Back to Home > Friday, Mar 24, 2006 email this print this '); WABASH - Regardless of the v... Vereen celebrates life in show...

When he performs at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Honeywell Center in Wabash, Vereen will bring a band to assist him. The performance is sponsored by the Wabash Valley Music Association.

"We are going to sing, dance, get together and have a celebration," Vereen says, during a phone interview from New York, where he has been performing for several months.

"With the times we are going through, it is high time we have a celebration. We all need uplifting, sharing, encouragement and reasons to celebrate. We need to celebrate one another."

Combining his talents of drama, music, comedy and social consciousness, Vereen has won a Tony, several Emmys and humanitarian awards from a career that began in the early '70s dancing in Bob Fosse's "Sweet Charity."

His one-man show has allowed him to become the first performer to win the American Guild of Variety Artists' highest honor by capturing "Entertainer of the Year," "Rising Star" and "Song and Dance Star" awards in one year.

His organization, "Celebrities for A Drug Free America," has generated thousands of dollars for drug-rehabilitation centers and other inner-city programs.

Best known for portraying "Chicken George" in the Emmy-winning TV series "Roots," people forget, Vereen says, he didn't always have much to celebrate.

On a June 1992 morning, Vereen was in a serious car accident. Smashing his head on the roof of his car, he damaged a brain artery that led to a stroke. While he was walking home from the accident, he was struck by a truck.

"There's nothing worse than losing a child," he told Afrocentric News. "It is very painful. I was very angry with God and it took some time for God and me to come to peace after her death."

Vereen, who is a vegan (he eats only raw, fresh vegetables and fruits), now understands that life "sometimes knocks us off our path, but we have to get up. If you are down, where else do you have to go but up?

"I look at what I've done, and it comes back to me staying open and being available to opportunities," says Vereen, who is godfather to one-name R&B superstar Usher.

"Every day is a new adventure. You have to create an opportunity and step into it. I have been blessed. What I do is a blessing. You have to get on with life and celebrate. That's what we are going to do in Wabash. If the audience wants, we are going to celebrate for a couple of hours.

"I am bringing a band, and we are going to bring love and joy. We are AAA members. We are Aware. We are Alive. We are Awake. I can't wait to get on stage there. We want people to come out and celebrate."

Tickets, from $10 to $40, are available by calling 260-563-1102 or online at www.honeywellcenter.org . There will be a $12.95 buffet dinner at Eugenia's Restaurant, located off the main lobby, before the show.

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