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https://www.blackenterprise.com/6-mega-music-festivals-concert/
As the weather heats up, so do outdoor music festivals. The spring and summer seasons are ideal for music lovers and concertgoers to kick it in the elements with a community of people looking to share good vibes and vibe out to their favorite acts. Music festivals are also a hub for outdoor dining. Food and beverage vendors pull up to feed the masses with an array of mouthwatering bites.
Nowadays, music festivals are serving up more than just food and music. Retail vendors can often be found on the premises selling a variety of merchandise. Don’t be surprised by cool activations like roller skating, picture booths, and outdoor games like hopscotch, horseshoes, or jump rope.
1) Broccoli City Festival
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It’s going down in Washington, D.C., July 27-28 at Audi Field. The Broccoli City festival is a millennial moment boasting young rising acts like Baby Tate, Sexyy Red, and Victoria Monét. Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Yachty, and PartyNextDoor are popping out as featured headliners. Festivalgoers will be entertained by the likes of Desi Banks and Funny Marco, and get a taste of Bryson Tiller and Issa Rae.
2) Dreamville
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Rapper J. Cole blessed the hip-hop community with Dreamville, and for music lovers overall, it is a dream. On April 6-7, Raleigh, North Carolina, will be the host city for this festival. Of course, J. Cole will headline his own event along with Nicki Minaj, Chris Brown, and SZA. Jeezy and Jeremiah will take the stage during the two-day event. Songstress Monica will also bring her vocal strength to the incredible lineup.
3) Essence Festival
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Like New Orleans residents, the Essence Festival is resilient and unshakable. Approaching its third year post-pandemic, Essence returns to NOLA for its 30th birthday July 4-7.
4) Lovers & Friends Festival
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Las Vegas is the host city for this supersized event on May 4. Lovers & Friends is a solid festival with all your faves performing in one day. Though it is officially sold out, there is a waitlist for those who want to shoot their shot in the dark.
5) Strength of a Woman Festival & Summit
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Mary J. Blige conceived a festival that celebrates women and lifts them up through a variety of activations, panel discussions, fellowship, and entertainment. This year’s event takes place in New York City during Mother’s Day weekend, May 10-12.
6) TwoGether Land Festival
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The two-day jumpoff is a Southwest spinoff of the ONE MusicFest in Atlanta. The inaugural TwoGether Land Festival takes place in Downtown Dallas’ Fair Park May 25-26 with a heavy-hitter lineup that includes Lil Wayne.
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Laraque NYC By Kerane Marcellus ·Updated April 10, 2024
Founder and designer Danielle Laraque’s latest Fall/Winter 2024 collection, “Dollhouse” draws inspiration from her childhood. Playing with American Girl dolls and Bratz dolls was a way she used to pass the time as a kid–she also began sketching designs and sewing clothing at an early age. Dress-up was another hobby for the budding creative. Danielle feels Laraque her eponymous brand was born when she was five. Some of her earliest pieces included mini-skirts and off-shoulder tops. As the designer grew older she spent time building upon the intrinsic design skills that seemed to come naturally to her.
Laraque The new collection features dreamy silhouettes with puffy tulle, lace skirts, ruffles, bows, and other whimsical touches. Danielle’s grown-up version of her dolls was born through this collection. The collection took on its highest form alongside her creative director Alani Noëlle, who assists in actualizing the designer’s sketches to reality with the meticulously chosen color stories and fabrics. Usually, the designer free sketches to keep herself inspired, and through sketching, she was transported back to her beginnings of drawing clothes as a girl. She knew that she wanted her customers to feel like life-sized dolls reminiscent of their girlhood days.
Laraque Another main muse for this collection and every collection is the designer’s mother who loved fashion and >daniellelaraque.com.
TOPICS: #fashionnews black designers fall winter 2024 collection nostalgiaThe post Why Laraque’s Fall/Winter 2024 Collection Is Doll-Inspired appeared first on Essence.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was James Gunn’s latest and perhaps last work within the MCU, and it was an absolute blast. Warner Bros. Discovery subsequently hired James Gunn to help the company revive its DC cinematic universe, which left fans wondering whether the Guardians movies will continue and what exactly happened to the team following the ending of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Most specifically, the fans want to know what will happen to Star-Lord, now that he has left the guardians and returned to Earth.
Before we dive into what could happen in future narratives, let’s explore exactly why Peter has left the Guardians and went back to Earth to spend time with his grandfather. We promise it will make sense. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has its fair share of heartbreaking moments, and Peter Quill losing Gamora was one of them. Later on, he found Gamora again, but that was a whole different variant of Gamora, so he had his heart broken. Once again.
Despite all the humor and shenanigans surrounding Star-Lord, life wasn’t actually kind to Quill. He witnessed his mother dying right in front of him; he was kidnapped by Ravagers, who also behaved unkindly towards him, until Yondu, the leader of the Ravagers, decided to begrudgingly show Peter affection. He later left the Ravagers, and things started to look better for the Star-Lord, as he found friends in the most unlikely of places — a galactic prison — leading to the formation of the Guardians of the Galaxy team.
But then he got to meet his dad, Ego the Living Planet, who sought to use Quill as a battery to power his own expansion throughout the universe. If that alone wasn’t bad, Peter found out that Ego was the very source of the tumor that killed his mom, and upon defying his father, Ego tried to kill him as well. Fortunately, that didn’t work, and right when the Guardians saved the universe from one evil tyrant, another emerged. Of course we’re talking about Thanos, who deleted half of the population in the entire universe with a snap of his fingers, including Quill.
Upon coming back to life, courtesy of Iron Man (a scene we like to call “when grown people cried”), Peter learned that Gamora hasn’t returned, since she didn’t die in the Snap. He eventually found a version of her that’s now rolling with the Ravagers. However, that’s not the Gamora he fell in love with but a variant who doesn’t want him and doesn’t even want to know who he is. Then Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 happened, and both Rocket and Quill nearly died.
At the end of the movie, Peter realizes that he needs a break after experiencing the trauma of meeting and clashing with his father, failing to stop Thanos, losing Gamora, and almost losing Rocket. So, he decides to go back to Earth and try to make some new, better memories of his homeworld and spend time with whatever family he might still have left. As it turns out, his grandfather is still alive. This prompted fans to question what will happen to Quill now that he has returned to Earth. Is it time to meet the new Star-Lord?
Marvel’s strategy of introducing new characters to replace older ones, seen notably with the original Avengers, raises further questions about the original Star-Lord’s longevity in the MCU timeline. Well, as it turns out, the post-credits scene at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 offers some insight into the future of Star-Lord, as it hints (it actually outright announces) towards a possible “Legendary Star-Lord” movie, suggesting a future storyline in which Quill navigates Earth’s environment.
Chris Pratt, the actor portraying the iconic Star-Lord, has already confirmed that he would return to the role and the franchise even without Gunn being involved, considering that his character still hasn’t totally worked out his issues by the end of GotG Vol. 3, so that movie was hardly a definitive send-off. This, in combination with the post-credits announcement, raises the question of whether Pratt would return as Quill in a possible fourth Guardians movie or completely separate cinematic releases.
The only two major releases we have lined up right now are Avengers: Secret Wars and the movie that’s supposed to be Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. This film has slowed its development following the whole range of issues with the actor portraying the film’s Big Bad, Jonathan Majors. The former could be an interesting idea; with the appearance of Battleworld — a universe comprised of multiple universes — it’s not outside the realm of possibilities for us to meet several different Peter Quills, including the one who just returned to Earth and one who never left.
We might even meet a version of Peter Quill, who ended up marrying Gamora, or Kitty Pryde version of the character. Whatever the case may be, the multiversal nature of the upcoming Secret Wars, the whispered-about Nova project (in which Quill would fit perfectly) and the post-credits scene all point towards the fact that we haven’t seen the last of the Star Lord.
Gilbert Flores/Billboard via Getty Images; Prince Williams/WireImage By Elizabeth Ayoola ·
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