Official Bay Area Black Expo ™ - New Location

Official Bay Area Black Expo ™
(New Location)


July 16, 17 and 18
(Friday, Saturday and Sunday)

Oakland Coliseum


For more information and details:

510-786-6075



www.bayareablackexpo.com

A New Twist On "Soul Food"

Had lunch at Kokkari in San Francisco today and just had to try an item on the menu called "Pikti." It's offered as an appetizer and the description reads:

Pikti - terrine of Berkshire pig trotters & head with toast, cucumber & black olives

Sounds a lot like a fancy version of hog head cheese and crackers to me ;0

"Waiting for Godot" - The Oscar Grant Verdict

Okay, what's up? Like I said a few posts ago, I don't know how the jury will rule and I don't want to speculate. But come on, here's the latest -- today the jury will deliberate for only a few hours because one of the jurors had a doctor's appointment?

The jury got the case on Friday. Monday was a Court holiday. On Tuesday, a juror was ill. Then today, another juror began a scheduled vacation and an alternate had to be brought in.

Forgive me if I'm "misremembering" but didn't jury duty used to be an obligation, a legal obligation, to be taken seriously? There's a big part of me that feels the jury is making a mockery of the entire process. If they delay enough, will we all just forget that Johannes Mehserle, an ex-BART cop shot in the back and killed (either accidentally or accidentally on purpose) a man who was on the ground with his hands behind his back?

I realize that jurors are people too and things unexpectedly happen, but Oscar Grant's family and the community deserve more than delay after delay.

If the Judge doesn't force this jury's hand, tomorrow there may another delay due to a manicure appointment.

Again - Do the Right Thing.

Chris Brown - Can His Career Be Saved?

In case you missed the 2010 BET Awards Show, Chris Brown did a tribute to Michael Jackson. I won't recap the entire event, but he was introduced by Jermaine Jackson. Well sort of. What Jermaine said was something to the effect of, "This is the one tribute that has never been done before. . .and here he is." Well, by the time people figured out who "he" actually was, the audience was already on their feet and some folks probably felt a lot like Michael Jackson wasn't really dead.

Yesterday, my daughter had some friends over and she played the awards show which she had recorded. When Chris Brown's performance came on, everybody had an opinion. A different opinion.

Chris Brown is arguably the only performer of his time who can actually dance and perform like Michael Jackson. His performance was so intense that Chris Brown broke down and cried, no, sobbed, no, bawled during his attempt at "Man In The Mirror."

The teenage girls' comments at my house ranged from "Too bad he's a woman beater," to "He is amazing," to "He's crying over his own problems," to "He's just faking."

Only time will tell if this 21 year old is "all washed up," or if he will make a comeback now, at a later date or at a much later point in his life.

(Anybody remember Al Green and the hot grits?)

"Sins of the Mother" - Win Your Free Copy Today

"Sins of the Mother" by Victoria Christopher Murray

Enter a random drawing and win a new copy of "Sins of the Mother: A Novel," by Victoria Christopher Murray.
Simply email me at accutype@aol.com to enter. Contest ends on July 12, 2010. All entries must be submitted by that date.



Victoria Christopher Murray is a national bestselling author of several novels, including "Lady Jasmine," "Too Little, Too Late; and "The Ex-Files." Ms. Murray is also the author of a teen inspiration series, "Divine Diva."

She lives with her family in Inglewood, California and Washington DC.

Learn more about her and her work at:

www.victoriachristophermurray.com



Good luck!

One Year Anniversary of the Death of Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson
August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009

"Gone Too Soon"

Pam Grier ("Foxy Brown") Coming to San Francisco

Bookreading and Signing

"Foxy: My Life in Three Acts" By Pam Grier


Friday, June 25, 2010
12:30p to 1:30p
Alexander Book Company
San Francisco, CA
415-495-2992

From Booklist:
"As the queen of the 1970s blaxploitation movies, Grier stands assured that her as-told-to autobiography will be welcomed by film-studies collections high and low. Iconic for her roles in such gems of the genre as Coffy and Foxy Brown, Grier has also appeared in mainstream films, the likes of Fort Apache the Bronx and Mars Attacks. Her blaxploitation efforts were made on shoestring budgets without much time for rehearsal or nuance, but when given a much meatier role—the title character in Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown—she turned in a spectacular performance (unfortunately, that excellent film was overlooked in the wake of Tarantino’s signature work, Pulp Fiction). Grier describes making the low-budget films, in which she often portrayed a tough but beautiful woman involved in a ludicrous plot, and also such noncommercial events as her 1974 night out with John Lennon, Harry Nilsson, and Peter Lawford, during which she was ejected from the Troubadour, an “in” spot at the time, though at least in the company of pop-culture royalty. --Mike Tribby"