Free Republic

Girls don't play trumpet, they told her. Cynthia Robinson had an answer to that — one that would later resonate in the hit song she recorded with Sly and the Family Stone: "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)." At a time when black women were relegated to roles as backup singers... Robinson died of cancer Nov. 23 in Carmichael, Calif. She was 71. Robinson, born Jan. 12, 1944, in Sacramento, was the daughter of LaVern Robinson, a concert pianist, and William Robinson, a military man. Cynthia began playing in the school band as a young girl. She tried various...

Pot-smoking, gay adoption, and mothers gleefully discussing how their daughters lost their virginity. Ahh, just what the Christmas season is all about. What? Not in your family? Then you must not work in the film industry. Because apparently there, like doorbells and sleighbells and schnitzel with noodle, these things add up to a heartwarming holiday. The Family Stone is yet another case of movie marketing bait-and-switch. Playing on Christmas nostalgia, which most Americans share, the trailer promised a rollicking, good-natured comedy about family foibles and the frustrating moments that eventually become our favorite memories. What the film delivers is a...

If you are smart, you will skip "The Family Stone," a dreadful movie about a "loving," hippie-style left-wing family fighting with their son's mean, conservative, uptight girlfriend, played by Sarah Jessica Parker. The pot-smoking family consists of, among others, all the politically correct elements: a swearing, way-too-sexually-open mother; a gay, deaf son and his Black boyfriend (and their Black child); and a film producer son who lives in Berkeley. Painful to watch. I wish I'd walked out. Wasted time from my life never to be redeemed. This "movie" was just plain awful.