The other night, Suite Suzy was going through boxes of her old photos when she stumbled across some of her high school photos.

This was great for me because I hadn’t seen any of these particular photos in all of the time that we have been together (13 years).

Thumbing through the images inspired many good chuckles from the early 80’s fashions, wild mulatto girl hair, interesting eye brow arches & “sexy wanna be model” poses. It was a Suite Suzy that I’d never seen. And it was almost like unlocking a mystery. Not like she was keeping secrets but it was like a time capsule of sorts.

The photo above is from her 1984 high school senior portraits. I found this image to be so beautiful. And until I saw it, I never thought that out daughter Olivia favored Suzanne but this image makes them appear to be twins.

I asked Suite Suzy if I could hold on to the photo for a while & she obliged. The next morning I woke up, picked up the photo again & smiled at it.

When I was a boy, I used to make mix tapes all the time from the radio. I thought I was a pro at it! I never caught the commercials or the DJ talking. This made my mix tapes popular with the ladies.

Mix tapes required thought, good timing & effort. Making drag & drop playlists or CDs is just not the same.

Essayist Michael Resnick has said:

“With the CD revolution in the near past and the digital revolution at hand, our music collections exist increasingly on hard drives, computer software, and mp3 players, while vinyl and CDs collect dust in the attic. Simultaneously, the ‘mix tape’ has gone digital, the medium for which it seems it was always meant.”

I wonder if my children will ever reminisce over CDs or their vibrantly colored & shiny 8GB iPod Nanos?

My how times change!

I thought I was doing something special last night when I picked up a carton of black mission figs. I was like, hmmm, I’ll try these & see what they’re about.

I was really excited to try them after seeing some really delicious looking photos on Flickr.

So I made it home today & immediately sliced one of my deliciously ripe figs. The colors were rich, the smell was honey sweet, & the first bite sent me back in time.

Back in time? Yes, back in time! As I savored each bite, I remembered eating these as a kid in Alabama. Then I remembered how my mom used to talk about how much she hated figs.

I had all these rememories while chowing down on like 6 figs. Then I thought about how my grandmother LOVED fig bars.

So funny how food can trigger memories good, bad or indifferent.

While preparing this post, I called my mom & told her about my little flashback & she was like hell no. No figs!

Needless to say, I’m all about figs now & they did taste as good as they look. Yum!!!

BTW, check out a few more shots of my figs here. Sure to get you hungry!

Since we got the news well over a week ago, I have submerged myself into a Michael Jackson/The Jacksons/Jackson 5 musical coma while fighting back my emotions.

On the day the world stood still, I had a hard time keeping myself together but I managed. I tried to focus on all of what Michael represented. I thought about how my aunt gave me the “Bad” LP for my birthday when I turned 14. I thought about how I love to work out to “I Can’t Help It” & how I sing aloud without a care in the world.

Like millions of others in the world, I did not know Michael but I feel like did. Maybe its because he was a part of my life musically since I was a baby.

Shit I remember my momma having the “Off The Wall” & “Thriller” albums displayed on our living room wall, along side some of her other favorites of that time.

I remember so much & I only have good memories.

I remember teasing after the “Pepsi commercial” when I was in elementary school.

“Michael Jackson went to town thinking he was pony down. Pepsi Cola burnt him up, now he’s drinking 7-Up. 7-Up had no caffeine, now he’s singing Billie Jean.”

Who made that shit up & why was it so funny back then? We may never know.

So anyway, last week, while on vacation in NYC, I made it a point to visit Harlem so that I could experience 1st hand the frenzy of love circling the Apollo Theater.

When I walked upon the theater, it was hard not to get emotional. I almost had to detach myself from my personal being to work as a photojournalist. It was not an easy task as I’m a very emotional person anyway.

I can only imagine what Harlem will be like today (July 07, 2009).

So, it’s the day that I never thought would come but here it is & I guess finally considering all of the drama being reported out. I mean, Michael converted to Islam months ago & here he is still above ground. I feel that he has been totally disrespected in so many ways.

Will his soul ever be able to rest?

I’ll miss Michael but from the looks of things, he will continue to grace us with music for a long time to come. I’ll be there for every release. I am a fan & I’m not afraid to say that I LOVE Michael Jackson, no matter what.

To see other images that I captured at the Michael Jackson Tribute Memorial at the Apollo Theater, click here.

This is one of my DEAREST friends ever, Yvette Tamika Johnson. I met Yvette about 12 years ago during one of my 1st trips as a Flight Attendant for American International Airways (now defunct).

During the flying days, Yvette & I had fun globetrotting, setting shit off & making new friends wherever we went.

After American International Airways went belly up, Yvette continued her flight attendant career & I grounded myself to be home for my young family.

Throughout the years, I’ve lived vicariously through Yvette’s experiences, good and bad, country to country. She always begs me to come back to fly but it’s only a pipe dream for me.

The funny thing is that Yvette only lives 2.5 hours away from me, we talk all the time but have not seen each other in almost 10 years. To my surprise, she called me the other day to tell me that she was coming to Detroit for an overnight layover before making her way back to Germany. Needless to say, I dropped all plans & inked her in.

Well today was the big day, we finally saw each other face to face & it was wonderful. It was great seeing her smile in person once more.

Over dinner we flashed back on the times spent abroad discovering, fucked up people that we encountered, all the good eating that we did & that time we danced in the middle of a jewelry store in Nice, France when we heard someone going past blasting Snoop Dogg. Man, we did some crazy shit.

I miss those days & happy that I have wonderful photos, friends I can call, & the experiences of a lifetime that put me where I am today.

Yesterday was my Mommies birthday. Mommie is my mother’s mom and the person that I attribute my creative vision to. Mommie was a true artist and no one to fuck with! She encouraged me to be me no matter what I became. She also always told me that the most important things in life are an education & culture.

When I was a teen, she would always tell me how cultured I was in this funny English accent voice she used to do. It was always quite funny.

Mommie was an unconventional grandmother but her love was always there, even between beatings & getting cussed out for causing a mess in her home.

Mommie died 11 years ago & I still miss her so. When I’m involved in situations, I often wonder what she would say or do. I miss her so much that words could not express it. The only why that I could possibly express my feelings would be through a heavy tear filled with the best memories that a grandson could offer.

Cousin Dee and I often talk about Mommie & recount funny stories. Even more funny, we say things they way she would & in her voice.

But I don’t think anyone misses Mommie more than my sister Baby. She went out and got tattoo with Mommies name on her hand & it’s big. She’s so damn hood.

Factoid: Mommies favorite word was nigga (hmmmmm) & she used it in it seems like every sentence no matter who she was talking to.

Without a doubt, house music is my favorite genre of music. Hypnotic beats, soulful vocals, subliminal messages & drama, make house music the shit the world over.

Someone once asked me when I fell in love with house; no wait, no one ever asked me that. Anyway I fell in love with house in 1985 when I met one of my 2nd or 3rd cousins (we were all cousins back then) who was a true house head & 10 years older than me.

He would play his house mix tapes when I went to over his house to get my hair cut. He would always tell me about the clubs he went to that I wished I could to go to when I turned 21. His stories coupled with the live radio broadcasts on Friday & Saturday had me hooked on music that my peers did not understand. My friends were to caught up into the emergence of mainstream rap music videos & Air Jordans (I was too so don’t get me wrong).

I just wanted to dance my heart out to rapid repeating beats with people who liked Detroit & Chicago house like I did.

Many years later, I’m that house head that my cousin was. I get to go to the parties above & underground. I get to mingle with a class of beautiful people you do not see in the day light hours & I love it.

Finding good house music can be hard if you don’t know a few DJ’s or troll the internet constantly being on the prowl for good house. Fortunate for me, I know great DJ’s & have friends who keep me in the know. Plus I’m always on the internet looking for something hot to jack my body to.

This may seem weird but my favorite subgenre of house music happens to be gospel house. Yes, I know; I’m Atheist but will I praise the lord through a good beat & banging vocal.

And yes, I have caught the Holy Ghost on the dance floor. Speaking in tongues sipping on cocktails & dancing was quite fun. No, I’m just kidding.

As I mentioned earlier this week, I have my DC road trip coming up next week so I had to get some new tunes to keep me motivated for my 8.5 hour drive. Last night after some blog reading on Soul Bounce & some song sampling on a few music sites, I copped a few new house hits. Actually all of them are not new, they are just must haves in any good house music library.

Here are my new jams & recommendations (watch your wallet!):

• A Taste of the Honeys – Essential (Mr. V’s Essential Mix)
• Anto Vitale ft. Tamara Wellons – Broken Wings (Original Mix)
• Headphonism – Stay Home and Chill
• Jeff Mills – Gamma Player (Blue Potential Version)
• Les Nubians & Eric Pierre – Just Come By (Viens prs De Moi (Greg Gauthier’s Dance Culture Remix))
• Malik Alston – Butterfly (Amp Dog Knight/Jovante Remix)
• Nina Simone, See Line Woman (CASAMENA Basement Remix)
• Peven Everett – Feelin Who You Are (Neter ”S” Het-Hera Blu Fix 7 Mix)
• Ski Oakenfull – Heavenly (Yam Who Mix)
• Terrence Parker – Love’s Got Me High (Tribute Mix)
• Tokyo Black Star – Blade Dancer (Dixon Edit)

These must have tracks can be found on either iTunes, eMusic, Traxsource, Rhapsody or from a bootlegger near you.

I’ve lived in my house now for 6 years & I have luckily never had to rake leaves.

I think my luck on this has now changed because the 5 trees in my yard are much bigger & the leaves are starting to fall.

When I was a kid, I raked the leaves with my little brother & friends, which was s fun then because we played in the massive piles that we built.

Now, I am thinking that this shit is not going to be fun for my grown ass.

Perhaps, I need to teach the girls how to handle the falling leaves & let them create their own fun & autumn memories.

My post title is inspired by EPMD’s song “It’s My Thing” from their “Strictly Business” album 1988. Why you ask, because I am listening to it now & it’s the shit & has been for 20 years. While I am thinking about it, I remember when my mamma gave me $10 so I could be the cassette at the gas station on the end of my block. I played that tape to death. I will never forget the moment when I realized that they were sampling Aretha Franklin’s “Rock Steady”, I was such a Naive rap fan. Anyway, this has nothing to do with nothing.

Back to reality: I feel this (image me pinching my finger closely with a little bitty space in between) close to having artistic representation but yet it seems so far way.

I hate waiting, I hate being patient, I hate jumping at every phone call, I hate checking my email every 5 damn minutes.

Don’t people know that I am the shit? Well, actually, I am the only who feels this way but still.

Oh well, I guess good things come to those who wait.

On another note, I got my new lenses so I have been wearing my glasses all night to make me feel smarter.

About 10 years ago during my flight attendant days, I was in Darmstadt, Germany having the time of my life with some closest friends; Lady Albert & Black Vette. The whole summer of 98 we flew all over Europe together but we spent the most of our time fucking around Germany eating nasty ass food. The food was so nasty that Black Vette & I ate mostly snacks to survive.

One night hunger filled night, Black Vette & I decided to head to the local Toom market to stock up on Pringles, cookies, bananas & Fanta pop. During this trip, I walked down the frozen foods isle & spotted a strawberry/chocolate Vienetta. I had never seen’t this flavor & had to have it; so I picked it up.

When we got back to the hotel, I put the Vienetta in the small, no, very small freezer. Later that night, Black Vette, Lady Albert & I hit the streets to party for the night.

Side note: Lady Albert, Black Vette & I referred to ourselves as the biggest, blackest & baddest flight attendants to hit the friendly skies.

We got back to the hotel around 8am, which was just in time to enjoy a champagne brunch at the hotel. As you can guess, we hit the sack hard after a night of partying & drankin’ cheap champagne at a German brunch.

Later on in the day we woke up, regrouped & of course were hungry. We pooled our foods & I offered up the strawberry chocolate Vienetta.

So I go to the little fridge to grab the ice cream snack. When I pulled it out, the bad was limp as hell because the shit melted. Well it was not totally melted because it was still cold but it was so not in the state that it should have been in.

When I presented it to my friends, they laughed & Black Vette was like fuck it, let’s drink that shit. Before I knew it Lady Albert had the cups out & I was pouring us each a glass of Viennetta. The shit was so very ghetto but we set it off.

Later on that week, when I got back home & told Suite Suzy about our ghetto meal & we had a great laugh about it.

Tonight out of nowhere, I thought about eating a Vientta, and then I thought about the Vienetta drink I enjoyed with friends many years ago.

Suite Suzy was upstairs in the kitchen & I shouted up to her to find out if you could still get Vienetta at the store. She was like what, a Vienetta they don’t make them anymore more boo. Since she was on her laptop at the time, I had her look it up & it seems that Breyer’s stopped making them sometime ago.

The funny thing we found was that many people (per Google) are looking for a Vienetta to date & I even found a few cheesy Viennetta commercials like below on Youtube (they have everything).

After surfing about it a bit, Suite Suzy actually emailed Breyer’s & asked where she could pick up a Vienetta. It will be interesting to see how they respond.

After all of the laughs & the remembering were over, I fixed myself a bowl of Edy’s cookies & cream ice cream, headed back down to my office & called Black Vette to have a laugh.

I was hoping that she would answer but she did not. I guess she’s somewhere in Europe or the Middle East on a layover.