AUGUST 1999   |   ARCHIVES

VH-1 STORYTELLERS

After a long week of rehearsals Bowie and Co. were ready for their close-ups for VH-1 STORYTELLERS and so were the fans!!!! They came from all around the globe for this "intimate event"!!! People I have not heard from for years were calling me for tickets or extract information on the set list of songs he was going to perform! Of course, everybody has their favourite Bowie songs and so do I, but it was a very well guarded secret and although I did know the answer I had not intention of revealing them!!!! So on August 23rd, 1999 at 8:00 p.m. in the Manhattan Center Studios the "event" began. My daughter Zulekha, my 11 year old niece Amal and I attended the performance!! For both of them it was their first time watching David perform and they were blown away!! and they laughed at all his jokes!!!! The audience were enthusiastic to say the least. They loved all the songs especially "Thursday's Child" from the new cd HOURS.....Seven standing ovations! It was a huge success! I was so proud of him! But I always am!

OFFICIAL DUTY

It's time again for another product story board. This time is to choose and edit the Spring 2000 colour story for Iman Cosmetics. This job is like a never ending gig....just when you finish one product story it's time to work on another!! So I was very happy when a well deserved interruption came up. A model friend of mine, Gail O'Neill, whom I have not seen for years called to ask me if she could interview me for CBS - Evening News, which of course I obliged. I was pleasantly surprised to see how good she is at her new chosen career. She was professional, charming, intelligent and sweet at the same time!!! Check her out on the CBS Evening News. Unfortunately it aired a day later so I can't share with you, but this one I can....check out my interview by Vanessa Jordan on www.coolgirlsjapan.com...... So back to the my official duty....I tease and torment my Marketing Director, Desiree with exasperated tantrums:" I've had enough of this Millenium thing." She, wisely, ignores me and concentrates on the job at hand!!!! Stay tuned!!!!

FAMILY TIES

The Somalis are coming...The Somalis are coming... It was a month of visit from several members of my family. From my daughter Zulekha, who will be spending three months with David and I while temping at the Iman Cosmetics office, to my ever curious niece Amal, my mom and several of my aunts and cousins. Poor David, he had to endure the endless chatter in Somali!!! But he was patient with the kids and charmed the women. Bless him!

CODE OF HONOUR

The other day as usual I was looking thru racks and racks of the "usual suspect" magazines when I came accross CODE - "The style magazine for men of colour". Since I have not seen it before I picked it up to check out the ever gracious and evolving Mr. Danny Glover who is on the cover. The interview on Mr. Glover is inspirational and thought provoking. On the movie Beloved he says: "Serious movies take you through emotional danger. The consequence is turmoil engendered within the viewer. I'm making a generalization, but black people don't want to deal with the turmoil that arises in them over the issues of slavery........We're in this incredible Catch-22 situation. On the one hand, you need to go back, but you can't go back and yet going forward is also difficult, because unless you go back, you can't go forward. I think we need to take an analytical rather than an emotional journey into our past. We have to identify the victories and losses on that journey into our past." This reminded me of an article in the New York Times by Margo Jefferson that came out around the release of the movie Beloved which discusses "why whites and blacks avoided 'Beloved' for different reasons." This gave me the impetus to create on my site a section titled -- E-motion -- which will be a forum which I would like you to discuss with me on a variety of subjects in the future. Please check CODE magazine Sept. issue.