INFEMNITY™ Entertainment News

  Nina Kennedy The stars came out for the 33rd GLAAD Media Awards at the New York Midtown Hilton May 6th, the first GMAs since 2019. Our own Nina Kennedy was invited to walk the Red Carpet as the 2021 Lambda Literary Award Finalist for her book  Practicing for Love: A Memoir .  Cynthia Nixon Other celebrities on the Red Carpet included Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon, and Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kandi Burruss. Cynthia Nixon remembered Nina from the NYWIFT (New York Women in Film and Television) Muse Awards, and embraced her warmly. Actor Judith Light came to receive the  Excellence in Media Award, and was introduced by Oscar winner and star of West Side Story Ariana DeBose. Kandi Burruss The Red Carpet was also graced with the presence of the new White House Press Secretary  Karine Jean-Pierre. GLAAD Board Chair Pamela Stewart introduced Secretary Jean-Pierre who received a rousing standing ovation. "Thank you, family," were her first words as she...

  In her first public reading since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Nina Kennedy read from her memoir Practicing for Love in the SAGE Center at the Stonewall House in Brooklyn this week. Stonewall House is the largest LGBTQ+ friendly elder housing development in the country and New York City's first LGBTQ+ Friendly Elder Housing. The property name "Stonewall House" is in honor of the 1969 uprising that is often cited as the beginning of the modern LGBT liberation movement. The 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising was celebrated in 2019. Residents were treated to Nina's music video of Schumann's "Widmung," filmed in Vienna, Austria. Then she read from the book tales of coming out, in addition to some of the history of Fisk University, where her parents served as members of the piano faculty. She also shared the story of appearing as piano soloist with the Mississippi Symphony, and learning that the state legislature had voted to abolish slavery...

For all of you who have sent complaints asking why my interview was cut from a recent program on "All Things Considered," THANK YOU!! I gave an extensive interview to NPR on the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the first fundraising tour of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, and was told that clips of my interview would be used in addition to current director Paul Kwami's interview with Audie Cornish. We listened with rapt attention as Cornish chatted with Kwami, and were shocked when the segment ended and none of my interview was used. I had gone into much more history and detail on the group than Kwami did, and was deeply disappointed that this history was not included in the program. Here again, a man's voice is given credence over a woman's. To add insult to injury, now if you Google me you'll find that it is all over the Internet that I was supposed to be on this program. My name is inextricably linked with NPR online. For those of you who haven't contact...

Nina Kennedy (photo by Kathy Ray) In anticipation of the Jubilee Day celebrations scheduled for next month, a producer for Nashville Public Radio reached out to Nina Kennedy to ask about a possible interview to be used as part of a project in recognition of "Jubilee Day," Fisk University's Founders' Day, on October 6th. Classical music journalist  Colleen Phelps  is  on a team at WPLN-FM producing a special for the upcoming 150th Jubilee Day, and is currently working on online content that will be released related to the special .  During a short text dialogue, Colleen revealed that she had been watching the documentary film Nina had produced on her father titled  Matthew Kennedy: One Man's Journey . Matthew Kennedy had directed the Fisk Jubilee Singers - who are considered to be the founders of Fisk University  - from 1957 to 1986.  Though the Free Fisk Colored School (named for Union Army General Clinton B. Fisk) was founded by the American Missionar...

  The sequel for Nina Kennedy's Lambda Literary Award Finalist, Practicing for Love: A Memoir , is finally on the shelves. Practice What You Preach continues the story of Nina's adventures in New York City, and her return to Europe where she resides in Vienna, Cologne, and Paris. Early in the book, Nina receives news of her mother's death and must return to Nashville for the funeral. While cleaning out her parents' house, she unearths material for a documentary film which she spends the next six years producing. That film, Matthew Kennedy: One Man's Journey  - on the life of her father who was a concert pianist and director of the world-renowned Fisk Jubilee Singers - becomes an award-winning hit at international film festivals. While in the U.S., Nina becomes involved with an African diplomat who forces her to come to grips with new levels of sexism, homophobia, and anti-Americanism that permeate many African cultures. She learns to appreciate her national identit...

On April 24th, the eight annual B Free Awards were held in a live virtual ceremony broadcast on BRIC TV. BRIC's B Free Awards celebrates local journalism and the community-made stories that air on its Brooklyn Free Speech TV and Podcast Network. The Noshing with Nina Show  was nominated in two categories: B Entertaining and B Harmonious, and won the B Entertaining Award. The episode that won was the show that was produced in Vienna, Austria . Producer April Gibson accepted the award in a pre-recorded acceptance speech, in which she told the story of INFEMNITY Productions'  trip to Vienna in the fall of 2019, and how happy she was to be able to bring along her mother and aunt for their first trip to Europe. She also shared with the audience how the show's host,  Nina Kennedy , had just learned that her new book,  Practicing for Love: A Memoir , has been nominated to receive a 2021 Lambda Literary Award. Nina was also interviewed during the show's opening Red Carp...

The first time I tried to enter the Clit Club, I didn't even make it inside. A beautiful young lady picked me up right there at the entrance, and took me back to her apartment. A few weeks later when I actually made it all the way inside, I saw that the atmosphere was highly sexualized. Topless dancers shook their stuff on the stage, on top of the bar, and on various elevated platforms. When I ventured downstairs, women were dancing, grinding, making out and making love in dark corners. Hostesses Julie Tolentino (made famous by the photo montage with her partner Alistair and Madonna in the book Sex ) and Jocelyn Taylor (aka Jaguar Mary) gave birth to the infamous party in the Meatpacking District, where celebrities including Debbie Harry and Madonna were often spotted. Photographer Lola Flash was behind the bar, and often displayed slides of her photographs on the walls. There was usually a line of people waiting to get in, and the dancefloor was normally so packed that we could ha...

Today, on the anniversary of my New York Recital Debut at Lincoln Center, I am celebrating the news that my first book of memoirs is a finalist for a 2021 Lambda Literary Award. While in the throes of writing and editing this work, I never imagined that my story of struggle as a concert pianist - who is also a woman and an African American - would be singled out for such an honor. It has renewed my faith and encouraged me to put more of my stories on paper. Celebrated women concert pianists are few and far between. I am reminded of a certain female pianist who has enjoyed much fame and success, who started out in her career as the wife of a famous orchestral conductor. As marriage to a man was out of the question for me, I missed out on some of the perks that a wife enjoys. I never knew how to flirt with conductors or concert agents to secure contracts, as many of my white female heterosexual colleagues were able to do. In addition to bearing the burden of being a female without male s...

  On March 15th, the Associated Press announced the finalists for the 2021 Lambda Literary Awards. Practicing for Love: A Memoir by Nina Kennedy is nominated in the Lesbian Memoir/Biography category. Kennedy is the only African-American author nominated in this category. Lambda Literary has championed LGBTQ books and authors f or over 30 years. To quote their website : " We believe that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer literature is fundamental to the preservation of our culture, and that LGBTQ lives are affirmed when our stories are written, published, and read." The announcement of the finalists as reported by the Associated Press  has appeared in Publishers Weekly , Kirkus Book Reviews , NYU Press, among other publications. Meshell Ndegeocello Finalists and winners will be celebrated in a virtual award ceremony on Tuesday, June 1st, 2021, which will feature a performance by  Meshell Ndegeocello , along with other guests. Nina Kennedy is a world-renowned ...

The 7th annual B Free Awards were held last Saturday in a Virtual/ Zoom format presented by BRIC Arts Media. Last year, the B Free Awards took place in May, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year's awards ceremony was postponed to October. Also in 2019, The Noshing with Nina Show 's producer April Gibson was nominated as best director in the First Amendment category. The episode on "The People's State of the Union" and our coverage of "The Poetic Address to the Nation" won the award. April Gibson accepting her B Free Award in 2019 This year, the episode with special guest Kimberly Nichole was nominated in the B Harmonious category. Kimberly Nichole, also known as "The Rock Ballerina," was the star of NBC's The Voice for several episodes. Her voice incorporates the elements of soaring gospel and R&B, over a distinctive foundation of Rock & Roll. Kimberly came into the studio for an hour-long interview, and even gave us an impro...

  Practicing for Love  - A Review By Michelle Veras September 28, 2020 Practicing for Love , Nina Kennedy’s recently published memoir, is a beautiful chronicle of the author’s childhood, lifelong passion for music, and her journey from Tennessee to New York City, and eventually, across the globe. The text is an intimate glimpse into Kennedy’s early life as a child prodigy, and later, her career as an internationally acclaimed classical pianist. Along the way, Kennedy confronts the complex and interconnected realities of racism, sexism, and homophobia.  The only child of musician parents, Ms. Kennedy spent her childhood immersed in the world of classical music. The author recounts her experiences traveling to performances with her parents, sitting in on the classes they taught at Fisk University, and the countless hours she spent practicing at the piano. For those of us with fairly limited knowledge of classical music, Kennedy’s memoir lays bare her conflicted feelings abo...

2019 has been a banner year for INFEMNITY Productions and  The Noshing with Nina Show (TNWNS) . The year began with the broadcast of our recap of “The People’s State of the Union” in January. For Black History Month we broadcast the first of a two-part series on the award-winning documentary film  Matthew Kennedy: One Man’s Journey , produced and directed by host Nina Kennedy. In March, the Rock Ballerina Kimberly Nichole was our special guest on  TNWNS . Kimberly is most recognized for her amazing performance of “House of the Rising Sun” on NBC’s  The Voice . Nina Kennedy directing the Fisk Jubilee Singers Also in March, the Fisk Jubilee Singers performed at Carnegie Hall under sponsorship of the H.T. Burleigh Society, and Nina was asked to participate in a panel discussion with the descendants of Ella Sheppard, Harry Burleigh, J. Rosamond Johnson, W.C. Handy and Bob Cole  on the legacies of famous African American musici...

I couldn't care less about Donald Trump, Roger Stone, Michael Cohen, John Bolton, et al. Trump's niece, Mary, writes a book on her uncle, and hundreds of thousands of books are ordered before its release. John Bolton has a best-seller out, and he chose to make money instead of testifying before Congress. Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen wants to write a book, but Trump sent him back to prison for refusing to sign a statement saying that he would not write a book. Convicted felon Roger Stone is talking about writing a book, and is free to do so since Trump commuted his sentence. All of it is disgusting to me. Trump has murdered well over a hundred thousand Americans via his incompetence, denial, and self-absorption. Yet nothing seems to happen to the bad guys. Meanwhile, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks, Elijah McClain, et al are still dead - killed by police for being black. The Fisk Jubilee Singers, Ella Sheppard seated at the keyboard ...