Lets Give Them Something to Talk About-Kennedy Center Honors

 Bonnie Raitt is among the revered musicians who was  honored at the 47 th Annual Kennedy Center Honors Awards ceremony earlier this week in Washington, DC. 

Congratulations to Bonnie whom I had the chance to meet and chat with
years ago at a benefit concert for the Songbird Foundation. She is a long time humanitarian and activist who has contributed much of her time,energies and talent to raising both money and awareness for many important social causes over the decades including the Rhythm and Blues Foundation which was initiated to support r&b artists in need of financial and medical assistance. She celebrated her birthday recently. Check out this archived post on Facebook where she gave a rousing  introduction of friend and fellow blues musician Keb Mo.

I met her along with John Mayer her special guest at a benefit concert sponsored by Oxfam and the Guac Fund to raise awareness for fair trade with coffee farmers. Bonnie's a hero and warrior for social action using her gift of  music over the decades to raise awareness and money for social causes.

 

 

R&B Icon Chris Brown Celebrates Twenty Years With Breezy Bowl, Grammy Win, BET Viewer's Choice Award and 11:11 Deluxe Album Release

 Chris Brown has fought back fiercely and triumphed brilliantly through the storm of negative media attention and legal battles he has experienced in the past. He still has some legal hurdles ahead. However,the pinnacle of success he has achieved today is really nothing short of miraculous. From a small town in Viginia to a global superstar. Resiliency is definitely in his DNA and must be one of his superpowers.

This year Breezy Bowl XX his concert tour received critical acclaim.

"According to Billboard Boxscore, the Breezy Bowl XX earned $295.5 million and sold 1.98 million tickets over 49 shows. Of those totals, $47.8 million and 490,000 tickets are from the tour’s European leg, and the remaining $247.8 million and 1.5 million tickets are from North American shows.^[1] The tour received critical acclaim, with reviewers praising Brown’s dancing, vocals, stage production, aerial stunts, audience engagement, and overall performance energy, with several describing the tour as a demonstration of Brown's continued prominence in R&B and pop music.^[6]"

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breezy_Bowl_XX?wprov=sfla1}

His deluxe album 11:11 was awarded a Grammy for Best R&b album in February. He gave thanks to god and graciously thanked his fans.

Residuals, his single from that album won the BET Viewer's Choice Award in June. Brown was not there to receive the award

Check out this video compilation of his best performances over the past 20 years:

Thousands Attend "No Kings" Protest Marches Across the Country and Globally

 No King's Washington, DC

No King's New York City

No Kings~Atlanta

No King's Atlanta  Georgia- Interview of Senator Raphael Warnock on site of protest.

No King's Detroit, Michigan

Protesters from all over the world marched and chanted slogans in unison in expressions of  discontent with the current administration's policies and their impact on the American people. I gathered some video footage from YouTube  to give you a view of some of the cities where the protests took place.

In a coordinated effort among community organizations, the ACLU and a host of civic and social organizations, protests were held in over 1,000 cities. More information forthcoming in our newsletters and podcast.

Breezy Bowl Chris Brown's Global Tour Celebrating Twenty Years Concludes Tonight in New Orleans

 

Tonight Chris Brown takes the stage in New Orleans at Caesar's palace to a sold out venue.

Tuesday night, October 14,  Raleigh North Carolina news station WRAL reported that mega star, r&b icon Chris Brown drew an audience  of 50,000 Lenovo Center capacity crowd of enthusiastic fans who patiently streamed in through gnarled and congested traffic and waited in line hours to see Brown perform on stage in a highly anticipated concert event. He was last there ten years ago. So fans were anxiously awaiting this concert after the decades long wait.

D'Angelo Neo-soul Genre Pioneer Passes

      Photo Credit- Roquai Creative Commons

 Grammy award winning recording artist and Neo-soul genre pioneer D'Angelo passed away yesterday at the age of 51 after a courageous private battle with pancreatic cancer. He was surrounded by his family. 

We send out our prayers of comfort and supportive  condolences to his family and friends. Stay tuned for podcast.

Rest in love, peace and honor.

Cynthia Wilson and the Chaplains ministry team