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Ben’s Chili Bowl Welcomes Obama
Barack Obama and D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty grabbed a bite to eat at Ben’s Chili Bowl, the famed half-smoke and chili eatery in the historic U Street corridor on Saturday. Obama, who enjoyed his first taste of Ben’s, ate a half-smoke with chili and chips. So if the president-elect is making stops at restaurants around the…
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Mr. Obama Goes to Washington
Speaking with the Speaker: The president-elect sits down with Nancy Pelosi before a meeting with his top economic advisers to discuss his plan for a stimulus package. Bye-Bye, Chicago: Barack Obama leaves the Windy City for Washington.
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Believe in the Magic
Very quietly, the Southeast Division is making an uprising in the NBA. Long thought to be the weakest of the six divisions, all five teams are turning heads. In the last week, the two worst teams in the division, the Charlotte Bobcats and Washington Wizards, have pulled stunning upsets. Last Sunday, the Wizards downed their…
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Diary of a Mad Black Preacher
America is gearing up to welcome a new president whose theme is hope, and many Americans are trying to muster up all the faith they can to get through these tough economic times. And in keeping with the mood, a new message movie opens today that encourages us to seek strength from a higher power.…
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Reparations as Bailout
Don’t call it reparations. Call it a belated bailout of the Freedman’s Savings Bank, chartered by Congress in 1865 as a financial haven for freed slaves, and failed in 1874 after its white board lost all the money after a spree of wild speculation. It was like black people’s version of Bernie Madoff (but the…
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Will My Cell Phone Work at Inauguration?
OK, so it’s Inauguration Day and you’re standing back 10 rows deep along the parade route. You’ve lost your family members who stopped somewhere a block or so away. You’re supposed to meet up with friends afterward for a celebratory toast, but you haven’t spotted them anywhere. And you’ve managed to grab some cool pictures…
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Motown Turns 50
In January 1959, at the age of 29, Berry Gordy founded Tamla Records with an $800 loan from his family. Later that year, on Dec. 14, Tamla became Motown Records. Motown Records was first housed at 2468 West Grand Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan. Since its beginning in Detroit, Motown has always kept in touch with…
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Bailout for The Common Man
Every year, millions of Americans make well-intentioned New Year’s resolutions to get their money straight. “I’m going to get out of debt.” “I’m going to stick to a budget.” “I’m going to save more. Too bad many of those declarations are broken before the end of January. We have trouble keeping these promises because we…
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One Step Forward…
In the end, Roland Burris will likely be the next senator from Illinois. The law and cynical race politics are on his side. That simple fact was largely obscured in yesterday’s political theatrics. In a damp, cold rain, Burris showed up on Capitol Hill and was met at the perimeter by the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms, Terry…
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The Gifted Ones
In November 1969, the great Nina Simone released what would be her entrée to mainstream popular culture, one of her biggest selling records ever, and an anthem of a movement that, robbed of its messenger 19 months earlier in Memphis, still carried forth his message: To be young, gifted and blackIs where it’s at. The…