May 28th is Gladys Knight Day!!!
"Gladys Knight began singing with her siblings at age 8, calling themselves "the Pips." The group opened for R&B legends in the 1950s, then headed to Motown and crossed over to pop music. As Gladys Knight and the Pips, they recorded their signature song, "Midnight Train to Georgia." Knight left the Pips behind in 1989, and continued to perform and record as a solo artist. Today, she's known fondly as the "Empress of Soul." Thank you Ms. Knight for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about Gladys Knight. :-)
http://www.biography.com/people/gladys-knight-9542334
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v78-ftcqpNw
"Soul is just that inner spirit. I use that inner spirit for whatever it is I do." - Gladys Knight
May 28th is Jim Thorpe Day!!!
"Jim Thorpe was a Native American professional football and baseball player, known for his all-around athleticism. He was a gold-medal runner at the 1912 Olympics." you Mr. Thorpe for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about Jim Thorpe. :-)
http://www.cmgww.com/sports/thorpe/
"I have always liked sport and only played or run races for the fun of the thing." - Jim Thorpe
May 27th is Louis Gossett Jr. Day!!!
"He began acting in high school after being sidelined with a sports injury and attended New York University where he was a star basketball player. Though he was picked to play for the New York Knicks, he decided instead to pursue an acting career, making his Broadway debut in Lorraine Hansberry's acclaimed A Raisin in the Sun in 1959. Gossett continued to nurture his stage career, gaining notice for his eloquence and quiet authority. He parlayed this success onto the big screen; notable films include The Deep, Enemy Mine and The Punisher. In 1983, he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in An Officer and a Gentleman." Thank you Mr. Gossett Jr. for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about Louis Gossett Jr.
http://www.biography.com/people/louis-gossett-jr-212163
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdLOe1O-goQ
"Violence is a war, and the energy we exert on war, I would like to pray that energy gets reverted back to a communal effort to save the planet. So perhaps in my own small way I can generate some energy toward the salvation of the planet because when we win a war we win a dying planet." - Louis Gossett Jr.
May 27th is David Crosthwait Jr. Day!!!
"David Nelson Crosthwaite, Jr. studied mechanical engineering at Purdue University before taking a job with the C. A. Dunham Company. At Dunham, Crosthwait conducted innovative research, and designed the heat system for Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall. He held 119 patents - 39 in the U.S. and 80 internationally, all in relation to heating, cooling and temperature regulating technology." Thank you Mr. Crosthwait Jr. for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about David Crothwait Jr.
http://www.biography.com/people/david-nelson-crosthwait-jr-205623
May 26th is Aaron Douglas Day!!!
"Aaron Douglas was an African-American painter and graphic artist who played a leading role in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s. His first major commission, to illustrate Alain LeRoy Locke's book, The New Negro, prompted requests for graphics from other Harlem Renaissance writers. By 1939, Douglas started teaching at Fisk University, where he remained for the next 27 years." Thank you Mr. Douglas for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about Aaron Douglas.
http://www.biography.com/people/aaron-douglas-39794
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL8pcuuZNNM
"(L)et's bare our arms and plunge them deep through laughter, through pain, through sorrow, through hope, through disappointment, into the very depths of the souls of our people and drag forth material crude, rough, neglected. Then let's sing it, dance it, write it, paint it. Let's do the impossible." - Aaron Douglas
May 26th is Miles Davis Day!!!
"For nearly six decades, Miles Davis has embodied all that is cool – in his music (and most especially jazz), in his art, fashion, romance, and in his international, if not intergalactic, presence that looms strong as ever today. 2006 – The year in which Miles Davis was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame on March 13th – is a landmark year, commemorating the 80th anniversary of his birth on May 26, 1926, and the 15th anniversary of his death on September 28, 1991. In between those two markers is more than a half-century of brilliance – often exasperating, brutally honest with himself and to others, uncompromising in a way that transcended mere intuition." Thank you Mr. Davis for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about Miles Davis. :-)
http://www.milesdavis.com/us/biography
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTfBpKzu6XA
"A legend is an old man with a cane known for what he used to do. I'm still doing it." - Miles Davis
May 25th is Bill "Bojangles" Robinson Day!!!
So, I could tell you all about Mr. Robinson's history and all the performances, plays, movies, etc., but rather that go into all of that they real appreciation for this amazing and wonderful man is his dancing and his demeanor!!! With that said I think the best way to know and learn about how great he was and all he did for the hoofing/tap community as well as Broadway and Hollywood, is to watch him in action. He is a pioneer of tap and nothing would have ever been the way it was in the 30's and 40's without him!!! Mr. Robinson was a true original and a true Hoofer! Please take the time to learn more about him today, but also watch some videos and clips to see the originality and grace in action! Thank you Mr. Robinson for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about Bill "Bojangles" Robinson.
http://www.biography.com/people/bill-bojangles-robinson-9460594
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRo-aC1pggg
"Everything's copacetic" - Bill Robinson
"Gladys Knight began singing with her siblings at age 8, calling themselves "the Pips." The group opened for R&B legends in the 1950s, then headed to Motown and crossed over to pop music. As Gladys Knight and the Pips, they recorded their signature song, "Midnight Train to Georgia." Knight left the Pips behind in 1989, and continued to perform and record as a solo artist. Today, she's known fondly as the "Empress of Soul." Thank you Ms. Knight for all of your contributions and inspiration! Please click the link below and learn more about Gladys Knight. :-)
