2.11.05.e-mail

Greetings Online Family:

First off, let me wish each and everyone of you a very Happy Valentine's. A day honoring lovers, where greeting cards and/or gifts are exchanged by loved ones to express affection.

This day never really had any meaning to my husband and I, because we believe in expressing one's feelings and showing affection every day, and not just one day out of the year. However, I know it has a lot of meaning to many. So, again have a Happy Valentine's Day (February 14, 2005)

I do appreciate all the feedback I received regarding last weeks' e-mail on the Floods in Guyana. Please continue to help with whatever you can. To contribute and help out Guyana, contact your Local Guyanese Embassy and your Local Red Cross Office, or any of the below agencies. Or http://www.reliefweb.int

As you know it's been very quiet in our area and in our community since many have been in Trinidad experiencing the 2005 Carnival, but I understand the I.C.E Promotions and Radio Boyz fete that was held last Saturday at the T&T Clubhouse in DC was "rammed". I.C.E. seemed to be very pleased with the turn out, and he indicated lots of "who's who in the Caribbean Community came out to experience Carnival at the Club House. I know I.C.E. really appreciates all the support and love! Don't forget to check out his upcoming show featuring Maximus Dan on February 25th.

This week we continue celebrating Black History Month (February), which is an annual celebration that has existed since 1926. Much of the credit of Black History Month can go to Harvard Scholar Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who was determined to bring Black History into the mainstream public arena. Woodson devoted his life to making "the world see the Negro as a participant rather than as a lay figure in history." In 1926, Mr. Woodson organized the first annual Negro History Week, which took place during the second week of February. Woodson chose this date to co-incide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln - two men who had greatly impacted the black population. Over time, Negro History Week evolved into the Black History Month that we know today - a four-week-long celebration of African American History.

This week I choose to celebrate a woman my husband and I admire immensely, Ms. Cathy Hughes. You may recall Todd had written about Ms. Hughes in several of our past e-mails. She is a major inspiration in our life.

Ms. Cathy Hughes

(1947 - ).

Ms. Hughes’s life is truly a living testimony of the saying “ whatever you can conceive, you can achieve”, she had lots of faith and worked extremely hard to obtain her dreams, and surely with all the hard work everything she dreamed of has become a reality for her and her son (Alfred Liggins). Ms. Hughes went from teenage motherhood and temporary homelessness to heading the largest African-American broadcasting company in the country. Her company “Radio One” is a billion-dollar Corporation that employs more than 2,200 people at over 70 stations, and now she owns a television network as well “TV One”. Reaching this point was not easy for Ms. Hughes, because according to books when Ms. Hughes purchased her first station (which I fondly remember) funds were extremely tight, and for about a year and a half she lived at the radio station However, Ms. Hughes who is a very determined and enthusiastic woman let nothing get in her way, she did what was needed to purchase her first station, and did everything to keep it afloat. At times she wore all the hats, running the business, raising money, selling ads, hosting her own show, and even doing live remotes. She is truly a phenomenal woman, and a major success. Below are some words from Ms. Hughes taken from “Essence Making It Happen” book edited by Patricia Hinds.

”First you have to believe in and embrace your Creator. Second you have to believe in yourself. I had lost my house, my car-some people thought I had lost my mind-when I moved into the radio station. My mother told me to get a government job. If you know in your heart that you can do something, you can do it”.

“My passion is to communicate with millions of African-Americans and provide them with information that is not normally provided to them in the media. To be Black in America means that most often you will be interpreted through other cultural perspectives, and 99% of the time they’re wrong. My driving force is to communicate with my people from our perspective.”

Another person we greatly admire and who we feel we must pay tribute to during this special month is Quincy Jones, Jr.

Quincy Delight Jones, Jr. (1933- )

Composer; Arranger; Producer; Musician

Quincy Jones grew up in Seattle, Washington, where he began playing the trumpet while still in grade school. He met Count Basie and worked with Ray Charles while in his early teens. He won a scholarship to Boston’s Berklee School of Music and earned money by playing in strip clubs at night. At age 17, he was invited to New York to do some arrangements for jazz musician Oscar Pettiford. There he met Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. He toured Europe with Lionel Hampton’s orchestra in 1956-1957, and again later with Dizzy Gillespie. He remained in Paris where he studied classical composition with Nadia Boulanger.

Returning to New York, Mr. Jones became Vice President at Mercury Records (1961-1968). In 1965, he scored his first film, "The Pawnbroker". Other film scores include “In Cold Blood”, “In The Heart of the Night”, “The Color Purple”, and “The Wiz”. He has also scored many TV shows, including “Roots”, “The Bill Cosby Show”, “Ironside”, and “Sanford and Son”. In 1974, he suffered a near-fatal cerebral aneurysm, but he recovered and six years later found his own label, Quest Records. Mr. Jones has won over two dozen Grammy awards, and has produced and arranged material for many of the biggest stars in the music business, including Michael Jackson’s “Off the Wall” and “Thriller” albums, and the “E.T.” storybook album with Steven Spielberg.

Having risen to the heights of the recording industry, in 1985, Mr. Jones moved from scoring films to producing them; his first screen project was the screen adaptation of Alice Walker's novel "The Color Purple", which was directed by Steven Spielberg and starred Whoopi Goldberg, he organized the “We are the world” famine relief project to help people in Africa. In 1991, he moved into television production with the situation comedy "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air", which gave Will Smith his first starring role. Mr. Jones production company also launched several other successful shows, including "In the House" and "Mad TV". He also produced a massive concert to help commemorate the 1993 inauguration of President Bill Clinton, and at the 1995 Academy Awards won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, a prize that doubtless found its place beside Mr. Jones 26 Grammy Awards. He is the subject of a documentary: “Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones”.

Details taken from Susan Altman's "Ency. of Afro.-Amer. Heritage"

Before I close I want send our condolences to Ruby Dee and her family on the lost of her legendary husband Mr. Ossie Davis. Mr. Davis was an accomplished actor, writer, producer and director, his career spans more than half a century. He has written and directed many films, such as (1970's "Cotton Comes To Harlem", plays (including 1961's controversial exploration of segregation, Purlie Victorious, and the book for its musical adaptation, Purlie!), and television films (For Us the Living: The Story of Medgar Evers). One of his books for young people, Escape to Freedom , won the Jane Addam's Children's Book Award. On television he has appeared in The Emperor Jones (his TV debut in 1965), "Evening Shade," "The Client," Alex Haley's Queen, "The Defenders," and "Bonanza," and has received Emmy Award nominations for Teacher, Teacher, King, and Miss Evers' Boys. His films include The Cardinal, The Hill, The Scalphunters, Grumpy Old Men, Dr. Dolittle and The Client. On stage he has given memorable performances in No Time for Sergeants, The Wisteria Trees, Green Pastures, Jamaica, Ballad for Bimshire, The Zulu and the Zayda and I'm Not Rappaport.

Mr. Davis have been married to Ruby Dee since 1948 (approximately 57 years) and they have had a wonderful life together. Their work, in fact, has always explored and celebrated the lessons of black history in the United States, making the couple, over the decades, an inspiration and iconic presence in contemporary African American culture. Both received the NAACP Image Awards for their 1996 CBS series "Promised Land," and delivered searing performances in Roots: The Next Generation. Their joint autobiography published in 2000, With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together, recounts their work together, not only in the arts, but also as artists at the forefront of political activism, ranging from their vigorous opposition to Senator Joseph McCarthy's Communist witch hunt to their tireless work on behalf of civil rights, voting rights and equal rights for all.

"Intensely committed they are to the idea that art and politics are inseparable. They both firmly believed that the arts have the capacity to make viewers more human and teach them, at least on some level, how to live.

We will miss this great man...Ossie Davis, he has contributed tremendously to our history.

Until next week, please have a safe and wonderful valentine and weekend!

susanmangatal@ariousentertainment.net

Caribbean Vibes Radio (Internet 24-7 radio)

SIZZLING THURSDAYS!!! Be sure to join the rejuvenated and energized maestro "Fabulous" for the first "Sizzling Thursdays" of 2005. Showtime Thursday 9:00 pm until 12 midnight at www.caribbeanvibesradio.com. Share the link with friends and family across the globe. Email your requests, shout-outs to caribbean@im4radio.com or call toll free 1-866-ONE-VIBE

FREE Saturday February 19th 2005 @ 1pm-4pm

Author and Poet Ms Denrique Preudhomme reads and signs from Stranger Then Fiction, a collection of short fiction, "Relection on Realism and The Heart of Truth", a collection of poetry. Born in San Fernando, Trinidad, Ms Preudhomme resides in Washington, DC and New York. www.denrique.com

Taking Place at: Ellington’s on Eight Restaurant – Lounge and Patio, located at 424A 8^th Street, S.E., Washington, D.C. 2003 (Capitol Hill/Eastern Market/Barracks Row/SE http://compacturl.com/xrdg. Books and Refreshment will be on sale. For more information call 202-546-8308

CaribNation TV

WHUT - TV - Ch.32, 6pm - January 14th and 21st, 2005

Monday, February 14
Restructuring Air Jamaica: Air Jamaica Under New Management, What travelers should expect.

Guest: Claire Robinson, Air Jamaica's Reg. Sales Mgr.

Recognizing the importance of the national airline to the country’s economy, the Government of Jamaica has assumed full ownership and management of Air Jamaica, effective December 23, 2004. The new board of Directors is headed by Dr. the Hon. Vincent Lawrence appointed. Former NCB Managing Director, Mr. Aubyn Hill heads the restructuring office and will implement the plan to solidify Air Jamaica’s long term viability and attract new equity partners. All persons who do business or plan to conduct business with the airline, are assured that there will be no disruption in the operations of the airline.

Monday, February 21st
Profiling Two of Belize's Music Treasure: Andy Palacio and Young Sensation, Maria

Andy Palacio, is not only Belize's most popular musician and performing artist, but a cultural activist with a deep commitment to preserving the values of his Garifuna culture.

Born and raised in the coastal village of Barranco, Andy grew up listening to traditional Garifuna music as well as imported sounds coming over the radio from neighboring Honduras, Guatemala and the United States. Along with several of his peers he formed a Capella singing groups and bands and began developing his own voice. However, it was while working with a Garifuna literacy project in Nicaragua in 1980 and realizing that the Garifuna language and culture was steadily dying in that country, that a strong cultural awareness took hold and his approach to music became more defined. MARIA is new to the music scene, but already has captured the heart of music lovers everywhere.

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	Special Shout out to Shurla at Caribbean Delight Restaurant!
	Special Shout out to CeeC Promotions. Good job on your first promotion!