ARTISTICALLY: Fernando Botero and Pablo Picasso-["I know he's dead, duh!; but if he were alive"]. MUSICALLY: Lena Horne-[To learn how she and "others" stayed strong during the dark days and survived]. Anita Baker, Chaka Khan, Rachelle Ferrell, Will Downing, D'Angelo, Ledisi, India Arie, John Legend, Rahsaan Patterson, Jill Scott and many others who make "Music." [To let them know I appreciate the stories of Self-pride, Love and "Integrity" in their music]. "Anybody can drop a Cd these days, it takes a great artist to make "Music."
Listen to: Luther Vandross, Will Downing, Anita Baker, Rachelle Ferrell, Chaka Khan, Prince, Angela Winbush, Frank McComb, India Arie, Ledisi, Rahsaan Patterson, John Legend, Jill Scott, Lauryn Hill, Anthony David, [The dynamic Fantasia, damn girl! You can sing!], Terence Trent D'Arby-I miss your voice. Randy Crawford, Sandra St. Victor, Vesta Williams, Stephanie Mills, Lalah Hathaway, Vivian Green, Lizz Wright, Me'Shell Ndege'Ocello, Erykah Badu, Musiq, Cindy Mizelle, Maxwell, [D'Angelo-we miss you on the music scene brotha], Anthony Hamilton, Glenn Lewis, Sade-[we miss you], Cherokee, Mary J., Gladys Knight, [Angie Stone/Vertical Hold], Kelly Price, Mica Paris, Kanye West, [Pink-thanks for not conforming and finding your voice in the game of music], Corinne Bailey Rae, Chrisette Michele, Robin Thicke, Amp Fiddler and Carrie Underwood just to name a few. This list is not exhausitve; just to many to list. My love for music keeps growing and [day-by-day] I find [true music] artists that inspire me.
Crash, American History X, Imitation of Life, Chasing Amy, Dune, The Fifth Element, The Island of Lost Children, The Idol Maker, The Color Purple, The Cider House Rules, Simon Birch, Amistad, Brazilian films-[City of God, Carandiru, Bus 151, just to name a few]. Sci-fi films and Chinese horror. Spike Lee-[Need I say anything more?]. Enjoy watching the 'visionary tales' of director Tim Burton. Far to many movies to list, partial to cerebral reels.
Heroes, CSI-[Las Vegas], Law and Order-[the first one], Discovery Channel, CNN, Bravo, So You Think You Can Dance, FoodNetwork and TopChef. [I've been keeping a secret for quite sometime now; I can reveal that; "I'm a cartoon fanatic! Fairly Odd Parents; Jimmy Neutron, Family Guy, etc. There I've said it"]. Watch anything that has the actress/comedian Mo'Nique in it. News junkie-like watching them all-[Liberal and Conservative].
Read things that interest me in a cerebral thought provoking manner.
Mom and Grandma. Two strong women that did it by themselves and we all turned out just fine. Miss you Mom, Love ya Grandma.