Random Cuteness

Hip hop, cutie pie babies and dancing. If they threw in a Bridezilla, this would have been custom made for me to watch. LOL

Got That Vibe

I never dreamed about becoming a journalist on staff at some big glossy magazine. I always saw myself as a freelance writer (though the word “freelance” was not  in my vocabulary as a wee writer) who would happily flit around from novel to magazine to newspaper to sitcom to wherever my pen decided to go.

So, unlike a lot of journalists who have eulogized Vibe magazine, I can’t say that I ever longed to be staff there. A by-line? I would gladly have taken that and if Quincy Jones has his way, maybe the opportunity will present itself in the near future.  I have read almost every issue of Vibe. The magazine had ups and downs in its 16-year history, but it has groomed and inspired a whole legion of writers (I count myself among the inspired) and its abrupt departure from news stands will be felt immediately.

Vibe’s contributions to hip hop, pop and r & b  culture  are priceless. The now iconic cover shots, the revealing exclusives, the usually hilarious “20 Questions” and unique national exposure for young artists who would never make it into other major magazines without a million records sold plus a scandal–these are just a few of the reasons that Vibe will be missed dearly. There had been many times when I read a Vibe article and literally said “Wow.”  Those writers showed me that journalism was not just stuffy, perfect King’s English typed neatly onto stark white pages. Their writing was as energetic, entertaining and engaging as the subjects of the articles. Urban (turned international) music journalism needs a place like that to grow and change and progress.

Come back soon, Vibe….even if it’s a new name, new writers and strictly online. We need that place, that breeding ground.

Good Morning, Sunshine

My new mantra:

WRITE.  CREATE.  BE PRODUCTIVE.

The Artist’s Way: Week Four

Damn, it’s been four weeks already? Sometimes it feels like I just started and sometimes it feels like I’ve been on this FOREVER! Week Four was challenging.  I stayed up on my morning pages as usual, but I missed my artist date. Booooo. Michael Jackson’s death definitely side tracked me quite a bit, but I can’t put it all on that. I was just kind of a mess this week in terms of staying on task.  This week, Julia Cameron wrote that readers might find themselves grappling with self-definition.  I can honestly say that I felt that and it is a painful process. The life of a freelance writer is full of peaks and valleys (especially in this economy) and sometimes it gets hard to recognize the ligtht while you’re in the tunnel/valley. I’m plowing through though and I’m ready for Week Five! I’m gonna get my artist date too, gosh darn it.

I’m So Done With BET

Michael Jackson and James Brown shared a moment at the 2003 BET Awards.

The unexpected passing of Michael Jackson provided BET with a very unique opportunity to do a timely tribute to one of the world’s greatest entertainers with some of today’s brightest talent. Yes, they only had a few days to pull it off and yes award shows are very complicated to produce, but they had a chance to do it right.

BET failed miserably.

I knew I was in for a long show when New Edition opened with that less than stellar performance. I love New Edition, but that was not good. Johnny Gill did however redeem himself later during the O’Jays tribute with Tyrese and Trey Songz.  The whole show was awkward because BET honchos  decided to free up time for tributes by not reading the names of nominees for most of the awards. So there was no suspense and no sense of competition. It was just poorly executed.

The ONLY person who hit it out of the park in terms of honoring MJ was Ne-Yo. His “Lady in My Life” performance was excellent. Ciara’s performance was embarrassing. I like to see her dance, but she doesn’t have the strongest voice in the world. Why would I want to hear her sing with nothing but a piano in the background?  And why oh why were there no dance tributes? Jamie Foxx was purposely trying to be funny with the “Beat It” thing in the beginning, so I won’t count that.

BET should have  pulled together an exciting  highlight reel of MJ’s performances  and topped it off with Ne-Yo doing his thing and maybe Usher doing a dance number and then just waited a week or two to put together a proper, star-studded tribute.

I will say though that there were some good performances that were not tributes. Jay-Z, Jamie Foxx (with Travis Barker on the drums), Maxwell, Monica, Keyshia Cole and the O’Jays were all entertaining and fun to watch.  Beyonce sounded pretty good on “Ave Maria,” but I would much rather see her do “Single Ladies” or something like that. She always does a great job with the dance numbers.

Joe Jackson sat in the front row for that entire show and I am so embarrassed.  BET did not do right by Michael Jackson with that “tribute.”  I’m looking forward to seeing what other networks have in mind because that ain’t it.

Bubbles Is Still Alive!

My favorite celeb gossip blog D-Listed has a post about how old Bubbles is doing.  Did you know that Michael Jackson rescued him from a cancer research facility when he was just an itty bitty chimp? He was so cute back in the day hanging on MJ’s hip. Don’t go buying a chimp though! They should not be pets no matter how cute they are. MJ had to let him go after he got too big and busy.

Here’s a link to Bubbles’ bio information on the Center for Great Apes‘ website. He’s about 26 years old, weighs 180 pounds and is doing just fine. You can even donate money towards his care if you want.

R.I.P. Michael Jackson

Nobody and I mean NOBODY did it like MJ. He was that dude. Every  male pop artist out today from Usher to Chris Brown to Justin Timberlake has been substantialy influenced by the decades of brilliance that Michael Jackson gave to the world. (His sis Janet influenced the current female class.) Yes, he had major controversy in his life for the past 10-15 years (and I think people who abuse children are the worst people on earth), BUT I also believe that his contrbutions to music stand the test of time. You have to love Thriller, Bad, Remember The Time, Man In The Mirror and the countless other hit songs, platintum albums and game-changing videos that he created. He turned music videos into prime-time television events. MJ was a genius.  He died too soon.  Hopefully, all the money from the upsurge of MJ album sales will benefit his children.

Random Cuteness

Say hello to Bo Obama, our nation’s Puppy-In-Chief. This is his official White House photograph.  Here’s a link to an adorable LA Time story about a fictitious press conference Bo held. Cute overload!

Good Morning, Sunshine

Jamie Lidell’s  “Another Day.” I love this song! Enjoy.

Good Morning, Sunshine

People are like diamonds; the most brilliant ones are  deep and have many facets.
-Demetria