BY GENMA HOLMES After watching the coverage of Michael Jackson, I noticed many similarities and differences between the AEG and BET televised events. Both are companies that are in the business of staging concerts, television productions and are part of larger conglomerates. BET targets African-American between the ages 18-34 as their marketing base. AEG developed and operates the $150 million official U.S. Olympic Training Facility. AEG, which was heavily invested in the Michael Jackson upcoming tour, is part of AEG Live. The AEG brand includes managing sport arenas around the world, merchandising, and corporate sponsorship and marketing. BET is part of Viacom which includes VH1, MTV, Nickelodeon, CMT and Comedy Central to name a few. Anyone in the entertainment industry would recognize the power of three short letters, BET or AEG, which employ thousands. That would include camera operators, sound engineers, set designers, travel agents and key board operators. Both entities have contact to talented artists worldwide and can sermon them at a moment’s notice. AEG’s commitment to excellence was evident in the production of MJ’s home going ceremony. From the details of the printed program to the orchestrated performances of the stars, their desire to ensure MJ’s messages of empowerment, hope, humanitarian endeavors, and ...

Here's a video a put together with a couple of clips from my radio appearance with my pastor, Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III on Freddy Haynes Unscripted this past Sunday.  I appreciate the invite, it was a fun evening and I hope to be invited back in the future.

During the BET Awards Sunday before last, there was an unexpected social networking trend that developed.  On Twitter, the BET Awards began to move up the list of trending topics.   This traffic was driven by African-Americans, which were moved by the passing of the King of Pop.   Some Twitter users began to question why Michael Jackson was such a hot topic, and why so much was being made of Michael Jackson's death. Then there was Tuesday.  I watched the events on T.V. and CNN Live, and socialized with friends on Tweet Deck and Facebook.  Every Black person that I have spoken with was watching the Michael Jackson Memorial, and so were most other Americans. One of my wife's white Facebook Friends made an interesting observation: "All of my black friends' status updates are about Michael Jackson, and for my white friends it's just another day."  I saw the same thing as one friend would write "I'm holding back tears," and another would say "I'm headed to the beach." For many African-Americans, Wednesday was like attending the funeral/homegoing ceremony of an uncle or cousin.  In my own family there have been times where we've had to put aside differences and squabbles to give ...

A member of the Dallas South Family won 2 tickets to the Michael Jackson Memorial in L.A. He wasn't going to be able to make it, so he was able to his tickets to Paulette McCowan and her daughter who were featured on CBS 11 on Sunday. Jerry Smith, leader of Operation BLACC at Friendship-West, got in contact with Ms. McCowan late Sunday night. True to the man of faith that he is, Jerry looked to share his blessing with someone else. I applaud Jerry for helping this family fulfill a dream, as they were both portrayed on CBS 11 as fans of Jackson's music.  The hope of the Jackson family was that fans like the McCowans are able to pay tribute to The King of Pop.  Great Job Jerry.

By Genma Holmes of Genma Speaks Watching movies and barbecuing is how my family spends most Sunday afternoons. This past Sunday, I broke a cardinal rule and watched the BET Awards for the first time. My kids convinced me that it would be great since it was billed as a tribute to Michael Jackson and his humanitarian endeavors. However, the show that was promoted was not the show I watched. The BET Awards was a chaotic three hour black-a-thon fiasco. How things begin is an indication of where things will end. Watching CNN’s anchorman Don Lemon giving shouts out on the red carpet was the start of the calamity that went downhill fast. To add to the circus atmosphere that was forming outside, Joe Jackson, MJ’s father and belt wielding former manager, was on the red carpet promoting his new record label. Huh? I know grief is expressed in different ways but this was a drastic departure from tears and sadness that is normally shown. He sounded more like an old school promoter for Denise LaSalle than a father who had lost a son two days prior. But what do I know. I never watched the show and I did not know if this ...

Embedded video from <a href="http://www.cnn.com/video" mce_href="http://www.cnn.com/video">CNN Video</a> It was sad discussing the passing of Michael Jackson on CNNcom/Live today, but it was made easier by seeing two friendly faces on the screen with me.  Those were Carmen D. of All About Race, and Lola Adesioye from TheGriot.com. Here's the 15 or so minutes that we discussed our thoughts on the King of Pop, what his music meant to the world, and how the discussion has played out since his death.

On Friday at 11 AM Central, I will be on CNN Live (online) where we will talk about the life, death, and legacy of Michael Jackson. Central. We were originally scheduled to talk about CNN's Black in America, but the topic obviously changed after the tragic news regarding the King of Pop. Click here or the link above to go to the site.

The Old School Friday theme is week is Michael Jackson, in remembrance. I will never forget how I learned of Michael Jackson's death. It will be embedded in my mind like the day I learned of Tupac's death, or when I found out that Mike Tyson had been knocked out by Buster Douglass. My wife and I were out and about and I pulled over at a service station to get a couple of Icees. We were listening to the radio (The Ticket), and they were reporting sketchy details of someone having a heart attack, but we couldn't figure out who they were talking about. Just before I got out of the car they said it was Michael Jackson. We both kind of shook our heads and I left and entered the store. When I got back to the car, she looked at me and said "he's dead." The news was just that fast yesterday, it's just a surreal sort of thing. For someone my age - I was around 9 when Thriller was released- Michael Jackson is sort of the beginning of our musical consciousness. I was at the age where we put MJ Jackets in ...

After I wrote this article I thought, wouldn't a Johnny Taylor themed restaurant look good in Deep Ellum (or South Dallas)? Some of ya'll entrepreneur types should be able to take that one and run. Anyway, here's the article I wrote for the Dallas Morning News almost in its entirety. To see the few parts I didn't paste, click here. Thanks to Sharon Grigsby for the space. From DallasNews.com To borrow a phrase from legendary musician Robert Johnson, Deep Ellum has the crossroad blues. The path toward the future may mean taking a look back. With the possible exception of the city's preaching tradition, the blues scene in the early part of the last century represents the biggest mark left on this city by African-Americans. But the community is letting that rich history die by allowing the place where it all went down to lose its soul. It's part of a trend nationwide where the African-American community neglects history that is not intimately tied to the civil rights movement. This is even more pronounced in our city, where not only is the history ignored, it's all but forgotten. Deep Ellum should be the same type of cultural destination as the 18th and ...

Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle and Michael Jenkins, President and Managing Director of Dallas Summer Musicals will hold a press conference Friday, June 5th at 10 a.m. in the lobby of the Music Hall at Fair Park, to discuss the objectives and success of the Stage Right program that introduces at-risk youth ages 10-15 to arts and culture events as well as introducing them to the “Positive Action / Anti Gang” self improvement and self esteem building summer curriculum.. Michael A. Jenkins, President and Managing Director of Dallas Summer Musicals (DSM), who helped create the Stage Right initiative to reach out to at-risk students, and DPD Narcotics Detective Monty Moncibais, who heads up the program for DPD, will also speak. Stage Right Steering Committee members who will attend include Chris Hawkins, Federal Bureau of Investigation; Darrell Fant and Jean Dean of the North Texas Crime Commission; Jody Dean, KLUV Radio, Ginger Allen, Channel 11 News, Gail Gray, Phoenix House; Lori Sirmen and Tiffani Oltmanns, Dallas Summer Musicals; Carolyn Jordan, Boys and Girls Club; Herbert Moncibais, Hispanic Business Alliance; Gloria Moncibais, Hispanic Business Alliance; and ...