I know enough people in New York to make it worth my while to visit the city. I think their camaraderie is what keeps me returning here a couple of times every year.Heck, my best friend lives here.I’m glad he does. I’m glad I have other close friends here as well. More than a handful […]
VIENNA, Austria — I see why travel sites like Travel & Leisure often rate Vienna as the best city in the world to visit.I have no reason to argue with the choice.Yet I only sampled a small piece of Vienna. How can you see it all in six days? My travel plan was to mostly […]
I’m jealous. Yep, yep … I know we’re not supposed to admit that jealousy is an emotion we pack into our lives. But I must be honest here.Why am I jealous?Simple question to answer: My best friend is about to go on a trip to Colombia. Nick and several buddies are flying to Cartagena, and […]
I suspect cultural anthropologists of a certain age look back now and swear something awful happened to their music. They probably say their tastes got hijacked between the early 1970s and the millennium. But I can tell them precisely what was taken: real voices, real instruments and, well, real talent. At the turn of the ’70s, […]
“Coffy” came on the scene at the right time. It was a movie that reversed the roles Black women played in “blaxploitation” movies. It also catapulted Pam Grier into stardom.Grier was all that Black (and white) moviegoers could ask for. They longed for a heroine to counter Ron O’Neal, Jim Brown and Fred Williamson, who […]
I can’t recall ever using the word “landlubber” in anything I’ve written, and I have good reasons why. I had no need to use it. But as I use it now, allow me to put some context together for you. Six months ago, a cousin asked me to go on a trip with her. She […]
The characters stick in our minds today just as they did in January 1972 when “Sanford and Son” debuted on NBC. The sitcom, modeled on the British series “Steptoe and Son,” demonstrated that an all-Black cast could hold its own in a TV market crowded with comedies. None of the others, however, had a star […]
You get no reprieve from Death, who sneaks into people’s lives when they least expect him. Yet everybody knows Death awaits, and regardless of how fast you run from him, Death will catch you at some point.He caught Sydney Poitier on Friday.Poitier, 94 when he died, was one of the most gifted actors of his […]
I never considered Will Smith a great actor. His on-screen polish was a bit too slick to cover films with true grit. His hilarious work with comic Martin Lawrence did entertain; and his efforts in movies with Gene Hackman and Tommy Lee Jones held appeal for me too. Yet Smith’s range seemed narrow, I thought. […]