OUT 55

Hello again! Well its another week and you know what that means. Another week to tell ya’ll what is up with your e-blogger here, Ma’atology. But before I get into the usual, I hope you all were aware or at least conscious that June 19 was the 140 anniversary of Juneteenth, the annual celebration of Black freedom.

For those unaware, Juneteeth dealt with the Emancipation Proclamation. Although it declared the official end of slavery on January 1, 1863, most enslaved Africans in America did not find out until much later. Among the last to find out were slaves in Galveston, Texas who did not learn of their freedom until Union soldiers marched into town on June 19, 1865.

Upon hearing the news, Black people celebrated by laughing, crying, praying, and dancing in the streets for days. Although Juneteenth is only officially recognized as a holiday in the state of Texas, people throughout the country use the day to honor the Black freedom struggle.

I hope the rest of the country gets hip to this, especially people fo color cause June 19 is just as important as America’s freedom celebration on July 4.

Okay, enuff of my soap box let’s get to the grit for this week………..

Last Friday, I checked out Kyo's Eyes Wide Shut party. The theme was exactly like the Tom Cruise/Nicole Kidman flick (without the sex orgy though). My boy Christian Coffield was telling me about the spot when I talked to him on my celly and said that they were givin away free drinks so you know that's all it takes for me to get some clothes on and bring my "cam-munition" and hit the scene. When I got therre, I parked on the St. Charles Street parking meters where the park is (wherr the homeless people were and they were out gettin their party on ,too). I wore a "smedium" orange short sleeve, jeans, a huge brown belt with a gold buckle and square-toed dress shoes. I was cool with what I had on cause I was givin the Omarion look (just without the shades but with my phat cornrolls and baby hair on the sides of my temples. LOL)

So I walk up to the club about 10 ish and I see that cars and people were heading to the spot. When I got to the front, they had a VIP carpet and about four ladies sitting at a table collecting fees for people to get in. I flashed my media badge and said that I wanted to take some snaps for my website. They pointed me to the PR guy, Shane Yackle who had on a Lone Ranger mask. I shook his hand, exchanged biz cards and I proceeded to go in.

In the lobby, the first people I saw were the sexy PAMA LIQUER girls who were pouring shots in shot and wine glasses (I cant recall how many shots I had but I was gettin quite right on mine). I took their pics. Then, I walked to the other side of the lobby and saw two sexy models from the Alex Andrite Modeling Agency who were passing out Eyes Wide Shut masks. When I took their pics they had the I'm-a-model-pose down pact.

SO when I went inside the club (which is surprisingly small, but long in length with a very small upstairs area for VIP that was not open to the public for some reason but for the certain few who were lucky I guess were able to sit up therr. The bouncer gut stopped as soon as I was going to walk to the steps)I saw some familiar faces like Jamie Spencer (so you still need for me to dance for you to get them bills. LOL) and Christiaan (whats up with you asking me to get you free shots when you could have gotten them yourself dude. LOL) . I took their pics with several of their female cleavage-out guests. LOL.

It was a mix crowd of black and white (ala out of town club) where everybody had a good time dancing with DJ Leon Lamon (I believe therr was a guest DJ as well but I didnt get his name) as they played Laffy Taffy, Lose My breath , some house music, Snap Your Fingers and Hips Dont Lie. Talk about diversity!. This is what a club should be anyway. A MIx of all and everything.

It seems like everyone was also feelin the go-go dancer chick (pictured above) who was on the small stage area where the dance floor was who was doin everything from Fame and Solid Gold moves to the Crip Walk. It was definitely another world for real. They also had a Belly dancer (who performed before the go-go dancer) who balanced a long knife on her head (People seem like they were more talking to each other than watching her cause she didnt do any tricks or anything) and a shadow go-go dancer dancing above the bartending area (One of the barmaids was a pretty sista who barmaids at the Jazz Loft BTW) that was pretty hot. The costume of the night was this lady who had on a body stocking that was painted with artistic designs. It looked as though it was painted on her like a walking canvas! . I had to take a pic of her.

There also was this sista who was grinding her ARSE on this brotha and I thought she was with him so I didnt pay them any mind. Well, a few minutes later when I walked up to the bar area near the dance floor I hear someone go, "Hey You." I look around and its her who had this funky look on her face. I said, "Huh?" Then she said, "You heard me." I did a double take lookin behind me, then back at her cause I didnt know she was talking to me (I even did the pointing at me gesture ) She looked at me then rolled her eyes at me then walked off. DAMN what was up with that? If she did want to talk with me, why didnt she just smile and say hello? Why did she have to get ghetto with it? Thats another subject but I just find it interesting how some sistas get when brothas dont talk to them in the clubs.

Also in the house were UPN's “Enterate”host Gilberto Pinella, local model Millicent and local event planner Keith Harris.

FOR MORE PICS OF THE EYES WIDE SHUT PARTY GO TO OUT 54.


MA'ATIDBITZ. My article on the US Bank Jazz Fest in Shaw Park (enetitled "Summer on a Jazz Day" ) is in this Wednesday's West End Word Newspaper (www.westendword.com)............................

I saw all of myself (head and all) on last week's Last Comic Standing show on NBC when I had the chance to look back at it after I taped it. It was a long pan view of me clapping. Finally! LOL....

THIS JUST END BITZ. I hear that STL actor/comedian Joe Torry’s (seen in the pic above w/the mike in his hand) Annual Celebrity B-Ball Challenge Weekend has been cancelled til next year. I had been getting some early buzz about this from my sources. One source told me a few months ago , that the organization wasn’t going to have the B-Ball game and only have a Golf Tourney. Then when I talked with Jacque Land of the Platinum Group (who usually handles the PR and hospitality for this event)about a month ago at the gym and he told me they weren’t going to do the event this year. I knew something was up then. Then, I got a call the juice while talkin to another source this week who told me the organization was going to gear up for next year’s event.

I have been going to his event since 2000 (It had been going on since summer 1997) and, it has been scaled down tremendously as far as celebrities who appear. I remember A-listers like Mehki Phifer, Shaq, Regina King and Shemar Moore came one year during the first few years of the event. Annual mainstays included MC Lyte, James "Uncle Phil" Avery, Tichina Arnold and the late Michael ‘Bear’ Taliferro. Vivica A Fox and Morris Chesnut also showed up in later year (Last year the major celebrity was Dawnn Lewis of ‘A Diff’rent World’) and venue space (The B-Ball game was once held at the Savvis Center. Last year it was at a gymnasium at UM-St. Louis.) I still think they could have still done the party though, but I hope they retool their strategy and come up with a way of attracting people to this event like days past cause it definitely helped in raiding funds for kids who needed assistance in clothing, hair grooming and school supplies………………………………………….

BLIND BITZ. What particular popular event planner once told a well-known club security guy/bouncer that he wasn’t the right type cause he was too big (as in girth) to be a part of its security team?......................................

My blog sista, Chi-town's Mocha Sista hipped me to a book called, "Focus" by Sarah Dollah-Said. It's the debut novel from the Chicago native. Focus is a poetry collection divided into sections about life, love, relaxation, beauty and the body. The contents of this book are directly taken from the author's personal journals with photography by her husband Ayman Said. Email the author at focuspoetrycollection@hotmail.com or listen in to her online internet radio interview on www.artistfirst.com for more info....................

X-Jam got in contact me a few days ago and said that "Noah's Arc" star Jensen Atwood (who plays Wade on the LOGO-based show) was confirmed for its party August 19. I will keep you posted where the party will take place...................

OK, as promised, I was going to talk about my stint at AG Edwards on 20th and Market. Well , I took the gig as a way of supplementing my income. It was a two month gig and I knew from even taking it that I was going to have good stuff to put on my blog (And I was right. Actually they called be back for my services but I declined due to a scheduling conflict with my other gigs).

I knew things were going to be interesting when this sista saw me during my first week there in an elevator after the end of one of my work days. It was about seven or so people in the elevator and she asked me, "Are you a reporter?" I said, Yes. Then she said, "For the American?" I went on and said yes even though I havent been with the American for almost three years. I'm sure she had spread this juice as fast as a jackrabbit to a hunting gun...........................

I met a new friend while I was there. Her name is Tianisha Loyd who worked with me (and was also a temp), and he worked the office area in New Accounts (One of the front office sistas who I see out and about said that this department was the worse department to be hired with and that she tries to worn people when they apply or temp there that it was not the department to work in. WHOA!)..................

One thing I discovered while I was there was most of the women and some of the guys who worked there loved flooded pants (females pretending their floods were to be Capris), many were pregnant and most of the white employees did the "1-2-Look Down At The Carpet Dance." You know, when you are walking one way and the other is walking the opposite direction and when they get close to you, they look at the floor to try from speaking to you? CLASSIC..........................

A lot of the female employees(who I mostly worked with) spoke a lot about the effeminate behavior of the men and wondering about their sexual preference. I found this to be interesting cause how can they try to label one's preference based on their outside behavior? I guess the "DL" theory doesnt apply there...............................................

My immediate supervisor was dating a skanky Tara Reid like temp worker (she's no longer there form what I hear) in the department I worked in (she didnt do ANY work, all she did was get on her celly and talk, throw rubberbands at people, patted the butt of a female colleague and sneak off with the supervisor to do God knows what)........................................

I worked with a sista, Angie Garrett, who used to go to the same grade school as I, Harding Elementary (on 73rd Street) back in the early 1980s (She’s a few years older than me). That was a trip (She TRIED to sing each song that was in her computer CD player. She was off the chain........

There was a ghetto cashier chic who would undercharge brothas she liked in the lunch room and overcharged sistas who she didnt like (she's fired). One day she walk’ d over to this brotha who was sitting with Tianisha and I and said that she gave him a deal on his food and said to him, "What the fuck he was talking about?" Whoa Nelly! talk about bold and anyone could have heard her. Can you say, YOU STUPID.

There was this temp named Lisa who came late, called off with no call to the super, had a ghetto foul mouth, talked on the office phone mostly her personal business, kept a container of Kool aid w/sugar added in her purse, complained about the food she bought in the cafeteria, and was shocked when she got fired and told her agency that she was on time and was never late. CLASSIC.

Those were some of the highlights I can remember right now. If I think of anymore, I will post them next week.

STL-TIDBITZ. Local socialite Jamie Spencer is having a 30th Birthday Party at 609 Lounge on Delmar. This Thursday on June 22. Just show up. You know what time y'all go out and party.......

My boy Comic View comedian/club owner Maurice G. is having a Cancer B-Day Party at his spot, Club Dreams (on the corner of Compton and Washington AVE). Its a bash for all Cancers (I am one myself -July 6). All Cancers get in FREE and Maurice is flipping the bill on drinks for all from 11 p.m. to midnite. So you know you gotta get therr early for that, but then again, I know how STL partiers do. They will still come out late regardless if something is free til a certain time or not.............................................................

There will be a plethora of celebrations to commemorate the 97th B-Day of the late great dance empress Katherine Dunham (PICTURED ABOVE IN HER YOUNGER YEARS) who died May 21. . Lincoln Middle School will celebrate and it will take place from noon to 3 p.m., Thursday, June 22, at the school located at 12 South 10th Street at Broadway Avenue. There will be dance celbrations also at Wyvetter Younge Middle School in Washington Park, June 23-25 and at the Community Center on June 25 in Brookyln , Ill. For more info call 618-531-1312, 314-762-0298, 618-650 3991 or eredmon@siue.edu.

Persons desiring to contribute to Dunham's memorial may send checks or money orders to Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities, 532 North Tenth Street at Katherine Dunham Place, East St. Louis, Ill. 62201. Tax deductible donations can be sent at www.kdunhamfund.com ..............................................

Check out David Sanborn, Dr. John, Stanley Clarke, Lizz Wright and George Duke and locals like Denise Thimes at the US Bank St. Louis, Jazz & Heritage Festival, June 23/24 2006, in Shaw Park, Clayton, MO. For tickets or more info. visit www.saintlouisjazzfest.com
or call 314.863.0278..................................

One River Mississippi is holding a free jazz and blues concert on KDHX at 7 p.m. , Saturday, June 24, on the Eads Bridge (along with seven other participating cities that connect w/the Mississippi like Minneapolis, Memphis and New Orleans)For more info call 314-721-0052 or annonyarts@aol.com or go to www.onerivermississippi.org........................................

My buddy Joel King and the Network Group are putting on (again) the play, "Me, Don and the Psychiatrist" at the Missouri History Museum, 5700 Lindell Ave, St. Louis, Sunday, June 25, 7:00pm, contact info is 314 746 4599 (Only those 18 and older will be admitted) Tickets are:$15.00 @ the Door; $12.00 in advance;$10.00 for groups of 10 or more. For advance ticket information call Dwayne Bess @ 618-531-1360 Joel P.E. King @ 618-567-0237 or Kimberly C. Moore @ 217-553-8890.............................

The Black Rep will host its 13th Annual Woodie King, Jr. Awards Ceremony on Sunday, June 25, at 3:30 p.m. at the Grandel Theatre, 3610 Grandel Square. The star-studded gala will be emceed by Kingsley Leggs who currently stars as Mister in the Tony Award winning Broadway hit THE COLOR PURPLE. Proceeds from the star-studded gala will benefit the Company’s Education and Community Programs that serve more than 65,000 people each year. Tickets are $150. To reserve your seats, contact The Black Rep at 314/534-3807..............

Well that be it. If you have anything for me to pub, hit me up at maatspear@yahoo.com.