I still haven’t seen Chris Rock’s “Good Hair,” but I’ve certainly blogged about it. Even the very words “good hair” inject divisiveness to the African-American community that dates back to slavery. To me, using those words came with high expectations. Maybe Chris Rock would finally set the records straight for black people, especially black women, as well as all of the world’s ethnicities out there that are forever curious about nappy hair. Besides, Chris Rock had his “boy” helping him out, none other than Nelson George.
While I laughed along during Chris Rock’s appearance on Oprah, I haven’t heard anyone with natural hair speak highly of the movie. I was reminded just now while reading the blog Shineharder (great tattoo blog for people of color or people who love tattoos) who posted basically the same sentiment. Check out the post “Good Hair” for more.
In the meantime, “Good Hair” will remain on my Netflix list, but I won’t be racing to bump it to the top of my list anytime soon. After all, I live my natural hair story every single day. Maybe I need to make my own “good hair” documentary from a black woman’s perspective infused with our history in the States. You never know…
I’ve been posting about the Chris Rock documentary “Good Hair” since I read about it at Sundance back in January of this year. In the past few months the film has been gaining more and more media attention as it opens in theaters. On October 9, 2009 “Good Hair” went out in theaters on a limited release (LA, NY, Chicago, Atlanta, and DC only) but today, October 23, 2009 it opens in more theaters across the country.
There’s a new Facebook application that has launched in celebration of the release of “Good Hair” that allows you to play with different hairstyles using an uploaded image of yourself. I’ve just added the application to my own Facebook page and it’s a lot of fun! To install it, go to http://apps.facebook.com/goodhair/.
Enjoy!
P.S. If you’re local to the Columbus, OH area, Columbus Black has planned an outing tonight at the Arena Grand Theater for interested people to see “Good Hair” at a discounted price. Go to their Facebook Event Page for more details.
Movie Trailer and Summary
When Chris Rocks daughter, Lola, came up to him crying and asked, Daddy, how come I dont have good hair? the bewildered comic committed himself to search the ends of the earth and the depths of black culture to find out who had put that question into his little girl’s head! Director Jeff Stilsons camera followed the funnyman, and the result is Good Hair, a wonderfully insightful and entertaining, yet remarkably serious, documentary about African American hair culture. An exposé of comic proportions that only Chris Rock could pull off, Good Hair visits hair salons and styling battles, scientific laboratories, and Indian temples to explore the way black hairstyles impact the activities, pocketbooks, sexual relationships, and self-esteem of black people. Celebrities such as Ice-T, Kerry Washington, Nia Long, Paul Mooney, Raven Symoné, Maya Angelou, and Reverend Al Sharpton all candidly offer their stories and observations to Rock while he struggles with the task of figuring out how to respond to his daughters question. What he discovers is that black hair is a big business that doesnt always benefit the black community and little Lolas question might well be bigger than his ability to convince her that the stuff on top of her head is nowhere near as important as what is inside.
Orson Wells’ rich, brilliant & ultimately doomed character Charles Foster Kane died, alone and unloved, in his California mansion. At the time of his passing he was a deformed, corrupt and far removed from the genius displayed in creating his mass media empire. In the aftermath of Michael Jackson’s I couldn’t help but think of ‘Kane..’ Michael’s Zanadu had been stripped from him a few years back, leaving him wandering from rental to rental home, such as the one he died in in Los Angeles yesterday.
Michael was prepping to try to recapture his once elevated status with 50 sold out shows at London’s massive O2 arena. But that was not to be. In fact I believe that the stress of preparing for that show, after his long performing layoff, played a role in his demise. With the music, videos and event tour that supported ‘Thriller’ Michael re-invented the art of the blockbuster album, creating an international stardom that endures. And, sadly, for the last twenty five years of his life Michael was in a losing battle with himself, trying to match that magical year even as the culture changed, the record industry imploded, and his personal demons ruined his reputation.
At several points in his life Michael revolutionized pop culture. He lead the first black teen group to cross racial lines. With Quincy Jones, he produced a trio of albums (Off the Wall, Thriller, Bad) that reinvented the rules for black artists musically and in terms of international appeal. The videos, grandiose, elaborate and full of wonderful dancing are still the gold standard for the merging of music & image. Along with Eddie Murphy, Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey, and so many other media legends, Michael made the ’80s a golden age for black pop culture.
I, like so many of you, grew up with Michael Jackson. With my mother, sister and family friends I attended the Jackson Five’s first Madison Square Garden show. Over the years I attended eight Jacksons/Michael Jackson shows and spend countless hours over the last forty years thinking about and, often writing about that man. In fact a book I did about him, The Michael Jackson Story, in 1984 jump started my career. It was first book and first exposure to the media machine that both celebrated, reported about and, ultimately, ripped him apart.
It’s hilarious how one sided much of the immediate commentary about the man has been. Sinner or saint? More apt is artist and sinner. People want to simplify a truly complex life. We have to be sophisticated enough to acknowledge that greatness and a touch of evil dwelled in the man. I’ve always believed that transcendent art emanates from the purest, most evolved parts of our soul. But that highly spiritual achievement doesn’t absolve us of our daily misdeeds. To simply brand him a smooth criminal, as some have, or to overlook his tragic nature, as have others, is to deny his humanity. The meaning of Michael Jackson’s life — as a black man, a sexual being, a abused and abusing adult — will be interpreted to fit the prejudices of the speaker. His music — it speaks volumes.
I was excited to have the opportunity to preview Nelson George‘s latest book “City Kid” a memoir. I’ve recently began following his career more closely after learning about his involvement with Chris Rock‘s documentary “Good Hair” that won an award at Sundance. In this post, I’ve written a review of “City Kid” and am also including an interview between Nelson George and I in podcast format for you. Reading about and speaking to other writers is always a unique experience. It’s almost like turning the camera on the camera man. Nelson gave me a great interview but not without a few surprises and push back to keep me on my toes. “City Kid” is worth adding to your reading list. This post along with my others regarding this book should give you a introduction to Nelson George and what to expect as you read his memoir. I would love to hear from any of you who have picked up the book as well as any of you who have read or watched any of Nelson’s other works.
City Kid- A Review
In “City Kid,” Nelson writes of his life where “family and art intersect” as he describes in the Introduction. Ever present throughout is the influence of music on his life from the early days listening to his mother’s Motorola hi-fi to his writing career. Quick to refer to his family unit through often, and perhaps over, cited statistics on Black American families and broken homes, Nelson was no exception. He grew up in the Tilden projects in Brownsville neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. His mother Arizona (nicknamed “Doll”) worked hard to make ends meet and his father, Nelson Elmer George was largely absent through Nelson’s life after being lured into the counterculture looming in New York City at the time. Nelson had one sibling, his sister Andrea who was a rebellious soul which extended to their relationship as brother and sister. It took Andrea cheating death when contracting and living with HIV to ultimately lead to a reconciliation amongst the siblings. The reconciliation occurred as a moment of truth as Andrea began to talk about her life with HIV. Nelson wrote and directed a screenplay based on Andrea’s life the was released through HBO Films entitled “Life Support.”
On the surface, I’d say “City Kid” is a “man book,” but there were elements that I was fond of and could identify with as a writer and music lover. Ladies, you can skim the parts about Nelson’s love for comic books, sports, and tales of man adolescence; however, there are still threads integral to his memoir that you’ll enjoy. For example, Nelson’s affection for his mother and longing for male role models are endearing and bring you closer to the man behind the mirror.
For aspiring and established writers, you’ll enjoy and likely identify with Nelson’s lifeblood as a writer. An avid reader from the time of his youth, Nelson shares that he was particularly fond of Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Actually, one of the highlights of this memoir is the fantastic library of must read books interwoven throughout. I have generated quite a list in my notebook that maybe I’ll publish at a later time.
Perhaps the most poignant part of this book is the education you get from reading about the evolution of popular black music as it parallels then intersects with Nelson’s life. Oh, to be a fly on the wall in Brooklyn during the rise of hip hop and a bit of a “Harlem Renaissance” that occurred during Nelson’s twenties as the Ft. Greene neighborhood became a mecca for artists like now famous Spike Lee and Chris Rock.
My only criticism of “City Kid” is related to the style. What makes a book a great read for me is being able to get that contact high from just holding the book in your hands, inhaling every word. I had a hard time doing that completely with “City Kid.” I attribute it to Nelson’s largely journalistic style narrative of his own life that left me perched at a safe distance from Nelson’s authentic self. Personally, it’s most exciting to finish a memoir feeling that I really got to connect to the person in a way that would not have happened otherwise. I feel like I could recite Nelson’s life, but I don’t know his life.
If you’re interested in picking up a copy of “City Kid” I would suggest you check out the links I provided for you below the interview.
Interview with Nelson George about “City Kid”
Here’s the interview I conducted with Nelson George on April 9, 2009, a week after the release of “City Kid.” This is my first whirl at editing and posting a podcast, so bear with me and certainly let me know if you have any suggestions, feedback, or are experiencing technical difficulties. For you corporate types, this is my “development opportunity.”
*NOTE* actual interview ends at 19:56 (gotta work out why the dead air on the end, sorry).
Here are a few additional resources that are either mentioned during the interview or would be useful to you.
I just finished reading City Kid by Nelson George and am so excited to bring you more posts on both with my soon to be posted review and even more exciting upcoming interview with Nelson George. So just to wet your appetite, I’m including a few more links and videos and such as well as channels to purchase City Kid online.
The below video is a must preview before reading Nelson George‘s City Kid. I’m looking at it after, but I like to read in a vacuum, unadulterated so I can look at the work with essentially a virgin’s eyes. Maybe it’s a silly practice that I’ll eventually abandon, but it’s kind of my learning/absorbing/analytical ritual.
A mini-doc of Nelson George’s upcoming book release: “City Kid: A Writer’s Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Succes” (April 2009, Viking).
From Crown Heights to Brownsville to Fort Greene, CITY KID: A Writer’s Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Success (Viking; On-sale: April 2, 2009) is a candid, colorful memoir about a nerd from the Brooklyn projects who made it big. At first glance, the Georges were “a living, breathing statistic from the infamous Moynihan report on dysfunctional black families.” A single mom with two toddlers, abandoned by the father and jammed into a crime and poverty-ridden housing project in Brooklyn—things looked dim. Yet out of these circumstance came Nelson George—a boy who would grow up to be an award-winning author, filmmaker and critic.
This family story inspired Life Support, George’s Golden Globe-winning HBO film starring Queen Latifahabout his sister’s battle against addiction and HIV.
CITY KID is not just the story of a boy overcoming adversity. It is also a love letter to New York in its least lovable days—when heroin returned, then crack outsold heroin; when spiraling crime and collapsing employment set the tone; when bussing, riots and strikes dimmed hope for racial integration; when Shaft became every ghetto kid’s role model. It’s in this improbable environment that Nelson George finds his way to becoming a successful journalist and filmmaker. He is there at the beginning of black popular culture and hip hop—writing about, investing in, and clubbing with its most influential characters—Russell Simmons, Spike Lee, Chris Rock. Through these experiences, we see how he came to be the expert on music and pop culture that he is today.
Although his is a story of triumph over hardship, George does not allow it to fall into clichéd sappiness or self-pity. Seeking transcendence through his love of New York City, George creates an insightful portrait of the emergence of black artists in the ’80s and ’90s and illuminates how the pain of life can be turned into something beautiful.
Here’s an excerpt from the book “Part of pilot episode of tv series OPEN BOOK which will air next year on Link TV” (linktv.org)
“A wry, sharp, unpretentious cultural analysis…this memoir is a lively look back at historical changes in popular music, film and writing.”
—Booklist
“In his vivid and charming memoir, novelist and screenwriter George recounts incidents from an eventful life. [He] captures the anxieties of an intelligent child in a dangerous neighborhood, [creates] a welcome and appropriately nerve-wracking portrait of a young New York writer [and] provides tempting glimpses of the vibrant New York of the recent past.”
—Publishers Weekly
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
NELSON GEORGE is the author of six novels and nine nonfiction books on African-American culture. He has received two ASCAP-Deems Taylor awards and a Grammy Award and has been nominated twice for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Queen Latifah won a Golden Globe for playing the lead in the HBO movie Life Support, which George wrote and directed, based on his sister’s life. He is an executive producer on two returning cable shows: the third season of BET’s American Gangster and the fifth airing of VH1′s Hip Hop Honors. George is also serving in an executive producer capacity on the Chris Rock hosted feature documentary Good Hair, a look at hair weaves, relaxers and the international black hair economy, which just won a Sundance Award. He’s also host of Soul Cities, a travel show that debuted in November on VH1 Soul.
George has written for Playboy, Billboard, Esquire, Spin, Essence and The Village Voice. He’s also the author of the award winning black music histories: Where Did Our Love Go: The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound; The Death of Rhythm & Blues; and Hip Hop America. He won a Grammy for his contribution to the liner notes package on the James Brown “Star Time” boxed set. George co-wrote Life and Def, the autobiography of his old friend Russell Simmons. He’s also had a career writing fiction, including the bestselling One Woman Short, and the story, “It’s Never Too Late in New York”.
As a screenwriter George co-wrote Strictly Business, which starred Halle Berry, and CB4, a vehicle for Chris Rock. His work with Rock led to his involvement with “The Chris Rock Show”, an Emmyaward winning HBO late night series. He was an executive producer of Jim McKay‘s film, Everyday People, which premiered at the Sundance festival, and Todd Williams’ Peabody award winning documentary The N Word. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Here’s a list of book signings for Nelson George‘s City Kid. I received it in an email from the Nelson George: City Kid facebook group so please join if you want to continue to be connected to the latest happenings. I’m about a 3rd of the way through the book and am loving it. I’d be finished by now if I could dedicate more sitting still time.
more info on Nelson George‘s upcoming book signings for City Kid:
Monday, April 6th, 2009
Hue-Man Bookstore 2319 Frederick Douglass Blvd btwn 125th & 124th NYC 6pm-8pm
Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
Barnes & Noble Brooklyn Heights 106 Court St btwn State & Schermerhorn BKNY 7pm-9pm
Wednesday, April 15th, 2009
Marcus Bookstore 9300 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd btwn Brockhurst & 32nd St. Oakland, CA 630pm-830pm
Thursday, April 16th, 2009
Book Soup 8818 Sunset Blvd. btwn Larrabee & Holloway West Hollywood, CA 7pm-9pm
The Root Down @ Little Temple 4519 Santa Monica & Virgil Silver Lake, Los Angeles, CA 9pm –
Friday, April 17th, 2009
Eso Won Books 4331 Degnan Blvd. btwn 43rd St. & 43rd Pl. Los Angeles, CA 7pm-9pm
May 13th, 2009 – Brooklyn Historical Society
note: for instore appearances most stores require books be purchased onsite.
One of the topics I write about regularly on this blog is black women and their hair, from the prospective of a proponent of natural hair being styled and worn in celebration of its rich range of textures.
Unfortunately, we in the US live with images that long and straight or somewhat wavy hair is status quo. For black women, the issue of hair length is something that makes the biblical tale of Samson and Delilah as relevant today as it was thousands of years ago.
Chris Rock has taken on this subject with his documentary entitled “Good Hair” that recently won a Special Jury Prize in the US Documentary Feature Films category at Sundance 2009.
Film description as written on official webpage for Sundance Film Festival…
When Chris Rock’s daughter, Lola, came up to him crying and asked, “Daddy, how come I don’t have good hair?” the bewildered comic committed himself to search the ends of the earth and the depths of black culture to find out who had put that question into his little girl’s head! Director Jeff Stilson’s camera followed the funnyman, and the result is Good Hair, a wonderfully insightful and entertaining, yet remarkably serious, documentary about African American hair culture. An exposé of comic proportions that only Chris Rock could pull off, Good Hair visits hair salons and styling battles, scientific laboratories, and Indian temples to explore the way black hairstyles impact the activities, pocketbooks, sexual relationships, and self-esteem of black people. Celebrities such as Ice-T, Kerry Washington, Nia Long, Paul Mooney, Raven Symoné, Maya Angelou, and Reverend Al Sharpton all candidly offer their stories and observations to Rock while he struggles with the task of figuring out how to respond to his daughter’s question. What he discovers is that black hair is a big business that doesn’t always benefit the black community and little Lola’s question might well be bigger than his ability to convince her that the stuff on top of her head is nowhere near as important as what is inside.
click HERE to visit Chris Rock’s documentary page on Sundance.org
Excerpt from CBS News…
While loaded with the 43-year-old actor-comedian’s wisecracking humor, “Good Hair” also raises serious questions about identity and equality among black women who feel they need long, straight, silky hair to fit into white society.
“It’s this whole thing about approval. That approval is not simply, `I want white people to love me.’ It’s like, `I need a job. I want to move forward, and if I have a hairstyle that is somewhat intimidating, that’s going to stop me from moving forward,”‘ said Nelson George, executive producer of “Good Hair.”
“A hair documentary, especially for a guy, is a hard sell — no, it’s a weird sell,” says the 43-year-old comedian, who both produced and wrote “Good Hair.” The low-budget documentary traces the growth of the $9 billion industry rooted in the maintenance of African-American hair and its place in ethnic community and culture…
…But for two years Mr. Rock pursued the project with the team behind his critically acclaimed HBO series “The Chris Rock Show.” (HBO owns “Good Hair,” but is open to selling the theatrical rights.) Inspired by what he calls his young daughter’s “hair envy,” or uneasiness with her naturally curly hair, Mr. Rock set out to investigate the nexus of power and politics related to how African-Americans style their hair.
The above Wall Street Journal article contains an excellent interview with Chris Rock on this subject, so I encourage you to read the full article entitled “A Comic’s ‘Good Hair’ Day”
Excerpt from the Black Film Academy…
“It’s really deep and funny… I did a Michael Moore expose on hair,” he tells WENN…Rock and Stilson, (a producer and writer on “The Chris Rock Show”) also traveled to Birmingham, Memphis, and Dallas, to interview and tape some hairdressers as they prepped for the annual Bonner Brothers Hair Show in Atlanta…
I’ll definitely keep my eye out for this documentary. Kudos to Chris Rock for finally deciding to put this project in motion. It’s a subject that seems to never get old, but definitely sits in different spaces depending on the era.
50% of your donation (less Pay Pal fees) will go to Emerge Global charity (http://emergeglobal.org/). The other 50% funds the sweat equity I put into my work for your enjoyment. My hope is that one day I will be able to donate 100% to charity.
I still haven’t seen Chris Rock’s “Good Hair,” but I’ve certainly blogged about it. Even the very words “good hair” inject divisiveness to the African-American community that dates back to slavery. To me, using those words came with high expectations. Maybe Chris Rock would finally set the records straight for black people, especially black women, as well as all of the world’s ethnicities out there that are forever curious about nappy hair. Besides, Chris Rock had his “boy” helping him out, none other than Nelson George.
I was excited to have the opportunity to preview Nelson George‘s latest book “City Kid” a memoir. I’ve recently began following his career more closely after learning about his involvement with Chris Rock‘s documentary “Good Hair” that won an award at Sundance. In this post, I’ve written a review of “City Kid” and am also including an interview between Nelson George and I in podcast format for you. Reading about and speaking to other writers is always a unique experience. It’s almost like turning the camera on the camera man. Nelson gave me a great interview but not without a few surprises and push back to keep me on my toes. “City Kid” is worth adding to your reading list. This post along with my others regarding this book should give you a introduction to Nelson George and what to expect as you read his memoir. I would love to hear from any of you who have picked up the book as well as any of you who have read or watched any of Nelson’s other works.
From Crown Heights to Brownsville to Fort Greene, CITY KID: A Writer’s Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Success (Viking; On-sale: April 2, 2009) is a candid, colorful memoir about a nerd from the Brooklyn projects who made it big. At first glance, the Georges were “a living, breathing statistic from the infamous Moynihan report on dysfunctional black families.” A single mom with two toddlers, abandoned by the father and jammed into a crime and poverty-ridden housing project in Brooklyn—things looked dim. Yet out of these circumstance came Nelson George—a boy who would grow up to be an award-winning author, filmmaker and critic.
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