By Bill Vaughan
Entertainment Writer
Los Angeles’ own award-winning television, film, and stage actress Vanessa Bell Calloway will receive the Legendary Superstar Award March 2 at the 2024 BronzeLens SuperStar Honors to take place at Atlanta’s historic Rialto Center for the Arts.
It continues winning ways for the woman of many credits including “Coming To America” who just finished a Broadway run in the hit play “Purlie Victorius” and can currently be seen on television in “The Black Hamptons,” “Wicked City” and “The Vince Staples Show.”
The annual awards ceremony by BronzeLens, now in its 15th year, celebrates the accomplishments of women of color who work in the entertainment industry in front of and behind the lens.
Bell Calloway joins previously announced honorees Anika Noni Rose (“Dreamgirls,” “The Quad”), KJ Smith (“Sistas,” “Power Book III: Raising Kanan”), and Holly Carter (producer of “Kingdom Business,” “The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel”).
GOLDEN: The band WAR is embarking on The World Is a Ghetto 50th Anniversary Tour, further expanding the rightful celebration behind the No. 1 Billboard top-selling album of 1973.
In addition to classic cuts such as “The Cisco Kid” and “The World Is a Ghetto,” WAR will also fill their sets with eternal hits like “Why Can’t We Be Friends,” “Low Rider” and more that have become ingrained in America’s collective conscious, impacting generations and genres for nearly six decades.
The LP’s songs have since been sampled, covered and referenced by Janet Jackson, Tupac, A$AP Mob, Geto Boys, Method Man, Rage Against The Machine, Sublime and more. The Muppets, De La Soul, Beastie Boys, Shaggy, George Clinton, The Isley Brothers and so many others have also honored WAR’s music over the years, with fans ranging from Dave Matthews to George Lopez and beyond.
Upcoming dates include a May 3 show at the L.A. County Fair and an Aug. 3 concert at Inglewood’s Fool In Love Festival. For more information, visit: war.com.
TICKET WATCH: Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds (“Whip Appeal,” “Every Time I Close My Eyes,” “When Can I See You Again”) is headed to Las Vegas’ Pearl Concert Theater at Palms Casino Resort for his first residency highlighting Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends.
Tickets go on sale Mar. 1 at ticketmaster.com.
Ziggy Marley has been added to the 2024 California Roots Music and Arts Festival’s already stacked lineup of Damian ‘Jr Gong’ Marley and Stephen Marley, E-40 and Too Short, Burning Spear, Lupe Fiasco, Ice Cube and more. Tickets for the event taking place May 24-26 at the Monterey County Fair and Event Center are on sale now at californiarootsfestival.com.
Ebony Repertory Theatre closes its 15th year with 2021 Pulitzer Prize Finalist Zora Howard’s “Stew,” a captivating and funny story about the relationship between mothers and daughters, at the Nate Holden Performing Arts Center March 7–24. Tickets are available at ebonyrep.org or by phone at 323-964-9766.
TASTY QUIP: “I see a lot of Black actors working so I would imagine things are moving along. It all depends on: to whose satisfaction? When you’re living in a world that’s been a European western value system for centuries and it dominates all of the literature, the arts, politics, wars and everything, it’s not something that you can just simply dismiss. Everything will have its moment or moments.” – BILLY DEE WILLIAMS to The Guardian
CLIPPETTES: March kicks off with some dope music on with house music group Tortured Soul and DJ/vocalist Collette at The Viper Room March 1. Also that night, Georgia Anne Muldrow is at The World Stage, Seth MacFarlane’s Big Band at Vibrato Grill, Mandy Patinkin at the La Mirada Theatre and the closing weekend of “The Wiz” at the Pantages …
The day also marks the release of the Ethiopian-born, British Columbia-based Zada’s anticipated debut album, “Water in the Desert.” With a sound drawing from Afrobeats, R&B and jazz, the singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist is sure to captivate at The Kennedy Center’s BGR!Fest this weekend. Listen for yourself at zadamusic.com …
March 2 brings Smokey Robinson at Pechanga Casino, Red Hot Chili Peppers at The Forum, Arlo Parks at The Wiltern, Judy Collins at the Luckman, and G. Love & Special Sauce at the Troubadour …
The great Dianne Reeves sings at Walt Disney Concert Hall on March 3 as Reggie Watts tapes a live comedy special at the Regent Theater, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony mark 30 years at The Novo, and the Yellow Jackets jam at Vibrato Grill …
Madonna: The Celebration Tour begins three nights at The Forum March 4 …
André 3000’s intimate New Blue Sun LIVE Tour finishes with five nights at Hollywood Forever’s Masonic Lodge beginning March 5; an evening shared by hip jazz fusion trumpeter Theo Croker at The Echo …
Tracee Ellis Ross (so good in “American Fiction”) hosts the March 6 Billboard Women in Music Awards honoring Karol G at the YouTube Theater with Victoria Monét, Ice Spice, Tems, Kylie Minogue, Maren Morris, Charli XCX, Pinkpantheress, Young Miko, and more …
Michele Norris (The Washington Post, NPR) speaks, and signs copies of her new book, “Our Hidden Conversations: What Americans Really Think About Race and Identity” (illustrated by Kadir Nelson) March 6 at The Ebell …
Special EFX All-Stars with Chieli Minucci and Lao Tize hold down Spaghettini’s on March 7.
TASTY QUIP: “If white people hated cultural appropriation, then they shouldn’t have created music. Because every form of music in America was stolen from Black people: rock’n’roll, jazz, blues, country, pop music. So if you have a problem with cultural appropriation — y’all created classical music, y’all could have stuck with that. Roll the piano into this concert.” – DULCE SLOAN (“The Daily Show”) to MSNBC
TC ON TV: March 1 – “Napoleon” (Apple TV+): Ridley Scott’s sweeping biopic starring Joaquin Phoenix makes its streaming debut. “Aníkúlápó: Rise of the Spectre” (Netflix): A six-part Nollywood epic starring Kunle Remi and Bimbo Ademoye. “Blood &Water” (Netflix): Award-winning South African director Nosipho Dumisa leads a talented cast of teens in a fourth season of this tense mystery-drama series. “Somebody Feed Phil” (Netflix): The Emmy-winning, foodie favorite following Phil Rosenthal around the world is back for season seven. Should you need a jump on point, try season two’s visit to Cape Town. “BMF” (Starz): More of the fact-based chronicle of Black Mafia Family with Demetrius “Lil Meech” Flenory Jr. playing his father and a cast including La La Anthony, Russell Hornsby, Serayah McNeill, Snoop Dogg, and veteran acting brothers Steve Harris and Wood Harris.
March 2 – “Single Black Female 2: Simone’s Revenge” (Lifetime): In this sequel to the No. 1 original non-holiday movie of 2022, Amber Riley, Raven Goodwin and K. Michelle reprise their roles. “OWN Spotlight” (OWN): Oprah & Angela Bassett
March 3 – “Alone In The Dark” (Lifetime): Novi Brown (“Sistas”) and Terrell Carter (“Empire”) star in a stalker drama. “Married To Medicine” (Bravo): “Reunion, Part 1” boasts a reunion of sorts between Phaedra Parks and her ex Apollo Nida. “The Regime” (HBO): The amazing Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, and Martha Plimpton are leads in this dramady from the producers of “Succession” taking place within the palace walls of an unraveling modern European regime. “Unsung” (TV1): “Bobby Caldwell” “Uncensored” (TV1): “Vivica A. Fox”
March 4 – “Queens” (NatGeo): Guided by Angela Bassett’s powerful narration, this four years in the making seven-part series was helmed by a groundbreaking female-led production team from around the world, utilizing cutting-edge technology to reveal surprising insights into how females in the natural world rise to power, often relying on cooperation and wisdom over brute strength to get ahead.
March 6 – “The Masked Singer” (Fox): The 11th season will kick off with what is billed as “an incredibly exciting performance by brand-new celebrity panelist and global superstar, Rita Ora.”
March 7 – “The Couch” (BET+): In “For What It’s Worth,” a once successful physician reluctantly returns to her hometown to reconnect with the foster care siblings she’s neglected for years.
“The Gentlemen” (Netflix): A Guy Ritchie spinoff series from his 2019 film about an English aristocrat (Theo James of “The White Lotus”) who inherits the family estate only to discover it’s sitting on top of a cannabis empire. With Giancarlo Esposito, Joely Richardson, Ray Winstone and Vinnie Jones. “Supa Girlz” (AllBlk): Follows a season in the life of one of the best high school dance teams in the country: the viral Miami Northwestern “G Girls” led by a boldly unapologetic and visionary director, Traci Young-Byron.
END QUOTE: “No one has ever invited me to be part of the ground floor. And this is not even the ground floor, it’s the basement! I like the idea of being part of something that will grow. As I get older, I say, ‘Wow, things will outlast me.’ This is one of the things I hope outlasts me — I could be the Black woman Walt Disney!” – WHOOPI GOLDBERG to Variety on becoming an equity investor in the just launched Blkfam — a Black owned, free family streaming service
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.
