NAME THAT ADDICT

I'LL MAKE IT EASY ON YOU: Left to Right: Al B. Sure!, KC or JO-JO from Jodeci and Tevin Campbell.
UGH.

ROSA PARKS TRUSTEE DEALS WITH EBAY DRAMA:

Funeral programs are selling for more than $150 a pop.

A trustee overseeing the affairs of Rosa Parks is in the midst of an effort to stop the resale of programs to Parks’ funeral by printing up thousands more.


Adam Shakoor, who was appointed in 1998 to handle Parks’ affairs, began printing more of the 14-page, photo-filled programs after finding out that a number of them were fetching more than $150 on eBay, the Detroit Free Press reported Monday.

"People are exploiting it," said Shakoor. "We are very concerned about that."

Ten-thousand of the programs were distributed at Parks' funeral Wednesday in her adopted home of Detroit, however, Shakoor said he expected demand for extra programs to increase.


"There are many people who couldn't come to the funeral who would want that keepsake," Shakoor said. "We'd planned on printing more. We'll just jump a little sooner than we expected."


The programs will sell for $5 to $10, with any surplus going to the Rosa and Raymond Parks Foundation for Self Development, which helps young people.

FIRST ON-DEMAND HIP HOP CHANNEL TO DEBUT:

Simmons Lathan Media Group behind pioneering effort.

*DoD, the first-ever all video-on-demand virtual channel targeting the hip-hop and urban market, will launch as a free service on Comcast's On Demand service on Friday (Nov. 11).


DoD is the new grassroots brand and VOD subsidiary of Simmons Lathan Media Group, founded by Media Entrepreneur Will Griffin, in partnership with Hip-Hop Mogul Russell Simmons and Television Pioneer Stan Lathan.


The channel will feature fresh content with monthly themes hosted by their own VJ personalities. Programming will include mix tapes and video mix shows; music- and sports-celebrity-driven documentary series; local market content; short- and feature-length films; "old school" classics; fashion and comedy specials.

The month of November is dedicated to "Mixtapes, the Lifeblood of Hip- Hop." DoD's schedule will debut exclusive bios on 50 Cent and Eminem, who began their careers featured on mix tapes. The channel will have RBK-produced content from Jay-Z, Allen Iverson and G-Unit.

Also available on DoD are mix tape sessions with Clinton Sparks, Eminem's DJ; video mix shows that combine mix tapes remixed with music videos and dance battles featuring street style dancing. Additionally, DoD has teamed with Allhiphop.com to broadcast conversations with Damon Dash, Paul Wall, Nas, 50 Cent, Beanie Siegel and Juelz Santana.

The sponsorship-supported lifestyle channel, featuring original and acquired content, will be available in all Comcast On Demand markets, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Los Angeles, Philadelphia/New Jersey, San Francisco/Oakland, Seattle and Washington, DC, plus suburban metros.

Comcast Digital Cable customers will be able to select the "Urban Beat" option on the On Demand main menu and then choose DoD.


DoD is hosting invitation-only VIP launch events and sneak preview screenings in the following markets:

Chicago: Nov, 4th

Where: Harold Washington

Cultural Center

4701 S. King Drive .

Chicago, IL 60653

7:00pm - 8:00pm (reception)

8:00pm - 9:00pm (screening)


Philadelphia: Nov. 11th

Independence Seaport

Museum Concert Hall

211 S. Columbus Blvd

Philadelphia, PA 19106

7:00pm - 8:00pm (reception)

8:00pm - 9:00pm (screening)


Washington, DC: Nov. 13th

Where: THE ARC

1901 Mississippi Ave. S.E

Washington D.C., 20020

6:30pm - 7:30pm (reception)

7:30pm - 9:00pm (screening)

Words from Maya Angelou on KATRINA

I'm not mad at Barbara Bush. Or Fox News' Bill O'Reilly. Or even at U.S. Rep. Richard Baker (R-La.)Maya Angelou says that when people show you who they are, believe them the first time. So, no, I ain't mad at them.

Not at the former first lady for suggesting that Hurricane Katrina evacuees living shoulder to shoulder in the Houston Astrodome were now better off than they were living in poverty in New Orleans.

Not at Fox News' conservative talk-show host, who maintains that the lesson poor children should learn from Katrina is that all they have to do is educate themselves and work hard and they will be able to avoid being left behind on the "metaphorical rooftop."

Not at the Republican from Baton Rouge, who The Wall Street Journal reported was overheard telling lobbyists: "We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn't do it, but God
did."

Despite the public comments, the private ones made in segregated company (by conservatives and liberals) likely have been even more crass and unbelievable.

The hurricane indeed has shed a light. The spin masters in the Bush administration have done a glowing job over the last several years of pretending that America has achieved a colorblind, class-blind society.

Look around you, they say. Look at Condi and Alberto. Colin and Clarence. All credits to their race. What inequities? What ghettos? What barrios?

For some time now, the underclass has been kept off camera, rendered invisible, its voices muted.

But now that the hurricane has reminded us that, there are Americans too impoverished to leave their community even when a great storm is hurtling toward them, it's not surprising that many are shocked by it.

Including the compassionate conservatives, who, in scrambling to say something pithy and nice, are speaking off the cuff and
unwittingly revealing themselves:

"Almost everyone I have talked to says, `We're going to move to Houston,'" the former first lady told National Public Radio's "Marketplace." She was referring to the evacuees in the Astrodome.

"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality. And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this, this is working very well for them."

I suppose it takes tragedy to shock us, to reveal us. Until the E2 nightclub disaster here, many well-meaning Chicagoans weren't aware that the city had its share of segregated nightclubs. In Chicago today, there are still places where African-Americans
(and not all poor)go so they don't have to dance around the color line.

I guess I'm not mad about the comments from the elite or the unknowing. Wealthy people get to choose whether they want to understand or deal with
poverty.
Many have chosen to and have been unfailing advocates for the poor.

What's more disappointing are those who come from humble beginnings and who now have the king's ear, but have remained silent. It's as though they've been struck with a form of selective amnesia. They can recall their humble beginnings during, election time
or a confirmation hearing, but how soon they forget.

They're the ones who should be explaining to the Bill O'Reillys of the world that, yes, education is key and hard work a necessity.

But this also is true: A black or Hispanic PhD who tries to hail a cab late at night will probably be profiled just like any other black person.

Maybe someone could explain to Mrs. Bush that being huddled in a stadium not knowing where other family members are and uncertain about the future does not translate into an experience that's "working out! well for them."

Maybe someone could explain to the Baton Rouge cong ressman why now
isn't the time to be flip about cleaning up public housing and God should be left out of this.

No, I'm not mad at members of the elite. They're merely saying aloud what they've been thinking.

It just shows us that "the line" and "the spin" can go only so far before--thank heavens--the spool eventually runs out.

- Maya Angelou -

S~
"The 4 L's of life: LIVE, LEARN, LOVE & LET GO!!"