Keepingitreal

Inside the Super Bowl

The National Football League’s world championship game was coined the Super Bowl in 1969 by Kansas City Chiefs’ owner, Lamar Hunt. This annual event has grown to become one of the biggest sporting attractions across the globe, consistently commanding more than 80 million TV viewers in the U.S. and is one of the most sought after tickets in town. The game and its ancillary events, which are spread over a two-week period, are estimated to cost the NFL over $60 million per year. The price tag for this year’s matchup between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants includes the hiring of three national security firms, rental of the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, and the staging of several charity functions and tailgate parties for more than 10,000 VIP guests. Other budget items include $750,000 for 150 Super Bowl rings priced at $5,000 a piece and $25,000 for the Lombardi Trophy, made exclusively by Tiffany & Co. According to Brian McCarthy, the NFL’s vice president of corporate communications, the Super Bowl is surprisingly not a huge moneymaker for the league and "makes up only a sliver of the $6.5 billion in revenues" the powerful brand generates annually. "The revenue that we make off the Super Bowl comes from three major buckets. We charge the network," which, this year will be Fox, [licensing fees] in exchange for rights year-round to air NFL games, including the Super Bowl. "We also sell approximately $100 million in merchandise. This includes 500 various items containing the official Super Bowl logo as well as year-round sponsorship partners like IBM, Gatorade and others who pay the league for the to use that logo. Everything enters the marketplace five months before the game." The game airs live on Feb. 3. The final source is "hundreds of thousands generated from concessions sold on game day," says McCarthy. SOURCE OF THIS STORY

ESSENCE TO HONOR SAG AWARD WINNER RUBY DEE: Actress to be saluted during mag's first annual Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon.

Forget "Juno's" Ellen Page. Ruby Dee is fast becoming the darling of this year's award season with an Oscar and NAACP Image Award nomination, as well as her upset supporting-actress win Sunday night over favorites Cate Blanchett and Amy Ryan at the 2008 Screen Actors Guild Awards. Essence magazine will honor the Academy Award nominee next month at its first annual Essence Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon, to be held during Oscar Week on Thursday, Feb. 21, in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hills Hotel. honor a living legend like Ruby Dee for her contributions not only to the Hollywood community but to the African-American community as well,” said the publication's editor-in-chief Angela Burt-Murray. “The Essence Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon will celebrate the ongoing legacy of Ms. Dee, who launched and sustained a phenomenal career when there were not a variety of well developed or diverse roles for African Americans. Because of Ruby Dee’s hard fought battles, our presence in Hollywood is much greater today and she continues with grace to inspire a new generation of black actresses and filmmakers.” Dee, 81, will be one of four women honored by Essence during the event. Jada Pinkett Smith, producer Suzanne de Passe and young actress Jurnee Smollet will be recognized as well. Kerry Washington and Quincy Jones are among the celebs expected to attend the ceremony. Dee won the supporting-actress SAG award for her role as Mama Lucas in the crime story "American Gangster." Her acceptance speech included a nod to her late husband and frequent acting partner, Ossie Davis, who died in 2005. "I accept it also for my husband Ossie," Dee said, "because he's working on things up there." Queen Latifah was a SAG winner in the category of best female actor in a TV movie or mini-series for her role in HBO's "Life Support," beating such veteran talent as Vanessa Redgrave, Gena Rowlands and Ellyn Burstyn. SOURCE OF THIS STORY

THE WIRE EPISODE 54: TRANSITIONS

While Michael Lee and his crew lounge on their corner, Ofcs. Anthony Colicchio and Lloyd "Truck" Carrick" watch from theirs. Kenard shows up and makes a big show of stashing a paper bag under a row house step. Dumbfounded at the boy's stupidity, Colicchio and Truck go for the bust. When Colicchio discovers the bag is filled with dog excrement, he rounds the corner boys up anyway, causing a traffic jam. Sgt. Ellis Carver arrives on the scene and tries to ease the escalating tensions, but Colicchio loses his temper with an innocent motorist. As the detective beats the man up, the kids cheer. At the Clinton Street detail office, Det. Leander Sydnor moans when he realizes the $80k withdrawal he's been tracing from State Senator Clay Davis's personal count isn't dirty — it's just a loan he's repaying from his mother-in-law. But Det. Lester Freamon says it's the break they've been looking for. "Head shot," he calls it, on his way out....
Sitting across from Police Commissioner Ervin H. Burrell, Col. Cedric Daniels tries to convince him that he wasn't going after his job and will decline it if it's offered. Burrell stares at him, unresponsive.
Scott Templeton puts the finishing touches on his clip book before leaving for an interview at The Washington Post. Meanwhile Alma Gutierrez works to substantiate a rumor she picked up on her calls that Burrell might be fired today.In search of another body for his serial killer case, Det. James "Jimmy" McNulty finds out from the morgue that a lot of homeless are being reported dead after midnight in the Southern district. He calls Freamon to find out who they know working the overnight shift in the Southern. Proposition Joe buys a floral arrangement for Butchie's funeral, dictating a note that makes it clear Joe is a "loyal friend." Slim Charles doubts that a nice note will keep Omar from coming after them. Prop Joe admits he suspects Cheese was the one who tipped Marlo off about Butchie, but he wants to wait and watch him closely to be certain.Although he's impressed with the pristine bills that Marlo delivers, Vondas clarifies that by clean money, he also meant he didn't want any sloppy business coming in from the street. When Marlo makes it clear he won't take no for an answer, the Greek agrees he will consider a future relationship as an "insurance policy" against volatile times.Freamon explains the "head shot" to State's Attorney Rupert Bond and A.S.A. Rhonda Pearlman. Since Clay Davis paid back the $80k his mother-in-law gave him for the down payment on his property, it falsifies the loan application (by making the gift a loan). Under federal law, the penalty is thirty years and a million dollar fine. But Bond doesn't want to turn Davis over to the Feds; he prefers to charge Davis with the four counts of stealing from his own charities — with the possibility of 10 years per count — and keep the case in his jurisdiction.The editor at the Washington Post interviewing Templeton tells him his prose is a little over-wrought, and that he needs more seasoning. Frustrated, Templeton leaves without sitting in on the editorial meeting he had been so eager to observe when he arrived.Mayor Thomas "Tommy" Carcetti, Norman Wilson, Chief of Staff Michael Steintorf, State Delegate Odell Watkins and Council President Nerese Campbell review the list of favors the mayor owes to the Ministers in exchange for firing Burrell. He wants to make Rawls acting commissioner for six months and promote Daniels to deputy ops, grooming him to take over the top post. Burrell tries to hand over his file on Daniels to Nerese Campbell in order to discredit him, but she insists this isn't about Daniels. Burrell dug his own grave when he gave the mayor rigged crime statistics. She makes a deal with Burrell: If he goes quietly, she will see to it he's taken care of with a six-figure job in Washington. Still, she takes Daniels' file with her when she leaves.
As his parting gift to the Baltimore Sun, Police Reporter Roger Twigg makes a call when no one can get any traction on the Burrell rumor. Michael Lee's mother bails him out (from Colicchio's round-up) and asks for some money in return. Disgusted, Michael refuses. Freamon and McNulty track down Freamon's former patrol partner, Ofc. Oscar Requer, and they ask him to alert them next time he hears a report of a male homeless body with little or no decomposition. He agrees, no questions asked. Omar returns, questioning Big Guy about what happened to Butchie. Learning Marlo was behind the murder, Omar vows revenge. Det. William "Bunk" Moreland hands Sgt. Jay Landsman a written request for crime lab work on the bodies found in the vacants (a year later, most of the lab reports still aren't in). Once again, Landsman ignores the request. Frustrated, Bunk runs into McNulty, who cheerfully tells him he's looking for the thread in his homeless cases. Carver reprimands Colicchio for his outburst on the street. The motorist he attacked was a substitute teacher trying to get to his after-school program. When Colicchio refuses to show any remorse, Carver writes him up, accepting that doing so makes him a rat. Nerese brokers a deal with Carcetti to let Burrell out easy in exchange for his silence about any dirt on Daniels; they settle on a "grip and grin" at the press conference. When Det. Kima Greggs watches the traumatized child witness to her double homicide withdraw completely from the psychologist, she calls Cheryl to schedule a visit with Elijah. Clay Davis arrives in good humor to comply with his Grand Jury subpoena, but when Pearlman begins to lay out the money trail they have on him, he bristles and pleads the fifth. At the New Day Co-op meeting, Hungry Man dresses down Cheese for overstepping his bounds, and Prop Joe apologizes on his nephew's behalf. As the group breaks up, Marlo comes to Prop Joe with a check from his off-shore account, asking for advice on what to do with it. Joe agrees to help him out. Rawls visits Burrell as he packs up his office. Burrell warns his successor about the impossibility of the job, explaining that the mayor's office sends over a new priority every day. Rawls might think it will be different for him, but Burrell assures him it won't — not for him, and not for Daniels either. Watching Carcetti's press conference announcing Burrell's departure, City Editor Augustus "Gus" Haynes translates the subtext for the newsroom full of reporters and editors. "How much of that insight and analysis can we get in tomorrow's story?" Managing Editor Thomas Klebanow asks. When a bitter Haynes spouts off that Twigg (who they bought out) was the one who could've worked the sources, Klebanow urges him to remain collegial and cut back on his profanity. When the next TV news segment shows video of Clay Davis talking to reporters outside the courthouse, the Sun staff scrambles to figure out why they don't have the story. Reporter Bill Zorzi, who has been covering the federal courthouse, catches the blame for missing the story, but he defends himself, pointing out it's a city court case. Haynes orders Zorzi and Templeton to play catch up on the story, wondering how anyone could stage a "perp walk" without calling the daily newspaper. Freamon and McNulty wind their way through the maze of makeshift cardboard-box housing in a homeless Hooverville under the Hanover Street Bridge. McNulty would rather write up the report without going through the motions, but Freamon insists there's too much riding on it and they need to work it like a real case. With a gun to Slim Charles's head, Omar demands to know where he can find Prop Joe. Slim Charles swears Joe had nothing to do with telling Marlo about Butchie and begs Omar to just "finish it," but Omar seems to believe him and lets him live. While Haynes and the night editor pore over Gutierrez's story about murdered homeless men, Executive Editor James C. Whiting and Klebanow give Templeton an "atta-boy" for his catch-up reporting on the Davis case. Pleased, Templeton tells Gutierrez the Baltimore Sun "ain't so bad." McNulty and Freamon get a tip-off call from Ofc. Requer about a DOA, but when McNulty arrives on the scene, he discovers the body is too far gone. Chris Partlow walks a nervous Cheese down a dark alley to an empty garage where Snoop waits for him with Hungry Man gagged — a gift from Marlo. Chris warns that his boss expects a gift in return.As Prop Joe continues to take Marlo under his wing, he introduces him to his lawyer (and counsel for many of their Co-op colleagues) Maurice Levy. When they enter the office, Thomas R. "Herc" Hauk sits reading the news of Burrell's resignation. Recognizing him, Marlo asks if he ever found his camera. A bitter Herc informs him it cost him his job. As Levy and Marlo adjourn to the conference room to talk, Prop Joe and Herc gossip about the news of Burrell, who was a year behind Prop Joe at Dunbar - and "stone stupid."Hanging out in a parking lot, Carver and Herc discuss the Colicchio situation. Herc says Colicchio is too proud to beg, even though he knows he was wrong, but Carver insists he can't let him off because he's learned that everything "matters." As an example, Carver brings up what happened with Randy Wagstaff, chastising Herc for not following through on his promise to make sure Bunk debriefed the boy.When McNulty stumbles in late, Ofc. Beatrice "Beadie" Russell" confronts him about his recent drinking and carousing, but McNulty refuses to get into it. He gets a call about another body and takes off.Omar and Donnie scope out Marlo's lair, plotting their strategy. Omar plans to go after Marlo's people first — starting with Monk. Having found their perfect body, Freamon and McNulty set to work prepping the victim. Freamon reminds McNulty that serial killers start out with crude tactics and mature to become more ornate. As McNulty takes the set of false teeth Freamon has prepared and braces himself to leave bite marks on the body, they argue over who is more twisted. At his East Baltimore row house, Prop Joe packs a bag while Cheese watches. Joe plans to get out of town while Omar's back, but as he turns to go, Marlo appears in the door. Prop Joe realizes Cheese has given him up. When Marlo informs him he has the blessing of the Greeks, Joe counters with a proposition: He will leave and they'll never hear from him again. But Marlo knows that Prop Joe couldn't change any more than he could. As Chris steps up, aiming the semi at the back of Joe's head, Marlo nods. "Close your eyes. It won't hurt none." SOURCE OF THIS STORY 

Constant struggle to conquer bacteria

Dr. Ian Friedland was sitting at his Mountain View office on a rainy October afternoon when the telephone rang with some long-awaited news: The Food and Drug Administration had just approved doripenem, the powerful antibiotic he had labored over since 2004."Shortly after the drug was approved," the 50-year-old Johnson & Johnson researcher said, "we began to hear stories about it being used successfully in patients." It was the kind of outcome that pharmaceutical scientists spend their lives trying to attain. It is also the kind of story that has become frighteningly rare. Since the early 1990s, drug companies that had built their businesses on early antibiotic research have been leaving the field. As a consequence, there has been a steady decline in the number of new antibiotics approved. SOURCE OF THIS STORY

Bay Area arts heroes of black history

They came to the Bay Area from Harlem and Mississippi, Washington, D.C., and Georgia. Others were born and raised here. Some of them knew one another. Many did not. They are joined across time by their singular contributions and single-minded commitment to making art that matters to all of us.This year, in recognition of Black History Month, The Chronicle celebrates black artists in all fields who have come and gone and left their indelible marks. In some cases, those marks are still very much with us. The Black Repertory Group, founded by Nora Vaughn, plays on in Berkeley as a life force for young theater artists. Painter Sargent Johnson died more than 40 years ago, but his large, life-brimming mural at Washington High School in San Francisco still exerts its hold on viewers of all ages. In other cases, film and recordings help preserve the legacy. Director Marlon Riggs did groundbreaking work about homosexuality in the black community, first with "Tongues Untied" in 1990 and then with other films that followed. Folk musician Jesse Fuller, who died in 1976, lives on in recordings of his "San Francisco Bay Blues" by Eric Clapton and other performers. Memories, of such artists as conductor Calvin Simmons and dancer Christopher Boatwright, create the final link, fragile but enduring, to the past. Reading these profiles, and others that will follow in February in daily Datebook, is an invitation to remember, to value what's come before as an essential prelude to both present and future. All art exists in a continuum, an open-ended conversation with its own unspooling time line. That may be especially true for artists of color, who, one way or another, have swum in complex currents and enriched a mainstream culture that would be immeasurably weaker without them. By directing our attention to the past, Black History Month summons us to see more clearly where we all are and where we're going together. SOURCE OF THIS STORY

MUSIC FROM THE GREAT DEBATERS

The Denzel Washington directed film The Great Debaters has won over film critics and audiences with it's stirring portrayal of the debate team at historically black Wiley College in the 1930s. Nominated for a Golden Globe as well as multiple NAACP accolades, Washington has secured his place among the greats of this generation as a fine actor and director. However, another title can be added to his ever expanding resume, and that is music producer. Along with G. Marq Roswell, Washington personally selected most of the songs and instead of relying on classic blues, gospel, and jazz songs of that particular era, these songs were re-recorded by relatively new artists. Alvin "Youngblood" Hart, Sharon Jones, and The Carolina Chocolate Drops contribute their talents to create an old school feel that compliments the film's look at the Jim Crow period. From the acoustic guitar driven "My Soul Is a Witness" and the spiritual "City of Refuge" to the "jook joint" classics "Busy Bootin'" and "It's Tight Like That," this is a great preface into black music long before the days of Little Richard and Big Mama Thornton. Since The Great Debaters celebrates a black history first, the 17-track CD ends with a stunning rendition of Handel's "Begrussung," performed by Marian Anderson, who in 1955 became the first black to perform with the New York Metropolitan Opera two decades after the great debaters of Wiley College defeated Harvard. Highly recommended. SOURCE OF THIS STORY

The darker side of interest rate cuts

NEW YORK (Fortune)  -- Interest rates are headed lower. But how low can they go? The Federal Reserve surprised Wall Street earlier this week by cutting its fed funds short-term interest rate target by three-quarters of a percentage point, to 3.5 percent. The move had the effect of reducing rates on mortgages and home equity loans, and reassured investors that the Fed will do what it can to spur economic activity as long as the threat of recession looms. But as much as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke might like to keep the economy rolling by slashing interest rates, it's not clear how much room he'll have to do so. Two factors complicate the outlook for further interest-rate cuts: the hefty losses in the financial sector that are making banks less eager to lend money, and the prospect that lower rates will chase overseas investors away from the dollar, lowering the value of the greenback and boosting inflation. Adding to the case against deep rate cuts is the widespread perception that it was the Fed's rate-cutting zealousness after the last recession that led to the housing bubble that now threatens to derail the economy. For now, all those worries aside, the market expects to see interest rates go lower. Given the scale of losses tied to the collapse of the housing bubble - the decline in real estate prices in coming years could cut household wealth by $4 trillion to $6 trillion, according to some estimates - economists say it's understandable that the Fed is doing what it can to support growth. Rising inflation "is not a factor restraining the Fed at the moment," says James D. Hamilton, professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego. He says the Fed views the current situation as "maybe a little scarier than the typical downturn" because of problems in the credit markets that threaten to starve businesses of capital needed to fund expansion. Because of hefty losses on mortgage-related debt, banks like Citi (C, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) have been raising billions of dollars just to boost their capital cushion for future losses. Setting aside bigger reserves means less money for lending to businesses and consumers. SOURCE OF THIS STORY

Diana Ross: Jamaica Funk, That's What It Is

Michael Jackson isn't the only one singing 'Dirty Diana.' The folks of the beautiful island of Jamaica are singing the same tune about Diana Ross, who showed locals what she really thought of them – during her main attraction headlining gig of the "2008 Air Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival." And in true-to-life form, the Caribbean natives showed her what they thought of her too. Throngs of audience members, estimated at 40,000, heckled and booed the Motown diva throughout her hour-long set last night at the Acquaduct Rose Hall in Montego Bay. "Jamaica is one of the toughest crowds," a tourism official was overhead saying in a gated V.I.P. section located to the left of the stage, as the boos grew louder and louder through Ross' set. What was the beef? Well, "to honor Miss Ross' wishes," unscrupulous concert promoters shut off gargantuan-sized television monitors, which were broadcast at every other concert performance throughout the three-day event -- believed to be the largest staging of the festival.No one could've imagined the true meaning of what the "wish" would entail, when they first heard the announcement there would be no videotaping Ross' set. Folks located in the nether regions of the venue (which is the size of soccer/football field) couldn't see any of the aging diva's set from any vantage point. For decades, the Grammy Award-less chanteuse has been known to put on one-hell-of-a show replete with ostentatious costume changes and a litany of music that was once considered the soundtrack of America. Too bad most couldn't hear the mucho-maned singer bellowing out old Supremes hits like 'My World is Empty Without You,' 'You Can't Hurry Love' 'Baby Love ' and maneuver through solo material such as 'Upside Down,' 'The Boss' and 'Love Hangover,' which appeared – at closer inspection – to be electronically enhanced. Ross' children Chudney Lane Silberstein, Tracee Ellis and Evan, who sat on the side of the stage to offer encouragement and emotional support to their beloved mom, seemed visibly shaken during the booing, and exited the stage (security guards escorting them to their long black stretch limousine) without speaking to stagehands as their mother sang her signature 'Mahogany/Ain't No Mountain High Enough' medley. In true diva form, Ross went out on a high note – with her updated version of Gloria Gaynor's 'I Will Survive.' The way the island locals seemed to feel she can do just that – without them. Festival spokesperson Carlette DeLeon issued a statement this afternoon admitting that "the much anticipated performance of Diana Ross on Saturday proved somewhat disappointing to many patrons who expected a very interactive set." "Miss Ross' request to have a restricted display of her performance however, inconvenienced patrons who were left feeling distanced from the stage and her performance," she continued. SOURCE OF THIS STORY

And The Winners Are….SAG AWARDS 08

LIST OF WINNERS

Screen Actors Guild Awards 44th Annual Life Achievement Award
Charles Durning
FILM

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS / Daniel Plainview – "There Will Be Blood" (Paramount
Vantage)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
JULIE CHRISTIE / Fiona – "Away From Her" (Lionsgate)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
JAVIER BARDEM / Anton Chigurh – "No Country For Old Men" (Miramax
Films)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
RUBY DEE / Mama Lucas – "American Gangster" (Universal Pictures)

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Miramax Films)

JAVIER BARDEM / Anton Chigurh
JOSH BROLIN / Llewelyn Moss
GARRET DILLAHUNT / Wendell
TESS HARPER / Loretta Bell
WOODY HARRELSON / Carson Wells
TOMMY LEE JONES / Ed Tom Bell
KELLY MACDONALD / Carla Jean Moss

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or
Miniseries
KEVIN KLINE / Jacques – "As You Like It" (HBO)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or
Miniseries
QUEEN LATIFAH / Ana – "Life Support " (HBO)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series
JAMES GANDOLFINI / Tony Soprano – "The Sopranos" (HBO)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series
EDIE FALCO / Carmela Soprano – "The Sopranos" (HBO)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series
ALEC BALDWIN / Jack Donaghy – "30 Rock" (NBC)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series
TINA FEY / Liz Lemon – "30 Rock" (NBC)

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
THE SOPRANOS (HBO)

GREGORY ANTONACCI / Butch DeConcini
LORRAINE BRACCO / Dr. Jennifer Melfi
EDIE FALCO / Carmela Soprano
JAMES GANDOLFINI / Tony Soprano
DAN GRIMALDI / Patsy Parisi
ROBERT ILER / Anthony Soprano, Jr.
MICHAEL IMPERIOLI / Christopher Moltisanti
ARTHUR NASCARELLA / Carlo Gervasi
STEVEN R. SCHIRRIPA / Bobby "Bacala" Baccalieri
MATT SERVITTO / Agent Dwight Harris
JAMIE-LYNN SIGLER / Meadow Soprano
TONY SIRICO / Paulie "Walnuts" Gaultieri
AIDA TURTURRO / Janice Soprano
STEVEN VAN ZANDT / Silvio Dante
FRANK VINCENT / Phil Leotardo

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series

THE OFFICE (NBC)

LESLIE DAVID BAKER / Stanley Hudson
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER / Kevin Malone
CREED BRATTON / Creed
STEVE CARELL / Michael Scott
JENNA FISCHER / Pam Beesly
KATE FLANNERY / Meredith Palmer
MELORA HARDIN / Jan Levinson
ED HELMS / Andrew Bernard
MINDY KALING / Kelly Kapoor
ANGELA KINSEY / Angela Martin
JOHN KRASINSKI / Jim Halpert
PAUL LIEBERSTEIN / Toby Flenderson
B.J. NOVAK / Ryan Howard
OSCAR NUÑEZ / Oscar Martinez
PHYLLIS SMITH / Phyllis Lapin
RAINN WILSON / Dwight Schrute

THE BLACK DOT CAFE

Oakland: The Black New World Social Aid and Pleasure Club/Black Dot Café From the outside, The Black New World Social Aid and Pleasure Club in West Oakland, Calif., seems like a 1930s juke joint shanty. But when you walk inside, you step into another world. The vibe invokes a soul-stirring mixture of African ancestry, 1940s Oakland •avor, and youthful, passionate revolution.“I don’t think there’s any spot like it,” says poet, artist, and commu•nity activist Marcel Diallo, founder of the club. “Not on this side of the Mississippi. It’s a continuum of the black cultural, spiritual, and political legacy in Oakland.” Diallo established the Social Aid and Pleasure Club in November 2005. Since then, the club has hosted some of the most provocative and exciting musicians, activists, and artists of our day. On a given weekend, you may see Dwight Trible, Amiri Baraka, Bobby Seale, David Murray, or the Hot Eight Jazz Band come through. The Club’s sister spot, The Black Dot Café, located two short blocks away, just reopened two months ago. Serving food and beverages from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week, the café has become a neighborhood town hall. It’s also an after-hours hangout, open until 4 a.m. some Fridays and Saturdays, depending on what’s going down at the club. –Kuwana Haulsey 836 Pine St., West Oakland, Calif. 510.451.4661. blacknewworld.com.

SMALL OF HIS BACK: MASCULINE CURVES

I call it "the small of his back." I don't know if that's the correct term for this part of the male anatomy. But it's the area of the lower back where his muscles form beautiful tapered ridges and curves that lead to the upper part of his buttocks. To me, it is perhaps the most sensual spot on the male physique.

BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE SAG AWARDS

The 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards take over Hollywood today. This is one of the few awards shows you will be seeing this season.

Black Men's Voices

Trying to understand Bob Johnson’s perspective on life as a Black man is like playing Twister—it’s exhilarating to track the billionaire’s lurching logic, but you’re more likely to fall down laughing than make any sense of it. His interview with The Washington Post’s talented Joe Davidson is nonetheless a highlight of the paper’s Being a Black Man collection. The book represents an unprecedented effort from mainstream media to explore Black-American manhood that is at times as surprisingly engaging as Johnson and Davidson’s dialogue, but is often as frustratingly limited as the news media’s more routine efforts to cover race. In 2006, the Post decided to put the familiar debates about Black manhood on pause and, in editor Kevin Merida’s words, to instead “allow [Black men] to be seen and heard in uncommon ways.” The series broke new ground in both volume and style: the Post ran 15 print stories accompanied by an impressive suite of multimedia Web features. Rarely has a news organization spent such substantive time on Black folks, and perhaps never have Black men been featured in so many of the sort of personality-driven profiles that can transform “issues” into relatable stories. Readers’ tremendous responses to the series prompted the Post to fashion it into a book, adding a few essays and interviews. These add-ons stand out as the collection’s most innovative pieces, and Davidson’s provocative sit-down with BET founder Johnson is among them. Johnson was America’s first Black billionaire, who by his own reckoning got rich peddling often-demeaning music videos to what he and Davidson call “the booty shakers.” He’s equally unabashed about having strong-armed labor and penny-pinched his network’s investment in content. But Johnson dismisses the criticism he receives for these deeds as racist cant. He insists he’s been made a foil for liberal, white journalists who “do not believe in Black wealth creation” and self-serving Black reporters “who wanted to prove that they could be tough to their white editors.” To Johnson, America is racist because a Black man can’t be greedy. Yet, Johnson’s greed also informs a refreshingly forceful argument for state-led efforts to create equal opportunity. SOURCE OF THIS STORY

Cali Now Has Marijuana Vending Machines

Heath En Route to Final Resting Place

The remains of Heath Ledger were removed from the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Home in New York City Friday afternoon, and are en route to an unspecified airport, police confirm to PEOPLE. A little before 4 p.m., the body – carried inside a light-wood box – was loaded into a Cadillac hearse to be transported to a local-area airport. Police had set up barricades outside the funeral home earlier in the day. Ledger's grieving father Kim, mother Sally and sister Kate placed messages of remembrance in Friday's West Australian newspaper. One signed by the entire family read: "You dreamed your dreams and lived them with passion and intelligent commitment. We have been privileged to accompany you on a ride through life that has simply been amazing and through it all, we have loved each other beyond imagination."

OBAMA WINS IN SOUTH CAROLINA

Landslide margins among black voters powered Barack Obama to his win Saturday in South Carolina's Democratic presidential primary, allowing him to overcome the telling edge Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards had among whites. Blacks made up 55 percent of the voters in Saturday's contest, slightly more than turned out in the state's primary four years ago and by far their biggest share in any presidential contest so far this year. Obama won 78 percent of their votes, with black men and women supporting the Illinois senator by about that same margin, according to exit polls of Democratic voters conducted Saturday for The Associated Press and the networks. Clinton and Edwards split the white vote about equally, with each getting support from nearly four in 10 and Obama getting about a quarter. Obama's high-water mark among white voters so far this year has been the 36 percent he got in New Hampshire, where he finished second overall to Clinton; he also got a third of the white vote in the year's first contest in Iowa, enough for him to win overall in that state. Highlighting the decisive role race played in Saturday's voting, eight in 10 of Obama's votes came from blacks. About six in 10 of Clinton's and nearly all of Edwards' came from whites. The segment of whites with whom Obama did well was young people. He won backing from half of white voters under age 30, with Clinton and Edwards splitting the rest. Young white voters, however, made up only about one-twentieth of those who voted Saturday. Racial attitudes were also in play in voters' perceptions of how effective the candidates would be if elected. Whites were far likelier to name Clinton than Obama as being most qualified to be commander in chief, likeliest to unite the country and most apt to capture the White House in November. Blacks named Obama over Clinton by even stronger margins — two- and three-to one — in all three areas. Following a week of criticism between the Obama and Clinton campaigns in which race became a factor, Obama's relatively small share of white supporters in South Carolina could raise questions about his ability to attract those voters in the crucial Super Tuesday contests on Feb. 5, when nearly half the country will vote. SOURCE OF THIS STORY

I LIKE IT

Jill Scott to release Live DVD

(New York, NY)   Grammy-winning soulstress Jill Scott takes fans on a journey to Paris, France with Jill Scott: Live In Paris + DVD releasing February 5th. Available in both Standard & Deluxe editions, the combo coincides with "The Real Thing" US Tour starting Feb.5^th in Seattle. Pulled from the Hidden Beach vault, the awe-inspiring show was recorded at the historic Elysee Montmartre where Jill left the Parisian crowd speechless with songs like "Golden",  "He Loves Me(Lyzel in E Flat)" and "Whatever". Additionally, Live In Paris + hits right before Jill attends The Grammy's for her 3 Grammy nods & 2 Image Award nods including her first award nomination in film. Bridging a great 2007 into 2008 the singer/actress will continue the momentum starring in her first lead role with Oscar winning director Anthony Minghella (Cold Mountain/The English Patient) in"No.1 Ladies Detective Agency" (Weinstein Co./HBO). Jill Scott:Live In Paris + is the first in a series of Hidden Beach Basement Tapes; un-released gems pulled from the Hidden Beach vault which continues the label's on-going commitment to Quality. The DVD Program contains special bonuses including a documentary with her French Fans as well as four songs from Jill's concert at The House Of Blues where Prince & Stevie Wonder were wowed in amazement by performances of " Hate On Me" , " My Love" & "Crown Royal". Filmed with camera crew well hidden in head to toe black, clearly instructed by Jill not to be seen nor heard; not to intrude in any way on the intimate exchange between audience and artist. Hidden Beach worked hard to capture the raw energy, that musical food that Jill serves on stage every night and serve it on a piping hot DVD. The offering answers fans begging for a concert DVD experience from Jill Scott, and for those who've never seen her live, an opening invitation to do so. SOURCE OF THIS STORY

Real Transbigotry

You do not have to go very far to read this over and over in any blog that tackles the TG vs. TS problem within the alleged "trans" community. You will almost never see the opposite number, instead you see "I hate being lumped in with transgender" or "I hate the way transgenders keep attacking our bodies and identities" or something similar. Why is this? Many of us "HBS" women or women of transsexual history or even women born transsexual (all pretty much the same thing) worked tirelessly for trans civil rights, changing IDs and whole nine yards for years and years only to be insulted and then driven out by the new breed of trans-activist who are almost exclusively non-operative TGs full time or not. This new breed of activist doesn't stand on the shoulders of those who came before them, they must be standing on their dead or dying bodies instead. They cannot feel they are the 12" trout in the 13" puddle of transactivism if anyone besides themselves and their cronies is recognized for anything they did. They literally hate us, it's not rhetoric. They hate us for what we did before them, they hate us for transitioning to actual women rather than trans-somethings, they hate us for having female bodies. It is crystal clear in almost every word written or spoken by the loudest of them and echoed by others when they say it. They are rabid about deconstructing gender for everyone, validating their choice to remain physically male but demanding they be seen as women and they hate those of us who differ from them in having seen our gender-sex mismatch as a treatable problem and treating it then moving on with our lives. One sees an interesting dynamic among these "activists", a non-trans woman can say the exact same thing a HBS woman does and get a total pass on it, but the HBS woman will be reacted to with a level of insane fury that has to be experienced directly to be believed and this is a transference of their own misogyny to the "safe" target of the "less than total" woman. They will turn feminism on it's ear, project their own misogyny on to the HBS woman, call them transphobic or actually misogynists and never never never miss an opportunity to attack the very bodies of the HBS woman with terms that are totally unacceptable anywhere else and only found among the most rabid of the religious right. Mutilated crotches, always a man because of your genetics, penis turned inside out, neo-vagina surgically constructed but not real....the list of these insults are almost endless and yet they also demand the right to include these women of transsexual history in their own "transgender" category because on some level they know without the legitimacy of transsexuality, no one, no one at all, is going to take their own claims of womanhood seriously. SOURCE OF THIS STORY

DANNY GLOVER CONVICTED OF TRESPASSING: Actor caught in Niagara Falls legal system following protest for hotel workers.

Danny Glover will be sentenced in Canada next month following his conviction Thursday for trespassing in a Niagara Falls, Ontario hotel, reports the Associated Press. The actor-activist participated in a Sept. 16, 2006 union rally that sought to boost salaries and improve working conditions for hotel workers in the U.S. and Canada. Following the protest, Canadian Niagara Hotels accused Glover and two others of trespassing at their Sheraton on the Falls property. Glover, 60, was not in court Thursday when the conviction was announced. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 8. The two other men convicted Thursday were Ontario Federation of Labor President Wayne Samuelson and Alex Dagg of UNITE HERE, a union which represents 50,000 hotel, food service, garment and manufacturing workers across Canada and 450,000 in North America. SOURCE OF THIS STORY