“Sugar Ray” Being Served Up As Dinner Theater

By Deardra Shuler

Photo by Mariette Monpierre

Producer Woodie King Jr., invited me in my capacity as entertainment editor and writer to review his latest endeavor, Sugar Ray, produced by Woodie and written by Laurence Holder. The play is being presented as a dinner theater at the location of Sugar Ray's former business, Sugar Ray Enterprise. Currently, the New Harlem Besame Lounge owned by Bernardo Rubie and son, sits upon the boxer's former spot, located at 2070 Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard in Harlem. Mariette Monpierre, an award winning filmmaker in her own right for her feature film ELZA, a New York Times Critics Pick, joined this reporter.

Via his outstanding talent, Audelco awarding winning actor Reginald L. Wilson, brought the one-man play alive with considerable verve, wit and humor. I certainly learned more about Sugar Ray's life than I knew formerly, and what an interesting life the charismatic lady's man and thrice married boxer led. Through his performance, Wilson introduced the diners to the personalities of Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali, and the multiple individuals that Sugar Ray fought in his illustrious career.

Born on May 3, 1921 as Walker Smith, Sugar Ray turned professional when he was 19 years old. He was a natural pugilist with a quick and fluid style possibly brought about through fencing lessons for balance and via the dancing lessons his mother made him and his sister take in childhood.

Over his career, Sugar Ray boasted a professional record of 128–1–2 with 84 knockouts. Incredibly he had an 8 year record of unbeatable fights and racked up to a total of 91 fights. Sugar Ray held the world welterweight title for 5 years, eventually winning the world middleweight title.

In 1952, the fighter retired only to return to the sweet science a few years later wherein he regained the middleweight title in 1955. Amazingly, Sugar Ray won the divisional world championship five times and was named "fighter of the year" twice.

The fight game is not easy and many a boxer has found themselves broke. Sugar Ray had a brief stint as an entertainer, however Sugar Ray struggled financially in latter years and was plagued by encroaching Alzheimer.

Sugar Ray was named the best boxer of all time by The Ring magazine and later named the greatest welterweight and middle weight boxer of the century by the Associated Press.

Those who attend the show will definitely enjoy the art-filled ambiance in the dining area of Harlem Besame as well as have the opportunity to view Sugar Ray's pictorial memorabilia in the bar area.

Although this journalist has always experienced dinner being served during the course of dinner theater so patrons can eat while watching the performance, New Harlem Besame's patrons were presented with a diverse menu before the show but the food was not served until after the presentation of the show. The food was well worth the wait.

Mariette and this writer chose to dine on salmon, salad and coconut rice. It was delicious and as delectable as the show itself.

Spending an afternoon at a dinner theater is certainly quite a pleasant thing to do on a Sunday afternoon and given the audience reaction, everyone enjoyed themselves. 'Sugar Ray' may be extended, but for now, it is running every Sunday at both 2pm and 7pm, and on Monday's and Tuesdays at 7pm until March 28, 2016.

Interested parties who wish to see the play can call the New Harlem Besame restaurant for reservations at 646-864-77 or go on line at reservations@harlembesame.com

Kenny Lattimore Returns with an Anatomy of a Love Song

R&B soul singer Kenny Lattimore will be appearing at Lehman Center for the Performing Arts in the Bronx, on Saturday, March 26 at 8:00 pm wherein he is sure to sing songs from his new CD “Anatomy of a Love Song.” He will share the Lehman Center stage with the group Dru Hill who are celebrating their 20^th Anniversary and vocalist Jon B.

This writer spoke with the Washington, DC, born singer, whom after a delay of seven years, has returned to the stage not only via music, but he has also been exercising his considerable talent through Lolita Snipes gospel stage play “Lolita Snipes' Head Over Heels.”

“Yes, I am presently doing the play entitled “Lolita Snipes' Head Over Heels,” and I'm having fun doing it. It's a gospel-styled play that is a great departure from the concert stuff I have going on. It adds diversity and another dimension to me,” said Kenny.

Dubbed a “modern soul man,” by the New York Times, the Grammy Award-nominated singer/songwriter has climbed the charts over the years with hits like “For You,” “Never Too Busy,” “Days Like This,” “Weekend” and “If I Lose My Woman. Also, his latest “Love Me Back” is climbing the charts. Kenny personally wrote the song, “You're My Girl” featured on his current CD “Anatomy of A Love Song.”

“Music is so powerful but objective. It affects our lives in various ways so as a result you get different reactions from people. I did surveys to see if the new album “Anatomy of A Love Song,” was musically appealing across the board. When I got a consistent reaction from people, even if they were not familiar with the Kenny Lattimore brand, I noted it was something about the melody of the song that appealed to folks. My music has a spiritual undertone because the message in my music is about real love, godly love. The sacrifice of it and the purity of it,” explained Lattimore. He continued, “These days those in control of exposing music to the public are choosing music based on research, numbers and advertising dollars. Things that have nothing to do with the human experience or real passion. Instead they go for the lowest common denominator. They want people to think what they want them to think and feel what they want them to feel. I am not used to that. If you are constantly pumping something into people's heads it starts to affect people spiritually and psychologically.”

Kenny talked about his son, Kenny Jr. “I am about to have a teenager on my hands. He is about to enter high school,” chuckled Kenny whose son's birth date and Kenny's birthday are the same. “I have been teaching my son about responsibility and respecting authority. I love being my son's dad. I look at him and see him as a version of me so I watch his spirit soar. He is a sponge, an open book and very unafraid. The younger me was very shy. My son is my ray of hope. I want him to be a great man. He recorded his first song last summer. He has the music in him. I have allowed him to explore. He has done acting, track, also been in the junior Olympics. I make sure he is exposed to great things.”

Kenny wrote You're My Girl. “ For me, every song comes differently, You're my Girl, came to me as a music track initially. When I heard the music, it took me back to my childhood reminding me of a Marvin Gaye and Ron Isley kind of mix. The guitar part reminded me of the Isley Brothers. But the grove reminded me of “You Sure Love To Ball” by Marvin Gaye. I combined all those thoughts together and came up with the idea of “You're My Girl.” I write a little less these days because I have had to become a different type of entertainment executive for my own sake. That is where my own label Sincere Soul Records has come from and my touring company KL Entertainment Group. I am running these companies and understanding how to brand myself and place myself in the industry with this new age.”

Lattimore talked about why he started his own music company and went his own way musically. “I grew tired of music executives telling me to be someone else. I have been in the business for 30 years. This year is my 20^th year as a solo artist. So now I know who I am.” explained the sensitive singer. “For marketing purposes, others have tried to make me into something different. These people were confused about whether I'd be successful in the music industry...which had nothing to do with whether I could sing or not but what I chose to sing. My stance is to sing positive music. Coming from the church, I felt a responsibility to be authentic in my music which was birthed and born in me from the spirit and from my intellect. Some people sent a particular message to me at the time I came into the business that they didn't get my musical stance. They said things like aren't Black men these thugs or one dimensional...assuming Black men were about sex and being thugs. It was a difficult time for me. I felt judged as an African American man by folks who were not African American. It was like they thought African Males cannot be sensitive or diverse. I know Hip hop sells faster and executives want to make money, but people still want diversity and romance. Love never goes out of style.”

Fans can get Kenny Lattimore's CD “Anatomy of A Love Song” on Amazon.com, and Kennylattimore.com. For tickets to the March 26^th show, call 718-960-8833 or go online via www.LehmanCenter.org.

You can catch my Topically Yours show with Kenny Lattimore via http://www.blogtalkradio.com/blakeradio/2016/03/18/topically-yours--kenny-lattimore

Dru Hill Shares the Stage with Kenny Lattimore and Jon B at Lehman Center

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/blakeradio/2016/03/03/topically-yours--interview-with-dru-hill

By Deardra Shuler

Lovers of ballads, romance, R&B and red hot euphony will love the music of Dru Hill who are presently on tour celebrating their 20 year anniversary. As part of the tour, Dru Hill will appear at Lehman Center on Saturday, March 26^th at 8:00 p.m. Lehman Center for the Performing Arts is located at 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West in the Bronx. Dru Hill wont appear alone. They will share the Lehman Center stage with artists Kenny Lattimore and Jon B, so the venue may need to keep their fire extinguishers handy because the evening promises to be filled with hot, hot, sizzling hot music.

This writer had the opportunity to talk with the 4-member Maryland bred group who make up Dru Hill. The talented singers consist of Tamir “Nokio” Ruffin; lead singer Mark “Sisqo” Andrews; Larry “Jazz” Anthony and Antwaun “Tao” Simpson, aka Nokio, Sisqo, Jazz and Tao.

“We were raised in Baltimore and Annapolis. Some of us started off in the Church so the group began singing gospel songs under the name 14K Harmony. We sang in Church and at talent shows, so the music started to have a blend of church and rhythm and blues. Our music was not churchy per se, it was more inspirational and featured what goes on in people's lives. We all came together because of the music. Jazz and I went to performing art schools but we all had vocal training,” said Nokio, the group founder, in-house producer, songwriter, dancer, singer and rapper.

After switching to R&B from gospel, the group was discovered by Hiram Hicks who spotted them at a talent show and signed them to Island Records. Their first single was entitled “Tell Me,” which rose to #5 on the R&B Billboard chart. Their first album, “Dru Hill” went platinum featuring the hits “In My Bed,” “Never Make A Promise,” and “Whatever You Need.” They garnered the 1997 Billboard Music Award for Top R&B Song, Top R&B Artists and R&B/Hip Hop Song Artist of the Year. They also gained the 1998 Soul Train Best R&B/Soul Single and Best R&B/Soul Album Awards. Dru Hill went on to record “We're Not Making Love No More,” written by Babyface and co-produced by Daryl Simmons and Babyface for the film “Soul Food.” The song went multi-platinum. Following was their song “How Deep Is Your Love,” which spent 3 weeks as #1 and was eventually featured in the film, Rush Hour. The song was also part of their 1998 second multi-platinum album, Enter the Dru, climbing to the #2 spot on both the Billboard Top 200 and R&B album charts selling 2 million copies. The album also included hit songs “These Are the Times,” “Beauty” and “You Are Everything.”

When asked how the group came up with their name they mentioned a famous park in Baltimore. “When we first started, the record company was trying to think up a name for us. They had a few ideas including calling us “The Together Brothers,” none of which fit. One day while on the phone I was asked the name of the famous park in Baltimore which is called Druid Hill. But all the locals call it Dru Hill. It was a perfect name to call ourselves because Dru Hill will always serve as a reminder where we came from,” explained the group who have also created music and won awards individually.

Dru Hill talked about the need to understand the making of music as well as being astute about the business of music. “We were lucky to get into the music industry when we did. When we first started the first person we met was John McClain of Interscope Records. John went on to be Michael Jackson's management. John told us that if all we did is sing we would not be in the music business long. So we were groomed to be self sufficient. Therefore, its been great to share with our fans all the talents that God has blessed us with. Artists can get cheated, robbed and worse make bad music. We were lucky that we came into the music business at a time when artist development was really skilled and prevalent and labels invested money into the artists. These days, if someone has a hot song and enough people hear it, the label basically will add money to keep whatever recording artists are doing ongoing, but will put little work into developing the music. The attitude is, if the music has sales potential, everyone wins. Even though it may not be the best music in the world or even the best production. The music world thinks few care about talent or being talented any more, so the labels may as well sell whatever they can,” commented the group members.

Sisqo, Jazz and Nokio took a hiatus from late 1999 to 2002, so they could all pursue their own projects. Sisqo's debut album Unleash the Dragon featured the single “Thong Song” which became a hit and pop success, establishing Sisqo as a name outside Dru Hill. Jazz (who was absent from my interview) put out a R&B/Soul album and Nokio worked with his rock band Black Angel Down. Tao came into the group in 2008 after winning a talent contest called “Dru Idol,” making him the fourth member of the group.

As mentioned previously, Dru Hill is presently on tour celebrating their 20 years together. For tickets to their Saturday, March 26^th show at Lehman Center call the Box Office at 718-960-8833 or go on line at www.LehmanCenter.org. Also interested parties who wish to follow Dru Hill can do so via http://www.druhillonline.com/ or get the Dru Hill app from the App store, or via Amazon Google Play.

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