the brave, but a lot of us don’t know what that means.  Black people have not practiced their responsibility.  I call them American Africans these days, not African Americans.  We’re Americans first.  We’re having that problem of getting used to this new situation that’s going to happen.  It’s eminent that we’re going to have a global society but it has to start in America.  It’s eminent that we need each other desperately, but it’s hard to change old habits."
 

"Look at that storm on the east coast.  We’re getting signals from the spirits that we need to do something. I think the number one thing we need to do is straighten the planet out, the weather, its animals and its insects.  We’re supposed to be the caretakers of this planet and then pass that on to our children.  In the meantime we’re fighting over racism, territory, oil, money, military might.  We may as well be in a 747 at 30,000 feet pointing towards the ground, but everybody’s in the plane fighting for First Class."  

"Everybody knows something’s wrong.  Open up the book and open up your minds to the growth that mankind has in store.  We need to get rid of some of those things that are getting in the way of our compassion.  I went to S. Africa and spent 20 minutes with Nelson Mandela.  If anybody would be upset about injustice it would be him, but he came out of Robbin Island with a smile on his face and messed everyone up.  So with what happened to him, if he can do that then I have a signal that I can do the same." 

What are your feelings about the impact of the civil rights movement?  "My best friends now are Andrew Young and his wife and Xernona Clayton all who were in the middle of that.  The best news about the civil rights movement today are the multi racial young people who are joining in the fight against injustice.  That’s a great message.  Our children, the gang bangers, they haven’t been taught anything so they’re taking matters into their own hands.  They want us to pay attention to them.  They know what’s wrong but they don’t know what’s right.  So they’re desperate for some kind of lesson, some elder leadership.  I’m getting a personal response from them all across the country and I love it."

I read where you were almost killed by Charles Manson's cult.  "Oh yes, absolutely.  We were welcoming the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.  I can’t remember who it was, but it was at the Chateau Marmont.  The reception was in this beautiful suite and I was there with Mick Jagger, John and Michelle Phillips, Paul McCartney and Jimi Hendrix.  Someone said, 'Hey, we’re going to go to Roman [Polanski]’s house with Sharon [Tate] and we’re going to continue this party.  You coming Lou?'  I said, 'Yeah, but I’m going to go and take a shower.'  I came out the shower and the police were at Sharon’s house on the TV.  I had to take another shower. (laughs) I broke out into a salty sweat!"  

What was Jimi Hendrix like?  "Jimi was very quiet except when he was on the stage.  We used to hang out in London during the Abbey Road period with The Beatles.  George Harrison was who I hung out with mostly.  He and the Maharishi lived there. We used to close a restaurant called The Baghdad Gardens. We’d pass the guitar around and share some other things after the place was closed.  We talked about philosophy, politics, free love, anti-war stuff and transcendental mediation until the sun came up.  Jimi would be in the corner quiet but he would live what he was talking about.  He was one of those special geniuses.  Great man." 

Which of your movies are your favorites?  "There’s one that I did that I have special appreciation for called 'Benny’s Place.'  The other one was 'Lawman Without a Gun.'"  

Have you seen anything lately that you were impressed with?  "My favorite movie this year was "Black or White." It told some truth.  It wasn’t uncomfortable.  It’s about love and us needing each other.  And we need each other desperately.  The Americans as a universal soup doesn’t taste half as good without the black input." 

Along with your work with the Eracism Foundation, what's up next for you outside of "Extant?" There’s The Harlem Renaissance which I’m trying to present.  That's a 60 to 70 year tapestry of politics, art, gangsters and freedom fighters.  WEB DuBois was in the middle of that.  Maybe a one man show.  I’m very grateful to be able to remember my lines and be healthy, and have friends of all kinds.  I dropped 60 pounds.  The girls say more than hello to me now."

‘LOVE JONES' SEQUEL BREWING? OYELOWO CHIDES ACADEMY

“I got the vampire in my blood,” actor LARENZ TATE says jokingly about his still youthful look.  “Me and Pharrell Williams.  We’re not telling the secret.”

What he will talk about, though, is “White Water,” a fact-based 1960s southern civil rights tale, with Sharon Leal, Amir and Amari O’Neil, directed by Rusty Cundieff (premiering Feb. 7 on TV One).

“I feel there are different stories to be told of our history,” Tate says about the project. “Even though our grandparents and great-grandparents as African-Americans felt the oppression and negativity that surrounded them, I know mine weren’t walking around with their heads hanging down.

“You telling me our people weren’t having a good time? Where did all that good music come from?” he added. “Where’d all the great family values come from?  It came regardless of the oppression.  So what are those cool stories?”

Tate said he understands actor Anthony Mackie’s point about some people being tired of race films, but adds: ‘We can’t walk away from the history.  I think it’s about telling fresh stories.”

“In “White Water,” black folks ain’t getting beat with billy clubs.  Black folks ain’t getting stomped.  They ain’t hanging from trees.  We’re telling a different story from a boy’s perspective.”

Tate’s slate consists of a recurring role on Showtime’s “House of Lies,” producing and starring in a film called “Beta Test,” directing (Antonique Smith’s video for the Grammy nominated “Hold Up, Wait a Minute”), and helping south L.A. youths through the BLOOM initiative (www.calfund.org/bloom).

As for any potential “Love Jones” sequels, Tate said, “You have to catch lightning in a bottle to get that fulfilled.  If the story isn’t a hundred percent there, we don’t want to tarnish it.  But if we could find a way to do a super special story, I’d be there in a heartbeat.”

“I do know the Obamas love the film,” Tate affirmed.  “I think it was one of their dates.  If we’d had it in the can, we could’ve had a big premiere screening at the White House.

“We playing games!  Let me call Nia Long!”
 

SPOKEN WORDS: Tuff Gong International will digitally release “So Much Things to Say,” a rare 35-minute interview with Bob Marley from 1973, by legendary Jamaican DJ and journalist Neville Willoughby. The interview was recorded in Jamaica upon Marley’s return from the Burnin’ album tour in the U.S. and the UK. The recording, combined with background tracks, has been digitally remastered and re-edited by Marley’s wife, Rita, and their daughter, Cedella Marley, in time for what would’ve been Bob’s 70th birthday.
 
CLIPPETTES: Jaden Smith & Maya Rudolph are cast in the HBO comedy pilot “Brothers in Atlanta,” created by, and starring Diallo Riddle & Bashir Salahuddin …

Oprah Winfrey will co-star in a dramatic series for her network based on the novel “Queen Sugar” by Natalie Baszile, to be written, produced and directed by Ava DuVarnay …

The Pan African Film Festival (paff.org) is in gear this week ...  

Rick Ross and B-Real headline the 4th Annual High Times SoCal Medical Cannibus Cup Concert, Sat., Feb. 7 at the NOS Events Center in San Bernardino.  Doors at 8 …

The great Rita Moreno is going to be a “Glam-Ma” on CW’s “Jane the Virgin” …

Mehcad Brooks (“True Blood,” “Desperate Housewives”) is your new Jimmy Olsen, a romantic interest to CBS’ “Supergirl”…

Amaury Nolasco (“Prison Break”) is joining Eva Longoria’s “Telenovela,” described as a soap within a soap comedy, at NBC ...
 

TASTY QUIP: “I know people may say ‘this guy’s a fascist’ and all this stuff, but man, you can take positivity from watching [Benito Mussolini]. No wonder why Hitler was attracted to him. This guy’s a hypnotic figure. There’s so much pride behind what he’s saying. I’m not even Italian and I feel the pride he’s projecting.

"He had that street swag; he was doing this stuff with his hands and moving his head before it was even hip-hop.” – MIKE TYSON to Rolling Stone on the inspiration of his one take ad-lib on Madonna’s “Rebel Heart” album.  His trippy cartoon show has its season finale Feb. 8 on Adult Swim.
 
TC ON TV: Fri, Feb. 6 – “NAACP Image Awards” (TVONE): Anthony Anderson hosts Oprah Winfrey, Kerry Washington & Chadwick Boseman to name a few.  Eric Holder, Spike Lee & Clive Davis to be honored … “Preachers of L.A. (OXYGEN): Deitrick (Haddon) Goes Home in this special … “SHAKESPEARE UNCOVERED” (PBS): “The Taming of the Shrew with Morgan Freeman,” “Othello with David Harewood” …

Feb. 7 – “Red Band Society” (FOX): 2 hour series finale … “Megachurch Murder” (LIFETIME): Inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet and set in a modern African American church, this film stars Tamala Jones, Malcolm Jamal-Warner, Michael Beach, Corbin Bleu & Dawnn Lewis …

Feb. 8 – “The Simpsons” (FOX): Pharrell ... “57th Annual Grammy Awards” (CBS): Common, John Legend, Sam Smith, that Rihanna/Kanye/McCartney group, Beyoncé and whispers of Prince! … “Talk to Al Jazeera” (AJAMERICA): Akon … “Watch What Happens Live” (BRAVO): Steve Harvey & Hoda Kotb …

Feb. 9 – “Late Late Show” (CBS): Wayne Brady hosts Robert Glasper (who is playing The Mint on the 7th).
 

CALIFORNIA LOVE: The GRAMMY Museum® (800 W. Olympic Blvd.) has opened its latest exhibit — All Eyez on Me: The Writings of Tupac Shakur, in cooperation with the Estate of Tupac Shakur.  Some of the artifacts featured in the exhibit (through April 22) include: Tupac’s handwritten notes, lyrics and poems; the Versace suit he wore at the 1996 38th Annual GRAMMY Awards; Original tape box and studio notes from his first post-prison release recording; Interviews, performance footage and more.

TASTY QUIP: ”Generally speaking, we, as black people, have been celebrated more for when we are subservient, when we are not being leaders or kings or at the center of our narrative, driving it forward.

“To me, Denzel Washington should have won for 'Malcolm X.' We’ve just got to come to the point whereby there isn’t a notion of who black people are that feeds into what we are celebrated as.

“Not just in the Academy, but in life as well. We have been slaves, we have been servants, but we’ve also been kings and have changed the world.” – DAVID OYELOWO at the Santa Barbara Film Festival.

‘OSCAR' SNUBS CALLED IRRELEVANT; 'SELMA' BARES LESS BULL

"I don’t think about it,” DANNY GLOVER says with a laugh, responding to the Oscars snub of many black films or performances, including his portrayal of a police captain father in “Beyond the Lights.” 

“I got global warming on my mind.  I got what’s happening with workers on my mind.  I don’t think about that stuff.  I really don’t.  My life is beyond those types of things,” he said. “At 68 years old, the things that I think about are being home with my wife or finding a way I can connect as much as I can with my grandson.”

Glover said he looks for films that challenge, not those that will win awards. Which explains why he’s starring in the independent, racially charged thriller "Supremacy," which hits theaters and Digital HD this weekend. In the movie, he plays the head of a household taken hostage by a white supremacist.
 
A truly transformative Lela Rochon, Derek Luke, Evan Ross, Mahershala Ali and Anson Mount (Mr. Bohannon on“Hell on Wheels”) round out the cast directed by Deon Taylor.  Up next for Taylor is “Meet The Blacks” starring Mike Epps, Dave Chappelle and Charlie Murphy, opening in July.  

LESS BULL, MORE TRUTH: Longtime activist DICK GREGORY’s address during Martin Luther King Jr. ceremonies at Georgia State was a big hit, even though the comedian admitted he wasn’t part of the civil rights leader’s inner circle: “I was making too much money for that then,” he joked.  

On the film “Selma?”: “I told Oprah, 10,000 years from now, this will still be a hit, because you gave us something more than Bull Connor. You should be ashamed if you haven't seen it!” 

His Greatest Hits: “Thurgood Marshall was nothing but a government agent."  "Alex Haley ain’t know none of that.  Kunta Kinte came out of that white boy’s book “The African.” "Mixing Skittles with Arizona sweet tea produces a combination three times as potent as cocaine.”
 
The 82-year-old comic will receive his much deserved Hollywood Star at 11:30 Feb. 2 at the corner of Hollywood and Vine.  The ceremony lasts about 30 minutes; no ticket is required.

EMPIRE RISING: Denzel Washington is being wooed by filmmaker Lee Daniels to do a guest star appearance on Fox’s “Empire” – and the feeling reportedly is mutual.  “Denzel hasn’t done television in 30 years,” Daniels told The Philadelphia Enquirer. “But he saw the pilot and said, ‘I’ve got to be a part of this.’ ” Patti LaBelle’s coming too!

CRITICAL TIME: Orlando Jones, John Singleton, Mike Epps, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, and RZA are among the presenters at the African-American Film Critics Association (AAFCA.com) annual award ceremony and dinner at 7 p.m. Feb. 4 at Hollywood’s Taglyan Complex.

CLIPPETTES:  “FourFiveSeconds” featuring Rihanna was the first song to hit the net from the upcoming Kanye West album co-produced by Paul McCartney.  The acoustic joint will also appear on her album …

Public Enemy’s song, “Harder Than You Think,” was selected for NBC’s official Super Bowl XLIX Commercial, currently airing with a voiceover by fellow hip-hop legend Ice-T …

Sylvester Stewart AKA Sly Stone was awarded $5 million by a L.A. jury in his case against his ex-manager and his lawyer …

Rutina Wesley (Tara on "True Blood") has joined the cast of NBC's "Hannibal” …

Leslie Jones (“SNL”) will join Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig & Kate McKinnon as your new “Ghostbusters”…  

Shaquille O'Neal is working on a sitcom pilot about his business dealings called “Shaq Inq”…

“Selma” director Ava DuVernay and its star David Oyelowo are teaming again on a love story set to the backdrop of Hurricane Katrina … 

“We Are The World” celebrated a 30th anniversary with Smokey Robinson, Sheila E and others witnessing USA for Africa gifting a grant to the Grammy Museum’s Education program ... 

ABC wants more from Shonda Rhimes and has ordered a pilot of “The Catch,” called a romantic thriller ...

STAR POWER: Compton’s own Kevin Costner and “Black or White” co-star Anthony Mackie exuded class at the Atlanta screening of their film that had "Real Housewives" Phaedra Parks and Demetria McKinney, and civil rights icon Andrew Young in attendance.  Andre Holland (who played Young in "Selma") gives a strong performance as a junkie in the movie that also stars Octavia Spencer.  

TC ON TV: JAN 31 – “SNL” (NBC): D’Angelo will be joined by Jesse Johnson (original guitarist in The Time) during his sets. 
Feb. 1 – “Chris Paul's CP3 PBA Celebrity Invitational” (ESPN): A Super Bowl Sunday tradition taped this year at AMF Bowl-O-Drome in Torrance… “The Tonight Show” (NBC): Kevin Hart, Will Farrell, Ariana Grande and The Roots LIVE!
Feb. 2 – “Unwrapped 2.0” (COOKING): Alfonso Ribeiro is the new host of this series reboot!  
Feb. 3: “Being Mary Jane” (BET): Season premiere.
Feb. 4: “Laff Mobb’s We Got Next” (ASPIRE):  2nd Season premiere.

SUNDANCE SEPIA:  “Dope” by Rick Famuyima (“The Wood," "Brown Sugar") was hype, according to those who saw it at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Zoe Kravitz, Kimberly Elise, Rick Fox, Roger Guenveur Smith, Chanel Iman, A$AP Rocky, and the voice of producer Forest Whitaker are featured in the hit described by a Playlist writer as a “coming of age tale for the post-hip-hop and social media generation, a black geek picture for the Urkels and Kanye Wests of the world, a crime/drug caper, a comedy, a gettin’-out-of-the-ghetto film and more.”

Also making noise were documentaries “What Happened, Miss Simone?” about the great Nina Simone;  “Fresh Dressed,” looking at the history of hip hop fashion; Stanley Nelson's "The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution;" and the apocalyptic thriller, “Z for Zachariah,” starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Chris Pine and Margot Robbie.  

TASTY QUIP: “The good thing about the young is that they want to fix things. They don’t want to fall into the same ol’ bullshit.” – STEVIE WONDER to GQ.

DREAM TEAM PRODUCES BIG 'RING'

An all-star team of top women in entertainment have teamed to make “With This Ring,” a Lifetime Original Movie premiering Saturday, Jan. 24.  Jill Scott, Regina Hall and Eve Jeffers Cooper star as three single friends who make a pact to get married within a year after attending their best friend’s wedding. The romantic comedy is based on the best seller “The Vow” by Denene Millner, Angela Burt-Murray and Mitzi Miller.

This Sony Pictures Television production, written and directed by Nzingha Stewart (“Pretty Little Liars,” “The Fosters”),  boasts a supporting cast of Brooklyn Sudano (“My Wife and Kids”), NFL Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, Stephen Bishop (“Being Mary Jane”), Jason George (“Grey’s Anatomy”) and Brian White.

Executive producers Tracey Edmonds (“Jumping the Broom”), Gabrielle Union (“Top Five”) in her first producing role and Sheila Ducksworth (“Soul Food”) can deservedly take their bows.  

OUT THE BOX: D’Angelo, riding the wave of his surprise critically acclaimed album “Black Messiah,” will  continue  to go against the grain by heading overseas with his first concert tour to support the release.  However, it’s been learned that before he hits the road, he’ll do an appearance on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” on Jan. 31 and one U.S. show at the Apollo Theatre on Feb. 7.  That date will be notable as he was first discovered during Amateur Night at the famed Harlem venue.   

TASTY QUIP: "They still trying to get that script right. I'm not doing a 'Beverly Hills Cop' unless they have a really incredible script. I've read a couple things that look like they can make some paper. But I'm not doing a shitty movie just to make some paper. The shit got to be right." - EDDIE MURPHY to Rolling Stone

BE THERE: The Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers West (BAD West) will present Michael Phillip Edwards’ “Haunted Jamaica” as part of their monthly St. Clair Bourn free screening program on Mon, Jan. 26. It kicks off at 7 p.m. at the Mayme Clayton Library & Museum in Culver City.  Edwards will do a Q&A after the screening. Refreshments, jerk chicken wings and salad will be served.

CLIPPETTES: With WGN’s Underground Railroad series already in development, comes news that NBC plans to do a mini-series on the subject with Stevie Wonder on board as an Executive Producer and hopefully composer of a Broadway bound spin-off of the material…

Disney’s “Queen Of Katwe,” a film about young African chess star Phiona Mutesi, is hoping to get Lupita Nyong’o and David Oyelowo on board… 

Keke Palmer is segueing from Broadway’s “Cinderella” to Fox’s “Scream Queens,” a creep fest show coming this fall from Ryan Murphy (“American Horror Story”). Lea Michele (“Glee”), Jamie Lee Curtis (“Halloween”), Joe Manganiello (“True Blood”) and Ariana Grande will be joining her… 

Meanwhile, almost everything old is new again at Fox as the network is considering bringing back “The X Files,” “Prison Break,” and a Jack Bauer lite “24”…

TLC (Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas & Tionne “T-Boz Watkins) are turning to Kickstarter for funding of their next and “final” album, their first without the late Lisa “Left-Eye” Lopes…

Mariah Carey announced on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” that she’ll be the latest superstar to do a residency at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas…

AOL has announced adding “That's Racist With Mike Epps,“  a 10-episode series, to their 2015 slate beginning Jan. 26 for the first five installments and March 2 for the rest... 

Miki Howard returns to the Catalina Bar & Grill (6725 W. Sunset Blvd) on Jan. 23 & 24 to perform her hits and selections from her new EP “Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blues,” some of which was recorded live during her last visit to the venue…

B.J. Britt, whose Agent Triplett character was killed in the mid-season finale of "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," still has BET's "Being Mary Jane" returning Feb. 3rd…

TASTY QUIP: “If I were accused of something I didn’t do, you couldn’t shut me up about proclaiming my innocence.  I’d be all over the place, lawyered up, trying to sue people for slander. That’s defamation of character.  I think his silence is speaking volumes.  I also think we don’t know Bill Cosby. We know Heathcliff Huxtable.  I never thought he would’ve cheated on Camille ever, yet he made a child and I was shocked about that! It’s a trip because Bill Cosby is a good looking man. He didn’t have to drug anybody. Like I’d have gave him some.  It’s not about the sex, it’s about the control. Unfortunately predators come in all packages.” – LUENELL to TASTY CLIPS

TC ON TV: JAN 27 – “Real Husbands of Hollywood” (BET): Season Finale!

JAN 28 – “Empire” (FOX): It’s already been renewed for a second season.  Look for both Snoop Dogg and Foxy Brown to appear soon. 

JAN 29 – “Scandal” (ABC): Exactly what happened when Jake went to the bedroom? Who took Olivia and where did she go? The series returns to show all from Olivia's point of view.  "How to Get Away with Murder" (ABC): The wait is over!

JAN 30 – “Wendy Williams Show (SYN): Congrats for reaching her 1000^th episode!     

TASTY QUIP: “Will Smith plays globally. Denzel plays globally. When studios do their formula for budgets a big part of that is what it’s going to make internationally, so automatically when people believe in this mantra that “black doesn’t sell overseas,” you’re going to get less money for your budget. But if you go through the numbers, you’ll see plenty of Caucasian-American actors that don’t travel well overseas, too. A lot of white actors don’t pass Denzel, Will Smith, or Samuel L. Jackson overseas, so this myth that we don’t travel? I don’t believe it.” - SPIKE LEE to The Daily Beast

FROM 'NOWHERE' TO 'SELMA': 'NEW BLACK' STAR SPEAKS!

“Middle of Nowhere,” the drama that impressed “Selma” producers so much that they hired its director Ava DuVernay, is at long last released on DVD.  For some insights, TASTY CLIPS talked with the amazing LORRAINE TOUSSAINT, who counts both films, ABC's "Forever," as well as a lauded turn on season two of “Orange is the New Black” among her credits.  “It was one of the best scripts I'd read in a really long time,” she opined.  “Ava's a wonderful writer but she's also gifted in not overwriting a part. There was so much room for the unspoken in her script that I signed on to do it immediately.”

Portraying the mother of a young woman who is trying to make a living while devoted to an incarcerated husband, Toussaint understood the fierce love that is depicted.  “You want [your children] to reach their full potential and anything that gets in the way of that is an enemy - including themselves,“ she said, “because that's what mothers do.”

Thankfully, her own mother overlooked the “delusional“ aspirations of her 10 year old daughter and enrolled Toussaint in an acting class. “I come from Trinidad,” she revealed.  “I may be showing my age but there was one black actress I knew of and that was Diahann Carroll [as “Julia”].  I thank her every time I see her because of the power of role models.  Sometimes you have to see it, to know that you can be it.” 

In “Selma,” she is being Ms. Amelia Boynton, the civil rights icon who is now 103 years old. “I met her while we were shooting in Montgomery,” said Toussaint.  “It was an honor.  You could feel the waves of passion coming off of this person.  I was very clear that I was sitting in the presence of a woman who has lived and is still living a purpose filled life.”   

Toussaint is pointed about critics of the authenticity of “Selma.” “Oh for God's sake, it’s art and an interpretation,” she said.  “It's such an uninteresting debate because I can't even say go to history books because history is written by the winner. Whoever the dominant culture is determines what history is.  How much of history does not reflect Black Americans or Black American contributions to history?  How much of history has not documented the slave trade or many of the atrocities all over the world?  How much of history has excluded women and people of color?  Even a documentary is from a particular perceptive.   It's an uninteresting discussion to me.” 

 “I say go see the film,” she adds. “Does it move you to dig deeper to find more facts about what happened? Does it open your heart and mind? Does it inspire and inform and entertain? I think “Selma” has met all of those benchmarks and surpassed them.” 

After ruling on "Orange is the New Black," Toussaint offered a glimmer of hope for more.  "She certainly took a hit literally and figuratively at the end of season two," she said, "but even I as an observer of that character have to say, I know she's dead, but are we sure she's dead?  That's Vee.  Is she really going to go out like that?  To honor the Netflix model I won't say much more about season three except Vee has fun and Vee was fun."

As for what’s next for Toussaint? “It’s the story of an extraordinary woman who led troops and was instrumental in changing the course of [America’s] Civil War - literally on the field and off,” she declared.  “Her name happened to be Harriet Tubman.  There's so much we don't know.” 

CLIPPETTES: The two actresses LIFETIME hired to star in their Aaliyah biopic, Zendaya Coleman (who quit) and Alexandra Shipp (who replaced her) are the front runners to play a younger version of Storm in the next X-Men flick…

Allen Hughes (who directed “Menace To Society,” “Dead Presidents,” & “The Book of Eli” with his twin brother Albert) will helm the History Channel reboot of “Roots.”…

The Blu-Ray to James Brown biopic “Get On Up” adds full song performances and featurettes “The Founding Father of Funk” and “On Stage with The Hardest Working Man in Show Business” to the mix of extras…

“The Adventures of Puss in Boots,” continuing the animated exploits of DreamWorks’ popular hero,  premiered on Netflix with voice work from John Leguizamo and Danny Trejo (“Machete”)…

TC ON TV: SAT, JAN 17 - WHITNEY (LIFETIME) to be followed by BOBBY BROWN: REMEMBERING WHITNEY and WHITNEY HOUSTON LIVE: HER GREATEST PERFORMANCES … LIFE OF A KING (UP): Cuba Gooding Jr. stars as neighborhood chess teacher Eugene Brown ... INSIDE EMPIRE (FOX): Behind the scenes of the hit series … SNL (NBC): Kevin Hart. 

SUN, JAN 18 - NICKI MINAJ - MY TIME AGAIN (MTV) … OPRAH WINFREY PRESENTS (OWN): Legends Who Paved The Way…

MON, JAN 19 - STAR WARS REBELS (DXD): Billy Dee Williams' Lando Calrissian gets animated ... LIGHT GIRLS (OWN) … THE NIGHTLY SHOW with LARRY WILMORE (COMEDY): Series Premiere!

TASTY QUIP: “Keep your grind right & it’ll keep your mind right. – MIKE EPPS on Twitter.

QUEEN LATIFAH & DIVAS LIVING & LOVING OUT LOUD

 

Queen Latifah, Fantasia, Keysia Cole, Jennifer Hudson, Myesha Chaney (“Preachers of LA”) and Masika Kalysha (“Love & Hip Hop”) are some of the black female celebrities opening up in a probing new book.  "Real Divas: Living & Loving Out Loud," documents their feelings about finding and/or maintaining love while living a life in the public eye. Former Right On/current Hip-Hop Weekly Editor-In-Chief Cynthia Horner teams with Rap Sheet founder, Author and Publisher Darryl James to ask the difficult questions in this anthology now available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com and RealDivasBook.com.

ASK HIM: With allegations that Ava DuVernay's "Selma" wrongly defames President Lyndon B. Johnson as an adversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., TASTY CLIPS wonders if it was strong enough for youngest son Dexter King.  In the mid-90s, we became acquainted in an Atlanta social scene he seemed bored with. At one such event, King opened up like never before asking if I wanted to know what happened to Dr. King.  The answer shook me.  "LBJ killed my father," he said, later citing evidence that swayed him to believe an order was given to F.B.I. honcho J. Edgar Hoover from the top.  Months later, he reasoned on ABC’s “Turning Point” that Dr. King’s rising power and opposition to the Vietnam War made him a target.  

PEEP THIS: The Black Hollywood Education & Resource Center hosts its 21st Annual African American Film Marketplace & S.E. Manly Short Film Showcase, Jan. 16-18, at Raleigh Studios (5300 Melrose Ave.). The Opening Night Reception will feature a Filmmaker’s Dialogue with Award Winning Director, Michael Schultz ("Cooley High," "Car Wash," "Which Way Is Up," "Woman Thou Art Loosed," TV’s  "Arrow" & "Black-ish").  Visit bherc.org or call (310) 284-3170.

MIGHTY: For a preview of their Jan. 17 Nokia Theatre concert, TASTY CLIPS spent a Fabulously Hot New Year in Columbia, SC with The O'Jays.  The free event, that has become one of the premier holiday gatherings in the southeast, featured the group (Eddie Levert, Walter Williams & Eric Grant) in a tight 60 minute performance.  Levert’s early vocal issues didn't matter with the crowd singing loudly along to their many hits.  A second set was aborted with songs like "Family Reunion," "Living For The Weekend," and "Message in Our Music" M.I.A.  "That's like asking James Brown to play all his s**t," reminded a colleague.  In L.A., they'll be joined by The Whispers with tickets still available at axs.com.  

CLIPPETTES: Forest Whitaker ("Taken 3") is among the honorees of the MLK "Celebrating The Dream" 2015 Luncheon on Jan. 15 at the Dorothy Chander Pavillion.  For more info: mlk-chf.org/ 

Drake, Alabama Shakes, Raekwon & Ghostface Killah, Steely Dan, Jack White, Fitz & The Tantrums, Azealia Banks, David Guetta, Florence + The Machine, Toro Y Moi, FKA Twigs, Carl Craig, The Weeknd and Maxwell's new fave, Hozier are but a few of the acts just announced for Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival 2015 (Apr. 10-12 & 17-19 in Indio, CA).  

Early 1900s New Orleans is the setting of "Storyville," a new Starz series developing from famed producer/writer/director George C. Wolfe, who visited Jelly Roll Morton’s world once before in his Tony Award winning Broadway musical "Jelly's Last Jam." 

Charlie Murphy, Eddie Griffin, George Lopez, Cedric The Entertainer, Mike Epps and DL Hughley are all coming together, according to HumorMillMag.com sources.  The Black and Brown: Comedy Get Down Tour is supposed to be routed in the southeast before adding several more stops.  The site also reports that Griffin is developing an urban “SNL” type show to be set in Vegas.  

The animated "Madea's Tough Love," released straight-to-DVD on Jan. 13 features voice work from Tyler Perry, Cree Summer, Rolonda Watts, Cassie Davis and Bootsy Collins!

TASTY QUIP: “Forget these women. What you’re seeing is the destruction of a legacy. And I think it’s orchestrated. I don’t know why or who’s doing it, but it’s the legacy. And it’s a legacy that is so important to the culture.” – PHYLICIA RASHAD on Bill Cosby’s current situation to Showbiz 411.

TC on TV: JAN 13 - AMERICAN EXPERIENCE (PBS): "Klansville, U.S.A." looks at the rebirth of the KKK in 60's North Carolina.  

JAN 14 - SNOOP & SON: A DAD'S DREAM (ESPN): Series Premiere!  UNSUNG (TV ONE): Rick James.  BLACK-ISH (ABC): "Martin Luther Skiing Day" THE GAME (BET): Final Season Premiere! 

JAN 15 - GOTHAM COMEDY LIVE (AXS): Sinbad opens the 4th Season!

TASTY QUIP: “We’re pushing it because we’re questioning everything — but isn’t that what art is supposed to do? That’s what scared me, though, like, oh my God, the NAACP is going to get us! Barack Obama is going to hate us!” – TARAJI P. HENSON on her series "Empire" (Weds. on Fox) to the NY Post.

A FEW MORE 2014 FAVES: CONCERTS: Booker T was old school but oh so hip.  FILM: “Begin Again” was an uplifting music industry movie with a good cast - Adam Levine, Mark Ruffalo, Keira Knightly & Cee Lo Green. “Guardians of the Galaxy”  TV: "True Detective," "Olive Kitteridge," "Mr. Dynamite," "The Strain," "American Horror Story: Coven."  ACTRESS: Jada Pinkett Smith (“Gotham”). PRODUCTS: PB2 with premium chocolate powder became a go-to 85% less fat alternative to those Reese’s either as a sprinkle or mixer.  Camille Rose Naturals won Essence Magazine’s Reader’s Choice Awards and TASTY CLIPS became a fan of their Coconut Water Penetrating Hair Treatment.  STAND-UP: Corey Holcomb. TV HOSTS:  Wendy Williams, Roland Martin, Bill Maher.  RADIO HOSTS: Joe Madison, Karen Hunter 

TASTY QUIP: "Stu Scott's passing hit me like a ton of bricks. Rest in PEace bro you pioneered that coolest side of that sportscasting pillow. #Booyah" - CHUCK D of Public Enemy about the Cancer stricken ESPN host on Twitter.

FROM THE ARCHIVES (2007): JOE SAMPLE [R.I.P.]

Master pianist JOE SAMPLE is Feeling Good about his so-titled reunion album with vocalist Randy Crawford. It's actually been thirty years since their landmark award-winning recording of Street Life. TASTY CLIPS asked the composer, who has been working on a "killer" zydeco project for five years, if he would also get back with his former bandmates The Crusaders. "It's going to take more than a phone call to spur everybody to go and reach back again and gather all of the positive stuff you were playing with," he explained. "That's not going to happen. I know that Stix [Hooper] wants to do it. We spoke about it. We did a record, but it was not with the ferociousness or intensity we use to play with. Why? Because I could tell that Stix and Wilton [Felder] hadn't been playing." And is that something that can be recaptured? "It's up to them, but you can't jive a body. It's either there or it isn't there. I realized that. I don’t' think you can stop and start over like that. My life has totally been dedicated to playing. I don't believe Stix's has or Wilton's."

Would guitarist Larry Carlton be a part of any reunion? "No, Larry wouldn't do it. Larry has not very good feelings about The Crusaders for whatever reasons." 

What was different about working this time with Randy? "Randy was young in '76. She used to like to holler and I would cringe. One of the greatest recordings that is known is Luciano Pavarotti's La Boheme from 1973. It was just an awesome mastery of the voice, control and the passion. Now people just whoop and holler for no f----ing reason. I don't get it. Randy used to do some of that." 

You've worked wonders with so many singers. Outside of the piano, is the voice your favorite instrument? "To be honest with you, I hate clichéd, monotonous voices. We can go into a guy like Kenny Rogers. To me it just sounds like he always sang the same melody He had the same little turns. What I hate today with the young black male singers, and I hear it in Michael Bolton, I hear the sound of passion. The sound of love is oooh oooh oooh ooh. Fuck you, man. I'm sorry. I don't want to hear that shit. You ain't singing shit. You are using a formula. And now they take that shirt off. They all have this moaning like someone is putting their balls in a vise. Louis Armstrong had a sound. Nat King Cole had a sound. Tony Bennett had a sound. Aretha Franklin had a sound. Stevie Wonder. Now they all imitate him. I just want to hear an individual sound and what I call the interpreters, whether it is a musician or singer. Lalah Hathaway and Randy Crawford are interpreters. Frank Sinatra. I love interpreters."

Lizz Wright? "I think Lizz lacked bar experience. What I missed in Lizz was that she's been through some grind. When I met Lizz she was focused on whatever she thought was the right way. She has this tremendous sound, but I just found not enough of 'I gotta survive passion.' And I don't think you can think about that. I think it's just something that's naturally there." 

Bill Withers? "I worked with Bill in the mid 80s and he did Soul Shadows. He thought it was a disaster. After three hours of just singing he was crushed. And I said Bill, I've been trying to tell you for three hours you got it on the first take." (laughs). 

What happened to jazz on popular radio? "There's always been a profound belief, but what I have also grown to realize is that most people find listening to instrumental music as a torture chamber. When people do not hear a voice, to them it is not music. I grew up in a period where the vocals were a small part of the performance. The big bands every once in a while they'd introduce a singer to break the monotony. Well today, when a guy raps they call it a song. They have no idea I just think there was always the line between R&B and jazz. Jazz was always looked at as an alien destructive force. Now it is even worse than ever." 

How is that countered? "Some young people are going to have to be music lovers. Listen to different things and share the knowledge." 

The white kids seem to be OK with blues and jazz. "When rock and roll really got underway in 1960 it blew the legends of blues away. The younger black kids got into Motown. There was something about blues people that was embarrassing to the black youngsters of the 1960s. I remember the black hierarchy of the 1950s instead of looking at the blues for racial pride, I think they looked at it as something that was holding us back. Of course, the British youth, they heard, they liked it, they began to imitate it. Eric Clapton. The Rolling Stones. I was more confused than ever. British bands themselves loved [the blues], but it was basically a moral wrong in the white communities to allow the white youth and especially the young white girls to be entranced or thrilled by the voice of a black man. That was a taboo. So blues was only going to make it as an underground thing and those whites who got into it had to be very very careful of not letting the other whites know that they loved it. So how do you solve that? Find white men who can sing it. Today if I was a young talented black youngster I would learn a guitar. I would become a blues singer. That's one of the most powerful things there is on the face of the earth. Why can't a young black kid take that? Because he would be totally intimidated for doing that in front of all the hip hop generation. I would say the hell with the hip hop generation. You guys are just stupid. I'd sing some blues."

Are you in a tricky place as an artist who may only be played on a college or smooth jazz station? "I made a decision in the early 90s. I'd just signed to Warner Bros. They wanted me to get a lot of guest vocalists because I could get airplay on the radio stations. I just made up my mind up I'm not doing that. I want to play the piano. Somehow I've always been fortunate to come up with something that the smooth jazz stations found appealing. They indicate or I am known as one of the creators of smooth jazz. I don't believe that on any of my previous recordings or The Crusaders recordings there was anything smooth about them. I am melodic but at the same time it was always soulful and it was always grooving. On smooth jazz, I hear a concept that they have created. All I hear on it are saxophones generally playing old R&B melodies or any melody that was previously a hit. Or I hear the vocals of a lot of these old songs. It's not really jazz. Basically I believe it really doesn't mean anything other than what they want it to be. It's now become a horn player's world. Everything is linear. One note followed by another note. Now it is an unstoppable flow of notes and you have to do that because the jazz itself has turned into a process. It isn't the joy of sharing your musical skills with the neighborhood you were born in, or having fun bouncing off of other musicians anymore. You are judged by how many notes you can play in a certain period of time. To me it leaves an absence. A lot of the young jazz players today are carbon copies of what was great in the sixties. I prefer to go back to the 60s and listen." 

As a guy who got his chops years ago in the clubs, how did you manage to avoid the traps that many artists fell into? "Just not being no damn fool. Moderation, man. I know when to cut it off and when to go to bed. My sin was I was going to be home before the sun come up."