Friday, January 23, 2015

OUT 180--SPOT BITZ (JAN 23-29)


HEY OUTSTAGRS!

ITS THAT TIME AGAIN!!

TIME TO GET ON STAGE!!!





As the new year starts, we will be celebrating a milestone this year as this blogspot will turn 10 years old!  Its hard to believe but it has come a long way from small paragraphs journal entries, to a mini news letter to  entertainment highlighter to what it is today. The commemorative date is July 5.  To reminisce we will do  weekly RETRO BITZ of some of the highlights from this blogspot (SEE BELOW)


B6 Entertainment presents a Networking Event featuring our very own Mr.Marcus Ma'at Atkins with some of the ‪#‎OBSDN gents, Mr ‪#‎Ricco Rico Demo Rico Demo, Traci E. Jones/Chocolate Couture and Fashion Remix Online Boutique and other various professionals. Please come out join us for a nice ambiance and bring your business cards. Live Entertainment and Appetizer will be provided 
February 7th 
5-8 pm
14th Street Artist Community Gallery 
2607 N. 14th St. St.Louis Mo, 63106


To RSVP go to https://www.facebook.com/events/457284947752792/


Maatology is still looking for gents with style and a great personality  for the Seventh Annual Mista Couture Charity Style Contest (slated for mid August in Atlanta) is posted. Deadline to submit to online poll is Feb 1, 2015. Go tohttp://outstagin.blogspot.com/2014/10/seventh-annual-mista-couture-style.html


The group is also seeking donations to this event. For more info go to 


Maatology is also looking for gents of color for its 2016 OBSDN Men of Color 
Calendar. Must be comfortable in front of the camera and doing artistic nude poses.
If  interested in shooting, the shoots are ONE DAY shoots THRU  June 2015 . The shoots will be in St Louis, Mo.   All models will receive a share of the sales and an opp to sale it as well. A small stipend will be given for travel. If interested email snaphoney2011@gmail.com with a selfie pic showing your chest and abs. To see video of 2015 calendar go to  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXOCifGU-lY


THE TOP ILLI MO STORY THIS WEEK IS





POTUS Barack Obama held his State of the Union Address this week and the highlight of his speech was his impromptu joke after his scripted, "I have no more campaigns to run," and republicans starting to clap causing nervous laughter. Afterwards, Obama quipped: "I know, because I won both of them" which caused laughter and cheers from Democrats. But throughout his speech, 
 Obama mostly focused on economic issues, taxes and the middle class, foreign policy and called for congress to

 authorize the use of force against Islamic State militants.

As far as the TV ratings, the  address reportedly drew the second-lowest television viewership in 15 years. According to Nielsen data, 31.7 million viewers watched Tuesday night's prime-time address on broadcast and cable networks. That's the lowest television viewership for a State of the Union address since President Bill Clinton's final speech to a joint session of Congress in 2000.
The figures do not take into account those who streamed the speech online. The White House says there were 1.2 million views for its own "enhanced" version of the speech, which displayed charts and data about Obama's proposals as the president spoke.
Wow, talk about a great comeback line and a line that will be part of Obama's legacy from this day forward. As far as the ratings, we also suspect that the dwindling numbers could be Presidential fatigue and his lame-duckness with the annual speech and possibly because the speech was already posted on the White House website for people to view before the speech aired.


In other Obama news, he sat down for one-on-one interviews with three YouTube stars at the White House. The You Tube stars were Bethany Mota, GloZell Green, and Hank Green. The trio have been collecting potential questions via

 the #YouTubeAsksObama hashtag. But Green caused the

 most viral fare of the three.

Comedian GloZell Green, who calls herself the “Queen of YouTube,” is known for being off-beat, bawdy and funny, starting each of her videos with her signature, “Is you O.K.?”
But sitting down face-to-face with President Obama threw her just a little.

After she interviewed him about weighty topics including race relations and Cuba  Green told the president that her mother taught her never to visit someone’s home empty-handed.
She then pulled out three tubes of her signature green lipstick.

Handing them to the president she said, “One for your first wife…”
“My first wife!?” the president said. “Do you know something I don’t?”
“Ooh, for the first lady!” an embarrassed Green said quickly, “and the first children.”
Then, she couldn’t stop saying “I’m sorry,” which seemed unnecessary since the president just laughed off the gaffe.

He even suggested that he might ask the First Lady to try on the lipstick.

As we all know, POTUS is cool, but we understand why she would freak out


Chicago native and recent Golden Globe winner and 2015 Oscar nominee  Patricia Arquette will see Sunday if she will be receiving two more awards on her mantle when the Screen Actors Guild Awards will be handed out in Los Angeles. She is nominated for two SAGs: Outstanding Female Actor in a Supporting Role in :Boyhood" and as part of the film's cast for Best Cast in a Drama. It will air live Jan 25 on TNT and TBS. In other Arquette newz, starting midseason 2015, she will star in the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation spinoff CSI: Cyber .

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Chicago native actor Terrence Howard is blazing these days on the TV screen these days starring in one of the hottest and fastest rising new shows to come to network TV with, "Empire."
Howard was interviewed recently about his provocative character  Lucious Lyon on the hip-hop family drama.
He said because the creators of "Empire" set out to make a show that is genuine, sometimes his character says things that could set of the PC police.
“Most of the world today aren’t so PC in what they are doing,” Howard told the crowd at the TCA Winter Press Tour. “We are not doing PC shows. We are [setting the show] behind closed doors in a family situation and trying to tell it as honestly as possible.”
He said the show is confronting issue of homophobia in the African-American community head-on.
“I am glad I can show the African-American community this is what you are doing to your son, this is what you are doing to your nephew, this is what you are doing to the kid down the street,” Howard said.
He added that his character is based off of creator Lee Daniels’ father.
It also didn’t take as much convincing as you may think to get Howard on to a TV series.
“We had had such a great time doing ‘The Butler’ that I was glued to(director and co-creator) Lee (Daniels)’s hip.”
Howard said the role frightened him at first but the idea of working with Taraji P. Henson and Daniels prompted him to move to TV.
Since its Jan. 7 premiere, the show has been deemed a soap opera by critics.
Howard agreed, “Life is a soap opera, all the way around."
Howard noted that his controversial character is slowly beginning to win over audiences.
“Yes, he’s homophobic. Yes, he’s a murderer, but he is human,” Howard said passionately. “And how do we like him?... He’s flawed and that’s what makes him so loveable.”
“Empire”, which is filmed in Chicago, was given the green light for a second season after just two episodes of the show had aired. The series airs Wednesdays on Fox.
 The show is also gaining in ratings. It is now up to 11 million viewers compared to 9.8 and 10 million viewers for its first and second episodes respectively....


Rockford, Illinois native singer/actress Michelle Williams was a guest co-host on The View this week and one of the guests was Republican politician and expected 2016 GOP presidential candidate  Mike  Huckabee whos been in the news about his commentary in his latest book "God, Guns, Grits and Gravy" about the Obamas allowing their children to listen to Beyonce's music.
When the discussion shifted to Beyoncé,  Williams interjected, "She's amazing!" She did this in a sing-song fashion.
Huckabee resumed admonishing Beyoncé's sexual expression, although this time he did it with more specificity than before. This time he named actual songs that offend his delicate sensibilities: "She doesn't need to do songs like 'Partition' and 'Drunk in Love' in order to be an effective and an amazing talent."
Co-host Rosie O' Donnell wasn't having any of it and declared: 'You can’t mess with the Queen Bee.'
Then Williams, proceeded to defend her former Destiny's Child bandmate:
"I just feel like that album and those songs is that one moment where she decided to probably do some songs she's always wanted to do to shed that 'I'm a good girl...' She had some freedom and she owned it and she took it, so I was definitely offended—I'm not the Carter spokesperson..."
 Williams later tweeted, 'I have no fear cause I know who's in control' with a link to her 2014 music video for Say Yes alongside Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland.  

She read him for F.I.L.T.H. in a lady like way. LOL Hmm, wonder if it was the producer's idea to have Huckabee on when Williams co-hosted. It just seems so planned.


Champaign, Illinois born rap artist/actor Ludacris has been steadily dropping what he’s coined as “Ludaverses” recently and his latest is a rendition of Rae Sremmurd’s “Throw Sum Mo.” And it seems Luda’s reportedly been getting a lot of hate online because he uses the track to aim right at those who’ve been dissing him on the net.

“I ain’t the one, so miss me with that bullshit,” he rhymes. “Internet thumb-thuggers empty out a full clip.”
Later in the song he describes just how not bothered he really is. “Y’all really hurt my feelings,” he jokes. “Y’all really gots to chill / I cry and wipe my tears with hundred dollar bills.” Ludacris’ remixing has been heavily on display of late, even resulting in the emcee’s recent Ludaverses mixtape.

Here is the link the song. Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfa2Stqc2qg 

Its all about respect....and sales. LOL




 St Louis bred rap mogul Nelly will join boy band New Kids on the Block and and R&B group TLC on a summer tour called The Main Event that was announced at a press conference this week on Good Morning America (Nelly was not present for the conference due to touring in Japan)
The tour will kick off May 1 in Las Vegas, and hit 40-plus cities in the U.S. and Canada. Tickets can be purchased starting January 31.
In regards to the ILLI Mo stops, below are those dates
May 19 – Kansas City, MO – Sprint Center

May 22 – St. Louis, MO – Scottrade Center
May 23 – Rosemont, IL – Allstate Arena
 they will be at the ScottTrade Center May 22. 


The 2005 musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, “The Color Purple,” will return to Broadway this fall in a reimagined production from Tony-winning director John Doyle. And when it does, it will bring with it one big star: Oscar and Grammy-winner and Chicagoan Jennifer Hudson.



Another Chicago native, actress LisaRaye McCoy has now put director in her repertoire. She is doing screenings for her   directorial debut by tackling colorism in the African-American community in the upcoming film Skinned.  In addition to directing, McCoy also has a lead role in the film..The film's creators and producers are hoping the movie will send a message about self-acceptance and even launched the "No Bleach! Love The Skin You're In" campaign, an initiative "designed to make a global impact to bring awareness to the harmful dangers and side effects including death," according to the film website.






And in more Chicagoan newz, as The Sundance Film Festival kicked off this week,  a pair of films from Chicago directors who also happened to be married to one another will be screened. One director is  Joe Swanberg  who debuts his latest feature "Digging for Fire," co-created with Chicago native Jake Johnson of "New Girl" fame. His wife, . Kris Swanberg also has a new film screening at the fest. Shot in Chicago in the fall of 2014, "Unexpected" stars Cobie Smulders (of "How I Met Your Mother" fame) as a high school teacher who bonds with an ace student after both find themselves with unplanned pregnancies. Also in the cast is Evanston, Ill native Anders Holm .A Chicago-shot documentary is also featured in the fest as well. "Dreamcatcher"follows the story of Brenda Myers-Powell, a former prostitute whose Dreamcatcher Foundation helps women and teenage sex workers extricate themselves from that world. (Although the doc's subject is local, the filmmakers themselves are from the UK.) The film has already been picked up by the cable channel Showtime; an airdate has not been announced.




STL/ATL based T Couture Boutique will hold an open call for male and female models on JAN 31 for its upcoming fashion show MARCH 28th REGIONAL ARTS COMMISSION CENTER!! ST.LOUIS, MO ... ALL MODELS MPLEASE SEND HEADSHOT/BODYSHOT TO TCOUTUREBOUTIQUE@YAHOO.COM ALL HIGH FASHION DESIGNERS PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR WORK TO THE EMAIL LISTED!!!

 
This segment will highlight some of the events and news items that we covered/posted during our 10 years in existence as we begin the countdown of our anniversary on July 5. 

Below are some of the posted highlights from our blog.


This week in JAN 2006
.I got a email from one of cyberbuddies singer and producer Aaron Foster earlier this week about this campaign for black folks to tune into Jamie Foxx's NBC special "Unpredictable: A Musical Journey" because of the supposed boycott of sorts from NBC to not publicize his special becasue he refused to put white people on his show and two of his surprise guests (thugged out Snoop Dogg and the Game) didnt fit in NBC's friendly mode (It has even become Urban Legend already) . . The email had it where very black person watch the show because NBC was trying to sabotage the show do to the color thing and they were intentionally puttingit on last Wednesday head to head with Fox's megahit, "American Idol."




This week in JAN 2007
Also, in the past week, we've seen three exciting new candidates lining up to run for president on the Democratic side. Senator Barack Obama led the way with an announcement on Tuesday on his web site. Senator Hillary Clinton followed suit on Saturday with her own web site announcement. And then Governor Bill Richardson took to the Internet on Sunday to launch his presidential exploratory committee. Each candidate is a serious contender for the Democratic nomination, and that means big change could be in store for the party. So we got an African American, a woman and a Latino in the running. How diverse can you get?

This week in JAN 2008
Cards 1st basemen Al Pujols was pitching a fit this past week and banned Fox 2 News St. Louis from participating in a news conference at the conclusion of the team's winter warm-up. Pujohls was angry about his name being incorrectly linked to the Mitchell Report on steroids last month.

This week in JAN 2009
We couldn’t start off this blog week without mentioning that we have a new Prez in office, former Chicago Senator Barack Obama, who was sworn in as the 44th Prez of the United States in Washington DC where he will be residing at the White House along with his Chicago bred fam. Obama is mos def a Political Rock Star!

This week in JAN 2010

Two St. Louis based projects won big at the 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards out on at the Kodak Theatre Sunday. They were the TV drama, “Mad Men”(LEFT) which won Best Drama Series and one of its stars is STL native and Globe nominated actor Jon Hamm and director John Reitman (ABOVE) who won Best Adapted Screenplay for co-writing the partly filmed St. Louis-movie, “Up in the Air.”


This week in JAN 2011
Time is ticking on whether the baseball contract negotiations between St. Louis Cardinals first baseman and slugger Albert Pujols and the organization will be set in time before the team goes to Jupiter, Fla. for training next month. During a press conference at the annual Winter Warm Up (where he was signing autographs for fans at we\ll over $100 a signage) held at Hyatt on the Riverfront last weekend, Pujols said he wants to spend his entire career with the St. Louis Cardinals but he declined to provide any kind of update on negotiations. His agent has said he will cut off talks at the start of spring training if an agreement is not in place, and general manager John Mozeliak confirmed the deadline on this Saturday.



This week in JAN 2012
President Barack Obama made fun of himself during Oak Park, Ill. Native actress Betty White during a TV special Monday celebrating her milestone 90th bday. POTUS recorded a humorous tribute and
seen sending up "birther" theorists who demanded to see his long-form birth certificate in the video, as he claims that White cannot really be 90 years of age.

This week in JAN 2013
This Monday, all eyes were on Washington DC and

President Barack Obama's second Inauguration. Later

that evening were balls. One of them was the

Commander In Chief's Ball where The Obamas danced

their first dance to Al Green’s classic “Let’s Stay

Together” sang by fellow Chicagoan Jennifer Hudson.


This week in JAN 2014
Last Saturday, St Louis native comedian Lavell Crawford and the rest of the cast of the AMC hit Breaking Bad won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama  at the 20th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles, Calif.
 Lead actor of the show Bryan Cranston accepted the award saying, “Thank you to every actor that has graced our stage…I would like to thank our creator Vince Gilligan. He’s not the God, but he is a God! What a way to go out in style!”
In a post interview with the St Louis American, Crawford said, "“When we won, it was a beautiful thing. It was on TV, and we all got to go up there. It was exciting. I was like, ‘I got a SAG award.’ That’s kind of prestigious for actors... I couldn’t believe it, because a lot of comedian-turned-actors don’t get that type of recognition..
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 DISHN BITZ



The scoop this week will likely appeal to those who live or have lived in St Louis.

Last Saturday, this blogger was walking in Grand Center Midtown St Louis to an interview

 for an upcoming story for a local publication and someone who was driving on Lindell and stopped at the intersection on Lindell and Grand, honked their horn at this blogger and asked, "Where is Grand Center?" This blogger then said, "This whole area is Grand Center...what area are you looking for?" Then this person said, "I'm not for sure but I am supposed to do some filming. Oh, never mind. I will find it"
Then this blogger saud, 'Oh ok..." Then said, "Hey arent you (NAME OF PERSON). They smiled and said "Yes, I am."  Then drove off. 

Who is this person?

HINT 1 This person is a male
HINT 2 This person is a  former TV sports anchor for KSDK Channel 5
HINT 3 This person shares the first name of a larger than life  activist during the Civil Rights Movement. 




(VOICE-OFF, TALLY OR ELECT)
The 2000s (or the "OUGHTS") was a turning point in hip-hop when two ILLI MO based rap artists debuted their first albums and changed the game in regards to rap music. First was STL bred rapper Nelly whose debut Country Grammar (2000) but St Louis rap on the map and whos sing song style pinched a nerve nationwide. Four years later, Chicago native producer turned rapper Kanye West debuted his album, College Dropout (2004), garnering critical and commercial acclaim with his skater boi rap delivery and sped up samples. So we ask, which rap artist's debut album had the most impact in the music industry?

Voice your choice below in the comment boxes after the end of this blog!


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This week we feature Robbins, Ill native actress/talk show host Actress Keke Palmer who attended  InStyle and Warner Bros. 71st Annual Golden Globe Awards Post-Party recently in Los Angeles. She wore a sleek black party dress with leather trimmings with black sparkled heels. Her black and gray bracelet was also a great accessory to her rock-chic look. 
(January 11, 2014 - Source: Jason Merritt/Getty Images North America)




WORDZ

TO 

THE

WHYZ
 Why are folk saying POTUS seemed cocky during his State of the Union Speech? And why does Speaker of the House John Boener keep mean mugging during these speeches?Why is there so much hype on deflated  footballs involving The Patriots? And why does it seem as though the NFL is covering up for this? Why did the Whitney movie had more focus on the Bobby character? Why did the NFL fine Marshawn Lynch for grabbing his crotch after scoring a TD?  Why wasnt their any blood when Tiger woods tooth fell out? Why was Greg Anthony paying for a prostitute when he got caught during a sting at that hotel? Why did a reporter ask Serena Williams to twirl in her outfit? And Why was August Alsina trying to fight event STL promoter Slim backstage at the State of Emergency 2 concert? 



 If you have some scoop, a fashion pic you want to be voted on or want to advertise on this blog email to snaphoney2011@gmail.com for more info!


FIN.