Reporter’s People

On Sunday, April 5, the Ashmont Hill Chamber Music (AHCM) hosted a performance of Beethoven’s String Quartet in C-sharp minor, Opus 131, by the Béla String Quartet of the New England Conservatory. More than 100 people attended the late afternoon concert in the Roslin Street home of Jim and Christina Keefe.

“Everyone in the audience was ‘unplugged’ for over 30 minutes on a Sunday afternoon in early spring to hear one of Beethoven’s most dramatic pieces,” Christina Keefe said. “Now I know why Beethoven should be played in the home or ‘chamber.’ The acoustics were very interesting. (With) the outside sounds of the day while the symphony was playing, there was a pick up basketball game going on in one backyard, and a street hockey game with some of the children in the neighborhood next door. The sounds of the viola, two violins and cello were like the background music to a part in a movie taking place of the city.”

With donated food, wine and chamber music, the event raised some $5,100 to support the AHCM, Keefe said.

•••

Mattapan’s own Shae Rose will bring her “Rock ‘n’ Soul” rooted sound to the Strand Theatre as the opening act for the fourth annual New England Urban Music Awards next weekend. The awards show is set for Saturday, April 25, at 6:30p.m. This year’s event will be hosted by TOUCH 106.1FM and features a Tribute performance to Boston’s own New Edition.

The award show was created in 2006 as an outlet to recognize local and regional urban artists, producers, DJs, and promoters in the R&B, Hip Hop, Jazz, Caribbean and Gospel music scene.
Shea is a fourth semester Professional Music Major at the Berklee College of Music. She’s a recipient of Berklee’s coveted World Scholarship Tour and is featured on Berklee’s Heavy Rotation Records 2009 compilation – Dorm Sessions 6.

Described as the black Rickie Lee Jones and female Lenny Kravitz, Shea is an artist, a musician and storyteller with a powerful voice and electric presence.

•••

Dorchester native Angelina Callis, a junior at Xavier University of Louisiana, has been named the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Week in women’s tennis. Callis, a graduate of Dorchester High School, was 2-0 in singles and 2-0 in doubles in helping the Gold Nuggets earn victories against two ranked NAIA opponents, Union (Ky.) and Shorter. Callis has a seven-match win streak in doubles with Anastesia Opata.

Callis, a two-time GCAC weekly winner, leads the Nuggets with 18 doubles victories in 2008-09 and has 15 singles victories to share the team lead with Opata.

•••

R&B singer Lovely Hoffman is taking three students from Dorchester’s Smith Leadership Academy on an eleven day trip to Uganda this month. Lovely, born and raised in Roxbury’s Orchard Gardens, gained national notoriety last year when debut single “Can’t Wait” scaled the top ten charts of national Urban College Radio.

“This trip is about community building,” the singer said in a statement. “Developing pride, a love of self, and connecting to the land we are so far removed from. I want to inspire children to make change in their community.”

Lovely’s latest single, Light Switch, is about unstable relationships. To preview her music visit myspace.com/LovelyHoffman.

•••

Mattapan resident Jennifer Knight, RN, has been honored with the 2009 Excellence in Nursing Award from the New England Regional Black Nurses Association, Inc. (NERBNA).

Ms. Knight is a charge nurse at Cambridge Health Alliance’s Broadway Health Center in Somerville. The Excellence in Nursing Award recognizes individuals for their contributions and meritorious efforts in the field of nursing and was presented at a ceremony at the Boston Marriott Copley Place celebrating National Black Nurses Day.