Friday, July 15, 2016

OUT 270--SPOT BITZ (JULY 15-21)

HEY OUTTOWNERS, OUTSTAGRS, AND

 COUTURIANS....

WE ARE BACK!

CHECK OUT THIS WEEK  

 WE

ARE STAGIN!!! 






OUTTOWN celebrates 11 years in existence! July 5 is our birthday. Thank you to our supporters for continuing to read us!
To read past blogs over the years go to 

http://maatspear.blogspot.com/

http://outtown.blogspot.com/

http://maatology.blogspot.com/


http://outstagin.blogspot.com/




Maatology Productions is seeking gents of color who are fit, attaractive and have a career for its debut issue of OBSDN The Blogzine, a quarterly body magazine featuring gents of color who are movers and shakers in their career.  If you are fit and are comfortable doing artistic nude shots (no fraontal), email to maat.atkins@gmail.com for sign up info. Deadline is Nov 1. Street date is Nov 15.

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In the meantime, here is a review from Los Angeles based entertainment producer Chrys Yvette  who saw the show  Your show brought tears to my eyes, especially the 

ending. It was a perfect depiction of the Love childhood

 friends can share to help their families understand the 

impact rejection has on every aspect of their lives. Thank

 you for saying so beautifully what one of my dearest

 friends in the world could not say to us before he left 

this earth. LOVE conquers All.

Celebrity photographer Steven Williams  said, 'The

 ending made us warm and fuzzy."


Here is the link to some of the rehearsal pics. go

 to https://www.facebook.com/seanchristophedwyer/media_s

et?set=a.10153607392103803&type=3&pnref=story


UPDATE:Here is the link to the extended teaser with booking info. Go to 


TO DONATE TO THE RESTAGING PROJECT OF SNAP HONEY  GO TO 
https://www.gofundme.com/2a6x6p8







For all of your entertainment coverage in the St Louis area check out New Scene News. Go to http://www.newscenenews.com/


For all of your jewelry needs go to 
www.kilojoules4.com









OK NOW TO THE BITZ THIS WEEK



Washington (CNN)President Barack Obama met Wednesday with activists from the Black Lives Matter movement for more than four hours as well as a range of law enforcement officials and community leaders in what he called an "excellent conversation" amid a spate of violence between black communities and police across the country.

"The bad news is, as we saw so painfully this week, that this is really a hard job. We're not there yet," Obama told reporters following the meeting.
    He continued, "We're not even close to being there yet, where we want to be. We're not at a point yet where communities of color feel confident that their police departments are serving them with dignity and respect and equality. And we're not at the point yet where police departments feel adequately supported at all levels."
    The meeting -- which lasted over four hours -- included Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and Black Lives Matter activists DeRay Mckesson and Brittany Packnett.
    McKesson called the meeting with Obama and leaders "productive" and that the President was "incredibly solution orientated in this conversation and pushed to challenge people to think about the concrete things that both the administration could do and law enforcement and activists could do to make sure that we address the issue of police violence head on and also that our communities are safe."
    Other participants included mayors, law enforcement officials, activists and spiritual leaders according to the White House.
    Five police chiefs were to attend, as well as four mayors, including Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
    State and local lawmakers were also in attendance.
    Other activists present include the Rev. Al Sharpton and NAACP President Cornell Brooks.

     Well, we hope that some type of programs come out of this. We are aware that POTUS' My Brothers Keeper program, but there should be adhoc groups that are part of police stations across cities with high volume of crime to police the conduct of police. We just sayin.

    Talk show host Wendy Williams has apologized for remarks she made last week about the NAACP and historically black colleges and universities. 
    During her ‘Hot Topics’ segment on July 7, Williams weighed in on actor Jesse Williams’s political speech at the BET awards. She said:
    “I would be really offended if there was a school that was known as a historically white college. We have historically black colleges. What if there was the National Organization for White People, only? There’s the NAACP.” 
    Chevrolet pulled out as a sponsor of her show reportedly as a result of her comments, and TV One host Roland Martin publicly criticized her for failing to understand the history of the NAACP and HBCUs. 
    “I want to apologize to everyone that I might have offended regarding my remarks,” Williams said on Thursday. “I was wrong.” 
    The talk show host also had Roland Martin appear as a guest after her apology. Martin schooled Williams once again, explaining to her the history of black people in America from 1619 when the first slaves arrived in the Americas to today. 

    Hmm, seem like this was more damage control for her show than anything (and social media ripping her a new one after her comments). But we are not surprised that she would get in hot water with her comments. It was just a matter of time. We think she got comfortable being the "gray" for her mainstream audience and it backfired. We are sure she will stick to the gossip and less on politics that are racial in tone.


    From reports, Carmelo Anthony told the world he was taking a stand even before he, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James stood solemnly Wednesday in black tuxedos making a call to action at the ESPY Awards.

    Soon after the recent deadly shootings in Dallas, Minnesota and Baton Rouge, the New York Knicks power forward posted an Instagram plea using an iconic June 4, 1967, photo of Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown and Lew Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and others from what is known as the Ali Summit. That was the Cleveland news conference in which Ali's fellow athletes flanked him to show support as he announced his refusal to fight in the Vietnam War.
    Anthony used the historic photo to implore his fellow athletes to to "step up and take charge."
    "There's NO more sitting back and being afraid of tackling and addressing political issues anymore," he wrote in his caption. "Those days are long gone."
    On Wednesday night, Anthony doubled down on that as he and his "brothers" stood before a hushed crowd at the Microsoft Theater.
    "Good evening," Anthony began. "Tonight is a celebration of sports, celebrating our accomplishments and our victories. But, in this moment of celebration, we asked to start the show tonight this way, the four of us talking to our fellow athletes, with the country watching."
    Anthony went on to talk about the "injustice, distrust and anger that plague so many of us" before each man had their say.
    Paul described himself as "an African-American man and the nephew of a police officer" before reciting the names of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Laquan McDonald., Alton Sterling, and Philando Castile whose deaths have all stirred debate about racial profiling and the treatment of African Americans in the United States.
    "The racial profiling has to stop," Wade said. "The shoot-to-kill mentality has to stop. Not seeing the value of black and brown bodies has to stop. But also, the retaliation has to stop."
    James closed out the remarks by saying "We all have to do better."
    Journalist T.J. Holmes tweeted "The start of the show was not a network idea. LeBron, Carmelo, CP3, and D-Wade approached the network and asked to open the show."

    Good for Carmelo to get some of his peers to step to the plate and take a stand. The sports world is a great platform to get a message across to a wide range of people who look up to sport figures as heroes.



     Last week, before the world could finish tweeting out the congratulatory messages to Serena Williams for her Wimbledon win earlier today, The champ was off earning another victory, only this time with her sister Venus right by her side.
    The Williams sisters defeated Timea Babos of Hungary and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan in a 6-3, 6-4 match, making it their sixth Wimbledon doubles title and 14th major together.
    On July 7, Venus lost 6-4, 6-4 to Germany’s Angelique Kerber in the Wimbledon semifinals, preventing what could have been a matchup between sisters. Just hours before  doubles, Serena dominated and won her match against Kerber while also earning her 22nd Grand Slam title.
    Winning with her older sister was twice as nice.
    With little time to spare, Serena briefly celebrated in between interviews and warm-ups for the next match.
    As the match ended, Serena threw her arms up as Venus ran to her sister. They’d done it. They embraced and basked in the latest victory they achieved together.
    “Watching Serena earlier was so amazing, and I was so into that,” Venus said during a joint interview with the BBC after the doubles. “And then you have to re-set yourself and say, ‘OK, we’ve got to play a match and we’re going to have to try to win.’ So she brought the energy from Game 1 and that really brought me up, too.”

    And good for Serena for holding the black power sign!




    The HBO hit series  Game of Thrones confirmed its dominance of the TV landscape on Thursday when its sixth season picked up 23 nominations for the Emmy awards, just one short of the record 24 nominations it received last year.
    The awards nominations include the top honor, Outstanding Drama Series, which the hugely popular swords-and-sorcery epic won last year. At the previous Emmys, Game of Thrones took 12 awards in all, setting a new record.
    However, the acclaimed show The People v OJ Simpson, a dramatisation of the notorious trial, was only one nomination behind, netting 22, including an acting nomination for Sarah Paulson, who played prosecutor Marcia Clark. This makes it the first series since the 1990s to take over 20 nominations in its first season. The last show to do so was ER in 1995.
    Other shows that received multiple nominations included Fargo with 18, Veep with 17 and Saturday Night Live, which scooped 16.
    HBO was once again the dominant network, receiving 94 nominations, though this was down on the 126 it amassed in 2015.


    Meanwhile, the Emmy nominations   showcased the diversity of television compared with Hollywood, with actors of colour nominated in all the leading actor categories – a first. Black-ish, a highly praised American sitcom about an African American family starring Anthony Anderson, received nominations including outstanding outstanding comedy series, up against Master of None, Modern Family, Silicon Valley, Transparent, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Veep, which took the prize in 2015.

    Meanwhile, in the best actor in a limited series category, three of the nominees were black, including Courtney B Vance, Idris Elba and Cuba Gooding Jr. In all, 18 actors of color received nominations across 16 acting categories. One from the hit soap Empire, Taraji P Henson,  Tracee Ellis Ross for blackish,  How to Get Away with Murder’s Viola Davis, who took the prize for lead actress in a drama last year with a stirring speech, also received a nomination in the same category.
    Just a FYI, Ross is the first African American actress to be nominated for Lead Actress in a Comedy since Phylicia Rashad for "The Cosby Show" in 1985.  The last to win was Isabel Sanford for The Jeffersons in 1982 (and she is the only to win). Can Ross win? She has a chance but her competition would be Julia Lousi Deyfuss, who is also nominated and won last year for her role in "Veep." 

    More than three million viewers tuned in for Monday’s telecast of “VH1’s Hip Hop Honors: All Hail the Queens,” the network announced this week
    Airing live for the first time in the franchise’s history, “Hip Hop Honors: All Hail the Queens” became the network’s highest-rated tentpole event in 15 years, improving 34% in ratings over the last installment of the show, which aired in 2010. The show helped VH1 to its highest-rated Monday night in almost a year, and was the top rated cable program in its timeslot with women.
    The event celebrated the female icons and pioneers of hip hop, featuring appearances from Eve, who hosted the telecast, Queen Latifah, Missy Elliott, Lil’ Kim, Salt-n-Pepa, First Lady Michelle Obama, Common, Pharrell, Puff Daddy, Timbaland, Nelly Furtado, Naughty by Nature, LL Cool J and Fantasia, among others.
    VH1 also touted the show as the most social program on TV for the night, with 630,000 Tweets from 157,000 unique authors, up +300% from Monday norms over the prior three weeks. VH1’s first ever Facebook Live Red Carpet from the show reached three million people, delivered over 220K live 
    The show was produced by VH1, Flavor Unit with Shakim Compere and Queen Latifah, who served as executive producers along with Monami Productions with Mona Scott-Young executive producing and blacjac Entertainment Group with Jac Benson II executive producing. 

     Wow, with those ratings expect more hip hop based female based tribute shows. 

    San Antonio Spurs power forward Tim Duncan spoke for the first time on Wednesday since announcing his retirement two days prior, expounding upon his 19-year NBA career and explaining why he made the decision to leave the game.
    "I can still do this. I could probably still play," Duncan said in a wide-ranging interview with ViVid Streaming. "But when it's time, it's time. It's time. I started not enjoying myself. It wasn't fun at times. And I always said when that point comes when it's not fun anymore then I'm done."
    As hoops fans all over the country spent Monday and Tuesday watching highlights and tributes to his 22 year career of Duncan among the various sports television outlets, the power forward spent the day of his retirement watching the Discovery Channel. Duncan's reaction seemed typical of the man of few words, who spent an entire career leading by example, while spearheading the San Antonio's current culture of selflessness.
    Duncan also expressed appreciation for his near-universal standing as one of the NBA's all-time greats -- not just arguably the greatest power forward.
    "I don't know how their ranking goes or anything else, and I tell people I don't really care how the rankings go. I'm in the conversation," Duncan said. "I'm OK with that. That's above and beyond anything I ever thought I would be. So I'm in the conversation. I don't care where you rank me or what you say it is or how you want to say things go. I'm in the conversation. That in itself is an honor."
    Having won five NBA titles with the Spurs, along with earning two NBA MVP awards in addition to making 15 All-Star Game appearances, Duncan, 40, played his final game on May 12 in the team's Game 6 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals.


    It has been reported awhile back that the comic strip Iron Man will have a new "man."  The events at the end of the comic-book event series Civil War II will result in Tony Stark stepping out of the Iron Man suit and a new character, Riri Williams, taking over, Marvel tells TIME. 
    Riri is a science genius who enrolls in MIT at the age of 15. She comes to the attention of Tony when she builds her own Iron Man suit in her dorm. Creator and Iron Man writer Brian Michael Bendis spoke exclusively to TIME about the creation of Riri Williams with comic-book artist Stefano Caselli and Marvel’s increasingly diverse cast of characters.
    Marvel has bestowed several diverse characters in recent years with long-running superhero mantles, including a biracial Spider-Man, Muslim Ms. Marvel, female Thor, African-American Captain America and Asian-American Hulk. However, those characters have yet to appear in Marvel film or TV adaptations.
    Williams will debut in “Invincible Iron Man” comic book this fall.




    Hot 104.1 Presents Super Jam 2016 on July 16 starring Fetty Wap, Young Thug, K. Michelle, 2 Chainz, 50 Cent, Desiigner, Young Greatness, Dreezy, TK-N-Cash, Belly, Kent Jones, JR, LA4SS, and more at  The Scott Trade Center July 16.

    Two STL media personalities are going through health crises.


    STL radio host John Carney had  a second bout of heart surgery.
    Carney, who  is the afternoon host  on KTRS-AM 550.  had the surgery  Monday, From reports, In a Facebook post on Wednesday afternoon, his wife, Suzanne Sirko-Carney said, "He's doing great!! He is still sedated, but his vitals are exactly where they need to be and all is well."
    Carney first had heart surgery in January, after he had collapsed after suffering a torn aorta.
    He reportedly underwent open-heart surgery again on Monday at Barnes-Jewish Hospital to correct a genetic defect.
    Carney reportedly said that genetic defect likely is what caused the torn aorta, and likely was what claimed the life of his father, legendary radio host Jack Carney.
    AND 


     KSDK (Channel 5) sportscaster Rene Knott took to Twitter this week to let his viewers know he will undergo heart surgery on Friday.
    "Good morning. I wanted to let everyone know that I'll be off the air at @KSDKSports for awhile. I suffer from pulmonary hypertension....," Knott's post on Twitter said.


    Ferguson 1000 wil take place July 22 and 23 at the University of Missouri  St Louis. 

     - Friday, July 22nd, 2016, at 6:00 pm. Ferguson 1000 will bring full fold an economic model that speaks to addressing the isolation of economic opportunities for employment and job creation. Ferguson 1000 unites and kicks off a premier evening with its keynote speakers, with Jeff Hoffman, Co-Founder, Priceline.com, Richmond S. McCoy, President and CEO UrbanAmerica Advisors LLC, and Raymond A. Lewis, Jr. Baltimore Ravens NFL legend and CEO of Baltimore 1000. 

    Ferguson 1000’ as a catalyst, inspires the resurgence of entrepreneurial connectivity, technological growth and employment portals throughout the United States, as discussed with White House Advisors, Harvard Fellows, and Ted Talk and with the City of Baltimore’s Delegation, who will be in St. Louis to announce, the partnership of Ferguson 1000 and Baltimore 1000. 

    The July 22nd event will also accentuate Ferguson 1000’s partnerships with St. Louis Regional Leaders; Chancellor Thomas F. George UMSL-St. Louis, Michael Gallagher, Managing Director of Accenture, Lowell R. Ricketts, Senior Analyst, Federal Reserve Bank, Valerie Patton, Executive Director St. Louis Business Diversity, St. Louis Regional Chamber and Michael Walsh, CEO, Eagle Bank and Trust of Missouri. All of which are in part responsible for the multitude of economic growth in the City of St. Louis as demonstrated by the technological ecosystem. We will also pay tribute to the advancement of African American tech firms involved in the areas of human resources, drug testing, bio-tech skin care, construction tech and prison re-entry tech. 

    On July 23rd , 2016 , denotes day two, as Ferguson 1000 focuses deeper on employment at its “Hiring Event and Entrepreneurial Lecture Series”, from 9am to 12noon, University of MissouriSt. Louis, JC Penny Conference Center, with an expected participation of over one hundred corporate partners and twenty five community groups, with a facilitated target of 1000 potential hire’s. Ferguson 1000’s “Hiring Event” is known as a disruptive approach to the traditional job fair model. Collaborating Employers include Boeing, KPMG, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis University, UPS, Ameren, Spire (formerly Laclede Gas) Whelan Security, SSM, Eagle Bank, Allied Barton Security, Caleres ( formerly Brown Shoe Co), St. Louis Community College, Missouri Department of Corrections, St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, FBI, St. Louis County Election Board, and many other supporting employers and community groups. 

    Ferguson 1000 truly understands, after the death of Michael Brown Jr. on August 9, 2014, Ferguson and the entire St. Louis Metropolitan Region became the epicenter for economic disparity, unethical police practices and racial profiling. Ferguson 1000’s CEO Dave Spence and COO Dr. Lance McCarthy desired to create a new model and standard for a more inclusive dialogue between leadership and the community they serve. Ferguson 1000 is now focused on bringing together the nation’s top CEO’s and employers, to enhance the topics of, technology, job training, employment opportunities and business development.

    For more info email  only1jpceo@gmail.com
    BOTH EVENTS ARE FREE



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