Harlem Arts Alliance Presents: On the “A” w/Souleo
Singer-songwriter Brian McKnight couldn’t be happier to be an artist in his 40s releasing a new album titled, More Than Words. While some of his peers may wish they could reverse time to be 20-years-old again, the Grammy-nominated veteran doubts he would have found success as a young artist in today’s celebrity obsessed market. “If I were 22 this would be a tough age to live in. You’d have to lose all integrity,” he says. “It used to be that you didn’t overexpose yourself but now if you disappear you will be forgotten. But as an older artist I can get away with just playing to my fans because I already have them.”
On his latest collection, McKnight explores what he calls “personal demons” that stem from an unhealthy habit of jumping from relationship to relationship. “About a year ago I decided not to be a person who runs between relationships. I was never giving enough of myself in them,” he reflects. “Now I am honest and open. I am not gonna say something to you until I actually mean it. I am at a cool place.”
Author, Terry McMillan has one less worry after deciding to quit working on the screenplay to Getting to Happy, the sequel to Waiting to Exhale. McMillan revealed the news while attending Ailey at the Apollo Spring Gala Benefit. “They have somebody else on the script. I gave up because they want to take Whitney Houston’s character out of it.” McMillan does plan to release a new book on September 17 titled, Who Asked You? Meanwhile inside the gala, guests were treated to a first-time ever stage performance by all tiers of the Ailey organization followed by a festive after party, where DJ Kiss kept everyone shaking, twisting and twirling.
While the Ailey Spring Gala has been in existence for years, the non-profit organization, caribBEING just launched its first-ever benefit auction and cocktail party at New York Foundation for the Art’s DUMBO headquarters. The brainchild of Caribbean-American (Trinidadian) Shelley Vidia Worrell, the movement focuses on the entire Caribbean region and its Diaspora to build community through film.
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