20th Anniversary Of Rodney King Beating

March 3 was the twentieth anniversary of the Rodney King beatdown by the LA po-po's that triggered the series of events that led the the 1992 LA Riots.



It also served notice to police forces everywhere that as the Rockwell song foreshadowed, somebody is always watching you.    Even with video cameras everywhere and cell phones being equipped with them, it still hasn't stopped some police officers from behaving badly even with it in the back of their minds that cameras may be rolling.

But it's just another one of those 'time flies' moments

Phil Donahue Show Featuring Grae Phillips

The Phil Donahue show was a groundbreaking talk show in the late 1980s-early 1990's that discussed topics in a reasoned, thoughtful manner.    Phil was the Emmy Award winning king of daytime television before Oprah, who at the time was just branching out from a morning talk shop on a local Chicago television station in 1986.

Here's a clip from a Donahue show with illusionist Grae Phillips.   Note the haters that called in

Flavor Flav Opens Fried Chicken Restaurant

Just when you thought that Flavor Flav couldn't outdo himself in being a walking cartoon character, now comes the news about Flav's latest business venture. 

A fried chicken chain.

The first of the Flav's Fried Chicken restaurants opened up in Clinton, Iowa on Monday.

 

Before y'all roll you eyes like I did when I first heard about this story and thought, 'There he goes again feeding stereotypes', Flav actually has a culinary degree he earned in 1978 and managed restaurants before finding music stardom as a founding member of Public Enemy.  

The Flav's Fried Chicken menu includes Flav’s specially seasoned fried chicken recipe, ribs, greens, and macaroni and cheese.

"I'm not scared to go against the colonel taste wise," Flav said. "Business wise, he's got me, because he's been here longer. But I'm about to catch up to the colonel."

Yeah, boyee!    I can see the commercial for this chicken joint already.

 FFC, coming to a 'hood near you.
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Back in the 80's, It Was Easier Being A Transsexual

TransGriot Note: Another insightful post from author Pamela Hayes

Back In The 80's, It was Easier Being A Transsexual
by Pamela Hayes

I have been living as a female for over three decades. I was a teen when I started this transsexual journey. In the beginning, the late 70’s and much of the 80’s, life was sweet. I lived as a woman, took my hormones. Eventually had surgery.... I dated. The men knew I was trans. Some of them introduced me to their family members. And friends. I was escorted to company picnics and Christmas parties. I played horse shoes and danced with their colleagues.

Here and there, people would whisper comments about me. I’m tall, and some people accused me of being a female impersonator. Not in those words, mind you. But for the most part, I was not disrespected or treated differently.

Back then, people dismissed the “That‘s a man” accusations. Think about it. We’re talking about the 70’s and 80’s. Facially, I looked female. I had/have breasts and curves. My voice was/is light and feminine. So to accuse the tall striking lady of being a man was considered a ridiculous statement.

I recall one night, in the early days of my journey, a guy and I went partying on a Tuesday night. After leaving the club, we stopped at 7-11 because I was out of soft drinks and I had to put some in the house.

I bought this big bottle of Pepsi, which they called The Boss back then.

Anyway, I went inside. This man looked me up and down. I could tell he appreciated my appearance. We spoke. He told me, I looked and smelled good. He flirted. Tried to get my phone number. He had been conversing with the clerk. It couldn’t have been anything serious if he was coming on to another woman in her presence.

When I was getting The Boss out of the cooler, I heard the clerk whisper that I was a man. “Girl, you crazy,” he said, supposedly sotto voce. “That woman just tall. Ain’t no damn way that’s a man. Your ass is crazy.”

He said goodnight to me and when he wasn’t looking, I winked at her.

The point of that story is to illustrate that back in the day, when a transsexual’s gender was impugned, people didn’t take it seriously. It was dismissed as a silly statement.

But along came the 90’s. And in the 90’s, when Miss Pamela was pelted with the ”That’s a man” accusation, people listened. Stared at me. Put me under a microscope. They wondered if the statement was true.

However, I can honestly say that most people DO NOT treat me differently. I can tell when people have been told things about me or have suspicions. I can see the confusion or skepticism in their eyes. But for the most part, they're cool. A friend, a cis woman. I know she has qualms about me. I can see it in her face. But once a week, I baby-sit her children.

But in the 90’s, trans women like Tula, and the late Jahna Steele hit the talk show circuit and a plethora of lovely t-women followed, confessing to Maury, Sally Jessy, Phil Donahue and the studio and at home audiences, making people realize that just because a woman was pretty didn’t necessarily mean she was born female.

I don’t know if this makes a lick of sense. But I’d bet some veteran trans girls can relate to what I’ve written.

Happy 45th Birthday Karyn White!

During the late 80's and early 90's Karyn Layvonne White was not only on a Grammy nominated roll musically, more than a few brothers in that time period thought she was one sexy lady as well. .


I'd heard about her thanks to me being a jazz music fan and loving Jeff Lorber's music. In 1986 he produced his Sand Castles CD that featured the then little known Los Angeles born backup singer.

A cut on the CD White sang lead on called 'Facts of Love' took off, and the rest was history.

She was appearing on the Arsenio Hall Show and two years later was releasing her own self titled LA Reid and Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds produced album.   The Karyn White CD went platinum with songs such as 'The Way You Love Me', 'Superwoman', 'Secret Rendezvous' and a duet with Babyface called 'Love Saw It'. 

She's a mother running a successful interior design and real estate business in northern California these days.   She did record an album called Sista Sista in 2006 which hasn't been released yet.   If it does, I'll definitely be adding it to my music collection.

Happy birthday Karyn White!    May you have many more, and hopefully we'll get to see you on stage performing again soon.