Mid-Week Libation: Queen of the Cakewalk
R&R's Valentine's Day playlist, a mini red velvet cake recipe, Colman Domingo's romantic story of meeting his husband, plus James Baldwin, Frederick Douglass, Ollie Harrington & Aida Overton Walker!
Mid-Week Libation is our weekly curated splash of inspiration and culture! Click above to listen to this weeks’ audio segment!
R&R’s Valentine’s Day Playlist: My Funny Valentine
Celebrating Aida Overton Walker (February 14, 1880 – October 11, 1914) aka “The Queen of the Cakewalk” & “The Most Famous Black Woman of the Gilded Age”
She was the Queen of the Cakewalk and the Most Famous Black Woman of the Gilded Age (via Messy Nessy)
Aida Overton Walker: Female African-American Superstar by David Soren (via American Vaudeville)
Aida Overton Walker (via Drag King History)
Recipe of the Week: Natural, Mini Red Velvet Cake (No Food Coloring!) by Quin Liburd (@butterbeready)
Quin Liburd’s Official Site: Butter be Ready (so many great recipes!)
Quin on Instagram (gorgeous food photos & videos!)
Honoring Frederick Douglass (c. February 14, 1818 – February 20, 1895), James Baldwin & Ollie Harrington (February 14, 1912 – November 2, 1995)
Current Exhibition: Douglass, Baldwin, Harrington: The Walter O. Evans Collections at Yale’s Beinecke Library (on view through July 7, 2024!)
In Honor of Valentine’s Day: Actor Colman Domingo’s Incredibly Romantic Story of Meeting His Husband
Interesting Artists Born Today: February 14th
Visual Artists:
Today is the birthday of Leon Battista Alberti, Valentine Cameron Prinsep, Rudolf Ernst, Marion Mahony Griffin, Bohumil Kafka, Albin Polasek, Sylvia Gosse, Andrey Avinoff, William Auerbach-Levy, Nina Hamnett, Marta Hegemann, Harold Weston, Edith Barakovich, Tella Kitchen, Ángel Bracho, Ollie Harrington, Edith Bondie, John Henry Waddell, Masayuki Nagare, Jean Cortot, Mu Xin, Fábio Innecco, Allan Bridge, John E. Buck, Ed Hamilton, Norm Sartorius, Stanley Greene, Pierre Terrasson, Katharina Fritsch, Anita Klein, Judith Schaechter and Kevyn Aucoin!
Writers, Philosophers & Scholars:
Today is the birthday of Frederick Douglass, Solomon G. Brown, Anna Howard Shaw, Frank Harris, Ida Faubert, Max Horkheimer, A. M. Klein, Harry Mathews, Augusto de Campos, Carl Bernstein, Gwyneth Jones and Billeh Nickerson!
Musicians & Composers:
Today is the birthday of Francesco Cavalli, Fernando Sor, Irving Gordon, Jacob do Bandolim, Carmélia Alves, Merl Saunders, Magic Sam, Maceo Parker, Tim Buckley, Sylvain Sylvain, Michael Doucet, Carmine Rojas, Wayne Siegel, Renée Fleming, Jocelyn Pook, Latifa, Seckou Keita, Tsakane Valentine Maswanganyi and Víkingur Ólafsson!
Film/TV/Stage/Radio:
Today is the birthday of Aida Overton Walker, John Barrymore, Jack Benny, Thelma Ritter, Masaki Kobayashi, Hugh Downs, Harriet Andersson, Madhubala, Florence Henderson, Andrew Robinson, Alan Parker, Gregory Hines, Teller, Terry Gross, Anton Lesser, Meg Tilly, Sakina Jaffrey, Jessica Yu, Simon Pegg, Angela Robinson, Kris Aquino, Danai Gurira and Freddie Highmore!
This Week’s Words of Wisdom: James Baldwin (1924 - 1987)
I love the James Baldwin quote!!