No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: DeAngelo Williams Gives Up Business Class Seat for Marine (Maybe)

Coming off of the Fourth of July holiday weekend, in which we were all being patriotic Americans (and by that I mean shooting fireworks, cooking on the grill, going to the movies and baseball games, and taking long naps), Carolina Panthers' running back DeAngelo Williams displayed true patriotism. He shared on his Facebook and Twitter accounts Monday that he gave up his business class seat on his flight to a Marine.

On Facebook, DeAngelo added this caption to the photo: "He just doesn't know it yet but he will be sitting in this seat when he boards the plane. I always give up my 1st class seat! #isalutethetroops!"

And on Twitter, he remarked: "I always give up my seat to military if my seat is better! I truly appreciate our troops #flyingtherightway"

His public display of goodwill made the rounds on several national news outlets, pop culture websites, sports blogs, and, of course, Charlotte news, and was lauded by many on the social networking sites. But it was also met with criticism by some on social media who took issue with the NFL star being "showy" about his good deed. Love and hate comes with the territory on the Internet, so...

But the online comments also quickly took an unexpected turn. Many commenters said that DeAngelo had been duped by a faker because the so-called Marine's uniform display broke protocol:

"You don't wear shooting badges while displaying medals in the dress blue alpha uniform. Anyone with that much time in service would know better. Also looks like the silver and bronze star medals are incorrectly placed by precedence."

"I'm gonna be honest here. He looks like a "faker". I'm a Marine and he is wearing his cover indoors. NO MARINE WEARS THEIR COVER INDOORS. Something is fishy DeAngelo Williams, don't give up your seat to him!"

"That is a great thing to do, however, I am a Marine and that man is NOT! He is faking."

Perhaps the Marine in question, who appears to be an elderly man, will come forward to clear the air. Regardless, I hope this doesn't cause others to second-guess their kind gestures to servicemen and women in the future.

It should also be noted that actress Amy Adams made headlines a week earlier for giving up her first-class seat to a soldier. Except in this case, the notable deed was announced on social media by someone else--ESPN's Jemele Hill--who happened to witness the act.

Just saw actress Amy Adams do something incredibly classy. She gave her 1st class seat to an American soldier. I'm an even bigger fan now.
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) June 27, 2014

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Steve Smith Deserves to Retire a Panther and Not Until a Year or Two From Now

NFL free agency started this week, so that's why you're seeing several reports of pro football players being signed, re-signed, traded, or released. The Carolina Panthers rarely do anything exciting during free agency--sometimes they hand out big contracts to keep important players intact, but the team doesn't usually bring in a star during this period. And maybe they don't have to. But what they have to do right now is keep Steve Smith.

The Smiths. Credit: instagram.com/aceandsmitty

There are all these different media reports about Smitty's fate, and what could take place this week between him and the Panthers (just Google Steve Smith right now and read). The two most-predicted scenarios are that the team will either trade him or release him. I understand how professional sports work. The players are treated like family, but when they start to age and become less productive, they're reminded that pro sports, especially the NFL where contracts aren't guaranteed, is a business. We've seen countless players play their entire careers with one team, earning many accolades and breaking records along the way, only to be pushed out once they reach their mid-30s. Steve turns 35 in May.

There's a "Save Steve Smith," #SaveSmitty campaign underway on social media.
Credit: teespring.com/savestevesmith

But here's why the Steve Smith/Carolina Panthers situation is different. To put it plainly, the Panthers don't have the resume to get rid of Steve. As my grandma and 'em used to say, they're smelling themselves, meaning they think they're more than what they are. Now, allow me to elaborate.

The Panthers are a relatively young franchise--2014 will be the team's 20th season. During those first 19 years, the Panthers have never had back-to-back winning seasons. Their all-time regular season record is a losing one: 144-160.

For several years, Steve was one of the only bright spots on the team. He gave us reasons to watch, when he made spectacular catches, amassed huge yardage, celebrated in the end zone, and snatched cornerbacks up by the collars during countless scuffles.

And let's not forget the abysmal 2009 and 2010 seasons, between the end of Jake Delhomme's tenure as the Panthers' starting QB and before Cam Newton's. Steve stuck with the team, when he was in his prime and could've asked to be traded for the chance to play for a Super Bowl contender.

Steve's stats may have been down during the 2013 season, but he still led the team in catches and receiving yards.

He's played all 13 seasons of his NFL career so far with the Panthers. The way the league is now, with the over abundance of trading, the Panthers will likely never have another wide receiver play that long for them. So I think it's safe to say his team record of 836 receptions and 12,197 yards will never be surpassed, except by him if he is allowed to continue playing for the Panthers.

Steve is currently 19th on the NFL's all-time career receiving yards list. Only 600 yards separate him from the 15th spot held by Irving Fryar. So basically, if Steve plays in 2014, he should finish the season ranked 15th or 16th all-time--Andre Johnson, another active, top-notch receiver, is currently ranked two spots above him and would likely rise several more spots, therefore pushing everyone he surpasses down one. The Panthers will likely never have another top-15, or top-20 for that matter, all-time receiver again.

When his playing days are over, Steve will eventually make it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, making him the first career-long Panthers player to do so. It would be so much sweeter on that fateful day if No. 89 is able to say he only wore black, white, and blue his entire NFL career.

I know many within the Panthers organization are looking ahead to the future and are excited about the possibilities. The team has a star quarterback in Cam Newton and a star linebacker in Luke Kuechly. Cam turns 25 years old in May and Luke turns 23 in April, so these two have the potential to be the dominant faces of the franchise for the next decade.

Panthers head coach Ron Rivera has been with the team three years and general manager Dave Gettleman one year. They're the two, especially the GM, who'll have the most say on what happens with Steve. Let's hope they realize how valuable he is to not only lifelong Panthers fans, but also future ones.

#TBT I interviewed @89SteveSmith for @CharlotteMag May 2006 cover, #BOBAwards issue. @Panthers pic.twitter.com/cY0fApwovz
— Jarvis Holliday (@HollidayInk) March 6, 2014

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Fantasia: 'Side Effects of You' Talking About Your Personal Life

Fantasia is gearing up for the release of her fourth album, Side Effects of You, which is scheduled to hit stores April 23. Pre-orders for the album began last week (iTunes and Amazon). With her album being less than a month away, you can expect to see the High Point native/Charlotte resident on plenty of media outlets promoting it. And I have a few words of advice for her: Put the focus on your music, not your personal life.

Fantasia has had lots of well-documented hardships, drama, and turmoil in her life, and she's always been rather honest and open about it. It was fine when she discussed those issues on her first two albums, because not only did she gain tremendous notoriety from winning American Idol in 2004, but her story and triumph over tragedy were among the things fans endeared most about her, in addition to her soul-stirring voice.

But now Tasia's a superstar, who's been in the public eye for nearly a decade. And too often now, when she's working on new projects, the media coverage and attention she receives is more about her personal life than her work. When she was about to release her last album, Back To Me, in August 2010, two weeks before the actual release date she was hospitalized for what was described as a suicide attempt via a medication overdose. That crisis overshadowed her album, and the two years that followed brought tabloid and gossip website reports about her alleged affair with a married man and the pregnancy that resulted from it.

Fantasia worked with Charlotte trainer Sonya McRoberts to drop the baby weight.
Credit: instagram.com/TasiasWord

Now that Fantasia's going full force into the spotlight this spring to promote her new album--and looking the best she's looked in years--journalists and bloggers are going to want to ask her the same questions over and over about her personal life. She should be experienced in handling media by now, and should address those questions a couple of times, get them out of the way, and for the next six months only talk about her music. And that advice is coming from me, a journalist who doesn't like it when interviewees dodge or deflect questions.

Fantasia talked about her personal life and recent turmoil in the April 2013 cover story of Sister 2 Sister magazine.

When she stopped in Greenville, South Carolina on Friday, she spoke to one of the local news stations. The interview she gave could've basically been the same as the ones she gave nearly three years ago as "she battled back" from turmoil. She needs to be telling her fans why they should buy her new album and what it sounds like; not what she's been through again and again. If she's really got her life together this time, it'll show in her work.

Media will give her all the camera time and print pages she wants if she's willing to dish the dirt on her personal life. But that's not going to help her sell albums. It didn't the last time.

If anything, she should do what many of her peers in the industry do these days: shun traditional media and instead use social media to get her message out. She does, after all, have more than 3 million fans on Facebook. And that message should be about her new music, which if her first single "Lose To Win" is any indication, she's got a good album on the way. I'm particularly interested in hearing track five from the 13-song album. It's titled "Without Me" and features Kelly Rowland and Missy Elliot.

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Rick Ross Thinks He's Big Meech, Larry Hoover; Media Thinks He's Scared of Gangs; I Think It's About Sales

Chart-topping and recently Grammy-nominated rapper Rick Ross's street cred is taking a beating today. Yesterday afternoon, Live Nation announced that The Maybach Music Group tour concerts, featuring Ross, Meek Mill, Wale, and Machine Gun Kelly, scheduled for Friday, December 7 at Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro and Saturday, December 8 at Bojangles’ Coliseum here in Charlotte have been cancelled. Though Live Nation didn't give an explanation, other than to say that tickets would be refunded, media outlets began to link the North Carolina show cancellations to ongoing and recent death threats made against the rapper by a gang known as the Gangster Disciples.

I'm not going to get into what the alleged beef is about (you can watch a couple of the many Gangster Disciples' YouTube video threats against Ross by clicking here and here), but what's interesting is how several leading news/entertainment websites began running the headlines last evening on through today, that are some variation of "Rick Ross Cancels North Carolina Tour Dates After Death Threats." You can find the articles at MTV, Rolling Stone, E!, XXL, Vibe, just to name a few. Most of them took the early reports by NBC Charlotte (WCNC) / The Charlotte Observer and ran with them.

And they're all giving the gang members too much credit.

After the news broke, awesome FOX Charlotte anchor Morgan Fogarty emailed me yesterday and asked if I would comment on Ross cancelling his North Carolina shows, for a story on her 10 p.m. newscast. I met Morgan and her cameraman in Uptown shortly before 6 p.m. to tape the interview (she also interviewed Power 98's Nolimit Larry). Even though I was just learning of the shows' cancellation like everyone else, my experience in covering entertainment led me to doubt that the concerts were being cancelled because of the threats made by gang members.

Are gangs to be taken seriously? Yes. Are the Gangster Disciples scary? Absolutely. But they've been posting those videos threatening Rick Ross since at least back in October. And the concerts in North Carolina didn't get cancelled until this week, a couple days before they were scheduled to take place. Sounds fishy.

When I talked to Morgan last evening, I told her, among other things (this blog allows me to elaborate more than TV soundbites), I believed the promoter cancelled the shows because of low ticket sales. My assumption was that because Ross, Meek, and Wale have been to Charlotte and Greensboro several times in the past year, the concerts that were planned for this weekend probably weren't drawing much interest.

I know about the Charlotte visits particularly well--heck, Ross and Meek performed at Bojangles' in March while the 2012 CIAA Tournament was in town, when Ross also proceeded to host at least four Charlotte parties over three days. Then Ross returned to Charlotte in June, when he headlined the 2012 Dub Show Tour at Charlotte Convention Center, and hosted an after-party at Club 935. So he's saturated this market all by himself. Not to mention, his MMG artist Meek Mill was a part of Drake's Club Paradise Tour that stopped at Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in May. Wale also had a concert during CIAA Weekend in March at The Fillmore.

Morgan Fogarty interviewing me.

One other thing. You might recall that last year rapper Waka Flocka Flame had his tour bus shot up while he was in Charlotte. Three months later he was back here performing at the Dub Show Tour and hosting an after-party. That led me to ask, "Why, Waka?"

Some might say, Waka came to Charlotte when it was potentially dangerous, but Ross didn't. In hip hop, street credibility is (foolishly) all-too important. The difference here, however, is the money. Low ticket sales led to the cancellation of the North Carolina shows for this weekend, and I don't care how many news headlines claim the contrary. Ross, who was also scheduled to host an after-party this Saturday night at Club 935, is being clowned by many people on social media sites for the cancellations. He hasn't commented on the controversy yet, other than this tweet last night:

North Carolina I wuz so excited to perform tomorro wit #MMG Promoters cancelled show but I'll be Back ASAP. #luv
— TEFLON DON (@rickyrozay) December 7, 2012

Most importantly, as I often say, the hip hop community (primarily, the African-American race) needs to once and for all stop condoning and supporting the violence in hip hop music's lyrics, videos, and culture. I've been a fan of hip hop forever, and always will be. Have I ever bought a Rick Ross album? No. Have I ever bought a Waka Flaka album? No. And I don't plan to. Hip hop isn't the blame for all violence that goes on in the culture, and people are absolutely responsible for their individual actions. But you'd be a fool to ignore the correlations between what goes on in hip hop music and what takes place in the streets.

Because album sales have decreased dramatically over the last six or seven years, artists are hitting the road more and more because concerts are one of the ways they continue to successfully make money. Though the decrease in album sales is largely attributed to Internet piracy and a new generation of fans who, when they decide to pay for music, prefer to buy single songs online (mp3s) as oppose to whole albums, no genre of music has seen its album sales decline as much as hip hop. I'd like to believe that fans--many of whom aren't African-American--are being turned off by all of the ignorant talk, drug references, glorification of violence, and misogyny towards women. And it might finally be also affecting the turnout at concerts.

Waka Flaka was scheduled to perform at The Fillmore just last month, but that show was cancelled too.

By the way, if you don't understand the first part of the headline of this blog post, watch this Rick Ross music video. 

UPDATE 12/11/12
Rick Ross spoke at-length about the cancelled tour dates and situation with the Gangster Disciples in this interview with 99 Jamz radio station in his hometown of Miami. In summary, he explains that he cancelled the tour dates because of a promoter who wasn't handling business effectively and not because of gang threats. He makes it clear that he isn't scared--he's a bawse, he says repeatedly. "I was just in Chicago a week and a half ago. That's the birthplace of the G.D.s. And if I'll go to Chicago to handle my business like I did, I have no problem going to North Carolina or South Carolina.... I'm certified worldwide. I can put a thousand gangsters in any hood. But that ain't what I'm here for. I'm here to make stars, I'm here to make icons, I'm here to break records. I'm here to be Grammy nominated," he says.

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Media Continues to Go 'All In' on Paula Broadwell

When news broke a week and a half ago that General David Petraeus had resigned as director of the CIA, citing an extramarital affair, it came as a surprise to most of us, even though we're used to seeing the careers of men in powerful positions come crashing down because of their philandering ways. Petraeus's resignation was announced on the afternoon of Friday, November 9, leaving journalists, politicians, and everyone else with a lot of questions. I actually said to a couple of people that day that "I bet we'll never find out who he had an affair with." Silly me. Shouldn't I know these things always come out?

A few hours later, that Friday evening, I was kicked back, watching TV, while also surfing Twitter on my phone. I wasn't looking for anything in particular when I saw "Paula Broadwell" was a trending topic. I was like no way! Before even clicking on any of the tweets to see what the buzz was about, I knew it had to mean that she had been identified as the mistress of General Petraeus, because I remembered her quite vividly from when I blogged about her in January, about how she was a Charlotte resident who'd just written a biography on Petraeus titled, All In: The Education of General David Petraeus, and that she had this impressive career and life.

"Paula Broadwell Is Awesome" is what I titled that blog post back in January, where I recounted her military and education credentials, and quickly ran down some of the many media appearances she was making at the time during a publicity tour for her book.

Petraeus and Broadwell during happier, less-suspecting times. Credit: paulabroadwell.com

On the evening and night of November 9, as people feverishly Googled to find out more about who Paula Broadwell is, my nine-and-a-half month-old blog post spiked in traffic, garnering nearly 25,000 page views in the span of about six hours. The high traffic continued through that weekend.

As the Petraeus-Broadwell affair and scandal took one unexpected twist after the next last week, I had several ideas about different things I would potentially blog about. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time since I was busy with other assignments for print publications. Then two days ago, on Sunday evening, I received a call from a managing editor at a New York-based media outlet asking me if I would be a stringer to assist with their coverage of the Broadwell story. Paula and her husband Scott had just returned to their Charlotte home for the first time after being away for more than a week, while all of the embarrassing details of her affair were unfolding. The editor asked if I would, basically, post up outside her home for a few hours Sunday night and for a few hours Monday morning. This was different from the kind of journalism and reporting I'm used to doing, but I figured what the heck, these kinds of opportunities/national-interest stories don't come around too often in Charlotte.

More than a dozen reporters, photographers, and news cameramen gathered outside of Paula Broadwell's home in Dilworth on Monday morning (Nov. 19). Credit: Jarvis Holliday

When I arrived outside the Broadwell home Sunday night about 8:30, all five local news trucks (with crews) were positioned along the streets near her house in Dilworth: WBTV, WCNC, WSOC, FOX Charlotte, and News 14 Carolina, along with a reporter from The Charlotte Observer. When I returned early Monday morning, there was even more media, including several photographers and a few more print media reporters. They all had the same goal: hope that the Broadwells would make their first public statement, which hasn't happened yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it came this week.

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How a Rumor Begins: US Airways-American Airlines Merger (or Not)

Rumors and speculation of a potential merger between US Airways and American Airlines have been running rampant over the last couple of months. It's an important topic locally because Charlotte Douglas International Airport is US Airways' largest hub, and if US would to merge with American, which also flies out of CLT, there are concerns this could mean fewer flights and higher prices.

But it's hard to tell who's on first. In a January Charlotte Observer story, US Airways' CEO said his company is exploring a merger with American. But a week later, the Observer reported American's CEO essentially saying don't hold your breath. Then, from outside analysts there's been tons of speculation. The most recent fuel came when DomainNameWire.com uncovered Sunday that US Airways had purchased a bunch of domain names like usairways-american.com and american-usairways.com that seem to indicate plans for a merger. The Associated Press confirmed the domain purchases today, after speaking with a US Airways rep who said the company bought the domain names to prevent anyone else from buying them. A spokesman for American said his airline knew nothing about the domain names.

So, the merger might never happen, and might not actually be pursued much by either party (or perhaps not by one side). In the video below, Marek Fuchs, from TheStreet, breaks down how such rumors run wild, thanks largely to the media.

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'Hunger Games' Movie Filming Headed to Charlotte

Some entertainment blogs are reporting that filming for The Hunger Games is headed to Charlotte earlier than originally scheduled. The Lionsgate movie is based on the best-selling, science fiction novel about a post-apocalyptic world in the country of Panem, where North America once existed. These games are held there, during which one boy and one girl from each district fight to the death. Filming for the movie has been taking place for the past month or so in small towns in North Carolina (such as Shelby), in Asheville, and in the mountains. Charlotte and Concord reportedly are going to be used for the Capitol scenes--Capitol is the city in Panem that's home to the totalitarian government--and filming here was previously announced to "take place on or around Aug. 1-3, 9-12, 15 and 22." It now might begin sooner, so if you see big tractor trailers rolling up in the next few days, this could be why.

Jennifer Lawrence appeared on the cover of the May 27 issue of Entertainment Weekly for its exclusive, first-look coverage of The Hunger Games.

According to IMDB, actors cast in the movie include: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Elizabeth Banks, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Lenny Kravitz, and more. It will be interesting to see which of the big stars come to Charlotte for the scenes.

The movie is tentatively scheduled to be released in spring 2012. For more on The Hunger Games, visit the following websites:

• www.thehungergames.co.uk
• www.hungergamesmovie.org
• www.myhungergames.com

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Another Apple Store Opening In Charlotte; Future of the Cloud?

There's a new Apple store opening at Northlake Mall, according to ifoapplestore.com, a leading tech website on all things Apple. The website cites a job listing and just-issued building permits for renovation at the mall as its sources for this bit of breaking news. Personally, I'm like okay, cool there's an Apple store opening at the mall that's 10 minutes away from where I live. Not that I'm an Apple fanatic--I don't own an iPad or iPhone, but I do have an iPod (that I received as a birthday gift and use most often when running)--but this new store will enhance Northlake's appeal and becomes Charlotte's second location (the first having been at SouthPark Mall for years now).

But some of the tech sites and blogs are starting to go nuts in linking this new store to Apple's East Coast data center, the massive yet mysterious complex that has been under construction in Maiden, North Carolina for two years. Maiden is a small town about 45 minutes northwest of Charlotte. "Where will you get the fastest streaming speeds once iCloud launches? Most likely at the new retail location Apple is opening up a stone’s throw from its North Carolina data super center," reports CultofMac.com.

It's long been rumored that Apple was developing a cloud service, and was speculated that this is what the new data center is for. As you know, Apple always keeps its big projects close to the vest. But the company finally confirmed the forthcoming cloud service today when it announced the topics that Steve Jobs would be discussing at the Worldwide Developers Conference on June 6. There's still no word on what the North Carolina data center will be used for, but this announcement only fuels the speculation that the 500,000-square-foot facility will indeed be home to the cloud.

                                                                                                          Image courtesy of techgeeze.com.

Apple's new service will be called iCloud (of course) and it'll be interesting to see how it differs from Amazon's recently unveiled Cloud Drive. For those of you who don't speak tech geek, "the cloud" refers to a service that allows you to store digital files that you can access from anywhere--similar to how you access email. So the belief is that consumers will be drawn to the fact that they can save large files and access them and not worry about what computer they're on or if they have their flashdrive with them. And this supposedly will be the future of how music is bought and stored, meaning one day that saving your music on an iPod will seem old-fashioned.

It'll be interesting to see next week if Steve Jobs explains what role, if any, North Carolina will play in all of this.

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Fantasia Needs 'Back To Me' to Turn Focus Back to Music

It's been a whirlwind past two weeks for Fantasia Barrio, since reports surfaced that she attempted suicide at her Charlotte home. You can read all the gossip and rumors just by Googling her name, but tomorrow (Tuesday, August 24) you can get the story as to what happened from Fantasia herself.

In the morning, Fantasia will appear on Good Morning America, where she's scheduled to perform. This is, after all, the time in which she should be focusing solely on promoting her new album, Back To Me, which also comes out Tuesday. Instead, you can expect the GMA crew to ask her tough questions about her suicide attempt and alleged affair with a married man, Antwaun Cook, also from Charlotte.

Then tomorrow night, you can see Fantasia on VH1's Behind The Music at 9 p.m. I mentioned on this blog a couple of months ago that she was slated to be chronicled on the iconic show. I would imagine that the taping for the one-hour episode had wrapped up before Fantasia's suicide attempt, but being the true storytelling show that it is, Behind The Music reportedly taped Fantasia again on Saturday so that this episode could address her recent headline-grabbing ordeal. You can see a brief clip of it in the video below.



From what I've heard of the music and the producers involved with the project, this could be Fantasia's best album yet. But it could also be overshadowed by the turmoil in her personal life. A similar thing happened with Britney Spears three years ago when she released Blackout, during a time when she was making news for her troubled personal life instead of her music. Many music critics rated the album highly, some calling it her best album ever, but it was largely ignored by fans, becoming her worst selling album and not even reaching platinum status.

Next week, when the Billboard charts are released for this week's album sales, we'll see if Fantasia's fans have come out to support her by buying her album. She really needs Back To Me to help turn the focus back to music.

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Charlotte Event Promoter Accuses Therapy Cafe of Racism

Last month, I (and thousands of people on their email lists and Facebook group) began receiving emails that Six Figure Entertainment had formed a partnership with Therapy Cafe and would be hosting events there on an ongoing basis. Six Figure, which was founded in 2006, touts that it "is a major event and promotional company whose mission is to provide exemplary upscale social soirée for a mature and diverse audience." I have attended several of their events and will agree that they're usually upscale, but they're not usually diverse considering they draw a crowd of mostly African-American professionals--I would say about 95 percent. The group is planning their annual Cream & Butter Affair on August 21 at Ballantyne Village Theatre.

A photo from Six Figure Entertainment's Spring Couture, a late-night event held March 27 at Therapy Cafe. The success of the event led to SFE and Therapy's management partnering to hold events on a weekly basis.

But back to the topic at hand, in June, SFE stated in the first of many emails that: "Six Figure Entertainment are now managing partners of Therapy Lounge Uptown Charlotte!!! Charlotte Get ready because we are about to bring you some Flavor in the Uptown Charlotte Area."

Exactly one month later, that partnership has ended, according to a scathing email sent out this afternoon by Kirk Brown, CEO of Six Figure Entertainment. Below is that email in its entirety.

Subject line: RACIST COMMENTS END UPTOWN PARTNERSHIP

Six Figure Entertainment (SFE) truly believes in providing our patrons with exceptional and quality events and value your views and opinions. The foundation of Six Figure Entertainment is focused on creating a unique blend of nightlife entertainment for a mature and diverse audience. Therefore, we regret to inform you that we will no longer be working with or supporting Therapy Café.

Our experiences have revealed an attitude of unwillingness to enhance the nightlife experience of our patrons by not correcting certain obvious deficiencies such as:

· Lack of cleanliness of the Bathrooms
· Inadequate Air-Conditioning
· Non-negotiable Drink and Food Prices
· Lack of Staff Friendliness and Service

We've also become aware of an undertone of racial insensitivity to the patrons of SFE as noted by many of you via the automatic addition of 20% gratuity to your bills. For your information, this occurred based upon the comments and attitudes of the management staff that "African-American People Don't Tip." If this were simply the attitude of the employees, our relationship could possibly be sustained through diversity training etc.; however since this is the attitude of management it is best that we part company now. We do not condone and WILL NOT tolerate anyone disrespecting the brand of SFE and its patrons.

DO NOT PATRONIZE THERAPY CAFE OR ANY EVENTS THAT TAKES PLACE AT THERAPY CAFE....

At Six Figure Entertainment we place a lot of emphasis on our brand and the reputation of our company and as a result will not settle for anything less than the best. We ask that you refrain from supporting Therapy Cafe as we will no longer be in partnership with them. We do however ask that you continue to support Six Figure Entertainment in the events that we do provide to you here in the Queen City.

DON'T SPEND YOUR BLACK DOLLARS AT THERAPY CAFE...IT IS WELCOMED BUT YOU AREN'T.

Sincerely,
Kirk Brown, CEO
Six Figure Entertainment


Let's keep in mind that we haven't heard Therapy management's side of the story yet--Grown People Talking will try to get it and post it on this blog. And in lieu of all of the recent national news coverage of racial tension going on in the political arenas, allegations of racism shouldn't be made lightly or taken lightly.

But what has been your experience at Therapy during the past month or even before SFE began its partnership? Post it in the comments.

UPDATE: GPT was the first blog or news or web site of any kind to post this situation occurring between Six Figure Entertainment and Therapy Cafe. The same day I blogged about this, I tried contacting the managers/owners of Therapy to get their side of the story. After not much success, I decided to fall back and let the big boys handle it as over the next two weeks just about every major news outlet in Charlotte covered the story, from Creative Loafing to WBTV. One of the news sites that did the most thorough jobs covering it is QcityMetro.com. And if you were following the developments, you know that Therapy closed on August 10, less than two weeks after the allegations of racism surfaced.

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Is Michael Jordan Helping LeBron James Find a House?

That question itself is the product of one of the latest (and most unlikely) rumors surrounding LeBron James' upcoming decision as to where he'll play basketball next season. But not only is it not confirmed as to whether or not Michael Jordan was helping James house hunt, Charlotteans need not get excited because the rumor places the scene in Chicago's ritzy Highland Park suburb. Which means the rumor was probably started by some Chicago Bulls fan.

A couple of Chicago Tribune reporters looked into the rumor and in the process they report on an interesting actual fact: former Carolina Panther Julius Pepper, who now plays for the Chicago Bears, recently purchased B.J. Armstrong's Highland Park home. Click here to read more.

Not much has been reported over the years as to what kind of relationship Jordan and James actually have, though the younger 23 has made it clear the respect he has for the legend and how much he idolized him growing up. If you'll recall, James announced at the beginning of this season that he would be switching his jersey number from 23 to 6 out of respect for how much Jordan means to the NBA and how he revolutionized the way people play--and the way we view--the game of basketball.

Since NBA free agency doesn't open until July 1, we can expect several more rumors, speculation, and "sightings" of LeBron James in the coming weeks. Charles Barkley said on TV the other day that he's sick of all the LeBron talk. I think it's fun. There hasn't been a potential player move this big since Babe Ruth was "sold" from the Red Sox to the Yankees. I was at a social event last night and some friends and I were joking about what it would take to lure James to Charlotte to play for the Bobcats. Such comments made were: "They would have to pay him more than the NBA would allow." "Jordan would have to give him future ownership stake in the team." "He'd have to at least give him ownership stake in Nike." Last week, a friend of mine even started a Facebook page called "Why LeBron Should Play For Charlotte!" And let's not forget, last month New York Times columnist William Rhoden wrote a column titled "Want to Make an Impact? Join Jordan," in which he surprisingly stated his case for James to play for the Bobcats.

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Joslyn James Jilted by Charlotte Hotel?

TMZ.com is reporting today that Tiger Woods and former mistress/current stripper Joslyn James may have nearly stayed in the same hotel while in Charlotte over the weekend. Gloria Allred, the publicity hound of an attorney who represents James, emailed a letter dated for today to the general manager of The Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte seeking an answer as to why her client's hotel reservation was cancelled. Allred speculates that it could be because Woods was staying there.

This kind of thing was bound to happen with James traveling to the cities to perform in strip clubs where Woods is playing golf tournaments. She was at Uptown Cabaret Friday and Saturday, and she ended up having a longer weekend than Woods, who missed the cut and didn't play after Friday's round of the Quail Hollow Championship.

Click on the image below to read the letter sent by Allred.

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Read About It: Tiger, M.J., Skipper

The Quail Hollow Championship tees off in Charlotte next week, and everybody's abuzz now that Tiger Woods has committed to play in the tournament. It's going to be interesting to see what the atmosphere is like--how composed is Tiger, will the fans behave, are the paparazzi going to set up camp? I can only think back on better days, like when Tiger came here and won the tournament in 2007. That week was memorable from start to finish, beginning with Tiger's famous pairing with Michael Jordan and Skipper Beck in the Wednesday Pro-Am.

In the April 21-27 issue of Creative Loafing, you can read my cover story, "Quail Hollow Trilogy: The paths (and downfalls) of Tiger, M.J. and Skipper," where I chronicle how the lives of the golf great, basketball legend, and astute businessman have changed immensely since that fateful spring day. Click here.

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Rielle Brings Us Oprah

If you haven't realized it yet, in the current state of the world we live in, being a mistress is a good thing. Having an affair with a married man, particularly if he's famous, will bring you fame and lots of perks. Tiger Woods's mistresses have publicists; Jesse James's jumpoffs are getting as much limelight as his Oscar-winning wife. And then there's Reille Hunter, Charlotte's new mistress-turned-celebrity resident. Thanks to her, we might be getting a visit from Oprah Winfrey.

The National Enquirer broke the story yesterday that Oprah will be interviewing Hunter for an upcoming episode. The Enquirer even said the interview will take place in Hunter's Charlotte home. Harpo Productions confirmed today that the interview is indeed scheduled, but made no mention of the location. I would think logistically it makes more sense to interview Hunter in the confines of Oprah's Chicago studio, but, hey, maybe Oprah wants to truly go inside the life of a mistress. (And the Enquirer has been accurate about a lot of things involving Hunter in the past, including uncovering her affair with former Senator John Edwards).

Last month I blogged that "Rielle Hunter Wants This Attention" and that's only now become more evident. And for someone who claims to want privacy to raise the daughter she shares with Edwards, what kind of paparazzi circus does she think is going to take place outside of her home if the paps are now seeking sightings of the big O?

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Apple NC Jobs Unveiled, Project Still a Mystery

Apple is notoriously secret and dramatic in how it unveils new products and company news. There's always buzz and rumors preceding company announcements, but no one ever really seems to know the full details until Apple is ready to tell us. The iPad seemed to come from out of nowhere when it was announced two months ago (it goes on sale to the public Saturday, by the way). This same kind of mystery is still surrounding Apple's East Coast data center, which has been under construction in Maiden, North Carolina since last summer. Maiden is a small town about 45 minutes northwest of Charlotte.

State officials practically bet away the farm to land Apple's server farm, giving the company an unprecedented number of tax breaks for the promise of jobs and the allure of the Apple brand. Well, last week, Apple posted 10 jobs for the data center in Maiden, most of which are technician positions. The Associated Press was among the first to break the news, and even though Apple officials wouldn't comment, many believe this signals that the $1 billion, 500,000-square-foot operation is nearing completion.

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Rielle Hunter Wants This Attention

The 24-hour cable news shows reported on the hour every hour today on the new GQ magazine interview and pictorial featuring Rielle Hunter. The story, "Hello, America, My Name Is Rielle Hunter," appears in GQ's April issue and it was posted online today. Since this was Hunter's first time speaking publicly about John Edwards since he claimed paternity for their daughter, it quickly became a hot topic. And that's exactly what Hunter wanted.

Since Edwards has admitted he's the father--and because he's no longer a political figure--the interest in the scandal would've begun to wane. The paparazzi and the tabloids would have begun to go away. But that's not what Hunter wants. Why else would she do an interview with one of the largest magazines in the world and allow them to photograph her scantily clad in her Charlotte home?

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I Didn't Know Rielle Hunter Lives in Charlotte

My friend and colleague Mary C. Curtis is a regular contributor for PoliticsDaily.com and yesterday she posted an article asking, "Can Rielle Hunter and Daughter Find Peace and Privacy in Charlotte?" It's speculated that John Edwards bought or rents a house here for Hunter and their love child. Charlotte could be just the kind of quiet city for Hunter to seek refuge, but I'm not sure that's possible now with her and Edwards's scandal getting renewed media and tabloid attention with the recent reports of a sextape.


Click here to read Mary's article.

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