PRINCE…DEAD????

Last spring while in Minneapolis I can’t feeling I was going to see Prince.   I was going to see Prince… that’s all I would think anytime I was out and about during our church convention, which brought me to Minneapolis in the first place.   But I never did.

While working as radio announcer I clearly remember when Prince first emerged upon the scene.  He was touted then as he still is now… as a musical genius.

His first album… that’s how long ago that was.   Many today have never heard of an album… and most have forgotten what they were.  But on his first album Prince was the only musician.   He played every instrument used in the recording of that album.

The man was brilliant at his craft and as a business man too.   He was a rough negotiator who fought the record company and won… to maintain musical freedom and the rights to all his work.  He was definitely not a dumbie.

I had wondered how old he was after I hear the news late yesterday evening of his passing.   And I thought about Michael and Whitney… and how they had died in their 50’s… that’s when my son came in and voiced exactly what I had been thinking.

They all had died in their 50’s.

I read today that Prince was 57.   Michael had just hit the bit five-‘o.’   And Whitney was in her early 50’s too I believe.

Three remarkable people musically… but dark around the edges.  We are all familiar with Whitney and her battle with drugs and for happiness.   And Michael’s peculiar ways… dipping and dapping into all kinds of things… and his involvement and fascination with little boy children.

But Prince…

Well, back in the day he was always seen with highly attractive young ladies… though he did admit in an interview to being bi-sexual.   I have very deep opinions regarding people who proclaim themselves to be bi-sexual.  It kind of goes in line with Biblical scripture… ‘either they will hate the 1 and love the other.’   Something is going to be more intriguing to them sexually over the other… and that is just the way it is.

In fact, I was surprise to find out that he had once married.  During the early days he lived a fast life… though he always appeared to be shy and introverted… as Michael often attempted to appear as well.  But I think more that a song writer Prince was a musician… and lived as 1.

Though he lived quietly and without much controversy through much of his musical career… except for moving from 1 woman friend to another…  Prince managed to stay pretty much out of the limelight.

During his aging process Prince still looked pretty much the same.  Though a friend told me this morning that he had had a hip replacement and a knee replacement.  I guess that came from years of dropping to his knees while performing… playing his guitar and dancing like James Brown… who was 1 of Michael’s idols as well.

Well, if you are going to mimic someone… mimic the best.   And James Brown was the best at what he did.   Truly.

And though not well educated James… based upon his movie… was a screwed businessman.  Which I guess Prince also learned to be.

In reading an article on the passing of Prince  they alluded to the possibility of Prince having suffered a drug overdose.  I seems to me every time a black person dies they want to tie it to drugs.

Maybe it’s true.   Or maybe not.   But 1 thing is for sure Prince was a decent person who gave back… and was not selfish enough to not open the door for other musicians and/or singer etc.

He refused to leave his beloved Minneapolis thereby forcing the record companies to come to him.   And because he did acts like… Ready For the World… Time… Babyface and L.A. Reid… Terry Lewis and Jimmy Jam etc.. etc.. etc.. were introduced to the world.

That was a fete that not many black folk are known for… reaching back or opening the doors for others.  But Prince did and there are a ton of people who can share their stories of how Prince aided them… or  impacted their careers…  or opened a door for them.   And that truly is a great legacy.

In the end, however, there is the question of eternity.   I hope as I had hoped for Michael and Whitney that Prince was able to resolved that with the Lord.

I have no doubt that Princes funeral will be filled with people whom we all know their names… there will be weeping… and fond memories… happy stories of being out on the road.   Or maybe the family may chose to quietly bury him … just as he had lived.

Well, God bless…   It’s Friday and I hope each of you have an enjoyable weekend.

Before closing I ran across pictures of Denise Matthews… better know as Prince’s girl, Vanity.   Whom years later left the music scene and became a woman of God …while also battling A.I.D.S.   Ironically,  like Prince… Vanity passed as well but a few years ago… also at age 57.

Another 1 of Prince’s girl well known to us was Apollonia.  She had been a former cheerleader of some major league team before hooking up with Prince.    And she had won a beauty contest or 2.

Vanity often attributed her battle with A.I.D.E.S. to the life she had lived while running with Prince.

Though in life he wore platform heels to add to his short height… he sold lots of records and made lots of money.  But in the end I hope his arms were not too short to box with Satan… to have ended up on the winning side.

Imagine in 3 short years Prince would have been 60.   Wow…

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 ©2016

Add a comment April 22, 2016

BLACK FOLK AND PLASTIC SURGERY…. ATLANTA PLASTIC….

I see where soon a new reality show is going to start called ‘ATLANTA PLASTIC.’

Truthfully speaking I fail to see why black folk are starting to jump on this band wagon?

I think we watch far too much TV and salivate far too much over all these so-called stars on these reality shows, who now seem to be creating a new standard as to what black folk should look like… by spending big bucks to go up some plastic surgeon to supposedly make them look like whatever they envision in their heads what they want to look like… down to skin color and everything else.

From NeNe Leakes on down it is far too much.  I happened to catch her just the other day on 1 of those networks where people sell their wares… and her hips were far too out there.  And I think she added lips, had her nose fixed, put in more boobs etc… etc… etc…

Why would I want to do that to myself?

First of all you have to consider that your body is in a consistent state of transitioning.  Your body never stands still.  Your face does not look the same as it did when you were ‘say’ 5 years old.  Your nose changed… eyes changed… your lips may have become fuller or more drawn out… but it is not the same and won’t be same when you hit 70… if you happened to be blessed enough to see 70 or 80.  Because we are continuously changing in terms of our shapes and sizes …and looks and even our heights.  Our body does not stand still and nor does our faces or our boobs …or the lack thereof.

My son and his friends love Tamar Braxton… but what is real about her face.  She looks fake… and I think she added boobs and the works too.

Then there is Wendy who wants everybody to believe she just developed naturally into what she looks like today… but if you could only see what she looked like in college.

So, you guys look at this stuff now and say, “Oh, wow…”

There is so much of it now.  And it is all over the place… and more and more black folk are beginning to lend towards it.

But I wish I could put up on my Facebook page of a picture of the woman who used to be a beautician who decided she was going to get some work done to her body.  It left her paralyzed and unable to work …or to do much of anything else and looking like a disaster.  That’s her is this picture here.

I never really liked what I looked like either… but then who really does as we are growing up?

But now when I see me in a mirror I have to marvel… because I am not half bad and certainly not as bad as I thought I had been.  But I have evolved …and I am yet evolving.  And so are you.

But I have never been into ‘self-hate’ and that is what I think of people who go out and destroy themselves believing they can create through the help of a plastic surgeon a ‘better them.’

There was a time when we used to scoff at people who went out to see plastic surgeons to have work done to themselves.  We laughed at people like Michael Jackson for bleaching their skin… changing their noses … or Janet having a rib removed.  But now black folks are running out like crazy and spending tons of money …on these wacko doctors or so-called doctors… better known as plastic surgeon to get all kinds of work done to themselves from belly tucks, cheekbones added, lipsuction, noses done, jawbones adjusted… etc… etc…   Michael even had a clef added to his chin.

And now this…  ATLANTA PLASTIC.

http://www.allure.com/beauty-trends/blogs/daily-beauty-reporter/2015/07/atlantic-plastic-tv-show.html

smh….(for those of you who didn’t understand ‘smh’ …  I’m shaking my head)

All the wrong things are glorified in our culture today.  Just look at the mess that many people are in with all that tattooing.  So many of them have gone so overboard with it they look like Satan worshipers...  which many may well be.

The same thing could be said about piercing… not just your ears but everything else and in between.

It is really far too too too too much.

And here comes ‘ATLANTA PLASTIC’ to put the final nails to the coffin.

The purpose of this show is merely to glorify an already very growing trend among black folk today.  And it is not just in the secular world but also in the gospel and Christian world as well.  Pastors, gospel singers, evangelist etc… etc… etc.. are all indulging in fixing something about themselves from lightening their complexions to reconstructing their faces.  That Paula White you can’t even remember what she used to look like… but it sure wasn’t what she looks like today.  Juanita Bynum is another 1 who has hadtremendous work done on her face.  Bishop Paul Morton’s wife lightened her skin and did some other things to her face like fixed her nose.  That T. L. Penny …lighten herself, added boobs and did some other things too.  Kirk Franklin is said to have had some work done on his face.  And the list goes on and on and on and on…

And this show coming onto TV is going to push those numbers even further… and that is exactly what it has been produced to do… to create a desire in highly impressionable viewers to rush out and get some plastic surgery done on themselves too.  And hopefully… I guess the show wants them to be willing enough to make trips down to Atlanta to get it done.  So, look out for them to be pushing the doctors and exactly what they are supposedly experts at doing.

But I would say don’t fall for it.  There are things in life we are just made to endure… and becoming a mother causes some  leftover tell-tell factors on our bodies… but does that mean we should seeking to bring our bodies back to what it may have been and looked like before that 4th child?

I think not.

Recently I saw Salt and Pepa on an interview and I was shocked to see that Pepa… whom I always thought was beautiful… and ‘I LOVE PEP.’  But I saw that she too had gone up under some surgeon’s knife.   I won’t say what I thought of the after effects because I have always liked Pepa… she’s a very nice person but I really wish she had not gone to see any surgeon regarding her face… even with age she had to look better than what that surgeon left her.

Not really a big reality TV fan… or much of a television watcher anyway… I have no real idea of what Tamar used to look like but I can see that down to their mother they have all gone under the knife… including Toni.

I wouldn’t play with my face or body like that.  There are far too many disaster stories out there for me to consider going up under some plastic surgeon’s knife to cut or change anything about me artificially.  And I am a believer ‘if you are not sick… stay away from doctors… because they will make you sick if you don’t.’ 

And when it goes wrong… it goes wrong.  And there is no way to correct it after you and they… those plastic surgeons have messed you and your body up.

Talking about reality shows… since the 2nd episode of ‘PREACH’ I have yet to see any more episodes.  Did I just happen to miss them or was that show dropped following the first 2 screenings of it on TV?

Well, God bless…. it Friday and I haven’t really been all that busy this week, but I am now beginning to get back into the throws of things.  And it feels good.

I bought myself a blender off of 1 of those shopping networks.  So, I am shifting my eating habits a bit.  When I get out of here I’m going to go buy me some more bananas… or sometime this weekend.  I got a couple of whole pineapples and a can of peaches I’ve been looking forward to mixing up with some crushed ice… which my blender is quite capable of doing just fine.   And I am going to kick up my heels and enjoy the weekend… and I sincerely hope you do the same.

But I do not want to get out of here without making mention of Sandra Bland or Sam Du Bose… 2 very sad situations in the unnecessary deaths of yet 2 more black folk.  Of which I am highly sadden by… and question… and pray comfort and justice to their families… though nothing can give them back what they have lost and that is their love ones senselessly…

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  ©2015

Add a comment July 31, 2015

B. SCOTT…drag QUEEN…

I just happened to come across this person while writing my last blog.  And after watching some footage of him I knew I had to write something on him.

His name is B. Scott and he classifies himself as being androgynous… kind like what Michael wanted to be… somewhere between being male and female.

I have seen few people who have pretended to be as happy as B. Scott pretends like he is.  When I was in ‘the life’ I thought I was happy too.  But I never pretended like I was over joyed with it.  Over a period of time I just came to accept it… which I guess if you finally settle upon ‘this is who I am’ you tend to do.  You just start to kind of accept it.  Which is what B. Scott said he finally came to do.

Though I have seen thousands of gay guys and women who acted like they were super dupper happy being gay.  I had also seen them …many of them in the tears because they wished they could be like everyone else.

When I watched this video on YouTube by B. Scott… the 1 below… it really prompted me to write this blog.  Because there were a few things that he said that really gave me insight as to who he is… and why.

(I’ve got to find the right video)  But in the YouTube video  B. tells of how people used to say to him when he was a little boy, ‘You so pretty you should have been born a girl.’

In hearing that it made me think of my son, who at the age of 13… 1 day broke down and started crying saying to me that I would never be a grandmother.  Then he said that he must be ‘gay’ because everyone told he that.

How could I defeat what he was saying?

At the time I was not saved.  I was speechless and did not know what to say.  I was shocked.

Today I would rebuke that devil and call the devil and liar.  But that day… I was speechless.  I did not know what to say.

I must confess to being 1 of those gay mothers who was seriously homophobic… terribly.  But I never pushed my thoughts nor my fears over onto my son.    Well, I hope not… certainly never intentionally.   But there was a period in my life when he could nothing right.  I hollered at him about everything.  I did not realize that I was doing that though until a woman who was part of my film shoot on my short film… a niece to Florida of ‘Good Times’… pointed it out to me and talked to me about it.  She said, ‘Why are you always yelling at him?’

I never realized that I did.  But I am glad she brought it to my attention.  I might have drove my son away… but thank God that did not happened.  That big headed boy took me out to dinner last night… to very expensive sea food restaurant that we both like.  But I do not love him because he treats me to thing… or buys me stuff…  I love him because he is ‘my son.’  And I thank God for him.

I had never heard anyone call him that… that word… ‘gay.’   Though I think they were careful not to do so while I was around… as I would not have liked it.  Though I must say that at an early age I started to feel like I was seeing certain signs of it.  But here is where I want to tell you how the devil works.

You are not seeing anything that the devil has not put in your mind.  Your young children know nothing about sex… but the devil will toy with your brain and make you believe you are seeing things which are not there.

You don’t believe me????

Let me share with you this.  One night while in my apartment in downtown Brooklyn…. as I was leaving the living room to go towards my bedroom I looked down at the floor.  Upon looking down I saw the floor was covered with large water bugs everywhere.  I mean swarming with them everywhere.  I quickly looked up and said to myself, ‘the devil is a liar.’
I don’t know where that came from… but that is what I said.  Then I looked back down at the floor and there were no water bugs anywhere.  It had all been a figment of my imagination… brought about from the devil knowing that I had a fear of those things.  Which came about by the fact that occasionally I would see a water bug in my apartment…  something that my landlord refused to believe.

But that night the devil had decided that he was going to drive me mad… meaning crazy by presenting to me a ton of those horrible things crawling all over my apartment floor around me… and they covered my entire apartment floor.  But I did not go crazy.  God kept my mind… because He did not let me fall for it.  I merely shut my eyes for whatever reason… (as I did not know it was God’s doing at the time)…  I just started believing that they were not there.  You would have had to seen them.  They were so real.

This is how I know that people can see things… which look as real as anything you can touch or feel… and it not really be there.  It was just something that the devil presented to me… and had made it appear real to me because he knew I was afraid of those things. Of which New York seems to me have quite a few of them.

http://www.glaad.org/blog/oregon-mother-charged-killing-her-son-because-she-thought-he-was-gay

The woman in the above link killed her 4 year old son because she believed he was gay.  The devil truly had her mind that she would have done such an insane thing.  But he does and can plants seeds in your head… and make you see and hear things which are not really there.   And if you are not careful… and  you let them take root in you… you will believe what the devil has planted and will act out in whatever way he wants you to.

One day I heard a friend of mine yelling at 1 of her grandsons… ‘Put that rope down, boy.  You ain’t no girl.’

What does having a jump rope in your hand have to do with being gay?

So, what if a little boy wants to jump rope.  It does not mean he wants to grow long hair and become a girl.

But my friend did not realize that she was planting seeds… that 1 day would grown into just what she was asking for.

I had wanted to badly to tell her that what she and other members in her family were doing to him in regards to calling her grandson a ‘girl’… or saying to him had some ‘girl in him’ was wrong.  But I knew they would not listen to me… so I did not.  But now in hindsight I realized I should have tried …if for no other reason other than for her grandson’s sake.

We must speak LIFE to your children.  And do not let anyone speak DEATH to them… not even in joking.  Calling your boy child a girl is speaking death to him… or your girl child a boy.  Don’t do it.  Encourage them to have fun… let them enjoy themselves as children without you putting all your own sexual hangups upon them.

So, when I watched and listened to the above video of B. Scott I realized just how he had come to be and why.  I understand him… not so much because of what my son had said to me.  But because I understand how little children can become confused as to who they are if people keep pushing them in some other direction by saying ignorant things to them that makes them believe what people are saying about them.  And I guess that does kind of fit directly with what my son had said to me.

My entrance into ‘the life’ was very different… it had nothing to do with anyone calling me a ‘boy.’   Because frankly I never looked like 1… nor did I ever want to be 1.  Though I wasn’t much of a baby doll playing little girl either.  I don’t think I tried climbing trees… but I did try my hand at trying to fix a couple of things when I was young.

But being the oldest my youth was superseded by my having to learn how to do things at an early age… like washing dishes.  I do not know how old I was when my father pushed a chair up to the kitchen sink… but that was the beginning of my years of me being our family dishwasher.  Then I was taught how to cook… and the list goes on and on…

I was introduced to sex at a very early age.  Not via any family members but outside of our home.  Only twice had it happened.  But it happened before I had a voice or knew I had a voice or any idea of what was happening.  That is not to say I was an infant.  I was just a very young innocent child of maybe 6…7… or 8.   And the 2 times it happened they happened at varying times… not close or together.  Maybe a year or so apart… can’t remember that part.

I made mention on 1 of the times in 1 of my other blogs not so long ago.  It was a time that I almost got gang raped… but God said ‘no.’  That was the first time that someone took advantage of me.  But those 2 experiences marked my life forever… and how I think and feel about people who take advantage or abuse children.

But contrary to what many people may say or think… sexual preference many times may not have anything to do with what you were indoctrinated to… or let me say it this way first introduced to sexually.

Though I have spoken to many gay guys and they had the opposite experience… and some women too.  It did lead them into a life of homosexuality.  And a lot of times it happened to them with someone who took advantage of them sitting in some position in the church… lived in their apartment building… was a close friend to their mother or father… and ‘yes’ even sometimes it was a relative… or a daughter or a son of the 1 their parent’s friend.  One of my times was such a case as that.  My mother must have known… as she never went to visit that friend ever again.

But going back to this guy B. Scott in watching his videos I felt sorry for him… because I understood him in ways that many people will never get to.  And I also recognized his gaiety… or supposed happiness… really to be his sadness.

Love you, B. Scott.  And hoping that 1 day God will do a work in your life like he did in mine.  I hope the same for my son…. and the many sons and daughters dealing with identity problems… issues… or sexual confusion.

And I hope your laughter and smiles will become ‘real’… and turn into a joy that surpasses all understanding 1 day.

And that 1 day you will look into a mirror and see how really handsome you are… and start loving the ‘real’ you’ and not that the ones who were agents of devil told you were… but who God really made you to be.

Well, God bless…. I am really supposed to be doing something else right now.  But I just wanted to take the time to do this blog really quickly.  I hope that it falls upon fertile ground…

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  ©2014

2 comments April 17, 2014

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

First Michael… now Gary Coleman… Blanche… and the oil mess… Boycott BP

If seems that fame brings about a lot of  problems that many of us would really rather not have.  But so many only see the glitz and the gleam of the big bright lights…and nothing else.

They clamor to be in the videos, on the cover of the magazines, on the big screen, sitting on the Oprah show… or on somebody’s reality show.  They want it… want it… or 15 minutes of  it… if  that is all they can get.

Some people have committed various acts… including murder… shooting up high schools …bombing buildings …etc…  all in order to get their name in print and/or picture on TV.

Many have sought it… and many who found it have also turned and tried to run from it.  Because all that glitters is  really not gold.

If  many knew what that life was really like I doubt that they would pursue it.  It is a life filled with lots of ups and downs.  And plenty of  its own uncertainties… and always lots of money and work woes.

There are some things in the video clip above that you should play close…very close attention to.  First of all, is the lack of any real care or concern by the woman who claims to be Gary Coleman’s wife.

Second of all, when she finally does start talking to him…listen to how she speaks rather…barks at him like she is talking to a little misbehaving child instead of a bleeding and near dying husband.

Third of all, how she announced to the operator that her name is Shannon Price…and not Shannon Coleman.

And Fourth of all, how much more concerned about herself and what she can’t stand and what is going on with her… which seems to be of  far more importance to her than a bleeding Gary Coleman.

Is it possible that Gary Coleman may have fallen prey to a person he should have chased back and away from him…instead of marrying her?

After several episodes of  run-ins with fans who seem to have gotten too close to him,  where Coleman had been noted as being mean and evil towards them.  And often it ended up with him punching 1 or 2 of them in the face.

Then how did he hook up with this woman?

Is it possible that she allowed Coleman to lay there bleeding until he was near death…and then decided to call 911 for emergency assistance for him?

Is it possible that she may have hit him or… somehow or other brought  about brain hemorrhage  that brought about his death?

Is it possible that she ever loved Gary Coleman at all?

Not if  you go by what you hear during that 911 call.

Gary Coleman’s burial has been postponed… though the article said ‘cancelled’ …hmmmm…

What does that mean?

At any rate Gary’s parents have sent their people to step into the picture between that woman and Gary…on their son’s behalf.   I really feel for them.

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2010/06/exclusive-todd-bridges-ex-manager-begged-gary-colemans-ex-wife-not-pull-plug

I had always thought it sad when Gary went into court with his parents, who are really foster parents to him.  But I guess the only parents he ever knew.  And after it happened, I had always hoped that time would have healed that wound between them. 

It does happen sometimes in families.  In fact in many families it does happen.  Most families experience some type of  falling out one time or other.  But then there are those families that go to grave not ever speaking again after whatever happened came between them.

Those family members who mature and/or come to know that ‘there is nothing like family,’  they learn to but aside differences in order to not to continue to tear the family apart.  Many times it is hard but you have to do it ‘for the sake of the family.’   Otherwise, there will be tons of  regrets on both sides years later… and usually well after it is too late.

I had to learn through the grace of  God to put aside some things dealing with family issues in our family.  The things that set us at each other, and all the name calling… finger pointing …can’t override the value of keeping the family together.  You have to work at keeping the family together… because no amount of things or ill  will or words can compensate for it…family.

Family is important.

Unfortunately, Gary Coleman may have elected to turn his back on the 2 people who may have well loved him the most… to run into the arms of people who filled him up with a bunch of  ill advice and evil counsel.

On the other hand Dana Plato’s, the young girl on Diff’rent Stroks, foster mother struck me as being much like Patty Duke’s family and aunt, who saw her as being a gold mine.  The same could be said about the father of  the star of  the movie  ‘Home Alone,’  McCaulay Culkin.

It is sad imagining any child who has to endure a life among people who really do not love them… or who value more what the child can earn for ‘them.’  At some point I guess this is exactly what Gary began to feel… though I must say I never believed it about the people who called him ‘their son.’

Personally, I think there should be an autopsy done on Gary Coleman.  Something just does not sound or smell right.  It is kind of  like how I still feel about Michael Jackson’s death.

I think it was murder.

And it would seem that he… Gary did still have  some money.  Look at what he was driving.

Michael Jackson was a young teen boy when people got in between him and his family too.  Over time and perhaps even out of  some degree of  necessity on both parts… their’s and his… they slowly came back together.  Because at the end of the day…family is all you have when you get right down to it.  All you have got to depend upon.

Perhaps, near the end of  Gary’s life he realized that too.

Going through pictures of  Gary Coleman, I can see that there were times when he wasn’t doing so well healthwise.  I produced a documentary on dialysis a while ago.  Before it I had never heard the word dialysis before or even knew that there people who could not urinate on their own due to problems with their kidneys.

But I had an aunt who started needing dialysis treatments due to her diabetes.  Through her I came to find out about the illness and how it ate away at  those who had to depend upon it.

In this picture you see a darker Gary Coleman.

Well,  that is one of the side effects of  dialysis.  Another is the obvious swelling of  his face… and the ashy-ness of  his skin tone.  Do you notice how his eyes appear to almost  be shut?

He does look sick doesn’t he?

With so many health issues due to his kidneys since being a young child and straight through his life… which also stunted his growth greatly… and other problems… it is not hard to see why Gary Coleman was as he was.  Though such adversity in the lives  of others has caused them to not only raise above their circumstances…but to truly go for the stars in ways that Gary did not.  They turn their circumstances around by working to benefit the lives of  others.  But it seems that  Gary could not rally that kind of strength.

He seemed to be alone in the world… and the 1 person left for him to depend upon wouldn’t even help him in his final hour of  need.   What a tragedy…for him …and maybe even for us.  As none us tried to help him either.

http://www.popeater.com/2010/06/04/gary-coleman-funeral-canceled/

If you would like to read the 911 call put in by Shannon Price, you can CLICK on the LINK  BELOW.

http://www.popeater.com/2010/06/04/gary-coleman-funeral-canceled/

I will never forget watching her taking some award where she graciously stepped to the mic  to said a few words to the teacher who told her that she would never make it as an actress.  It is amazing the things we remember.

Of course like millions I too sat watching nights of  Golden Girls.  Who didn’t love ‘ma’  Estelle Getty…or  Dorothy her larger than life daughter.  And that ditizy Betty White… and that over-aged sex kitten Blanche.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/04/arts/04mcclanahan.html?src=me

I had a lover… someone I lived with for over 9 years who loved to watch television.  She stayed in front of  it.  And Golden Girls was one of  the shows in the evening she would tune in to.

So, of course, over time I became quite familiar with them all.  The sassy Blanche, the dim-wit Rose and   Ma… and Dorothy.

One by 1 they are slowly departing this place.  First Estelle Getty, then  Bea Arthur,  and Rue McClanahan and leaving Betty White.  All of them better known by their character names… Dorothy, Rose, Blanche and Sophia…the Golden Girls.

And then there was 1…

Early this week Rue passed too…leaving Betty White as the lone survivor of  their lively cast.

Betty is lively as ever…spunky… and I guess you can even say sassy at times too.  She is hard at work on another series… and really hasn’t stopped working since her Golden Girls days.

Today there are reality shows… and shows about people trying to win a million dollars.  It all became so boring to me that I stopped watching TV a while ago.  And truthfully… I have not missed it.  Besides, as an adult person my schedule is way too busy for me to be sitting down and watching television.

Didn’t intend to write so much.  Now, I have a movie that I want to watch.

So, you have a good night… and a beautiful day tomorrow.

Update Saturday, June 5th:  I awoke this morning having left my son’s laptop up on some news items on the oil spill in the Gulf.  Listening to it… 1 news broadcast on the oil spill after another… the impact of  the breath of  this oil spill has finally really hit home to me.

The British people in the upper level of  BP really were such big liars.  They lied about everything… saying that they had it contained…that it was not going to hit the shores…and that it would not impact the local environment.   In the beginning that BP top guy was passing the buck of  responsibility on to someone else… some other company… and that it was not their oil rig at fault.  Their oil rig that had failed to have all the safety measures that by law they should have had in place. Yet other lies by BP.

Now, the oil slick has hit Florida and is on its way out into the Atlantic Ocean if  the clean up  doesn’t speed up and can’t contain it any better than BP already has.   It all makes me think about the Republican Convention during McCains’ run for the Presidency against Obama.  Where they walked around with ton of signs and cries of-

“Drill, baby…drill,” could be heard all over that convention floor.  The Republicans were excited about going out and digging more oil rigs… even stating that they would go into protected environmental areas to do so.

This is the video new items that awoke to.  And believe it became crystal clear to me that what is going on in the Gulf of Mexico right now is surely going to impact us all.

http://video.pbs.org/video/1499276788

It seems to me that we should all be boycotting BP gas stations.  And it is upsetting to me that this company is not even an American company.

How is it that a British oil company owns oil rigs in our own home waters… while we are seeking oil from foreign shores of countries such as those in the Middle East?

If we have oil right here in America then we should be producing it and controlling it for our own use.  And particularly since these oil rigs are so dangerous and can impact us in such a way as this gushing BP oil rig in the middle of  the Gulf of  Mexico.

Yes, I am advocating that we all boycott BP…it is time that they started feeling it in their pocketbook.  Perhaps then BP might realize that they can’t come into America and treat Americans any kind of way…or endanger us without a hefty price.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37463005/ns/disaster_in_the_gulf

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

Add a comment June 5, 2010

Jackson Reality…what is the allure? And what women won’t do-3

Talk about a disaster.

I recall being at a party for Whitney…as in Huston…and seeing LaToya along with a host of other people there.

At the time she was still very much cute and quite petite…as she is very tiny.

But when I happened to come across this video of her…I couldn’t help but go back trying to remember what she used to look like.  And it sure was nothing like this.

Boob job…lightening of her skin…and she definitely had a hair transplant.

How much could she have hated herself?

Perhaps it was that crazy husband of her’s who smashed in her face.  Tore up her nose…damaged her eye…and all that other stuff he did to her…that older white guy who she married claiming… she was trying to escape from her abusive daddy…Joe Jackson.

In the video footage below LaToya looks so old.   And a little bit more plastic surgery she will be in the running for  a neck to neck race  to the finish line for  ‘who looks the worst…or the most terrorifying?’   Her or that Lion Woman.

I just don’t get it.

Why would you want to mess yourself up like this?

What some women won’t do.

Germaine is traveling around the world and doing his best to look like Michael…and be recognized as Michael’s all-in-all.   Holding his hands like Michael in a praying fashion…and all of that stuff.  Even in just how he steps back…then steps forth to speak to someone. Just the way Michael would do.   It is all a bit too much.   He is really taking it to the bank…and beyond if he can.

But then are they all?

Are they all finally doing in death to Michael…what they could not do to him in life?

And that is take him for a ride…straight to the bank?

My son called me other night saying-

“Oooh, ma. Everybody is calling me. And telling me I’ve got to watch the Jackson’s Reality Show.”

I’m wondering who wants to watch a bunch of over-the-hill…no-real-talent brothers?

But I guess some people do…obviously. And my son was one of them.

A friend did tell me that she loved the Michael Jackson movie though.

I guess when it has all been said and done.  He really was the greatest.  Like Muhammad Ali was to boxing…and Michael Jordan to basketball.  Michael was  it to the music and video industry.  And there can be no denying it.

In the end it was…what he wanted.

Well, tomorrow it is suppose to be in low 20’s…meaning degrees.   So, I am definitely planning on spending  my day inside.

What about you?

Have a beautiful day…however you spend it.

And oh, yeah….

I just finished putting the finishing touches to my book, THE BISHOP’S WIFE.   I can’t wait to tell you when it will be available for purchase…and my web site is up.  But rest assured that announcement will be coming very soon.   God is good…and greatly to be praised.

Well, Christmas is right around the corner.   I understand that it is next week.

Wow…where did the time go?

This year has flown by.  It truly has.

While I was out shopping this evening…as I turned to leave I shouted out-

“Merry Christmas and Happy New Years.”

And I was almost amazed that I got no response back.  Times have truly changed.  Everybody wants to be ‘politically right.’

What is that anyways?

I would rather recognize the Lord and give him glory…than try to satisfy a bunch of people afraid they are going to step on somebody’s religious beliefs.

Jesus is the reason for the season.   And I just hope that you and your’s…or you and your family…and even just you if this happens to be your current situation…enjoy it.    I just hope you…and whomever have a very merry Christmas and a good and safe New Years.  But I am sure that I will be writing another blog or 2 or 3 before the year is out.  You know me…I’ve always got something to say…on something.

THE BISHOP’S WIFE  is now on sale…CLICKon my book cover for the LINK to purchase my book. 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

Add a comment December 17, 2009

Skin and color issues… on being black and beautiful

Happened to come across this on youtube and it touched me.

You’re pretty for a black girl???

In this the 21st Century…I would have hoped that we were far from the backward thinking of yesterday…all of  us.  But particularly black folk…or so called black folk.   You know when we walked around trying not to be black…afraid to show our napps and kinks.

You do remember yesterday?  

You know the time when …when if  you were white  you were alright.  Light and you could  just get by…or wasn’t as dark as the brown paper bag…and your hair wasn’t too short…too kinky…or your lips too big.

After all these years…and throughout history we have yet to get over not loving who we are.  And what makes it so really bad…we can’t even see that the rest of world wishes they were us.

If  the truth be known…for better or for worst…we set the fashion trends…style…language patterns… music…dance… and almost everything.   And not only here in this country…but around the world as well.

Western Culture…is definitely highly rooted in the black culture of this country.

So, then why do we feed in to this…I hate me…or can’t find a good black man… or can’t  find a good black woman lie?

It is a lie…because I am a good black woman…and I know I’m not all by myself. And I also believe that there are just as many good and decent black man.

I will never buy into the hype that the reason so many black men and women are preferring to date outside of our race…is because they can’t find someone good in it.  That is a lie.  

I would really like to know just where they have been looking?

The bars…and  prison?

If you seek out junk…then you will find junk.

And if  you seek junk…don’t expect it to step up…to being anything else.   But junk.

I know someone…a black woman…a bit younger than myself…who I used to think of as being smart.  Until one day she said to me that she was  involved with someone who is an addict…and he has been this way for years.

Now, she has her own business… is in the church…but.   She says she loves the guy….that he is a good person.    She says…she is willing to wait on him with the hope that he will straighten out his life.  

And with God’s help…that could happen.

But has anybody ever heard of  being  unevenly yoked?

What if  he never gets his life straight?

And there you are…sitting around all these years…hoping and praying…and sexing it up with somebody who may never be able to be anything real in your life…outside of what he already is.   An addict. 

I don’t know if this is still true or not…but when this whole thug culture was being hyped up…I could not believe the number of decent women…and who I thought were intelligent black woman… talking about they wanted a thug.

“I want me a thug.”

What????

Were they crazy?

A what???

A thug?

I guess that is what Vivica Fox wanted when she hooked up with half-a-dollar.

It got even worstt when I went to hear Nikki Giovanni…and she flashed her tatoo…a large…very large…marking…a tattoo on the inside of  one of  her arms reading….”THUG LIFE.”    At 60 something years of age…I felt she had lost her mind talking about celebrating that lifestyle.  Of what...men beating their women…neglecting their children…etc…  And having sex with anything moving…and dis-respecting women with a bunch of  misogynistic lyrics…loaded with the N-word from start to finish…and a bunch of  other filth.

What is there to celebrate about someone playing like he’s a thug?

“Ahhh…come on now, Nikki.”

In the above video Oprah says that 70% of  black women are not married because “there are not just as many black men out there.”  Meaning that the earth is populated with more black women than black men.   I debate this highly…simply because it is not true.  Since we were created by God…and He is and has always been a God of  balance.  He would never have created more of one sex over another.  And particularly since He…Himself  said-

“Be fruitful and multiply.”

And He would not have said that…to go against His own laws against adultery and fornication…by creating a shortage of any one sex to the other. 

All through nature there is balance between the sexes.  Why would it be any different for man?

I think that people make all kind of excuses to accommodate their choices.  In the earlier days of  black stars in this country (of which most of them had white husbands or wives)…they claimed that it was that they could not find anyone black equal to who they were…being that great singer or actor or actress… or musicans etc.  that they were.   Today they  certainly could not make the same claim since many African-American people excel in all areas from business to sports to entertainment to entrepreneurship…and ministry too.  

In churches all across this country today there are plenty of  black millionaires lining church pews and pulpits…and not  just in the church.   (But doesn’t Pearl Bailey and Queen Latifah look very much alike?)

So, nobody can tell me that there are not enough good or decent black folk around…of both sexes to go around.  Just a couple of weeks ago I was at a very large church convention called AIM in Tampa, Fl…and I never once saw an im-balance between the black men and women…or teens…and children that were there of   either sex.  And they packed the Tampa Bay area coming from everywhere across this country and outside of  it.

I think that media is to blame for starting the rumor that women out number  men.  Since in the beginning…media like most of everything else was male dominated.   Men love to justify certain behavior.    So, why not create a lie like saying-

“Women out number us.  So, therefore we are allowed to have as many of them as we would like.”

All through history you see women being used as sexual objects…and with men having multiple wives…or harems.   Yet, when you see pictures of those times, art, and readings from early times…they do not reflex a lesser number of  men to women.  If anything…it seemed as though the opposite were true. 

So, shows like the above  segment on the Oprah Winfrey Show only legitimized that lie for many people.  Vast number of people have always believed  it.  But now because Oprah said it…that makes it true.  Not so.  

It is very much the same as saying that there is a ‘gay gene’ …therefore, gay people can’t help being gay.  That too is a lie.  There is no ‘gay gene.’   Gay people are not a freak of  nature.  But there are some scientist who claim that this is true…and falsely want to lay claim to this based upon some bogus laboratory discovery.

What it rally all gets down to… is  what do you want to believe?

You can choose to believe lies…falsehoods…or choose to believe the truth. 

But no matter what…black is beautiful…even for a black girl.

CLICK the LINK BELOW to see the video…it is sad to the level of  self-hate due to their dark conplexion.

http://www.mwza.com/tyra-banks-show-black-women-their-children-bleaching-their-skin/

It is amazing the number of women, men and children is this country and abroad…from the Caribbean Islands to Europe…and Africa…who are running to blench their skin.  Many without any knowledge of the vast risk to their health or  life…not to mention that  the chemicals in the blenching creams are toxic and can destroy the person’s face and body over a period of time.

It is a mystery how many of  us would have loved to have been born darker…and those darker…some of  them least ways…and I guess many…since the blenching cream market has grown so big.  It is truly a shame that  so many would want so badly to be lighter.   And would destroy their beautiful natural complexions trying to undo what God has  so richly and generously blessed them with. 

In listening to the videos above…it all mostly stemmed from feelings that they felt that lighter skin meant better treatment…better jobs…status etc…   All of  which really stems…from lack of respect of  yourself… your capabilities… and how you preceive yourself.   Preception of  one’s self  is a great thing…it can hinder you …or sky rocket you into excelling high levels in life…whether others believed you could…or not.

Personally…I have never felt that anything was more beautiful than being black.  I may have never liked what I personally looked like (in terms of my facial stuff)…or my size…but I have always liked being black…and black features.

Beauty…is us…in all of  our  varying shades.   It’s really what makes us so much more interesting than all the other group of people in the world.  We’ve got variety, baby…and lots of it…and in all kinds of ways.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/08/celebrity.race?gusrc=rss&feed=worldnews

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/africa_have_your_say/8095882.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7244374.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8148719.stm

They say a picture says a 1,000 words.  If  this picture could speak what would it say?

I think…it would say-

“I’m not happy.”

In comparing this picture with some of  Michael’s earlier pictures before any of the surgery… you can see that he not only hated his skin color…but his lips…hair… nose…chin… and I guess just about everything else about himself.    How very sad.   And even worst…what he did to himself  thinking he could improve upon what  God had already blessed him with.

Thank you so much, Aisha for posting your video on youtube.  You are not only pretty…but fasinatingly beautiful…and a highly intelligent young black woman.  Your husband must marvel every time he looks…at his queen.  I know you must be an equally wonderful mother…because you possess all the right tools to having a beautiful and  successful loving family.

Take a peak at Ethiopian Sara Nuru…Germany’s next top model…and perhaps the world.

And yes…I’m still plugging  my book, THE BISHOP’S WIFE.    In fact…I better get some sleep now…so I can get up early in the morning and get out to go work on my book trailer some more…which I will post here as well as on youtube.  Soon and very soon…   It  is coming.

 Well, enjoy your day tomorrow.  Finally…some sun…but  lots of  humidity too.  Plus I have hot flashes…oh, 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…” 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. 

6 comments July 28, 2009

Micheal’s death…the concert… and Palin

Finally, I am up and out.

We just flew back in from Tampa on Sunday afternoon, and I have been drained of  any energy every since.  I have barely eaten a thing.   All I have wanted was sleep…and more sleep.  But finally today I decided that maybe I needed to get out and get some fresh air to clear out the cob-webs from all that compressed air I was forced to breath in during our flight down and back from Florida.  And maybe…just maybe…I was right.

I feel better already.

Florida was beautiful.  It rained most of the time while we were down there.  But I loved every minute of it anyway. 

My plan was to write my blogs during the evening while laying around in the hotel…as we were in Tampa for the AIM conference with our church.   But our hotel did not have a business room where I could access a computer for free.   Instead they had an UPS store with computers that could be rented at a rate of  59¢ per minute.  Needless to say, I was livid.  And my son had failed to bring our lap-top computer on the trip. 

So, it meant that during this whole Michael Jackson thing…and Palin resignation…and the whole of the 4th of July weekend…I had been computerless.  And unable to voice any opinions on anything to anyone accept to the walls of  my hotel room…how boring.

So, alas…I am happy for this opportunity to be able to once again feel the rugged curves of  the keys of my keyboard.  And now able to voice my voice…but I have forgotten what it was that I had wanted to say.

Though through the whole week last week…I had much to voice…I now, however, find that maybe I am just too tired to say anything.  Though I did think that Palin has committed political suicide…not to mention that there most be something bigger behind her quick decision to resign at this time.   And then… frankly, I believe Michael may have been murdered.

If  Michael was in the mental state that those around him claimed that he was in…then any contract signed by him for 50 concert dates would be null and void…as he was not mentally competent to sign anything.  My other point to this is…is this.   When an artist signs a contract…and particularly an performing artist like a Michael Jackson…the promoters would have insured him.

I am curious just how much the owners of the Staple Center in LA had Michael insured for…as they were the ones promoting the 50 concerts in England.

My second point…is this.  No talent in their right mind would have ever signed a contract for 50 consecutive concert dates.  Most entertainers can barely make it though a couple weeks of  performing without becoming exhausted. 

At 50 years of  age there was no way that any out of shape performer who had not been on the road or on stage for at lease 8 to 10 years…such as Michael… could have possibly pulled off  the 50 concerts that Michael Jackson was said to have been booked for.  Not without battling complete exhaustion and/or possibly killing himself  by dropping dead on stage while attempting to do it.  

It was simply an impossible fete that even the King of Pop would not have been able to pull off.

Had Michael died during the time of  his rehersals for his 50 concert gig…it would have meant a big pay day for the promoters of his supposed 50 concert dates.   Had he died while on the road or any time during his 50 concerts…also meant a big pay day for his promoters.  And having died while under contract…which Michael was…also meant a tremendous pay day for the concert promoters of his 50 concerts.

But had Michael gotten up on the stage and not been able to fulfil his concert dates…for reasons due to exhaustion…burn-out…fatigue…drugs…etc.    This would have meant financial disaster for the promoters…and demands for rememburstments for all tickets of the shows which had to be cancelled.  Something which no promoters wishes to ever face.

http://www.michaeljacksonlive.com/memory.php

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29676050

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/29676991#29676991

Michael Jackson’s untimely demise has left many questions.  And among them are questions as to whether or not Michael superseded the law in the aquisition of  his children?

In perhaps, the biggest baby-mama drama ever…if  Michael had aquired the first 2 children, Price Michael and Paris, legally…then why had they not been legally adopted by him?

No legitimate lawyer would have allowed that to get pass him or her.   He or she would have counseled Michael on the merits of  legalizing those children as being his.  And it would have had to have gone through Probate Court.

Then there is the issue of  Blanket.  

What happened to his mother?

Why is she not named on the birth certificate for the child?

Was this legal?

Since Blanket had to have come from some woman…or girl…somewhere…who was she…and what happened to her?   As  Blanket did not  just materialized out of the  air and just came to be.  Why was his mother’s name omitted from her son’s birth certificate?

I have never heard of any such a thing before…and the matter really sounds quite fishy to me.

The lawyer…or lawyers involved in Michael’s acquisition of  his children really should be questioned…because it seems to me that they…or he…or she…overstepped some boundries of the law.   Even though California laws vary so much from other states…perhaps it was all legal and aboard board.   But I think not.

Having money you get whatever you want.  And I think that Michael Jackson having money managed to find the right people who for a nickle or a dime would deliver to him whatever he wanted. 

And in the end…it is those very people who you cannot ever trust.

So, it is not a mystery to me…that papa Joseph is crying foulplay in the untimely death of  his son, Michael Jackson.  It is sad and becomes highly unsafe for anyone who becomes worth more dead than alive.

We await the autopsy.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1196332/Michael-Jackson-Debbie-Rowe-biological-parents-of-children.html

Hope that you are enjoying this weather.

I got up early this morning to read my Bible on my mother’s very large front porch.  The sound of the birds chirping and feel of the early morning breezy on a beautiful sunny summer morning…made it an absolutely beautiful experience.  Just me…my Bible…and the beauty of the Lord.

Enjoy your day.

I am still twiddling my tumbs waiting on the publishers to finish…but the hold up this time is kind of my fault…in that because of the money I had already put out to publish my book, THE BISHOP’S WIFE.  You know when I gave over 2 grand to Xulon Press…which I go into more in-depth in another blog…and got nothing back in return.  So, when I finally decided upon another company…I had to do it on a payment plan because I just did not have all the money to pay for the printing of  my book all at once.  Which was really one of the main reasons I chose the company that I finally decided upon. 

Four payments in the amount of $175 for the package that I chose…which with a special they were running gave me 20 advance copies of my book for free.  And they should have given me something out of the deal…as I had done all the work for my book including designing  my cover and the layout of my interior pages…plus the editing of the my text, as well…which what has been the hold up. 

I just keep finding another error…and I am such a perfectionist.  It would kill me not to put out a work that is not quality.  So, please continue to bare with me.  THE BISHOP’S WIFE will soon be out and available for your purchase soon.    the time when my book will soon be made available for sale.  God is good…I am so happy to finally  have gotten it done and out…and into the final stage of the process…besides getting out to aid in selling it.

And I am still working hard on my book trailer for ‘youtube’ too…and my radio promo.  All of  which I shall premiere right here on my blog site first.

 Well, enjoy the rest of your day and I have so much more to tell you.  It’s coming. 

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. 

2 comments July 14, 2009

The shot heard across the world…Michael Jackson gone…

They say that it always comes in 3’s. 

First…Carradine

Then…Farrah

Then…Ed McMann

Now, Michael?

I had thought about writing today…then got tired and decided not to.  But then the phone rang…and word came of  Michael’s passing.  And I have been in conversation after conversation trying to find out exactly what is what.  And all the while thinking…how sad.

I had heard about Farrah earlier today…but then had forgotten about it.  She had battled hard against cancer…but perhaps it was her battle with drugs…that had taken a bigger total on her.  Once the body becomes weaken…there is not much that it can do to ward off  too much of anything else.  And drugs had definitely weaken her.

Classical example of  ‘bad boy/good girl.‘  From the time she became involved with the wrong man…she just never recovered.   Though she had proven that she ‘really’ could act…all of  it  was blown to the wind when drugs became to her…a soul mate.

Michael at 50, just days away from his next birthday,  had years ago began  fighting his own addiction…surgery to his head, body and face.  It seems that once he got started…he could not stop.  It became perpetual.

Then on top it…I guess the injuries…to his back and knee… that he suffered while shooting that Pepsie commerical and after falling off stage…just never went away either.  So, down went the pills…and on came the addiction.

It is sad really…a life filled with so much promise should have such an end.  One can not help but to think about how much he seemed to romance the  idea of  becoming  ‘the next big thing’  behind Elvis after death.  So, much so that he even married into that family.   The King of  Pop vs  the King of  Rock & Roll…knocking at heaven’s gate.

But it is sad when you reflect and think back on Michael’s life…how he just never seemed to connect with life.   Somehow, it all seemed beyond him…just out of his reach… a real life… with any kind of  normalcy.   How he just never appeared to have felt comfortable being who he was.  How much he must have really hated himself… to ruin his face and body in the way that he did.  How sad he and lonely he must have  really been…that he only sought solace among young children.

How sad a life Michael had.  Never was allowed to be a real child…growing up in school…with real friends.   Once he had been sitting on top of the world…but over the course of years that world began to crumble from under him. 

He was king…because he wanted to be.  He could dance and sing his way into anyone’s heart.  And he did for years… years ago… but today was a new day.  Though…yes, he still had plenty of adorning and loving fans…who remembered Michael ‘when.’

Amid years of allegations of  child molestation…Michael lost most of all he had behind one legal battle after another.  And like R. Kelly…quietly paying parents off.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31554982/ns/entertainment-picture_stories/displaymode/1247/?beginSlide=1&beginChapter=1&beginTab=1

It was not hard to see that Michael had problems.  Much of  it started when Michael started listening to the handlers who caused him to separate himself from his parents and other sibling.  Filling his head with big ideas… how he didn’t need them.  And how he could make it on his own.

And he did.

He made it on his own.  And blew up…and became as large as life.

But through it all…all the money…platinum records/CD’s… sold out concerts… big record breaking contract deals… large real estate holdings… etc… he… he lost it all…and was hoping for a final horrah with plans for a final tour.   But it was not to be.  

Even when it seemed that he had it all…way up there on top of the world…you sensed that he was not happy.  And no amount of  famous names collected around him…or who he had managed to encase himself with…seemed to off-set that fact. 

Yes, Michael was never really happy.  Which is why he probably poured himself into his musical projects… and his talent the way that he did.  To some degree working… and performing… became hislover… the seat of his happiness.  The place where he forgot… he was Michael…isolated…and shut-up away from the rest of the world.

But he seemed to like being shut-up and away from the rest of the world…much like Howard Hughes.  But then life comes closing in on you.   It did for Elvis…it for Howard…and I suspect it did for Michael Jackson, as well.

Al Sharpton following the corners reporting…called Michael Jackson a trail blazer.  And that he truly was.  With more than 750 million albums/CD’s sold worldwide…13 Grammy’s…and tons of  other alccolades.  Eccentric at times…even down-right weird at others…he was nonetheless Michael Jackson…and perhaps the greatest entertainer of all times.

The whole music video industry would be nothing without the vision…foresight…intuitiveness and creative energy of  Michael Jackson.   He saw how music and videos could be merged and used as a creative medium and selling tool. 

Then there was his music…and with the on-slant of pop music…   Yes, I guess you could say he was the undisputed King of  Pop. 

Who could beat him?

Who could move like him?

Who had perfected their art the way he did?

During the MOTOWN 25th television special he stole the show with a single move…called the ‘moon walk.’ 

They say…he was frail.  

They say…it was the medication.

They say…it was the addiction to the pain pills.

I say…he found this world cold…and unaccommondating.

Elvis may have  impersonators…but Michael Jackson has spawd a slew of  ‘would be shinning stars.’

I am just sorry that I could not do anything to helf  him.  What a great loss.

One can truly say-

“He gave his life to his profession.”

http://www.popeater.com/music/article/michael-jackson-dead-at-50/544453

http://www.spinner.com/2009/06/25/artists-reflect-on-michael-jackson?icid=main|main|dl2|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spinner.com%2F2009%2F06%2F25%2Fartists-reflect-on-michael-jackson

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31552029?gt1=43001

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/31555400#31555400

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/31562509#31562509

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31552029/ns/entertainment-music/

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529103,00.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/31571531#31571531

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31568341/ns/entertainment-music/?GT1=43001

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/31573698#31573698

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31568341/ns/entertainment-music/?GT1=43001

I am still twiddling my tumbs waiting on the publishers to finish.  I am counting down the time when my book will soon be made available for sale.  God is good…I am so happy to finally  have gotten it done and out…and into the final stage of the process…besides getting out to aid in selling it.

I am working hard on my book trailer for ‘youtube’…and my radio promo.

 Well, enjoy the rest of your day and evening. 

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. 

Just DOUBLE CLICK to see the videos BELOW…and ignor the text which will appear.

1 comment June 26, 2009

Weighing in…Chris Brown…Lil’ Kim… Man/Woman Tennis star… Will and Jeda…

I had a conversation with my son who was telling me that Chris Brown’s girlfriend, Rihanna, should not have started it.  Then he commenced to tell me that she had hit him first…as if my son had been in the car with them and seen the whole thing.

I was irritated that my son under any circumstance would find it okay for Chris or anyone of the male species to do what that boy did to that girl.  He beat her…and one could say it was almost unmercifully done so.

I have really been trying to stay away from the subject because I do not know either him or her…nor much about them or their careers outside of this incident.  But what did bother me was my son’s attitude and position on the subject.

I did see the pictures which had been released by the police showing how badly Rihanna, a young singer, had been beat at the hands of her boyfriend, Chris Brown.  As young role models for thousands of teens who follow them closely…the incident sets a bad example and sends all the wrong messages to young teens regarding dating, abuse, power and acceptable male/female interactions…as well as, how to resolve issues and problems in a relationship.

Rightfully so, everyone with endorsements behind Chris Brown should drop him…as I have heard that for the most part they have.

I have no doubt that it has made  Chris Brown think twice about his actions concerning taking his fist to fight his girlfriend…when males possess more than enough power to restrain and resist any attack against them from most women.  So, yes…I believe that loosing all those endorsements have given Chris much to pause and consider.

So, much so that I have no doubt either that it has  mostly been him trying to re-unite with Rihanna and get back their little relationship…because when you loose the kind of money I hear that Chris has lost since the story surfaced…not to mention his music being pulled from radio stations…and police charges.

If they don’t play you over the radio…your videos…it is all that is wrote for you…it is goodbye from there…the career is over.

You have got to have air time in order to sell music or anything else.  Not to mention the legal charges.  Yeah, I am sure…Chris went running to patch up that little miss understanding between him and Rihanna.  I am sure…and real quick.

I wonder if he bought her a rock the size of the one Kobe bought for his wife?

Clearly, the type of anger exhibited by Chris Brown, a very young man of about 19 years of age…shows that he is indeed in need of intervention before it is too late…because someone at such an early age like him who exhibits that kind of rage or anger…may kill the next woman.

And my son has it all wrong…and I don’t care what he says.

And I better not catch him out there trying to beat up some woman.  Or he will have to fight his mother next.

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2009/03/20/rihanna-abuseawareness.htjhtml

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/deadlineusa/2009/mar/16/rihanna-usaml

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1607405/20090320/rihanna.

http://www.buzz7.com/entertainment/chris-brown-rihanna-stuck-in-los-angeles-due-to-police-investigation.html

http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/entertainment/2009/feb/Why-Has-Chris-Brown-Lost-Deals-and-Radio-Play-So-Soon-After-Arrest-.html

And will people please leave Will and Jada alone.

I think they are a beautiful couple.

Stop trying to  bad mouth them with a bunch of nasty little rumors.

The Bible says…we can speak life or death into any situation…by the sheer power of the tongue.

What do they have to prove to us?

There are some people just jealous…and they seek to destroy any and everything thing  or anyone they envy.

Out of all those Hollywood families…and Hollywood types…you do not see Will or Jada hanging out…or getting into trouble.  Nor is there any bad press about them anywhere…or has there ever been.  And then…along comes these ugly rumors.

Well, if you can’t find anything bad…I guess you just want to create it.

I admire and respect the Smith’s…Will and Jada…and their beautiful family.  They are wonderful parents and excellent role models.  I guess that might be why…the real reason why the rumors are flying.

Can’t believe that there are decent people in the world.  But there are…look at the Obama’s another example of a great black family.

We do exist.

Now, on to Lil’ Kim.

I really have paid little attention to her lately.  Though I did read that she and Biggie’s mother are currently going at it.

Biggie’s mother said, “Lil’ Kim is a white woman in a black woman’s body.”

I guess that really must be the way Lil’ Kim thinks…as my son was telling me that she wants to look like Barbie (you know the doll).

How sick is that?

Since, Lil’ Kim showed up on Dancing with the Stars…with her new nose…people have been buzzing.  In my opinion she has already wrecked the good looks she used to have…when she did the other things that she had done…including the over-sized boob job.  If she keeps it up…she’ll be another one who won’t be able to leave the house without people running from her in fear…like Michael and some others.

Personally, I think Lil’ Kim’s best years were when she was with Junior M.A.F.I.A…after that it has all been down hill.  And she has been fighting to stay afloat ever since.

Who in their right mind would really want to do this to themselves?

Talking about Biggie’s mother…what mother makes a movie about her deceased son showing him having sex all over the place?

I didn’t see the movie…but my son is pretty good critic when it comes to some things.  And I just happened to overhear a conversation about the movie…and everybody was agreeing on the same things.  So, it has to be true.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1603801/20090129/lil_kim.jhtml

And yes, the women on the tennis circuit have a good reason to be concerned over the 22 year old German, Sarah Gronert, who was born having both the male and female sex organs.  Though a couple of years ago she had the male organs removed…she still remains stronger than any average woman because of her biological makeup.

Because of her biological makeup…having been born…both male/female…she does possess greater strength and endurance than
other woman could possibly have.  And this would, therefore, give her a greater advantage over all of her contenders.  Though they state that she has only won 2 tournaments since becoming a pro-player…it doesn’t mean that she wasn’t holding back her added strength until she really stepped into the big time…as she is only listed as being seeded as #619, compared to Serena being #1…and Venus #4 in the women’s world of  tennis.

This reminds me of that story I shared with you a while back in another blog about the woman…who was really a man…who came to Salsa Soul, a lesbian organization, and joined…well, sort of.   She had gotten really involved in the organization for a few months before the story of who she really was got around to all the members.  Or I guess I should say…what she really was got around to all the members.

Though like Sarah has done…she was planning on having the operation.  But unlike Sarah, however…she had not been born having dual sex organs…what they call in the new articles…male and female genitalia.

http://www.momlogic.com/2009/03/tennis_gender_controversy.php

http://www.tennisforum.com/showthread.php?t=351579

As I mentioned in my original blog on that story…the reason I refer to him as ‘her’…is really because that is what I met him as.  Up until that point I had not met anyone like her.  He was highly confused as I have come to now know and understand…as well as, I was.  He wanted to live his life as a lesbian.

Yes, that is what I said…you have to read my original blog to come to understand the story.

But it was when she was appointed to become a board member of Salsa…that is when all the sisters and what was left of the founding mothers of the organization flew into Salsa one night and demanded a special meeting.  They were not having it…and finally had it voted upon…that no one other than a ‘biological female’ from birth could become a board member of Salsa Soul Sisters, Inc.

Though she looked on the surface like a woman…I have no doubt that she possessed superior strength…but mentally could never really think like a woman…because it was not who she really was.  All of her experiences had been different etc…etc…   And besides…legally he was still a man…at that time.

My opinion on the subject.  God does it best.

Even in regard to all that plastic surgery…God does it best.

The body is in constant evolution…from the time we are born until the day we die…our features change…age…mature.  Sometimes for the best…many times for the best…but to some who would like to keep what they have…sometimes for the worst.  But yet…God does it best.

Finally, I found this article to be highly bias and racist.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SPORT/02/13/equal.pay.tennis/index.html

Here it is a woman journalist writing that women’s tennis has become boring and that women should not be paid the same amount of money as the men players.  Had the top female players not been black…er- African Americans…I wonder if anybody would be complaining about the amount of money they were paid for winning tournaments?

I highly doubt it.  These issues only come up when it is about us.  It is a shame that we cannot celebrate each other…and our gifts…without bias-ness and racism showing its ugly head.

Following her win in the Australian Open…the female champion, Serena Williams…took home $1.3 million.  Now, is anybody but me and Serena happy about that?

And oh, yes…Dexter King signed EMI to rep him.  Yes, I did say ‘him.’ He signed a deal for EMI to police the licensing of his father’s likeness, his intellectual property etc…etc…

And he signed the agreement without the knowledge of his 2 other siblings…Martin the 3rd and Bernice King.

So, yes…little greedy Dexter is still at it.

How unfortunate for the other 2…but it is a wonder how the mother, Coretta Scott King, had removed Dexter from the foundation following several disputes with him over the direction he was trying to take the Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. Center for Non-Violence… at that time of which she was highly not in agreeance with.

Why would she have restored him as the head of the center if she knew then the type of disagreeable and selfish spirit that Dexter possessed?

Bernice and Martin the 3rd have a very long battle…that frankly without God…they are very likely not going to win.  But it is when things seem the bleakest that God loves to step in.

So, Martin and Bernice…never become discourage…fight to the end.  And even then continue to fight…because the tide always turns.

There was a point in our family matters…that I was told by my son-

“Ma, you’re not going to win.  You should just go back to New York.”

At that time everyone on the planet would have agreed with my son.  But God turned the table around.  All the road blocks and stumbling blocks were swept away…and I am the one left standing.  But for more than a few years it seemed that everything and everyone was against me.  But it is true…you don’t need anybody else as long as you have the Lord on your side.

But I had considered what my son said…but conscience wouldn’t let me do it.  It would have been far easier to have turned and ran from what was going on with my parent’s estate…and I figured-  No, I knew…I was part to blame as I had never tried to intervene from the on-set though I was aware of the problems.  But it was easier for me to look the other way at that time…until I was forced to come home and confront all the issues and problems that I had tried to avoid and had looked upon blindly for years.

I have had to pay for my errors…and have to work to build the bridges to bring our family back together.  But I am the oldest and it is my responsibility…to not allow us to all fall apart from one another.  Families are important…not really should they be allowed to be torn apart.  But there comes a time where every ill thing must be addressed and corrected…and fallout does happen.   In the end the family will be a lot stronger for it if it survives.  But it has to happen…if indeed the family is to survive at all.

I have been so busy working on building my web site.  As Fridays have rolled by…I have pushed hoping that by that weekend I would have at least posted a page or 2.  It is not that I have not completed more than a few pages…but I am just such a stickler about everything.  Everything has to be right…perfect…correct…the music…the photos…the navigation system…the color schemes etc.   You name it and I become obsessed with it…but at the end of the day…you will not only like the site…but enjoy it.   And that is all I will say on it for now…and hopefully by this Friday…I will have some pages posted.  I’ll be working on it…believe that.  Enjoy…

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 “

www.bsmith101.wordpress.com ©2009

1 comment March 22, 2009

The Tiger is back..Family…true investments…

Out for 9 months and the game just has not been the same.  First of all who has been all that interested in watching  the tournaments since Tiger Woods has been out due to knee surgery?  And during his recovery his wife gave birth to a new baby too. 

Now, the proud father of 2, a daughter and son…Tiger hit the green this past Wednesday in his big return to  the PGA at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. 

I did watch as he played his last tournament prior to the surgery…and how even through the pain of the injury Tiger pulled it off.  He just refused to give up…or in.  That is the same way most athletes approach their sports.

In fact, I happened to come across this clip of Serena Williams who had gone out to play while fighting with a stomach virus.  Watch this youtube clip below…and you will understand the amount of commitment professional athletes have for their game.

All I can say is that we have all been hit with it one time or another.  

But if I had…had a stomach virus…they wouldn’t have seen me.  It is hard to get away from the toilet with a stomach virus.  But I guess you have to…when you know that thousands of people have come out to see you win…or get beat…or just because they love the sport.

Before Tiger hit the pro golf circuit…I have to admit that I never watched golf at all…that was near the beginning period when I started to watch less and less television.   One of the reasons for which I have kind of kicked television to the curve is because of something my father would always say to me.

He would say-

“They have theirs and you’ve got to get yours.”

I used to hate hearing that.  I would hear it after my mother would go to school for Open House and come back telling my father all the things the teacher had to say about me. You know…how I wasn’t doing this or I wasn’t doing that…or how I needed to improve in this or that…and how much Imay not have been paying attention while in class.  Which often led to my getting a whipping. 

When I would try to explain to daddy that the teacher had said all of those things because she really didn’t like me.  But before I could open my mouth and get half of that out…daddy would usually cut me off saying-

“The teacher got hers.”

And he would say that sternly…and then he would start whipping.

And I am definitely all for parents whipping their kids.  I whipped mine.  But it is because of whipping…that I refused to do many things that others I knew didn’t hesitate to do.  I will never forget when I decided to try my hand at smoking.

In Junior High School the girls during lunch period would gang into the girl’s bathroom down by the cafeteria smoking after lunch. One day, I had bought a pack of cigarettes and after eating lunch headed for the ladie’s room.  Just as we were just getting started passing around the cigarettes and lighting up in came the vice principle of the school.  We all went running scattering like a bunch of I don’t know what out through another door.  I dashed back into the cafeteria took a seat at a table and started pretending as though I had been their the whole time.

The vice principle had caught one of the girls…and as he marched her through the cafeteria she pointed at me and said-

“She was there too.”

And I guess she pointed out a few others.  And we all ended up in the principle’s office.

One by one the principle, Mr. Romano, called us into his office and began calling our parents.  He left his door open so I could clearly see him and hear him on the phone.  As I took a seat outside of the his office awaiting my turn to be called inside…I started crying.  I was just a boo-whooing…and I do mean boo-whooing the whole time.  I was crying and sobbing my poor little self to death…because I knew that my parents were going to kill me.  I was the last one that the principle called into his office…and to my surprise he counseled me and warned me…and then sent me back to class.  He had not called my parents.  And from that day to this I have never touched another cigarette either.  And have never been tempted to do so again.

So, yeah…I believe in whipping the child.  Not in anger but out of love.  I hated whipping my son…some times I even would go to him and just wrap my arms around him after.  But I loved him…and prefered that I taught him rather than a bunch of police who would have no compassion for him…if they found themselves whipping him later.  It is something I have never had to worry about…outside of the fact of him a young black male in America.   Because he has never had a brush with the law…though I had had my share of going back and forth to school about him…like my parents did for me.  And I have had to sit in the back of some of his classes…but by the time he got to the 10th grade he told me-

“Ma, I’m too old for you to still be sitting in the back of my classes.”

And he was right.  Sometimes, parents just hate to let go.  But the kids have to grow up.  They have to be allowed to become their own people…but that doesn’t mean we stop parenting them.  They will always be the children…and we will always be the parent.

Their can be no denying the privotal roles that both Earl Woods and Richard Williams…as well as, Joe Jackson (father of the Jacksons)…played in the lives of their children.  Without whom their children lives may have been very very different…and they certainly may not have become the people we now recognize them to be. 

Investing time in your children can really pay off…and as you see by the examples of Joe Jackson, Earl Jones and Richard Williams.  Many times it can also put your children on their path.

Going back to why I really do not watch much television…well, besides my schedule and really not having ever been a big television person except for when I was child.  Then I stayed up under the TV…but not now…and not for years.  Besides there’s not really much on TV but a bunch of junk.  How many different shows can you watch of someone trying to win a million dollars?  After a while you have to get bored.  And I have to say that it is because of my father and what he would always say to me-

“They got theirs already. You’ve got to get yours.”

Meaning the teacher had a job already and was making a living…and that I had to work to get mine.  This meant I had to learn something…pay  attention in school…get my school work done etc.  And that I didn’t have the leisure of wasting any time in order to work towards learning what I needed to learn in order to make something out of myself. 

Daddy would say the same thing about television just as he was about to cut it off and tell us to go study.  

“They got theirs.” 

Meaning I wasn’t learning nothing sitting in front of the TV…and those people had already learned what they needed to know…because they were now making their living.

And so…I hear those words still today as I sit and work…whether it be on class work, or writing screenplays or even this blog.  Or even while working on my books.  I am always working towards my goals.

Talking about my books…I hope you have not forgotten about “THE BISHOP’S WIFE.”  The date is nearing for when you can get your copy.  And I am sure you will enjoy it…it is probably not anything else you have ever read because it is a bit radical.  But you will love the storyline…it will keep you reading I am sure. 

So much for my station break…now, back to what I began writing this blog about.

Already the top grossing athlete of all times, Tiger Woods by  September of 2007 had already earned over $86 million on the golf course.  He is widely recognized as the first athlete who will exceed the billion dollar mark before his career is over.  And that $86 million…mind you was only in tournament money…not inclusive of all those little added perks called endorsements and things like that which he also has.  I known you have seen Tiger in all those television commercials…e.g.  American Express…Nike…and what is that?  Buick…or whatever it is…you know those automobile commercials.  So, yes…Tiger is raking it in. 

But since Tiger’s absence off the golf circuit for the past 9 months the golf world has been hurting.  Their number one drawer had been sidelined…and the tickets and interest in the golf plummeted.  I must admit that I myself never watched the game one day in my life until a little young man decided to end his college days and step out into the pro-golf world.  Thus was the beginning of my interest in the sport of golf.  Though I will also admit that prior to Tiger Woods ever hitting my television screen…I always wondered why they bothered to show golf on TV.  When they took those long shots following the ball into the air…I never saw one thing.  But that was before Tiger…I can see those balls clearly now, baby.

 http://www.sportsbusinessradio.com/node/1312

http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/columns/story?columnist=harig_bob&id=3920284&campaign=rss&source=GOLFHeadlines

http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/tigerwoods

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/flash/zoomGallery?section=gen&photoGalleryId=3443525

http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=3914982

http://sports.espn.go.com/stations/player?id=3922207

http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=3921802&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines

Sent almost my entire day in bed and I am not ashamed to say it.  And I have enjoyed every minute of it.  Though I did get up to wash some clothes and to mop the kitchen and bathroom floors…and oh, cooked me a little something.  But that was it.   And I plan to do the same thing tomorrow minus the washing of clothes and the mopping of the floors, of course.

And oh, yes…it is still Black History Month.  But I included so many photos already in this blog…I will save my Black History stuff for my next blog.  Definitely hope you are learning something…or trying to find out more on the people whom I have already placed into my other blogs this month. 

And one more thing…   Daddy had only a 7th grade education and could barely read yet he owned his own business…put us all through school…Princeton, Moorehouse, University of Alabama, University of Kentucky , Brandesis University etc.  He and my mother both believed strongly in education.  He was a highly successful businessman, as we lived very well, who never paid a bill when it due but always as soon as he got one.  He never tried to cheat anybody or do anything illegal…and he never owned one charge card.  Yet, he owned his business, had 2 houses…and paid for everything that we needed as he was definitely the head of our house…though my mother was the boss (smile).  They made a great team.

My mother was always taking classes.  She had graduated from nursing school and was the first black nurse in the little town down South that I was born in.  Having graduated from nursing school down there at that time in history…and being the only one…I can’t imagine what my mother must have had to go through.  She, however, took great pleasure in studying…she loved it…and these were classes she took many years while we were growing up.  She took typing classes, accounting classes…and I can’t remember what else.  But she even had a lady come to our house who taught us piano…and gave her voice lessons. 

My parents were something else.  I have to admit though that though we (meaning their kids) thought we were rich…we never really knew that we were rich until years later as we looked back over our life with our parents compared to those who lived around us.  We were the riches people on our street.  The riches people in our church…and the riches people most places we went.  We never walked anywhere except to church on Sunday mornings to Sunday school as young children as my parents always had a car…and didn’t drive junk.  Not that they flaunted anything either…that was not their nature.  But they had moved North to ensure a better life for their children.  And that they did…even for their grand children they did it…and they did it marvelously well.

Our riches were far greater than anything financially my parents may or may not have had.  It was something that cannot be purchased for a price…and worth more than rubies.  They gave us love.

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

3 comments February 22, 2009