Teaching experience;  USC School of Music Jazz Studies 1989-1997; Los Angeles Jazz Society Jazz in Schools Program 2000-2012; Playboy Jazz goes to Schools,
William Grant School 2010-2012, Theatre of Hearts Youth First Programs

Credits:  Ray Charles Orchestra 1981-2007, The Gap Band, Gerald Wilson Orchestra 1987-present, Kool and the Gang 1996-1998; 2006-present, Carl Thomas, Eric Benet, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Little Anthony and the Imperials, The Chilites, The Manhattans, Mary Wilson, Freida Payne, Teena Marie, Cameo, Sheila E, Unwrapped Allstars, Jimmy Smith, Jimmy Witherspoon, Big Joe Turner, Maxine Weldon, Spanky Wilson, Carl Anderson, Ernie Andrews, Clayton Hamilton Orchestra, Stevie Wonder, Billy Vera Orchestra, Malo, The Coasters, Johnny Otis Revue, Stix Hooper, Marc Antoine, Fransico Aquabella, Poncho Sanchez, Henry Filo, The Funk Bros., Mariah Carey, Anthony Hamiliton, Smokey Robinson, Big Mountain, Little Richard, Bernard Ighner, Anthony Wilson Nonet, Patrice Rushen, Quincy Jones III, Amanda Marshall, Micheal Bolton, Norman Connors, Wayne Henderson, Mocir Santos, Frank Sinatra Jr.,Larry Dunn, Jeff Golub, Dave Stewart
Film credits:  Hurricane, Nightmare on Elm St 3, Coneheads, What’s Love Got to Do with It, Nutty Professor, Bird, The Temptation Story, Life,The Kid, Naked Gun 3, Friday, Battlestar Galactia, Soul Men, etc…..
tv credits:  Night Court, Murder She Wrote, Touch My an Angel, Seinfeld, Alley McBeal, Star Trek New Generation, Full House, Pirates of Silicon Valley, Vegas.

More videos on LVT click here

LOS ANGELES – When you think of the Caribbean island of Jamaica, you think of Reggae, Rastas, rum and a whole lot of ganja – that is, marijuana. But underneath all the vices, the island has a rich history of Jamaican freedom fighters who fought for independence.

In the groundbreaking documentary, “Akwantu: the Journey,” Jamaican-born director Roy T. Anderson brings us the history of his ancestors, the Maroons – enslaved Africans and their 80-year battle that led to the defeat of the British Army. Although poorly armed and outgunned, the victory of these brave warriors led to two peace treaties in 1738-1739, establishing the Maroons as a self-government in the New World. During this time, no other Africans  in the New World enjoyed such a degree of autonomy, which came before the American Revolutionary War in 1775 and the Haitian Revolution  in 1791.

“Akwantu: the Journey” examines the triumphs and struggles of a proud and resilient people whose historical importance has been either ignored or misunderstood.  Through Anderson’s lens, the film tells the story of an enduring people who possess an indomitable spirit to die fighting rather than remain in bondage. With towns and communities physically indistinguishable from that of their fellow Jamaicans. even today, the Maroons remain a “nation within a nation,” fiercely protective of their ancestral legacy. Because of its historical significance, the Jamaican government selected “Akwantu: the Journey” to participate in the historic 50th Anniversary of Independence Celebrations in 2012.

Beginning May 15th, “Akwantu: the Journey” will be featured in the Doc Corner of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. It was also an official selection of the 2013 Pan African Film Festival, the 2012 Africa in Picture Film Festival and winner of the special jury prize for Best Feature Documentary at the 2012 Belize International Film Festival.

On May 31st, “Akwantu: the Journey” will be available through digital download on Vimeo On Demand at www.vimeo.com.  For more information about the movie, visit www.akwantuthemovie.com

MOVIE SYNOPSIS
“Akwantu: The Journey”
(US/Jamaica/Documentary/87min)
Director: Roy T. Anderson
An exploration of an important part of Jamaican culture that has long fascinated observers. The Maroons were often referred to as the Spartacus of their time except that these enslaved Africans won their fight for freedom. Poorly armed and outgunned, these brave warriors engaged the mighty British superpower over an 80-year period and were victorious. As a result, two peace treaties were signed in 1739 that established Maroon self-government for the first time in the New World. This fact is not lost on modern day Maroons, like Jamaican-born, New Jersey-based director Roy T. Anderson, who with this film weaves his own personal, ancestral sojourn with a more significant historical journey that tells the tale of his heroic ancestors. Because of its significance, the Jamaican government officially selected this film to participate in the historic 50th Anniversary of Independence Celebrations in 2012.

About the director | Roy T. Anderson
Roy T. Anderson is writer, director and producer of his first feature-length documentary, “Akwantu: the Journey.” An award-winning stuntman/stunt coordinator, for the past 25 years, Anderson has performed stunts for the Who’s Who of Hollywood, including  Will Smith, Denzel Washington and Jamie Foxx – just to name a few. He has more than 400 production credits to his name with appearances in blockbuster hits, such as “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Spiderman 2,” “Bourne Ultimatum” and “American Gangster.” On television, he’s appeared in such top-rated TV shows as  “Law & Order,” “Sopranos, and “Person of Interest.”

The officer who shot him was charged with murder. However, the officer claimed he mistook his gun for his taser when he shot Grant, and the jury convicted him of involuntary manslaughter.

Riots and protests broke out in the Bay Area after the verdict was handed down.

Right before “Fruitvale Station” started filming, the Trayvon Martin case came to prominence. Martin, an African-American, was shot by a community watch member, generating huge media attention in the United States.

“It happened right before I read the script, which made me stop and go, wow, this is so relevant,” star Michael B. Jordan (“The Wire,” “Chronicle”), who plays Oscar Grant, said of the Martin shooting.

“We thought, my God, this is so topical. We have even more of a reason to make this movie because it happens too often,” Melonie Diaz, who plays Sophina, Oscar Grant’s girlfriend, told CNBC.

“Fruitvale Station” is Ryan Coogler’s first feature film, but he had some big-name support in the form of Academy-Award winner Forest Whitaker, who signed on to produce the film, and fellow Oscar winner Octavia Spencer, who played Wanda, Grant’s mother.

“Octavia had just won an Oscar when I had finished writing the script…and my agent suggested her [for the role] and I was like, man you’re crazy. Let’s try it,” Ryan Coogler said.

Spencer did sign up for the part, and had nothing but praise for Coogler.

“It was Ryan’s first full-length feature, but you knew you were in very capable hands when you read the script, it was so amazing,” Academy Award-winning actress Octavia Spencer said.

The film was shot in 20 days during July 2012 on what Coogler calls “no money.” He said the entire reason he made the film was to get Oscar’s story told and share who he was as a person.

‘Fruitvale Station’ was picked up for distribution by The Weinstein Company, and though it’s only May, Academy Award buzz is already in the air for the film and its star, Michael B. Jordan.

Fruitvale Station is released in the United States on July 12th.

Published: Saturday, 18 May 2013 | 2:07 PM ET

Born Miles Dewey Davis III on May 26, 1926 in Alton, Illinois, Miles grew up in East St. Louis, first learning trumpet at age 13. Graduating high school, he moved to New York in 1944 to study at the Juilliard School of Music, developing chops in technique and music theory before leaving to become a full-time player on the New York jazz circuit, cutting his first records in 1945.

One of the most revolutionary and influential musicians and recording artists of the 20th century, Miles Davis was in the vanguard of virtually every phase of the evolution of post-WWII American jazz, from be-bop to cool jazz to hard-bop to modal jazz to the rock-jazz-funk-fusion that got him inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006. Miles Davis died on September 28, 1991, leaving an extensive catalog of unprecedented music that remains both timeless and groundbreaking.

Trumpeter, bandleader and composer, Miles Davis fronted some of the most formidable and adroit ensembles in jazz history. Miles was that rarest of artists: an uncompromising avant-garde visionary who achieved both critical and commercial success. In 2008, Davis’s 1959 masterpiece, Kind of Blue, was certified 4x platinum, solidifying its stature as the top-selling jazz album of all-time. In December 2009, the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution on Kind of Blue’s 50th anniversary “honoring the masterpiece and reaffirming jazz as a national treasure.”

On the Legacy Recordings site, fans and collectors will find access to a variety of comprehensive Miles Davis titles including: Setlist: The Very Best of Miles Davis and Setlist: The Very Best of Miles Davis (Live) as well as Volumes 1 and 2 of the acclaimed Miles Davis Bootleg Series, a selection of rare and previously unreleased recordings to be drawn from all phases of Davis’s career, housed in deluxe CD + DVD boxes (with a “Best of” compilation available for The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1).

The first two titles in the series — Live In Europe 1967: The Bootleg Series Vol.1 (2011) and Live In Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 2 (2013) — showcased Miles as bandleader, working with a different quintet, creating very different music on each release. Each collection peaked at #3 on the Billboard Jazz charts.

Live In Europe 1967 was 2011′s most acclaimed historic jazz box set, receiving a “5-star” review from Down Beat magazine and voted Historical Album of the Year in the Down Beat Readers and Critics Poll; it ranked as the #1 reissue in both the Critics and Readers polls of JazzTimes magazine, and the Jazz Journalists Association voted it Best Historical or Boxed Set. The package received an “A” from Entertainment Weekly, and Pitchfork.com said “At its heart, jazz thrives on bold, sensitive interaction in the moment, and Live In Europe 1967 represents the pinnacle of that practice.” Rave reviews appeared in a wide array of publications including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Nation, Slate, and many others.

In his Sunday “Arts & Leisure” rave review of Live In Europe 1967, New York Times critic Nate Chinen concluded: “It’s humbling to think that a release like Live in Europe 1967 might help illuminate jazz’s present as well as its past, but that’s what great archival work can do. So congratulations, Columbia/Legacy. Now, what’s next?”

Live In Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol.2 showcased a short-lived legendary Miles Davis ensemble, a “third great quintet” recorded live featuring Wayne Shorter on soprano and tenor saxophones, Chick Corea on electric (and occasionally acoustic) piano, Dave Holland on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums.

“The scope of these concerts is remarkable,” wrote Pitchfork in its (9 out of 10 rated) review of Live In Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol.2 , “(The Miles Davis Quintet) makes for a deadly team, equally at home with low-down groove, in-the-pocket swing and feverish abstraction.”

“It’s wild, fitful, ripping good stuff,” raved NPR’s All Things Considered while the New York Daily News noted that “This set snaps Miles with a quintet that danced brilliantly between the relative formality of the mid ’60s and the great madness to come.”

“(Miles) plays with power, range and passion, goading the rhythm section into epic battles,” observed BBC Music while The Guardian gave it 4 stars marveling that “…this is newly emerging and influential music still in the furnace and Davis’ timing can make even a season fan whoop.”

Gerald Wilson, jazz’s reigning composer/orchestrator pays homage to his adopted hometown, Chicago on his fifth Mack Avenue Records release, Legacy. Composers Igor Stravinsky and Giacomo Puccini also receive Wilson’s musical tips of the hat. Wilson’s son, guitarist/composer Anthony Wilson, and grandson Eric Otis are also represented by a composition/orchestration apiece, thus extending Gerald’s musical legacy.

The Gerald Wilson Orchestra assembled for Legacy comprises many of the great jazz artists who’ve been Gerald’s collaborators for the lion’s share of his Mack Avenue canon. A first-class rhythm section of pianist Renee Rosnes, guitarist Anthony Wilson, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Lewis Nash anchors the group. Trumpeters Sean Jones, Jeremy Pelt, Tony Lujan and Mike Rodriguez and trombonists Dennis Wilson, Douglas Purviance, Luis Bonilla and Alan Ferber stud the brass section. Antonio Hart Dick Oatts, Kamasi Washington, Ron Blake, Jay Brandford and Gary Smulyan comprise the reeds. Al Pryor continues as Wilson’s producer for this collection of tributes and portraits.

His new suite “Yes, Chicago Is…” is an affectionate series of sketches—what Wilson calls a “romantic ballad”—that delineates one of his favorite cities. (He wrote and recorded “State Street Suite,” an earlier civic valentine, in 1993.) Commissioned by the Chicago Jazz Festival, it recalls some key personal junctures. Wilson lived in the Windy City for a better part of a year at the age of fifteen, when the Chicago World’s Fair was there. Later on, as a member of the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra (which he joined in June of 1938), he used the town as his home base. And while stationed at the Great Lakes Naval facility (1942-’44), Wilson took advantage of the fact that he didn’t have to live on the base and moved into town.

The suite begins appropriately with “A Real Jazz Mecca.” “I always loved Chicago,” the 92 year-old Wilson says. “It’s such an exciting city, and it’s one of the great jazz cities—a real ‘jazz mecca.’ I tried to capture some of the flavor of the Chicago I’ve known: the wonderful Regal Theatre, the great sports teams and the El Grotto nightclub, where I played six weeks with my band in 1946.”

Wilson’s fans won’t be surprised that he’s an admirer of 20th Century musical giant Igor Stravinsky. One of his mentors, the late Phil Moore, brought the Russian composer to Wilson’s attention. Italian opera great, Giacomo Puccini, however, might raise a few eyebrows. “They’re both dedicated to Wynton Marsalis,” he relates. “He’s been so good to me, playing my music at Lincoln Center. I took a small excerpt (just a couple of bars) from ‘Nessun Dorma’ from Puccini’s opera, Turandot—and wrote the ‘Variations on a Theme by Giacomo Puccini.’ I did the same with Stravinsky. I write short pieces these days so I don’t need much material for inspiration.”

“Variations on Clair De Lune” fulfills a childhood desire: Wilson’s first musical studies were on piano; he always liked the piece and wanted a chance to do something with it. The twist is that Wilson had pianist Avery Parrish, composer and player of the bluesy “After Hours,” in mind. “Avery was a brilliant pianist,” he reminds us. “He could play as much piano as Art Tatum or Earl Hines.”

Wilson clearly revels in his working relationship with Mack Avenue Records. His previous releases for the label are: New York, New Sound (2003), In My Time (2005), Monterey Moods (2007) and Detroit (2009). “They’re so nice to me and our arrangement is so comfortable,” he says. His albums receive maximum exposure—in the press, on radio and on Internet sites like YouTube. “I love working with Al Pryor and Gretchen Valade has given me carte blanche to do what I want.”

Legacy lives up to its name in offering a forum for the composing and orchestration talents of Wilson’s progeny: his son, guitarist Anthony Wilson, and his grandson, Eric Otis. “Anthony has been writing for quite a while now,” Gerald points out. “He’s well aware of how I work but he’s got his own point of view. That number of his, ‘Virgo,’ was commissioned by the Hollywood Bowl for a concert that my band was on, sharing the bill with pianist Hank Jones in 2008. He’s taken that piece and added more material to it for this album.”

Eric Otis—grandson of Wilson and rhythm and blues pioneer Johnny Otis and son of guitarist and musical auteur Shuggie Otis—is also a guitarist. (“So many young people play and write their music on the guitar these days,” Gerald muses.) Eric has been Wilson’s transcriber for quite some time and, as such, he’s had a unique insight into his grandfather’s musical methodology. “It’s been an educational process,” Otis offers, “and a very practical education. I’ve watched how he works, how he sketches out his compositions, and how he voices his chords; that’s something I couldn’t have gotten from a classroom. I’m at the point where I can now use all the things that I’ve learned.”

“September Sky,” Otis’s first orchestration, was midwifed by his grandfather. “I began writing it on the guitar in 1999 and for some reason I put it away. Last year I pulled it out of the drawer and I completed it; I finished it to my satisfaction and then orchestrated it. It’s an accumulation of everything he’s taught me over the years.”

For Wilson’s part, he couldn’t be prouder of his offspring. “I’ve had a very fulfilling career,” he maintains. “I’ve reached all of my goals. I’ve played and written for all of the greatest jazz orchestras (Lunceford, Ellington, Basie, and Benny Carter among them), I’ve written for movies and television, I’ve written for concert orchestras and I’ve maintained my own band for many decades. But it goes beyond my accomplishments to see that members of my family are carrying on the music in their own ways.”

“Everything I write,” Wilson asserts, “from here on in, is going to be jazz. It’s the language I speak and it’s my music.”

Herbie Hancock,  Co-President of ICAP and a long time collaborator with Maupin presented congratulatory words to the maestro via a pre-recorded video presentation that also featured photos of Gerald in the early days of his career. Now at the age of 94, Gerald Wilson recently produced a Grammy nominated CD entitled “Legacy”, and still writes for and performs with his orchestra regularly.

This video shows this historic awards presentation in its entirety.

Paul Sabu Rogers has produced  the video recording of the 2013 concert event for the SGI-USA/ICAP and The Ikeda Kings Orchestra.
Stay with plazanoir.com for more features from this excellent concert.

Bio

For more than seventy years, Gerald Wilson has been recognized as one of the premier composers, arrangers, and bandleaders in modern jazz. Now, well into his 90′s, the elegant and gracious maestro, continues not only to create brilliant, sophisticated music, but to reap ever greater honors for his timeless contributions to American culture.
The perennially humble Wilson has garnered his share of accolades, including seven Grammy nominations, top Big Band and Composer/Arranger honors in Downbeat
International Critics Poll, the Paul Robeson Award, the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) American Jazz Masters Fellowship, and two American Jazz Awards for Best Arranger and Best Big Band. In 1996, Wilson received the rare ~onor of having his life’s work archived by the Library of Congress. In 2012, he was honored by LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and the City of Los Angeles as a “Jazz Treasure”. Wilson’s talent is legendary among jazz insiders. His groundbreaking compositions, intricate arrangements and immediately recognizable sound put him in a league of his own. In his prolific seven decade career as composer and arranger, Wilson has been behind some of the greatest names in jazz, including Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Ray Charles ‘Ella Fitzgerald,
Benny Carter, and Nancy Wilson to name a few. Beyond his jazz accomplishments, Wilson’s symphonic compositions have been performed by the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the direction of Zuben Mehta. He even scored a top 40 pop hit with EI Chicano’s 1970 version of his “Viva Tirado”, a song that has been recorded in at least 18 different versions including a hip hop rendition by Latino rapper Kid Frost.
Wilson began his life in jazz in 1937, when he joined the musicians union and started playing trumpet professionally. In 1939, at the age of 21, he was invited to join the highly popular Jimmie Lunceford band in New York City. His impact was immediate, contributing such powerful material as “Yard Dog Mazurka” and “Hi Spook” (a song written for a midnight hour. radio program). After four years with Lunceford, and a stint in the U. S. Navy during World War II, Wilson settled in Los Angeles, playing trumpet and composing and arranging for Benny Carter and Les Hite. In 1944 heor&anized the first Gerald Wilson Orchestra, featuring trombonist Melba Liston and trumpeter Snooky Young among its members. Touring the country, Wilson’s big band made its mark on New York City, receiving rave reviews for his
performance at the Apollo Theater and in Chicago, he landed a ten-week engagement at the Regal Theater where he hired a young Joe Williams as the band’s vocalist.

Istanbul, Turkey – The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Republic of Turkey, and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz have joined together to celebrate jazz as a universal language of freedom.

UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue Herbie Hancock, Turkey’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmet Davutoglu and its Minister of Culture and Tourism Ӧmer Ҫelik recently announced that an unprecedented gathering of musicians from around the world will assemble in Istanbul on 30April to perform at a major concert in celebration of International Jazz Day that will be streamed live.

New additions to the all-star cast include: bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding, pianist Ramsey Lewis, vocalists Rubén Blades and Joss Stone, trumpeter Terence Blanchard, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, tabla master Zakir Hussain, and trombonist Alevtina Polyakova.

These highly acclaimed musicians will join an already stellar group including: pianists Herbie Hancock, John Beasley (who will also serve as the evening’s Musical Director), George Duke, Robert Glasper, Keiko Matsui and Eddie Palmieri; vocalists Al Jarreau, Milton Nascimento and Dianne Reeves; trumpeters Hugh Masekela and Imer Demirer; bassists James Genus, Marcus Miller and Ben Williams; drummers Terri Lyne Carrington and Vinnie Colaiuta; guitarists Bilal Karaman, John McLaughlin, Lee Ritenour and Joe Louis Walker; saxophonists Dale Barlow, Igor Butman, Wayne Shorter and Liu Yuan; clarinetists Anat Cohen and Husnu Senlendirici; violinist Jean-Luc Ponty; Pedrito Martinez on percussion; and other special guests to be announced in the days ahead.

Held every year on 30 April, International Jazz Day brings together communities, schools and groups from across the globe to celebrate jazz, learn about its roots and highlight its important role as a form of communication that transcends differences.

Through the generous support of Garanti Bank and Akbank – the main sponsors of International Jazz Day programming in Istanbul – the all-star evening concert will be held at Istanbul’s famed Hagia Irene. Dating back to the 4^th century, the Hagia Irene, located in the outer courtyard of the Topkapi Palace – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – is regarded as an international treasure for music lovers because of its brilliant atmosphere and enchanting acoustics.

Tickets are not available for the evening concert, but citizens of Istanbul and around the world will be able to view the concert via live streaming at www.jazzday.com and via the UNESCO, United Nations, U.S. State Department and Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz websites. The concert will be taped for future broadcast on public television stations around the world.

In addition to the events taking place in this year’s host city, hundreds of events in more than 150 countries in every region and continent will celebrate International Jazz Day, with more events being confirmed every day. Kigali, Rwanda will present a ‘Kigali Jazz 4 Peace’ event at the MTN Center Building in Nyarutarama with a film screening and concerts. In Brazil, the city of Sao Paulo will celebrate by organizing a special show at Jazznos Fundos to mark the day, with a quartet of great Brazilian musicians. In Italy, the Alexander Platz Jazz Club in Rome will present a concert featuring local artists. In Malaysia, the Penang Philharmonic Jazz Section will mark International Jazz Day with “A Celebration of Jazz 2013″ featuring performances by five groups, each with its own unique style and brand of music at Gurney Paragon in Penang.

International Jazz Day was adopted by UNESCO Member States on the initiative of UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Herbie Hancock, in order to encourage and highlight jazz’s unique power for advancing intercultural dialogue and understanding across the world. International Jazz Day is recognized on the official calendars of UNESCO and the United Nations. Its programs and events are being coordinated with all 195 Member States of UNESCO.

The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz is working with UNESCO and its Member States, national commissions, UNESCO networks, UNESCO Associated Schools, universities and institutes, public radio, public television and NGOs, as well as jazz clubs, hotels and restaurants to organize and promote International Jazz Day events worldwide.  Libraries, schools, performing arts centers, artists and arts organizations of all disciplines throughout the world are being encouraged to celebrate the day through presentations, concerts and other jazz-focused activities.

UNESCO, the Republic of Turkey, and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz are pleased that the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) is serving as the 2013 Host City Partner. IKSV is playing an integral role in the coordination and production of the all-star concert and other International Jazz Day programs in Istanbul.

The objectives of International Jazz Day are to:

• Encourage exchange and understanding between cultures and employ these means to enhance tolerance;
• Offer effective tools at international, regional, subregional and national levels to foster intercultural dialogue;
• Raise public awareness about the role jazz music plays to help spread the universal values of UNESCO’s mandate;
• Promote intercultural dialogue towards the eradication of racial tensions and gender inequality and to reinforce the role of youth for social change;
• Recognize jazz as a universal language of freedom;
• Promote social progress with a special focus on developing countries utilizing new technologies and communications tools such as social networks;
• Contribute to UNESCO’s initiatives to promote mutual understanding among cultures, with a focus on education of young people in marginalized communities.

For more information about International Jazz Day, please visit the websites at:

www.unesco.org/days/jazzday and www.jazzday.com

Black Ice tells the story of African Canadians and their immense contribution to the development of Canada, “The history of Black Canadians has, for the most part either been forgotten, deliberately destroyed or conveniently ignored,” the Fostys wrote in Black Ice. They go on to say that most historians have often dismissed the accounts or have viewed them as irrelevant.

According to the Fostys, black Canadians controlled a block of agricultural lands near Halifax, meaning they controlled an important part of the City’s produce industry. As the City grew over the next 150 years, politicians introduced discriminatory practices to relegate blacks to the background. They did this by degrading their schools, hospitals and neighborhoods, the authors claim.

The brothers searched through Church archives, public record, family collections and other sources to put together this educational material. Black Ice was released in 2004. The book deals with the lost history of the colored hockey league of the Maritimes.

“I was stunned at one point when I realized that an important historical account of early history, an 1815 newspaper report of hockey being played on the North Arm, near Halifax, that people who lived in that area were black,” said Fosty.

According to the book, contributions of black Canadians to hockey is anything but irrelevant. Their style of play in the late 19th century was amazing and has contributed immensely to the National Hockey League.

Henry ‘Braces’ Franklyn was the first “flopping” goalie and it would be more than 50 years before Jeaques Plante would popularize it in the NHL. Also, the slap shot was first seen in the colored hockey league and was not introduced to the NHL until about 50 years later.

Although NHL records put Willie O’Ree as the first person of African descent to play in the National Hockey League in 1958, O’Ree himself has long insisted that there were talented black players before him. Folks like Stan Maxwell and Herb Canegie, who were qualified to play in the NHL, but were denied.

The Authors of “Black Ice” have presented their findings to the NHL diversity task force. The NHL listened and are currently in discussion with the Fostys about their research. However, there is still no official recognition of the Colored Hockey League.

To get a copy of the book in Canada, you can contact: ‘A different Book List’ at 416 538 0889 or ‘Outside the Lines’ in Halifax at 902 422 3544. Also available online @ www.Amazon.com.

Written by Alexander Nkrumah

SYNOPSIS
As America remains embroiled in conflict overseas, a less visible war is taking place at home, costing countless lives, destroying families, and inflicting untold damage upon future generations of Americans. In forty years, the War on Drugs has accounted for more than 45 million arrests, made America the world’s largest jailer, and damaged poor communities at home and abroad. Yet for all that, drugs are cheaper, purer, and more available today than ever before.
Filmed in more than twenty states, THE HOUSE I LIVE IN captures heart-wrenching stories from individuals at all levels of America’s War on Drugs. From the dealer to the grieving mother, the narcotics officer to the senator, the inmate to the federal judge, the film offers a penetrating look inside America’s longest war—a definitive portrait revealing its profound human rights implications.

The film recognizes the seriousness of drug abuse as a matter of public health, and investigates the tragic errors and shortcomings that have meant this symptom is most often treated as a cause for law enforcement, creating a vast machine that largely feeds
on America’s poor, and especially on minority communities. Beyond simple misguided policy, the film examines how political and economic corruption have fueled the war for 40 years, despite persistent evidence of its moral, economic, and practical failures.

CHARLOTTE STREET FILMS presents an EDGEWOOD WAY production a BBC/ITVS/ZDF co-production “THE HOUSE I LIVE IN” directors of photography SAM CULLMAN DEREK HALLQUIST editor PAUL FROST music ROBERT MILLER
executive producers DAVID ALCARO JOSLYN BARNES SALLY JO FIFER NICK
FRASER DANNY GLOVER JOHN LEGEND BRAD PITT RUSSELL SIMMONS producers EUGENE JARECKI MELINDA SHOPSIN written & directed by EUGENE JARECKI