Article from Black Voices Blog 02/13/08

I arrived in Hollywood on Saturday, Feb. 9 and headed straight to the NAACP Image Awards nominees luncheon at The Beverly Hills Hotel.

I sat at the Ford Motor Company table and was the guest of public relations power team Edna and Damien Bruce of ESPR and Ntouch Communications Group.

Among those at our table were actress Ellia English ('The Jamie Foxx Show'), television executive Fernita Wynn (TV Guide Channel) and journalists Stephanie Frederic and Tosha Thomas.

The swank affair had a semi-hood feel, mostly because the hilarious co-hosts Tichina Arnold ('Everybody Hates Chris') and Tisha Campbell-Martin ('My Wife & Kids') kept the place in stitches with their 'Laverne & Shirley'-type of banter.              


 

Comedian Jonathan Slocumb delivered a hilarious stand-up set. He's also the warm-up comic for the audience during the NAACP Image Award's live broadcast on Feb. 14.

R&B singer J. Holliday rocked the house with several selections from his gold-certified CD, 'Back of My Lac,' including the melodious ballad 'Suffocate.'

The Washington, DC-bred crooner, who is nominated for an Image Award for Outstanding New Artist, also rendered impressive covers of Stevie Wonder's 'Lately' and Mint Condition's 'Breakin' My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes).'

When the Capitol Records crooner went into his mega-hit 'Bed,' the place went crazy.

He came down off the stage and began serenading the various women in the audience, including 'Girlfriends' star Golden Brooks.

Brooks leaned back on her table as Holliday belted out the infectious ballad, not realizing that her hair had landed in the chocolate desert.

When the actress, who is also nominated for an NAACP Image in the lead actress category, lifted her head up, chocolate sauce got all over her white blouse.

Holliday continued to work the room some more and as he passed our table, the usually restrained multimedia talent Frederic reached over and grabbed his butt. It sent our side of the room into hysterics.

The obviously happy couple, model Eva Marcel (' 's Next Top Model') and actor Lance Gross ('House of Payne') was in attendance for the celebration.

The personable pair has to not just be one of young Hollywood 's prettiest couples, but they are just so warm and gracious.

The ceremony, running nearly an hour past schedule, ended with all of the nominees posing for a group photo.

******

I joined friends for brunch on Sunday at the Four Seasons Los Angeles at Beverly Hills.

Anyone who knows anything about Hollywood knows that this brunch has not just the best food you'll ever eat, but there's some of the best scene-spotting you'll ever experience.

Among the who's who dining the afternoon before the Grammy's included actress Vivica A. Fox, reality TV star Omarosa, rapper Pras of The Fugees, music producer Jazzy Phe, Hollywood producer Sidra Smith (twin sister of actress Tasha Smith) and publicist extraordinaire Joseph Babineaux (Perspective Public Relations).

I spotted Omarosa chatting it up with adult media mogul and political activist Larry Flint, who is a regular at the brunch in his solid gold wheelchair.

Outside of the restaurant you could see some of the music industry's finest producers and songwriters leaving Bryan Michael Cox's annual pre-Grammy brunch.

Ted Winn of Ted & Sheri, Ne-Yo, Tosha Thomas, writer Kim Cooper, actress/producer Monica Moore and singer J-Harris were among those I saw.

******

On Monday I attended a fabulous luncheon organized by Cheryl Hudson's Ntouch Communications Group and hosted by Pamela Alexander, Director of Community Development for the Ford Motor Company Fund.

It was held at my favorite restaurant, Crustaceans in Beverly Hills, and Jamie Foster Brown (Sister 2 Sister), Tanya Kersey (Black Talent News), Gail Mitchell (Billboard), Lee Bailey (EURweb.com), photo journalist Arnold Turner and a total of 15 other top Los Angeles and Detroit media outlets were in attendance.

We learned about new initiatives that the Ford Motor Company Fund is launching.

The newest and probably most exciting one is Freedom's Sisters, a three-year traveling exhibit that kicks off during Women's History month and salutes 20 prominent African-American female pioneers of freedom.

We also learned about the Ford Motor Company's $1 million donation to the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tenn., as well as their $2 million pledge to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, DC .

******

Monday evening Ford sponsored their annual Hollywood symposium.

This year it was held at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and was themed, 'Actors and Activism.'

The discussion was moderated by journalist Ed Gordon ('Our World with Black Enterprise') and featured panelists Hill Harper ('CSI: New York'), Judge Greg Mathis ('Judge Mathis'), Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Debra L. Lee (Chairman/CEO, BET), Ralph J. Bunche (UCLA) and Vic Bulluck (Executive Director, NAACP Hollywood Bureau).

Alexander made a $10,000 donation to Harper's non profit foundation, MANifest Your Destiny, an organization the actor launched in tandem with his New York Times bestselling book, 'Letters to a Young Brother.'