New Orleans and 'Noble' Leonard Riggio

Wassup, Y'all!

The basement wire alerted me to the solid just done for New Orleans by Barnes & Noble Chairman, Leonard Riggio. His family foundation plans to donate '$20 million from his family foundation to build new houses for residents displaced by the storm 2 1/2 years ago'. Riggio, a self made businessman who gradually turned the NYC based Student Book Exchange into Barnes & Noble - the largest bookseller in world, is clearly a homey who gets it...

These types of moves engender what ol Ty's calls Passive PR. By that I mean the next time I go book shoppin', B&N moves to the top of my list. Of course, I'll still be comparin' prices and what not since mama's always trippin about the rent, but since I know B&N has such a philanthropic CEO (and in an area I care about), when I hit a brick and mortar bookstore, given a choice, I'll plan to split some paper with B&N.

According to the article, Riggio's "Project Home Again," plans to build '20 new, elevated houses for lower-income families. ...Gentilly residents — those who lived in the racially diverse, mixed-income neighborhood at least two years before Katrina and who still own property there — to swap their uninhabitable, storm-damaged homes or empty lots for houses that would be built on roughly 3 1/2 acres. Those families then would get forgivable mortgages, over five years, before owning the new houses outright'

Man, that's a better deal than the joint I got with mama right now! Wow, with a move like that I might have to pop for a Caramel Macchiato and a scone to go with my copy of King Magazine. Two snaps up, L-Rig!

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Do Images Matter? Ask Derrick Ashong

Wassup, Y'all!

My old roommate hollered at me a bit ago with a couple videos that he thought I should see. Naturally, I sat on them for a few days cuz I'm so busy so I just got to them last night and knew as soon as I saw them that I needed to get them up. If you're a frequent consumer of YouTube you've probably seen them already but if not, let me set the stage for you...

If you were a non-southsider from anywhere in the world and got a constant dose of American news that featured sound bites from BET or urban southsiders with Jheri Curl bags on their heads at the scene of the latest drive-by shootin', you'd probably swear that all southsiders in America were like Ms. Peachez in that 'Fry That Chicken' video. I have to believe that a lot of American *northsiders* have that view as well - media images are powerful, y'all.

That's just why I need to share these videos of Derrick Ashong, a young southside actor from West Africa who is now a naturalized citizen and is completely dialed into American politics and particularly the candidacy of Smooth Barack. He was interviewed outside of an Obama/Clinton debate (while lookin' like a homey from Winky's Corner Store over on Cottage Grove) and got hit with a barrage of probing questions about his support for Obama and got medieval on the interviewer and showed such a depth of understanding of the issues that he basically leaves about 90% of the electorate in the dust - particularly those knuckleheads who continue to insist on referrinig to Smooth as 'Barack Hussein Obama' as they parrot the company conservative talk show host line.

Turns out that once the video hit YouTube it pretty much went viral to the point, that homeboy posted his own video explaining the effect the video's popularity has had on him but more importantly, why he feels the need to be so engaged in the political process. The end result is a nice, tight, on time, stereotype smashing ,extemporaneous, verbal riff that makes a brother go, 'ahhhhhhhh'

The two videos are 13 minutes of time well spent. Trust me on this - you won't regret it.

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

How To Shadow A Superdelegate

Wassup, Y'all!

Admit it, you always wanted to be either John Shaft or Foxy Brown. We'll here's your chance since it may all come down to Superdelegates at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. The Superdelegate Transparency Project lets you be your own bad mother shut-your-mouth and look up the SDs from your state and district.

Armed with this information, if you find they're leanin' in a direction contrary to popular opinion, you can wave them over to your car with a big Tony Soprano smile and tell them that you just want to 'talk to them for a minute'.

I just checked on Illinois and so far all of our SDs are toeing the line for Smooth Barack - even my westside boy Luis Gutierrez who's going against the grain of his district, which supported Hillary. Man, I'm all for getting the actual factuals straight and uncut. If you ask me, we can use more websites like this and less of Wolf Blitzer.

That said, based on the debate last night, I'm startin' to get the feeling that it won't even come down to the Superdelegates but if it does, here's all the information you need to see who's up to what.

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

The Race Race

Wassup, Y'all!

If things play out the way they're looking like they should, this Fall we'll have a ring side seat at the nerve racking side debate in the presidential election on whether race still matters in America. If Hillary wins, since both she and John McCain are northsiders, the side debate would have been focused on the 'been there, done that' gender question. But if Smooth Barack wins, outside of the age question, it's clear that the side debate will focus on the "Is America ready to elect a southside President?' question.

The anecdotal evidence seems to point to a definitive 'yes', but America's collective feet have yet to really be put to the fire. The March 2008 issue of Men's Health magazine had a nice article on 'Pride vs. Prejudice', a survey where they asked 1,229 men 'where they stand on matters of race and prejudice'. The participants did weigh in on the specific presidential question (check after the jump for their take), but answers to other questions (as well as another proposed confederate flag license plate) tells me that there's still work to do...

The demographics of the MH survey respondents broke like this: 65% northside, 17% southside, 6% eastside, 5% westside and 7% otherside. On the presidential question, 55% said America is ready for a nonwhite president. Then things got interesting:

- 53% said there's some tension in the state of race relations in America (no doubt)
- 63% said that they had a least some racist feelings
- 50% believe that we will never achieve racial equality

To be fair there was other good news in the survey:

- 89% approve of interracial relationships (remember these are *guys* being surveyed, shortys may feel differently...)
- 74% agreed that racism is a learned vs. an innate behavior
- 44% vs. 39% said it's never okay for authorities to racially profile suspects

So just when I started feeling a little hopeful again, I see this article in USAToday about a Florida legistator proposing a 'Confederate Heritage' license plate. Now as a southsider, I've got zero love for anything confederate. The flag is a permanent reminder to me of states that were willing to divide the nation in order to keep slavery legal. I can't understand why anyone would want to continue to perpetuate such a divisive symbol so maybe some of my northside homeys can educate me on that one.

Representative Donald Brown, the Republican (I'm shocked!) legislator who introduced the bill claims it 'has nothing to do with race' and 'It's a part of our history, whether we like it or not'. Hmmm...lynchin' and firebombin' southside home across the south are a part of our history too. I'm choosing the 'or not' option on that one.

So it's a mixed bag for me y'all. As I've mentioned before, I'm completely astonished that Smooth Barack is doin' as well as he is. On the other hand, I continue to share an unsettling concern about his safety the longer this thing goes. I've heard this concern voiced in mixed company as recently as Saturday at a party I attended. In my mind, we're either at the launching pad of a new era in race relations in America or at the precipice of a long fall that will clearly reveal just how deep our dysfunctional racial roots really go.

That seems to be the definition of 'cautiously optimistic' to me. Buckle up, sports fans - it's going to be a wild ride.

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Ty's Vegas Update: Told you so

Wassup, Y'all!

Regular readers of The Urban Eye should remember an excellent post I wrote titled, 'The Power of The Pole...'. It documented my exploits tryin' to get into a Vegas nightclub (Jet at the Mirage) and the little shadow economy goin' on between wannabe VIPs who want quick access into a club and the doormen who control the velvet rope. Just based on my contribution and the others I saw flowin' toward Jet's doorman, I estimated that ol boy cleared about a grand of tax free money that night.

Well, it appears that not only was ol Ty doin' some under estimatin' of Vegas doormen's lucrative cash take but so was Gangster Sam's accounting firm the Internal Revenue Service. A recent column by Norm Clarke at ReviewJournal.com points out a recent raid at the hyper-popular Pure nightclub in Vegas by the IRS who are lookin' into allegations that many doormen at the Vegas nightclubs are clockin' more chedda a year than the President. That would be $400,000 to you and me. So although Norm, who began his column with 'A lot of people saw it coming', all he really had to say way, 'Just like Ty told you'...

According to Norm, 'Sources have been telling me that doormen at several clubs are clearing $8,000 to $10,000 a night before they share tips. So much cash is pouring in that some doormen are making $400,000 to $500,000 a year, several nightclub executives told me.'

Now don't you feel silly, y'all? You could have skipped high school *and* college, med school *and law school, slept in all day, played video games, never bothered to study for any test, decided not to sell [your drug of choice here] risking life and limb and demanding that you sleep with one eye open for John Law or the Big Payback. You could have met hundreds of hot women willin' to do whatever and only had to fill out a 1040 EZ form every year. Who knew that all that could be possible just by being a doorman at a Vegas nightclub?

Every year when I was helpin' mama fill out her 1040, I always wondered what the deal was with my other homeys who worked in cash based businesses. Did they always do the right thing and claim all of their income? Would you? If the temptation is there to cheat on your taxes when you have a job with verifiable income - it's got to be almost impossible not to with a gig with *no* verifiable income. $4K-$8K - a night! Cash.

I expect now that Gangster Sam has booked a high roller suite in Vegas and plans to stay for a while, nightclub doormen throughout the city are gettin' a whole lot less sleep than they used to. I also expect that today, a nation full of homeys turned away from hot nightclubs all up and down The Strip by haughty a$$ doormen - an indignity magnified if you're with your girl - are whistling all the way to work and givin' up a double chest tap to that great mythical equalizer called Karma.

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Should We 'Be Kind' To Mos Def?

Wassup, Y'all!

When I saw the movie poster to Mos Def's upcoming movie (out today, y'all), 'Be Kind, Rewind', I just sadly shook my head and kept walkin' to Will Smith's joint 'I Am Legend'. A few days later, I was cruisin' the web and had an opportunity to watch the trailer to that joint and a strange thing happened - I liked it.

I've been a Mos Def fan for a few. Homey's an original, has that old school, NYC hip-hop flavor (nah mean?), good comedic skillz and always seems to keep it real...until I saw him on that movie poster surfin' on an old school a$$ VHS video tape. That got me thinkin' about Cuba Gooding Jr.. Not the 'American Gangster Nicky Barnes' Cuba, the 'Daddy Day Camp Charlie Hinton' Cuba since MD has also been takin' on questionable roles lately like homey in 'The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy' and '16 Blocks'...

A quick peek at IMDB shows a large body of work for MD, who has an easy ability to move between the big screen (Bamboozled, Brown Sugar, The Italian Job, etc.) and small screen (Lackawanna Blues, The Chappelle Show, the voice of too funny 'Gangstalicious' on The Boondocks, the host of Def Poetry Jam, etc.) Ol boy was too good in 'The Italian Job' so I'm happy to see him popping back up in the same role in the sequel, 'The Brazilian Job' due out next year. I also see he plans to take over the role of 'Mouse' (a role played to perfection by Don Cheadle in the film adaptation of Walter Mosley's 'Devil In A Blue Dress') in 'Little Scarlet'.

Anyway, 'Be Kind' looks pretty funny. It's about two guys who run an old school video store and one guy (Jack Black) inadvertently erases all the videos so the two of them decide to refilm all the movies as twenty minute shorts. It's kinda like those Angry Alien Bunny Movies. Check out the one on Jaws (in honor of Roy Scheider's recent passing) to get an idea of what ol Ty is typin' about. It's pretty amazing to be able to summarize a two hour movie in thirty seconds.

Still I'm not sure I'd pay anything but $5 matinee prices to see that joint, Mos Def or no Mos Def but at least Rottentomatoe.com agrees with a brother. If you check it out, holler back and let me know if you liked it!

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Smooth Barack goes 11-0 Is it over?

Wassup, Y'all!

I know, I know. Got a little caught up yesterday after landing in the Sunshine State. I'm actually here to make sure they don't sway the nomination to Hillary so it took me extra time to get my boy LoJack through security with his aluminum baseball bat.

So here we are - Smooth has run off a string of 11 straight primary and caucus wins, McCain is now zeroing in on homey like he's going to be the Democratic nominee and Hillary has pushed all in with her two hole cards, Texas and Ohio. Will her risky bet pay off or is she whistling in the dark?...

From what I'm hearing and reading, it sounds like the latter. Three days ago, Max Brantley of the Arkansas Times - a Hillary backer - wrote simply, 'It's Over'. He predicted correctly that she'd 'get clobbered' in Wisconsin and laments that, 'The media talk, the popular mood, the times -- they all work for Obama'.

The pundits on CNN all paint a picture where the delegate math, even if Hillary were to win Texas and Ohio, doesn't work for her unless she wins both states by 3-1 margins - margins she has yet to hit in any of her previous wins.

So given all that, why is ol Ty still nervous about all this? Why am I still believin' that the Okie-Doke is waitin' just around the corner for Smooth? Let me list a few reasons why:

1) Gore / Bush 2000 Election
2) Kerry / Bush 2004 Election
3) Giants / Patriots Superbowl XLII
4) Jermaine Dupri / Janet Jackson hook up

In other words - things happen that you'd never expect to happen in a million years. So I'm still on alert, y'all. Smooth's new campaign song needs to be Lenny Kravitz's 'It Ain't Over, 'til it's Over'. Forget that Stevie Wonder 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered' nonsense he's been playin' since New Hampshire.

Southsiders are historically suspicious and pessimistic when it comes to the right things happenin'. If it works out for Smooth, that may begin to change (which would be a gooooood thing), but until then, to prevent a spike in southside heart attacks and strokes if and when the Okie-Doke occurs, I suggest it's best to keep healthy doses of suspicion and pessimism in reserve until the dust settles.

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Ty Hits The Road

Wassup, Y'all!

I'll be traveling tomorrow morning. The Chicago hawk has finally run me out of town, so ol Ty is flyin' south for a few. Expect a post later in the day, once I'm settled in a pool chair with an icy cold one in my hand. Y'all know I got to let you know my thoughts on Smooth's big win tonight...

I'll holler!

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

Smooth Barack & Tavis: Stop The Madness

Wassup, Y'all!

The tension between these two is about as thick as a big Uncle Rolly slice of mama's Red Velvet cake and there ain't a glass of ice cold milk big enough to make any of this ruckus go down smooth. The 'ruckus,' for those not following along in class, is Smooth Barack's second consecutive declination to speak at Tavis Smiley's well regarded, annual State of The Black Union summit - a gathering of the who's who in southside intelligentsia and entertainment to dialog on current issues facing the southside nation.

Last year, as Melissa Harris-Lacewell notes in her article on the ruckus on theroot.com, Smooth was busy that weekend announcing his bid for the presidency in Springfield, IL. This year? Smooth's a little busy trying to break through in either Texas, Ohio or both to secure the democratic nomination for President of The United States. In both cases, I'd say that Smooth has some pretty good justification for taking each pass. Smiley feels differently and has said so publicly and, in doing so, is taking a beating normally reserved for a four year old actin' up in a southside grocery store...

Here's what I do know - in the arena of southside pubic opinion on this issue, Tavis, the de-facto crown prince of the new jack, southside agenda is takin' a standing eight count. No, I take that back. In this case, Tavis is wakin' up on the ground, lookin' up at Chris Tucker who helpfully explains to him that he just got 'knocked the fu#k out!'.

Don't believe me? Check out the comments to Roland Martin's blog post on Essence titled, 'Why Obama should skip Tavis Smiley's State Of The Black Union'. By my count, sentiment is running 5-to-1 against Tavis on this one.

Smiley himself admitted to the backlash - a sting he never thought he'd feel from his own - when he said, I'm catching hell. This is the first time in my entire career that I have found myself in this kind of relationship with some folk in black America. I now know what it feels like to have the weight of the Internet world bearing down on you. Man, it's an eye opener when you get caught in the middle of it." Whatever.

Here's my point about all this, y'all. We got no time for this madness. All this, 'Smooth should send 'Chelle', 'Tavis don't want 'Chelle', 'Hillary's goin' so why ain't Smooth goin'' jibber-jabber is clouding the larger issue - the Democratic nomination for President.

Is all this helpin' or hurtin' that cause? My view is it's hurtin' because it's easy for an opponent to portray this as the southside candidate not supporting the southside nation that's overwhelmingly supporting him.

You think the producers of the "Eyes on The Prize" documentary chose that name randomly? Our eyes need to be focused in one direction and our minds free of divisive issues that don't move the cause forward.

Man, next year Smooth could give the SOTBU a prestige bump by joinin' in by satellite from the Oval Office. Tavis could collect his kudos and the sun would keep shinin'. I know it's an ego thing, T-Smile. That's okay - we all have one, but in this case, my vote is for you to put that joint in your back pocket for a few. The moment is too big and the stakes are too high.

Peace@Least,

Tyrone

'Girlfriends' bows out after eight seasons

Wassup, Y'all!

My first reaction this news was, "That show's still on TV?" I know that comment may also generate a little heat from my southside shortys whose viewing habits kept 'Girlfriends' a perennial Top 10 show among southside households. Regardless of ol Ty's viewing habits, it's unbelievable undeniable that the UPN/CW show has had an impressive impact. According to Nielsen Media Research, television ad spending targeting southsiders exceeds $2.3 BILLION annually. Let's soak that in for a minute. $2.3 BILLION. Which means we're watch too much damn television and we're clearly biting the advertising hook if sponsors are willing to stack that much paper and bet that big on the southside television watching audience...

Of that $2.3 BILLION, $193 MILLION was targeted to network TV where the Top 5 targeted shows (based on ad revenue) were:

1) Girlfriends (CW)
2) Everybody Hates Chris (CW)
3) The Game (CW)
4) All of Us (CW) (Starring Lisa Raye, the First Lady of Turks and Caicos!)
5) Watch Over Me (MNT)

Clearly ol Ty is out of step since I've watched 'Girlfriends' about six times despite it being the 'the longest-running live action comedy on network television' and the winner of beaucoup NAACP Image Awards. I do like 'Everybody Hates Chris' tho.

Well, let me be the first to wish those shortys on 'Girlfriends' - the 'African-American version of 'Sex In the City'' - a fond farewell. One piece of advice tho - unlike those northside shortys from 'Sex In The City' who thought it would be a great idea to make their show into a movie that no one will watch, save yourselves the trouble and just bow out gracefully and on top.

Before I close, let me return to something else that caught my eye in the aforementioned Nielsen Media Research report. It was this hair raising paragraph:

"National Cable TV reported the largest ad growth with 14.5% during this period. This growth is the result of a number of factors including: Year over year growth for BET, the inclusion of TV One in the Nielsen Monitor-Plus service as of January 2007, as well as a number of high profile TV programs such as "House of Payne" on TBS, "Being Bobby Brown" on Bravo, "Flavor of Love" on VH1, and "Making the Band" on MTV."

Year over year growth for BET? And since when do shows like 'Being Bobby Brown', 'Flavor of Love' and 'Making The Band' qualify for a description like 'high profile TV programs'?? What happened to 'Hell Date' or 'I Love New York'? My people, clearly an intervention is needed. It's like the Nielsen company straight hooked a box up to my boy Cat Daddy's 40" basement plasma! Oh well, at least we're votin'...

Peace@Least,

Tyrone