It will probably be safe to group and gather at work when City Councils, County Supervisors, School Boards, State Legislatures and Congress members begin meeting face to face. When the Courts open up the courts. When the New York Stock Exchange opens the floor for trading. When the NBA, MLB and NFL team owners meet in the same room to negotiate with their respective Players Union representatives. When the medical and scientific experts are comfortable meeting with the public in person to discuss COVID-19. Until then, please continue to wash your hands, keep your distance, wear a mask, and evolve into the healthy lifestyle that will build your immune system and help you fight off the virus!
Little Richard, the self-proclaimed “architect of rock ‘n’ roll” whose piercing wail, pounding piano and towering pompadour irrevocably altered popular music while introducing black R&B to white America, died Saturday. He was 87.
Pastor Bill Minson, a close friend of Little Richard’s, told The Associated Press that Little Richard died Saturday morning. His son, Danny Jones Penniman, also confirmed his father’s death, which was first reported by Rolling Stone.
Danny Jones Penniman said his father had cancer.
Born Richard Penniman, Little Richard was one of rock’n’roll’s founding fathers who helped shatter the color line on the music charts, joining Chuck Berry and Fats Domino in bringing what was once called “race music” into the mainstream.
Richard’s hyperkinetic piano playing, coupled with his howling vocals and hairdo, made him an implausible sensation — a gay, black man celebrated across America during the buttoned-down Eisenhower era.
He sold more than 30 million records worldwide, and his influence on other musicians was equally staggering, from the Beatles and Otis Redding to Creedence Clearwater Revival and David Bowie.
Wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-lop-bam-boom
In his personal life, he wavered between raunch and religion, alternately embracing the Good Book and outrageous behavior and looks – mascara-lined eyes, pencil-thin mustache and glittery suits.
“Little Richard? That’s rock ‘n’ roll,” Neil Young, who heard Richard’s riffs on the radio in Canada, told biographer Jimmy McDonough. “Little Richard was great on every record.”
It was 1956 when his classic “Tutti Frutti” landed like a hand grenade in the Top 40, exploding from radios and off turntables across the country. It was highlighted by Richard’s memorable call of “wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-lop-bam-boom.”
A string of hits followed, providing the foundation of rock music: “Lucille,” “Keep A Knockin’,” “Long Tall Sally,” “Good Golly Miss Molly.” More than 40 years after the latter charted, Bruce Springsteen was still performing “Good Golly Miss Molly” live.
The Beatles’ Paul McCartney imitated Richard’s signature yelps — perhaps most notably in the “Wooooo!” from the hit “She Loves You.” Ex-bandmate John Lennon covered Richard’s “Rip It Up” and “Ready Teddy” on the 1975 “Rock and Roll” album.
Little Richard in 1966. The self-proclaimed “architect of rock ‘n’ roll” whose piercing wail, pounding piano and towering pompadour irrevocably altered popular music while introducing black R&B to white America, has died Saturday, May 9, 2020.(AP Photo, File)
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
When the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame opened in 1986, he was among the charter members with Elvis Presley, Berry, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sam Cooke and others.
“It is with a heavy heart that I ask for prayers for the family of my lifelong friend and fellow rocker Little Richard,” said Lewis, 84, in a statement provided by his publicist.
“He will live on always in my heart with his amazing talent and his friendship! He was one of a kind and I will miss him dearly. God bless his family and fans.”
Few were quicker to acknowledge Little Richard’s seminal role than Richard himself. The flamboyant singer claimed he paved the way for Elvis, provided Mick Jagger with his stage moves and conducted vocal lessons for McCartney.
“I am the architect of rock ‘n’ roll!” Little Richard crowed at the 1988 Grammy Awards as the crowd rose in a standing ovation. “I am the originator!”
One of 12 children in Macon, Ga.
Richard Wayne Penniman was born in Macon, Georgia, during the Great Depression, one of 12 children. He was ostracized because he was effeminate and suffered a small deformity: his right leg was shorter than his left.
The family was religious, and Richard sang in local churches with a group called the Tiny Tots. The tug-of-war between his upbringing and rock ‘n’ roll excess tormented Penniman throughout his career.
Penniman was performing with bands by the age of 14, but there were problems at home over his sexual orientation. His father beat the boy and derided him as “half a son.”
Richard left home to join a minstrel show run by a man known as Sugarloaf Sam, occasionally appearing in drag.
In late 1955, Little Richard recorded the bawdy “Tutti Frutti,” with lyrics that were sanitized by a New Orleans songwriter. It went on to sell 1 million records over the next year.
When Little Richard’s hit was banned by many white-owned radio stations, white performers like Pat Boone and Elvis Presley did cover versions that topped the charts.
Fired Jimi Hendrix
Little Richard went Hollywood with an appearance in “Don’t Knock the Rock.” But his wild lifestyle remained at odds with his faith, and a conflicted Richard quit the business in 1957 to enroll in a theological school and get married.
Richard remained on the charts when his label released previously recorded material. And he recorded a gospel record, returning to his roots.
A 1962 arrest for a sexual encounter with a man in a bus station restroom led to his divorce and return to performing.
He mounted three tours of England between 1962 and 1964, with the Beatles and the Rolling Stones serving as opening acts. Back in the States, he put together a band that included guitarist Jimi Hendrix — and later fired Hendrix when he was late for a bus.
In 1968, Richard hit Las Vegas and relaunched his career. Within two years, he had another hit single and made the cover of Rolling Stone.
Cocaine and recovery
By the mid-1970s, Richard was battling a $1,000-a-day cocaine problem and once again abandoned his musical career. He returned to religion, selling Bibles and renouncing homosexuality. For more than a decade, he vanished.
“If God can save an old homosexual like me, he can save anybody,” Richard said.
But he returned, in 1986, in spectacular fashion. Little Richard was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and appeared in the movie “Down and Out in Beverly Hills.”
A Little Richard song from the soundtrack, “Great Gosh A’Mighty,” even put him back on the charts for the first time in more than 15 years.
Little Richard was back to stay, enjoying another dose of celebrity that he fully embraced.
Macon, Georgia, named a street after its favorite son. And Little Richard was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In August 2002, he announced his retirement from live performing. But he continued to appear frequently on television, including a humorous appearance on a 2006 commercial for GEICO insurance.
Richard had hip surgery in November 2009 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, and asked fans at the time to pray for him. He lived in the Nashville area at the time. _____ Former Associated Press Writer Larry McShane contributed to this report
“L.A. County is continuing its progress on the road to recovery, with planned reopening of beaches for active recreation and an expansion of permitted retail activities coming tomorrow. While the Safer at Home orders will remain in place over the next few months, restrictions will be gradually relaxed under our 5-stage Roadmap to Recovery, while making sure we are keeping our communities as safe as possible during this pandemic,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health.
“We are being guided by science and data that will safely move us forward along the road to recovery in a measured way—one that allows us to ensure that effective distancing and infection control measures are in place. We’re counting on the public’s continued compliance with the orders to enable us to relax restrictions, and we are committed to making sure that L.A. County is in the best position to provide its 10 million residents with the highest level of wellness possible as we progressively get back to normal.”
The services are meant to help vulnerable seniors fight food insecurity during COVID-19 pandemic
From quick meals that can be picked up to food dropped off at homes, Riverside County is offering several free food options to disabled and vulnerable adults as stay-at-home orders continue during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Adults who have a disability or are over age 60 can contact Riverside County Office on Aging, which offers food delivery for critical emergencies, two weeks supply of pantry and essential items, home-delivered meals, and Grab-and-Go meal packages at community center locations.
“We have a number of programs, depending on our callers’ needs and nutritional risk. We will tailor enrollment to any one or more of these important nutrition programs,” said Gary Robbins, Deputy Director for Programs and Operations with Office on Aging. “We’re averaging almost 1,200 calls a day at this point, and our requests for food have tripled. I’d encourage folks who want to find out more to visit the Office on Aging website or send us an email.”
Seniors or disabled adults can call 800-510-2020 or visit rcAging.org to determine their need for any one of the following service options:
Grab-and-Go Meals: Up to seven to 14 days of cooked and frozen meals ready for pick up
Courtesy Pantry: Two weeks supply of food delivered within five to seven days
Home-Delivered Meals: Up to seven to 14 days of delivered food with no contact for vulnerable adults
Emergency Meals: Up to three days of immediate food delivered to fragile adults and seniors
Details on Office on Aging’s program can be found at rcAging.org. Riverside County has also released a map showing where senior meals, school meals and food pantries are available.
To meet the growing need, the state of California is also launching a restaurant meal delivery program specifically for seniors who don’t qualify for other food assistance programs.
“I am very proud of the Riverside County Office on Aging, which has been leading a number of innovative programs and will soon have this new effort up and running to further support Riverside County’s senior population,” said Board Chair V. Manuel Perez, Fourth District Supervisor. “This is a great program because it enhances food security and the senior safety net that provide service and dignity that all senior citizens in our community deserve. This program has many wins for our communities, it will help our seniors, our restaurants and taxi industry. We encourage any senior in need and any restaurant in our community that wishes to partner in this program to contact us.”
Office on Aging wants restaurants, especially those who deliver, to fill out a contact form or email rcaging@rivco.org if they want to participate in the program.
Once implemented, seniors will be able to select from preapproved restaurants, who will deliver a maximum of three meals a day to their homes. More details on the newly announced statewide program can be found here or at rcAging.org.
Firefighters responded to a 3-alarm commercial structure fire at the vacant Splash Kingdom water park early Saturday morning, May 2. No injuries were reported.
Crews arriving to the 5:30 a.m. blaze found heavy smoke showing from the distinctive pyramid-style structure located beside the westbound lanes of Interstate 10 at California Street.
It took firefighters approximately an hour to knock down the blaze. The structure suffered major fire and smoke damage. No other structures were damaged.
While the building was equipped with fire sprinklers, the sprinklers didn’t activate.
In addition to Redlands, crews from Loma Linda, Rialto, Colton, San Bernardino and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians responded to the blaze along with an ambulance from American Medical Response and a crew from Southern California Edison, who cut power to the building.
Damage to the structure is estimated at $750,000. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
REDLANDS, CA—-First responders from Redlands and surrounding agencies paid tribute to health care workers at Redlands Community Hospital with a parade of fire apparatus, police cars and ambulances outside the hospital Tuesday morning, April 28.
Organized by members of the Redlands Fire Department, the parade also included emergency vehicles from the Redlands Police Department, Loma Linda Fire Department and American Medical Response.
After parading by the front of the hospital with lights flashing, the vehicles stopped near the hospital’s emergency entrance where first responders got out of their vehicles and applauded the hospital staff that had briefly assembled outside the building.
The parade was organized as a gesture of gratitude and respect for medical personnel currently treating patients affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The National Day of Prayer Committee will be having the Annual National Day of Prayer on Thursday, May 7, 2020 at 12 p.m. in spite of the COVID19 pandemic.
The committee has been working closely with the Mayor’s office and city leaders, and clergy to see the feasibility to have the prayer gathering due to the social distancing guidelines. However it was decided as long as participants remain in their vehicles, it will be permitted to gather and pray. Many other cities will utilize this same method when they meet and pray in the county.
The SBPU and National Day of Prayer committee is asking the community to join within the corporate prayer. The San Bernardino community residents must remain strong through these challenging times, and trust God to bring us through. For more information call 909-353-7977, or email sbpastorsunited@gmail.com or contact Rev Alan Rosenberg San Bernardino Christian Missionary Alliance, NDP Chair at 909-885-0012. Thank you for your prayers .
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the world. Amen.”
“Seventy sevens are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place,” before judgment come to the earth like never before. [Daniel 9:24-27]. Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. “For I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. Every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.” [Genesis 6:13; 17]. But, “for my own name’s sake, I delay my wrath; for the sake of my praise, I hold it back from you, so as not to destroy you completely. [Isaiah 48:9]. Repent and return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing, for this is the Final Call. [Joel 2:12-13].
“This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: Vision of Locusts- He was preparing a swarm of locusts…, I cried out, Sovereign Lord, forgive, How can [insert your name] stand? [He\she] is so small.” So, the Lord relented. This will not happen,” the Lord said.
“Then the Sovereign Lord showed me: Vision of Fire- The Sovereign Lord was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land. Then I cried out, “Sovereign Lord, I beg you stop! How can [insert your name] stand? [He/she] is so small.” So the Lord relented. “This will not happen either,” the Sovereign Lord said.
“Then, He showed me: Vision of the Plumb Line- The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb-line in His hand. And the Lord asked me, “What do you see…? “A plumb-line,” I replied. Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb-line among my people…; I will spare them no longer… [Amos 7: 1-9].
The passage message. God bears long, but he will not bear always with a provoking people. If God’s word and his warnings are not heeded, then God will judge and punish without any reprieve.
You see, ever since the Great Flood in [Genesis 7], God has given mankind invitation after invitation to escape the Final Judgment. First it was through the Old Testament prophets—but the world didn’t listen. Next it was through the words of Jesus Christ—but the world still didn’t listen. Finally, it was through the Apostle John’s vision in Revelation.
The question is: Are you listening? God’s grace is for a limited time, not forever. God always gives Grace for a period as he did in the days of Noah. In that day he gave a period of 120 years for people to repent their ways. After that Grace period ended, God visited his judgment upon the people of the earth through the flood during which everything perished except Noah and his family of eight persons. Where was God’s Grace when the floods came and all the people died? God’s grace had ended. “And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.” [Genesis 6:3].
In Judah, God sent Jeremiah to preach for about 30 years to the people of Israel to repent until the Babylonian captivity. When Nebuchadnezzar invaded Jerusalem in 598 BC hundreds of thousands of people of God’s chosen nation were destroyed and the rest that were not killed was taken faraway into captivity in Babylon. Where was the Grace of God during the time? It had expired.
In 70 AD almost 30 years after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, the Jewish nation still refused to accept that Jesus was truly the Son of God after the preaching of His disciples. In 70 AD Rome attacked Jerusalem and destroyed the City and Temple the second time and killed over 1 million of God’s chosen people. Where was the Grace of God at the time?? It had expired.
If God didn’t spare His own people from His wrath due to their unbelief, unrepentant heart and turning back to Him, what will happen to us when the Grace period expires? Jesus Christ himself declared, there is coming a time of trouble such as there has never been since there was a nation on earth according to Matthew 24.
God’s grace will soon expire. [Revelation 14]. Let us learn a lesson from the fig tree.
“…And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hearth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” [Revelation 22:13-17].
By his own admission, Gerald D. Thomas attended one of the toughest high schools on the Westside of Chicago, a neighborhood that has infamously been awarded the title of the “most dangerous neighborhood” in the US on more than one occasion. His cousin, who worked for the high school, convinced Gerald to attend so that he could be a “beacon of light” to his soon to be peers. Gerald was just that. From honor and AP classes to becoming senior class president, Gerald was the light his cousin aspired for him to be.
It wasn’t easy though. “I have had friends who have been killed. I’ve had to come home in the middle of gun crossfire. I’ve seen all of the violence, but I wasn’t going to let that shape my narrative.”
In 2007, during a college recruitment event at his high school, Gerald was introduced to Dr. Walter M. Kimbrough, then president of Philander Smith College, a private Historically Black College & University (HBCU) located in Little Rock, Ark. He offered Gerald a scholarship on the spot, opening a door that would soon lead Gerald down a path of success.
After excelling in high school against all odds in academics, he graduated as the school’s first UNCF scholar in 2008 with more than $100,000 in scholarship offers, but, ultimately, he chose to attend Philander Smith on a full scholarship.
The Launch
During his time at Philander Smith College, Gerald let his light shine even brighter, interning at The Source magazine, launching his career in entertainment.
After graduating college in the Summer of 2012, Gerald did missionary work with the General Board of Global Ministries in the Philippines and New Orleans. Using his background in entertainment and his passion for empowering minority youth, It was here that he worked with inner city schools and the Fountain of Youth to help produce a documentary film shown during the ESSENCE Fest. This experience lit a fire in him and was the beginning of a lifelong passion for helping to better the lives of others.
In the Fall of 2012, Gerald moved to Los Angeles and began freelancing for PR agencies and entertainment powerhouses like BET.
If you know Gerald, you know that he enjoys the finer things in life, but as his career in entertainment PR was going at light speed, he realized that he wanted to do more meaningful work. “I wanted to incorporate service and advocacy through everything that I did, even the entertainment and lifestyle events that I produced.
A Deeper Responsibility
Recounting his time at Philander Smith College, Gerald felt a deeper responsibility to cling to the school’s mission of graduating “academically accomplished students, grounded as advocates for social justice, determined to change the world for the better.”
“Even though a scholarship is what brought me here, I would have been doing myself a disservice if I didn’t take heed to what was right in front of me all along.”
At age 25, Gerald took on this responsibility, and decided to focus more on social justice and step away from the red carpet lifestyle he had come to know and love. “It wasn’t the only thing I wanted to do with my life, I wanted a deeper sense of purpose.”
From there, Gerald returned to Little Rock to work with organizations that had strong foundations in impacting the lives of children and underprivileged minorities through the arts, education and technology. Gerald has produced and assisted in the production of benefit fashion shows through his namesake PR firm, The GDT PR Agency, and Designer’s Choice Fashion Preview (DCFP) presented by the Timmons Arts Foundation.
Gerald was determined to create new avenues for nonprofits and organizations in the community.
Forging New Ground
In 2019, Gerald joined Centers for Youth and Family as an Emerging Leader. The mission of Centers for Youth & Families is to provide specialized prevention, intervention and treatment services that promote emotional and social wellness for children and families in Arkansas.
“The programming was pretty boring and dated,” he says. With the vast majority of its stakeholders being elderly and white, Gerald saw an opportunity to introduce their work to an untapped resource… millennials. Gerald didn’t just want to be another token Black guy so that the organization could just check a box… he wanted to be an instrumental piece of the puzzle in helping to attract this new audience.
In April of 2019, Gerald led a brainstorming session goaled at coming up with new ways the Emerging Leaders would help raise money and better engage millennials. The group of four met continuously and originally concepted the idea of a coupon book… but what happened next was groundbreaking.
Bottomless Brunch
The coupon book evolved into BrunchFest… an interactive event celebrating the area’s best brunch food, good vibes and, of course, bottomless drinks. One hundred percent of the event’s proceeds would
Nearly 40 restaurants provided food for 500 guests, with no cost to Centers for Youth & Families. With unlimited food, beer, tequila and mimosas, the event raised more than $30,000 in its inaugural year.
This event and others like it are the epitome of Gerald’s new direction in life. Marrying entertainment and social advocacy; forging new paths to raising awareness to some of the world’s most pressing issues.
What’s Next
While Gerald’s ultimate goal is to work for an entertainment company’s philanthropic foundation, he is still very active in his local community and committed to bringing fresh ideas to Arkansans across the state.
“Arkansas has so much untapped potential and I want everyone here to realize that we have all of the needed resources to stack up against ‘more notable’ cities across the US,” says Gerald.
Looking at Gerald’s rocket-fueled career trajectory, one can only imagine what his next move will be. Stay on the lookout for what’s to come.
The Federal Board of Prisons (BOP) recorded a staggering 900% increase in coronaviruses cases this week. Criminal justice advocates have pummeled state authorities with unprecedented campaigns for mass releases since early March, warning that California’s state prison system and any adjacent communities are only weeks away from widespread, deadly COVID-19 outbreaks if urgent action is not taken to reduce prison populations.
“Governor Newsom has done virtually nothing to protect the 118,000 people serving sentences in California prisons and the 37,000 people who work there,” said Amber-Rose Howard, Executive Director of Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB), a grassroots coalition of more than 80 organizations demanding the release of incarcerated people from prisons, jails and detention centers in the interest of public health. “It’s shocking to watch this preventable tragedy unfold,” said Ms. Howard. “By not authorizing vast clemencies and releases, our governor is allowing Californinas to face the deepest devastation during this pandemic. The right thing to do is so clear.”
Activists from California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP), a CURB member organization, say they are in a race against time to prevent widespread illness and death for the most vulnerable prison populations. The group launched a new website this morning––CareNotCages.com––to support elderly and at-risk people in women’s prisons who are petitioning the Governor Newsom for clemency and immediate release. The first three women to appear on the site––Lucia Bravo, 82; Patricia Wright, 68; and Maria Aredondo, 67––all have been diagnosed with cancer.
“It’s heartbreaking. These women present no risk to public safety. They’ve all been in prison more than 20 years. Two are grandmothers,” said Romarilyn Ralston, Project Director at Project Rebound and an advocate with CCWP. “They belong at home with their families, who are willing to care for them.”
Governor Newsom received hundreds of applications for commutation months ago, including the womens’ applications, but has yet to respond.
Westside Story Newspaper – Online The News of The Empire – Sharing the Quest for Excellence
