Greetings! My birthday (March 14) brought a Buffalo, N.Y.-type snowstorm to the tristate. Pisces sister, journalist Vinette Pryce, and I reminisced on the passing in 2014 of our beloved late brother, J.D. Livingston, on the birthday she and I both share with my mother, the late Delois Houston Byrd, and Quincy Jones. Speaking of losing “family,” Sister Sledge founder Joni Sledge, founding member of Philly-rooted group Sister Sledge of “We Are Family” fame, was found dead in her home in Phoenix, Ariz. The three sisters formed the disco-era family quartet in 1971. Sledge was 60. March 2017 is Multiple Sclerosis Education and Awareness Month. Visit msfocus.com.
THEATER
“X: Or, Betty Shabazz vs. The Nation” by Marcus Gardley. Friday, March 17, and March 24 at 7 p.m., Saturday, March 18, and March 25 at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m., New Victory Theater, 209 W. 42nd St., New York, N.Y. For information, call 646-223-3010 or visit newvictory.org.
“Plantano and Collard Greens” returns updated, funny and still relevant. Saturday, April 8, at the York Performing Arts Center in Jamaica, Queens. Imhotep Gary Byrd hosts. For tickets, call at 718-262-2840 or visit http://ny.platanosand
collardgreens.com/.
MUSIC
Lionel Richie: All the Hits, with very special guest Mariah Carey, Friday, March 17, at 7 p.m., Prudential Center, 25 Lafayette St., Newark, N.J. For ticket information, call 845-473-2072 or visit ticketmaster.com.
Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Saturday, March 18, at 7:30 p.m., B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, 237 W. 42nd St., New York, N.Y. For information, call 212-997-4144 or visit ticketmaster.com.
The Sugarhill Gang, Tuesday, March 21, at 9 p.m., B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, 237 W. 42nd St., New York, N.Y. For information, call 212- 997-4144 or visit ticketmaster.com.
Aretha Franklin, Mohegan Sun Arena, Thursday, March 23, at 8 p.m., 1 Mohegan Sun Blvd., Uncasville, Conn. For information, call 860-862-TIXX (8499) or visit ticketmaster.com.
The Temptations and the Four Tops, Saturday, March 25, at 8 p.m., NYCB Theatre at Westbury, 960 Brush Hollow Rd., Westbury, N.Y. For information, call 516-334-0800or visit ticketmaster.com.
Charlie Wilson’s In It to Win It Tour with Fantasia and Johnny Gill, Wednesday, March 29, at 7:30 p.m., Barclays Center, 620 Atlantic Ave. (at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Flatbush Avenue), Brooklyn, N.Y. For information, call 917-618-6700 or visit ticketmaster.com.
Chris Brown: The Party Tour, Saturday, April, 1 at 7:30 p.m., Prudential Center, 25 Lafayette St., Newark, N.J. For information, call 973-757-6600 or visit ticketmaster.com.
The Spinners and Little Anthony & The Imperial, Saturday, April 8, at 8 p.m., Kupferberg Center for the Arts, 153-49 Reeves Ave., Queens, N.Y. For information, call 718-793-8080 or visit ticketmaster.com.
COMEDY
Trevor Noah, Friday, March 31, at 10 p.m., New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center St., Newark, N.J. For information, call 888-466-5722 or visit ticketmaster.com or njpac.org.
FILM
“Fences,” directed by Denzel Washington and written by August Wilson, based on Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize winning play of the same name. The film stars Washington, Viola Davis, Stephen Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Russell Hornsby, Mykelti Williamson and Saniyya Sidney. Check your movie listings.
“Hidden Figures” is based on the lives of mathematicians Katherine Goble-Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae). Check your movie listings.
DANCE
Brooklyn Center Presents National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica, Saturday, March 18, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, March 19, at 3 p.m. Walt Whitman Theatre, 2925 Ave. H, Brooklyn, N.Y. For information, call 718- 951-4500 or visit www.brooklyncenter.org.
COMMUNITY
“Bridging the Gap to Our Turn’d-up Youth, the Elders Got Your Back,” Saturday, March 18, 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Moderators Chris Noble, Greg X, Arthur 8X, Sylvia Muhammad and Nzinga. Special guest performance by rapper Crimdella (Mandella Brath). CEMOTAP Center, 135-05 Rockaway Blvd., South Ozone Park, N.Y. For information, call 718-723-1416.
Ella! A Centennial Celebration, presented by the Apollo Theater Education Program, Thursday, March 23, at 6:30 p.m. Live Wire’s celebration of Fitzgerald’s centennial will explore “The First Lady of Song” through her musicianship and as a woman revered in an art form dominated by men. Apollo Theater, 253 W. 125th St., New York, N.Y. The event is free. Registration is required at eventbrite.com/e/apollo-live-wire-ella-tickets. For information, call 212-531-5305 or visit ticketmaster.com.
Marc Lamont Hill, professor, lecturer, author and media contributor, Saturday, March 25, at 4 p.m. Post-Obama America: Political Insight, Social Injustice and the Effect of “Nobody.” Muhammad Mosque No. 7, 106-108 W. 127th St., Harlem, N.Y. For information, visit www.noinewyork.org.
Hear Imhotep Gary Byrd on 107.5 WBLS-FM weekly with “Express Yourself,” Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and simulcast over WLIB 1190AM. The full show can also be heard on HD radio at WBLS-HD2 and at WBLS.com., WLIB.com and iHeartRadio. IGB is also heard on WBAI-FM 99.5 with Radio GBE: “The Global Black Experience” and “The Global Beat Experience,” Fridays 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Archived online at www.wbai.org. For bookings or to reach us about your GBEvent or for comments, email co-editor Nyerere Shannon @ nyerere1@aol.com, find us at Imhotep Gary Byrd on Facebook or follow us on Twitter @GBELIFE or call 212-592-3279.