outside 12

I gotta lot to cover, so let me get right to it.
First of all I would like to tell my cybercrowd that I just got word from my former gig at Charter Cable that I was recently nominated for an Emmy Award for my work on the show Reel Entertainment (which is now cancelled). I did a segment I commentated and co-wrote on the jazz diva Rene Marie when she came through the Lou last winter at the Bistro and the segment I did on her was nominated for Best Perfroming Art/Segment. I am nominated against two other segments from Channel 9, but , at least get to be in the in crowd with other media dignitaries across the country who have been nominated for such prestigious award. It would be unprecendented, if I win, a former newspaper writer, who volunteered to go on a cable access show, got fired because I needed more training and get a golden statue. Hmm, I guess I'll find out Oct 29 at teh Hyatt Regency at Union Station. ..... My boy Christiaan was in St. Louis Magazines' fashion show that was held last Thursday at the Moolah on Lindell. I heard it was a nice turnout. The tickets were steep for my pockets ($150 was the big ticket). For VIP, folks got a gift bag and was able to sit on cushioney sofas in the front. My boy Christiaan said it wasstaright runway, no dancing, no gimicks, just high fashion. Christiaan said he was going to give me some photos on it, so I might put some on here...This past weekend was the Gateway Classic weekend where out of towners came to see UAPB (Pine Bluff) and TU (Tuskegee) battle at the Edward Jones Dome. They had many pre events like Dick Gregory and Arvin Mitchell performing and a $150 St. Louis Walk of Fame ceremony (kudos to Wiley Price's dad, Wiley Price Sr getting his nods for being a radio pioneer). They had many preparties going on. They had one at Plush where rap mogul Damon Dash had a set and Lil Jon was perfmoning across the way at Toxic (I hear he got on stage at 2 in the mroning--thats too much playing!). I decided to check out my boy comedian Maurice G's new spot, Club Dreams, formerly The Kastle, he owns it now and for its grand opening, St. Lunatic Kyjuan had a party there. I saw the VOKAL bus near the spot so I know they were in the house(Ali and Murphy Lee dropped by as well). It was OK. Nothing spectacular (The VIp tickets were 30 dollars--yeah right) There were no new decorations and renovations, its pretty much the same set up like Kastle, with the sofas on both sides of the wall on the first floor(I wasnt able to get upstairs, for some reason it was closed off to us--Mo Witherpsoon was able to go up there, but, I guess I was not VVIP to get that tour). Me and my boy Kam were able to slip through the event itself because of my connect with Maurice. Inside, they had HPTONIQ t-shirt giveways to those who purchased a $4 HYPNOTIQ drink, I bought one and got a shirt. My only thing was--it can easily become Club Isis with the hoodrats and chickenheads coming up in there dressed all kind of way. KAm and I were probably the best dressed brothers up in there, even though I didnt feel out of place, it was still kind of messed up that no dress code was enforced. In the house were: James Glasco, Ali Mosier, Kevin Johnson,. Coco Soul, Harry Colbert, Rolling Out's Khalil, Dana Christian, and some of the First Friday security guys (I ran into former FF security guy Brian and he said that the reason he no longer secures for FF is because of hsi falling out with co-owbnr Fred Finely....Hmmm I wonder what happened? I'll keep you posted)...Saturday I had my VIP Lunch at Emperors Wok where this nice lady named Mea Epps from Ameriprise Financial paid the bill and did a short presentation to my invited guests about financesl. My colleagues and friends who came through were Christiaan, Tia Hodges (my right hand girl), Pete Foggy, Tina Pate and her man, Audrey Foster and my tax man Joshua Beeks. We laughed and ate and had a nice time.I just didnt know that it was a pseudo finance meeting to get people to sign up for finance counseling. Oh well, I guess you learn from putting your biz card in a fishbowl and someone tells you that you won a free lunch and invite your family and friends. Afterward, I drove to the Edward Jones Dome for the Gateway Classic. As usual, there were more people outside than inside the Dome. I got there about 4 p.m. and parked near Carr St where the aprtament buildings are nearby the Dome. It was about a 10 minute walk, but there was no way I was paying 10 dollars to pay to park close to the Dome. Anyway, I wore these custiom made jeans that had African motifs on it (I had a comment by some younger guy who said he liked them--I think he was looking too hard, if you get my drift) just to be Ma'at. As I was walking toward the Dome, I saw so many charter buses (about 40 of them)especially from Little Rock, and the police had blocked off Cole Street just for the buses to park on the street. There were many people walking and hanging around the Dome and I defintely used that opportunity to scope the out of towners. So I got inside, got my press pass and took the elevator to the top floor where the Press Box was(where teh football players looked like ants) . I was so used to going to the Classic in a suite when i was working at the American, it didnt dawn on me about that when I sat down and saw that the players looked liked ants far up I was, but oh well, i was able to get in, that's all that matters. The game was OK. Nothing exciting. The halftime show was ho-hum. Beside the battle of the bands that is always on point with the flagsters and funky drum majors and majorettes(where UAPB won because of their line making of their name U-A-P-B), the performers who came through Dougie Fresh and Syleena Johnson were rushed and not into it. Fresh just was a hypeman rather than perform his own jams like The SHow and Keep Risin . The dee-jay just played old school hip hop and R&B whiel Fresh told the crowd to put their hands up. Sylenna who was dressed in a Rams T jersey sang snippets of her hits "Guess What" and her new one "Another Relationship." She was attractive looking and sang good, but not enough to get the crowd hyped..It was over 35K who bought tickets to the game( I say bought tickets casue their were manty tickets that were given out ) Thats not good comparing to the over 80,000 seats in the Dome, The final score was TU-13; UAPB--9. As far as the awards presentation, it was funny that Gateway Classic founder Earl Wilson gave the MVPs blank certificate frames with no certificates! Huh ? Talk about tacky. Anyway, I jetted back to my back (and passed a few tailgate parties along way) and drove back to the crib so I could get ready for the Classic Afterparty at Club Seven (I saw a yellow and black Hummer with multi-Tv's chillin downtown St. Louis that almost made me flip!). I didnt know what I was going to wear so I called my fashion psychic Keith Underwood and he told me he saw me in a red long sleeved shirt and some black pants. Well, I took his advice and wore it along with some fly brown shades (the same ones you saw when I posed for a pic with my boy Kam in a previous blog) and got to the Afterparty around 11 p.m. I called Kam to see if he was coming through and he said he was waiting on his buddy Brandon and they were coming through. Well, I knew from experience that when special evenst like the Classic roll through the Lou , and there are lots of out of town people, I knew Seven was going to be packed (I hear WS, Toxic, Plush and Mariott downtown were hot spots, too). When I got there the line was not long. By the time, Kam called me and said he was comin through, it was after midnite and he text messaged me asking me where I was. I told him I was on the dance floor because I had no choice but to be on the dance floor cause of the googobs of people packed like the Middle PAssage up in there. He text messaged me back and said that he was going to hit the Formula cause the lines were too long. I saw everybody and there cousin up in Seven. Some I remember were Coco Soul, Tiffany, Playboy Mixx, many guys from the Ballys Clayton gym, Clifford Williams(he is now a First Friday security guy now)., Arvin Mitchell, boxer Zab Judah (who hosted the party and thanked STL for gettin him hyped to win the fight over Cory Spinks last winter--what kind of crack was he smoking saying that to STLers who waned Cory to win?), and singer Syleena Johnson was also there. I stayed until they opened the garage door around 2: 30 in the morn. I decided to stay for a minute to continue to see the action. People were trying to get that last minute number for that booty call. At the same time, I get a call from Kam that he and Brandon were coming through . By the time they showed up , it was around 2:45 in the AM and when Kam and I staretd talking, a brawl between Rams PR guy Keith HArris and a high yellow youngster. All I heard was, "thats my boy." and before you know it, they were bumpin knuckles and three other guys jumped in. Kam got tangeled up in the mix trying to run away from them and had his leg caught in the fight. I went the other way and escaped and it was too much playing! They had to getteh FF secuirty guys and some police to break them up. We were all shocked. KeitH HArris! Mellow cool Keith HArris? I hope it wasnt over some girl, but knowing brothers it probably was. One guy sqwaked, "man they fight like bitches." that was too classic....On Sunday, Tia and I went to see Farrakhan at the Orphuem. It was like stepping into a Nation of Islam land. Women were searched and walked on side of the Orpheum and men were searched and walked on the other side. When we got there, it was raining quite a bit due to the Hurricane Rita aftermath in Texas, but poeple came out to support. Nationers were out and about selling Final Calls, Millions More Movement merhcandise and of course bean pies. When the program started, I was anxious to see what would transpire with the events of the 10th anniversary of the Million Man March. This was Farrakhan's last city of a 30 plus tour to promote the Millions More Movement. But before he came out, there was much pomp and circumstance. Several local dignitaries spoke such as Mike Roberst Sr and his son thr junior (who suffered from logoria of the mouth), Zaki Baruti, and state rep Yaphett Al Amin. Then came the donatons portion of the event. A NOI brother on stage asked people to start giving starting at 1,000 bones! What? I was like here we go, showing up folks who dont have that amount. The brother was like, "Come on now, lets give becasue Minister Farrakhan svaed my life." Huh? Shouldnt it have been to raise money for the movement or even the Hurricane Katrina victims (some of whom were in the audience that night!) It seemed like a clever way of giving money for Farrakhan himself. Anyway, most of the big wigs gave 1,000 like AnheiserBusch's Johnny Furr, Jeannie Roberts (Mike Roberts wife) and Alderman Mike McMillan gave that and bought a bus for the kids to go to Washington DC nextmonth. Now that was out of site. He pretty much stole the show and boy did he ever get a rousing applause (and I;m sure another two years in his alderman seat). then they had what they called the "green wave" when people who were in the $1s, $5s and $10s towave their cash in the air. OK, so of course everybody else in the packed crowd raised their measley dollars showing everybody that they were the poor ones. I refused to particpate in that. I said if I do want to contribute, it would be done privately and to pay for my trip to Washington DC (I attended the Million Man March so I feel like I shoudl be there 10 years later). About 90 minutes later,the man of thr hour was on stage and talk about a thunderous applause. When Farrakhan walked the stage up to the podium (with security of course) you would have thought God had came in the room. everybody got to their feet, cheered, screamed, it was an oustanding moment. When he spoke, he spoke monotone, thanking everyone for theirhard work (evengave shots to the Roberts Brotehsr for donating the Orpheum--that they now own). His speech was on the Shock of the Hour(Judgemnt has come into the house--was his running refrain),namely the racism and plight of black people from slavery up to Hurricane Katrina. He broke down the Willie Lynch theory, the christinaity struggle and how it dillutes black people's minds (he was careful on that one), and when he talked aboutHurricane Katrina, he said that Katrina did not cause havoc on New Orleans, butteh levee did. He brought on this conspiracytheory that it was dsicovered that the levee underneath had burns on the concrete and that some divers had took some of it and sent it to forensics and discovered that explosives were used more than 50 years ago to make a big hole and for the pooerest distcict, Disctrict 9, mostly black lived nearby. I was like, whoa. That is too much oplaying. Then he compared the struggle of the people of Katrina to the Middle Passage. It was very deep and interseting (One day I will share it with you). But all in all, he was on fire, as always, he's mellowed out in his Golden years, but he knows now that he must bring in all types of blacks from Christians, to Jews, to Muslims, togays, to lesbians. to atheists, to unite at the MMM for one common goal--reparations and fairness for black people who have been unjustly served in this country. Okay, well, that's it for me.

Next up I will tell you all about my out town report on the UPN Fall Party at the Orpheum, the Taste of St. Louis where Neville Brothers and The Roots will perform downtown and Boy George performing at the Formula's Grand Opening. Until next time, see ya outside!