*Finally. Jamie Foxx has done what a lot of folks asked him to do. Make a video and speak on that medical situation he’s been dealing with.

Pompano Beach Arts is excited to present South Florida favorite the ReaXtion Band for another superb Soulful Sunday’s concert! Performing the best in classic top 40, disco, funk, old school, R&B and Motown, the band will take the stage at Ali Cultural Arts Center on Sunday, August 13, 2023, at 6 p.m. Tickets are $10, available at  www.pompanobeacharts.org Space is limited. No tickets are sold at the door. Food and beverages will be available for purchase.

Nubian artistic excellence is the calling card for Gordon Parks. In 1969 he became the first Black person to write and direct a major Hollywood studio feature film, “The Learning Tree,” based on his best selling novel. Two years later he continued breaking new cinematic directorial ground with the 1971 movie “Shaft.” That movie was not only a hit, but it had wide critical acclaim. That movie is recognized as the vanguard movie for “Blaxploitation” cinema of that era. Academic racism was why Mr. Parks’ work was never compared to his White peers, like Spielberg, Hitchcock and Scorsese. If academicians had compared them, they would find a resume that overshadowed those premiere directors.

Another song “You Know It Ain’t Right” by Joe Hinton was released in 1963. Many listeners thought Hinton was singing about a lost love (The B-side was “Lovesick Blues”), but a closer listening of the lyrics reveals a sound more like a protest song – perhaps a precursor to Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come”.