ANDREA CARTER from UPPITY NEGRO™ at BUSBOYS & POETS on Monday

Andrea Carter, the woman behind Uppity Negro will speak at Busboys and Poets this Monday, 25 September, from 6 until 8 pm. She will talk about what she has learned from her experiences doing Uppity Negro for 3 years, how unbelievable her life is, and will share her new resolve to embark on a formal campaign of confrontation with the demographic of the Black Baby-Boomer power-base, whom she sees as bullies that influence by hindering, intimidating, annihilating, and cold-shouldering all other generational demographics in the Black Community against the mobilization and execution of progressive action and thought.

Andrea Carter is very frank, fearless, and intimate. She wants to get a lot off her chest in saying what most Blacks are afraid to say and is too afraid to go up against in saying about Black people in a 2-hour speaking engagement with a Question and Answer session in exchange. She has learned more than she ever anticipated and will share the harsh realities of having to balance the struggle with quitting and not quitting for 3 years. She will share with the audience simple solutions that are doable that she conceived for Black Empowerment.

Initially when she created Uppity Negro, she thought the Black Community would appreciate Black Pride reinvigorated and “get it” in what Uppity Negro was and what a social experiment was. What she found out however was that people, each person that encountered, met, never met, or simply heard about Uppity Negro, never realized that all of his or her actions or inactions were noticed in the social experiment. Andrea will cover what she found out was that more than less she was not wanted by the Black Power Structure headed by Black Baby-Boomers and their cronies, younger people and offspring trying to emulate them and defend their stances to continue to play ineffective strategies.

She knows that her voice is rare and her vision is of value as she is a representative member of the obsolete and unimpressive demographic of stunted adults better known as the X Generation, who have been trained by different factions of Black sub-culture to revere, respect, and never refute the elders. She has had 3 years to formally identify this stigma that haunts the 2 younger generations in the Black Community to not effectively announce their voice (and worse, test to find their voice), as they grow tip-toeing into middle-age and waiting for the elders to usher them and approve of their angst. Worse she recognizes so many younger people have so many displaced emotions that they have no idea they should be angry. Because of these dysfunctions, she will share with the audience why she changed the main focus away from vocalizing between Whites and Blacks to an advocacy campaign to harass and expose Black Lethargy, which has been the most taxing and testing moral and social personal inquisition she continues to face.

She knows that she is misunderstand and so is Uppity Negro. Monday, she will share with the audience why that is and why it was purposeful in making a point in the social experiment, Uppity Negro, in gathering research and testing the general populace without a mainstream corporate media campaign that would tamper the outcomes rendered as a bandwagon corporatized, media gimmick instead of what it was created as and struggles to be in an authentic social movement.

Go to http://www.uppitynegro.com/ and click on FORUM to look over a compiled list of various topics she can and/or will run through in the allotted time. This will be the most extensive expose rendered for others to draw an unbiased picture outside of the website of all dimensions of the social experiment known as Uppity Negro, and the multiple layers of the Black Community and her commitment to authenticity.

Andrea Carter feels confident everyone, no matter race, will leave looking at the “Negro Problem” differently than when they arrived and so may she have a bounty on her head. Items will be available from the website. All races are invited to attend.

RSVP for entry at info@uppitynegro.com. Seating is limited. Busboys and Poets is located at 2021 14th Street, NW in Washington, DC. Time is from 6-8 pm.

For additional information, contact: andrea@uppitynegro.com. Uppity Negro™ is a social experiment created in Washington, DC in 2003.

22 September 2006 Friday's Photo of the Week

Dancing in the Streets

Madison Livelystones

2006 Arts on Foot


FRIDAY's PHOTO OF THE WEEK

DJ Harris @ The Center's 'End of the Summer' Tea Dance, 24 September 2006

Bid farewell to summer this Sunday, 24 September, with a tea dance beside the pool at the Washington Plaza Hotel at Thomas Circle from 3 - 8 pm. Providing the music will be DJ Rob Harris, voted DC's best DJ three years running by the Washington Blade.

Admission is $10 @ the door. The first 30 customers will receive a FREE copy of Rob Harris' cd "Soakin Wet". All proceeds go to support the programs of The Center, Home for GLBT in Metro DC.

Andy Warhol, a recorder of the times!

Thanks to a friend, Steve O'toole, who telephoned me last night I had the opportunity to view PBS' American Masters: Andy Warhol series. Aside from his personal history and struggles which I found absolutely fascinating what attracted me to Andy Warhol was that he regarded himself as 'a recorder of the times.' Which is the basis of my body of work.

PBS' American Masters: Andy Warhol is a must see.

Teo González & Iñigo Navarro Dávila @ Irvine Contemporary

Currently, at Irvine Contemporary are two concurrent solo exhibitions. Teo González: 226,085 Drops and Iñigo Navarro Dávila: A backward step (un paso atrás). Irvine Contemporary has also published a catalogue for Teo González: 226,085 Drops with essays by Jonathan Binstock and Martin Irvine. Both exhibitions will run from September 8 through October 7.

This photo was taken on Friday evening, 15 September 2006, as part of my ongoing 14th Street Exhibitionism - Voyeurism Project.

BlackBook Insider NYC Picks of the Week

Hope Gangloff Exhibition @ Susan Inglett Gallery

Drugs, sex, and rock and roll: always a winning recipe for artists. And it's no different for Hope Gangloff. With a collection of ballpoint pen on paper drawings rife with alcohol, debauchery, and your typical lusty eyed cool kids, you'll feel like you were flipping through your own photographic diary- not that she was spying on you or anything.

Through Wednesday, October 4 at 534 West 22nd Strett, 6th Floor, 212.647.9111.

Illustration by Hope Gangloff.

BlackBook Insider . 19 September 2006

Bill Homan and family at Logan Circle

I would meet Bill Homan in the summer or fall of 1979 at a party at Eason Simmons apartment on E Street in SE. Which was just around the corner from the Broker Restaurant on 8th Street across from the Marine Barracks. Long before I had met Bill my best friend, Frank Gramarossa, had spoken of him. As had Rae Ann, Inny and Eason. At the time I was living on Maryland Avenue in NE and was involved with the Herb Lehner Enterprises, a real estate development firm, based on Capitol Hill.

And as has been the case with each of Frank's friends who also worked with Bill at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, from the moment that we met, I'd become fascinated with Bill.

Bill Homan, Horst Klein and Steve Veletsis had worked, for many years, with the Hyatt Corporation. In late 1978 or early 1979 they opened the Broker Restaurant on what is now known as Barracks Row which is directly across the street from the Marine Barracks, on Capitol Hill. And as has been the case with any and every thing that Homan or Kline or Veletsis touches the Broker was a major success. To this day, and perhaps with the exception of The Townhouse Restaurant which opened in 1969 and closed in 1978, the Broker remains as the only establishment in the recent history of Barracks Row that would bring the kind of highend clientele to that area of Capitol Hill. Some of the most important and influentual people and celebrities in the world were frequent patrons at the Broker, a Swiss Cuisine Restaurant.

It was also, at the rear of The Broker, that Homan, Klein and Veletsis operated Creative Foods Catering. And as has been the case with any and all things that they touch, Creative Foods would change the face of the catering and event industries.

When Hyatt transfered his partner, Steve Hannan, to the Chicago O'Hara Airport, Frank would move to NYC in the late spring or early summer of 1980. Seldom did a day go by that we did not speak on the telephone. Frank and I were very close. By summer's end and just days after Labor Day 1980 I'd transfer my government job from WDC to NYC. Where Frank and I would share a studio at 321 West 21st Street in Chelsea until July 1981. Whic hwas when Steve would relocate to NYC and the three of us would rent a loft at 22 East 22nd Street in Gramercy Park.

Shortly after my September 1980 move to NYC the Saint would open. Which, not unlike Studio 54 before it, the Saint would forever change the world.

Most things that I would experience with Frank, over the years, seem to have 'changed the world'. Or, at least, "... my view of it."

My first trip to NYC with Frank was in the summer of 1978 when we drove up from WDC on a Friday night for a Saturday night party at Studio 54. My view of the world would never be the same in a similar way that my view of the world would also change in September 1980 when Frank and I first visited the Saint.

In October 1980, Frank and I would visit WDC, for a weekend, to cater a World Bank event at the National Gallery of Art, East Wing Building. It would be amongst Creative Food's first major events at the NGA and my first time, ever, for working in catering.

Catering in WDC would never be the same. Nor would I. The event was such a success that Creative Foods would immediately become the primary caterer at the NGA and the premiere caterer in WDC.

So, within the same month, not only would I witness and The Saint replacing Studio 54 but, also, Creative Foods replacing Ridgewells Catering. I say this because I had more than just a passing connection to each of these scenarios. Since one of my dearest friends that I had met in 1975 was Vince Becht who for many years had been the top salesman at Ridgewells.

It was that weekend, in October of 1980, that would spark my interest in catering. When returning to WDC in February 1982 and while working full-time with the feds I'd work part-time with Creative Foods, until March 1984 when I'd transfer my government job back to NYC.

When I'd return to WDC in November 1984 Creative Foods had changed its name to Design Cuisine and had relocated its operation to Shirlington VA. Which I would work with until 1992.

And like so many things and people that Frank introduced me to or that Frank and I experienced together, not only does Bill Homan remain as one of my favorite people but my respect for him is rooted in his ability to 'create change!'. Or, at least, change my view of the world.

And, as Martha Stewart may would say, "That's a good thing!".

When out taking pictures on Sunday evening, 17 September 2006, I'd happen upon Bill Homan and his daughter, Nicole, who I remember when she was just a little girl. Now all grown up, Nicole is married to David and they have two beautiful children.

Whenever I see Bill I can not help but remember Frank. And Genevera Higginson who as the former Director of Events at the National Gallery of Art I have always had the utmost respect for.

The kind of respect that I have for Bill Homan. Or for anyone on that level of genius.

09.22.06 Ultra NY Festival AFTER PARTY @ Crobar

09.22.06 Ultra NY Festival @ Central Park

Palenke Music Co to perform at 2006 National Hispanic Heritage Month Observance TODAY

In observance of the 2006 National Hispanic Heritage Month I'd like to bring your attention to the Palenke Music Company who I'd happen upon during Saturday's Arts on Foot Festival in downtown WDC. Led by vocalist Jaime Salazar and in celebration of the various heritages of each of the individual band members the Latin Jazz band plays different types of music, including Afro-Peruvian, Cumbia, Festejo, Son Montuno, Cha Cha, Merengue, and Guaracha.

From 10 until 11 am today which is Tuesday, 19 September 2006, Palenke Music Company will be performing at the Atrium Hall of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center-1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. when the Federal Triangle Partnership, consisting of the U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and U.S. Agency for International Development, hosts its annual program celebrating the 2006 National Hispanic Heritage Month.

The keynote speaker will be John Quinonez, co-anchor of Primetime Live and most recently a correspondent for Primetime Thursday and 20/20. The emcee will be Cindy Pena, a general assignment reporter for WUSA 9.

Congress Considering Strip Searching Students

Imagine an America in which school officials could strip search every student in their school based on the unsubstantiated tip that one of them might have a joint. Congress is voting on a bill Tuesday or Wednesday that could make these police state tactics more common.

Stop Congress in its tracks! Call your representative RIGHT NOW and tell them to vote against this dangerous bill.

701's Chef Trent Contry demonstrates the Art of Cooking at Arts on Foot

Since October 1980 when my roommate and best friend, Frank Gramarossa, and I travelled back to WDC from NYC to assist Creative Foods, now Design Cuisine, in the catering of a World Bank event at the National Gallery of Art, other than photography, cartering has been my greatest passion. So when during the Arts On Foot Festival that I'd observe Chef Trent Conry, from 701 Restaurant, in the process of a cooking demonstration my first reaction or, perhaps, inclination, was to ... assist him.

As it is always, in the fall of the year, and just after Labor Day that catering, in WDC, shifts into full swing.

Instead, I'd settle with photographing him.

MPDC CCTV Dupont Circle North

In August 2006, the Metropolitan Police Department began deploying Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras that are designed to help combat crime in District of Columbia neighborhoods.

When this picture was taken on Saturday aftrernoon, 16 September 2006, just before crossing Connecticut Avenue at Dupont Circle North I still had not gotten over what had occurred at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library earlier in the afternoon when I was documenting the Arts On Foot Festival, involving a white lady, a white man, and black policeman. Which was not unlike my my experiences the Saturday before at the Rosslyn Jazz Festival or on Labor Day Monday in Georgetown. Or when documenting Gay Pride or anti-war protests in NYC, WDC or Baltimore.

Or when visiting Fort Lauderdale, Miami, San Francisco, Chicago or South Boston VA.

I've been photographing Dupont Circle since 1992 and have visited the area since 1974. And, as a black man, I am less welcomed now, in Dupont Circle, than I was then. And, in sharp contrast to my white counterpart, I have less freedoms now than I had then. In fact, the places that I would frequent or have lived, in years past, not only am I not welcomed but, in most cases, I'm no longer allowed.

As a 52 year old black man, this sign, like the recent notices that some now find in their luggage when traveling by plane, "... ain't news to me ...!"

Ivanny Pagan @ Axis Hair Salon

In a similar way that, since 1992, I have captured window displays at Riziks it has been since September 1993 which was when I'd move to Scott Circle and as a result would begin my ongoing Dupont Circle Project in the process would also begin focusing on the window displays at Axis Hair Salon.

In collaboration with Project 4 Gallery, currently on display in the two windows of Axis are two paintings by Ivanny Pagan. For more information regarding Ivanny Pagan visit the internet.