(REPOST) 9/10/24 O&A NYC INSPIRATIONAL TUESDAY: From Stutterer To Star: How James Earl Jones Found His Voice

James Earl Jones, the 92-year-old acting legend who in 2014 made his return to Broadway in the play You Can’t Take It With You, discusses the highs and lows of his six-decade-long career, from his modest beginnings suffering from a stutter to a celebrated star of stage and screen with one of the most recognizable voices in the world. Continue reading

9/8/24 O&A NYC SUNDAY AFTERNOON JAZZ CONCERT: Bunny Briggs and Duke Ellington- David Danced Before the Lord

Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concert of Music featured guest artist, famed tap dancer Bunny Briggs. Briggs known as Duke’s Dancer had a smooth effortless style perfect for Ellington’s Come Sunday. Continue reading

8/23/24 O&A NYC SHALL WE DANCE FRIDAY: Happy Birthday Dudley Williams

By Walter Rutledge

Alvin Ailey dancer emeritus Dudley Williams would have celebrated his 85 birthday on August 18th. And although time is a very fickle and forgetful mistress Dudley remains of one the stars of the “Golden Age” of the Ailey company. His name is synonymous with dancers and choreographers such as Talley Beatty, John Butler, Louis Falco, George Faison, Miguel Godreau, Judith Jamison, Linda Kent, Kelvin Retardier,|Clive Thompson, Sara Yarborough, Estelle Spurlock and Donna Wood to name a few.

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10/13/24 O&A NYC GOSPEL SUNDAY: I Surrender All and Medley ft. Cece Winans, Whitney Houston and Shirley Caesar

I Surrender All and Gospel medley featuring CeCe Winans, Whitney Houston and Shirley Caesar performed at the 1996 Grammy Awards. Continue reading

5/31/24 O&A NYC THE MORNING FUNNIES: My Blackness is Constantly Under Investigation – Comedians on Being Black: Part Two

Josh Johnson, Dulcé Sloan, Godfrey and more great comedians tell jokes about the Black experience. Continue reading

5/9/24 O&A NYC THROWBACK THURSDAY: Deniece Williams – Free • TopPop

June Deniece Williams has been described as “one of the great soul voices” by the BBC. Free was her first music video. Continue reading

5/6/24 O&A NYC HOLLYWOOD MONDAY: A Ballerina’s Tale

Ballerina Misty Copeland made history becoming the first African-American Woman to earn the position of Principal Dancer with the world renowned American Ballet Theater. Continue reading

4/2/24 O&A NYC INSPIRATIONAL TUESDAY: Jennifer Hudson Wins Best Supporting Actress at the 79th Oscars (2007)

George Clooney presents singer/actor Jennifer Hudson with the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Dreamgirls at the 79th Academy Awards in 2007. Continue reading

3/25/24 O&A NYC HOLLYWOOD MONDAY: The Piano Lesson

Boy Willie (Charles Dutton), a sharecropper, travels to Pittsburgh in the 1930s hoping that his sister, Berniece Charles (Alfred Woodard), will let him have the piano that their enslaved uncle engraved in pre-Civil War Mississippi. Willie hopes to parlay proceeds from selling the instrument into ownership of the land his uncle once worked. But when Berniece has other ideas, it becomes clear that the piano represents very different things to the siblings. Continue reading