(Blank on Blank) B.B. King on The Blues!

"I don't like to feel that I owe anything. I like to feel that I pay my own way, no free lunch."
- B.B. King on September 5, 1986, as told to Joe Smith

Mr. B.B. King. The blues legend says he played 300 nights a year for four-plus decades. That’s just ridiculous. We’re talking about nearly 15,000 shows. King turns 90 this year and you still just might be able to see him on stage. So what's his secret? We heard some keys to living life to its fullest in a 1986 interview that had been unheard until now.

In this animated film created from B.B. King's interview with legendary music executive, Joe Smith, the musician explains how he approaches an audience, how a fire at a juke joint led to his naming his guitar "Lucille", why the blues isn't just being down on your luck, and why compliments don't mean it's time to stop practicing or perfecting your craft.

(Blank on Blank) Ray Charles on Singing True!

"If somebody don't like something that I do, that's his or her prerogative. Just like it's mine."
- Ray Charles

Interview by Joe Smith
June 3, 1987. Cassette Tape

Recorded during the writing of Off the Record
Hear the full interview catalog at The Library of Congress

OVTV: (It's EVERYTHING with BeBe Sweetbriar) Black History Month with SPECIAL PERFORMANCE by vocalist Dee Coco Johnson!

Tune in to the EPISODE III edition of It's Everything at 7PM with BEBE Sweetbriar with a Black History Month Tribute to Whitney Houston. Guests XOXO Entertainment Promoter Mansingh Chouhan, SF Emperor Candidate John Paul Soto, The Management and Creative Team of Supperclub SF, and a SPECIAL PERFORMANCE by vocalist Dee Coco Johnson

(MY View) A Modern March for Newer Dreams!

by Rashad Robinson

In his autobiography Walking With the Wind, John Lewis describes the morning of the 1963 March on Washington. The most prominent civil rights leaders -- Dr. King, Bayard Rustin, Lewis and others -- were in meetings at the Capitol and realized that the march had started without them. They watched as tens of thousands of people poured into the streets, seemingly leaderless.

"It was truly awesome, the most incredible thing I'd ever seen in my life," Lewis wrote. "I remember thinking, There goes America. We were supposed to be the leaders of the march, but the march was all around us, already taking off, already gone."

That story has stayed with me for years, because it perfectly illustrates the power of a grassroots movement, that tipping point moment where the will of the people refuses to be contained. The energy Lewis witnessed was a groundswell that led directly to the passage of the Civil Rights Act, the Fair Housing Act and the recently-gutted Voting Rights Act.

DEBUT! (Bald Naked ManHunt): Race and the Oscar Race!

 

by BriOUT

The Independent Spirit Award nominations have been announced and there was a lot of love for Keep the Lights On including a Best Feature nomination. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Bernie, Gayby and How to Survive a Plague also got some lovin'.
Meanwhile, the Gotham Awards have been given and Plague came away with a win.

EW’s Awards guru, Anthony Breznican, offers up his early thoughts on the Oscars. It's worth scrolling through the whole gallery, but I was especially happy to see that he has Wallflower listed as a film that should be considered. "It reminds us that great friends can turn the worst of times into good ol' days."