By Bill Vaughan
Entertainment Writer
After more than 50 years of creating and performing his classic hits, singer Frankie Beverly will retire at the end of a farewell tour before returning to Philadelphia for a street renaming ceremony in the city where he and his group (originally called Raw Soul) launched their phenomenal musical legacy.
The “I Wanna Thank You Farewell Tour,” produced by the Black Promoters Collective, a coalition representing six of the nation’s top independent concert promotion and event production companies, will begin in Atlanta March 22 with an L.A. stop at The Forum May 12.
The Maze frontman plans to slow down to enjoy life in his California Bay Area home. This after decades on the road, circling the globe many times with his arsenal of hits: “Back In Stride,” “Happy Feelin’s,” “We Are One,” “Southern Girl,” “Golden Time of Day,” “Joy and Pain” and the unofficial anthem for family reunions and get togethers ”Before I Let Go.”
The band will continue to tour as Maze Honoring Frankie Beverly, with the lead vocal baton passed on to Tony Lindsay, but for now, the silky smooth entertainer is doing it one last time, for the fans.
TASTY QUIP: “With me and Snoop [Dogg], we’re business partners, we’re creating family brands because we realize it’s not enough when you look at African Americans, when you look at business owners. We can’t employ our people that look like us because none of us really own anything. I’m telling the people out here, do not be afraid because we all want change, and we gotta fight these corporate giants. Times have changed. A lot of us are fighting for what happened in the past. No, I’m fighting for what can we do for a better future. … My mission is to help.” – PERCY “MASTER P” MILLER on CBS’ “The Talk”
CLIPPETTES: KRS-One and Mad Lion share the bill Feb. 23 at The Venice West, while Dave Schulz’s LA Funk All-Stars with Cameron Graves, Joe Sumner, Carmine Rojas, Kat Dyson, Celeste Butler, Luis Eric and more jam at The Mint …
Also, blues legend Taj Mahal with Sona Jobarteh performs at the Luckman Theatre (with an additional show at the Annenberg Theater Feb. 25); Klymaxx, The Manhattans and The Intruders are at The Saban; “Terry Steele Sings Luther Vandross” at Vibrato Grill & Jazz; Tony Danza shares “Standards & Stories” for two nights at Catalina Jazz Club; and “The Wiz” continues another week’s run at The Pantages …
The Cookers, featuring Billy Hart, Cecil McBee, David Weiss, Donald Harrison, Craig Handy, Eddie Henderson & George Cables, play Soka Performing Arts Center on Feb. 24; as Cory Wong & Monica Martin do the same at The Wiltern, and Rod Wave with special guest Fridayy hits Toyota Arena …
Director Steven McQueen and actress Alfre Woodard will appear at “10 Years After The Win: 12 Years A Slave,” a Feb. 25 screening of the 2014 Oscar-winning Best Picture at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures …
Later that evening, Stephanie Spruill sings at Vibrato Grill & Jazz and the Chris Powe Quartet play Ora …
On Feb. 27, The Grammy Museum hosts “A Conversation with Nicole Avant,” pairing the accomplished daughter of entertainment mogul Clarence Avant and philanthropist/activist Jacqueline Avant with producer/musician Jimmy Jam. All attendees will receive a signed copy of her new memoir, “Think You’ll Be Happy — Moving Through Grief with Grit, Grace and Gratitude” …
The evening will also find multi-instrumentalist Brian Culbertson’s The Trilogy Tour at City National Grove of Anaheim …
Renowned dance company MOMIX presents Moses Pendleton’s “Alice,” inspired by “Alice In Wonderland,” at Pepperdine University Center on Feb. 28 while Flypoet Classic Slam brings the prose to the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center …
Authors Angela Davis, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Edwidge Danticat, Jesmyn Ward, Tayari Jones and others celebrate literary icon Toni Morrison with a virtual marathon reading of “The Bluest Eye” on Feb. 29 at events.literacypartners.org/black-history-month-2024/ …
The 2024 Annie Awards, recognizing the best in animation, named “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” best picture and also gave prizes to “Nimona,” “The Boy and the Heron,” and TV’s “Blue Eye Samurai” and “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.”
TASTY QUIP: “‘The Color Purple’ is a book about Black lesbians. Whether the choice was made to focus on that or not in the cinematic iterations of ‘The Color Purple,’ it’s still a movie about Black lesbians. People can try to say the story is about sisterhood, but it’s a story about Black lesbians. Period. What is hard for me is that when we have those spaces where we can honor the truth of that, we walk away from it. We suppress it. We hide it. We sanitize it. In the sanitizing of it, someone like me — knowing that ‘The Color Purple’ is a book about Black lesbians — looks at that and thinks, ‘You’re sanitizing me and my friends, and other people who I love and adore. Why?’ [If it’s because] you don’t want to be offensive, then you’re saying to the world that I’m offensive.” – AUNJANUE ELLIS-TAYLOR to BuzzFeed
TC ON TV: Feb. 23 – “Mea Culpa” (Netflix): Kelly Rowland is a producer and star of this Tyler Perry thriller with Trevante Rhodes (“Moonlight”) and RonReaco Lee (“Nappily Ever After”). “The Second Best Hospital In The Galaxy” (Prime): An adult animated sci-fi comedy featuring the voices of series producers Maya Rudolph and Natasha Lyonne, along with Academy Award nominee Stephanie Hsu (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”), Keke Palmer, Kieran Culkin and Sam Smith. “The Stepdaughter” (Tubi): With Cassidey Fralin, Annie Ilonzeh (“Chicago Fire”), Judi Johnson (“Double Cross”) and Blu Kimble (“Ruthless”). “Campfire Sessions” (CMT): Darius Rucker “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” (ABC): Selena Gomez, Chromeo
Feb. 24 – “The 30th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Pre-Show” (Netflix): Tan France and Elaine Welteroth will host the red carpet preceding the event that will honor Barbra Streisand among others. “Sense and Sensibility” (Hallmark): Mahogany presents Roger Bobb’s sumptuously beautiful adaptation starring Deborah Ayorinde (“Them”), Bethany Antonia (“House of the Dragon”), and Akil Largie (“The Sandman”). “Where Is Wendy Williams” (Lifetime): A four and a half hour, two-night documentary event opening the doors to the former talk show host’s’ private life like never before. With unparalleled access granted by Wendy to film with her and her family for nearly two years, what was captured was not what anyone expected. “Saturday Night Live” (NBC): Shane Gillis, 21 Savage
Feb. 25 – “Urban One Honors” (TV1): This year’s distinguished recipients include Mary J. Blige, Dionne Warwick, Chlöe, Frankie Beverly, and Donald Lawrence; with Teyana Taylor, Summer Walker, Bebe Winans, Angie Stone, October London, KeKe Wyatt, Chanté Moore, and Nicci Gilbert among the participants. “WWE Rivals” (A&E): “Triple H vs. The Rock” “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live” (AMC): Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira reunite for a new spinoff that will finally continue the journey of Rick Grimes and Michonne characters.
Feb. 26 – “The Voice” (NBC): The series returns for its 25th season.
Feb. 27 – “Shōgun” (FX/Hulu): A 10-episode limited series based on James Clavell’s novel set in Japan in the year 1600 at the dawn of a century-defining civil war. “Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom” (MAX): Director James Wan and star Jason Momoa, along with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Nicole Kidman, return in the sequel to the highest-grossing DC film of all time. “The Greatest Love Story Never Told” (Prime): Her story. In her own words. a new documentary from Jennifer Lopez. “Chappelle’s Home Team” (Netflix): “Donnell Rawlings: A New Day” “As We Speak” (Paramount+): A feature documentary that explores the growing weaponization of rap lyrics in the United States criminal justice system. It follows Bronx rap artist Kemba (NPR) as he journeys through today’s meccas of hip-hop, building the case for Black lyrics via intimate conversations with rap artists, academics, politicians, legal experts and music industry executives.
Feb. 28 – “Iwájú” (Disney+): In a first-of-its-kind collaboration, Walt Disney Animation Studios teams up with Pan-African comic book entertainment company, Kugali, for an impressive original animated coming of age series set in a futuristic Lagos, Nigeria. “Survivor” (CBS): Eighteen new castaways embark on the adventure of a lifetime when they are left stranded on the breathtaking islands of Fiji for this two-hour premiere of the 46th edition.
Feb. 29 – “Perimeter” (BET+): Tyler Perry is executive producer of this 1990s Atlanta-set series with Tatyana Ali. “The View” (ABC): Lawrence Fishburne “Elsbeth” (CBS): Carrie Preston revives her offbeat attorney character from “The Good Wife” and “The Good Fight” for this new series co-starring Wendell Pierce and Carra Patterson.
END QUOTE: “Sometimes we just have to leap and then grow our wings in midair. And if we indeed collapse onto the ground before us, a fall is still forward motion.” – ROBIN ROBERTS
As featured in the Los Angeles Wave and Independent, Tasty Clips is one of the leading entertainment columns in the nation, serving nearly one million weekly readers. Bill Vaughan may be reached at tastyclips@yahoo.com, via Twitter @tastyclips, or Instagram @tasty_clips.
