Commentary, July 10, 2011

Commentary — By Buddy Sampson on July 11, 2011 at 6:31 pm

 

Hi and thank you for taking the time to check in to The Scoop LA. First, a lot has happened in the last three months. I’ve done a tremendous amount of soul searching after losing two dear people that were mainstays of The Scoop LA, within 6 months of each other, Deidra Burtonelli in September of 2010 and in March 2011, my dear, dear friend Eugenia Wright. I began thinking that life is fleeting and honestly, unlike me, I began to feel lost. I lost two members of my team, two important members, not only from The Scoop LA team, but two valued friends that I would often bounce things off. I thought about hanging up The Scoop LA and calling it quits and leaving Los Angeles to return full force into music. If you didn’t know, I play the bass guitar and write music, my real first love. I discovered, however, that I truly have great friends, friends and readers that encouraged me to stay, that encouraged me to keep fighting the good fight. I’ve spent a lot of time encouraging others. For once in my life, I needed encouragement and I found it, first in my faith in God, my Lord, and secondly, I found encouragement in the loyal readers of The Scoop LA and in my dear friends, who insisted that The Scoop LA is too important to leave by the wayside.

 

I want to give a big shout out to my new and good friend Parris Harris, a fashion designer and fashion guru, (Mr. “You’re a rocker”), who posted on my page on Facebook to stay and not lose faith, not even in the face of tragedy.

Ann Deschenes, of Racing Girls Inc., heard my music and inspired me to remember that I was given a number of talents by my Creator and treated me and my music like I was an up and coming star. We don’t always see eye to eye on things, but I did appreciate her inspiration and her love.

I want to give a shout out to Donna DeGrande, a lovely soul who has a heart of gold and also made me realize and affirm the talents that God gave me. Her gifts to me, including a guitar, means a lot to me. Thank you Donna. We may not always agree, but I do appreciate you.

 

I want to also thank my good friend David Harrison Levi, who has gotten some negative press from other publications in the city, but readers, don’t pay that negativity any attention. David may like to show up at every red carpet in town, but his heart is pure. When Deidra Burtonelli passed away, he organized a grand event where he invited Deidra’s family to present them an award from City Council to her family and that was something I’ll never forget. When Eugenia Wright passed away, he appeared at her funeral. David hates funerals and doesn’t go to them. But he was there. And for those that say he is an attention grabber, you hardly heard a word from him during the ceremony or the repass. It wasn’t about him getting any attention, he deferred all the attention to the celebration of Eugenia Wright’s life. For those of you that are lucky enough to know David’s inner side, he has a heart of gold and he’ll be mad at me for saying this, but he doesn’t make lots of money putting on events, he does it because of his promotion of the cause of eradicating cancer in our lifetime. He’s not a perfect man, but he’s a fantastic friend and a prince of a man.

I’ve learned a lot of life lessons recently, some of them very, very painful lessons. But the lesson I’ve learned mostly is that The Lord has our back. You just have to believe. Even in the face of trials and adversity, and of heartbreak, He is there. Some of you may not believe in God. For you, I would say that the Universe and the karma you create is important. No matter what you believe, faith is the most important quality that gets us through. In the Bible, Matthew 17:20 says, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain,’Move from here to there’ and it will move, Nothing will be impossible for you.” So I thank you my friends and readers that tell me to keep the faith. And I say to you, you can move mountains with a little faith.

Signature

I recently, had the pleasure on Father’s Day to play with a group called Signature and it was fun. I realized (see above) that I have to play music and pursue my dream. Sure, I’ll continue to do The Scoop LA, but music is my love. I encourage you all to attend David Harrison Levi’s event on July 27, 2011 at the Falcon Restaurant in Hollywood at 7PM. For those who haven’t heard the group or see me perform, this will be a golden opportunity, I promise to do my best to show you guys a fantastic time and I’ll be keeping you posted on all my up and coming engagements, not only with Signature, but also with my own band and with others’ ensembles. God gave me a couple of talents and I hope to utilize all of them before I join my friends in heaven. I’ll see you on the 27th.

New Stuff

I had an advertiser say to me that we need new content and more celebrity stuff on the site. Well we heard you. We have a Rick Fox story, done by writer Maurice Dwayne Smith, who will also be handling sports. We have a lovely lady that will be doing Style, Fashion and Beauty and I’ll be mentioning her soon. We have a new Ms. Scoop, Amy Weber. Amy is a dynamic lady who used to be a Playboy Special Edition cover girl. But she is more than that. Yes, she is gorgeous, but she’s even more gorgeous inside, giving of herself to charitable causes. We plan on doing a full length feature on her soon. We are honored to have her as a Ms. Scoop. Kim Somers Egelsee has been doing some great stuff for us and in addition to her Life Coaching Column, she has a story we plan on publishing this week on Terri Nunn, best known as the lead singer of the legendary group Berlin. We have some new travel stuff and we also have a story coming up this week from Gina Hall, a terrific writer that we are lucky to have with us.

John Patrick O’Toole

Finally, I want to mention a young man, John Patrick O’Toole. I say young man, because John is truly a man who is young at heart. My church, West Angeles Church of God In Christ, is far away from where I live, which is in Woodland Hills, so I often frequent a Catholic church, St. Mel’s on Ventura. I’m not Catholic, but I always try to put The Lord first in my life. I went to the church some time ago and when I walked in the church for the first time, many eyes in the church, which is predominately Caucasian, trained their sights on me, which made me immediately uncomfortable. I didn’t know the pageantry of the Catholic church, all I wanted to do is praise my father, my Lord, for the Blessings he gives me every day. Well John was one of the few people that reached out to me and made me feel comfortable. After going to the church for a few weeks, John called me in the back one Sunday and said that he needed help passing out the collection trays. I was stunned that he asked me to do that- and I’m not even Catholic! An affable and jovial man, after we collected the offering, he made jokes to every one of us, saying “Did you take your 10% cut?” Everyone in the room howled in laughter. But I learn by watching him every week. He treats everyone the same, telling jokes, putting his arm around people that need comfort and putting everyone at ease. He’s the same to people whether they are six or ninety six and he always has a smile on his face. I love the man. Once I told him, “I wish I could be just like you.” He said to me, “you are like me, you have a fantastic energy.” All you need to do is smile and be yourself and love others.” I will never, never forget that. He is a terrific man and is pure love personified. I’ve interviewed a couple of presidents, but I’m as impressed with him as any dignitary I’ve ever met.

So I say to you, “love others and smile.” We can all be like John Toole, by just giving each other love and showing the love. We can change our environment just by love. Love is contageous. All you need is love. So be loving to all, will you?

God Bless You All,

Buddy Sampson, Publisher, The Scoop LA

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