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BET HONORS URBAN COMEDY DURING NETWORK'S FIRST-EVER COMEDY AWARDS TELECAST HOSTED BY STEVE HARVEY. The Wayans Family to Receive BET'S Inaugural Comedy Icon Award; Jamie Foxx, Chris Rock and Wanda Sykes Among Celebs to be Featured "LIVE" from Pasadena's Civic Auditorium on September 28

Dr. Denyse Hicks-Ray, author of... "The Pain Didn't Start Here: Trauma and Violence in the African American Community," will be the Host and Co-Executive Producer of a television talk show entitled "Not Just The Blues."

"Not Just the Blues" is an hour-long television program designed to address the mental health concerns of the African American community. The program's intent is to increase knowledge about mental health symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and services.

The "Not Just The Blues," format is designed to connect the African American community with mental health education and resources and to develop a support system to improve the quality of life in the African American Community. The program is designed to target mental health professionals and lay persons, regardless of whether the individuals are a member of the African American Community.

The first show was filmed on August 21, 2004 in front of a live audience comprised of 150 individuals from 10 different states representing businesses, clergy, politics and community citizens at the historic Afro-American Cultural Center.

..."We have plans to film 23 more show to reach out to the populations that may not read the book or have the resources to seek professional help. Each of the shows will have trained professional counselors to speak with individuals and families."

In addition, serving as host of "Not Just the Blues," Dr Hicks-Ray will be facilitating two free workshops on Psychological Trauma on September 7, and September 8, at 10 am at the Shaw University, Kannapolis Campus. In an effort to further empower her community, Dr. Hicks-Ray will be conducting Peer Education training and certifications for 258 women from the Hope Center in Charlotte, North Carolinas at Shaw University's CAPE Center. Financial aid is available for both the Train the Trainer and/or Peer Education Training. Classes begin September 21, 2004. For more information, contact (704) 393.3287 or email info@traumaservices.com

On-Campus Events Exclusively for Current College Students Launches September 8 at Alcorn State University with Stops Planned at 13 Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Washington, DC - For the third consecutive year, BET is going back to school. Alongside some of its key marketing partners, BET will be providing entertainment, games, contests, and product samples/information for students at 13 historically Black colleges and universities this fall. Starting at Alcorn State University in Mississippi, the events are staged on camp us and target college students presently enrolled in the host institutions. Festivities will be hosted by BET's on-air talent and feature live performances from Universal Motown recording artists.

"It's a fantastic brand-building opportunity for us and an excellent way to continue to deliver our corporate and brand messages to consumers." noted Susan Mboya, Associate Director of African American Marketing for Procter & Gamble. "We're very glad to be involved with the BET Black College Tour." Pontiac, Pepsi, Playstation, Southwest Airlines, the U.S. Air Force, Verizon Wireless, Foot Locker and Universal Motown Records, are all associate sponsors, many for a second or third year.

New to the Black College Tour this season, RAP CITY Top 10 Countdown will be taping from the schools each Friday with host Mad Linx. "I'm not sure what we look forward to most; recreating all the exciting things we bring to the schools or pushing ahead with new elements of this project," said Michelle Garner, BET's Vice President of Advertising Sales Special Projects and Event Marketing.

As in previous years, the tour will also include basketball tournaments, freestyle rap and singing contests, video game competitions, product sampling and resume collection for potential employment opportunities with sponsor companies. The endeavor is part of BET's continual effort to support historically Black colleges and universities. "We are so pleased that - with the help of our sponsors - BET can offer the Black College Tour to students for another year," said Garner. "This will be our best yet."

The following are the dates and schools BET is scheduled to visit during the Black College Tour:

2004 BET Black College Tour Schedule
September 8 - Alcorn State University - Alcorn State, MS
September 10 - Jackson State University - Jackson, MS
September 17 - Central State University - Wilberforce, OH
September 24 - Clark Atlanta University - Atlanta, GA
September 29 - Tuskegee University - Tuskegee, AL
October 1 - Alabama State University - Montgomery, AL
October 8 - Florida A&M University - Tallahassee, FL
October 15 - Norfolk State University - Norfolk, VA
October 20 - Fayetteville State University - Fayetteville, NC
October 22 - North Carolina A&T - Greensboro, NC
October 29 - Prairie View A&M University - Prairie View, TX
November 5 - Southern University - Baton Rouge, LA
November 12 - Bethune Cookman College - Daytona Beach, FL

PRESS RELEASE: African-American radio entrepreneur, Tammy Camper, host of The Tammy Says Radio Show & The Tammy Says Radio Foundation, will be broadcasting live from Talk Radio Row at Madison Square Garden, home of the Republican National Convention on Tuesday, August 31st from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Guests for the show will be from the House Small Business Committee, Delegates from the Conference, BET, and a special interview with the National Director of the Minority Business Development Agency Ronald Langston who will discuss the state of minority business and what the MBDA is doing to assist minority owned businesses. Other invited guests are the Small Business Administration, Women Impacting Public Policy, Black Republican Women and others. Interviews not broadcast during the radio show can still be heard on the Tammy Says website.

Tammy's tagline is "Politics & Business go hand in hand". "Conducting the show at the Republican National Convention will bring the activists and champions of small business who know their way firsthand around business & politics and therefore will be able to give our listenership information about the Republican agenda for small business as well as find out why they support the Bush/Cheney team", says Tammy. A bi-partisan show, Tammy also provided a radio broadcast during the Democratic National Convention and believes we all have a voice and should be educated on the issues to make educated decisions on whom to cast your vote for.

"This show is all about small business issues and we bring in the political angle that can effect that issue; no spin or sensationalism but just the facts that are important not only to minorities, but to business owners in general", said Tammy. Tammy is often asked what made her decide to do this. "It's a labor of love, definitely not the money since I started this with my own funds and no outside help but the real why is because I was upset, angry and downright mad about something that happened to me and my business. This is why we have started a foundation to have the ability to obtain grants to continue to bring shows and forums which educate, assist and give small business owners more information for growth of their business", said Tammy. Tammy has teamed with Walter Fields of The NorthStar Network whose mission is to provide news and information from a perspective that is relevant to the experiences of Black people in the United States, to both reach broader bases and will be streaming information and commentary from The NorthStar Network on the Tammy Says website.

The upcoming show from the Republican National Convention can be heard on Tuesday, 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. EST at www.tammysays.com. Feel free to email questions to Repubshow@tammysays.com and sign up for our mailing list to receive weekly updates on upcoming shows and small business issues. For information on the Tammy Says Radio Show Foundation contact TSRF@tammysays.com

Press release: SCREENWRITING PROGRAM, ESTABLISHED BY DRS. BILL AND CAMILLE COSBY AT THE USC SCHOOL OF CINEMA-TELEVISION, WILL BE ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS BETWEEN AUGUST 15 AND OCTOBER 15, 2004

Los Angeles, CA - The Guy Hanks & Marvin Miller Screenwriting Program was founded in an effort to educate African-American writers who are working toward careers in the entertainment industry about the significant role that African-American history and culture should play in the development of their craft. The program will select fifteen intermediate to advanced level television and feature writers. These writers will participate in a fifteen-week intensive workshop where they will develop writing projects that will help propel their careers forward, while promoting positive images of African Americans.

This 15 week program meets two evenings a week, beginning February 2005 in Los Angeles. Participation is free for those selected. There is no compensation or stipend for participation in the program. Selected applicants must commit to the entire 15 week program.

The selection committee looks for original, compelling stories that reflect the vision of the writer. The stories do not have to contain African-American characters. We are particularly interested in African-American writers; however, this is not a requirement for acceptance into the program.

Applications may be obtained at our Website or by sending a SASE envelope to: Guy Hanks & Marvin Miller Screenwriting Program, USC School of Cinema-Television, Room GT132, University Park, Los Angeles, CA 90089-2211. Although based at USC, this program is not a affiliated with USC.

BET NEWS SERIES "LOCKED UP, LOCKED OUT" LOOKS AT PAROLEES AND STRUGGLES AROUND VOTING IN 2004

New York, NY - They may well be the most forgotten block of voters in the electorate for the 2004 Presidential Election - prison parolees, individuals who have paid their debts to society for crimes of the past. Like so many, all they want to do is become contributing members in their local communities and exercise their constitutional rights. Some will finally have that chance in November, while others remain locked out by the political system.

Beginning Monday, August 23 at 11 p.m. ET/PT, BET NIGHTLY NEWS begins a five-part investigative series entitled "Locked Up, Locked Out," which looks into the lives of five successful African Americans who have struggled as parolees to regain a place among the voting populous in this pivotal political year. Award-winning CBS News journalist Randall Pinkston lends his talents as the narrator voice for the series. Among those subjects who can't escape the shackles of past transgressions is renowned actor, producer and director Charles "Roc" Dutton, who some 30 years following his parole for a manslaughter conviction still is not allowed to vote in his home state of Maryland.

"This series is a sobering and inspirational look at what some African Americans are facing as our nation prepares for the Presidential Elections this fall," said Heather Vincent Holley, Executive Producer for BET NIGHTLY NEWS. "Each featured individual in the series has rebounded from their crime conviction to become success stories as artists, business owners, writers and community activists. Yet the very system to which they pay taxes as citizens has either limited or outright denied a basic right of a democracy - voting."

The following is a schedule and synopsis of featured subjects for the BET NIGHTLY NEWS investigative series "Locked Up, Locked Out" beginning Monday, August 23 on BET (home towns in parenthesis):

Monday, August 23: Elaine Bartlett (Harlem, New York) - Bartlett served 16 years of a 20-years-to-life sentence on a first-time drug offense before being granted clemency by New York Governor George Pataki. Befriended by Village Voice reporter Jennifer Gonnerman, Bartlett has allowed her life story to become the subject of a new book "Life on the Outside" written by Gonnerman. The book chronicles the struggles that ex-convicts often face upon release back into society. In 2004, Bartlett will vote for the first time ever.

Tuesday, August 24: Jonathon Romain (Chicago, Illinois) - At age 24 and just two weeks following his college graduation, Romain was on the receiving end of a 15-year sentence for selling cocaine. Romain served seven years and was paroled in 2000. Having sharpened his art skills while in prison, Romain has now opened his fifth art gallery and counts actress Angela Bassett and local Chicago politicians among his clientele. Some of his works have sold for as much as $20,000. With terms of his parole now behind him, Romain will rejoin the voting ranks in November.

Wednesday, August 25: Shakoor Watson (Bedford-Stuyvesant, New York) - While serving eight years of a 12-year sentence for assault, Watson began cooking and baking in the prison kitchen. The skills he acquired led him to launch Shakoor's Sweet Tooth, which now exports his sweets and baked goods all over the country. Shakoor has also begun speaking at local high schools, prisons and after-school programs about his life experiences. Now age 45, Watson is eligible to vote this year for the first time since his parole 10 years ago.

Thursday, August 26: Jeff Henderson (Watts, California) - Drug charges landed Watts in prison for 10 years where he learned cooking skills. Since his release five years ago, Watts has lived in Las Vegas blossomed into one of the nation's top chefs and caterers. In 2001, Watts was named Chef of the Year by the American Food and Wine Tasting Federation. His dishes are well-renown in the entertainment world and in high demand among celebrities. Having fulfilled the terms of his parole, Watts is now a registered voter once again.

Friday, August 27: Charles "Roc" Dutton (Baltimore, Maryland) - He is one of Hollywood's most talented actors, producers and directors with more than 50 films and a successful television series to his credit. Yet in spite of his success and immersion back into society, Dutton remains outside America's political process. Convicted of manslaughter at age 17, Dutton still can't vote in his home state of Maryland some 30 years after his parole.

Ellen Craft, A New American Opera, Will Debut at NYC International Fringe Festival,
A Production of the Present Company, August 17 - 22, 2004. "The true story of an American heroine’s harrowing escape from slavery disguised as a white man to star Linda Dorsey and Broadway‘s Donna Lynn Champlin."

Rashad makes Tony history for drama role. "Phylicia Rashad made Tony Award history last night, becoming the first black actress to win the prize for a leading dramatic role."

Sarah Jones' Reality Theater. "Ghetto daffodils: That's what Sarah Jones sees. Some people walk through neighborhoods like Manhattan's Washington Heights, populated by poor Dominican migrants in gloomy high-rises, and they see blight. Jones instead notices people like Yajaira Hernandez, one of a kaleidoscope of characters she conjures in her latest one-woman show, "Bridge & Tunnel."

The Plot Against Harry[Potter]: Young wizard battles evil, deals with puberty.

"Summerland": How many orphans does it take to stuff a wild bikini?
Why did the WB serve up this ridiculous "OC"/"Baywatch"/"Party of Five" concoction? Why do all Miss Universes have the same cup size? And why doesn't TV just shut down in the summer?

The Late Bloomer: How David Letterman became a sap. "One of the peculiarities of the Nielsen ratings is that Jay Leno's Tonight Show crushes David Letterman's Late Show and has ever since that glorious moment in 1995 when Letterman was out in front. Late Show fans tend to blame this on large swaths of senior citizens who, they say, eschew Letterman's crabbiness for Leno's reassuring schmaltz. But this premise is deeply flawed. For one thing, Leno cleans up with TV's hip demographic, the 18-to-49-year-olds; he claims his nightly margin of victory is 44 percent. For another, anyone desiring a dose of late-night schmaltz knows there's only one host to turn to these days, and that's David Letterman."

After the Fall: Trio's Flops launches a monthlong celebration of Hollywood's great failures. "Trio has distinguished itself as the channel for the thinking pop culture nut. From the ongoing "Brilliant but Cancelled" feature, which revives television shows that should have made it but didn't (in July, for example, you can see the entire run of John Cassavetes' 1959 detective show Johnny Staccato) to the "Film Fanatic" series, hosted by Amy Sedaris, which lines up juicy double features every Saturday and Sunday night (one upcoming weekend combines Orson Welles' Othello with Neil LaBute's Nurse Betty), its offerings are consistently fresh and surprising. Unlike the classic-TV lineups on TVLand and Nick at Nite, with their warm, nostalgic, drop-by-anytime quality, the programming on Trio is carefully curated, almost obsessional; imagine an evening with a friend who shelves his Rockford Files episodes in chronological order and won't let you go home till you've watched every one. (I just hope that last month's NBC/Vivendi merger, in which the American network, now known as NBC Universal, bought out the French entertainment conglomerate, doesn't deprive Trio—one of NBC's new acquisitions, along with USA and the Sci-Fi channel—of its uniquely quirky personality.)" Slate.

Lowering the Bar: David E. Kelley Caves to Reality. "Yet another example of why it is so helpful to stand for nothing if you want to be successful in the TV industry: "Ally McBeal," "The Practice" and "girlsclub" creator David E. Kelley -- the man who last year got tons of free publicity when he elected himself Chief Creative Type Taking an Important Stand Against Reality TV -- has signed up to do his first reality TV series."

O.J. SIMPSON TEN YEARS LATER: NBC's Katie Couric and Fox's Greta Van Susteren duke it out. [Yup, folks. Still crazy after all these years.]

How Copyright Law Changed Hip Hop, By Kembrew McLeod, Stay Free! Magazine.

"Behind The Story at Long Wharf: Tracey Scott Wilson becomes an overnight sensation, by Charles Hix . With exceeding irregularity, a new American playwright rises from obscurity to blaze vividly in the public consciousness. At 36, Tracey Scott Wilson has just joined that rarefied roster of "overnight" authorial successes. Following the premiere of The Story at the Joseph Papp Public Theatre last December, this young, African-American unknown suddenly finds herself a story in her own right.

Slick, smart and engrossing," Variety raved of The Story , her provocative two-act drama that is an incendiary brew of racial politics, journalistic malfeasance and murder. The New York Times called her play "conscientious and absorbing." Perhaps the most singular praise came from The New Yorker in an extended meditation in which the columnist Hilton Als ruminated: "At times, whether one 'likes' a play matters less than the way in which it resonates in the imagination . . . I was so taken . . . by the stark poeticism of her dramatic form that I couldn't tell whether my high was based on admiration for the play as a whole or for Wilson's literary ear in particular. Such confusion, all too rare in today's American theater, is welcome." Then Als proceeded to tell the personal tale of the playwright's emergence from Newark, New Jersey, to off-Broadway. The New York Times likewise detailed Wilson's own dramatic story in a lengthy feature. Tracey Scott Wilson is now making news for having written convincingly about the news room -- even though she never worked in one."

(More on Mario and Melvin van Peebles.) "BAADASSSSS!
by Cynthia Fuchs, PopMatters Film and TV Editor
"Hell no, we won't go." The beginning of Mario Van Peebles' remarkable Baadasssss!, a montage of anti-war and civil rights demonstrations from the late 1960s and early '70s, resonates in so many directions, it's almost hard to know how to read it. On one level, it's calling up an historical moment, a time when revolution seemed possible, if unlikely, and when "taking it to the streets" meant expecting some response from the folks in charge. Whether that response was aggression, argument, or even, rarely, actual discussion, the demonstrators would be heard.

And on still another level, it's calling up the power of images: these protests made differences, they made "news," because they were captured on film or video. Currently the overriding presumption concerning protests -- marches, sit-ins, rallies -- is that they're all about tv. They need to get coverage, CNN or network if possible, though local will do. Without images, without access to a broader public than the cops or keeping you in line, or the counter-protestors holding placards down the block, your point is lost to time."

"Track Star Could Face Ban From Olympics. Lawyer for gold medalist Marion Jones calls the steroid evidence against her weak, unconvincing."

"Who's Your Daddy? A loyal son imagines the making of his father's influential pre-blaxploitation psychodrama"

American Idol finals tonight [DeGarmo will win. Fantasia will leave her in the dust anyway.]

"In Los Angeles, Actors With a Proven Record. Need a Gang for Your Next Movie? Manny Can Help. The sun is setting low over the smoggy palms of Lincoln Heights, the tired front yards ringed in chain-link fence, filled with yapping mutts and shrines for the Virgin of Guadalupe. It's the home-security system of working-class L.A.: a dog and a prayer.

In front of a peeling stucco house, a dozen men gather in the twilight. The place looks like a drive-by shooting waiting to happen. The only thing missing is yellow crime scene tape.

Wearing a mix of crisp chinos, long shorts, tank tops, oversize sports jerseys or no shirts at all, the men are just busting out with tattoos. Florid ink jobs depict Aztec gods and Mexican revolutionaries; chests and bellies are covered with cryptic numerals and signs, marking neighborhoods of origin; forearms bear the portraits of homeboys under six feet of dirt -- shot, stabbed, overdosed, gone. And their heads? That's the giveaway: Their heads are shaved clean and smooth.

Every one of these men was a gangbanger. Almost all spent time in juvenile camps or jail or prison, for manslaughter, robbery, auto theft, drug dealing, home invasion, weapons possession. They are graduates of the one of the most feared and loathed (and idolized, too) subcultures in urban America.

A reporter parks his car, walks up the driveway, and can't help but eavesdrop. What were they just talking about? How to get into the Screen Actors Guild. "Hold on and we'll find Manny," one of the men says. "He's running around here someplace with the producer."

"Dance Theater of Harlem, the groundbreaking black ballet company founded 35 years ago, may disband its 44-member troupe if it fails to come up with $2.5 million to stanch its losses by the end June, Arthur Mitchell, the group's founder, said yesterday."

"Critical Noir: Hip Hop's Gender Problem
Recently there's been a lot of talk about the problems with how women are represented in hip hop, but very little about where the influences for these images and ideas come from. Perhaps we should be looking at the influences instead of the performers themselves."

[Florida] Police secretly watching hip-hop artists.

The Impending Destruction of L'il Kim.

After 'Idol,' Straining for a High Note: Also-Rans Find TV Exposure Doesn't Guarantee Success.

'Bandstand' to stand again? That's what Dick Clark is shooting for. Great. More 'Idol' clones.

Ellen's Talk Show Wins, but She Doesn't, at Daytime Emmy Awards. Ellen DeGeneres' new program won the Daytime Emmy on Friday for best talk show, but Wayne Brady won the award for best talk show host even though his program has been canceled.

CBS's primetime schedule.

"Hip-Hop Fridays: Rap COINTELPRO Part IV: Congress Holds Hearings On DEA Rap-A-Lot Investigation. For the past two days I have attended Congressional hearings on the Drug Enforcement Agency's (DEA) Investigation of Rap-A-Lot Records. While the hearings were called by Republican members of the House Committee on Government in an effort to provide evidence or to imply through innuendo that Rep. Maxine Waters and even Vice-President Al Gore intervened to slow or end a DEA investigation of James Prince, the head of Rap-A-Lot records, some of the most striking information revealed in the hearings was the extent to which the federal government had placed federal informants in not just Rap-A-Lot Records but throughout Houston's 5th Ward section."

Diddy-cized: For all the fluff and blunder and dare I say "brilliance" of Sean Combs, it's easy to forget why the cat is the very essence of hip-hop branding. No doubt Suge Knight's quip about "the producer all up in the video" was motivated by the fact that the appearance Sean "Puffy/Diddy" Combs in the video of one of his artists actually had a tangible impact on the selling of Bad Boy products. Call it the "Mars Blackmon / Half-Pint / Mookie" phenomenon. As Scott Poulson-Bryant observed a decade ago, Combs was "his own best logo." These days, we think of Sean Combs as a survivor -- on par with his friend and one-time mentor Donald Trump -- remaking himself in the aftermath of a well-publicized trial and subsequent acquittal (though the sun don't "Shyne" forever). By my boy Mark Anthony Neal in Pop Matters.