OUT 131 THE YEAR OF OUT TOWN PART ONE-JAN-JUL-2006

THE YEAR OF OUT TOWN PT. 1

JAN. 2006-JULY 2006

JAN UARY

First, off, I would like to thank the Riverfront Times News for selecting my blog as Local Blog O the Week in the "Unreal" section in this week's paper of Jan 26-Feb. 1 2006("Trick or Treatment" is the main story on the cover and the blog is on page 10--www.theriverfronttimes.com for you cyberheads). They took a glimpse of my site from Jan. 12th edition when I spoke on the Washington loft house party I attended, going to First Fridays and commenting on rapper Chingy trying to get his work out on at Ballys in Clayton. I was very much surprised that it was chosen. I have submitted myself in the running, but that was just the most of it. I guess whatever I wrote must've peaked their interest. But I'm not complaning. Much love to the RFT. I guess they know the real thing when they read it!........................

FEBRUARY

No more Club Seven on Olive! It is now Dante's . I hear the former owner of Dante's has bought Harry Michel and Fred Finley out of Club Seven. Hmm, what's up with that? It did get at least two years out of the club life.........

What was up with the BlackJack, Mo, family almost getting evited before moving into their dream home beacsue of an old ordinance in the city that says that her household fails to meet Black Jack's definition of a family? Or could be because the woman, Olivia Shalltrack is white and her boyfriend, Fondray Loving, is black? Hmm. This has got STL talking...

Despite all the criticism and all the haters, Chi-town native Shani Davis made Olympic history , becoming the first black person to win an individual gold medal in Winter Olympic history. Davis won the men's 1,000-meter speedskating race,. Davis was criticized for not competing in the team pursuit competition last week that would have given teammate Chad Hedrick a chance at five gold medals. Davis said he wanted to focus on his individual events. Hmm, I guess its fist in the air with a black glove time. Oh and whats up with Davis filing a lawsuit against the city of Chicago? Davis claimed he and some friends were stopped and searched for illegal weapons because of their skin color. These events occured about 3 years ago. Now that Davis is famous, it's all coming into focus. Hmm. I winder how his ticker tape parade will be in the Chi?...

Good luck to Ingrid Owens who is ruunign for State Rep in the 74 th District. For more info on her campaign go to www.ingridowens.com........

Hip-hop is mourning the loss of hip-hop producer Jay Dee aka J Dilla who died last week at age 32 from the immune disease lupus. The musician – real name James Yancey – worked with many artists including De La Soul and The Roots. He was recently described by Rolling Stone as "a top-ranked architect of soulful hip-hop," while The Neptunes' Pharrell Williams named him his favorite producer. J Dilla was a member of rap trio Slum Village and released solo album Donuts just last week. Parts of it were recorded when he was in the hospital. He had also worked with names such as Common, The Pharcyde, D'Angelo, Erykah Badu and A Tribe Called Quest.......

I don't know if I told you all, but I was a movie extra in the upcoming film, "Steel City." (You can check out more of this flick on imdb.com--the film's movie poster is posted on my blog on the right hand side) ) It was filmed in Alton, Ill. (a few weks after "Pieces of a Dream" wrapped ) December of 2004 and I was in the courtroom scene with actor John Heard. The film has been shown at the Sundance Film Festival last month in Utah and the director, Brian Jun., is Webster University grad hails from Alton. The film, which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, is a story about a dysfunctional family in Illinois who holds it together when their father goes to prison. I can't wait to see the film when it is distributed nationwide. I will keep you posted!.......

Big ups to 87-year-old East St. Louis native Jacksie Mae King for protecting herself against attempted burglar Larry Tillman who tried to break in her home early Tuesday of this week on Gaty Ave in the Boogie. She shot him outside her door with one shot, killing him dead. Now teh beef now is thateh gun may not have been regsitered, but as of Thursday, investigators said that they have every reason to believe that King, was justified in firing a shot...

I will be going to the Ice Theatre later on this month in Chi-Town to check out the Alton-shot film, "Pieces of A Dream" , directed by Alton native Skee Skinner. It stars former B2K singer Raz-B and many STL actors like Joel King, Trevon Griffith and Dennis Lebby to name a few. For more info on this flick, go to imdb.com and type in Pieces of a Dream..................................

The world is mourning the passing of Coretta Scott King this week. She died of a respiratory failure. The 78-year-old matriarch died Tuesday at an alternative medicine clinic in Mexico. She was in dire health. She a few months ago. She also was dealing with ovarian cancer. I had a chance to see her speak when I attended the National Black Arts festival in the ATL in 2002 when I traveled with the Eugene B. Redmond Writers' Club to perform.

She was the first speaker at the Opening ceremonies at the Studioplex right next to the MLK Center. She was telling people to quiet down because the program was about to start before she brought on the mayor fo the city. I was so entraced by her becasue she was so regal and elegant--and is a part of American/African/World History!. Its ironic that her last appearance was during an engagement for her late husband Dr. Martin Luther King.

After her stroke, King missed the annual King celebration in Atlanta two weeks ago but appeared with her children at an awards dinner a few days earlier, smiling from her wheelchair but not speaking. The crowd gave her a standing ovation. Her funeral was this past Wednesday and four police cars escorted her body to the Willie A. Watkins Funeral Home in the ATL. Her ashes were buried in the Doddridge Chapel Cemetery in Indiana. Her legacy will definitely live on and as we celebrate Black Histoiry Month, she definitely should be one fo the pillars who did something for the world. She will be greatly missed...

What was up with the Mapleoowd police doing a "Rodney King" on 33-year old St. Louis County brotha Edmon Burns this week? . True, he drove away from teh cops at a Quick trip in the town because of supposed warrants and chiuld support debt, but when I saw teh live footage from teh FOx 2 camera guy who was filming it in his helicopter. I couldnt beileve what I was seeing .

For starters, Burns was in a van driving recklessley during morning hour traffic on the streets of Maplewood, running stoplights, and when he finally stopped in St. Louis, he got out of the van, and was surrounded by several Maplewood cops (all white) and one ST. Louis cop (who was black). Burns was "jogging away" and they tackled him and proceeded to kick him and baton him (the black cop supposedly was hitting his ankels and legs). All I had to say when I saw it was, "Oh I know this will not be over." And I was right. As of this writing, the Maplewood cops are suspended with pay and the STL cop is on adminstrative duty..................


March

Hello my fellow cyberfans. It is Yours Truly, Ma'at here. Still in Los Angeles networking and partying with a purpose. I am having some computer difficulties so hopefully before next week I will give you a run down of my travels in Los Angeles. In th meantime, I am traveling around in a 2005 Chevy Malibu and jotting down stuff thats been going on..................


Kudos to former KMOV-TV's Julius Hunter (seen on the right of my blog) who is now over the ST. Louis Police Board. I hear he's trying to get the Mayor Francis Slay in check in the mayor's office and Police Chief Mokwa as the liasion. Hmmm, its going to get hot in March for sure....

I went to Chi-town Feb 27 to check out the Red Carpet opening of the loclaly filmed flick, "Pieces of a Dream" (I gave y'all the scoop on the flick in last week's blog) at Chatham 14 in Chi-town. I decided that day to go which was on a Monday and just took my Kia Spectra onto Interstate 55 going North and do it. So as I was driving, I had the radio on to the chocolate stations 95.5 for the Tom Joyner show, 100.3 The Beat for the Dee lee Morning Show, 104. 1 for the Hot Morning Show with Craig Blac and 104.9 for the Breakfast Crew with Tony Scott and also 107.7 for the MJ Morning Show.

They were all talking about an array of things. Tavis Smiley was on the Craig Blac show and was in town to promote his new book, "The Covenant" , Dee lee Show was having its St. Louis Idol contest going on and to give a shot out to a young girl named Princess who lead a protest at her school regarding Black History Month and so forth. Then, I called a few folks including Jewelanda Hodges who wanted to go to the festivities but her gig held her up. Before you know it, I was in Springfield. I tell ya it's nothin but cornfields and dirt while traveling to Chi-town going I-55. If I had gotten a flat, I would have been SOL for real. The biggest part was keeping my stomach from being hungry. I had my usual snacks like popcorn and potato chips, but at 10 in the morning, I wanted the usual continental breakfast.......................

Last Sunday, I stayed in to check out the Academy Awards. It was pretty interesting this year with comedian /talk show host Jon Stewart hosting. he was pretty good and deadpan. With all the talk about if "Brokeback Mountain" was going to win Best Picture, all that was thrown out on the red carpet when crunk hip-hop group Three-6 Mafia performed their Oscar-nominated song, "It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp" from the film, "Hustle and Flow," along with "Hustle" co-star Taraji Henson (I didnt know she could sing?). It was definitely hip hop meets West Side Story with the interpretative dancers dancers in front of the rap group (even Adolfo "Shabadoo" Quinones of "Breakin'" fame was even up there doin his best pimp dance!).......

Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion was the No. 1 film again for the second week in a row at the Box Office raking in another 12 million, totalling about 42 million altogether and it only took 10 million to make. You knwo what that means--Madea lunch boxes...........................

What was up with the SIU-Carbondale cheerleader Kristi Yamaoka who lost her balance during a routine last Sunday and fell about 15 feet onto her head at the Missouri Valley Conference atteh Savvis Center ? Homegirl is LUCK-EE. What got her national attention was that she kept on doing her cheerleading routine while they carried her on a stretcher. From her hall she got a chipped neck vertebra, concussion and a bruised lung. As a result, she was on the "Today Show" Thursday getting interviwed by Katie Couric as her cheerleading squad and coach were interviewed via satellite from SIU-Carbondale. I wonder if she's ready to ride those rides at Disney World and say cheese for the Wheaties Box cause you know that's coming up (and they still player hating Olympic speed skater Shani Davis).....................................................................

Local radio caller The Great Kabudah (I hope I'm spellong his name right) died last week. It was so weird to hearthat because he was always a character on the radio and always spun his own tales of life and ending with a funny one-liner, then saying, "the Great Kabudah has spoken." I think he was in his late 70s when he died. He will be greatly missed.............

Big ups to the students at John Waters High School who stood up for their rights and protested after their Black History Month program was changed to Diversity History Month at the last minute and most of the black students in the program were taken out to add more "diverse" students. The principal must have heard actor Morgan Freeman's inane comments earlier this year saying that we shouldn't have Black History Month anymore....................

Florrisant born Kimora and Russell Simmons made headlines this year with their divorce and pending book by Kimora's protege Cashun!

Comedian Joe Torry's ANnual B-Ball Game in the STL
was cancelled this year after several annual runs.

STL's Ingrid Ownes ran fro State Rep for the
74th District, a first for a female and African
American in that district.







MORE BELOW

April

On Monday, I started a little temp job at AG Edwards on Jefferson and Market in the Louie. I am doing office assistant work for their new accounts department (The 8th floor--It;s hard out here for a PIMP.). Local socialite Jamie Spencer works there too and we had a chance to talk about the ins and outs there (It has been an adventure already and I will decipher what Ive seen and heard as time goes on by the week). They have a nice fitness center with 2 masseuse rooms. (I might try both the center and message rooms out next week and get physical-physical. LOL).

What was really tripped out was one of its trainers , a white guy, is also a trainer at Ballys in Clayton, the one I go to. When I saw him, I said, "Dont you work at Bally?" And he said, "Yeah., and I tell you, if you join this gym, it will make Ballys look ghetto." I was too stunned when he said that--and a white boy at that! You know what word is comin next of he 's that comfortable saying the G-word. Too much playing in the city!.................

WEBSTER UNIVERSITY FILM SERIES PRESENTS Josephine Baker: A Centennial Remix Zou Zou Princess Tam Tam April 28 at 8PM; April 29 at 7PM and April 30 at 7PM. For more information go to: http://www.webster.edu/filmseries.html Admission is $6 for the general public, $5 for seniors, students from other schools and Webster alumni, and $4 for Webster University staff and faculty unless otherwise noted. All films screened in Moore Auditorium on the campus of Webster University, 470 E. Lockwood, Webster Groves, MO unless noted....

Hello one and all. This is your on-line journalist Ma'at here. And as promised, I will give you all the juicy details of my trip to Hollywood. Last week, I talked about the club scene up in Hollywood, thsi time around I will talk about the cultural and tourisy stuff I had gone to when I was in the City of Angels.One of the places I fell in love with was a coffeeshop in Leimert Park in the Crenshaw District called Lucy Florence. It is owned by twin brothers Ron and Robert Harris (They are the twins who were featured teaching the models how to spin last week on Tyra Banks' America's Next Top Model). My buddy and temp roommate Keith Underwood took me to this shop on my first day in L.A. and since then, dubbed it my home away from homeI also went to a couple of TV tapings.

I went through hollywoodtickets.com to get them and they are free to go to. I always knew about them since 2004 and now wa smy chance to go them. The first one was "Last Comic Standing" with new host Anthony Clark (of the show "Yes, Dear'--He was a bit dry as a host but he was OK.) The taping was held at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. I got there about 1 p.m. for the 1:30 taping, but it took about an hour--through the rain and sun--before they opened up the theater for us. It was two long lines going in opposite directions (One line for those who had tickets and those who didnt). They searched us to see if we had cameras or cell phones (you couldnt bring them in the studio) and we got our seats...................

My last Sunday in L.A., I went to the City of Refuge church in Gardena, cali. A popular church that is pastored by Bishop Noel Jones (pictured in the beige suit above on my blog). He is the older brother to diva singer/actress Grace Jones (Talk about night and day!). I heard about this church through one of the new friends I made while in Hollywood. His name is Steven Williams who is a photographer to the stars and works for a big time PR Firm that works under Universal (He told me the scoop on Bow Wow 's stripper scancdal before it hit the press!) He goes to this church, so I decided to go ahead and go especially it being my last Sunday in L.A. before I returned back to the STL.

Well the church was like an arena like set up. Very huge (I'm sure it was over 1,000 people there). I sat in the reserved pue near the front where Steven was. They had TV cameras everywhere (the church is televised across the world) that mirrored any studio taping. There were several celebs there as well. I saw Tv host Tavis SMiley (seen in the dark suit on my blog) who sat near the pulpit area, Good Times actress Ja'net "Willona Woods" DuBois who sat with the congregation and the one and only STEVIE WONDER who sat nearthe pulpit area as well. Yes, The Wonder himself. I was totally in awe when I saw him. All I can say it was like seeing God in human form. He has a magnetic presence to him and it was indescribable of the feeling I felt.......

My friend actor/music hypeman and now St. Louis AMerican model Stuart Allen (who said was getting ready to go out on a promotional tour with rapper Scooby pretty soon) hipped me to a new flim that was shot in St. Louis with a local cast and crew called "Tapesty of Shadows." Directed by David Conley (who also stars in this film) is about Vincent Purejoy a preacher who is motivated to try and reclaim his inner city neighborhood from the thugs and drug dealers who have over run it, and the sacrifices his marriage and congregation must make along the way. The film also stars Paris Crayton and Johnny Fay Fernandez (who was in the STL-based film, "Hairdo U")....

I also attended the famous Laugh Factory also on Sunset Blvd for Chocolate Sundaes, hosted by comedian and actor Chris Spencer (remember him from the defunct Vibe Talk Show in the late 90s?) The concept of Chocolate Sundaes is having a variety of comedians (black, white, Latino, Asian, female, male), like the variety in a Sundae, and have them all perform before a mostly-black audience. And the show takes place on--you guessed it, Sundays (Not tyo mention its a two drink minumum up in therr too)........

It's a sad day for the STL as we all heard that Florrisant. Mo,. native and baby Phat /Fashinista mogul Kimora Lee Simmons and her mogul husband Russell Simmons (seen below on my blog during happier times) were calling it quits in their 7 year marriage (talk about "unlucky number 7"). From what I 've been hearing, there was trouble in paradise for awhile and that people close to them saw it coming (It was speculated that Kimora was seen recently at a posh nightclub in Hollywood smooching with another man, allegedly.) But from the PR standpoint, they are still going to raise their children and settle things as adults. Hmm, we'll see what 's really going on when something will leak as far as why the marriage fizzled. You know it's coming......





MAY

The Dream was Alive and Well with ‘Girls’ at Black RepThe Black Rep ends its 29th mainstgage season with the long awaited musical, Michael Bennett’s "Dreamgirls." The production, which will run at the Black Rep until July 2 at the Grandel Theatre, tells the story of the rags to riches tale of three young girls from Chicago, Effie (played brilliantly by Willena Vaughn), Deena Jones (played by Jia Taylor) and Lorell (played by Malkia Stampley) and discovers the pitfalls of fame.The two and half hour musical is definitely a must see for those whop arer fans of this musical (and the long awaiting film starring Beyonce in December ). From the glam gowns, three-tiered Broadway styled stage and toe-tapping soul numbers, "Dreamgirls" is not only entertaining, but it gives a great history lesson of how R&B music was compromised (via white influence) in order for it to be spoonfed easier to white America.........

MA’ATIDBITZ. This week two shows that I participated In the audience, "Last Comic Standing" and the "Gameshow Marathon" (That I talked about on my blogs of my trip to Los Angeles) debuted this past Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. The episode of Last Comic Standing that you may see me on will be next Tuesday , at 8 p.m. CST on NBC (I have a gioid shot to be seen cause I was sitting7 behind celebrities actor/comedian Tim Meadows, comedienne Kathi Griffin and TV veteran producer Gary Marshall ) . As far as the Gameshow Marathon, it airs Wednesdays at 7 p.m. on CBS and I was in the audience of the reincarnation of The Match Game (I’m sure they won’t show the blooper when host Ricki Lake said "shit" LOL) I don’t know when they will air that one, but it should be shown soon (You might not can see me on there cause I SAT WAYYYYYYY in the back of the studio)........


On Sunday was the annual Annie MAlone May Day Parade which was held on Market from Harris STowe State University to 7th and Market. There was much controversy over this particular parade cause for the longest time it was on NAtural Bridge in North County and when it was decided by the Annie Malone board to move it downtown there was uporoar and howling about its change. This was my first time going to the parade overall and I wanted to go myself to see how many people were going to show up.........

R.I.P. The world has lost dancer/activist/anthroplogist Katherine Dunham (pictured in teh center of my blog). She died in a Manhattan assisted living facility last Sunday at the age of 96. There have been so much said about her (for more on her life check out www.stlamerican.com ) but I want to put a more personal spin about Ms Dunham.

I heard that she was hard to work with and very stern, but I must say, you have to be that way in order to gain respect from others, especially artists who are ego centric. But I had a chance to meet Ms. Dunham on several occassion when I was member of the Eugene B. Redmond Writer's Club and even seranded her with poems during her birthday celebrations (The next one will be June 22 by the way at the Dunham Museum in EASt St. Louis).

I've had the pleasure to give her roses in behalf of the writers' club and kissed her gently on her cheek as well. I also had the privilege to hear her speak to many. One such instance was at the Missouri History Musuem in the mid 90s and I believe and she spoke and she was talking about women of today and she said that women who fuss about men and what they do to them she said, "Onbe day, they will get tired" meaning they will eventually give in and submit to men. I thought was a bold statement to make especially around black women.

I'm sure now that she has left this earth, there will be many to put her legacy in his riteful place, escpailly my mentor Eugene B. Redmond who was mentored by her when she came to live in East ST. Louis in the late 60s to join the SIU-Edwardsville faculty and had a center named after her in downtown East St. Louis.

There is also a Katherine Dunham Musuem that is still in existence in downtown St. Louis at Katherine Dunham Place (Pennsylvania Drive). And for those who had the privilege to learn and/or teach her Dunham Techique (like Ruby Street and Keith Tyrone), the responsiblities are now on you to carry on her legacy. She will be greatly missed. The center is accepting tax dedictible contributions to pay for the funeral services in NYC. For more info call 618-531-0403

FYI. Her last appearnce was on Oprah Winfrey's Legends TV Show this past Monday on ABC, one day after her death.......


I saw Talk showhost Montel WIlliams at Bally Total Fitness in Clayton last Saturday.He was just about to leave out to his limo when he was talking to someone there.He was in town for his concert at the Argosy (Yes he sings!).He looks skinnier in person )(Well the camera does put on 10 extra punds)and he has a goofy laugh as well. If I saw him in the street I wouldnt have reconigned him!......... I heard that Actor Denzel Washington was at Rams PArk watching his son practice who is on the ST.Louis Rams. I wonder if anyone there stopped to gawk at daddy Denzel as they were rolling out football plays?......Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers team were at New Sunny Mount Baptist Church to Jerome Hughes' funeral, the younger brother to their teammate Larry Hughes ( I wonder of Cav owner Usher was nearby?).That was a nice touch and speaks vloumes that the NBA does have heart.

RIP. Condolences goes out to St. Louis bred b-ball star Larry Hughes' younger brother who died this week. He had heart problems since he was born and had a transplant a couple of years back. Our prayers go out to you and your family. Also to Michael 'Bear' Taliferro. He was famous for saying the line, "You gon' eat your cornbread?" in the movie "Life' Starring Eddie Murphy. He died this week after complications from a stroke. He used to come to a lot of the Joe Torry Basketball Challenge games when they came to the STL in July(last year's he was sitting on the bench in a cast on his leg) and was very funny when it came to acting silly with the audience. When I checked imdb.com, he was filming the movie "3/5 of a Man." ......

Last Thursday, I checked out Hipster Magazine's The Official Phat Farm BEYOND THE GREEN Club Tour party at the JAzz Loft that was hosted by rap/fashion mogul Russell Simmons with ATL's DJ Tayrok on the 1s and 2s. I got there about 10:30 p.m. and got siked about checking this party out(That is me in the upper right hand corner with hollabackboi in shades. Thanks to Jacob of ST Louis Online for taking the pic).When I got there, it was like I was going to a Hollywood premeire.

They had a red carpet diplay in the front of the club, beaming rays of lights and a big ole tub of comp Anhueser Draft bottled beer right before you enetered the club (The only thing missing were the paparazzi and the array of onlookers hanging on to see the celebs. They had the big tall bouncer (who was dressed like Shaq does when he is in dress clothes and brim hat)who was checking IDs before you eneterd and some of the First Friday security guys were patting folks down (I managed to escape all this becasue I know them quite well)..........

For those who don;t follow football, actor Denzel Washington's son, John David Washington (shown in the football pic above) was recentyly signed to play with the ST. Lousi RAms. The the leading career rusher at NCAA Division II Morehouse College, was drafted last week to the team. I wonder if Denzel will make any of the home games here in the Lou as STL people gawk at him as though they were looking at Inside MAn? (Michael Jordan came to the Lou last year and was spotted at the former Club Seven up in VIP. He was in town to support his son who was golfing here, so I don't see why not.)...

I went inside my closet of majic tricks to get a “hotfit” for the Black Rep’s 13th Annual Woodie King Jr Awards Ceremony at the Grandel Square, its celebration and award ceremony of the Black rep’s theater season. I decided to wear the grayish black suit with a black tee with the silver Batman emblem on it and black sandals.Hosted by St. Louis’ own and Black rep vet Kingsley Leggs (who is starring as Mister in the Broadway play, “The Color Purple” ) and Woodie award winner Denise Thimes, the big winner of the evening was its last production of its 29th season, Dreamgirls.” It won a total of nine Woodies including Best Production, Best Actress in a musical (Willena Vaughn-which I predicted in my blog ), Best Supporting Actress in A Musical ( Malkia Stampley) and Best Lighting, Costume and Scenic Design........

According to stltoday.com, Nelly and the St. Lunatics plan to open a bar and grill in August in Hazelwood after delaying the project for several months. Mack's Bar and Grill was scheduled to open in April but will now open Aug. 10 because the owners were waiting for the manager of the new restaurant to complete a job in Atlanta. Tony Powell, the manager of Mack's, was working as a chef and a manager at Azio, an Italian restaurant in Atlanta. Because of the delayed opening, the Hazelwood City Council is expected to extend a special land-use permit for Mack's next month, city officials said.........

Legendary rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry will be the center of a new DVD of the classic music rockumentary “Hail Hail Rock and Roll.” Directed by Taylor Hackford, the darkly comic saga is detailed, which was originally released in movie theaters in 1987 and long out of print on home video, began selling in stores June 27. The footage includes the two back-to-back concerts at the Fox Theatre in October 1986 which served as the backbone for the original film. It also has the difficult rehearsals at Berry's rundown estate, Berry, his family members and associates’ interviews, and added often-raucous commentary from peers such as Little Richard, Bo Diddley and Jerry Lee Lewis.........



THERE'S MORE BELOW!

June

THIS JUST END BITZ. I hear that STL actor/comedian Joe Torry’s (seen in the pic above w/the mike in his hand) Annual Celebrity B-Ball Challenge Weekend has been cancelled til next year. I had been getting some early buzz about this from my sources. One source told me a few months ago , that the organization wasn’t going to have the B-Ball game and only have a Golf Tourney. Then when I talked with Jacque Land of the Platinum Group (who usually handles the PR and hospitality for this event)about a month ago at the gym and he told me they weren’t going to do the event this year. I knew something was up then. Then, I got a call the juice while talkin to another source this week who told me the organization was going to gear up for next year’s event...................



X-Jam got in contact me a few days ago and said that "Noah's Arc" star Jensen Atwood (who plays Wade on the LOGO-based show) was confirmed for its party August 19. I will keep you posted where the party will take place...................

MA'ATIDBITZ. For those who saw, "LAst Comic Standing' this past Tuesday might have seen a part of my face shown while the judges Gary Marshall, Kathi Griffinand Tim Meadows were judging the comics on there. I think I might have saw three shots of the top of my head (and one long view of me the crowd).Oh well,I thought for sure I would get more air time cause I laughed at a lot of comics that were not funny jst to be sure I was on camera. Oh well..........STL-NEWS. Chingy is getting sued! The owner of a St. Louis-based record label has sued Chingy, claiming that the "Right Thurr" rapper reneged on a contract in 2002 so he could join Ludacris' startup label, Disturbing Tha Peace..........

July

Well the two big things that happened last weekend was of course the Post-Storm Cleanup and the St. Louis Public Schools Bruh ha ha.Ameren UE has been working day in and day out like Hebrew slaves to try and get the lights on in the ST. Louis area (One Ameren UE worker died in an electrocution accident trying to restore power). As of this writing, most of everybody in the STl area should have power (The popular question for everybody, and I’m sure there will be T-shirts on this, if not already, was, “Do you have any power?”) At the Water Geyser Fountain behind Casino Queen where I work and supervise, we were working on a generator provided by the Illinois Parks and recreation District (Power came on Tuesday).But the big news coming from all of this was the infamous Rev. Al Sharpton coming to St. Louis to protest alleged discrimination of Ameren UE not providing speedy service for low income neighborhoods (i.e. Black folks)........................

According to www.stltoday.com, this past Tuesday, Sharpton called for Ameren Corp. to roll back rates and drop its request for a fee hike in a news conference in front of the company's headquarters on Chouteau Ave. in style, pulling up in a black BMW sedan that stayed parked in the street while Sharpton addressed the media. He asked that Ameren reduce costs to consumers by 10%, because of the hardship customers suffered during the recent blackouts........

As far as the St. Louis School Board fiasco. It’s been kind of quiet, but still causing havoc in some ways. School Board Prez Veronica O’Brien went on Fox 2 in the Morning earlier this week to show the resignation letter that Creg Williams write and signed (and shown to the camera by news anchor John Pertzborn) and that the main reason why he resigned was because of the school losing points in accreditation (for an interesting take of the whole Creg Williams ousting, check out last week’s issue of the River Front Times (http://www.riverfronttimes.,com/) entitled “The Execution of Creg Williams” that will shed an interesting take on the inner doings of this drama. She also wanted people to stop protesting in front of her house because of Williams’ ousting.

What I also found interesting about O’ Brien was during The Freeman Bosley Jr’s radio show on 100.3 The Beat last Sunday, Bosley played a tape of O’Brien on a show hosted by KSDK sports guy Frank Cusamano who asked her what racial makeup was the school board and that she said that she “thought she guess she was African American .” Huh? Like Bosley, you don’t play with race and for her to guess that she was black, I found that disturbing.

In unrelated (yet related) news, the lawyer for ousted STL coach Floyd Irons said on Freeman’s show they were going forward on the lawsuit and they were suing under the conflict of interest clause in the by-laws of the School Board where School Board member Bill Purdy having two relatives who are teachers in the District which I s a violation of the by-laws. Man, I tell ya, Nelly mos definitely predicted this summer when he rapped, “It’s Getting Hot in Herre!”...................

I finally saw myself on TV! I was flipping through the channels and stopped on BRAVO and saw some of the Kathi Griffin reality show, “My Life on the D-List” and saw a segment where she was a guest judge on “Last Comic Standing” (the same show that I sat on when I went to Hollywood in April ) and when she was talking on the show, they showed me peeping around the corner and the camera saw me! I was tripping for a minute. I wasn’t expecting to be seen! How ironic is that. Man, I tell ya, when you are looking for something, you don’t find it (When I saw the actual show, they only shown the top of my head) , but when you forget about it, that’s when you find it.......


CHART-IDBITZ. It looks like Chingy and Nelly are putting on the competition with the colloboration duets on both the Hot 1200 and the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Charts this week. On the Hot 100, Janet and Nelly’s song, “Call on Me” make san impressive leap into the Top 40 as the song moves up 38 leaps up the chart from 63 to 25 in its 5th week on that chart whereas Chingy’s duet with Tyrese, “Pulling Me Back” moves up seven notches from 44 to 37 in its sixth week on the chart. It looks like the Janet single may reach the Top Ten much quicker than Chingy’s single on this chart, but you never know. On the R&B side, it’s too close to call. Chingy’s song move sup one space from 12 to 11 and Nelly’s song moves up one space from 15 to 14, so it’s hard to say who’s winning here. They are neck and neck in the Top 20. This race will be much more interesting to watch in weeks to come.......


The real star here in the STL has been the weather! Man, on Wednesday, the STL became a scene like on the Wizard of Oz as soon as Dorothy and Toto ran back into their shack and the storm blew them into OZ! It was unexpected for real. The weathermen in the area did not predict this at all which was the trip part about it (The weather even made national news!). There werr gusting winds of up to 90 mph, hurricane like rains and total destruction.

It hit the STL area about 7 p.m. and I was in the middle of it. I was just coming from the STl area from the bally Gym in Clayton, and I called the officer that was waiting to get relieved at the Memorial Park and that I was on my way to relieve them. NOT. By the time, I got across the Casino Queen area (where the Memorial Park area is locate din back of it), he weather began getting circling dusty winds and it was blowing away the construction orange cones around on Highway 64 both East and west (The construction guys were flying away as well).

So, I made a detour to the Casino Queen Parking Lot (which is our first precautions with bad weather due to the Water Geyser Fountain where the park is and where our officers are stationed is too much electrical equipment in the pumphouse). So the officer called my celly and said that the weather was getting ominous and , to put it lightly, locked up and hauled ass out of therre (they went to the Casino Queen parking lot too after major turnarounds and street blockages).

Just as I was about to get out my car to go inside Casino Queen, that’s when the rain and wind picked up tremendously, I was like, oh Hell to the Naw. I was better staying in my car than being blown away with the wind. It was incredible to see! The wind made the rain blow upwards and around! It was like a Hurricane for real. I had my radio on KMOX to see how the storm was going. Come to find out it was tornadic activity going on in Southern parts of Illinois and St. Louis County and Jefferson County. I called my family members nearby and checked on them (My sister was caught Besides the weather, the other big thing going on in the STL is the controversial ousting of School Board Super Creg Williams ).

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Earlier in the week, according to stltoday.com,According to stltoday.com, speculation that Williams might be fired has swirled, especially after the board fired longtime Vashon High School basketball coach Floyd Irons earlier in the month. St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay (who almost cursed during his press conference when he first heard the news of Williams ‘ subsequent firing) ) and School Board member Robert Archibald have said they believe the board fired Irons to send a message to Williams.Williams dismissed rumors that he had applied for vacant superintendent posts in Boston and Baltimore and vowed to stand up for his job, which he has held for 15 months. He signed a four-year contract at that time.
But it came true and after that, ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE........

According to stltoday.com. an angry and caustic crowd last Tuesday night let the St. Louis School Board know exactly what it thought of the board's forced resignation of Superintendent Creg Williams and firing of longtime Vashon High School basketball coach Floyd Irons. According to the website, speakers hurled invectives at the board, directing particular at board President Veronica O'Brien and new interim Superintendent Diana Bourisaw. Nine people addressed the board in a 30-minute public comment period; many others did not get a chance to talk.on Delmar in Midtown St. Louis and could not drive at all) and everyone was OK........


Later on that nite, I went to the security site, then waited for my relief around 11ish to check out the Cory Spinks After Party stuff that was going on that night. When my relief came all I had to do was out on my shirt (A “smedium” butterfly collar brown short sleeve shirt) with my white pants and brown dress sandals. After getting relieved, I drove to Club Formula and parked at a parking meter, I proceeded to get my cam-munition and walked toward Washington to the club. Well as I was walking the street (with my flyy brown Nine West shades that you always see me sportin my most of the pictures I take) this guy in a white car wanted to keep driving and drove right up on me as though he was going to run me over.

Well, my first instinct was to run out the way (and that is hard to do with flipped out sandals. LOL).As far as the fight itself, it was definitely a redeeming one for Brother Spinks, who is 28, last Saturday at the Savvis Center. The fight went all 12 rounds. He won by a narrow margin (115 to 113) on a fight that was almost a draw, but as his reaction was when he found out he won (he got on his knees and cried), it was evident that Spinks was Superman for real who came back from the Kryptonite, Zab Judah, last February at the Savvis (which became the biggest selling in house arena sports event in this country’s history more than 22, 600 seats filled). Although the seats were half filled this time around (a little over 12,000 this time from reports), the world was definitely watching Spinks overcome and regaining a belt from Karmazin, who is 33..........................

STL native comedian Cedric The Entertainer will have his first ever solo HBO comedy special, “Take You Higher” debut on the cable station, July 15 at 9 p.m. CST. Directed by veteran director Stan Lathan (Sanaa’s father ) this hour show was taped live at The Wiltern in Los Angeles a few months back and features Cedric's hilarious takes on fame, TV, rap music, sports, diets, plastic surgery, and more. Spicing up the festivities will be several song and dance numbers featuring a smokin' band and a sexy group of dancers he calls the "Cedibles." I sounds a little bit like his much ballyhooed Fox variety show a couple of years back sans the sketches. Hmmm. I hope now he gets it right this time around on the TV tip cause he is extremely talented……………………………..

On Sunday, I got access to Nelly’s Black and White Ball that was held at the Contemporary Art Museum in the Grandel Square Center. Given by Synergy and funded by by Anheuser Busch, this party was an invite only and you had to wear black or white and in your fine-to-do’s. I got there about 8:30 and the area as like a Hollywood premiere with a black carpet (instead of a red carpet) out front, cameras ready to take shots and everything. I waited up on hollabackboi (who is now driving a special edition burnt orange Hummer these days) when he valet parked (which was FREE BTW) in order to get to the party.

Our names were on the list and a young lady from the St. Louis Post Dispatch was the first to take our pics and asked us our names, where we were from and what we were wearing (I told her I wore International Male–hollaback wore Gucci).I had on a black opera coat, black pants with slits and cowry shells on the side, and a bright white and black tie. (Of course I got many comparisons to the Matrix (thanks to Rob Desir and Darius Bradford LOL) –the same coat I wore for the regional Emmys last year) Before we could enter, hollbackboi had to button up his short cause they didnt allow shirts open (it was black tie for real) , so I had t wait in order for him for that. Anyway, while walking in and onto the black carpet, there was a plethora of camera people taking our picture (One was good friend Darnell Singleton) . I felt like a movie star for real and didnt know how to deal with all that attention........................

This week, I am celebrating one year of my blog and I would like to personally thank everyone who have been reading my blog and giving me pointers on improving it. True, I would love to see more people actually post, but with anything, everything is in due time. My goal with my blog is for it to be THE blogsite of the country. Yes, it’s a big step, but someone needs to plant the seed in order for the dream to grow.

IT's HARD OUT HERE FOR A PIMP...TO WIN AN OSCAR....NOT! Rap group 3 6 Mafia becae teh second rap act to win an Academy Award for Best Song (Eminem was first win he won for "Lose Yourself" from '8 Mile' in 2003) at this year's Academy Awards in March. The rap group won Best Song for "It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp" from the movie, "Hustle and Flow." They followed African American artists Isaac Hayes, Stevie Wonder, Prince and Lionel Richie who also won Oscars for Best Song.





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Olympic skater Shani Davis and Chi-town native became the first African American athlete to win an Individuial Gold medal at this years Winter Olympics. He also caused controversy by deciding not to particpate in the group games with his teammates.

America lost one of its many African American pillars with Coretta Scott King who died in February. Some of the others that followed were Katherine Dunham, Wilson Pickett, Henry Townsend, Ed Bradley and Gerald Levert, to name a few.