The Start of a short month which started off with a little sadness.

Yesterday, I got up with little fan-fair.  I did the usual things.  Me and mom was going to do "girly" things-shopping.  When we do this, either I have to pick up something or she has to pick up something.   Today was my turn.   So after I got dressed and did some fiddle around on the computer a little bit, mom picked me up.   As we pulled out my driveway, mom asked me if I had heard that Don Cornelius had died.   I told her "no".

In case you are not familiar with this person then you are not from this decade from the 1970's.   Back before MTV, VH1, and all the other channels and shows, including American Idol, there were two shows that paved the way to these two channels.   The first show was called, American Bandstand.   The second show was called Soul Train.   These two shows allowed well known singers and groups to show their latest creations which people danced or listened to them.   American Bandstand was first.  It started in the 1950's, and started Dick Clark.  Well in 1971, Don Cornelius created Soul Train as he worked as a DJ and Journalist in Chicago, IL.   It was a local show for one year then it went national in 1972.  They had the same things, except Soul Train had a scramble board where a couple would spell out a name of a black individual or singing group.   Another popular thing they had was called the Soul Train line.   The audience would "line" up, guys on one side, ladies on the other, and they would dance down the middle of it.   When I was little, I would laugh at the many crazy dances the audience would come up with.  Don Cornelius stepped down from being the host of the show in 1993, and "it continued with a variety of hosts for 13 more years", according to USA Today's online edition.

I said this, because February is Black History Month, and he chose this day to kill himself.   To me, that was a selfish act, because he had given so much to the black community, and is an iconic figure.   Don Cornelius will truly be missed. 

Think about what you were doing during the Soul Train era (1971-2006).  I was just your average first grader, going to school at Rio Vista Elementary in San Bernadino, CA when Soul Train started.   I graduated from Independence High in Columbus, Ohio in 1982, and Soul Train was still on.  Finally graduated from a university in 2003, while it was still on.   It went off the air one year before my second nephew was born in 2007.  I can fill in the blanks for days as many years that Soul Train was on.  Every Saturday on the air for that long.   All I can say is WOW.