HairKutt

Award Winning Documentary to Screen at University of Utah’s Post Theatre during National Drug Awareness Month

Independent filmmaker Curtis Elliot plans to discuss award winning documentary about the ill effects of heroin abuse in Salt Lake City October 21st

October 7th, 2005—St. Louis, MO—In conjunction with National Drug Awareness Month, independent filmmaker Curtis Elliott plans to visit the St. Lake City area October 21st with his It’s Tough To Get Off Drugs anti-drug campaign. The basis of the campaign is the award winning documentary HairKutt. The film will screen Friday, October 21st at the University of Utah’s Post Theatre at 2:00 P.M., 6:00 P.M. and 8:00 P.M. The 2:00 screening is for media, police and treatment center personnel only, while the other two screenings are open to the public.

To date, HairKutt has been booked to screen at not only the Post Theatre but also at the Roxy Theatre in LaSalle, Illinois on Sunday, October 23rd in select public school districts throughout the country during Red Ribbon Week October 23-31 and at Boston's Somerville Theatre November 4th-11th.

HairKutt is a sixty minute, award winning documentary about four friends from St. Louis, MO who travel to the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee in the hopes of curing one of them from the throes of heroin addiction. The Reel Life story evolves around Bryant “HairKutt” Johnson, a heroin addict of more than 15 years. The documentary takes many twists and turns as “HairKutt” becomes so debilitated from the withdrawal of the poisonous drug that he walks away from the rented cabin used as a drug rehab facility to return to the streets of St. Louis (more than a ten hour drive away) and the source of his addiction: heroin.

Coaxed back to the cabin by his friends, “HairKutt” is eventually rushed to a rural Tennessee hospital after severe life-threatening vomiting episodes. Is the hospital trip a death bed for “HairKutt” or a springboard for a new life free from the drug that has dominated his teen and adult years? The story climaxes more than a year and a half later with a tell-all truth about the fateful trip and “HairKutt’s” final condition.

The film won Best Social Documentary at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival in Los Angeles in March 2005 and Best Documentary Feature at Cinema St. Louis' Independent Filmmakers Showcase in July. The film also screened at the Missouri Black Expo in August and at the Father Support Center’s Fifth Annual Fatherhood Initiative Conference at the University of Missouri-St. Louis in June. The film made its’ St. Louis debut in front of a crowd of 700 at the famed Tivoli Theater in the University City, (MO) Loop on May 12th, 2005.

For more info or the view movie trailer, please visit www.itstoughtogetoffdrugs.com or Google Search keyword: HairKutt or contact Curtis Elliott at 314.324.5435 or 314.395.2342 or mrfixitfast6@msn.com.

Da People's Champ Voted Best Hip-Hop Artist by RFT

2005: Music
Best Hip-Hop Artist
Spaide R.I.P.P.E.R.

With his big braids and big smile, Spaide is everywhere -- car shows, clubs, picnics, even orphanages. His ubiquitous street team is composed of eight women, ages seventeen to twenty-one, and their daughters, and they hand out swag galore at these events -- everything from Spaide CDs to Spaide towels. Spaide's yet to break out on a national level, though his single, "Always," gets play on a handful of mainstream radio stations around the nation. It's the Lou where big Spaide gets his love -- well, here and Boonville, where he played to a bar full of bikers earlier this year on a bill with Ruka Puff. "Our crews were the only black people there," recalls Spaide. But it was all good. "They clapped for us at the end!" See, even leathered classic-rock fans can't help but fall under the spell of "Da People's Champ." Maybe it's because he doesn't go in much for profanity or samples. Maybe it's because he's got a track with Juvenile. Or maybe it's because he's -- sorry Spaide! -- so damn cute.



riverfronttimes.com | Originally Published: September 29, 2005