INSIDE
What better time than now to celebrate Black history. As the federal government goes about dismantling social programs aimed at bettering the lives of Black Americans of all classes, the time is right to push back. Never stop pushing back, because all those little acts of rebellion are adding up. Not that we want to be (too) nasty now. This is a celebration, so let’s celebrate. Step inside. On pg. 17, food critic Laurie James highlights several Black-owned restaurants worth a visit if you haven’t
Power Plays
Five artists share their thoughts on Black music in Fort Worth and across the globe.
By Steve Steward, Patrick Higgins, and Juan R. Govea
Alpha Men
Several local Black fraternities helped make the MLK Day Parade a successful day of service.
By Jason Brimmer
On the Bus
Christopher Blay’s new public artwork is definitely furthering the cultural conversation about progress.
By Anthony Mariani
Money Power
Cup O’Vibes, Smoke ‘N Ash, Carpenter’s Cafe, and so many more Black eateries await.
By Laurie James
been already, while on pg. 23, our music writers compile a playlist of and chat with some of Fort Worth’s best Black talents now and then. There’s also a closeup look at the recent MLK Day Parade (pg. 5), and as I go for a metaphoric ride along a new public artwork fabricated from a vintage public bus on pg. 15, Madelyn Edwards profiles North Texas’ oldest and arguably only Black troupe, Jubilee Theatre. All this and so much more. The time is now. Let’s roll. — Anthony Mariani, editor
Anthony Mariani, Editor
Lee Newquist, Publisher
Bob Niehoff, General Manager
Michael Newquist, Regional Director
Ryan Burger, Art Director
Jennifer Bovee, Marketing Director
Clint “Ironman” Newquist, Brand Ambassador
Emmy Smith, Proofreader
Julie Strehl, Account Executive
Sarah Niehoff, Account Executive
Stacey Hammons, Senior Account Executive
Tony Diaz, District Manager
Wyatt Newquist, Account Executive
CONTRIBUTORS
Christina Berger, E.R. Bills, Jason Brimmer, Buck D. Elliott, Juan R. Govea, Patrick Higgins, Laurie James, Kristian Lin, Cody Neathery, Wyatt Newquist, Steve Steward, Teri Webster, Ken Wheatcroft-Pardue, Elaine Wilder, Cole Williams
EDITORIAL BOARD
Laurie James, Anthony Mariani, Emmy Smith, Steve Steward
COPYRIGHT
The entire contents of Fort Worth Weekly are Copyright 2024 by Ft. Worth Weekly, LP. No portion may be reproduced in whole or in part by any means, including electronic retrieval systems, without the express written permission of the publisher. Please call the
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DISTRIBUTION
Photo by Dallas-based photographer RaShawd Anthony Solomon. His work focuses on lifestyle and fashion, blending artistic storytelling with striking visuals optimized for modern platforms.
Keep Fort Worth Beautiful is hosting its 40th Annual Cowtown Great American Cleanup! This is the City’s largest cleanup event of the year, averaging approximately 4,500 volunteers each year. The first 4,000 volunteers to register will receive a free t-shirt. All volunteers receive litter cleanup supplies.
After the cleanup, celebrate Earth Party at Rockwood Park from 11 am - 1 pm to show appreciation for all the hard work done to keep our city clean and green.
Let’s not forget about the Trashion Fashion Show! Reduce, reuse, and refashion is the foundation for this event. Deadline for submissions by Thursday, March 27.
Saturday March 29, 2025 8 - 11 am
For details about the Cleanup, Earth Party, and Trashion Fashion Show, visit www.fortworthtexas.gov/cowtowncleanup.
Dreaming On
Fort Worth’s MLK parade was just the start of a day of service for several local Black fraternities.
STORY AND PHOTOS BY
JASON BRIMMER
After the high school bands had marched through the streets of downtown, playing thunderously loud; after the sound of high-polish JROTC dress shoes clicking rhythmically on the pavement had echoed away; after the fleet of Corvettes and jeeps carrying the newly crowned Miss Juneteenth pageant winners had parked; and after all the speeches celebrating the dream of Martin Luther King Jr. had been delivered, a group of local Black fraternities got down to the business of keeping not just the dream alive but also making sure that MLK’s message of service to the community was carried out.
Members of Alpha Phi Alpha, as well as other local Black fraternities, joined in the 40th Annual Fort Worth MLK Day Parade despite the bracingly cold morning weather. The parade, organized by the Greater Fort Worth MLK Holiday Committee, had been postponed due to inclement weather once before.
Vince Adams, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, said that “events like this are of vital importance,” so that the community can see that the dream of MLK is still important, still worth striving for, and still, in spite of the politics of the day, within reach.
Founded on Dec. 4, 1906, Alpha Phi Alpha was the first Black Greek letter organization. “MLK was an Alpha man,” Adams remarked with pride as marching bands from Paschal and Dunbar high schools made their way into Sundance Square.
Adrian Gray, president of the Fort Worth chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, spoke about MLK’s message of service to and for the community. “My whole life has been about service.”
It’s also vital, he continued, for young boys to see “men being men, helping out in the community.”
For Alpha Phi Alpha, enabling young Black men to attain the highest levels of education while mentoring them to be responsible, solid members of the community is paramount.
Once the parade concluded, Omega Psi Phi, another Black fraternity, and the rest of the Alpha men convened at the downtown YMCA, where they gathered and packaged up necessities to be delivered to those in need.
“We are about serving,” Adams said, “really, genuinely serving our community, and making a difference. Whether it is mentoring, whether it is advocating for the less fortunate or disenfranchised, our organization is about service, about helping to realize that great dream.” l
Mummy Mask (detail), Roman,
A.D. 120–170, stucco/gesso with paint, gold leaf, and glass inlays.
Kimbell Art Museum, AP 1970.05
METROPOLIS
Discrimination, Inequality, and Exclusion
Don’t like how things are going? Then DIE.
BY E.R. BILLS
As much as so many people associated with MAGA seem to hate acronyms designated for programs designed to actually make America great — or at least better (i.e., DEI, NPR, BLM, etc.) — you’d think they’d have come up with an acronym to signify their own program to stress their values and their goals in response to these difficult issues. They need their own catchy nomenclature that gets at the bedrock of who they really, indicates what they really stand for, and makes their own compelling, honest case. I can simp-athize.
And I’ve got it.
They should call their program to address their position and philosophy “Discrimination, Inequality, and Exclusion.” It perfectly and eloquently interprets their sincere intentions regarding these problems and encapsulates their political representatives’ policy designs to achieve these goals.
They simply have to swap a couple of the letters in the enemy’s acronym for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) with DIE. Again — and altogether now — Discrimination, Inequality, and Exclusion.
Why fix it if it ain’t broke?
I know, I know. The homos and vatos and journos will start screaming like the stuck pigs they are because they’ll know the silent majority has flipped the script on them again. They’ll be pissing themselves. Our pinko-commie, hippie-fag, bleeding-heart neighbors — err, I meant those hippie-fag, bleeding-heart neighbors (’cause we’re cahootin’ Putin now) — will be whining to their godless heaven. After swapping some letters, we can sit back and scoff at their knee-jerk humanity.
“Save the Whales” is suddenly Save the Wails (coming from entitled white people).
“Save the Rainforests” becomes Save the Vain Flourish (of unfairly put-upon billionaires).
“Coexist” transforms into Roll Sexist (and
After swapping some letters, we can sit back and scoff at their knee-jerk humanity.
Bible-mandated white-male fragility — the patriarchal foundation of this entire nation — is rightfully restored).
Turn the libtard lingo on its head, and — bam! — their intolerable impulse toward human decency is DOA. Because your new, bigger, better, winning, and, yes, great social program of Discrimination, Inequality, and Exclusion — DIE — is now the law of the land, and there’s nothing wackademics, the Fleece Corps, or Travesty International can do about it.
It’s stark, raving homogenous!
“Genius,” I mean.
If you’re here illegally because you fled some banana republic that our intelligence community destabilized and continued on page 9
made hardly inhabitable (once or repeatedly) — DIE. Go directly to ICE-y hell!
If you’re here already but descended from an ethnic group who were treated like livestock for the first 400 years after their arrival and are struggling with and suffering from (or *wink wink* faking) the effects of generational trauma or our continued active or passive-aggressive acumen for systemic inequality — DIE.
The Middle Passage is the only thing that allowed you to be a part of the diddled middle class in these United States of America to begin with!
If you’re having difficulty accepting or conforming to real Christian sexual mores and you just want to find someone like you who loves you, and you want that love accepted or at least in some way protected — DIE. The Holey Scripture says you’re an abomination, and that makes you a perversion averse to Judeo-heterosexual domination!
If you’re simply a normal human being who wants to enjoy the tenets of the formerly
admired American Way or strive toward what were previously known as American ideals, yearning for fairness, justice, hope, and the American Dream or even our national motto — e pluribus unum (diversity, equity, and inclusion by another name) — DIE. No one likes a smarty-pants anyway, and we’re sloganin’ with Rogan, who doesn’t know any Latin and makes millions two-centsing dreamy UFC wannabes that the motto is as blotto as the sentiment!
And if you don’t like our new makeup-caked, pornstar-extorted, flaccid, shitstain leader of the unfree world — you’re catching on now — DIE.
DIE.
DIE.
DIE. l
Fort Worth native E.R. Bills is the author of The 1910 Slocum Massacre: An Act of Genocide in East Texas and Tell-Tale Texas: Investigations in Infamous History
This column reflects the opinions and fact-gathering of the author(s) and only the author(s) and not the Fort Worth Weekly. To submit a column, please email Editor Anthony Mariani at Anthony@FWWeekly.com. He will gently edit it for clarity and concision.
Art by Robert Elrod
MORE TRAINS MORE OFTEN
Have you heard? Trinity Metro TEXRail now runs every 30 minutes thru early evening, every day! And it’s simply $2 a ride, too! Get all the details at .
STAGE
Welcome to the Family
Jubilee Theatre is home to creativity, learning, and diversity.
STORY AND PHOTOS BY MADELYN EDWARDS
On your first visit to Jubilee Theatre, which showcases stories about the African American experience, you are considered a good friend. A second trip downtown elevates you to companion status, and by the third visit, you are deemed part of the family.
That’s what audience members were told on a recent Saturday afternoon performance of The Movement, an a cappella musical that shines light on the group of Black teenagers who protested in Alabama during the Civil Rights movement. While catching up with D. Wambui Richardson, Jubilee’s artistic director, he defined this family as “a place where you are heard, where you are seen, where you are loved, where it is OK for us to disagree with one another, but it’s how we choose to disagree with one another.”
Jubilee Theatre is about halfway through its 44th season, which centers on roots and heritage — a fitting theme for a theater founded on Juneteenth of 1981.
Set in 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama, The Movement tells the true story of the Children’s Crusade, in which more than 1,000 students skipped school and marched downtown as part of a public demonstration. The play runs through March 2.
Created by Rudy and Marian Eastman in Fort Worth, Jubilee boasts the title of “original home of African American theater in North Texas.” Jubilee had its first season at 1801 E. Vickery Blvd., then became a nomadic theater as its players performed in multiple venues. In 1987, Jubilee moved into a dedicated space across from Texas Wesleyan University, then, by the ’90s, Jubilee’s board raised enough money to take over a space in Sundance Square, 506 Main St., where Jubilee resides today. From then on, the theater saw a period of growth in audience attendance, production values, budget, and accolades.
For Board President Anita Heiskell, Jubilee’s biggest accomplishment is its existence as “one of the only African American theaters in this area, having a place where people know where we are, and being able to produce and direct some amazing productions for people to come out and see.”
Richardson, who has 30 years of experience in the arts and has served at multiple
institutions throughout the country, joined the team at Jubilee in 2018. He’s the one who picks the productions each season, and he prioritizes creating a space where artists can grow their talents. Though Jubilee is dedicated to telling stories that illuminate the African American experience, Richardson said he looks for productions that unify all kinds of people.
Jubilee Managing Director Janaé Willis-Beard said, “We are a Black theater, but Black history is American history, and our stories are American stories. Our stories are for everyone.”
Not long after Richardson started at Jubilee, the pandemic hit and created a hardship for live theater across the country and world. While Jubilee did survive, and Heiskell even said the theater fared well during this time, getting people to attend in-person shows like they used to has been difficult. Richardson said before COVID, Jubilee could fill 93-95% of the theater for musicals and 80-85% for non-musicals. Attendance now is considerably less, and Richardson said he’s heard his contemporaries say, “60% is the new 100%.”
The reality, Richardson said, is that “we are more comfortable now at home, and so it’s about creating experiences that encourage us to come outside and really selling the vision and the importance of being and sharing the same space with one another.”
In the post-COVID theater scene, audiences show more support for productions that they are already familiar with.
“The tricky part is how do you educate an audience on something that they don’t know or something that hasn’t been on TV or a title that hasn’t been a book?” Richardson said. “Audiences want to go with something that’s tried and true. The reality of that is most theaters are not in a position to financially only produce those types of shows. The second part of that is if all of us as theaters were to only do the shows that have already been done, there’s a whole generation of young and emerging artists whose work would never be seen.”
For this reason, Jubilee’s production of The Movement (which runs through March 2) was a risk. Set in 1963 in Birmingham,
Alabama, it tells the true story of the Children’s Crusade, in which more than 1,000 students skipped school and marched downtown as part of a public demonstration. The characters describe themselves as ordinary teens of the day — cheerleaders, nerds, and football players, all motivated to do something to stop the violence against Black people. The kids stepped up, knowing that their parents could lose their jobs for protesting. The students endured police violence, and many were arrested. Media coverage of the demonstration grabbed the country’s attention, and the Civil Rights movement gained momentum from the crusade.
The Movement is a story about the past, but it also has connections with the current political climate as the teenagers wrestled with questions of how to make a difference and debated the best ways to protest. Even the history that Americans have access to is called into question by the musical’s very existence. The Movement recognizes that the audience is probably familiar with leading Civil Rights activists like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, but there is a knowledge gap when it comes to the students who participated in the Children’s Crusade.
“These young people are heroes, and we don’t know about them,” Heiskell said.
Continuing to create high-quality productions, like The Movement, is what Jubilee’s board of directors is focusing on moving forward, as well as fundraising. Heiskell called on the community to support Jubilee Theatre through donations and sponsorships, not just by buying tickets.
“When people buy tickets, that’s not what keeps the doors open,” Heiskell said. “It’s great for people to buy tickets and buy our season passes, our Flex Passes. We love that, but those aren’t the funds that keep us open. The funds that keep us open are the continuous donations and the sponsorships and things like that.”
Jubilee Theatre is also a place for creatives to learn and hone their crafts. The theater started a summer youth education program and is fundraising for a high school theater program in collaboration with local school districts. Jubilee also offers apprenticeship opportunities for production crew members to get experience.
“At the heart of our founders was for this to be a learning and teaching institution,” Willis-Beard said. “This was a space for them to come, learn, and then try it out, make mistakes, know it was going to be OK, and as a community, as a family, we help each other to get better at our craft and at our skills.”
For Willis-Beard, what makes Jubilee a special place to work is the creativity that flows throughout the theater and motivates those who inhabit the space.
“There’s something about being within the walls of Jubilee Theatre,” she said. “It awakens whatever type of creativity you have. It doesn’t have to necessarily be singing or dancing or drawing. It can just be the creative way that you look at problems, and you solve them. There’s something that is just in these walls, and when you come into this space, you begin to feel free and able to just express yourself however you need to.” l
Located at 506 Main St., Jubilee Theatre showcases stories about the African American experience. Productions during the theater’s 44th season are focused on roots and heritage.
Black Broadway Summer
Three local theater companies unite to bring Black American plays
to the local scene.
BY ELAINE WILDER
Circle Theatre and Stage West are teaming up with Dallas’ Soul Rep Theatre Company to bring three shows by Black American playwrights from the 2022-23 Broadway season to local stages this summer.
Ashley Oliver, general manager of Soul Rep, noticed that all three North Texas theaters were producing Black Broadway shows this season, which is a rarity. “I felt really invested in making the connection with Stage West and Circle Theatre.” They felt the same way, and a plan was devised to promote one another’s productions.
Guests who purchase a ticket to Ain’t No Mo’, A Strange Loop, or Fat Ham will receive a 20% discount on each of the other two shows. In a follow-up email for your first purchased show, you’ll find the discount codes for the other two productions and further instructions.
Soul Rep Theatre Company presents Ain’t No Mo’ by Jordan E. Cooper at the Kalita Humphreys Theater (3636 Turtle Creek Blvd, Dallas, 214-613-3268) 7:30pm Thu-Sat, Jun 5-7, and 2pm Sat and Sun, Jun 7-8. This comedy asks the question: What if the United States government offered Black Americans one-way plane tickets to Africa? The answer plays out in a comedic ride that blends avant-garde theater with drag, sketch, and satire. The story of this “great exodus” is told by an ensemble cast led by Peaches, a
What if the United States government offered Black Americans one-way plane tickets to Africa? Take a comedic ride at the local production of Ain’t No Mo’ and find out.
larger-than-life flight agent boarding the final plane leaving the country. Tickets start at $25 at SoulRep.org.
- JULY 19-12
Circle Theatre (230 W 4th St, Fort Worth, 817877-3040) is presenting A Strange Loop by Michael R. Jackson. This Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning musical explores the Black queer experience through the story of Usher, a musical theater writer who crafts a show about his own complex journey. See this show within a show at 7:30pm Thu, 8pm Fri-Sat, or 3pm Sat from Thu, Jun 19, to Sat, Jul 12. Individual tickets will be on sale soon at CircleTheatre.com/AStrangeLoop.
Explore the Black queer experience at Circle Theatre’s production of A Strange Loop.
AUGUSTSEPTEMBER 28-14
Stage West Theatre (821 W Vickery Blvd, Fort Worth, 817-784-9378) also has a Pulitzer Prize-winning play this summer. A retelling of Hamlet, Fat Ham by James Ijames centers on a queer Black man in a Southern family who is visited by the ghost of his father at a backyard barbecue and is asked to seek revenge but with a modern perspective on themes like masculinity and family trauma. Fat Ham is 7:30pm Thu-Sun or 2pm Sat-Sun from Thu, Aug 28, to Sun, Sep 14. Tickets are $38 at StageWest.org/Fat-Ham.
FREE FOOD | FREE ART | FREE TUNES Thursday, February 20 5–8 p.m. FREE
Enjoy an exclusive evening with free food and tunes for college and graduate students. Listen to music in the galleries, make some art, and get inspired by the Carter’s collection!
PLAN YOUR NIGHT
Fat Ham is a modern, Southern retelling of Hamlet at Stage West.
Fare Play
Hop
aboard Christopher
Blay’s bus for a subtle interrogation of our country’s (lack of) progress.
BY ANTHONY MARIANI
Christopher Blay’s new, sleek, scholarly public artwork glides into the cultural dialogue about progress as effortlessly and elegantly as a sing-songy MLK speech — a pretty heady achievement considering the “East Rosedale Monument Project” is wheel-less and bolted to the sidewalk.
This refabricated public bus honors bussing’s role in the Civil Rights movement and specifically the desegregation of public schools. With the seats and floor removed and the exterior dissected longways, the monument combines text, image, and a kind of
defiant inertia to achieve ignition. Inside, large panels of written history accompany archived black-and-white photos, while the profiled silhouettes of riders (contributed by KEEN/Kids Environmental Education Network Group) populate the metal meshing serving as the windows. Plus, a poem from Tarrant County’s 2023 youth poet laureate, April Pelton, scrolls across an LED display near the ceiling. Next stop: the crossroads where enlightened souls and bitter white folk meet.
This glorious, immersive knowledge bomb sits on East Rosedale Street on the historically Black South Side (right across the highway from the much less Black Near Southside). Fort Worth Public Art, the nonprofit that oversees hundreds of pieces throughout town and those yet to come, says the monument cost $282,543 to make, which I say is money well spent. I’ve been writing about Fort Worth art for over 20 years, and I can’t recall one piece of public art that’s not purely decorative generating as much press as the “East Rosedale Monument Project.”
I don’t imagine Blay’s big personality and easygoing way exactly hampering the extent and copiousness of the coverage. And he deserves it. The monument has been nearly a decade in the making. (The wheels of public art grind slower than this stationary vehicle’s nonexistent ones.) The effect is emboldening, especially for something so heavy on scholarship and history in a time when madmen are trying to erase both. The “East Rosedale
Monument Project” is great exactly where it is and could not work as a for-sale piece in any gallery — unless you know any millionaire Marxists.
The monument has a lot to say, figuratively and literally. America has always sucked at race relations, and while Obama’s landslide win brought us to a tipping point — “Racial equality is possible!” — the backlash is giving us racism unlike anything we’ve seen since some of the people in the photos adorning the monument were young. When the de facto president of the United States gives not one but two Nazi salutes and the mainstream media shrug, you know you’re going backward. Which is fine, because Blay’s monument is rolling forward. In deepred Fort Worth, too. The artwork is not afraid of history. It embraces it. In so many ways, this bus is quite a coup.
One of the first pieces I ever saw when I landed in town was a Blay. In an abandoned warehouse on the Near Southside (long before the neighborhood was gentrified), somehow — some dangerous how — Blay had hung empty ink bottles from the rafters at different lengths. I gave him props for that alone. I also loved his assorted time machines (installations of found objects like old dryer chairs), and Gallery 414 (R.I.P.) hosted a sprawling exhibit that brought third-world politics, photography, video, and Army men together for a highly esoteric but visually intriguing romp. After studying at TCU and under legendary Fort Worth photographer Peter Feresten, Blay will soon become director of
When an entire public art program — an entire city — is behind your now-subversive/ formerly edutaining work, maybe all hope is not lost.
public programs at the forthcoming National Juneteenth Museum in Fort Worth. He’s an artist of the highest order, and we’re lucky to have him and the “East Rosedale Monument Project.”
One thing I really love about public art is that it doesn’t have to be art-world referential. Unless you count other found-object refabricators, there’s really nothing like the monument. It’s not beautiful in any sense but is striking, memorable, hyper-modern. From a traditional, formic perspective, the red, orange, and yellow horizontal stripes along the side of the silver bus really make it pop against the drab, barren, grayish beige street. Philosophically, the suggestion of a longgone Day-Glo age, when hope was always just around the corner, warps time itself. No one will save us now.
Individual resistance is key, and when an entire public art program — an entire city is behind your now-subversive/formerly edutaining work, maybe all hope is not lost. Here’s some fuel. The “Grandmother of Juneteenth,” Fort Worthian Opal Lee appears in one of the panels carrying the banner for Fort Worth’s inaugural Martin Luther King Jr. parade in 1986. And Dr. Lee is still toting that message. There’s probably a meme out there talking about the same thing, but while a single raindrop isn’t much, enough of them can bring down a (white) house. The idea that small acts of rebellion can together topple a nascent autocracy is all we have, so cozy up to them. All aboard. l
All aboard! Next stop: Progresstown.
Abeeku Yankah
The profiled silhouettes of riders populate the metal meshing serving as the windows.
EATS & drinks
History Repeats Itself
Black History Month is pretty much every month at our local Black-owned restaurants.
BY LAURIE JAMES
In 1915, Black historian Carter J. Woodson proposed a week to recognize the accomplishments of Black Americans, aligning it with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. Flash forward to 1976, when President Gerald Ford officially recognized Black History Month, calling on Americans
At Carpenter’s Cafe and Catering, DEI includes everyone, and their mural, which spells “gather” in ASL, is proof.
to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans ... throughout our history.” Black History month has been commemorated by every president since then.
At Cup O’Vibes (800 E Sublett Rd, Ste 170, Arlington, 817-706-1451, @CupOVibes, CupOVibes.com), owner Charletra Sharp holds a competition for Black History Month. She takes nominees from the community for local heroes, then creates drinks in their honor. This year’s winners include former councilmember Marvin Sutton (a patriotic red-and-blue raspberry and white chocolate mocha for the Air Force veteran) and Nita Halliburton (a blackberry mocha for the Arlington Black Chamber maven). The Brittney Newton is a chai latte with rose and pistachio. Last weekend I met Newton, a CEO and blogger, at Cup O’Vibes and asked about
the drink. She said it’s a nod to her love of the color pink. It’s also super-tasty and slightly sweet but not overwhelmingly so.
In other coffee news, Black Coffee (1417 Vaughn Blvd, Fort Worth, 817-782-9867, @ BlackCoffeeFW, BlackCoffeeFW.com) celebrates the month with a blackberry matcha latte. Matcha, milk, blackberry puree, and a blackberry cold foam “symbolize the deep roots and vibrant spirit of Black history,” Black Coffee says. Meanwhile, HustleBlendz (120 St. Louis Av, Ste 101, Fort Worth, 817-875-6663, @ HustleBlendz, HustleBlendz.com) started 2025 off by adding Hustle Fuel smoothies to the extravagant coffee menu. There’s the warming, mildly antiviral Health Is Wealth with turmeric, pineapple, and ginger, and the Focus Is Fuel, a cold brew plus banana and almond butter.
Six years ago, the murders of Atatiana Jefferson in Fort Worth and George Floyd in
The choice to buy Black is always your choice, and if you don’t want to, nobody’s making you.
Minneapolis by police, and the subsequent protests around equity, seemed to create a massive change in the way that consumers who care about such things spent their dollars. As I wrote back then (“Black Restaurants Matter,” June 2020), “Supporting restaurants owned by Black families seems like a no-brainer. Buying Black is a choice, and if you don’t want to, you don’t have to.”
Commenters apparently felt the need to share views like “I only dine at white restaurants.” “Bryan” accused the Weekly and me of promoting hate. Against whom, he did not specify. Again, gentle readers, if you don’t want to eat at anyone’s restaurant for any reason, there’s no need to announce your feels. Since that story, I’m not sure how much has changed, and neither is Chef Katrina Carpenter, who opened Carpenter’s Cafe
continued on page 19
and Catering (1116 Pennsylvania Av, Fort Worth, 682-499-8630, @CarpsCafeNCatering, CarpsCafe.net) with husband Travis Carpenter in 2020. Because she is a Black female restaurant owner, Carpenter found herself very popular among the do-gooders and the politicians post-2020, from the Near Southside to the mayor’s office. In a recent 817 Podcast, Carpenter called some of the buying Black trends “performative help” and said the trend “was easily undone.” The ramifications of the anti-DEI movement –– which, judging by the comments in June 2020, are nothing new in the Fort –– must be exhausting for a small business owner. However, Carpenter is not giving up, and her February Savory Sunday recipes include her Big Mama pinto beans, beef tips and rice, hot water cornbread, and collard greens.
Collards have significant cultural connotation –– they show up in almost every Southern restaurant and most of our barbecue joints. The bitter greens flourished in the moist Southeast when they were brought over from Africa by slaves, but collards may have originated in the Mediterranean region and arrived in Africa later.
Smoke ’N Ash BBQ Tex-Ethiopian Smokehouse (5904 S Cooper St, Ste 110, Arlington, 817-385-9975, @SmokeNAshBBQ, SmokeNAshBBQ.net) has made all sorts of history since the husband-and-wife team of Fasicka and Patrick Hicks opened their family restaurant. She’s Ethiopian, and he’s a pitmaster from Central Texas, and the combination of Ethiopian cuisine and barbecue garnered numerous raves, including a nod as a Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurant last year. “Where collards came from, I don’t know,” Fasicka said. Her traditional gomen –– collard greens made with the warming spices she gets from Ethiopia –– is served both vegan-style and with meat.
“Texans cook collards with smoked pit meat or turkey neck or wings,” she said. “Ethiopians don’t do pork, but we use lamb or cow’s bones to season.”
The greens are served with injera bread rather than cornbread at Smoke ’N Ash.
Then there’s catfish. The inexpensive protein was a mainstay of the diets of the enslaved Africans in the American South, and it’s also featured in West African cuisine, not so much fried but dried, salted, or smoked. Catfish is king at Belzoni’s Catfish Cafe (110 N Jim Wright Fwy, Ste C, White Settlement, 817-386-0714, @BelzonisCatfishCafe,
Named after an Arlington Black history hero, the Brittney Newton is a chai latte with rose and pistachio.
BelzonisCatfishCafe.com). Catfish balls, sandwiches, and platters with either fried or lemon pepper-grilled catfish rule here.
If you’re wanting to dabble in traditional African cuisine, Smoke ’N Ash isn’t the only restaurant in town. February specials at Chef Point Cafe (5220 Hwy 121, Colleyville, 817826-9664, @ChefPointFans, ChefPointCafe. org) include Nigerian specialties: a black-eyed pea salad; farmers’ grits with an African beef stew; egusi soup with both fresh and dried fish, turkey, goat, and pounded yams; and a spicy goat stew served with equally spicy jollof rice and plantains.
At Tam-Tam Zings Bar & Grill (7224 Glenview Dr, Richland Hills, 817-537-2059, @TamTamZing, ZingsCafe.com), enjoy cuisine from East Africa every month. Sambusa (a kind of triangle-shaped spring roll), goat kabobs, mutima (beef heart), lulimi (beef tongue), chikwangue (steamed cassava root wrapped in banana leaves), and less classically African cocktails like gin and juice or a mojito await.
One final bit of late-breaking good news for Black-owned restaurants: This month, the James Beard Foundation announced Smoke ’N Ash’s Fasicka and Patrick Hicks were among 20 nominees for the prestigious food foundation’s best chef award. They’re the only nominees in any category from Tarrant County. Semifinalists will be selected in April, with the awards occurring in June. l
ATE DAY8 of What She Said
BY FORT WORTH WEEKLY
Food critic Laurie James just covered a lot of ground in this week’s Eats & Drinks article (see: pg. 17). Here’s the scoop on the eight Black-owned businesses she highlights.
1.) Belzoni’s Catfish Cafe (110 Jim Wright Fwy, Ste C, White Settlement, 817-386-0714, @BelzonisCatfishCafe, BelzonisCatfishCafe.com) specializes in catfish but is also known for burgers and sweet potato pies. The place is open for lunch 11am-2pm Mon-Fri, for dinner 4pm-7pm Wed and Fri, plus noon to 4pm Sat (closed on Sun). On game days, there are often wing specials.
2.) Black Coffee (1417 Vaughn Blvd, Fort Worth, 817-782-9867, @BlackCoffeeFW, BlackCoffeeFW. com) serves coffee, tea, and craft beverages near Texas Wesleyan University. Black Coffee specializes in interfusing global flavors with craft drinks 7am-5pm Mon-Fri, 7am-3pm Sat, and 8am-3pm Sun. The newest specialty, a blackberry matcha latte made with matcha, milk, housemade blackberry puree, and a decadent blackberry cold foam topper, symbolizes the deep roots and vibrant spirit of Black history.
3.) Carpenter’s Cafe and Catering (1116 Pennsylvania Av, Fort Worth, 682-499-8630, @CarpsCafeNCatering, CarpsCafe.net) serves Southern comfort food and is beloved for its smoked chicken, a.k.a. the Smokey Chick. Regular hours are 7am-3pm Tue-Sat, but there’s sometimes a Sunday Menu. Watch for announcements on their socials.
4.) Chef Point Cafe (5220 Hwy 121, Colleyville, 817-826-9664, @ChefPointFans, ChefPointCafe. org) does Bloody Marys right and serves American and Italian food 11am-9pm Mon-Thu, 11am10pm Fri, 10am-10pm Sat, and 10am-9pm Sat. Now thru Fri, Feb 28, their chef’s specials will focus on the flavors of Nigeria. Other upcoming special events include a St. Patrick’s Day Brunch Fri-Mon, Mar 14-17, and an Easter Brunch on Sun, Apr 20.
5.) Cup O’Vibes (800 E Sublett Rd, Ste 170, Arlington, 817-706-1451, @CupOVibes, CupOVibes.com) serves baked goods, coffee, and tea in a welcoming atmosphere 7am-3pm Mon-Sat. There are Black History Month specials now thru the first week of March featuring drinks named for — and information about — leaders like Nita Haliburton, Brittney Newton, and Marvin Sutton.
6.) HustleBlendz (120 St. Louis Av, Ste 101, Fort Worth, 817-875-6663, @HustleBlendz, HustleBlendz.com) is a coffeeshop specializing in ethically sourced products 8am-5pm Mon-Thu and 8am-3pm Sat-Sun. HustleBlendz also sometimes operates as a venue and hosts special events like their upcoming Love & Hustle Vendor Market from 4pm to 6pm on Sat, Mar 8.
7.) Smoke ’N Ash BBQ Tex-Ethiopian Smokehouse (5904 S Cooper St, Ste 110, Arlington, 817385-9975, @SmokeNAshBBQ, SmokeNAshBBQ. net) serves smoked meats, sides, and desserts noon8pm Tue-Sat and noon-6pm Sun. You can enjoy tastings from this smokehouse and do some good at the Help & Hope event benefiting Arlington Charities at Texas Live! on Thu, Feb 27. Individual tickets start at $150 at ArlingtonCharities.org.
8.) Tam-Tam Zings Bar & Grill (7224 Glenview Dr, Richland Hills, 817-537-2059, @TamTamZing, ZingsCafe.com) serves East African cuisine, cocktails, and vegetarian dishes, too, 5pm-midnight Thu and Sun and 5pm-2am Fri-Sat. Enjoy 50% off select drinks and menu items at happy hour from 5pm to 7pm every Thu-Sun.
Smoke ’N Ash founders Fasicka and Patrick Hicks are James Beard Foundation nominees.
Black Coffee’s signature Black History Month drink is a matcha and blackberry masterpiece.
FWWEEKLY.COM
DRINKING LOCAL
Don’t Put Your Ego Aside This National Margarita Day
Promotional Feature
Have you heard of EGO Tequila? Currently owned and operated by Rikki Kelly, a Black woman who launched the brand in Texas in 2023, Ego has some great tips for National Margarita Day.
There are numerous ways to enjoy tequila at home, depending on your preferences and the occasion. Kelly loves to pair it with a cold-pressed mixer like Tepetan Mixers or Fresh Victor Cocktails. Another option she chooses is a reposado over ice with pineapple juice. Here are some other recommendations for those who value comfort and relaxation at home.
THE EGO REPO-RITA
For the perfect margarita at home, add 1.5 ounces of Ego Reposado, 1 ounce of lime juice, and 3/4 ounces of agave syrup to a shaker tin and vigorously shake. Strain into rocks glasses rimmed with kosher salt. If you’re feeling fancy, garnish with a lime wheel.
SIPPING NEAT
Quality products are made to embody the true essence of tequila, meaning they can be enjoyed sipped over ice or without ice.
CURATE A COCKTAIL!
There are a plethora of cocktails you can curate. Go for batch cocktails — because you’ll go back for another glass — plus fresh ingredients and simplicity. If you don’t have time to get crafty with fresh
ingredients, then try some recipes that are still simple to make with ingredients you can pick up at your neighborhood market.
The Perfect Paloma Mix your favorite tequila with grapefruit soda (such as Jarritos or Squirt), lime juice, and a pinch of salt.
Mojito Much?
A great mojito can be made with just tequila, fresh mint leaves, lime juice, simple syrup, and soda water.
Tequila Old Fashioned
Yes. You can also make an old fashioned with tequila, agave nectar or simple syrup, bitters, and an orange twist.
TEQUILA TASTINGS
This is perfect for those who host social gatherings at home and want to get their guests engaged. Purchase a few kinds of tequila and compare their flavors, aromas, and finishes. Use Fresh Mozzarella in between tastings as a palate cleanser.
TEQUILA INFUSIONS
Infuse your tequila with different flavors to create unique blends. Some popular infusion ideas include jalapeño, pineapple, cucumber, or strawberry. Simply add your desired ingredients to a bottle of tequila and let it infuse for a few days to a week, then strain out the solids. EGO recommends their Blanco for this, as it is unaged and can provide more flexibility in infusions.
TEQUILA MEETS MEAT
Use tequila as a base for marinades for meats like chicken, steak, or shrimp to add flavor and tenderness. This is perfect for the at-home chef!
Watch for great things from Ego Tequila. While currently not in distribution, they have plans to expand distribution beyond Texas in the near future. Meanwhile, have a safe and happy National Margarita Day!
For more promotional content from Ego, including updates, recipes, and more, subscribe at EgoTequila.com/Recipes.
When enjoying tequila at home, consider pairing it with a cold-pressed mixer like Tepetan, which can be found at Central Market.
Courtesy Tepetan Mixers
MUSIC
Sounds of Freedom
In a city rich with Black history, Fort Worth’s music scene stands out.
BY STEVE STEWARD, PATRICK HIGGINS, AND JUAN R. GOVEA
Here’s an interesting gift idea: a record collection of Black artists who, for one reason or another, have called Fort Worth home.
Gifted from me, this hypothetical box set would include Ornette Coleman’s Science Fiction LP; a pair of 45s (the Aretha Franklin version of “Respect” and “Yakety Yak” by the Coasters) featuring saxophonist King Curtis; CD copies of Whatcha Lookin’ 4 by Kirk Franklin & the Family, Tatiana Mayfield’s A Portrait of Lady May, and Twisted Black’s Street Fame; and Apple Music downloads of Leon by Leon Bridges, 88 Killa’s 88 Special, Go Yayo’s Street Champion, and Sorry, Not Sorry by Key Latrice.
While such a stack is most definitely incomplete, it’s proof that without a doubt, Fort Worth’s musical legacy is rich with Black talent. For our inaugural Black History Month issue, we talked with five local artists about their music and their experiences as Black artists in Fort Worth. Patrick Higgins interviewed rappers Complete and Solar Slim about the significance of Black musicians’ contributions to Fort Worth’s culture and their own places within this history, while Johnny Govea spoke with country artist Ivan Dillard about identity and ignoring genre conventions and I talked to DJ and electronic music producer IAMKRT about the importance of an underground scene. (We contacted several women but did not hear back by press time. Once we do, we will add them to the conversation online.) Take a listen. — Steve Steward
embrace it, and that’s another issue that allows the media to continue the patterns. The local media honestly does a great job of spotlighting positivity, specifically within the Black music community. The negative seems to be ignored, and that’s a good thing for Fort Worth.”
Do you feel Black artists face particular challenges or obstacles in the music industry based on race?
Patrick Higgins: What have the rich cultural contributions of Black artists to this city meant to you?
Complete: “While there are several artists who have been able to become established nationally, I’ve always felt that Fort Worth artists have been overlooked and overshadowed, not due to lack of talent but for reasons I’m personally unsure of. I take pride in the rich history the city of Fort Worth has, especially with Black artists. There’s a long line of artists, known and unknown, that have contributed
to the makeup of Fort Worth music, and I’m honestly proud of the diversity Fort Worth musicians have offered.”
Solar Slim: “The contributions of Black artists in our city has been vital to the rich musical identity that exists in Fort Worth. The Bluebird [Cafe] was a very special place at a very special time in the history of the city. It gave people from other communities a scope and a genuine perspective on the Black communities and the incredible music that comes from it. Leon [Bridges] and Abe [Abraham Alexander] are truly continuing the work of legends such as Ornette Coleman and Charles Moffet by constantly reminding the world that Fort Worth has very talented musicians.”
How do you view your place among that rich history?
Complete: “I want my platform to be a good representation for the city that I was born and raised in. I pride myself on the content I put out and feel it’s truly good and relevant subject matter. I feel like I’m making music that contributes to the city’s musical history in a positive way.”
Solar Slim: “I just hope people can go back to my work and my production and realize that I made a statement with my music as well.”
How important are Black perspectives and Black identity to you as an artist? How do you feel about the representation of these identities in media, especially local media?
Solar Slim: “My identity and perspectives are always focused on encouraging my culture to think and operate in a way that inspires the next generation to be better than us. The people before us fought hard just to put my generation in a position to have a fighting chance for success. I can’t speak for all the artists, but I will say that sometimes the messages portrayed are counterproductive to the values we learned from our grandparents. I believe that the national media heavily depicts and portrays Black people as ignorant. Most of the press seems to be surrounded by negative situations, but I can also say that we as a people sometimes welcome that spotlight and
Complete: “I do feel that there are and have always been issues with racism within the music industry. For me, it stems from the program directors and record executives that strategically focus on music with no substance or value. I have always felt that particular songs are overly exposed to condition Black listeners to feel like derogatory and meaningless content is acceptable. I have intentionally aimed to create music that is the exact opposite of what we are forced to hear on most major radio platforms. Musically, I have always tried to serve a specific purpose: to give a better alternative to listeners. I try to make music with content that isn’t distasteful, disrespectful, or derogatory. They deserve better content.”
Solar Slim: “I have honestly never experienced any type of racial obstacles in my music career. I believe that’s primarily because the music I create is dominated by African American people. I strongly believe that if I made country or rock music, I’d experience backlash and stand out among all the people I don’t look similar to. Beyonce released a country album and received a lot of backlash from diehard country fans. On the flipside, she won a Grammy.”
A strong community is essential for any healthy music scene. How do you feel the community built around Fort Worth’s Black artists has contributed to your career?
Complete: “Fort Worth’s Black community has contributed heavily to how I craft my music and has been huge in developing me as an artist. Community is foundational for Black music as it stems from Black culture. Culture being community-based and community-driven plays a huge role in the development of Black artists. Much of what we provide in our art derives from what we are exposed to in our communities.”
Solar Slim: “I’ll be honest. I’ve seen the community approach work very well. It wasn’t in Fort Worth, though. It was at Prairie View A&M. A campus full of Black students choosing to gravitate toward the music their fellow students were making led to multiple artists landing major record deals between 2008 and 2013. Music from the Prairie View campus began to spread all across the state, and it was incredible to witness a ‘small’ community of students make such a big impact on music in Texas. The Black music community in Fort Worth needs to tear a page from the book of PV. There is a lot of power in having pride in the music that comes from where you are located.”
How do you feel about the current state of music for local Black artists, and where do you see it headed?
Solar Slim is best known as a rapper and hip-hop producer. His daytime profession as a PGA cardcarrying golf pro, however, helps inform his novel life perspective. Developed from his unique position straddling two seemingly disparate worlds, Solar Slim’s music is informative, introspective, and thought-provoking.
Complete: “Mostly, it seems artists are trying to ride a wave of what is popular instead of being original. Too often, artists would rather be ‘trendy’ instead of daring to either strive to make truly good music or just simply be themselves. Some artists are heavily influenced by what they are unfortunately being overly exposed to. I’d like to see it go in the direction of much more creativity and substance-based.”
Solar Slim: “I think it’s in a good place, although some of the messages aren’t positive. That’s always been a part of rap and hip-hop, so we have to embrace it all to a certain degree. It’s always evolving, and that’s what’s most important.”
What is one message you could give a striving, up-and-coming Black artist trying to make their way in the scene today?
Complete: “I’d advise a young Black artist to truly become familiar with and study your history. Study the history of Fort Worth musicians and, more importantly, that of Black history predating slavery. There is much more to be aware of. Strive to be genuinely creative and aim to make music that is truly beneficial to the listener. Music is subjective, but we can at least try to make something people can really enjoy. I feel like Black music is intentionally made in poor taste in many cases. We need and deserve so much more. At least make an effort for more balance. Let’s hear good music as often as we do the not-so-good stuff.”
Solar Slim: “One message? Always be true to yourself. You will never go wrong if you stick to your own principles.”
Ivan Dillard is a transgender country musician who has been transitioning as a man for the past 10 years. At least as far as Fort Worth’s music community goes, Dillard said he has never experienced racism as a trans man, though he admits he was “exposed to indirect racism as a woman and more direct racism in a wider spectrum outside of music.” Still, in Dillard’s experience, “Fort Worth is very interactive and easy to get to know people. It’s very down to earth, and nobody is super pretentious.”
His message to newcomers in the music scene who also happen to be Black: “Don’t continued on page 24
Courtesy the artist
Complete The Emcee is a founding member of longtime Fort Worth hip-hop trio Fort Nox. Through his music with the group and on his solo albums, the veteran rapper capitalizes on lived experience to offer life lessons, presenting a mature and positive perspective in the genre in which he’s spent decades creating.
Danny Long of Joxved Productions
be afraid to draw from diverse genres. One of the stigmas that I’ve overcome is that only certain music is Black music — for instance, me being in country, where minorities would ask why I play country music being Black. ... Music is a living history and is always new to whoever is discovering it at any given point in time, and it never gets old. Music is essential to humanity.”
In Dillard’s view, music — regardless of genre or the identity of the people making it — is something that can unite everyone. “There is so much division in the world, and
people have a hard time making a connection to other people who have different views, and that’s a shame.”
For Dillard, making music is a way to bridge those distances. — Patrick Higgins
A familiar face across both Fort Worth’s music
and beer scenes, J/O/E is a rapper who found his niche a long time ago from dropping party anthems and beer-centric bars at local watering holes and brewpubs, despite the fact that the city’s musical reputation is heavily oriented around rock and country. J/O/E said he has faced and overcome the “white-ish stereotype” much like any other Black artist in the city. “The rap genre can unfortunately be seen as tied to problems.” He’s pretty intentional with his image and said he has taken notes from hip-hop artists in town like 88 Killa, Wrex, and Lou Charle$. “The camaraderie with fellow black artists and seeing a new Black face rising and given an opportunity, I root for that. In the end, we want to see each other win. If you’re new to the scene, you need to know your audience. If you want to be seen and heard by the public, your music needs to be for the public.” — Johnny
Govea
Richi Taylor, better known among local electronic music heads as IAMKRT, is a musician, producer, and DJ who, after he learned to play violin as a kid and then shifted to classical guitar in middle school, got into electronic music to emulate the soundtracks of his favorite video games. “You hear a lot of atmospheric jungle music or just like atmospheric house music” in Sega Genesis and PlayStation games, “and this was the late ’90s and early 2000s, so as a kid hearing that, I knew right away, like, man, I wanted to create some shit like that when I got older.” Now 26, he’s become a fixture in the local electronic music scene as both a producer and DJ — ‘90s techno is more or less the cornerstone of his sound — and he has just launched a monthly electronic music night at Curfew Bar called Centrifuge. In short, he’s trying to build a scene.
For Taylor, as a Black artist working in electronic music — a genre rooted in places like Chicago and Detroit, where working-class economics fostered a diverse, inclusive, after-hours dance-club community — the obstacles to “blowing up” in Fort Worth have much less to do with racially motivated gatekeeping than a lack of underground culture, where the night doesn’t really even get started until the bars are closed. In Fort Worth, he said, “it’s always great to see people out here doing what they love out of passion for it or just having fun doing what they do. ... No matter where you go, there’s always gonna be underground cats, and there’s always gonna be more mainstream cats.” He kept coming back to the culture of techno music in its heyday during the ’90s and early 2000s, when people had “that kind of obsession with the music,” with late-night parties attracting the true heads who live and breathe electronic music. In terms of a techno scene, DFW is “growing, but it’s going super-slow,” Taylor said. “We don’t have a true warehouse scene like in other cities. ... There’s some freaking killers here who can really feel like, ‘Rock the deck, man,’ like, ‘Give it to you anyway you want, but the cutoff time is 2 o’clock.’ “ — Steve Steward
CrossTown Sounds
Red, White & Black
The art of protest came to life during Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance.
BY JENNIFER BOVEE
I’m no sports fan, but like 127.7 million other Americans, I watched Super Bowl LIX. Those already a six-pack deep into the afternoon may have taken Kendrick Lamar’s controversial halftime performance as simply unpatriotic However, the 37-yearold Los Angeles rapper won a Pulitzer Prize in music, so there’s more to him than just slick rhymes and baggy bell bottoms.
In many ways, his performance was a protest that may take years to fully unpack. For claiming to be just a musician, he always has a lot to say. Near the beginning of the show, Lamar growled, “The revolution is about to be televised,” referencing Gil ScottHeron’s poem “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” from 1971. “You picked the right time but the wrong guy.” Did he mean Trump? The rapper has previously criticized the president in songs like “The Heart Part 4” and “XXX.” Or was Lamar merely saying he was not going to be playing by broadcast rules? Either way, it was nearly impossible to look away at this point.
The stage layout was partially a PlayStation controller and also an homage to Squid Game, perhaps symbolizing the rich killing the poor. The stage, where his all-Black performers harmonized while he rapped, also supposedly represented a prison yard. Given the mass incarceration of Black Americans, it wasn’t necessarily shocking for Lamar to tackle this topic. He has many times before. It’s a prison yard in a game
controller, for Christ’s sake! Reading it as two different kinds of prisons — one of the mind and one of the body — introduces just more juicy subtext ... which most of us may have overlooked at the time.
Cue: the best MC ever.
Samuel L. Jackson’s Uncle Sam was not unlike his Sambo-type house slave in 2012’s Django Unchained. On record, Kendrick often eviscerates the concept of Uncle Sam, an ominous figure who exploits Black people through capitalism. Some theorize that this Uncle Sam warning Kendrick to “play the game” and “not be ghetto” was a veiled warning to play the game that white America wants Blacks to play. When Uncle Sam says, “This is the great American game,” he’s not just talking football.
Obviously, the dancers in red, white, and blue represented the American flag. In fact, at one point, they actually formed one sans any white stars. Coincidence? I’m thinking not. Lamar dancing through the middle of the human flag signified a divided country. Black vs. white? Rich vs. poor? Both. The line “40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music” from his song “Wesley’s Theory” alludes to what was promised (but not delivered) to freed slaves after the Civil War. They’re still waiting.
Lamar also performed “Not Like Us,” his diss track of Drake, with whom he has an ongoing beef. In the song, Lamar reminds us of how very different the people in power
are from most Americans. Onstage, he also called out the Canadian rapper by name for his alleged associations with pedophilia and Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Serena Williams’ special appearance during this song wasn’t just about her giving the middle finger to her ex, Drake, who insulted her husband in a rap in 2022. It was also a statement about how Black people are expected to act/perform in public. Doing the Crip Walk nearly got her banned from Wimbledon a few years back. So, yes, bring it to the world stage.
Another song, “TV Off,” addresses revolution — which Lamar insists is not his thing, evidence to the contrary — in the wake of police brutality and may also be considered a call to action. The world is in crisis. Turn off your TV and do something.
From a purely theatrical perspective, OnStage Blog thought the performance was appreciated and well-received by theater aficionados. “Kendrick Lamar’s show was a celebration of the art form’s power to convey complex stories and evoke deep emotional responses, reaffirming the timeless connection between music and theater.” I couldn’t agree more.
It’s amusing to me how people either overanalyze or oversimplify these types of performances. Sure, Jay Z’s production company has been in charge of choosing the entertainment for the halftime show for several years now. With Jay Z and Beyonce supposedly part of the Illuminati, are there nods to that? Dig deep enough and use your imagination, and I’m sure you’ll come up with something. Meanwhile, the right-leaning people on my social feeds are focused on over-simplification at the moment.
No, I’m sure your favorite bro-country band would never agree to use tracks, so go ahead and dismiss this as not “real” live music and get on with your privileged lives. Music aside, every bit of Lamar’s vocals on Super Bowl Sunday were live, not tracks. He rapped seamlessly while dancing the distance of nearly half a football field. (Do you hear that? It’s the sound of 150 people unfriending me. Bye, y’all!)
While I do have some rap music on my playlist, my knowledge of the genre is pedestrian
at best. Good thing Fort Worth Weekly Music Awards nominee DJ Dogstyle is here to help. He thinks that Kendrick is the first artist in a long time to rap about what’s actually going on in the world. “I definitely think he is Public Enemy, Paris, and NWA rolled into one being. The Super Bowl was a wake-up call for these young rappers to stop talking about getting high and killing each other.”
Eve Rojas of 4 Ya Soul, winner of the Music Awards’ hip-hop/R&B category in 2023, thought it was the simplest yet most powerful halftime show she’d ever witnessed. “It symbolized so many issues we are dealing with in current America. Everything was good, from start to finish. [Guest artist] SZA did her thing, vocals on 100! Did you notice the guys just chilling on the light pole the entire show?!” Indeed, we did. The use of streetlights was reminiscent of the scene in his video for “Alright,” in which Lamar stands atop one before being shot by police.
Another Music Awards nominee, Complete the Emcee, thought the performance was powerful and insightful. “Kendrick is a brilliant artist who chose that huge platform to address issues. The issues are those that we have still and have had historically based on racial differences and/or indifferences. Kendrick combats the conditioning we have been exposed to, where we are all conditioned to feel a derogatory way about people of color. That’s not right!”
Our sports columnist Patrick Higgins also had some great insights last week. “Kendrick Lamar’s poignant and ambitious halftime performance delivered on the requisite Boomer discomfort. No doubt the socials exploded with angry comments from accounts whose profile pics consist of closeups of the users in their driver seats with wraparound Oakleys on.”
Those with a new or renewed interest in Lamar will be happy to learn that Arlington is the third stop on his upcoming Grand National Tour with fellow Super Bowl performer SZA at AT&T Stadium (1 AT&T Way, Arlington, 817-892-4000) at 7pm on Sat, Apr 26. This show has already been on sale for a while, but there are resale tickets available on Ticketmaster.com starting at $200 apiece. l
There was a lot to unpack at this year’s Super Bowl halftime show.
The stage was basically a prison yard inside a game controller. Mass incarceration much?
Arlington is the third stop on Kendrick Lamar’s upcoming Grand National Tour with fellow Super Bowl performer SZA.
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for: Sr. Data Engineer, IT Analytics (Ref# 2417): Resp for bringing data eng’g, collab, & analytics skills to help cultivate a data-driven culture by design’g & deliver’g analytics solutions & making data analytics easier &more effective for AA; Sr. Developer, IT Applications (Ref# 2411): Resp for participat’g in all phases of the SDLC using best practices in Agile, & be resp for architect’g, design’g, coding, testing, & debugg’g responsive web apps; Sr. Developer, IT Applications (Ref# 2338): Resp for sw delivery as well as influenc’g the team to find new behaviors & ways of working based on frequent inspection & rapid feedback; Team Lead, Revenue Management (Ref# 2206): Resp for empower’g & lead’g team members to make informed decisions that impact AA’s revenue. To apply, send resume to Gene Womack at Gene.Womack@aa.com. Put reference number in the subject line. #LI-DNI
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The following vehicles have been impounded with fees due to date by Texas Towing Wrecker, 205 S Commercial St, Fort Worth TX 76107, 817-877-0206 (VSF0000964): Fruehauf, 1984, Dolly, $470.41; Fruehauf, 1984, Dolly, $470.41; Fruehauf, 1987, Dolly 031346, $470.41; Great Dane, 2007, Trailer, $780.18; Homemade, 2016, Trailer, $1077.76; Small, 2019, Boat Trailer, $707.76; Stoughton, 2013, Trailer, $760.18; Wabash National Corporation, 2004, Wabash, $780.18; Wabash National Corporation, 2004, Wabash, $780.18; Wabash National Corporation, 2001, WANC, $780.18; Wabash National Corporation, 2004, WANC, $780.18, Wabash National Corporation, 2005, WANC, $780.18; Wabash National Corporation, 2005, Wabash, $780.18; Wabash National Corporation, 2006, Wabash, $780.18; and Wabash National Corporation, 2006, WANC, $780.18.
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NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE PURSUANT TO CHAPTER 59 OF THE TEXAS PROPERTY CODE: Curio Storage Oak Grove, Fort Worth, located at 9200 Oak Grove Dr, Fort Worth, TX 76140 (phone: 409-203-4147) will hold a public auction of property being sold to satisfy a landlord’s lien. The sale will take place at www.storageauctions.com beginning on 03/07/2025 at 12:00 AM and ending on 03/15/2025 at 12:00 PM. Property in each space will be sold by the space. Deposit for removal and cleanup may be temporarily required. No cash accepted. Seller reserves the right to not accept any bid and to withdraw property from sale. Property being sold includes appliances, furniture, toys, electronics, personal items, boxes, and other items. Name and unit number of tenants: Felicia Goldberg, unit 3; Ronnell Young, unit 15; Michael Lester, unit 33; Ray Shawn Webb, unit 88.
NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE PURSUANT TO CHAPTER 59 OF THE TEXAS PROPERTY CODE: Curio Storage Vega Dr, Fort Worth, located at 6129 Vega Dr, Fort Worth, TX 76133 (phone: 409-203-4147) will hold a public auction of property being sold to satisfy a landlord’s lien. The sale will take place at www.storageauctions.com beginning on 03/07/2025 at 12:00 AM and ending on 03/15/2025 at 12:00 PM. Property in each space will be sold by the space. Deposit for removal and cleanup may be temporarily required. No cash accepted. Seller reserves the right to not accept any bid and to withdraw property from sale. Property being sold includes appliances, furniture, toys, electronics, personal items, boxes, and other items. Name and unit number of tenants: Edgar Medina, unit 102; Candyce Bell, unit 214; Austin Lang, unit 402; Clarissa Davis, unit 405; D Farmer, unit 428; Jamal Nero, unit 627; Asha Simmons, unit 704; Denae Pierce, unit 705; Raven Hill, unit 715; Duanne rosenauer, unit 809; Pretay Thompson, unit 821; Kevin Gardner, unit 830.
SUBMISSIONS
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TDLR COMPLAINTS
Any Texans who may be concerned that an unlicensed massage business may be in operation near them, or
believe nail salon employees may be human trafficking victims, may now report those concerns directly to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) by emailing ReportHT@TDLR.Texas.gov
HAVE A LITTLE FAITH
CELEBRATION COMMUNITY CHURCH
Located at 908 Pennsylvania Av (817-335-3222), CCC has services on Sundays at 10am. Want to check out a nonjudgmental, inclusive church at home before attending in person? All services can also be viewed on YouTube (@CelebrationCommunityChurch130).
POTTER’S HOUSE
Join the Potter’s House of Fort Worth (1270 Woodhaven Blvd, 817-446-1999) for Sunday Service at 8am and Wednesday Bible Study at 7pm. For more info, visit us online: www.TPHFW.org
HEALTH & WELLNESS
DENTAL INSURANCE
Physicians Mutual Insurance Company. Coverage for 400 plus procedures. Real dental insurance - NOT just a discount plan. Do not wait! Call now! Get your FREE Dental Information Kit with all the details! 1-888-3617095 www.dental50plus.com/fortworth #6258 (mb)
LIFE LINE SCREENINGS
According to the American Heart Association, stroke and Cardiovascular disease are leading causes of death. Screenings can provide peace of mind or early detection! Contact Life Line Screening to schedule your screening. Special offer: 5 screenings for just $149. Call today! 1-833-636-1757
PLANNED PARENTHOOD
We’re not going anywhere. We know you may be feeling a lot of things right now, but we are here with you and we will not stop fighting for YOU. See 6 ways you can join the #BansOffOurBodies fight on FB @PPGreaterTX or visit PPGreaterTX.org.
MIND-BODY-SPIRIT
THE AURA CLINIC
Full-service wellness, holistic, metaphysical, and psychic sanctuary. New location coming soon! Visit online at MyAuraClinic.com.
HIGHER PURPOSE EMPORIUM
Everyone has a higher purpose. Find yours. Visit us at 505 W Northside Dr, FWTX (HigherPurposeEmporium. com, 682-207-5351).
MASSAGE: Hannah in Hurst Professional Therapeutic Massage from light to deep techniques. No outcalls, flexible schedule. (mt4797). Call 817-590-2257.
PRODUCTS & SERVICES
DIRECTV
DIRECTV- All your entertainment. Nothing on your roof! Sign up for Directv and get your first three months of Max, Paramount+, Showtime, Starz, MGM+ and Cinemax included. Choice package $84.99/mo. Some restrictions apply. Call DIRECTV 1-866-492-2105 (mb)
HEATER WORKING?
Call American Residential Heating & Cooling for a $49 cooling or heating system tune up. Save up to $2000 on a new heating and cooling system (restrictions apply.) FREE estimates. Many payment options available. Licensed and insured professionals. Call 1-877-477-0546 today.
NO MORE GUTTER CLEANING!
Eliminate gutter cleaning forever! LeafFilter, the most advanced debris-blocking gutter protection. Schedule a FREE LeafFilter estimate today. Receive 20% off entire purchase, plus 10% senior and military discounts. Call 1-877-689-1687 today! (mb)
Prepare for power outages with Briggs & Stratton® PowerProtect™ standby generators - the most powerful home standby generators available. Industry-leading comprehensive warranty - 7 years ($849 value.) Proudly made in the U.S.A. Call Briggs & Stratton 1-855-988-6789.
FOR SALE
Monarch Court
Texas
Niehoff NextHome PropertyLink
NextHome PropertyLink
Sarah Niehoff NextHome PropertyLink
BULLETIN BOARD
CATTLE BARN FLEA MARKET
4445 River Oaks Blvd
Saturday & Sunday 9a-5p
All your favorite vendors will be there: Mo, Rey, Billy, Robert, and Niner with all of her fine works of art! See you there!
COWTOWN ROVER
With our handy pick-up and drop-off services, having your car checked out could not be easier. www.CowtownRover.com
3958 Vickery | 817.731.3223
FREE SPAY / NEUTER
Need a FREE Spay/Neuter? Texas Coalition for Animal Protection has clinics near you. Schedule an appointment today by visiting TexasForThem.org or calling 1-833-636-1757.
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
Are you a revolutionary? Read more on Page 24. For horoscopes and more info, visit FreeWillAstrology.com
GOT A STORY TO TELL?
We work with guest contributors to publish SEO articles and press releases. For details, email Marketing@ fwweekly.com.
HISTORIC RIDGLEA THEATER
THE RIDGLEA is three great venues within one historic Fort Worth landmark. RIDGLEA THEATER has been restored to its authentic allure, recovering unique Spanish-Mediterranean elements. It is ideal for large audiences and special events. RIDGLEA ROOM and RIDGLEA LOUNGE have been making some of their own history, as connected adjuncts to RIDGLEA THEATER, or hosting their own smaller shows and gatherings. More at theRidglea.com
LIFE INSURANCE
Up to $15,000.00 of GUARANTEED Life Insurance! No medical exam or health questions. Cash to help pay for funeral and other final expenses. Visit Life55Plus.info/ FTWorth or call Physicians Life Insurance Company today! Call 844-782-2870.
More books than, WOW!
The Published Page Bookstop (10 E Chambers St, Cleburne, 817-349-6366) is open 10am-6pm Wed-Sat and 1pm-6pm Sun. An authentic “Old School” bookstore on the courthouse square of Historic Downtown Cleburne, TX, just 20 minutes south of FW, it’s a true Texas treasure. For more info, visit PublishedPage.com or find us on Facebook (@BiblioTreasures).
NEED A FRIEND?
Ronnie D. Long Bail Bonds
Immediate Jail Release 24 Hour Service. City, County, State and Federal Bonds. Located Minutes from Courts. 6004 Airport Freeway.
REX’S BAR & GRILL
Come check out our express lunch menu, happy hour specials, and late-night dining! Visit Chef Brian Olenjack’s new home kitchen. We are open from 11am to midnight, 7 days a week. Watch the BIG GAME with us at 1501 S University Dr FWTX ( 817-207-4741, RexsFTW.com).
WANT TO ADVERTISE HERE? Email Stacey@fwweekly.com today!
NEXTHOME
Open The Door To Yours Today! Call Sarah Niehoff, Realtor, at 817-714-7956.
LOCAL SUPPORTBUSINESS!
