It's not quite my favorite Star Wars film - but it's the one that got the ball rolling and I will always love it.
Countless viewings over three decades have never dulled the film for me. Regardless of which version I see - I'm always excited the first time Luke fires up his father's lightsaber. Also, the fact that numerous beautiful fan restorations exist in the wilds of the internet - I'm content if I really need to see an unaltered version of this one. I didn't see A New Hope in theaters until the 90s when Lucas released his "Special Editions." No need to go into the laundry list of odd choices good George made and for whatever motivation I've long since moved on as they've just stopped bothering me. Our first copy of Star Wars was just such a tape with simple red lettering on a white sticker that read "Star Wars - Three Stooges." Yes, my dad also recorded a few Three Stooges shorts after the credits because there was room left on the tape's extended play recording mode. Rather than buy all of our first tapes with a huge price tag, my dad was very economical and simply rented the tapes and recorded copies. My family had one main VHS player - a massive Sony model that must have weighed about two dozen pounds - and my dad bought a Hitachi video camera set - that came with second player/recorder in a shoulder sling duffle bag. Like many of my generation, I grew up watching Luke, Han, Chewy, and Leia battle the Empire on VHS - and on a bootlegged tape at that! Sadly born a few years too late, I wasn't in the theater when Star Wars took the world by storm. GRAVES, SR.So much has been written about Star Wars let alone Episode IV: A New Hope by now that I really don't have a whole lot of insight to add beyond my own personal experience with it.
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#MY WAY USHER ZIPPYSHARE SERIES#
Economic Equity & Racial Justice Townhall Series.If your ears are open as the sold-out crowd moves toward the exit, echoes of the words “Girl, we have to come back!” fill the theater’s lobby. By the time his 2004 No.1 single “Yeah” booms through the speakers, the audience has reached a fever pitch-a mixture of knowing the end has come and gratitude at having spent the last two hours in the presence of one of music’s all-time greats. No, Usher didn’t need a Vegas residency, but the city desperately needed him. And just when you’re ready to get swept up in the spectacle of it all, a single spotlight shines down on Usher, who is alone on stage, having finished a string of ballads that prove his mic is always on, and it’s clear that this level of excellence, of mastery, and execution could be achieved by very few other artists-past or present. There’s an ode to the stripper-dominant culture of his hometown combined with theatrics and staging that rival the thrilling experience of the neighboring Vegas mainstay, Cirque Du Soleil. There is an homage to those who came before-he starts the show in a perfectly-tailored all-white number that feels plucked off of Davis himself-and an undeniable nod to the era of music that made him a household name.
What Usher has been able to do and, no doubt, what Park MGM expected, is capture, at once, the soul of Black culture and harmoniously pair it with the city’s energy. It’s not a farewell tour or an experience only a day one fan can appreciate. He is not grasping onto the nostalgia of his heyday, nor is he at the height of his popularity. However, Usher’s popularity has been unparalleled. Later, Anna Bailey became the first Black showgirl in Vegas’ history, while Black comedians like Richard Pryor and Redd Foxx would also find a home in the bright lights of the Strip in the late 60s and 70s. After Davis, Lena Horne, Nat King Cole, and Ella Fitzgerald followed suit. Drive, named after the first Black person allowed to perform on the Strip, though he wouldn’t be able to stay at the El Rancho Motel and Casino where his show was held until many years later. Ten minutes away from Park MGM’s front door is Sammy Davis, Jr.
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