The happy sounds of music from an entertainer whose lyrics took you higher to a family affair

Sly Stone makes brief appearance at Grammy Awards

The year and date was February 8, 2006. The place was the 48th Grammy Awards show. The special attraction was Sly and the Family Stone. To hype the anticipation, a press release was sent to the media that Sly would be making an appearance. 

Sly had not made a stage appearance since 1993. Sly Stone fans thought he was back, ready to take them higher once again, like he did when he was at the peak of his musical career. He received a resounding welcome, replete with  screams and applause as he appeared on stage in the middle of a tribute to Sly and The Family Stone. He sported a platinum Mohawk hairdo, wore a full-length metallic coat over metallic pants and dark sunshades. 

The TV audience and those at the awards show were ready to see an old-style Sly Stone performance. He stood at the keyboard, sang a few lines of one of his hits, and exited the stage, leaving everyone to wonder what happened. The performers and the band completed the song. Final analysis? Noting happened. It was Sly Stone being Sly Stone.

During his early days on stage, Sly was outlandishly fabulous, sporting a huge afro wig and colorful costumes, as did his band members. Sly was also known for nodding off in a narcotic haze in the middle of a performance. That did not his stop fans from loving him and his talent. In the end cocaine stole Sly Stone’s musical career, maybe his voice. He attempted to make a comeback, but drugs proved to be stronger than his desire to reunite with his career and The Family Stone.

Fly Stone and The Family Stone in 1968. From left to right: Sly, Cynthia Robinson, Freddie Stone, Rose Stone, Jerry Martini and Larry Graham

Sly and The Family Stone, and every band
member is a star of the show

Sly and The Family Stone were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993. In the midst of the presentation Sly’s behavior was unexpectedly surprising.

“He suddenly appeared from the wings, made a brief remark to the audience, and disappeared again. Similarly enigmatic was Sly’s brief participation in a multi-artist tribute to the band at the 2006 Grammy Awards, a grand affair starring John Legend, Fantasia, Adam Levine, Ciara, Steve Tyler and Joe Perry of Aerosmith, and others.
 
"All were startled when Sly abruptly waved goodbye to the audience in the middle of “I Want To Take You Higher,” exiting the stage and leaving the stars to complete the song as he disappeared into the night.” (Sly Stone’s official website)

Although he was no longer on the music charts, Sly Stone was still on performing on stage until the late 1980s. His music is still played on radio. When bad luck revisited him several years ago, the bottom was cruel. Sly went from living lavishly in a mansion in Napa Valley to living in a van in Los Angeles. He had made fortunes and lost them. Drugs stole Sly’s fortune and diminished one of America’s innovative, creative musical icons.

Sly parted ways with his manager Jerry Goldstein in 1989, who he said cheated him on his royalty checks. He filed a lawsuit against Goldstein for $50 million. Goldstein, likewise, countered with a lawsuit against Stone for slander. Sly said he was tricked into signing a contract with Goldstein, giving him complete control of his finances. In 1984 he sold to Michael Jackson, his music publishing rights for $1 million. Still touring in 2007, Sly earned enough money to purchase the Napa Valley mansion. He lost it in 2009. He was flat broke.

In a Washington Post story, the reporter wrote that Sly “has been bouncing between cheap hotels and the van for the past two years, but Stone appears to have a fairly good attitude.”

Stone said, “I like my small camper. I just do not want to return to a fixed home. I cannot stand being in one place. I must keep moving.” Despite his homelessness Stone was producing news tracks in his van, holding onto them until the lawsuit is settled. On a TV interview Sly said he is still recognized by people. Some of them ask: “Sly is that you?” He said his fans look take care of him.

Homeless Sly Stone living in Los Angeles

 Mail Online, a British paper, wrote: “The van was parked on a residential street in the Crenshaw neighborhood, where director John Singleton's gritty film Boyz n the Hood was set. A cable can be seen running from the side of the van, which is plugged into the mains to provide it with electricity. As he has no running water he has to rely on the kindness of a retired couple, who allow him to shower inside their home and also make sure he eats once a day. 

Sly Stone posing on his yellow motorbike on his
Napa Valley estate

"It is a long way from his old lifestyle, made possible due to his success as one of the pioneers 1960s and '70s funk. He used to drive a host of stylish cars, including a Jaguar XKE, Hummers and even a London taxi. Just a few years ago he could regularly be seen zooming around the streets on a custom three-wheel chopper-style motorbike.”

Sly and The Family Stone were hot in the 1960s and 1970s but love for each other was not always shown by Sly, not even to his children. 

According to a story in a 1996 issue of People magazine, “Stone, 53, has alienated many of those close to him, including his daughter Sylevette, a 20-year-old student in Sacramento, whose mother, Cynthia Robinson, played trumpet in Stone's race-and-gender-mixed band. Sylevette hasn't seen her father since 1993—and that was only in passing. She was supposed to meet him two years earlier in L.A., but he stranded her at the airport.

"That was harsh," she says, sadly. "I don't know why he treats me like that." 

Sly also turned his back on his rock family. When the Family Stone was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, Stone hardly talked to his old bandmates. 

"When we were starting out, Sly Stone had the power to control 80,000 people with his eyes," says former Family saxophonist Jerry Martini, "but in '93, he couldn't even look at me."

Young Sly Stone

Sylvester Stewart was born in Denton, Texas, March 15, 1944 to Alpha and K.C. Stewart. According to his official website, “Sylvester Stewart was born the second of five children (Loretta, Sylvester, Freddie, Rose, and Vaetta, known as Vet). His devout African-American family was affiliated with the Church Of God In Christ (COGC) and took their beliefs with them when they moved to Vallejo, California, a northwest suburb of San Francisco. Reared on church music, Sylvester was eight years old when he and three of his siblings (sans Loretta) recorded a 78 rpm gospel single for local release as the Stewart Four.

“A musical prodigy, he became known as Sly in early grade school, the result of a friend misspelling ‘Sylvester.’ He was adept at keyboards, guitar, bass, and drums by age eleven, and went on to perform in several high school bands. One of these groups, the Viscaynes, boasted an integrated lineup, a fact that did not go unnoticed in the late 1950s. The group cut a few singles, and Sly also released a few singles as well during that period, working with his younger brother Freddie.

Sly on stage taking the audience higher and higher.

“Into the early ’60s, Sly’s musical education continued 

at Vallejo Junior College, where he added trumpet to his mixed bag, and mastered composition and theory as well. Around 1964, he started as a fast-talking disc jockey at R&B radio station KSOL. His eclectic musical tastes made Sly hugely popular, as he became an early proponent of including R&B-flavored white artists (especially British Invasion bands like the Beatles, the Animals, and the Rolling Stones) into the station’s soul music format. Sly later brought his show to KDIA, where he deejayed right up through the start of Sly and the Family Stone in 1967.

“But as early as 1964, the result of a hookup with legendary disc jockey Tom Donahue, Sly had also been tapped as a producer for the San Francisco-based label, Autumn Records. The small label was known for its successes with first generation Bay Area rock bands the Beau Brummels, the Charlatans, the Great Society, and the Mojo Men, all of whom benefited from Sly’s unerring ear. Sly was paired with Black singer Bobby Freeman, who had previously recorded one of the Pop/R&B crossover anthems of an era, 1958’s “Do You Want To Dance” (Josie Records). In 1964, Sly produced Freeman’s bona fide #5 Pop hit, “C’mon And Swim” (Autumn), which ironically never appeared on the R&B charts at all.

“The stage was set for a quantum leap in 1966. Sly was leading a band called Sly And the Stoners, featuring African-American trumpeter Cynthia Robinson. Freddie was also leading a band, Freddie And the Stone Souls, featuring white drummer Gregg Errico. It was white saxophonist Jerry Martini who urged Sly and Freddie to combine the best of both bands, leading to the birth of Sly and the Family Stone in March 1967. Freddie took over on guitar as Sly quickly mastered the organ. Their sister Rose joined on keyboards and vocals, and bassist/vocalist Larry Graham completed the lineup.

Sly Stone is still optimistic.

“Every band’s story includes their “discovery gig,” and for Sly and the Family Stone it was at a club called Winchester Cathedral in Redwood City, where they frequently played until dawn. They mixed cover tunes with original material, until the originals took over altogether. 

“When we started doing our own thing,” Freddie told rock writer Bud Scoppa, “it really was our own thing, and we threw all those other things out of the window.” 

A local CBS Records promotion man caught their act and alerted A&R executive David Kapralik in New York. He flew to the West Coast and wasted no time signing the band to Epic Records and becoming their manager.”

In 2011 Sly released an album called titled “I’m Back! Family and Friends’, but it was nowhere close to the old Sly Stone. The album was a flop. Sly said of his music, “My music is a format that will encourage you to have a song you won’t forget,” Stone says. “That’s why I got so much money, that there are so many people around, and that’s why I am in court. Millions of dollars! But now please tell everybody, please, to give me a job, play my music. I’m tired of all this shit, man.” (The Hollywood Reporter, 2011)

Sly Stone at LAX on his way
to drug rehab.

 The Grio, in a story titled “Why did we let Sly Stone slip away?” wrote: “Of course, addiction is another thing that likely kept him from seeking out the spotlight. It’s easy to draw the line from genius to dark and troubled soul, but something about Sly suggests that he simply enjoyed getting high more than he enjoyed performing and being fawned over. And that’s just Sly, the main reason we haven’t heard from him in so long and the main reason we haven’t been able to be there for him the way we may have been for other fallen legends who needed our support: he just didn’t want it.

“It’s hard to say for sure, but one hopes that the 68-year old who brought us such brilliant social commentary in the form of funk music will beat the addiction that looks to be crippling him. Not for us, and our selfish want to pick his brain or perform, but for himself, his health, and his family.”

Sly Stone stopped performing on stage in 1987.

"On Memorial Day 2009, Stone appeared on Seattle's KCRW show "Morning Becomes Eclectic," talking about his life and career. He confirmed that the song "If You Want Me to Stay" was written as a question to his fans, but gave no indication as to his future plans. That same year, he signed with the small L.A. independent label Cleopatra, planning to release an album that was a combination of new material and re-recorded greatest hits in 2010. In June of 2009, a recording of the group's legendary performance at the Woodstock Festival was released. In January of 2010, Sly & the Family Stone were announced as performers in that year's Coachella festival." (Rolling Stone)

Sly and The Family Stone split in 1970 due to Sly's drug addiction and not appearing for shows. Cynthia Robinson and Jerry Martini have formed a band called The Family Stone. They still play the old hits songs they performed when they were all together.

'Django Unchained', a Tarrantino movie that distanced itself from the true facts of slavery

I went to see Django Unchained a couple of weeks ago. I avoided critics and what others were saying about the movie. I wanted to get my own impression of Django Unchained. I love Jamie Foxx and Samuel Jackson, two characters in the movie. Having already watched a couple of Quentin Tarrantino movies I was prepared to see violence, and rough language. 

Taking a line from Langston Hughes’ poem, Mother to Son: “I’se still climbin’, And for me it ain’t been no crystal stair.” From my reading of history I knew that life for slaves was “no crystal stair.” Their life was nowhere close to what Tarrantino depicts in this movie. 

Jamie Foxx as Django,
wearing sunshades

I am not a regular moviegoer, so when I Goggled the word “Django” I was surprised to see that a previous Django movie was produced in 1966. The film, an Italian western, was directed by Sergio Corbucci.

Jamie Foxx is Django, whom we meet when he’s being transported with other slaves. He’s rescued by a German minded abolitionist and  bounty hunter named Dr. King Schultz (Christop Waltz), who schools Django in the ways of tracking down and killing men. 

Django becomes the Robin to his Batman, but he wants one thing in return: to go back to the Mississippi plantation where his wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), is still enslaved and free her.

Christoph Waltz and Jamie Foxx in town

What caught my attention, soon after Schultz purchased Django from paddyrollers--was them riding into town. The town's people were aghast. A slave riding a horse like he was a free White man! And he was pistol strapped, wearing a hat and regular clothing!
 
Prior to coming to town Schultz and Django shot the paddy rollers, leaving captured run-a-ways to escape to a freedom. Django took clothes and boots off one the dead paddy roller. By coincidence they fit him. The time period was 1858, three years before the "Proclamation Emancipation" was issued by President Abraham Lincoln.

As a slave Django had no access to a barber; therefore, it was reasonable that his hair was nappy and bushy. In a scene following a quick shootout between Schultz and some gangsters wanted dead or alive, they went into the town’s barber shop. 

The owner did not make a fuss about serving a slave. He did not say, “I don’t serve no nigger slave in here!” Or “What you doin’ with that nigger slave in here?” Nor did he demand that they leave his shop. By the time the two left town that day, the slave was sporting a fade haircut! The carefully crafted fade was popularized by Black barbers. Also, remember this is 1858, and Foxx’s character had dropped his slave dialect.

Call me picky, but obvious dangler after dangler caught my attention, like Moses wearing a red wrist band in The Ten Commandments. But I digress. Schultz and Django went to Candyland, the biggest plantation in the South, where slaves called the DiCaprio’s character “Big Daddy”. Before riding up to the big house, Django spotted an overseer beating a slave. He quickly sprinted toward the overseer, snatched the whip and commenced beating him. He shoots the overseer six or seven times as slaves look on in admiration and amazement. 

Later in the movie, the KKK scene was pure comedy relief. Klansmen argued about the skewed eye cutouts in the cloth bags covering their heads. I didn't and don't understand what this particular scene added to the movie. Remember, the KKK was organized in 1865, soon after slaves were freed.

Throughout the movie, the soundtrack was absolutely contemporary music, including rap! I could not believe it! Tarrantino did not bother to write an original soundtrack for Django Unchained.

Calvin Candie played by Leonardo DiCaprio

Django learned to read quickly, and just as quickly, he evolved into an expert marksman. I stared in disbelief when one of Candie’s guests asked Django how he pronounced his name. The Foxx character told him, explaining that the “D is silent.” 

A slave with knowledge of silent letters! Not even White slave owners knew about consonants and silent vowels! Maybe Django learned it from one of those English books he was allowed to read, courtesy of his German rescuer.
 
One of Candie’s in-house female slaves (see photo to the left) was dressed in a short black and white uniform, replete with heels, black stockings, pressed hair, neatly styled and decorated with a big white bow. She stood in the doorway as two slaves fought for the pleasure of Candie and his male guests. The winner hits the loser in his head with a hammer, killing him. This happened as the loser lay on the floor, moaning from his wounds. 

Candie had demanded that the victor take the loser out of his misery. DiCaprio’s character gives him a hammer to complete the deed. This slave is later mauled to death by hunting dogs. The slave does not want to fight anymore, but that is not his decision to make. Candie talks him down out of the tree, promising he won't have to fight anymore, which was a lie.

In addition to the movie going against everything related to the brutality of bondage, male slaves wore t-shirts, regular shirts and pants and haircuts. However, they were barefoot. 

Finally, Stephen, the in-house Negro played by Samuel Jackson, comes on the scene when Schultz introduces Django to Candie, who instructs his help to treat Django like a “White man.” Of course, this surprises Candie's White guests and the slaves standing around. 

Sam Jackson is unadulterated Pulp Fiction, talking loudly and cursing strong. Like Django, he does not speak with a slave dialect. For some reason, Stephen hates Broomhilda, played by Kerry Washington. When Schultz and Broomhilda, (Django's wife) and the property of Candie, sneaked away for a moment of privacy, they converse in German (with subtitles), even though both can speak English. The three of them do not let on that she is Django’s wife, who Schultz plans to buy back from Candie.

Stephen is disrespected everyone in the dining room where Candie’s guests were dining. No way under God’s blue sky would a slave be allowed to rant, curse and bloviate like Jackson’s character. Such disrespect would have demanded a flogging to teach all the slaves a lesson about respect and knowing their place. In one scene, where Broomhilda is held at gun point by a slaver, an angry Stephen shouted at Django: “I don’t give a good goddamn about you! Believe that! We’re gonna blow this bitch’s brains out! Believe it!” Really, Tarrantino? Really, Sam Jackson?

Stephen (Sam Jackson) and
Broomhilda (Kerry Washington)

A gun fight breaks out inside the plantation. White men suddenly burst in the door. Bullets fly and all hell breaks loose. Blood sprouted from bodies like bleeding hydrants. Django survives, but is captured by an overseer, who hangs him upside down by his ankles in a barn, butt naked. 

The overseer was getting ready to castrate him when Stephen entered the barn, saving a scared Django.  He gets dressed and goes back inside the plantation, killing the overseer that captured him. Still angry, he shoots Stephen in both knees, before blowing up the plantation. Blow up, mind you! Not set the plantation on fire! However, there is a subsequent fire due to the explosion. The movie ends with Django and Broomhilda on horses, both elaborately dressed.   

Django Unchained did not resemble the true horrors of slavery in America. It was too 21st century for me. Maybe I was looking for too much reality to take the movie seriously. It did well at the box office and in many cases, got good reviews from critics. There is even talk of an Academy Award. I have to agree with Spike Lee, despite my going to see the movie. Django Unchained was akin to a spaghetti western that disengaged itself from the horrors of slavery and the plight of imported Africans who lived the horrors up close and personal.

'The Help' is not about a 1960's civil rights movement or the physical rape of Black women

The Help garnered $25 million over the weekend, proving the critic's nitpicking is unfounded. I saw the movie Friday, and I looked for the fault finding that Black and White critics discussed on their blogs and in newspapers. Their commentary reminds of all the brouhaha about The Color Purple, in which  Danny Glover played  "Mr”, a mean spirited abuser of his young wife played by Whoopi Goldberg. 

The NAACP did not like The Color Purple. At one of its annual award shows, the organization ignored Glover and Goldberg. The NAACP said the movie “aired Black people's dirty laundry in public.” Issues exposed in the movie should be kept private. It's as though they did not want anyone to know that the Black community has its share of dirty laundry and abusive characters.

Well Lord, howdy, NAACP! Black communities everywhere have their share of mean, abusive  husbands like "Mr." We have men who rape their daughters! We have husbands and wives who are unfaithful to their mates! We have cheating men in the pullpit preaching about morality and righteousness every Sunday morning! We do a pretty good job of "airing our dirty laundry in public without the help of a movie!

I got off track there for a minute. Don't get me started on Black folk being proper and outraged about airing our dirty business in public!

Pictured top and bottom actors Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer. Udate: Octavia Spencer was the 2012 Screen Actors Guild Ward winner. She won the Best Supporting Actress, 2012 Academy Awards; Viola Davis won the Academy's Leading Role award, she was also up for Best Actress (she didn't win); the movie won  The Outstanding Ensemble in a Motion Picture, Academy Awards.                                                          

Watching The Help I did not see physical assaults on Black domestics. The attacks were on their spirit and their humanness. They were helpless to act on what they were feeling. They had to work. They had families to support. But through it all they held their heads high.

My grandmother worked as a domestic for decades. She raised White children and had little time for her own family when she came home late in the evening. My grandmother addressed White women and their husbands with "Mrs." and "Mr." They called her by her first name. She answered them with yes-ma'am, no-ma'am, yes sir, no sir. They said yes and no to her. If they said something derogatory about Black people, she pretended she did not hear them. Or she would agree with them. My grandmother did this whenever she talked to White people. This behavior was prevalent in The Help.

I remember her working for an old drunkard. He was married, but he deemed it was his right to call my grandmother early in the morning or late at night on days she was not scheduled to work. He often demanded that she come to work on Sunday, no matter her plans to attend church, or spend time with her family. She called him "Mr. Crook".  That was really his real name. 

One night a young White woman she worked came to see her. I was there. I sat and listened to "Yes-ma'am" and "No-ma'am" until I thought I would burst. Unflattering words tickled my stomach, and they were traveling fast towards my mouth. Ignoring the White woman in the room, I asked my grandmother: "Why are you saying yes-ma'am and no-ma'am to her? She's calling you by your first name and you're calling her Mrs. She should show you the same respect!"

The woman, who  had her two young daughters with her, was shocked that a Black woman would address her in such a tone. She smiled nervously.  Turning to her I said, "You should be addressing my grandmother as Mrs." She did not know how to respond. She waited for my grandmother to protect her from me.

My grandmother responded by hurriedly shooing me out of her apartment, apologizing to her “boss lady” for my behavior. I think that is why I never allow a White person--man or woman-- to address me by my first name. If they introduce themselves with "I'm Mr. John Doe", or "Miss (Mrs) Jane Doe", I say “I'm Mrs. Banks.” I have watched expressions change when they are forced to understand that respect is a two way street.

Black critics who feel that The Help is  a Hollywood tale of fantasy should talk to their grandmothers, elderly aunts, uncles and elderly females in their communities who earned their living as The Help. Their stories did not make it to the big screen. During the time period The Help covered it did not matter if a Black woman or man had a college degree or PH.D. Their employment prospects were limited. They could teach at all Black schools and colleges, settle for minimum wage jobs. If women were good cooks they could cook for a sorority house on a university campus.

Black critics of this movie should read their history, and not whitewash the history of their mothers, grandmothers, fathers and grandfathers. The Association of Black Women Historians are so unhappy with the depiction of Black women in the movie, it was stated in this open letter:

"On behalf of the Association of Black Women Historians (ABWH), this statement provides historical context to address widespread stereotyping presented in both the film and novel version of The Help. The book has sold over three million copies, and heavy promotion of the movie will ensure its success at the box office. Despite efforts to market the book and the film as a progressive story of triumph over racial injustice, The Help distorts, ignores, and trivializes the experiences of black domestic workers. We are specifically concerned about the representations of black life and the lack of attention given to sexual harassment and civil rights activism."

Professor Melissa Harris-Perry, watching the movie in a theater, tweeted to Lawrence O’Donnell’s, host of the The Last Word on MSNBC :  “This is not a movie about the lives of Black women.” 

Making an appearance later on the show she said:  “It’s historical and deeply troubling to make the suffering of these laborers a backdrop for a happy story. But there was a silver lining to the film.” She concluded: “What kills me is that in 2011 Viola Davis is reduced to playing a maid.”

Davis is an accomplished TV and big screen actress who is hired to play roles of all kinds. She made a choice to play a domestic who was not free to make a choices about where she would work. Their "career" choices were limited to a scale of zero to zero. What Harris-Perry failed to mention is that Black women in Hollywood are not getting the meaty roles White actresses are getting, no matter how attractive or good they are at their craft.

Summary: The stories in this movie about domestics, and the ordeals they encountered in the 1950s and 1960s, a time of turmoil and civil unrest in America. These women had families to take of, including husbands who could not find work. 

Black women of that era were at the mercy of White women who paid them less than a livable wage. They were subject to getting fired for no reason if they made demands for a decent wage, and reasonable hours. If they as grown women, sassed a White family they worked were subject to termination. They lived with helplessness every day, 24-7. When an employer controls your pocketbook, he or she basically controls you.

The Help was not a Martin Luther King civil right movie. It was not a movie about slavery; the brutal raping of Black women and young girls. It was not a movie about Medgar Evers, the slain civil rights leader from Mississippi. The maids told the stories that needed to be told. It appears that telling their stories, seeing them published in a book, freed them. They had a sense of pride, a sense of achievement. But they still continued working for White families, riding a bus or walking to work. The multi-layered work of cleaning houses, cooking meals and raising White children has not changed.

The older “Yes-ma'am” and “No-ma'am” African America domestics of today still conduct themselves the same as the maids in The Help. I ride the city bus and sometimes I overhear their conversations. Ingrained lessons learned in their younger years are still stuck in their minds, and they can not break the habit of showing respect for the White women they work for. They are afraid to demand equal respect.

Danny Glover: Noted actor and activist comes to Texas for appearance at local high school

Glover at Cannes Film Festival

Glover as Deets in Lonesome Dove

Danny Glover is an  actor and outspoken political activist. He has been acting since 1979 in movies, TV and on Broadway. He trained as an actor at the American Conservatory Theatre. He made his big screen debut in Escape From Alcatraz, 1979. He went to act in other roles but The Color Purple (1988), co-starring Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey, made him a household name.

Of all the movies he’s starred in The Color Purple was the most controversial. African Americans were not happy with “Mr”, the character Glover portrayed. He went on to star with Winfrey in Beloved and later in an HBO movie called Good Fences starring himself and Goldberg.

Sitting down for this interview, I noticed that Glover was somewhat uptight when I mentioned The Color Purple. He braced himself for a verbal reprimand and scrutiny of his role. Unfortunately, Glover was summarily attacked by female interviewers, critics and moviegoers who hated "Mr." so much they took their anger out on him. 

He and Whoppi Goldberg were openly snubbed at the NAACP's Image Awards. Of course, there are characters like "Mr", in every nationality all over the world. However, many African Americans are extremely sensitive to "airing dirty laundry" characters on the big screen.

Upon seeing that I had no intention of going for his throat because of a role he played with so much believability, he relaxed and the interview turned out well. Glover was talkative and opinionated.

Mel Gibson and Glover in Lethal Weapon

In the Lonesome Dove miniseries Glover played Joshua Deets, an ex-slave and scout during the civil war era. The miniseries hit was on CBS, and started February 5, 1989. 

Glover struck big-screen gold when he paired up with Mel Gibson in the Lethal Weapon series in 1987, 1989, 1992 and 1998, all of which were box office hits. If you are familiar with Glover's career, then you know that his movie, TV and stage credits are too numerous to list on this blog. 

In this 1989 interview Glover and I talked about a few of his movies, and why he took the roles he did. Glover was in Austin, Texas to give a pep talk to students at Kealing Junior High School, where he got an enthusiastic reception for students and staff.

Dorothy: How did you get the role in the Lonesome Dove series? Who was Joshua Deets?

Glover: Joshua Deets is a very honorable man, and had been a scout for the Texas Rangers throughout the period of the civil war. He was an exslave. There was kind of an integrity about him, a strength about him.

Dorothy: What attracted you to the role?

Glover: First of all it was a good script. The first thing I consider is what the script is like, the character, the theme of the script, the integral  part of the script. The Lonesome Dove script was well written. It’s a vivid fictionalized period in this country’s history. Then the character is a real nice character.

Dorothy: Was the character originally written for an African American?

Glover: Yes. It’s an adaption of a novel.

Dorothy: Does it depict you in a positive image rather than some other image you might see a Black man playing?

Glover: I think so. I think he’s heroic if that’s a positive image. Certainly I would have liked to know more about the road Deets traveled to become who he was. That wasn’t part of the script. I would like to know what was Deets story. Not from a year ago, but from five or ten years ago. He was gentle. He was kind. He was heroic from the stand point that he’s a fighter, and he knew how to defend himself.

Dorothy: What character or event in your life did you draw on to play the role? It’s not everyday that Blacks have a cowboy experience or live the lifestyle.

Glover: It’s so much that comes into your life sometimes that you can draw from. Your imagination is one of the most important ingredients. You put someone on a horse and you can quickly see the erection of the body. You define it differently just by the way you sit in the saddle. You sit with dignity. I’ve seen cowboys that look like they are broken down when they are walking. But when they are on a horse there is a certain majestic majesty about that .  .  . being on a horse. That in itself gives you something to work with. I’ve been around Black cowboys for the last two years. I was the Grand Marshall for the Bill Pickett Rodeo, which is a national rodeo.

Dorothy: Okay, this movie has caused you some headaches. You know I am fixing to talk about The Color Purple . . .

Glover: The Color Purple (we both laugh) I was in Hong Kong during international publicity for Lethal Weapon about a year ago, and some people came to see me who wrote for a newspaper. They said (he imitates a Hing Kong news reporter) ‘You in The Color Purple!”

Dorothy: The character was so controversial and memorable.

Glover: Well, I think there is controversy behind everything you do, like the choices you make. I did it in Places From the Heart, a very beautiful film. I was in Chicago and not one Black publication showed up to interview me. White publications showed up. So either they didn’t think it was worth their time to come and interview me, or the film was controversial.

Dorothy: What do you think “Mr” was saying in The Color Purple?

Actor Danny Glover

Glover: I think "Mr." is a man in transition. In some ways he represents men in their transition in their relationship with women. When you are the dominant person in any societal situation, and are constantly dealing with it . . . you have that dominant supportive or dominant subjective relationship--you have people struggling to change that. Women have been in situations where they tried to change the thinking of men for a long time. A very long time. And certainly that is the transition that we see.

I think that’s what The Color Purple is about. I think its about people who began to learn to love themselves, to appreciate themselves. Because of that they begin to grow. That’s how I saw this character. I saw him, like all human beings, who come into this world are capable of loving and maturing. Somewhere in the back of his psyche, somewhere in the process of his socialization, because of that period of time and his upbringing, he wasn’t able to simplify those particular feelings. I think that’s the character that Alice (Walker) wrote. I think not enough attention was given to that aspect (of Mr.) We are people. We are men in transition.

I was in Chicago at Martin Luther King School, and over 50 percent of the young Black girls there had been molested by their mama’s boyfriends, stepfathers, fathers. That’s real. We have to begin to deal with it. We can’t sit it in a corner. We can say it belongs there. It’s not supposed to be out there. That’s bull! We have to address it. We have to look at ourselves. It’s enough to say the White man did this, the system did that, but there is a humanity that we have to call on in ourselves. We have to address that. We have to be responsible for that.

Dorothy: Do you think the Black community is denying that we have characters like “Mr.” in our communities?

Glover: I think because of the oppressive conditions that we weathered, because of the stereotypes that we weathered, we find it hard to make that adjustment. We find it hard to deal with the negative, always looking for positive images. All societies, all cultures want to see themselves in a positive, heroic venue. We are not unlike any other people. Because of the battering of racism and oppression in America, we grab onto this and we protect it in a sense. We are sensitive in a sense. I understand that.

The whole history of American film has been one that created derogatory, negative images of Black people. From Birth of A Nation to before Birth of A Nation. These things exist, and we have learn to confront them, live with it and deal with it. When we confront it we have chance to say this is where we are, this is where we have to go.  Whatever the story we are talking about, whether it’s The Color Purple, or some other fictionalized story. “Mr.” is not the archetype of Black men. And Alice didn’t write the story intending for him to be that.

A lot of the discourse and discussion that came out of this movie is necessary. It’s mandatory. I think it’s a vehicle to say in this industry, to say to people in this country that we are not getting the chance to present who we are in this medium. When say people to me I saw you in The Color Purple, that’s world-wide. I’m in the business of projecting images. I’m in the business of telling history through the projection of those images. It’s important that we become an integral part in deciding what those images are. I want those images to be full. I want the images to go through conflict. I want them to be men learning to change. I don’t want them to be men coming down from Mt. Olympics, coning down to show us the way. I want to see real men exhibiting their own humanity.

Dorothy: If Blacks want to get these positive images in the movies, do you think they’ll  have to do it themselves rather than depend on someone else?

Glover: We’re dealing with this on the wrong terms. I’m talking about positive images, and there are certain definitions about positive images. I’m talking about human beings, not caricatures. Human beings have doubts, faults. Human beings have good things about them. See, that’s the problem I am having. I have trouble with that word ‘positive images’. Life is conflict, and overcoming conflict. We grow in stature. We grow in our sense of self. Our humanity grows, and it grows by the way we deal with conflict.

Dorothy: As a success story do you feel obligated to be a role model for youngsters who are  heading in the wrong direction?

Glover: I have a responsibility to the Black community whether I’m Danny Glover or not. Just because I’m successful it doesn’t heighten or lessen my responsibility. The fact that I am a human being who grew up in the community, who was nurtured by a community of Black people all my life, giving me the substance–it is my responsibility to pass that on to other people.

Dorothy: Do you think communities should go back to the days when neighbors looked out for each, especially children?

Glover: I think the way we can maintain values brings us together. It brings us a sense of  extended families in the sense of community.

Dorothy: What do you think of Jesse Jackson running for president? What has it done for the spirit of Black people?

Glover: It’s incredible to see that happen. Whatever he does, he bring attention to the issues, the problems. Jesse has always done that. The benefits are enormous for us today; they are enormous for our future, and certainly for our kids future.

Dorothy: Where do you think you’ll be about five years? How much longer do you want to act?

Glover: Right now I just don’t see an end to acting, but there are some other things I want to do. I think the attention that I’m getting  now is momentary. That is going to change. People are going to get tired of seeing me. That’s real. I think it’s something I can pretty well adjust to and handle. I don’t know what’s going to happen in five years. Hopefully, if God is willing, I’m still with everyone (alive).

A comedian with heart and a good upbringing

Comedian/actress Shirley Hemphill

A taxi driver in One In A Million

What's Happening cast

Shirley Hemphill, actress and comedian appeared at the Comedy Store in Austin, Texas in 1983. This interview with her lasted about an hour and we covered a variety of issues. A woman on the hefty side, Hemphill was born in Ashville, North Carolina July 1, 1947. 

She died at her suburban home in California in 1999 of kidney failure. She was found in her home by her gardener.

Hemphill was 52 years old when she died, was the younger sister to her only brother, both of whom were raised by their mother.

Hemphill got started in show business in 1975 when her was discovered and invited to guest on the TV sitcoms All’s Fair and then Good Times. Her big break came when she landed a sizable role in What’s Happening. She played a sarcastic, mouthy waitress. The show lasted for three seasons from 1976 to 1979.

In 1988 Hemphill got a chance to star in her own sitcom, One In A Million. She played a taxi driver who inherited a fortune from one of her customers. She was on air on Tuesdays, in a prime time spot. The show had good ratings. But when the show was moved to Saturday nights, Hemphill had to compete with the popular show ChiPs, starring the toothy, smiling Erik Estrada. The show was put to bed after 13 episodes despite of it getting moved it back to Tuesdays. Her audience was no longer there.

After the show was cancelled Hemphill took her comedy act on the road, playing clubs and comedy establishments. In between those gigs she made cameo appearances on TV, and was a regular on late night talk shows . In 1996 she co-starred in her second  movie Shoot the Moon. She had a small part in the movie CB4 starring Chris Rock in 1994, her first movie.

Dorothy: What are your hobbies?

Shirley: Tennis. Movies. I like going to the movies. Let me see what else. It used to be eating but I’m trying to cut down (laughing).

Dorothy: What is your philosophy about life?

Shirley: I don’t know if I have a philosophy. I just try to be decent and not hurt nobody. I try to learn something everyday.  I don’t always succeed.

Dorothy: What about your favorite comedic male and female?

Shirley: Female....it has to be Elaine Bossler and Marshall Warfield, a Black comedian from Chicago, whose got a movie coming out this summer with Mr. T. I guess Richard Pryor would be one. He helped me a lot in show business. Friend-wise, Bill Cosby. He has been very, very good to me.

Dorothy: When did you first realize that you were funny? Are you a shy person?

Shirley: I was real quite. As a matter of fact I got left back in the first grade ‘cause I wouldn’t talk out. I never realized I could make money in comedy until I came out to California to visit. I decided maybe, this is what I wanted to do. I was a medical secretary back in my hometown hospital. I’ve always had the support of my mom. She said go try it. ‘You got an education, you can always fall back on that.’ I got lucky two years later.

Dorothy: When and where did you first perform?

Shirley: When I came out to California there was this place called the Comedy Store. I got five minutes. I had been going down there the whole week. I saw David Brenner, the late Freddy Prince, all of those kinds of people. And the after a week- I was on a budget--so the club owner said if you want, you can come on at 12 at night, and you don’t have to pay a cover charge. The first five minutes was the worst. Somebody taped it.  It sounded horrible. The owner kept giving me those last five minutes until I worked my way up. Then when the TV show came on, I went on at 7 o’clock, which is prime time.

Dorothy: When you first started making big money, what was the most extravagant thing you bought for yourself?

Shirley: I didn’t buy anything for myself. I bought my mom a house, because we had lived in the projects for so long. That was my dream to have a house, running water! Things that were ours. I didn’t have a phone until I got in show business. My analyst said I’m trying to make up. I have a phone in every room, a television in every room, even in my bathroom. I never had that before. I bought my mama out to California. She wouldn’t come until the second year. She said 'I don’t want to come out there with you showing off and I can’t face my neighbors.'

Dorothy: What about the other show you were on after What Happening?

Shirley: One in A Million? I don’t know. At ABC they were nice people to me financially. It was the best thing I had eve done. ABC has a tendency to give you four or five weeks, then if your show don’t work out, they let you go. In my case I started out in the top 20, and I did so well until they moved me to a weekend night, a Saturday, which is the weakest night. I was up against CHiPs. I just couldn’t hang with them. When they moved me back to Tuesday night it was just too late. It was good experience for me. When I did What’s Happening

Dorothy: Has fame gone to your head? If so, how do you handle it?

Shirley: The first year it did. I think it did with every cast member. I came from North Carolina where all I knew was my family, and the only credit card I had was from Sears, and they threatened to take that. So you know. . . I didn’t have that much. And all of a sudden you’ve got limousines that will take you to the bathroom and back. Checks you can’t even spend this week before another check is in. I look at it as a business now.

Dorothy: If a young woman ask you how to get started in show business as a comedian what would you tell her?

Shirley: You can’t have a bruised ego and be in this business.

Dorothy: Are you one of those comedians who is turned on stage, but not offstage. In other words, you’re Shirley Hemphill on stage, you’re getting paid. Are you also a comedian offstage, unable to separate the two personalities?

Shirley: No, I’m not like that. I just want to be regular people.

Dorothy: What is the serious side of you like?

Shirley: I feel comfortable at home. I read a lot. I can go weeks without seeing anything., which some people don’t quite understand. My mom does because she has lived with me so long. Not that I’m angry or anything. I just don’t have too much to say. I’m trying to get out of that. I worry a lot about my family. I used to worry about things I couldn’t control. Mama said it’s a sign of maturity when you just let go.

Dorothy: Are you a loner?

Shirley: Basically, yeah. I think most comics are. Most of the ones I see . . . we don’t hang in groups. I’m a family person. My mother instilled that in me. It’s not too much more you need.

Dorothy: When you’re on stage do hecklers throw you off?

Shirley: That’s why I have the house lights up. People will heckle when it’s dark, but if you put the house light up where everybody can see them, that cuts down on it. Sometimes you just have to cut hecklers off, zap’em and go on. But if he is the type that doesn’t hear he’s been zapped, and as long as people are laughing at him, that’s the most dangerous kind. If you zap on him too hard, the audience will take his side, and you lose the audience. You can’t insult an audience. They won’t take it. Don Rickles is the only one that can do that, but he shows a little warmth and love when he does it.

Dorothy: What I’ve noticed in a lot of comedians now is the use profanity. Are they trying to imitate Richard Pryor? He was the only one who could be vulgar and funny at the same time.

Shirley: I don’t use it as the punch line. Some times comics will use profanity just to say it. Some comedians don’t have faith in their routine. I don’t talk that way on stage. I don’t know why they do it.

Dorothy: Who heckles you the most, women or men?

Shirley: I don’t have hecklers. What bother me the most are women that are drunk and get a little loud. My father was an alcoholic, so I don’t like drinking. You’re see it more now. Women are drinking a lot in the clubs. Maybe I’m being sexist, but a man can drink and it doesn’t bother me that much. To see a woman real drunk really upsets me, because I figure she will never be a lady again. That’s the only thing that bothers me in clubs.

Dorothy: Has anyone ever tried to get violent with you while you’re on stage?

Shirley: If you’re talking to some guy, you can sense when it’s time to back off. If you can’t you’re in trouble. So that’s why I don’t drink anything so I can stay sharp.

Dorothy: Do men find your sense of humor intimidating?

Shirley: When you start degrading men that’s when they get really upset. I just want them to look at themselves and laugh. I haven’t had that kind of trouble yet.

Dorothy: You mentioned that you have gone to see an analysis. If it’s not too personal, what was the reason?

Shirley: You remember when Freddy Prince killed himself? Well, we (What’s Happening) had such a young cast, and the network was scared, so they suggested we go. Being in show business and thrown all this stuff, sometimes it’s hard to adjust. There are certain things I don’t like about myself. It takes me a long time to trust. I try to take each person at face value. I am not very forgiving. Once you cross me, I’ll never trust you again. I don’t express anger. I let things brew for years before exploding over something stupid.

Dorothy: Are you of the notion that love comes before sex or vise versa?

Shirley: Huh? Anybody want to hear this? I’m Catholic! (laughing). Is this 1883 or 1983? In my heart I wish it was the other way around. But now days I think sex comes before marriage. Now for my niece I want marriage to come before sex. Do as I say, not as I do!

Dorothy: How do you feel about marriage?

Shirley: For me, it’s not. I don’t want to try it. It’s not for me.

Dorothy: Do you feel like it would be too binding for you?

Shirley: I want to get up and go when I want to. I think for it to be a good marriage, you have to be accountable to someone else. And I don’t want that in my life.

Dorothy: How do you feel about women suing their live-in mates after they break up?

Shirley: Entertainers are beginning to talk about it, like Jimmy Walker (Good Times). He told me he had this girl that he lives with to sign an agreement. It kind of takes away from love. I love you but would sign this? I have nice stuff, so when you come into my home you’re coming into my home. While you’re there everything I have is yours, but once you leave that’s it.

Dorothy: What would be your reaction if you lived with a man for 11 years and after breaking up he sues you for financial support?

Shirley: (laughing) I try to have him killed! I think I would be very, very hurt. But I hope that when we broke up we could be friends, where we can sit and talk about it.

Dorothy: If you weren’t a comedian, what do you think you would be doing?

Shirley: I would probably be a medical receptionist in my home town.

Dorothy: What do you want people to remember about you when it’s all over?

Shirley: Public?

Dorothy: Public and private.

Shirley: Publicly, I would like people to remember that I was a good entertainer. To my family I want them to remember that I was a good person and a credit to my mother’s upbringing.