Stevie Wonder singing Bob Marley’s ‘Redemption Song.’ I figured that having my favorite artist salute my other favorite artist (they’re tied for my affections) by covering one of his most important songs was a fitting way to honor his memory. Had he lived to see today, Bob Marley would have been 65 years old.
I remember how excited I was when I first bought this CD: Song Review: Greatest Hits and heard this remake. It’s at the very end of the second CD and it’s just perfect — the perfect way to do a remake. Because I believe that if you’re going to bother, you should take the song and make it your own somehow. What’s the point in singing someone’s song exactly how they did it? This is so rich and one of best remakes of a classic of ALL TIME — though I’m admittedly biased. :)
Yay! Got to spend a couple hours with Auntie’s Baby last nite. He and his mom were in DC visiting and stopped by for a quick visit.
As you may remember, Roman LOVES airplanes. Well one of his favorite things to do is watch video of airplane takeoffs and landings on YouTube — that’s what we’re doing here. And it made no sense to me til we watched this one last nite. It’s the aiport in St. Maarten:
Are you kidding me with that? That looks crazy dangerous. And it’s got more than 6 million views. There are TONS of airplane landings and takeoffs to watch online. WHO KNEW?!?!?
Cheesin’ so hard ;) Such a short visit but I’ll see him again in a few weeks when I travel to Atlanta. Next up, Auntie’s Sweetness on Wednesday!!! This is my goddaughter Maia. Isn’t she the greatest?!?!? Counting the days…
Ok, so I’ve been getting a little excited lately with the video blogging, I know. But they’re fun (for me at least ;) Check out what happened after I got to where I was going in the blog below. The students at Juniata had fun freaking me out. And I starred in my own mini-version of The Blair Witch Project (emphasis on the ‘mini’)
On my way to Juniata College in PA for a show and I got turned around just outside of Amish country. My GPS took me through a cemetary by mistake. Just passed a sign for ‘Fourth Street.’ And I think it might just be the fourth street.
Ever made.
My new favorite street sign.
They weren’t kidding…
I had to drive a 25-mile stretch where the speed limit was about 35 and I kept getting stuck behind horse-drawn carriages. I don’t wanna poke fun at anyone’s culture, but being Amish requires a level of dedication I just don’t possess. I respect it. I just don’t got it.
I have the most thoughtful friends… After all my complaining about the new $.o5 DC bag tax, and seeing how silly I looked a few weeks ago at CVS because I didn’t want to pay for a bag, my girlfriend Courtney sent me some reusable Eagles shopping bags AND a couple CVS bag tag coupons. CVS and the Iggles — my two favorite things!!! You’re the best Court. You know me so well. You made my month!
Hey y’all! Just got back home from my trip to Rhode Island where I performed at the Catch A Rising Star Comedy Club in Providence. And thought I’d put together a little video recap of the horror story that was my hotel stay.
I can summarize this video in two words — “F” hockey!
The other day my mom sent me one of those e-mail forwards that is supposed to warn women about some awful new threat to keep them safe. I’ve tried to discourage (that’s putting it lightly) everyone in my life from sending me forwards of any kind. But my mom thought that this one warranted reading — it was about a man who told a woman she dropped money so she’d open her car door late at night at a gas station. I’ve seen this e-mail numerous times over the past couple years. But she wanted me to confirm to her that I’d read it — just in case it wasn’t a hoax. Below is the thread of our e-mail convo:
—– Original Message —–
From: Linda Jackson
To: Me
Subject: Please Read This For Me…Your Mom
Sent: Jan 9, 2010 08:39:14 AM
Erin,
You travel so much, and often at night…I just wanted you to read this,because (even if it is one of those hokey…too much time on your hand…stop sending me emails) its possible..read it PLEASE…M.
Subject: A RAPIST’S NEW TRICK…
===================================
From: Erin Jackson
To: xxxxxxxx@verizon.net
Sent: Saturday, January 09, 2010 10:00 AM
Subject: Re: Please Read This For Me…Your Mom
just wanted to let you know i read this. 3 years ago ;) hahaha. But thanks, and rest assured, this would never happen to me b/c I haven’t carried cash since the nineties ;)
===================================
From: Linda Jackson
To: Me
Subject: Please Read This For Me…Your Mom
Sent: Jan 9, 2010 03:05:45 PM
OK Miss Smart —, don’t come up kidnapped or raped…or you’re gonna have HELL to pay!
love,
M
I think it’s important to point out that she censored the smart ‘ass’ not me.
Guess if I come up assaulted, she’s gonna kick my ass. That’s my mama! Too funny. ;)
OK, so after doing the interview featured in my last post, I began to think a lot about BeautifulPeople.com. I joked with friends about the audacity of the site — especially considering it’s the Internet and there’s no way to verify that any of the site’s members are really as attractive as their photos suggest (or if they’re even the same people at all). But the more I thought about it, the more interested I became in what the application process was actually like. Soooo, I decided to do what I’d like to call an in-depth investigation and apply myself.
Yes, really.
So click play… and find out if I’m a beautiful person or not! ;)
Earlier this week I did an interview over at RTTV America (the US arm of the Russian TV Network) about the BeautifulPeople.com holiday weight gain purge of 5,000 members. I was a guest on The Alyona Show and it was big fun. Here’s a clip from that interview… Please notice how I am able to work a CVS reference into just about any conversation. Why haven’t they called me yet? Seriously. I need to be their national spokesperson.
So in my effort to obtain a life this year, I resolve to do at least one fun, out of the ordinary (for me) thing each week. I hope today’s outing wasn’t my first and last as I’m really bad with keeping resolutions…
This morning I went ice skating at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden Ice Rink. The urge hit me out of nowhere yesterday, which is crazy because I hadn’t been skating in at least 20 years — since my cousin Tanya and I used to skate at the ice rink in Old Bridge, NJ when we were kids. But it sounded like fun so I got up this morning, bundled up and headed downtown. Found a great parking space right in front of the Archives on Constitution and I went on in.
When I went to rent my skates the guy in the booth (the only other Black person at the rink) said, “You better hold on to the railing.” Haha. Damn stereotypes! Just because I’m Black doesn’t mean I can’t ice skate — it means I can’t swim. Duh…
Out on the ice it was kind of a rough at first. I took the skate booth guy’s advice and held on to the railing for my first few go-rounds. But then it started to come back to me… There was a little European girl skating circles around me, but that seemed about right ;) Little by little I moved further into the rink and after about 15 minutes or so I was doing pretty well if I do say so myself!
After about 45-50 mins. I was done so I walked around the sculpture garden for a bit, and then headed into the cafe for coffee and to warm up some. It was a really nice outing! Hopefully more life-getting to come. Please stay tuned and if you wanna come along for my next skating trip, just lemme know!
Your two cents