On Saturday, Feb. 18, Temps d’Afrique (TDA), the only African dance team at Hopkins, placed third in the annual Unity African Dance competition sponsored by Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Established in 2005, Temps d’Afrique is dedicated to showcasing the diverse artistic styles within the continent of Africa as well as the African diaspora.
Valentine’s Day is a holiday that can cause wildly varying emotions. To some, it is a celebration of love. It is a sacred day filled with warm, sweet emotions that swell and bubble inside. To others, it is a terrible reminder of their inability to find the right partner. In going through the day, I was inspired to write out some choices of entertainment that can help on both ends of the spectrum.
Recently, Lady Gaga earned acclaim for her performance at the Super Bowl LI halftime show. In the days following, she announced a global tour to promote her most recent album Joanne and unexpectedly dropped a music video for her latest single “John Wayne.”
Anna Pitoniak, an editor at Random House, published her debut novel The Futures on Jan. 17. The book is a simultaneously romantic and decidedly realistic take on what happens post-graduation when you’re forced to step out into the real world.
“I’m sick of these Soundcloud rappers bruh. When is Migos playing?” said the guy next to me.
Following the election of the 45th US President, every irksome, privileged (Facebook) friend has slithered out of the woodwork to remind us that some of the best art emerges out of intolerance and persecution: “At least the art is gonna be so good, man.” This is one of many displays of shortsighted and reductive, even silly, everything-is-going-to-be-okay reasoning.
1. The Last Artful, Dodgr
I have never been a fan of Big Sean. While Lil Wayne would occasionally rap a couple lines or verses where the punchlines were corny or stale, those kinds of lines are a staple of Big Sean’s rhyme book. He has stumbled with lines like “I make like the universe and plan it (planet) out,” and “I’ll be there for you, I’m all ears, in other words, I’m here (hear) for you.” Whenever I see a Big Sean feature on a song, I expect an okay but forgettable verse.
Parquet Courts performed at the 2640 Space last Wednesday along with Philadelphia-based Ghostly International harpist Mary Lattimore. The show was one of the early performances on their short 2017 tour slate that also includes a show at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.
Following a year of solid R&B releases that brought the standard of the genre ever higher, London-based artist Sampha faced the challenge of creating something powerful and unique, a project worthy of Rihanna’s Anti or Solange’s A Seat at the Table that broke away to earn its own distinct acclaim. And he did just that with his debut studio album Process.
1. Research
Did I watch Super Bowl LI on Sunday? No. But did I watch Lady Gaga’s incredible halftime performance? You bet your biscuits I did.
2016 featured lots of great horror films that were mainly independent, but the wide release fare also made a great showing. Sequels like The Conjuring 2 and Ouija 2: Origin of Evil (and what a shocker when that film turned out to be good) helped buff a somewhat average wide-release horror showing.
Another semester has started and another (corporate) year for music has begun. In an appropriately Sisyphean fashion, I have been experiencing my yearly hankering to write a short list of the five releases I just can’t wait to download.
Food insecurity is a real threat for many families in Baltimore. But at the corner of Sisson Street and W. 28th Street just off I-83, sits a little-known warehouse of social action. It houses three great entities: Mill Valley General Store, a bulk-buyer’s paradise; Gather Baltimore, an organization providing affordable produce to residents; and The Baltimore Whiskey Company. We’re going to focus on the first two.
