MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Wishing all who celebrate this holiday...MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Listen to some Xmas tunes by the classic singers of bygone eras.

Eat some Xmas turkey or ham or tofu.

Drink some hot chocolate or coffee or tea or a stiff martini or two.

O. D. on sweet potato pie, or Grandma's yellow layer cake, or a really good fruit cake (which I like if it's the good stuff).

Eat a mountain of ice cream chased by some chocolates.

Do this with family and/or friends.

In other words, have fun and enjoy the season!

One of Hollywood's earlier attempts at mixing it up circa 1975 - THE EIGER SANCTION

The other night as I was perusing the STARZ movie list (I'm subscribed) I came across a film I'd not seen in ages - THE EIGER SANCTION. A good old Clint Eastwood movie. He doesn't disappoint whether it's one of his early performances or one of his directorial efforts. Anyhoo, this film was from 1975! And dear Clint was ahead of the current H'weird trend of pairing White leading men with Black leading ladies. Eastwood plays an art history professor who moonlights as a gov't assassin. He was still attractive at that time with just enough crow's feet around the eyes from squinting to be manly and not look like a Shar Pei. Anyhoo, his character who gets paid by the gov't with large amounts of cash and stolen art masterpieces through an Albino go-between (I kid you not) wants to retire from "retiring" people.

Ah-Ah-Ah! Not so fast Mister Man With No Name.

The gov't wants him to do one last kill or "sanction" before they let him go. He refuses but they coerce him into taking the sanction by threatening to report his expensive paintings to the IRS AND lying to him that a friend was killed by an old enemy of his. The gov't. Talk about sharks. Anyhoo, Clint says he'll think about it and takes a plane to his mountain home retreat to ponder. Well, on the plane he meets stewardess (yes. that's what we used to call them) Jemima Jones, played by the beautiful Vonetta McGee. They exchange innuendoes and before you know it, they are acting on them in his mountain home retreat.




Clint wakes the next day to find Jemima gone. His phone rings and it's her explaining how he must take the sanction because it's a matter of national security, blah, blah, blah. After hanging up, he's pissed that he's been played and rushes over to his safe to find it  has been broken into. His money from doing all that sanctioning is gone and so is the document he'd finessed out of the Albino that  excludes Clint from paying taxes on his artwork. Seems lil Jemima knows how to crack safes.

So, Clint calls the Albino and makes a deal with the devil to take the sanction, declaring it the last one, and demands his money and docs back when it's over. To sweeten the deal, Jemima returns to the retreat with a Picasso or Pizarro (can't recall) to help him keep his word. After they argue about the gov't, the endless back and forth of espionage and on her part how he screwed him because she wanted to not because she had to, Clint still chews her out and puts her out, and goes off to train for the sanction. Which is to take place on the Eiger. Hence, the film's name. A kill on the highest mountain in Switzerland - THE EIGER SANCTION. I won't spoil the ending. It was a good film to munch popcorn to.

It's a thrilling movie with lots of action, lots of snappy dialogue and gorgeous scenery.Mr. Eastwood even did most of his own stunts. Plus, as a movie star who wasn't just a pretty face, this film was one of his collabs between his outfit, THE  MALPASO COMPANY, now MALPASO PRODUCTIONS and UNIVERSAL. Mr. Eastwood said once in an interview that he had always intended to work for himself in Hollywood.

Vonetta McGee.



I'd forgotten how attractive and graceful she was. Sadly, Ms. McGee has passed on. She died at 65 in 2010. She'd been the star of blaxploitation films and had memorable turns in a few - MELINDA, THOMASINE & BUSHROD, BLACULA., SHAFT IN AFRICA. Huge, expressive eyes, a heart-shaped face, she was a chameleon with her look. Though she'd been in a long term relationship with her THOMASINE & BUSHROD co-star Max Julien, she wed majestic-looking actor Carl Lumbly instead . The two remained wed until her death. Lumbly even set a record when he starred in the short-lived, sci-fi t.v. show, M.A.N.T.I.S. He played a paraplegic who developed a suit that enabled him to be mobile and to fight crime.

Carl Lumbly

Okay. That's my throwback movie recap with a bit of history tossed in. The salt/pepper agenda in film and on T. V. and in print, ain't new. It's just that Hollyweird has a new generation to sell it too.
I liked the THE EIGER SANCTION because I like suspense and dependable actor. You know what you're getting with Eastwood evn when he goes outside the box - BIRD, MILLION DOLLAR BABY. Plus it was nice to see the voluminous McGee again.

ps another pic because I like the Black western, THOMASINE & BUSHROD with McGee and Max Julien

The legacy of Wally Triplett

https://blackamericaweb.com/2018/11/12/little-known-black-history-fact-wally-triplett/

Football great Wally Triplett was a homeboy of sorts. He was born in LaMott a suburb of Philly and a a place that was a stop on the Underground Railroad.

He achieved several firsts in his career, one of them being Penn state's 1st African-American starter and its 1st Black varsity player. Ironically, Penn State's gain was University of Miami's loss. He'd been offered a scholarship by the latter but the creeps RESCINDED the offer after they found out he was Black.

No comment.

He went on to play for the Detroit Lions. After serving in the Korean War, he returned to play for the Chicago Cardinals. After his career ended, he became a spokesman for Chrysler.

Mister Triplett passed on November 9th at the age of 92. Bless you, sir.

WALLY TRIPLETT - ATHLETE. LEGEND. TRAILBLAZER.

The National Dental Association's birth

https://blackamericaweb.com/2018/11/14/little-known-black-history-fact-the-national-dental-association/


The National Dental Association came into existence because, as usual, White dentists didn't want to admit Black dentists to the American Dental Association, their turf.

Ho-hum. La de da.

So the National Dental Association was born.

Read about its founder and establishment at the link above.

 

THE O'JAYS RETIRING? NOOOOOOOOO!

Pardon my absence. I've been toiling over 4 WIPs and not getting anywhere in them. Though, I must say my 1st effort in horror is moving along.nicely. So here I am to take a break and soak up inspiration. Actually, to inhale gummy bears and blackberry tea. Well enough about my travails.

Noooooooooo! Say it ain't so. One of my hometown R-n-B groups is retiring! I've been listening to their smooth tunes for over 4 decades and now they are gonna rest their pipes.☹ Yes, THE O'JAY's are calling it career and leaving the stage.All the members are in their 70s and have been at it for SIXTY YEARS but they STILL can blow!

They will be going on a farewell tour come May 2019 and will be releasing their final album, THE LAST ALBUM. But to wet out whistles until it drops, they released a single from the album called ABOVE THE LAW. Listen at the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHSK71l7lbk

It has the WHAT'S GOING ON vibes of Marvin Gaye and the same type of message. Oh, man. I'm gonna miss these icons.

I say Happy Retirement! to Walter Williams, Eddie Levert, and Bobby Massey and past member Bill Isles. Fourth member William Powell died in 1977.

I can't say I have a fav song by them. They are ALL so damned good. Damn. They were part of the many-layered soundtrack of my reteen and teen years.

THE O'JAY'S retiring? Damn..I'm getting old.

Okay. okay. Okay. I lied. Here's an oldie but a goodie. The intro, the outfits, the foot work. They are everything.         

BACKSTABBERS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfznbRucAhE










PS The group had their lawyers send the then Presidential candidate Donald Trump a cease-and-desist letter to stop using their song FOR THE LOVE OF MONEY during his campaign.

Way to go, men!

Henrietta Lacks, the hubris of both John Hopkins University and the NIH and the medical community

https://blackamericaweb.com/2018/10/11/little-known-black-history-fact-henrietta-lacks/




This is no surprise. U. S. scientists have always used poor populations on which to test out new drugs or procedures or simply play God. This usually meant BLACK populations but could include those seen as disposable too - The mentally challenged. Any woman back in the day seen as "loose." Any non-White person. Any person who was termed "retarded." The list went on and on  And the atrocities continued into the mid 70s in lots of states.

One instance happened at a hospital where my mom worked as a nurse in the the late 60s to early 70s. To her horror, she noticed that young Black women with two or more children, who came to the hospital to deliver another child, were allowed to remain in the hard labor stage without anything to take the edge off. Hours would go by. She saw these women scream in pain and she would attempt to ease their pain only to be shooed away by the attending.Why was this allowed to happen? Because the state had on record that these women were either unmarried, or of "low I. Q." or were "poor with what was seen as too many kids." Most were on public assistance.  They were seen as unworth and their wants unimportant. So, making them miserable during labor meant a doctor could swoop in, like a White knight, at the last minute with a paper for them to sign to get "pain relief." In actuality, the fine print also stated that while delivering the relief and the patient's child, he could STERILIZE her too!

My mom left that hospital. I'm certain she was threatened not to talk or else. After that, every woman she could reach in our neighborhood she told  not to deliver at Such-An-Such Hospital and to have someone to read over anything anyone hands them at another

Researchers are notorious thieves. There. I said it. They are forever looking to hone in on each others work and steal the limelight, credit and any funds. I know believe me. I worked at a company full of the fragile souls

So, the disrespect shown to Henrietta Lacks when she was alive and after her death and to her family is par for the scientific world. These types love to point fingers, be holier-than-thou because they are doing it for humanity, yadda, yadda, yadda. Please shut up..

It is shameful that the Lacks family is not being paid for their loved one's contributions to society. Literally her contributions, her tissues (The HeLa Cell line) have been sold around the world for cancer research and for AIDS research. Procedures or treatments developed in the last 40 -50 years, were made from her stolen flesh, her amazingly aggressive cancer cells that live to this day in some Petri dish in labs around the globe. These finds have made scientists worldwide hella rich and the Lacks family has received not a coin.

So, if you or your loved one survived cancer in, say, the last half a decade, get down on your knees and thank the Lord and a little Black baltimore housewife named Henrietta Lacks.

You owe her.

P. S. John Hopkins University who STOLE her tissues will name a new campus building after Henrietta. Big whoop! Pay her family, thieves!

Yeah. It might get old but not for me!

IT'S SEPTEMBER SO THAT MEANS IT"S EARTH, WIND AND FIRE TIME!

What can I say? You missed a once-in-a-lifetime experience if you never saw this group in concert.

The thrill when the house lights went down. The emcee's voice reciting that famous preamble as the that pyramid floated down from the rafters!.The audience screams! Maurice in his jumpsuit. The rest of the costumes. It was a good era.

Oh yes. It's that time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs069dndIYk

and a bonus track - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=god7hAPv8f0