Hosts Dave and Leonard welcome playwright, actor, and producer Omar Rashada to discuss his company Purple and Blue Entertainment, the stage production Three Men, Three Women, and his novel From Tears to Glory, plus insights on casting, directing, and community storytelling.
The episode also features the hosts' New Year recap, conversations about politics and culture, and local arts and media highlights.
00:00:10 --> 00:00:18 All right, y'all, get ready for another edition of News and Trends with your host, Dave and Lynn.
00:00:28 --> 00:00:31 Welcome welcome welcome to news and trends with dave and
00:00:31 --> 00:00:35 len this is one of your hosts mr david coker proprietor
00:00:35 --> 00:00:38 of dave mark inc promoter event planner and
00:00:38 --> 00:00:41 all around good guy just wanted to remind
00:00:41 --> 00:00:44 you you can always listen to our show along
00:00:44 --> 00:00:48 with some other great podcasts on the mbg podcast
00:00:48 --> 00:00:51 network you can always go to mbg podcast
00:00:51 --> 00:00:54 network and listen to you know
00:00:54 --> 00:00:57 some very great some very good shows along
00:00:57 --> 00:01:00 with this of course this awesome show that you're listening to now
00:01:00 --> 00:01:03 now we also have as a
00:01:03 --> 00:01:10 backup if you guys miss us on our tuesday show when we usually do our show you
00:01:10 --> 00:01:21 can always hear the playback on internet radio 101.5 the fever with dj rives and Mr. Bobby Keyes.
00:01:21 --> 00:01:27 You can always listen to this playback on Saturdays at 10 a.m.
00:01:28 --> 00:01:31 Eastern Time on Saturday mornings at 10 a.m.
00:01:32 --> 00:01:37 And just in case you don't catch us on Tuesday, you can go on 101.5 The Future
00:01:37 --> 00:01:40 Internet Radio and listen to us as well.
00:01:40 --> 00:01:43 I'm hanging out with my partner, Mr. Leonard Young. What's going on, sir?
00:01:44 --> 00:01:48 Hey, Dave. Everything is good. This is Leonard Young, CEO of National Black
00:01:48 --> 00:01:55 Guide, DelawareBlack.com, Black Media Specialist, all-around good guy. How goes it, Dave?
00:01:55 --> 00:01:59 Hey, man. You know, Happy New Year to everybody. Yeah, Happy New Year.
00:01:59 --> 00:02:04 We crossed over into a new year and, you know, actually made it through.
00:02:05 --> 00:02:11 Last year was a year, you know, it really was for all of us.
00:02:11 --> 00:02:18 And so we're hoping that 2026 is definitely different than last year and hopefully
00:02:18 --> 00:02:19 better than last year, you know.
00:02:19 --> 00:02:22 So, but did you do anything exciting?
00:02:22 --> 00:02:26 No, you know, would you believe I've actually, and this is probably just because
00:02:26 --> 00:02:32 I'm getting older, I laid down to take a nap so that I could be up and enjoy New Year's.
00:02:33 --> 00:02:38 And pretty much woke up at 11 o'clock and was like, you know what?
00:02:38 --> 00:02:42 I'm going to lay here a little bit. Got up at 12 o'clock, saw some fireworks,
00:02:43 --> 00:02:48 and kind of went back to sleep. So I actually accidentally slept my New Year's away.
00:02:48 --> 00:02:51 Yeah, so welcome to the world of old people.
00:02:52 --> 00:02:56 There you go. All right, so that's basically what you're saying.
00:02:56 --> 00:03:02 You're getting old and can't hang anymore. Or, you know, those days of partying,
00:03:02 --> 00:03:05 the New Year's end is really over.
00:03:05 --> 00:03:09 It's really interesting because this year kind of was a hurt a lot at first
00:03:09 --> 00:03:13 when it came to New Year's because there were a lot of churches who decided
00:03:13 --> 00:03:17 that they were not going to do Watch Night this year. Oh, wow.
00:03:18 --> 00:03:22 Because, you know, they were worried about the concern of having their people
00:03:22 --> 00:03:28 out late, you know, with all the craziness that's been going on out there.
00:03:28 --> 00:03:32 And so, and I mean, not little small territory. I'm talking about some big,
00:03:32 --> 00:03:35 well-known territories that decided not to do it this year.
00:03:35 --> 00:03:41 So, so it just tells you, you know, we're in a different culture nowadays, different day and time.
00:03:41 --> 00:03:45 And, you know, now we know Sam Bailey did his things.
00:03:45 --> 00:03:48 I saw a million pictures from it and it looked like a very nice event,
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 excuse me, which they always do.
00:03:51 --> 00:03:57 So congratulations and good luck, Sam. You know, we always got to shout him
00:03:57 --> 00:03:59 out because he does such a great job with his events.
00:04:00 --> 00:04:05 And, you know, I know there were some other events that were going on around town.
00:04:05 --> 00:04:08 I know Tim did an event at the Sheridan.
00:04:09 --> 00:04:13 Look like it went very well so you know so hats off to those of you guys that
00:04:13 --> 00:04:17 had a good time out there partying and doing or praising the lord whatever you
00:04:17 --> 00:04:22 were doing out there you know or you know hopefully you wasn't doing too too
00:04:22 --> 00:04:24 many scandalous things out there you know right.
00:04:26 --> 00:04:32 But okay well we have a guest with us tonight and you know one of our good buddies
00:04:32 --> 00:04:35 decided to grace us with his presence.
00:04:35 --> 00:04:40 Why don't you go ahead and read his bio and let people know who we have on.
00:04:40 --> 00:04:44 All right, Dave. So today our guest is Omar Rashida.
00:04:44 --> 00:04:49 He is the founder and CEO of Purple and Blue Entertainment.
00:04:50 --> 00:04:55 The first production of his was called Three Men, Three Women,
00:04:55 --> 00:04:58 The Stories of Six Strangers that he wrote.
00:04:59 --> 00:05:05 And this play was performed on August 22nd, 2022 at the Wilmington Drama League.
00:05:05 --> 00:05:10 Purple and Blue Entertainment produces plays written by Omar.
00:05:11 --> 00:05:16 The mission is to educate, entertain, and enlighten the audience with real issues
00:05:16 --> 00:05:18 that we face every day in society.
00:05:18 --> 00:05:24 The vision is to take plays that he wrote to be performed throughout the United
00:05:24 --> 00:05:28 States, as well as internationally and worldwide.
00:05:29 --> 00:05:34 Omar is a playwright and an actor. His acting debut came in 1999,
00:05:34 --> 00:05:40 where he played the character of Luke in Jane Baldwin's play, The Amen Corner.
00:05:40 --> 00:05:46 Omar has also been in other local theater and film productions.
00:05:47 --> 00:05:55 He had written six plays, one called family one called peace and unity in the hood.
00:05:56 --> 00:06:02 One called Isaiah Turner, also Who's My Mother, From Tears to Glory,
00:06:02 --> 00:06:07 The Story of Our Lives, and his latest play, Three Men, Three Women,
00:06:08 --> 00:06:09 The Story of Six Strangers.
00:06:10 --> 00:06:15 Now, the play that he's currently working on is called The Artist's Circle.
00:06:15 --> 00:06:22 Omar holds a master's degree in community counseling and has a certification as a master life coach.
00:06:22 --> 00:06:30 Omar has previously hosted, produced, and directed two television programs,
00:06:30 --> 00:06:34 one called Arts and Culture and the other one Community Issues.
00:06:35 --> 00:06:41 The shows can be seen on Showtime TV Productions' Facebook page and YouTube page.
00:06:41 --> 00:06:47 So without further ado, we would like to welcome you back to the show, Omar. How goes it?
00:06:47 --> 00:06:53 Well, Happy New Year to you both, and thank you for allowing me to graciously be a guest.
00:06:54 --> 00:06:58 I'm not sure if I'm your first guest of the year, but I'm happy to be your guest.
00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 You're the first guest. Oh, man.
00:07:03 --> 00:07:07 If anything goes wrong from this point on... I know.
00:07:08 --> 00:07:11 Okay, I'm going to be on point. I'm going to be on point.
00:07:12 --> 00:07:15 Well, you know, Dave said he wanted to start the year off right,
00:07:16 --> 00:07:24 so... Yeah, we think we go... So this was a two-headed coin flip.
00:07:24 --> 00:07:29 Both sides had the same thing on it. So we couldn't lose bringing you on. So, you know.
00:07:31 --> 00:07:36 I feel so honored. I definitely feel so honored. So, Omar, you know,
00:07:36 --> 00:07:38 so of course, you know, I've read your bio here.
00:07:38 --> 00:07:43 But for any of our listeners who may be discovering you for the first time,
00:07:43 --> 00:07:47 can you kind of briefly explain who you are and what you do? Sure.
00:07:48 --> 00:07:52 Hi, yes. Once again, my name is Omar Rashadah. I'm a playwright,
00:07:52 --> 00:07:55 actor. You can say a novelist slash author.
00:07:56 --> 00:07:57 Some people say author, some people say novelist.
00:07:58 --> 00:08:01 Also, I have experience working in the social service field.
00:08:01 --> 00:08:04 I work with the mental health population.
00:08:04 --> 00:08:08 Well, we'll still do a little bit as well as the substance abuse population,
00:08:08 --> 00:08:11 but they call it co-occurring disorders.
00:08:11 --> 00:08:15 I work for mental health outpatient programs here in the city of Wilmington.
00:08:17 --> 00:08:22 And I currently work for a Medicaid provider. Doing that now for,
00:08:22 --> 00:08:25 it'll be, it'll actually be three years at the end of this month.
00:08:25 --> 00:08:29 So I have a social service background as well.
00:08:30 --> 00:08:37 As you had mentioned in the bio, I was a talk show host for a little bit on Comcast Channel 28.
00:08:38 --> 00:08:42 I've had the pleasure to interview both of you guys. I have two shows,
00:08:42 --> 00:08:47 Community Issues, which really focus on issues that have a pertinent impact
00:08:47 --> 00:08:49 in our community, as well as the artist circle.
00:08:50 --> 00:08:55 The artist circle, which is bringing on performers such as dancers.
00:08:56 --> 00:09:01 Spoken word artists, actors, actresses, musicians, singers, poets.
00:09:02 --> 00:09:07 Producers, just to come on and talk about their experiences and their respective
00:09:07 --> 00:09:09 line of work and to showcase their talent.
00:09:09 --> 00:09:14 And I completed the rough draft of my latest play called The Artist Circle.
00:09:14 --> 00:09:17 So hopefully sometime this year
00:09:17 --> 00:09:20 perhaps early next year and it'd
00:09:20 --> 00:09:23 be out on stage and actually before the
00:09:23 --> 00:09:27 show started I was saying to myself man imagine performing
00:09:27 --> 00:09:32 this play on live television like a major television network like ABC because
00:09:32 --> 00:09:38 you know I remember that happened with The Wiz it was a live play performance
00:09:38 --> 00:09:44 I forgot which channel it was but they did a live play performance they did Yeah.
00:09:44 --> 00:09:48 Yeah. Yeah. And you really don't see that too much. I mean, you got to go to
00:09:48 --> 00:09:54 theater, but to present it worldwide on TV, man, that would be an awesome experience.
00:09:54 --> 00:09:56 So that's just a little bit about myself.
00:09:56 --> 00:10:02 Gotcha. So, Omar, I have a very important, serious question to ask you. Yeah, we do.
00:10:02 --> 00:10:07 Okay. So you mentioned that when you were producing the TV show that Dave and
00:10:07 --> 00:10:09 I had each been on as guests.
00:10:10 --> 00:10:16 Who was the better interviewer? Oh, man. Don't fall for this mess.
00:10:16 --> 00:10:17 Don't fall for this mess. All right.
00:10:18 --> 00:10:22 He likes to mess with people. I'm going to keep it 100. It was a tie.
00:10:26 --> 00:10:30 But, you know, both of you guys, you know, both of you guys had very good information.
00:10:31 --> 00:10:36 You know, when I first met you, Leonard, it was a program at the Riverfront.
00:10:37 --> 00:10:43 I forgot what the program was about. and you had a table with black information.
00:10:44 --> 00:10:49 Black, was it black DelawareBlack.com I said, oh man, I never heard this before
00:10:49 --> 00:10:53 I said, I got an opinion on the show for exposure and I forgot how I met Dave
00:10:53 --> 00:10:56 but Dave was doing a drive for I think it was cancer or,
00:10:57 --> 00:11:05 something medically was doing like a fundraiser for cancer it was the,
00:11:06 --> 00:11:12 pink and black ball breast cancer as a matter of fact Leonard was a part of
00:11:12 --> 00:11:16 that too oh he was okay when Dave came on the show,
00:11:17 --> 00:11:23 The tickets were already sold out. Yeah, because we, look, them tickets went
00:11:23 --> 00:11:30 real fast towards the end of, like just before we got ready to do the event.
00:11:30 --> 00:11:33 All of a sudden, there was a rush on tickets, man. That thing was sold out.
00:11:33 --> 00:11:35 Remember how packed that thing was? Oh, wow.
00:11:35 --> 00:11:40 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, but it was still good to be on just to educate people
00:11:40 --> 00:11:44 about cancer because that's something that people get diagnosed.
00:11:45 --> 00:11:50 I wouldn't have to say on a daily basis and then Dave came back on to talk about
00:11:50 --> 00:11:57 the band, Leonard came back on to tell about the Delaware Black Expo that was held the wars.
00:11:59 --> 00:12:02 You still got a good memory the Radderton yeah.
00:12:05 --> 00:12:09 Whenever somebody has something positive and big it's good to promote,
00:12:09 --> 00:12:12 I thought it was good to promote on Challenge 28 because sometimes in major,
00:12:13 --> 00:12:17 networks they don't give us the play you know right
00:12:17 --> 00:12:20 and so that's why it's good that we have our network especially
00:12:20 --> 00:12:23 at delawareblack.com let people know what's going on in the community
00:12:23 --> 00:12:27 well let me let me say this piggybacking on what you just said omar that's one
00:12:27 --> 00:12:33 thing i will say folks omar and you know he was one of the leading guys but
00:12:33 --> 00:12:40 you know channel 28 in the whole was a great place for people to get information from.
00:12:40 --> 00:12:44 And there was a lot of people who had shows on their website
00:12:45 --> 00:12:50 And outlets for people to get the information and get it out to the community and so forth.
00:12:50 --> 00:12:57 You know, it felt like a home base, you know, for a lot of people and so forth.
00:12:58 --> 00:13:02 And Omar was very instrumental in bringing a lot of people, not just Leonard
00:13:02 --> 00:13:08 and myself, but a lot of people, bringing him on his show and getting the information out there.
00:13:09 --> 00:13:14 So I definitely want to say thank you for that. And I know Leonard does as well.
00:13:15 --> 00:13:19 We had a lot of great shows you know you had the congo hour
00:13:19 --> 00:13:22 you had the yeah there was a lot of stuff on it you had norman
00:13:22 --> 00:13:25 oliver i mean you you had marvel richardson uh
00:13:25 --> 00:13:28 you had uh mr charles smith songs and inspiration uh
00:13:28 --> 00:13:32 herman holloway i mean we had a whole host and then people were chewing in all
00:13:32 --> 00:13:37 day on 28th yeah yeah it was all day event yeah it was all day event yeah so
00:13:37 --> 00:13:43 but uh go ahead leonard uh go ahead continue all right so and omar i have another
00:13:43 --> 00:13:46 serious question to ask you, but I'm going to ask you a little bit later.
00:13:48 --> 00:13:53 So getting back to your bio, can you tell us about Purple and Blue Entertainment
00:13:53 --> 00:13:57 and then why the name Purple and Blue? Does that have some type of significance?
00:13:58 --> 00:14:00 Well, purple and blue are my two favorite colors.
00:14:01 --> 00:14:04 So it's just that easy. And like I said, it was just something,
00:14:04 --> 00:14:08 you know, it's always good to have your own business, to be your own entrepreneur
00:14:08 --> 00:14:10 as you do, as well as Dave do.
00:14:10 --> 00:14:13 And you know right now you know we're working full-time
00:14:13 --> 00:14:16 job but eventually hopefully this year well when god
00:14:16 --> 00:14:20 bless me sure i would like i would like to do this full-time
00:14:20 --> 00:14:23 i would like i said purple blue was just established you know
00:14:23 --> 00:14:26 in regards to displaying plays of
00:14:26 --> 00:14:30 the running plays uh that i've written and you know with this book i got out
00:14:30 --> 00:14:35 called from tears to glory the stories of our lives you know due for self-international
00:14:35 --> 00:14:40 is very significant you know well a lot of us When we work and we want to apply
00:14:40 --> 00:14:43 to be managed And we look for promotions in our jobs as a supervisor,
00:14:44 --> 00:14:48 Or a manager of some sort, right? But wait a minute,
00:14:48 --> 00:14:51 think bigger. Be a CEO of your own company, you know?
00:14:53 --> 00:14:57 That's what I strive to do. I'm not interested necessarily in being a supervisor
00:14:57 --> 00:15:01 or manager at someone else's company, someone else's vision.
00:15:01 --> 00:15:05 I have my own vision where I want to be the CEO and I want to make my own decisions.
00:15:06 --> 00:15:10 I get to work my own time and I get to bring out a product that hopefully people
00:15:10 --> 00:15:13 enjoy doing because I love the arts. I love the theater.
00:15:14 --> 00:15:17 I mean, I just perform in front of a live audience and then hear the reaction.
00:15:18 --> 00:15:22 It's great so this this is what brought me to the concept of developing purple and blue
00:15:23 --> 00:15:26 where i could take a play and then eventually
00:15:26 --> 00:15:29 you know love going on tour i mean i would love this just to
00:15:29 --> 00:15:32 get a feel what other cities are like such as new york right
00:15:32 --> 00:15:35 los angeles boston you know even throughout the world i
00:15:35 --> 00:15:37 mean i would love to perform the play in africa you know but a
00:15:37 --> 00:15:41 lot of these things it takes money so it takes partnerships you
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 know you can't do things alone people say oh my you can't do this all
00:15:43 --> 00:15:48 by yourself man you need to get going i don't like waiting for other people
00:15:48 --> 00:15:52 you know so that's why i just i just got there but you got to build partnerships
00:15:52 --> 00:15:55 you got to you got to build uh networks you know in order for this thing to
00:15:55 --> 00:16:02 happen right okay now so of course the the first production of purple and blue entertainment,
00:16:02 --> 00:16:08 was a stage play three men three women the story of six strangers can you kind
00:16:08 --> 00:16:13 of tell us like how did that moment feel to you personally you know once that
00:16:13 --> 00:16:18 play was complete you know the audience You know, love to play, I'm sure.
00:16:18 --> 00:16:20 But what did that mean to you personally?
00:16:21 --> 00:16:24 Great question. It was high sense of satisfaction.
00:16:25 --> 00:16:30 It was a motivation factor that, you can do this, man.
00:16:30 --> 00:16:34 You can do this. We performed it at the Women's in Drama League,
00:16:34 --> 00:16:37 the Women's in Music School, and at the Baby Graham.
00:16:37 --> 00:16:42 I love the Baby Graham. Baby Graham is my number one theater here in the city of Hamilton.
00:16:42 --> 00:16:47 Yeah, so we got positive feedback from all the shows.
00:16:47 --> 00:16:52 And then sometimes, you know, with plays, when you have like local actors.
00:16:53 --> 00:16:56 At some point it's going to come to an end because people got other responsibilities.
00:16:57 --> 00:17:02 The kids get a little older, they're in school, they kind of want to find something
00:17:02 --> 00:17:05 new. They want to hang out with their peers and do different things.
00:17:05 --> 00:17:08 But we got a successful run. I was very proud of it.
00:17:08 --> 00:17:11 Eventually, I still want to do it over again, but at some point,
00:17:11 --> 00:17:15 I want to get bigger. You have to have professional actors and actors in there
00:17:15 --> 00:17:16 so you can take it on tour.
00:17:17 --> 00:17:21 So I never want to be content with just performing it locally.
00:17:21 --> 00:17:24 But as I mentioned earlier, the thing takes money.
00:17:24 --> 00:17:27 Take sponsorships and sometimes you know i don't have the
00:17:27 --> 00:17:30 the millions of dollars you know to take it over and stuff
00:17:30 --> 00:17:33 like that so you know eventually with the will of god
00:17:33 --> 00:17:36 hopefully you know it could happen perhaps in some time
00:17:36 --> 00:17:39 in the future but to answer your question i was
00:17:39 --> 00:17:42 really happy i missed the cast that's that's one thing when
00:17:42 --> 00:17:45 you're in a plate and when you rehearse them during a week when
00:17:45 --> 00:17:49 you're doing shows you get used to seeing people we're having fun you know we're
00:17:49 --> 00:17:55 getting serious you know we're making the audience laugh cry get angry but when
00:17:55 --> 00:17:59 it all ends you kind of miss one another but you know life goes on and you got
00:17:59 --> 00:18:03 to build new relationships and right have to have new cast members in order
00:18:03 --> 00:18:04 for it to continue to happen.
00:18:05 --> 00:18:10 Gotcha. Okay. So then for a lot of your plays, you know, I know that they're,
00:18:11 --> 00:18:15 you know, community-based, probably things from your experiences,
00:18:15 --> 00:18:19 you know, where, where do you kind of draw your stories from?
00:18:19 --> 00:18:22 Are you drawing them, you know, from like your life experiences,
00:18:22 --> 00:18:26 what you've seen from your relationships with other people?
00:18:26 --> 00:18:31 Like where, where do the, I guess the theme to your plays come from?
00:18:31 --> 00:18:35 Yeah, yeah. That pretty much stems from my background in social services.
00:18:36 --> 00:18:40 Because when you work in the social service fields, you see a lot of things.
00:18:41 --> 00:18:43 You see mental illness. You see substance abuse.
00:18:44 --> 00:18:47 You see the struggles of single mothers trying to raise the kids in their own.
00:18:48 --> 00:18:51 And there's basically things that happen in our community. You know,
00:18:51 --> 00:18:53 unfortunately, we have violence.
00:18:53 --> 00:18:57 We have those who are involved with the struggle, those who are involved with
00:18:57 --> 00:19:00 different organizations. So my plays are always based on real-life situations.
00:19:01 --> 00:19:05 I mean, it's at the point where people were like, man, those characters are real, man.
00:19:07 --> 00:19:12 So I wanted to be real-life situations that we deal with.
00:19:12 --> 00:19:17 You know, as I mentioned, you know, I deal with some serious issues like domestic
00:19:17 --> 00:19:21 violence, mental illness, as I mentioned earlier, substance abuse, as I mentioned earlier.
00:19:22 --> 00:19:28 Single parenthood, family dynamics, even same-sex relationships.
00:19:29 --> 00:19:32 So one of the things that in my play really don't focus on me per se,
00:19:33 --> 00:19:36 because it's not about me. I focus on what's going on in the real world.
00:19:37 --> 00:19:41 Sometimes people will write stories based on their particular religion or their
00:19:41 --> 00:19:43 particular life background.
00:19:43 --> 00:19:46 But I just pretty much don't focus on me necessarily.
00:19:47 --> 00:19:51 But I pretty much focus on issues that have a profound effect on our community.
00:19:51 --> 00:19:55 I developed characters that fits those issues and tell the story.
00:19:55 --> 00:19:58 What I first do is I do an outline of what I'm going to talk about,
00:19:58 --> 00:20:02 and I create my characters based on the subjects of the matter of the play.
00:20:02 --> 00:20:08 So I dealt with adoption. I dealt with sexual abuse. I mean, you name it.
00:20:08 --> 00:20:13 I dealt with activism, relationships, culture, faith. I did it all.
00:20:15 --> 00:20:20 Understood. Now, which of your plays would you say challenge you the most personally?
00:20:21 --> 00:20:30 And that could either be with production, maybe working with cast, maybe even writing it.
00:20:31 --> 00:20:37 Well I tell you what actually they all have but I think for example the play
00:20:37 --> 00:20:44 that I'm currently working on now from the artist circle for example because
00:20:44 --> 00:20:49 I had to stop what I was doing because I go to the Resurrection Center,
00:20:49 --> 00:20:56 and I was part of the drama team so I had to teach like what we did as a drama team,
00:20:57 --> 00:20:58 we've written skits.
00:20:58 --> 00:21:00 We've written and performed skits at the church.
00:21:01 --> 00:21:06 I did a skit on Black History, and the other co-director of the drama team,
00:21:06 --> 00:21:07 Lee, she wrote her skits.
00:21:07 --> 00:21:09 We just did a play that she had written.
00:21:11 --> 00:21:15 I can think of the name of the play, but we performed it about a month and a half ago at the church.
00:21:15 --> 00:21:22 We were teaching our workshop classes. So it was the first time that I've done
00:21:22 --> 00:21:27 so many things at the same time, such as writing a play, rehearsing for a play, doing a skit.
00:21:28 --> 00:21:33 I mean, it was a lot. I mean, it was a lot to try to do all in one time frame.
00:21:33 --> 00:21:37 So I would say the biggest challenge for me would probably be the current place
00:21:37 --> 00:21:38 I'm working on, the Ordered Circle.
00:21:39 --> 00:21:42 The name of the play that I was in was called The House of Jubilee it was performed
00:21:42 --> 00:21:48 two days at the Resurrection Center and the audience really loved it so.
00:21:49 --> 00:21:56 Writing it takes time whenever you work on a project it takes time,
00:21:56 --> 00:21:59 it takes commitment and when you commit to that particular project,
00:22:00 --> 00:22:04 as well as committing to three or four other things at the same time you gotta
00:22:04 --> 00:22:08 find a way to double your time and You don't really get as much sleep as you
00:22:08 --> 00:22:13 want to get with the other things that you're doing, such as working and going to different events.
00:22:13 --> 00:22:18 So this current play was the biggest challenge, I would say, by far.
00:22:18 --> 00:22:22 Gotcha. And, you know, it's funny you say it, because one of the things that
00:22:22 --> 00:22:28 I always think would be challenging is that, you know, I guess as a writer, director.
00:22:29 --> 00:22:33 And I know you mentioned sometimes the cast can become your family,
00:22:33 --> 00:22:38 but I think we all know we all have family members who, you know,
00:22:38 --> 00:22:40 try us at different points.
00:22:41 --> 00:22:44 Absolutely. How do you select your cast members?
00:22:45 --> 00:22:53 And, you know, are you looking for a combination of talent and then maybe people who are like,
00:22:54 --> 00:22:58 maybe people who don't recognize their talent, like that next up and coming,
00:22:58 --> 00:23:03 you know, like, Maybe it's that person's first play, but you kind of see something in them.
00:23:04 --> 00:23:10 Yeah, I agree. What is your casting process like, and how do you determine if
00:23:10 --> 00:23:12 somebody's really, I guess,
00:23:13 --> 00:23:19 committed and maybe has that skill that needs to be developed or already developed? Yeah, yeah.
00:23:19 --> 00:23:26 Well, you know, it can be easy, and it can be a challenge. it comes easy because
00:23:26 --> 00:23:30 if I had people who were in my plays before and I liked them,
00:23:30 --> 00:23:33 I know what they got to offer. I know the skill level.
00:23:34 --> 00:23:40 I know the level of commitment. So sometimes when I create a character and when
00:23:40 --> 00:23:44 I have someone that was in my play in the past, I say to myself,
00:23:44 --> 00:23:46 you know what? I think he or she fits that character.
00:23:47 --> 00:23:49 And they won't even have to audition
00:23:49 --> 00:23:54 because I know their skills and talent. I think this is what I do.
00:23:55 --> 00:23:59 People say you shouldn't do it but i do it anyway typecast i
00:23:59 --> 00:24:02 typecast if i see a person that has
00:24:02 --> 00:24:07 a certain look a certain age and i think they can play that character like for
00:24:07 --> 00:24:13 example there was one character marvise chambers he he loves playing the comedian
00:24:13 --> 00:24:19 he loves making people laugh so if i have a role where a person is silly he's
00:24:19 --> 00:24:21 a comedian he's the one that's gonna make the audience laughs. Right.
00:24:22 --> 00:24:25 Guess who's going to play that character? It's going to be more.
00:24:25 --> 00:24:27 That's part of typecasting.
00:24:27 --> 00:24:32 And then the other process is also auditioning. Like if I haven't seen a person before.
00:24:33 --> 00:24:38 I have the auditions, but even if I know the person, I still may have auditions
00:24:38 --> 00:24:42 because it may be one or two roles, but it may be two or three roles that I
00:24:42 --> 00:24:42 think that they can play.
00:24:43 --> 00:24:48 So I will audition him or her to see which role that they did the best in the audition.
00:24:48 --> 00:24:51 And sometimes it's a matter of a personal appearance, you know,
00:24:52 --> 00:24:57 you know, if you've got somebody that's 35 years old, super attractive,
00:24:57 --> 00:25:00 very attractive, supermodel type, very friendly.
00:25:00 --> 00:25:04 You know i may find someone who looks like that particular character and that's
00:25:04 --> 00:25:09 a person now that particular character and i can cast all and if i need a brother
00:25:09 --> 00:25:13 who's strong will community oriented,
00:25:14 --> 00:25:18 he's a community activist i can find somebody who i think will play that role based on his,
00:25:19 --> 00:25:22 his structure of how he looks his attitude his demeanor
00:25:22 --> 00:25:27 his projection the projection because you know if somebody's playing a community
00:25:27 --> 00:25:32 activist they're loud they're heard they're assertive so I'm gonna play somebody
00:25:32 --> 00:25:37 I'll put someone in there to play that particular character so and then I really
00:25:37 --> 00:25:40 love love casting the children because I love giving them the opportunity to.
00:25:41 --> 00:25:45 To display their talent. Like, for example, for the last play that we did,
00:25:45 --> 00:25:50 A Free Man, Free Woman, it was a brother and sister who played children characters,
00:25:51 --> 00:25:52 and they did an outstanding job.
00:25:53 --> 00:25:55 As a matter of fact, you guys might know her, Samantha Hollins.
00:25:56 --> 00:25:59 It sounds familiar. Yeah, I know Samantha.
00:25:59 --> 00:26:02 Yeah, yeah, she plays the guitar. Yeah, performer. Yeah, she's a performer.
00:26:03 --> 00:26:06 Yeah, performer, yeah. And she also holds... She took over Janet.
00:26:06 --> 00:26:08 Remember Janet's show on... Yeah.
00:26:09 --> 00:26:13 She took over that. She took over for Janet. Oh, did she? Okay, on the radio station.
00:26:13 --> 00:26:17 Yeah, when Janice left, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, 95.3 was her children.
00:26:17 --> 00:26:21 So, yeah, and it's fun auditioning people.
00:26:21 --> 00:26:26 I may have a panel with me to decide, to help me decide who they think is the
00:26:26 --> 00:26:27 best that will fit the role.
00:26:28 --> 00:26:30 So having auditions is fun too.
00:26:30 --> 00:26:33 But like I said, for me, it's easier.
00:26:34 --> 00:26:39 Like if I asked somebody in my plays in the past and I know that level of talent. Right.
00:26:40 --> 00:26:42 I mean, I'll put him in a hurry to play that particular character.
00:26:43 --> 00:26:48 Gotcha. Now, taking a look at my co-host, Dave, how would you cast him?
00:26:48 --> 00:26:51 What type of role do you think Dave would be good for?
00:26:52 --> 00:26:57 You know, I think Dave would be good to play that father role, like a—,
00:27:00 --> 00:27:05 Like the father on Everybody Loves Chris. I mean, Everybody Hates Chris.
00:27:09 --> 00:27:15 No, more like Family Matters. Yeah, Carl Wingslow. Yeah, Carl Wingslow.
00:27:15 --> 00:27:17 There you go. Yeah, yeah.
00:27:17 --> 00:27:21 Or Uncle Phil. I could be Uncle Phil, too. You know what I mean?
00:27:21 --> 00:27:23 I could be Uncle Phil. I could be Uncle Phil.
00:27:23 --> 00:27:27 No, I don't know about James Evans. You know what I'm saying?
00:27:30 --> 00:27:36 That's a whole different kind of character right there look James had us scared
00:27:36 --> 00:27:38 watching the show you know,
00:27:40 --> 00:27:45 yeah because you know sometimes I watch some of the old good times that pop
00:27:45 --> 00:27:50 up on YouTube or Facebook and I watch and I say man that guy he was no joke,
00:27:51 --> 00:27:56 but you ever notice that when they do the polls about who you know they say
00:27:56 --> 00:28:02 who are the top five fathers You notice he's always like either one or two. Yeah. Yeah.
00:28:04 --> 00:28:07 People respect it. People respect it. They were scared of him,
00:28:07 --> 00:28:08 but they respected him too.
00:28:08 --> 00:28:13 Because he, you know, he, you know, he, he actually was a father,
00:28:13 --> 00:28:18 you know, he cared about those kids and, you know, so forth and so forth, you know?
00:28:18 --> 00:28:23 So, yeah. But I couldn't, I couldn't be Leonard's father because Leonard would
00:28:23 --> 00:28:25 be always in trouble with me.
00:28:26 --> 00:28:32 Yeah. Yeah, I can see Dave, I can cast Dave as being a supervisor too, a supervisor.
00:28:32 --> 00:28:37 Yeah, because Omar, Dave always be trying to tell people what to do.
00:28:37 --> 00:28:40 I don't know why he'd be like that.
00:28:44 --> 00:28:48 So like one of the other questions I have, and so, you know,
00:28:48 --> 00:28:52 we kind of talked about it. So you're writing, you're directing, you're acting.
00:28:54 --> 00:28:58 Where does your, and it may be a tough question, where does your true passion lie?
00:28:58 --> 00:29:06 Do you like being in front of the audience acting, or would you rather be behind
00:29:06 --> 00:29:08 the scenes kind of putting everything together?
00:29:08 --> 00:29:11 Do you have a preference? I don't know.
00:29:14 --> 00:29:18 Writing plays in the first place, because in the entertainment industry, in the acting industry,
00:29:19 --> 00:29:25 there were very few roles for African-American actors, per se,
00:29:26 --> 00:29:31 and sometimes you may have a movie come out, or a television series come out,
00:29:31 --> 00:29:33 and you got 30 people auditioning,
00:29:33 --> 00:29:38 and I don't want to control my own destiny, I want to control my own destiny,
00:29:38 --> 00:29:43 so it's better than sitting back waiting for someone to do for me,
00:29:43 --> 00:29:46 or you got the skills and talents to write your own plays, so,
00:29:47 --> 00:29:50 and you got the skills and talents to perform in your play so,
00:29:51 --> 00:29:56 assistant director and the stage manager now I pretty much let them do the majority
00:29:56 --> 00:30:02 of the directing because to trying to be an actor a producer and director that's
00:30:02 --> 00:30:04 a lot of responsibilities so,
00:30:05 --> 00:30:10 yeah so for me I'm more or less focused on my character I'm more or less focused
00:30:10 --> 00:30:16 on acting and I may say some things from a direction standpoint but for the most part
00:30:16 --> 00:30:23 I pretty much allowed the assistant director and stage manager to handle the acting part.
00:30:24 --> 00:30:26 Gotcha. I'm sorry, directing part. Directing part, I'm sorry.
00:30:27 --> 00:30:31 All right. And my last question, because I always try to ask this to all of
00:30:31 --> 00:30:34 our guests. Have you ever seen Imitation of Life?
00:30:36 --> 00:30:40 I don't, I can't recall if I did. Okay. All right. Thank you.
00:30:40 --> 00:30:43 No, no, no more. Dave, you got any follow-up?
00:30:45 --> 00:30:51 Omar, that, that, that is a movie, just to fill you in or with Leonard D.D.
00:30:51 --> 00:30:52 Because he does this with everybody.
00:30:53 --> 00:30:59 There's a movie. It's an old movie. It's from the 1950s that's called Imitation of Life.
00:31:00 --> 00:31:04 Most people of a certain age we're establishing at have seen this movie.
00:31:04 --> 00:31:09 Now, I'm surprised you said you didn't see it, especially with you doing all
00:31:09 --> 00:31:10 this talking about plays.
00:31:11 --> 00:31:17 Yeah, I may have seen it. If you haven't seen it, I want you to look it up.
00:31:17 --> 00:31:24 Look up the one that has, let me see, it was made in 1959.
00:31:25 --> 00:31:29 Okay. And it was black and white originally, but they colorized it.
00:31:29 --> 00:31:36 Oh, okay. And Mahalia Jackson is in a singing, like, there's a solo that she
00:31:36 --> 00:31:39 does that is kind of a big part of the whole movie.
00:31:40 --> 00:31:43 But if you get a chance, look it up, Imitation of Life.
00:31:44 --> 00:31:49 Next time we talk to you, you'll tell Leonard that you saw it. Okay, I got that.
00:31:50 --> 00:31:54 Hey, Omar, I do want to let you know, Dave kind of glossed over.
00:31:55 --> 00:31:59 You'll probably find it in black and white subtitles. so, you know,
00:31:59 --> 00:32:01 get your reading glasses ready.
00:32:01 --> 00:32:07 You got to read through the whole thing. No subtitles. It is no subtitles. Anyway, anyway.
00:32:09 --> 00:32:15 But just piggybacking on the whole experience as a playwright and so forth,
00:32:15 --> 00:32:19 tell us about the people who inspired you to become a playwright.
00:32:20 --> 00:32:26 Who are the people that you feel, let's say the top three people,
00:32:26 --> 00:32:32 you know, in the arts that has inspired you to do what you're doing?
00:32:32 --> 00:32:36 All right. Yeah, yeah. You know, I just need three.
00:32:37 --> 00:32:41 Well, I mean, if you want to name a couple, you can do a couple.
00:32:42 --> 00:32:43 Do what you want. Go ahead.
00:32:44 --> 00:32:47 Well, you know, first of all, I'm going to say my parents because my mother
00:32:47 --> 00:32:51 and father always inspired me, you know, to go out there and do your best whatever you decide to do.
00:32:51 --> 00:32:55 So they've been supportive of my plays. So that's just for the parents out there.
00:32:56 --> 00:32:59 But, you know, August Wilson is an extraordinary playwright.
00:33:00 --> 00:33:04 He's awesome. My favorite actor, Denzel Washington.
00:33:04 --> 00:33:16 I love this guy I love Malcolm X Viola Davis is an excellent actress oh man she is a serious actress.
00:33:17 --> 00:33:29 So and just it's so many you got Sidney Poirier you got Harry Balafonte the legend one thing,
00:33:30 --> 00:33:34 there's people that you've named so far you got a couple more Yeah,
00:33:34 --> 00:33:39 and then you got the whole thing with Color Purple because it was a movie,
00:33:39 --> 00:33:42 it was a play, and it was a book.
00:33:42 --> 00:33:45 Yeah, that was a great piece.
00:33:45 --> 00:33:50 Yeah, you got the author, definitely the salesman, Arthur Miller.
00:33:51 --> 00:33:57 You got Spike Lee, so it's just a host of people. But those are some of the
00:33:57 --> 00:33:59 main people that I was saying are inspirational.
00:33:59 --> 00:34:01 I noticed you didn't name one particular book.
00:34:05 --> 00:34:10 Ah, okay. Leonard, you know who I'm talking about? No, who were you mentioning?
00:34:11 --> 00:34:13 Tyler Perry. Oh.
00:34:15 --> 00:34:18 Dave, we're not going to open that can of worms.
00:34:21 --> 00:34:25 Okay. All right. All right. I'll leave that alone. Okay. Okay.
00:34:27 --> 00:34:32 Switch of gears, From Tears to Glory, Stories of Our Lives. Tell us about it.
00:34:33 --> 00:34:37 Yeah, well, actually, as I've never read my bio, you know, he had mentioned
00:34:37 --> 00:34:41 one of the plays I've written was From Tears to Glory, the Stories of Our Lives.
00:34:41 --> 00:34:44 And so I decided to turn that into a novel.
00:34:45 --> 00:34:49 And let me just read what the story is about.
00:34:49 --> 00:34:53 From Tears to Glory, the Stories of Our Lives is almost first novel.
00:34:53 --> 00:34:55 This edition is a revised edition.
00:34:55 --> 00:34:59 A participants from North Philadelphia have been selected to participate in
00:34:59 --> 00:35:04 the Culture Down Center's first cultural awareness group. The group meets for four sessions.
00:35:05 --> 00:35:09 The participants share culturally related issues they are going through in their
00:35:09 --> 00:35:14 personal and professional lives, as well as expressing their values and beliefs
00:35:14 --> 00:35:19 as it pertains to controversial topics that have a profound impact in today's society.
00:35:20 --> 00:35:24 Chisholm's flair among some of the group members when the topics of politics,
00:35:24 --> 00:35:27 colorism, leadership, and gender come to play.
00:35:28 --> 00:35:31 One of the group members meets his father for the first time,
00:35:31 --> 00:35:34 while another group member reenights with his parent at 27 years.
00:35:34 --> 00:35:38 So the participants is Charles, a 63-year-old retired veteran,
00:35:39 --> 00:35:45 Vernon, a 35-year-old physical fitness instructor, Reggie, a 37-year-old conservative radio personality.
00:35:46 --> 00:35:51 Ricky, a 42-year-old insurance worker, Kimberly, a 33-year-old healthcare worker.
00:35:52 --> 00:35:55 Lisa, a 32-year-old model.
00:35:55 --> 00:36:02 And Ebony, a 37-year-old instructor and business owner. And 35-year-old security guard.
00:36:02 --> 00:36:08 So basically, it's like I got the concept of the group setting.
00:36:09 --> 00:36:14 The YWCA of Delaware used to have something called the study circle,
00:36:14 --> 00:36:19 where they have people from different cultures come together to discuss issues of race and culture.
00:36:19 --> 00:36:25 And this is what this book is pretty much about, you know, how people would deal with,
00:36:26 --> 00:36:31 issues as it relates to culture, as it relates to sex, gender,
00:36:31 --> 00:36:35 religion, faith, and all that good stuff.
00:36:36 --> 00:36:41 You know, we get to sit down at a table and then to discuss how we really feel
00:36:41 --> 00:36:46 and give an honest concept of how we really feel about what's going on when
00:36:46 --> 00:36:47 it pertains to different issues.
00:36:47 --> 00:36:51 And sometimes when you get in a group setting, people have different personalities,
00:36:51 --> 00:36:52 people have different beliefs.
00:36:52 --> 00:36:56 So there's some debating going back and forth. and it follows the stories of
00:36:56 --> 00:37:00 these strangers as they encounter different things in their lives.
00:37:00 --> 00:37:03 So this is pretty much sum up the novel. I don't want to tell everything.
00:37:04 --> 00:37:08 But the novel can be purchased on lulu.com.
00:37:10 --> 00:37:15 As well as barnesandnoble.com. And thus far, I had two book signings thus far.
00:37:15 --> 00:37:22 It came out in late October, and my first signing was in October.
00:37:23 --> 00:37:28 It was Dr.—I'm sorry, not Dr., but Meadier Bookstore with Ms. M.
00:37:29 --> 00:37:32 She's located on Philadelphia Pike, and Ms. M was an extraordinary person in
00:37:32 --> 00:37:34 terms of helping me get this book together.
00:37:34 --> 00:37:39 She was like a consultant and told me the do's and don'ts of what to do when
00:37:39 --> 00:37:39 we were getting the book out.
00:37:40 --> 00:37:44 And, you know, she helps out a lot of people. She produces so many books.
00:37:45 --> 00:37:49 She used to be at the Tri-State Mall. Now she has her own little private shop in Philadelphia Pike.
00:37:50 --> 00:37:53 And she's an inspiration for a lot of the local writers that we have here in
00:37:53 --> 00:37:59 the city, just by guiding them and becoming their producer, producing their books and so on.
00:37:59 --> 00:38:03 And my last book signing was at the Academy of Peace with Dr.
00:38:03 --> 00:38:05 Jay Macklin back in December.
00:38:05 --> 00:38:10 So I'm looking, I want to return back to Media Bookstore, God willing,
00:38:10 --> 00:38:12 next month for Black History.
00:38:13 --> 00:38:18 So that's pretty much the shell of it. Like I said, it's the first novel that
00:38:18 --> 00:38:20 I've written. It's a revision of it. It's fun.
00:38:21 --> 00:38:24 It's exciting. It's great to meet new people.
00:38:24 --> 00:38:29 It's great to have people read from the book when I'm doing book signings to
00:38:29 --> 00:38:31 get people to feel what the characters are like.
00:38:33 --> 00:38:36 So, yeah. Right. Okay. That's great.
00:38:36 --> 00:38:40 And, you know, sounds like you had some great help. Leonard and I both know
00:38:40 --> 00:38:43 Ms. M. And Ms. M., you know, that's her.
00:38:44 --> 00:38:47 She is a great person, matter of fact. Leonard, we got to get her on the show.
00:38:48 --> 00:38:51 You know that? So we're definitely going to try to see if we can get her.
00:38:52 --> 00:38:55 She has helped a lot of people over the years and
00:38:55 --> 00:38:58 you know she's done some great work here in
00:38:58 --> 00:39:00 delaware and outside of delaware as far as them
00:39:00 --> 00:39:08 helping inspiring artists artists or art authors and performers so yeah she
00:39:08 --> 00:39:13 has she has also she also has a shop in chester pissipania too yeah yeah i did
00:39:13 --> 00:39:16 hear that as well so i haven't gotten up i keep saying i'm gonna go up there
00:39:16 --> 00:39:19 i still haven't gotten up to her shop on Philadelphia yet.
00:39:20 --> 00:39:25 I'm so mad I haven't been up there, but I used to go to the one in Tri-State
00:39:25 --> 00:39:27 all the time. I just haven't been to that one yet.
00:39:28 --> 00:39:32 But, okay. All right. Cool. It's a nice intimate space and she has different
00:39:32 --> 00:39:34 programs. She has different authors there.
00:39:34 --> 00:39:38 They have their book signings. She has different programs and different artists
00:39:38 --> 00:39:39 coming there performing.
00:39:39 --> 00:39:45 I mean, it's an outlet for networking, definitely, for people that is in the art field.
00:39:45 --> 00:39:50 And see, that's important when we have those type of outlets and those type
00:39:50 --> 00:39:54 of people in our communities to be able to help us because, you know,
00:39:55 --> 00:40:00 we can't always go to the other communities and get the help that we want and
00:40:00 --> 00:40:07 get the positive feedback or get negative feedback if we need it from the people
00:40:07 --> 00:40:11 that we want to get it from outside of our neighborhood because they don't always
00:40:11 --> 00:40:13 want to take a chance on us.
00:40:13 --> 00:40:17 But, you know, when you got somebody like Natem doing what she's been doing
00:40:17 --> 00:40:23 all these years, it's good to have somebody like that around to be able to bounce ideas off of.
00:40:24 --> 00:40:29 To be able to do the job that you need to do. So, all right.
00:40:29 --> 00:40:35 So with that being said, I know you said you've got a couple of book signings
00:40:35 --> 00:40:38 that you want to do, and hopefully that'll be coming up soon.
00:40:38 --> 00:40:45 But if people wanted to reach out to you and so forth, what would be the best way to reach out to you?
00:40:45 --> 00:40:52 What social media pages you have that you want to give out or other information
00:40:52 --> 00:40:53 that you want to give out, emails or whatever?
00:40:54 --> 00:40:58 Yeah, I'll give out social media. Well, social media.
00:40:59 --> 00:41:07 I'm under Omar, O-M-A-R, Showtime, Rashida, R-A-S-H-A-D-A. That's on Facebook.
00:41:07 --> 00:41:09 On Twitter, I'm at Playwriting.
00:41:10 --> 00:41:13 And my email is my full name, O-M-A.
00:41:14 --> 00:41:18 At yahoo.com. Yeah. And so, like
00:41:18 --> 00:41:21 I said, so we want to get the book in person, you know, we can hook up.
00:41:21 --> 00:41:26 Like I said, if you want to get it online, it's on lulu.com and barnesandnoble.com.
00:41:27 --> 00:41:32 Okay. Great. Great. Great. All right. Well, there you have it, folks. That's Mr.
00:41:32 --> 00:41:36 Omar Rashadada. And he's going to hang out with us for a little bit.
00:41:37 --> 00:41:40 And we're going to go into some other little things that we want to talk about
00:41:40 --> 00:41:42 before we end the show tonight.
00:41:43 --> 00:41:46 So I got a couple of things that I wanted to bring up. Len, you still with me?
00:41:47 --> 00:41:50 Got to check on him every now and then. Oh, did we lose Len?
00:41:50 --> 00:41:53 Did we lose Len? I'm here. You hear him? Okay. Okay.
00:41:54 --> 00:41:58 Yep. So in fact, Dave, why don't you go? Okay. You're for us.
00:42:00 --> 00:42:04 All right. So Lenny and I, last week or more, and for people that are listening,
00:42:05 --> 00:42:08 we kind of touched on some things because New Year's was coming up.
00:42:08 --> 00:42:12 We kind of touched on some important stories from 2025.
00:42:12 --> 00:42:17 We didn't touch on a lot of different ones, but we talked about some of them.
00:42:17 --> 00:42:22 And I just kind of want to keep that talk since this is the first week of 2026.
00:42:24 --> 00:42:27 I want to bring up a couple of things that just kind of bounce it off of you
00:42:27 --> 00:42:32 guys, what you guys thought, you know, make a couple of comments about what I'm bringing up. OK.
00:42:33 --> 00:42:38 Yeah. All right. The first thing, beginning of the year, Donald Trump re-elected,
00:42:38 --> 00:42:43 says Donald Trump returned to the White House, still in one of the most polarizing
00:42:43 --> 00:42:47 political comebacks in American history, and furthered the...
00:42:48 --> 00:42:55 Omar? Well, I was wondering how this guy went back in the office.
00:42:55 --> 00:42:58 And then the second thing is, did he really win the election?
00:42:58 --> 00:43:00 These are things that are popping in my head. Yeah, I know.
00:43:02 --> 00:43:07 So, I mean, you can see right now that there's a lot of things that's going on in this country.
00:43:08 --> 00:43:12 There's a lot of things. I just don't see... Well, I was kind of surprised that
00:43:12 --> 00:43:15 he won, especially in the fashion that he said he won.
00:43:15 --> 00:43:20 I mean, it was like wasn't really as close. Never seen anything like that before?
00:43:20 --> 00:43:22 No, never seen anything like that before.
00:43:24 --> 00:43:28 And hopefully have a much successful campaign if she decides to run again.
00:43:29 --> 00:43:32 But, you know, the way that the country is going on right now,
00:43:32 --> 00:43:35 it's just a lot of things with this ISIS stuff.
00:43:36 --> 00:43:38 Now what's going on?
00:43:38 --> 00:43:43 What's the takeover? I can't pronounce the thing, right? What?
00:43:45 --> 00:43:50 Yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah, so, I mean, and I'm just trying to figure out,
00:43:50 --> 00:43:53 I mean, how, because I'm thinking, if he's the president of that country,
00:43:54 --> 00:43:58 how is it so easy to just take him and his wife, you know, because I'm quite
00:43:58 --> 00:44:02 sure he should have, like, bodyguards everywhere, so that raised the eyebrow,
00:44:02 --> 00:44:05 you know, but nevertheless...
00:44:05 --> 00:44:09 You have to watch and see what happens. Everything raises an eyebrow.
00:44:09 --> 00:44:12 But anyway, Leonard, you got any thoughts on that?
00:44:12 --> 00:44:16 Yeah, I mean, I just always think about how he said the price of eggs are going
00:44:16 --> 00:44:20 to go down, and this is going to be the best country ever, and look where we are now.
00:44:20 --> 00:44:23 Yeah, I know. It's crazy. Yeah, it's crazy.
00:44:24 --> 00:44:26 All right, moving on to the next thing.
00:44:27 --> 00:44:32 Speaking of our president, the Gulf of Mexico renamed Gulf of America.
00:44:33 --> 00:44:38 How can a president just rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America?
00:44:39 --> 00:44:46 But he did it. He said Trump pushed to rename the Gulf united in that international debate,
00:44:47 --> 00:44:55 memes, diplomatic tension, and questions about symbolism versus substance and leadership.
00:44:55 --> 00:45:01 So you know I mean this almost seems like I mean you know we've been throwing
00:45:01 --> 00:45:09 this word around a lot over the last year dictatorship type stuff yeah yeah
00:45:09 --> 00:45:13 you know dictatorship power narcissism,
00:45:14 --> 00:45:18 you name it I can go on and go on and go on like I said it doesn't make sense
00:45:18 --> 00:45:22 you know yeah we can probably go up and down the alphabet with.
00:45:23 --> 00:45:26 Yeah definitely All right.
00:45:27 --> 00:45:31 How about this one? Trump and Elon Musk's relationship ends.
00:45:32 --> 00:45:34 The once mutual admiration between...
00:45:36 --> 00:45:45 Between Elon and Trump collapse and publicly reminding the world how fast alliances
00:45:45 --> 00:45:48 shift when power and egos collide.
00:45:48 --> 00:45:53 And we know that's what happened with that because too much power,
00:45:53 --> 00:45:57 too much money involved also, and egos.
00:45:58 --> 00:45:59 We knew that wasn't going to last long.
00:46:00 --> 00:46:04 Yeah, well, Musk got him in office. Well, he helped him a great deal with all
00:46:04 --> 00:46:06 that money. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:46:07 --> 00:46:09 I guess once he got in the office I don't need you no more.
00:46:12 --> 00:46:18 Elon would say I'm out he got in his Tesla and rode away you know so you know,
00:46:20 --> 00:46:23 Well, I know Elon talked about wanting to develop a third party, so.
00:46:24 --> 00:46:25 Well, he's probably going to
00:46:25 --> 00:46:31 do it, you know. I mean, the guy just became the first $600 billion man.
00:46:32 --> 00:46:32 Wow.
00:46:33 --> 00:46:39 $600 billion. I can't even imagine. He probably will be, it'd be a race between
00:46:39 --> 00:46:41 him and Bezos, I guess, to be the first trillionaire.
00:46:42 --> 00:46:51 Well, Dave, Bezos is about $100 billion away, so. Oh, he's already $100 billion away? Yeah.
00:46:53 --> 00:46:59 That's scary. That is scary. That's a lot of money. Yeah, that's a lot of money, man.
00:47:00 --> 00:47:02 I mean, I'll be happy with $100 million.
00:47:04 --> 00:47:06 Give me $1 million. I'm happy.
00:47:09 --> 00:47:15 The federal government shut down. The shutdown placed millions of federal workers
00:47:15 --> 00:47:21 in limbo and threatened SNAP benefits exposing once again how political standoffs
00:47:21 --> 00:47:25 disproportionately harms working families.
00:47:25 --> 00:47:31 So it was just that shutdown. We still have people that are still out of work. Yeah, yeah.
00:47:32 --> 00:47:36 With the SNAP benefits, it affects children.
00:47:37 --> 00:47:40 Children have got to eat. Families have got to eat.
00:47:42 --> 00:47:47 People have got mortgages, car payments, bills, Yeah.
00:47:48 --> 00:47:51 Well, a lot of the federally funded programs, I mean, they just totally took
00:47:51 --> 00:47:55 the money away and just said, oh, you're not going to get the money anymore, you know?
00:47:55 --> 00:48:01 So, you know, and then, you know, him trying to defund the Department of Education
00:48:01 --> 00:48:04 and all of that kind of stuff. Yeah.
00:48:05 --> 00:48:08 You know, so that's unfortunately. Yeah. Yeah.
00:48:09 --> 00:48:12 Here's some other things. The Los Angeles.
00:48:16 --> 00:48:20 Fires devastated the community's out of scoring climate urgency and the growing
00:48:20 --> 00:48:23 reality of environmental displacement,
00:48:23 --> 00:48:29 those fires man went on for a long time a lot of people lost their homes some
00:48:29 --> 00:48:34 people lost their lives and we've been just sitting there watching them I forgot how it started too,
00:48:37 --> 00:48:42 I don't remember I do I don't remember either come to think of it.
00:48:47 --> 00:48:51 Particular. I hear about too much now. So, you know, it's almost like a forgotten
00:48:51 --> 00:48:54 thing. There's so many other things that's been going on.
00:48:56 --> 00:48:59 Yeah, it was... Uh-oh. Okay.
00:49:01 --> 00:49:05 Spurred. They said it was because of the... It wasn't a lot...
00:49:05 --> 00:49:08 They didn't have rain for a long time and it was so dry there.
00:49:09 --> 00:49:12 High wind swept through and sparked.
00:49:13 --> 00:49:21 It sparked everything. so yeah yeah so that's what happened so uh let's see also,
00:49:22 --> 00:49:26 one of the other things was the
00:49:26 --> 00:49:31 planes crashing and falling from the sky what about all these planes crashing
00:49:31 --> 00:49:38 and falling from the sky yeah wasn't that some crazy mess just how all of a
00:49:38 --> 00:49:44 sudden these planes started just dropping well see that that would justify for
00:49:44 --> 00:49:46 those who are afraid of flying that would justify,
00:49:46 --> 00:49:48 let's see, that's why I don't go flying.
00:49:52 --> 00:49:55 Leonard's always on planes, man. That boy stays on planes.
00:49:56 --> 00:50:01 He just got off a plane yesterday, didn't he? Not by choice.
00:50:05 --> 00:50:08 You're rolling that plane from Newcastle, right? Didn't you do that before?
00:50:09 --> 00:50:13 I've done that one time. I actually like it, but I feel like their schedule,
00:50:14 --> 00:50:20 is hard because they only fly on Tuesdays and Thursdays. So it's like, okay.
00:50:22 --> 00:50:26 Yeah, so it's either you're going to go down for a day and come back,
00:50:26 --> 00:50:30 or you've got to stay through the weekend, skip Monday.
00:50:32 --> 00:50:36 But, I mean, I do like it, and they have some great destinations to go to.
00:50:37 --> 00:50:40 No, no, really? They go in Florida? Where else they go? So, as far as I know,
00:50:40 --> 00:50:44 I think they go to Florida. They now go to Atlanta. They go to Nashville.
00:50:45 --> 00:50:50 They go close to Charlotte, North Carolina. I mean, they go to a lot of the
00:50:50 --> 00:50:51 smaller airports around.
00:50:52 --> 00:50:56 Okay, gotcha. Yeah, but, I mean, Omar, the prices are right,
00:50:57 --> 00:50:58 though. The prices are really good.
00:50:59 --> 00:51:05 Yeah, I was asking. said it it costs a lot a lot less than filofions right oh
00:51:05 --> 00:51:10 yeah a lot less yeah yeah definitely yeah but you know and you don't gotta worry
00:51:10 --> 00:51:12 about the parking parking is not there you go,
00:51:12 --> 00:51:16 yeah oh okay gotcha they yeah
00:51:16 --> 00:51:19 it's just crazy well you know with all the stuff that
00:51:19 --> 00:51:21 was going on with the planes though you know all of a sudden you know
00:51:21 --> 00:51:24 everybody was like it seemed like every
00:51:24 --> 00:51:27 week there was something going on there for a moment dude so yeah
00:51:27 --> 00:51:30 yeah and then the plane and the helicopter crash or
00:51:30 --> 00:51:33 something yeah yeah yeah well yeah
00:51:33 --> 00:51:37 now you don't really hear that too much no no it
00:51:37 --> 00:51:40 got you know they you know they kind of they kind
00:51:40 --> 00:51:43 of watched a lot of it because people were to stop buying
00:51:43 --> 00:51:46 plane tickets people were scared to fly and you know
00:51:46 --> 00:51:49 you can't that's the big that's big money right
00:51:49 --> 00:51:52 there the people taking them trips and everything so
00:51:52 --> 00:51:55 also would remember one
00:51:55 --> 00:52:01 of the big things last year was the drones or the well first they said was they
00:52:01 --> 00:52:08 said it was people thought it was ufos in the sky remember everybody but then
00:52:08 --> 00:52:13 they started saying it was drones and what are these drones doing what why we
00:52:13 --> 00:52:14 got drones in the sky all of a sudden.
00:52:15 --> 00:52:19 Oh, yeah. I forgot about that, but you mentioned it. I remember it now.
00:52:19 --> 00:52:23 Yeah. Yeah, I remember because I was telling Leonard, I was saying,
00:52:23 --> 00:52:27 Leonard, I'd be going to work in the morning, man. I'd be seeing these streets in the sky.
00:52:27 --> 00:52:30 I said, they're not planes. I said, they're definitely not planes.
00:52:31 --> 00:52:34 Something else going on. And I used to see this stuff like six,
00:52:34 --> 00:52:38 seven o'clock in the morning, almost religiously, almost every day I see these
00:52:38 --> 00:52:40 things in the sky. Oh, wow.
00:52:40 --> 00:52:43 Yeah. Yeah. And I used to tell him all the time. He thought I was crazy,
00:52:43 --> 00:52:45 But, you know, what can I say?
00:52:45 --> 00:52:49 Because he said, Dave, I don't see him, so I don't believe you.
00:52:49 --> 00:52:51 That's what he would always tell me. Right.
00:52:51 --> 00:52:53 You know, and you still don't see him, do you?
00:52:54 --> 00:52:58 Yeah, I don't think I've seen him before you. Yeah, me neither. Yeah, see, there you go.
00:53:02 --> 00:53:08 Here's something. Beyonce finally wins a country music award and then turn around
00:53:08 --> 00:53:10 and wins album of the year.
00:53:11 --> 00:53:15 And you know, they spent a lot of time trying not to make sure she won anything
00:53:15 --> 00:53:17 in that country music field.
00:53:18 --> 00:53:21 But then, see, they allowed her to win Album of the Year.
00:53:21 --> 00:53:27 And it said that she shattered gender boundaries, forcing the industry and audiences
00:53:27 --> 00:53:31 to confront longstanding gatekeeping in country music.
00:53:32 --> 00:53:37 Well, you know, the one actor, I think he was, they said he was in the Dukes
00:53:37 --> 00:53:42 of Hazzard. He didn't really want her to, he didn't think that she should be
00:53:42 --> 00:53:44 in the country. Pretty much, you see, stay in your lane.
00:53:44 --> 00:53:48 Yeah, I know, I know. But see, they're worried that too many,
00:53:49 --> 00:53:53 because, you know, all of a sudden, we have about five artists that are doing
00:53:53 --> 00:53:55 very well, black artists doing very well.
00:53:56 --> 00:54:02 Yeah, and, you know, they've sold a lot of records. And, you know,
00:54:02 --> 00:54:05 they're getting concerned because, you know, if they let us in,
00:54:05 --> 00:54:08 you know what I'm saying?
00:54:08 --> 00:54:13 If they let us in, we're going to definitely stay, you know? So, yeah, so...
00:54:15 --> 00:54:21 Kanye West and his wife, Bianca Sensori's red carpet moment.
00:54:21 --> 00:54:24 Everybody remember the red carpet moment? I don't know. Bigly.
00:54:25 --> 00:54:29 Leonard, you remember? Dave, can you explain it to us? We don't remember.
00:54:31 --> 00:54:37 He's always being smart. It says Kanye West and Bianca once again blurred lines
00:54:37 --> 00:54:41 between fashion, provocative, uh,
00:54:42 --> 00:54:48 being provocative and spectacles and dominating the,
00:54:48 --> 00:54:54 the conversation more than any awards that night, because she was basically
00:54:54 --> 00:54:57 standing out there in this, what was supposed to be an outfit,
00:54:58 --> 00:55:02 but it was definitely her basically nude. Oh boy.
00:55:03 --> 00:55:08 Yeah. And matter of fact, and you You could tell she, you know,
00:55:08 --> 00:55:12 she's always done, you know, you always see her doing whatever he says to do.
00:55:13 --> 00:55:15 But that night, she was not happy about it. You remember that,
00:55:15 --> 00:55:17 Leonard? Yeah, I remember.
00:55:18 --> 00:55:23 And that led to them separating because she was, she ended up separating from him.
00:55:23 --> 00:55:27 But I understand they're back together now. But, you know, but she was so upset
00:55:27 --> 00:55:32 about the whole thing because she definitely was not feeling that moment. So.
00:55:34 --> 00:55:39 Thing in the entertainment field Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl halftime performance
00:55:39 --> 00:55:45 he delivered a performance held as both artistic and politically charged proven
00:55:45 --> 00:55:51 hip-hop's cultural authority on the world's biggest stage did you see that Omar?
00:55:52 --> 00:55:59 No I didn't catch that but I think that you know I saw it on YouTube I didn't
00:55:59 --> 00:56:00 catch it live but I saw it on YouTube,
00:56:02 --> 00:56:10 and you know the song, the poem that Sam and Drake got this beef going on and so,
00:56:12 --> 00:56:17 it's not always good to see when we beef with one another in public and.
00:56:19 --> 00:56:25 I like the unity thing. I like seeing us come together in strong force and uniting,
00:56:25 --> 00:56:29 you know, because in the past you got this Biggie versus Tupac.
00:56:29 --> 00:56:34 You had Kumo D versus L, Kujay. It's always got to be some type of battle. Nicki Minaj, Lil' Kim.
00:56:35 --> 00:56:38 It's always got to be some type of battle, you know. Why can't we come together
00:56:38 --> 00:56:44 as artists and build something positive, you know, to help promote the community?
00:56:44 --> 00:56:45 That's my thing, you know. Yeah.
00:56:46 --> 00:56:52 Well, you know, right now, you know, it sells records. It keeps people's names in people's mouths.
00:56:53 --> 00:56:57 I wouldn't be surprised they're all in the back room smoking together and having
00:56:57 --> 00:56:58 a good time counting their marks.
00:57:01 --> 00:57:05 You know, like Leonard does. Me and Leonard do all the time. We go in the back room.
00:57:05 --> 00:57:09 So this was a very big topic.
00:57:09 --> 00:57:13 And Leonard and I even talked about this on the show. We talked about all this
00:57:13 --> 00:57:15 stuff, but talked about this on the show.
00:57:15 --> 00:57:18 Remember the 100 men versus a gorilla?
00:57:19 --> 00:57:27 Yeah. Yeah, I heard about that, son. Yeah, yeah. What was your thoughts about that whole thing?
00:57:28 --> 00:57:34 I almost think 100 men would beat a gorilla, but those first couple men, he about to kill them.
00:57:36 --> 00:57:40 Yeah, well, you know, a lot of people said that the gorilla would take out 100 men.
00:57:41 --> 00:57:43 I wouldn't be surprised, but
00:57:43 --> 00:57:50 there was another variation where it was 100 gorillas versus 10 men.
00:57:50 --> 00:57:56 Wow. And the gorillas wiped them out. Really? Yeah.
00:57:57 --> 00:58:01 How many times you got to let a gorilla hit you before you go down? One.
00:58:03 --> 00:58:04 There it is.
00:58:07 --> 00:58:11 If he hits you, you're going down. If he hits you, you're going down.
00:58:12 --> 00:58:16 But there's the fact that they came up with this thing and that was a real big thing, Omar.
00:58:16 --> 00:58:21 They talked about this for about a month, didn't they? Yeah, they did.
00:58:22 --> 00:58:27 It was almost as bad as the debate. Remember the dress from back in the day,
00:58:27 --> 00:58:30 what color the dress was? Remember that whole thing?
00:58:31 --> 00:58:34 Whether the dress was blue or whether it was gray.
00:58:35 --> 00:58:40 Gray. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. So I'll tell you what,
00:58:40 --> 00:58:42 I wouldn't want to be one of those men.
00:58:46 --> 00:58:49 You know, you know, you know, us, we're going to try to find a gun or something.
00:58:51 --> 00:58:54 Yeah. Yeah. Make it, make it easy.
00:58:54 --> 00:58:59 So one of the last things that happened during the, towards the end of the year
00:58:59 --> 00:59:01 was Diddy's documentary.
00:59:01 --> 00:59:04 Of course, that made big headlines, the whole trial,
00:59:05 --> 00:59:08 you know, Leonard and I kind of touched on that previously, but,
00:59:08 --> 00:59:10 you know, of course, there was a trial that,
00:59:11 --> 00:59:16 kind of was a trial that took up a lot of time and really didn't really settle
00:59:16 --> 00:59:19 anything other than him going to jail for four years, and a lot of people feel
00:59:19 --> 00:59:22 that maybe he should have got less time.
00:59:22 --> 00:59:27 So, you know, now it sure showed what type of man he was.
00:59:27 --> 00:59:32 You know, his reputation is forever ruined, you know, but,
00:59:34 --> 00:59:40 Of course, Mr. Petty, 50 cents, you know, he's going to do whatever he can.
00:59:40 --> 00:59:46 He made a dark material. Yeah, you know, he had to dig the knife in a little
00:59:46 --> 00:59:51 deeper, you know, and he did this ditty documentary that everybody watched and
00:59:51 --> 00:59:53 everybody had a lot to say about, you know.
00:59:53 --> 00:59:57 Now, what was his motive for doing that? I mean, why would he want to throw
00:59:57 --> 00:59:59 the man on the butt, you know?
00:59:59 --> 01:00:01 I mean, I don't know. He's petty.
01:00:03 --> 01:00:06 50 likes 50 likes to you know
01:00:06 --> 01:00:09 one one thing i will say about he's a very
01:00:09 --> 01:00:12 smart guy 50 knows exactly what to
01:00:12 --> 01:00:15 do to get people to tune into anything that he
01:00:15 --> 01:00:18 does now you talk about being a playwright and everything this
01:00:18 --> 01:00:21 guy is a mastermind about getting people to
01:00:21 --> 01:00:27 watch anything that he does you know all his shows have been successful he he
01:00:27 --> 01:00:32 has done done this documentary he's done a couple documentaries and done very
01:00:32 --> 01:00:38 well he you know and plus he keeps he keeps himself in the news because if somebody
01:00:38 --> 01:00:40 has something to say he's going to have something to say to,
01:00:41 --> 01:00:47 you know yeah yeah so he's smart he's a smart guy i i have to give 50 a lot
01:00:47 --> 01:00:52 of credit for being smart now whether you appreciate some of the things that he says,
01:00:54 --> 01:00:59 does you can't always appreciate that but but hey you know you can't knock and
01:00:59 --> 01:01:06 tussle he's made a career over being petty so you know so right yeah well you
01:01:06 --> 01:01:08 know he had that so it was a power i mean.
01:01:09 --> 01:01:15 Power you know and all the spin-offs and then he had bmf and you know and he's
01:01:15 --> 01:01:18 getting ready to do you're ready to do a couple of new things so you know but
01:01:18 --> 01:01:21 you know when he had to show power he was He was having beef with my man.
01:01:22 --> 01:01:25 What's the story that Lee Daniels did with Jirazi P. Henson?
01:01:26 --> 01:01:28 Oh, when, what'd you call him?
01:01:28 --> 01:01:30 Terrence, Terrence, Howard. Yeah.
01:01:32 --> 01:01:34 I can't even remember the name of it now.
01:01:35 --> 01:01:40 The name of the show, Leonard? With Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Benson.
01:01:41 --> 01:01:44 Oh, Empire. Empire, there you go. Empire, yeah.
01:01:46 --> 01:01:49 Who's number one? It goes back to a competition thing, you know?
01:01:50 --> 01:01:55 We always got to compete against one another. Very few people can compete with 50.
01:01:55 --> 01:01:59 You see 50 still out there, still doing his thing, right? So, you know, so.
01:02:01 --> 01:02:06 All right. We got a couple things with churches that kind of happened that were talked about.
01:02:06 --> 01:02:11 We had Mr. Marvin Sapp locking the doors of his church during all for it.
01:02:12 --> 01:02:16 Marvin sparked outrage and debate over faith pressure and the lie between spiritual
01:02:16 --> 01:02:19 leadership and coercion.
01:02:20 --> 01:02:25 That was crazy. Of course, he tried to clean it up.
01:02:26 --> 01:02:33 Must be something about these Marvins because Marvin Whinan comes later on and
01:02:33 --> 01:02:38 goes to congregant over a donation amount, which was, you know,
01:02:38 --> 01:02:40 he walked up there with $1.
01:02:41 --> 01:02:46 He said, you're in the wrong line. You're supposed to be, we're asking for $2 in this line.
01:02:47 --> 01:02:52 See, you know. People are struggling, and people can give, but they're able to give. Right.
01:02:52 --> 01:02:55 And that's one of the things that's turning people off against the church,
01:02:55 --> 01:02:58 because they feel already that, you know, there are pastors out there who are
01:02:58 --> 01:03:01 just there for the money, and so when you embarrass somebody for not putting
01:03:01 --> 01:03:03 the money in there that you wanted,
01:03:03 --> 01:03:07 And that justifies people not wanting to go to church and not trusting the church
01:03:07 --> 01:03:09 and this, that, and the third.
01:03:09 --> 01:03:13 So I really agree with that concept of what he did. And to embarrass a lady,
01:03:14 --> 01:03:15 I think she had a child with her too.
01:03:16 --> 01:03:18 I mean, you know, whoa, man.
01:03:19 --> 01:03:23 What's the child supposed to think now, you know? Well, what's anybody supposed to think?
01:03:23 --> 01:03:28 That's why a lot of people don't want to go to church now, you know? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so...
01:03:29 --> 01:03:32 Let me see. There are a couple more. Let's see.
01:03:33 --> 01:03:37 LeBron James confronts Stephen A. Smith at a basketball game.
01:03:38 --> 01:03:43 You guys, I know, I think we talked about that, right? I saw that.
01:03:43 --> 01:03:49 I saw that. So I guess. Well, a lot of people was upset with LeBron about that
01:03:49 --> 01:03:53 because they felt all the time that he could approach Stephen A.
01:03:53 --> 01:03:57 Smith because it was all about what he said about his son. His son, yeah. Yeah.
01:03:58 --> 01:04:01 All the time he had the chance to do it. Why are you going to do it in front
01:04:01 --> 01:04:04 of all those people so you can try to embarrass Stephen A. Smith?
01:04:04 --> 01:04:08 You know, so, I mean, I understand, you know, you didn't like what he had to
01:04:08 --> 01:04:11 say, but you could have handled that a little bit differently, you know?
01:04:12 --> 01:04:14 Yeah, so. Yeah, I'm quite sure he probably got his number.
01:04:16 --> 01:04:20 Yeah, I'm sure, I'm sure. Even though they, you know, they don't get along,
01:04:20 --> 01:04:23 though. They don't get along, but still, you know.
01:04:24 --> 01:04:26 Shannon Sharp, risking it all.
01:04:30 --> 01:04:34 I mean, you know, we, we, it's just, uh,
01:04:38 --> 01:04:41 23 million dollars over 23 million dollars
01:04:41 --> 01:04:44 and we don't really know the whole exact figure that
01:04:44 --> 01:04:47 he lost right yeah but but but when you're
01:04:47 --> 01:04:51 a public figure your life is on the microscope so you
01:04:51 --> 01:04:54 you gotta live a proper life because you're
01:04:54 --> 01:04:57 a paparazzi government there people just waiting for you
01:04:57 --> 01:05:00 to mess up so so so they can get this story and
01:05:00 --> 01:05:03 news well and but then in this
01:05:03 --> 01:05:06 particular thing this this guy messing with
01:05:06 --> 01:05:10 this young girl he that he could be that that could be his granddaughter you
01:05:10 --> 01:05:16 know yeah and you know she set him up and you you know you mess up you know
01:05:16 --> 01:05:22 oh don't even get me started with that man you should talk to him leonard you
01:05:22 --> 01:05:24 should talk to him hey i don't got Nothing to say.
01:05:26 --> 01:05:29 I'm minding my black-owned business.
01:05:31 --> 01:05:36 Well, speaking of craziness, Jimmy Kimmel is suspended.
01:05:37 --> 01:05:43 Jimmy Kimmel faced consequences over political commentary, intensifying debate
01:05:43 --> 01:05:46 around free speech and selective accountability.
01:05:46 --> 01:05:49 The president didn't like what he had to say about him. Yeah.
01:05:50 --> 01:05:53 Well, you know, Jimmy Kimmel just won an award, I think, last week for being the best.
01:05:58 --> 01:06:01 Yeah so that just kind of you know threw egg
01:06:01 --> 01:06:07 back in his face you know right in his face you know and uh steven colbert colbert's
01:06:07 --> 01:06:14 show was canceled because of comments that he had made over um yeah so you know
01:06:14 --> 01:06:19 his his show ends um i think they said it's either may or june of this year It's your end,
01:06:19 --> 01:06:22 you know, so Let's see,
01:06:23 --> 01:06:24 got a couple,
01:06:26 --> 01:06:29 other scandalous type things that happened. Last year was crazy,
01:06:29 --> 01:06:34 man. When I'm looking at all of this stuff. Yeah, it was. I'm listening to all this stuff.
01:06:34 --> 01:06:37 There's some crazy stuff that happened. Absolutely.
01:06:38 --> 01:06:46 Coldplay concert on KissCam Affair was exposed A viral moment as Coldplay At a Coldplay concert,
01:06:47 --> 01:06:55 Exposed an alleged Workplace affair Proving once again that in digital age Privacy is optional Yeah,
01:06:56 --> 01:07:01 That was crazy Sitting up there having a good time And all of a sudden you're
01:07:01 --> 01:07:06 on the screen Everybody can see you And then you try to run and hide.
01:07:08 --> 01:07:13 Made it even worse yeah I know that's exactly what they did they made it even worse,
01:07:15 --> 01:07:20 Cracker Barrel changes its logo Leonard and I talked about this too Cracker
01:07:20 --> 01:07:26 Barrel ignited nostalgia wars as the brand became yet another front in the cultural
01:07:26 --> 01:07:30 battle so they decided did you hear about this a little more about them changing it,
01:07:31 --> 01:07:38 I didn't really follow that much but I heard about it Yeah, they tried to call
01:07:38 --> 01:07:39 themselves modernizing it.
01:07:40 --> 01:07:45 And they just made it worse because everybody had a problem with what they were doing. So, yeah.
01:07:45 --> 01:07:53 One of the big news, Travis Kelsey and Taylor Swift got engaged. Yeah. That was big news.
01:07:53 --> 01:07:58 I think he may be retiring from football. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:07:59 --> 01:08:04 This was probably his last year. Did you hear that the Baltimore Ravens coach got fired today?
01:08:05 --> 01:08:07 Oh, he did? Yep, yep. He got fired today.
01:08:08 --> 01:08:13 So, yeah. After 18 years, because they lost that football game over the weekend. Yeah.
01:08:14 --> 01:08:17 Yeah. But, you know, yeah. The guy, Mr. Philgold, you know.
01:08:17 --> 01:08:22 Yeah, yeah, yeah. There you go. There you go. Well, I seen something on Facebook
01:08:22 --> 01:08:23 that said Dallas Cowboys coach got fired.
01:08:24 --> 01:08:26 I don't know if that's true or not. I haven't seen that yet,
01:08:26 --> 01:08:28 but. Yeah, I've seen it on Facebook, yeah.
01:08:29 --> 01:08:31 Yeah, well, you know, good. Anyway.
01:08:33 --> 01:08:40 The new the big catchphrase of 2025 was leonard what was it,
01:08:41 --> 01:08:45 Dude, I don't know. What was the big thing that all the kids were saying?
01:08:46 --> 01:08:48 Oh, 6'7"? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:08:49 --> 01:08:54 Have you ever heard people say this, Omar? 6'7"? You hear 6'7"?
01:08:54 --> 01:08:56 I think I heard a couple of signs, but not a lot.
01:08:57 --> 01:09:01 And it doesn't mean anything. That's what makes it so bad. It's like one of
01:09:01 --> 01:09:05 the most popular phrases over the last couple months, but it doesn't really
01:09:05 --> 01:09:07 mean anything. So, you know, so.
01:09:08 --> 01:09:11 Violence um we had a violent situation last
01:09:11 --> 01:09:15 year with charlie kirk getting assassinated oh
01:09:15 --> 01:09:18 yeah did you know who charlie kirk was omar
01:09:18 --> 01:09:21 you know when he died i
01:09:21 --> 01:09:24 heard more about him after he got shot than i
01:09:24 --> 01:09:27 did before i really didn't really know him or follow him like that
01:09:27 --> 01:09:30 yeah i mean i might have saw him here and
01:09:30 --> 01:09:32 there but he wasn't nobody i really followed so i really didn't know
01:09:32 --> 01:09:36 too much about him me and leonard when it
01:09:36 --> 01:09:38 happened leonard and i both said the same
01:09:38 --> 01:09:41 thing we didn't know a lot about him now i knew he had that i
01:09:41 --> 01:09:45 knew about that that that show he had the turning point usa
01:09:45 --> 01:09:49 show but i didn't know anything about him but they made such a big deal like
01:09:49 --> 01:09:57 he was the next market yeah i know i mean you know flying look what was it that
01:09:57 --> 01:10:02 happened that same day that they had to had a fly half mass for him it was something
01:10:02 --> 01:10:04 else going on george floy's birthday.
01:10:07 --> 01:10:10 Oh, are you talking about Charlie Kirk Remembrance Day? Yeah,
01:10:10 --> 01:10:14 remember when they had the flags flying half-staffed for him?
01:10:14 --> 01:10:16 There was something that happened that same day.
01:10:17 --> 01:10:21 Was that 9-11? Wasn't that around that time? Was it? Oh, okay.
01:10:21 --> 01:10:22 I can't remember. I'm not sure.
01:10:23 --> 01:10:28 Something happened that same day, and they were more concerned about the flags
01:10:28 --> 01:10:33 flying half-mast for Charlie Kirk, and he's not even a president or anything.
01:10:33 --> 01:10:35 I think it was 9-11.
01:10:36 --> 01:10:40 Something. I was just like, wow. Okay. All right.
01:10:40 --> 01:10:45 So that's all the things, the main things that happened last year.
01:10:46 --> 01:10:50 I just want to go over, we lost a few people in our community.
01:10:50 --> 01:10:55 I'm talking about the Black community that were people of note.
01:10:55 --> 01:10:59 I just wanted to read these right quick. Isaiah Whitlock Jr.,
01:10:59 --> 01:11:01 if you don't know him, he's an actor.
01:11:02 --> 01:11:08 He was in the show The Wire. He was on Your Honor. You know who he is, Omar? I think so.
01:11:09 --> 01:11:13 He was in your honor. He's been in a lot of different things. Yeah, yeah.
01:11:13 --> 01:11:18 Leonard, you know who he was, right? No, I don't know who he is. You don't? No.
01:11:19 --> 01:11:22 Oh, wow. Okay, if you see his picture, I think you would know.
01:11:22 --> 01:11:24 He's been in a lot of different things.
01:11:24 --> 01:11:28 You didn't watch The Wire, right, Leonard? No, I didn't. Okay, yeah.
01:11:29 --> 01:11:34 Richard Smallwood, Gospel Royalty, whose compositions and shape generations.
01:11:34 --> 01:11:41 He just died over the last few weeks well last week actually be exact Malcolm
01:11:41 --> 01:11:43 Jamal Warner that was really a shame when that happened.
01:11:45 --> 01:11:50 Everybody remember Malcolm watching him grow up on TV he came and spoke at the
01:11:50 --> 01:11:54 Women's Library yeah I know he was here was that last year right? last year.
01:11:58 --> 01:12:01 Sly Stone. Sly was way before his time.
01:12:01 --> 01:12:06 He was a character, but the guy made some great music, man. Great music.
01:12:07 --> 01:12:12 This guy is one of, you know, if you want to realize how successful you can
01:12:12 --> 01:12:16 be, you can have multiple careers in life.
01:12:16 --> 01:12:20 This guy was a basketball player, a very good basketball player,
01:12:20 --> 01:12:22 six man of the year in the NBA and everything,
01:12:23 --> 01:12:28 and then leads the NBA after finishing his career and becomes one of the most
01:12:28 --> 01:12:31 successful black businessmen ever, Junior Bridgman.
01:12:32 --> 01:12:37 He passed away last year. A model of post-sports excellence and black ownership.
01:12:38 --> 01:12:44 You know, the guys like Magic and Shaq, you know, they all followed his blueprint
01:12:44 --> 01:12:49 to become successful after basketball.
01:12:49 --> 01:12:54 I mean, this guy was a beast in the business field. You know, Junior Bridgesman.
01:12:56 --> 01:13:01 Musician Roy Ayers. I love Roy Ayers. I had a few of his albums back in the day.
01:13:01 --> 01:13:07 Of course, Angie Stone, unfortunately, died in a car crash.
01:13:07 --> 01:13:11 And, you know, of course, everybody loved Angie Stone.
01:13:11 --> 01:13:17 Roberta Flack, icon. Everybody loved Roberta Flack's music.
01:13:18 --> 01:13:23 Miss Valetta Wallace, of course, Biggie's mother and activist, you know.
01:13:23 --> 01:13:29 Oh, okay. Yeah, you know, she was a lady of principle.
01:13:30 --> 01:13:39 Mr. Irv Gotti, who was the part of, he was a music producer and worked with Ashanti and Ja Rule.
01:13:40 --> 01:13:44 You know, Murder, Inc. was his label. A lot of great songs came out of that.
01:13:45 --> 01:13:50 Gus Williams, a former basketball player for the Seattle Supersonics back in
01:13:50 --> 01:13:53 the day. He was an NBA champion.
01:13:53 --> 01:13:56 He's also another person that did very well after basketball.
01:13:56 --> 01:14:00 He was a great player. D'Angelo.
01:14:01 --> 01:14:06 Ironically, you know, D'Angelo and Angie Stone went both in the same year.
01:14:06 --> 01:14:08 And, you know, of course they had a child together.
01:14:09 --> 01:14:16 And, you know, yeah, you know. You didn't know they had a child together? No, I never knew.
01:14:17 --> 01:14:19 Yeah, yeah, they had a child together.
01:14:19 --> 01:14:25 Angie Stone used the same background for him, and they had a relationship back then.
01:14:26 --> 01:14:32 Mr. George Foreman. Of course, everybody knew George as the The boxer,
01:14:32 --> 01:14:36 then he became the father and became TV pitchman.
01:14:36 --> 01:14:41 Of course, everybody had their little George Foreman grill and, you know, great guy.
01:14:41 --> 01:14:46 You know, he was a mean guy in the beginning, but he turned out to be a very
01:14:46 --> 01:14:48 lovable person, you know. Yeah.
01:14:50 --> 01:14:53 The last person I'm going to mention is Mr. Walter Scott. If you don't know
01:14:53 --> 01:14:58 the name Walter Scott, you know him from the group The Whispers.
01:14:58 --> 01:15:01 He was one of the twins from the group The Whispers.
01:15:02 --> 01:15:08 And, you know, of course, everybody knows The Whispers. It's one of everybody's favorite groups.
01:15:08 --> 01:15:11 So those are a few people that I've met.
01:15:12 --> 01:15:16 One person that you didn't mention, I was waiting for you to say her name.
01:15:16 --> 01:15:22 But um she was a beautiful host on teen summit ananda lewis i was going to say
01:15:22 --> 01:15:27 that but i wasn't sure how many people would know who she was yeah they shame
01:15:27 --> 01:15:29 on you for skipping ananda i know,
01:15:32 --> 01:15:35 ananda lewis was she was a beautiful person she died
01:15:35 --> 01:15:38 of breast cancer unfortunately and you know
01:15:38 --> 01:15:42 i didn't even know she had died until one day i was
01:15:42 --> 01:15:45 just reading something online and mentioned it
01:15:45 --> 01:15:49 and i was like when i missed this i didn't even see this so you know i believe
01:15:49 --> 01:15:55 she passed away in june yeah yeah and she's still a beautiful woman when she
01:15:55 --> 01:16:03 died yeah yeah yeah yeah mercy's tea summit but i didn't show that yeah mtv,
01:16:05 --> 01:16:10 look were you did you omar when you were watching did you did you listen to
01:16:10 --> 01:16:12 any of the topics or you just there for the.
01:16:16 --> 01:16:23 No it was a great show I listen to the topics yeah I mean she was one of the hosts Lisa Johnson,
01:16:25 --> 01:16:31 that's when BET was good yeah I agree Donnie Simpson was on there back then
01:16:31 --> 01:16:38 they had some great shows back there TRL and all of that stuff yeah so.
01:16:40 --> 01:16:44 Okay, well, that's what I wanted to say. I think, Leonard, you wanted to add something?
01:16:45 --> 01:16:48 Yeah, you know, this was before I knew this was a recap show,
01:16:48 --> 01:16:53 but I saw this on Twitter, and I just thought it was so interesting.
01:16:53 --> 01:16:58 And this kind of just goes to prove that 2025 has been a crazy year.
01:16:58 --> 01:17:03 And, Dave, you didn't mention it on your recap, but, of course,
01:17:03 --> 01:17:06 you know, we know what happened the last couple of days with,
01:17:06 --> 01:17:12 well, not our president, but we know what happened with, you know, Venezuela.
01:17:12 --> 01:17:16 And I wanted to play something for you that I thought was very informative.
01:17:17 --> 01:17:19 And I just want everybody to listen real quick.
01:17:21 --> 01:17:27 I am not defending Maduro. And of course, I'm happy for the people of Venezuela to be liberated.
01:17:27 --> 01:17:32 But Americans celebrated the liberation of the Iraqi people after Saddam Hussein.
01:17:32 --> 01:17:36 They celebrated the liberation of the Libyan people after Gaddafi.
01:17:37 --> 01:17:42 And this is the same Washington playbook that we are so sick and tired of that
01:17:42 --> 01:17:47 doesn't serve the American people, but actually serves the big corporations,
01:17:47 --> 01:17:49 the banks, and the oil executives.
01:17:50 --> 01:17:55 And so my pushback here is on the Trump administration that campaigned on Make
01:17:55 --> 01:17:59 America Great Again that we thought was putting America first.
01:17:59 --> 01:18:05 I want to see domestic policy be the priority that helps Americans afford life
01:18:05 --> 01:18:08 after four disastrous years of the Biden administration.
01:18:09 --> 01:18:13 Okay. So, of course, this person is kind of bashing Trump and all that.
01:18:13 --> 01:18:15 Dave, who do you think this person is?
01:18:16 --> 01:18:21 I think I'm Dave. Go ahead, Omar. No, no, no, no, no. Hold on, Dave. Don't.
01:18:24 --> 01:18:27 No, no, no, no, no. Go ahead, Dave. Who do you think this person is?
01:18:28 --> 01:18:33 Is that Marjorie Taylor Greene? It is. Is that what you guys say,
01:18:33 --> 01:18:35 Omar? Yeah, Marjorie Taylor Greene, yeah.
01:18:35 --> 01:18:42 So, you know, I think one of the biggest things, and I probably hinted to it, but last year,
01:18:42 --> 01:18:46 maybe, I don't know, maybe because she knew she was getting out of Congress,
01:18:46 --> 01:18:50 she had really switched up her rhetoric.
01:18:51 --> 01:18:55 You know, before when it was Democrats suck, you know, now she's bashing the
01:18:55 --> 01:18:59 president, she's bashing the government. And of course, you know,
01:18:59 --> 01:19:01 she's about to get out, too.
01:19:01 --> 01:19:03 I think I think this is her last term in office.
01:19:04 --> 01:19:07 But, you know, I just thought it was interesting because, Dave,
01:19:08 --> 01:19:14 I also think 2025 was a year for a lot of people who are diehard Trump supporters
01:19:14 --> 01:19:18 to kind of see a little bit of what the real was.
01:19:18 --> 01:19:23 You know, there was a hashtag on Twitter, a couple of them.
01:19:23 --> 01:19:27 One, one of the hashtags was American first, America first.
01:19:27 --> 01:19:32 And the hashtag was about people being upset that he's not putting America first anymore.
01:19:33 --> 01:19:38 And then there was a hashtag called not my MAGA.
01:19:38 --> 01:19:44 And these were MAGA supporters who were upset that, you know, he kind of switched up.
01:19:44 --> 01:19:49 So I just just real quick, you know, Dave and Omar, what do you think about
01:19:49 --> 01:19:54 a lot of these MAGA people and a lot of these Republicans who are and I just
01:19:54 --> 01:19:58 call it coming to the light a little too late, but they coming?
01:19:59 --> 01:20:03 Oh, Omar, what do you think about them? And, you know, what do you think the
01:20:03 --> 01:20:05 next couple of years going to look like?
01:20:06 --> 01:20:09 Well, well, I guess they're looking at false promises.
01:20:10 --> 01:20:14 I think they're looking at things that.
01:20:16 --> 01:20:21 For example, let's look at today. Today marks, I think, the 50th anniversary
01:20:21 --> 01:20:23 of January 6th. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
01:20:23 --> 01:20:27 And see what those officers are going through. I was watching that on TV.
01:20:28 --> 01:20:34 And and and then there was a lady who was a MAGA supporter who was given a pardon.
01:20:35 --> 01:20:40 But she rejected the pardon because she said that what I did was wrong.
01:20:40 --> 01:20:44 And this was an older Caucasian lady. I was watching on Channel 6 News.
01:20:45 --> 01:20:48 And so if you look back on some of the things that have happened,
01:20:49 --> 01:20:51 the destruction of what happened, people make comfortable realization that says,
01:20:51 --> 01:20:54 wait a minute, man, this ain't right.
01:20:55 --> 01:20:58 The false promises, you said, as you mentioned earlier, that AIDS was going
01:20:58 --> 01:21:02 to go down, it didn't happen. You said this is going to go down, it didn't happen.
01:21:02 --> 01:21:07 So I think with the false promises and then seeing, you know what just happened
01:21:07 --> 01:21:13 with Venezuela, they were saying that it wasn't done justifiably.
01:21:13 --> 01:21:17 I mean, if it was done in the court of law or whatever you want to pronounce it. Illegally.
01:21:18 --> 01:21:22 Illegally, yeah. So I think, like you said, people coming up,
01:21:22 --> 01:21:27 they're seeing things that are not done legally, or they're seeing false promises,
01:21:27 --> 01:21:32 and they're seeing to themselves, wait a minute, man, did I make the right choice?
01:21:32 --> 01:21:36 I mean, these are people who are poor, you could say poor whites,
01:21:36 --> 01:21:39 who were promising the economy was going to get better, and it didn't.
01:21:39 --> 01:21:43 As you mentioned earlier, the government shut down, people losing jobs,
01:21:44 --> 01:21:50 a lot of jobs downsizing and eliminating because of the decisions that the president has made.
01:21:50 --> 01:21:55 So it's just, you know, and let me say this, too. I wonder.
01:21:56 --> 01:21:59 Vice President, what's his name, Lance, the Vice President, Vance?
01:22:00 --> 01:22:04 Vance. Yeah, I wonder if him one day, him and President are going to be at odds.
01:22:05 --> 01:22:08 Oh, I'm sure. They got to be. Yeah, I'm sure.
01:22:10 --> 01:22:13 You can't even find his last Vice President anywhere. Yeah. No.
01:22:14 --> 01:22:17 And Omar, you want to tell me one of the reasons why I think they're going to be at odds?
01:22:18 --> 01:22:23 Because I was looking at some stuff, and there are a lot of MAGA people who
01:22:23 --> 01:22:28 are bashing his wife. Because, you know, his wife is Indian and and,
01:22:28 --> 01:22:29 you know, Vance is a Christian.
01:22:30 --> 01:22:37 She practices Hindu. So you already know, like once that becomes more of a conversation,
01:22:38 --> 01:22:40 especially with I think Trump allowed a lot.
01:22:40 --> 01:22:42 There's going to be a lot of people, Indians coming in.
01:22:43 --> 01:22:46 I heard they're going to be letting some Venezuelan people come in.
01:22:46 --> 01:22:50 So you already know these MAGA supporters and Republicans who are diehard Trump,
01:22:51 --> 01:22:53 diehard, you know, get them immigrants out of here.
01:22:53 --> 01:22:56 They they are starting to switch up.
01:22:56 --> 01:23:01 Yep. Yeah, they are. They are. So it's going to be interesting.
01:23:01 --> 01:23:08 The dialogue is definitely with all of these MAGA supporters all of a sudden,
01:23:08 --> 01:23:12 you know, backtracking and and and saying, OK, well.
01:23:14 --> 01:23:20 I don't like the way this is going. I don't see how this is benefiting any of us.
01:23:20 --> 01:23:24 I mean, he's lost some pretty powerful backing. I mean, Margie Taylor Greene
01:23:24 --> 01:23:30 was, you know, you couldn't say anything about daddy Trump to her.
01:23:30 --> 01:23:36 You know what I mean? Now, you know, she's changing up her whole script.
01:23:36 --> 01:23:38 There's other ones that are doing the same thing.
01:23:39 --> 01:23:43 And it would just be interesting to see if the election was held today.
01:23:44 --> 01:23:51 Whether the same numbers would be out there because we know his approval rate is way down.
01:23:51 --> 01:23:55 Right. You know, so he's below, he's under 40% approval rate.
01:23:56 --> 01:23:59 So, you know, that's not good for a president, a sitting president.
01:23:59 --> 01:24:02 So... Well, let me ask you all this. Let me ask you all this.
01:24:02 --> 01:24:07 They mentioned earlier, even there's a possibility that he'll be able to impeach. Hopefully.
01:24:09 --> 01:24:14 Well, it's funny you say that, Omar. The guy has 34 penalties.
01:24:15 --> 01:24:20 He was talking today. He said that. Yeah, I see that. That's what we asked the question.
01:24:20 --> 01:24:24 Basically, the Republicans need to step their game up because if the Democrats
01:24:24 --> 01:24:29 win this midterm election, they're probably going to try to impeach him.
01:24:30 --> 01:24:32 Yeah. Yeah, he did say that. Yes, he did. That's why I asked the question.
01:24:32 --> 01:24:34 That's all it is. Yeah. Yeah, that's crazy.
01:24:36 --> 01:24:41 Well, he probably won't go. He'll probably come up with a way to stay in office.
01:24:41 --> 01:24:46 So, you know, he's been able to do whatever he wants to do. Let's see what happens.
01:24:46 --> 01:24:49 It should be interesting. That's all I'm going to say.
01:24:50 --> 01:24:54 Because, I mean, I'm still trying to figure out somebody that has 34 felonies
01:24:54 --> 01:24:58 could be sitting in the highest office in the world.
01:24:58 --> 01:25:02 Well, Dave, that's because you got the, damn, what's my sign?
01:25:02 --> 01:25:06 The complexion for protection. There you go. Yeah, there you go. I was waiting for it.
01:25:09 --> 01:25:16 Anyway well Omar before we sign off give everybody your contact information
01:25:16 --> 01:25:19 where they can purchase your book again and everything so we yes.
01:25:20 --> 01:25:24 Absolutely thank you yes yes some tears of glory the stories of our lives,
01:25:25 --> 01:25:31 if you want to purchase it online you can go to lulu.com or barnesandnoble.com,
01:25:32 --> 01:25:34 if you want to purchase it from me individually,
01:25:35 --> 01:25:42 Omar Showtime Rashida R-A-S-H-A-D-A I'm on Facebook, on Twitter, at Playwriting.
01:25:43 --> 01:25:50 Email is O-M-A-R-R-A-S-H-A-D-A at Yahoo.com.
01:25:50 --> 01:25:54 Thank you so much, guys, once again, for allowing me to come and spend this
01:25:54 --> 01:25:55 quality time with you both.
01:25:55 --> 01:25:59 Well, thank you for coming and hanging out with us. And people,
01:25:59 --> 01:26:01 you know, support this brother.
01:26:01 --> 01:26:06 He's done a lot for our community. You know, he's done some great,
01:26:06 --> 01:26:09 he's done great work with his plays. and now he has the book out.
01:26:10 --> 01:26:15 So definitely support this brother. And, you know, when he has his next book
01:26:15 --> 01:26:17 signing, come on out and show some love, okay?
01:26:18 --> 01:26:21 All right, Len, anything you want to add before we sign off?
01:26:21 --> 01:26:24 Yeah, Omar, again, I just want to thank you for coming out. And one of the things
01:26:24 --> 01:26:27 I really appreciate about Omar, we kind of touched on earlier,
01:26:28 --> 01:26:34 you know, Omar has a passion for helping other people get exposed.
01:26:35 --> 01:26:39 And I think that was one of the great things about your show community issues because...
01:26:40 --> 01:26:43 You know, I mean, there's some people who will focus on themselves.
01:26:43 --> 01:26:47 And I felt like you were always genuine helping other people,
01:26:47 --> 01:26:50 you know, get their stuff out there. So I also want to appreciate you for that.
01:26:50 --> 01:26:55 And I also want to let you know, don't let Dave bully you into watching Imitation of Life, okay?
01:26:57 --> 01:27:02 Omar, the movie was from 1950. Don't feel obligated.
01:27:03 --> 01:27:07 Nobody in any of your circles will be talking about Imitation of Life.
01:27:07 --> 01:27:12 Look, the movie It's a Wonderful Life is from the 30s, and people watch it all the time.
01:27:12 --> 01:27:15 Okay, Dave, when was the last time you watched It's a Wonderful Life?
01:27:15 --> 01:27:18 It's been a while, but I have seen it. I have seen it.
01:27:19 --> 01:27:27 Okay. So, all right. So, you know, that was just a prerequisite in my household.
01:27:27 --> 01:27:30 My mom made me and my sister sit down and watch that movie.
01:27:31 --> 01:27:34 And it became a favor. Which one? It became Imitation of Life.
01:27:34 --> 01:27:36 See, so Omar, now we know the truth.
01:27:37 --> 01:27:40 His mom made him watch it, so he's trying to make all everyone else watch it.
01:27:40 --> 01:27:42 It became a favorite of mine.
01:27:43 --> 01:27:45 I think I'm going to check it out, though. I'm going to check it out.
01:27:45 --> 01:27:52 Omar, let us, look, send us a text as soon as you watch it, your opinion of it, okay?
01:27:53 --> 01:27:57 This guy, man, he's such a hater. He really is. He really is.
01:27:57 --> 01:28:02 But anyway, anyway, but we want to, like we said earlier, we want to thank you
01:28:02 --> 01:28:05 for coming on and hanging with us and we really appreciate it.
01:28:06 --> 01:28:08 All right? Absolutely. Thanks again.
01:28:09 --> 01:28:12 All right. And guys, that's our show for this week.
01:28:12 --> 01:28:18 Thank you for joining us and we will talk to you next week. OK, have a good night.
01:28:20 --> 01:28:25 Tune in next week, ladies and gentlemen, for another edition of News and Trends
01:28:25 --> 01:28:27 with your host, Dave and Lynn.