Thinking Kinky : The Nappy Haired Diva

The Turner’s Elaine hurriedly grabbed for her tattered black handbag as she exited her 1994 black mustang. She hadn’t washed her hair in about five days and piling her thick black locks high in a bun atop her head wasn’t going to disguise her neglect much longer. She felt the familiar breeze of the air against her backside and routinely hiked up her low rise skinny jeans to cover the inadvertent peepshow her buttocks were giving. Her saddle colored leather jacket looked about as done for as her hair, but that wasn’t something she was willing to change. She head for the school doors taking a brisk stride. Her long legs kicked upward, as if she were practicing her best goose step in some foreign army; likely the consequence of wearing cumbersome motorcycle boots. As she strode toward the principal’s office she sighed and curled the top corner of her upper lip, making no effort to hide her annoyance when she spotted Belinda. Belinda was impeccably dressed as always and returne...

There are plenty of songs out there for the secret admirer who croons longingly how much they would go out of the way to please that special someone. Most times the lyrics are pretty juicy and you walk away pitying the person who has not one clue as to how much good would come to them if they discovered the person admiring them and gave them an opportunity to fulfill all of their promises. Last weekend I was listening to the song "If" by Janet Jackson with my sister and we were cackling over the lyrics. Here the gorgeous Janet Jackson is singing about all of the naughty things she would do to this man who has no idea at all. After listening to that song, I thought of Prince, how years earlier made his own song for the secret admirer called "If I Was Your Girlfriend". Later in the week, my soon to be ex husband came over to see our kids and when it came time to leave, his girlfriend picked him up. This was news to me. I had no clue that he had a girlfriend seeing tha...

Dreamgirls was a successful Broadway play for years. It even made it's way to the big screen in 2006. Original headliners of the staged version included then little known Loretta Divine and now long forgotten Jennifer Holliday. Watching the performance of the then robust and popular Holliday allowed me to witness her successful portrayal of the scorned character Effie White. In a passionate performance she screamed, sobbed and belted the lyrics of "And I Am Telling You, I'm Not Going" in such a way that years later many have made a valiant effort to match her vocal bravado in singing the same song. Of those attempts, most have fallen far from the mark. With this knowledge, I wondered why was it that Jennifer Hollidays career didn't move much further beyond her Dreamgirls fame. Upon doing a bit of google research ( not the most reliable, but definitely the most convenient) I have found several theories as to why Jennifer Holiday's career came to a standstill...