Yolanda Johnson's New Track

I posted a little bit back about an artist named Yolanda Johnson. I made a comment on her webpage and her manager sent me an email telling me about a new track that Yolanda had coming out. She promised she would send it to me as a teaser for Yolanda's new cd. As promised she sent it to me and now I'm sharing it with you. (with her permission!) The link is to yousendit, so I'm pretty sure that you won't have forever to download it so get it as fast as you can. On this song I would put her in the category of Ledisi. For me not many can get in this category!!! Click the Intervention link below to download the song.

"Intervention" featuring T3 from Slum Village with production by S1 of The Strange Fruit Project.

http://www.yolandadiary.com/

www.myspace.com/yolandajohnson

Read This

If you're looking for something to read. Here's a new author with a story that just might touch you and teach you. Rodney Lofton author of The Day I Stopped Being Pretty. This brotha will be visiting Los Angeles in December and I intend to be at his book signing.

Click on his webpage and scroll down to see if any new dates have been added to his tour. If you want him to speak to your group. Simply invite him. You never know it could happen.

At any rate if you decide to pick up Rodney's book I do hope that you enjoy it and it in some way enhances and strengthens you. After checking out his website Tell a friend about his book.

Sharecropper

I went to a meeting last Tuesday where there was a discussion about the state of Black Gay men and Black people in general. A question was asked if things have changed since the civil rights movement.

My answer was that history repeats itself. If you look really deep into what's happening in the world you'll see what I say to be true. Things have most certainly changed since the Civil Rights movement and slavery. The world is more sophisticated and technologically advanced. However, there is still racism, poverty, lack of education and desperation in the Black community. I know that my answer to the question might seem simple on the surface. However, I ended my answer by stating that the majority of us are still Sharecroppers today.

What did I mean by that? There are not many in the Black or Black Gay community that own their own successful business. It's not that we couldn't because most anything produced by the Black community is well received and sure to be copied in someway. So why are we continually volunteering our labor to the big corporations that have very little in upper management that look like us or benefit us? Because we are sharecroppers giving our talent and lessening our worth by working to make someone else the big dollars. While at the same time striving to feel comfortable in our homes by purchasing things that only temporarily make us happy and cause us more debt.

This behavior binds us to a cyclical journey of debt and dissatisfaction. There are few of us that are able to break the bind of this journey to venture into areas that will foster financial freedom and self-satisfaction. Why aren't those few teaching us the things that they know. Has this capitalistic society damaged our hereditary something so much that we have forgotten our instinctual willingness to support our own village. Somethings have not been erased for most. Like when you pass another Black person you instinctually greet them. At work I always get the question from white people, "Do you know all the Black people that work here." Let's get it back..so Look at that Nigger will only be able to post music videos that he likes.

Erykah!!!!!

I'm excited! Erykah Badu is scheduled to come out with a new cd in Feb 08. Finally!! I've been waiting to hear from her again. The title of the CD is called Honey. Click the link to hear the title track.

Nobody wants my baby!

I have a 1991 Mercury Capri. Well she's not doing too well. I got into an accident awhile ago and the door was smashed to hell. Well the car has been sitting in my garage for quite awhile now. I won't tell you how long but you'll be able to approximate the time by the end of this post. Plus I sort of forget about that girl now that I have a new baby now.

Anyway, I had intentions of selling my baby to a friend not long after I got my new baby. Oh by the way I name my cars. Don't know why. My Capri's name is Clarice Capri. My new car is Millicent Mercedes. That's cuz she's a Black white girl. Hee hee.

Back to the story. A friend of a friend was interested in buying Clarice since he is on the bus at 48 dayum years old. That's a shame in California. You hear me! Anyway so I was going to sell him my Clarice for real cheap. Well why in the world did all sorts of issues come from this pending sale.

Issues:

1. He could not pay the total amount of $800 that I was asking for the car in one payment. Ok I agreed to that.

2. He also wanted to wait to take the car until he got car insurance. So he didn't want to take the car with his 1st payment. I had Millicent now and a two car garage so it wasn't an issue for me to keep it here. He also didn't want to take the car until he paid for the whole thing.

3. Ok 4 months later brotha man has only paid half the amount for the car. So I called him to find out when he was coming to get the car. He said he'd be getting insurance for the car that weekend since now he had his licsence back. What the hell!!! Ok ok I'm just trying to get rid of the car. Do what you have to do I said.

4. Well he went to the insurance company to sign up for insurance...so he said. He tells me 2 months later that he thought the company was asking for too much. I'm thinking negro you just got your licsence back for reasons unbeknownst to me. I'm sure it was a driving issue. So of course your insurance will not be cheap. So he says he's gong to continue to look.

5. 3 months later I'm calling this man to find out what the F is going on. He tells me that his grandmother is really ill and that he is going to have to to go Oakland because he wants to see her before she passes. Ok I'm not a cold person so I definetely understand his situation. I know he needs a car and he's sort of a friend so I want him to be able to do better in his life.

6. Ok 1 month later I call him and he's in oakland again and his grandmother has passed. So I asked him what he wanted to do about the car. Well this fool tells me that he's decided not to get the car and that I should just give him his money back. Alright I'll give you the money back. Thank God I didn't spend it.

7. 2 weeks later he comes to get his money. I live on a very big hill so he calls me from the bottom of the hill to meet him down there. I go down to meet him and give him his money. Just so you know. In California when you sell a used car you have to get a smog check if you haven't had it done within 3 months. $65 then since the car had been sitting the battery was dead so I bought one just for him. Now you know I didn't have to. Can you say As Is. So I took the amount that I paid to get the car ready for him out of his refund. Needless to say he wasn't happy but what could he do. Keep steppin.

8. So here we are several months later and I"m calling all these salvage yards to try to take Clarice. Most have said they're not interested. Then I finally got one that said they would give me from $50-$100! What the hell my baby is worth more than that. The car still runs good. I'd probably still be driving it if it wasn't wrecked. So I concede and say ok...cuz I'm just ready for Clarice to be gone.

9. It's been about 2 hours now and the company has not called me to say that they are on their way to get her. Lawd why doesn't anyone want my baby!?!?!

If you have any advice on a good place to send my baby please let me know.