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Fifty-Seven

Southern Mom was born in 1957.  In 2014, I kept telling her that it was her “Golden Year” because she was TURNING 57, and she was BORN in 1957.  Little did I know that less than two months after her birthday, she’d be gone. Whenever I see the number 57, on an interstate exit in particular, I always think of her.

Doug Banks, my FAVORITE radio DJ of all-time, passed away a few weeks ago at the age of 57.

Yesterday, we lost my boo, the ultimate performer, the greatest musician, an icon. How old was he?  Fifty-seven.  Prince Rogers Nelson is the ultimate instrumentalist.  I say “is” because it’s still hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that he is gone.

I have loved Prince for as long as I can remember.  One of my first memories of Prince is “Purple Rain”.  As young as 8 or 9 (probably younger) every time I would go to my uncle’s house, I would ask him if I could borrow his “Purple Rain” VHS tape.  I would watch that movie multiple times a week before I took it back to his house.  It got to the point that one day he just told me he would get me my own copy.

For my 10th birthday, I got the tape of “Diamonds and Pearls”.   I was SO happy to get that doggone tape.  One day, I took it to daycare so we could dance to it.  And my BFF lost it.  I went SLAM OFF on her.  I was so upset!  I had it less than a week, and she LOST IT!  Thankfully, it was recovered, but I learned then not to let anyone mess with/hold/borrow my stuff.

One of my bucket list items was to see Prince perform live.  Despite the circumstances, I was BEYOND thrilled to see him perform in Baltimore last year.  My linesister B and I had floor seats!!!!  It was one of the greatest experiences of my life.  And while I missed his DC show, I didn’t worry too much when he announced he was going on tour again in 2016, because I just KNEW I would get to see him perform again.  Alas, that is not to happen in this lifetime.

It’s still surreal to me.  I just can’t believe that he’s gone.  I feel like there’s so much more he has to do.  There’s so much more the fans have to see and hear and do.

Prince was unapologetic about who he was.  He was about the music.  He was about living your truth.  He wasn’t the biggest man or the tallest man or the most masculine man, but he could have any woman (ANY WOMAN) he wanted.  Even guys respected Prince because he was a bad-ass.  As my friends on Facebook have said, “he was the original Mr. Steal Your Girl”.

While I am upset that I won’t get to see him this summer, I will remember how his music made me feel.  How I still dance and sing to the “Purple Rain” soundtrack (heck, really any Prince album).  How amazing it was to see him on stage last year.  And how he changed the music industry.  Prayers to his family, friends, loved ones, and fans.

Prince Rogers Nelson, you were one-of-a-kind, ahead of your time, and you will be forever in my heart.

Until next time, I’m just a Southern girl…in the city.

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Interview with Darius Bailey

Darius Bailey

You may have seen him on TVOne’s “Fatal Attractions”.  You may have seen his work on ABC’s “Resurrection”.  But I’m sure you’ve never seen him like this.  This past weekend, I was able to speak with actor/producer/director Darius Bailey.  After spending a few years in the U.S. Marine Corps, Bailey decided about 10 years ago to become an actor.  Though he has been honing his craft for a while, he may just now getting on your radar.  But don’t worry; you’re getting familiar at just the right time.

Over the course of his 10 year acting career, Bailey has performed in “ATL”, “House of Payne”, “Dumb and Dumber Too”, and “Reed Between the Lines”.  On “Resurrection”, he plays the photo double to Omar Epps’ J. Martin Bellamy.  He was able to portray real life convicted murderer Larry Dunn on “Fatal Attractions”.  In playing this role, Bailey stated he was a “little nervous up front to play this person.  But as an actor, you learn to give your character their day on stage.  Meaning you don’t judge that character; you play them where they are.”  While he was concerned this role would affect his future endeavors, I think it is safe to say he has nothing to fear.

Darius is currently portraying spiritually grounded, family man DeMorris Kingsley on “Driving Home”, a web series currently in its second season.   But it doesn’t stop there.  Not only will he direct a few episodes of season 2 of “Driving Home”, Darius is also working on his own project, “Remix”, where he serves as writer, producer, AND director!  He is based in Atlanta and is currently looking to hire talent to complete the film.  (The link to find more information can be found later in the article.)

When asked who he would be interested in partnering with on the big screen, Darius stated Mr. “Glory” and “Training Day” himself, Denzel Washington.  “Reason being, I am the type of actor that brings every bit of passion within me to the camera.  Every role I play, I have to be one with that character, to be convincing.  And to me, no other actor does that better than Denzel Washington.  You look at every performance he has done, and he is believable.   There is nothing about his performances that says, ‘Ok, I’m acting’.”

It is his ultimate goal to one day “capture a broader audience and to impart some of my greater values, things that are positive.  And to have a sustainable career as an actor, to pick and choose every role, and to impart some of my personal values on everyone, use my influence to be able to give back.”

I definitely believe that Darius is well on his way to building a strong foundation for a great career!  Connect with him on Facebook (to find out what he’s working on AND to find out casting information for “Remix”) and find him on Twitter.   Additionally, if you missed the season finale of “Fatal Attraction”, you can see it here as Darius portrays Larry Dunn.

I have to thank Darius for allowing me to interview him.  And you all need to keep your eye on this guy; he’s going places, and you want to be there to say you’ve been familiar with his work for years! 🙂  Until next time, I’m just a Southern girl…in the city!

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Kenya Has Fallen

It’s amazing how I have not blogged in over a month, and the first thing I decide to blog about is the foolishness that I watched on tv last night. But I have a very strong opinion about the fight between Porsha and Kenya, and what I have to say warrants more than a Facebook status update.

When I was thinking about writing this post last night, the original title was going to be “Miss USA Has Fallen”, but I thought it would be a little disrespectful to the current title holder, so I had to regroup.

Since hearing about the infamous fight that took place between Porsha and Kenya and seeing a portion of it last week, I was really interested in seeing what happened.

First, let’s be upfront. Kenya has been antagonizing Porsha since last season. She found various ways to dig at her and antagonize her. Even when asking valid questions about Porsha and her relationship with Kordell, which (honestly) is none of her business, Kenya always had a catty tone in her voice and really has no concern for Porsha one way or the other. As I was trying to explain the events prior to last night’s reunion to Southern Mom, you really have to have seen their relationship over the past two years to fully grasp the built up animosity between these two women.

When I heard that Kenya Moore was joining the cast of the “Real Housewives of Atlanta” I was SO excited! I think every little black girl that grew up in the 1990s was familiar with Kenya and who she was and what she represented as being a former Miss USA. She was beautiful, she was poised, and she was able to keep herself relevant over the last 20 years. But once she joined the cast, I was thoroughly disappointed with her behavior. To put it simply, she was rude, condescending, and inappropriate.

So as not to rehash the past two seasons of RHOA, let’s talk about last night. Kenya was inappropriate. The nerve of her to not only pull out a scepter, but she had the audacity to wave it in people’s faces. THEN, she pulls out a bullhorn and proceeds to yell in the ears of others; I was watching on tv and wanted to tell her to kill that noise. (Kudos to Cynthia for not reacting to Kenya being in her personal space and yelling in her ear.) I do not condone violence…but Kenya had it coming. The bully never likes it when their victim has turned the tables. And while Kenya made a statement regarding the event that took place earlier this month, now is not the time for her to act like she is Miss Innocent.  Part of her statement (“…there are little girls who look up to me. I would never want those girls, my nieces, or my future children to see me fighting anyone.”) makes me wonder if she cares about them seeing her belittle someone, scream at someone, and really just behave in a manner that is unlike a pageant winner.  It also makes me wonder about the people in her circle, particularly her pageant coach and anyone else that she have known in the pageant world, told her that her behavior was unbecoming of a queen.  Yes, Kenya is 40+, but we all have a circle of elders we go to, regardless of our age.

At the end of the day, Porsha was wrong for becoming physical with Kenya.  She should feel somewhat embarrassed (I know I would).  But does she owe Kenya an apology?  I say “No”…not unless Kenya returns one of her own.

Until next time, I’m just a Southern girl…in the city.

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It’s Really Not That Bad…

I’m probably going to get so much flack for this post, but I kinda don’t care.

Robin Thicke, one of my white boy crushes, has finally garnered a #1 hit with his newest single “Blurred Lines”.  But apparently, you can’t have success without a little negativity surrounding you.

From the beginning, Thicke received criticism for the – shall we say scantily clad – women in his uncensored video.  With women being or appearing to be naked and dancing and grinding on the crooner, not to mention the sign that reads “Robin has a big ____!”, numerous people had issues with the video. Robin stated the video was about having fun.  Also, the lyrics of the song have been questioned, and I’ve heard/read in at least a few different places that this song borderline promotes some type of sexual assault, which I think is ludicrous.  His performance with Miley Cyrus at Sunday’s MTV VMA’s not withstanding, the major story now about Robin is that he ripped off the beat from Marvin Gaye’s “Got to Give it Up” for his new hit.  And what’s even crazier is that Robin, along with Pharrell Williams and Clifford Harris (aka T.I.) are suing Gaye’s estate, sort of as a preemptive strike before they could be hit with a lawsuit.

Personally, all of the hoopla, besides him suing Marvin’s estate, is really ridiculous.  I have to admit, the beat caught my attention first.  It’s catchy, fun, and makes you want to move.  (Pharrell put his foot in the music.)  Then I started listening to the words.  Honestly, I really didn’t pay this song any attention until my linesister/BFF was in the car with me, and she started singing, “Hey Hey Hey!”  Now, honestly, whenever the song comes on, I think of her dancing in the passenger seat of my car.  Anywho, I personally do not think this song is demeaning to women, it does not promote any type of sexual assault, and I think the notion that the music is taken from a Marvin Gaye song is a bit of a stretch. Is the song influenced by Gaye?  Heavily.  But I would not go so far as to say that anything is taken from the late crooner.

I like to think of myself as a music connoisseur, someone that enjoys music from many different genres, so I like to think I somewhat know what I’m talking about.  Would I allow my (imaginary) young, impressionable child to listen to this song? Probably not.  But there have been shows, movies, songs, etc. that have been around since the beginning of the time that parents have shielded their children from.  

One last thing, I’m not a parent, but I have been around and have worked (volunteered) with children for years, so I kinda feel like I can say what I’m about to say.  If parents did the job they were/are supposed to do with their children, they would not be so easily influenced with the images they see on tv or by the music they hear.  I know times are not the same as they were when I was growing up.  But because of the values and principles my parents instilled in me, I was not easily influenced by my peers or even by the music I heard or the television I watched.  I could watch “New York Undercover” and not want to shoot someone.  I could watch “Friday” and know that doing drugs was a bad thing.  Parents cannot expect outside forces to raise their children.  It does take a village to raise a child, but it’s not the teacher’s, after school counselor’s, or the television’s job to raise children.

I apologize for going off on a tangent.  The moral of the post is- Lay off Robin.  There are many more things that are going on in this country that need our attention and our focus.  Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” isn’t one of them.  Until next time, I’m just a Southern girl…in the city.

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I Was Not Impressed

Last night was the 30th Anniversary of the MTV Video Music Awards.  And I watched approximately 30-40 minutes of the broadcast.  I can say that I was not all that impressed with the portion I saw.  I tuned in just in time to see Miley Cyrus “twerking” (what is that anyway???) on Robin Thicke, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis win the award for best Hip-Hop Video (o_O), Daft Punk and Pharrell “perform” with Nile Rodgers and present Best Female Video, Kanye’s whack performance, and (most importantly) my boo Justin Timberlake perform.  And with this smidgen, I can truly say I was underwhelmed.

From what I heard, just as I guessed, Paula Patton was acting up backstage, but instead of being in Robin’s face, she was in Miley’s.  I was confused why Miley and Robin were performing together in the first place. (Might I add I heard the audio of Miley singing “Blurred Lines”-she’s sounds horrible…) I was definitely waiting on a cameo from T.I., but he never appeared.  I was hoping Kanye would perform another song, yet it never happened.  The only highlight in my viewing was the 15 minutes JT was on my television screen singing and dancing and doing it well I might add.  Of course it was great to see ‘NSYNC reunited.  (J.C. still has it!)  And speaking of J.C., watching them made me realize I miss “America’s Best Dance Crew”.  Oh, Fanny Pak, where are you???

I’ve never been big on watching award shows, but I would always try to catch the replay to see the awesome performances that people gush about so I could be in the know.  Unfortunately, I do not think that will be happening with last night’s production.  I must be old, because half of the names that were called I didn’t recognize.  (Honestly, I’m still trying to figure out the big deal behind Kendrick Lamar’s verse from a few weeks ago.)  In short, the conclusion that I came to last night was that I am too old to watch any awards show on MTV…

If there’s something I MUST see that I missed, please let me know.  Tell me where it is in the line-up, and I’ll try to catch it.  I make no promises, though.  Until next time, I’m just a Southern girl…in the city!

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