VIA MYFOXDC:

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. – Two men accused in a deadly street race appeared in court today. One was taken to prison. The other is now facing a retrial. Eight people died in the accident two years ago on Indian Head Highway.

Prosecutors say Tavon Taylor and Darren Bullock were racing at more than 100 miles per hour, when Bullocks car ran down a group of spectators from an earlier street race. Tavon Taylor appeared first.

The judge set an October 18, 2010 date for his retrial on vehicular manslaughter charges. The jury deadlocked on the charges Monday night.

Bullock came next. He had pleaded guilty to the manslaughter charges in January. Today he was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Before he was taken away, Bullock apologized. Bullock read from a prepared statement, telling the families of the eight people he killed that he, “understood the great pain the accident caused… and I accept responsibility.”

As Bullock was handcuffed friends and family burst into loud sobs crying.

“We’re sorry for everything that has happened,” Bullocks mother Angela Bell said, wiping away tears.
“We’re sorry for the families that have lost love ones, but as well we have lost,” she said outside the courthouse.

Bullock’s white Crown Victoria plowed into a group of spectators who had just finished watching an illegal street race. Prosecutors say he was racing at the time too.

“I think it’s important that Mr. Bullock took responsibility for his actions. I know it’s important for families to know he’s been held accountable on all eight of these deaths,” said Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey who tried the case.

Tavon Taylor, the man prosecutors say Bullock was racing, was convicted of reckless driving and participating in a speed contest last night, which carries a fine of $1,000.

Today his sentencing on the traffic offenses was postponed until his October retrial on the manslaughter counts.

“I don’t think there’s gonna be a jury in the state of Maryland that can unanimously agree that Tavon Taylor caused the death of those eight individuals,” said his defense attorney J. Wyndal Gordon.

Bullock did not testify in Taylor’s trial.

His family says Bullock admits speeding but was not racing and that the two just happened to be driving the same direction at about the same time. Some of the blame they say is on the two cars street racing just before the accident.

“It would be great to see one of them stand up and come forward to at least accept some of the responsibilities,” said his uncle Mike Walls.

Taylor is the only other person charged and he’s taking his chances a second jury won’t convict him.

Before handing down Bullock’s sentence, Judge Michael Whalen told Bullock “I know you did not intend what took place… but with your extremely reckless and wanton conduct you struck and killed eight men…No one,” the judge said, “who was there that morning will forget the carnage they saw.”

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VIA:  SmokeyRobinson.Com

The dictionary defines the popular term “comfort food” as “food prepared in a traditional style having a usually nostalgic or sentimental appeal.” It has been known to have a buffering effect as it soothes the soul and spurs memories of more “comforting” times. If that concept holds up in the kitchen, then it makes perfect sense that it should hold true in the living room with its aural equivalent. While it’s already a known fact that popular songs often connect with listeners in a highly personal way, often recalled alongside life’s more personal moments, only a few distinctive voices in popular music can achieve that same effect with instantaneous familiarity. With his eternally smooth and instantly recognizable falsetto alone – without the strings, bass, guitar or drums – legendary singer/songwriter/producer SMOKEY ROBINSON’s honey-coated voice absolutely is the audio equivalent of comfort food…comfort food for the soul…with soul. In following with the aforementioned definition, the Motown legend’s forthcoming ROBSO Records CD, Time Flies When You’re Having Fun has certainly been “prepared in a traditional style,” while that oh-so-familiar, highly identifiable crooning has an indisputable “nostalgic or sentimental appeal.”

Indeed, the “traditional” element of Time Flies When You’re Having Fun had already been determined while Robinson was recording his last CD, 2006’s pop/jazz standards collection Timeless Love. Just as that particular project had been recorded live in the studio with musicians – the first time he had recorded a full LP that way in years – Smokey knew he wanted to record his newly-written contemporary R&B songs in the very same fashion. In fact, he was so inspired by recording the “old school way” that the recording schedule for both projects actually overlapped. “I was having such a ball making that project (Timeless Love),” he explains. “I hadn’t intended on doing them simultaneously because I knew that Timeless Love was the one I was going to come out with. But things were going so well with that project that I said, ‘I’m gonna start putting in some of the original material I’d written for my new CD (Time Flies When You’re Having Fun) and record it this way too.’ I knew I was going to do these particular songs, but I didn’t realize I was going to wind up recording them live like I did with Timeless Love. So I did and we had a ball.” Though he’s the first to acknowledge and appreciate the technologically advanced way that recording for most releases are done today, like the cleaner sound and creative lee-way afforded by ProTools, Robinson was steadfast in his penchant for live instrumentation for this CD. “I think that you still don’t get that feeling that you used to get in the old days when everybody was in the studio together,” says Robinson, whose early Motown classics were recorded in this fashion. “That way was like doing a concert, because everybody was feeding off of each other. It’s just that live vibe.”

Click here to read more on Smokey Robinson…

Check out “Ebony Eyes” by Smokey Robinson and Rick James:

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VIA:  AltheaGibson.Com

Born August 25, 1927 in Silver, SC, A right-hander, grew up in Harlem. Her family was poor, but she was fortunate in coming to the attention of Dr. Walter Johnson,
a Lynchburg VA physician who was active in the black tennis community. He became her patron as he would later for Arthur Ashe, the black champion at Forest Hills (1968) and Wimbledon (1975). Through Dr. Johnson, Gibson received better instruction and competition, and contacts were set up with the USTA to inject her into the recognized tennis scene.

A trailblazing athlete who become the first African American to win championships at Grand Slam tournaments such as Wimbledon, the French Open, the Australian Doubles and the United States Open in the late 1950s. Gibson had a scintillating amateur career in spite of segregated offerings earlier in the decade.

She won 56 singles and doubles titles during her amateur career in the 1950s before gaining international and national acclaim for her athletic prowess on the professional level in tennis.

Gibson won 11 major titles in the late 1950s, including singles titles at the French Open (1956), Wimbledon (1957, 1958) and the U. S. Open (1957, 1958), as well as three straight doubles crowns at the French Open (1956, 1957, 1958).

Check out this tribute to Althea Gibson:

Watch Althea win @ Forest Hills 1957:

“Acapella,” the first single from GRAMMY-nominated singer-songwriter Kelis’ forthcoming album, Flesh Tone, will be available beginning today on the iTunes Music Store. The track, which has jumped to No. 3* on Billboard’s Dance/Club Play Songs chart, can also be purchased at Kelis’ website (www.iamkelis.com), where fans can stream it first, and at www.masterbeat.com. Kelis shot the video for “Acapella” in Los Angeles last week with the director team of Rankin and Chris Cottam. Rankin also photographed her for the album’s artwork.

“The ‘Milkshake’ temptress returns with another tall glass of delicious – and this disco-tipped track from her upcoming album is a feathery dance-floor delight,” said Entertainment Weekly, placing the single on “The MustList.” Billboard singled out Flesh Tone as one of 2010’s “Best Bets,” noting that with “Acapella,” “the New York-raised singer/songwriter takes her hip-hop-driven style in a more electronic /dance direction.”

“I wrote it with love and life in mind,” says Kelis, who recorded the shimmering track with producer David Guetta (Black Eyed Peas). Kelis also worked with several other influential producers, including will.i.am, Free School, Boys Noize, Burnz, DJ Ammo and Benny Benassi, on Flesh Tone, her first album for will.i.am Music Group/Interscope Records. Kelis will launch the album, which is due out this spring, with a promotional tour that kicks off at the Winter Music Conference in Miami, FL in late March. Additional details will be announced shortly.

Nearly four years have passed since the release of the Top 10, GRAMMY-nominated Kelis Was Here. “Will you ever put another album out?” she recalls fans asking her repeatedly last summer as she walked along the streets of New York, pregnant.

“You know us New Yorkers don’t ever keep anything to ourselves,” jokes Kelis on a blog posted to her fans on her official website. “I suppose people assumed after the baby and divorce and culinary school that it would be on to motherhood for me. And while that’s true, my answer was always the same: ‘Soon come guys.’”

Washington, D.C., native Taraji P. Henson didn’t always know that her smoldering charisma and beautiful face would make her a professional actress.

On the contrary, she originally studied electrical engineering when she enrolled at North Carolina Agric & Tech. She later transferred to Howard University, where she attended classes while working as a secretary at the Pentagon, and as a singer and dancer aboard a cruise ship. She eventually changed her academic focus to theater and graduated in 1995.

Henson’s career began with appearances on Homicide: Life on the Street and ER, but it really took off when she was cast in a major supporting role in 2001’s Baby_Boyand 2004’s Hustle_&_Flow, in which she also showcased her vocal talents, singing on the track “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” for the movie’s soundtrack, which took home the Best Song Oscar that year. Henson later moved on to take major roles in Smokin’_Aces and Talk to Me. Henson made the most of her work as the mother of the backward-aging man in David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and her performance garnered Best Supporting Actress nominations from both the Screen Actors Guild, and the Academy.

VIA:  YAHOO MOVIES.COM:

Denzel Washington burst onto the big screen with an Oscar and Golden Globe-winning role in the Civil War epic “Glory” (1989). But over the following decade, the matinee-idol handsome actor became the first of his generation’s African-American movie stars to land squarely on Hollywood’s A-list – as likely to be tapped to play a heroic lead as any white actor would have been a shoe-in for only a decade prior.

Likened to Sidney Poitier for his ability to appeal to a multiracial audience, Washington’s grounding force was a critical and audience favorite in historical dramas like “Cry Freedom” (1987), “Malcolm X” (1992) and “American Gangster” (2007), as well in more action-driven dramas such as “The Pelican Brief” (1993), “Remember the Titans” (2000) and “Training Day” (2001). Rising above the “black actor” moniker, Washington not only held a firm position as one of Hollywood’s top dramatic leads well into the new millennium, he also earned industry respect for his filmmaking efforts – directing and producing both “Antwone Fisher” (2002) and “The Great Debaters” (2007).

Washington has been awarded three Golden Globe awards and two Academy Awards for his work. He is notable as the second African Americanman (afterSidney Poitier) to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, which he received for his role in the 2001 film Training Day.

Are you a true Denzel fan?  Take the Denzel Washington trivia quiz below and test how you rate.

1) On with 1980’s television drama was Denzel Washington a regular?

a) E.R.
b) St. Elsewhere
c) Chicago Hope

2) One of Denzel Washington’s early movies was the comedy Carbon Copy but he’s only made three comedies in his long career. The second was The Preacher’s Wife, what was the third?

a) Heart Condition
b) The Mighty Quinn
c) Mo’ Better Blues

3) Denzel Washington’s character was paralyzed in which movie?

a) Virtuosity
b) The Bone Collector
c) Ricochet

4) Denzel Washington won an Academy Award for which movie?

a) The Hurricane
b) Malcolm X
c) Training Day

5) American Gangster wasn’t the only movie Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe appeared in together – what was the first?

a) Virtuosity
b) Fallen
c) Devil in a Blue Dress

6) What was Denzel Washington’s first feature film?

a) A Soldier’s Story
b) Carbon Copy
c) Cry Freedom

7) Denzel was in a movie version of which William Shakespeare play?

a) Hamlet
b) Much Ado About Nothing
c) Othello

Answers:  1) b;  2) b;  3) b; 4) c; 5) a; 6) a; 7) b

Denzel Washington responds to the debate over why some of his roles haven’t been honored by the Academy. Check local listings for airdates of Tavis Smiley on PBS.

VIA: SpeakOutNow.Org

Through her activism and her scholarship over the last decades, Angela Davis has been deeply involved in our nation’s quest for social justice. Her work as an educator – both at the university level and in the larger public sphere – has always emphasized the importance of building communities of struggle for economic, racial, and gender equality.

Professor Davis’ teaching career has taken her to San Francisco State University, Mills College, and UC Berkeley. She has also taught at UCLA, Vassar, the Claremont Colleges, and Stanford University. She has spent the last fifteen years at the University of California Santa Cruz where she is Professor of History of Consciousness, an interdisciplinary Ph.D program, and Professor of Feminist Studies.

Angela Davis is the author of eight books and has lectured throughout the United States as well as in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America. In recent years a persistent theme of her work has been the range of social problems associated with incarceration and the generalized criminalization of those communities that are most affected by poverty and racial discrimination. She draws upon her own experiences in the early seventies as a person who spent eighteen months in jail and on trial, after being placed on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted List.” She has also conducted extensive research on numerous issues related to race, gender and imprisonment. Her most recent books are Abolition Democracy and Are Prisons Obsolete? She is now completing a book on Prisons and American History.

Click here to read more on Angela Davis…

Check out this video of Anglea speaking at UCLA:

Check out this video of Angela’s 1984 appearance on Buchanan/Braden debating Racism:

VIA:  JudgeMathisTV.Com

The real-life story of Judge Mathis is heartwarming and inspirational.  Greg Mathis was a gang member who dropped out of school, was in and out of jail and then overcame these adversities to become the youngest judge in the history of the state of Michigan.

The inspiration for his own TV court show, the Judge’s personal story is also the subject of a book, “Inner City Miracle,” released by Ballantine/One World Books in October 2002.

When he is not on the bench, Mathis makes it a point to give back to the community and to those in need of guidance.  In May 2002, Mathis hosted his first Self-Empowerment Expo in Detroit, designed to encourage individuals to develop and achieve worthy goals, and prepare themselves for a more prosperous future.  The Expo has since become an annual event in Detroit and has now branched out to other cities.  The fifth annual Detroit Youth & Education Expo will take place August 19, 2006.  The Expo offers speakers, workshops and other resources that offer today’s youth a chance to better themselves.

Click here to read more on Judge Greg Mathis…

Check out this video of an episode of his syndicated TV Court show:

Judge Mathis speaks on his book “Street Judge”:

Street Judge: Judge Greg Mathis – The most amazing home videos are here

Alicia Keys
The Freedom Tour

With Special Guests:
Robin Thicke
Melanie Fiona

Verizon Center
Thursday, March 25, 2010
7:30 pm

Click here to buy tickets.