Monday, January 22, 2007
Cirque du Soleil To Perform in Super Bowl XLI Pregame Show - Superbowl.com
Cirque du Soleil to perform in Super Bowl XLI pregame show
(Jan. 9, 2007) -- Cirque du Soleil and Miami-based artist Romero Britto will team to celebrate South Florida and football in an unprecedented performance in the Super Bowl XLI pregame show on CBS at Dolphin Stadium in South Florida on Sunday, Feb. 4, the NFL announced.
The Super Bowl is annually the nation's highest-rated TV program. More than 141 million viewers watched last year's game in the U.S. Super Bowl XLI will be broadcast to a potential worldwide audience of 1 billion in more than 230 countries and territories.
Inspired by Brazilian street theater, 60 professional performers and hundreds of other participants will participate in the pregame show, which will be a high-energy extravaganza of music, dance, gymnastics and circus arts linked by a multi-colored football theme. The Cirque du Soleil performers will be a living, breathing canvas for Britto, whose signature pop-art has come to define the color and vibrancy of South Florida.
Grammy® Award Winner Louie Vega will supply an original musical score and will perform with his Elements of Life Orchestra featuring vocalist Anane while the Cirque du Soleil performance comes to life.
The Cirque du Soleil team will include Fernand Rainville, director of creation, Patricia Ruel, creator of costumes and accessories, Geneviève Dorion-Coupal, choreographer and Daniel Cola, acrobatic coach.
Don Mischer Productions and White Cherry Entertainment will produce the Super Bowl XLI pregame show as part of their season-long marquee entertainment agreement with the NFL. The two companies produced the NFL Opening Kickoff 2006 special from Pittsburgh and the Thanksgiving special from Kansas City on NFL Network. In addition to the pregame show, they also will produce the Pepsi Super Bowl XLI Halftime Show. Don Mischer Productions will serve as executive producer and director, while White Cherry Entertainment, led by Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss, will serve as executive producers. The NFL has worked the past three years with both Don Mischer Productions and White Cherry Entertainment on Opening Kickoff and Super Bowl shows.
David Saltz of Red Eye Flight Productions will also serve as producer of the pregame show. Saltz has worked with Cirque on their Beatles inspired LOVE production and has brought them together with Britto for this original Super Bowl performance. Saltz has worked with the NFL on Opening Kickoff and Super Bowl Halftime the past three years.
(Jan. 9, 2007) -- Cirque du Soleil and Miami-based artist Romero Britto will team to celebrate South Florida and football in an unprecedented performance in the Super Bowl XLI pregame show on CBS at Dolphin Stadium in South Florida on Sunday, Feb. 4, the NFL announced.
The Super Bowl is annually the nation's highest-rated TV program. More than 141 million viewers watched last year's game in the U.S. Super Bowl XLI will be broadcast to a potential worldwide audience of 1 billion in more than 230 countries and territories.
Inspired by Brazilian street theater, 60 professional performers and hundreds of other participants will participate in the pregame show, which will be a high-energy extravaganza of music, dance, gymnastics and circus arts linked by a multi-colored football theme. The Cirque du Soleil performers will be a living, breathing canvas for Britto, whose signature pop-art has come to define the color and vibrancy of South Florida.
Grammy® Award Winner Louie Vega will supply an original musical score and will perform with his Elements of Life Orchestra featuring vocalist Anane while the Cirque du Soleil performance comes to life.
The Cirque du Soleil team will include Fernand Rainville, director of creation, Patricia Ruel, creator of costumes and accessories, Geneviève Dorion-Coupal, choreographer and Daniel Cola, acrobatic coach.
Don Mischer Productions and White Cherry Entertainment will produce the Super Bowl XLI pregame show as part of their season-long marquee entertainment agreement with the NFL. The two companies produced the NFL Opening Kickoff 2006 special from Pittsburgh and the Thanksgiving special from Kansas City on NFL Network. In addition to the pregame show, they also will produce the Pepsi Super Bowl XLI Halftime Show. Don Mischer Productions will serve as executive producer and director, while White Cherry Entertainment, led by Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss, will serve as executive producers. The NFL has worked the past three years with both Don Mischer Productions and White Cherry Entertainment on Opening Kickoff and Super Bowl shows.
David Saltz of Red Eye Flight Productions will also serve as producer of the pregame show. Saltz has worked with Cirque on their Beatles inspired LOVE production and has brought them together with Britto for this original Super Bowl performance. Saltz has worked with the NFL on Opening Kickoff and Super Bowl Halftime the past three years.
With Dungy and Smith In Super Bowl XLI, African Americans Forced To See Positive Role Models
Yes, I know the title of my post is controversial. But it's also true. It comes from several episodes in my personal life that I will never forget and caused me to think that we -- African Americans or "blacks" if you will (I use the terms interchangebly) -- have actually conditioned ourselves to accept a second class place in American Life. (Oh, if youre wondering, that's me on the left, in the suit.)
Now, with the two teams in Super Bowl XLI being coached by African Americans -- the Chicago Bears by Lovie Smith and the Indianapolis Colts by Tony Dungy, Blacks are actually forced to see ourselves in positive role model positions. It's about time and will help me reduce, but not erase the memory of the following occurences in my life.
The first one was when I was 14-years-old. (I'm 44 now.) I was just leaving a McDonald's Restaurant located in South Chicago and just off Avalon Avenue, when an older Black man walked in and yelled "I want the manager! Where's the manager?!" I don't know what his complaint was but he seemed angry. So a tall, well dressed Black man walked out from behind the counter and identified himself as the manager. "Can I help you?" He asked.
"Naw. You're not the manager. I wanna see the White Man." That's what he said, and I obviously never forgot it. I left the place as my Mom was waiting for me outside, but those words "I wanna see the White Man" never left my head.
The second occurence was during a visit to see my auntie in Tennessee when I was 17-years-old. One of her family friends was bragging about how he purchased a new car almost every year "Like the White man does" he said. And he kept saying it. It was annoying to me and so I asked Mom about it. "That's how some of us think," she said. "It's not right, but you're being exposed to it."
No kidding.
I was never told or even allowed to think that I could not do something because I am Black. I was never instructed that there are "two rules" -- one for Blacks and the other for Whites. I was also never discouraged from seeing the late Economist John Kenneth Galbraith as my hero even though he's White. No one ever told me that his position or way of thinking was not attainable to me or anyone else because they were or I am Black. I was never told not to date interracially because I was Black. I was never told that I could not be with Asian or White or Latino or any "different" friends because I am African American. Never.
I was always instructed to expect to see Blacks in important positions and indeed my Mom knew Blacks who were. Blacks like Arnold Grant, who was the first African American Regional Director of Kentucky Fried Chicken in the 60s. Or my father, who I'm named after, and who invented an electric ladder. Or my late stepfather Chester Yerger, Jr., who fought in World War II and who's father was part of one of Arkansas' most prominent families. Thus, I'm happy that at least one of the members of the Federal Reserve Board are Black -- there should be more. The point is, I was brought up to expect greatness from Blacks.
But I digress.
I've seen more examples of Black self-hatred and dislike of other Blacks who rise to positions of power or prominence than the opposite. You can take the examples I gave, or San Francisco Radio Station KNBR's Personality Rod Brooks' recent statements calling Black Coaches "one of those" as if they were a bad thing, or Black on Black crime, I could go on and on.
But now, with Colts Coach Tony Dungy exorcising the demons of Patriots past, and Lovie Smith expecting his Chicago Bears to be Super Bowl champions and then willing his team to the game, I have a reason to smile. And Blacks everywhere do as well.
This adds to the expected greatness of Tiger Woods, and the rise of Barack Obama to Senator and perhaps President of the United States of America. It means we can expect greatness from us, and indeed should insist on it. Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith coaching in the World's largest single day sports event seen by almost 1 Billion people, will do almost as much for Black self-esteem as Martin Luther King did decades ago and today. A tall statement, perhaps. But consider the size of the Super Bowl TV audience once again and then think about it.
Still, it's a jarring experience for some of us to see this. Derrick Bell, the noted Black law professor formerly of Harvard and now at New York University, told the story of an African American cab driver who asked what he did, and when he told him, the driver said "Man, it's guys like you that make it hard for me." What he meant, was that he could not easily use the fact that he's Black as a reason for not succeeding. Indeed, it's a reason to at least try. We all know that racism is alive and well but it makes life harder when we as Blacks don't expect to excell because of it. It's better to fight racism and battle through it, but not destroy one's self because of it.
Thus, the next time -- regardless of who you are as we need all hands on deck to rid ourselves of this self-esteem problem -- you hear someone Black ask "Where's the White Man?" when an African American manager appears, don't slap the crap out of him, just say to him "He's in line, ordering from the Black man who runs the place."
Coming to Miami? Come to the Bauer's Super Bowl Party!
Super Bowl XLI: Chicago Bears v. Indianapolis Colts - NFL.com
Sunday, February 4, 6:25 p.m. ET on CBS
Super Bowl XLI will have a fresh look with two teams that haven't seen the NFL's title game in a long time. The Bears are back in the Super Bowl for first time since winning Super Bowl XX in January of 1986, while the Colts will make a Super Bowl appearance for the first time since the franchise, then located in Baltimore, beat Dallas in Super Bowl V.
Both teams started the 2006 season fast with the Bears winning their first seven games on their way to the NFC North title and the Colts starting 9-0 on their way to the AFC South crown. The game will feature strength against strength with the Colts' offense, ranked third in the regular season, going against a Bears defense that finished the season ranked fifth overall.
Both teams have plenty of talent, with Chicago sending seven players to the Pro Bowl, six from the defense or special teams, and the Colts boasting five Pro Bowl players, all from the offense. Bears coach Lovie Smith and Colts coach Tony Dungy are close friends, dating back to Smith's time working on Dungy's staff with the Tampa Bay Bucs, and the two are the first African-American head coaches to reach the Super Bowl.
Super Bowl XLI will have a fresh look with two teams that haven't seen the NFL's title game in a long time. The Bears are back in the Super Bowl for first time since winning Super Bowl XX in January of 1986, while the Colts will make a Super Bowl appearance for the first time since the franchise, then located in Baltimore, beat Dallas in Super Bowl V.
Both teams started the 2006 season fast with the Bears winning their first seven games on their way to the NFC North title and the Colts starting 9-0 on their way to the AFC South crown. The game will feature strength against strength with the Colts' offense, ranked third in the regular season, going against a Bears defense that finished the season ranked fifth overall.
Both teams have plenty of talent, with Chicago sending seven players to the Pro Bowl, six from the defense or special teams, and the Colts boasting five Pro Bowl players, all from the offense. Bears coach Lovie Smith and Colts coach Tony Dungy are close friends, dating back to Smith's time working on Dungy's staff with the Tampa Bay Bucs, and the two are the first African-American head coaches to reach the Super Bowl.
