Entertainment
On the chair with: Pekela Riley – Essence
courtesy of Pekela Riley
Although she grew up with a mother who was a hairdresser and who often styled her hair in elaborate braids and beaded ornaments, Wait for RileyThe desire to develop into a hairdresser didn’t really come until she attended nursing school. “My desire to become a hairdresser was fueled by my strong beliefs about hair that I had while working in nursing school as a secretary for the cosmetology program,” Amika Stylists Collective member tells ESSENCE. “I found myself spending more time helping students in the classroom than I did focusing on secretarial duties.”
After several years of studying at Florida State College in Jacksonville, the Florida-born student pursued skilled hair styling, working with legendary Oscar James AND Chuckie Amos in New York. She has since opened a hair salon of the same name, PK Loungewhich is already over 20 years old and was even featured in ELLE’s rating of “100 Best Salons in America”.
In addition, her area of interest in textured hair and editorial styling has earned her three NAHA nominations and a win for Texture Artist of the Year, in addition to work in publications comparable to and ESSENCE. As an advocate for diversity and integration“I have a passion for creating artistic and editorial work that celebrates the expansion and boundless beauty of diverse cultures,” says Riley. “While we work with our hands to create external transformations, we truly serve as vessels for healing. That, to me, embodies the essence of beauty.”
Below, this talented hairstylist shares what hair means to her, the truth about hair oils, and why we shouldn’t ignore scalp care products.
Her current favorite products:
I’m currently deeply focused on hair products that help repair hair bonds and promote scalp care. Scalp care is an area that has often been missed, especially in products for black women. One of my current obsessions is Smooth Over Amika Systemwhich played a key role in taming frizz and enhancing curl definition. The most significant thing for me is that these products are secure, gentle and suitable for all hair textures.
Her favorite hairstyles:
My preferred hairstyles deal with color and shape. I’m open to each curly and straight hairstyles so long as they make the person feel comfortable, but I pay special attention to the overall shape of the hair. In addition, I even have a powerful passion for incorporating natural hair extensions to enrich hairstyles. I consider that the importance of matching textures is usually neglected in the market, which is why I founded and use True And Pure Texture Hair Extensions in order that they mix perfectly with natural hair, emphasizing its overall appearance.
Her top tip for healthy hair:
My primary tip for keeping your hair healthy is to maintain your scalp clean and balanced. Your scalp is just as essential as your face, and when it’s clogged and dirty, your hair follicles can suffocate, resulting in hair damage. I really consider that neglecting your scalp health can lead to unhealthy, dull hair.
A hair myth I need to bust:
One of the myths I need to debunk about hair care is that heavy oils are good on your hair. They can actually lock in moisture and create buildup in your scalp, suffocating your hair follicles. Another misconception is that if someone has extensions, they will’t have real hair. However, extensions are like fashion accessories today, supplying you with the freedom to alter up your look every time you wish. You do what you wish, no matter what others may assume about your hair!
What she learned from her clients:
One of the strongest lessons from my clients that has deeply moved me is the realization that we may be healers for one another in the right setting. Building a nurturing atmosphere at Salon Pk has fostered each personal and collective healing. Interacting with clients over time has given me invaluable insights into achieving goals, staying focused, and persevering in the face of life’s challenges. I even have learned this through personal communication with many ladies I even have had the privilege of touching and caring for.
How it supports its clients:
I all the time remind my clients that their uniqueness is their superpower. No one can wear or act like them. Their individual beauty inspires me, not only my talent. Their beauty shines through, and my talent is merely a celebration of that beauty, not the other way around.
I even have no doubts about my role as a healer. I even have lost count of the times I even have comforted clients as they shared their emotional journeys, whether it was cutting their hair because of cancer, transitioning to a brand new job, or getting hair extensions to re-enter the dating scene. While we work with our hands to create external transformations, we truly function vessels of healing. We are holistic healers, working to nurture and heal from the inside out that others see on the outside.
Entertainment
Rickey Smiley delivers a scathing wake-up call and warns that Donald Trump’s presidency will be ‘open season’ for ‘racists’
Donald Trump is putting the White House so as by introducing controversial nominations of individuals holding the very best positions in the federal government.
Comedian Rickey Smiley believes that along with his second presidency approaching, the country “would be happy to be in a constitutional crisis.”
The radio show host is now more convinced than ever that Trump’s seemingly outlandish claims about how he plans to make America great again were not only statements made in jest to drum up support, but as an alternative he was presenting his agenda.
Smiley, in a live chat with fans earlier this month, said the media didn’t take the Republican’s words literally.
For example, at a June campaign event in West Palm Beach, Florida, he told attendees they’d never must worry about casting a ballot if he won the 2024 presidential race. “Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won’t must do that anymore. Over the subsequent few years, you understand what, it will be fixed, it will be advantageous, you will not must vote anymore, my beautiful Christian women.” he said Trump.
On TikTok, Smiley told his viewers that Trump’s vision of civic engagement would come true. “There will be no more elections,” he said. But also that “it’s nothing compared to what will actually happen.”
With his victory over Democratic vice chairman nominee Kamala Harris, the Senate and House of Representatives will also be run by the GOP, further enabling the struggling public official to pass a lot of his proposed legislative actions.
One of the important priorities of the pinnacle of “The Apprentice” is to issue a decree allowing mass deportations.
@rickeysmileydigital We would be lucky if there was a constitutional crisis
His decision was also prompted by Trump’s belief that the 2020 election was rigged in favor of Democratic President Joe Biden announce“A massive fraud of this nature and scale allows for the lapse of all rules, regulations and articles, even those contained in the Constitution.” Smiley warned his fans: “You have no idea what you’re getting into.”
“He’s going to take over the military. … He doesn’t care about Senate confirmation or anything like that,” Smiley continued.
Even though people like Linda McMahon and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were nominated to move the Department of Education and the Department of Social and Health Services, respectively, they could not assume office without the consent of the Senate, except by nomination in the course of the recess.
“They are not interested in the Constitution and democracy is over – and that is simply a fact,” the comic said. Moreover, Smiley warned that the civil unrest of 2020 would come to light again.
“They are preparing to eliminate everything,” he continued. “You think this was something in the 1960s… I wouldn’t be surprised if they said buses were for black people and buses were for white people and black people had to sit in the back of the plane. … Some black people will die before they become anything close to slavery again.”
DAMN! Trump tells his supporters that if elected, there will be no must vote again!
You still don’t think he desires to be a dictator?
— Tea Pain (@TeaPainUSA) July 27, 2024
He also darkly predicted: “You’re going to have a bunch of racists here who are just killing black people, knowing that nothing can be done about it. It’s going to get dangerous. Enjoy this silence, enjoy these final months of this Biden administration. … We are heading towards dictatorship.” There were mixed reactions within the comments to his message about Trump’s “open season.”
The fan agreed: “You are very correct!! Sad, that’s what these (orange emoji) Cult Followers are asking.” Another lemon drink he wrote“Every person he elects is on his feet, similar to Trump. But you are right, everyone will find something for themselves.
And a third person said: “He said what he was going to do. The fact that he is a convicted criminal, a misogynist, a racist, a fraud and a child of God. When someone shows you who they are, believe them. God bless the USA.”
However, several people were unhappy with the artist. One commenter asked, “Why create fear?” The second person told the comic: “you are ignorant.”
Trump will be inaugurated on January 20, marking the primary time a convicted felon and twice-impeached president will take office.
Entertainment
A relative of Louis Armstrong helps create a musical icon on Broadway
NEW YORK (AP) – A latest stage musical about Louis Armstrong on Broadway begins with a jazz icon in a rehearsal room next to an anonymous pianist. Keep an eye fixed on the important thing guy.
The audience may not understand it, but there are literally two Armstrongs on stage at that moment – the actor playing the nice trumpeter and one of his real-life descendants. The pianist for the kismet act will likely be Brandon Louis Armstrong, the great-great nephew of the musical giant.
“Right now I always feel like I’m talking to my great-great-grandfather from the afterlife as Brandon,” he says. “I can just spend a moment talking to him, ask if he’s OK and hear his voice.”
The younger Armstrong makes his Broadway debut “Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical” playing many roles, including pianist, teacher and understudy to Louis Armstrong himself.
“I was cautious about how I would be able to step into this world and connect with some of the history of my family and my lineage,” he says. “I am very thankful, grateful and happy.”
Behind the smile
“A Wonderful World” – Starring the Tony Award Winner James Monroe Iglehart and sometimes James T. Lane within the title role – it’s a stage biography of one of probably the most influential figures in jazz, a musician known for “Hello, Dolly”, “Cheek to Cheek” and “A Wonderful World”.
The musical looks behind his broad smile and delves into his rise from poverty, 4 marriages and his struggles with racism, from New Orleans Klansmen to Chicago thugs to Hollywood bigots. A transcendent power emerges from it, warts and all.
“The message is that jazz is about the choices we make between the notes,” the younger Armstrong says. “It’s not about making the best selection each time. It’s about making a selection and allowing yourself to be present wherever those decisions take you.
Show choir and “Hamilton”
The younger Armstrong was born and raised in Los Angeles. His house has all the time been full of music, but nobody in his immediate family is a musician or desired to perform.
“I grew up in a house where there was a lot of jazz, a lot of gospel, a lot of R&B and a lot of hip-hop. “My mom was also really into 80s hair metal bands and stuff like that,” he says. “I stopped listening to Motown and started liking Guns n’ Roses and then Kenny Rogers. It’s just always been a tapestry of music.”
He was enchanted by his highschool’s choir performance and was invited to hitch in – all of the boys got here since it took muscles to lift the ladies – and was later stunned to see a regional production of the classic musical “Ragtime.”
“I was so moved by it that I thought, ‘I don’t care if I’m the one sweeping the floors when this is over.’ I just want to be a part of whatever it is,” he recalled.
He graduated from the American Academy of Music and Drama and after working on the local stage — including playing Donkey in “Shrek” — landed the third national tour of “Hamilton,” which began in 2019 in Puerto Rico with Lin-Manuel Miranda.
No name disappears
Armstrong didn’t rely on his name to realize success. In press interviews when it broke out, his famous pedigree was not even mentioned. “I never, surprisingly, thought about ever leading like this,” he says. “It’s inevitable in this particular program.”
Iglehart, also a co-director, remembers Armstrong walking into the rehearsal room and giving his name. “We thought, ‘How cool.’ He said, “No, no, I’m related.” He got the job because of his voice and acting, not his name.
“We really did it on talent,” Iglehart says. “I all the time feel like probably the most talented person on the show needs to be her. But the undeniable fact that it was his lineage, we felt it was a sign.
“A Wonderful World” is a strategy to honor not only Louis Armstrong, but additionally Brandon’s grandfather, Louis Henry Armstrong, who told stories of his proud lineage and infrequently picked Brandon up after school listening to jazz music, much to his teenage embarrassment.
“I just think in moments like this how incredibly proud he would be of something like this,” he says. “It’s the best kind of therapy every night.”
Even though the forged includes the true Armstrong, the opposite actors and creators didn’t pull Brandon aside to ask him what Louis would think of a line or scene. This is because Louis Armstrong left many wealthy records about his thoughts.
“A lot of the heartbeat of our show – and I prefer it this way – is the heartbeat in Louis’ voice, rather than someone coming in and arbitrarily squeezing himself into it,” the younger Armstrong said.
In addition to being a rehearsal pianist, serving within the band, and playing for a New Orleans music teacher who recognized Louis Armstrong’s talent, Brandon knows that someday he will likely be asked to proceed within the role of his great-great-grandfather.
“I think what worries me the most is when it happens, I just try not to cry throughout the whole show,” she says with a laugh. “Somehow the universe paved a path for me that brought me here, where I can literally walk up on stage and carry this baton.”
Entertainment
Chrissy Teigen leaves John Legend stunned and ‘left alone’ amid ‘suspicious’ photo of her kissing someone else
On Monday, November 25, John Legend showcased his musical talent and natural charm during “The Jennifer Hudson Show,” where the Grammy Award-winning artist demonstrated his ability to remodel even essentially the most absurd moments into melodic gold.
Legend, 45, tickled the ivories as he pretended to write down a song about being jealous that his wife was kissing someone aside from him.
During an appearance on the show, host Jennifer Hudson, 43, challenged Legend to write down an impromptu song based on a random photo.
“We love that you can write a song about anything,” Hudson said, setting the tone for the segment.
Legend, who has written songs for artists including Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys, Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, humbly noted: “I’m a songwriter, really. I’m not a freestyler (rapper) like Common, he’s an actual freestyler.
Undeterred, Hudson looked as if it would shrug off her humility towards her boyfriend of two years and took the challenge further.
“OK, but I have a little inspiration,” she joked. “If I show you a picture, can you make a song for it?”
“I can try,” Legend replied with a smile because the two made their solution to the piano on the alternative side of the stage.
Hudson explained the principles: The Legend needed to create a song on the spot inspired by the image that appeared on screen.
“I will do my best,” he assured the audience. “I’m really doing this impromptu, y’all. It’s not fake, it’s real.”
The moment took a funny turn when a photo of Legend’s wife, former supermodel Chrissy Teigen (38), appeared on the screen.
In the photo, Teigen pantomimes as if she were kissing a fish at a market. Sitting next to her were two of her 4 children: Luna Simone (8) and Miles Theodore (6).
Without missing a beat, Legend turned the quirky photo right into a soulful melody, bringing laughter to the room.
He jokingly sang, “Chrissy, oh why are you kissing the fish?” before delving into the humor of the situation.
“Chrissy, why are you kissing the fish? Don’t have a man at home? He sits all alone. Oh, don’t you have a man at home? Leave that fish alone,” he continued.
The audience erupted in laughter as Legend seamlessly combined wit and melody, proving once more why he’s won countless awards for it, including an Oscar with Hudson’s boyfriend Common for the song “Glory.”
The unconventional performance not only highlighted his musical genius, but additionally his ability to search out joy and creativity in unexpected moments of life.
Fans flooded comments section YouTube video celebrating the master singer/songwriter.
“So much talent. We want the entire version of the fish song,” one person wrote.
“LOVE ME SOME LEGEND!!!!” one comment read. “PLEASE FINISH YOUR FISH SONG OR GO TO HELL!!!! I’M BUYING A SAMPLE!!! THE SONG TITLE SHOULD BE LEAVE THIS FISH ALONE AND GO HOME!!! GOD BLESS.”
One viewer wrote: “John is not a huge fan, but he is a fan and after the first song I knew where you were going word for word! I got that impression when I looked at the photo.”
Although Legend jokingly sang about loneliness while his wife kissed a fish, few people appear to know their sense of humor. The couple just celebrated their 18th birthdayvol wedding anniversary and are greater than just spouses – in keeping with Teigen, they’re “best friends.”
She said in interview with us at ChainFEST in October: “We are truly best friends. We like being together, we like being together. We have the identical sense of humor and I learn rather a lot from him on a regular basis. He has a way.
The two are still very much in love and have two young children: Esti Maxine (22 months) and son Wren Alexander (17 months).
Legend is a novel talent beyond being a dad and husband, having amassed a formidable collection of accolades throughout his profession, including 12 Grammy Awards, two Emmy Awards, an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a Tony Award. He also holds the respect of being the primary African American to achieve this EGOT status and is one of only 15 people on this exclusive and prestigious club.
Notable artists who received an EGOT award include Hudson, who sang a duet version of his hit “Ordinary People” on the show.
Show sent the 2 sing on social media with the caption: “There’s nothing ordinary about this performance.” Many of the show’s 1.3 million fans appreciated their special gifts.
One person said: “I love John@legend’s voice!!!! He and Jennifer sound amazing!!!”
“Whoa, when is the album coming out,” asked one other.
While the 2 have not talked about recording an album together, this is not the primary time they’ve sung together. While Hudson 100vol episode in 2023, he joined her to sing “Bridge Over Troubled Water”.
Perhaps this can be a project they may consider in the long run.
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