Maggie Brown to Sing at Captain Hardtimes (Josephine’s Cook Restaurant)
Event to honor Josephine Wade and Mozell Barnes
By Chinta Strausberg
Maggie Brown, the daughter of the late singer, actor and songwriter Oscar Brown, Jr., is performing at Josephine’s Cooking Restaurant, formerly Captain Hardtimes, 436 E. 79th Street., Saturday, September 20, 2014.
The event is to honor restaurateur Josephine “Mother†Wade, co-owner of Josephine’s Cooking Restaurant, who has been in business for 57-years, and businessman/real estate giant Mozell Barnes. The doors will open at 4 p.m. Dinner will be served at 6 p.m. dinner and the show featuring Maggie Brown begins at 8 p.m.
Brown, who is civil rights minded, is the daughter of the late singer/actor and songwriter Oscar Brown, Jr. She just held a tribute for her father at the Ravinia.
When asked about the violence in the community, Brown recited one of her favorite poems: “Need healthy words to say to bring a brighter day, something that is positive a better way to live. Children look up to you. They’re watching what you do. Influences are so strong. They’re going to tag along. What will we talk about today?
“We need to rearrange. We want to make a change. Use affirmations when our rap and rhymes begin. Write lyrics to increase and have a spirit of peace. May God’s questions bring solutions to the thing? Can you and I be the change we need? Can you and I help to plant the seeds to make our future grow so we will know? The earth is calling upon the ones to heal our planet and get it done today,†said Brown.
“In the sluggish sleep of slaves from your cradles to your graves, you live ignorant of your great power and where its gotten from but as soon as you awake, this whole planet earth will shake to your liberating drum. With the grace of God you’ve got, you need never fire a shot,†Brown said quoting her father from a play, “Great Nitty Gritty.â€
Concerned about the violence that is taking so many lives especially young children, Brown added, “We don’t understand who we are. We do not understand what our gifts are. We’ve been made to believe that we are from the permanent underclass, but you can’t just keep showing people who are supposed to be content with being in the permanent underclass a bunch of rich people always balling, having these great cars and homes and think they don’t want those things as well.â€
When asked what would she tell a street gangbangers, Brown said she would sit them down “and make them see my legacy show and hope at the end I would have given them something.†She said her legacy show gives people the history about black music and also “shows the resilient spirit of our ancestors. It is my intention to encourage a deeper respect for the positive outcome of our future and by realizing that we are people who came from other people. Those ancestors are not just a bunch of dead people. They accomplished things. They made things happen and you can too….â€The ancestors, Brown said,  “are worth respecting and representing in a positive way.â€
Calling herself more of a “grassroots†person, Brown wants to use her life experiences as possible solutions to this violence. “If I could, I would change what we accept as entertainment in this country and that would change the world because we are being fooled into thinking that†it’s entertainment.
To the rappers who negatively address women and fill the airwaves with violent and profane lyrics, Brown said, “They have been tricked, and I am fed up. I think we should use our words to uplift people…healthy words…something positive so that they can begin to value life…. What we are experiencing is the opposite of that. It is anti-life.â€
As an example of her work, Brown said, “I perform shows at schools that are edutainment. I teach about the history of entertainment, the history of our music.†Brown said there is a need for community leadership but the “good news is that artists can get to the audience now without†going through the middleman. “People don’t have to wait for a record deal.â€
Brown began singing professionally at the age of 15. “I had a natural inclination to sing. It was my father who discovered my talent. He did not recognize me when I was performing because of my costume, and he noted my talent.†Brown said her father was stunned to learn it was his own daughter’s voice.
Since then, Brown has performed with a number of high profile artists like the South Side Big Band,the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, Columbia College Chicago’s new Music Repertory Ensemble and other groups.
The 51-year-old vocalist has produced two CD’s, “From My Window,†and “We’re Live,†on her own record label, Magpie Records.
In an effort to keep her father’s legacy alive, Brown has included her youngest sister, Africa, who sang with her on her last CD. Brown, whose father died on May 29, 2005 at the age of 78, would have celebrated his 88th birthday on October 10,2014.
She is honoring her dad with a birthday celebration at the Promontory Social Club, 5311 South Lake Park, Friday, October 10, 2014, at 8 p.m. Brown will be performing with her sister, Africa and noted jazz musician Kelan Phil Cohran. Brown is celebrating her dad’s birthday over several days “because the work he left is so broad.†She wants people to see “the breadth of his work†and like a candle,Brown is keeping the memory of her father’s life lit and his works alive through her performances hoping that it will be a guiding light for others to
follow.
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Maggie Brown, the daughter of the late singer, actor and songwriter Oscar Brown, Jr., is performing at Josephine’s Cooking Restaurant, formerly Captain Hardtimes, 436 E. 79th Street., Saturday, September 20, 2014. (This photo by Chinta Strausberg)
Maggie Brown is honoring her dad, the late Oscar Brown, Jr., with a birthday celebration at the Promontory Social Club, 5311 South Lake Park, Friday, October 10, 2014, at 8 p.m. Brown will be performing with her sister, Africa and noted jazz musician Kelan Phil Cohran.
Chinta Strausberg is a Journalist of more than 33-years, a former political reporter and a current PCC Network talk show host. You can e-mail Strausberg at: Chintabernie@aol.com.
