INFEMNITY™ Arts and Culture News

Last Saturday evening, A&N Salon regular Liz Margolies, visual artist Julie Lindell, April and I attended a screening of Narcissister Organ Player at the Film Forum in Manhattan. I had not heard of Narcissister before seeing the film, but Julie had attended one of her live performances a few years ago and sang her praises. I must admit I was very impressed. Narcissister had received national fame after her appearance on America's Got Talent , and publicized rumors of a brief tryst with Marilyn Manson.  Narcissister with Marilyn Manson Her skills as an artist are multi-faceted - a trained professional dancer, she has a perfect body and uses it to display hand-sewn costumes which morph into multiple puppets via layering of the fabric. She also constructs stage sets representing the female body, upon which she climbs and displays her gymnastic abilities. Scene from Narcissister Organ Player The words "Organ Player" in the title refer to the representat...

Our dear friends Jacqueline and Christopher Hosford invited us to their home in Riverdale earlier this month for what they called “An Autumn Musicale.” Christopher is a true supporter/fan of mine, so I planned to offer a few selections. Jacqueline provided a fabulous spread of cheeses, nuts, fruit and veggies, and Swedish meatballs. Libations were poured by singer/musician/model Joel-Isaac Musoki. Christopher Hosford Christopher Hosford  has a day job as editor for The Hosford Group LLC, and is the author of "Great Business Meetings, Greater Business Results." A talented pianist in his own right, he is the proud owner of a beautiful Chickering grand piano. Carl Viggiani The program opened with Carl Viggiani , who is a pianist and composer. He studied piano and composition at North Carolina School of the Arts, New England Conservatory, and the Manhattan School of Music, where he earned performance degrees in classical music and jazz.   He has performed ...

Congratulations to pianist, composer, songstress, diva, Valerie Simpson (of the dynamic duo "Ashford and Simpson") who has been selected to receive the Fisk Jubilee Singers Alumni Heritage Award in a special event to take place October 6th in the Fisk University Memorial Chapel. Valerie Simpson, along with her late husband Nick Ashford, composed and performed some of America's most recognizable tunes, including "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)," "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "Solid As a Rock," "I'm Every Woman," among others. She will present a full concert as part of this fundraising event. Tickets can be purchased at the "FJSA Present The 2018 Heritage Award" Facebook group.

Anne Gamble In honor of my mother's birthday, please enjoy this review from The Nashville Banner dated March 3, 1958.

While searching through more boxes, I found these two articles. Both are reviews of my father's New York Recital debut in 1958. The first is from The New York Times , the second from the New York Herald Tribune.

Matthew Kennedy directing the Fisk Jubilee Singers of 1971-72 Again for posterity (since all of the articles appearing in this blog can be found online in perpetuity), here is the review of the Fisk Jubilee Singers' concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. as it appeared in Down Beat Magazine in 1972. It is listed in the Down Beat magazine archives . 

As you probably know, I am currently going through boxes and papers preparing for the publication of my first book of memoirs. Today I thought I would share with you this New York Times review of the Fisk Jubilee Singers' 1980 Carnegie Hall concert with my father as director and my mother as piano accompanist.

April and Nina's Salon was recently held in its new location at the 5C Café on the southeast corner of Avenue C and East 5th Street in Manhattan. Queen Nejma Nefertiti served as guest MC, and also presented several of her signature performances.

Since I can never rely on Wikipedia to publish the complete article, again I am posting it here, so y'all can get the WHOLE truth! Ella Sheppard  (4 February 1851 - 9 June 1914) was a soprano, pianist, composer, and arranger of  Negro Spirituals . She was the matriarch of the original  Fisk Jubilee Singers  of  Nashville, Tennessee . [1] [2] [3]  She also played the organ and the guitar. Sheppard was a friend and trusted confidante of African-American activists and orators Booker T. Washington and Frederick Douglass. [4] Ella Sheppard, singer, pianist, arranger of Negro Spirituals, and matriarch of the original Fisk Jubilee Singers Contents    [ hide ]  1 Early life and education 2 Career 3 Legacy 4 References Early life and education [ edit ] A direct descendant of  Andrew Jackson , Samuella "Ella" Sheppard was born on Jackson's plantation The Hermitage. [5] [6]  Sheppard's father Simon hired himself ...