fresh off the Milk Carton: MC Lyte

Wonder Years produced by DJ Premier
from the forthcoming album

If you do not know who MC Lyte is...please stand in the corner.


Save your pennies boys and girls...if you want real HipHop to make it, you gotta support it with your money.

Davey Wayne talks Politics

If you were to cut me open...you would find, aside from the obligatory blood and guts, four things...

My inherent and irrepressible Blackness
Hip-Hop
Football
Politics

I don't love politics, so much as I respect it. I recognize it for what it is. It is a tool, a weapon even. People wield politics much as a Baseball player wields a bat or a swashbuckler a sword. It brings about change. It changes your life whether you vote or not, whether you want it to or not.

• Politics brought about Social Security

• Politics turned FEMA into a toothless organization without focus and led to the migration of thousands changing forever the landscape of New Orleans, Dallas, Baton Rouge, Houston, Little Rock and many other cities
• Politics turned Jesse Jackson into a household name and gave him credibility mere activism could not, until he squandered it by not having a real job and something to do other than chase down cameras and inject himself into stuff that he should be above.
• Politics gave me a chance to change the landscape of a city I had no knowledge of.
  
• Politics made that chance impossible by creating a framework of apathy on one side and invisible power on the other.
• Politics built an interstate highway system predicated on national defense, when in reality it was about enabling individuals to drive the brand new cars they had faster and farther than before.
• Politics uses red herrings like prayer in schools and hate crimes to obscure larger issues.
  
• Politics turned 9/11 from unforseen tragedy to a theoretically staged event to further an agenda that should never have seen the light of day.

Politics can make or break you. Knowing how the game works, even when you aren't a player can be the difference between getting over...and getting bent over.

In that spirit....I continue:


Politics runs in 4 year cycles...going from Presidential Inauguration to Presidential Inauguration. The current cycle runs from January 21, 2005 to January 21, 2009. During that time, there are four election days, in November of each year. The second and fourth always in even numbered years, which means all of the House and 1/3 of the Senate is up for re-election. There are also 38 state governor ships up for election this year, three for next year, seven for 2008 and two for 2009. We are approaching election number two for this cycle. Most races for the general election are set and now, since Congress is in recess for the political dog days of summer, there is more time spent speculating and guessing than anything else.

This current election is shaping up to be a world turner, not unlike the election of 1994, which led to the house and the senate shifting into Republican hands.

I also have encountered multiple articles addressing the presidential aspirations of one Senator Barack Obama for 2008 or some other year. One in particular seemed sensible.

From Joe Klein in Time Magazine

Senator Barack Obama of Illinois isn't not running for President.

This is not to say he has decided to run. The effortlessly charismatic Obama has been besieged by people urging him onward and upward ever since his terrific keynote address at the Democratic Convention in 2004, and he has always demurred. But the discussions have grown more serious in recent months as assorted Democrats, especially some high-powered money people, have surveyed the potential 2008 field and found it wanting. Obama has been listening politely to the honchos, his aides say, and telling them his position hasn't changed. But what is his position? "I'm really not trying to be coy here," he said when asked by the Chicago Tribune last December. "I'm not going to speculate." This is not exactly General William Tecumseh Sherman saying "I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected." Close friends of Obama's say he really doesn't know yet what he's going to do in 2008. It would be nice if we statesmen of the media gave him the room to think it through—but, of course, we won't. Washington is buzzing with the possibility of an Obama candidacy; he is about to be seriously pestered for a definitive answer.

Allow me to ponder the unthinkable.

A LIKABLE ELECTED US SENATOR FROM A BLUE STATE WITH LARGE RED SECTIONS who happens to be African American as a front runner for president of the United States.

Mr. Obama is spending part of his summer in Kenya, the birthplace of his father and has a book scheduled for release in October. This is the classic timetable of a man who has at least a casual eye on running for President NOW. Before I weigh in on his chances of running (not very good...this time)and winning (none, sadly) let the "expert" continue:

The argument against an Obama candidacy is obvious: he is as green as Kermit the Frog. He is a mere 44 years old and has been a member of the U.S. Senate for less than two years. He sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but he has zero military and national-security experience. He's a very smart guy, a quick learner, but no one is that quick. If he runs and makes a fool of himself, a very promising political career could be suffocated in the crib. But somehow you get the feeling that Obama would not make a fool of himself—indeed, it is far more likely that he would bring a freshness, eloquence and thoughtfulness to Democratic Party politics that have been absent since Bill Clinton was in the hunt. Freshness doesn't last forever. If Obama waits and hangs around the Senate for six to 10 more years, he may wind up sounding like a Senator—which is to say he will no longer have command of the English language—and, worse, he may start thinking like a Washington politician, wizened by the accepted limits of the possible.

Actually, the best reason for Obama to run is precisely that he is young and everybody else seems so old.


In presidential politics, timing is everything. Once upon a time, there was this man running for president against a man who seemed invincible but was quite flawed. He built a movement on the internet and grassrooted himself into the Democratic front runner, speaking truth when truth was hard to find from anyone. Problem was he jumped out early, due to lack of name recognition and peaked way too soon. by the time anything mattered the media painted him as a loose cannon and just like that....the party was over. I rode with dude to the bitter end, and still think he was right, but the reality was the world wasn't ready for Howard Dean. The world isn't ready for Senatory Obama either, for reasons that are plain to me and should be plain to everyone.

FACT: America is not ready to be led by a Black man. Not even their FAVORITE Black man. Senator Obama is in new territory, and we, as ultimate constituency need to understand this.

NEVER has a Black man had THIS kind of political profile.

If Senator Obama was white...no wait..that aint possible. White men can't come out of nowhere. With a resume like his there is no way a man who was president of the Harvard Law review would JUST be entering the political mainstream at the age of 42 as a STATE ASSEMBLYMAN?

Absurdity.

I pray nightly that Barack stays off the ticket. I do not believe he will suffer the slings and arrows of too many years in the Senate. I do believe America will have to look him in his face and say...

NO..we dont want the President to be Black even if you are the most qualified candidate.

When they do...Hopefully my profile will be sufficient to shame each and everyone of them, because they will have it coming.

Davey Wayne digs in the crates.

Once upon a time, when I actually believed I was going to write a novel. Not because I really wanted to, but because I thought that would be the best way to get my name out there. It is a well known fact that if you want to hide anything from black folk, you just need to hide it in a book marked NON-FICTION (unless it is about promiscuous Video H...errrr Vixens, or men who like men undercover as advertised on Oprah) and since my subject matter would hardly be described as tittilating, I drank the koolaid and started on the path to being Davey Wayne, Novelist.

Then I realized..i didnt WANT to write that book. I WANTED to do this...

Write...what I want, when I wanted. I wanted to be a cultural commentator, an essayist. I wanted to be one of the "Official Negro Voices", I figured there has to be a few, so there really should be one who has actually held a real job and wasn't an entrenched part of the establishment.


Well at the risk of jumping back into something I had every intention of dumping, here is my summary:

Summary:

Mason Dickson, 25 is a political consultant for multi-millionaire and moderate Republican US Senator Barrington J. Hudson, who has designs on bringing the "party of Lincoln" back to its roots. Senator Hudson hand-picked Mason out of the University of Maryland where he was a Summa Cum Laude graduate with a degree in Economics and African-American Studies. Senator Bankrolled him through Duke Divinity School with only the request that he work on Senator Hudson's "prodigal project" a project that would where the goal is to have 35% of African-Americans registered as Republicans. After finishing up his M. Div degree he became a popular youth pastor while still working on Senator Hudson's Prodigal Opus He falls in love with his college sweet heart and is working towards the calling God had placed on his life. Then he becomes the Pastor Elect of Richardson Memorial Baptist Church in Fort Worth, TX, a church that had only had ONE pastor, Rev. Willie Jefferson, a 80 year old civil rights pioneer who made a name for himself and his church by barnstorming churches in the South in the 60s "Faith in God and Faith in Country- Why God wants us to fight the good Civil Rights Fight" His church exploded due to his fame and ability to bring in speakers from all over the world. The church had fallen on trying times in the mega-church era, as he was more philosopher than motivator. Rev. Jefferson stumbled upon Mr. Dickson felt God had led him to his successor. Rev. Jefferson convinced Senator Hudson that the pastorship of RMBC was the ideal place for Mason to take the Prodigal Project to the next level. As he was preparing to accept that position and make a move that will change his life, unspeakable tragedy throws his life into chaos, even as he takes on a challenge that will change history.

Well, as I was thrashing about on my hard drive I found the prologue to my novel.

It even had a cool latin title:

Extraho ut Libri- Prologue to the Book

Mason Freedom Dickson, IV stood in the mirror and took inventory at what he saw. He stood an unremarkable 5'11" and weighed an unremarkable 200 pounds, most of which lurked below the belt, compliments of a college career funded primarily on his feet. Bussing tables since he was 15, waiting tables since the day he turned 18, and tending bar since midnight of his 21st birthday had prepared Mason for a life of sexual exploits he had not yet begun to enjoy. At the age of 25, he found himself as well versed in the art of pleasing a woman as any man(or woman) he knew, which tended to be a rather fruitless accomplishment considering the fact he was a virgin and planned to be one until his wedding day, a day that seemed like it would never arrive.

That day had a date, and it was April 22, 90 days away. He had spent his entire engagement to the magnificent Makeda Roxanne Jefferson preparing to be her sole source of erotic and sensual pleasure.


Makeda was a woman who appeared to him in a haze brought on by a concussion at the hannds of a stray line drive in an intramural softball game at the University of Maryland 19 months ago. She was carved out of a fantasy he had enjoyed in his most private nocturnal moments, a fantasy that usually was punctuated by a bang, an ooze and a whimper. She was every bit of 5 feet 7 inches and wore 165 pounds like each ounce was custom made for her frame.

From the haze he blinked and looked into the eyes of a goddess. A scrambled brain was no place to formulate the words Mason thought necessary to win over such a divine creature. So he played possum, milking her attention for all he could. He laid there, flat on his back, closed his eyes tightly and imgained himself in a less scrambled state...and her in a state of ecstacy reserved for romance novels, sweaty, trembling, and craving the sweet nectar of Freedom.

He figured that feigning unconsciousness was the best way to buy time and build up sympathy, so he willed himself to lay precisely still, resisting the nuclear level intensity of her touch. Makeda was testing his pulse and touching him all over looking for signs of life. While she was able determine that he was alive, she also stumbled across many pleasant surprises, most notably the fact that the fallen warrior before her was blessed by God with even more than the formidable reputation she had heard about on the Pre-Wed major underground. She closed her eyes and thanked God for answered prayer. This boy was in trouble and it had nothing to do with the softball that hit him in the head, she thought as she mouthed an "Amen" to herself.

Life imitates basketball

I feel like the Mavericks.

I got the entire world by the short and curlies...but the world won't just lay down and die. The world wants to beat me, but deep down I know I have what it takes to send the world home for the season and move on for the big trophy.

I have been running my offense and playing defense like champions do. I have the stamina, I am healthy and playing with confidence. But no matter how prepared you are, a formidable advesary will take their last stand.

• Matrimonial Bliss is imminent.
• I am hanging up my apron for good to conquer the world of small business.
  
• I start the clock on my 5 year march to a bachelor's and MBA in the fall.
• The palatial Chez DaveyWayne is nearing completion.
• The blog has grown by leaps and bounds
• In the midst of all I have going on, my thirst to write has not waned.
• I have made friends this year that I expect to see at my funeral.

Yes, I have made quite a run and I have life on the ropes. I have proven that I have what it takes to make a run at the title, but it is a long series.

This past week life made a run and caught me a bit unawares. Life has the momentum and I am reeling. I feel like I have lost my edge and I need to get a time out and sit for a second and recapture some of the Big Mo I had been riding.

Someone pass me the Gatorade. I gotta get a blow before TNT comes back from commercial and the clock starts up again.

A piece I have been dying to write

I was at work and strolled by the TV and found out history was made. Barry Bonds, my favorite baseball player of all time, passed Babe Ruth by hitting his 715th home run. Barry was my favorite player for several reasons, primarily because, whatever it is you could do on a baseball field, he did it better than anyone else. I assure you I am not blinded by what people talk about as the reality of Barry Bonds, on the contrary, the reality is what endears him to me.


It was May 30, 1986 when Bonds broke in with the Pirates, who were in the process of stinking out the joint for another year. He became the cornerstone of a Pirates team that won three straight division titles from 1990 through 1992. During that time, he went from batting leadoff to hitting fifth and finally cleanup.

At the time, The Steelers, who occupy a place in my heart just below family and friends, were not so much bad as difficult to watch (Remember, this was the Mark Malone/Bubby Brister era)



Watching the Pirates during those years was like a breath of fresh air. I watched the Pirates devolve from We are Family to "Well, what can you do, they family" in 1985. Barry Bonds hit the scene at a time when the city of Pittsburgh was desperate for a hero. The Steelers of the Super Bowl years were retiring right and left and Barry hit the scene with all the right pedigree. But alas, Barry wasn't here to save Pittsburgh, he was here to Play Baseball. And as it always seems to be the case, it wasn't good enough. Barry was never liked in Pittsburgh because it wasn't good enough to be the best player in the game. He had to be LIKABLE too. And as is the case with yours truly, being likable isn't high on his list of priorities.

I do not deny that Barry Bonds might be an asshole. The reality is, I do not know, and furthermore, I do not care. So long as he handles his business in between the lines, all is right with the world. After all, he is a BASEBALL player, not the pastor of my church.

When Barry Bonds left Pittsburgh, absolutely no one was surprised.

When Barry Bonds threw home too late to get former teammate Sid Bream at home plate in the 1992 National League LCS I put down my life long allegiance to the Pirates because I knew Barry Bonds was gone.

It didn't have to be that way.

Not then, not like that.

The Pirates weren't as financially successful as they would have liked, so spending was at a premium. They chose to spend their money on a journeyman Outfielder named Andy Van Slyke, who said all the right things and did all the right things but was a vastly inferior player. The Pirates put personality above baseball, and I decided that they did not need me as a fan. So I put them down on that day vowing never to have them as my number one team again. I didn't follow Bonds to San Francisco and make them MY team. I just followed HIM. Because he was that good at the time. He grew in stature (and other ways too, but more on that later)

It never occured to me what Barry did for the Giants, because I was too busy watching what the lack of Barry did for the Pirates. ( they have not had a winning season since he left)

Read this article to get a sense of how Giants fans feel about Barry and what he did for them


But what about YOU, Davey Wayne, why you stay up until damn near 5 am to write this?


Because, I have always found Barry a perfect example of what is wrong with people and sports.

Certain kinds of atheletes don't get love from even their own fans because of a reputation as a jerk and the bar for being a jerk seems to be so much lower for atheletes than it is for regular Joe's. No matter how good Barry was in Pittsburgh, he wasn't loved because he made it quite clear being loved wasn't on his to do list. He played the game HIS way and he didn't make a whole lot of fuss about others.

He may BE an asshole, but I cant say that. I met him once and he was nothing but nice to me, even down to some small talk and a

"yo take care of yourself, dude" from the GREATEST all around baseball player in the MODERN BASEBALL era.

You doubt that?

Peep this: (from ESPN.com)

• He has seven MVP awards; no one else has more than three.
• He set the single-season home run record with 73.
• He broke Ruth's seemingly unapproachable record for the highest slugging percentage in a season
• He obliterated Williams' single-season record for on-base percentage.
• He slugged .809 in a five-year period: Ruth is the only other player ever to slug .800 in any season.
• Bonds is the sole member of the 700-home run, 500-steal club;
• four players are in the 300-300 club,
• no one else is in the 400-400 club.
• Bonds is the first player since Williams in 1941 and '42 to lead the major leagues in home runs one year and in batting the next (Bonds did so in 2001 and '02).
• Bonds has been pitched to more cautiously than any player in history. He is the all-time walks leader; in 2004, he walked 232 times, more than Willie Mays' two highest season walk totals combined, and 62 more than the Babe's season high. Bonds has more intentional walks in this decade than anyone has in his career since the statistic became official in 1955. In 2004, he had more intentional walks -- 120 -- than any team in baseball history. That year, he was walked intentionally eight times with no one on base. In his career, he has been walked intentionally 69 times with first base occupied; the next four active players have 28 combined.

And even if he acts like he doesn't hear me, that's ok too. Long as he hits the ball, runs the bases, and plays defense, that is ultimately all I care about.


But this isnt about me, this is about THEM.

And let the record show...the older I get, the sicker of THEM i become.

Things Black Folk Say #9

I cannot sit here and transcribe all the man said...you will have to listen for yourself. it is going to take about 2 hours of your time. Lawd knows that if you have 2 hours for "So You Think You Can Dance", you have 2 hours for a stimulating discussion.



"We have to discuss a code of conduct that shows respect to our women from the house. I believe the whole focus should FOCUS on women. the lead revolutionary thought in hiphop right now is the direction of the female population. Because women are the ones leading the families, Women are the ones teaching the children, and HipHop historically has been raised by the single mother."

KRS-One March 2006 at the infamous Stanford Hip-Hop conference where he threatened bodily harm on another brotha.


Davey Wayne says:

Now the problem is KRS is prone to saying all manner of strange stuff. If you can dig past some of the insanity you can really grasp some profound stuff. I encourage you to take from all the speakers what moves you. It is not often folk are speaking on HipHop in this context. I have to thank THIS commenter for her initial link that exposed me to it.

Possession is 9/10 of the law.

The movement is coming....Saga Knows...even if she won't admit it.

I will not let hip-hop go.


If you love it, if you've ever loved it, you should'nt, either.

The hip-hop generation, the REAL hip-hop generation, will be crossing 40 over the next 5-10 years and many of us wrote off hip-hop some years back. somewhere in the advent of neo-soul or the death of one rapper too many or catching the business end of the wrong rap video or hearing a five year old talk about "put it in my mouth...in my muva..." yeah...that actually happened to me.

But hip-hop is MINE, dammit.

When the media ignored it and called it a fad, I was there-

to nurture it
to sneak it in the house,
to listen to college radio through the static at all hours of the night.


These young cats don't understand what it was like to get ridiculed...back when random white comedians made fun of the art form. diminishing B-boying to a farcefull of bad breakdancing and butchered slang.

when shit hit the fan...politicians ran to throw artists under the bus with claims of inciting violence. seizing songs that had no foothold in the movement. I mean really, have you EVEN HEARD "Cop Killer" in it's laborious and overwrought entirety?

Hip-Hop is king now, dance shows, sports shows, Hollywood, even Jodie Foster is reciting rap lyrics in her Ivy League commencement speeches.

But it was mine when it was a mere baby, ducking attempted chokings and suffocations from the very organisms that depend on it for its survival: the media

Now those organisms stunt hip-hop's growth. focusing on the base and tittilating while ignoring the substance that reveals instead the shortcomings of us all.

They WANT me to let Hip-hop go, they want me to believe the hype

No.

It was mine when I found it. It will be MINE to leave to my sons. My sons will know the truth.

You can distort the view to THEM...

but as for ME and MINE?

They shall know the truth, and the truth shall set them free.


Part of my mission in life will be to preserve HipHop for those who come after us, to tell the story as it NEEDS to be told, since clearly, those who THINK they control hip-hop have another agenda.

If you ever loved hip-hop, save it.

Real Hip-Hop exists and persists....it needs its protectors to come to its aid.

Won't you join me in this quest.

Repentance is good for the soul

FW and I watched So You think You can Dance. It was not my idea, I assure you. I am no longer so bougie and snobbish that I find the mere notion of watching reality television heresy.

I am however all about domestic tranquility, and since she wanted to watch it, I watched it with her.

What I witnessed was entertaining.

Entertaining on a very basic level.

I am not quite sure what it is about folk making absolute fools of themselves on national television that seems appealing to them.

Of course, then I think about William Hung and I am reminded what people are aiming for. Never has the road to the 15 minutes Andy Warhol promised been so clearly marked for easy traveling.

Being famous just is NOT what it used to be. If you doubt me, go get crunk and disorderly for a few days, and you will see what being famous is.

It is worse than the new black...it is the new crack.

But damn if it wasnt entertaining.

Down the Home Stretch

I have made most of my money waiting tables for the vast majority of my adult life. For long stretches of adulthood, it was my only job. I have often made the connection that waiting tables/tending bar is not unlike being in the crack game. Not that I have any personal knowledge of such, but I think growing up in the projects and listening to hip-hop and has given me an understanding of the job.

Well, once again it is time to get out the game. the money has been good, sometimes even great, but I'm getting too old for this shit. My left hand is stiffening up from balancing 25 and 35 lb trays on it. My knees ache for no good reason, and I cant even blame the weather, because its not really ever cold and damp enough to affect my slowly building arthritis. I am older or close to the age of all my managers, and have more years in the game than everyone in the restaurant but the GM. The hours suck and I spent most of my time trying to forget that when I am standing around, I am making 2 bucks an hour.


Literally.

I recently told my new favorite 40 yr old that I was sitting on a tell all about being Black and in the restaurant business for 20 years and I was going to call it, "Trying to Make a Dollar Out of Fifteen Percent", where I tackle topics like

• If you are so concerned I will spit in your food when you aren't looking, why do you insist on treating me like shit?
• If you dont let your toddler throw cheerios all over the place at home, why do it in a restaurant?
• Why should I hold a table for 20 of you until 8:00 when you told me you would all be here at 7 and you STILL aren't all here?
• Are you aware the message it sends me when you would freely pay 10 bucks for a frozen drink that costs me 90 cents but give me all manner of hassle when you have to pay 17 dollars for 12 ounces of Catfish filets and fries that costs me 12.50
• Has it occurred to you I might do this job, not because I couldn't get a real job, but because I make more than you do?
• The chances of you getting your food in a hurry increase exponentially when you order in a hurry.
• gratuity is an acknowledgement of service...The only reason you have to pay it is because if you left it up to restaurants to pay servers...it would be like mcdonalds with nicer dining room and better food.

That is all you all get for now...Im not gone yet....pardon me while i hop in my phone booth and put on my cape and apron.

A few words about yesterday's game that I didn't really see.

I still believe in the Mavericks. I still believe they will win the series. I believe that will be much harder.

One of the difficult things for Maverick fans is watching their team get torched by Steve Nash. For me it is not that big of a deal. It was never about money when he left here, I wasn't even that big of a fan and I knew that.

It was about length of contract.

If you look at the mavericks now, they are younger and deeper than they were when Nash was here. that will tell the tale two and three years down the road when Nash is making 13 million a year and losing a step. It isn't like he can keep up with Devin Harris NOW, how is it going to be two years down the road?

Getting Josh Howard, who was hurt last night with a sprained ankle is going to be a key going into Friday night.

Happy ummm...

When you are known not to forget dates, it puts you in an awkward position at times. Today is my XW's birthday and our former anniversary.

I haven't called her...I will probably send her an email tonight when I get home.

I am fortunate to have a pretty good relationship with her. We have been apart for longer than we were married now. My sons are 7 and 4 and she raises them primarily by herself. I pay child support, although I havent always done it like I should.

I am positive she wishes I lived closer than 1300 miles away and for the most part she has been supportive of my role as a distant Father.

I read a lot about how complex and unfortunate a lot of these types of relationships are, and I thank God that I don't have to go through some of the drama some men and women have.

I am appreciative of her. I havent been the best XH in the world. Not the worst, but certainly not the best either, and I dont see a lot of resentment in that regard.


Happy Birthday XW, enjoy yourself.

Sometimes Hump Day is...

Getting humped day, and not in a good way.


I got more doo-doo to do than I got time to do it in. And the Rugrats Grande' start their summer break today, so I am going to have to deal with THAT silliness too.

SMH... Oh the things I could tell, IF ONLY I HAD TIME!!!!


Oh well, at least my no Cable/Satellite having ass will be able to sneak peeks at the Mavericks game while at the Shrimp Plantation tonight.

Stolen Moments

I got about 12 minutes before I go get dressed to attend a HS graduation for FW's favorite neice.
Random thoughts from the mind of a man a tad bit under the weather:

1. Ice Cube is releasing an album in about 3 weeks. For me, the signature moment in his solo career is the verbal ass whoopin Common gave him in the torrid dis record "The Bitch in Yoo". 11 years later and we are STILL waiting for a response.
2. Yesterday is the thirty sixth anniversary of the day I was born. My birthday is June 10. Do the math and then wonder why my mother isn't beating my ass, STILL.
3. I picked up the paper about a week ago to discover mother of two of the kids from the Rugrat Ranch being mugshotted for hosting a party with alcohol featuring bunches of underage kids. Apparently the local Police department found out because it was advertised on Myspace.com for two weeks beforehand. I'm thinking advertising a party with all the alcohol you can drink for five bucks on Myspace is a good way to get a sting operation invited.
4. I pretty much decided once I made my decision to stay in Texas that I was going to have to root for one of the local teams. The Cowboys? don't be ridiculous. The Rangers? not while married to a hard-core Yankee Fan, What would be the point? The Stars? Please. That left the Mavericks. Every move they have made since I got here has made me love them more. I am on the verge of buying tickets for next year already. Gonna have to clear it with the boss first.
5. I have found the future of Hip-hop and his name is Lupe Fiasco. Get on it. If you need assistance, email me and I will help you. Think Jay-Z meets Kanye West with less ego and better lyrics.
6. Miami in 6. Dallas in 5. Dallas in 5. you saw it here first.
7. Stay tuned to see Davey Wayne profile the mavericks one by one.
   

Forsaking all others...

After 35 years of NBA nomadism, Davey Wayne has finally found a home in the Dallas Mavericks.

What started as a random pastime with Dr. J and the Sixers, continued with Nique and the Hawks, quickly replaced by Jordan and the Bulls and then briefly with Reggie and the Pacers, followed by a brief fete with the Wizards(which ironically enough was sparked and then snuffed out by Jordan's antics), a move to Texas and a date with fate has led me to proclaim an official favorite team, not just player...but TEAM.

I have always admired Mark Cuban's hustle. He got rich from selling a dog of an idea(whatever happened to Broadcast.com ANYWAY) to yahoo for over a BILLION DOLLARS and been riding the wave ever since. he converted a DOG of a franchise to one of the NBA's most stable and profitable.

He established ties with schools all over the Metroplex including one in Fort Worth, where a certain AKA was escorted by some cohabitating writer and ended up falling in love with him over a Mavericks blowout over the aforementioned Wizards on January 17, 2005.

He took a chance, hiring an aging point guard as a player just to get him as a coach.

Now he is on the cusp of basketball immortality, taking a franchise that was a perennial doormat to the NBA finals.

And he has a new fan.


DAVEY WAYNE RIDES FOR THE MAVERICKS.


Bring on Steve Nash and the Suns.


and so help me Oscar, you bring that Deeeeetroit Basketball stuff on THIS post...You and me gonna have words. Ill see yall in the Finals...if you can get past the Heat.


So bear with me as I work my way through the Roster over the remainder of the season.

Davey Wayne's Netflix Adventures

Last night

A History of Violence


Davey Wayne says: The set up is marvelous. The writing was quite good. Something about it just left me a little high and dry.

Croenenberg is a hell of a director. I think he could have taken 20 minutes and really done a reflection of the small town america thing he hinted to to give the movie more teeth. Sometimes less is more, but sometimes it isn't enough. That is why it's less.

Why you mad, Yo? Cos, He said so.

Having not actually graduated from College myself, I have always looked at the idea of College graduations with a certain amount of skepticism. I have attended exactly 3 higher education graduations in my lifetime, 2 for Dr. Cousin (Howard, 89 and Meharry, 98) and one for FW's cousin( Tarrant Co. College, 05) As I rack my brain, I suddenly realize that Bill Cosby spoke at commencement for my cousin who was not quite yet the doctor in 89.

What did he say? Nothing that really comes to mind. A lot of reach for the stars, you can do anything you want, remember your responsibility to your family and people, yada yada blaze split.


I wake up this morning, a week later, and the fuss has finally died down over Mr. Cosby's latest rant.

The fuss has died down, but trust me, people are still mad.

But Why?

They mad because Bill Cosby has developed the unique talent of pissing everyone off by telling just enough truth to keep you from dismissing his cantankerous ass altogether, but not nearly enough to further the debate.

What seems to be worse, is he picks times when people seek upliftment and inspiration, and breaks out the socio-economic fire and brimstone.

The true irony, though, is that the VERY people Mr. Cosby speaks of, you NEVER hear what they have to say about what HE has to say. The conversation that ensues about his remarks NEVER includes them.

No conversation really includes them. We don't talk to them and they don't talk to us.

Oh sure...the RELATIVES we have who fit this criteria..we talk to them...but what do we do to CHANGE the game for them?

We tiptoe around the issues they have...sometimes we enable them, sometimes we soften the blow for them, sometimes we act like nothing is wrong.

The reality is we do little because we feel, rightly or wrongly, that there is nothing we CAN do, that they are grown ass men/women and they gotta figure this out for themselves; that life is hard enough for us without taking on their burdens as well.

It also should be noted that Mr. Cosby brings much of the scorn because now, we see him for who he is:

A man, warts and all.

There was a time when Bill Cosby was Mr. Negro (a role vacant for quite some time now), a man of universal acclaim from all sides. He had the number 1 show on TV...cute commercials, and was throwing money around HBCUs like it was happy hour at the strip club( i know, bad analogy)


Now, fiddylebbin accusations and lawsuits later, Mr. Cosby has decided he is going to say whatever he wants, whenever he wants, however he wants, presumably because he has earned the right, and based on my understanding of the first amendment, he has.


However, based on my understanding of human behavior, if you ignore someone long enough, they will go away. Railing against their words only energizes them, because they feel that you just don't understand what they are saying.

At some point I will engage how this affects the ongoing War, but that will have to wait until this evening. Even though I am the boss, I have to do SOME work.

Yes, I was wrong.

Box Office Mojo > News > 'Da Vinci' Almighty

$77 Million says Davey Wayne was wrong. The movie MAY in fact be a dog...but it will be a profitable dog. It spanked Over the Hedge, although I swear OTH is a better movie.

On a related note...FW started Da Vinci Code Friday and cannot put the damn thing down. Why else would you get 9 posts from me today?

She can't talk to me for that damn book.

Now if you will excuse me...i will go back to being a witness.

Like Father, Like Son

Despite Pledge, Taxes Increase for Teenagers - New York Times

The tax system is broken. All this you see before you with extending tax cuts is the equivalent of stomping on a broken leg expecting it to set itself.

Cease and Desist

I was told by someone I respect, that I post too many newspaper articles, of course this was after article #6 from the LA Times, this morning. What I think I will do in the future is just post a collection of links, and stop being so damn lazy.

A good article about immigration and xenophobia

Get out, but leave the quesadilla

Michael Skube - LA Times 5/21/06

...But there is something else at work: Many Americans sense that the nation's identity, long under siege in the schools and universities by multiculturalism, is up for grabs. More than religion or race, more than ethnicity or political persuasion, language defines us as a people. Before long, many worry, an American is going to be anyone who merely lives and works here, and there's a good chance he will speak Spanish.

The cliche — colorfully emblazoned on some wall of elementary schools across the land — is that "We Are All Immigrants." True enough, wave upon wave of immigrants have come ashore, from Germany and Ireland, Italy and Poland, from Asia and Africa. None was welcomed but most, in time, assimilated, leaving one culture and one language behind and adopting a new culture and learning a new language. They became Americans. And in doing so, they enriched the nation in immeasurable ways. We all know the story, even if we forget the resentment and prejudice.

Now comes another wave, except these immigrants are mostly coming not from across an ocean but from next door. And they are coming by the millions, some legally, others slipping across the border, unseen. Because they are coming from a contiguous country, many see them as threatening the nation's ability to control who does and who does not enter — and, by extension, its sovereignty...


Davey Wayne Says:
After two years in Texas, let me tell you, the revolution will not be televised, because It is NOT COMING.

The children of illegal immigrants: #1 they are Americans. Receive it, gringos and negroes. Just as American as apple pie, Pizza, chitterlings, beef and broccoli, cartoons about cussing kids that looks suspiciously like anime', piercings, tattoos, hypocrisy, self-aggrandization, historical revisionism, and YOU AND ME.

They speak English. Their parents sometimes do speak English, and more would probably speak English, IF THEY WERE LITERATE IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE.

Literacy is difficult enough for regular folk for whom English is their primary language, Imagine learning to read ENGLISH..when your primary language is SPANISH and you aren't fully literate in THAT, because you have been working since you could hold down a full time job because it takes 6 jobs per household to afford to live?

Just as the Irish immigrants of the potato famine came over and found their way, The new immigrants will as well. Their children will be just as screwed up and Americanized as your children (but not mine) are. That is the seductive addicition that is the United States of America.

One mans health care reform is another woman's sharp kick in the stomach

Republicans brought to the floor two big ideas: limiting awards in medical malpractice cases and preempting state laws that require insurance companies to provide specific services. Predictably, Democratic filibusters blocked both bills.

The fall of the insurance restructuring bill was especially revealing. No one doubts that rising health insurance costs threaten the ability of employers, especially small businesses, to cover their workers. But the Republican plan, crafted by Sen. Michael B. Enzi (R-Wyo.), responded with a solution attractive solely to employers and insurers — preempting state mandates that require health policies to cover specific needs, from maternity care to cancer screenings.

Let me see if I have this correctly. The GOP's idea of health insurance reform is to allow business to issue substandard health insurance.

I made my decision after the HillaryCare debacle in 1992 that I would support any Presidential Candidate who could give a coherent and plausible solution to the health care crisis in this country, a crisis that is the most obvious threat to this nation's status as a world super power.

I backed Paul Tsongas in 92 before Bill ran him...

I supported Howard Dean because I believed he had the know-how to get the job done.

In '08 I will be watching to see who takes this issue on. Something tells me, once again, the GOP will be lacking in ideas to fix a problem they seem not to see.

Missouri: Where Show me is short for SHOW ME YO PAPERS!

So, If you aren't married and you have children, Black Jack Missouri wants you to get your shackin asses out(and take your little bastard children with you, I am imagining)

So much for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Now I have to admit, I am a BIT curious why a 31 yr old stay at home mom of three wants to reserve her right not to be married, but that isn't my call to make.

Maybe THIS is why we do not have National Health Care- Los Angeles Times

Amid War, Troops See Safety in Reenlisting - Los Angeles Times

There is something enduring creepy about this article. Knowing what I know, that there isn't enough body armor or armor on the trucks; that they arent really prepared to fight this kind of war; that many of those over there are in the national Guard or Reserves; I just get the impression the military is hustling these folk.


No...I believe pimping is a more accurate term.

Tyra Banks...an agent of the man?

The racial politics of America's Next Top Model. By J.E. Dahl

I do not watch ANTM, nor will I the next time it comes on, but I know for a fact a few of you all do, so read this and tell me your thoughts.

My thoughts are that it is a compelling case. If I had known that Tyra was running around talking about her booty, I might have watched.

Davey Wayne's greatest Hits - Am I My Brother's Keeper

As I sit hear talking to the birthday girl about hip hop (the possibilities energized me) I was prompted to dig into my archives and repost something I am quite proud of. I started writing this piece about 3 years ago. I picked it up and the other half just came to me.

I don't think you all understand how important HipHop is to me. Even as my outward appearance would never give you the impression, hiphop is STILL my favorite genre of music. Even the trite, sophomoric, misogynistic, but nonetheless good to your ear stuff, moves me a bit. But the true classics in the making stop me in my tracks...the quest for it leads me to ignore the news and the goings on in the world while i search for the next big thing. Cause Lawd knows hip-hop needs it.

Originally posted 11-18-05

I have been struggling for an analogy that accurately represents my relationship to HipHop. At the tender age of 35, I am fortunate(?) enough to witness practically all of hip-hop history in real time; that is, I wasn't able to string together the entire Run-DMC catalog at my uncle's house and listen to it all in one day. I had to actually LIVE through the 15 yrs from Run-DMC to Crown Royal(yes, as a matter of fact they DID record an album in 1999, although for the life of me I cannot remember ANYTHING on it). Thusly, just as I do not attempt to enlighten those who came of age during the Motown years as to the context and subtext of the music that became the soundtrack of their life, I get a bit annoyed at those who came before or after us claiming to have insight to what the songs of my youth.

The unfaithful lover analogy fails based on the fact that well, while hip-hop does a great many things for me, get my dick hard is not one of them. Hip-Hop is truly a male organism, so the lover analogy just won't do.

HipHop is a lot like my sibling, my actual real life sibling in fact.

Immensely talented, endlessly creative, yet lazy as hell.

Charismatic(far moreso than yours truly), yet always using it as a crutch to escape situations of his own making. Situations easily avoided with just a hint of maturity.

Reminds me of all that I hold dear and intimate about being who I am, and also reminds me that sometimes, I can be a real ass.

But, like HipHop, he is family, and family is all you have.

And like my brother...I will NEVER forsake him, nor will I stand idly by and let him make a fuckin mess of his life because he is on some old stupid shit.

Something about hip-hop and family always makes me cuss. Go Figure.

The billion-dollar gravestone | Salon.com

The billion-dollar gravestone | Salon.com

This was an interesting article.

We all are often victims of overwriting. Overwriting is a leading cause of things like music and books sucking. Overwriting is best described as making far too much of something by writing in a tone that is so indignant as it turns off a reader who may actually agree with the point being made by the author.

It isn't often I can come so close to the cusp of stamping an article OVERWRITTEN(thus rendering it impotent, in my opinion) and not actually let the ink and rubber fly. That is a testament, not so much to the quality of the article, as it is to the level of sucktitude we have endured as a nation over the last 5+ years.

This nation gave W. the mother of all passes after 9/11 and he has squandered it in a way NO ONE thought possible. Hubris (one of my favorite words) will pepper every reputable history book written when these times are analyzed through the microscope of context.

The author smacked a homer not unlike Mr. Bonds' 714 (whenever he gets around to it, in between ducking beanball pitches) when he dropped this gem comparing W. to King George:

"The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States ... He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power… He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation ... For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences ... For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever."

-the Declaration of Independence

I wonder if he sat at the PC and stared at the monitor admiring what he did?

He should have.

Davey Wayne's Netflix adventures

Rumor Has It(2005) - Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner

I dont get the whole Jennifer Aniston mystique...I think shes an ok actress, she did ok in this, I guess. I just watched it cause FW seems to like her and I had been on a roll of heavy movies..plus there are 2 heavy movies in the house now...So it got me off the Movie ish list. Understand..i love a good chick flick..but it gotta be GOOD..and this was merely ok.

Life and Death of an E-ho, Part 3

I live a charmed existence. God watches over my sorry ass in spite of all my attempts to screw up my life.

I woke up on January 1, 2005 vowing to undo that doo-doo that I did when I did the dirty deed that almost became my undoing. (i DARE you not to laugh)

2 weeks later, Im sleepworking through yet another Friday night and who do I see but HER.


HER - That chick with the SMILE. ________'s best friend. Everytime I see her she has this smile on her face. Not a grin...not one of those plastic things you design emoticons after...It was a heartfelt...relax and be comfortable around me smile.


I see her about every other month. which means in the 7 months I have been working here, I have seen her about 4 times. We always chitchat..and the more I hear, the more I wanna hear. Of course there is that whole cohabitation/commonlaw married with kids thing that I have been trying to end for the past 4 months.

Being the consummate restaurant professional that I am, i ditch all my responsibilities and head to the OTHER end of the restaurant and commence to working my mojo.

I am charming and witty listening intently and showing off the fact that I remember what she said the last time I talked to her for about 3 minutes in OCTOBER. I know I am in NO condition to ask this woman out, but my goal here isnt to go out with her..right now...my goal is to enter her consciousness..to have her wonder...who is this guy, really?

then the DAMNDEST THING happens...


















ok...i wont stop THERE....

















Or here...


_________: do you wanna go to a Mavericks game with Her?
Me: who? me?
________: yes, you
Me: when?
________: Tuesday
Me: sure sounds good.

So...i left that night with a date. I gave out numbers...and waited to see what would happen.


THIS is where I stop..for now.

The first Davey Wayne press conference

Davey Wayne is going to have his first press conference

This is the time when you can ask ANY QUESTION you want (so long as it does not require me to name the names of those who should remain nameless)

Send all questions to dparrish2@gmail.com

If you desire anonymity I shall grant it freely.

I will let no question go unanswered, although I cannot promise you the answer I give will satisfy you.

The Life and Death of an E-Ho, Part 2: NSF

Im sorry you dont have enough in your account to cover this check

In January of 2004 I wrote a HUGE check. That check had more zeros than the box score of a 15 inning perfect game pitched by two teams.

That check said I was willing to walk into an impossible situation and make it possible. That I would move from the Steel City to the Federal Republic of Texas and not look back. That I would throw in with a woman I adored from far away, but up close I found impossible to deal with.

Long Distance Relationships were my life for 3 years. I went from the suffocating cocoon of Marriage and cohabitation to the petri dish of a relationship separated by miles of interstate and brought close by the magic of technology and insomnia. I learned to master it. To keep my life uncluttered enough to make the right calls at the right times, to use the power of the internet to bind women to me via fiberoptic cables and precisely pitched vocals murmurings and written screeds. I mastered the art of speaking through music, capturing the mood and the moment through the notes and creations of total strangers.

The truth is, LDRs are easy to start and hard to finish. Since you have the luxury of miles and distance to cover your waning interest, you can avoid dealing with your mistakes as much as you need to. and when you're done, you just go underground for a few days. They will get the message, hopefully.

Unless you owe them money. in which case...they may not. Or at least the message won't translate very well.

Whatever the case, At some point in an LDR, you either have to put up or shut up. Either one of you is going to pull up stakes and move, or you two are going to play intermittent house for the rest of your lives. (with sexual standins as needed, or not, depending on how well you can tend to yourself)

99% of the time, when that magic moment arrives, either or both party stares at the daunting task of relocation and voids that reality check and keeps it moving.

Not me..not this time. I was itchin to write a check..just to see how much I had in the account.

Of all the times I chose to write this check..I wrote it in February of 2004. And it was a DOOOOOZY.

And it covered, too.

then I looked up and had to write another, and another, Because as the stakes get higher, you need to add more to the pot. As I was writing them, I realized an odd thing, the checks I was writing were A LOT bigger than the checks she was writing. I was writng my family my sons and all that i knew previous to moving to Texas down. She was writing...umm....extraneous dick? (and as I recall, dick was not a thing she was lacking during this time)

Needless to say, Things ultimately soured because the cocoon was most uncomfortable, whereas the petri dish was..."safe".

However, as you well know, cocoons arent to just be burst out of at a whim. You have to break through at the appropriate time.

Over a Christmas break 2004 while spending time with my mother and my sons, I discovered that it was time.

I landed in Texas on New Year's day determined to stop writing checks and start saving up for a better investment.

I had already ceased and desisted with the dispensing of the goodies, so that part was already in place. All that remained was to de-co-habitate. I tried to be nice and set in place a timetable to make it easy on everyone involved....then an interesting thing happened....

Box Office Prediction

Over the Hedge will outgross Da Vinci Code this weekend, and overall.


Da Vinci Code is a dog. I didnt see it, but it has dog written all over it. Word of Mouth will be AWFUL and it will sink like a stone next week.


Over The Hedge has GREAT buzz..and its a cant miss for kids...coming out of school.

The Life and Death of an E-ho

To know me is to love me.

To know of me is to wonder what my deal is.

To see me is to totally miss the point of me.


I am not a bad looking guy. The particulars, for the moment, aren't particularly relevant. I am a decent looking, clean cut guy. I don't inspire second looks, unless you have a light-skinned ex or cousin you haven't seen in ages. In that case you think I'm him, cause once you've seen one light skinned brotha with a fade you've pretty much seen them all and we all sort of run together.

I say all that to say this: I was made for the Internet. I am articulate and thoughtful, with a knack for saying the right thing at the right time. I attract thoughtful people and not quite as thoughtful people who are drawn to thoughtful people.

I am a very trusting person, because I have entered middle age largely unhurt. Spending most of this century on the net, I have learned to ingratiate myself to some wonderful people.

Ok enough downplaying.

I am a recovering E-Ho.

Once upon a time I was an E-ho.

What is an e-ho?

E-ho - (n) one who uses the internet to vent whatever sexual desires he /she has in private rather than in open spaces; in order to maintain a certain public standing in the community at large.

Thats right boys and girls, I was an e-ho. If I wasn't engaged, I would probably STILL be one.

Why? Because It was easy...it was fun and it was mostly harmless.

When I got separated I vowed not to get into a sexual yo-yo relationship with my ex because it would only make things more complicated than they had to be. If I am man enough to pack up and move out, what the hell do I look like sliding back in every now and then to hit it?

So, when you emerge from 4-5 years of regular action, the first thing you miss is that moment, the realization that someone wants YOUR bones. The thing about marriage that DOES work for men is the fact that wearing a ring means, at the end of the day, you may be broke and unemployed with canvas Air Force 1s by Walmart for transportation, but SOMEONE wants your ass for something. If you cant get your secretary/boss/partner/officemate/ to look at you lustfully, its ok...you got a wife at home.

When you walk away from that, there is a void that you immediately seek out. For me, the void was being lusted after. I have a weakness for being lusted after. That is largely an extension of being invisible as a child, due to my bookish childhood. I entered manhood seeking validation by women.

What I found by spending an ungodly amount of time online from 2002-2005, was that somewhere along the line, men forgot how to talk to women. or decided it was optional/too much hassle to engage a woman in conversation for the sake of conversation.

And thats where it started.

It ended in a bad relationship 1500 miles from home with the realization that everyone is more interesting from far away.

In between I saw it ALL.

Font Fights
Terroristic Threats
Misses who were really Men
Men who were really Misses(thankfully I wasnt personally involved with either of those)

For the entirety of that time, it was a big game....catch and release. I was the walking, living, breathing breath of fresh air.

I was the nice guy and it became my schtick.

I played it well...so well that I ended up with my own fanclub and my own haters.

The numbers piled up and no one was the wiser...and all i got for my trouble...was carpal tunnal.

I swore my game was above reproach...and it was...until my game betrayed me...by writing a check my ass couldnt cash.

Now, Not only the ball is white (as reported in the Washington Post

While only 6.5% of Students in MEAC schools are white, 45% of baseball players at MEAC schools are white.

I LOVE baseball. Even when I didn't really "get" it, I loved watching it. Baseball has always had a heritage in the Black Community, and it is eroding before our very eyes. My generation will prove to be the last to have a significant number of baseball stars.

The increasing whitening of MEAC schools, while not bothersome to me in the least, is a sad affirmation of the fact that Black folk aren't checking for baseball like they used to.

As usual this is a subject that necessitates additional discussion.

The perils of trying to be informed when those who inform you aren't

A Job Americans Won't Do, Even at $34 an Hour - Los Angeles Times

It sometimes bothers me when newspaper articles are written to make a point, but then the point is refuted IN THAT VERY article, and the author doesn't seem to notice.

In this article Ms. Smallwood laments that she cannot seem to give away 34 bucks an hour to shovel dirt around all day.

Then the author passes out a few anecdotes about landscaping companies in Orange County, CA and their struggles with finding and keeping employees.

The answers to the questions lie innocently in throwaway sentences like this one:

Larger economic forces come into play too. Orange County, for example, consistently has the lowest jobless rate in the state. Although that could be a draw for laborers in states with high unemployment, the high housing prices in the county act as a brake on that sort of migration.

I guarantee you that Ms. Smallwood would have NO problem finding folk to shovel dirt for 34 dollars an hour in Pittsburgh, PA, Baltimore, MD or many other cities. Laguna Beach, California is not going to attract the kinds of blue collar folk who are inclined to trade sweat for a living wage.

This article seems to attempt to make one point( that the labor market is fine, it is just that Americans are lazy and do not want to do it) while completely ignoring another (that labor markets vary from place to place and that this job wouldnt last a day in the rust belt because that is a culture more steeped inblue collar labor. Of course who wants landscaping in a dump like Buffalo/Cleveland/Detroit/Baltimore/Pittsburgh/Indianapolis?

about 400 words about nothing in particular.

I am just sitting here surfing like I don't have three million other things I need to be doing. Currently I have a craving for real hip-hop and Right-clicking up a storm. If one of you folk who are more technologically inclined than me can help me, (DJ, EJ I am referring specifically to you two) I would love to start doing a blog radio thingydohickey around here. The silence is rather deafening.

I am also talking to the ONE person who reads me now who was around WAYYYY back when I had my own .com

pauses to pour a little out for www.subtlewarrior.com


Wait, What are you laughing at?

I thought SubtleWarrior was a hella cool name, especially in my internet hoe days.

Oh yeah, I was some kinda internet hoe. Then again I have always done my best hoeing around when I was fully clothed.

I will be hitting the Shrimp plantation in about 18 minutes, for another thrilling 10 hours of work. I owe you folk about 2000 words on the life of a waiter. It even has a title,

Trying to make a Dollar out of 15 percent (the former title of a memoir I didn't write)

FW and I are building a house, it should be finished about the end of June, It is easily the biggest house I have ever lived in, and the mortgage will be less than the 2BR apt my ex leased in Bowie Maryland after we got separated.

There has been a lot of scuttlebut about what Bill Cosby said THIS time, but I am having a hard time getting the energy to really address it. Mostly because it is just so....tiresome.

ok...time is up...gotta go Pay AT&T so they can continue to tell the government that my mother has this thing about waking me up at 645 in the morning because I work so damn much.

My First Tag!!!! Da Hell is a MeMelicious???

It took me over a week to see this Tag, But The Saga continues blessed me with my first tag.

In that spirit...let me get to it

Memelicious - A to Z

Grabbed from Jason (thanks for the inspiration) Via Saga: the A - to - Z.

Accent: Mid-Atlantic, with Southern words like finna and darlin for added charm

Booze: Rum...flavored, thank you...Malibu Pineapple, Bacardi Apple, etc...

Chore I Hate: So many to choose...let us settle on Folding Clothes. Ill wash them and dry them....YOU fold them.

Dogs/Cats: Cats, I am too lazy to own a dog...wait...i DO own a dog, well I take care of one...well I did until FW's momma stole it and spoiled it beyond all belief.

Essential Electronics: the pawnshop PC of the year. speaking of, The year is almost up, almost time to re-up. Got this one for 150 bucks.

Favorite Perfume/Cologne: On ME? Kenneth Cole Black or D&G. On HER? Ralph Lauren Romance

Gold/Silver: None for me thanks.

Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA (Home of the FIVE-TIME WORLD CHAMPION PITTSBURGH STEELERS, which I have not gloated about NEARLY enough.)

Insomnia: Not really, Just not enough hours in the day to do what I have to do.

Job Title(s): Operations Director, Server, Freelance Writer, Valet to the Queen, Daddy,

Kids: 2, Davey Wayne 3.0(age 7) and Davey Wayne 3.1(age 4)

Living Arrangements: Currently Living in Sin while carefully cultivating marital bliss

Most Admired Trait: Will work from cant see to cant see to make it happen

Number of Sexual Partners: Only One matters now.

Overnight Hospital Stays: Some strange kiddie thing when I was 5, Appendicitis when I was 10, a staph infection when I was 21, a near death experience with Asthma when I was 25

Phobia: Waking up at 50 and realizing I missed my sons' childhood and knowing they will never forgive me for it; Never, ever reaching the enormous potential God Gave me.

Quote: It's good to win. Only one team can win. Everybody can compete, give up his all. Everybody can grow from the experience, no matter the final score. Everybody can be recognized. And respected. It hurts to lose, but it hurts worse to be disrespected. -The Late, Great Ralph Wiley

Quote: How about you shut the hell up? -FW

Quote: I'm not talking to you about this anymore -FW

Religion: Disgruntled Protestant, but Flawed but devoted follower of the Lily of the Valley

Siblings: One, male age 28; yes he is married, and we could not be less alike.

Time I usually wake up: 7:09 am. Time I am usually useful to someone: Hard to say

Unusual Talent: I make FABULOUS drinks...so fabulous your hangover will be nothing but a slight tug at your memory of the immense amount of alcohol you drank because it was so damn tasty.

Vegetable I refuse to eat: Beets. I just won't. Looks like someone took potatoes and sopped up during a quintuple Bypass...GTFOHWTB

Worst Habit: Telling Lies about the stupidest shit.

X-Rays: Knee, Mouth, Chest, Wrist/Hand

Yummy Foods I Make: Spaghetti, Steak, Chicken Marsala, Lamb Chops over Mashed Sweet Potatoes and Sauteed Spinach. And I scramble the best Eggs in the world, even though I dont eat them.

Zodiac Sign: Gemini, and a Gemini too.

Tags? X(yes you...you back in the game, so you aren't immune),Wise, Stilt, Jameil, RPM, and EJ (put the records down and do it)

Parrish's greatest Hits: A Bag of N&N's And a bonus from the Roots

I wrote this a few months ago...if you weren't here, I am reposting it before I elaborate further.

If youve been here that long and have already read it, you may be excused to go listen to the new Roots single.


Yesterday was the anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X.

February 21, 1965 is a day that lives in infamy for the United States of America and it doesn't even know it.

1965 also marks the debut of the much discussed generation X. GX is so named because we are the children of the Baby Boomers, coming of age just outside the idyllic post WWII period and in the aftermath of the non-violent driven portion of the Civil Rights movement. Keep in mind that The Watts riots were in 1965 and America burned every summer thereafter punctuating in the riots that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Every year around this time (Black History Month) the usual suspects trot out to impersonate Malcolm and Martin and "lead" us somewhere, telling us what we need to do. Then you have those who try to tell THEM what WE think...and what WE need.


What you mean WE kimosabe.

There IS NO WE anymore. 1965 marked the end of WE.

1965 was the beginning of the Negroes and Niggas era.

The N&N era is defined by one segment of Black America shaking their head and their fingers at the other segment of Black America for betraying the race.




The Black Elite (Negroes) has as a voice: Bill Cosby

Ladies and gentlemen, the lower economic and lower middle economic people are [not*] holding their end in this deal. In the neighborhood that most of us grew up in, parenting is not going on. (clapping) In the old days, you couldn’t hooky school because every drawn shade was an eye (laughing). And before your mother got off the bus and to the house, she knew exactly where you had gone, who had gone into the house, and where you got on whatever you had one and where you got it from. Parents don’t know that today.

I’m talking about these people who cry when their son is standing there in an orange suit. Where were you when he was two? (clapping) Where were you when he was twelve? (clapping) Where were you when he was eighteen, and how come you don’t know he had a pistol? (clapping) And where is his father, and why don’t you know where he is? And why doesn’t the father show up to talk to this boy?

The church is only open on Sunday. And you can’t keep asking Jesus to ask doing things for you (clapping). You can’t keep asking that God will find a way. God is tired of you (clapping and laughing). God was there when they won all those cases. 50 in a row. That’s where God was because these people were doing something. And God said, “I’m going to find a way.” I wasn’t there when God said it… I’m making this up (laughter). But it sounds like what God would do (laughter).

We cannot blame white people. White people (clapping) .. white people don’t live over there. They close up the shop early. The Korean ones still don’t know us as well…they stay open 24 hours (laughter).

The Negroes are BELIEVED to be the natural offshoot of the King Faction of the Civil Rights Movement. Many of its spokesmen were in the King Faction and use his name and legacy as irrefutable credibility. They brandish it everytime someone asks them how they got here and who said what they thought mattered. Those at the forefront of the Negroes are almost exclusively male and have this knack for getting in trouble with women they are not married to, an unfortunate legacy of the King Faction. They are the ones who cringe whenever someone in the media pokes fun at the movement, as reference by the calls for Boycotting Barbershop the movie, Boondocks, and suing OutKast.

The Negroes are acknowledged as the voice of Black America. CNN has the primary spokesmen of the Negroes on Speed Dial, FOXNews has them pinned on their dart board. The latest and perhaps largest sighting of Negroes was at the funeral of Coretta Scott King, where they spent SIX HOURS, alternately calling out W to his face and groveling at the feet of their honorary member, Bill Clinton.

Niggas on the other hand have a less defined pedigree. Their first appearance is believed to be at the Watts riots in 1965. Niggas are USUALLY less affluent and less literate(or at least hide their literacy if they have it). They are currently the demonized segment of Black America, being blamed for sagging britches, drugs, violence, births out of wedlock. They seem to find the cameras and microphones of the local news with frightening regularity. They watch lots of television and don't read. Their most recent appearance was in the wake of Hurrican Katrina, although you had to look carefully to differentiate those looking for food from those looking for free. The Nigga movement is mostly made up by those unable to take advantage of the limited advancement opportunities provided by education or gainful employment. As we move to a more knowledge based economy, not knowing is the worst sin you can visit upon a child and the Nigga movement passes on its ignorance like a birthright.

Of course, theses are only two small vocal segments of the Black Diaspora. The rest of us exist somewhere in the middle, jumping from one group to the other or are too busy trying to make ends meet to run with either of those crowds, because, truthfully, being a nigga or a negro is far harder work than it should be.

Had Malcolm lived to truly articulate his evolving ideology, the parallels with Dr. King would have been able to merge and perhaps we would have had the chance to listen to ONE voice and not be stuck with the choice of a hypocritical, pious, self-righteous, and condescending Negro movement and an amoral, short-sighted, and generally clueless Nigga movement. The middle cannot hold, primarily because the middle has no voice. In a culture that insists on screams for attention, a calm reasoned plea for anything falls on deaf ears.

and THAT, my friends, is the struggle.

And the struggle continues.

Steven Ivory on the Oprah Mystique

I try not to get in the habit of just giving my blog over to other folk, but when you are as busy as I am these days, shortcuts are necessary.


I don't necessarily agree with everything he says, but I DO agree that 50 should be glad Oprah has never called him.

Also, let the record show that the 7 minute, 30 second mark for Mr. Cent passed a little ways back, and he would be wise to enjoy what time he has left. If he is uncertain about what I am saying, he should ask DMX.

Things Black Folk Say #8

"You have to know that it is time for you all to take charge. You have to seriously see yourselves not as the old women where the men stood in front and you all stood behind, because the men, most of them are in prison...It is time for you to pick up the pace and lead because the men are not there. They're not there and every one of you young women know it...there's no time for you to fool around anymore. …You've got to [get serious] because our race depends upon you and your sisters graduating all across the United States to realize that what's left is you... [They]have memorized the lyrics of very difficult rap songs. …And they know how to send their sperm cells out and then walk away from the responsibility of something called fatherhood."

Bill Cosby in the 2006 commencement speech at Spelman College

"I'm going to speak to these young women about taking charge and I know it's going to be fearful and it's going to tweak a lot of things...They have to because it's in their lives and it's real. It is there. They are going to be needed to protect the legacy that is good."

Bill Cosby in an interview with the Associated Press about the speech

Cosby said his comments were not directed to all black males, but noted that 70 percent of black graduates this year are female.

Davey Wayne says: Well, what can you say? Give Dr. Bill a mike and a minute to collect himself, and watch the sparks fly. At least he didn't break out the sunglasses this time. I do worry for him, though. I just pray THIS isn't how he goes out...ranting and raving arbitrarily, although if it is true that SEVENTY percent of Black college graduates are female, I would be prone to a bit of ranting and raving myself.

*sets his watch before this hits the mainstream media REALLY hard...I calculate about 4 days.*

Happy Mother's Day

This is a special Mother's Day greeting to my mother, Davey Wayne's Momma(forever to be referred to as DWM) and her Momma, Davey Wayne's Gramma(DWG). These two people are responsible for any positive edges to my personality. Without them I would be an insufferable asshole. With them, I have insufferable asshole tendencies, so you can only imagine the alternative.

Mother's Day is an odd day for me. I am on my way to work at the shrimp plantation, because Mother's Day is the busiest day of the year in the restaurant business. Thankfully, I was smart enough to only work the AM shift, so I will be out of there by four o'clock or so. This feeds into a whole rant on 20 years of serving food to people, (black people in particularly) that I really do not have time to get into. That post is just BEGGING to be written, but as you can imagine, in twenty years, you can build up a lot to say.

Things Black Folk Say #7

“It takes a real man to confess Jesus as Lord and Savior. I’m not talking about no faggot or no sissy. Wait a minute! Let all the real men come on down here and take a bow. All the real men—I’m talking about the straight men. You ain’t funny, and you ain’t cranky, but you’re straight. Come on down here and walk around and praise God that you are straight. Thank him that you’re straight. All the straight men that’s proud to be a Christian, that’s proud to be a man of God!”

Bishop Alfred A. Owens Jr., pastor of Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church in Washington, DC



Davey Wayne Says: Nice job, Bishop. Way to lead in love.

Things Black Folk Say #6

"I thought to myself, 'Brother, you have a disconnect -- the president is elected, I was selected. You wouldn't be getting the contract unless I was sitting here. If you have a problem with the president, don't tell the secretary;He didn't get the contract."

HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson speaking at a Dallas minority owned business group meeting on April 28

"During my tenure, no contract has ever been awarded, rejected or rescinded due to the personal or political beliefs of the recipient,"

HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson a few days later



Davey Wayne says: It probably isn't a good idea to appear in the press for the first time in eons under these circumstances. It isnt like he is the Secretary of Grouting the Oval Office Bathtub. He is the SECRETARY OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT. The shelter of the country's citizens is under this man's purview and he's over there pontificating on all the power he wields based on the whether or not a contractor brownoses his boss enough.

Things Black Folk Say #5

I listen to some Hip-Hop. I've been accused of not liking Hip-Hop and that's just not true, I got a little 50 in my iPod. I really do. I like 'In Da Club.' Hip-Hop is like Jazz and Gospel music, evolved from the people. A form of protest, a form of expression so you can't deny that, nor would I try.

-Oprah Winfrey discussing the criticism she has received from hip-hop artists, Ludacris and 50 Cent

Davey Wayne says:

#1 I cannot imagine Oprah saying "Im into having sex, I aint into makin love."
#2 Isn't this the black on black equivalent of "some of my best friends are black."
#3 I am POSITIVE "Bitch get in my car" is NOT on Oprah's Ipod

Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds

Still Seeing Things In Black or White

As a native Pittsburgher, I have a personal Bias about Mr. Bonds. He is easily the greatest Baseball Player I have ever seen in person. I am currently delving deep into my own memory and soul for my own thoughts on this and will keep them close to the vest until the day he passes Babe Ruth. Until then, here is something for you to read from one of America's most respected sportswriters.

Thank you, I'm Sorry, and Could you please?

Sometime yesterday I broke the one thousand visit barrier on this blog since I installed a counter of some repute which I recommend if you care about such things.

I take this blogging seriously, in case you didn't know.

This is the sole outlet for my writing.

This is step one in a long term plan to a dream that I count on to sustain my family.

The fact that I am getting more visitors in a week than I received in a month two months ago speaks to something aside from the fact that I am posting more.

For that I thank you all.

With the aforementioned attention comes an unspoken expectation. I came once, now I am here again, so entertain/inform/enlighten/tittilate me. I feel that, and I have responded to it as best as I am able to, considering the 65-80 hours a week I work and joys of monogamy.

I would like nothing more than to devote 3-4 hours a day just to reading and writing and infusing this site with more substance, giving you additional insight into what I really feel and what I really think.

That day is not here as of yet. When it arrives, it will be with great fanfare. Until then, I will persevere.

In the meantime, I am sorry.

Thanks to my faithful counter and daily report, I get small tidbits of information about the visitors to this site. Some of the visitors I recognize, some of them I do not. I am not naive. I know some of those visitors get here by accident or may not really even be visiting here at all. But some tidbits show up day after day, but I never hear from them. I would really like to. I am profoundly curious about the public perception of the direction of this site. As I said a few months ago, I t alk to myself all the time, I am here for YOU.

Here is my email address: dparrish2@gmail.com
AIM: DPWriter76120
Yahoo: d_parrishjr

Use it, when you don't want to leave a public comment.

Use it to say that I make no sense.

Use it so ask why don't I talk more about ___________

Use it to ask why I always talk about ___________

Use it to say thank you.

Use it to say F______ you.

Use it to ask me a personal question.

Use it to say "I am the person from Dover, DE who visits your blog every day and I think what you write is _________."

Use it to say "I am that person from the University of MD who visits your blog each morning and I am glad you aren't tech savvy enough to stalk me and harrass me anymore than you just did."

I assure you all my only purpose here is to encourage dialogue with those who visit this site.

It will make this site better and it will make ME a better writer...


So, I ask, could you please?

Things Black Folk Say #5

AllHipHop.com : Daily Hip-Hop News: "'Yes, I disrespected your seed. If you didn't hear me, I said, I would like to do an R. Kelly on your seed, on your little baby girl. I would like to tinkle on her,'"

Star...FORMER Morning Show Co-Host on NY Power 105.1


Saying stuff like that will get you MORE than fired...It will get you DEAD in some circles.

Good News from the Bible Belt

Listening to: www.flowink.com
(you would WANT to get the emails....makes your musical day, I tell ya. Shout out to Sir EJ for showing me the light.)

Here is the top story in MY neighborhood.

Now to truly appreciate the story, you must actually watch the video of the DVD...I will pause while you do that.


FW: I don't see the big deal. They consenting to a fight, whats wrong with that?
Me: well, unless it is sanctioned by a governing body, It is a crime on tape. The police tend to frown on that.

At first, I wasn't as bothered as I am, and to tell the truth, I still am not THAT bothered. It is a crime and the police did what they are supposed to do. Is it truly the most NOTEWORTHY story around these parts?

Certainly not.

Would I LEAD MY NEWSPAPER ABOVE THE FOLD WITH IT?

No.

I don't like to get self-righteous about the images projected ABOUT us by the predominate media outlets in this country, but things like this give me pause.


Then again, it isn't like WE weren't profiting off of this. These images were promoted BY AFRICAN-AMERICANS...To say nothing of the fact that the *ahem* CEO was 18 years old.

Can't knock the hustler, but I can knock the hustle.

Here is a tip: Taping felonies and selling them is not a good long term career move.

The war continues...Just ONE battle in an ongoing war

written to: Incognito - Eleven

FW has NOT had a good day. For many reasons, none of which have me at the root, FW is just not herself. I came home to a dour and fatigued FW, and this is just not what I am used to...Then a remarkable thing happened and she was suddenly in a good mood. But first, the back story.

Once upon a time in a land not very far away at all, there was a woman we shall call Hortense who had this thing about men who didn't belong to her. She enjoys them, and they her. And it happens with people who enjoy each other, circumstances and situations tend to be irrelevant when said people decide to commingle.

Time passes and Hortense meets another woman we shall call Francesca and they become fast friends, sisters in pedagogy, even.

The Francesca warns Hortense over and over again about the potential perils of enjoying men committed to other women, but for reasons impossible to fathom by all concerned, Hortense does not see that.

Hortense takes to enjoying a particular husband of a third woman, Mrs Magellan. Not only is Hortense enjoying MR. Magellan, but she is associating with Mrs. Magellan under the context of being a business partner of MR. Magellan, in his entreprenuerial pursuits.

To recap, Hortense is FUCKING Mr. Magellan ostensibly as compensation for assisting him with his entrepreneurial pursuits and associating with MRS. Magellan under the pretense of being Mr. Magellan's business advisor.

All is well with the world UNTIL Hortense receives a curious email from Mr. Magellan...it reads VERBATIM: (as in i Cut and PASTED this ish.)


To Hortense@oooyoufinnagetit.com
From: MrMagellan@dickasmeansofexchange.com
Subject: Re: resending to see if it will come through

Yeah (insert actual name here) i got your email you might be close bitch but you aint close enough. why in the fuck are you sending my husband shit like that on the internet, talking about how u fucked him and all that. bitch you had a nerve to get on the phone with me and tell me u a insert actual occupation here trying to help him get his grant, all the time you loving and fucking him. well bitch i'm going to fuck you (not whore but)hoe. your evil, coniving, dirty, nasty ugly BITCH, U thank you can hide but not for long. i will find you hoe. you talking about it's straight business, business is not opening your legs unless you a hoe. please don't be afraid to stop by any time hoe my address is (insert actual street address here), # (insert actual phone number here), you know the rest BITCH. PPPPPPLLLLLLEEEEEAAAAAASSSSSSEEEEEE can(presumably call) me hoe.

MRS. Magellan

Bitch that something you will never be.


This email finds its way to Francesca, and Francesca's immediate reaction is hysterical laughter as she finds a certain unfortunate, yet amusing justice in the substance of that email and sets about reminding Hortense of the seeds she has sown and the crops she is about to reap. Francesca is shocked to find that Hortense is rather delusional about this situation, thinking that this will all blow over, that Mrs. Magellan is somehow bluffing.

Not So, warns Francesca, "Mrs. Magellan is QUITE angry, and she is not bluffing in the least."

And The story ends there, for now...

Francesca shared this story with her beloved and they engaged in a brief Debate...addressing the following questions...questions I now pose to YOU, dear reader:

1. Why is Mrs. Magellan so angry at Hortense, as opposed to being angry at Mr. Magellan?
2. How does Mr. Magellan now choose between his business advisor....dream enabler if you will, and his wife, because clearly they can no longer exist.
3. Is Mrs. Magellan justified in her threats made to Hortense?
4. How is it that Hortense cannot see her impending peril?
   

This, my friends, is one of the ultimate tragedies. The tragedy of men mixing business and pleasure and ruining both. Once I read that it is an old African tradition to mix business and pleasure in such a fashion. I cannot fathom that folk actually believe this and use this as a justification for such behavior. The ultimate damage of such behavior pulses through our entire culture and must be addressed before it becomes so toxic....and so damned entertaining.

I was supposed to write my review of Mission Impossible 3 and I found this FARRRR more entertaining.

Of all the STUPID....

Someone forwarded this to me...and before I could read it...it showed up AGAIN in my Snopes update. It is a good thing my readers are smarter than my friends, because I am not above embarrassing you.


Oh, and if you have a hard time getting the absurdity of this, it is ok. Send me an email and I promise to explain it to you thoroughly and not to put you on blast. This, by the way is MUCH dumber than the idea of not buying gas for ONE day.


A man eats two eggs each morning for breakfast. When he goes to the grocery store he pays 60 cents a dozen. Since a dozen eggs won't last a week he normally buys two dozens at a time.

One day while buying eggs he notices that the price has risen to 72 cents. The next time he buys groceries, eggs are .76 cents a dozen.

When asked to explain the price of eggs the store owner says, "the price has gone up and I have to raise my price accordingly".

This store buys 100 dozen eggs a day. I checked around for a better price and all the distributors have raised their prices.

The distributors have begun to buy from the huge egg farms. The small egg farms have been driven out of business.

The huge egg farms sells 100,000 dozen eggs a day to distributors. With no competition, they can set the price as they see fit.

The distributors then have to raise their prices to the grocery stores. And on and on and on.

As the man kept buying eggs the price kept going up. He saw the big egg trucks delivering 100 dozen eggs each day. Nothing changed there.

He checked out the huge egg farms and found they were selling 100,000 dozen eggs to the distributors daily.

Nothing had changed but the price of eggs.

Then week before Thanksgiving the price of eggs shot up to $1.00 a dozen. Again he asked the grocery owner why and was told, "cakes and baking for the holiday". The huge egg farmers know there will be a lot of baking going on and more eggs will be used. Hence, the price of eggs goes up.

Expect the same thing at Christmas and other times when family cooking and baking happen.

This pattern continues until the price of eggs is 2.00 a dozen. The man says, "there must be something we can do about the price of eggs".

He starts talking to all the people in his town and they decide to stop buying eggs. This didn't work because everyone needed eggs.

Finally, the man suggested only buying what you need. He ate 2 eggs a day. On the way home from work he would stop at the grocery and buy two eggs. Everyone in town started buying 2 or 3 eggs a day.

The grocery store owner began complaining that he had too many eggs in his cooler. He told the distributor that he didn't need any eggs. Maybe wouldn't need any all week.

The distributor had eggs piling up at his warehouse. He told the huge egg farms that he didn't have any room for eggs would not need any for at least two weeks.

At the egg farm, the chickens just kept on laying eggs.

To relieve the pressure, the huge egg farm told the distributor that they could buy the eggs at a lower price. The distributor said, "I don't have the room for the eggs even if they were free".

The distributor told the grocery store owner that he would lower the price of the eggs if the store would start buying again.

The grocery store owner said, "I don't have room for more eggs. The customers are only buy 2 or 3 eggs at a time".

"Now if you were to drop the price of eggs back down to the original price, the customers would start buying by the dozen again".

The distributors sent that proposal to the huge egg farmers. They liked the price they were getting for their eggs but, them chickens just kept on laying.

Finally, the egg farmers lowered the price of their eggs. But only a few cents.

The customers still bought 2 or 3 eggs at a time. They said, "when the price of eggs gets down to where it was before we will start buying by the dozen.

Slowly the price of eggs started dropping. The distributors had to slash their prices to make room for the eggs coming from the egg farmers.

The egg farmers cut their prices because the distributors wouldn't buy at a higher price than they were selling eggs for.

Anyway, they had full warehouses and wouldn't need eggs for quite a while.

And them chickens kept on laying.

Eventually, the egg farmers cut their prices because they were throwing away eggs they couldn't sell.

The distributors started buying again because the eggs were priced to where the stores could afford to sell them at the lower price.

And the customers starting buying by the dozen again.

Now, transpose this analogy to the gasoline industry. What if everyone only bought $10.00 worth of gas each time they pulled to the pump. The dealers tanks would stay semi full all the time. The dealers wouldn't have room for the gas coming from the huge tank farms. The tank farms wouldn't have room for the gas coming from the refining plants. And the refining plants wouldn't have room for the oil being off loaded from the huge tankers coming from the Middle East.

Just $10.00 each time you buy gas. Don't fill it up. You may have to stop for gas twice a week but, the price should come down.

Think about it.

As an added note...When I buy $10.00 worth of gas, that leaves my tank a little under half full. The way prices are jumping around, you can buy gas for $2.65 a gallon and then the next morning it can be $2.15. If you have your tank full of $2.65 gas you don't have room for the $2.15 gas.

You might not understand the economics of only buying two eggs at a time but, you can't buy cheaper gas if your tank is full of the high priced stuff.

Bill Clinton triangulates the war on fat. By William Saletan

Bill Clinton triangulates the war on fat. By William Saletan

Yeah, when your lil rugrat comes home with the latest Pepsi Action drink that costs 3 bucks...youll remember who to thank. I was standing in the QT mulling over the stale choices of sodas, now that I have overdosed on Dr Pepper Berries and Cream. It occured to me that, thanks to our favorite Ex-Junk food Junkie, Pepsi and Coke will be lining up to sell your kids (and you) a whole new batch of pricey, but...ahem...healthy drinks.

Davey Wayne's Netflix Adventures: Week of May 1, 2006

Fun with Dick and Jane: Blah. The whole Coporate greed thing is easy pickins, but it occured to me that there is a thin line between the overacting of Martin Lawrence and the overacting of Jim Carrey, and most of it is covered with melanin and my own recoiling at the whole minstrel stereotype...and the fact that I have NEVER seen Mr. Carrey dressed up as some grandma.


Sleeper Cell: Season One: Hmm..Halle's ex-almost baby daddy plays a Muslim ex-con who gets into a Radical Islamist cell devoted to destruction. Sounds interesting and it is. And if you got a thing for black men with purty light eyes, you get a bonus. Just finished the first episode and it appears to be a winner. The Davey Wayne gets Cable/Satellite countdown is ALMOST on. I cannot wait.

Take her out to the Ball Game

To a 90's Hip-Hop Soundtrack

Rockwilder - Method Man and Redman

Today was the first of two second annual "take her out to the ball game" days here deep in the heart of Texas. Since we have been together, I have made a tradition of taking her to see at least one game between the Texas Rangers and the New York Yankees at the fairly gorgeous Ameriquest Field in Arlington, TX.

Last year's event included her father, a wonderful Panamanian man who has a passion for baseball unlike anything I have EVER seen. Mr FW played with the Yankees very briefly and as a result has instilled in his baby daughter a passion and a knowledge for the game that she carries to this day. While she doesn't follow baseball on a regular basis as a spectator, like I do, she KNOWS the game to the point where she and I will get into debates like whether or not the left fielder should have hit the cut-off man or not. Last year I put off getting tickets until the last minute and came up on some pretty mediocre seats in the outfield. While she was appreciative, she mentioned that she usually paid more to get better seats.

Can't Truss It - Public Enemy

Hot Boyz - Missy Elliot

So I staked out Ebay and waited...and pounced on some seats 20 rows behind 3rd base. Scored them for a significant but not ridiculous amount of cash and paid for them.

Born and Raised in Compton - DJ Quik

Woo hah - Busta Rhymes

Then I had to get them here. You would think that 3 days is plenty of time, when you are using USPS Express mail to send something from Amarillo to Fort Worth.

No. They managed to get it wrong and a carrier supervisor had to deliver it himself at 11 am the day of the game, as I was trying to leave for a shift at the shrimp plantation.

So, Tickets in hand, change of clothes in my bag, away I go. FW is wrapping up another thrilling year pedagoging small fourth graders of various colors at an elementary school in Fort Worth, so she will meet me at the plantation which is in the shadow of Ameriquest Field.

Fast Forward to our rendezvous in the plantation parking lot. We discuss where we are going to eat before the game and decide to hit Ker's wing house , which is a dead rip-off of Hooter's, except the food is a lot better and there are more sisters, but they still have no ass.

true story: FW says once upon a time she interviewed to be a Hooter's girl, they told her she had "almost enough breasts but too much ass."

No more Hooter's for me. Ever.

TBC

Happy Summer, Yall.

It is Friday, May 5, 2006 and today is the first unofficial day of Summer. The TRUE unofficial first day of Summer is Memorial Day.

What makes today the first day of Summer is the arrival of the first summer blockbuster Weekend. From now until mid to late August, there will be at least ONE major movie release every weekend.

As a bonafied Movie buff who sees about 35-40 movies a year in theaters and maybe twice that many at home, I feel it is my duty to prepare you for each weekend.

This weekend is headlined by Tom Cruise's third installment of Mission: Impossible. What you can expect is cool stunts and way too much time for Tom to explore his sensitive side. I respect Tom Cruise as an actor although I find him insufferable outside of his actual roles. I mean, It isn't like we would have forgotten about him if he didn't knock up that child he is with/married to(are they married? i wasn't really paying attention). I loved MI1 and liked MI2 when he wasnt flitting around bedding Thandie Newton (and thats not because I am a hater, it is because when I go to see a damn action movie, I WANT ACTION, dammit.)

All indications are this is a great movie, when Tom isn't off "acting" and stuff. I will report back on Sunday as this is the OFFICIAL DaveyWayne and the FW Sunday Movie.

Other interesting movies opening this weekend:


Hoot
I think Carl Hiaasen is a great writer, but I had no idea he wrote Young adult books. I will probably break it out on DVD for the big kids at the Day Care...or drag them to see it for free on on of those free Wednesday movies.

An American Haunting
Don't look at me, I try to avoid Horror movies.

And the David Parrish "look at me I am a movie Snob" picks of the week:

Down in the Valley

I am a huge Edward Norton fan. Going back to his turn in Primal Fear with Richard Gere and peaking when he pretty much said "Ill work for free with Spike Lee" in 25th Hour. This is one of those quirky looking movies that I love and the FW hates. Definite addition to the Netflix queue.

Art School Confidential

Sounds interesting and I haven't had my John Malkovich fix in a while. I will bury it on my Netflix queue somewhere.(for a REAL John Malkovich fix..check Dangerous Liaisons)

First you go home THEN you take the pill, stupid.

Rep. Kennedy Cites Pill Use in Car Crash - Los Angeles Times

What IS it with these Kennedy folk and modes of transportation. they should just make them all ride the bus.

Laurence Fishburne on shooting Apocalypse Now as a 14 year old

I confess I have never seen Apocalypse Now, but I know I should, especially in the culture we live in now, where war is waged so easily.

INSIDE THE ACTOR'S STUDIO

TheDavid Parrish Thespian of the Week: Laurence Fishburne

Every Thursday, I will announce my Thespian of the week. The Thespian of the week will be a man who has distinguished himself (in my eyes) throughout his career. In accordance with this honor, there will be a focus on this gentleman/lady's distinguished career.


This week's winner is Laurence Fishburne

Link to Speech by Michael Eric Dyson: Rethinking Black Identity

Using examples from Hollywood film and popular music, Dyson posits three stages of African American self identity, which he refers to as "stereotype, archetype, and antitype." He draws upon his thesis to explain contemporary manifestations of identity in black culture, most particularly in the areas of religion and popular entertainment.

Remember the Face you used to make when...

You heard a DOPE (yes..i said DOPE) hip-hop song for the first time.

It is kind of like the bitter beer face...mixed with the Oh -Face (from Office Space).


Well I just got one.

Ladies and Gentlemen...The new Outkast?

This morning's recommended daily viewing

I keep saying I want to write a definitive W piece, but what is the point when it is so painfully obvious. Besides....You can easily watch this. Caution...use IE. My Firefox balked at showing me this, so I had to break IE out of mothballs to use it.

Pieces of the puzzle...Parts one and two

Before life as I know it took a turn too bizarre for words, I totally forgot the micro autobiography I was writing...

Part One: "The Year was NINETEEN SEVENTY"

Part Two: It takes two

Part Three: Be a Father to your child (and someone elses too)

Arthur Malone Mitchell was a man's man. He had a man's walk, a man's voice, carried a man's gun to his man's job, and loved his wife, my mother, like a man should. He stepped into a vaccuum in my life that had gone unfilled for almost the entirety of my life. By the time I was old enough for it to matter, my father was more the main character in a legion of cautionary tales. Arthur taught me that football was about what happened on the line of scrimmage and on the sidelines, that if your lines controlled the action, anyone could come up and make plays on either side of the ball.

He taught me that the Black man was God's gift to the world, a gift the White man intercepted and tried with all his might to break. He also taught me that whatever I became out of life, would be my responsibility. that no white man would, could, or should attempt to live my life for me, for I controlled my destiny. As he was transitioning from raising boys to raising men, Art (a man I called Dad the moment he married my mother) was stricken with lung cancer; he would reap the seeds of a 2 pack a day habit he had sown for many years. Over that four year period, both my parents were at home. I have no idea how we made it duringthat time financially, I only know it something went wrong, I never heard about. On January 20, 1984 Art Died of lung cancerand I was back to the drawing board.

Before you cop an attitude about the price of gas...read this

And you think gas is expensive here...try this on for size.

The man behind the War Report

The most unfortunate thing about this war is the fact that it rages on whether there are headlines to follow or not. As we speak some blogger somewhere is waxing eloquent as to how it is that the other sex just doesn't get it, piling on anecdotes and embellishing and embracing stereotypes. The funny thing is that even with the postponement and all the FW and I have never been closer. Of course that is how adversity is. Well that is how it is supposed to be anyway. The moment brothers stop trying to rein in the SuperWomen they discover, turning them into Relics from an era gone by, will be the moment Women will stop feeling emasculated. Yes, brothers, if you stumble upon a multi-degreed head of household with her pedicured foot in corporate America's ass, attempting to turn her into (yeah..i DARE you to find a Black woman who embodied the kind of character Donna Reed or June Cleaver represented on TV) is going to feel a lot like emasculation. and NO ONE, even a WOMAN, wants to be emasculated.

Let us be clear. The second half of the 20th century put the Black woman in an awkward position. It made HER the hunter gatherer, cause nurturing doesn't put food on the table in enough quantity to keep up with the rapidly rising standard of living. Sacrifices were made, and the overall mindset of the black woman evolved as she started to embrace a role she....(deep breath) was not created to play.

Let me stop here and elaborate.

Men and Women are EQUAL...but they are not the same.

Equal does NOT mean the same.

IF you think it does, try slipping 2 rolls of quarters under a stripper's G string instead of a 20 and see how far THAT gets you.

(yes i admit i drove this whole post JUST so I could type one of my favorite analogies. now back to my subject)

Women have become more like men than they were ever intended.

While many in my rapidly expanding circle have a tendency to eschew overt Scriptural references...allow me to be QUITE specific:


Ephesians 5: 22-33 Amplified version

22Wives, be subject (be submissive and adapt yourselves) to your own husbands as [a service] to the Lord.

23For the husband is head of the wife as Christ is the Head of the church, Himself the Savior of [His] body.

24As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands.

25Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her,

26So that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word,

27That He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such things [that she might be holy and faultless].

28Even so husbands should love their wives as [being in a sense] their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself.

29For no man ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and carefully protects and cherishes it, as Christ does the church,

30Because we are members (parts) of His body.

31For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

32This mystery is very great, but I speak concerning [the relation of] Christ and the church.

33However, let each man of you [without exception] love his wife as [being in a sense] his very own self; and let the wife see that she respects and reverences her husband [^[a]that she notices him, regards him, honors him, prefers him, venerates, and esteems him; and ^[b]that she defers to him, praises him, and loves and admires him exceedingly]. [I Pet. 3:2.]

As you may or may not have read, I got married in May of 1997, at the not all that tender age of 26. The above scripture was not only read, but a sermonette was PREACHED on that passage DURING my wedding. (it should be noted that full fledged church was held on that day, a soul got saved, both the bride and the groom caught some semblence of the Spirit and it ran the wedding a full hour over schedule, which cost the groom a not all that nominal overtime fee for the limo. All that there, didnt sink in, obviously, because my dumbass was up to my elbows in a relative stranger not ONE year later.

You might ask why that was, and why I was able to live to tell the tale, especially considering the fact that my then-wife was 2+ months pregnant with our first child. Youll have to trust me that I had my reasons and that I was spared for good cause. I am only pointing this factoid out to let you know that I am NOT without sin.

That I am MUCH, MUCH, MUCH, better at deciphering YOUR problems and how you should HANDLE YOUR BI than I am at regulating what happens in these here parts.

I KNEW what was expected of me. I DID not know what I was getting myself into.

• I did not know that somehow Married men are more attractive than single men.
• I did not suspect that some people in the world think NOTHING of bedding someone else's spouse.
• I thought I was bigger than my desire to touch and be touched by a woman.(I may be NOW...i damn sure wasn't then...and I probably still am not.)
• I underestimated the ability of a woman (one woman in particular) to hold a grudge.
  
• I completely misunderstood the enduring, never ending damage of infidelity. Infidelity is SOOOO BAD, that women you DIDNT cheat on will look at you askance when you tell them you had a one night stand almost 8 years ago with a woman you no longer converse with while you were married.

I am of the overall opininon that 90% of premarital counseling classes are a joke.

Think about it, You spend your entire relationship trying to avoid the very issues that could probably lead to the death of your relationship, when those are the VERY issues you need to approach head on. Once you do that, how can you proceed on some kind of schedule, knowing that around every corner is a discovery about each other that will challenge everything you know about that person.

Marriage is a wonderful and powerful institution. It is older than Communion and baptism and the very bedrock to culture as we know it. Getting it right is the difference between one nation under a groove and one nation under God, Indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Things Black folk Say Vol. 4: 50 Cent

"I think she caters to older white women. Oprah's audience is my audience's parents. So, I could care less about Oprah or her show. I'm actually better off having friction with her.

The rapper also took time to address the study released last week by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation – a nonprofit public health research group – which suggested that young people who listen to rap music are more prone to alcohol and drug use and aggressive behavior.

"I think that the violence that happened to Proof and the violence that's happening across America right now has nothing to do with hip-hop," he said. "It has something to do with the people - the state of them - and the music doesn't alter that."

From EURWeb

ok everyone, Group Apology time!!!

I _____________ (state your name) do sincerely apologize for NOT going to see Akeelah and the Bee when I KNEW that it was important to do so in order to send a message to Hollywood that we, the Negroes who complain so much about the quality of Black Movies released into theaters, would be sure to go out and make Akeelah number one in the last weekend of the Spring movie season. Knowing full well that Summer Blockbuster Season starts this coming Friday with M:I 3, I have squandered another chance to send Hollywood a message with my money. I am well aware that as punishment, I will receive healthy doses of cross dressing comedians, aspiring rapper/actors, and well meaning movies which are lacking in the polish and creativity that a major motion picture release deserves.

Innocent Football Question

Was it not enough to take in hundreds of thousands of New Orleans residents after Katrina? Why on earth did Houson turn around and gift-wrap Reggie Bush to send The Saints back to New Orleans with them?

It appears the trade was the Essence Music Festival straight up for Reggie Bush.

Innocent Basketball Question

Leaving aside, for a moment, whatever legal issues befell Mr. Bryant and concentrating on Basketball, is anyone at all surprised that Mr. Bryant is leading the Lakers to an upset 1st round series win over the Phoenix Suns and the NBA's umm..MVP, while Mr. O'Neal and his star-laden Heat are struggling mightily with the Chicago Bulls?

I am not.

If you want to hate Mr. Bryant for having horrible judgement on his trips out of town, I cannot say I blame you, but it is growing more and more difficult to blame the Lakers for choosing Mr. Bryant over Mr. O'Neal when it became apparent that they would not be able to get along.

It appears Mr. Bryant is finally maturing in a basketball sense, and the scrubs he had been playing with are growing less scrublike by the game.

A Lakers/Clippers second round matchup is the stuff dreams are made of.

you mean he still has 1000 days left?

In light of the NY Times trying to jack me for money I just don't have, I have taken to bootlegging Op-Ed pieces. As a writer, I should feel guilty, but I get the impression that Mr. Rich isnt getting anything extra from that NYTimes select BS they are trying to sell. Besides...its just good reading.

Frank Rich: Bush of a Thousand Days

Bush of a Thousand Days
By Frank Rich
New York Times Op-Ed

LIKE the hand that suddenly pops out of the grave at the end of "Carrie," the past keeps coming back to haunt the Bush White House. Last week was no exception. No sooner did the Great Decider introduce the Fox News showman anointed to repackage the same old bad decisions than the spotlight shifted back to Patrick Fitzgerald's grand jury room, where Karl Rove testified for a fifth time. Nightfall brought the release of an NBC News-Wall Street Journal poll with its record-low numbers for a lame-duck president with a thousand days to go and no way out.

The demons that keep rising up from the past to grab Mr. Bush are the fictional W.M.D. he wielded to take us into Iraq. They stalk him as relentlessly as Banquo's ghost did Macbeth. From that original sin, all else flows. Mr. Rove wouldn't be in jeopardy if the White House hadn't hatched a clumsy plot to cover up its fictions. Mr. Bush's poll numbers wouldn't be in the toilet if American blood was not being spilled daily because of his fictions. By recruiting a practiced Fox News performer to better spin this history, the White House reveals that it has learned nothing. Made-for-TV propaganda propelled the Bush presidency into its quagmire in the first place. At this late date only the truth, the whole and nothing but, can set it free.

All too fittingly, Tony Snow's appointment was announced just before May Day, a red-letter day twice over in the history of the Iraq war. It was on May 1 three years ago that Mr. Bush did his victory jig on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln. It was May 1 last year that The Sunday Times of London published the so-called Downing Street memo. These events bracket all that has gone wrong and will keep going wrong for this president until he comes clean.

To mark the third anniversary of the Iraq invasion last month, the White House hyped something called Operation Swarmer, "the largest air assault" since the start of the war, complete with Pentagon-produced video suitable for the evening news. (What the operation actually accomplished as either warfare or P.R. remains a mystery.) It will take nothing less than a replay of D-Day with the original cast to put a happy gloss on tomorrow's anniversary. Looking back at "Mission Accomplished" now is like playing that childhood game of "What's wrong with this picture?" It wasn't just the banner or the "Top Gun" joyride or the declaration of the end of "major combat operations" that was bogus. Everything was fake except the troops.

"We're helping to rebuild Iraq, where the dictator built palaces for himself, instead of hospitals and schools," Mr. Bush said on that glorious day. Three years later we know, courtesy of the Army Corps of Engineers, that our corrupt, Enron-like Iraq reconstruction effort has yielded at most 20 of those 142 promised hospitals. But we did build a palace for ourselves. The only building project on time and on budget, USA Today reported, is a $592 million embassy complex in the Green Zone on acreage the size of 80 football fields. Symbolically enough, it will have its own water-treatment plant and power generator to provide the basic services that we still have not restored to pre-invasion levels for the poor unwashed Iraqis beyond the American bunker.

These days Mr. Bush seems to be hoping that we'll just forget every falsehood in his "Mission Accomplished" oration. Trying to deflect a citizen's hostile question about prewar intelligence claims, the president asserted at a public forum last month that he had never said "there was a direct connection between September the 11th and Saddam Hussein." But on May 1, 2003, as on countless other occasions, he repeatedly made that direct connection. "With those attacks the terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States," he intoned then. "And war is what they got." It was typical of the bait-and-switch rhetoric he used to substitute a war of choice against an enemy who did not attack us on 9/11 for the war against the non-Iraqi terrorists who did.

At the time, "Mission Accomplished" was cheered by the Beltway establishment. "This fellow's won a war," the dean of the capital's press corps, David Broder, announced on "Meet the Press" after complimenting the president on the "great sense of authority and command" he exhibited in a flight suit. By contrast, the Washington grandees mostly ignored the Downing Street memo when it was first published in Britain, much as they initially underestimated the import of the Valerie Wilson leak investigation.

The Downing Street memo - minutes of a Tony Blair meeting with senior advisers in July 2002, nearly eight months before the war began - has proved as accurate as "Mission Accomplished" was fantasy. Each week brings new confirmation that the White House, as the head of British intelligence put it, was determined to fix "the intelligence and facts" around its predetermined policy of going to war in Iraq. Today Mr. Bush tries to pass the buck on the missing W.M.D. to "faulty intelligence," but his alibi is springing leaks faster than the White House and the C.I.A. can clamp down on them. We now know the president knew that the intelligence he cherry-picked was faulty - and flogged it anyway to sell us the war.

The latest evidence that Mr. Bush knew that "uranium from Africa" was no slam-dunk when he brandished it in his 2003 State of the Union address was uncovered by The Washington Post: the coordinating council for the 15 American intelligence agencies had already informed the White House that the Niger story had no factual basis and should be dropped. Last Sunday "60 Minutes" augmented this storyline and an earlier scoop by Lisa Myers of NBC News by reporting that the White House had deliberately ignored its most highly placed prewar informant, Saddam's final foreign minister, Naji Sabri, once he sent the word that Saddam's nuclear cupboard was bare.

"There was almost a concern we'd find something that would slow up the war," Tyler Drumheller, a 26-year C.I.A. veteran and an on-camera source for "60 Minutes," said when I interviewed him last week. Since retiring from the C.I.A. in fall 2004, Mr. Drumheller has played an important role in revealing White House chicanery, including its dire hawking of Saddam's mobile biological weapons labs, which turned out to be fictitious. Before Colin Powell's fateful U.N. presentation, Mr. Drumheller conveyed vociferous warnings that the sole human source on these nonexistent W.M.D. labs, an Iraqi émigré known as Curveball, was mentally unstable and a fabricator. "The real tragedy of this," Mr. Drumheller says, "is if they had let the weapons inspectors play out, we could have had a Gulf War I-like coalition, which would have given us the [300,000] to 400,000 troops needed to secure the country after defeating the Iraqi Army."

Mr. Drumheller says that until the White House "comes to grips with why it did this" and stops "propping up the original rationale" for the war, it "will never get out of Iraq." He is right. But the White House clings to its discredited fictions even though their expiration date is fast arriving. There are new Drumhellers seeking out reporters each day. The Fitzgerald investigation continues to yield revelations of administration W.M.D. subterfuge, president-authorized leaks included. Should the Democrats retake either house of Congress in November, their subpoena power will liberate the investigation of the manipulation of prewar intelligence that the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Pat Roberts, has stalled for almost two years.

SET against this reality, the debate about Donald Rumsfeld's future is as much of a sideshow as the installation of a slicker Fleischer-McClellan marketer in the White House press room. The defense secretary's catastrophic mistakes in Iraq cannot be undone now, and any successor would still be beholden to the policy set from above. Mr. Rumsfeld is merely a useful, even essential, scapegoat for the hawks in politics and punditland who are now embarrassed to have signed on to this fiasco. For conservative hawks, he's a convenient way to deflect blame from where it most belongs: with the commander in chief. For liberal hawks, attacking Mr. Rumsfeld for his poor execution of the war means never having to say you're sorry for leaping on (and abetting) the blatant propaganda bandwagon that took us there. But their history can't be rewritten any more than Mr. Bush's can: the war's failures were manifestly foretold by the administration's arrogance and haste during the run-up.

A new defense or press secretary changes nothing. The only person who can try to save the administration from itself in Iraq is the president. He can start telling the truth in the narrow window of time he has left and initiate a candid national conversation about our inevitable exit strategy. Or he can wait for events on the ground in Iraq and political realities at home to do it for him.