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Is a Biopic next for Spider Jones? |
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By Clinton Hosannah
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 Outspoken and colourful media personality Charles “Spider” Jones was one of only a few black reporters when he started in the business in 1983.
He faced adversity - he was jailed more than once as a young person - but the energetic 58-year-old always overcame those challenges and has a list of accomplishments that would make any mother proud.
The voice behind the popular CFRB radio program Spider’s Web, has next on his list a movie about his life based on his book, “Out of the Darkness. "If it's going to be a movie, it's not about the money,” says Jones. “The message is it's not where you come from it's where you’re going that counts.”
Richard Krupka, a screenwriter and director from Toronto, and his brother Edward have written for television in Canada and L.A. for shows like Seinfeld, Frasier and NYPD Blue. The brothers felt Jones' book would make a great movie and pitched the idea to Spider last summer. He agreed, but only if he could have some significant creative input.
“It has been an amazing, exasperating and enlightening experience working with Spider,” says Richard Krupka. As it stands the script is almost completed and some Hollywood notables have expressed interest in signing on to the project.
“There is a certain amount of interest from several studios, I can't say much until things are finalized,” adds Krupka, but Jones says Shamar Moore might be playing him.
In addition to the movie, Jones has just finished writing another book called “How to K.O. Low Self Esteem and Bring Your Dreams Into Reality,” available for purchase in February 2008. He wrote the book because people were always asking him how he remained so positive throughout his life, and how he managed to maintain so much confidence.
The book deals with what he calls a psychological predator; low self esteem. The book, dedicated to anyone who has or has had esteem issues, is intended to give readers strategies for defeating the problem.
“Why can’t ordinary people do extraordinary things,” Jones asks rhetorically.
In early February he is also releasing the first volume in a collection of cds called, ‘The Spider Jones Family Trivia CD Collection.’ Anyone who knows Spider knows he loves trivia.
Jones’ hit radio show The Spider’s Web, on CFRB 1010 airs every Sunday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. He’s been doing this show for the last seven years, but has been in radio for over 15 when he joined CHWO on the Rock & Soul Review Show.
His first gig was co-hosting a coast-to-coast TV show called, Famous Knock-Outs, with boxing legend George Chuvalo, in 1983.
This experience earned the former boxer and Canadian Boxing Hall of Fame inductee the distinction of being one of the first black men in Canadian media to be broadcast across the country.“When I broke into reporting on sports in this business the only thing black, was the puck,” says Jones.
When asked about the future of journalism, as far as up and coming black journalists are concerned, Jones simply replies: “We need more black journalists for their perspective. We need to show them up front, shining like a beacon of light, but (being) objective, well read and articulate,’’ says Jones earnestly.
That's the message he brought as keynote speaker to the recent CABJ event "Breakin' into the Biz.''
“Let people see you as successful so you can spread hope. Some lose hope because they don't see a lot of us out there,’’ he says.
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Sway and AMÖI Expand the Media Landscape |
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By Ashante Infantry
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The recent debut of two glossy mags catering to African Canadians is great news for both readers and advertisers.
Sway and AMÖI are a welcome sight for the eyes, given that mainstream titles like Toronto Life and Chatelaine rarely carry stories about blacks, unless the focus is crime, sports or music. You’d be hard pressed to find our images illustrating articles on generic topics such as motherhood and entrepreneurship. And American titles like Essence and Ebony just don’t have us northerners on their radar.
Toronto weeklies Share, Pride, Caribbean Camera and Canada News Extra are reliable sources of information, but their plethora of “back home” news and archaic layouts don’t appeal to younger readers. And while Word Magazine has more pizzaz, it’s hard to find and slim on content for older readers.
For obvious reasons — freelance work, staff jobs !! — African Canadian journalists in particular have reason to welcome Sway and AMÖI to the media landscape. Those of us with innate knowledge of black culture in Canada should have an edge in landing assignments for the new quarterlies.
Sway is in its second year of publishing, while AMÖI is two issues into its first year. Both recently came out with seasonal issues. Here’s how they stack up:
AMOI
Major props to the single-name publisher, Chioma, for the original vision and savvy to partner with publishing giant Metroland (owned by Torstar Corp.) to get Sway off the ground in 2005.
And when that relationship soured, it’s equally impressive that she had the fortitude to round up backers and launch under a new banner before Sway’s new minds got their act together.
AMÖI’s second issue is a healthy 122 pages with A-list advertisers and press-shy Michael Lee-Chin, the Burlington billionaire from Jamaica, on the cover to coincide with the opening of the Lee-Chin Crystal at the Royal Ontario Museum.
Less savoury is Chioma’s liberal use of the $4.50 mag to promote Chioma: the Lee-Chin story has her byline and she turns up in photos throughout.
A rags-to-riches war orphan from Nigeria who migrated to Toronto via Europe and Nova Scotia, Chioma may envision herself a Canuck Oprah Winfrey, but that media icon was a former reporter/news anchor with a long running talk show when she put herself on the cover of O Magazine.
As a featured journalist, Chioma’s line of questioning is adequate, but she doesn’t have the star power, or writing chops to bundle herself into the main story in every issue.
A more burning concern, however, is AMÖI’s blurred line between advertising and editorial. It’s a blow to the publication’s credibility that so many of the ads are twinned to nearby editorial that read like press releases and that some advertisers get to write columns about their wares.
SWAY
Distributed free, its 74-page summer issue showcases a vibrant, timely cover about Caribana’s 40th anniversary. It’s great to see experienced contributors like Saada Branker and Global Television’s Terese Sears on the masthead and the magazine impresses with stellar photography and an intriguing array of stories, from the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade, to a “whatever happened to” piece on singer Fefe Dobson (at the ripe age of 22) and an update on the Regent Park makeover.
But there’s a lack of foresight and continuity. In the opening pages of news digests, a paragraph on Quebec’s first black cabinet minister, the 29-year-old lawyer Yolanda James, begs for a larger piece; and “In Memoriam” photos of slain Toronto high schooler Jordan Manners and Yolanda King, daughter of the civil rights martyr, need text to explain who they were.
Next, incongruously, come no less than 15 pages of beauty, fitness and fashion. Very Essence-like, but a turnoff for male readers who will dismiss Sway as a women’s magazine.
While I appreciate publisher Cheryl Phillips’s Bajan background and — given the scant ad count — the much-needed revenue from the 11-page Barbados supplement, I just hope Jamaica isn’t next.
Talk about travel destinations most African Canadians don’t need tips on! The demographic that Sway needs to stay afloat would be better stimulated by insight on affordable holidays in Europe, Africa, South America and the non-English-speaking Caribbean.
And my guess is most Sway browsers didn’t think much of “The Black Man’s Pickup” in which a female writer makes the scurrilous claim (replete with “talk to the hand” photo and without an examination of culture or class) that “a loud, lewd and disgusting animal call” is the standard opening gambit for “many” black men.
Criticisms aside, we all have a vested interest in the survival of AMÖI and Sway. So, here are a couple of modest suggestions:
Better layout, editorial plan and proofreading.
AMÖI’s tendency to run text over photos makes many stories difficult to read, and getting Lee-Chin’s Jamaican hometown right (Port Antonio) and wrong (Port Antoine) paragraphs apart is embarrassingly sloppy.
Sway needs to set up some features better and its four “People With Sway” profiles don’t identify the interviewers.
Both magazines need to streamline their table of contents and delineate advertising more clearly from editorial. Did the Sway writer actually go to Barbados? If so, who paid for it?
Be current. Be Canadian. Be smart.
Anticipate and react quickly to shifts in current affairs. Pinpoint the topics and people around us arousing curiosity. That means no reviews of two-year-old books, no wasted pages of Hollywood movie briefs, no easy stereotypical assertions like “black men are often aggressive and unwilling to take no for an answer.”
Employ credible, experienced journalists.
A biased view to express on the CABJ website, yes, but one guaranteed to enhance these magazines with more original reporting and first-rate writing.
Reputable bylines work to a higher standard than churning out disguised advertorial, or rewriting publicity releases.
However, enlisting such scribes implies paying more than the 20 cents a word being bandied about by both publications.
The tendency is often to scrimp on writing fees — but readers won’t stick around if the content is limp, and advertisers will be next out the door.
Ashante Infantry is a Pop & Jazz Critic at the Toronto Star. She has written for Sway.
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An African-Canadian Museum: Can We Turn A Daydream Into Reality? |
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By Sundra Sefa
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Handles in the image of abolitionist Harriet Tubman on a gold-plated door were a sign of the marvels contained within.
I step inside: the hallway to my left is lined with plaques citing quick facts about prominent African Canadians; the sunlit atrium to my right contains an interactive multimedia centre where, among other things, kids can translate their favourite sayings into any of a dozen African languages, or dialects; on the second floor, I discover a room filled with statues of famous black Canadians that tell their individual stories at a touch.
Mouth open, hand on my chest, I’m in disbelief.
Wow! A state of the art building preserving my history. Wow again!
But, with a ‘Thank-you for coming’ from OBHS president Rosemary Sadlier, I’m jolted out of my reverie.
The meeting is over and a Centre for African-Canadian History and Culture is still a dream.
What? That’s it!! No actual location! No architectural drawings? No construction date!
The vaguely worded invitation to this event promised the unveiling of a preview site of the Ontario Black History Society’s (OBHS) project, the Centre for African-Canadian History and Culture.
When I got the email two weeks ago, I started oohing and aahing about the possibilities.
I mentioned to a friend that I was going to a meeting about the building of a black history museum and she raised her neatly waxed eyebrows and gave me the "are you for real?" look.
I didn’t have a rebuttal, because, frankly, I too was skeptical.
I cringe at having to call my friend with a post-announcement update.
Ontario Black History Society boss Sadlier, opened the meeting on the 2nd floor of the Ontario Heritage Centre at Yonge/Adelaide Sts. with a statement about the necessity of a permanent place to archive our history.
"There is no single space dedicated to telling the stories of African-Canadians and preserving what our ancestor’s build," she said.
Agreed. No debate required.
But with the late start and boring speeches, I drifted off.
The organization’s goal is to establish a permanent place where the history of African-Canadians can be preserved while promoting the study and appreciation of African-Canadian life, literature, and culture through programming.
To date, the OHBS has developed a business plan and feasibility study that details the potential audience, exhibits, events, governance and management of the proposed centre.
That’s it; they haven’t raised a dime towards its construction.
My disappointment/misunderstanding about this "announcement" and why it would take at least seven years, according to Sadlier, for a black history museum to get off the ground made me do a little research.
The Saskatchewan African Canadian Heritage Museum has a great logo, but still only exists online; after a 20-year campaign Britain’s first museum isn’t set to open until the end of the decade; and most surprisingly, the ceremonial groundbreaking for the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial in Washington, D.C., occurred late 2006, 38!!! years after it was proposed.
But aside from the fact that honorary centers require detailed, long-term planning, tedious application for grants and financial support from the government and private sector, I’m still left to ponder if those are the only obstacles for Sadlier and her team.
Of the 40 or so people who attended the meeting, I spoke to a couple of people who were not particularly impressed by the proposal, and they turned out to be OHBS volunteers. Several others left before the summit ended.
Is this collective self-doubt the reason we can’t get our act together?
I applaud the Jews and Italians for their commercial successes, am awed by the increase in political power among the Chinese and Indians, and wonder what our problem is?
Blame it on colonization, slavery, or anything else that you want, but here’s the thing: black people don’t support each other.
Imagine what this museum could be if with a few leading donors (our athletes, entertainers, entrepreneurs), each African Canadian anted up $10?
The 2001 census by Statistics Canada, counted 593, 335 African Canadians, not including the 70,000 who are of mixed black and European race.
Isn’t it time we stood together for something?
The Centre for African Canadian History and Culture would not be a bad place to start.
Then mine wouldn’t be the only dream to come true.
Sundra Sefa is a Ryerson University accounting graduate and budding journalist.
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