in the Mix

First Fridays at Verve Lounge

It’s the Friday of a holiday weekend and unusually quiet on the streets of Boston. I wasn’t sure how the turnout would be at Upper Echelon’s First Fridays, but I was delightfully surprised. As you entered into the Rudi’s side you were greeted by sounds of jazz, Neo Soul and R&B from Educated Humor. Over in the Verve Lounge was an art exhibit designed for the ladies featuring several paintings by local artist, Kwest, including one called “Strong Back.”

It made me pause. It was the back of an African American woman that just seemed to pop off the canvas with the swirl of her braids and the sway in her back against the backdrop of gold and red. I thought his work was stunning; it made me wish I had such talent.

I’m glad I made it out to First Fridays, ‘cause I heard great music, talked and laughed, and met some new and cool people including cousins Alexandria Webb and Joanna Washington. When I asked them what they liked about Verve, Webb said that she liked coming there “… cause it’s in the community.” ‘Nuff said.

“Off and Running” screening at the Coolidge Corner Theatre

The Roxbury International Film Festival is two weeks away, but it kicked off with a sold out pre-festival screening at the Coolidge in Brookline. “Off and Running” is an American coming-of-age story about a Brooklyn teen, Avery Klein-Cloud, who struggles to find her identity while fighting to keep her dreams of running track in college. In the film, Avery grows up as an adopted child of white Jewish lesbian parents and at the same time, she has two adopted brothers, one Korean and the other bi-racial. When Avery becomes curious about her heritage, she contacts her birth mother, leading to more questions than answers concerning her identity.

The documentary is such a moving and evolving story that you forget that you’re watching a real person’s life on screen. It’s not art imitating life. It’s someone’s life. As a result of this search, Avery begins missing school and distancing herself from her parents at home. After her behavior threatens her dream of running college track, she begins her journey of self-discovery while fighting to hold on to her dream. It is such an amazing story. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room after the screening and the highlight of the evening was the Q&A with Avery and the film’s composer, Daniel Bernard Roumain.

Talking Taste: Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette at the Institute of Contemporary Art

I know I write about going out to eat all the time, but it’s really one of my favorite activities to do with friends. On this night, we headed out to the Institute of Contemporary Art, over by the waterfront, for the Talking Taste: Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette event. On the menu was gazpacho and oysters and the event was held on the outside deck of the ICA. It was like being part of a live audience for the Food Network, except there were no cameras or lights, but there was a young blond in the audience asking questions throughout the tasting. I think she really thought we were being taped.

Anyway, Oringer and Bissonnette were really engaging and you could tell that they’ve worked together for some time. They were delightfully humorous as they went through the steps of making gazpacho and talking about locally-sourced ingredients and the joys and challenges of cooking in New England. They made cooking fun and needless to say the gazpacho was delicious and flavorful. I even tried the oysters, which aren’t my favorite, but you can’t decline when offered by Oringer and Bissonnette. The tasting was exquisite and the evening was absolutely gorgeous with the breeze coming off the harbor as the sun began making its nightly descent. And, of course, since it was only a tasting, dinner at Nebo was next on the night’s agenda.

Alonzo Bodden stand-up comedy special at Skirball Center for the Performing Arts

So, I headed down to New York to see my friend Alonzo Bodden tape his stand-up special for Comedy Central. The taping was held at NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in Soho. You may remember Alonzo Bodden. He was the winner of the third Season of NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” and then returned as a judge on the show for the fourth season. I think he is one of the funniest comics working today. His stand-up touched upon politics, relationships and current events from Tiger Woods and the Tea Party to dating and being a Knicks fan living in LA. See for yourself how funny he is; his special comes out this fall.

Coming up:

One of my favorite ’90s groups, Bell Biv Devoe, better known as BBD, are together again at Showcase Live at Patriot Place this Saturday, July 17.

Enjoy a free evening of cool breezes and hot music at Elma Lewis Playhouse in the Park every Tuesday through August 10 featuring a lineup of jazz, soul, world music, dance and drums. The evening shows begin at 6 p.m. at the Playstead, near the back entrance of the Franklin Park Zoo.

Comedian Tommy Davidson will be performing at the Wilbur Theatre on Friday, July 23.

Ledisi is in town for one night at the Berklee Performance Center Saturday, July 24.

Nas and Damian “Junior Gong” Marley are at the House of Blues on Wednesday, July 28.

The Roxbury International Film Festival premieres Thursday, July 29 and runs through Sunday, August 1.

If you would like me to cover or write about your event, e-mail me at: inthemixwithcolette@gmail.com.

+ Add Comment

Jul 28 0:40am by Aninomous reader [71.162.76.116]

Re: Concerned reader,

I don't believe that it's about African Americans supporting only African American owned and operated venues. I've been living in Boston, Ma for over 46 years and have seen how it's becoming more and more multi-cultural. I developed my own meet-up specially to bring together people of color because there were no venues that even had blacks in them. The more and more our people make any venue multi-cultural by coming in numbers. It really won't matter who owns them but rather that we are socializing, networking with a multi-cultural groups that are bringing all races together not just one. Of course in would be nice if we owned have of these venues, but we are not there yet. No disrespect to the venues you mentioned earlier but I grew up in those same neighborhood on Bailey Street, near Ashmont Station and most of my memories were not good due to the high gang violence. I frequently would hear gun shots outside of my window and narrowly escaped a drug deal that went bad as I was returning for Carney Hospital with my then 5 year old son. If I had came in the house a minute later I would be dead now. My brother was also influenced by the gang and was a part of the Blue Hill Ave gang lords. My cousin died from crack cocaine. So again, no disrespect to these venues but we also should want to frequent venues where we'll feel safe.

Jul 20 18:32pm by colorblind [155.212.39.74]
I'm with Jason and Concerned Reader!

Jul 19 7:39am by Jason C [72.85.129.26]

Concerned reader - you're kidding I hope. What decade are you living in?? How about if the Globe only reports on white establishments = would that sound ok to you? No - you would call them a racist. Please. I live up the street from Rudi's and am grateful to have them in the neighborhood.

Jul 18 15:02pm by concerned reader [98.216.50.110]

I noticed that a lot of your reporting on night life is directed toward establishments that are owned by people who are not African American what about including African American owned venues in Boston. Verve is not owned by an African American. I suggest you report on happenings at the C&S, Caribbean Cultural Center, Prince Hall, William Reed Auditorium, or even the oldest African American owned entertainment venue Wally's Cafe. We have a number of African American owned and operated venues in the city who could benefit from your reporting. Your readers might get confused by your reporting and come to the conclusion that venues like Verve or Rudies who may have majority clientèle of people of color but may not know the business is not owned by people of color.