LunaSoul entertaiment & Sytyle

Bobby Debarge, his legancy continues

2010-12-12T22:10:00.000-08:00

I was 14 years old sneaking out of middle school to Hollywood (California) unannounced to my then, mentor (and means to have a chance on becoming a Soul train dancer myself)and best friend, Jermaine Stewart. Hiking up the steep hill of Ivar, I finally arrive to the tiny cottage where Jermaine resided. Jermaine was my big brother in every way, but to my surprise, I to was about to be adopted by others that day. Robert 'Bobby' Debarge jr.

Upon my arrival I knocked on the wooden door of the landing scape of the cottage stoop of Jermaine's residence. I stood on the porch of the small house covering as the door opens, I see standing in the doorway a stranger I'd never seen, who looked as though he had been out all night and I'd just awaken him from an hour of deep sleep, scratching his tangled curly hair, stretching his thin muscular chest, pulling up his flannel pants that were falling.

"Who are you?" this stranger asked. With my childlike, widen, doe-like eyes, and speechless as a child would be when questioned by it's parent, i look up and asked, " I'm Perez. Is Jermaine, here?" He looked to me, 'wait here!" Bobby and Tommy who were members in a music group named switch. Bobby was the oldest [Bobby Debarge former lead singer to the music group Switch] of the Debarge children and Tommy was the second oldest. Bobby was the lead singer in the R&B group switch before he left the group. Bobby had a beautiful falsetto voice, and it was his voice that made Switch so popular.

And, our kindred friendship/big brother relationship.

After a week long of ditching school, Bobby sat me down, telling me during school hours I was no longer welcome to the cottage he and his younger, Tommy shared with Jermaine. At the time I thought Bobby was being an ol' meanie, but now looking back at the moment (as they say 20/20 is hindsight) he was showing me nothing but big brotherly love and guidance that i was so running away from and rejecting. I became very angry, screaming to the top of my lungs "You can't tell me what to do. You're nothing to me!" Within a beat, Bobby dashed across the room before Jermaine, or Tommy could interject, collaring me, eyeing me through slitted eyes, "I'm like your big brother!" And that was the revelation that was adequate for shaping my life.

Robert Debarge jr., (named after his father Robert Debarge), and the Debarge children are the light of life of their mother Etterlene Debarge were born in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Debarge family was one of the most successful R&B groups of the late 1970's and 80s.

Etterlene Abney was 17 when she met the 21-year-old Army soldier Robert Debarge at a Detroit skating rink. Etterlene (Debarge) said "At first I didn't think he would like me, because I was so dark," Etterlene recalls. "A white man with a black woman… we were a freak show." They were married in 1953, two weeks before he was shipped out overseas. Etterlene says she'd never known brutality in her life — until she wed. "Robert was very jealous," she said with a sigh, "and an extremely abusive father." They stayed together 21 years before divorcing in 1974.

Bobby Had a lot of inner pain about living with his father Robert Debarge Sr. a lot of that pain came from childhood. You could hear that anguish in Bobby's music. He was not a bad person, he simply suffered in life like any one of us.

It began 1975, when Barry White fired a crew known as White Heat, one of his many backing bands, which included pianist/singer Robert "Bobby" DeBarge Jr., the second oldest of the 10 DeBarge siblings. The whole DeBarge family loved music. They'd sing on the radio in Detroit on Sunday mornings and perform at talent shows. Bobby's talents stood out.
"I've never heard anyone sound quite like him, and with so much ease," producer Bernd Lichters has said. "I knew I saw a star." Lichters worked with former White Heat members Bobby DeBarge and Gregory Williams (a schoolmate of Bobby's) to launch the pioneering soul-pop group Switch. Bobby co-wrote and co-produced much of the group's best music, but behind the good looks and dazzling talent lurked a tortured soul."I've never heard anyone sound quite like him, and with so much ease," producer Bernd Lichters has said. "I knew I saw a star." Lichters worked with former White Heat members Bobby DeBarge and Gregory Williams (a schoolmate of Bobby's) to launch the pioneering soul-pop group Switch. Bobby co-wrote and co-produced much of the group's best music, but behind the good looks and dazzling talent lurked a tortured soul.

Bobby's drug issues were common knowledge among the members of Switch, but his voice was too gorgeous to ignore. Still, Switch - which released five albums on Motown's subsidiary Gordy Records - almost bounded into the studio without his supple crooning. "I wasn't sure I wanted Bobby to be in the group because he was still on drugs," says Williams. But when a chance meeting in Los Angeles with Jermaine Jackson and his wife, Hazel (Berry Gordy's daughter), got them an audition with Gordy, Williams reconsidered.

Bobby was determined to kick his habit before reaching Hollywood, sweating the junk out of his system on the Greyhound bus ride west from Grand Rapids. By the time anyone from Motown met him, Bobby was clean. Switch - which consisted of Bobby and Tommy DeBarge, vocalist Phillip Ingram, Williams, Eddie Flueller, and Jody Simms - was offered a contract.Released in 1978, Switch's self-titled debut featured the standout "There'll Never Be," which rode the Billboard R&B charts for 26 weeks, peaking at No. 6. The album went on to sell a million copies and formed the sonic template for future groups as diverse as Jodeci and Mint Condition.

"The night we wrote 'I Call Your Name' was a strange one," says Williams of the achy slow-jam, which was sampled in 2006 by Polow Da Don for Rich Boy's big hit "Throw Some D's." "Bobby was dating LaToya Jackson," Williams says, "and she was the only girl on his mind. One night, he started fooling around on the Fender Rhodes. I started singing along, and next thing you know we had a song. I'm not saying the song was written for LaToya, but they were in love, and Bobby couldn't wait to play her the completed song."

While Bobby was working on that second Switch album, Mark and Randy DeBarge visited Los Angeles to see what their brothers were up to. Before long Bunny, Mark, Randy, El, and James made the journey west. Lichters leased a five-bedroom house and took them to buy instruments. "Motown put us on salary, because we were starving," says Bunny by. "Because he'd lost the Jacksons, we became his pet project." Motown encouraged the DeBarges to fire their managers and sign with DePassse and Bob Jones management, which was affiliated with Motown. They eventually agreed.

friends could sense the trouble at home. "To put it simply," says Williams, who has known and worked with the DeBarges since they were all youngsters, "their father was psychotic. Bobby was always very sensitive and withdrawn," says Williams, "and there was a lot of abuse at the hands of Mr. DeBarge. Heroin became his main way to escape." Though he stayed clean for a while, after the success of Switch II, Bobby began slipping. "He was back on drugs, and his ego was out of control," Williams says. "Bobby was going around saying, 'I'm Switch.'"
But Etterlene believes her son had simply outgrown the group. "There was a lot of hating going on," she says. "People might have bought Switch records, but they were really buying Bobby's voice."

El and Bobby Debarge

Maybe he didn't need the band to show off his musical talents, but Bobby did seek refuge at his former bandmate's California home, "Bobby's last years were hell," Williams says. "He was separated from his wife and kids, and acting paranoid toward everybody. Bobby knew his life was basically over." He moved back to Grand Rapids the following year, and his family checked him into a hospice. After riding the heroin horse since his teens, Bobby was laid to rest where he'd finally found the peace he'd long for, for so long.

My last moment of spending time with the Debarge family was Labor day, 1996, as Jermaine Stewart, James Debarge and myself set around playing with the second generation of Debarge's and talking of fond memories of Bobby. Sharing that moment was closure for my peace of self and the desist of a long chapter of growth in my period of existence, that this angel of God was sent into life to assist in my development of direction.

Bobby, I will always love you!

KANYE' WEST takes on 'Today' in latest feud

2010-11-14T17:55:00.000-08:00

This week, we learned something about Kanye West. The defiant rapper who has made a name for himself staging interruptions at award shows and telethons can't take the heat.

When West taped an appearance on "Today" Tuesday, he was infuriated with the program producers who played clips of President George W. Bush and Taylor Swift as he discussed them.

In response, an annoyed West announced Thursday that he was canceling his "Today" performance scheduled for Nov. 26, the day after Thanksgiving, and week of the release of his anticipated album, "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy."

"I'm not performing on the Today Show for obvious reasons," West wrote on his Twitter page. "I'm so happy the world got to see just a small piece of 'the set up'".

Kanye later expressed his disdain for his treatment on the show and said he forgave them. "All positive energy ... all smiles," he wrote. "Much love to Matt and the whole Today Show. I accept ya'll future apology in advance LOL!"

While reacting to Bush's statement that West's post-Hurricane Katrina "George Bush doesn't care about black people" comment was the lowest moment of his presidency, "Today" ran interview footage of Bush, prompting West to complain.

"I didn't need you guys to play the tape in order to prompt my emotion to what I'm going to say," West said.

And the tense energy ensued when "Today" ran footage of West and Swift's MTV encounter during West's reflection on that moment.

"Yo, how am I supposed to talk if you're going to run the thing in the middle while I'm talking?" West said. "Please don't let that happen again. It's, like, ridiculous."

Before Thursday's broadcast, Lauer explained that the practice of running related footage was customary. "During an interview, when somebody references a place or an event, we run the tape. There was nothing inappropriate about it. We do it all the time," Lauer said.

Spokespeople for NBC had not responded at press time to Yahoo! Music's inquiries to confirm the cancellation of West's Nov. 26 performance. However, on Friday, West's record label confirmed the schedule change with the Associated Press.

West has already suffered losses from his actions this week. According to the New York Post, the damage-control media trainer West hired specifically to prepare West for the "Today" interview resigned after the debacle.

But perhaps the biggest impact will be on West's pocketbook. Pulling out of the "Today" Black Friday episode creates an incredible missed opportunity for West. Performing live on a network TV morning show during the week of the album's release would have exposed West to consumers outside his typical MTV demographic -- consumers who are eager to shop and spend money on the biggest retail sales day of the year.

Last month, Taylor Swift set a record for selling more than a million copies of her latest album, "Speak Now." Performing on "Today" on Nov. 26 could have helped West pass Swift's mark and even won him more public sympathy.

We have a feeling West and the "Today" team will make amends by Nov. 26. Neither West nor NBC would want to miss out on capturing such an engaged audience. The marketing is already done. We are setting our recorders now.

But let's thank Kanye West for keeping it interesting. His "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" album will be out soon so we're sure there is plenty more sensationalistic news to come. See you later week!

Family time with Bradd & Angelina

2010-11-14T17:31:00.000-08:00

"I'm a father of six. With that comes SUPER POWERS!" Bradd Pitt said at the 'MEAGMIND' premiere in NYC November 3, 2010. His Skills were on dispaly two days later back in Budapest, Hungary

when Pitt, 46, and Angelina Jollie, 35, took three of their kids to a park.

Gone, but never forgotten: Vonetta Mcgee

2010-09-02T20:43:00.000-07:00

Growing up in the late 60's and early 70's, there was a change in the air. Tricky Dick (Richard Nixon) was riding the wave of Watergate, gas prices were rising, the Black Panthers were marching for the "Freedom of the people," freedom marchers were singing "Give peace a chance," even Catwoman, Eartha Kitt joined in the chorus that cause J. Edger to Black Ball her from Hollywood, but still the Hollywood scene was all of unrest, and the change continue, until it settled on tinsel town, and the era of movies with black stars was reborn.

The actor Vonetta McGee, who has died aged 65 after a cardiac arrest, was a heroine of 1970s movies, and in the greatest of all Italian westerns, Sergio Corbucci's Il Grande Silenzio (The Great Silence). The year was 1983, Repo Man. The cast was a large one for a low-budget movie. It included all types: method actors from New York, punks from the LA hardcore scene, disgruntled Hollywood character actors and refugees from the theatre, but only one star. Vonetta McGee.

Not that Vonetta behaved in a "starry" fashion. She was completely approachable and a professional, always one of the team. Nevertheless, of all the actors in the film, Vonetta was the one with the credits. She was the one who had acted opposite Jean-Louis Trintignant, Klaus Kinski, Clint Eastwood and Sidney Poitier.

Lawrence Vonetta McGee – named after her father – was born in San Francisco. Her family planned for her to have a career in law, and she began studying pre-law at San Francisco State College, but she became involved in amateur theatre and was bitten by the acting bug. Vonetta left college without graduating and joined the diaspora of American actors – experienced and aspirant – who moved to Rome in the 1960s with her then screen-writer/ producer boyfriend, Max Jullen who was pinning 'CLEOPATRA JONES' (that was originally created with Vonetta in mind to play the lead role) the soon to become Hollywood's first movie to knock the block buster movie 'LADY SINGS THE BLUES' out the number one spot, Vonetta decided to beat the pavement to find work at the Cinecittà film studios.

Her filmographies list her first feature as Faustina, a comedy directed by Luigi Magni in 1968, but Il Grande Silenzio was made the previous year and opened in Italy at Christmas in 1967. In the film, Vonetta was a pioneer woman whose outlaw husband has been murdered by a bounty hunter, played by Kinski. She hires a mute gunfighter – Silence, wonderfully played by Trintignant – to kill the killer, thus setting in train the grim, tragic and terrible events of Corbucci's film.

Vonetta gave a fine performance as the vengeance-bent widow, Pauline. She was extraordinarily beautiful: tall, dark, with enormous and expressive eyes. 20th Century-Fox bought the rights to Il Grande Silenzio and then suppressed the film, considering it too pessimistic. But it was hugely influential on other filmmakers (Eastwood attempted a remake, Joe Kidd, directed by John Sturges), and for Vonetta, a career in American movies followed inevitably.

Poitier invited her to return to the US to appear with him in The Lost Man (1969). She starred (as "the Negress") in John Huston's The Kremlin Letter the following year. Thereafter came the string of pictures which made her famous: Blacula, The Big Bust-Out (both 1972) and Shaft in Africa (1973). In essence, these were genre pictures that starred black actors instead of white ones. They proved immensely popular with audiences, but tended to be disdained or ignored by mainstream film critics.

Vonetta disliked the "blaxploitation" label: she was proud of the black part, proud of the strong, take-charge characters she had played in the films, but did not consider them exploitative in any way.

She was a smart woman, who saw no difference between the roles she played any different than what her white counterparts of what society considered popular entertainments were portraying.A role in Eastwood's The Eiger Sanction (1975) and an increasing amount of episodic television work followed. Vonetta then suffered health problems and took a break from acting.

Repo Man marked her return to the screen. When making the film, she talked about her work in Grande Silenzio and about working with Corbucci. He was the nicest man, (how appropriate, given the savagery and sadism that characters in his extraordinary films). "And he never tried to put the make on me! His wife, Nori, was usually on set, and they were such a happy couple. They made it a great environment to work in."

Vonetta's two lessons to young, up and coming actors, "Do not try to put the make on your leading lady, and make a nice environment for each actors to be creative in." This was excellent advice. In Repo Man she was both elegant and a perfect action heroine: diving into the fight sequences with gusto, demolishing a pair of blond brutes played by Biff Yeager and Steve Mattson.

In the mid-80s, Vonetta appeared in Cagney & Lacey as the wife of a detective played by Carl Lumbly. She and Carl married in 1986 and had a son, Brandon. In 1990, she appeared, briefly but memorably, opposite Sy Richardson and Danny Glover in Charles Burnett's fine film To Sleep With Anger.

Last year, a major movie studio tracked Vonetta down to hire her again. But the word came back that she had "absolutely" retired, and was living in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.

She is survived by husband, Carl and son, Brandon, and by her mother, Alma, three brothers and a sister.

• Lawrence Vonetta McGee, died 9 July 2010.

You may be gone, but never forgotten.

The Internet is dead? say it isn't so, Prince!

2010-07-11T21:29:00.000-07:00

So this week, while all the blogosphere was abuzz about George Michael's SEVENTH car crash, LeAnn Rimes' controversial canoodling pics with boyfriend Eddie Cibrian, Crystal Bowersox's new teeth, Liz Phair's credibility-killing new musical direction, and the Grammys' revised eligibility rules, the World Wide Web itself was under attack by Prince, aka The Artist Formerly Known As The Internet's Biggest Supporter. Yes, online readers, according to His Purple Majesty's new royal decree, the Internet is kaput. Over. Finished. You may as well turn off this website and go back to your abacus now. .

"The Internet's completely over," Prince declared to England's Daily Mirror, sounding like he's ready to party not quite like it's 1999, but more like '79. "I don't see why I should give my new music to iTunes or anyone else [digitally]. They won't pay me an advance for it, and then they get angry when they can't get it....All these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you."

Prince's rejection of all thing Interweb came as quite a shock, considering that the man was once seemingly completely besotted with the digital revolution. For a man who very publicly battled with his record label, Warner Bros., because he wanted to release more product than Warner was willing to, a guy with hundreds of unreleased songs under his purple belt, it seemed like the perfect means to get all that music to the fans, eliminating the middleman.

So after Prince escaped from the clutches of Warner Bros. in the mid-'90s, he released a series of increasingly little-heard albums on his own label, NPG Records--some of which were only available through (you guessed it) the Internet. And even as recently as March 2009, Prince was introducing a heavily promoted new subscription website, LotusFlow3r.com; for an annual membership of $77, fans would theoretically not only get the digital version of the three-CD set he was releasing through Target at that time, but loads of new and unreleased material unavailable anywhere else. But as the Wall Street Journal reported this past April, the website turned out to be a bust, at least for the disgruntled followers who never got the stream of rarities and bonuses they were expecting. And just as the mercurial Prince put the kibosh on his New Power Generation Music Club subscription site back in 2006, early this year he gave the order for the LotusFlow3r.com site to be shut down as well.

And now it seems like Prince wants ALL sites to be shut down--including iTunes!

While Forbes writer Quentin Hardy surprisingly sided with Prince (in an article self-explanatorily titled "Prince Is Right. The Internet Is Over."--which, ironically, was widely read on THE FORBES.COM WEBSITE), most musicians weren't so quick to turn their backs on the entire Interweb. Even soft-jazz saxophonist Kenny G--a man no one ever thought would seem cooler than Prince--spoke out against Prince's remarks, jokingly telling the Associated Press: "If the Internet is dead then I must be dead too, 'cause I use it all the time. Maybe I've got a sixth sense, and I only see dead people." The very-much-alive Mr. G then expressed every intention to continue distributing and promoting his new album, Heart & Soul, digitally. Additionally, many other, hipper artists who've embraced online distribution--Radiohead, Trent Reznor, Beck, and Lil' Wayne and countless other mixtape-popularized rappers--hardly jumped to Prince's defense, and not even Metallica's Lars Ulrich, once Napster's most angry opponent, spoke up.

Maybe all this is a sign o' the times, so to speak. After all, it's understandable in this post-Napster age that artists might no longer be in favor of a completely open Internet, since many industry pundits argue that it is illegal file-sharing and even legal free downloads and streams that are responsible for their music biz's current slump. Still, it seems a little silly to expect people to abandon their "digital gadgets" and the online distribution methods (iTunes, Rhapsody) via which the majority of avid music fans play and receive their music nowadays. But, IF Prince is right, then what is going to replace the Internet? Will Prince will release his next album on 8-track, wax cylinder, or in the "smoke signal" format long favored by traditionalists? No, in all seriousness, the distribution model Prince is now favoring is...giving his music away free with newspapers.

Yes, Prince's latest CD, 20Ten, will be included with July 10 copies of the Daily Mirror in the U.K. and Daily Record in Ireland, as well as other print publications in Belgium and Germany. For someone making the argument that music is undervalued, Prince has a funny way of proving its integrity when he gives CDs away like shampoo samples. (Maybe, somewhere along the way, he confused his Parade album with the Parade magazine included in many Sunday papers.) There's no plan yet to distribute 20Ten in America, but Prince is reportedly in talks with his old label, Warner Bros. (yep, the aforementioned "slave"-drivers who allegedly held him so captive that he was forced to carve S.O.S. messages into his sideburns) for a future U.S. release. Apparently Prince is so convinced that the Internet is over, he's not the least bit concerned about hundreds of thousands of Europeans, who will receive free copies of 20Ten this weekend, leaking the album online for all interested Americans to hear.

A taste of love!

2010-07-08T21:47:00.000-07:00

Looking on our days gone by, I remember the day we met, fell in love, and all the things we did together. We've had our good times and now experiencing some rough and disappointing moments between our love along this way, but through it all, we must remember to remain strong and weather this storm with our love.

You are the man I love and cherish. You are the man who is my friend, my companion and the love of my life. I see this love in my life as a great challenge as we learn to learn and appreciate each other completely.

Faithful is what you are to me. Standing tall and being the man in every sense of the word. Sweet and kind is what you are when it comes to doing things for the both of us, and our relationship. You've been a man with a big heart when it comes to me, and would live standing upside down when it comes to making me happy.

I know that we've known each other for a short moment, but i find myself thinking of you every minute of each day, hoping that you're thinking of me, too. Inside my heart I feel you there and never wanting you to leave. This is no dream and I never felt this way of someone before, this passionate, this strong.

Some people do not believe in love at first sight, but I believe, and it happened the day I met you, spending that first evening talking into the early morning of twilight. It happened all so fast, taking my breath away. The miracle was more than a surprise, it was a dream come true, and a blessing from God who made you only for me.

When I look out at the stars at night, they remind me of how sweet and beautiful you are to me. When I see you, I see heaven and that's what you are to me, my heaven right here on earth. When I awake in the morning to the sun peeking through my window, you race through my mind with thoughts captured of you. Though I can't reach out and touch you, I still feel the presence of you all around me.
No matter where I go, what I do, you are always present by my side whispering "I love you!"

Before you came into my life, I had never been one to talk much about love, but now, I want to scream to the world about you and this feeling down in my soul.
I have seen the beauty of love other couple share and how sweet it is for them, and now I want to express it with you.

I realize love is not easy and can sometime have a mind of it's own, yet it knows how we think. Love has no eyes, yet it knows where we are and how to find us. Love has no lights, yet, it knows where to track it's way into our hearts. As I said earlier, before you came into my life, you were only a dream in my heart that wouldn't let me be.

Yesterday a tear of loneliness fell from my eye. It speaks of the emptiness I feel inside my heart, the sad face I can not hide.
Is the man I love gone away?
Has he moved to another?
He's not here and I have no one to talk to!

Time now rattles the seconds as my mind drags on thinking about you.
I feel alone now, nothing to smile about as I try and figure out what went wrong.
Will the sunshine tomorrow inside my thoughts again?
My feelings are lost inside. Was it suppose to be this way?

No one knows the pain I feel. Not even the man I love, because he's not here with me.

The king of kings!

2010-06-24T19:37:00.000-07:00

The King lives!

On June 25, 2010, will be the one year anniversary since the world lost the most famous Icon/legend to have ever dawned a stage, screen, magazine cover, award show, and once again, The king of pop, Michael Jackson has broke another record.

It sounds strange to say this, but Michael Jackson is coming off one of the biggest years of his career. Jackson has sold more than 9 million albums and nearly 13 million digital tracks in the U.S. in the year since his death. He was hotter than he'd been at any time since his glory days in the ‘80s. He even achieved a career goal that had eluded him in his lifetime--a hit movie. .

I think what happened in the past year is that people focused on Jackson's music for the first time in many years, and remembered how much they liked it. Sadly, it took Jackson's death for people to look past all the controversies--large and small, troubling and trivial--that turned a lot of people off..

In the year since he died, Jackson has sold 9,023,000 albums in the U.S. This has enabled him to vault from #47 on Nielsen/SoundScan's running list of the top 200 album sellers in its history (which dates to 1991) to #18 this week. That's a tremendous one-year gain..

Jackson's posthumous sales are among the most impressive in the history of the music business. Nielsen/SoundScan didn't exist when Elvis Presley died in 1977 or when John Lennon was killed in 1980, so precise comparisons aren't possible, but the Billboard charts shed some light on the matter..

With his smash compilation Number Ones, Jackson became only the 13th artist to have the best-selling album in the U.S. posthumously. And with the subsequent soundtrack to Michael Jackson's This Is It, he became one of only five artists to have the best-selling album in the U.S. with two albums after his death. Bandleader Glenn Miller and rappers 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. each had three posthumous #1 albums. Nirvana, featuring the late Kurt Cobain, had two..

Eight other artists had one posthumous #1 album: Presley and Lennon are joined on this list by Janis Joplin, Jim Croce, Selena, Aaliyah, Johnny Cash and Ray Charles..

Jackson long wanted to be a movie star, a sort of modern-day Fred Astaire. In death, he got at least part of his wish: a #1 box-office hit. Michael Jackson's This Is It topped the box-office in its opening weekend at the end of October with a domestic gross of more than $23 million..

The soundtrack album entered The Billboard 200 at #1 that same week, with first-week sales of 373,000. (It was eligible for that chart because it was a new compilation.)

That made Jackson only the sixth music star since the early ‘80s to star in a movie that came in #1 at the box-office and also spawned a #1 soundtrack (on which the star was featured). He followed Prince (1984's Purple Rain); Whitney Houston (1995's Waiting To Exhale); Will Smith (1997's Men In Black); Eminem (2002's 8 Mile); and Miley Cyrus (2009's Hannah Montana: The Movie)..

Michael Jackson's This Is It grossed more than $72 million in the U.S., which made it the top-grossing music concert film in history. (The old record was held by Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus' 2008 movie Best Of Both Worlds Concert Tour, which grossed more than $65 million.) The movie grossed an additional $180 million in foreign markets for a combined worldwide gross of $252 million. It was also a hit on DVD, with U.S. DVD sales estimated at $43 million..

Beyond the box-office success, the movie helped Jackson's image because it showed him in action and in charge. And we haven't seen that side of him since his heyday. Since Bad came out in 1987, he was usually on the defensive, facing slipping sales, image problems, criminal charges, and all the rest. His life spun out of control. Here, he was seen as being in control again..

In the weeks following his death on June 25, Jackson toppled records that had stood for decades. In the week after he died, he had the three best-selling albums in the U.S.: Number Ones, The Essential Michael Jackson, and Thriller. Since 1963, when Billboard combined its separate stereo and mono charts into one comprehensive listing, no other act had accomplished that feat. (The Beatles came closest, nailing down three of the top four spots in May 1964.).

For two weeks in July, Jackson had six of the 10 best-selling albums in the U.S. This broke a record that had stood since April 1966, when Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass had four of the top 10.

As I noted last summer, this has a strong sense of déjà vu for me. I wrote a column for Billboard in 1983 and 1984, when Jackson was setting new records virtually every week. I never imagined that it would all happen again, and certainly not under these sad circumstances..

In the week after he died, Jackson became the first artist to sell more than 1 million digital tracks in one week. (He sold 2.6 million, obliterating the old record.) Combining solo hits with songs he recorded with his brothers, he had a staggering 49 of the top 200 titles on the Hot Digital Songs chart that week. He held down six of the top 10 spots..

In each of the first seven weeks after he died, Jackson had three of the five best-selling albums in the U.S.: His biggest seller throughout this period was Number Ones. The hit-studded collection sold more copies in the first 16 weeks after Jackson's death than it had in the five and half years between its release in November 2003 and his death. At its peak in July, Number Ones sold 349,000 copies in one week. That constituted the biggest one-week sales tally for a non-holiday catalog album in Nielsen/SoundScan history..

Number Ones logged six weeks as the best-selling album in the U.S. That was the longest that an artist who had died had the nation's top-seller since 1980-1981, when Double Fantasy, by John Lennon and his widow, Yoko Ono, topped The Billboard 200 for eight weeks. It was the longest that a greatest hits set was the best-selling album in the U.S. since 2000-2001, when the Beatles' 1 held the top spot for eight weeks. It was the longest that Jackson had the top-seller since 1987, when Bad held the top spot for six weeks..

Jackson's phenomenal posthumous success forced Billboard to change its long-time policy of excluding catalog albums from The Billboard 200. Beginning with the chart for the issue dated Dec. 5, 2009, catalog albums were able to compete alongside current product on the magazine's flagship chart. The move came too late for Jackson's albums to take their rightful places in the top 10, but it was welcome development nonetheless..

When Nielsen/SoundScan released its final sales tallies for 2009, Jackson had four of the year's top 20 albums: Number Ones at #3, Michael Jackson's This Is It at #12, Thriller at #14 and The Essential Michael Jackson at #20. This constituted a record for the SoundScan era. The old record was held by Garth Brooks, who had three of the top 20 albums of 1992. (In Brooks's case, however, all three made the year-end top 10.).

By coming in at #3 for the year, Number Ones ranked higher on Nielsen/SoundScan's year-end chart than any album ever had following the artist's death. 2Pac's All Eyez On Me was the #6 album of 1996. The Notorious B.I.G.'s Life After Death was the #6 album of 1997..

Number Ones sold 2,355,000 copies in the U.S. in 2009. It sold all but 117,000 of those copies after Jackson's death..

Jackson had seven of Nielsen/SoundScan's top 100 albums of 2009. In addition to his four albums that made the year-end top 20, Off The Wall was #66, Bad was #68 and Dangerous was #98..

Jackson had nine of the top 200 digital songs of 2009. His biggest hit was "Thriller," which sold 1,096,000 copies during the calendar year. His other top-selling songs for the year were, in descending order: "Billie Jean" (938,000), "Man In The Mirror" (890,000), "Beat It" (830,000), "The Way You Make Me Feel" (671,000), "Don't Stop ‘Til You Get Enough" (611,000), "Smooth Criminal" (605,000), "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" (557,000), and "Black Or White" (511,000).

Since the digital era began, the song "Thriller" has sold 2,362,000 digital copies. Only one song from the ‘80s has outsold it. That's Journey's ubiquitous 1981 smash "Don't Stop Believin'," which has sold 3,819,000 copies. But Jackson tops the arena rock band in one respect: He has a second song on Nielsen/SoundScan's running list of the 200 best-selling digital songs in its history. "Billie Jean" has sold 1,898,000 copies in the digital era..

Thriller is closing in on Dangerous as Jackson's best-selling album of the Nielsen/SoundScan era. Thriller has sold 5,816,000 copies since 1991. Dangerous has sold 6,363,000 (combining two editions of the album). This is remarkable because Thriller was released more than eight years before the start of the Nielsen/SoundScan era. By contrast, all Dangerous sales are contained in the SoundScan era..

Jackson topped charts all over the world after his death. Number Ones and The Essential Michael Jackson both reached #1 in the U.K. The latter album topped the U.K. chart for seven weeks, which was the longest run for an American artist since Justin Timberlake's Justified stayed on top for seven weeks in 2003..

Jackson also had a pair of #1 albums in Japan: King Of Pop (Japan Edition) and Michael Jackson's This Is It!

PDT by Paul Grein

Black is the new Vogue

2010-06-22T22:31:00.000-07:00

Black is always in Vogue!

The old, is the new look

2010-06-22T22:19:00.000-07:00

I love the mixture of 'The Old' and 'The New.'
The architecture structure of these vertical columns of the Old look of rome,
Combined with the modern touch of plate plexiglas.

The Body oil collection that's in the know? 'Sade'

2010-06-22T21:37:00.000-07:00

The Sade Body oil collection.

Great for women of all color!

Genuine!

2010-06-22T21:23:00.000-07:00

The love I hold in my heart for you is more precious than diamonds and gold.
It's above and beyond any treasure that you might possess.
It's for one man, and one man only.
The man I see in you.
The one who wants to be in love with me.
My love is for you genuine,
and it all belong to you!
Forever loving you.

I love you more today, than yesterday: Diana Ross

2010-06-12T00:35:00.000-07:00

On June 9th, 2010, at 8pm at the Los Angeles 'Nokia' theater, Miss Diana Ross brought her 'I love you more today, than yesterday' tour into town with full force.
Entering on a multi-tiered stage by way of a hydraulic lift before descending a winding staircase like a queen primped for a ball. The Superstar Diva showed off her enviable physique in a colorful array of glamorous dresses, fancy wraps and feather boas that would've made a fashion designer blush. She struck poses, shook hands and blew kisses. The cheerful legend basked in the overwhelming adulation, flashing constant smiles and interacting with the crowd.

Diana also brought the hits and material that spanned decades of dominant pop tastes. Miss Ross touched on disco, R&B, jazz and soul, counting on a slick 18-piece band to process the changes. Projected beautiful visuals of period videos and photos framed multiple songs trends and artistry.

Touching on her early days as a member of the most famous girl group in history, The Supremes, Miss Ross sang chart topping hits, such as, 'Reflection, Forever came today, Love child,' and the most famous Supreme hit ever, 'Stop in the name of love,' transitioning into her early solo hits, 'Touch me in the morning, Theme from Mahogany,' into her first number one solo hit, 'Ain't no mountain high enough,' before bringing down the house with her on flavored rendition of 'I will survive.'

As the show was coming to it's finale, Miss Ross ordered the house lights to be turned up so that she was able to good a glimps of the audience and then introduced her family, as well as extended Motown family to the adorning fans, starting with the man who "made it all happen for her," Berry Gordy jr.,

At the show's finale, the house lights, once again fell black and appeared on the screen, again, was Diana, but this time singing duet with the King of Pop, myself, Michael Jackson.

But, before singing her top 10 hit, 'Missing you' and her rendition of 'You are not alone,' Miss Ross had a special surprise for the audience, by introducing Michale's children to the Ross fans, where the kids were greeted with a standing O!

This was the best concert I've witnessed this year. My one and only wish was that the new up and coming female, as well as male artist of this generation could have attended ti witness real entertainment at it realness, because Ross kept it very REAL.

Bravo, Miss Ross......Bravo!

MUSIC REVIEW: Grammy award winner, Jody Watley

2010-06-07T12:08:00.001-07:00

Music Notes. Mark de Clive-Lowe featuring Jody Watley

Review: Jody Watley
Every diva on the planet should be sending out an APB to track down Mark de Clive-Lowe and hold him hostage in the studio for a few hours. More than any other producer in House, he has an uncanny ability to play to their strengths and the creativity to give them just the right canvas to work on. With a few exceptions I can no longer remember but which must be there somewhere, I don't think Jody Watley has ever sounded better. "Get down down down down down" is as old as the Blues, but the lyric just works so well with the cacophony of instruments MdCL has put together that it sounds like you're hearing it for the first time.

In Strictly style, a more commercial remix is offered up by Ralvero which to be honest probably doesn't belong on here. So much electro these days just sounds like the same - like what George Clinton said about the death of commercial disco: "It all had one beat. You can't make love the same way every time you do it." Pass on it in favor of Mark de Clive-Lowe's own remix, which is rooted in that gorgeous urban soul sound he's made his own. [ - Terry M. - ]

Today's hot look! ' Funky and freash'

2010-06-02T20:27:00.000-07:00

Keeping it Funky!

Hot....Hot....Hot!

"Only If!"

2010-06-02T20:04:00.000-07:00

If only I could feel your touch,
It would bring joy to my lonely
heart.

If only I could see your smile,
It would bring sunshine to my
dark world.

It would bring us closer together
with love.

If only your arms could hold me,
then I wouldn't have to feel so alone
and my soul wouldn't have to cry out
for your love.

If only you were here with me,
you would become a reality.

However, since we can't be together,
I'll just have to continue dreaming
about you until that day come to be.

Untold Heros & heroines: Thelma Houston

2010-06-01T18:35:00.000-07:00

Thelma Houston (née Jackson; born May 7, 1946, Leland, Mississippi is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She scored a number-one hit in 1977 with her cover version of the song "Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the 1978 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

Houston is the daughter of a cotton picking mother. She and her three sisters grew up primarily in Long Beach, California. After marrying and having two children, she joined the Art Reynolds Singers gospel group and was subsequently signed as a recording artist with Dunhill Records.

In 1969, Houston released her debut album, entitled Sunshower, produced by Jimmy Webb. In 1971 she signed with Motown Records but her early recordings with them were largely unsuccessful. Her most notable single during that period was "You've Been Doing Wrong for So Long" which peaked at #64 on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart in 1974. However Houston's vocal prowess on that track secured her a nomination for a Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. In April 1974 Houston joined the cast of The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine, playing various characters during the shows skits. The show was canceled in August and for the next several years her work was limited to demo recordings and performing at small venues.

Houston took acting classes and received her first role in the 1975 made-for-television film Death Scream. In that same year Sheffield Lab released "I've Got the Music in Me" a recording by Thelma Houston and Pressure Cooker that went on to become a benchmark vinyl recording for audiophiles. The following year she recorded songs for the soundtrack to the film The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings starring Billy Dee Williams and James Earl Jones. In 1975 Houston appeared on the Golden Globe Award broadcast performing the nominated song "On & On" and also was featured in a tribute to Berry Gordy on that year's American Music Award broadcast singing "You've Made Me So Very Happy". That year Houston's version of "Do You Know Where You're Going To" was being set for single release when it was pulled and the song given to Diana Ross to serve as the theme song for the movie Mahogany. In 1976 Houston sang backing vocals for Motown labelmate Jermaine Jackson on his album My Name Is Jermaine.

Houston released her third album Any Way You Like It in 1976. The first single released was her version of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes' 1975 song "Don't Leave Me This Way". In February 1977 the track hit #1 in the U.S. on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts as well as on the Club Play Singles chart. "Don't Leave Me This Way" won Houston the Best Female R&B Vocal Performance at the Grammys for 1977. Besides its US success "Don't Leave Me This Way" became a hit in at least twelve countries, including the UK where it reached #13 despite the concurrent single release of the Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes which reached #5. Also in 1977 Houston teamed up with Jerry Butler to record the album Thelma & Jerry and that November 1977 she co-starred in the film Game Show Models. It was announced in February 1977 that Houston would star as Bessie Smith in a filmation of the play Me and Bessie, to be produced by Motown; after an announcement that December that Houston was set to portray Bessie Smith in a biopic to be produced in 1978 by Columbia Pictures nothing more was heard of the project.

The second single from Any Way You Like It was Houston's rendition of "If It's the Last Thing I Do", a standard written by Charlie Chaplin; the track had been recorded and prepped for single release in 1973 but canceled. The impact of "If It's the Last Thing I Do" was far less than that of "Don't Leave Me This Way", as the former fell short of both the R&B Top Ten and the Pop Top 40. With the lead single from her 1978 album The Devil in Me: "I'm Here Again", Houston returned to the style of "Don't Leave Me This Way" without recapturing the earlier single's success. Houston did enjoy considerable commercial success in 1978 via the inclusion of her track "Love Masterpiece" on the Thank God It's Friday soundtrack album which sold double platinum but her own album release that year Ready to Roll again failing to consolidate the stardom augured by "Don't Leave Me This Way". The album's second single: "Saturday Night, Sunday Morning", gradually accrued airplay entering the national charts in March 1979 and ascending as high as #34 (#19 R&B) that June. "Saturday Night, Sunday Morning" was issued on a new album by Houston: Ride to the Rainbow but the track's relative success was not enough to forestall Houston's planned departure from Motown.

Houston continued recording into the 1980s, beginning with the RCA release Breakwater Cat which reunited her with Jimmy Webb who'd produced her debut Sunshower and which like their earlier collaboration was a commercially overlooked critical success. In the 22 December 1984 Billboard magazine interview, Houston admitted to "'no real commercial success' since the single 'Don't Leave Me This Way' broke on the Pop charts in late 1976" indicating that the disco backlash had left her with "no real base of audience support" and that her current album Qualifying Heat, executive produced by Houston herself, was a concentrated initiative to restore her as a viable chart presence; the album featured three cuts from Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis - including the single "You Used to Hold Me So Tight" - and production work from Glen Ballard, Dennis Lambert, Cliff Magness and - in his first known recording work - Lenny Kravitz (then billed as Romeo Blue), who each produced a cut apiece. "You Use to Hold Me So Tight" became Houston's most successful post-'70s' release with a #13 R&B peak but it parent album was a comparative failure - charting #41 R&B - and Houston would not cut another album for six years.

The constant ranking of her '80s releases of the '80s as moderate or minor R&B hits led Houston to concentrate on alternate exposure: having appeared in the independent film The Seventh Dwarf in 1979, Houston made guest-starring appearances into the mid-1980s in several popular television programs including Cagney & Lacey, Simon & Simon - a January 1986 appearance that featured her performing "You Used to Hold Me So Tight" - and Faerie Tale Theatre. Houston also appeared in the 1987 CBS after school special Little Miss Perfect (1987) - as "Prison Singer" - in the 1988 film And God Created Woman.

On the 19 May 1985 NBC broadcast Motown Returns to the Apollo Houston performed "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes" in the guise of Dinah Washington. Houston continued to contribute to movie soundtracks, recording "Keep It Light" for the 1985 film Into the Night and she remade Bill Withers' "Lean on Me" for the 1989 film entitled Lean on Me. Houston also co-wrote and sang back-up on the song "Be Yourself" for Patti LaBelle's 1989 album of the same title.

The fall of 1990 saw the release of Houston's first album in six years, Throw You Down, a long-planned collaboration with producer Richard Perry which briefly extended Houston's career as a minor R&B chart presence. The title song reached #5 on the U.S. dance chart. A remix of "Don't Leave Me This Way" was released, and once again charted on the Hot Dance Club Play chart at #19 in 1995. Subsequent singles include "I Need Somebody Tonight" and "All of That".

In 1994, Houston participated in an AIDS benefit at New York’s Algonquin Hotel, performing gospel music with Phoebe Snow, Chaka Khan and CeCe Peniston as "Sisters of Glory". Intended as a one-off performance troupe, the Sisters of Glory remained together - with the addition of Mavis Staples and Lois Walden, and without Chaka Khan - to perform at Woodstock '94. Houston performed with the Sisters of Glory for the Pope in Vatican City and in 1995 Houston, Snow, Peniston, Walden and Albertina Walker recorded the Warner Brothers album Good News in Hard Times as the Sisters of Glory.

Houston provided backing vocals on guitarist Scott Henderson's 1997 Atlantic album, Tore Down House. and in 1998 she made cameo appearances in two films: in 54 Houston portrayed herself singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" supposedly at Studio 54, and in Beloved Houston played 'One of The Thirty Women'.

In 2000, Houston toured successfully throughout Australia in the stage musical version of Fame. Upon returning to the U.S. Houston toured with Nile Rodgers and Chic, and with was among the opening acts of the originally intended finale of Cher's Farewell Tour in Toronto on 31 October 2003. Houston regularly performs at Teatro ZinZanni in Seattle and San Francisco.

Her version of "Don't Leave Me This Way" continues to be popular today. In recent years she has been invited to sing this song on dozens of TV shows and specials including NBC's Today Show, ABC's Motown 45 and The Disco Ball...A 30-Year Celebration, and PBS' specials American Soundtrack: Rhythm, Love and Soul, Soul Superstars, and Old School Superstars. "Don't Leave Me This Way" was mentioned by VH1 as being among the greatest dance songs in 2000, and was ranked number eighty-six on the channel's countdown of The 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders. She won an episode of the NBC show Hit Me, Baby, One More Time with her renditions of her own hit and "Fallin'" by Alicia Keys. On September 20, 2004, Houston's rendition of "Don't Leave Me This Way" was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in New York City.

On August 14, 2007, Houston released her first studio album in seventeen years, A Woman's Touch. The album features cover versions of songs by male artists such as Luther Vandross, Marvin Gaye, and Sting that Houston had been inspired by. The first single from the album was "Brand New Day". On August 20, 2007, Houston's 1984 album Qualifying Heat was reissued as an import title in the U.S. with a bonus track.

She sang "Don't Leave Me This Way" on American Idol Wednesday April 22, 2009 and on "America's Got Talent" on September 16, 2009.

Untold Heros & heroines: Marki Bey

2010-06-01T17:57:00.001-07:00

It is probable that only in Hollywood - and then, only in the early '70s - could a word like blaxploitation be coined. The root and meaning of the word is obvious; for some time, cheap action flicks featuring the underused minority actor community were the flavor of the month in theaters. The problem, of course, was the ploitation part. Most often, these flicks were simply recast versions of earlier, all-white movies, made quickly and efficiently and hurled into distribution. In an effort to distinguish themselves from the other Shaft and Black Caesar clones, some filmmakers started striking out into other filmic territory. After awhile, things got a little absurd, as in Blackenstein (shudder); and some that were at least halfway original in concept, like Sugar Hill.

We start off promisingly enough with your typical voodoo ceremony, complete with snakes, chicken blood, and convulsing dancers possessed by loa. The opening credits run over this scene, and it is scored by the song "Supernatural Voodoo Woman" by The Originals (courtesy Motown Records), which, while listenable, is a bit too slow for the antics onscreen - our first indication that something is up. The second indication is when the ceremony is over, lights come up and applause thunders; we have been watching the floor show at the incredibly successful Club Haiti.

In attendance is Diana "Sugar" Hill (Marki Bey), the fiancee of the Club's owner, Langston (Larry B. Johnson). A short round of loverly billing and cooing is interrupted by the arrival of four thug-types, led by Fabulous (Charles Robinson), who will be modeling all the retina-scorching Huggy Bear pimp clothes for this outing (although Langston's jacket with the odd scalloped lapels bears mentioning). Fabulous comes bearing news (okay, a veiled threat) from Morgan, a local crime lord who wants to buy Club Haiti. Langston, of course, refuses, and in a remarkably lame fight scene, gets beaten to death in the parking lot for his defiance.

Since the attackers all wore stockings over their heads (though who could not have recognized Fabulous' attire?) the police can do nothing, so Sugar returns to her run-down ancestral mansion, where (for some reason) the local ancient voodoo queen Mama Maitresse (Zara Cully) is living. Sugar begs Mama Maitresse to use her voodoo powers to grant her vengeance on Morgan and his gang, so Mama takes Sugar waaaaaay into the swamp in back to her voodoo altar, that they may conjure up the Lord of the Undead, Baron Samedi.

Now, it was during the lengthy journey into the swamplands that I found myself thinking, "I could have started the movie here and still recognized it as an American International picture." Then I tried to figure out why I would have thought such a thing. Best I could come up with was that, although we are supposedly in the swamplands of Louisiana, the sound effects are exactly the same as those used in 1950's jungle movies, complete with that tell-tale bird that goes oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-OO! OO! I kept expecting to hear an elephant trumpet.

The Pips reunion is not going quite as planned...In any case, Baron Samedi arrives (in broad daylight; I still don't know if that was brilliant or a mistake) and Sugar petitions him for his aid. "And what will you give me?" asks the loa. "My soul!" Sugar answers without hesitation. "Ha! It's not your soul I want," Samedi replies. "The Baron is quite a lover," explains Mama Maitresse. To bear this out, the Baron is immediately flanked by a pair of zombie babes. Impressed by Sugar's lack of fear in his presence, Samedi agrees to help, causing a number of slaves buried in the swamp during a fever epidemic a century before to rise up, still shackled and carrying machetes. "Put them to evil use!" bellows the Baron. "It is all they know or want!"

Sugar wastes no time in tracking down and giving Langston's killers their comeuppance. One winds up on the wrong end of the zombie's machetes in a dockside warehouse - a positive ID is only possible when the police find his head in what appears Teach YOU to work for the Man, Fabulousto be a bag of grits. Another is tossed into a pen full of hungry pigs (Sugar: "I hope they're into white trash.") Yet another is forced via voodoo to stab himself to death. And Fabulous, visiting his favorite massage parlor, finds himself locked in a room full of zombie ho's.

Complicating matters on Sugar's vengeance trail is her old beau Valentine (Richard Lawson ), a police detective who starts to suspect that voodoo is at the root of this one-sided gang war, and that Sugar is somehow involved; also concurrent is the Big Boss Morgan's (Robert Quarry) continued attempts to obtain Club Haiti from Sugar by dint of his questionable suaveness... this to the dismay of his equally racist cracker moll Celeste (Betty Anne Rees). This leads to the mandatory catfight between Sugar and Celeste, which is every bit as lame as the earlier fight scene (you would think there is no way to screw up a catfight, but a way was found).

So let's get back to the zombie mayhem. After one hit man looking for answers winds up nailed to the wall with machetes, the very last member of Morgan's gang is locked into a coffin loaded with snakes. A thoroughly pissed-off Morgan tries to hunt down Sugar in her mansion, but finds instead a room filled with all his dead henchmen, now quite undead and ready to off him. The horrified Morgan is smashed through a window by a Spring Loaded Cat™. There's a bit of a chase, out into Maitresse's swampy church, where Morgan meets the end determined for all bad guys who run into a swamp, i.e., a convenient pit of quicksand.

"Calgon, take me away!"To keep her part of the bargain with Samedi, Sugar gives him Celeste. The Baron acknowledges that he would much prefer Sugar herself, but a deal is a deal, and he carries the unwilling, go-go booted moll into a nearby smoky special effect. The end... to the tune of "Supernatural Voodoo Woman", natch.

As one can tell from the summary, the plot is strictly first-year revenge drama stuff - it is the addition of voodoo and the resurrected slaves that causes one to hope that this movie might actually carve out its own identity, possibly bring some illumination to the blackness of the experience, not merely using it as a backdrop for a cheap horror film. There is only one thing that keeps Sugar Hill from fulfilling that promise: the script itself, which is shabby beyond redemption. The first scene between Sugar and Langston is mildly painful, leading into the stand-off between Langston and the thugs, which was scripted by constantly pulling down the lever on the Cliché-o-matic® and appending the epithet "boy" to the end of every other line.

Once the zombie plot kicks in, at least, our attention is distracted from the trashbin dialogue. The actors struggle mightily with their lines, and manage to overcome this burden for the most part; practically every speaking role is competently acted. Several of the henchmen/zombie victims are truly unfortunate exceptions. Then, they are only called upon to confirm they are racist cretins, snivel a bit, and then die.

Do you remember when Robert Quarry was apparently being groomed as a new horror star? Whatever happened to that? Sugar Hill was reportedly Quarry's last film under his AIP contract, and he doesn't look like he's enjoying it. Sporting a southern accent worthy of Joseph Cotten, Morgan makes us wonder just exactly what a Big Crime Lord does all day. From all "Hi, I'm Robert Quarry for Chess King..."appearances, he lounges around his apartment, drinking and abusing his underlings, especially his moll and Fabulous.

Which leads us to another criminally undeveloped subplot. After Langston's beating death, the first scene with all of the gang meeting in Morgan's apartment finds Fabulous, the sole black member of the gang, shining Morgan's shoes. Morgan urges him to work on the (symbolically?) white patent leather some more, claiming that "We'll make an honest nigra of you yet." We have the possibility of some real dramatic tension here, a sort of reverse Othello situation. Why does Fabulous put up with this? What is he getting from this relationship? Is it part of some elaborate scheme on his part? We'll never know, because Fabulous smiles and goes back to work on the shoes.

So, really, thank the God of Bad Movies for those zombies. Though they are remarkably intact for having spent a century in the ground, they are nonetheless some of the creepiest shamblers to grace the screen. It's not merely the cobwebs, graveyard dirt and shiny bug-eyes that grace each zombie, no, it's the fact that these undead like to smile. A lot. If evil truly is "all they know, or want," well, these fellas really enjoy their work. Those grins are unnerving in the extreme.

Samedi contemplates ending the Pauly Shore problemAs Baron Samedi, Don Pedro Colley simply folds up the film neatly and tucks it under his arm. Colley did actual research into voodoo beliefs and crafted a Lord of the Undead who is perversely full of life, whose manic grin is echoed in that of his minions. When I first saw Sugar Hill years ago, it was Colley who impressed me and continued to be memorable, long after every other detail of the movie had faded away. Samedi maintains a presence throughout the picture, appearing as a bartender, a cab driver, and even a slow-witted groundskeeper who isn't so slow that he can't introduce himself as "Old Sam"; this goes so far as to confirm the Baron's lesser-known function as a trickster spirit.

I've gone almost the entire review without talking about the leading lady, the title character, haven't I? Marki Bey is a bit problematic - I get the impression she was being offered up as the next Pam Grier, but that was a crowded field at the time and Bey didn't quite measure up. It's not that she's a bad actress. She holds up quite well against the heinous scripting, but she is victimized by one of the strangest motifs I've yet seen in a film.

You see, it's her hair. In the common, day-to-day scenes, Bey's hair is processed, flat, dark red. But put her around some zombies and she's suddenly sporting a Jim Kelly afro (and dazzling white jumpsuit). Punching the timeclock, she's Jackie Brown; punching some villain's timecard, she turns into Get Christy Love.

2010-05-30T02:10:00.001-07:00

Untold Heros & heroines: Marvin Gaye

2010-05-26T00:14:00.000-07:00

Marvin Gaye’s extraordinary career matched his extraordinary life, a mixture of blessings and banes, dazzling success and inscrutable pain. His biography and discography are twin reflections of the same dualty: the artistic and personal struggle to heal the split between head and heart, flesh and spirit, ego and God. Meanwhile, the music lives on for the pleasures of its beauty and the marvel that was Marvin’s voice.
Marvin’s work divides along decades – the sixties when he hit as a commercial if somewhat rebellious artist, a brilliant product of the Motown assembly line; the seventies when he matured as an independent force, a self-produced self-reflective auteur who both rose to the challenge and fell to the temptations of his times; and the early eighties when, for a brief moment, he came roaring back on the scene for the final, tragic act of his spectacular drama.

Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and instrumentalist with a three-octave vocal range. Starting as a member of the doo-wop group The Moonglows in the late fifties, he ventured into a solo career after the group disbanded in 1960 signing with the Tamla subsidiary of Motown Records. After starting off as a session drummer, Gaye ranked as the label's top-selling solo artist during the sixties.

Because of solo hits such as "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)", "Ain't That Peculiar", "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and his duet singles with singers such as Mary Wells and Tammi Terrell, he was crowned "The Prince of Motown" and "The Prince of Soul".

His mid-1970s work including the Let's Get It On and I Want You albums helped influence the quiet storm, urban adult contemporary and slow jam genres. After a self-imposed European exile in the early eighties, Gaye returned on the 1982 Grammy-winning hit, "Sexual Healing" and the Midnight Love album before his death. Gaye was tragically shot dead by his father on April 1, 1984. He was posthumously inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

In 2008, the American music magazine Rolling Stone ranked Gaye #6 on its list of The Greatest Singers of All Time, and ranked #18 on 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Marvin Gaye, Jr. was born at 12 p.m. on April 2, 1939 at Freedman's Hospital in Washington, D.C.. His father, Marvin Gay, Sr., who was originally from Lexington, Kentucky, was a minister at the House of God. It advocated strict conduct and mixed teachings of Orthodox Judaism and Pentecostalism. His mother, Alberta Cooper, from Rocky Mount, North Carolina, was a domestic and schoolteacher.

The eldest son of Gay Sr.'s children, Marvin has a half brother, Michael Cooper ( 1935) and an older sister Jeanne ( 1937), younger brother Frankie (1942–2001), and sister Zeola "Sweetsie" ( 1945). Marvin's parents raised their children at the southeast section of D.C. at the Simple City projects and, after Marvin turned 14, lived in the segregated section of Washington, D.C.'s Deanwood neighborhood in the northeastern section of the city. As a teen, he caddied at Norbeck Country Club in Olney, Maryland.

As a child, Gaye sang and played instruments in the choir in his father's church. During his high school years, he listened to doo-wop and joined the DC Tones as a drummer and pianist with his best friend Reese Palmer. After dropping out of 11th grade at Cardozo High School, Gaye joined the United States Air Force in hopes of becoming an aviator. After faking mental illness,[9] he was discharged. His sergeant stated that Gaye refused to follow orders.

Returning to D.C., Gaye rejoined his childhood friend Reese Palmer who had formed The Marquees and Bo Diddley signed them to Okeh Records, where they recorded "Wyatt Earp", with "Hey Little Schoolgirl" as its B-side. It received moderate success. Harvey Fuqua, of the R&B/doo-wop group The Moonglows, recruited them, after the break up of the original members to be The New Moonglows. Gaye and the group sang background on records by Chuck Berry and Etta James and had a modest hit with "The Twelve Months of the Year". "Mama Loochie" (1959) was Gaye's first lead single.

After the Moonglows disbanded in 1960, Fuqua brought Gaye to Detroit and he was signed to the local Anna Records label, founded by Gwen Gordy. After Motown Records' Berry Gordy absorbed Anna, Gaye was moved to Motown's Tamla subsidiary. Upon signing to Tamla, Gaye found out that Fuqua had sold 50% percent of his stake in the singer to the label. Gaye worked as a session drummer for The Miracles, The Contours, Martha and the Vandellas, The Marvelettes and others, notably on The Marvelettes' 1961 hit, "Please Mr. Postman" and Little Stevie Wonder's live version of 1963 hit, "Fingertips". Both singles reached number one of the pop singles chart.

After signing with Motown as a solo artist in 1961, Gaye changed his name from Marvin Gay to Marvin Gaye, later stating he added the 'e' because it "sounded more professional". His author and best friend David Ritz insisted Gaye added the 'e' to separate himself from his father, and to imitate R&B singer Sam Cooke, who also added an 'e' to his name. Gaye and Berry clashed over music to record. Though with help from Gaye's girlfriend, Gordy's sister Anna, Berry allowed him to record a standard album.

Gaye scored his first hit single "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" in September. The song, co-written by Gaye, was an autobiographical pun on his nonchalant, moody behavior. Produced by William "Mickey" Stevenson with background vocals supplied by Martha & The Vandellas, the recording became a hit on the Hot R&B Songs chart.
The single would be followed by his first Top 40 singles "Hitch Hike", "Pride and Joy" and "Can I Get a Witness", which charted for Gaye in 1963. The success continued with the 1964 singles "You Are a Wonderful One", "Try It Baby", "Baby Don't You Do It" and "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)", which became his first signature song.
Gaye contributed to writing and playing drums on the 1964 hit by Martha and the Vandellas, "Dancing in the Street". His work with Smokey Robinson on the 1966 album, Moods of Marvin Gaye, spawned consecutive top ten singles in "I'll Be Doggone" and "Ain't That Peculiar". Due to this success and the singer's well-crafted image, Gaye became a favorite on the teen shows American Bandstand, Shindig!, Hullaballoo and The T.A.M.I. Show. In August 1966, he became just the second Motown act to successfully perform at the Copacabana, though due to label friction, a live album cut from the performances set to be released in 1967 was shelved for nearly 40 years.

However, it was Gaye's work with Tammi Terrell that became the most memorable. Terrell and Gaye were a good standing duet at the time and their first album, 1967's United, birthed the hits "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "Your Precious Love".
Real-life couple Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson provided the writing and production for the Gaye/Terrell records. While Gaye and Terrell were not lovers — though rumors persist — they portrayed lovers on record. Gaye claimed that for the songs he was in love with her. On October 14, 1967, while in concert at the homecoming for Hampden-Sydney College, Virginia, outside the college town of Farmville, Tammi Terrell collapsed in Gaye's arms. She was rushed to Southside Community Hospital, where she was later diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.[13] Contrary to popular belief, the concert was not at Hampton University. The chairperson of the event recounted the events on WFLO FM radio in Farmville in April 2007 for the anniversary of Marvin's passing.
Motown decided to carry on with Gaye/Terrell recordings, issuing the You're All I Need album in 1968, which featured "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "You're All I Need to Get By". By the final album, Easy in 1969, Terrell's vocals were mostly by Valerie Simpson. Two tracks on Easy were archived Terrell solo songs with Gaye's vocals overdubbed.

Terrell's illness put Gaye in a depression; he refused to acknowledge the success of his song "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (About this sound sample, released in 1967 by Gladys Knight & The Pips (his was recorded before, but released after theirs), his first #1 hit and the biggest selling single in Motown history to that point, with four million copies sold. His work with producer Norman Whitfield, who produced "Grapevine", resulted in similar success with the singles "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" and "That's the Way Love Is". Meanwhile, Gaye's marriage was crumbling and he was bored with his music. Wanting creative control, he sought to produce singles for Motown session band The Originals, whose Gaye- produced hits, "Baby I'm For Real" and "The Bells", brought success.

Tammi Terrell died of a brain tumor on March 16, 1970. Gaye was so emotional at her funeral that he talked to her lying in state as if she were going to respond. He went into seclusion and did not perform in concert for nearly two years. Gaye told friends he had thought of quitting music, at one point trying out for the Detroit Lions (where he met acquaintances Mel Farr and Lem Barney), but after the success of his productions with the Originals, Gaye entered the studio on June 1, 1970 and recorded "What's Going On", "God Is Love", and "Sad Tomorrows" - an early version of "Flying High (In The Friendly Sky)". Gaye wanted to release "What's Going On", but Gordy refused, calling the single "the worst record I ever heard". Gaye threatened to leave Motown unless the record was released. Gordy eventually relented and the song was released with little publicity in January 1971. Despite no backing from Motown, the single became a hit, peaking at number-one on the Billboard R&B charts for five weeks.[14][15] It is also rated the fourth best song of all time by Rolling Stone. After the single's success, Gordy requested an entire album of similar tracks.
Gaye performing live at the Oakland Coliseum during his 1973-1974 tour

The What's Going On album became one of the highlights of Gaye's career and is his best-known work. Both in terms of its funk and jazz-influenced sound and personal lyrical content, it was a departure from his earlier Motown work. Two more of its singles, "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" and "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)", became Top 10 pop hits and #1 R&B hits. The album became one of the most memorable soul albums and, based upon its themes, the concept album became the frontier for soul music. It has been called "the most important and passionate record to come out of soul music, delivered by one of its finest voices"

Gaye decided to switch from social to sensual with Let's Get It On in 1973. The album was a departure for its sensual appeal. Yielded by the title track and tracks such as "Come Get to This", "You Sure Love to Ball", and "Distant Lover", Let's Get It On became Gaye's biggest selling album during his lifetime, surpassing What's Going On. Also, with the title track, Gaye broke his own record at Motown by surpassing the sales of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine". The album would be hailed "a record unparalleled in its sheer sensuality and carnal energy."

Gaye began working on his final duet album, this time with Diana Ross for the Diana & Marvin project, an album of duets that began recording in 1972, while Ross was pregnant with her second child, Tracee Ellis Ross. Gaye refused to sing if he couldn't smoke in the studio, so the album was recorded by overdubbing Ross and Gaye at separate sessions. Released in fall 1973, the album yielded the US Top 20 hit singles "You're a Special Part of Me and "My Mistake (Was to Love You)" as well as the UK versions of The Stylistics's "You Are Everything" at #5 and "Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart)" at #25, respectively.

In 1976, Gaye released the I Want You LP, which yielded the title track as the number-one R&B single, and the modest charter, "After the Dance." Album tracks such as "Since I Had You" and "Soon I'll Be Loving You Again" geared Gaye towards more funky material. The following year, Gaye released the funk single, "Got to Give It Up, Pt. 1", which became a simultaneous number-one US hit. The single was featured on his Live at the London Palladium album, which partially helped in the album selling over two million copies, becoming one of the top-selling albums of that year. During the same period, Gaye was honored by the United Nations for his charitable work.

On the advice of Belgian concert promoter Freddy Cousaert, Gaye moved to Ostend, Belgium, in early 1981 where he enjoyed a brief period of sobriety from drug abuse. Still upset over Motown's decision to release In Our Lifetime, he negotiated a release from the label and signed with Columbia Records in 1982, releasing the Midnight Love album late that year. The album included "Sexual Healing", which was Gaye's last hit. He wrote it during his 2 month stay in the village Moere, near Ostend. Gaye's friend and lawyer Curtis Shaw calls this Moere-period "the best thing that ever happened to Marvin". The video clip of "Sexual Healing" is recorded in the Casino-Kursaal in Ostend.

The single reached number one on Billboard's R&B chart, where it stayed for ten weeks, later crossing to number three on Billboard's Hot 100. The single sold two million copies in the U.S. earning a platinum certification. The song also gave Gaye his first two Grammy Awards (Best R&B Male Vocal Performance, Best R&B Instrumental) in February 1983. It was nominated for Best R&B Song but lost to George Benson's "Turn Your Love Around".

The following year, he was nominated for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance again, this time for the Midnight Love album. In February 1983, Gaye performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the NBA All-Star Game, held at The Forum in Inglewood, California, accompanied by Gordon Banks who played the studio tape from stands. In March 1983, he gave his final performance in front of his old mentor Berry Gordy and the Motown label for Motown 25, performing "What's Going On". He then embarked on a U.S. tour to support his album. The tour, ending in August 1983, was plagued by health problems and Gaye's bouts with depression, and fear over an attempt on his life.

When the tour ended, he isolated himself by moving into his parents' house. He threatened to commit suicide several times after bitter arguments with his father. On April 1, 1984, Gaye's father fatally shot him after an argument that started after his parents squabbled over misplaced business documents. Gaye attempted to intervene, and was killed by his father using a gun that Marvin Jr. had given him four months before. Marvin Gaye would have turned 45 the next day. Marvin Sr. was sentenced to five years of probation after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Charges of first-degree murder were dropped after it was revealed that Marvin Sr. had been beaten by Marvin Jr. before the killing. Doctors discovered Marvin Sr. had a brain tumor but was deemed fit for trial. Spending his final years in a retirement home, he died of pneumonia in 1998.

In 1987, Marvin Gaye Jr. was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He was also inducted to Hollywood's Rock Walk in 1989 and was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1990.

Untold Heros & heroines: Tyson Beckford

2010-05-24T22:57:00.000-07:00

Beckford was born on December 19, 1970 to a Black Jamaican father of Panamanian descent and a Black Jamaican mother with some Chinese heritage. He grew up in Rochester, New York and attended Bay Trail Middle School in nearby Penfield, New York. He then graduated from Pittsford Mendon High School in the affluent suburb of Pittsford as a participant in the Urban-Suburban Program, a busing program designed to give educational opportunities to urban youth in the city's surrounding suburban school districts. Beckford was a member of his high school football and track teams.

In 1992, he was recruited to hip hop magazine The Source by a talent scout, Jeff Jones, who has been credited with 'discovering' Beckford in New York City. In 1993, Beckford was recruited by Ralph Lauren as the front model for the company's Polo line of male sportswear.

Beckford was named "Man of the Year" in 1995 by the cable television music channel VH1 & one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" by People magazine. He is represented by Nous Model Management in Los Angeles, California, and Independent Models in London, England. He was ranked at #38 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of the '90s.[2]

In 2003, he appeared on the ABC network's celebrity reality game show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. In September 2008, he supported the National RESPECT! Campaign against domestic violence, recording a voice message for the Giverespect.org Web site, speaking about the importance of respect for others.[3]

Beckford is currently co-hosting the modeling contest Make Me a Supermodel on the television channel Bravo with fellow supermodel Niki Taylor. The show has chosen Nicole Trunfio to join Beckford as a mentor to the model contestants for the show's upcoming second season. New judges include designer Catherine Malandrino, model Jenny Shimizu, photographer Perou and model scout Marlon[4].

Beckford judged and mentored the contestants of the first few episodes of the Australian version of Make Me a Supermodel, with model and former Miss Universe, Jennifer Hawkins

In June 2005, Beckford was injured in a car accident near his home. His vehicle caught fire, and Beckford was able to pull himself out before it became fully engulfed in flames[5]. Tyson claimed the accident had a profound effect on his spirituality on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

Beckford has been a resident of the New Jersey communities of Edgewater[6] and West New York[5].

Tyson has a 10-year-old son, Jordan, from a previous relationship with designer April Roomet, who appears on the E! television program, "Candy Girls".[7][8].

Beckford owns a custom tuned 2004 Nissan 350z which puts out 625 HP @ 6,000 RPM. He also recently purchased a Nissan GT-R[

Death of the black model: Naiomi Campbell

2010-05-24T22:23:00.000-07:00

Death of black models keeps Naomi Campbell going

Posted Tue Jul 15, 2008 8:13am AEST
Campbell was the first black model on the covers of French and British editions of Vogue.

Campbell was the first black model on the covers of French and British editions of Vogue. (AFP)

British supermodel Naomi Campbell says she refuses to retire after more than two decades on the world's catwalks because there are still too few black models in the fashion industry.

While many of her colleagues of the late 1980s - like Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington - have moved on from the runways, the 38-year-old icon continues to turn heads at the world's leading fashion shows.

"I'm very grateful for my career, but I worry for the girls after me for the opportunities they get - the way they get treated. And this is one of the reasons I still do what I do," she told Reuters in a weekend interview in Nigeria.

Campbell, who as a teenager was the first black model to grace the covers of the French and British editions of Vogue magazine, said many fashion designers still favoured fair-skinned models over their dark-skinned counterparts.

"I don't do so many shows anymore, but I do count how many girls of colour they use in the shows," Campbell said.

"It happens to be last year New York was the worst. Now at Paris Haute Couture there was only one black girl out of all the shows. It cannot be a trend."

Italian Vogue decided to use mainly black models in its July edition to highlight the problem.

"For me, it is something that is history-making. Something that I'm going to keep forever," Campbell said about the magazine, which has a photo of her on one of four different covers.

The magazine also includes Tyra Banks, Iman, and other black actors, models and singers.

Focus on Nigeria

Campbell travelled to Abuja and Nigeria's commercial capital Lagos over the weekend to help kick off a series of summer concert and fashion shows. It was her first trip to Nigeria, a developing country of 140 million people.

My mother's love

2010-05-23T23:20:00.000-07:00

My mother's love gives me the reason to keep dreaming.
Just knowing that she care, keeps me believing in myself.
That's what makes her so wonderful and special.
She shares her love so unconditionally,
and I than God for blessing me with a mother like you.

A-list players: or, pretend to live like one! Part 2

2010-05-23T21:44:00.000-07:00

True celebrities can't live past this point:

paparazzi, avoiding jail, planning a wedding for fun, or profit, raising a baby and never seeing, touching or knowing the child's name, killing a magazine cover story before it hit the news stand- even though the allegories are true, finding the best doctors to score the best prescription drugs, dodging airport security, jury duty, drafting the best entourage.

If you're not an A-Lister, or at least the very less, C-Lister, or maybe the level of an 'American Idol' hopeful starlet reject who is pouting and gouging her way into a certain status, then today's blog is for you.

The Assistant: The best dollar you'll invest!

A-Listers requires at least one assistant, most of their peers may boast three support aids, for the 'Gag-over-me-I'm-more-important-than-you' look to bring to any spotlight festival. An A-Lister can not live, or move without their assistant, if it's to gofer a pizza at 2 AM feeding, cleaning bath rings from the tube after an evening soak, or hiding their employer's secretly gay spouse's lover.

When an A-List player hires an assistant:

Most A-List celebrities approach 'The help Co,' who interviews and screen candidates for past criminal history, such as: shop lifting, or terrorist threats. Beyonce' have plucked assistants from her own family. For you C-Listers you may want to try searching your neighborhood, and make sure your new candidate can also double as your body guard, of course, having a 187 on his rap sheet wouldn't hurt either.....he'll work for a peanut butter & jelly sandwich, cookie and and apple combo, you can save yourself $61,000 annually, that is, and for a C-Lister, that's your life savings.

ON OUR NEXT LUNASOUL BLOG, WE'LL DISCUSS: 'CRISIS, IN A C-LISTER'S LIFE'

Untold Heros & heroines: Redd Foxx

2010-05-23T21:03:00.000-07:00

Foxx was born in St. Louis, Missouri and raised on Chicago's South Side. His mother was half Seminole. His father, an electrician, left the family when Foxx was four. He was raised by his mother, his minister, and his grandmother. He briefly attended DuSable High School with future Chicago mayor Harold Washington, but never graduated.

In the 1940s, he was an associate of Malcolm Little later known as Malcolm X. In Malcolm's autobiography, Foxx is referred to as "Chicago Red, the funniest dishwasher on this earth." Foxx earned the nickname due to his reddish hair and complexion. His stage name surname was taken from baseball star Jimmie Foxx.

Redd Foxx then continued his career as a plumber, getting acting jobs where he could.

Foxx achieved his most widespread fame starring in the television situation comedy Sanford and Son, which premiered on the NBC television network on January 14, 1972, and was broadcast for six seasons, the final episode airing on March 25, 1977.

On October 11, 1991, during a break from rehearsals for The Royal Family, he suffered a fatal heart attack on the set. Reportedly, co-star Della Reese and the rest of the cast and crew thought he was doing his classic "Elizabeth, I'm coming to join you!" fake heart attack routine he made famous on Sanford and Son, even going as far as collapsing to the floor, although that was not part of the usual schtick.[10] However, this heart attack was real, and Foxx never regained consciousness.

Black beauty!

2010-05-23T20:41:00.000-07:00

The bad

the bold

the beautiful

2010-05-23T00:55:00.000-07:00

Donyale Luna - FIRST black super model to grace the cover of Vogue in 1966.

2010-05-23T00:23:00.000-07:00

Forever !

2010-05-21T00:37:00.000-07:00

Love can express itself without saying a word.
Love can bring about happiness with just a simple smile.
Love is everything we think it cannot be.
Love has a way of doing things to make us understand.
love has a way of telling us when we're wrong, or when
we're right.
Love can take us to places in our heart where we've never
been before.
It can take us places where only love can go,
and I would give anything just to be with you.
Somewhere special

I sit in the quietness of the night with thoughts
of you flow through my head, straight to my heart.
Like a river finding it's way to the ocean so deep,
my feelings for you reaches to no end.

Why should you let something like me not being there, make you sad?
When you know I'll be there in a short while. Shouldn't that keep
you company until i arrive?
You might not know it, but I'm always there with you, together as one!

2010-05-21T00:24:00.000-07:00

You brought a shadow to my life,
unto the shadow of our life,
unto the shelter of my life.
I wish you could shelter me,
but, I never thought I'd
see the day.....

Untold Heros & heroines: Tammi Terrell

2010-05-21T00:04:00.000-07:00

Born Thomasina Montgomery, she caught the eye (and ear) of Mr. James Brown in 1962, recording “If You Don’t Think” and “I Cried” for his short-lived Try Me imprint. A year later, a charmed Barry Gordy signed her to Motown records. This began her collaborations with Marvin Gaye, who, in a haze of depression, was said to have stopped recording for two-years after her death. But it would be their iconic duets (“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, “Your Precious Love”, “Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing”) that Terrell would be most remembered by today.

Tammi Terrell collapsed onstage in 1967, falling into Marvin Gaye’s arms while performing at Virginia's Hampton-Sydney College. She was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor and died shortly after. She was 24.

Untold Heros & heroines: Gloria Hendry

2010-05-20T01:27:00.000-07:00

Hendry began her acting career in the 1968 Sidney Poitier film For Love of Ivy.

She is perhaps best known for portraying the Bond girl, Rosie Carver in the James Bond film Live and Let Die. In that film, she became the first African American woman to become romantically involved with 007. She is not, however, the first African-American Bond girl; that title went to Trina Parks. When the film was first released in South Africa, her love scenes with Roger Moore were cut out because it was prohibited by the Apartheid government.

She later starred in several 1970s blaxploitation films, including the 1973 film Black Caesar and its sequel, the 1974 film Hell Up in Harlem. She also portrayed the martial arts expert, Sydney, in Black Belt Jones.

2010-05-20T01:05:00.000-07:00

Real men do not love
Million of women at
once.....
He loves his woman
a Million ways!

What is life without love?
What is hope without happiness?
What is happiness without dreams?
What is love without the desire to share
these things with someone special?
A life not worth living!

What is love?

2010-05-20T00:35:00.000-07:00

What is life without love?
What is hope without happiness?
What is happiness without dreams?
What is love without the desire to share
these things with someone special?
A life not worth living!

Thought for the day........

A real man does not love
Millions of women at
once......
He loves his woman in
Millions of ways!

A-List players: Or, pretend to live like one!

2010-05-18T23:23:00.000-07:00

I'm here to offer help to live like an A-List celebrity player, but at a discount level. If you're just a regular 'Joe with a job,' or 'Hazel the house wife,' then this information will contain simple, comprehensive plan of actions on how to be an A-List player of the non-hollywood elite. If you're expecting the velvet-rope treatment, being ambushed by Ashton Kutcher and his 'Punk' crue, or the paparazzi ground assaults......well, it ain't about to happen! But one thing my advice will help with, is how to get by living your life in the GLAM life , at a discount on a budget.
In blogs to follow up this introduction, i will carry you through all the steps of the hollywood game living like Alec Baldwin, on an Archie Bunker budget.
So, stay tune to the next GLAM blog.....at the same GLAM page.......at the same GLAM time.