Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Whitney Houston


I will say this once and for all; I am a Whitney Houston fan.   So I found Saturday’s shocker very upsetting.  I did not cry.   I wanted to, but for some reason I did not, because that would not bring her back.   This is a brief post on her.   I am not going to speculate on what killed her (they say she drowned in the bathtub), I want to remember her the way she was at the height of her career, and that was her amazing voice.  Later, I want to talk a little bit about judging, because I feel it is important.
Whitney came on the scene at age 19 and was a model prior to that.   God had told her that this is how I want you to reach people.  She has touched so many lives and she even shocked a few when she admitted two years ago that she was doing drugs.   I want to stop there, because that was twice I received the shocker of my life.   The first was Michael Jackson when he was found dead in his home.  Whitney was clean at the time of her death, and some said she suffered a little bout of anxiety. 

I do not think that most people know what celebrities go through to entertain us.   Not only do we put pressure on them, but talent agents, paparazzi, and even the stars themselves strive to become better.  There is a saying, “You are only as good as your next gig, record, movie, or television show.”  One hair out of place, and we are quick to judge that person.  I was reading over the weekend some of the comments that people were saying about Whitney.   Most were saying how she touched that person with her gift of song.   Others were saying that “the world has lost an angel”.  Then I came across a person who simply said, “Crackhead.”    We, as humans love to bring a person down, when they are already down and out , and this came after the woman had been dead for a couple of hours.   We do not know what Whitney Houston’s condition was when she died, and we do not know what she was thinking when the unthinkable happened.  No one knows but Whitney and God.   She was getting ready for a pre-Grammy party when this happened.   It could have been simply God telling her that it was time for her to leave.

The killer for me was when her daughter, Bobbi Kristina was taken to the hospital, and the vultures were still circling to get a glimpse of that scene.   They wanted to know why she was taken to the hospital.   What do you think?  The girl just lost her mother, and she was not allowed to see her one last time.   The kid was stressed out from all of this.  I hope that these people will leave the family alone.  At any time that Bobbi Kristina, Dionne Warwick, or any other members of her family wants to talk to the reporters and the insensitive camera people, that is their choice.   It was the same way with Michael Jackson’s children and family when he died.   No respect for the dead at all.

So with that, R.I. P Whitney Houston.   I hope they will release the movie, “Sparkle” as schedule in November of this year.   I have seen the original several times on television, which stars Irene Cara and Michael Thomas (the guy who played Officer Tubbs on Miami Vice), and it was good.   I hope this version lives up to the original.   Jordin Sparks looks like a young Irene Cara, and I cannot wait.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

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.