Let me smell yo....

Are women now a days this insecure? We're writing songs about this now? Damn Yvette & Jody!

Thank you PBS...

I want to thank PBS for giving me an up to date report of what is going on in Jena, LA. I’ve been reading many articles online about this case but it kept telling me things I already knew about it. (Eddie Nicole also did a post on this a while ago click here to get info on it b/c I’m about to talk about this and you should look at the post and video so you can get up to speed on this issue-I’m too mad to play catch up today) I wanted to know what was going on today, who showed up at the protest, what was said, how did the crowd react and how did the town of Jena react to all of the people. Now granted I haven’t been home all day glued to the TV, but I can tell you after being out and about today running errands and getting back home looking for coverage of the Jena six I failed to see anything between the hours of 3pm and 6pm. I did however, see countless reports about OJ Simpson who I could give a flying f*ck about right now. Im tired of hearing about him and I refuse to entertain his situation anymore-I’m mad I even said his name!

Now back to business…

I FINALLY saw a thorough report on PBS with commentary and EVERYTHING. In the PBS report, it was said that the citizens of Jena, LA (mostly white residents) were saying that the case was giving the town a bad name, that they are “a good town with church going people” and they were saying that this has turned into a racial thing and it had been blown out of proportion (run on sentence, I know, bare with me). Ummm, ok? Let’s see, nooses were hung from a tree that the students named the “white tree” (because that’s where the white kids sat during lunch and such) and you don’t consider that “racial”? Puhlease! Ok, fine…while race does play a large factor in the case, we can omit it for a brief moment only because the fact still remains that the two parties involved in the series of events were not punished fairly. It’s been reported that the District Attorney, Reed Waites says that racism wasn’t a factor in the prosecution because there were no LA laws that were in place to give the white boys a greater punishment (the white boys only got suspended from school for what they did)-but there were laws however, to convict Michael bell of attempted murder for taking the gun away from the white boy and then beating him up. I just want to know why the white boy was not charged for attempted murder for pulling out the gun in the first place or at least charged with assault with a deadly weapon? I’m no attorney, nor am I in law school, but I took the damn LSAT-that should give me a lil' credibility, right? lol-so something I’m saying has to make sense! So with attempts to look at this from a non racial standpoint, if it were two personified fruits in this situation (apple and orange) you mean to tell me that apple who took the gun away from orange, who actually pulled it out in the first place, would be charged with attempted murder and orange would only get suspended from school for a couple of days? F*ck that! I’m mad! Man, people in New Orleans and Mississippi are still displaced and homeless from Katrina, the Jena six are being treated unfairly, I can't stand my boss, Nicole Simpson can't rap! Ok, I’m digressing, the point of this post was to discuss the coverage or lack of coverage for the Jena 6 case/protest. I’m done…you get my point! Throws macbook down and leaves the room. End scene.

Despite all of this, I’m still livin’, laughin’, and lovin’ (Mama just didn’t raise no fool) Lady A ☺

*No macbooks were harmed in the typing of this post, the author spent too much of her own money to actually harm her precious Apple…it was only stated for dramatization.

...to love, cherish, and kill the roaches!

In celebration of the many weddings that took place on 07/07/07 I am honoring wedding vows. And, I took it upon myself to add one more important duty that should be included in wedding vows (with an emphasis on the mans part). Here's why:

I was at my friends apartment the other day and we were looking at TV. Her boyfriend came over because he had the Martin Season 2 DVD and we all wanted to watch it. So we're looking at TV laughing our asses off and he notices something that we don't. He keeps a close eye on this "thing" and gets kind of still. We notice that he isn't laughing as much any more and my friend says, "babe, what's wrong?" and he says, "Uh, I don't know if I want to tell you..." "What do you mean?" she says, "tell me, what is it? is it a bug?" "Well, uh, nah baby...ok...I told you that y'all wouldn't want to know...but I'll tell you...there's a mouse in the house." Now, being the girlie chicks we are, we scream at the top of our lungs! "AGGGGHHHHHH!!! OH SHIT!! OH MY GOD A MOUSE!!!" and we bolt out the door. Now, I grew up running track from the age of 5 all the way through my sophomore year in college and I don't think that I have ever ran that fast before!! My girl never did any sports and she was right there with me...when I tell you we got outside in a matter of 3 seconds, I'm not playin' with you! So we are freaking out outside and we get ourselves amped up to come back in and make sure boyfriend was okay. Well, we get in and boyfriend looks like he just had an all out war with Mickey Mouse. Boxes were moved out the way, the sofa was on the other side of the room. We asked him frantically, "Where is it?! Where is the mouse?!" and he said calmly, "I killed it baby." My girl asked, "well, how did u kill it, where is it?" He said calmly, "I stomped it." "You what?!" I asked, "You stomped it?...Like, with your foot?!" He again, said calmly, "yeah." My girl and I immediately laughed so hard in amazement because he had on some Adidas flip flop type shoes. At that moment, we realized just how gangsta this dude was! He killed this mouse damn near with his bare foot so that we wouldn't be scared. And, the coolest part about it all was that he never looked afraid. He tackled that task like a man! How dope is that? It sucks that there was a mouse in the apartment altogether, but living in NYC, having Mickey come to visit is not uncommon. And just so you know, the Orkin man has since come to pay a visit to her place and I'm pretty sure none of Mickeys patnas will be coming over.

I told this story to say this...Being a man must really be annoying at times because you guys have to kill all the bugs, rodents, and other vermin that come around. Do guys ever get tired of taking on that responsibility? Or do you guys take on the task like a champion, like "boyfriend" did? My poor dad being the only man of the house full of women was on bug duty ALL the time. That occasional roach that invaded our space was most definitely going to be finished by "the punisher" aka "Daddy". I'm sure it's the same for some of ya'll and maybe "the punisher" in your family was your big/younger brother or even your gangsta ass Mama! (I know some females aren't as scared of bugs as I am..so I gotta give ya'll credit!)

So I have come to the conclusion that if a dude does not kill a bug or whatever creature it is in the vicinity, that he is now officially a straight up PUNK! Putting it outside is not enough, finish that mutherf***er! And, I have made an amendment to the wedding vows too...ladies, those of you getting married this year should consider this if your man has ever left you in the room with a bug or whatever: when it's the man's turn to say "...to love and to cherish, until we are parted by death..." he should say instead,"...to love and to cherish, kill the roaches, mice, and other vermin that may make their way into the house unexpectedly and then call the Orkin man, until we are parted by death." That's not asking for too much is it? I didn't think so!

live. laugh. love. Lady A :)

The Crack Files: Subs, Trains, and Automobiles?

I think that in some sort of crazy way I am fascinated by the crack heads of this nation, especially the one's in New York City. It's probably because in NYC, poverty is right smack in your face and the majority of native New Yorkers are jaded by the thousands of crack heads and their shenanigans, that they just ignore it...oh not me! I love witnessing, sharing, and hearing other people's stories about their encounters with the wacko's of the world. So I give you today my fabulous Vanity Pages readers (all 10 of you, I mean 12-I noticed we have some new readers...glad to have you, by the way) 3 short stories, that take place on the train, in the subway station, and in an automobile...

CASE 1: Early morning on the train

So, I had to be at work very early on a Saturday morning for an event and I was incredibly tired. I went out that night, had only 2 hours of sleep, not to mention I was still tipsy. I get on the train and I decide to close my eyes until my stop just to get a few extra minutes of rest. I feel something on my foot. And, I'm thinking to myself, "I know this isn't a grown person stepping on my foot? It has to be a little kid, but it's too damn early..." I open my eyes and BAM! There he is! A crackhead looking at me dead in the eye with a "Bitch move your feet out the way" type of look. Naturally, I rolled my eyes at him like he was crazy...well he actually was, so I just left it at an eye roll because there's no telling what these crack heads will do. And, I am one of 3 people (including the crackhead) in this particular subway car. So I commenced to closing my eyes again after he walked away as if he was going to walk through to the next subway car-I thought I was in the clear. Next, I heard slurping from an aluminum can...and then the crumbling of that same can, at that moment I think to myself, "I know this nigga ain't about to throw this can at me?!" The next thing I know, I open my eyes and this ass hole throws the sprite can at ME!!! WHAT??!! Then he takes his cracky ass to the next car! WTF??

CASE 2: The Subway Sandwich

My dear friend Eddie Nicole was with her boyfriend in the subway station and they see a typical homeless/crackhead on the platform with his bags looking hungry and tired-he was asleep (or at least he looked like he was). She had a sandwich from subway and didn't want the rest. Mr. HomelessCrackhead guy looked like he could use a bite, so Eddie, being the generous person she is thought she would be a good Samaritan and give him the rest of her Sub. She laid it next to him and walked off feeling like she did her good deed for the day. Little did she know, Mr. HomelessCrackhead guy wasn't feeling her sandwich. As a matter of fact, he felt like she should know it, so a couple of seconds after Eddie walked off feeling good about herself, she felt a massive thump to the back of her head!!! The bastard threw the damn sub at her!! LMAO! I guess his message was, keep your sandwich Bitch, give me the money!!!

CASE 3: The Automobile
Another one of my dear friends in Houston shared an unfortunate story with me the other day. Her car was broken into. I was sad to hear about it because in these particular situations, one typically gets their fancy shmancy radio/cd/ipod player stolen or something else of value. On the contrary, her story was worst than that. She walks to her car during her lunch break and the window is broken. Immediately she thinks, "Oh no! I left my radio face on, and my Nike bag is in there with my work out clothes! Oh shit, I just bought some new shoes , they are in the bag too!" And, she continues to think of the valuables she left in her car all at this moment. She opens the door, and sees that all of the items in the gym bag are removed from the bag. Sprawled around the back seat of the car. "But, wait! Everything is still in here, this is crazy," she thought. Well guess what folks? All that was missing was her cigarette lighter and the gym bag! What kind of shit is that?! Now, I'm glad that all of her belongings were there, but this theft is screaming crackhead! All he took was a bag and a lighter!

Until next time...

Lady A

A Text Message is what it is...A MESSAGE!

I know I'm not the only person who feels this way, because my girls and I have had this conversation over and over again-and we all agree. Look fellas! It's okay to text and say "hey just thinking about you" or "I'll be there at 7" or "are you gonna be there tonight" but when you send a text and want to continue a long ass conversation, then that's where I draw the line! After about 4-6 texts in a time period of 10 minutes, it's time to get a real phone conversation started. I guess what I'm saying is that text messaging is making people lazy and it's showing that people are either socially awkward or its making it easy for people to not develop conversation skills. What the hell is this? Do people not want to get to know each other any more? All I'm saying is that having a whole conversation through a text message is a lousy and lazy way to keep in contact with someone.

I know some of you fancy shmancy guys have your blackberry's and your side kicks and what not. But, some of us have little flip phones and there is only room for 160 characters per message (including spaces)-my thumb is going to get arthritis! And, I'm running out of ways to abbreviate words. After a while texting gets to be so damn impersonal, hell, how do I know your not sending a mass text to all the chicks in your phone talkin' 'bout "whats up?" To me its no different from the millions of texts I get on the holidays saying "Merry Christmas" & "Happy New Year!" Oh! and just because you text me today does not mean that we talked, texting does NOT count. Texting is simply a way of just saying "hi" or touching base, it is NOT and I repeat, NOT a real conversation. Texting has no tone of voice. It's hard to tell if the person is saying something in a mean way, or a funny way, or if they are yelling (b/c some people text in all caps ALL the time) It's just hard to read into sometimes, ya know?

Like I said, it's ok to text to get quick information, to say "hello", or any type of short MESSAGE (hence the name "text message") Its also ok to do while bored in class or bored in a meeting. It just becomes a problem when it turns into a long ass conversation and you're sitting on the damn sofa, ugh!


This is Lady A signing off! Until next time...

What exactly is Grimace? Really?

My girls and I just returned from a fabulous weekend in Las Vegas (Thanks Rocky!!!) And, while rolling around in our limo inebriated, we had a very deep and profound discussion on the McDonalds characters. So we discussed each character-let's list them off, shall we? Okay here we go: We've got Ronald McDonald, (that's easy, you know what he is, he's just a clown); The Hamburglar (he loves hamburgers so much he just has to steal them); Birdie the Early Bird (she loves to get up early in the morning for breakfast), The Fry Kids (the damn fries were so good they just had to have their own mascot), there's also the Mc Nugget Buddies and Mayor McCheese (my personal favorite), and now we have Grimace-what the hell was Grimace? Was he just a purple glob that loved McDonald's milkshakes? He was such a big dummy. He just ran around with his hands out following people saying "duh" all the time. So it came down to these two options: Grimace was either just a big purple glob thing or he was a ghost. But, we were still stumped though because all the rest of the characters had something to do with one of the food items on the menu. And, him being a blob doesn't look to appetizing soooooo me being the braniac that I am, I decided that he could only be one thing and one thing only, Grimace has got to be the Secret Sauce!!!! Hell, McDonald's is the one fast food restaurant where you can eat their food and about 30 minutes after devouring the fries and mystery meat you have to go to the bathroom. Grimace is a big blob thing and he's purple, that damn secret sauce was different colors sometimes, he HAS to be the secret sauce!

*The opinions expressed in this post are those of the author only, they do not directly represent the views of all of the contributors of vanity pages. This topic is open for discussion. I would like to know what you think...in the meantime, keep livin', laughin', and lovin'!


Yours truly,

Lady A (he's gotta be the secret sauce)

Do you wanna ride with me?

5 things that keep me entertained while riding the subway...

• I like to listen to really loud obnoxious "ghetto" rap music on my iPod when sitting next to old ladies especially when I am dressed in professional attire-I like to watch them get uncomfortable. (i.e. Crime Mob, Three Six Mafia, etc...LOL!)
  

• watching people pretend to read their book or magazine to avoid making eye contact with crack heads! One time I saw this girl "reading" her book and it was upside down!
  

• I like reading the newspaper of the person sitting next to me. It's so much fun to turn your head when they look out of their peripherals to see if you were reading their newspaper.

• when people rush to get on the train running and yelling, "hold the doors!" and then they get on and the train doesn't move for another 2 minutes LOL!
  

• watching people who think they are too cool to hold on to the bar all most fall over because of the inertia caused by the train taking off-that's why the bars are there dumb ass, you better hold on!
  

The randomness from your girl full of life, laughter, and love,

Lady A

The Gay Chronicles: The "Buhscue' Me" Story

Why does it seem like gay guys have the best stories to tell? Well, My wonderful gay guy friend told me a great short story that had me rolling! I'd like to share it with you all-I call it the "Buh'scue Me" story. While reading this, picture a gay Spanish male wearing skinny jeans, a black blouse, and gold chains, with a swoop bang covering his right eye telling you this story. And, it goes a little somethin' like this:

"So the other night, my friend and I went out to the club and afterward we went to the drug store because I needed a toothbrush, right? So, like we're in the line for the check out and this black chick walks in and just got right in front of the line, right?, I mean just straight up cut the line and went up to the cashier and was like, 'um, buhscue' me, can you tell me where the pu$$y products be at?' and then the cashier goes, 'What?...you mean...like tampons?' and then the girl goes 'um yeah, the pu$$y products, where they be at?' "

I can't believe that people actually talk like that! Since when have tampons been referred to as pu$$y products??? I was laughing my ass off! I can only imagine what the girl looked like, I'm sure somewhere in the chicken head, gutter-butt category: you know, badly relaxed hair slicked back in a sad weave pony tail with a lot of that brown gel that dries up and flakes...(I think you get the picture, no need to continue). As a result of hearing this story, I now have to find a reason to use the phrase "buhscue' me" during the day just to give myself a quick laugh! You should too...go ahead, try using it in a sentence why don't cha'? It may just make your day. So, there you go people, that's the end of the story and another wonderful classic display of ignorance. Please make sure your kids are paying attention in English class! A mind really is a terrible thing to waste.

*Just in case you don't know, allow me to give you a quick example of how you correctly ask a drug store customer service representative the question Ms. Chicken Head tried to ask:

"Excuse me, could you tell me where I can find the feminine products?"

And there you go! It's that easy people...let's do better.


As always...Keep livin', laughin', and lovin',

Lady A

Another Random Thought...

Today I am off of work (...it's funny because I was going to call in sick anyway because I had some things that I needed to do. Luckily they gave us the day off so that kept me from having to get my sick voice together-refer to Eddie Nicole's Corporate Ghetto Post). Anyway, as I enjoy my day off, I have been looking at TV watching the show Engaged and Underage on MTV. This show is so funny and it just reminds me of how it is so not that serious to try and rush to get married. Some of these weddings are wack as hell! OK, forgive me, I guess when you're in love it shouldn't matter blah, blah, blah. But, looking at these weddings got me to thinking about high school relationships and how they usually don't work. You can probably name one couple from your high school graduating class that actually got married-don't get me wrong now, it's a beautiful thing (if you like that type of stuff). However, as I walk around everyday and ride the train to and from work I see these young high school aged couples gazing into each others eyes like they are all in love and I usually chuckle to myself and think "aww, they really think it's going to last..." It also got me thinking about all of the people I know who had "serious" high school relationships (ok, ok, myself included damn!) that didn't work out and they now hate each other. Oh, the memories!

(above photo: what you don't want to look like on your wedding day)

Keep livin', laughin', and lovin',

Lady A

Dope Fiend Rentals and Vagina Power...

Yes it sounds crazy, but I'll explain. Actually I don't understand it myself...but here's the story... So I was talking to a friend of mine and he told me about how he needed to get a "dope fiend rental" for the weekend. With him being a person who doesn't smoke, snort, or inject any drugs, naturally I asked, "Dope fiend rental? What the hell is that?" (He was really referring to renting a car from a place like Enterprise, but he used the term to be funny, so he began to explain). He told me that in the "hood" people buy a dope fiend a "rock" in exchange for their car for a day, a weekend, or however many days they need it. I immediately started laughing hard and then thought about, "well what if they wreck the poor crack heads car?" He said that was the benefit of a "dope fiend" rental. You can "F it up" and give it back and the guy can't say anything about it or if he does, you can just buy him another rock and he'll soon forget all about it.


Now you may be wondering, "how can a crack head afford a car?" Here's the deal, I am from the south, and everyone in the south either has a car, knows someone with a car and/or probably has access to it (there's not as much public transportation there as say, NYC). So, anyway, have any of you ever heard of something like this? This is hilarious to me yet disturbing at the same time. Helping the poor crack head support his habit all because you need to borrow a car! LMAO!

Now on to Vagina Power

So there is this public access show in Atlanta with these two ladies; a mother and her daughter where they discuss...well...you'll have to listen to this for yourself. You may have seen this before but, here's one of the many lessons you may learn, "Don't let every man spank your bottom and talk to you all kind of ways." and "If you really want to earn your man you need to learn your man". In other words, this is good 'ol sista' girl banter at it's finest! As funny as it is, some of you ladies may need to take notes LOL. If you are at work, you may want to plug your earphones in, this is a good one!




Keep Loving and Laughing,

Lady A

Chrisete Michelle- you gotta love her!

Last Wednesday, April 11, 2007 I experienced live music at the Canal Room in NYC. I want to thank Mathew and the great folks at Muzic Theory for the hospitality. And, yes, I call this an experience. No, it was not my first time hearing live music however, it was my first time wanting to cry in a club after hearing Chrisete Michelle play the piano while singing a song called "Love is You" where she ever so eloquently personified love. (And, it was my first time having the lead singer of a band pull me on stage to sing his very, very sensual rendition of De'Angelo's "How does it feel"-but I digress, remind me to tell you more about that later). Now back to business...so I didn't really cry in the club, I just wanted to. In other words, I was absolutely impressed by Chrisete. This was my second time seeing her perform (I first saw her perform at the Nokia Theater-see previous post here) and I must say that I am now more convinced than ever that this girl is, for lack of a better word, the shit! Have you ever listened to a song and knew what the next word was going to be just because the lyrical content was predictable? Well, Chrisete is the complete opposite. This chick obviously has been doing her homework studying music and writing her ass off. I could go on and on about this chick so I'll try to keep this short. All I'm saying is that Chrisete is a force to be reckoned with. I urge you all to give her a chance once her first single comes out in a couple of weeks. Jay-Z's "Lost One" and the Nas "Can't Forget About You" did her some justice but not enough-she needs more than a hook of a song for you to really get the full experience, and yes, I call her voice an experience.
Oh, I almost forgot...the band that opened up for Chrisete was called Franklin Bridge. If I had to compare their sound to another band, I would say they were similar to Mint Condition. They are a 5 member band out of Philadelphia and they are damn good. The band members are Ray Ray, Wayne, Adam, Lil Darrell and lead singer Curt Chambers, who I now have a crush on (damn he sure can sing and play that guitar! all he needs is some tattoos and... oops I forgot y'all were there...) So the last song they performed was a cover of De'Angleo's "How Does it Feel". Apparently, the lead singer likes to pick a very, very attractive young lady out of the crowd and vocally seduce her when he performs this song. Well, with all that being said, I was that lucky lady that got pushed to the front of the crowd to the stage and had the pleasure of receiving this serenade. I was so embarrassed! Nevertheless, I had a great time! You can take a listen to Franklin Bridge at their myspace page by clicking here.

Until next time...

Lady A

Congrats to J Hud & Forrest Whitaker!

J Hud & Forrest Whitaker take home Oscars for Best Supporting Actress & Best Actor

It's exciting to see yet another year of people of color getting better roles, performing them well, and actually get recognition for it! Forrest has been in the acting game for a long time now and his role as Idi Amin was slammin'! If you haven't seen The Last King of Scotland, get your @$$ up and go see it. And, as for Jennifer, this has been an amazing year for her. Some people may argue that her role as Effie could have been done by anyone. While that may be true, for her to have no acting experience at all and make it this far is unbelievable. Not to mention her vocal skills are impeccable, I don't think anyone other than Jennifer Holiday could have sang "you're gonna love me" like her.

Sports: NBA All Star Weekend is for "Hip Hop Hoodlums"

According to a recent article at AOL Sports, the NBA All-Star Weekend was a complete flop and very dangerous. The author of this article seems to have a lot of anger in his heart!

The game is a sloppy, boring, half-hearted mess. The dunk contest is contrived and pointless. The celebrity contest is unintended comedy. And, worst of all, All-Star Weekend revelers have transformed the league's midseason exhibition into the new millennium Freaknik, an out-of-control street party that features gunplay, violence, non-stop weed smoke and general mayhem...

David Stern seriously needs to consider moving the event out of the country for the next couple of years in hopes that young, hip-hop hoodlums would find another event to terrorize. Taking the game to Canada won't do it. The game needs to be moved overseas, someplace where the Bloods and Crips and hookers and hoes can't get to it without a passport and plane ticket...

After this weekend, I'm convinced he's losing the battle. All-Star Weekend Vegas screamed that the NBA is aligned too closely with thugs. Stern is going to have to take drastic measures to break that perception/reality. All-Star Weekend can no longer remain the Woodstock for parolees, wannabe rap artists and baby's mamas on tax-refund vacations. full story

OK!? So there were a few bad apples in the whole bunch! It was pretty hectic out there but, did he have to say "baby's mama's?" There are actually some "baby's mama's" in the world doing respectable things. All Star weekend would be pretty classy overseas though...tell me what u think?

Randomness fo' that @$$: The Crack Files...

K-Ci & JoJo Sounding very "crackish" at the TV One Bill Bellamy's Who Got Jokes Finale
Introducing Ashy Larry & Tyrone Biggums...all I can say is please seek professional help if you ever feel the need to try drugs, PLEASE! If you haven't seen this yet, please get prepared to laugh your socks off or even cry!




While watching this, please notice the extreme weight loss and the pitchiness of the voices.

Whitney and Ray J again, doing the most...what's up with them?I'm just hoping that she has always wanted a son, that's all I'm saying!

Who Cares?

Randomness fo' that @$$...

...these are just a few of my thoughts along with today's pointless headlines that I found rather interesting. It's amazing what makes breaking news and it's funny how entertaining it can be. So if you have nothing else to discuss with your friends and family, perhaps these topics will make great conversation pieces, consider these tidbits Valentine's Day gifts from me to you!

e Tracey Morgan pleads guilty for drunk driving full story

e 50 Cent and Irv Gotti stare each other down (just in time for Valentine's Day) at a Grammy party full story

e Wasn't it nice to see Carl Anthony Payne (most of us remember him as either Cockroach from The Cosby Show or Cole Brown from Martin) on Girlfriends Monday night? It was just kinda weird to see him as a woman beater though!

...speaking of the Cosby Show, Bill Cosby's dog won the Terrier group at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show on Monday night full story

e Paula Abdul says she's never been drunk...oh please! full story

e Is it really necessary for Tyra to have an entire show dedicated to her trying on the swimsuit that she wore when she graced the cover of the SI swimsuit edition 10 years ago? full story

Ok, Tyra is cool and all, I like her but her show topics are so limited sometimes-makeover this, oh I'm too fat that, eating disorder this, I'm crying on stage because i don't have a man, blah blah blah...

Underground Music: Supa Lowery Brothers

If I had to describe the genre of this group in one word, I would say "jazzhiphopsoulrnb" okay, so it's almost impossible to describe it in one word! Literally, the Supa Lowery Bros are the coolest, hottest, young jazz band that I have heard in a long time. Living in New York allows you to be surrounded by many (almost too many) people with talent. I mean, every second there is someone trying to hustle for a dollar doing anything-i.e. bums performing on the train for a little change is an everyday thing. However, it is rare to actually hear a performance that is REALLY good. The most memorable performance was hearing the SLB when getting off the train at Columbus Circle and it never failed that there was a huge crowd around them every time they were playing...and, I'm sure it doesn't hurt that the band members are attractive! They were selling their CD for $10 and I haven't stopped listening to it since. The vibe is relaxing, you can just let the CD play. The majority of the songs are instrumentals of course but, when there are lyrics, the words are incredibly
inspiring, deep, and thought provoking. I encourage you to support this band, they are not signed to a major label yet but you can purchase their self titled CD's on iTunes and CD Baby.


The group is made up of two brothers originally from Philly, Chris (trumpet) and Wes Lowery (drums). Also, Kwama Hall-Alto Sax, Aaron Bumpus-Bass and features Phatlace, Kazi the Blak and Pakeeso Young-guitar. You should definitely check out their websites: myspace.com/supalowerybros and www.supalowerybros.com

Entertainment News: Anna Nicole Smith Dies

Anna Nicole Smith dies at age 39

By Michael Muskal

HOLLYWOOD, FL---The former Playboy model and reality television star reportedly collapsed in her hotel room and was rushed to a hospital about 2 p.m. EST but was pronounced dead.

"I can confirm that she is deceased. It's as shocking to me as to you guys," Smith's attorney, Ronald Rale, told Reuters. "I don't know anything further. (Her lawyer and husband) Howard (K. Stern) obviously is speechless and grieving."

Smith, 39, was found unconscious in her hotel room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Fla., according to television reports. full story-chicago tribune

VANITY VISION

...Where we have spotted stylish people walking the streets!

Kimberly, a stylist backstage at the Jason Wu fashion show. She said she got her cute blouse from a vintage store in Harlem for 25 cents!

Shaundel, spotted at a local coffee shop sporting Cazal glasses, on his way to the Heatherette fashion show. Check out the previous post on vintage glasses click here

We spotted Patricia at Bryant Park looking fabulous with her adorable Fendi bag and Christian Louboutin shoes.

...So stay vain and continue to dress fly, you just may be the next person caught looking good! Stay tuned for more of our Vanity Vision style watch!

Brandy Involved in Fatal Car Accident

Nightmare Accident on the 405


On December 30, 2006 singer Brandy was involved in a car accident in Los Angeles, CA. Brandy struck a 2005 Toyota. The Toyota then hit a 1989 Toyota. The 2005 Toyota then slid sideways and hit the center divider. As the 2005 Toyota came to a halt, it was struck by a 1988 Acura. The driver of the 2005 Toyota, Awatef Aboudihaj, was taken to Holy Cross Hospital in critical condition and she died the next day. Aboudihaj, a 38-year-old married mother of one, was a Los Angeles resident. It is also reported that at the scene of the accident, Brandy hysterically repeated that the accident was all her fault.

In a statement to TMZ from Brandy's publicist, Courtney Barnes, the singer confirmed her involvement in a fatal crash: "Brandy was involved in a car accident December 30, 2006 in Los Angeles where there was a fatality. She wishes to publicly express her condolences to the family of the deceased. Brandy asks that you respect the privacy of everyone involved at this time."

Brandy was not arrested, injured, nor was there any alcohol or drugs involved. full story

With this going on and her baby brother Ray J doing the most with Whitney, I know Brandy is extremely stressed out. My heart goes out to her.

Underrated Artist: Teedra Moses

The Young Lioness

If you haven't heard of Teedra or listened to her first album, Complex Simplicity, then you may know the words to some of the songs she's written. She has written songs for Christina Milian (Dip it Low), Mary J. Blige (So Lady, The Breakthrough), and Trina (Here We Go) to name a few. Fans of Teedra are highly anticipating her upcoming album The Young Lioness, expected spring 2007. I am a big fan of Teedra's colorful voice and her impeccable writing skills-I can't wait for the new album to be released! Click the links below to listen to "Blow me Out", a song left off from the Complex Simplicity album and one of her new songs "Take my Love Away" so you can get a taste of what Teedra is all about.
Blow Me Out
Take My Love Away


For those of you who live in the Los Angeles area or will be visiting LA this month-check out Teedra Moses, at BB Kings Blues Club on Jan. 28, 2007. (thanks fusicology)