Millie Jackson will be featured on this week episode of TV-One’s music documentary series, ‘Unsung’.

Millie Jackson was known for being brassy, bold, saucy, and explicit…long before it was ‘cool’ for ladies to be seen in this light. In many ways, she kicked down doors of expression for many women that came after here, including Madonna, Lil Kim, and pretty much any lady that had the brass to tell it like it is. You could go so far as to say she was a ‘proto-rapper’, with her infamous monologues.

Here’s a great example of Millie Jackson’s work. It was one of the highlights of her live show for years. This is her version of ‘If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don’t Wanna Be Right)’ featuring ‘The Rap’.

Be ready to watch ‘Unsung’ this Monday and every Monday at 10 p.m. for more great stories and tales about our soul and R&B legends.

R&B group, Sister Sledge, known for their disco-era anthem, ‘We Are Family’,  has taken the fight for the revenue from their digital sales to court. They’ve joined songwriter Ronee Blakley in a suit against Warner Music Group, claiming they are owed millions in unpaid royalties.

The lawsuit states that the artists have lost substantial revenue because of calculations that have been based on sales as opposed to licensing.

The stars’ complaint states, “Rather than paying its recording artists and producers the percentage of net receipts it received — and continues to receive – from digital content providers for ‘licenses,’ Warner wrongfully treats each digital download as a ‘sale’ of a physical phonorecord … which are governed by much lower royalty provisions than ‘licenses’ in Warner’s standard recording agreements

Eminem won a 2010 appeals court decision entitling copyright holders to half the revenue from digital sales, establishing the legal precedent on which this case is based.

Source: MSN

People of all races and backgrounds remember Cornlieus and have memories of watching Soul Train on a Saturday afternoons.

People feel as though they hace grown up with him and it is such a tragic lost.

Here are some Soul Train moments:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Here is what our Mayor had to say….

“The last three or four years, I’ve been on Radio Row at Super Bowls, telling people how great our Super Bowl was going to be in Indianapolis,” Mayor Greg Ballard said. “Now, I go by Radio Row, and those same people are telling me how great it’s been.”

The biggest complaint I’ve heard from my brethren so far is, “You people are too nice.”

I respond to this complaint by cursing them out, because I want them to feel like they’re back home in New York or Boston.

I don’t know if Indianapolis will ever get another Super Bowl. When I addressed NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell about it Friday, he lauded Indy but gave a rather tepid response, noting how it’s only the fourth quarter of Indy’s Super Bowl experience.

Asked if Indy is a viable option in future years, he said, “Sure it is. We’re here and they’re doing a fantastic job. We’ve got a weekend still to go and a game to put on. I know everybody in Indianapolis is focused on the future. But we want to make sure this week turns out to be what everyone has worked so hard for.”

http://www.superbowlvolunteers.com/1Days-XLVI-Volunteer.pdf

Admission is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. They are available at the Clowes Hall box office, (317) 940-6444, and through Ticketmaster, beginning at 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 27. (Fees apply for phone and online orders through Ticketmaster).

Franklin will be followed in the series by actress/social activist America Ferrera (March 20) and newsman Dan Rather (April 23). Both will speak in Clowes Hall.

Free tickets for these events will be available at the box office and through Ticketmaster beginning at 10 a.m. Feb. 10 for Ferrera and 10 a.m. March 9 for Rather.

There is a limit of two tickets per person. For more information, call (317) 940-6444.

The Celebration of Diversity Distinguished Lecture Series is a Collaborative Diversity Initiative between Butler University and the Office of the Mayor of Indianapolis, with generous support from the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Citizens Energy Group, Indianapolis Power & Light Co., Old National Bank, Radio One and Kroger Inc. While in Indianapolis, Celebration of Diversity Distinguished Lecture Series speakers stay at The Columbia Club.

More information about each event follows.

Kirk Franklin: “Personal Accountability: Challenging the Global Community”
7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10

Five-time Grammy winner Kirk Franklin made it cool to be Christian, placing godly messages in the same heavy rotation as other urban pop music. Over the last 14 years, with hits such as “Stomp,” “Whatcha Lookin’ For,” “Looking for You,” “Revolution” and “Lean on Me,” he ascended to the upper echelons of gospel and pop.

Beyond the music, he’s a highly exalted example of a man who achieved success without selling his soul or his integrity. His message now inhabits movies, television, and his latest book, BluePrint, an exploration of the benefits of creating an action plan for your life and overcoming obstacles.

Franklin’s enterprises include a full-service youth outreach initiative, an advertising agency, and a production company. In a joint venture with Zomba Label Group, Franklin established his own Fo Yo Soul Entertainment Company. His latest album, The Fight of My Life is the second album Fo Yo Soul.

 “An Evening with America Ferrera”
Emmy-winning actress and activist
7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 20

*American Public Television (APT), a leading distributor of programming to the nation’s public television system, will release “The Best of Soul Train” for fundraising on public television stations beginning March 1, 2012 (check local listings).

With the recent death of the series’ executive producer, Don Cornelius, “The Best of Soul Train” provides a unique tribute to the visionary who showcased African American talent in a way no other program has.

Offered to public television stations across the country by APT’s Premium Service division, “The Best Of Soul Train” celebrates more than 35 years of iconic performances from soul superstars and highlights classic musical and dance moments from the series.

Featured performances include: “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” (Aretha Franklin), “Dance to the Music” (Sly and the Family Stone), “I Want You Back” (The Jackson Five), “Let’s Get It On” (Marvin Gaye), and a medley of hits by Stevie Wonder.

The Best of Soul Train is supplied by WTVS/Detroit Public Television in association with APT’s Premium Service, a co-production, co-financing and acquisition fund that makes fundraising and performance specials available to member public television stations.

Oh, this is RICH!

In August of 1865, Colonel P.H. Anderson of Big Spring, Tennessee wrote his former slave, Jourdon Anderson, requesting that he come back to his farm to work. Jourdon Anderson had already been emancipated and was gainfully employed and providing for his family in Ohio at this point.

His response to the Colonel is nothing if not golden. I’m making sure to post the entirety of it, because it is priceless.

“Dayton, Ohio,

August 7, 1865

To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee

Sir: I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Colonel Martin’s to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable. Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again, and see Miss Mary and Miss Martha and Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville Hospital, but one of the neighbors told me that Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance.

I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here. I get twenty-five dollars a month, with victuals and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy,—the folks call her Mrs. Anderson,—and the children—Milly, Jane, and Grundy—go to school and are learning well. The teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. They go to Sunday school, and Mandy and me attend church regularly. We are kindly treated. Sometimes we overhear others saying, “Them colored people were slaves” down in Tennessee. The children feel hurt when they hear such remarks; but I tell them it was no disgrace in Tennessee to belong to Colonel Anderson. Many darkeys would have been proud, as I used to be, to call you master. Now if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide whether it would be to my advantage to move back again.

As to my freedom, which you say I can have, there is nothing to be gained on that score, as I got my free papers in 1864 from the Provost-Marshal-General of the Department of Nashville. Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you were disposed to treat us justly and kindly; and we have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years, and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the interest for the time our wages have been kept back, and deduct what you paid for our clothing, and three doctor’s visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to. Please send the money by Adams’s Express, in care of V. Winters, Esq., Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future. We trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations without recompense. Here I draw my wages every Saturday night; but in Tennessee there was never any pay-day for the negroes any more than for the horses and cows. Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those who defraud the laborer of his hire.

In answering this letter, please state if there would be any safety for my Milly and Jane, who are now grown up, and both good-looking girls. You know how it was with poor Matilda and Catherine. I would rather stay here and starve—and die, if it come to that—than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and wickedness of their young masters. You will also please state if there has been any schools opened for the colored children in your neighborhood. The great desire of my life now is to give my children an education, and have them form virtuous habits.

Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me.

From your old servant,

Jourdon Anderson.”

Simply epic. Happy Black History Month.

Source: Letters Of Note

While we are all celebrating this Super Bowl weekend in Indianapolis, more than 300 ex-players, including Hall Of Famer, Tony Dorsett have more serious matters on their minds. They’re all suing the NFL and its teams for concussion-related impairments.

Dorsett is quoted as saying he has numerous memory issues which have grown worse over the years. He claims the NFL is trying to deny that players are suffering because of head injuries from their football days.

Source: Philly.com