Julia’s, Ollie’s Trolley, Over-the-Rhine…
I covered my first NAACP convention 11 years ago in Pittsburgh. Next week will mark my second, again in the city where I live (now Cincinnati). A lot has changed; then I was an intern at the New Pittsburgh Courier, my hometown black paper. Today, I’m a bona fide journalist
Smith's Rules for Global Domination
While you weren’t looking, no doubt tracking the fortunes of the Hope, Will Smith became the world’s biggest movie star. With the financial success of his superhero comedy Hancock ($62 million domestic on opening weekend, $190 million in its first full week global), Smith can claim five films that opened
The All-Star Jam
Baseball’s All-Star game is this week, but I regard the mid-season break in the action as more significant than the game itself. Now that we have dozens of interleague games crowding the schedule, the All-Star game itself feels kind of unnecessary. Yes, it determines home field advantage in the World
A Legendary Revival
Certain birthdays are special for almost all jazz fans. On April 7, the mental iPod almost always lands on Billie Holiday classics in honor of Lady Day’s birthday. Ditto April 29 for Duke Ellington, May 26 for Miles Davis, September 23 for John Coltrane, March 9 for Ornette Coleman and
When The Man is One of Us
On one level, it is easy to dismiss the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.’s crudely worded metaphorical threat to castrate Barack Obama for supposedly talking down to black people as the raving of an increasingly irrelevant, former big shot suffused with resentment at the rising star who pushed him off stage.That,
Will Work for Gas!
My first taste of freedom came in the form of an ’87 Buick Century—Ol’ Bessy, my older brother called her. I just called her an escape.Back then, all it took was a few dollars to keep her gassed. Skim a little from my lunch money, charge a few kids for
