Grammy®
Award winner Fantasia (The Color
Purple) makes her highly anticipated return to the stage
alongside Emmy® Award nominee Dulé
Hill (“The West Wing”) in AFTER MIDNIGHT, the Broadway production of
Encores’ critically acclaimed Cotton Club Parade. With 25
sensational singers and dancers and an exciting roster of Special
Guest Star headliners, this heart-pounding new
musical brings the sexy, smoky glamour of Harlem's Golden Age to a whole
new generation.
Recently, I had the opportunity to get a sneak peek, meet and greet Fantasia at the Brook Atkins Theatre. We discussed how she manages stress during her run on Broadway with AFTER MIDNIGHT. Check out the highlights from my exclusive video interview:
At the heart of AFTER
MIDNIGHT is The Jazz at Lincoln Center
All-Stars, an orchestra of 17 world-class musicians hand-picked
by nine-time Grammy Award winner Wynton
Marsalis. The timeless songs
of Duke Ellington, Harold Arlen, Cab
Calloway and their contemporaries–woven together by the prose
of Langston Hughes–come to life in an evening of
cutting-edge song and dance.
This thrilling experience puts you at the center of one of Harlem’s legendary
nightclubs, in a hotbed of Jazz–its intoxicating rhythms, its innovative style,
its unpredictable danger and fun. Award-winning fashion
designer Isabel Toledo reinvents the distinctive
looks of the era with dazzling, one-of-a-kind costumes. And, as directed
and choreographed by Warren
Carlyle, AFTER
MIDNIGHTblurs the line between past and present to
prove that Jazz is more than music...it's a state of mind.
According to my exclusive interview with the cast members, Tasha Smith (Angela Williams) and Michael Jai White (Marcus Williams), the success of the Season 3 premiere of "For Better or Worse" on OWN this past Wednesday, can be contributed to Tyler Perry's family oriented work ethic.
The premiere episode at 9 p.m. Wednesday grabbed more than 1.5 million total
viewers, and grew to 1.6 million total viewers with its second episode, pushing
OWN to its most-watched Wednesday night in the network's history.
#forbetter
Check out highlights from the exclusive interview with Tasha Smith (Angela Williams) and Michael Jai White (Marcus Williams) here:
Recently I attended a NYC Business Solutions Workshop for Wellness Professionals around the topic of "CrowdFunding." I had previously heard about crowdfunding, through Kickstarter and Indigogo. Crowdfundingis raising money by offering rewards to your existing community. You
can leverage your already inspired supporters to fundraise for your
mission through their own personal networks online, through social
media, and through email. At the workshop, I was introduced to Lucky Ant which has successfully helped Yoga professionals to raise funds. Pictured ; Jonathon of Lucky Ant, Ava of Yama Talent, Nina of Paraiso Adventures, and Jeff of NYC Business Solutions
Early this morning my friend shared a post on my profile page - "Try
just for one day to release everything up to the Universe. Watch what
happens!" Hmmmm - Spiritual food for thought, as I balance my life
between the media arts, the healing arts and the finance of it all. I really wanted to embrace crowdfunding in a spiritual way. I discovered this articleLetter To The Universe.Yes, I wrote my letter to the universe, then... I let go and let God.
At this same event I metfellow Yogini, Cailin Callahan, who blogged about the sentiments of the event, that I also share... here is an excerpt: Ava of Yama Talent made the statement of the night, "My landlord doesn't take Karma." Let that marinate for a minute....
As much as I love yoga, healing, wellness and offering up insight...I
have to keep reminding myself to not just 'give it away' for free. My
skill, my passion, my "product", is valuable- and learning how to be
compensated for that appropriately (and feel okay with that) is
something that I am working on. It's not 'having too much ego' to want
to grow your yoga business or to have high aspirations in your field- so
long as its coming from your heart space. I don't want to reach more
and more people so that I can be well-known. I want to reach more and
more people because I have an infinite amount of love and devotion that I
want to share...feel the NEED to share. It was a great night of
networking and insight into growing yourself as a brand.(READ MORE)
Future plans are in the works with the panel experts from the workshop. I'm encouraging my supporters to sign up on my FRESH START FOR FALL WITH YOGA FLAVA page to be the first to find out about how they can receive a FREE YOGA FLAVA SESSION ONLINE PERSONALIZED. The Free session will be a bonus reward for the first 10 people to purchase rewards from my crowdfunding campaign, that will be launched on Tues. Sept. 10th. Stay tuned for more details of the campaign.
Robin Downes has created a web series to document the renovation and home improvement of her small studio apartment. Not sure where to begin, she has requested the help of Sherri Culpepper from Demolition Divas and SHE, HER & I Productions.
Robin Downes Productions is continuing to develop content for two main YouTube Channels. In addition to the Yoga Flava TV channel, there is the emerging Robin Downes Network (RDN).
The Robin Downes Network is currently developing a collaboration with Sherri Culpepper for a web series about home renovation.
To support my web series, I will continue to strengthen my online digital publishing. It's an ever evolving frontier in the New Media / Digital Publishing world. I'm doing my best to understand how to monetize my online publishing with the Google Adsense Free 10 week master class.
Just wanted to confirm to those who have known me for several years as a media maven and got confused with my Yoga Flava - it's all good - media in different forms for a new era!
The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete, from Codeblack Films, a LIONSGATE® company, opened ABFF 2013 - American Black Film Festival, on June 19th. A very moving film, we laughed and cried. Sniffles all throughout the theater, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. The film is amazing.
The film features a stellar cast including Skylan Brooks, Ethan Dizon, Jordin Sparks (Sparkle), Jeffrey Wright (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close) and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Thor: The Dark World) with Anthony Mackie (Pain & Gain, The Hurt Locker) and Academy Award®-winner Jennifer Hudson ("Smash," Sex and the City 2, Dreamgirls). The film, directed by George Tillman, Jr. (Notorious, Soul Food), was co-executive produced by GRAMMY®
Award-winning singer Alicia Keys. This unique and affecting film is a
coming of age story about two boys trying to survive the summer in their
Brooklyn housing projects without parental supervision.
The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete: Two
young boys in Brooklyn are left to fend for themselves during a summer
after they are abandoned by their parents. "Obviously, we're really
exited about it," Jeff Friday, Founder of The American Black Film Festival says. "It's the opening-night film and stars
Jennifer Hudson, Jeffrey Wright, and Anthony Mackie. Alicia Keys is one
of the executive producers. Great film."
I'm so looking forward to Film Life’s 17th Annual American Black Film Festival
(ABFF). I will be providing you with updates about the official slate of films, including Opening and
Closing Night screenings, Gala screenings along with selections for the
Narrative Features Competition, HBO® Short Film Competition
and CNN Films Documentary Competition. The Festival will be held in
Miami Beach, FL, June 19-23, 2013. (Click here for a full schedule of events and to buy tickets.)
The ABFF film program is primarily composed of world premieres
of narrative, documentary and short films. As such, it is the leading
film festival in the world for African American and urban content. Since
its inception, the ABFF has showcased more than 600 films, rewarding
and redefining artistic excellence in independent filmmaking.
With diversity and social responsibility at its core, the
festival supports aspiring actors, filmmakers and industry executives in
unprecedented ways, and has generated a tremendous amount of goodwill
in Hollywood. In addition to its cinematic showcases, the ABFF nurtures
its attendees in a variety of disciplines, offering panel discussions,
workshops and symposiums hosted by leading media companies. Upscale
entertainment and exclusive social events complete the festival
experience.
Check out my clip from the 2011 ABFF Opening Night Event with Robert Townsend:
The festival program continues to grow by adding innovative
programs and activities. In 2010, the ABFF introduced the Pro-Hollywood
Initiative, a pilot program designed to give professional athletes a
crash course in the art of moviemaking and introduce them to the various
disciplines and careers in the film business. 2011 ushered in the gmc
Television Network Faith & Family Screenplay Competition, which
offers writers a chance to be discovered and their work optioned. A new
mobile entertainment section was launched at the 16th ABFF, to showcase
quality short form content ideal for distribution via the internet and
mobile devices.
Each year, the ABFF attracts approximately 5,000 artists,
executives and film fans, providing a strategic vehicle for companies to
reach this trendsetting and influential audience. Top-tier corporations
have engaged in partnerships with the festival to promote their
products, services, multicultural initiatives and branded entertainment
content. This support fuels the growth of the festival and furthers the
evolution of the Black independent film community. HBO is the
festival's founding sponsor.
