Blog Archives
Does Cell Phones Ruin Relationships?
As I look around each and every day I see more and more Americans face down, thumbs and fingers going, not a care in the world and not paying attention to each other. People are sitting at the American table waiting on their food, one would think you could spend that time getting to know each other, asking about each other’s day, preparing to see each other that night or whenever; no your head is down in the lighted screen, square box, at times headphones in your ear.
At this point you may say that I have some, or a little hatred for them, and you ask who
are them? Them would be cell phones, I wish at times they would all disappear, vanish off the face of the earth. I wish we could go back to the good old days where a good relationship was based on you spending time with each other, looking in that person’s eyes at the table, without interruptions, smiling, laughing, holding, kissing; but no, you have to get that important call from the office.
You come home not to see your wife or girlfriend, but to spend time on the toilet with your phone, then just to get out, take a shower, eat dinner with your phone, watch television with your phone, go to bed with your phone, pay little to no attention to the living and breathing wife, husband, boyfriend, or girlfriend next to you, but spending time in bed on the phone whether it’s work or games it comes first then him or her.
So, you tell me CAN or does cell phones ruin relationships?
Fibromyalgia Hasn’t & Will Not Beat Me!!!!!
God Bless!!!!!
Keep on Bogging………
Food Review: Mission BBQ “The America Way”
The America Way is the slogan at Mission BBQ and it seems like they are standing up to their slogan. They proudly open their doors on September 11, 2011. As I entered one of their establishments I notice the loud greeting from behind the counter as they were preparing the food “Welcome to Mission BBQ, we will be right with you.” My party replied as we looked over the menu and watch them prepare the orders in front of us.
The way they are set up; you place your order up front and move along the line. They have quite the options to pick from. You can get the Market sampler which you can choose two or three meats which includes sliced brisket, turkey, chopped brisket, pulled chicken, pulled pork, and sausage (jalapeno & chorizo). There are racks and sandwiches you can order from also.
When you order those combos you then have a choice of side which includes Maggie’s mac-n-cheese, cold slaw, baked beans w/ brisket, seasonal side, and green beans & bacon. I know this sounds yummy, but we have just scrapped the surface because, I have not even spoken to you about the taste of some of these items on the menu. Are they worthy to be called “The America Way?”
The sauces they have to choose from have crazy ranges in taste of spicy to darn outright good smokey bbq sauces and they are as follows: Memphis Belle, KC Classic, Tupelo Honey Heat, Craftsman Special, Smoky Mountain, Alabama White, Carolina Vinegar, Texas Twang, Bay-B-Que, Georgia Mustard. With names like those the taste GOT TO be right!!
So, as we sit down we notice that the tables are filled with six different BBQ flavors for you to choose from for your meal; along with a roll of paper towel for your messing hands. The staff are very friendly making sure you are taken care of and all your needs are attended to; even going the extra mile to make short conversation while you wait for your food.
As I am sitting, I couldn’t help but notice the décor; former Veterans, first responders, fire fighters, soldiers, officers, and soldiers that are serving our country. Yes, this place did speak loud volumes of the American Way. Many people in the United States have gave their life for our freedoms and looking around at these walls make you feel nostalgic about where you are from and what others have done for you to be here today.
Okay, food is here, and I ordered the pulled pork and the sausage, and my husband ordered the sliced brisket and ribs along with two side and cornbread with both orders. The sausage was amazing, it was a party in my mouth the great spice with the chorizo and jalapeno was an awesome mixture. The two together was not to over powering, a great relationship. The pull pork was nice and wet, I hate pull pork that is dry, and this was nice and moist. The choice of sauce made it a great pair and I was very happy with the pull pork. I also tasted my husbands sliced brisket and oh my God!! It was wonderful, once again here it was moist and not dry at all. It was tender, and it was like falling apart and the sauce that he chose was out of this world; two thumbs up.
The side are just as great as the meals itself, just be careful with the deserts it can be a little to sweet. Like the peach cobbler, if you are a diabetic I would not recommend it. Some things work good at restaurants like this one and some things don’t; desert aren’t their forte. So, do Mission BBQ stand up to their slogan “The American Way” I would have to say YES. Thank you, Mission BBQ, for your great BBQ and for what you stand for.
Fibromyalgia Hasn’t & Will Not Beat Me!!!!!
God Bless!!!!!
Keep on Bogging………
Race, Creed, Money, Power, & The Citizens of Tampa FL Spring Music Festival 2018
The day was wonderful, the sun in the sky not a cloud around. The traffic was normal for what it was like on a Saturday in Tampa, FL; in other words, busy. However, on this day it would be a little busier than most due to a festival that was planned over a year ago with the Parks & Recreations office. The festival would be taking place at the beautiful Water Works Park they would be calling it The Spring Music Festival 2018 hosted by non-other than yours truly GroovEntertainment LLC.
Like any festival the day was going perfect there were plenty of vendors, food trucks, music, family, and friends. You could see people from all walks of life come together for a weekend of music and fun by the river. There are bike trails, walk ways, and even a water taxi near by for commuters to easily get to and from the water park venue shops, park, and plaza. There were also enough room for the four-legged friends as well.
As the music got started and more and more and more people began to come to enjoy the show, placing their blankets and chairs, we cozied up closer to the front, so we could enjoy the show as it got underway. Many people started singing along with artists that were on stage or as the DJ played some songs in between acts. My family and I enjoyed the songs from the old school as well as the here and now.
Blanket down, chairs set, food gotten, and beverages gotten; let’s keep this music festival rolling. The talent that would be hitting the stage during the festival was Theo Lodge, Sierra Amora, Angel Brown, DJ Tone Kapone, DJ Brian B, Tone Kapone, plus more. As my family and I were enjoying this beautiful festive day considering my mother-in-law was joining us all the way from NY, and she had made her plans around this event she was counting on a great show while here visiting Florida.
Let’s just say my family visited the Primavera Music Festival the week prior, the festival was AWESOME thank you to Safety Harbor by the way! The music was of a different caliber—meaning it was just not hip hop & R&B, it was rock and roll, some R&B, and jazz. There was a predominantly caucasian surrounding that had a slim minority population base present. This is not a bias statement; this is based on factual ocular fact base on who came out to the festival.
There were no disruptions, no interruptions, there was peace, joy, families, food, and friends. This event was located by the harbor; thus, you may walk on the docks in very close proximity to private property and other homes nearby. The festival also had a Ferris wheel that stood so tall that it could had disrupted the neighbors, but there were no complaints—everyone played along, and no calls were made to the parks of recreations office.
I only bring this up to you as a concern citizen of Florida regarding the event that happen in Tampa on that afternoon at the Spring Music Festival. I and many other have felt that an injustice was and has been done to the people of Tampa, FL on the 31st day of March on Saturday afternoon. At approximate between 5:30 -6pm while the people of Tampa were enjoying the Spring Music Festival, there was a caucasian couple Ms.Vogelsang and Mr. Shkurii tying the knot, however their wedding planner did not check to see if there were going to be other events going on that day in the park when she pick that venue on that day.
So we all know in life there are two side to every stories and I will give you both sides because obvious one of the people did not want to hear the other person’s story on that day; maybe it was due to race, creed, color, or the power trip that they were on—we the people need to speak up!
Let’s hear Tony Mulkey’s side, he is one of the associates that works with the director Paul Dial of Parks and Recreations. Tony states he was in Columbus Ohio and could not deal with the situation directly, so he dealt with it over his phone he stated “The organizer from the wedding called him around 5:30-6pm to see if he could call the festival organizer and see if they could pause the music for the wedding ceremony. Then he stated that he got a call back from the event coordinator from the music festival side, that stated he has a permit for the festival and he is not going to pause but he will turn it down.”
So, then Tony with all this back and forth finally says you know what “I am going to shut you DOWN” and he does just that, not taking into consideration of the families, vendors, sponsors, talents, music, and for what? A hand full of people that did not even stay on the roof even for 5mins after they announce they had to stop the music. Was this a fair trade off? You decided.
Second side of the story is coming from DJ Prince stating that he was getting calls from someone in parks and recreations to lower the music, so he did so, then even after that he even stopped the music at one point in time. He received another call stating the wedding coordinator was still complaining of the music and that the music needed to be paused. Keep in mind the music had been paused, so we don’t know what they were complaining about at this point. By the time everything was said and done the festival was shut down and we were left holding our tails. DJ Prince felt like he would need to find out who he would need to play politics with now since this seemed to be a political move. If it was then–there is no way, no way at all a music festival should have been shut down due to a wedding that was happening on private property over 100yards plus away, that the organizer only had rented out one speaker which was idiotic on their part, and as soon as the music was shut off everyone in the wedding party have already ventured indoors of the rooftop restaurant.
There was also the opinion of Dejavu an artist they did not get a chance to perform at the music festival “if we have the same equal right in the sense of the permit in what we are doing, we shouldn’t have to turn down anything. If it’s coming from the people up above, the people from the wedding you should know what’s going on in your town the wedding planner, what makes yours event more than ours?”
He states “no one here is angry or aggressive, no shooting, the children are here with their families with the lawn chairs, and food trucks on site smelling good. He goes on to say “you have Black folks, Asian, White, Puerto Rican, all nationalities interacting with each other, people on their bikes stopping and listening to the music.
In Daniel Riley’s opinion he felt that they were belittle by the incident because the wedding party stated, “we do not like the music that was played.”
All in all, this could have been handle more better than it was done to ease the feelings of the citizens of Tampa. In this day and age there should be no favoritism, no back-door dealings, no unfairness due to race, creed, color, power, money status, or socioeconomic status. Fair should be fair, it should remain that way, judgement shouldn’t be made in a blink of an eye, or as quick as a bullet train. Decision that can come back and bite you in the butt should be handle with grace and finesse. Decision need to be handle with God on your mind and with him in your heart.
Every time I think of how God did great things for me and the people of this world I thank him and pray even harder because I know that the world needs more caring, compassionate, God fearing, joyful, peaceful, loving people in this world that can spread the joy by showing others what kindness we have inside of us. We have come so far, yet we have much further to go, lets show one another kindness and remember the next decision that you make could be the one that determines what the rest of your life might look like.
I would like to thank 99 Jams WUJM, CEO Don Scott and our super cool DJ’s Big Mark, Super Dave, R1, Daryl Askey, and Bizzy B, all our acts. Saving the best for last DJ Prince and Dejavu, keep it blessed gentlemen and above all keep Christ in your lives and always be true to your gift and to yourself. I wish to see more good things to come from this incident on that sad day Saturday March 31st. Let’s learn and move on from it and grow to a bigger and better festival for September; thanks to Tony for answering questions that he might have saw was tough but answered them anyhow.
2018 JITG Music Festival
Fibromyalgia Hasn’t & Will Not Beat Me!!!!!
God Bless!!!!!
Keep on Bogging………
Day Two: 2018 JITG Music Festival Miami
Day Two at the JITG Music Festival there was right away a noticeable amount of more jazz goers than on Saturday. Maybe they were here for the early afternoon churching of Tasha Cobbs Leonard, or perhaps it was Mrs. Anita Baker they were waiting for; who knows. On day two there were so many great performers that would hit the stage from the renowned Tasha Cobbs Leonard, Pieces of a Dream, Avery Sunshine, Walter Beasley, none other than Anita Baker, Joe, and bringing the 90’s was Biz Markie, Kid ‘N Play, Trick Daddy, and Salt-N-Pepa with Spinderella.
Hitting the stage first was Mrs. Tasha Cobbs Leonard and let me say she took us to church with her amazing voice. She sang favorites likes Break every chain, Praise on It, I will follow and many more of her amazing hits. The crowds were on their feet given God all the praises he deserved. The weather was warm, sunny, and we were stomping the enemy under our feet. I give a round of applause to Tasha Cobbs for the amazing performance that she brought to this years 2018 JITG Music Festival. Thank you, Tasha.
Up next was Pieces of a Dream playing sweet jazzy tunes to today’s modern songs and as I say, back in the days greatest hits from the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. Joining them on the stage later in the performance would be the jazzy songstress Avery Sunshine. She was greeted to the stage with a warm welcome. As I sat back and listened to the sound of her soulful voice it took me back down memory lane with some other famous jazz singers such as Abbey Lincoln, Billy Holiday, Betty Carter, and Nina Simone just to name a few. Loving to sit in my chair and relax to her voice made me really enjoy how Sunday was starting out; hats off you both of your groups.
Walter Beasley played excellent, the smooth rhythmic sounds of jazz continued as he hit the stage and played a few of his and the audience favorites. There was no shortage in music at this festival and neither was the applauds and smiles as Walter Beasley played. Crowd goers sang along with the band as many of the also danced in the isles with love ones they came with or others they met alone they way; jazz music never felt so good.
Now, the moment that I think many, and I mean many people had been waiting for all night, was here Mrs. Anita Baker. It was a standing ovation in JITG, she graced the stage with her presence wearing an all red beautiful tailored dress, and hair was short and stylish. As she walked the stage she immediately thanked her fans, the band, the backup singers, and any other stage workers with a bow to them; very elegant and classy of her. Anita Baker can be seen this year on her farewell tour, so be sure you check your local listings to see when she will be in or around your area. Mrs. Baker did an awesome job with all the songs that she performed on Sunday night it was unforgettable. Thank you, Mrs. Anita Baker, for your grace, elegance, passion, drive, and vocals you be blessed.
Then we have the sweet sounds of Joe mesmerizing the crowds and getting everyone all into their feelings. Joe has does what he does always; greets the crowd and comes right off the stage as he is performing and into the crowds. Security is making sure he is guarded and protected as he put on an amazing show sharing his vocals and his body with the first few rows of the festival. There was no short supply of Joe, he came thru and did his thing and I thank you.
This year’s bringing the 90’s we have up next Biz Markie of course everyone also knows him as the human beatbox. Biz Markie comes on and does a few oldies for us and then he starts to belch out words that seems like he’s trying to actually sing…why? Well I understand him because I have known for years that’s Biz Markie; has tried and wants to sing, but the words just don’t come out quite right. So many people at the festival was at that point, booing him off the stage and saying No! No! for my husband and I we new the deal. It was like watching a little teenage girl singing in the shower and got caught trying to sing and her little petty brother and being told to shut up. Well my words to Biz Markie, you keep doing you Boo!
Our next 90’s was Kid ‘N Play, you would not believe how much energy that these two brought to the stage. People were back onto their feet jumping to the beat and had forgotten about the last act—sorry. Kid ‘N Play rock the stage with their crazy dance moves and their fast and cool rap, they even went into a rap battle against each other—very awesome I must say so. They did crack a joke saying, “Boy we are tired as hell.” The crowd laughs I could see how all that running and jumping around could make anyone tired when you’re their age. They put on an excellent show and I really enjoyed it, thank you Kid ‘N Play.
Trick Daddy do I need to say any more? I guess I will it’s only fair to the readers. Hitting the stage was your 90’s rapper, the crowd went wild. The crowds sang and rapped along to the verses of his music leaving me to just sit back and guise at the crowd. They knew word for word seems like before he was going to say it. They were true and loyal fans, I did not know this Trick Daddy so for me I was on the outside looking in at what all the fuss was about, and from what I saw he had a loyal fan base. Keep up the work Trick Daddy.
Our last act of the night with over thirty years working in this music industry Salt-N-Pepa, with Spinderella. I was so happy when they grace the stage with their presence. It was like a little girl getting a Christmas gift early and opening it; this was the final act of the night that I wanted to see. I loved listening to Salt-N-Pepa when I was growing up, because as a kid in my home it was always church, church, church so when school came, and I could listen to music; that’s where it was at I fell in love with these ladies. They came to the stage all grown and sexy, singing all the greatest hit and apologizing to all the women they got in trouble with their provocative songs. All I got to say to that is, no worries ladies you were doing sex education. Spinderella had all the great beats as usually; Salt and Pep had all the great moves and rhymes. All three ladies and their dancers did their thing on stage they came out to entertain us and that’s just what they did. I feel that they brought a hell of a show ladies keep up the work and I look forward to seeing more years ahead. God bless you all!
Jazz In The Garden Music Festival Miami Florida
The 2018 Jazz in the Garden Music Festival started with a bang from a local artist A. Randolph, singing his own tunes and some hits from back in the days; making everyone get up onto their feet and jump around. Warming the crowds up for all that was to come. A. Randolph would continue to play onset, in between acts getting us ready for the next performer, it was like every time he hit the stage he got better and better hyping up the crowds. Overall I would have to say hats off to A. Randolph at this years JITG Music Festival.
Our next performer was Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue. Man these brothers could play the horn, and trombones; they did not disappoint at any means. Talk about blowing a trombone until you fall out, this man could play like our most prolific players of the past; Al Grey and J J Johnson just to name a few. It was a real treat to hear the brass sound of the trumpet and the trombone it was electrifying and it shows throughout the crowds. Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue thank you for gracing us with your presence.
Up next we have none other than Smokey Robinson, smooth as he always is. He approach the stage wearing an all red suit. He had this red shirt underneath that exposed his chest just enough to tempt the ladies into temptation of lust and desire. I could hear the women from the back of me screaming ” Sing it Smokey” & ” Yes, yes Smokey” as they sing along with him as he sing many of his greatest hit from Tears of a Clown, Ooo baby bay, You really Got a Hold on Me and many more. The crowds were standing throughout his performance as they belched out his tunes. Smokey Robinson’s went on to be more daring as to bring onto the stage two beautiful music goers that were more than eager to greet him with a slow sultry dance then embraced him with a hug. They were used to edged the crowd on even more as he ended out his night. All in all Smokey Robinson you get an A+ on my report card.
Fantasia, Fantasia, Fantasia need I say no more. This young lady kept it as real as it comes on last night stage; no wonder she has “Fan” in her name. The fans went wild last night as she embraced the stage with her presence. Right out the gate, she lets you know she is grown, and not playing games, that she is an adult, and that all games have been placed aside. Now keep in mind I was not a Fantasia fan to say the least, I was not hating on her either, I just really hadn’t heard that much of her music to really care either way. There was only one song I knew and enjoyed and that was about it, but last night I was about to give her a chance. So I was so impressed when she opened her mouth and started singing. She song, songs from back in the days and gave tribute to Tina Turner. The most important part of Fantasia show to me was when she took the time to HONOR GOD and ask if there were any that has not accepted Christ as your savior; now was the time. Fantasia for that you will now always have a new FAN.
Chaka Khan, Chaka WHAT? What a totally and utter mess on last night. I would prefer that poor little Chaka Khan would have not come out on stage looking and definitely not sounding or in her case not sounding like she did last night at the JITG Music Festival. It was clear to see that IMMEDIATELY as she hit the stage and tried to open her mouth and nothing came out but screeching sounds; everyone starting packing up. When she stood there like a deer in headlights with nowhere to go and could not remember the words to her own songs; people started packing up When she played with her hair more than singing, people were leaving the stadium, when she walked as if she was staggering across the stage at times people were already telling of stories of how this wasn’t the first time she has come on the under the influence. Chaka Khan if it’s rehab you need by all means take it, it does no justice to try and perform and your backup singers are the ones we are paying to hear..so unfair. To the backup singers, thank you for putting up with the nonsense of the entertainment business and covering for the seem to be under the influence, late running, and sometimes not so nice bosses; we thank you. As for Chaka Khan and her performance, it left many dissatisfied and broken hearted to see her that way. Get better Chaka Khan I am rooting for you.
To all the performers Thank you for entertaining me, I really enjoyed your music. Look for my next blog on part two performers.
Fibromyalgia Hasn’t & Will Not Beat Me!!!!!
God Bless!!!!!
Keep on Bogging………
A New Day With Fibromyalgia 