I was listening to Malcolm pub the show on the Tom Joyner Morning Show yesterday and he piqued my interest. I have a special place in my heart for the Cosby Show because everywhere I went as a kid, I had to hear the “Theo Huxtable” references regarding my name. I didn’t mind the attention, but sometimes it got old.

According to the show’s website Reed Between the Lines follows a modern-day blended family as they navigate life’s ups and downs with wit and humor. According to Warner, BET has signed the show for a full season. It’s good to see BET making the move to get family shows on the network.

Reed Behind the Lines debuts tonight (October 11th) at 9pm CST. Check out the video below for a sneak peak of the show.

 

So last week my wife and I took our boys to the Wiggles concert. Before kids, I used to laugh at parents who had to watch the videos and listen to songs all day long. Six years later, I find myself singing these same songs with my kids and wondering what toppings I’d like on my Wiggly Waffle.

The Wiggle Experience was definitely one to remember. As expected, there was lots of singing and dancing to all the different songs from the Wiggles’ repertoire. But what impressed me most was the number of dads in the audience. I’m always impressed with how fatherhood has changed over the years. There was a time when you couldn’t drag a guy to an event like this, but I saw dads just like me, dancing and singing right along with the kids.

All the time, I was thinking “the things I do for these boys”. And to close out the night, my youngest made a personal request to hear ALL the same songs over again on the way home (thanks Rhapsody). I never would have seen myself doing something like this before kids, but it makes me happy to see them happy. They had fun and we got to spend a memorable event with them. Creating memories. That’s what it’s all about and that’s why I do things I never thought I’d do.

The only downer was Jeff (the purple Wiggle) was missing for the first time in 20 years. They said he’d had surgery to add a pacemaker and was doing fine. Get well Jeff!

 

But despite the lack of posts, I still get a decent amount of hits and readers are still leaving comments on some of my older posts. I’m not the most prolific writer and I don’t consider myself to be well-versed in a lot of the stuff I blog about. But there’s something about this blogging thing that keeps sucking me back into it. I’ve grown to love the black blogger community and it has allowed me to meet some amazing people. There are a lot of people out there with some strong opinions about society and the world as they see it. Those are the people who I like to showcase and support.

I’m making some changes to the blog and what I blog about. I love the current theme and focus of theotalks, but I want to remove the restraints and give myself the opportunity to be all over the place. The new theme of the site is “Random thoughts about everything and nothing”. While it may be a little vague, that’s how I want to run the site from now on.  My current theme of focusing on the black community is great, but there are so many other great bloggers out there consistently doing it. It takes time to put those posts together and right now, I’m at a different place in life.

So from here on out, expect the unexpected. As I feel moved, I’ll post about whatever is on my heart at the moment. I’ll also be showcasing some of my favorite bloggers and will work to get some of the guest writers back (you know who you are) to help a brotha out.

I haven’t decided if I’m going to start the podcast back up, but I might try my hand at video blogging. Only time will tell. Thanks to everyone who supports and reads this blog. It definitely keeps me motivated to stay at it.

God Bless.

Theo

 

In my searches I was able to find issues for Jet Magazine (1950-2005), Ebony Magazine (1950-2000) and Black Enterprise (1970-2000). While they don’t include the most current issues, it’s great that I can see what was going on before I was I born. If Google keeps this up, I can’t imagine the kind of information my kids will have access to.

This will give those in my generation and forward the ability to research our past and learn more than we’ve ever had about entertainment, politics and society, than we’ve ever had. The odds of me getting my hands on a volume 1 Jet Magazine is one to impossible. But thanks to Google, I have access to it.

We are in the Information Age and I hope everyone is ready to get on board. In 2011, I plan on increasing the number of black history books I read and I’m going to use Google Books to do this. There are a lot of good free books out there for us to read. I as I finish them I’ll blog about them here on the site.

Here’s to a New Year in books.

 

We are launching the Race and America’s Future Virtual Book Club – a six-week project we hope will promote an open, honest, and constructive conversation on the challenges and opportunities facing our changing nation.

As I have told you in earlier emails, the book club will be based around Uncommon Common Ground: Race and America’s Future, a new book I had the pleasure of writing with Stewart Kwoh and Manuel Pastor.

This week’s inaugural installment asks the question, “Are We Post-Racial Yet?” And, really, is “post-racial” something America should strive to be?

Sign up for PolicyLink emails here to keep up with the latest on race and equity in America!

We hope you’ll join us today and every Wednesday through Election Day at www.UncommonCommonGround.org to chart a positive direction for race in America.

 

Happy Talk is Kermit Ruffins’ newest release following an unforgettable performance as himself in the first season of Treme’, HBO’s acclaimed new drama series. Lifted into the national spotlight by theHa hit television show, Kermit keeps the momentum swinging with his first big band album.

Kermit Ruffins
“Panama” (mp3)
from “Happy Talk”
(Basin Street)

More On This Album

 

According to their website, the rally is for “… people who think shouting is annoying, counterproductive, and terrible for your throat; who feel that the loudest voices shouldn’t be the only ones that get heard; and who believe that the only time it’s appropriate to draw a Hitler mustache on someone is when that person is actually Hitler. Or Charlie Chaplin in certain roles”.

I’m actually curious to see how many people will come out to an event advertised on Comedy Central. But Jon has the viewers and I’d include myself among those who’ve been discouraged by all the political craziness. But despite that, I think I’ll stay put and let others experience the rally as I follow first-hand accounts of it on Twitter.

Not to be outdone, Stephen Colbert is having his March to Keep Fear Alive. What is this world coming to?

And if you are thinking about going let me know. I might be willing to set up a live stream from the blog.

 

I’ll be the first to admit that my kids love going to McDonald’s. From a very early age, both of them could identify the logo as we drove down the street and this was amazing because it showed how powerful the McDonald’s brand really was. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has long opposed the deceptive marketing of unhealthy foods to children. That is why they decided to sue McDonald’s if they continue to use toys to market the Happy Meal to young kids.

Now, I’m all for keeping kids healthy, but this is ridiculous. While my boys enjoy getting the toy in their Happy Meal, they usually end up playing with it for less than a day. After that it ends up broken, lost or left in the car (which causes it to be thrown in the trash).

McDonald’s is the king of brand marketing and they should not be blamed for what they do best. It’s up to the parent to decide when, if and how often their child should eat at McDonald’s. And even if the CSPI, sues, wins and gets the toys banned, I doubt consumption of Happy Meals will decrease.

CSPI, please trust the parents to make the best food decision for their children. We know the food is far from healthy and filling up the U.S. Court System with these types of lawsuits is a waste of time.

 

The Oprah Mobile app features allow you to:

• View a weekly calendar of what’s airing on The Oprah Winfrey Show
• Receive alerts and notifications about the availability of reservations for The Oprah Winfrey Show
• Watch video highlights from The Oprah Winfrey Show, including backstage interviews with your favorite guests
• Find out what time and channel The Oprah Winfrey Show is on in your current location in the United States
• Access the latest articles and features from Oprah.com and O, The Oprah Magazine
• Listen to audio clips from Oprah Radio, including Gayle King, Dr. Laura Berman, Dr. Mehmet Oz

• Search by your favorite experts, guests and contributors, including Peter Walsh, Deepak Chopra and more
• Take our latest polls and see how other people are voting in your city and state
• Share your favorite items via email, Facebook and Twitter
• Sign the pledge to make your car a No Phone Zone
• Customize the menu to keep your favorite sections within easy reach

The apps do cost $1.99-$2.99, but according to the review at appolicious.com, there’s a lot of potential for future releases that could increase the social aspect of it.

But there’s more! Yesterday Engadget blogged about her showing off the Sprint EVO on her show while discussing her “No Phone Zone” campaign. Now please note, there is no official release date for this phone (Sprint said Summer 2010)! But if anyone could get a hold of it early, Oprah would be that person.

I can’t wait for this phone to come out and have been anxiously waiting for its release. We all know that when Oprah says go buy something, people do. So I’m curious to see if this affects sales of the EVO when Sprint finally decides to release it.

If anyone reading this is a friend of Oprah, tell her I’ll take the phone if she gets tired of it. Check out the video.

 

Urban Stages “Celebrating over 25 Years of New Works”

will present the World Premiere of the musical

Langston In Harlem

By Langston Hughes, Walter Marks and Kent Gash

Music by Walter Marks, Lyrics by Langston Hughes

Musical Direction by Barry Levitt, Choreography by Byron Easley

Directed by Kent Gash

Starring Josh Tower as Langston Hughes

Performances begin April 9; Opening April 15

At Urban Stages

New York: Urban Stages (Frances Hill, Artistic Director, Lauren Schmiedel, Managing Director) will present the World Premiere of the musical Langston in Harlem book by Langston Hughes, Walter Marks and Kent Gash, with music by Walter Marks, lyrics by Langston Hughes and directed by Kent Gash, with musical direction by Barry Levitt and choreography by Byron Easley. Langston in Harlem will begin previews on Friday, April 9; opening on Thursday, April 15, 2010 and will initially run through May 2, 2010. Urban Stages is located at 259 West 30 Street (between 7th and 8th Avenues). Tickets will be $40 ($25 during previews) and are available at www.Smarttix.com / 212.868.4444. Langston in Harlem is produced by arrangement with Langston, Ltd., Jon Kimbell/SenovvA, Inc. – Executive Producer.

Langston in Harlem is an exciting new musical about one of America’s most honored poets, Langston Hughes. Set in the African-American cultural capital of Harlem from the Harlem Renaissance through the Civil Rights movement, Langston in Harlem tells the story of Langston Hughes’ journey into manhood and his emergence as one of the most beloved and forward thinking artists of our time. This groundbreaking new musical is filled with Jazz, Gospel, Rhythm and Blues, Swing, dance and spoken-word that sings, jumps, stomps and shouts. Langston Hughes’ glorious words and poetry of love, loss, joy and the blues and the people of Harlem who inspired him, come gloriously to life, in Langston in Harlem and are once again universal and unforgettable!