A Guide to African-American Culture

October 14-20, 1991 (212) 627-5241 Vol. I No. 21 $1.00

LISTINGS INSIDE: ART • CABARETS • CONCERTS • DANCE RESTAURANTS • FREE-FOR-ALL • THEATER

WOMAN OF THE YEAR IN CONSUMER ADVOCACY

omebody's got to look out for the people at the bottom, a fact, few S would argue with. After all, most of us find ourselves down and out at one time or another and need someone to turn to. Fortunately, Harlemites have Mrs. Florence Rice, Founder and President of the Consumer Education Council, an organization dedicated to providing information on Product Safety and Consumer Rights. Thirty years into this quest has earned Mrs. Rice praises from the Harlem community, as well as citations from notables, such as the Urban League and a Letter of Recognition from President Herbert W. Bush. On October 21, 1991, Mrs. Rice Mrs. Florence Rice will be honored for her work in the Harlem Photo by Ted Whiting community by the American Association of Retired Persons at the International Press Club in Washington, DC. Mrs. Rice’s most cherished Awards have come, however, from the numerous people in whose lives she has made a difference: hugs and kisses for her for having their electricity restored, obtaining family insurance, establishing credit, having an Eviction forestalled, or for making available a place to sleep in her house! In helping one client, who needed to have their telephone repaired, this short, small and feisty 72 year old explains how she went straight to the president of the New worker messed up this woman's phone and I want it repaired!’ ” Sitting on a bench at the Martin Luther King Towers Community Center, 115th Street and Fifth Ave, as a council seminar is about to end, she continues talking about the people she serves. “All kinds of people benefit from my services, like that white businessman from Georgia. I kept his business going. I helped him solve his problems with Con Edison. It's about people. That’s what makes America beautiful, it’s mosaic of people. So, if anyone calls me, they got my services.” The Council, a non-profit organization, receives no government funds. "Then they can't tell us what to do," says Mrs. Rice, who has her own style of attacking problems. However, proceeds from annual fund raisers fails to cover expenses. A few have helped, such as Percy Sutton who contributes regularly, and Orphelia DeVore, founder of the DeVore School of Charm. What greatly disturbs Mrs. Rice is the lack of support coming from community and national organizations and community leaders. And, Mrs. Rice, says, “The non-sharing of information by African-Americans. We got all these isms that divide us into so many groups. It’s as if we are trying to isolate ourselves from each other. But we've got to share information and learn to talk to each other. If we don’t, we’re going to be in trouble.” But despite everything else, she goes on with her work—selflessly. Why? "Because I love it,” she explains with a smile, adding "I've always been this way. Nothing has changed this quality. Not being reared in five foster homes; not being sexually molested at 9 years old; not being homeless; not the deceitful social worker who duped me into placing my baby daughter in foster care.” It took three years for her to get her daughter back. “Not even the International Ladies Garment Workers Union,” she says, “who, in 1960, blackballed me for speaking out against them during the Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.’s Hearings on Racism.” These obstacles have made this single parent, who never finished high school, resolute in her goal to help the disadvantaged. She continues, "I wanted to work with the people at the bottom and to provide them with a consumer education about their rights. They in turn would teach their children and this would bring up a new educated class of people from the bottom. You know, elevate a whole race of people." So, in 1967, Mrs. Rice founded the Harlem Consumer Education Council and, subsequent chapters in Beaufort and Columbia, South Carolina. The organization has done some wonderful things. Recently, it conducted the first Baby Safety Shower in Harlem. The 1991-92 Agenda is packed with seminars on a variety of topics, including Understanding the Credit Maze. On November 9, a program on drugs, inspired by Mrs. Rice, will be televised in 100 cities, including New York. On November 17, the Annual Fund Raiser will be held at Papa Charles on 125th Street. Mrs. Rice's ultimate goal, however, is to establish a consumer education institute. When asked what enabled her to rise from miserable beginnings and overcoming daunting odds to

Volume 1. Number 21. Published by OCR for Publishers, Inc. 521 W. 23rd St. New York, NY 10011. Subscription Rate US$36. Send subscriptions to ROUTES, A Guide to African American Culture, P.O. Box 20103, Old Chelsea Station, New York, NY 10011. ROUTES is published 48 times per year. For advertising rates call 212 527 5241. Publisher/Editor in Chief, Ronald Bunn, Associate Editors Estelle Whiting, Toni Roberts. Editorial Staff: Perri Gaffney

!2—ROUTES, A Guide to African-American Culture, October 14-20, 1991 becoming a leader in consumer advocacy, she replies: ”First of all, I never wanted to be like my mother. She put me in foster homes and never came to see me. Since I’ve never had a family, I created one. My daughter, Joyce, gave me my first base of love, affection and sharing. She’s married a great guy. From this base, I have been able to be strong." In closing, Mrs. Rice offered the following advice, ”If you fall, get up and keep going. Don’t expect to be a winner all the time. Put your trust in a higher power. Have a moral conscience—never do anything at night that you wouldn't want seen in the day” For more information, you can contact The Harlem Consumer Education Council, (212) 281-8700. –Estelle Whiting

CLUBS & Condon’s 117 E. 15th St. • Papa Weba, Zaire CABARETS 254-0960 October 11 Stanley Turrentine featuring S.O.B.’s 204 Varick St/W. • Brian Melvil Trio Cedar Walton Trio Houston St. 243-4940 October 14 October 15-20 • Terumasa Hino Quintet • Don Friedman Trio Fat Tuesday's 190 3rd Ave. October 15-20 October 15 17th St. 533-7902 • Eddie Chamblee Quartet • Michael Weiss Trio Miss Valerie Capers & Trio Saturdays, 2-6pm October 16 October 19 • Doc Cheatham • Tamm E. Hunt Group Judy’s 49 W. 44th St 764-8930 Sundays, 3-7pm October 17 Judy Carmichael, piano Sweet Basil 8 Seventh Ave/ • Lou Donaldson Quartet Mike Hashim, bass Bleecker 242-1785 October 18 & 19 October 16-19 Mingus Big Band Sets 9pm, 10:30pm & October 17 midnight Knickerbocker Bar & Grill 33 University Place 228-8490 Time Café 380 Lafayette/ Birdland 2745 Broadway/ Great Jones Street 533-7000 105th St. 749-2228 • Buckwheat &, Zydeco October 14 Junior Walker & the All Billy Eckstine Stars October 5-20 • Rufus and Carla Thomas October 16 October 18 & 19 Blue Note 131 W. 3rd St. Sweetwater’s 170 475-8592 Lone Star Roadhouse 240 W. 52nd St. 245-2950 Amsterdam/68th St. •Freddy Cole Trio 873-4100 October 14-19 • The Holmes Brothers October 14 • Queen Bee & The • Donald Brown Hornet Band Steve Nelson • Bobby Radcliff October 14 James Genus October 15 • Blues Explosion Philip Tony Reedus • Lonnie Brooks & Valerie Walker William Clarke October 20 Wellington Mark Hummel Music after 10pm October 17 October 15 Bradley's 70 University • Lonnie Brooks Tramps 45 W. 21st St. Place/11th St. 228-6440 October 18 (between 5th & 6th Avenues) 727-7788 • BigTime Sarah Blues • Bo Diddley Jr. & The Show Black Wido Band John Campbell Trio Through October 17 October 19 October 16-20 • Johnny Copeland & Big • Phil Guy Village Gate Bleecker/ Time Sarah Blues Show October 20 Thompson Sts 475-5120 October 18 & 19 Manny's Car Wash (Blues) Jackie McLean Quintet • Scotty & The Ribtipt 1558 Third Ave/88th St. 369 October 15-20 October 20-22 2538 Sets at: 9:30pm, 11:30pm & Chicago B.LU.E.S. 73 Eighth • Kenia, Brazilian 1am Ave/13th St. 255-7373 October 8 Village Vanguard 178 7th • Annie Ross • Mutabaruka L Mighty Ave. So. 255-4037 October 15-20 Diamonds, reggae • The Renee Rosnes Quartet • Clifford Jordan Big Band October 9 & 10 October 16 & 17 Mondays

!3—ROUTES, A Guide to African-American Culture, October 14-20, 1991 • Christoff Lauer Group Trendy Sylvia's Southern cuisine featuring Billy Hart 507 Columbus Ave. October 18-20 Columbus Avenue 496-8095 Relaxed and informal

Visiones 125 MacDougal St Jamaican “Hot Pot” 328 Lenox Ave. 673-5576 (126 & 127th Sts.) 966-0660 Jan Jarvis Restaurant of 7-8 tables Third World Café Milt Hinton inside and 3 outside—has a Third world cuisine October 14-19 large reputation for good food at bargain prices. Spices are from west Africa. Zinno 126 W. 13th St. A very special little café 924-5182 2060 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Boulevard/133rd St. 700 W. 125th St./Westside •New Jersey 491-5270 Highway 749-8199 • Peter Moffitt Vernon’s Jerk Paradise Wilson's Restaurant & October 18 & 19 Jamaican cuisine, Jerk Bakery preparation of meats. Southern cuisine • Rio Clemente Trio October 20 252 W. 29th St. 268-7020 A Harlem institution Trumpets 6 Depot Square Jezebel 1980 Amsterdam Ave. /145th Montclair (201) 746-6100 Southern/American cuisine St. 923-9821 Scarfs, swings & CONCERTS sophistication. •Brooklyn• 630 9th Ave./45th St. Keur n’ Deye • The Whispers 582-1045 Shirley Murdock Senegalese Traditional cooking October 17, 7 & 10pm La Famille Restaurant 737 Fulton Street (S. Elliott St. Southern cuisine •Caribbean Amateur Night & S. Portland Ave. (718) October 18, 7:30pm Roomy & informal 875-4937 • Amateur Night 2017 5th Ave./125th St. McDonald's Dining Room Every Wednesday, 7:30pm 534-9909 Country home cooking - Tues.- Sun. Livi's Restaurant Apollo Theatre 253 W. 125th Caribbean & Southern cuisine St. 864-0372 327 Stuyvesant Ave.(718) Informal 574-3728 • B.B. King Johnnie Taylor John Mayall & the Blues 29 E. 126th St./Madison & Green Avenue Grill Fifth Avenues 831-4931 Grilled American & southern Breakers Roomful of cuisines Blues Pan Pan 5th Avenue October 18, 7pm Restaurant/Café 13 Green Ave./Fulton Street (718) 797-2099 • Al Green Bobby Blue Southern cuisine Bland The Staple Singers Informal •Queens• October 19, 8pm 1325 5th Ave./between 110th La Detente • & The & 111th Streets 996-1212 Continental & Caribbean Coast to Coast Blues Band cuisines Buddy Guy John Perk’s Fine Cuisine Campbell Tinsley Ellis Southern cuisine 23-04 94th St. E. Elmhurst October 20, 8pm Elegant-Trendy Harlem (718) 458-2172 Beacon Theatre 2124 Broad Nightspot; Dancing Manhattan Proper Cafe way/74th St. 496-7070 Thursday-Saturday after Southern cuisine 11pm RESTAURANTS 553 Manhattan Avenue/ 217-01 Linden Blvd/ 123rd St. 666-8500 Springfield Blvd (718) 341- B. Smith’s CAFE Southern & American cuisines Trendy 771 Eighth Ave. 247-2222 Caribe Jamaican cuisine Pleasant and informal, cash only. 117 Perry St./Greenwich St. 255-9191 Copeland’s Southern cuisine A Harlem Institution. 547 W. 145th St. 234-2457 Honeysuckle Southern cuisine

!4—ROUTES, A Guide to African-American Culture, October 14-20, 1991 THEATER The Good Times Are Killing October 17-20, 24-27; Me October 31- November 3, Junebug/Jack 8pm A play with music - follows October 18, 10am & 12:30pm the comic coming of age of A one woman show about October 10, 7:30pm two girls, one white and one the experiences and voices Weaving together the Jack black, as they explore the of African-American Tales of Appalachia and the mysteries of adolescence, women Junebug Stories of the black music, divided families and • The Hearings/Multiples South. This extraordinary racism. and Miniatures musical play celebrates the Minetta Lane Theatre 425 October 18-20 rich heritage of these two Lafayette St. 307-4100 Southern cultures. Lawrence D. “Butch" Morris & Allan Graubard Aaron Davis Hall at City The 1991 French West Indies College West 135th St/ Fall Festival The poetry of lyric and Convent Ave 650-7100 A Tempest music work hand in hand Through October 27 to reveal a compelling new Distant Fires foundation for dramatic October 11-November 3 By Aimé Césaire imagery. (Martinique), translated by A drama of racism and Joanne Brackeen & Marty misunderstanding at a Richard Miller; directed by • Diane Kirksey-Floyd Ehrlich's The Dark Woods construction site in October 10, 9pm Baltimore. A troupe of black actors Among the members of the perform their own Tempest. • Marc Ribot cast David Wolos’ Fonteno, The play explores the Jeanne Lee Giancarlo Esposito, Ray political and cultural conflict October 20 Anthony Thomas opposing the white master, Series curator Diedre Murray Prospero, his mulatto Atlantic Theatre Company servant, Ariel, and the black PS 122 150 1st Ave/9th St 336 W. 20th St. 645-8755 slave Caliban. Cesaire's rich 477-5288 and insightful adaptation Thos Shipley, vocalist RT ALLERIES Jim Abbott, piano draws on contemporary A G Thru October 13 Caribbean society, the Afro- American experience and African Images, Part I An evening of Music from African Mythology to raise Through October 20, daily Ellington to Broadway questions about colonialism, 11am-5pm Theater Arielle 432 West racism, and their lasting Robertson's African Arts 36 42nd St. 967-7079 effects. West 22nd Street, 4th Fl. Six Degrees of Separation Uhu Repertory Theater 15 W. 675-4045 Courtney B. Vance 28th St. (Bway & 5th Ave) Set in Manhattan, about a 670-7540 •Brooklyn• mugger who seeks refuge at Negro Ensemble Company Three Visions: The Sacred, an elegant dinner party. presents The Sublime, The Seminal Vivian Beaumont Theater/ Just a Night Out Ché Baraka, Robergeau Lincoln Center Broad/65th Through November 10 Duverger & Kelvin Fraser St. 239-6200 A musical love story that Through October 15 Once on This Island takes place during the 1950s Mon.-Sat., noon-6pm A musical set in the Chitlin’ Circuit period. Bedford Stuyvesant Center Caribbean, about a poor Village Gate Bleecker/ for Art & Culture 1368 Fulton girl’s passion for the son of a St. 3rd FI (718) 636-6948 wealthy landowner. Thompson Sts 295-4604 or 307-4100 Booth Theatre W. 45th St./ MUSEUMS & Broadway 239-6200 The 10th Annual Young CULTURAL CENTERS Playwrights Festival Ms. Hazel’s House of Africa Explores: 20th Century Heavenly Rest I'm Not Stupid Through October 20 African Art Sundays, 3pm Through December A Comedy by Hazel Smith. A mother and her mentally disabled son grapple with Exhibit explores the Featuring, Jimmy Hayeson, continuing vitality of Louise Mike, Jerry Love, Lee their shattered lives. When a doctor tries to intervene, he traditional art which coexists Kirk, Kim Yancey, Boysie today with a modern art that White & James Smith. becomes tangled in a web of manipulation and deceit. By is uniquely African. Six Degrees of Separation David Rodriguez, 18 years The Center for African Art 54 Courtney B. Vance old (This is one of 4 plays E. 68th (Between Madison & Set in Manhattan, about a presented by other young Lexington Avenues) 861-1200 mugger who seeks refuge at playwrights.) an elegant dinner party. Harlem Textile Works: Playwrights Horizons 416 W Prints & Fabric Designs Vivian Beaumont Theater/ 42nd St 2704200 Lincoln Center Broad/65th A Retrospective Exhibition, St. 239-6200 • Peggy Pettitt 1986-1991 Caught Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

!5—ROUTES, A Guide to African-American Culture, October 14-20, 1991 Through October 29 About 100 examples of Americas and the Monday through Friday, ornaments, tools, weapons Caribbean. 9am to 5pm and other small objects. • Workshop Faculty Dining Room, • Barbara Chase-Riboud Tempera Painting Second Floor Wall Gallery All That Rises Must October 19, 2pm John Jay College of Criminal Converge, painting Justice 445 W. 59th St. Tour the museum’s 237-8698 • Horace Pippen exhibition of paintings by Victorian Parlor I, painting Jacob Lawrence of • Picturing Africa: Tempera Painting on Photographs of the Zulu, • Martin Puryear panels in this special two 1870-1900 Tango, sculpture part workshop. Through Jan 31 Metropolitan Museum of Art Recommended for teens Mezzanine, Michael C. Fifth Ave. & 82nd St. through adults. $15 per Rockefeller Wing 19th 535-7710 participant (Includes both century albumen prints by sessions). European colonial Pleasures and Terrors of • Lecture photographers of the Zulu Domestic Comfort peoples, in what is now the Through December 31 The Underground Railroad: Frederick Douglass and Republic of South Africa. The current state of the These images, though often Harriet Tubman American Dream of domestic October 20, 6pm staged, provide rare detail happiness is examined in this about traditional Zulu art photography exhibition. Charles Blackson unravels and culture. Only careful Contributing photographers: the mystery of the study distinguishes fact Albert Chong, Marilyn Underground Railroad. Mr. from fiction, appearance Nance, John Pinderhughes, Blackson is a prominent from reality. Carrie Mae Weems Underground Railroad scholar and curator and • New Guinea Bone Museum of Modern Art 11 founder of the Charles L Carvings W. 53rd St. 708-9400 Blackson Afro-American Through December 1 • Interrupted Life Collection at Temple Through December University, Philadelphia, $6- A multi-disciplinary Adults: $4 members. exhibition examining the Studio Museum of Harlem theme of death in the 144 W. 125th St 864-4300 western world American Life in American • James Van Der Zee photos Art: Selections from the are a part of the exhibition. Permanent Collection The New Museum of Through November 10 Contemporary Art 583 Jacob Lawrence Broadway/Houston Street The War Series, 1946- 1947 219-1222 Whitney Museum of • The African Presence in the American Art 945 Madison Americas Ave./75th St. 570-3600 Through December • African-Americans In Painted Forms: Recent Metal Space Science Sculpture Through December Through December • Guided Tours by Melvin Edwards Asafokra appointment only (1990) 96x168x120 The Schomburg Center for Whitney Museum at Phillip Research in Black Culture Morris The Sculpture Court 515 Lenox Ave./135th St. 120 Park Ave. South 878-2550 491-2000 •Bronx• • Jacob Lawrence: The Frederick Douglass & James Buxton, Painted Wood Harriet Tubman Series of & Sculpture Narrative Paintings Through October 31 Through November 10 Buxton's work involves such An exhibition of 63 paintings personally significant issues created between 1938-40. as religion and motherhood. • Africa and the Diaspora: The Bronx Museum of Art Selections from the Satellite Gallery at Hebrew Permanent Collection Hospital for Chronic Sick 801 Through Jun 7 Co-Op City Boulevard 379-5020 Includes 95 paintings. Exhibition examines the influence of African art and culture on the art, artists, and culture of the

!6—ROUTES, A Guide to African-American Culture, October 14-20, 1991