Text by By Dawoud Kringle On the morning of September 1st, 2018, pianist and composer Randy Weston was called home. Randy Weston was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1926. to Vivian (née Moore; a native of Virginia) and Frank Weston (of Jamaican-Panamanian descent, who owned a restaurant in Brooklyn where Weston was raised). His father […]
A musical legend, Aretha Franklin has been called to her final rest… Text by Dawoud Kringle The news of Aretha Franklin’s passing came as no shock. It was common knowledge she had been gravely ill for a long time. Just days before her passing, news of her severe illness made international news. Nonetheless, it’s impossible […]
Text by Dawoud Kringle (with Ken Hatfield) The U.S. House of Representatives embraced music licensing reform, and supported the efforts to update the US’ antiquated copyright laws. The new Senate bill combines three separate pieces of legislation: 1. The Music Modernization Act of 2018 (S.2334, introduced by Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) in […]
Text by Dawoud Kringle On Wednesday, July 18th, one of the largest vote margins in support of the Endowments, the U.S. House of Representatives defeated an amendment that would have cut funding the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). The House voted down the Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI) […]
Text by Dawoud Kringle On July 16th, 2018, the House Rules Committee approved a potential amendment that funding to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) would be cut by 15% to each agency; a total of $46 million. The amendment was sponsored by Rep. Glenn Grothman […]
