It's Michael Jackson's Birthday

Today would have been the 53rd birthday of the King of Pop, who was born in Gary, IN on this date in 1958

He's gone, and his fans still love and miss him.  One thing is certain is that there won't be another artist like him to grace our lifetimes and his music will live on forever.  

But forgive me if I wished we could have gotten to see if MJ could have pulled off the 'This Is It' tour and what it would have done to revive his then stalled career.

That's all speculation now.  

Oh well, time to pull out the CD's.   Rest in peace King of Pop.

Unjust Anti-Trans UN Paper Pwned By Beth Elliott

Was over at Dented Blue Mercedes and just had to link to the post in which Beth Elliot pwned the unjust anti-trans UN paper that radical lesbian trans oppressors Brennan and Hungerford wrote to the UN.

Who is Beth Elliott?  Only one of our trailblazing transwomen who is severely hated on by radical lesbian separatists. 

Beth penned a rebuttal to their unjust UN paper that would have deleterious effects on worldwide trans human rights

Honorable Commissioners, 

I write in regard to the CSW Communications Procedure submission of 1 August by Cathy Brennan and Elizabeth Hungerford alleging that gender identity anti-discrimination statutes in the United States threaten to violate women’s rights.  Specifically, I write in response and rebuttal to those allegations.

Ms. Brennan and Ms. Hungerford’s submission is not an adequate submission.  It does not at all comply with the Communications Procedure Guidelines for identification and documentation of actual incidents of human rights violations, and should be rejected on those grounds alone.

See the rest of what Beth Elliott had to say here

Aaliyah's Been Gone Ten Years

Today was the shocking day we got the word that Aaliyah and 8 other people in her entourage were killed in a 2001 plane crash in the Bahamas hours after filming the Rock The Boat video.

Hard to believe that was ten years ago.  

Aaliyah's name means in Arabic 'the highest, most exalted one, the best', and did she live up to it and then some. 

Aaliyah Dana Haughton was 22 years old and things were blowing up for her.   The Grammy nominated music career was putting her on the edge of superstardom.  She filmed Romeo Must Die in 2000, had a part in Queen of the Damned and was signed to do two others.   With her striking beauty she was beginning to get modeling work. She had already filmed part of her role in The Matrix Reloaded and was also tapped to do a role in The Matrix Revolutions.   As busy as she was with her various careers she still graduated at the top of her high school class.

And then she was gone.

I make the argument that had it not been for her untimely death, Beyonce and Rihanna wouldn't have had the giant void that they were filled because they would have spent the 2K's in Aaliyah's considerably growing shadow.   The role in the movie Honey that went to Jessica Alba was originally Aaliyah's and the Sparkle remake that she was to star in was canceled.

But sadly, we'll never know just how big a star she would have become..  You marvel at the fact that she accomplished in 22 years what some people take several lifetimes to do.  She was a remarkable young woman and our lives here on this planet are poorer with her not being a part of them.  



  
Rest in peace, Aaliyah.   You are still missed by your fans.

Paris Dupree RIP

Paris Dupree, whose ball provided the name for the iconic 1990 Jennie Livingston documentary about the Harlem ballroom scene and was one of the memorable people in Paris Is Burning has reportedly passed away.    Dupree was founder of the House of Dupree in the 1970's and was one of the last Big Five founding house mothers who appeared in the documentary still alive.  Angie Xtravaganza, Dorian Corey, Avis Pendavis and Pepper LaBeijia preceded Dupree in death.

A memorial service for the ballroom icon according to Next Magazine was held August 20 at Pearl Studios.
 


I'll keep looking for the obituary to see if I can find out the cause of death, and will update when I do so.


H/T Next Magazine

Rest In Peace, Gil Scott-Heron

Gil Scott-Heron, one of my fave poets, musicians, 'bluesologist' and authors of the 70's and 80's died yesterday in New York at age 62 after becoming ill after returning from a European trip..

Scott-Heron is considered the 'Godfather of Rap' by some and many of the themes he explored in his music and poetry were expounded on later by Talib Kweli and Common   

In addition to his music which included songs such as Home Is Where The Hatred Is', 'Johannesburg', 'Angel Dust', 'Shut 'Um Down', 'We Almost Lost Detroit', 'Space Shuttle', 'Re-Ron',and 'B-Movie', he's best known for his 1970 spoken word piece 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised'.



He broke down what he was talking about when he said 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised' in a 1991 interview:.

"What that was all about, 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,' was that the first change that takes place is in your mind. You have to change your mind before you can change the way you live and the way you move. 

So, when we said that 'The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,' we were saying it like--that the thing that's going to change people is something that no one will ever be able to capture on film. It'll just be something that you see and all the sudden you'll realize: 'I'm on the wrong page,' or 'I'm on the right page but I'm on the wrong note--and I've got to get in synch with everyone else to understand what's happening in this country."

As you can tell by the song titles 'Re-Ron' and 'B-Movie', Scott-Heron was not a fan of Ronald Reagan or his conservafool policies.   He had his battles with drug addiction and the legal trouble it spawned over the last  two decades.   In February 2010 he released his first new studio album in sixteen entitled I'm New Here to critical acclaim.    

But there is no denying that Gil Scott Heron's work influenced rap and neo soul artists and even a certain trans blogger from H-town.       

Rest in power and peace brother Gil.   You will be missed.

Oprah's Last Broadcast

After 25 years and over 5000 shows, today is the day that Oprah fans all over the country have dreaded since she made the announcement that 2011 was going to be the last year of this show.

This is the day her last show will be broadcast.

I remember the first time I was introduced to Oprah Winfrey.     It was in August 1986, and I was in Chicago for the funeral of my great uncle Leon.     My Aunt Ruth told us while me and my family was sitting down eating breakfast told us about a sister talk show host she said we just had to watch called  AM Chicago.

We did, fell in love with the show and like everyone else in Chicago watched until it was time for us to fly back to Houston.  The sister hosting that local talk show was Oprah Winfrey

Well, you know the rest of the story.  Former beauty queen from Mississippi after stops in Nashville and Baltimore ends up in Chicago.    The show me and my family watched one month later gets syndicated,  renamed the Oprah Winfrey Show, does its first broadcast on September 8, 1986 and blows up.

Oprah makes enough cheddar to become a billionaire, build a studio on a street renamed for her, buy a magazine, start her own network and become an icon.

She's been a major influence on our culture, our lives, and our politics.   Writers are thrilled when they are selected for Oprah's Book Club because they get a ginormous boost in sales.   A certain African American resident of Hyde Park and his family are now living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue because of her endorsement.

Michael Jackson made a 1993 appearance on her show watched by 62 million people in which he revealed he had vitiligo.  Ellen DeGeneres came out in 1997 on Oprah.  The Little Rock Nine on her stage confronted the white students who heckled them back in 1957.  Recently her stage was the venue for a 50th anniversary reunion of the Freedom Riders.  

Of course she has her critics and straight up haters.   There are some right wing women still mad at her because she strictly enforced her 'no political interviews until after the election' rule and wouldn't do one with Sarah Palin in 2008.   Some rappers can't stand and still hate on her.

While I like her and the show, I still had problems with the fact that when Oprah finally started doing shows tackling the topic of transsexuality, she hasn't interviewed transpeople who looked like her and wrote open letters to her and a few blog posts on that topic.

Despite the fact that we African descended transpeople weren't included in the long list of guests who have appeared on her show over the last 25 years, like everyone else in this country I'm going to be tuned in to the last show.

According to sources, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith will be the last people to ever sit on Oprah's interview couch and close a historic and remarkable Emmy winning television run.

Happy Birthday Again Alexandra!

The Alexandra I'm talking about is multitalented actress Alexandra Billings, who was born on this date in 1962. 

So yeah sis, you got me by a few weeks.

Thanks for your blog, all you do and have done as one of our iconic trans women to ably represent yourself and our community.   May you have a blessed and low stress birthday with much continued success and blessings in your career and your life.

 Happy birthday Alexandra!