'Round Midnight'

Choose or lose

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is the first (U.S.)

female Republican vice presidential nominee.

'Shorty swing my way'

Live Art

I took this picture at a live art show about 2 years ago.

Black Lips

Ghosts of Abu Ghraib

Filmmaker Rory Kennedy takes a look at the abuses that occurred
at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Catch the documentary on HBO.

Doctors remove 13 pound of warts from Indonesian man

An Indoneisan man, dubbed the ''tree man'', had 13 pounds of warts removed from his body. Doctors reported on Tuesday that it took 9 operations to remove 95% of the warts. Dede (his real name) first noticed the warts after cutting his knee as a teenager. Over time, Dede was fired from his job, abandoned by his wife and shunned by his neighbors. He is now 37 years old.

In Living Color

Wanda's blind date


Fire Marshall Bill


Men on Films


Homie D. Clown

Black Art History: Ira Frederick Aldridge

Ira Frederick Aldridge was a renowned Shakespearean actor in the nineteenth century. He was the first American actor to perform in Russia.

Aldridge was born on July 24, 1807 in New York City. His father Daniel and mother Luranah were free blacks. In 1818, Ira's mother died. When Ira's father remarried, he ran away from home. He worked on ship but when it docked in North Carolina, a slave dealer offered the captain $500 to buy Ira. The captain refused. Aldridge returned to New York to work backstage at the Chatham Theatre. He gained acting experience with the African Theatre group. Ira's debut was as Rolla, a Peruvian in the Richard Brinsley Sheridan adaptation of August von Kotzebue's "Pizarro." Aldridge could not garner major acting roles because he was African American, so he left for England in 1824.

On October 10, 1825, Aldridge debuted at London's Royal Coburg Theatre. The first week he played the lead role of Oroonoko in "The Revolt of Surina". Aldridge would play the guitar and sing an anti-slavery song at the end of his performances. Aldridge was famous for captivating his audiences. He became known as the African Roscius. Aldridge traveled to Russia in November of 1858, where he primarily toured during the last years of his career. He was the first American actor to perform in Croatia and Serbia.

Aldridge was married twice. In 1825, he married Margaret Gill of England, who died in 1864 and in 1865 he married Countess Amanda von Brandt of Sweden. He had two sons and three daughters. Aldridge died on August 7, 1867 and was buried in Lodz, Poland. Ira Aldridge is inscribed at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon.

Premature adulation

Iraq and the U.S. have allegedly come closer to a deal that would guarantee American troop withdrawal
in December 2011. Current U.S. President Bush has stood firmly against a timetable for getting out of Iraq
up to this point. American presidential hopeful, Barack Obama, is aiming for all U.S. forces to be out of
Iraq within 16 months of his (potential) presidency. John McCain, also a presidential candidate, disagrees
with timetables on withdrawals.

France bans TV shows for babies!

French channels are now banned from airing shows aimed at children 3 years or younger.
The High Audiovisual Council ruled (on Wednesday) that it wanted to ''protect children
under 3 from the effects of television.''

Two foreign channels on cable in France, BabyFirstTV and Baby TV, offer 24 hours of
'baby programming'. Baby TV is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.

'Sly Fox'

Let's go photoshop-ping

Photo manipulation has been going on for a very long time now. But back in the day, photographers had to use dark room tricks and techniques to create effects that can now be done with a few simple clicks on a computer. Check out the picture at right. Erwin Blumenfeld created this Hitler montage in 1934. The United States Air Force dropped millions of copies of it over German cities in 1943.

New

I took this picture yesterday.

Mark Guiliana drum solo

Black Art History: Donyale Luna

Before Iman, and even before Beverly Johnson, there was Donyale Luna. Some would say she was the first black supermodel. Donyale was born Peggy Ann Freeman in Detroit, Michigan. She was born the first day of 1945.
Donyale was discovered by photographer David McCabe in Detroit. She then moved to New York City and appeared on the cover of Harper's Bazaar in January 1965. In 1966 Luna became the first black model to appear on the cover of (British) Vogue. Eight years later Beverly Johnson would become the first black model to grace the cover of (American) Vogue.
Donyale Luna passed away in 1979. She is survived by her daughter Dream Cazzaniga. Filmmaker Jennifer Poe is working on a documentary about Donyale Luna and Pat Hartley; the only black women to be part of the Warhol studio.

What?!?

Happy Friday

My weekend plans: Pick up a few reserved books from the library and watch some Braves baseball (on tv). Too much fun I know. Dare you to do it bigger and better this weekend.

Cherry Poppins

This is my first post to my blog. Congratulations to me.
The picture below is my most recent work. I photographed
a rapper by the name of manCHILD. Check out his home page.