Cathy Hughes Speaks her Mind

Cathy Hughes doesn't mince words when it comes to Mo'Nique and Halle Berry's Oscar winning performances. According to Ms. Hughes "they" always represent black women poorly. I use quotes because I am not sure if she means Lee Daniels and his team, Hollywood, or just white people.

She wants more stories about positive woman like Michelle Obama.

Watch below. Is this a fair assesment?

BTW...Ms. Hughes also notes that Tyler Perry has done a "miraculous" job of portraying black images.

Video Courtesy of Ms. Drama TV

A Writer's Underwear, or What Things Look Like Underneath

Sometime roughly two years ago, I became addicted to a podcast called "The Moth."  The basic premise is this:  people get on stage and tell true stories from their lives without the use of notes.  In other words, this is like a spoken-word creative nonfiction slam.

I have often wondered what I would say if I ever took the stage at one of these events.  Most of the time nothing comes to mind--at least nothing that I would want to put out there for the public to know.  The irony, however, is that when I teach, I use more than a few personal anecdotes to convey my points.  So lately I have been wondering how it is that I can come up with 101 stories for my students, but can't come up with one single story when faced with the idea of performing at a Moth Slam.

I suspect the answer lies with how I see myself as an artist.  As a teacher, I see anecdotes as merely part of my pedagogy, but when it comes to creative art, well, I see a different kind of bar that I must reach.  I find myself suddenly self-conscious about my stories.  Are they funny?  Are they boring?  Are they too serious?  Do I know where to start it or where to stop it?  And ultimately I wind up psyching myself out.

Or maybe I just feel too vulnerable talking about my own life.  But isn't fiction intimate?  Doesn't the reader learn something about the psyche of a writer through what he or she writes?  Clearly, to write something, a person must be able to visualize it in some detail.  Yet I can write fiction all day long and still dread the thought of ever writing an autobiography or even a mild memoir.

I suspect in the end, as a writer, I should be able to step out from under this shadow of self-consciousness and just "do the damn thing."  After all, a writer with inhibitions is like a Buddhist monk with a jheri curl.  Well, actually he is probably more like a bald Buddhist monk.  We all have inhibitions, but at the end of the day, we have to muscle past them.  The trick I figure is to do it without getting activator juice on the collar of your robe.

Who knows?  I just may do an open mic one day and surprise myself, because in the end, being a writer is not a title that you aspire to.  It is simply who and what you are.

Randy Bandit

Got Any Questions for Russell Simmons?

I'll be interviewing Hip Hop Mogul Russell Simmons for Written about his new book Super Rich: A Guide to Having it All.

Any questions you want me to ask?

Michelle

Birthplace of the Cocktail

Ever wondered where the origin of the cocktail began? Me, too! Did some research and this is what I came up with:

The cocktail’s fragmented history begins in the nineteenth century. One of the first modern cocktails to be named and recognized is the martini. It can be traced back to an 1862 recipe for the Martinez. This American recipe consisted of four parts sweet red vermouth to one part gin, garnished with a cherry.

“Professor” Jerry Thomas tended the bar of the old Occidental Hotel in San Francisco and reputedly made the drink for a gold miner on his way to the town of Martinez, which lay forty miles to the east. The recipe for the Martinez in Thomas’ 1887 bartender’s guide called for Old Tom gin, sweet vermouth, a dash of maraschino and bitters, as well as a slice of lemon and two dashes of gum syrup.

A modern day dry martini consists of gin and dry white vermouth, garnished with an olive. Obviously, gin has changed a lot since then, when it would have been relatively sweet compared to modern gins. Some even claim the martini was named after the Martini-Henry rifle used by the British army around 1870, as both the rifle and the drink had a strong kick! So there you have it, you now know the birthplace of the first cocktail…

Cheers!

Trev
Shake and Stir Blog

Lisa Gay Hamilton

For the first time in over a decade, my favorite television shows are NOT on HBO, but on TNT. Sigh. In some ways, I attribute this to the gnawing reality that my days are numbered in the 18-49 demo and watching Vinny Chase defile models has gotten old.

Mostly though, TNT's "Southland" and "Men of a Certain Age" are both solid shows in their own unique ways and are worthy of being tied for first place on my TV favorites list. The first 15 minutes of the season premiere of "Southland" was better than the last four seasons "Law & Order."

Meanwhile, "Men of Certain Age" has quietly crafted one of the most authentic-feeling portrayals of male friendship I've ever seen. I am not quite the age of the characters on the show; but as I watch my friends start families and I make plans for this next phase of adulthood, the show feels familiar. It's not entirely frightened by the idea of aging, but not completely comfortable with the idea either.

However, this post isn't really about TNT, or the shows; it's about Lisa Gay Hamilton.

Hamilton plays Melissa Thoreau, wife of Andre Andre Braugher's Owen Thoreau Jr. character on "Men of a Certain Age." Hamilton playing a suburban mom, in a mostly-white community, while sporting natural hair is a breath of fresh air. How she got away with not letting the producers slap a shiny, synthetic wig on her head is beyond me.

In some ways, it is that natural truth about Hamilton that has made me a fan of her work. She seems like someone I'd be friends with; educated, talented and conscious. Kimberly Elise has the film career I imagine Hamilton would have if more than one black actor of a certain type could be successful at one time.

The show's Thoreau clan is an example of what can be done when writers approach diversity without the notion of exoctism. The Thoreau's along with Brian White's portrayal of salesman Marcus are the most well-rounded African-American characters we've seen in some time. Hamilton's character is often at the center; like women sometimes have to be.

Hamilton, instead of falling into banal wife, or "strong black woman" archetypes, has crafted a too seldom seen version of black femininity. Her character, in a word, is ordinary. How refreshing. She's not magical. She's not nursing her white friends back to health. She's not climbing the corporate ladder. She's just an average woman making it happen for her family in the 'burbs. Hamilton has skillfully breathed life into this character, making it special.

Because of the lack of extreme violence, sex, or perhaps young people, the show, while successful, doesn't get a lot of buzz. Add that to the fact that Hamilton isn't the kind of actor we see all over the blog sites (or on her own show's website for that matter). It could be easy to overlook Lisa Gay Hamilton.

After years of putting in work as an actress and director (Did you catch "Beah: A Woman Speaks?") I just wanted to give her a little shine and point you to a great show you might not be watching.

Phill Boogie

Game On

I knew the ratings for "The Game" would be huge. It apparently scored almost 8 million viewers last night; more than double the average of the show's ratings on The CW.

At one point last night, every tweet on my Timeline was about the show. Over on Facebook, all the chatter reminded me of how I watched shows like "Different World" in the dorms.

At another time, when I don't have a migraine, I'll go into some of the self-loathing that manifests in the critique of African-American popular culture. For now, I'll keep it light with a few of of my favorite tweets about the show.












Phill Boogie

We Mourn the Loss of Literary Agent Manie Barron

It is with deep sorrow that the family and friends of Manie Barron announce his death from a hemorrhage the morning of Saturday, January 8, 2011 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, where he was being treated for lung cancer.

Manie, whose full name was Emanuel Joseph Barron, was born on December 7, 1955, in Harlem, New York, to Joseph K. Barron and Harriet F. Smith. He is survived by his wife, Wendalyn R. Nichols; daughter, Veronica Grace Nichols Barron, 7; niece Raven T. Barron; and great-nephew Messiah M. Barron, 8. He is predeceased by his parents and by his sister, Charmaine.

Manie began his nearly three-decade career in publishing as a bookseller at the Doubleday bookstore at South Street Seaport in Manhattan. He became a buyer for Golden Lee book distributors, from where he was recruited as a founding member of the Random House telephone sales team. He transitioned from sales to editorial, laying the foundation for what would become the Striver’s Row imprint at Random House, before moving on to HarperCollins, where he was publishing manager of the Amistad imprint. He then spent three years as a literary agent with the William Morris Agency before partnering with Claudia Menza in the Menza Barron Agency.

A memorial celebration is planned for early February, details of which will be released later. A college scholarship fund has been established for Manie’s daughter, Veronica. To contribute, please send a check made out to Veronica Grace Nichols Barron c/o Carrie Kania at HarperCollins, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022.


Michelle