The new episode of the Daytime Emmy nominated show, RED TABLE TALK, featuringCommon is now available on Facebook Watch! During the rapper’s conversation with Jada Pinkett-Smith, he admits that he’s ready to find himself a wife and settle down.
“You said in the book also that you’ve accomplished everything but that you’re not a husband,” Jada says, referring to his recently released memoir “Let Love Have the Last Word.”
Common nods, “Yeah, that’s.. I would like to be a husband. Now I think that I just want that partnership. To be able to experience life where I’m growing as a human being and it’s fun too.”
After years of success as a musician and actor, Common also opened up about his cycle of failed relationships following his high-profile romances with R&B star Erykah Badu and tennis ace Serena Williams. He was most recently linked to political analyst Angela Rye.
Common told PEOPLE in May, “Talking about my intimacy avoidance and love addiction was an ‘aha’ moment for me. The more you talk, the more you see the patterns you created for yourself,” he explained. “I’m open to a relationship now. I know how to communicate like an adult now. I want to be the best partner I can be.”
Jada also refers to the music star’s memoir, in which he recounts how he was molested as a child, something he blocked out of memory until two years ago while workshopping a scene with actress Laura Dern.
To cope with the traumatic experience, Common believes he “buried” the painful memory. “I just pushed the whole thing out of my head,” he writes. “Maybe it’s a matter of survival—Even now, two years after that flash resurgence of memories, as I’m writing, I’m still working through all of this in myself and with my therapist.”
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors captured Canada’s first NBA championship with their most remarkable road win yet in the franchise’s NBA Finals debut, outlasting the battered and depleted two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors 114-110 on Thursday night in a Game 6 for the ages that spoiled a sensational send-off at Oracle Arena.
Stephen Curry missed a contested 3-pointer in the waning moments before Golden State called a timeout it didn’t have, giving Leonard a technical free throw with 0.9 seconds left to seal it. Leonard then got behind Andre Iguodala for a layup as the buzzer sounded, but it went to review and the basket was called off before Leonard’s two free throws. That only delayed the celebration for a moment.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Police appealed for calm Thursday in a tense Memphis neighborhood where a rock-throwing crowd gathered after federal marshals fatally shot a black man who, authorities said, had rammed a police vehicle with a stolen car.
Thirty-six officers suffered minor injuries from flying rocks and bricks in the hours following the death of 20-year-old Brandon Webber, who was killed Wednesday evening after he exited the car holding some type of weapon, authorities said.
Webber had been wanted in a June 3 shooting that happened during a car theft in Hernando, Mississippi. The victim was shot five times and survived. The car was the one used to ram the police vehicle, according to DeSoto County, Mississippi, District Attorney John Champion, who spoke Thursday at a news conference.
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Elected officials condemned the violence, and the police chief pleaded for patience while the shooting is investigated. But unanswered questions left many people angry as they recalled other police shootings around the country.
Shortly after Wednesday’s shooting, people began to gather in the area, and their numbers swelled as some livestreamed the scene on social media. Memphis police initially responded in street uniforms, then returned in riot gear as people began hurling rocks and bricks.
During the unrest, officers cordoned off several blocks in the Frayser neighborhood north of downtown and arrested three people. By 11 p.m., officers had used tear gas and most of the crowd dispersed, Police Director Michael Rallings said.
Rallings implored residents to wait until the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, or TBI, finished its investigation. He appealed for people to refrain from violence and from spreading possible misinformation about the shooting.
“I need everyone to stay calm,” Rallings said.
Separately, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said through a spokeswoman that the shooting would be fully investigated. Lee’s press secretary, Laine Arnold, said the crowd’s actions were “not representative of the community, but we stand firmly against acts of lawlessness that threaten the safety of our neighborhoods.”
On Thursday morning, officers on horseback patrolled the neighborhood, and lines of police cars with flashing blue lights were parked along the street while a helicopter flew overhead.
Webber’s home was in a residential area of the working-class neighborhood in north Memphis. By Thursday afternoon, the police presence was minimal, with two squad cars parked in front of a fire station. No uniformed officers were visible.
About 20 people stood outside of Webber’s one-story house, and others gathered nearby. One woman wept loudly and hugged a man as she cried.
The Rev. Andre E. Johnson said he was standing among the protesters when tear gas was released. He said he heard no police order to disperse.
People were upset because they initially did not know why the marshals sought to arrest Webber, said Johnson, who called him a beloved member of the community.
“The problem with it is they feel that police and the administration and city officials do not treat them as humans. That’s what it really boils down to: You are not worthy of an explanation,” said Johnson, who spoke hours before the Mississippi prosecutor described the allegations against Webber.
TBI spokeswoman Keli McAlister said a fugitive task force went to a Frayser home to look for a suspect with felony warrants. She said marshals spotted the man getting into a car, which then rammed task force vehicles several times before the man got out with the weapon.
Marshals then opened fire, she said. McAlister did not say how many marshals fired or how many times the man was shot. The TBI identified the dead man as Webber.
Authorities provided no details about the type of weapon or the charges that drew the task force’s interest. A criminal history for Webber released by the TBI listed two arrests, in April 2017 and April 2018, on charges including weapons possession, drug dealing and driving without a license.
The 2018 charges were not prosecuted, and the 2017 charges were dismissed, court records showed.
Webber’s father, Sonny Webber, told The Associated Press by phone that his son leaves a 2-year-old boy and a young daughter, with another daughter on the way: “He would have had three children. Now he’ll have a child that he won’t get to meet.”
The TBI is routinely called in to investigate police shootings around the state. TBI investigators typically deliver a report to the local district attorney, who then decides whether to pursue charges against officers involved.
At least two journalists were also hurt in Wednesday’s violence. Police cars were damaged, a fire station’s windows shattered and a concrete wall outside a business torn down, officials said.
Memphis-area police shootings in the past four years have prompted sporadic protests. Among them was Darrius Stewart, an unarmed 19-year-old who was fatally shot during a fight in 2015 with Connor Schilling, a white officer who was trying to arrest him on outstanding warrants.
A Shelby County district attorney recommended that Schilling be charged with voluntary manslaughter, but a grand jury refused to indict him.
____
Associated Press writers Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, Rebecca Reynolds Yonker in Louisville, Kentucky, and researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.
DALLAS (AP) — Dallas police have arrested a 33-year-old man in the slayings of three women, including a transgender woman.
Kendrell Lavar Lyles has been charged with three counts of murder. Dallas police homicide Maj. Max Geron says he was arrested June 5 based on tips linking him to two homicides, including 23-year-old transgender woman Muhlaysia Booker last month . Geron says his car matched the description of the one witnesses reported seeking Booker enter on May 18.
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Lyles is being held without bond in the Collin County Jail in McKinney. Two of the homicides occurred in a section of Dallas in Collin County. Authorities haven’t disclosed the names of those victims.
Geron says Lyles also is being investigated in connection with the death of 26-year-old transgender woman Chynal Lindsey, whose body was found June 1 in a Dallas lake.
YARMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — Ryan Cooper was a 20-something Californian unsure of his place in the world when he struck up a pen pal correspondence in the 1970s with Otto Frank, the father of the young Holocaust victim Anne Frank.
Through dozens of letters and several face-to-face meetings, the two forged a friendship that lasted until Frank died in 1980 at the age of 91.
Now 73 years old, Cooper, an antiques dealer and artist in Massachusetts, has donated a trove of letters and mementos he received from Frank to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington ahead of the 90th anniversary Wednesday of Anne Frank’s birth on June 12, 1929.
He wants the letters to be shared so that people can have a deeper understanding of the man who introduced the world to Anne Frank, whose famous World War II diary is considered one of the most important works of the 20th century.
“He was a lot like Anne in that he was an optimist,” Cooper said of Otto Frank at his house on Cape Cod recently. “He always believed the world would be right in the end, and he based that hope on the young people.”
As the German army occupied the Netherlands, the Franks hid in the attic of Otto Frank’s office in Amsterdam. But they were eventually discovered and sent to concentration camps, where 15-year-old Anne, her elder sister and her mother died — among an estimated 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis.
Otto Frank was the only family member to survive, living to see the Soviet army liberate the notorious Auschwitz camp in Nazi-occupied Poland in 1945. He had his daughter’s diary published two years later and dedicated his days to speaking about the atrocities of the Holocaust.
But in his letters and conversations in person, Frank focused less on his family’s ordeal and chose instead to counsel Cooper through his own everyday struggles. For Cooper, those ranged from losing his mother, to questioning his Jehovah’s Witness upbringing to worrying about his career and romantic relationships.
“Some of the letters really have nothing to do with Anne,” Cooper said. “In a lot of ways, I feel like I was adopted by Otto. He made me feel like I had a family during a period of real isolation.”
In one letter, Frank urged Cooper to draw inspiration from Anne’s optimism under vastly more dire circumstances.
“I want to remind you of her ardent wish ‘to work for mankind’ in case she would survive,” Frank wrote on Jan. 9, 1972. “I can see from your letter that you are an intelligent person and that you have self criticism and so I can only hope that Anne will inspire you to find a positive outlook on life.”
The letters also show the toll Otto Frank’s life work had on his physical and mental health, said Edna Friedberg, a historian at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
In one of the later letters to Cooper, Frank’s second wife, Elfriede “Fritzi” Frank, wrote about how her husband struggled to maintain his health during a series of public appearances and interviews ahead of the 50th anniversary of Anne Frank’s birth.
“You can surely imagine that all this is very emotional for him and takes a lot of his strength,” she wrote on March 21, 1979. “But you cannot prevent him for doing what he thinks is his duty.”
Otto Frank died the following summer.
As Anne Frank’s 90th birthday approaches, Friedberg said it’s important to remember the sacrifices Otto and others made to keep her legacy alive. Her writings were preserved by Miep Gies, Otto Frank’s secretary who helped the family while they were in hiding. She returned the documents to him after the war.
“Otto Frank never had to publish that diary. As a parent in mourning, he could have kept this to himself,” she said. “But he gave it as a gift to humanity because he saw that it spoke to something bigger. He took that charge and ran with it for the rest of his life.”
The museum will digitize and eventually make Cooper’s collection available online. It totals more than 80 letters, including his correspondence with Gies and others who aided the Frank family during the war, and a number of modest family keepsakes. Those include Otto Frank’s coin purse and a photo of Anne.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — For celebrated Creole chef Leah Chase, the goodbye had all the ingredients of a typical New Orleans sendoff: warm reminiscences and mourning mixed with a Mardi Gras-style celebration of her life.
Fellow chefs, musicians, family and friends were among hundreds who filed through a New Orleans church on Monday to pay last respects to Leah Chase, who ran a family restaurant where civil rights strategies were discussed over gumbo and fried chicken in the 1950s and ’60s. She died June 1 at age 96.
The rosary and funeral Mass at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church was marked by spirited gospel from the choir and a soulful rendition of “Peace in the Valley” from longtime New Orleans musician and singer Deacon John.
“Today is Leah’s last freedom ride,” her son Edgar said.
Afterward, a brass band, pallbearers and members of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club slow-walked beside her hearse as it drove the few blocks to Dooky Chase’s restaurant — her last trip to the place where she earned renown as a chef, civil rights icon and patron of the arts.
Dirges gave way to an upbeat “I’ll Fly Away” and, as the procession approached, vendors sold snacks, water, beer and cocktails from streetside trailers or ice chests on wagons.
Before the funeral, Ti Martin, co-proprietor of Commander’s Palace restaurant and a member of New Orleans’ famed Brennan family of restaurateurs, stood in a line that snaked around the block. She was among a diverse crowd that included politicians, notable chefs and musicians, including Marsalis family patriarch Ellis Marsalis.
“I don’t know if God realizes he’s about to gain 20 pounds,” Martin joked, “I can count on one hand the number of people who inspire me as much as this lady. And I wouldn’t need all my fingers.”
“I started eating in the restaurant in the ’60s when I was a little kid,” recalled Jonathan Bloom of New Orleans, who said his mother was a friend of Leah Chase.
State Sen. J.P. Morrell said he met and learned from an older generation of politicians while sitting at Dooky Chase’s — and heard a multitude of stories. “It took very little to prompt her to go into very lengthy stories about all the different people,” Morrell recalled. “She remembered and shook hands with every single person that came through her restaurant.”
“It’s impossible to overstate what she meant to our city,” Mayor LaToya Cantrell said during a rosary service ahead of a midday Mass.
The mournful-turned-festive march to Dooky Chase’s was followed by a motorcade to a local cemetery. After that, there was to be a traditional New Orleans “second line” parade — with watchers falling in behind the procession — to the New Orleans Museum of Art.
Monday’s was the last in a series of goodbyes to Chase. A brass band led a parade by the restaurant last Monday, and a public memorial was held at Xavier University on Saturday.
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Former NFL star Kellen Winslow Jr. has been convicted of raping a 58-year-old homeless woman last year in San Diego County.
A jury returned the verdict Monday in San Diego Superior Court in Vista but was continuing to deliberate on two more counts of rape involving a hitchhiker and an unconscious teenage girl.
He also was convicted of two counts of lewd conduct involving two other women.
Winslow faces up to life in prison.
All five women testified at the trial.
Defense attorneys argued the women invented the allegations to prey on his wealth. Prosecutors say he felt empowered by his fame to abuse the most vulnerable.
Winslow played for Cleveland, Tampa Bay, New England and the New York Jets.
ATLANTA (AP) — An Atlanta rapper’s take on country music has inspired a mostly nonverbal autistic boy in Minnesota to sing.
Lil Nas X has found huge success with the song, “Old Town Road.” It has sparked controversy , spawned a clothing line, made the rapper a household name and got his collaborator Billy Ray Cyrus a Maserati.
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Now, it’s being credited for doing a lot more.
Cottage Grove, Minnesota, mother Sheletta Brundidge tweeted Tuesday about her family’s “#oldtownroad miracle,” The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported . She filmed her 4-year-old son, Daniel, humming the tune and then singing the lyrics. Now, she says therapists are using the music in his sessions.
Cyrus retweeted the video and Lil Nas X, whose real name is Montero Lamar Hill, tweeted “What a King” in response to the clip.
“Old Town Road” climbed the Billboard charts in April and gained national attention when Billboard removed it from the Hot Country Songs chart, declaring it not country enough. The song has now spent nine weeks at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and even broke the streaming record previously held by Drake.
Hill recently partnered with Wrangler and released a clothing line inspired by the song.
New Baltimore Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young has offered an unorthodox and controversial solution to resolve the high rate of homicides in the city: Invite gang members who want to kill each other to put down their guns, lace up a pair of boxing gloves, step into a referee-controlled ring, and duke it out old school.
“If they want to really settle them, we can have them down at the civic center, put a boxing ring up and let them go and box it out,” Young told The Baltimore Sun. “Those kinds of things, you know, and the best man wins and the beef should be over.”
It’s a bold idea that has received mixed reviews in the community – and I’m not completely sure it will work.
But I will say this: Give Young credit for trying to quell the non-stop shootings on the streets of Baltimore where gun violence among young African-American men has become a troublesome way of life. Baltimore is now one of the nation’s most violent cities where guns are an integral part of inner-city life. Baltimore has surpassed 300 homicides for four straight years. Over 120 people have been killed so far this year.
This kind of rampant violence can’t continue. Baltimore is losing a generation of young black men every day.
“If they want to really settle them, we can have them down at the Civic Center [now Royal Farms Arena], put a boxing ring up, let them go and box it out, those kind of things,” Young said at a rally against gun violence.
Young’s spokesman Lester Davis told The Baltimore Sun that “Baltimore has a rich boxing history” and “a number of people every year pick up the sport,” making it a solution worthy of discussion.
So what are the answers to this complex problem? Many young black men don’t seem to have any remorse for taking a life and murder has become a twisted rite of passage.
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For Marvin McDowell, president and founder of UMAR Boxing and Youth Development Center, he is open to Young’s idea.
McDowell works with young Black men in the boxing ring every day and while many young men learn discipline and solid boxing techniques, it’s not clear that members of gangs will be able to resolve their violent differences by turning to more violent methods.
Safety, of course, would be of utmost importance. And there would be clear rules: On the day of the fight, for example, the fighters would sign a waiver that would end the dispute no matter who wins to bout. Some are already calling Baltimore a “war zone” and claim Young’s boxing plan could plunge the city’s gang problem deeper into chaos.
Is there honor among hoodlums?
“It gets the kids or the people to understand their will, how far they can go, what they can take,” McDowell told The Baltimore Sun. “I think it’d be worth further study.”
Would gang members honor the boxing decision? Would the boxing bout lead to more violence after the fight? Would the loser retaliate on the streets with guns?
Last weekend was another particularly violent weekend for Baltimore. There was a deadly stabbing and eight shootings — 11 people were injured and two men were killed, including a 17-year-old.
“Gun violence has been plaguing this city for the last 10 years. The murder rate in this city and non-fatal shootings have increased. I’m not happy with it and neither should the citizens of Baltimore,” Young said.
Baltimore States Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who attended a National Gun Violence Awareness Day event, quoted famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass to make her case about saving a lost generation of young black boys.
“Frederick Douglass said it best,” Mosby told reporters. “It’s easier to build strong children than it is to repair broken men, and so we have to focus on our babies before it’s too late.”
Only time will tell if Young’s idea to throw young Black men in the boxing ring to resolve their deep-rooted differences can actually work. Would a close decision instead of a TKO be honored among gang members?
The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion was an all-Black battalion of the Women’s Army Corps, whose main function was to ensure mail delivery to troops fighting in World War II and to boost morale. Nicknamed the “Six Triple Eight,” the battalion’s motto was “No Mail, No Morale.”
In 1944, Mary McLeod Bethune used her deep connection with Eleanor Roosevelt to create a role for Black women in the war. The military was still racially segregated at the time, and morale among the troops began to drop as they were missing thousands of pieces of correspondence from loved ones.
From February 1945 to March 1946, the Six Triple Eight helped clear a two-year backlog of mail using warehouses in England and France. Sorting mail wasn’t the only function of the battalion, as many of them were already members of the WAC and held various support roles. To date, it is the largest number of Black women to serve overseas in a military capacity.
In 2009, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama honored the battalion, and in November 2018 Fort Leavenworth honored the women as well.
Turner Sports and the NBA today announced the star-studded lineup of film, television and sports presenters for the 2019 NBA Awards presented by Kia on TNT – Monday, June 24, at 9 p.m. ET.
Award-winning and critically acclaimed actor Samuel L. Jackson, comedian, actress and producer Tiffany Haddish, and NBA on TNT analyst and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Charles Barkley will take the stage at the third annual NBA Awards along with comedian and host Hasan Minhaj, critically acclaimed actor and producer Justin Hartley, writer, producer and actress Issa Rae, WNBA Champion and NBA TV analyst Candace Parker, supermodel and entrepreneur Ashley Graham and comedian Amanda Seales.
Additionally, Marv Albert will serve as the live show announcer, models Jesse Conrad and Hilary Cruz will serve as trophy presenters and DJ Kiss will provide the musical backdrop for the night, taking place at Barker Hangar in Los Angeles.
The 2019 NBA Awards on TNT – hosted by Shaquille O’Neal – will honor the league’s top performers from the 2018-19 NBA season, including the exclusive unveiling of the Kia NBA MVP, Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Kia NBA Rookie of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Award, among others. The night will once again feature current and former NBA players, coaches and celebrity attendees.
As previously announced, basketball icons Larry Bird and Magic Johnson will be co-recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award and “Good Morning America” co-host Robin Roberts will receive the Sager Strong Award, presented annually to an individual who has been a trailblazer while exemplifying courage, faith, compassion and grace.
Nikki Giovanni is without a doubt one of the most celebrated poets of the last 50 years, earning countless awards and accolades for her work. The Knoxville, Tenn. native was born on June 7, 1943.
Giovanni was born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni Junior, but Nikki stuck after her sister reportedly began calling her the nickname at a young age. After graduating from Fisk University with a B.A. in History, Giovanni found herself teaching in Rutgers University in New Jersey after involving herself in the Black Arts Movement with the likes of Dr. Sonia Sanchez and James Baldwin among others.
The poet quickly established herself as a necessary voice in her genre, publishing over a dozen and a half collections. She also published a number of children’s books, along with a handful of recordings and other collaborative works.
Giovanni has won seven NAACP Image Awards, was named Woman of the Year by Ebony magazine in 1970, and was awarded the Maya Angelou Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.
Today, Giovanni is a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech University in the town of Blacksburg.
Today is Prince Day around the world. The late musician would have celebrated his 61st birthday today. It’s been three years since he left us in the physical plane and he is deeply missed. So much so that there are global celebrations of his life and legacy and you can find a list of them HERE.
We’re celebrating by digging deeper into the prolific artist’s catalogue to share what we think are some of the best of his lesser-known cuts. There are plenty to choose from as Prince released 39 albums in his lifetime and left a vault with many more. Here are some of the best of Prince’s deep cuts. Enjoy!
Prince recorded this track from 37th studio album with Cameroonian singer/songwriter Allo, his rumored girlfriend, who toured with and collaborated with him.
2. U Make My Sun Shine (At Night) with Angie Stone, Kip Blackshire and Milenia
Didn’t know Prince recorded with Angie Stone? She, along with vocalist Kip Blackshire and girl group Milenia, a singing group of sisters from Michigan who Prince discovered when they showed up at Paisley Park to audition for him, star on this unheralded R&B gem.
A mysterious song that some believe is about love and others about sex; it was one of the last songs recorded by Prince and the Revolution before they disbanded.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins say they can confirm a “strong association” between common African-American hairstyles and the development of traction alopecia, which is the gradual loss of hair loss caused by damage to the hair follicle.
Prolonged tension on the hair root can trigger the loss of hair. An estimated one-third of African-American women suffer from traction alopecia, making it the most common form of hair loss among that group.
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In a report on their analysis, dermatologists are urged to better educate themselves about damaging hairstyles such as tight ponytails, braids, knots and buns, and are encouraged to advise patients of risks and alternatives.
“Hair is a cornerstone of self-esteem and identity for many people,” says Crystal Aguh, M.D., assistant professor of dermatology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, “but ironically, some hairstyles meant to improve our self-confidence actually lead to hair and scalp damage.”
Traction alopecia, she adds, is entirely preventable, and early intervention can stop or reverse it. ”We have to do better as care providers to offer our patients proper guidance to keep them healthy from head to toe,” she says.
Aguh and her colleagues categorize hair practices into low, moderate and high-risk styles. The highest-risk styles include braids, dreadlocks, weaves (glued or sew-in) and extensions, especially when applied to chemically straightened hair. These styles are popular among African-Americans because they are low maintenance and many consider them to be protective styles. Moderate risk styles include straightening the hair using heat, permanent waving and use of wigs.
Untreated and unprocessed hair, Aguh says, can withstand greater traction, pulling and brushing, and overall decreases the risk of traction alopecia, regardless of styling.
In their review, investigators recommend guidelines for dermatologists and haircare providers to prevent and manage hair loss from traction alopecia, The first tip, hair therapy. They also offer up alternate styles to allow follicles to recover from stress.
“Dermatologists need to be conscious of the fact that many high-and moderate-risk hairstyles greatly improve hair manageability, and simply telling patients to abandon them won’t work for everyone,” says Aguh. “Instead, physicians can educate themselves to speak with patients about making the best hair styling choices to minimize preventable hair loss.”
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Dr. John, the New Orleans singer and piano player who blended black and white musical styles with a hoodoo-infused stage persona and gravelly bayou drawl, died Thursday, his family said. He was 77.
In a statement released through his publicist, the family said Dr. John, who was born Mac Rebennack, died “toward the break of day” of a heart attack. They did not say where he died or give other details. He had not been seen in public much since late 2017, when he canceled several gigs. He had been resting at his New Orleans area home, publicist Karen Beninato said last year in an interview.
Memorial arrangements were being planned. “The family thanks all whom have shared his unique musical journey, and requests privacy at this time,” the statement said.
“Dr. John was a true Louisiana legend,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said in a statement. “He showed the world Louisiana’s rich musical heritage, and his passion for music has left a mark on the industry unlike any other.”
Drummer Ringo Starr was among the first musicians to weigh in on Twitter. “God bless Dr. John peace and love to all his family I love the doctor peace and love,” the Beatles legend tweeted.
Fellow New Orleans singer Irma Thomas said he was loved around the world. “He was just a mystical person,” Thomas told WVUE television when asked what made his music special. “He did what he liked best and was very unique with his style.”
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His spooky 1968 debut “Gris-Gris” combined rhythm ‘n blues with psychedelic rock and startled listeners with its sinister implications of other-worldly magic, employing a piano style both rollicking and haunting. He later had a Top 10 hit with “Right Place, Wrong Time,” collaborated with numerous top-tier rockers, won multiple Grammy awards and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
A white man who found a home among black New Orleans musicians, he first entered the music scene when he accompanied his father, who ran a record shop and also fixed the P.A. systems at New Orleans bars.
As a teenager in the 1950s, he played guitar and keyboards in a string of bands and made the legendary studio of Cosimo Matassa his second home, Rebennack said in his 1994 memoir, “Under a Hoodoo Moon.” He got into music full-time after dropping out of high school, became acquainted with drugs and petty crime and lived a fast-paced life. His gigs ranged from strip clubs to auditoriums, roadhouses and chicken shacks. The ring finger of Rebennack’s left hand was blown off in a shooting incident in 1961 in Jacksonville, Florida.
He blamed Jim Garrison, the JFK conspiracy theorist and a tough-on-crime New Orleans district attorney, for driving him out of his beloved city in the early 1960s. Garrison went after prostitutes, bars and all-night music venues.
The underworld sweep put Rebennack in prison. At that time, he was a respected session musician who had played on classic recordings by R&B mainstays like Professor Longhair and Irma Thomas, but he was also a heroin addict. After his release from federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas, at age 24, Rebennack joined friend and mentor Harold Battiste who had left New Orleans to make music in Los Angeles.
Rebennack, who’d long had a fascination with occult mysticism and voodoo, told Battiste about creating a musical personality out of Dr. John, a male version of Marie Laveau, the voodoo queen.
In his memoir, Rebennack said, he drew inspiration from New Orleans folklore about a root doctor who flourished in the mid-1800s.
Battiste, in a 2005 interview, recalled, “It was really done sort of tongue-in-cheek.”
But Dr. John was born and Rebennack got his first personal recordings done in what became “Gris-Gris,” a 1968 classic of underground American music.
In the years that followed, he played with The Grateful Dead, appeared with The Band in director Martin Scorsese’s “The Last Waltz” documentary, jammed on The Rolling Stones’ “Exile on Main Street” album and collaborated with countless others — among them Earl King, Van Morrison and James Booker.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company is teaming up with Spotify to produce exclusive podcasts for the platform.
Under the Higher Ground partnership announced Thursday, the former president and first lady will develop and lend their voices to select podcasts.
The Obamas launched Higher Ground in 2018 with an initial partnership with Netflix. The idea was to raise new, diverse voices in the entertainment industry. The Spotify partnership seeks to expand the conversation.
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I’m blessed to have built a career in travel journalism over the last 12
years. Putting myself in the position to field hundreds of questions weekly
acro...
RV tire blowout part 4 – final
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Recap – We had a major tire blowout on I-75 in Florida on our way back to
Georgia. I spent the night at Camping World’s parking lot. Drove back to
Georgia....
What We’re Reading | 2021 Staff Favorites
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2021 is coming to a close. We laughed, we cried, and we read through the
chaos of living through another year of the pandemic. In honor of another
amazing ...
10 Black Women Making Waves in AI
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Over the past year, there has been endless interest in and discussion about
Artificial Intelligence (AI). The conversation will only increase as tools
ev...
Everyday Life With Crypto: 5 Unique Gift Ideas
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This year crypto is more than a buzzword! With over 18465 cryptocurrencies
already making their movements in the market, investors are getting
innovative...
The closing call to Game 6 as the 
