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The Ru Report #156

True Rhythm And Blues

Tony Award winning thespian Ruben Santiago-Hudson is ready for his close-up.

Well sort of.

This Saturday (Feb. 12), the 49-year-old Broadway favorite hits the big time when HBO premieres his truest labor of love--"Lackawanna Blues," an autobiographical homage to the history and heroine-ism of his adoptive momma.

Adapted from Mr. Santiago-Hudson's critically-acclaimed, off-Broadway, one-man show of the same name, the film is colorful, candid and filled with music, dance and sexual energy. The much-heralded Tony Award winning theatrical wizard George C. Wolfe makes his film directing debut with the HBO Films presentation. And he does a superlative job. Academy Award winning beauty Halle Berry steps up to the plate and serves as Executive Producer of the project, which has everyone from coast to coast buzzing.

Featuring a virtual who's who of Black Hollywood, "Lackawanna Blues" is marvel … a tour-de-force…a crowning achievement for Black Hollywood. We're talking about people like Mos Def, Jeffrey Wright, Marcus Carl Franklin, Delroy Lindo, Carmen Ejogo, Louis Gossett Jr., Macy Gray, Hill Harper, Terrence Dashon Howard, Ernie Hudson, Rosie Perez, Henry Simmons, Jimmy Smits, Charlayne Woodard and the incomparable S. Epatha Merkerson in the lead real-life role of Rachel "Nanny" Crosby.

It was a few years to bring it to the screen, but the end result will hopefully provide a blueprint for future works of this ilk.

For this edition of "The RU Report," Mr. Santiago-Hudson weighed in on the movie, his life, his mission and more, including the recent and abrupt of his latest Broadway show, August Wilson's "Gem Of The Ocean"…

The Praise For Lackawanna

That's my baby. It's a blessing. It's another testimony to the power of Nanny and her love and the extent of her reach of her love, and want and comfort and safety. She just reached out and embraced me and everyone around her and this film is just another part of that embracing of her culture and her people.

Transferring Lackawanna

I had to sacrifice some of the poetry of the play because I had to do more visuals. Yet some of the visuals that George created are so poetic that it compensates any words that I didn't have. He does the same poetry, but visually. And so wherever I lost I was rewarded with something visual and vital in another way because that's the way George directs. He directs exuberantly and beautifully and all encompassing. And this is how he directed this movie. So he brought whatever I lost in words, he brought in vision. It was a good balance.

Its Importance

It's important in a few ways. I can go on but I will tell you two or three serious ways. One is that it shows the power of community, the power of love. It also shows that when you see a child with the right nurturing and the right love and the right guidance, one should see the possibilities in that child. And that's not that that little black boy is going to grow up to be a gangster, but that little black boy might grow up the be the president or might grow up to be a doctor or a teacher…

Or an Obie and Tony Award winning thespian!

Yeah. I was fortunate and I was really blessed. And I realize that it all comes from somebody bigger than you and I and I just have to continue to be humble and keep my integrity and do the best work that I could possibly do.

Epatha's Embodiment

Epatha is amazing in this 'Lackawanna Blues' and you will hear her name sung a lot of times this year when the award ceremonies come up. I'm sure of it. She just embodies Nanny and she went inside of herself and she revealed things about Epatha as a person and as an actress that I don't think anybody has ever seen. And we were just very happy to have her and very, very proud to have her."

The Mastery Of George C. Wolfe

George is a visionary. He's a man that's uncompromising in his integrity. He has a very clear vision in a story he wants to tell. And he goes about it in a masterful way. He's a great collaborator and a very, very astute intellectual. And very proud of all he is, proud of being African American, proud of being from Frankfort, Kentucky, proud of being a gay African American male. Everything he is, he celebrates it. Whatever he puts his hand on, he will show that integrity on it. And that's the kind of picture you want to be involved in, you don't want to compromise in dealing with telling a story about your mother and your people. You get a man like George and you know he's going to sink his feet deeply into the earth and say 'I'm standing right here and y'all can push me and knock me over but I'm going to bounce right back.' That's the kind of guy that you want to lead you into the war.

Getting Halle

We go way back and she's a friend and she's been somebody who's been incredibly supportive of me in my career. And I have a belief and a support of her and it's good to have allies like that and people that will believe in you and that will support you. When you have someone like Halle in your corner, you know you have a jewel there.

His Passion

I'm extremely passionate about rearranging or changing the distorted images of my people in this country because the images that have been projected of us are absolutely distorted. So I'm very passionate about getting up in the morning and finding ways to tell the truth about the beauty and the integrity and the dignity of the African American and the Latino people in this country. I'm very passionate about that. And more than anything, my biggest passion is my family. I love my family and not just my immediate family but my extended family and I mean the people that I work with trust me and love including …George Wolfe. Those two things are what really make me get up in the morning and know how blessed I am because I will make a difference in the images that have been so brutally distorted. Every time we look up we got young brothers running around in the streets on these TV films with guns and in these videos… and all the women are sex objects and all the men are just hoodlums. And that's not who we are, that's not who raised me. And I'm just a piece of the fabric of all that they've contributed to me, the love and the guidance. This is who we are. Yeah we may have been the garbage man but we came home and we were kings and we were appreciated and cherished, with songs and we laughed loud and we cried hard and we shared. That's who we are.

Losing The Gem

It's really ridiculous. It's an insult. It's really hard. It's been one of the hardest things that I've had happen in my theater career--to see this play go down like this after it was so well received and so appreciated. And to see us get our legs cut out from underneath us in the middle of African American history month is just an insult in a certain way. The whole month was designed for us to have integrity and to show our dignity and out contribution and to celebrate our culture and to then not have the opportunity to do so because were playing in somebody else's venue is hurtful. This is something that I'd probably will be talking about for a long time. I have to rise above it and move forward…

The Curse Of August Wilson

The curse is that he's depending on people who don't have invested emotionally, and passionately and historically the way he has in the history of his people. This ain't the history of their people so it doesn't mean that much for them to step on it like that. [Broadway theater company] Jujamcyn and them made their business decision, it wasn't based on passion, it wasn't based on art, it wasn't based on anything other than 'We think this other play can make more money. We don't know but we think it can.' 'But oh, this is black history month.' 'Oh, that's alright. We still have to make a decision and we have to pay our bills.' They've been paying it with "Gem Of The Ocean."

Looking To The Future

I'm pursuing acting and looking for jobs, looking for auditions. I'm real about doing jobs with integrity so I don't get as many jobs as I possibly could. I look at things and I shake my head and I say, 'I can't do this.' And that stops me from becoming an A-list actor. If I would just bite the bullet and say 'How many days? How much money?' I would be further along in my career but I'm very pleased about how my career has gone and I don't regret anything I've done."

The American Way
Loews Cineplex Entertainment Corporation recently announced an expanded partnership with American Express as the "Official Card" at all Loews-operated theaters nationwide. As part of the partnership, Amex will provide Loews with special on-screen content such as the current My Life My Card series with Laird Hamilton, Robert DeNiro and Ellen DeGeneres. Also both companies will work together to develop special Cardmember benefits.

The companies will inaugurate their partnership with a sweepstakes celebration of Hollywood and the Oscars called Their Fame, Your Fortune. Consumers can enter the sweepstakes by entering their movie ticket number online at Enjoytheshow.com. After registering, participants will receive a random list of Academy Award nominees in 10 categories, including "Best Actor" and "Best Actress." Those matching all 10 winners will receive $100, 000. Participants matching nine, eight and seven categories win American Express Gift Cards in various denominations. Additionally, all participants will be entered to win a trip to the 2006 Academy Awards' red carpet.

"We are extremely excited to be working with a company such as American Express," said John McCauley, Senior Vice President of Marketing of Loews Cineplex Entertainment Corporation. "We both see the opportunity for not only entertaining communication within the theatre environment, but also as a platform to provide incremental benefits and exclusive access to our guests and their members."

And the coveted credit card company has some irons in the fire on the music front too. Fans and Cardmembers unable to attend the sold out Pre-Grammy Award Jam Sessions –for four nights of intimate concerts at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, February 9 through February 12-- will be able to experience the events firsthand through a variety of new channels. One of them are the A&E Network's telecast, airing February 20, featuring concert clips from shows by Kid Rock, Alanis Morissette and the Black Eyed Peas. Another is the re-broadcast of Kanye West's American Express Jam Sessions concert, featuring an opening performance by AOL Music Breaker artist John Legend. The archived show will be available on demand via America Online for 60 days. Tickets to the House of Blues events were available exclusively to American Express Cardmembers.

Etc
Emmy and Grammy Award winning funnyman Chris Rock is giving the CD thing another go. The man the New York Times called "the funniest and smartest comedian working today" released his latest comedy album, "Never Scared," next Tuesday via Geffen Records. Culled from his HBO comedy concert special of the same name, the new CD is his first since 2000's Grammy-winning "Bigger & Blacker." "Never Scared" even features a bonus DVD with behind-the-scenes footage. On February 27, the Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn native will host the 77th Annual Academy Awards.

Multi-Award winning music legend Dionne Warwick has a date with the Queen. During the last weekend of the month, the legendary song stylist will perform aboard The Queen Mary, in collaboration with the City of Long Beach's presentation of "Siyavuka," a three-day celebration of Black History aboard the historic ocean liner. The word "Siyavuka," which means "we are waking up," originated from an indigenous South African tribe known as Xhosa (pronounced Ko-sa). Siyavuka, which is sponsored by PacifiCare's African American Health Solutions (AAHS), promises to be a one-of-a-kind wakening experience that will stimulate the mind, heart and soul of the community and surrounding residents of Southern California. According to an event organizer, this is the very first Black History Month celebration for the City of Long Beach. For more information, log onto Queenmary.com or call 562-435-3511.

Notable/Quotable
It's blunt business. Yes, it would be fantastic if I had my pick of the litter of anything I wanted to do, but by the same token, I've made a comfortable living, and I don't sit at home and see a lot of roles I didn't get.
--Oscar nominated actor Don Cheadle, who currently can be seen in three current theatrical releases "Hotel Rwanda," "Ocean's Twelve" and "The Assassination of President Nixon."

©2005 The Ru Report™. All Rights Reserved~~P.O. Box #25 Bushkill PA 18324

Message Karu F Daniels or email him directly at therureport@aol.com

Karu F. Daniels

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