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TONI BRAXTON CANCELS SHOWS THROUGH APRIL: Singer to undergo more medical tests following hospitalization.
*In the wake of Toni Braxton's undisclosed illness, her show at the Flamingo Las Vegas has been canceled throughout the month of April, according to the Associated Press.
Braxton was hospitalized for chest pain on April 7. She was released the following day, but her show "Toni Braxton: Revealed" was cancelled throughout the rest of the week.
Flamingo President Don Marrandino announced yesterday that her Tuesday-through-Saturday shows will be dark throughout the month while Braxton takes advantage of a previously scheduled two-week break. Her return to the Flamingo Showroom is scheduled for May 6.
The exact cause of Braxton's chest pain has not been made public. She has been treated in the past for pericarditis, a viral inflammation of the heart.
CARMELO ANTHONY ARRESTED ON DUI SUSPICION: Denver Nugget caught weaving on Interstate 25.
*Adding insult to injury, NBA star Carmelo Anthony followed up his worst game of the season Sunday night with an arrest early Monday morning on suspicion of driving under the influence.
The Denver Nuggets forward was pulled over on Interstate 25 for weaving and failing to dim his lights. Police arrested him after he failed a series of sobriety tests. He was hit with a ticket and released at the scene, but it was unclear how he was able to make his way home.
DUI suspects are not sent to jail in Denver, and Anthony was no exception, Detective Sharon Hahn told the AP. The athlete is due in court on May 14th.
"Carmelo apologizes to his fans, the Denver community, his teammates and the Nuggets organization for the distraction this is causing them," said his attorney, Dan Recht.
Anthony consented to a blood test, but results won't be available for about two weeks, according to Recht. In the meantime, "Carmelo will try to stay focused on his family and his team."
Hours before the arrest, Melo was held to 11 points on 3-of-14 shooting in his team's 111-94 victory over the Houston Rockets. The Nuggets, in the middle of a heated playoff race, moved a-half game ahead of Golden State for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
In February, Anthony was ticketed in Arapahoe County for driving 25 mph over the posted speed limit. A hearing is set for next month in that speeding case.
T.I. LOSES GM ENDORSEMENT DEAL: Rapper cut loose due to federal weapons case.
*General Motors has severed ties with rapper T.I. in the wake of his conviction on federal gun charges.
The endorsement deal, however, isn't his only cash cow to have fallen by the wayside as a result of his legal trouble.
"GM had to back up off of me,” he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution when asked about the deal. “There are films that I missed out on. Not speaking of, of course, shows. Tours. Tons of business.
I’ve probably lost about $10 to $12 million dollars.”
Last month, T.I. pleaded guilty to illegal weapons charges in Atlanta. He was arrested in October while trying to buy unregistered machine guns and silencers.
In his first sit-down interview since being arrested, T.I. tells AJC's Sonia Murray that his patience has grown since being on house arrest for months.
"If I can sit at home all day and wait on people to bring me what I need... wait on getting permission to be able to do this and do that, it's not as serious as I used to make it sometimes.
"Sometimes it was like, 'If I don't get this right now I'm just going to lose it.' When you're going 350 miles per hour, it tends to be that way.
But when you are stopped - halted, not slowed down, but halted - you figure, 'Well I could have just slowed down. I didn't have to be stopped.'
"I thought it was bad just to slow down. Now I see in me being stopped, I could have done this, been this, myself, instead of being forced to do it."
WENDY WILLIAMS HARASSMENT CLAIMS SUPPORTED: Several WBLS staffers come forward to back original accuser Nicole Spence.
*More employees of New York Radio station WBLS have come forward to support sexual harassment allegations against gossip jock Wendy Williams.
Her talent booker, Nicole Spence, filed a complaint last month with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against Williams and her manager-husband Kevin Hunter, reports the New York Daily News.
Hunter, who is not employed by the radio station, often hung around the studio and made sexual advances toward Spence, according to her complaint. Despite the presence of his wife, who is 10 years older than him, Hunter "repeatedly sexually propositioned me," she claims in the filing, "telling me over and over that he wanted to f*** me."
Spence, 29, said the last straw came after "his sexual propositions escalated into the obsessive. ... He constantly told me of his desire to 'f***' me and that he had been dreaming about sleeping with me. Mr. Hunter said I needed 'a real man in my life to mold me into the woman that I am supposed to be,' proclaiming, of course, that he was that man."
Spence also says she feared for her safety, especially after Hunter, she claims, "repeatedly physically assaulted Ms. Williams."
"Others have come forward since we filed the complaint to support Nicole's claims," said Karen Webber, a partner in the law firm Thompson, Wigdor & Gilly, which is preparing a federal lawsuit on Spence's behalf. "They say he often called women b**ches and used alcohol, and they describe his violent outbursts against Ms. Williams." Other women say they were victimized as well.
Spence, who still works at WBLS and made regular on-air appearances, has been ostracized since the filing, Webber claims. Williams even went so far as to throw her out of the studio during a live broadcast.
"The bottom line is, whatever the content of her show is, the workplace can't be an extension of the radio program," says co-attorney Ken Thompson, who won a lawsuit against The Source magazine filed by a female editor. "This young lady has a right to work in an atmosphere free of sexual harassment, free of exposure to acts of violence. They've moved her out of her workspace and taken her duties away, but she still shows up every day at 3 Park Ave. trying to do her job. She is an amazing person."
J-HUD ALSO ON 'SEX AND THE CITY' SOUNDTRACK: Oscar winner's song to play under closing credits.
*Viewers of the upcoming film "Sex and the City" will get a double dose of Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson.
In addition to co-starring in the film as a lucky-in-life, unlucky-in-love assistant named Louise, she also contributes a song to the soundtrack, reports Entertainment Weekly.
Titled "All Dressed Up in Love," the track was written by MC Jack Splash and Cee-Lo of Gnarls Barkley and will play over the film's end credits, according to EW.
"She sings it like nobody's business," director Michael Patrick King told the magazine of Hudson's performance.
Meanwhile, the film opens with a tweaked version of the "Sex and the City" theme song recorded by Fergie. Re-titled "Labels & Love," the track is described by King as "an entirely new song with lyrics, but it has the 'Sex and the City' theme as the DNA — on steroids."
ARE SHAQ AND SHAUNIE BACK TOGETHER?: Divorcing couple spotted at two different events.
*Whitney Houston and her red dress may have been the most talked-about photograph from Muhammad Ali's Celebrity Fight Night charity in Phoenix on April 5. But another pic taken that evening poses a burning question.
Are Shaquille O'Neal and his estranged wife Shaunie back together?
The two shared a table and posed for a picture together at Ali's formal affair. Also, spies for the New York Post caught the pair in Arizona "strolling at the Wildlife World Zoo last weekend."
Shaq filed for divorce from his wife in 2007, claiming she was "secretive about her assets," but the Post says sources in Phoenix claim the duo has reconciled and may get back together.
MICHELLE OBAMA TO STOP BY 'COLBERT REPORT': Roots, John Legend, Michael Nutter also tapped for special Philly tapings.
*Michelle Obama, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, will make her first late night TV appearance with tonight's scheduled visit to Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report."
The satirical talk show, hosted by comedian Stephen Colbert, is spending the entire week in the Keystone State with special coverage of the all-important Pennsylvania Democratic Primary.
Others scheduled to appear before week's end include Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell; Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter; Representative Patrick Murphy (D-PA), the only sitting Congressman to have served in Iraq; Chris Matthews; musical performances by The Roots and John Legend; and a special appearance by the Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders.
"The Colbert Report: Dorito's Spicy Sweet Pennsylvania Primary Coverage From Chili-Delphia -- The City of Brotherly Crunch!" is taping at the 900-seat Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Zellerbach Theatre on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania and will air nightly at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT through Thursday, April 17.
WE REMEMBER INDUSTRY VET GEORGE BUTLER: Grammy-winning record producer suffered from Alzheimer's
*Retired record producer George Butler, who scouted, signed and mentored young talent for such prominent labels as Sony Music, Columbia Records, United Artists and Blue Note Records, died April 9, at Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, Calif. He was 76.
Butler had been suffering with the onset of Alzheimer's disease and dementia. He moved to Hayward, Calif. two years ago to be near his sister, Jacqueline Butler Hairston, reports The Daily Review. (Both were born in Charlotte, N.C.)
In January, Butler went for a walk outside his northern Hayward retirement home. He got lost, and in rainy and cold weather, spent more than 30 hours outdoors before police officers found him tangled in raspberry bushes above a creek bed, the newspaper reported. Hairston said her brother never recuperated from the physical trauma of that incident.
Shirley Bassey, Wynton and Brandon Marsalis and Harry Connick Jr. are among the talents with whom Butler — a jazz man himself — worked. He earned degrees from Howard and Columbia universities, and received honorary doctorates from the Berklee College of Music and University of North Carolina, Charlotte.
In addition to his sister, Butler is survived by a daughter, Bethany, of New York City. Butler's remains were cremated Friday.
ESPN NABS REDFORD'S JACKIE ROBINSON FILM: Sports channel's film component to co-produce effort for theatrical release.
*ESPN Films has agreed to co-produce an upcoming theatrical release about legendary baseball player Jackie Robinson and Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey and their struggle to break baseball’s color barrier in the late 1940s.
The untitled project is co-produced by actor Robert Redford, who will also star as Rickey in the film.
Developed by Redford's Wildwood Enterprises and Baldwin/Cohen Productions, the film is being produced with the approval of Robinson’s widow, Rachel, Branch Rickey Jr. and Major League Baseball.
"I am delighted that ESPN will be joining with Wildwood, Baldwin/Cohen Productions, and me, to help bring our story to the world," said Rachel Robinson. "Having lived it, I fervently hope that the passionate team we have assembled thus far will protect our story and bring it to fruition.”
AL GREEN SETS SUMMER TOUR: Soul legend to plug his album "Lay It Down," produced by ?uestlove of the Roots.
*Al Green will hit the road this summer in support of his upcoming studio album "Lay It Down," a collaboration with ?uestlove of The Roots.
The veteran entertainer, who returned to R&B several years ago after only performing gospel music for decades, will warm up with a gig at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on April 27 before heading out for a few headlining dates in May.
His summer jaunt kicks off June 19 in Toronto and will continue through late September.
Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson co-produced "Lay It Down" with keyboardist James Poyser. Due in stores May 27, the set also features guest appearances from John Legend, Corinne Bailey Rae and Anthony Hamilton, among others.
"I've never heard anything quite like it, 'cause I've never had anybody produce me other than Willie Mitchell," Green told Billboard.com last summer. "And when you give these young kids a shot at it, it's interesting to see the art they make. It's beautiful."
Al Green's tour dates are listed below:
April 2008
27 - New Orleans, LA - New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
May 2008
23 - Sonoma, CA - Field of Dreams Park
24 - Reno, NV - Silver Legacy Hotel & Casino
25 - Aptos, CA - Aptos Village Park
June 2008
19 - Toronto, Ontario - Sony Centre
27 - New York, NY - Carnegie Hall
28 - Montreal, Quebec - Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier
29 - Ledyard, CT - Foxwoods Casino/MGM Grand
July 2008
4 - Bossier City, LA - Horseshoe Casino Riverdome
5 - Tunica, MS - Grand Casino & Hotel
12 - Chicago, IL - Charter One Pavilion
15 - Vienna, VA - The Filene Center at Wolf Trap
18 - Niagara Falls, NY - Seneca Niagara Casino
September 2008
1 - Beaver Creek, CO - Vilar Center for the Arts
5 - Tacoma, WA - Emerald Queen Casino
6 - Coquitlam, British Columbia - Red Robinson Theatre
7 - Richmond, British Columbia - River Rock Casino
13 - Primm, NV - Star of the Desert Arena
17 - Fresno, CA - Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino 20 - Los Angeles, CA - The Greek Theatre
HERBIE HANCOCK, JILL SCOTT JOIN FESTIVAL NETWORK: Artists to take part in 2008 season.
*Herbie Hancock, Jill Scott and Anthony Hamilton are among the artists announced early for the 2008 season of Festival Network, an entity that develops, acquires and produces multi-day music festivals around the world.
Lineups for most of the jazz/folk-themed events are still being sorted out, but about one-third of them have been confirmed, Festival Network VP of programming Jason Olaine tells Billboard.biz.
"We can't announce who they are yet, but a lot of them are very familiar names," says Olaine, who books the festivals with staffers in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Several festival lineups have already been announced, including the June 15-28 JVC Jazz Festival New York (Herbie Hancock, Joao Gilberto, Jill Scott), the May 16-17 JVC Jazz Festival Miami (Sergio Mendes, Raul Midon, Anthony Hamilton) and the June 14-15 Playboy Jazz Festival (Hancock Al Jarreau, Tower of Power).
Here are Festival Network's upcoming summer/fall festival dates:
May 16-17: JVC Jazz Festival Miami (Miami) June 14-15: Playboy Jazz Festival (Los Angeles) June 15-28: JVC Jazz Festival New York (New York) June 27-29: Hampton Jazz Festival (Hampton, Va.) June 28-29: Freihofer's Jazz Festival (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) July 11-13: JVC North Sea Jazz Festival (Rotterdam, The Netherlands) July 18-19: JVC Jazz Festival Chicago (Chicago) July 19-20: Whistler Music Festival (Whistler, British Columbia) Aug. 1-3: Newport Folk Festival (Newport, R.I.) Aug. 8-10: JVC Jazz Festival Newport (Newport, R.I.) Aug. 10: Martha's Vineyard Festival (Oak Bluffs, Mass.) Aug. 16-17: Jackson Hole Music Festival (Jackson Hole, Wyo.) Aug. 16: JVC Jazz Festival Concord (Concord, Calif.) Aug. 17: JVC Jazz Festival Los Angeles (Los Angeles) Aug. 30-31: Slow Food Nation Festival (San Francisco) Sept. 20-21: Monaco Festival de Musique (Monte Carlo, Monaco) Oct. 10-18: JVC Jazz Festival Paris (Paris)
EBONYJET.COM LAUNCHES COMIC STRIP: Dreadman features topics rooted in pop culture.
*EbonyJet.com presents the original online comic strip Dreadman, featuring images and story lines that focus on pop culture, according to Target Market News.
Produced by voiceover veteran and former on-air radio personality Dave Fennoy, the strip will be updated twice weekly on EbonyJet.com. Eric Easter, chief of digital strategy for the Web site, said the cartoon "is part of our effort to bring new voices and unique perspectives to the digital space."
"Comics have been a historical and popular element to the Ebony brand in print. With EbonyJet.com, this was a way to establish that tradition for a new generation and a new medium," said Easter. "Dave's innovative use of computer-generated cartooning mixed with topical images and showcases the model for how Web sites can approach comics online."
"I hope my comments and point of view are a reflection of many who may not always see theirs in the media," commented Fennoy. "I hope to share a little bit about what's going on in the world and leave the reader with a smile, a laugh, or a reason to think."
YOU, TOO, CAN 'DANCE WITH MARIO': Singer launches contest that runs until his 'Dancing with the Stars' stint ends.
*Karina Smirnoff isn't the only person who gets to dance with Mario. The R&B star has just launched a new contest that gives fans a chance to have the R&B star appear in their hometown for an in-person dance date.
Titled "Dancing with Mario," the interactive contest from J Records and Audible Treats Ltd. allows fans to interact with Mario, who is currently competing on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" with professional partner Smirnoff.
Fans can enter the contest by telling Mario why they should be chosen for a private dance with the star. The message may be sent via phone at 818-836-8041, or filmed for a video that may be uploaded at http://www.mario2u.com/dancecontest, the official website for the contest.
The contest will be active until Mario ends his run on "Dancing With The Stars." Mario's contest invitation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_jJMwoRwJo
ITTY BITTY BITS: Snipes at the W; Chris Rock's mama; Keenan's 'Little' girlfriend; Spotlight grabs Griffin; '4 Min' remix.
*Freshly acquitted on tax-evasion charges, Wesley Snipes was spotted at the Living Room in the Times Square W Hotel "dropping thousands of dollars on four babes," a witness told the New York Post's Page Six. "He was buying them drinks and bought a bottle of Dom Perignon for the table." Snipes still faces a maximum of three years in prison for failing to file a tax return and will be sentenced on April 24.
*In the new book written by the mother of Chris Rock, Rose Rock says her strict enforcement of a no-swearing rule in her household left the comedian unable to use four-letter words in her presence – even when he's performing in concert. "I cramped his style," Rose writes in "Mama Rock's Rules." "[Later] he was never told where I would be seated."
*Gossip columnist Janet Charlton says Keenan Ivory Wayans has been "quietly dating" actress Brittany Daniels, whom he auditioned and cast in his 2006 box office flop "Little Man."
*Eddie Griffin is booked to play the Spotlight 29 Casino in Coachella, Calif. on May 31. Tickets are $35 and $25 and are on sale now at Spotlight29.com and at the Spotlight 29 Casino Gift Shop or by calling (800) 585-3737. Show time is 8 p.m.
*Timbaland and Justin Timberlake teamed up with Madonna again to record a remix of her single "4 Minutes" that will be available exclusively via Verizon Wireless in the U.S. and internationally through Vodafone. The track, due for release the day before her "Hard Candy" album drops on April 29, will be available as a full-song download, ringtone and ringback tone.
EUR DVD REVIEW: Juno
Coming-of-Age Comedy Revolving around Teen Pregnancy Released on DVD
DVD Review by Kam Williams
*16 year-old Juno (Ellen Page) is a precocious smart aleck who comes to regret her one-night stand with Paulie (Michael Cera), a grateful classmate with not much going for him. For she ends up pregnant by a boy she didn’t love.
With no interest in keeping the baby, she decides to run an ad in the newspaper offering the newborn for adoption, and she eventually settles on Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) and Mark (Jason Bateman), a happily-married couple eager to start a family who have found themselves frustrated in that endeavor.
Now, the barren wife’s maternal urge conveniently dovetails with Juno’s need to place her kid in an ideal setting.
This is the novel point of departure of Juno, a quirky, coming-of-age teensploit rather reminiscent of Ghost World, another offbeat adventure revolving around a quick-witted, female with a blasé attitude. Set against the jarring candy-colored, Pee Wee Herman-style backdrops, the production has the same surreal wanderlust about it that worked so well in Garden State.
Juno was directed by Jason Reitman, whose Thank You for Smoking was this critic’s #1 pick on the Top Ten List for 2006. And it was written by former stripper Diablo Cody who won an Oscar for a screenplay which fails to differentiate much among its colorful characters in favor of going for the joke, forcing pithy remarks into the mouths of anyone and everyone, even when malapropos.
The upshot is a terminally-clever comedy that’s laced with lots of inspired sardonic humor but can’t quite convince you to take its slowly thickening plot seriously. This is unfortunate, because the production squanders its potential edginess surrounding some surprising developments, such as the sexual tension which arises between Juno and Mark, by always looking for laughs at the expense of substance.
Forget Napoleon, think Juno Dynamite!
Very Good (3 stars)
Rated PG-13 for profanity, premarital sexuality and mature themes.
Running time: 96 minutes
Studi 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment 2-Disc DVD Extras: Commentary by director Jason Reitman and scriptwriter Diablo Cody, 11 deleted scenes, gag reel, gag take, cast and crew jam, screen tests, plus several featurettes.
EUR FILM REVIEW: Stalags
Documentary Examines Nazi-Themed Pornography Popularized in Israel in the Sixties
Film Review by Kam Williams
*Who would think that Israel would be the birthplace of Nazi-themed pornographic paperbacks laced with lurid tales of buxom blondes in SS uniforms torturing concentration camp prisoners and?
That is exactly what transpired back in the early Sixties, and right around the same time that Adolf Eichmann was being tried in Jerusalem for committing crimes against humanity.
This salacious genre of pocketbooks published in Tel Aviv debuted with “Stalag 13,” a title which sold over 800,000 copies.
And that initial best seller was soon followed by other increasingly-perverse accounts of sexplicit cruelty which eventually escalated to descriptions of cannibalism and incest.
Released under several pseudonyms such as Mike Longshot, Ralph Butcher and Mike Baden, the stories were rumored to have been published previously overseas in English before being translated into Hebrew. Truth be told, however, they originated in Israel and specifically targeted Jewish readers.
The big surprise was that they found a wide audience, and not just in the dirty old man demographic. Historians believe that they managed to capture the imagination of Israeli society because discussion of the Holocaust had been suppressed due to the survivors’ general inability to talk about their horrific experiences.
Consequently, in the absence of authentic autobiographies by real concentration camp victims, these “Stalags” not only filled the void but, worse, were embraced as factual memoirs rather than repudiated as trashy literature. In Israel, the phenomenon only died down when the authors were successfully sued by the government for the distribution of anti-Semitic pornography.
Unfortunately, by then irreversible damage had already been done, as they had so permeated the country’s consciousness that some books were apart of the high school curriculum. Furthermore, as revealed by this informative documentary, tour guides of Auschwitz today still quote from the works of one of the repudiated writers to suggest that Jewish women willingly lavished sexual favors on their Nazi captors in order to be spared, when there were no anecdotal reports or official records of any such behavior of this nature.
A chilling expose’ which shows how Holocaust internees have been victimized twice, violated again by purveyors of smut who would stoop so low as to fabricate a pack of sadomasochistic lies for a quick buck.
Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
In Hebrew with subtitles.
Running time: 63 minutes
Distributor: Film Forum
STEVEN IVORY: Free Tibet? Try Texas
*Here, oppression is like air; invisible yet omnipresent. People do what they are told. They watch what they say. Otherwise, there can be grave consequences. The current Dalai Lama himself, holy leader of Tibet in exile, spends much time and prayer in the name of abolishment of this kind of fear and abject domination of human spirit.
However, this is not Tibet, and the oppressor isn't China, which for decades has ruthlessly ruled Tibet. No, this is the Yearning For Zion Ranch, a 1,700 acre compound in Eldorado, Texas, formed by jailed polygamist Warren Jeffs.
On April 8th, Texas law enforcement raided the property and led more than 400 women and children into protective custody after a 16 year-old mother found the tearful courage to secretly phone authorities. The girl revealed that she was married to a 50 year-old man who methodically beat her when she didn't do as he said.
The subsequent raid of the compound, where reportedly girls as young as 14 were forced into marriage with middle aged men, took place the same week San Francisco protesters sought to disrupt the relay of the Olympic torch, rightly charging that a country with a human rights record as contemptible as China's is no place for the Olympics.
Both the torch protest and compound raid received extensive media coverage. However, while Americans engage in public dialogue as to whether the U.S. and other countries should boycott the Beijing Olympics, the decades-long violation of basic human rights going on in polygamist communities in Arizona, Texas, and Utah, even after the Eldorado raid cast a grim light, has been met with public indifference.
The deafening silence is just another example of America's selective perspective regarding its view of the nation and the world at large. We see one problem clearly, while reasoning away or ignoring others altogether.
To be sure, China's historic domination of Tibet is a stain on humanity that deserves our outrage. However, you wonder where was John Q. Public's takin'-it-to-the-streets indignation when the Bush Administration was slow to mobilize after Hurricane Katrina. Three years after the disaster, hundreds remain homeless and in dire need.
It's easy to understand our need to solve the world's woes. We're Americans; it's what we do. It is right to care, and since we're all ultimately from somewhere else, we tend to see ourselves in the crisis of others.
Moreover, it's what we do in our private lives. We counsel others, even as we ignore our own advice.
In this sense, Tibet is perfect. Most Americans don't even know where Tibet is, let alone know its issues, making it abstract enough on which to focus. It's a decidedly intelligent and spiritual cause; what the 'Save The Whales' movement was two decades ago.
On a T-shirt, FREE TIBET has an exotic cool about it. And Tibetans seem like sweet, gentle people whom Americans don't have to worry about invading our shores in record numbers to take our jobs, our women and our stuff.
By spooky contrast, polygamy is dark, nasty, perverted and often associated with the poor and uneducated. And, in some unsettling way, too many of its components--the sex, the abuse and the unmitigated, unapologetic control of others--haunt facets of our own lives.
For years, government and law enforcement used the polygamists' own argument of religious principles as the reason to look the other way (a curious “respect†for religion that is somehow lost on the American smart bombs that find their way to mosques and other holy structures in Iraq).
However, the real reason this slavery called polygamy has gone unchecked in America for so many years is simple: (A) It is perpetrated by white men and (B) their victims are children and women.
John Lennon once wrote a song titled, "Woman Is The Nigger Of The World." It's true: Even the most oppressed man in the world has a whipping boy, and that boy is a woman.
Many men, modern-thinking and compassionate, fantasize about having more than one woman and not having to sneak around to do it. Fuck dreaming about it: down in Eldorado, they created for themselves a sinister ascendancy over all the children and women they want, the heinous crime committed in the name of religion and righteousness, right there in the home state of our very own President.
How can we, no matter our background, interests or beliefs, not be concerned about that?
America's willingness to ignore its glaring hypocrisy, or to not even truly see it at all, is what Barack Obama's minister, the Reverend Dr. Jeremiah Wright, was all but demonized for pointing out in his sermons.
Meanwhile, according to news reports, many of the women who were escorted from the Eldorado compound are requesting that Texas authorities allow them to return to their abusers. Ignorance isn't always bliss. But thanks to their captors, it's all these women know.
Steven Ivory's book, FOOL IN LOVE (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster) is in stores now or at Amazon.com (www.Amazon.com) Respond to him via STEVRIVORY@AOL.COM or MYfeedback@eurweb.com
THE BRIDGE: Sellouts
By Darryl James
*There are people in every corner of society who are willing to sell their very souls for personal gain, for wealth and fame, or for nothing at all.
Amongst African Americans, we often see soul-selling in exchange for acceptance by the dominant group. And, since these are typically Negroes who hate themselves, they go so much farther than white racists that their extremity is nearly insane.
They look silly and peculiar to many of us, because they allow the real racists to seem innocuous unless they are overt and extreme themselves.
That’s why we see racists today delivering covert racism and then pretending that they didn’t know or understand that their comments or actions were racist.
Simultaneously, we see Negroes taking the baton and going to the next level.
Take Bob Johnson of BET infamy, for example.
Not only did he create an entertainment venue which continues to provide demeaning images long after he sold it, but in his support of Hillary Clinton, Johnson attacked Barack Obama in a way that whites only danced around. It’s one thing to support a white candidate. Not every Black person has to stand behind every Black candidate. However, Johnson’s attack on Obama was a glaring example of self-hatred and selling out.
Johnson went to the extreme with his soul-selling.
But such high-tech soul-selling can only occur in an environment where our very identity is in question.
We are at such a loss of cultural identity, that nearly anything can be celebrated as beautiful, even if it really isn’t.
This includes things that harm us.
We see this with rap music and comedy that pokes fun at us in an ignorant and image-damaging manner, yet, many of us not only support it, but vehemently defend it.
For proof, say anything against Tyler Perry and watch throngs of souled out Negroes come to his defense, even though the antics of his show House of Payne are indefensible to any Black person with self-pride.
It’s not about Black supremacy, but what was once good about us and got us through the trials and tribulations of the past.
We have to be careful or we may not survive what is in store for us in the future.
It’s no secret that whites are still willing to toss us under the bus when it comes to achieving their own desired goals.
We see Hillary praising her Republican rival over her Democratic Party rival, not just to win, but to keep ahead of the Black candidate at all costs.
She’s selling us out, even as some confused Negroes still pledge allegiance to Big Bill Clinton, thinking that he was ever a friend.
In every group in the nation, there are people who are far too willing to sell themselves or to sell their group or another group out for personal gain.
It seems that we've diminished the usage of words such as "Sellout," but since the behavior is still in vogue, why not bring back the label?
For example, conservative commentator and national bootlicker, Armstrong Williams took nearly a quarter of a million dollars in government funds to promote the sick and sorry program from a sick and sorry president, No Child Left Behind. When it came to the Black community, it was known as “Your Child Left Behind,” but Williams got paid to bring it to us.
Sellout.
When defending himself, Williams wrote: "Sellout is just a term that people use to enslave us and keep us distracted from real problems."
No Armstrong, Sellout is a term that people use for lackeys who sell out their own people for cash, glory and/or political favors. You went for all three.
I think that in many ways, we’ve stopped calling people on the carpet when they are out of line, which has lead to weakness and a lack of accountability.
I don't have a problem with the Republican Party and Conservatives simply out of some blind loyalty to the Democratic Party. I have a problem with the Republican Party for the same reasons I have problems with the Democratic Party--they are both tools for rich white men to remain rich white men.
Both parties are also problematic because they present alarmist views, which are presented as being diametrically opposed.
Just as I view Williams and other extremist Conservatives as Sellouts, I also view Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton as Sellouts.
The reality is that many Blacks have become polarized when it comes to politics and political parties, frequently missing out on intrinsic issues in order to toe the party line.
As opposed to blind party loyalty, we should be more focused on inducing politicians to improve the lot of our poorest and worst off. Such a program would benefit all of us.
When the worst of us rises, the best of us shines greater.
However, what both sides of the party line end up doing is pandering to the broadest pool of the people from those who are already aware, and therefore, ahead of the game. The poor are typically manipulated with emotional rhetoric as opposed to informative reports.
Although I was raised in a family of Democrats, one of my favorite presidents was Richard Nixon. His program of converting Welfare families into working citizens through Workfare made the most sense for pulling up the people at the bottom.
And, while the truth about Bill Clinton should have turned us away from the Democrats, the truth about the retarded man currently in office should turn us away from pure politics and toward goals based on improvement of the worst of us, which will improve the best of us.
For a working program that buoyed an entire population, take a look at Hispanic Americans, specifically the Mexican Americans who protested by the millions for the worst of them, so that the best of them could shine brighter.
They knew their plan would work, because they studied our history and it once worked for us.
Yes, Black people, when we protested so that the worst of us could improve, the best of us also improved.
But once the best of us began to improve, we abandoned the worst of us and began to point the finger at them to place blame for all of the race’s problems at their feet.
And we do this from both sides of the political line.
Today, we have become so self-centered and so eager to blame the powerless, that we barely pay attention to the worst of us. Many of us only pay lip service to community service, yet are quick to talk about how they only have to "go to college and get a job," which is just some tired and stupid propaganda.
So, who's selling us out?
Too many of us.
Bill Cosby, America's shameful drunken uncle is leading a Sellout movement by blaming impoverished Blacks without really trying to improve their lot. He’s selling us out for glory, because his ignorant rants appear to make him relevant again.
Negro Conservatives are selling out by excelling on the backs of poor people's movements of the past while blaming poor people of the present for not getting ahead and assailing programs designed to improve their lot.
Democrats are selling out by taking Blacks for granted, while using them as pawns against the Republican Party.
The fake middle class is selling us out by pretending that more of us are doing better because they are doing better and don’t want to look at the reality.
Take a close look at the actions of these groups. They are polarizing both sides of the lines in order for their own gains. It’s clear that they are selling out their followers for glory, for cash and/or for political favors.
At some point, they will have to pay with their very own souls.
Darryl James is an award-winning author who is now a filmmaker. He released his first mini-movie, “Crack,” and this year, will release his first full-length documentary. James appears in the film “What Black Men Think,” an in-depth view of misrepresentations, myths and stereotypes about Black men. View previous installments of this column at www.bridgecolumn.proboards36.com. Reach James at djames@theblackgendergap.com.
JASMYNE CANNICK: Special Order 40 Not the Problem ... Just Another Distraction
*In case you weren’t aware, sound bytes from politicians and well meaning street corner activists on the evening news don’t end gang violence.
Neither does rallies, candle vigils, or press conferences on the steps of City Hall. And despite what some are trying to feed us, not even the proposed modifications to Special Order 40, a Los Angeles Police Department rule that defines when officers can inquire about the immigration status of suspects, can do anything to put an end to L.A.’s gang infestation.
The only people that can end L.A.’s gang problem are you and me and until we’re ready to do so, the drive bys and murders will continue and we’ll continue to be in a constant state of misdirected rage.
What happened to Jamiel Shaw is sad and tragic. No person should be gunned down in the street like that. However, funneling our frustrations with increased gang violence onto immigrants is not the answer either.
Before Jamiel was gunned down, how many brothers and sisters were gunned down by other brothers and sisters? The truth of the matter whether we admit it or not, is that when it comes to gang violence, Black on Black crime out numbers Latino on Black crime…considerably.
While it’s generally a good thing in my book when any of us care enough to raise up our voices about the injustices faced in our communities, when we do so, we need to do it from a place of intelligence, honesty and responsibility.
It’s easy to blame Mexican immigrants for Los Angeles’ gang problem, and to be honest, this time last year I’d have probably been out there with some you on the corner doing the same. As much as I’d like to point the finger of blame in another direction, common sense on this issue prevails.
The fact of the matter is that while it’s true that Mexican gangs have and continue to target Black people, gang violence was long an issue before the recent surge in Latino on Black violence. The Stop the Violence Movement of the 90s wasn’t targeted toward Latino gang members, it was targeted towards Black gang members.
So if this is really a movement to end gang violence, then why are we limiting our scope to Latinos? We could modify Special Order 40 tomorrow mandating that officers report gang members here “illegally” to federal authorities, what real difference is that going to make in the streets of Los Angeles? Absolutely none. And if those same gang members are then deported back to their home country, do you honestly believe that L.A.’s gang violence would lessen, let alone disappear all together?
There are more law-abiding citizens in Los Angeles than there are gang members and yet we continue to allow these gangs to terrorize our communities and take lives day after day and then want to scream and holler when someone like Jamiel is caught in the crossfire.
Riddle me this.
How is it that the American government has no problem going into foreign countries, legally or otherwise, to seek out those that it believes has plotted or is in the midst of plotting acts of terrorism against us to the tune of billions of dollars? But at the same time, the American government can’t manage to demonstrate the same “take no prisoners” attitude here at home with our own domestic gang problem?
Here’s an idea, why don’t we take the same energy we’re putting into pushing changes into Special Order 40 into demanding that our Congressional representatives fund the war here at home. Maybe then our police chief won’t come to us with the excuse that there isn’t enough funding for our gang taskforce.
If that doesn’t work, maybe the threat of losing their next election will.
And that goes for our elected officials at all levels of government. If the city with one of the worst gang problems in the country can’t get the appropriate funding to put even a dent in the violence that plagues our neighborhoods, what good are they to us?
But at the same time, we the voters can’t scream out of one side of our mouths that we want our neighborhoods free from gang violence and then vote down a measure on the ballot to raise taxes to add more officers to help carry out that mission. We cannot stiffen the penalties for crimes committed by gang members and then turn around scream bloody hell when Black men are sent upstate for 25 to life. We cannot stand by and allow the funding for anti-gang programs in our schools to be cut and then protest the arrest of a 16-year-old for murder. We have to get tough about a tough problem if we want to see a change.
Understand that we the voters, either through our elected representatives or through our individual votes, created a system in which gang members today have more protections under the law than we do as their victims.
I fully understand the role that America’s institutional racism has and continues to play in the underdevelopment of Black America. I know that it’s profitable for us to be locked up, so much so that our government has taken to investing more in building prisons than schools. And while I am not advocating that we build more prisons over schools, I am telling you that if we’re serious about getting rid of gang violence, we’ve got to accept the fact that there are going to be some casualties of war. And that those casualties will in the long run will save lives, maybe yours, maybe mine. But if we’re serious about putting an end to gang violence that’s a sacrifice we should all be willing to make.
We should never accept from our police chief, Mayor, city council, or district attorney’s office that there is not enough money to fund fighting Los Angeles’ gang problem. Just like we find the money to bury our sons and daughters, they need to find the money.
I am willing to bet that if it came down finding the funding or the risk of not being reelected, L.A. would have a new and improved gang taskforce that produced results quick fast and in a hurry.
But as long as we continue to let others pull our strings and divert our attention, the streets of Los Angeles will continue to run red with brown and Black blood. Special Order 40 won’t change that, well meaning street corner activists blaming Mexican immigrants won’t change that. It will change when the law abiding residents of Los Angeles are ready for it to change, push for it to change and don’t stand in the way of that change.
And not a moment sooner.
At 30, Jasmyne Cannick is a critic and commentator based in Los Angeles who writes about the worlds of pop culture, race, class, sexuality, and politics as it relates to the African-American community. A regular contributor to NPR’s ‘News and Notes,’ she was chosen as one Essence Magazine’s 25 Women Shaping the World. She can be reached at www.jasmynecannick.com or www.myspace.com/jasmynecannick.
TURNER'S TWO CENTS: Playing With The Truth - Beyonce and Jay-Z; Obama and Clinton By Cameron Turner
CELEBRTIY GAMES IN THE TABLOID AGE
*It's a trip how Beyonce and Jay-Z keep acting like they're not married when the whole world knows they secretly tied the knot two weekends ago.
It only took a minute for the media to put two and two together when celebrity guests and luxury decorations started arriving at Jay's New York penthouse on Friday, April 4.
The next night, Mary J. Blige congratulated her two friends onstage in Greensboro, North Carolina.
On top of that, the newlyweds were dimed out by their florist (Amy Vongpitaka of Amy's Orchids) and event planner (Colin Abraham, president of Pollen Nation), both of whom used the word "wedding" when talking to reporters about the April 4 soiree.
Despite all that, hip hop's hottest couple continues to cultivate an air of mystery.
Both superstars remain in strict "no comment" mode but they keep giving us tidbits to ponder. Jay-Z laughed it off when buddies at his 40/40 sports bar congratulated him. Beyonce rolled up to her man's show in Atlanta with an iceberg on her wedding ring finger. But when the lovebirds appeared ringside at the Rockets/Suns game both were ringless.
Of course, this is how the celebrity game is played nowadays. Whether it's pregnancy (Jennifer Lopez), a so-called "friendship" (Chris Brown and Rihanna), mysterious weight loss (Star Jones), a boy band reunion (New Kids on the Block) or a not-so-secret wedding (B and Hov) denying or downplaying the obvious has become the PR stunt of choice for stars across the board. It's a good way to stay "hot" in this tabloid age when being successful in your career isn't always enough to grab the media spotlight. It's also a good way to get paid. "People" magazine would never have written JLo and Marc Anthony a $6 million check for pictures of their newborn twins if it hadn't been for all that "is she or isn't she" pregnancy drama.
Beyonce's shrewd manager/father, Matthew Knowles, is reportedly shopping the secret wedding pics as we speak.
celebrities provide a genuine public service with these fluffy controversies. Hey, we all need something to talk about at work, on the phone and while we're getting our hair done! When celebrities toy with the facts like this we dismiss it as harmless fun because the issues involved aren't really that important. But that isn't the case when politicians deliberately twist the truth to create a false impression of an opponent.
HILLARY'S "BITTER" ATTACK ON OBAMA
Just look at what Hillary Clinton's been doing to Democratic frontrunner Barack Obama over the last couple of days. She claims that Obama's comment about working class voters feeling "bitter" was "elitist and divisive."
She also claims that Obama has not explained himself. Each of those statements is false - and Sen. Clinton is smart enough to know that. The former First Lady is playing the most dishonorable kind of politics in a desperate push before the Pennsylvania and Indiana primaries which she must win to stay in the race.
Obama was at a fundraiser in San Francisco a week ago Sunday when he talked about working class voters gravitating toward social issues in tough economic times. Barack said, "So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
When I read that statement it was obvious to me that Obama was speaking to the frustrations of hard-working people who are suffering the most in our floundering economy and whose fears have been exploited by conservatives who scapegoat immigrants and raise false alarms about gun control or religious freedom. There's nothing elitist in what Obama said.
But, because people got the wrong impression, the Illinois senator quickly clarified. He broke it down at a town hall meeting at Indiana's Ball State University like this:
"I said something that everybody knows is true, which is that there are a whole bunch of folks in small towns in Pennsylvania, in towns right here in Indiana, in my hometown in Illinois, who are bitter. They are angry. They feel like they have been left behind. They feel like nobody is paying attention to what they're going through. So I said, well you know, when you're bitter you turn to what you can count on. So people, they vote about guns, or they take comfort from their faith and their family and their community. And they get mad about illegal immigrants who are coming over to this country or they get frustrated about how things are changing. That's a natural response."
Obama admitted that his choice of words in San Francisco wasn't the best then he told the town hall crowd:
"The truth is that these traditions that are passed on from generation to generation, those are important. That's what sustains us. But what is absolutely true is that people don't feel like they are being listened to.
And so they pray and they count on each other and they count on their families. You know this in your own lives, and what we need is a government that is actually paying attention."
Hillary Clinton is obviously tripping because those are not the words of an "elitist" who is "out of touch" with the American people. Those are the words of a man of the people. All of the people. They are the words of a man who would make a great President of the United States.
REAL QUICK.
Props to sitcom star Neil Patick Harris for saying what needed to be said: Britney Spears has not proven herself as an actress so she doesn't deserve a major role on a top-flight sitcom.
Britney got good reviews for her brief appearance on the hit CBS' comedy "How I Met Your Mother," but series star Harris says there is no truth to the rumors about Brit being offered a regular role on the show. Bottom line: she couldn't handle it.
NPH told MTV, quote: "She's not an actress. She played a role for a week, and did a really nice job, but the workload involved with doing memorization and the purging of comedy over and over is really, really hard. I mean, it takes a strong skill set to do that every week. Do it one week is fine but to do it a lot of weeks is hard. So, if that's true, she's not going to be a regular on our show but if she ends up getting her own show, she has to be prepared for the workload."
Harris basically said what Samuel L. Jackson said a few years ag acting is a craft and it takes a lot of training and experience to become good at it, so stardom in music, sports or some other non-acting field doesn't mean you will be a good actor. No one, no matter how famous they are, should accept a major lead role before they're ready. Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and Sean "Diddy" Combs found that out the hard way (although Diddy probably won't admit it). Oscar-winning "Dreamgirls" star Jennifer Hudson is one of those rare exceptions that prove the rule.
Thanks for listening. I'm Cameron Turner and that's my two cents. Send yours to TurnersTwoCents@aol.com
THINK! IT AIN'T ILLEGAL.YET!
MEDICAL NOTES WITH DR. RANI: Volume 2, Edition 3 - Who are the Uninsured in America?
*The uninsured are tossed around like pawns on a chess board, but most Americans do not have an idea of who the uninsured are and how they became part of this faceless roll that houses these people. In order to understand why it is imperative that legislation be put in place that can assist them, let’s take time to pull back the curtain of mystique on globally grouping the uninsured as the “have” and “have nots” and hear the story of my patient Ms. G. Ms. G is a fifty-nine year-old African American woman who works as a cook at a local day care here in Baton Rouge, LA.
Contrary to public opinion, Ms. G has been employed all of her life as a cook and has held her current job for thirteen years. She was referred to me after being evaluated in the emergency room for elevated blood pressure, elevated blood sugar, and headaches. The emergency room doctor insisted that she seek the services of a primary care physician and get her blood pressure and blood sugar under control, or suffer the repercussions of these health conditions- a heart attack or stroke. Physically, Ms. G is in poor health, but with some lifestyle changes her health outlook could improve. She is a slightly over weight smoker with a strong family history of heart disease and diabetes. Her mother and father died from complications of heart disease, and her younger sister recently died from a massive heart attack.
Her options for treatment were limited to the local charity hospital, which has eliminated the outpatient family practice clinic due to budget cuts. Before the clinic discontinued its services, it required a typical wait of four to six months for a routine appointment. This wait was so prohibitive that she has never followed up with a physician for “scheduled visits” after her initial emergency room diagnosis. In addition to simply accessing healthcare, the price tag for health maintenance has grown unreasonable. The average cost for an appointment with a primary care doctor for cash-paying patients that includes blood work and other tests ranges from $200-400 dollars, but I have seen her in my office free of charge.
Prior to her visit at my office, the emergency room had become her primary care doctor and she was very appreciative of seeing a “regular” doctor. Because Ms. G lives just above the poverty level and, as she puts it, “robs Peter to pay Paul”, she has never been able to afford health care insurance and has placed eating, paying the bills, and helping to raise her grandchildren as a priority over her own health. “I gotta live Doc. Maybe I will get some insurance later; but right now, I gotta live.” Later may just be “too late” for Ms. G. Without medical intervention and a consistent health care program maintained by a physician, her risk for heart disease and stroke are high.
Although Ms. G’s story is sad, unfortunately, her story is a very common and frustrating problem for both physicians and patients. There are more than forty million uninsured people that live in the United States, which is twenty- percent of the U. S. population. In 2005, one in five Americans under the age of sixty-five did not have health insurance. This number has continued to increase which was reinforced by findings released on December 3, 2007 by the CDC entitled Health United States 2007, which showed that on
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