Payback's a .....

Vanity Fair spoofs New Yorker Cover.

Is that the Constitution in the fireplace?!?

Has it been almost a week already? Sorry I've been MIA around these parts. I took some time off this weekend to celebrate my 33rd birthday and then Monday got hit with with a terrible case of food poisoning. Three words: No More Sushi.

Anyhow, I will spare you the details of my medical condition and instead share a re-cap of the weekend.

On Friday, a couple of my closest friends joined me at the Capitol Fringe Festival for the premier of the 70% Club, you may remember we had the writer/star Mary McCallum on Cocoa Mode last week to talk about the play and why so many African American women are single in 2008. If you missed it, you can download the show here. Saturday, my family treated me to dinner at Marvin's, the District's latest hot spot. Nice place, a little too "we're trendy and we know it" for me, I mean the place doesn't even offer highchairs or booster seats..is that even legal??? Besides that the menu was interesting and to their credit they serve the best collard greens I've had since Miss Amanda moved back to Mississippi. I understand the chicken and waffles were pretty good too. Finally on Sunday (my actual birthday) an old friend from college treated me to a day at the Rock The Bells concert in Maryland. The show was incredible!! Many of you know from reading previous posts that I am a huge fan of Hip Hop. I especially love Hip Hop from the late 80's to mid 90's, so needless to say I was in heaven when I read the line up: De La Soul, Rakim, Redman & Methodman, Nas, A Tribe Called Quest, Dead Prez, Pharcyde... It was magical. 30,000 people - black, white, young, old, male, female - brought together by a love of the music. Oh and by the way...NOT A SINGLE VIOLENT INCIDENT, so there! Speaking of Hip Hop, tomorrow on Cocoa Mode in the Eagles Nest, we'll be discussing the roll Hip Hip is playing in getting unlikely voters to the polls this November. I've also invited Gina McCauley of What about our Daughters and michelleobamawatch.com to talk about why so many black women love Michelle and why so many white men find her spooky (?). Tune in tomorrow at 8:00am ET on XM 169 The Power.

Until then....

Black Relationships in America

A while back the New York Times reported that 70% of African American women live alone. The 2006 US Census Data concluded nearly 50% of African American women have never been married. Why is this? Some would have us believe that black women are single because our standards are too high. Why wait for the middle-class white collar brother when the man working on the construction site or collecting our trash is available? Others have said, the black woman's insistence on dating black men is the problem.

Why not look to other races for companionship,

black men have been doing it for years. Then there's the ol' too many black men are in jail, on drugs, or just downright trifling that it's become an issue of mathematics. Too many women, not enough men. I belong to the school that believes all of these things in some way are responsible for the disproportionate number of single black women to men. However I know that we can sit around and point fingers at each other until the cows come home and still not get anywhere unless we're willing to talk to one another. That's right, black men and women together discussing relationships, marriage, parenting, finances and community building. Though I did not watch the CNN special, (I have satellite T.V. - it was raining - nuff said) I did watch a few of the segments made available on the CNN website (not sure if they're from this special or an older one.) I am going to reserve my judgment of the series until I get a chance to watch it in it's entirety. What I will say is that I hope at the very least this special will open the door to a long overdue exchange between brothers and sisters.

Thank you to Dr. Joyce Morley Ball for taking time out to join me on this week's Cocoa Mode and also to playwright, Mary McCaullum. If you're in the DC area please consider seeing her play The 70% Club this Friday and Saturday night at Trinity College. You can buy your tickets here. See you there!

Photo by Derek Anderson

Up Next: Kissey Asplund

Direct from Sweden, Kissey Asplund is gearing up to take the U.S. by storm with her unusual brand of Hip Hop/Electronica/Jazz. This past weekend I got to see her perform live at The Bloom Bar in Washington D.C. The venue was small and HOT HOT HOT (like no A/C on a 80+ degrees night hot) but that didn't stop Kissey from giving it her all. Like Erykah or Bjork, Kissey is more of a vocalist than a singer which in my opinion makes her sound even more interesting. A few days before the Washington DC performance Kissey called into my Global Hip Hop show, The Cipher on FLAVA, Worldspace Channel 204. We talked beats, technology and Celene Dion! Check it out.

Pass the NyQuil

Normally I wouldn't touch the stuff, but if I don't shake this nasty little flu in the next 24 hours, you can call me a convert. On second thought, don't call me at all cause I'll be KNOCKED OUT!!! Since my scratchy throat, stuffy nose and nagging cough have temporarily suspended all normal brain activity, I'll just leave you with this piece of musical/video goodness to set your weekend off right.

Fonzworth Bentley, Kanye West, Andre 3000 and Sa-Ra.

Everybody [Don't Stop]

Good googly-moogly, I love that Andre 3000!!!

Have a great weekend everyone.

In Case You Missed It...

In case you missed today's Cocoa Mode in the Eagle's Nest all it not loss. Tune into the encore performance at 2:00am on XM Channel 169. If that's too late (or too early) for you, check back for the downloadable podcast on Monday.

Check out Dorri C. Scott's website: High Heels and High Worth.
Jam Donaldson's new t-shirt line: Jam Donaldson Designs.

Looks like I caught a little bug while I was whoopin' it up in Detroit, so I'm going to take it easy for the rest of the day. Check back tomorrow for more.

In Case You Missed It...

In case you missed today's Cocoa Mode in the Eagle's Nest all it not loss. Tune into the encore performance at 2:00am on XM Channel 169. If that's too late (or too early) for you, check back for the downloadable podcast on Monday.

Check out Dorri C. Scott's website: High Heels and High Worth.
Jam Donaldson's new t-shirt line: Jam Donaldson Designs.

Looks like I caught a little bug while I was whoopin' it up in Detroit, so I'm going to take it easy for the rest of the day. Check back tomorrow for more.

It's that time again....

It's time for the season premier of the show to which all reality based competition shows are compared. PROJECT RUNWAY! Season 5 premiers tonight and I will be glued to the T.V. waiting to see what crazy challenges Tim, Heidi and Nina come up with this time around. I'll also be keeping an eye on the TWO sisters who participating in this season's challenge.

Up first Terri: A 39 year old free-lance designer from Chicago who's worked as an assistant designer to Barbara Bates, a stylist and merchandiser for Nordstrom, and a regional visual manager for Levi's. She is currently working as a Victoria's Secret visual manager and would like to break out with her own designs. She has eclectic and funky styles that compliment her own unique personality. Karl Lagerfeld is Terri's biggest fashion inspiration.

Next, Korto: A 33 year old Liberian native who moved to Canada to attend Fashion School. The Bravo website lists her status as "still sewing", not sure what that means. She is inspired by rich fabrics and textures and says her designs are intended for real, full-figured women. In her spare time, Korto works as a freelance fashion photographer, dances in an African dance troupe and does African hair braiding and makeup. She says her family considers her to be fun and easygoing.

The brothers are also represented by Jerell, a 28 year old former model turned designers. Like Korto, he is "still sewing" and describes his style as "eclectic and bold".

Here's an interesting little tidbit, in the past four seasons only one woman has walked away with the crown (and the money)and none of the African American contestants have won, though we came close with Mycheal Knight and Kara Saun. Maybe this year we'll kill two birds with one stone and see a sista' girl rise to the top. Keep your fingers crossed!!!

Check out the Bravo website for more info.