Kitsch...and a little history on the black hand side.

Today I volunteered at the annual APLA event held at the "Pink House". The home is owned by Allee Willis. The woman is phenomenally accomplished. She's written songs for Earth, Wind and Fire, Randy Crawford and a tons of other people, wrote the theme to FRIENDS (Cha-ching!) and her current project is Color Purple, the musical. She co-wrote the music with Brenda Russel and Stephen Bray.

I had heard she was an eccentric and that is no lie! But she is also a technology guru (especially when it comes to the arts), has spoken before congress, has one of the largest collections of pop culture memorabilia (a large part of it BLACK) that she rotates through her home and museum and she's got an alter-ego named Bubbles. Bubbles even went so far as to work with Real and Chance from I Love New York! The woman is a fascinating walking breathing history of entertainment and bank of genius. It is no surprise that she's also a bit mad scientist and wacky. I absolutely love her! I strongly recommend that all my entertainment minded friends spend hours on her website: http://www.alleewillis.com/. I'm going to just to learn from the woman...

Today's exhibit was art done by John Lloyd Young, who played Frankie Valley in the original Broadway cast of Jersey Boys. He took a food box and covered it in rhinestones to give to Allee as a gift, she in turn asked him to do an entire collection for sale. Her introduction of the artist included the following line, which pretty much sums up the afternoon, "I don't even mind that I lost the TONY to him...since he was so fuckin' brilliant in Jersey Boys."

Below are two slide shows of the pics I took today. The first includes the art, the second is of Ms. Willis' museum. When I tell you that she has a genuine love for black people that I've never seen before, it's an understatement. Her father wrote her a letter on his deathbed. In it, he told her to stay away from "the black people". Her embracing of the culture and working within it is a very, VERY deliberate thing. She's beyond dope!

Also, here's a REALLY GOOD LOOK AT HER FANTASTIC HOUSE!