Another Post I never got around to Publishing… SOUL TRAIN MUSIC AWARDS a couple years ago… TEXAS STABBINGS & EXPLOSION at BOSTON MARATHON

Talk about not getting around to POST… when I finally came back to this blog it was I don’t know how long.  Now, after that it has been several weeks more  …had to add the tags and things.  And finally today here it goes…after a bomber or more…struck at the Boston Marathon today just as the runners started crossing the finish line.

I almost wrote… I’m just shaking my head… but it takes more than that if we ever expect to get a handle on this.  And it goes beyond insanity to some type of morbid inner nothingness that these people have who go out and do these type of things.

Well, nevertheless…. here is another Post that I just never got around to publishing for one reason or other.  After briefly reading through it I thought that I might share it with you…it seems that I felt like sharing some more of myself in it to you… wonder why?

I rarely like telling much about myself… though I must say that you really cannot tell it by reading many of my blogs.  But for the record… I cannot remember at all when I wrote this but it was a while back… so today I am feeling great and the day is sunny and beautiful.

Now, here is that blog which I failed to published some time ago…

Not feeling well today… but I am not complaining.  Because I have had many more days when I didn’t feel bad at all.  And not many people can say that.

I am just a touch under the weather.  And because I am not accustom to being sick… it tends to bother me a little more than most people.

The other thing is… I do not take medication.  Not at all.   Well… almost not at all.  There have been times when I had to breakdown and swallow something… or go in and have them give me a shot or something… but not often.  And believe me when I say… I have to be in an awful lot of  pain and/or discomfort for me to do it.

Otherwise, I just suffer whatever it is that is bothering me… until it goes away.  Not many people can do that… or attempt to do that.  Since so many people rush to go grab up a bottle of this or that at the slightest on-set of something they think may be bothering them… they never even try to fight off anything.

But this is just a little slight cold.  A sliver of dust must have gotten into my system while I was helping my brother move some furniture that he chose to move from my parent’s house into his new apartment.  And since I am allergic to house dust… and it didn’t take much before I started itching then a tickle came into my throat.  But as soon as the dust gets out of my system I will be up and about again.

But this past weekend I had a chance to catch the Soul Train Music Awards.  Needless to say… I did not know most of  acts or  the awardees.  But, of course, I did recognize Anita Baker and Ron Isley as they paid tribute to them.

But I waited around watching because I had never seen Eryka Badu perform before… and boy…oh, boy…  What a disheartening show it really was.

For one thing how can anyone who portrayed herself as being so Afro-centric ever have lighten their skin?

Well, that is exactly what Eryka Badu has done… or so it appeared to be the case to me.  And she looked terrible.  At first I didn’t even notice it… because it was kind of subtle and her face was camouflaged by the hat she was wearing.  It cast a shadow over her face.

We have all read about black women in Africa and the West Indies doing it… but to see that Eryka Badu has stooped to bleaching????

It is insane.  If anything I have always wanted to be darker… but lighter no.  A cousin of mine slipped and started calling me ‘light’ and I totally disliked it.  She was trying to anger me.  And she did the moment she let that slip out of mouth.

Needless to say, Eryka has always been a bit wired and out there.  She likes doing things to grab attention… I guess you could say.   I remember when she first came onto the music scene… everybody thought that the very long dredlocks she was sporting then were her own.  But low-and-behold… over a period of  time we all came to find out that it had been a wig or more than likely dred extensions.   After that I think she went to having no hair at all.

But seeing Erykah Badu with lighter skin… was discussing to me.  Talking about a mindless woman… who evidently hates herself.  I wouldn’t want attention that bad.  And whatever song that was… that she song on the Soul Train Music Awards… if  it was intended to catapult  the re-emergence of  her  singing career?

I think not.  For all it was worth she could have stayed home.  But I must say that I did love the hat… and that was about all I liked about this whole supposed Soul Train Music Awards.

For the most part most of  the music on the Soul Train Music Awards show really wasn’t even ‘soul music’ any more.   But a bunch of that ‘neo-soul’  junk.

So, in watching the Soul Train Music Awards… I began to feel that we are loosing our identity…our musical identity and authenticity.   An identity and authenticity which has marked and ruled… in my opinion the whole music world in this country since we came to these shores as slaves brought to America.  And my did we bring something with us.

Some of the best and most authentic music America has ever had  really came out of a revised culture whose roots were founded in slavery.  Much like the food we developed here called ‘Soul Food.’  Hence, Soul Music… the Blues… Doo-Wop… Gospel Music… Rhythm & Blues  etc… etc.. etc…

In watching the Soul Train Music Awards show I felt that soul music had been replaced by a bunch of  people who neither wrote lyrics  or  played real instruments.  People who only looked black, but were trying very hard to appear as weird and way-out as they possibly could be.   This because it would seem that everything today concerning music is about branding and images… and far less than about true talent… real vocal skills or any skills as far as being a musician or a real song writer.  What happened to artists with the talent of a Little Stevie Wonder or a Prince?

Based upon what I had seen those type of talents had faded far far far away.

None of  them… this group or now generation singers seemed to want to have any connection to the music that put Motown on the charts, or  Philly on the map… or  Chicago, Detroit, Memphis, New York,  and LA.  Or that had made other urban places  hubs for the rich urban soul sound and melodic tones that had come to be called ‘soul music’  or  ‘rhythm & blues”  …or even “gospel.”

While watching the Soul Train Music Awards… there were no Anita Bakers or Ron Isleys awaiting in the crowd to hear their names called for award.  In fact, the only soulful talenst on the show was Anita Baker, Ron Isley, Pebo Bryson, Chante Moore, Rochelle Ferrell, Jeffery Osborne and a few others.  But clearly the ‘soul‘  that had been in the history of  Soul Train is now gone.

Everybody wants to be a cross-over artist… some neutral detergent that appears to be black or African American but actually doing some white thang.

The whole time I sat watching the Soul Train Music Awards… which is something I have not watched in years… or any other music or movie  awards show in years.   As I had long ago felt that they had been watered down to appeal to more less urban audiences.

But it was frightening for me to see  such a lost of what seemed to me to be a vast depreciation of  what has always been ours… our real musical genius and talenst… gifted voices and fantastic lyric writing… such as that of  Barry White and Issac Hayes… Holland,-Dozier-Holland, Ashford & Simpson, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield… etc…etc… all to be turned into something which sounded a lot more like that puff of glitter disco music and digitized junk.  And I must say that I see the exact same thing  happening to gospel music.

In gospel music there has developed a vast desire to be played on something ‘called‘ Christian Radio stations…  which in my opinion is nothing but a bunch of  rock music  stations playing rock music and calling it ‘Christian Music.’

It would be a shame to loose the richness of  our music… and the history that our music carries with it to the junk I bared witnessed to on the Soul Train Music Awards.  Outside of the tributes to some real Soul legends… there was nothing on that show I would have voted to give 1 award to.

One day we will look up and no one will know what ‘soul music’  was or that it had ever been.  They will not know that there had been such groups like Blue Magic, the Dramatics, Delfonics, Temptations, Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, the Manhattans, Teddy Pendergrass, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, Chi-Lites, Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, Phyllis Hyman, Najee, Kirk Walham, the Sylvers, Michael Jackson, the Jackson 5, the Sugar Hill Gang and the list goes on and on and on…  And those are just those from my era there tons more before them.

Who can forget when James Brown first cried-

“Say it loud I’m black and I’m proud.”

Or, “Baby, please don’t go.”

Or when Curtis Mayfield song these words-

“If  I had a choice of  colors.”

Or Nina came with-

“To be young gifted and black.”

Maybe there is no need for such lyrics like these today anymore.  But that can’t true… particularly after what I just said about Eryka Badu and skin bleaching.   But then how about-

“La-la-la means I love you… I love you.”

What about -

“They’re smiling in your face…all the while they want to take your place.”

Will soul music die like jazz has died?

There are no more jazz artists like Max… Coltrane …  Gillipsie…  or Yusuf LaTiff… or Miles …. any more.

Or how about a Junior Parker…  or another B.B. King…  or Muddy Waters…  or Bo Diddley and their special blend?

Now, I must admit that these days I am strictly into gospel music… but having a history in the radio industry it is hard for me to not realize the importance of preserving this cultural history.  It is ours… and our children need to be recipients of at least knowing of that it once was.  We cannot just forsake everything.

These musical forms and artists are long gone…  Well, more or less off the musical scene… the ones I just mentioned above.  And soon along with their names will the memories of Blue Magic, Phyllis Hyman, the Dells, Temptations, Supremes, the Staple Singers and everybody else either before them or who came after them like Chak Khan, Earth, Wind & Fire, Emotions etc. be forgotten too.  To be replaced by a bunch of  people who have forsaken moving bass beats for  neo- tinty sounds that have nothing soul about them.  Music you can hop and jump up and down to… like we used to watch those young white kids do on those afternoon after school dance shows like the Dick Clark Show.   But they can’t really dance to.  And I guess that is really the point… its not meant to be danced to… but just to make some money.

Forget art…   What does art have to do with it?

No wonder the Soul Train Musical Awards show didn’t resemble anything like their old award shows… or for that matter… didn’t come close to emitting anything I would have called ‘soul’… outside of having a tribute to a few past ‘soul’ artists.  What a real shame…a legacy gone to naught…

I hate to say it… but little wonder Don Cornelius took a gun…  When you sell off something your control of it goes too…  Truly the history of Soul Train will never be the same…

Well, God bless… it’s Monday and I have been relaxing most of my day.  Then I started getting calls about an explosion in Boston.

After the stabbings on a Texas Campus last week… and now these explosions in Boston during the Boston Marathon… coupled with the guy shooting up the movie theater and that boy killing all those children plus his mother, in a Connecticut classroom…  Can you really say that we are not living in divers times?

I can’t imagine anybody saying that since they were 9 years old they had had fantasies about stabbing people.   FANTASIES ABOUT STABBING PEOPLE?

When I called my son to tell him about the explosions at the Boston Marathon today, he said to me-

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…”  www.bsmith101.wordpress.com  ©2013

Add a comment April 15, 2013

HAS GOSPEL MUSIC GONE SECULAR…the Gospel… and Changes in People Preaching the Word

You might not believe this but I actually completed this blog the night before Martin L. King’s birthday weekend.  But I’m just now getting back to it now… nearly how many months later??  But I hope that you still find it to be a good read.

Interesting…

Recently, I got an interview request from someone who wanted to discuss with me some of my comments and opinions… or rather some singular statements that I  voiced here on my blog site. Statements regarding a shift in gospel music.  In particular they wanted to talk to me regarding my blog entitled… ‘KIM BURRELL…secular music wanna be.’

In that blog I stated my opinions on gospel artists attempting to move away from their musical base…or roots if you will… to chase after what appears to them to be ‘greener grounds’ on the other side.  They want larger crowds… bigger audiences… and when you get right down to it… it’s all about “moe money”… “moe fame”… “more of the roar of the crowd”… and “moe money.”

Wonder who told them getting it would be “all of dat…then some?”

Do I feel that Kim Burrell’s decision to try to follow a secular career in music is based upon money?

Yes, I do.

Kim saying that it is about souls…really contradicts Biblical text which says ‘come out from among them’ …not become like them so you can bring them in.

So, when I hear an gospel artist say that they have hipped up their music and performance to reach the masses or the younger generation… it really does not equate.  Least ways… not for me.

What it really amounts to is nothing more than not wanting to be labelled as an ‘gospel artist‘ any longer… which Kim Burrell has publically stated.

So, Kim has this burning desire  to not just do ‘gospel music’  any more ….or to be labelled as a ‘gospel music artist’ any longer…but something wider…and broader than that.  Might as well just come out and say… something more worldly.

You can tell something about Kim Burrell if you have ever watched that show, Sunday’s Best…which I never did.  But it was all over the internet …including a youtube upload of the segment that I am refering to… where Kim told someone to get rid of  “that gospel sound” … saying, “You’re sounding too churchie.”

Too “CHURCHIE???”

Has Kim not heard of Aretha Franklin?

Sounding ‘churchie’ never hurt Aretha 1 little bit.

Po’ Kimberly.

Well, this kind of thinking may or may not have stemmed from Kim having grown up in her family’s church, singing gospel music most of her life.  Until… I guess… maybe  all of her life until now.

So, now  Kim Burrell wants a secular career.  She wants to cross over to do R&B … or SOUL music or Pop Music… or whatever they call it today.   And I say that because today all ‘our’ musical forms are under attack… though Pop is not  ours.  But our music is under attack.  Is under the threat of  seriously totally disappearing before our very eyes.  It is all being re-catagorized into something else.

Coming from the music industry from way back… I can make certain assessments and statements from a point of knowledge that most cannot.  Because of my history of being many years in the record industry …namely by way of  radio…I do therefore come with some degree of insider  knowledge based upon my observations over the years… and they are merely my observations.  I have been watching certain changes and themes going on in the music industry since I guess I started listening to music… because it has always been there.  And namely because we do not control it… other people do.

Who would have ever thought that there would come a day when black folk would not want to sound black?

We all have heard of Elvis and other white recording artists covering black folks music and trying their best to sound like us.  There were those that emulated our keyboard playing… guitar playing… singing …and even dancing.  But now there has been a shift… now we’re the ones trying to do the emulating.   This is sad.  We are now doing what they used to do… and it is especially so in the gospel industry.  And particularly among some of the upper tier gospel artists who want to get air time on Christian radio stations.

It used to be that black gospel singers just wanted a contract… get some radio exposure… do concerts …and praise the Lord, while showing forth their praises to Him for the marvelous gifts He had endowed them with.  But not today.  The atmosphere has changed… and it is not about God.   Well, for many it is not… but all about money.

Guess gospel radio stations are about to bite the dust as far as some of today’s gospel artists are concerned… and they are disappearing.   Our artist could care less about those small little black owned radio stations that they used to leap at for a chance to get an interview on so they could talk up their latest projects.

In regards to my thoughts on what some so-called gospel artists are currently calling urban gospel music… I really think that it is a shamme.   It is truly a shame and disgrace how readily we are so quick to forsake those things which are so uniquely us.   And we do it all for nothing more than the sank of  a few almighty dollars…that only last for a little while.

And they do it without any consideration to our history and our future legacies.

We just throw it all to the wind…and then other people come in… and they begin to lay claim to it… calling it theirs.

Have you not seen that?

There was once a time when there had been more than just a hand full of black owned businesses in America… and they were large booming corporations.  But during the latter 70′s into the mid-80′s there was a big sale off of most of those black owned companies… and mostly they were sold off to companies controlled by non-African Americans.  Thoes African American companies were companies that produced products directly for us and by us… and had been birthed primarily because other corporations did not care about us… or what our specific needs were.

There was a time when all the make-up and hair products in the stores were basically geared towards white women and men.  But the difference you see in stores today is not there because of anyone outside of ourselves.  We began to produce black hair products and make-up etc. for us… to fit our needs… or skin tones… and hair textures etc.

But those African American companies…for the most part were really the beginning of the big sell off.  The big money makers like the black hair care and make-up companies followed by publications and radio stations etc. were the first things bought out by white corporations.  Today you see that almost all our so-called black radio stations are owned by 1 corporation, Clear Channel.  Clear Channel owns almost everything media…black, white, hispanic and etc.

The first cab company here in our town was even started by a black woman… and even that  too was sold off.

So, what am I saying?

I am saying that we are good historically at creating then selling off and out everything that we own… and have created… selling out our goods, talents, gifts etc… to other groups of people who almost always end up capitalizing far more off them… than we ever did.   And we usually have done so to our own detriment…as a group of people… and to the lack of consideration for our future generations, who have no knowledge of what was… and no vision for what can be for them.

We have lost so much in  all of those sell-off transactions.  And one of the greatest things we have sold off  is our ability to control and determine our own destines…through any sustainable period of time.

This same trend for years has been spreading across the board into everything  we have either created or  have produced… not just our hair care products and cosmetics, but also in our art and various other art forms such as dance etc.  This is not good… and has been a huge determent to our children’s future and their entrepreneurial spirit.  Which many of them have none at all.

It is definitely not good for  us to forsake our cultural gifts… our diversity and own creativity… and particularly to forsake those things which are uniquely us… such as our music and our other cultural forms of art.

If we don’t preserve them …who will?

If we don’t treasure them …who will?

Today’s artists are greedy.  They want more money… and they are just not satisfied with more money… they want LOTS of it.  Which, of course, has to mean more sales… wider variety of awards… and all of this translates into creating a wider market.

So, today’s gospel artists do not mind forsaking their old fan base who loved and supported them during their meager beginning… who bought their music before the big switch to sounding like somebody else… somebody non-black… somebody undefined…somebody non-negro …because it is a race thang… or un-black. And many gospel promoters can’t even touch them… because they are priced outside of our reach.

It all has to be a new form of self-hate.  And I thought we had gotten way past that.

Our children walk around believing we have nothing… have done nothing… and that they will be nothing… because we have forsaken so much.  We have just thrown it all away… all  to the wind.  Even our own self-respect.

There are just some things too valuable to place a price on… things that are truly worth holding on to no matter what.  If we do not… we all loose.  There are so few black businesses today. 

A few gospel labels are still trying to hold on… like Malaco, Tyscot, JDI, and some smaller record labels and those yet under-ground… companies that we all should be trying to support because they still maintain their integrity by staying close to our gospel core… providing good gospel music while other companies… the larger gospel labels out weigh them with the stellar gospel stars and much much much larger budgets.

The thing that hurts the most … and I can say even worst… is that our children will loose… and loose big for every generations to come.  Clearly, they are already suffering when you look and hear what they are pumping out.  It neither sounds like us… or looks like us.  They have gone ga-ga..

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/evangelisttonyaglive/2011/12/03/ngm-presents-talk-show

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf

During the course of my career there has come my way many times that I got up and walked off  away from the table… because I was made offers.   But money has never wowed me like that.  Me… myself… and I…  WE ARE NOT FOR SALE… and have never been.

So, even as a sinner… way back then… I got up and turned my back on a lot of things that could have gotten me lots of money… but I chose to say, ‘no’… as I have never elected to do anything that would disgrace me or my family… or my people… or my core beliefs.

So, I have never been a sell-out.

Nor have I ever sold myself out.  And as good as God has been to me… I definitely have no intentions of ever considering ‘going for the money’ now.

No, way… I love Him too much.  And all our gifts are for his glory.

Money is not worth selling off that part of you that you will never be able to buy back.

How do you sell off your soul?

I have always been called an artists.  Most of the time I made a lot of decisions based upon my art… and not necessarily in consideration of my pocketbook.  So, I have been in the dark many a times.

Yes, I have had the electricity shut off…more than a few times…. cars repossessed… and bill collectors up the yah-zoo.  But I never did anything that went against me…   Well, almost once.  But it didn’t work out… thank goodness for God.  He stepped in.

I do believe some gospel artists are choosing to go against whatever moral standings they may have had… if some of them had any at all.  Or maybe it is just that they are not really saved or sanctified in the first place.  I have heard comments concerning people we have long held in high regard as truly being people of God… who behind the scene cuss… fuss, use drugs, drink …and show off a side to be anything but holy.

But truly here are some things that we have to take seriously…  and very seriously indeed.  Putting God up for sale.. or whether we should… or  would want to is one of them.  And trying to sell it off as a means of winning souls to Christ is another.

Confess and tell the truth.

Today the music industry is going through another re-defining, repositioning, and a transitional period.   It is something that the industry goes through periodically.  It ususally comes about when they realize that there is more money to be made if we…do this.  So, by dangling sparkling trinkets before the eyes of certain artist who may be hot… or have the talent to be very hot.  So, these companies feed them a song and dance about how they can make more money if they would…  Sell out… because that is what it comes down to. 

It happened with Michael Jackson when he was stolen away from Motown and his family group, the Jackson 5.  You remember when Michael emerged as the King of Pop… that was the new thing then… a new musical catagory called Pop Music.

This re-catagorization or creation of new music sub-divisions are for the purpose of openning artists up to larger audiences …by making them more acceptable to ‘other people’ in order to rake in more capital.  And it has  meant the lost of  such music catagories as… R&B… and Soul Music… which were converted into catagories called ‘urban‘ and this new junk call ‘neo-soul’ today.  And most of the black radio stations became urban radio stations.

When gospel artist decide that they are going to ‘go for the money’ then they should say that… if that is what they are going for.

They really should just say, “I’m going for the money.”

But no… they want to make statements like-

“God told me I needed to go out there to the unsaved.  And in order to do that I have do what will appeal to them.  That means creating music that speaks to them and will intrigue-  Ooops…excuse me. I mean to say help bring  them in.”

Such statements speak in direct contradiction to Biblical text… and can never justify anyone going out there trying to cross-over their music in order to reach ‘a wider’ audience outside of the gospel world.   And when you think about it… was not gospel music created for the saved… not the un-saved?

They already have their music.

In the mid-80′s came this thing called “POP MUSIC.”  It was the beginning of a marketing plan to make black artist… or African American talent more acceptable to white audiences.  And it was all about making more money for those artist who wanted to do this thing called ‘cross-over.’ And was the beginning of ridding the music world of anything sounding …or looking like us.

In many cases of  the artist’s who wanted to go Pop their whole sound changed… just as we are hearing today in the gospel music industry.  The artist moved away from making music or writing songs that brought them to the attention of those who began chasing them, offering more money and bigger contracts.

Those people came up with a plan to do away with certain groups  of music… music you hardly hear any more because they set about graying the lines between the music to make it more acceptable to all…  Well, almost all.

One of the first types of music that was aimed to hit the bricks was jazz.  This began just about the time that many of the real jazz masters started departing this earth… jazz greats such as Miles, Coltrane, Armstrong, Thelonious Monk etc…etc…etc…   And if it had not been for die hard jazz lovers who strongly resisted the lost of this musical genre by (1) rebuilding a core of new real jazz music lovers, (2) the emergence of  jazz radio station programming it … usually on mostly public radio and/or educational stations where subscribers  supported this type of programming, and (3) the creation of smooth jazz radio stations programming a softer more acceptable jazz, 24 hours a day everyday of the week.  Though smooth jazz is considerably different from the type of  jazz that had been created by the masters  like Miles Davis… it did, however, find its nitch.

Now, while half watching… get this… the Soul Train Music Awards show… I noticed a drastic change  has happened to Soul Music.  While watching it all I could think was… if Don Cornelius was alive (and he was at the time…I just didn’t know it until he committed suicide).    During that show I heard terms  like ‘urban soul’… and that mess they called ‘neo-soul.’   All mostly foreign to me… as of course do not listen to such mess.

I equate ‘neo-soul’  to the new direction we see gospel music headed in… and it is very sad.

While putting together a gospel music video program… I included a music video by the gospel duo of sisters called MaryMary.  What stuck out to me as I was typing in the data for their video… I noticed that it was classified as being ‘urban.’ 

I realized then that MaryMary did not desire to be pigeoned hold as simply being  ‘gospel’ artists… but something more acceptable to a wider audience… which would also mean wider radio and television programming… and/or exposure for their music

Okay…

I guess if that is what you want to do.  But the argument on the side of  MaryMary can still be made that they have never really totally sold out… they are not afraid to speak ‘Jesus’ or ‘God’ in their music… nor does it appear that they are willing to expose much of their bodies ‘for profit.’  And the focus of  their music still seems to be not as far out there as I see where some others have gone lately.

In order to reach the acclaim and match the money that MaryMary has managed to reap… it appears that others have decided to follow MaryMary’s lead… but they have decided to go that additional mile.   They have decided to reach further out into the deep waters… by what seems to me to be a casting off  of any semblance of  anything that remotely sounds like ‘gospel’ music… and/or looks ‘holy.’   They  desire to be more like what is being called ‘Christian’ music artists.  Which is very much more like rock music… and will drive you crazy if you sat listening to it all day.

In almost all of the music on the so-called Christian radio stations… you have to  listen real hard to even be able to deciper that itit is a Christian song… because Christian radio stations do not play gospel song.

So, in order to be heard over Christian radio stations…which are growing while our smaller less popular gospel radio stations are fading, barely able to stay afloat… since many black people are now tuning in to Christian radio stations too., which give them greater Arbitron numbers which means more advertising dollars going to them.  So, many of our artists have lost that black sound… or the ethnic sound in order to blend in.

Oh, I know that rock music has it roots in our music… going all the way back to such people  like Little Richard and Jimmy Hendrix.  But that is not what I am talking about.

What I am talking about is this…

Christian radio station is a misnomer… because it sounds like for the most just like another rock station.  It is just positioning itself as something else… and that something else is working.

I do not care what they call it… those radio stations  pump rock music… and they are rock & roll radio stations at their core, and they are hurting our radio stations.  It really doesn’t matter what type of lyrics their songs may or may not have… the basic overall sound of it is still the same as that of rock and roll.

When urban radio stations began playing music like Donnie McClurkin’s ‘We Fall Down’  …or going all the way back to Walter Hawkins,’ Oh, Happy Day’…it did not make those stations become gospel radio stations.  Nor did playing Donnie’s song or the Clark Sister’s ‘You Bring the Sunshine’ dictate an overall change in their basic programming format.  Their focus was and still is… is on playing supposed urban music… or today  mostly that neo-soul mess.

Therein, this leads me to further  make my case,  urban radio stations used to be soul radio stations… or R&B radio stations… but in the mid-90′s there came about a change.  A re-classification change… many R&B artists wanted to follow the king of Pop…Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Lionel Richie and others come from under the rock called  ‘black music artist’ tag.  They wanted to lean toward another word just beginning to circulate… first ‘urban’…and then it became ‘pop.’

All of it was aimed at reaching beyond the boundaries of  our own neighborhoods… from the urban areas to a much wider and broader audiences.  Also it was to bring about something which was being whispered at that time… the doing away of the R&B/Soul music categories.  And none of  this was being done by us.

No,  but it was by those who whispered into the ears of the so-called up and coming artists and rappers of  today.

It was done by the people who own the labels… the chart books… and who had influence to get things heard and played over the radio.  And those people are a lot like the penthouse drug kingpins…and might be some.

You know those guys… the drug lords who never touch the street but reap the bigger benefits… because the drug market is really theirs… and to a large degree it intertwines with the music business.  Though this is never spoken of.

Yeah, it is like that.  The drug business and the music business are constructed very much the same.  Little wonder why drugs are so easily and readily obtainable in the music industry…  the sports industry… and wherever else where there are lots of dollars to be made.  Anything that makes money is usually owned and operated by the same people when you get right down to it.

When a new radio station signed on in New York City I was looking forward to it.  I had read that it was going to be a Christian radio station… in a place that was pumbing everything else but any daily gospel music.  But from the moment it began airing I realized that there was something wrong.  It sounded more like Z-100 ‘the Zoo’… a  local New York City rock music radio station.

The whole thing is really a gimmick to entice hardcore rock listeners to tune into something else which is being passed off as Christian music …but is still very much  and sounds just like the music that they love and crave for so very dearly… rock.   They have not been transformed.

Thus, were the Christian radio stations birthed.    They became a quick sell buying into every market and opening the doors for many of their artists… caucasian singers and musicans to become more widely known and accepted in the Christian/Gospel music market… and more importantly the  award shows.

In a very large metro areas such as New York City… which up until the Christian radio station began air… it had no 24 hour …or daytime radio station programming any gospel or Christian music at all at that time… it was seen by many Christian people as a welcomed  and long overdue arrival.

But this welcomed arrival… soon became a big game changer too.  And they were on the FM dial… which everybody knows sounds a lot better than a low signal AM station any time.

Thus was a desire kindled by some gospel artists to create material which could become acceptable to this new outlet called ‘Christian Radio.’   A large part of  this transformation called for those artists wishing to cross over… to first  lose their ‘black’… or ‘gospel-ee’ sound.   And that is exactlyy what they have done… much like Beyoncé sounding less ‘black’… like almost that whole ‘neo-soul’ movement in what used to be known as the Black Music Division yesterday… to the Urban Music Division a few years ago… and now Neo-Soul.  And there is nothing soul in it… or about it …outside of  the color of the skin of  those who call themselves performing it.

This change you can especially  be heard in  Tye Tribbitts latest cd… also in much of the Kirk Franklin’s material… as well as in many others who want to jump onto that band wagon.   You can say that they have sold out …and it is not for Christ’s sake.   But for that all mighty thing called in the Biblical text  ‘filthy luka.’

Kim Burrell in her latest cd release has attempted to do the same thing… as well as,  Kierra Shear… and Trinity 5:7… and the list goes on… and on.

When I saw Kim baring her shoulder and trying to appear as a sex vixen in a music video produced from a song on her latest cd… it seemed sad to me.  I thought… she has eyes but can not see.   The video was anything but sexy… nor was it appealing.

Then I saw where someone had posted over the internet  a note about the Trinity 5:7′s latest  video… saying that she  was shocked at their display… asking if it was just her…. or whether or not the video appeared to be leaning towards anything gospel… religious… or  Christian at all???

So, I checked out the video.  And my answer was…‘NAY.’ ‘NAY.’ ‘NAY.’

One could say that many of  todays new brand of  gospel music producers and performers are pimping that gift that God has so freely endowed them with … which is supposed to be for His glory… by subverting it for their own benefit… and worldly profit.

Yeah, the kids like it… I guess…must be… for the most part.  And don’t get me wrong… not all of it is totally bad.  There are a lot of songs that I like by Kirk… and at least 1 by Tye.

I know my son loves Kierra’s latest cd.  But when I first heard it I didn’t have a clue as to who it was singing.  It was not until sometime later that he told me it was Kierra, Karen Clark Shears daughter.

Kierra’s cd does get there but after a while… but still you can see the direction that Kierra chose to take in an effort to land on Christian radio stations… as opposed to catering to the gospel music brand of  those she follows so closely in the footsteps of… namely her mother, Karen… and her aunts… the other Clark Sisters.  And of course her grandmother… Dr. Mattie Moss Clark.

Thank goodness most of the gospel artists and especially the gospel quartets have remained true and strong their art form.  Chosing to preserve the traditions of an art form that still moves many of us to tears with moving touching lyrics… or foot stomping songs… and hand clapping music that still  brings many of  us to our feet.  Music created in the muke and miry clay of  the fields during slavery times… and on up through the years of  our history here in America.

Maybe, I should have waited to write this during Black History Month… or Gospel Music Month.  Is there such a thing as… Gospel Music Month?

Is there a Gospel Music Month?

If  not then there should be.  Because our music is the only real American music… as Soul Food is the only real American cuisine.  Because it is the only food in which its roots were started here in America.  Almost every other food we eat came from some other  country… rooted in other cultures and brought here as the immigrants began to flow into this country.  But our circumstances being different… forced us to create ‘a new’ everything we eat… said… and did.

Earlier this evening while working on this blog… I had my computer on the Word Network listening to this preacher named Dr. Chris Hill, a pastor of a T.D. Jakes church in Dever, Colorado.  I had heard him before and have occasionally watched his broadcast… but to tell you the truth I can only take a little bit of the guy.  But tonight as I typed I would occasionally glance over to his broadcast …and it dawned on me as to what it was I found so irritating about him.

For the first thing… it came across my mind that each time I have happened to catch a piece of his broadcast… that the man appeared to be on drugs.

And for the  2nd  thing that I noticed was… the guy likes to holler.  I have nothing against hollering …preachers holler.  So, growing up in the Church… and particular the black Church… I have learned to accept hollering by preachers as being part of their technique.

In the Pentecostal Church whenever the Pastor or whomever is preaching  when they  got excited they automatically began to holler… or  in other words speak very fervently.   But this guy… Dr. Chris Hill hollers at numerous places throughout his sermon at varying times… and most of the time as it appears to me… he does it for no other reason outside of  him just wanting to do so… or to grab a laugh.

As I occasionally would glance back and forth at him tonight… he reminded me of a stand-up comedian.   Appearing comedic appears to be very much Dr. Hill’s forte… or so he believes.

But tonight I felt I have really put my hand on it finally.   That is to say… put my hand on exactly what it was that I had been trying to put my hands on about him.  And this is it…he appears more like ‘Stepin Fetchit.’

Now, I am really not trying to crack on Dr. Hill.  No, I am not.  Truly, I am not trying to do that.  But he gives me the impression of someone who is more playing with his audience… which is made up of a large number of  white church goers.  Rather than just delivering a sermon to them. He likes to play with the sermon and them a lot.  And he seems to love to do what he thinks will prompt them to laugh.

I don’t know… perhaps I am just toooooo old school… or maybe I’m just being ‘too’ black… first the gospel music… and now this????

Will the church become full of preachers who want to do stand-up comedy rather than preach the word?

I don’t mind humor.  I know that humor is good.  But the entire sermon turned into a joke…  I don’t know????

Or maybe it is that this is the Chris Hill way of preaching.  Is the way of a new group of preachers coming up today… to slay them with laughter?

We’ll see.

But there does seem to me to be such an urgency today that wasn’t there yesterday.  And that is we are getting closer and closer to the end times… far closer than we were yesterday.  And though I definitely know and agree that laugher is good… but preaching salvation and deliverance is of a greater need.  And I’m not saying that humor cannot be mixed with it… if you can do it without shading the overall message too much.

So, do not get me wrong.  Yes, I believe in laugher.  In fact, I hired some comedians recently and brought a night of comedy here… but for everything there is a time and a season.  Standing up and humoring a bunch of  folk straight through what should be your sermon does not seem to me to be ministering to the whole man… when you are working the crowd like a stand-up comedian rather than a man of God operating in his formal capacity.

It was Jesus who said… “Feed my sheep.”

As of New Year’s Eve Pastor Paula White became the new senior Pastor over New Destiny Christian Church… following the sudden death of their founder and leader Pastor Zackery Tims.

In reading the story… namely the ill feelings between the Broads of Regents over the Church and Riva Tims… the ex-Mrs. Zackery Tims, who filed papers against the Church claiming that she should have been named the senior Pastor since she and her then husband, Pastor Tims, were the founders of New Destiny.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/zachery-tims-fla-church-denies-riva-tims-claim-to-leadership-66085/

http://www.christianpost.com/news/zachery-tims-death-fla-ministers-ex-wife-comments-on-leading-megachurch-56660/

I found it interesting that Paula like Sheryl Brandy just decided to up and leave her church behind.  Well, Paula not quite…as it seems that Paula is still in control over her own church still,  the church Without Walls International, in Tampa, FL … which Paula founded along with her then husband, Randy White… whom we do not hear much of anything from or about rany more.

As you many may or may not have noticed …but over the course of the last few years Paula has shifted in terms of her theology… it has swung to prosperity.  This is extremely evident in her daily television show segments which she broadcasts over the Word Network… and other channels as well.   One thing in particular that stands out is Paula’s show’s guest list … featuring a bunch of false prophets and supposed evangelist… and I guess even some so-called Pastors all soliciting sowers on the behalf of Paula  White.

It will be interesting to see or read about New Destiny since the passing of Pastor Zackery Tims, who had built up such a vast media following.  I can only imagine how greatly vested he was in media equipment and facilities as he had a large television ministry.   His vast media possibilities have now availed themselves to Paula White since she has been chosen the new Pastor at New Destiny.

The question in all of this is whether of not Paula White can carry it …or what will she do with it?

Well, tomorrow is Dr. Martin L. King’s birthday.    Meaning we all have a day off… and an opportunity to reflect upon the history and legacy of  Dr. King.  With some states chosing it to initiate state issued Voter ID cards… a trend that can only be seen as a drive by Republicans to lessen minority votes…as well as,  to try and weaken worker’s rights, benefits and compensation, medical plans, and unions busting… also changes in Women Rights to abortion etc… as it is all tied in with the power to vote.

This holiday we have much to reflect upon.

Let us not allow the hands of time to be turned back.

It is interesting to think that forty years after the death of  Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. we have an African American man  in the White House, as President of the United States of  America.  And I love it.

But the other side of that coin is the number of  death threats per day that President Obama receives, more than 8 per day… it is the highest number ever in the history of American Presidents.  And the number of  insults hurled at him publicly by Republican members of both the Senate and Congress… inclusive of being called ‘liar’ loudly during a State of the Nation broadcast… can be surmised as nothing more than pure out and out racism.

Miss Daisy said it best… an elderly woman of over 100 years of age… who said to me 1 day angrily-

“Do you see what they are doing to Obama?”

And man… was Miss Daisy mad when she said it.

Unlike the kids… she saw… lived …and remembered what it had been like years before laws were created to force the change in things… as to how we live… our basic everyday rights… and privileges that were never extended to us before.  But Dr. King marched…went to jail and fought that we might be able stand like everybody else in this country… with our back up straight and tall.   So, we could stand on the law… and in our case ‘the laws’… there were many and they were long in coming.

Enjoy Dr. King’s day.

Got a little snow the other night… didn’t amount to much and I am glad about that after all the snow we got last year.

But it has been very very very cold these last few days… then 1 day would get mild… and by night fall which to come very early this year… it turns soooo cold all over again.  But then it is winter… and I would rather the cold over the snow… or cold and snow.

Well, God bless… and enjoy your week.  Just noticing… this is my first blog for this year….2012.  Time is truly flying by.

Well, it would have been… had I finished it before now.  LOL….

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…”  www.bsmith101.wordpress.com  ©2012

Add a comment July 31, 2012

THE TIMES…Pastor Zackery Tims and Nicholas Ashford… gone…

First Zackery Tims …and now Nicholas Ashford.

Oh, I know… I know that Nick was not known for writing and singing gospel music.  But no one can deny that he did come from a strong gospel background… that sometimes even managed to show up in his song writing and way of singing.

And what songs they were.  He was gifted… and what he didn’t have …his partner and later to become his wife… Valerie Simpson had.  Together they wrote some of Motow’s best known music.  Songs like ‘Ain’t No Moutain High Enough,’ ‘It Takes Two,’ ‘Reach Out and Touch Somebody’s Hand’ ….just to name a few.  And I do mean just a few… because their list does indeed truly go on and on.

For a while Val and Nick could be caught holding down the evening drive-time radio slot at WBLS,in New York City.  In fact, 1 afternoon I decided to drop by BLS with the hope of getting in to see Vinny Brown, an old friend and co-worker who at the time was the Program Director for the station.  While waiting …to my unexpected surprise as I happened to look up… standing before me were 2 people I would have had to be totally blind to not to have recognized from the very moment my eyes came up on them.

“Val and Nick,” I heard myself say… as my head jerked back slightly in surprise.

It just kind of eased out of my mouth… I hadn’t realized they were handling BLS’s on-air  drive-time shift at that time.  So, I was really surprised to look up and see them, standing right there before me… close enough for me to just reach out and touch them.  Nick slightly smiled at me… while Val kind of looked off.

From the time I hit college Nick and Valerie had been busy in recording studios.  So, I had looked at and played  just about every album of their’s.  Definitely a sign of the time… because most of the kids don’t even know what an album was …or a 45 for that matter.  But yes …I had played Val and Nick for many years.  And it didn’t hurt for me to be a big fan either… which meant as often as I could I would sneak them in on my music lists rotations.

As the years went on I didn’t have to continue to ease… I just played them… back to back …or however I wanted.  Them and Phyllis Hyman… Donnie and Roberta… Friends of Distiction… Dells… Roy Ayres… George Duke… and whoever else I wanted to program.  Including Motown’s Temptations, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye… and just so much good music…  The kids don’t even have a clue… they have nothing like it today.

Nobody writes good music any more…  they don’t even know what it is to have anything called ‘good lyrics.’  They… the kids are too busy buying beats.  A lot of which are stolen from times gone… times that music like that during which Val and Nick came from …and wrote during.

Though they …Val and Nick had long since turned their attention to other things …such as going into the restaurant business… New York’s Sugarbar and I forget what their first restaurant was called …it had been on 22nd Street also in Manhattan.

And whenever traveling home on I-95… as I passed Stamford, CT… my mind would always run across them, as I knew that for a while at least they had made their home in Connecticut.

Having their number I called them once while seeking investors for 1 of my feature film projects.  Though I failed to reach them initially… you will never know to my surprise… how thrill I was to receive a call back from them concerning the message that I had left.  Val told me that they were just getting ready to open up another restaurant… which was to become the Sugarbar.  So, they couldn’t afford to do it at the time.  She appologized and told me maybe the next time.

I hung up not at all feeling let down.  All I could think was… wasn’t that nice for them to take the time to call me back?

This is my all time favorite song by Valerie Simpson and Nicholas Ashford.

While living in Chicago… Millie J… used to visit a friend of mine by the name of

Jean… who was Tyrone Davis’ sister.  Millie had come to town to perform and while talking with Jean… I overheard her say-

“While I was coming through the airport guess who I came across?  These two people walking around holding hands.  I didn’t even have to look twice.  I knew right off it was nobody but Nick and Val.”

They had that something special… kind of like what Michelle and Obama have.  A total appreciation for each other… and a desire to always be in touch with one another… as though they cannot do or bear to be without each other.

Just a few seconds ago, a friend of mine informed me that Nick had dealt with sustance abuse.  Never knew that …or ever heard that.  So, I don’t know for sure.  I have not seen him or Val for years now.  But I know their music anywhere or anyhow I hear it.

Personally, I cannot imagine Val without Nick.  She loved him… and held on to him.  And he loved her… and held onto her.   And together they held on to each other …a profoundly good example of 2 people who truly walked in love with one another.  I certainly pray her strenght in the Lord… and that of their children and other family members.

I had heard his testimony.  And what an awesome testimony he had had regarding how God had saved and pulled  him out of a messed up life of drug addiction… and having come from a home where nobody knew the Lord.   How God had put someone in his path that gave him an invitation… and 1 day for whatever reason Zackery Tims, some 8 or  so years ago… called a man on his job who had invited him to come and go to church with him.  And that night he got saved… and his life was forever changed.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20092873-504083.html

A megachurch Pastor having a congregation of more than 4,000 members in the Orlando, FL area… on this past Wednesday, Pastor Zackery Tims was found dead on the floor of his Time Square hotel room.  The first information said… heart attack.  But later information started circulating… that a white powder sustance… cocaine had been found on him.

I had long ago stopped watching him … or some reason or other.  I cannot remember why… but it always seems to me that as you watch some of these television evangelists… you like them in the beginning, but then they begin to shift.  And everything about them and what they are preaching changes.

I cannot say that about Pastor Tims… because I cannot remember what prompted me to stop watching his program. And it might not have had been anything with him… but a time conflict between the show schedule and my schedule.

His eyes lately were watery or shiney… glossy I guess you could say… whenever I would happen to catch the tailend or some part of his show.  And I am not just saying that because I am hoping that after the autopsy is finally released… it will show any drugs in his system.  Because I am not… if anything quite the opposite.

I would hate to think that he would have been drawn back… into something that he was blessed enough to have been released from.   But when you think back to the events that lead to his divorce… you have to think…    Well, maybe.

He was involved with a stripper for a year… that is what the article read.  But if it read a year… then it is possible that it was for a longer time than that.  While he was engaging in adultry with her… it is very likely that he was also indulging in other things too.  And while that relationship may have ended… and who really knows…  But if  he was drinking or indulging in drugs as well… it is not so likely that he also just stopped abusing either.  And do note I said ‘if’… because I don’t  know.

I didn’t know him… or much about him except what most of you who also watched the Word Network knew about him.  But I was watching the day he leaped upon the top of his pulpit  podium to dramatize something he was preaching.  I did think that  was very odd… and all I could think was-

“That is suppose to be holy.  How could he jump up on it?”

But it would seem that not much is still considered to be holy any more in church.  I see preachers with baseball caps and hats on in the pulpit… and sweat suits and sneakers.  Anything it seems  goes today… whatever… however…  whenever.   My, Lord…

Whatever happened to reverencing the house …and the things of the Lord?

UPDATE: SUNDAY, January 15, 2012…As of New Years Eve this year Pastor Paula White has been chosen the Board of Regents of New Destiny Christian Center.  And it would seem that since the autopsy done on the body of  Pastor Tims was never released to the public…that drugs had indeed been found in the blood system of the late Pastor Zackary Tims.

With the announcement of  Paula White becoming the chosen replacement…  Well, it did not seem to sit right with Pastor Tims ex-wife.  Tims’ ex-wife claims that Tims’ and her children are being robbed of their inheritance.  You can read more on that by CLICKING the LINK below.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/riva-tims-paula-whites-appointment-process-was-illegal-and-deceptive-66161/

Since I am on the subject of Pastors… and since I did write a blog on it.  Let me just note here that I read somewhere… or heard it… that Bishop Eddie Long quietly settled his cases with the young men who had filed law suits against him, for supposedly taking sexual advantage of  them while they were under his religious leadership as young teenaged boys.

The settlement is said to have been $15 million total going out to the young men in question.

Perhaps it is a sign of the times… but I sincerely hope not.

Visiting with a niece and enjoying myself.   Can’t you tell?

I have so much time on my hands that I decided to take some of  it to write this blog.  I rarely have much time these days.  I am on assignment… and must pick up my pace.  I have to stay busy in the things of the Lord.   And at the end of the day… I just want to be ready when He comes.

And for as long as I can remember that has not changed.

I still love this picture… It is sooooo refreshing looking.

Speaking of which… while talking with a cousin this evening… she told me that they were buckling down for a bad storm that they… the insurance claims agents of the company she works for …are being prep for if  it should hit us this week on the east coast.

Better get out and pick up a few things for just in case.  And no need to wait until the last minute… do it now since you have gotten some advance info.

One other thing… while here.  My niece took me by Dr. Martin L. King’s house and the Center for Non-Violence.  Took a picture with a tour guide who informed me that every house on his street was bought by the Federal Government… and the only house on the street that is not owned by the Federal Government on that street is the King house… which is still owned by the King family.  But the house is open for tours …which are done on the half-hour. 

It was amazing watching the people… black and white touring the grounds of the King’s house and the Center for Non-Violence.  And it is all free… parking and everything without any hassles.

Mrs. Coretta Scott King was a very smart woman.  A woman who was determined that her husband’s death was not going to be in vain… or forgotten.  And I mean she did it… and she didn’t do it half-stepping either.

Well, God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…”  www.bsmith101.wordpress.com  ©2011

4 comments August 23, 2011

Blessings Abound… Politics & Republicans…

It really should be no surprise to me to be on the bus or out anywhere… to hear someone call my name.  But I guess I am still not quite used to it yet… though it has been going on for years and years.  It comes with the territory I guess… of being somewhat of what they call a star.  At least, some people think so.

They are always reminding me of my days on radio… things I used to say… music I used to play… events I put on etc…etc…

And it is always nice to meet up with them… though many of them I do not even know their names… but they know mine.  And know it well.

In fact, they strike up conversations with me as though we were old friends.  That’s nice…  To think that they consider me a friend… a voice that used to invade their homes… their offices… and automobiles.  I guess you could say we have a connection… and I appreciate their kindness to me.   That they should feel that.

Nearly 40 years now… and I am still a shinning light to them.  Truly, I have been blessed.

Yesterday, while riding the bus I overheard some people talking about the deficit reduction plan.  Talking about how various social programs were in for big cuts… cuts to social security…. medicare and Medicaid… college money etc.  Not up on the news… I sat listening to them while looking off in another direction.

One lady said that at anytime now we will  start to see major cuts in our income.  It made me start to think…   And…oh, yeah, the sky could come crashing down too.

Then she said… and I ain’t got nothing now.  I don’t even have $5 in the bank.

It made me think that just a few days ago, and for more than 20 days my own bank account was in the red by nearly $120.   Oh, woe is me…

I can’t imagine what $17 trillion dollars may look like… but I do know that Oprah doesn’t have enough to even try to cover that bill.  But it is the state that we are in.   And yes, I am going to throw a stone… a big fat rock if I can find 1 nearby.  Because it is very true… when George Bush stole his way into the White House successfully proclaiming himself ‘President’ …we had a surplus.   And that was under a Democratic President… a guy from a little ol’ State called Arkansas.

That guy’s name was Bill Clinton… but from the moment George W. Bush hit the White House all of that went bye-bye.  The guy was a one-way force stronger than any tornado… the way he whipped in there, and blew us up hard against the rocks… just as hard as he could.

So, here we are today… left in this mess.  One of the worst and  most massive messes to hit this country… and if history has its way, and the truth finally does  come to light… probably worst than the day that Wall Street went dark after the stock market crashed in the 1930′s.

And who was George W. Bush?

He was a Republican!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/44005778#44005778

The Republicans are up to their old tricks again… and it may be cliché to say.  I know… you’ve heard time and time before.   But it is true.  They never fail to keep pulling out that same old smelly trick bag.   And always just about every election time… in order to make the Democrats look bad.

And it is not the Democrats really that they are after… not really… but Obama.  Oh, yeah… I forgot he is a Democrat too… not just ‘a black man.’

How do we stop Obama… is and has been the foremost thing on their minds… and on the tip of their tongues…of every almost 1 of those Republicans.  Because lets face it… as hard as it may seem.  There are some Republicans with a moral conscious and true sense of responsibility to their constituents… and to this country too.

But for the most part…most of those Republicans do not.  They sleep dreaming about this.  How they can keep the poor poorer… and the defenseless weaker.

They lay at night… and so even in the day thinking…

Well, let’s make Obama look bad… in effective… and lets just not pass anything that will get Americans back to work …or aid Obama in better doing his job for America.  Lets just block everything we can… clog up the process… ‘hem and ha’ for as long as we can… go on vacation… and when we get back… vote against everything that Obama puts on the table.

That’s the sentiment.  The vibe… and silent agreement among them.

Well, my friends so you have it in a nut shell.  Oh, my goodness!   Forget that I said that.   But this is the rational of the Republicans… people you may have …or may not have voted into office… but they are there.

Why would a group of people who profess that they love this country …and the people of this country…  be out to do such harm to this country?

It really doesn’t make much sense…

Well, not to us.

Because they like playing political games.  It is not about you or I.   It is about the game, baby.   And seeing who will win… who can make the most money… what friends and compadres… and co-hearts they can make rich today… so that they will able to turn around and bless me tomorrow, when they run for President or that Congressional seat next term.

This is their warped thinking.  That 1 hand washing another hand thang… in the back room thinking.

Someone over the internet asked-

“What does warped thing mean?”

Three answers were given:

• deviant thought process
• inappropriate modes of thought
• …and worst of all…  acting upon those thought

Great numbers of people cast their votes for people who go under the title “REPUBLICAN.”   Within the past few months of  this year, in some State elections many people came to grieve the vote that they may have cast for some men whom they voted in as Governors of their States.  Men who were “REPUBLICANS” who set about to undermine and destroy their State… and attempted to cut their jobs and/or lay them off… and called it in the name of  ‘cutting their budgets.’  They targeted unions, state workers, teachers… and everything else they could set fire to in order to in truest essence … to breakup Democratic strongholds.

Democratic strongholds????

What is that?

That is groups or organizations that continually work to support those candidates which they believe they can trust, and who have their best interests at heart.  Which usually ends up being anybody but a Republican… and usually the  Democratic candidate.

If the Republicans worked as hard at winning back the trust and faith of Americans on the merit of ‘good works’ for the good of the people at large… not just for a chosen elite few… maybe then there would be more trust in the Republican Party.

The Republican Party is not about building trust or faith… or any type of merit… with any kind of real sincerity or genuine heart.  They are full of deceit and corruption… lies… and malice for most of us.  If it were not so then they would not be playing politics with every issue that affects the well-being of the American public.

The FAA today has some 70,000 airport workers laid off from work, because of the political games that Republicans like to play.  They are not into job creation… because the creation of jobs would make Obama look good.  And heaven forbid that should ever happen.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-03/airlines-poised-for-1-3-billion-fare-windfall-in-faa-shutdown.html

Both sides talk a good game… but none can out-talk those double-talking tricky Republicans.  They are even so cool and cunning that they decided to create a 2nd Republican Party… and call it the Tea Party.  Now, I ask you… how cunning is that?  And what a bunch of extreme jerks they are.   But than anybody who would have gotten their start under the gumption of someone by the name of Palin can’t have ‘em all anyway.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44002915/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

I am sicken by all kinds of acts and crimes against children.  Perhaps it stems from myself having been abused as a small child.  But I have no tolerance for it… and desire that all such people be put where they truly belong …away from all mankind forever.

Though one might argue about what harm does it do if someone only wanted to look at pictures of small children.  But thoughts bloom into acts and actions… and once carried out these acts and actions can never be taken back… or erased from the minds… and sadly from the behavior of many children.  Child abuse on any level does hurt.

I love this picture… so until I get tired of it you will see it again and again.  I just love the rain.  And doesn’t this picture look sooooo refreshing.

Speaking of which… while on my return trip the bus driver started talking to me.  He told me about those places where people are in dire need of rain… as there has not been any for so time now.  If you live in 1 of  those… I hope this picture gives you some relief… and know that rain is on the way.

Well, God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…”  www.bsmith101.wordpress.com  ©2011

Add a comment August 4, 2011

Racism in America is alive and well… and growing… Beck in the dog house…

Who in the world is Glen Beck?

I had never heard of  him before until coming across this internet article on him during his radio program imitating the President’s daughter.

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/glenn-beck-apologizes-for-making-fun-of-barack-obamas-daughter-malia/19496426?icid=main|hp-laptop|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Fnation%2Farticle%2Fglenn-beck-apologizes-for-making-fun-of-barack-obamas-daughter-malia%2F19496426

Upon listening to the radio program in question…as it is included in the article…  all I could think of  was the black face comic skits that white people used to do of  black people.  They would mimmick our voices making us sound as dumb and as ignorant as possible…while having covered their faces with some kind of  black oily face paint.  And then they would paint on their faces some excessively big lips.

All of this they did in stupid attempts at making fun of  not only how we talk, pretending to think and reason like us aloud…and, of course,  supposedly depicting what our facial features look like.  It was all done to belittle us as a group of people, and also to make Black folks feel unequal, backwards and ignorant people.  All of which was and is a lie…then and now.

The fact that Barack Obama may well be the most intelligent man to hit the White House… which maybe the root to this whole problem.

The 2nd problem for some of these back in the Dark Ages back woods ignorant racists…is that President Obama may also prove to be a greater President than Franklin Dalano Roosevelt.  Oh, no… that can’t possibly happen.  But based upon the set-up left behind by George W. Bush it could become true.

Roosevelt’s fame as a President came from the mess he stepped into as a President.  Stepping into the White House following Herbert Hoover, a Republican and the 31st President of the United States…he sank the country into one big mess.  Therefore, Roosevelt inherited an United States that was suffering.  The Stock Market had crashed and dire poverty covered the land from coast to coast due to the Great Depression.

http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/hoover/essays/biography/1

Roosevelt was the creator of ‘The New Deal.’   With the New Deal Roosevelt ushered in a new America…a reformed America and a series of new social programs designed to aid and assist the needy, and to strengthen and mobilize America back onto the road of  recovery.

Often we have heard that history repeats itself.  If this is indeed so…many then can see where President Barack Obama is set on the path to do for America what Roosevelt did for America some 78 years ago.

There is no doubt also that America when Barack Obama was elected in as the President of the United States a year ago,  had been left in a questionable place  and a time of vast uncertainty and downcline around the world.  Allies around the world questioned our stability, truthfulness and fortitude as a still world leader after years of rule under the moral degradation and lies of George W. Bush as President of America.

Obama inherited a crashing Stock Market, a collapsing World Banking system, a rapidly dwindling American dollar, skyrocketing fuel and gas prices, the highest ever in America… record numbers of out of work Americans, soaring health and medical costs with record numbers of Americans without any form of health care policies, corrupt leaning and borrowing systems, with record numbers of Americans being forced into the streets due to foreclosures, and soaring out of control country financial deficit fueled by 2 wars without a seemingly end…and much more.  All of which had happend under the 8 years of  administration and rule of George W. Bush.  And also under the Bush Administration, America for the 2nd time in her history was attack on her own soil…September 11th, known as  9-11.  Where thereafter all kinds of  other attempts, boomings and plagues came about.

If you examine the mess that Obama inherited including those things which generally come up during the term of a President… such as the BP oil spill in the Gulf…and when Russia decided to invade Georgia, in the Baltics… you find that Presidents have to deal with all kinds of  things…including unforseen natural disasters.  But it doesn’t make it their fault.   Though much of  what happened under George Bush’s watch was.

Now, I am going to vent.

I am so tired of reading all these articles where people refer to our President Barack Obama using a small ‘p.’  It is so annoying to me.  I absolutely hate reading anything about him written this way.  It  is so disrespectful to Obama.

I know that Obama being the man that he is pretends that it does not bother him…but he is an intelligent man, a historian and a man of letters.  Meaning he has read all kinds of documents and articles past and present on all past Presidents of the United States, as it was for 1 thing…his field of  study.  And I am sure he has also noticed that at no other time has any other President of  this country ever been referred to in any form of  text using a lower case ‘p’ as has become the practice when writing articles about Obama.

Thus, to do so when referring to Obama is not only disrespectful but an act of racism.  An act of out and out racism and I do not care what anyone else says.  And it is all a campaign purposefully set to down grade and minimize Obama, his efforts, his effectiveness and his success.

But I want to let you know… every last one of you that it won’t work.  Just like they say in that gospel song…it just won’t work.

Obama is going to be great in spite of  you.

And he is going to be as successful…if not more successful than Roosevelt.  And that if for no other reason than because some many racists want to see him fail…with Palin and that whole Republican machine riding in the front car.

But the Bible says…that he whom the Lord has blessed is blessed indeed.

And Obama is blessed…his family is blessed…his children are blessed…and this country shall  be blessed because of  him. 

If anyone has any doubts about whether Barack Obama is blessed just go back and look at those photos of  his inaugural.  Look at all those people who flowed into Washington, D.C. to celebrate with him and his family.  And check all his record numbers…record number in the amount of money contributed to his campaign…the most money ever given to any political campaign ever.  Record number in contributions from people who have never contributed to a politician ever.  Highest number of  voter turn out ever.  And the numbers continue on and on in regard to Obama’s accomplishments.

He shall be like Solomon because God has set his course for him over this nation.  And if you doubt it go back to his mother, and how she used to wake him up at 4 AM in the morning to go over and learn American History.  Obama’s path was laid for him long before Obama was born.

Therefore, as it is said in the Scriptures…no weapon formed against him shall prosper.   Meaning all the evil works being performed against him will come to nought.  Every vote meant to hold him back and hinder a bill that he is trying to put through will be turned around, and go against those who are trying to oppose him and stop his progress…or hold up his candidates for offices.

Another Scripture says this…that what the devil means for evil God will turn it around for your good.  Meaning the all the name calling, opposition and hindering in Congress and the Senate will be turned around for Obama’s good.  Already I can see this happening in that Obama is becoming a lot sharper and more posed when attacks come against him publically.  He is definitely far more Presidential now, and I am sure he would have more of a targeted response for anyone who should suddenly decide it smart to call him ‘liar’ again while he is speaking before the Senate.  I have no doubt of it.

I am proud of  Obama and I know that he is no joke.  And he is not going to continue to allow people to treat him as one.

And as far as this Beck person goes…  Well, I just hope that he has no children.  I cannot imagine what he would do if  someone so cruelly and purposely poked fun at his little daughter…and made a joke out of her.

I also hope that none of the children in Obama’s daughter class have  heard that stupid radio clip.  What an ignorant thing to do.  And these people call themselves adults…but are too afraid stand up in front of  Obama and say what they have to say.

No, they’ll do it from behind a microphone…and then issue out an apology from somewhere.  A bunch of cowards.  That is all they are…a bunch of  racist ignorant cowards.

But then I guess I can kind of  understand why some should be jealous of  Obama.  I mean after all…not only is he a great husband… but also a very loving and caring father.  He is also handsome…and looks well in everything he wears.  He’s smart…tall…and doesn’t have a problem with his weight.  He’s athletic…and he has a beautiful and highly intelligent wife.  And 2 very beautiful and intelligent…and very well behaved daughters.  And oh, yeah…also an important part… a mother-in-law who loves him as well.

So, yes he is well on his way to be the most powerful and successful President of  this country of all times…who will be spoken of and the measure that those who follow him shall be measured by.   Of  this I am sure.

So, yes…you who want to see Obama fail…I can see why.  But instead of  attacking Obama you should start working on your own life…and get it in order so that you too will have something to be proud of .  Because I can tell you are a bunch of  very sad and lonely people…and highly disappointed people… out attacking a little girl?

Come on, now.   And you call yourself a man, Beck?

Go stand in front of  Obama and mimmick his daughter…and I want to see what happens to you.  I bet you are afraid to do that.

And is it true that BP stands for British Petroleum?

And is it also true that Halliburton, Dick Cheney’s former employer and big time war profiteer and scam artist… is over the operation of  BP in the Gulf ?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/37519216#37521148

Could possibly be a set-up?

Anything to make Obama look bad.  With all the talk and Obama blaming you would think that Obama owned BP.  And that he could automatically go down and just plug up a hole nearly 5,000 feet below the water surface…leaking over 5,000 barrels of oil each day.

It is not a pin hole.  And the problem really belongs to BP…without a doubt it is a major concern to not only President Obama and those people down in the Gulf/Atlantic Ocean area.  And probably might affect us all…but  it is clearly a concern of  Obama’s youngest daughter just as well.  We can all tell that she is well briefed…and is growing up quite civic minded.

And we should all have a sincere appreciation for all children who cares about others…not make a joke or poke fun at them for any reason.

Monday is Memorial Day.  We should all take a moment or 2 to reflect on the sacrifices of others, that we might all live here free and out of  harms way.  Thankful for all the freedoms we hold so dear…never forgetting the price paid and being paid so that we might stand in our liberty here in the United States.

I hadn’t thought about it for a while… but I had all but forgotten about the war.  Since stopping even turning on the television to watch the news… so those images are no longer before me.  It sadden me reading the list of names per week of  young men and women who were killed in Iraq.  Many of  them just 19.  And every so often you would see a name with an age of  28…or 29 and above…and I would think of  all their families that they left behind giving of  their lives for an America not yet quite grown up.

While they huddled together with bullets flying over heads… or booms dropping nearby… or right in their midst…  yet they marched on…  fought on… for an America not  yet totally grown up.  A place where division and strife still lives on …while they struggle in foreign lands that we might proclaim peace …while we yet still pull against one another.

I salute them and pray that one day this country will live up to what was the dream and the creed to which those men who signed their names…signed their names… to which they all marched off to war and became involved for… those soldier who fought and died in our name.

Well, enjoy your day off.

And…God bless.

THE BISHOP’S WIFE  is now on sale…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…”  www.bsmith101.wordpress.com  ©2010

2 comments May 30, 2010

Gary Coleman passing… Parenting and those who claim to know…

I have long held that most of the supposed authorities giving out information on how to treat, displine and handle your children…are really a bunch of  people who do not know what they are talking about.

Now, today I happen to come across this article…which…

http://www.parentdish.com/2010/05/24/opinion-im-in-favor-of-my-daughter-dropping-out-of-high-school/?icid=main|hp-laptop|dl3|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parentdish.com%2F2010%2F05%2F24%2Fopinion-im-in-favor-of-my-daughter-dropping-out-of-high-school%2F

Well, it proves my point.

The above LINK to the article is written by a mother who states that she is a Professor at some big time university…where she and her husband taught.  And I say ‘taught’…because he is now deceased, but she still teaches there…wherever it is.

Probably in New York…or at  Yale…or some place.    Some place like NYU…or Harvard…M.I.T.   Or Georgetown…or Princeton.  But I bet you it is somewhere on the East Coast.  Somewhere near Greenwich… or out in the Hamptons.

And I tell you why.

In this woman’s article…this Professor… she states that she told her daughter that it was okay for her to drop out of school.

Yes, I did say that.  This she plainly states in her article where she says that she told her daughter, who wanted to drop out of high school…that it was okay to do so.  In fact in the article the woman states this….”school wasn’t working for her.  So, I even encouraged her to drop out.”

The so-called ‘parenting expert’ also states in her article that she is the author of numerous books on parenting.

Now, do you get my point?

For some years now these so-called ‘parenting experts’ have been telling this country how to care, chastize, woo and cuddle their child.  Most of  them mind you have never even had a child yet they sit around articulating on various talk shows, radio programs and in new articles how ‘we’…real parents should care for our children, and their discipline.

They are the ones responsible for why laws were written about what types of discipline are and are not allowable or acceptable.  Laws which have given way to some of the most unruly children to walk the face of  this earth.  Many have no matters…and some even lack basic unbringing.

I am not, however, critiquing or criticizing all children or teens…or anyone outside of  this mother who happens to claim that she is an expert in this matter.   Clearly something is wrong with the picture of ‘child/parent relationships’ today.  And this corrupted picture basically has stemmed from a lot of  very bad advice from a bunch of  people running around who nothing about children.  And neither do most of them had any children of  their own…or like this woman who wrote the above article…they failed to be able to control their own children.

So, they give in to them…and up on them.

What parent in their right mind is going tell their child in these days and times…or in past times that its okay to drop out of  high school?

No one.  None of  them did.  Though in past times many children did not have the leisure of  pursuing a full education based upon family demands.  But these days have changed and so has the criteria to be capable and compedent to be a part of  today’s work force.  It has grown and gotten much higher.  You need more education today…more than ever before.  And particularly if you want what is called a good job…and higher pay.

Evidently, this woman is either very rich… or she has heavily insured her daughter and plans for some type of accident.  Because either that or she must be planning on taking care of  her daughter some how for the rest of  her life.  Because without a college education…and many times  above… her daughter’s life is going to become very hard.

Anyone who does not have an appropriate education today is as good as doomed.  There is no about it…or buts about it.  Everybody can’t go to Hollywood and become the next $20 million movie star…or make mega making music song deals.

I am sure that that this woman’s daughter is never going to be the next Whitney Houston or Barbara Streisand.  Her daughter doesn’t stand a chance unless her mother has some money.  It is highly unlikely that this woman’s daughter will succeed at much of anything if  her mother’s attitude has always been-

“Oh, well if you can’t do it that’s okay.  Just quit.”

What parent tells their child that?

What do these so-called experts know?

People who want their child or children to succeed in life push them.  They push them to get up in morning…to make their beds… to clean their rooms… to brush their teeth… to comb their hair… to take a bath…etc.   Parent’s push their children…and after a while the hope is our children will start pushing themselves.  They must learn to get up…and make their way in life.  They have to learn to  clean their rooms on occasions… and how to take a bath and brush their teeth…and comb their hair without anyone having to push them.

And I do not mean by being mean and cruel to your children…or be overbearing in your desires for your children.  No, not in that way…where the children come to dispise  you because all you care about is that “A” or the winning of  the ball game.  No, not at all like that.  But the kind of pushing that parents must do in order to get their children up and going…and to engage them in life.

It is called ‘growth and development.’

We grow…and develop over time.  I am sure that over time even I have grown in the writing of  these blogs.  My first blogs are nothing like they are now…be it in their overall appearance…content…the amount of time I spend on creating them…and my total effort in doing them.  I have grown…and so have they.

But I learned how to grow through my parents pressuring me to always do my best…and to never give up.  Needless to say…I didn’t always like it…but it worked.  Speaking of which…when my son spent 4 years in 9th grade…

Yes, I did say 4 years in 9th grade.  I told him this-

“I don’t care how long it takes you to finish high school. You can sit there until you get old and grey if you want to.  But you are going to stay there until you finish or until somebody walks up to you and taps you on the shoulders to tell you to get out.  But you are going to stay there until then.”

And I meant every word of it.

It was not that my son was a bad child.  But he was a social butterfly.  I sat in on many of  his classes just to ensure that he was doing his doing what he was suppose to be doing in school.   And I often travelled in from New York… getting off the inter-state bus to catch a city bus to the whatever school he was at.

If  you want your children to succeed you have got to commit yourself to their success.  And you have to do it without surrendering.  I never surrendered.  Today my son is very successful.  He successfully finished high school and then went on from there.  Today  he makes lots of money doing what he loves.  But it did not come with me giving up  on him or giving in to him.

It takes education to end up in life doing what you love.  Must people work doing what they have to…and oftentimes doing something that hate (and that is many times  regardless of  their education if  they chose to study something just for the money).  But those who are educated can pick and choose what it is that they want to do…and at what price.  That is the beauty and difference that education can make.

This is not to say, however, that only people with good education succeed.  Because there are many examples today and yesterday that prove that point as well.  But, however, that road is not an easy one… and it becomes complicated with a lot of ‘no’s’…and plently of road blocks.

During the last year of  my son’s 4th year in 9th grade whenever he asked me for anything I would just merely say-

“Four years-9th grade.”

That ended any further discussion about whatever it was that he was asking me for.  Oh, how I loved that time…I did not buy one single thing for him that was not a need.  He asked me for new pair of $100 sneakers…he asked me for a beeper…he asked me for all kinds of  things.  But he got none of them… no Christmas gifts…birthday gifts…nothing.  Nothing…not that I would have bought him a beeper or  spent $100 on a pair of sneakers anyways.  But I still remember his face when I would say that to him…4 years-9th grade.   But he made it out of  9th grade.  And from that point on he began making the honor roll.

It took some time but it got there.  It hit home… my saying that to him.  It must have given him pause to sit back and think about the time he was wasting.  He had thought of school as a fun place not a learning place.  It is alright to have fun in school, but not whern it disrupts others…or hinders your learning…or that of those around you.  My son did not hinder others…he just was busy not doing his work.

But after that first time of making it onto honor roll there was such a shift in my son’s attitude towards his school work.  He started taking pride in himself and his school work.  He even began to brag that he was the smartest boy in his class.  And from that first moment on the honor roll he just kept on out performing all of them…because it felt better than sitting in school doing nothing…and everybody now looking up to him, and asking him to help them.

At the end of the day no child wants to do anything.  I know I didn’t.  We would have all rathered to have sat before the TV all day watching cartoons or drawing and coloring on paper…where as today’s kids play all kinds of computer games…game boy and things like that.  And if  they could they would never set it down… or go to school if their parents let them.

So, enter this woman…who I guess is proud…  Well, she states that she is proud.  She feels that she has done some great thing by telling to her daughter to quit school.  I would beg to differ.

And just like I said when I started this blog.  It just goes to prove all along what I have always believed about these so-called ‘child experts.’   They do not have a clue.  And nobody should be listening to them.

And before I forget…the reason I said that the woman (the mother) was probably some Professor from NYU or some other North Eastern college, was because her view seemed to be quite East Coast liberal.  It was…or is quite liberal, which I think is how a lot of former flower children/hippy…or should I say ex-hippy…or ex-flower children liberal Eastern Professors think.   And particularly if  they have money…or come from families with money.

If you have money then it really doesn’t matter.  You can say something dumb like tell your child to go ahead and just drop out.  Because you have the finances to provide and care for that child for the rest of  his or her life.  And being that this woman has a daughter…   Then she can do it right up until the time her daughter gets married.

Well, I was wrong…the woman who wrote the article teaches at some school in California.

But the point that made the whole article ridiculous for me was the fact that the woman…this ‘child/parenting expert’ was proud of  herself  for telling her daughter she should just drop out of  high school.  This she told her daughter because her daughter wasn’t doing well, and she didn’t like school.

Boy, if ever parent thought like this woman more than 3/4 of the school population would no longer be attending school.

What child doesn’t think that they hate school?

I didn’t…but that is beside the point.  I guess I would be part of  1/4 attending school.  But I don’t think I would really count.  Because I only liked school because it got me out of the house and away from my sisters and brothers.  When you are the oldest of  8 siblings…you fall in love with school real quick.

Now, back to this woman who wrote the article…this supposedly well educated woman…a woman of  letters… having a doctorate in her field…which in turn gave way to her the claim to proclaim herself an expert in the first place.  And this woman also writes books telling parents what to do concerning their children.

Real parents stand up.  You better take those books by these  so-called experts and throw them into your incinerator.  Because clearly this woman doesn’t know what she is talking about.  She doesn’t even have a clue.  Her head must be stuck in the ground.  And her hand is definitely not on the pulse of  what is important in the real world.

And she teaches college students?????

If  your child is going to succeed…they will need to be educated.  And I hope that whoever your child is…I hope they are not in any of  this woman’s classes.

Throughout history the levels of  man’s success has  always been measured and linked to his hard work and level of  education.  And education has always set the standard for the classes…separating  those who have juxtapose to those who have not.

Now, on to Gary Coleman. 

While listening to Bev Smith last night on her late-night radio talk show over the internet, I heard that Gary had been emitted into the hospital and was in intensive care.

If ever you have considered getting your child involved in the entertainment business Gary Coleman’s life is definitely one which should give you pause and is worthy of  another consideration.

If ever there was a group of child stars who did not fare well it was the group of child stars that appeared on the show with Gary Coleman.  We all remember “Diff’ rent Strokes.”    It ran all the way up until Arnold began to turn old before our very eyes…and therein laid his delima.

Size-wise he never grew much but his feature stopped ceasing to be as cute and lovable…I guess you could say.  Which I have no doubt had a lot to do with his medication and kidney problem.  But then too there were those storylines.  They got to where they were just plain dumb.  And so the show over time lost its appeal and audience.

But there was something going on in the background.  Drugs came into their midst.  Then drinking added to the drugging.  But we never could tell…least ways I couldn’t.  But it affected the lives of  the 2 other child stars on the show…more so than it did Gary.

Todd Bridges who was always good-looking, along with Dana plato all became sister and brothers. Willis…the character that Todd played on the show, was supposedly Arnold’s real brother, who both end up being adopted into the rich Drummon family.  Where Dana, Kimberly Drummond on the show, becomes their sister.  Todd later reported that he and Dana experimented with drugs together while working on the show.

Dana later becomes pregnant by some boyfriend and got fired from the show.  Like Gary Coleman, she too was adopted.  And from articles that I have read…the woman who adopted her was hungry for money and really never cared much for the child otherwise.

Dana’s life like Willis’ and Gary’s was sad following the end of  their years as stars on Diff’rent Strokes.  Down and out Dana moved to Vegas with her baby.  She found herself  in a beat-up trailer park…and one day steped into a video store to rob it with a gun…got  jail time…and she later died of an overdose.

Like Willis, Dana was probably the product of  child abuse.  She had the typical scars of  a sexually abused child.  Following her departure from Diff’rent Strokes she posed nude in a layout in Playboy…and later turned to staring in pronography.

Willis’ inner demons began to plague him following a friend of  his father taking advantage of  him sexually as a very young kid.  Years later he found himself suffering from anger management, drinking and problems with drugs…and doing time in jail on weapons charges.

Dana at the age of  14 was already drinking and drugging long before she hit the set of  Diff’rent Strokes.  It is amazing that watching them you would have never guessed any of  the inner turmoils in any of their lives.

No one can ever tell me about the demons which chase children long after the abuse stops.  What a different life and end she might have had.

Arnold…or Gary suffered with kidney problems…a problem which attributed to the lack of  his growth in stature.  And he also became a very angry man as the years went by.  Often he was dragged into court stemming from incidents where he hit or punched a fan.

He was no longer that cute or funny little child star…but a little short man…out of work and turned against his then family.  His adoptive parents he took to court claiming that they had robbed him.

Though he tried at different ventures…everything failed.  And for a very brief time he even tried to pursue a college education…but that too failed.

Whenever his name came up in the news you always wondered who he had hit next?

It seemed that the whole world had turned against him…and he against it.

I think the one shinning moment through those years was when he and Willis teamed up on a movie showcasing their lives and the turmoil that followed after Diff’rent Strokes was ended.  I have no doubt that that movie will pop up somewhere now that at the age of 42 Gary Coleman is gone.

http://www.popeater.com/2010/05/28/gary-coleman-dead/?icid=main|hp-laptop|dl1|link1|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.popeater.com%2F2010%2F05%2F28%2Fgary-coleman-dead%2F

http://news.puggal.com/dana-plato-playboy-june-1989-39038/

Willis…or Todd which is his real name… has since gotten his life back on track.  And often I have heard him talking about God in his life.  I hear that he has a re-occuring role on a soap opera.  I certainly wish the continued best for him…along with his continued growth in the Lord.

Yesterday I spent most of my morning resting for my afternoon studio shoot.  About 1 o’clock I was up and rushing.  But by the end of the night I was tired… but quite satisfied.  I had gotten most of what I wanted… and everybody who said that they would…  Well, they showed up.

Now, I am on my way with that.  And I feel good.

And in case you are wondering why I have not said anything about my book, THE BISHOP’S WIFE, lately.   Well, for one thing I was hoping to be in New York promoting my book at the Book Expo America this week.  And since you know I was in the studio shooting footage last night…  So, you know that that didn’t happen…no me and New York City this week.

The other thing that happened…and perhaps you have experienced this.  My flash drive  died.  It CRASHED…and I had all most all of  website files on it.  And I do mean it  crashed…and I had failed to back-up those files anywhere else.

So, for the past 2 weeks I have been praying over my flash drive…and continuously sticking into this computer and that computer hoping  for just anything to happen.  But it has not.  So, I have been trying not to think about.

What good would it do for me to get all upset over it?

None.

Because like you may have…I have learned this lesson more than once.  And yet I continue to do it.

I never save anything on a back-up.  And dealing with computers…which are very tempermental…you are taking a large risk if you don’t back-up everything someplace else.

And so…I have learned that lesson again.  But I think that this time is the last time.

Enjoy your night and have a beautiful day tomorrow…and Monday, Memorial Day.  I am going to try and get some sleep now.

Tempertures here are climbing again.  And it has been real hot here.  Better pull out the sprinkler if you don’t have a pool…get yourself some Italian ice.  I love them…and popsickles too.

Oh, yes…

Today while waiting on bus.  I was joined by some high school seniors in their caps and gowns.  And they looked beautiful…and their was an air of  excitement and happiness in each of  their eyes, as well as, upon their faces.

And I just had to compliment them on their achievements, and tell them how well and beautiful they all looked.

It was beautiful.

The weekend before last we were in Jersey at Drew University cheering for my brother as he walked across the stage accepting his doctorate degree.  This past weekend a niece and cousin graduated from college.  And this coming coming Wednesday another niece will be graduating from college.

My parent’s children are all growing up…and our family is expanding in many different ways.  In our growth and knowledge of the Lord…in our family size…and in our educational knowledge.  My partents time and efforts were vested well.

So, it has been busy around here with all the graduations.  All of the graduation receptions…and all of the tears of pride and joy…and happiness for them.  Hope you have had the opportunity to do the same.  And if not this year maybe next.  But it does not come with people giving up…or parents telling their children its okay you can just quit and drop out of school.

What a road map for desaster.

And…God bless.

THE BISHOP’S WIFE  is now on sale…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…”  www.bsmith101.wordpress.com  ©2010

[youtbe=http://www.youtube.com/v/H7_sqdkaAfo&hl=en_US&fs=1]

Add a comment May 29, 2010

Between Lisa Raye and Michelle… 41 Bullets/Police Violence… Student Beaten… and Tyler Perry…

Well, between Lisa Raye and Michelle Obama…I don’t know who people having been hitting this blog site to read more of lately.

Like everyone else I too am curious about Michelle Obama’s reception in Mexico and Haiti. But was there any doubt that just like the Queen of England…everyone everywhere was also going fall in love  with her too.

There is just something about her. Michelle Obama is just able to click with everyone. I am sure that Joe Biden’s wife is happy to be partnered up with such a fab woman.

In past years most First Ladies and the Vice President’s wives never really got along well at all. Which really isn’t hard to understand at all since most Presidents chose the guy who could have won them…may have even hated him but he looked good on the ticket.

So, before the pairing up while everyone was going for the gold…making their own run to win the White House…there usually was a lot of mud slinging.  Now, what wife would love somebody’s wife behind all of that…and particularly if  his wife was a sob…which in many causes may have been the truth.

But I don’t think Jill Biden would have ever called Michelle Obama that. There is nothing sobby about Michelle. In fact…I think you could say she goes out of her way to ensure that no one feels that way about her. But then one can see that Michelle is not all about putting on ‘airs’…or shoving her nose high into the air. She is real.  And because she is so real…everyone everywhere just adores her.

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/04/14/michelle-obama-mexico-haiti-trips-defining-her-image/?icid=main|hp-laptop|dl1|link1|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.politicsdaily.com%2F2010%2F04%2F14%2Fmichelle-obama-mexico-haiti-trips-defining-her-image%2F

Truly, she is Obama’s secret weapon. That is what they called her while he was making his run for the White House. But all in all Michelle…fashion and all has stood up to the test.

I recalled while up late one night and listening to a black woman hosting a radio talk show talking about Michelle’s way of dressing. She was critical about where she claimed Michelle needed some help in her choices. I am sure that woman has since eaten all of those words…since Michelle Obama’s manner and style of dress has become the ‘in’  way of putting it  all together.

The best part of  it all…like Barack…Michelle Obama is her own person…her own woman.  She doesn’t let alot of  people dictate to her what she should or shouldn’t be doing…or dressing like.   And what a mom she is.  There is so much love there.

She is a tremendous role model for women and girls everywhere.

Now, on to Lisa Raye.  I have to admit that whenever I happened to catch the TV show that she used be on…I always thought she was attractive.  And I really liked her voice.

But I have to admit…she is a bit rough around the edges.  Sorry, Lisa Raye…but all that cussing and all that stuff…you know the low clothing…and exposing everything.  Well…come on.

Now, I know that Lisa is originally from Chi-Town…better known as Chicago for those of  you who don’t know.  And sure Chicago has some rough-necks…but then they have the softer side too…and plenty of them.  There is plenty of  style and class that comes out of  Chicago.  It was after all the city that was home to Johnson Beauty Products, Ebony…and Jet Magazine, and a lot more…not excluding the home and birth place of  Lady ‘O’…Michelle Obama.

I know her reality show ‘The Real McCoy’  is due to begin…if  it hasn’t already started.  And based upon the number of  people who have hit this site looking for info on Lisa…they are anxious over the show…and want to know more, and as much as they can about Lisa Raye.

Now, Lisa and Da Brat are half sisters as many of you know…who people have been hitting this site to read about also.  Both are attractive but just as rough around the edges.  But I have not heard anything about the Da Brat lately…but I have been looking to see if  she is out of  prison.  But I haven’t seen or heard anything on that yet…though I think her 3 years should be just about up soon.

Finally, I have finally seen something by Tyler Perry.   I know…I know…I must be the only person on the planet who hadn’t.

Clearly, Tyler has a built in crowd of  followers…and I am just not one.  Though as I sat in the theater I could tell that men equally , as well as, women love  Tyler.   He definitely has them hooked.

But I thought the film was filled with a lot of  poor acting.  And the actors who could act totally out shined their counter-parts.

But what I felt was lacking mainly was a plot, a good script… and a good story… besides some the poor casting choices in some places.    The movie was just one vingnette after another… which is a just a series of  little stories.  Which to me never really got told properly.   I guess because of  a lack of  time…as it seemed to me that the film had been a bit rushed.  It would have been nice though if  there had been one real story somewhere in the midst of  it.

But, however, I will say this…the people who love Tyler Perry truly love him…and all of  his work.  And I am not hating him for being successful at what he does.

And speaking of the movie…I was all set to watch Jill Scott throw down on the big screen .  I was hoping she was going to blow it away.  Well…I  had thought that her acting skills might  have matched her singing skills.

But…naw….  They it didn’t.  And I was disappointed.  Because I had heard that Jill  is starring in some show on TV too.  So, I was thinking-

“Wow, she must be good.”

But it was definitely not the case…and as much as I love Jill.   I truly hate to say that.

But I still think that she is beautiful.  I could see her taking Oprah’s place…in a few years.

Can’t you?

With some coaching from the ‘Master’ of  all ‘Masters’…namely Oprah…Jill could do it.  I bet cha’.

Now, I saw the video of  the white student who was beat by several police officers.  And yes…I do agree.

“Agree on what you say?”

I agree that if  that student had been a black student…we probably would not have heard as much about it…nor would those police officers been put on suspension.  I have seen and heard many situations of  black folk  finding themselves at the mercy of abusive and angry white police officers.   Just view some of  the below video clips.

Police acting out in ways that have been highly questionable has never been anything that many black people can’t tell you much about…such as Rodney King and many many others.

I’ll never forget the issue of 41 bullets and Amadou Diallo…a young African immigrant who met with a fatal end when he was entering his own apartment building, as he was approach by a group of police officers who opened up and began shooting at him at close range…upon supposedly him reaching to pull out his ID in an attempt to identify himself.   Then there was that group of  4 young black men on the New Jersey Turnpike who were stopped on the highway and shot without provocation.

And the list goes on and on…and on without much ever happening to the officers in question.  Who for the most part never missed a beat…or suffered any repercussions  or consequences for any of  their actions…nor any loss of pay…or any real trials…etc…

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-54724949.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/36456147#36468010

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/36456147#36440040

I have been reading a little about women behind bars who are currently being allowed to have and care for their babies in prison.  I do have some very real and quite bias feelings on the matter.  But it does not come without some knowledge on the matter.

Not that I have personal knowledge or experience with it…but that I have a very dear and good friend whose mother gave birth to her while she was locked behind bars for murder.  The stigma it left upon my friend was often evident to me whenever my friend would share that part of  her life experience to me.  It bothered her…like it was a mark against her from birth.  In speaking about it she often sighed…and lowered her voice in a clear indication of shame.

And I can understand why.

And you should too.

What child or person wants to walk  around with that on their birth certificate..or any knowledge of  something like that?

What a sad way to start your life on this planet…locked behind prison bars with your mother.

Since, most of  those mothers and practically everybody in those news segments on the story was black,  when I saw pictures on the story or saw news items on it over the net…it is just one more strike against some kids who already are going to have marks against them.  Because (1)…their mother was sentenced to prison for some type of crime.  (2)…Because they had the mis-fortune of being born into a situation that I would be hard pressed to believe that any child would want to be born in.  (3)…Because they are already poor…disadvantaged…and powerless without the bars or the confinement.

Then what about health and safety issues surrounding life behind bars?

That’s a rough life.  I wouldn’t  want an infant or a child…little or otherwise to have to endure any part of it.  It would have to be depressing.  I mean there is little to no freedom in prison…it is like an animal being born in a zoo.

Sorry, to state it that way…but you think about it.  And it is not the cleanest place to have babies in…much less for children to play in.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/36456147#36430344

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/111275_2purdy06.shtml

http://www.correctionsreporter.com/2009/11/15/moms-and-babies-locked-up-together/

I doubt that we will really read any real reports on this story about babies born behind bars and being allowed to stay with their mothers there, and the effects of it…since it will be about 20 or so  years before we will really find out whether or not it is or was a good idea.   But I do not need that long to give you my answer…and I do not care what the reports say.  I know people who have lived over 50 years with that following them.  Just having been borned in there.

My last note is on this story which bothered me from the very moment I laid my eyes on it.  I hate these type of stories.  I know…I say it every time.

It is about a man…a black man in Alabama who went around as an evangelist or some type of  preacher while being a seriously sick man.  While swirling in the pulpit between words of  praise…he was sodomizing and raping his own children…including fathering children with them…and had killed their mother after she caught him having sex with one of  their very young daughters (age 11)… while the child was pregnant with his child.   Doing all of this after having dumped his dead wife into a deep freezer for the last 4 years…in the trailer where he lived with them…their children while he continued to use them sexually.

While watching a youtube clip on the story…it eluded that the Bible up-holds such things…I’m talking about ‘incest.’  The scripture pointed to in support of  that supposed idea came from the book of  Genesis…Genesis 19:30-39.  Which is an absolute lie.  The Bible does not support any such thing…or anything like it…or any other type of sin.  And it certainly would never support any negative behavior towards children…or anyone.

In fact, that scripture points to the type of  sins which not only Lot witnessed but evidently his daughters did also.   It was one of many reasons which was why God eventually destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.   Which is what Lot along with his wife, and his 2 daughter were fleeing from in the first place.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/31/preacher.freezer/index.html

Well, if you had any doubts about it…I am sure that we all can agree now. 

Spring has sprung!

And it feels marvelous.

I am loving all the sun though I understand that it is due to rain later today…as it is already into tomorrow now being nearly 5 AM in the morning.

Oh, well…it takes time to produce one of these blogs.  And would you believe I started before 11 PM?

Well, I did.  But I am not complaining…it takes time to produce something worth something.  And I hope that is what you think of this blog…that it is worth something…like your time to read it.  And if  you do…thank you much.

Enjoy your day.

Thank you so much for reading…and may God bless you richly.

God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…”  www.bsmith101.wordpress.com  ©2010

THE BISHOP’S WIFE  is now on sale…CLICK this LINK to purchase my book.  You do not need a paypal account to purchase, and you can purchase using a debit card.  Thank you. 

Add a comment April 16, 2010

A thousand words in a glance…

It has been said that a picture says a thousand words.   Then clearly the below slide show speaks volumes…about the man…his family…his commitment to his job…the seriousness he takes concerning his job…and the weight of  it up his shoulders. 

Watch…and enjoy.  CLICK LINK BELOW.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitehouse/sets/72157623126418563/show/

Hope you have had a good week thus  far.  March seems to be marching right along.  Can’t believe that we are already into the 4th day.

Most of  our snow has melted. 

How about your’s?

Well…God bless…and keep warm.

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…”  www.bsmith101.wordpress.com  ©2010

 THE BISHOP’S WIFE  is now on sale…CLICK this LINK to purchase my book.  You do not need a paypal account to purchase, and you can purchase using a debit card.  Thank you. 

2 comments March 4, 2010

Percy Sutton a quiet giant…gone

There are generals who pass by and we never take notice of them.   They go quietly yet often times they were the ones who stood in the path… made the right decision… yet got none of the glory.  Percy Sutton was such a man.

In a chance meeting in a New York City elevator…I got on not realizing that I was going to be in the company of a king.  When  he got on I was nearing the floor of  the executive office of  Inner City Broadcasting.  I was on my way to try for…I don’t know what attempt on my part to get  in to see the ‘chief rocker’ Frankie Crocker…as I was trying to get him to hire me for  an air shift…meaning a job as a radio announcer on WBLS. 

When he got on we were a couple floors down from the main corporate floor of  Inner City Broadcasting…in a building he owned along with the radio station  operating in that building, WBLS and WLIB…which were located at the time on 2nd Avenue.

He was tall and striking in his appearance…but what struck me more than anything was how much of a gentleman he was.  We conversed, him and me…as if  he were nobody special…and he called me “My Dear”…in that voice that he had.    He spoke to me  in such a way that I felt special just being in his presence…this quiet giant  and owner of  not only 2  highly prominate radio stations in New York City…but plenty of other real estate holdings about the city…including a law firm…and the world famous Apollo Theater.   And somehow through it all he managed to become Manhattan Borough President, and a civil rights activist.

Though he could have sat back and kicked up his heels and thought-

“Oh, how great I am.”

He never did that…he never rested.   Never got in a comfort zone.  Maybe, it was that he grew up being  only 1 generation away from slavery…as his father had been a slave.  Or maybe it had been that he had been  the 15th and last child born into his family…and most of whom all became lawyers. 

How could that have happened?

With a father just coming up out of slavery and him being a man having such a very large family (which during those times was not an uncommon thing)…but raising children in the  racist atmosphere  of   the latter 1800′s  into the mid 1930′s  and 40′s  and the backward thinking of  many in a state like Texas…I am sure  aided in Mr. Sutton’s  political choices and his diligent work as black leader…and the shaker and  mover  he was later to become  in New  York City. 

I have no doubt that it was his roots…that created the core of who he was…and the things he worked to achieve.   A person who was not afraid to put his money where his mouth and passion was concerning his people.  Often digging into his own pocket to give…invest…encourage…

I recall calling him and talking him about a business venture that I wanted him to get involved in…something that I was trying to do and take to the next level.   He actually got on the line with me and offered me several positive suggestions…challenging me in what I was looking to do.  He did not rush me off the phone…but gave me the benefit of  his long and highly profound expertise.

I have called a lot of people when seeking investors and

others…or expertise regarding projects I have been working on.  Not many of them even took the time to come to the line…but it didn’t stop me from trying.  But when they did and shared me as Percy Sutton…all those other  calls were worth my trying  just to finally get to someone  like Percy Sutton…who took the time to hear me and speak into me wisdom…and share  knowledge and some of  his  business savvy with me.  

I never forgot that meeting…of me and Percy Sutton alone in an elevator heading up to the executive office.   And I had almost forgotten that phone call…I am glad I took the time to call him…and remembered how gracious he was to me.

Mr. Sutton passed the day after Christmas…just days after celebrating his 89th birthday.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121947414

http://www.blackstarnews.com/?c=135&a=1187

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/nyregion/28sutton.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/nyregion/28sutton.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20070501/hidi-sutton.html

I spent Christmas quietly.   And all through the day I kept getting phone calls.  

It was such a pleasure that so many had throught to call me wishing me  ‘Merry Christmas.’   It was as great as them giving me gifts for my Christmas.  I loved it.

Last night it rain and rain.  Thank goodness it was snow or I would probably be outside right now still shoveling it.   But I love the snow…it’s winter.   So, it comes with ther territory.

Hope you had a safe and joyous Christmas.  Mine was.   And though the furnace is still out…God is keeping me.

Well, we are moving to the end of  the year…just a few more days.  And since coming into 2000…we have seen many changes…suffered some great losses…but yet God is good. 

“Happy New Years.”

I hope that  you and your family   had a very merry Christmas and a good and safe New Years. 

I am looking forward to some great things happening in my life this year.   Each year has been great…and our family is growing closer together again.  I hope it is so with yours too.

 THE BISHOP’S WIFE  is now on sale…CLICK this LINK to purchase my book.  You do not need a paypal account to purchase, and you can purchase using a debit card.  Thank you. 

Well, God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…”  www.bsmith101.wordpress.com  ©2009

2 comments December 28, 2009

Michael Jordan’s acceptance speech… Tyra Banks getting real…

When I read the article on Michael Jordan regarding his acceptance speech… during his induction into the Basketball of  Hall of  Fame… I thought based upon the slant given the article that-

“Okay, maybe he had too much to drink.”

You know…celebrating.  It is after all a great honor. 

But when I woke up this morning it dawned on me…about all those years how  Michael  had probably sat around and listened to  a  bunch of  people taking credit for his success.  People who stood up at podiums with their chest stuck out like his coach at the Univeristy of  North Carolina…and all the others who Michael slapped in the face…and shook them up a bit  while delivering that speech Friday night.   And I thought about all the people who we  encounter  in lives who tell us we will never make it…and how we need to consider doing something else…or going to another school…move some place else…or not go on to college…etc…etc…

And then years later you emerge as the greatest basketball player of all times…after time after time…you were told that you didn’t have what it took … or would never make it into the pro’s…or that your were too dark…hair to nappy…that you are not smart enough…can’t talk right…etc…etc…

And so what do you do when all this is coming at you?

Well, if you’re like a Michael Jordan and half of the other black folk in this country…you pushed harder…worked harder…always striving to perfect that which they told you…you could never do…and were not good at.

It is true.  Behind closed doors white counselors, educators…school officials…coaches…tried to sway us not to go on to college…not to pursue our dreams…not to climb any mountains…or swim any seas.   Working tirelessly to deffer ever dream that could be deffered…that is what they did.    But you looked towards the stars any how…pushed against the grain…filtered through the forces…and worked harder to make it happen.  And one day it did.

Then along came those who had tried to quash your dreams…take away your aspirations…steal your hopes…ripe out your future…to feed you where they wanted to keep you…and all black folk.  And here they came as the rings started mounting up…championship after championship…contract after contract…deal after deal…and everybody now singing your glory.  All of them… all accrediting your fame to what they did for you.

So, yeah…I can understand Michael  Jordan when he stood up at the reception for his induction into the Basketball Hall of  Fame…finally deciding to clear the air…wanting to set the record straight.   Setting the record straight…that it wasn’t them…but him.  Telling every wrong thing that they had ever done to him.  It all had made him work all the more harder to get to where  he has…the greatest of all times…the one that all the young ball players coming up behind him are compared to…if  they show just the slightest bit of  promise.   He became the marker…the standard gage for talent…that they measure the young boys by today.

But like Muhamumed Ali… there will only be one Michael Jordan.  And on his night…he can say whatever  he wants to…and if truth hurts then let it…as well it should.

After years of  holding it in Michael deserved a chance to let it go.  And boy…did he.

I know so well what it is like to have people try to re-direct you  from your  path  and tell you-

“You can’t make it.” 

When I was in high school  I began sending out applications for college.  This following my high school counselor telling that I was not college material…and should consider going to business school instead so I could learn a trade. 

Needless to say…I didn’t listen to him.  I pushed harder…sending out all my own applications and doing all my own research about colleges and what they had to offer.  And this way before there was anything that even  remotely looked like a computer…and before such materials became so widely available in libraries or any other place outside of  a  school counselor’s office.

Following my graduation from high school I was off to college.  I had to figure out  all that financial aid stuff on my own…but I did it.  My first year into  college…I started getting offers to do radio.   Though our college did not offer any courses in communication…we did have a radio station.   And I almost lived in that place.

Though I had gone to school to become a lawyer…I recognized some  faults that I had.  For one,  I hated to talk in front of  people…or read anything out loud.  I also possessed a speech impediment.  And this is why I decided to go up to campus radio station to see about getting on air…I thought that it could help me.

I never thought that I  would  develop a whole other persona.   I just thought that  if  I could play music and talk every now and then…that it would help me to become less introverted…and  that I  would develop more confidence when talking with and before others.  Attributes which I definitely felt would be key for me to have…in order to be able the best  lawyer I could be…and an effective one for my clients.  So, I almost lived in that radio station…covering almost every shift…and job available to me  in our  little station.

I taped every program…and still do…listening over and over again for everything I did or said…what  I liked or  didn’t like.  I never realized that this was creating a radio personality…or anything close to it…not to mention that  I had never considered ever working in radio.  But the offers started coming in…followed my tons of  fan mail.  Who would have ever have thought such a thing would  or  could have happened  to me?  

And finally,  I decided to take one of those offers to do radio professionally and the rest is history.

But it never would have happened had I listened to my high school counselor.   When I walk into oour  teacher’s credit union…I see his face smiling down from upon the wall…as they have a very large painting of  him hanging on their wall.  And I sometimes wonder-

“How many black students had he told not to go to college?”

And if  he were alive today…and read about me…I have no doubt that he too like Michael’s past coaches…from his high school and/or colleges years…and anybody else who ever tried to discourage him…would poke out  his  chest and try to take a piece of the credit.  When  he  did nothing at all to aid  me…but everything he could to deffer me.

http://nba.fanhouse.com/2009/09/12/jordan-goes-from-classy-to-clown/

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/people/features/article_1500753.php/In-Pictures-NBA-Hall-of-Fame?page=5

To view the CLICKS BELOW just double click a few times and ignore the text.

I have to admit that I have vast respect for Tyra Banks and the job that she is doing…knowing good and well that many teens look up to her as both their she-ro…and model for whom they would like to embulate.

The topics she covers on her show are provocative, intelligent, moving…and touch upon many topics that no one else has dared to examine in quite the same way that  Tyra  has.  Topics such as black women bleaching their skin…teen pregnancy…teen prostitution…racism…gay for pay…and shows about loving and respecting youself…all of which our teens are in dire need of seeing and hearing.   And for some reason Tyra does it so well…that they enjoy watching her.   And I guess it all comes down to them knowing and feeling that Tyra is real…and dealing from her heart.

http://www.bvhairtalk.com/2009/09/08/tyra-banks-reveals-natural-hair/?icid=main|hp-laptop|dl7|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bvhairtalk.com%2F2009%2F09%2F08%2Ftyra-banks-reveals-natural-hair%2F

And she talks about fashion…and realizes how important it is to them…our teens.

Recently while sitting out on my parent’s front porch, I have noticed this young…   Well, I thought she was a young woman…but since school has started back…I now realize that she may well be a teen.  But she is so thin…super thin.  She looks like 2 sticks walking.  Though she appears healthy…nobody without any degree of   body fat can possibly be healthy.

Whenever I see her, I find myself staring at her because I have never seen anybody as thin as she is.  And I can tell by her dress…that she feels she looks good…maybe even sexy.

But to me…she looks anything but sexy.   Because I know she definitely is a product of an eating disorder.   The product of  disillusion…who bought into that ‘thin is in’…and beautiful.  If she could see herself as  I do…she would know that  is a lie…an absolute lie.  Because anyone the size of  this girl could never be beautiful…because she looks sick. 

And this is why a Tyra Banks is so important…because she works hard as dis-spelling the myths.

Well, I finally did in the glasses totally and completely.  Now, they are so broken that I can hardly use them.  So, you can imagine how hard it  was  for me to just trying to get through this blog…trying to see through a pair of  glass which I have to tuck tightly down on nose in order to see as best I  can through them.    But I made it through…and now I can go to sleep. 

Enjoy your Sunday…how you get out to church.  
It was dark all day today…then finally rained just a little…but remained to be dark.  We are well on our way to an early winter…and I hope you are gearing up for it.

Hope you have a beautiful day tomorrow.    

Well, God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…”  www.bsmith101.wordpress.com  ©2009

 THE BISHOP’S WIFE  is now on sale…CLICK this LINK to purchase my book.  You do not need a paypal account to purchase, and you can purchase using a debit card.  Thank you. 

Add a comment September 13, 2009

Getting kicked to the curb… Obama’s airplane…

During the middle of this week, I was out with my son and one of his little friends.  As I got into my son’s truck I noticed that she wasn’t her usually jovelle self.  I never got a clue until my son said to her over the course of our dinner-

“Oh, don’t start crying.”

To which she responded-

“I can’t help it.”

Shortly thereafter, her cell phoned rang and she answered it.  That is when I overheard what the problem was.

She began saying-

“Oooh, boobie.  If you take yourself from me…I want be able to hold you.  And do for you like I want to…You know how I like to hold you…and yeah cook for you.  If you remove yourself I can’t hold you and do that any more.”

I was on the verge of bursting out in laughter because  she sounded ridiculous.  

In essence, she was begging him to not drop her.

Now, I am not a mean spirited person…but you would’ve had to heard that conversation. 

I do not think I could have ever wanted somebody…any humanily body…that bad in my life.  Well, maybe I have…

I have been in my share of relationships…but I have never in my life brought myself to begging any one of them to staying with me.

Yes, as hard as it may seem.  I have been kicked to the curb more than a few times.  And yes, it did hurt.  But I never ever begged.

I won’t say that there may have been a time or 2 that I might have liked to have begged.  But I didn’t do it.

I have never dropped anybody in my life.  But I have been dropped.  I do know the pain of being dropped and yet trying to hold on.   Believe me…I know it well.

But I never begged.

In my wisdom now…I will tell you this. 

Anybody you have to beg to keep is not worth trying to hold on to.  And no matter how much you beg…eventually they are going to leave you anyway.  So, let them go from the on-set of whatever the situation is and they start telling you it is over.  And get on with the mourning process. 

Because in the end…you are going to end up mourning it anyways. 

So, better to start now rather than later…because you would be just putting it off.  And it will certainly be just as painful…if not more.

When somebody wants to leave you…they have their reasons.  And unless there is some type of benefit to staying with you…then they’re gone.  They may come back for a little while…but sooner or later they will be gone for good. 

So, release them and let them go now.   Soon enough you will be mourning over the next one.

As I stated in another one of these blogs…I had never been in type of relationship until I was 25 years old.  And I have also told you that… I have never dated.  Well… any boys… or men.   As sometime after becoming 25, I did what they called…‘came out as a lesbian.’  

I would say that I never really ‘came-out’ per-se.  As my profession wouldn’t let me…that is to say…because I was popular as a radio announcer I never presented myself as being openly gay.   Then, of course, there were my parents…and I would have never done anything to embarrassed them.  And I did not mind keeping my life to myself…and among my close friends.  It was, after all, my life.

I never felt that I had to go around telling  everyone what it was that I did in the bedroom…nor I was interested in what other people did in their’s…just as long as it did not involve children.

At any rate, most of my relationships during that period of my life only lasted for about 6 months or under.  Once I becamed involved with someone it always seemed to me as though it could not get past 6 months.   Finally, one did…because she was determined to be the one to do it.   She had told me that on several occasions…that’s how I know.  It lasted for all of 9 years…but even then she could only take but so much of me.  And finally, she too…kicked me to the curb. 

I must say that I did not mind when  it happening…but what hurt was how it happened.  The relationship had began to turn several years prior…and we had evolved into more or less just being friends.  And I could live with that…that is why I didn’t mind that she left…exited my life…and fnally kicked me to the curb.

She was exceedingly beautiful, and perhaps one of the smartest persons I had ever met.  She was well read and well versed on every subject…truly.  And there was one other thing about her. 

She saw in me something that I never saw.  And she was always telling me that she saw where I was going to be…and that she was not going to let me embarrassed her once I got there.

So, she was always correcting me…polishing up my speech…reading over my text…pointing out business fawls…and huge personality gafts in me.   I must say that without her…I would not be half of what I am today businesswise or otherwise.  God took that situation and used it for His good.

But eventually…yes, even she kicked me to curb.

But I never begged. 

That relationship had become a bit toxic for me.  But as I had never really been in any other long term relationship… and because of my own nature… though I wanted out… I couldn’t say it.   So, I’m happy that she ended that relationship for me.  

There are just some things perhaps… that I will never be good at.  And I think that this is one of them…kicking somebody to the curb.

I can take it…but I don’t think that I could ever dish it out.   But nobody better test me on it…because I am not all that forgiving.

Some people, however, are masters at it.  But not me.

But thank goodness when it is over…and you have finally gotten over it.  As a rule my mourning process…was always for a 2 year period.   And many times at the end, I  found myself wondering what it was that I had seen in that person in the first place.  Except for, of course, the person with whom I was with for 9 years. 

Yes, I got over it.   Which is usually done by finding someone else. 

Isn’t that always the way?

It can really speed up that process.

You lament somebody…until you find somebody new.

I have found…that through those years…having always been the one who was kicked to the curb.  I have found…that usually when I got over it…I was over it.  I do not look back…but there had been some laments.  But It was not on my part.

Time does it, I think.  People often have a tendency to look back and wish they hadn’t done something.

So, move on. 

Forget about Boobie. 

Can anyone you’ve given such a horrid nickname to really be that good?

I think not.   And certainly not enough worth begging for.

As I listened to that girl…and if you want me to say…young lady…I could not help but be thankful to God…I no longer go through anything like that any more.

God is good. 

Well, I just love Obama.

And yes, he was right to fire whomever that was who thought it was a good idea to fly Air Force One into the protected air space over the Statue of Liberty.

Of course, it was going to bring back memories of 9/11.

And yes…people would believe that New York City was again under attack.

How could they not?

That was the exact same air space…which every New Yorker knows is protected air space…that those airplanes flew over that hit the World Trade Center causing the earth to shake…the buildings to fall…people to jump for their lives…dark clouds of heavy smoke, suet and human ashes…amid streets of rumble …bodies… much havoc… and panic.

That day will never be erased from the minds and hearts of every New Yoker.  It was one of the most horrible days that I can remember.

It was a day of much confusion and panic… because no one knew exactly what was going on.   Many believing that the world was coming to an end…or that someone had declared war upon us…the darkness that fell upon New York that day left an undelible mark across the world…and particularly among those in New York City…and the tri-state area that will never be removed throughout the history of this country.

And all for a photo op?

That person had to be insane.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090427/us_nm/us_newyork_plane

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Statue-of-Liberty-water-taxi-Liberty-Island/photo//090427/ids_photos_ts/r1340509400.jpg//s:/nm/20090427/us_nm/us_newyork_plane#photoViewer=/090509/480/85fcbc62c2c54fee9134de675e68acbe

I am happy that  Obama is letting those who work for him…know that he is no joke.  And that he is going to demand from them that they operate as professional and thinking…rational people.  And never dare to do anything that might embarrass him. 

Got up late today…after 12 noon and do not know what time I finally went to bed…though I laid down thinking I was only going to stretch out for a few minutes. Yes, I am still trying to put the finishing touches on my book, THE BISHOP’S WIFE,   and the promo for youtube. 

Well,  it is getting closer…and closer to that time.  And I can’t wait.   

And as a final note…please do not let me be anywhere and overhear any conversations of yours.  I do not easedrop…and I do not like getting all up into people’s business.  I really do not want to be a party to it…but if you are going to sit up around me and put your business all out in the street.  I just might formulate an opinion on it.

Well, enjoy your weekend.

And you know something else…after looking at that first picture of the Statue of Liberty…that is not a woman.

Which reminds me of another time my son took me out this past week…with yet another friend of his.  For most of time we sat at that table eating…we were debating whether or not our waitress was a man or woman.  I had never noticed anything…and had always felt she was a woman. 

But it was my son’s friend who began that whole controversy.  And at the end finally I had to concede after taking a more indepth study of the person…arms in particular…that yes it was a man.  But she was nice anyway…not matter what.  And she…well, he did his job well.

Which reminds me of yesterday, while waiting around in the salon…I happened to overhear a conversation between a young girl and I guess…maybe her aunt or somebody related to her.  

The girl was probably no more than 10 or 12.  She was disclosing to the older person how someone in her class was talking about her…and calling her ‘gay.’

It made me think of that 11 year old boy who had hung himself and it was reported that he had done so because some kids or one of the other boys at his school was doing the exact same thing…calling him ‘gay.’

I think that it is sad…that such burdens are placed upon children today. 

Back when I was going to school…kids taunted you by calling you ‘fat’…or ‘scary cat’…or ‘chicken.’  

It is a shame that all these sexual labels and stigmatisisms are placed upon them…these children…teens…pre-teens etc… at such early ages…when it is hard enough just trying to go to school and get through your school lessons. 

God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…” http://www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009

THE BISHOP’S WIFE  is now on sale…CLICK this LINK to purchase my book.  You do not need a paypal account to purchase, and you can purchase using a debit card.  Thank you. 

Add a comment May 9, 2009

The God Father of Gospel Music, Rev. Timothy Wright… Jesse again… Mike Steele RNC… First Family date night…

I was hoping to go to bed early tonight.  Didn’t get in until after 2 AM last night.  Had the opportunity to go into New York for the 2nd night of the funeral of the God Father of  Gospel Music, Rev. Timothy Wright.   And what an event it was.  I am still happy that we decided to go. 

It was a musical program celebrating the music and musical legacy and influence of  Dr. Timothy Wright.  So, some of everybody in gospel music was there and performed including a combined choir of 23 choirs…comprising 1,200 voices.  So, if you can imagine that…then you have a clue of  the kind of evening we had last night…and it was free and open to public.  On top of  it…it was very well organized…and had a super sound system…and there wasn’t anything outside of what that church already had that could have beat it.   And was like being in the Appollo Theater…it had to have been a converted movie theater…the church…in fact, I know it  had been theater because it had at least 2 balcony levels if not 3 of them.

So, from Ty Tribbett, to Rev. Milton Biggham, Myrna Summers, Timoney Figueroa, Hezekiah Walker & Love Fellowship Choir, Vershawn Mitchell,  Keith Wonder Boy, Maurette Brown, Judieth McAllister…and many manyothers performed…a host of them.  And it was fabulous…each and everyone of  them.  I am still glowing from that service in honor of  the God Father of  Gospel Music, Rev. Timothy Wright…a man I really feel was not given the real honor that his music deserved…during the course of  his life.  But he never complained…he continued writing… producing… performing and preaching to the glory of God.   Truly, a fabulous man…and a real lover of  his church…and God.   Faithful…

It shocked me the Saturday, last July when we woke up to a bunch of text messages saying Rev. Timothy Wright had met with a tragic automobile accident which took the life of  his wife and only grand son…leaving him paralyzed and mostly hospitalized until he passed just recently.  From one moment to the next…we never know what is going to happen in our life.

Earlier that evening I had stopped by Rev. Wright’s booth at AIM, in Detroit…he had just been down a few booths and to the opposite of the aisle from  Vicki Winans’   booth.   He was autographing his book while cheerfully beaconing  passerbyers to stop at his booth.

I will not forget how I had stood there telling him how great he looked…and how happy I was to see that he was doing so well healthwise…as the last time I had seen him was when I had booked him to performed at my summer outreach program called, Ministry Under the Tent.  He was not feeling well at all…but yet he travelled from New York to perform before the people here who are still talking about that show…and weekend.

Because I could see that that he was not feeling well that day…as he was dietetic…I said to him-

“If you only sing one song I’ll be okay with that.”

That’s what I told him.

But when he hit that stage with his 30 choir members…you would not have been able to tell how he had been suffering prior to performing.  And he kept on going like the Energized Bunny.  They really performed…and sounded just like the CD’s.

So, it was good to see him in Detroit doing so well health-wise…and I just kept saying it over and over…and the following morning…

To tell you seriously I felt guilty…as though I had caused that accident myself…having  raved so much about how good  Rev. Wright  had looked that Saturday afternoon.  But a car coming up onto the inter-state highway travelling in the wrong direction ran right into his car…head-on… and Rev. Timothy Wright’s life was forever changed that night.

I was shocked…his life had been turned upside down in the flash of a moment.  He had just finished performing in a large gospel concert with Mary Mary, the Clark Sisters, Ricky Dillard etc…and in a quick flash of a moment…his career had come to a end.   He lost his wife and grand son…and very nearly lost his own life in less than 6 hours since the time I had spoken with both him and his wife as they worked their booth with their grand son. 

D.U.I…driving under the influence of alcohol or anything else…is a serious problem…and it is highly dangerous and deadly to us all.  The same roadway that that accident occured was the exact highway we had to travel on later in order for us to get back home from Detroit too.  Any one of us could have met up with that driver.  It should not take until something happens to one of  us that we rally to do something about drivers who continue to  get behind the wheel knowing that they are incapable of  doing so properly or safely. 

It is sad to think about what ended up happening to Rev. Timothy Wright and his family due a driver driving under the influence…who also ended up killing himself…by not only traveling in the wrong direction.   But also travelling at a  very high speed.

Needless to say…I was happy to hear that he was no longer suffering…and trying to deal with his loses.  Yes, I was happy that he was no longer suffering from the loses in his personal life…and his physical being.

He was so gracious and so kind…when I called him…he never even asked me to sign a contract…didn’t  have to wire him any up-front money…which is highly out of  the norm.   But that is what he did…just said have the money ready when he got there.  And I did…and all cash.  I have done many shows…and never had anyone been so trusting. 

I  have been involved in both concert promotions and other large events as a promoter for both R&B  and religious concerts and events…but never had 1 entertainer… agent… manager… or other person that I  booked for an event  of any type…not  require me to sign a contract and to send some money in advance…which is typically the way that it is done.   And I am sure that through his many years in the industry…I am sure that Rev. Wright has probably had his share of  problems with promoters…yet  he did not require me to sign or forward him anything…for some reason.  Though I asked him…and he said-

“No,  just have it ready when I get there.”

I marvel at that even to this day.   And I made sure that everything for him was set and ready for him when the bus I had hired for them pulled into town and they poured off of it. 

And I cannot thank enough the Chamblee Bus Company out of  Newark, New Jersey…who at 1 AM in the morning the night before Rev.  Wright was to perform… they got me a bus and a driver…after the initial bus company I had hired for the job…to pick up Rev. Wright and his choir in Brooklyn…called me to say that they were not coming.   I marvel at that too…God worked it out in the wee hours of  the morn.   And all ended up being  just  fine…better than fine.

As I sat there listening to all those performers and expeditors…and listened to the new group of  radio gospel announcers in New York City now…my mind drifted back to all the years that I have played his music…and still do…and how he had come to perform here at Ministry Under the Tent…and I couldn’t help but cry a bit from time to time.

Following all the singing…Pastor Hubert Powell was allowed a few seconds to speak…and wow did he deliver.  I wish I could write it like he said it…but I can’t.  But he and the God Father of  Gospel Music, Rev. Timothy Wright, had been friends for over 50 years.  And I do not think…and would find it very hard to believe…that anybody who ever met him…didn’t meet somebody who they did ot like and love in the person of  Rev. Timothy Wright.  He was truly a man of  God…who got his start up under the Father of Gospel Music…James Cleveland.  

As I stated…I had decided not to write anything tonight.  I could barely keep my eyes open earlier…but while checking on some things over the internet…I came across a couple of stories which really motivated me to begin to write this blog.

The first was a story on Jesse Jackson.  I find him to be so disappointing.   Not atall the person I thought him to be.  I guess it is hard to accept when people do not meet  your expectations of  who you believe them to be…based upon your media knowledge of  them…meaning news items that you read.  

Throughout all the years all the information on Jesse Jackson had been positive…up until the story of  the illegitimate baby…and that open mic story hit the news…where Jesse…  Well, you know the story (wrote about it in 2 other blogs if  you to read that story)…how Jesse said he wanted to cut off  Obama’s…  Well…you know the story.   Until that point my preception of  Rev. Jesse Jackson had been one of  him being what he actively projected…and that is what it was a “projection”...that he was a dedicated black leader…who sincerely loved and cared for his people.

Now, reading this story further adds to my ever decreasing opinion of  Jesse Jackson.  Currently, he is being sued for $100,000 by the AEI Speakers Bureau for failing to show up at a speaking engagement in Trinidad…after…now check this out… after he had the conference promoters  charter him a private jet to transporthim from Chicago to Trinidad for the speaking engagement…and demanding a fee of $75,000 to come and speak at the event.  And I thought  Aretha Franklin’s $65,000 fee plus a portion of the gate was excessive.  Well,  it was a bit too rich for my blood…but at least she was worth the money.  I just couldn’t afford it.

Can you imagine that?

Seventy-five thousand dollars to have Jesse Jackson come to speak at a conference engagement.  And an engagement in a poor country…run by black people?

And then force them to book  him a private chartered jet?

Can you imagine the type of  hotel accommodations Jesse must have requested…5 star plus…no doubt.

They deserve to sue him.  And I hope they get every dime.  What a ridiculously greedy man.    He is definitely too full of   himself.

For the same event Rev.  Al Sharpton and Martin L. King the third were also  booked to participate…both of  whom who flew regular commercial fligts into Trinidad.

I have to admit to having read years ago while in New York…that Jesse’s Wall Street Summit was nothing but one big corporate shake-down…in the name of  black people. 

Can you imagine  Jesse Jackson getting rich on our backs?

Playing all these years…like something he has never been.  Really interested in black people…and the social injustices surrounding them.  And trying to get to get them irraticated.  When in fact…he has always been out for Jesse…at the pretense of  aiding the plight of  black people in this country. 

The Bible says…what is done in the dark will come to light.  Meaning anything that is not true…will in time be unveiled…revealed.   Jesse Jackson can truly speak to the words of  this scripture…as more and more is being revealed about him.

Now…on to Michael Steele, the chairman of  the Republican National commitee…another foolish black man…along the vain of a Clarence Thomas. 

It is sad really.

We are living in a season now…   Oh, well…come on lets grow up.    We do not have go running around and cow-tauing and bowing down to everybody.   Give me a break.   I hate ignorance…and particularly from those who want to pretend that are above others…in terms of  their intellect…place in life…etc…etc…  But they don’t know who they are…or they forget where they come from…or how to love what is their’s…namely their own people while trying to pretend to be somebody else.   And also loose their dignity by acting and talking foolishly.

Every group loves their own people…that is only natural.  And anybody who doesn’t…then something is wrong with them. 

Loving your own group doesn’t  mean that you have feel that your group is superior…smarter…or better than any other group…or have ideas of  bigotry.  No, it  just means you are proud in who you are. 

But that group called the Republicans…particularly that group of  ignorant and narrow minded black folk in that party…like Clarence Thomas, Alan Kayes…and now this Michael Steele.  This Mike Steele recently, while sitting in of  radio program chatting with a caller who had called in to discuss Barack Obama…Michael Steele made  the statement that media created Barack Obama.

What kind of dumb statement was that?

Media did not create Barack Obama…as if  he was the figment of  someone’s imagination.   Media definitely did not create Barack Obama…they chased Barack Obama because he was the story that people were interested in.  And that is what media does…they make their living tracking down stories that people want to hear and read.   That is the name of  the  business…or if  you will…the game.

Barack Obama is not a splash in a pan…he was not created by a bunch of  handlers…any more than Solomon or David was.  Media did not create  Tiger Woods…or  Michael Jordan…or  Muhammad Ali…or  Jack Nicolas…Princess Diana…or even Dr. Martin L. King, Jr…or Bobby Kennedy or Jack Kennedy, his older brother also known as  President John F. Kennedy.   Destiny did…and their talents did.

So, how foolish is it  for a supposed black man to try to down rate another black man by saying-

“Oh, he wouldn’t be nothing  if media hadn’t created him.”

Because that is exactly what Steele said…though he may not have said it in those exact words.  But  it spoke every bit of  envy.

Media did not create Barack Obama…but it could said that it assist  in informing people about him.  But the same could be said for any movie star…singing star…atlete…or anyone or anything of  interest to the masses.   That is what media does… it  informs.

Too bad Mr. Steele, an ex-governor,  is not the kind of  Republican that Col. Colin Powell is.     Col. Powell is capable of  celebrating and appreciating the abilities and achievements…and excellence of those  inside, as well as, outside of  his own party affiliation and race…and so too Obama. 

Too bad the former governor lacks their skills.

I am beginning to wonder if the excitement of the moment is starting to ware off for the Obama’s.  Living your life in a bubble cannot be fun.  Everything you do…say or wear…gets questions. 

Who would like that?

I personally do not understand all the questions about the dog…Michelle clothes…her sneakers…etc… 

I am not really a sneaker person…but in New York they are rave…and I guess everywhere else too.  But with most sneakers ranging far above Pro-Keds back in the day…which were $10…I feel that all sneakers are seriously over priced.  And as far as I can see most of them if you want a good pair are over $100.

So, then I do not understand the problem with the cost of  Michelle’s sneakers costing over $500 as most sneakers cost $200 and more.  Or maybe…the fuss was just over Michelle wearing those sneakers to some charity event…but men wear Stacy Adams shoes…and other people wear a bunch of  expensive footware today…and nobody is calling to question their shoes…or  sneakers.

In looking at the pictures of  their date night…to think that was the first walk that they have taken together free of  anybody being right up on them.  I don’t know…but I find that rather sad.   The joy of  life seems to be stolen from them.  It is the cost of fame I guess…and certainly the cost of  becoming the President, First Lady and First Family of  the United States. 

I would take my life over  their’s anyday.   But it is a sacrifice that they willingly went  into…because they felt that they could offer their service to help make this a better country.  And for that I applaud them…and feel for them. 

Nobody ever questioned the price tag of everything or anything that  Jackie Kennedy wore.   In fact, the rich never talk about price.  They have this saying-

“If  you have to ask the price then you really can’t afford it.”

Oh, I know what it is.  

Jackie “O”  never wore sneakers…only terribly expensive clothes…jewelry…and shoes.    And there were no questions about them or their price tags.

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977673088&grpId=3659174697241980&nav=Groupspace

http://blog.georgetownvoice.com/2009/05/03/obamas-have-date-night-at-citronelle-in-georgetown/

http://news.aol.com/article/obama-date-night/459991

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30548300/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/30548045#30548045

Well, since it is now 2 AM again…and I was hoping to try to catch up on my sleep as I am trying to put the finishing touches on my book, THE BISHOP’S WIFE,  promo for youtube…and I am becoming frustrated with my new book publishers.  It seems that they can’t get my errors corrected properly for some reason. 

Since my book had been back and forth to my former publisher…I did not have many errors this time around.  But as few as they have been…I have received the galley back  4 times with almost the same errors not having been corrected.  And I mean glearing errors that leap out at you…but evidently they do not to the person who is suppose to be setting my type and making these corrects.

I am beginning to come of a mind…that this whole self-publishing thing is for the birds.  That it probably doesn’t matter who you get…there will be problems.

Well,  I’ll keep you posted.  I really have to get some sleep now.  I’ve got to get up and out early…a lot of work yet to be done.   And the clock is ticking.

THE BISHOP’S WIFE  is now on sale…CLICK this LINK to purchase my book.  You do not need a paypal account to purchase, and you can purchase using a debit card.  Thank you. 

God bless…

Thank you for reading this blog…and  my others.  Please be sure to continue to share this blog site with your family, co-workers and all your friends… “pass it on…” http://www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009

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