Tribute To The One And Only Ms. Whitney Houston
We will remember Whitney’s voice and her gift. She was one of the best, period. There will never be another.
Whitney Houston’s posthumous turn: As star of Sparkle
The death of Whitney Houston at the age of 48 is a deep loss for the music world. But it also has reverberations in another artistic realm–the movies.
Funky Turns Forty: Black Character Revolution Exhibition Opening Night
Opening Night 70′s Party – January 27, 2012
I went back to ToonSeum for the opening night 70′s themed party over the weekend. The opening event was held in conjunction with the area gallery crawl in downtown Pittsburgh, so both the art and cartoon lovers came out.
Juanita Brown aka Black Starlet
Chris Munger directed this 1974 blaxploitation version of the popular skinflick Starlet!…1969. The story concerns Clara, Juanita Brown, an aspiring actress from the housing projects of Gary, Indiana, who goes to Hollywood in search of fame and fortune.
Jimmy Castor Gone But Not Forgotten!
Funk saxophonist Jimmy Castor, who recorded a string of R&B hits in the 1970s with his group, the Jimmy Castor Bunch, died on Monday January 16, 2012 in Las Vegas at the age of 71 from possible heart failure.
Real Deal Comix
You want some raw adult comix shit! Then this is da shit. It’s so raw I’m speechless. These motherfuckers, in the comix book, are straight out of the 1970’s and they forgot to grow up.
From The Curator’s collection The Museum of UnCut Funk presents The Real Deal Comix…issues 1,3,4,5,6. Issues 2 is sold out and damn near impossible to find.
Blacks, The Military and Comics Books Circa Civil War, 1950′s, 60′s and 70′s
In a time of debt ceiling debates, federal budget cuts and the possible reduction in US military spending, I thought it would be befitting to highlight some of the koolest military / war related comic books I could find, many of which are archived in the collection of The Museum of UnCut Funk. As I continue to research military comics and their portrayal of Blacks and other minorities, The Museum of Uncut Funk has created an online exhibition of the comic books presented in this blog.
Roger Corman’s Cult Classics
The history of the cinema is dotted with “a-star-is-born” films: James Cagney in “Public Enemy,” Boris Karloff in “Frankenstein,” Sylvester Stallone in “Rocky,” Robert De Niro in “Mean Streets.” But for Pam Grier, her star-making film is less auspicious.
Tony Isabella
Tony Isabella has been a comics fan since childhood. In 1972, that passion drew him to Marvel Comics where he began his career as an assistant to Roy Thomas. In his 36-year career, Isabella has been an editor for both Marvel and DC. He was a pioneer in the comic book retail business as a specialty store owner and distributor.
Fred “The Hammer” Williamson
One of the most charismatic action stars, Fred is known for coming at you hard in-your-face action. True to his image, you can find him presently doing exactly that in Down ‘N Dirty, his second in a series of films in which he stars as street-wise Dakota ‘Dak’ Smith (first starred as “Dak’ in Night Vision – which he received the Dallas Forth-Worth Film Critics Assoc. Award).
Artist Spotlight – Fábio Biondo
Fabio Biondo is a Brazilian cat I friended on Facebook about a year or so ago. He had expressed his passion for animation and really dug what the Museum of UnCut Funk was doing with it’s collection. After some communication Fabio presented his art to the museum and I thought it would really be kool to highlight his work on our site.
Red Tails aka The Tuskegee Airmen by George Lucas
It was a long time ago – 1994, to be precise – when George Lucas produced his last film that was not connected to his “Indiana Jones” or “Star Wars” fantasy franchises. Now his long-in-the-works film about the fighting men of a very different war finally has a release date: on Friday, Lucas film said that “Red Tails,” a film about the Tuskegee Airmen, the all-Black pilot group that fought in World War II, would be released on January 20, 2012.
Celebrating MLK Day Our Way
Our Friend, Martin is a 1999 animated children’s educational film about Martin Luther King, Jr. and the American civil rights movement.
Which Private Dick Did You Like The Best???
The 1970s gave birth to two of the most enduring and endearing mystery characters of all time. It was also the decade when many policemen said that the best and most realistic depiction of what it was really like in their world was being done on a weekly sitcom.
Funky Turns Forty: Black Character Revolution Animation Exhibition
Black Character Revolution
A Retrospective Of 1970′s Saturday Morning Animation Art Featuring Black Characters
Florence Ballard Biopic. Maybe!
It has been a while since we last checked in on the maybe/maybe not biopic about the life of fallen Supreme Florence Ballard, but film blog Shadow and Act spotted something curious on the flick’s IMDB profile.
