Aretha Franklin Gave Insight On Whitney Houston on CNN

Aretha Franklin  gave a telling an informative interview on CNN on Whitney Houston’s death on  Sunday night.  Aretha Franklin was Whitney’s Godmother and early on helped to shape and guide her career.  She was a close friend to Whitney’s mom, Cissy Houston as well.  She talked about the  pitfalls of being an overnight  star and the pressures of stardom that  come with it.  Aretha  felt that Whitney was  turning the corner on the difficulties that she had encountered.  However Aretha shed light on  the pressures of stardom and gave  heartfelt advice to those in the entertainment or in the public eye.  She said her father, Rev. C.L. Franklin once told her that you must prepare yourself for the time when the music stops, the accolades go away,  and  someone younger than you enters the spotlight and  perhaps takes it away from you.  That day will come.  Her advice was to prepare yourself for it, and be prepared for life after stardom.

That is  insightful and practical advice that not only applies to those in the entertainment industry, but also in  major league sports, and other fields. Athletes as well must prepare themselves for the day when  they cannot jumps as high, run as fast, shoot better, pass better than  the next person. There is definitely an up and coming  younger person that commands the spotlight and suddenly the fame and fortune is gone. Those in the public eye must be able to deal with these changes.  Aretha Franklin has withstood the test of time and continues to  be an icon in the music industry despite her age, her fame continues.

Whitney Houston is Dead- 48 Years Old

Once again an entertainer’s life is taken from us, although we do not know the cause of death, but we lost a very gifted and talented singer in Whitney Houston.  She was 48 years old.  Ms. Houston sold over 170 Million Albums and songs.  She won numerous Grammy awards and arguably was one of the greatest singers of the 20^th Century. That in a word is the impact that Ms. Houston had on the music industry and the world.  Whitney Houston ranks right up there with Aretha Franklin, Patty Labelle, Gladys Knight, and Chaka Khan among top Soul Singers.  But perhaps Ms. Houston could in fact be considered the greatest African American Pop singer given her range and ability to cross over to a diverse audience.  No one who came before her was able to claim that honor.

It is perhaps an oversight to consider Ms. Houston a Soul singer. She was not from the start; however African American strongly identified with her and saw her as one of the greater African American singers of all time.  Perhaps a better way to describe Ms. Houston is that she was a crossover artist who appealed to all races, sort of the female Michael Jackson. She had that type of influence musically throughout the world.  She had so many hits there is not enough ink to name them all. She had a melodic voice and the ability and range to deliver it along a musical matrix that is unequaled.  Thus the comparisons to Aretha Franklin and Patty Labelle, who all who possessed larger than life voices that defined their careers. Chaka Khan is most definitely included in this sorority of African American singers.

Whitney Houston was on top of the world throughout the late Eighty’s and soon she met Bobby Brown during the 90’s and they married.  Many thought that the union with Bobby Brown was not a good one for Whitney Houston, and it was during her time with Bobby Brown that she begin to use and abuse drugs. Their life was chronicled on a reality show including Bobby and Whitney and the entire Brown family. It was not a flattering story. Now the News of Whitney Houston’s death has shaken up the world. More to come when more details become available.

London is waking up and smelling the roasted cocoa

A friend has sent you a London Evening Standard News Story

“London is waking up and smelling the roasted cocoa”

London is buzzing. But, this time, rather than wired from cup after cup of strong coffee, it’s chocolate that is helping us keep up with the city’s pace. Not bars of it, but mugs-full.

This week, specialist chocolate shop Hotel Chocolat officially launches London Roast & Conch (on the same street as one of London’s top coffee companies, Monmouth) and the new café’s top offering is a cup of pure hot chocolate, roasted and ground (just like coffee) on site, straight from the beans.

“People like coffee because it’s stimulating,” says Hotel Chocolat CEO and co-founder Angus Thirlwell, “but whereas coffee gives you a spike, which can be quickly followed by a low, chocolate is energising at a steadier pace, for longer.”

It’s a direct challenge to our coffee addictions.

Thirlwell’s new drinks menu, called Coffee vs Cocoa, is designed to encourage Londoners to re-think their flat whites and espressos and have them made with cocoa instead.

“Typically to make chocolate you would conch [grind] the chocolate for longer and it becomes mellow, but our roasted cocoa is not the calming, soothing, light drink you’re used to,” says Thirlwell. “It retains the colourful leather, tobacco, spices and red wine flavours of the bean.”

Adrian Smith, founder of the Mortimer Chocolate Company, is on the same wavelength. His idea was to package pure roasted chocolate powder in coffee bags and, like coffee, sell it according to the region of its origin and flavour characteristics.
“It’s more sophisticated,” says Smith. “It’s like making tea or coffee and you decide how much milk or sugar you want with it.”

Sales are up, and the Mortimer West African Pure Dark Chocolate Powder was recently voted Britain’s Best Drinking Chocolate.

That hot chocolate is currently hot, signals something of a renaissance – since chocolate was originally drunk rather than scoffed, and the first ever chocolate shop (frequented by Samuel Pepys when he needed to cure a hangover) opened in London on Bishopsgate in 1657.

The resurgence is a trend reflected in the agricultural commodity market, with New York and London cocoa performing second and third best of all agri-commodities since the start of this year.
Current dry and windy weather across the Ivory Coast (the world’s largest cocoa-producing country) is bad news for cocoa growers, so a potential shortage this year could continue to drive prices up.

And, if you fancy gambling on an investment, the long term outlook is that a growing demand from emerging markets such as China and crop shortages influenced by rising global temperatures could mean that cocoa will keep getting hotter.

No doubt, that’s why a London hedge fund bought up 240,100 tonnes of the stuff in 2010 – about seven per cent of the global annual production.

It could be time to put your money where your mug is.

This information was sent to you from London Evening Standard. Download London Evening Standard for FREE on your mobile phone: http://ThisIsLondon.mwap.at

NYTimes: Albany Redistricting Plan Faulted as Unfair to Minorities

From The New York Times:

Albany Redistricting Plan Faulted as Unfair to Minorities
By THOMAS KAPLAN

Critics say many of the proposed districts in New York do not fairly represent blacks and Hispanics in an increasingly diverse state and seem to protect the interests of incumbents.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/nyregion/new-york-redistricting-faulted-for-unfair-representation-of-minorities.html

Obama’s Lays Out Many Initiatives in State Of The Union Address

President Obama’s State of the Union Speech tonight, was in a word, interesting. It was defiant, it was ideological, it was partisan, he introduced provocative ideas, and he certainly gave Republicans something to think about. One thing is clear Obama plans to take it to the republicans during this Presidential election season.

There’s not really one part of the speech that one can focus on, it touched on so many segments held dear to Democrats. Obama, more than anything set the agenda for the platform that he intends to run on in the fall. This is where Obama will fight and attack on multiple fronts. Jobs, tax breaks, all were part of his strategies. Obama’s goal tonight was to create the beginnings of a grassroots campaign.

President Obama hinted toward cutting toward cutting or reforming social security and medicare. In some respects Obama is still trying to compromise with Republicans. We will see where this all in ends up, but the one constant that gives all Democrats room for optimism is that Republican policies and strategies will always ultimately fail.

Kodak has A Short Window of Of Opportunity After Filling Bankruptcy

The news that Kodak filed for bankruptcy on Thursday was not good. This is not a surprise, Kodak has been in deep trouble for many years. The attempts to reinvent itself  has been woefully unsuccessful. Not only that,  retirees have drained monetary resources from Kodak for years.  

As anyone knows this is been a pretty solid reason that Kodak has not been able to turn  the corner and introduce products that are in high demand. Kodak has introduced too many products that have failed to move the needle. One can speculate on why this happened but the reality is Kodak has to do a better job in defining the market And in going to market.

Republicans Must Offer Qualified Candidates

The Republican primaries are turning into what I consider a circus. Somehow it seems that the candidates are not legitimate enough to defeat President Barack Obama.The political process is definitely in shambles. We will need to really think long and hard about the candidates that we  support.

Somehow this situation will make us stronger as Americans. Our voices will still be heard and we will ultimately select the right candidate. Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich,  Rick Santorum, Ron Paul are all candidates that in my opinion bring little or nothing to the table. This makes the political process a charade. This is actually the first time in American history when we have candidates on the Republican side that are less than qualified to lead the country. Where we go from here no one really knows. What we do know is that this is a desperate situation.

Republicans need to think long and hard about who they put up to face President Barack Obama. This is a legitimate question and is one that should not be taken lightly. Republicans have an obligation to the American people to put someone up with a legitimate chance to defeat President Barack Obama. Not put up a sacrificial lamb. And if anything this political primary process will be one to remember for many years to come. We’ll sit back and enjoy the ride.

Congress Flooded With Calls Over Internet Privacy

Today’s online protest against legislation to fight internet piracy has led to a steady outcry via Twitter, after some of the biggest names on the Web including Google, Wikipedia, Craigslist, and Mozilla, blacked out their site or posted messages opposing the legislation.

Everyone is at Odds with Pitino for Disliking A News Article

Rick Pitino needs to apologize

Submitted by Sports Postings on Sat, – Shelbyville,  KY

If you haven’t heard, the University of Louisville men’s basketball coach finished off his Friday press conference with a 6-minute diatribe directed at Brown, the UofL beat reporter for The Courier-Journal. (Full disclosure: I did not attend the press conference, but watched the video from it a couple of times late Friday and early Saturday morning)

It was in regards to Brown’s article in Friday edition of the newspaper headlined “Louisville basketball’s coach Pitino: Practices not the problem.” An article, Pitino readily admits, that he did not read. In his semi-rant Pitino told Brown, “Don’t write erroneous things because you hear things,” and “you’re not telling the truth.”

This angered me for several different reasons.

1. Pitino didn’t even read the article so he doesn’t even know exactly what Brown wrote, he’s just going off what was told to him by UofL Sports Information Director Kenny Klein, and who knows if he fully understood what he was told. I’m guessing not since he seemed to think the article was a personal attack against him and his work ethic. Pitino told Brown, as well as the rest of the room: “If I ever have to take away and apologize for my work ethic, that will be the day. So you are not changing me with your nonsense you wrote in that article…”

I’ve read the article a couple of times tonight and can say from the perspective of a fellow journalist that it is fair and balanced. About the only thing I could see in it that might draw Pitino’s ire were a couple of comments that former UofL coach Denny Crum made about him to a local television station (and Brown quoted) and then the following sentence, which includes a partial quote from former Cardinal Preston Knowles.

Brown wrote: “Knowles said UofL players are never at 100 percent – ‘you’re playing at 80 percent like the whole season’ – because they practice so hard so often.”

2. I have to agree with Jason Anderson, of the local ESPN radio station, who said that Pitino’s calling out of Brown at the end of his news conference “unprofessional.” If Pitino did have a problem with what Brown wrote he should have addressed him privately, one-on-one in the hallway before, or after, the press conference.

3. The thing that angered me the most, though, was this personal and public attack against Brown. I have known C.L. for more than 10 years. We used to work together and for more than two years my desk was right across from his, and there is one thing I can tell you for sure about him – he is a consummate professional and is a very fair journalist. Pitino all but called Brown a liar (“you’re not telling the truth,” he said) in front of his peers. That would be like Brown, or any other journalist for that matter, calling Pitino a cheater in front of his fellow coaches. To top it off I can tell you that Brown is one of the nicest members of the Louisville media you’ll ever meet. I’d bet you’d have a hard time finding anyone in the Louisville media, or at UofL, with a bad word to say about Brown. The Courier-Journal is lucky to have him as a journalist and people in his area are lucky to have someone who works as hard as he does giving them information about the UofL men’s basketball and football teams.

 

Hopefully sometime after Friday’s press conference Pitino, who could be feeling the pressure of his team having lost four of its last five games with a batch of recruits (as he mentioned) coming in this weekend, had a chance to actually sit down and read Brown’s article. If so, hopefully he realizes he was wrong in going after Brown. Hopefully he makes things right and starts off his post-game press conference after Saturday’s contest against DePaul with an apology to Brown. A big one

This Weeks Basketball Update

Ricky Rubio

Ricky Rubio is a solid player out of the Euro basketball league. The Spanish player is making an impact with the Timberwolves. The best way I can describe him is  he is a throwback to “Pistol” Pete Maravich, particularly the trick passes  through the defenses leg, behind the back passes, you name it Rubio can do it.  Maravich was more skilled at doing the same thing and Maravich was also a lot better outside shooter. But most of Maravich was a great scorer.   Rubio is good, but he is definitely not a Derrick Rose or a Chris Paul, or a Pete Maravich.

Kentucky-Auburn

Auburn gave Kentucky all it could handle on Wednesday night, Kentucky prevailed. I wrote this recap while watching the game.  As I look at this game, it follows the pattern in the SEC where Kentucky makes a habit of delivering a more than a decent record in the pre-season, but always subject to upsets in the SEC.  That’s the nature of SEC Basketball. The score is inconsequential as Kentucky will grind out a victory at Auburn.

Louisville- Providence

The big story here is the meltdown by the Cardinal who lost by a significant margin to Providence, a team that was 1-4 in the Big East Going into the game at Providence.  Louisville is in big trouble this season. The season was supposed to be a breakout season with a stellar recruiting Class headed by Chane  Behanan and Wayne Blackshear. A not so funny thing happen though, they are coached by Rick Pitino. This in itself may be a recipe for another dismal season.