Simply BJ...

Paying Tribute to Ms Coretta Scott King..

This is the story of Ms Coretta King, it is with sadness as we grieve the passing of a true legendary lady the epitome of love, hope and character. Ms King was a special person and the following is her story. Join me at this very sombre moment as we all around the world remember this wonderful lady who carried her husbands dream honorably.

Click on the link below (The King Center) to listen to Martin Luther King Jnr.

Coretta Scott King (1927- ). The founding president of The King Center in Atlanta, Georgia, Coretta Scott King emerged as an African-American leader of national stature after the death her husband, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Born on April 27, 1927, in Marion, Alabama, Coretta Scott spent her childhood on a farm owned by her parents, Obie Leonard Scott and Bernice McMurry Scott. By the early 1940s, her father's truck-farming business had become increasingly successful, prompting harassment from white neighbors. The family suspected that resentful whites may have been responsible for a 1942 fire that destroyed the Scott family's home. Hoping for better opportunities for their offspring, Obie and Bernice Scott encouraged their three children to excel in school. Coretta Scott graduated from Lincoln High School, a private Black institution with an integrated faculty, and in 1945 she followed her older sister Edyth to Antioch College in Ohio, where she received a B.A. in music and elementary education. An accomplished musician and singer, Scott held her concert debut in 1948 in Springfield, Ohio, performing as a soloist with the Second Baptist Church.

Enrolling in 1951 at Boston's New England Conservatory of Music with a grant from the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation, Scott developed her singing talent and eventually earned a Mus.B. in voice. While there, she also began dating Martin Luther King, Jr., a doctoral candidate at Boston University's School of Theology. Despite the initial objections of King's parents, who wanted him to marry a woman from his hometown of Atlanta, the two were married at the Scott family home near Marion on June 18, 1953.

During the period of her husband's public career, Coretta King usually remained out of the public spotlight, raising the couple's four children: Yolanda Denise (born November 17, 1955), Martin Luther, III (October 23, 1957), Dexter Scott (January 30, 1961), and Bernice Albertine (March 28, 1963). While her primary focus was on raising children, in 1962 she served as a voice instructor in the music department of Morris Brown College in Atlanta.

Coretta King also worked closely with her husband and was present at many of the major civil rights events of the 1950s and 1960s. In 1957, she accompanied her husband on a trip to Europe and to Ghana to mark that country's independence. In 1959, the Kings traveled to India, where Coretta King sang spirituals at events where her husband spoke. In 1960, after the family moved from Montgomery to Atlanta, she helped gain her husband's release from a Georgia prison by appealing to presidential candidate John F. Kennedy for his assistance. Kennedy's willingness to intervene to help the jailed civil rights leader contributed to the crucial support he received from African-American voters in the 1960 election. In 1962, Coretta King expressed her long-standing interest in disarmament efforts by serving as a Women's Strike for Peace delegate to the seventeen-nation Disarmament Conference held in Geneva, Switzerland. She also attended the 1964 ceremony in Oslo, Norway, where Dr. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

In the mid-1960s, Coretta King's involvement in the civil rights movement increased as she performed "freedom concerts," which consisted of poetry recitation, singing, and lectures demonstrating the history of the civil rights movement. The proceeds were donated to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In February 1965, while Martin Luther King was jailed during voting rights protests in Alabama, she met with Black nationalist leader Malcolm X shortly before his assassination. Prior to 1968 Coretta King also maintained speaking commitments which her husband could not fulfill.

After the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., in Memphis on April 4, 1968, Coretta King devoted her life to actively propagating her husband's philosophy of nonviolence. Just a few days after the assassination she led a march on behalf of sanitation workers in Memphis, substituting for her husband, and, later in the month, keeping his speaking engagement at an anti-Vietnam war rally in New York. In May she also helped launch the march on Washington of the Poor People's Campaign, thereafter participating in numerous antipoverty efforts. In addition, during 1969, she published her autobiography, My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr.

Coretta King began mobilizing support for the Martin Luther King, Jr., Center for Nonviolent Social Change in 1969. Her plans included an exhibition hall, a restoration of King's childhood home, an Institute for Afro-American studies, a library containing King's papers, and a museum. As founding president of the center, she guided the construction of its permanent home, located on Auburn Avenue next to Ebenezer Baptist Church where Dr. King had served as copaster with his father.

By the 1980s, Coretta King had become one of the most visible and influential African-American leaders, often delivering speeches and writing nationally syndicated newspaper columns. In 1983, she led an effort that brought more than a half-million demonstrators to Washington, D.C., to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the 1963 march on Washington for jobs and freedom, where Martin Luther King, Jr. had delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

Also during the 1980s, Coretta King reaffirmed her long-standing opposition to the apartheid system in South Africa. She participated in a series of sit-in protests in Washington that prompted nationwide demonstrations against South African racial policies. In 1986, she traveled to South Africa to investigate apartheid. Several Black opposition leaders criticized her plans to meet with President P. W. Botha and with Chief Buthelezi, who was viewed by many as an accommodationist. Consequently, King canceled her meetings and, instead, met with African National Congress leader Winnie Mandela. After her return to the United States, she met with President Ronald Reagan to urge him to approve sanctions against South Africa.

Perhaps the most notable achievement in Coretta King's public life was her participation in the successful effort to establish a national holiday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1984, she was elected chairperson of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday Commission, which was established by an act of Congress to formalize plans for the annual celebrations that began in 1986.

Also notable are Coretta King's speeches at London's St. Paul's Cathedral in 1969 and at Harvard University's Class Day exercises. She was the first woman to speak at each of the events. King has also been involved in various women's organizations such as the National Organization for Women, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and United Church Women.

May the Lord Rest her Soul in Eternal Peace.

Amen

posted by Shaggy @ 7:28 AM 12 comments

Amazing HAT TRICK!!

Guys, we woke up today to a new undisputed number 1 song.

Am now 3 : 0 after Mariah, Mary J & now Beyonce making it to the top of the charts. That ladies & gentlemen is what we call a HAT TRICK baby, yeah.

Am on cloud 9 right now. And if you have no idea what am talking about kindly refer to my earlier posts -Simply Genius & Simply Bliged.

Beyoncé, Slim Thug Battle Their Way To No. 1
January 26, 2006, 11:00 AM ET , Clover Hope, N.Y.

Beyoncé's "Check on It" featuring Slim Thug rises one rung to claim the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 this week. The cut ends the two-week run of Nelly's "Grillz" featuring Paul Wall and Ali & Gipp, which falls to No. 2. The Beyoncé track is also the Hot 100's greatest airplay gainer, and remains atop the Pop 100 and the Hot Digital.

So, now whats NEXT. I am recently very impressed by the younger cats the likes of Chris Brown, Omarion, Pretty Ricky, Bobby Valentino & Mario. They are bringing real music back to the scene, the kind we heard from the likes of Freddie Jackson, Luther & Alexander O'Neil back in the day. Some slow smooth ziki that you can sing to your lady, know what I mean?

These young dudes are not rapping but dropping some serious tunes and they can dance too. Don't get it twisted now, I still occasionally get my crunk on, but these guys are bringing the 70's & 80's music back to the fold. On top of this group in my books is Chris Brown. The young man has talent and the looks of a superstar, and he can flat out kick butt on the floor. He is smooth, humble and very likable, watch out for this dude.

Have a safe weekend everyone.

posted by Shaggy @ 10:36 AM 12 comments

Super Bowl XXXX

Is this the year that the BUS retires and gets his ring in his own hometown, the Motown city of Detroit?

Or is this the year that sends the undisputed MVP & Philanthropist Shaun Alexander to the Hall of Fame with a Win.

Whichever way you look at it, this is a great match up and could go either way. Are you ready for some FOOTBALL??

Too close to call, whats your TAKE??






=

posted by Shaggy @ 7:48 AM 14 comments

Simply BLIGED..

Greetings to you my friends. Just 2 blogs ago I wrote applauding Mariah's huge huge comeback and her record sales on her last album. At the end of that blog I also did say who to look out for and it has barely been 3 weeks and I would like to pay tribute to the one and only Mary J Blige who has hit number 1.

The following is an exerpt from the newspapers. -

MARY J. BLIGE HITS #1 AGAIN (AND AGAIN AND AGAIN) Santa Monica, California, January 18, 2005 – There is no stopping the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul! Mary J. Blige has ascended to the top spot on the Billboard 200 again this week with sales of 118,022. Not content to sit atop just one chart, Mary’s single “Be Without You” is currently #1 at Urban radio and the video for the track is the #1 most played on BET.

You know I wasn't just going to walk off without telling you who or what else to look out for, this next artiste, I truly love, a feeling I probably share with some 56 million other men around the world and thousands of women too. But its all good. The Song is "Check on it" on the soundtrack of the new movie "Pink Panther" starring Steve Martin. This song is deadly not just for B's vocal range or singing but also for the artistry & the choreography on the video. It may NOT be a record buster like MJB or Mimi's but it sure is a MUST SEE VIDEO. And you know my girl Beyonce knows how to drop it like it's really hot... and can top the charts anytime just by beyoncing her booty to anything... even to a prisons choir song...

Please believe it. Check out this new video.

Check Ms Knowle's here working this chair. She's something else isn't she??? When I grow up I'd want to be that chair.. even just for a day... MAN!!!! JZ's a freakin lucky guy.. icio ciothe niciake'??? DAMN!!!

Have a great weekend folks and be safe.

posted by Shaggy @ 7:34 AM 19 comments

Simply Bootylicious, mmm...

posted by Shaggy @ 7:33 AM 25 comments

Simply Breathtaking

Ushering in the New Year it was.... What a Place, this was!!! A trip of a lifetime, off the pacific rim coastline, very close to the US/Canadian border, an hour & a half ride on a cruise ferry from Anacortes on a cold drizzly day. This magnificent island is home to several hundred residents who mainly are fishermen and thrive primarily on tourism. The island has a 9 hole golf course that I did NOT get to visit only coz I did not think that they would have one. There are several bars, restaurants, book shops, souvenir tourist shops and holiday homes. I spent some time in one of the local sports bars, had some lunch & teremusha'd with some booz, played some pool and watched some football. They even have a movie theatre that probaby fits about 50 people max.


Here you want to be with your significant other to fully maximise the Islands potential. The Island is just miles away from Vancouver, Canada and Alaska. You know how Kenyan's are everywhere, believe you me, I met this Kenyan guy selling at the main book store, his name was Mutua, can you even figure the disbelief and expression on my face when I read his name badge? Kenyan's are indeed another breed of people and you need to be very proud of just being Kenyan. This guy seemed happy & content and that was his hustle and daily gig. We chatted in swahili, hugged & exchanged numbers. I honestly doubt I'll ever go back there not because it is not a great place but just for the very fact that I may never go back there anytime soon, but it was the normal thing to do - exchange numbers as we may meet some place else.


Simply Proud to be KENYAN.

posted by Shaggy @ 11:13 AM 5 comments

Simply GENIUS

Hey, I called it many months ago and it has happened. Mariah's - Emancipation of MIMI has sold over 5 million copies closely edging out 50 cents. AM I surprised, NOT even a little bit. As soon as this CD came out I listened to it and was totally blown away. At the time guys tried to match her with Fantasia who had also recently released her CD. ANd also during that time it was a toss up and a close call in most books BUT not in mine.

Mariah's vocal versatility is fierce, she then decided to get an image twick and invested in some brand new double D's that are simply eye candy. See, this girl appeals to both a huge white & black audience COZ only she can. Am simply impressed by her achievements and has the most number 1 songs of all time in billboard history. For all the Haters out there, give prop's to this mama.

Now its very early in the year but am going to call another one - lookout out for the new MJB. This one has that one single that is banana's and a video to back it up. Look out boys & girls.

Life is too short NOT to say what you believe in. Simply CALL IT..

posted by Shaggy @ 12:00 PM 6 comments