Art

Oakland Entertainment Veterans Emerge from COVID-19 with New Mission

Their ongoing mission is to explore, identify and make strategic investments and create foundational opportunities that promote job creation and sustainable, generational wealth-building in Oakland’s African American community.

Published

4 years ago

June 26, 2021

Isabelle Price

Photo courtesy of NMG Network via Unsplash

Oakland, like many major U.S. cities, has been severely impacted by recent unprecedented events. The COVID-19 pandemic leads the procession of crises that have shaken the city’s economic foundation and uprooted individuals, communities and businesses. Arguably, one of the industries hit hardest has been that of arts and entertainment as those venues have been shuttered for well over a year.

The Oakland Business Collective (OBC) is a newlyformed group of longtime friends, all arts and entertainment professionals who decided to join forces, combine resources and make a difference by revitalizing Oakland’s arts and entertainment scene.

The principals of OBC have logged well over 200 combined years of show-biz experience. The six seasoned African American men “of a certain age” specialize in television and film production, theatre production, all aspects of the music business, concert promotion, venue management, tour management, artist representation, hospitality, transportation, staff training and management, food and beverage, marketing, advertising, promotions, sales, radio production and programming, youth mentorship, community services and more.

With the development of five-year and long-term strategic plans in the works and extraordinary relationships in the African American media, small business, sports and community sectors, OBC is not only positioned to pilot the return of arts and entertainment to the city but to restore it to the front and center placement it formerly enjoyed in Oakland.

“I could not be more excited to be part of OBC. Working with five other distinguished professionals of this caliber is like being a part of the Bay Area entertainment dream team,” said OBC member and Oakland native Marcus King. “I feel privileged to make history once again in the very place with the same people I started my entertainment career. I’m humbled to have the opportunity to grow the Bay Area entertainment landscape while mentoring the next generation of entertainment producers and executives.”

King is a veteran film and TV executive producer of vehicles like “The Jamie Foxx Show,” “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper,” “Ray,” “Redemption: The Stanley “Tookie” Williams Story,” and numerous television specials. He’s the co-founder of the Laffapolooza Comedy Festival and Foxxhole Radio. He’s the former manager of Academy Award- and Grammy Award-winning superstar Jamie Foxx and legendary R&B recording artists, the Isley Brothers.

Tony Phruishun Spires, is an executive producer of the TV show “Gimme Five,” former talent producer of BET’s “Comic View” and talent consultant on HBO’s “Def Comedy Jam.” He’s a veteran filmmaker, theatre artist, poet/spoken-word artist. He’s the longtime manager of comedian/actor Don “DC” Curry and served as the manager of DL Hughley, Laura Hayes and Faizon Love. He’s the founder of the legendary Bay Area Black Comedy Competition & Festival, which helped launch the careers of many notable artists. He’s also co-founder and producing artistic director of the youth arts non-profit, Full Vision Arts Foundation.

Lionel Bea of Bay Area Productions, has been Oakland’s and the Bay Area’s leading African American concert promoter for more than three decades. Producer of the famed Stone Soul concert series and the Black Comedy Explosion, he has promoted concerts and tours by A-list artists such as Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé, Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind & Fire.

Henry Royal has been an entertainment executive for more than 30 years. As the former proprietor of San Francisco’s DAS Club and general manager of Oakland’s Kimball’s Carnivale he hosted icons such as Eddie Murphy and Paula Abdul and helped launch the careers of legendary Oakland artists: Rap superstar MC Hammer, R&B Sensation group Tony! Toni! Toné! And comedian Mark Curry. He’s managed tours for A-list artists including: Prince, Sheila E., Lionel Richie, Patti Labelle, and Santana. He currently is the managing general partner of Royal Paramount Limousine.

Kyle Newport has been a strategic advertising and live event marketing professional for more than 30 years. He has served as an artist manager, tour manager and promoter representative. He has worked closely with artists such as: Frankie Beverly, Will Downing, Charlie Wilson and Cedric The Entertainer.

Geoffrey Pete owns Geoffrey’s Inner Circle, the famed entertainment venue and multipurpose banquet facility in downtown Oakland where he has hosted such greats as Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan, Congresswomen Barbara Lee and Maxine Waters, Beyoncé, Sean Penn, E-40, Too Short, Jay-Z, the late Congressman Ron Dellums, Alice Walker, former Senator Barbara Boxer, Johnny Cochran and Vice President Kamala Harris.

For several decades, Mr. Pete has been involved in direct political action to advance the cause of education and economic empowerment for African Americans. On his OBC membership Mr. Pete comments, “One God, one aim, one destiny.”

Isabelle Price

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Activism

Griot Theater Company Presents August Wilson’s Work at Annual Oratorical Featuring Black Authors

The performance explores the legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson whose 10-play Century Cycle chronicles the African American experience across the 20th century, with each play set in a different decade. “Half a Century” journeys through the final five plays of this monumental cycle, bringing Wilson’s richly woven stories to life in a way that celebrates history, resilience, and the human spirit.

Published

1 month ago

February 17, 2025

Oakland Post

Late playwright August Wilson. Wikipedia photo.

By Godfrey Lee

Griot Theater Company will present their Fifth Annual Oratorical with August Wilson’s “Half a Century,” at the Belrose on 1415 Fifth Ave., in San Rafael near the San Rafael Public Library.

The performance explores the legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson whose 10-play Century Cycle chronicles the African American experience across the 20^th century, with each play set in a different decade. “Half a Century” journeys through the final five plays of this monumental cycle, bringing Wilson’s richly woven stories to life in a way that celebrates history, resilience, and the human spirit.

Previous performance highlighting essential Black American authors included Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, and Lorraine Hansberry with Langston Hughes.

The play will be performed at 3:00. p.m. on Feb. 20, 21, 22, 27, and 28 at 7:00 p.m., and on Feb. 23 at 3:00 p.m.

For more information, go to griottheatercompany.squarespace.com/productions-v2

Oakland Post

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Activism

MLK Day of Service Volunteers Make Blankets and Art for Locals in Need

“Everyone has an opportunity to participate,” said Glenda Roberts, kinship support care program manager at CCYSB. “Our nonprofit organization and participants recognize how important it is to give back to the community and this is serving. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, ‘Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve.’”

Published

2 months ago

January 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Photo courtesy of the nonprofit.

By Kathy Chouteau
The Richmond Standard

The Contra Costa Youth Service Bureau (CCYSB) and Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church (BMBC) are collaborating with a team of volunteers for a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, Monday, Jan. 20 that will wrap the community’s most vulnerable people in warm blankets and provide them with an uplifting gift of art.

Volunteers will kick off their activities at BMBC at 11 a.m., making blankets for the unhoused people served by the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program (GRIP) and art for those in convalescence in Richmond.

Others will get to work preparing a lunch of chili, salad, a veggie tray, and water for participants, offered courtesy of CCYSB, while supplies last.

“People of all ages are welcome to participate in the MLK Day of Service,” said Roberts. Volunteers can RSVP via phone to Glenda Roberts at 510-215-4670, ext. 125.

CCYSB Boardmember Jackie Marston and her friends donated the materials and supplies to make the blankets and art projects. The nonprofit is also providing the day’s complimentary lunch, as well as employees to volunteer, under the direction of CCYSB Executive Director Marena Brown.

BMBC, led by Rev. Dr. Carole McKindley-Alvarez, is providing the facility for the event and volunteers from the church, which is located at 684 Juliga Woods St. in Richmond.

Located in Richmond, CCYSB is a nonprofit youth advocacy organization that serves eligible children, youth, and low-income families with a variety of wraparound services so they can thrive. Programs include academic achievement, youth mentorship, truancy prevention and direct response.

Oakland Post

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Art

Vandalism at Richmond Ferry Terminal Saddens Residents

Residents have been lamenting the destruction online. Ellen Seskin posted photos of the vandalism to the Facebook group, Everybody’s Richmond, on Jan. 12, saying she encountered it while out on a walk. “It was on the sidewalk, the street, the doors to the ferry, even in the art installation and the ‘stone’ benches,” she said. “I reported it but knowing how slow they are about getting things done — I just know that the longer you leave graffiti, the more likely they are to spray it again.”

Published

2 months ago

January 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Graffiti mars the walkway at the Richmond Ferry Terminal. Photo by Kathy Chouteau, The Richmond Standard.

The Richmond Standard

“This is why we can’t have nice things,” stated the post on NextDoor.

The post referenced images of graffiti at the Richmond Ferry Terminal. Not just on the terminal, but also on public artwork, on trail signs, on public benches and the boardwalk.

On Wednesday, the Standard stopped by to see it for ourselves. The good news was that it appears the graffiti on the terminal and on the artwork, called Changing Tide, have been cleaned for the most part. But graffiti remained abundant in the area around the relatively new ferry terminal, which opened to the public just six years ago.

Graffiti artists tagged benches and the boardwalk. Cars that had done doughnuts in the street marked the cul-de-sac just outside the historic Craneway Pavilion.

A ferry worker told us the graffiti had been there since before he started working for the ferry service about a week ago.

A member of the Army Corps of Engineers who did not want to be named in this report called the scene “sad,” as “they’d done such a nice job fixing it up.”

“It’s sad that all this money has been spent and hoodlums just don’t care and are destroying stuff,” he said.

It wasn’t immediately clear how soon the graffiti would be removed. The Standard reported the graffiti to the city’s graffiti abatement hotline. We were prompted to leave a message reporting the address and location of the graffiti.

“It was on the sidewalk, the street, the doors to the ferry, even in the art installation and the ‘stone’ benches,” she said. “I reported it but knowing how slow they are about getting things done — I just know that the longer you leave graffiti, the more likely they are to spray it again.”

In the comment section responding to Seskin’s post, local attorney Daniel Butt questioned why there aren’t cameras in the area.

On Nextdoor, one resident suggested searching to see if the tags match any accounts on Instagram, hoping to identify the perpetrator.

On its website, the City of Richmond says residents should graffiti immediately call Public Works graffiti removal and/or Code Enforcement at 510-965-4905.

Kathy Chouteau contributed to this report.