2 posts from 2006

I don't celebrate Christmas, so gifts weren't waking me early Morning morning.

Instead, it was NPR, telling me through my alarm radio that James Brown (name your nickname) had passed away just after midnight.

In general, one of the pluses of public radio is the restrained tone of the announcers. It wasn't in this case. Me and NPR were having a "whatchutalkinbout Willis" moment, with the garble ending with "He was 73" before hurrying off to more important matters in the world.

For once, I needed something mawkish in the manner of ESPN. Even on Christmas Day, NPR wasn't going to give me the goods. Couldn't blame 'em.

So I spent the next hour on my bed, waiting to hear more of an obit. Eventually, it arrived, though it didn't feel like enough.

I'll remember James Brown most because he was one of those figures my father often used to let me know that most of what you see now isn't very new. So when Michael Jackson's moonwalks started to grab my attention in the early 80s, my father couldn't miss an opportunity to try to act as if Brown was the best dancer in American history.

It wasn't until later in my lifetime that I knew better. Not that Brown wasn't a great showman, but that he was far more than that.

... It probably makes sense to post something, though I'll admit to not having the most eventful day.

That's unless you can be captivated by my trip to Rite-Aid, my non-trip to Szechuan Best or my effort to explain why it's not a great idea to throw Vanessa Williams into the debate on whether an black Miss USA would have been taken off the hook so easily after some behavior issues.

I'll start with Miss USA, since another VOX blogger was a bit peeved with black folks for raising the question.

It's a fair question, and I think a sista probably walks the plank. I just think that Williams is the wrong comparison with which to make the argument.

First of all, the stakes are lower for Miss Whatever than they were when judges selected Williams. Miss America was "MISS AMERICA" 22 years ago. Today, Miss America has next to no wattage, let alone Miss USA.

Secondly, Williams got caught posing for "nekkid" pictures in 1984. That might as well have been the era when Elvis' dancing was thought to be "suggestive", when you compare that to what's on television today. Tara Conner in 2006? Is her act racy enough to get on "Girls Gone Wild"? (In fact, hasn't GGW taken Miss America's place?)

As a side note, the Williams pics don't become Penthouse pics unless it's Miss America. Penthouse is the home of many a skeezy pic, but from my hazy memories as a nine-year-old, they were pretty tame. I have no idea what that's supposed to mean, but I felt the need to point that out.

I guess this is supposed to be my "welcome to my world" declaration. Okay. Don't make the kitchen table look worse than it already does.