14 cities. And We Back Tour #starline https://t.co/RnOB9W5sk9

‘From Donda to Northwest: The Impact from the Grandmother She Never Knew’: https://t.co/s0E74WtsH0 #NorthWest #NorthWest

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Jamila Woods changed my life several times

I wrote this earlier in the year. Let’s run it back for #NorthWest ‘From Donda to North West: The Impact from the Grandmother She Never Knew’:

I wrote all about this on my Substack:

Sometimes delayed doesn’t mean denied and Samuel L. Jackson is proof. Y’all ready for The Piano Lesson???

And now, the 2024 film adaptation releases on Netflix, November 8, and Jackson resumed his role as Doaker Charles.

But wait, it gets better. The director was LaTanya Richardson Jackson, wife of Samuel L. Jackson.

And here is where it gets good. In 2022, 35 years later, The Piano Lesson had a Broadway revival, and guess who was cast? Samuel L. Jackson! Instead of playing the role of Boy Willie, Jackson was cast as the family patriarch, Doaker Charles.

“I drowned myself in a drug-fueled kind of craziness and ended up in rehab, which, you know, started a whole other journey for me." -Samuel L. Jackson

So by the time the play traveled and came back to Broadway, and I was an understudy, I was pretty much devastated that I wasn't going to make my Broadway debut.“

"I had the opportunity to create Boy Willie at Yale and became very attached to it, probably a little too much.“

The Piano Lesson went on to have runs at The Huntington Theatre Company, Goodman Theatre, and The John F. Kennedy Center. On April 16, 1990, The Piano Lesson opened on Broadway at Walter Kerr Theatre. This crushed Jackson, causing him to spiral back into drug use.

Jackson was in the very 1st production of The Piano Lesson in 1987 at Yale Repertory Theatre. He originated the role of Boy Willie. Jackson completed the run at Yale Rep, but afterwards was replaced by Charles Dutton.

Let me tell y’all how God spinned the block for Samuel L. Jackson in #ThePianoLesson

In all the hubbub of last week, I neglected to mention that I was on The Daily Show 😬😅

Buddy Guy is retiring at age 88. Wonderful profile of a Chicago Legend from @borrelli: https://t.co/eWbwC0fbKQ

The Holy Ghost

Black Cowboys and Cowgirls of Dallas Texas at the 35th annual Black Invitational Rodeo 2024 Photographed by Justin Hardiman