Commentary

Commentary — By on May 22, 2010 at 1:46 pm

Buddy Sampson: Photo by Andre Cohen

Greetings

We’ve been very busy lately as usual, going to lots of functions and events. Since I’ve taken over at the helm of The Scoop, in 2008, we’ve been learning and looking for ways to improve the way we do business. Many of you that have followed my writings over the years, and I have written for The Scoop since 1989, know that I’ve covered and written on many subjects. But now, I’m faced with an exciting new challenge, the role of Publisher. Folks, it’s a very different animal than being a writer. You have to be more concerned with all aspects of the newspaper, design, advertising and editorial. In the Bible it says, “With many counselors, plans succeed.” So I’ve been asking for advice and listening. And we’ve been getting some positive feedback.

I had a meeting with a gentleman that said, “you have a Ferrari with a couple of spark plugs missing.” Well, we’re getting new spark plugs. We’re changing the look of the site and very soon, you’re going to see some dramatic changes in the look of the website. If you’ve visited this site before, you may notice some subtle changes already. But we are nowhere near finished. The site is under construction as we speak. Thanks to you, our loyal readers, we’ve gone from 1,000 hits a month to nearly 100,000 hits a month. And that’s without an aggresive sales and marketing strategy. We’ve grown so much, however, that I’m completely and utterly overwhelmed, which is a good thing. So now, I’m hiring a team of excellent staff to help us. The Lord has placed some wonderful people in my life lately. Carol Phillips Ickes of Virginia is going to be assisting us with web design and business development. Carol is a very intelligent lady with an endless supply of ideas and I’m excited to work with her. We’ve promoted Deidra Burtonelli to Associate Editor. She will still be writing for us, but her input to The Scoop is invaluable. Sometimes we disagree on things, but we are a solid team. I’m very proud of her, I’ve seen her grow from being a shy, green journalist, who was afraid to interview and be in front of the camera to a stunning, extroverted lady, who is excellent at her craft. When we do red carpets, now she looks for the cameras, lol! But stay tuned and keep those comments coming. After all we are of service to you.

An Indomitable Spirit

I just did a radio commercial for my good friend Larry Winn, a big cheese at KALI-FM and AM 900. You can catch his show on Fridays at 12:00AM if you’re up that late. He’s followed by Tomas. Those guys play music that you just don’t hear on the radio these days. Check him out. You may also visit www.MostlyEclecticRadio.com during that time to catch it as well. On the way back from taping the commercial (I don’t drive right now) I ran into a couple that was coming from a big concert venue. I won’t mention the venue, because you may see the couple. They are slightly struggling, but their story is a success story. They went from drugs, to homelessness, to seedy hotels, to now having an apartment of their own. They sell water, soda and other items on the street. But their will is indomitable. They are the embodiment of “never quit.” And in this economy, you need that “can do” attitude. They seemed to be impressed by me, but they don’t know, I learned much more from them, than they did from me. So if you see them selling water outside a big concert arena, support them. And never, never quit. If you believe, it will get better. Just put God first.

New Stuff

We are working on getting new stories to you and we have several stories in the can. Juliette Fairley has a poignant story that will be in “People You Should Know.” The product of bi-racial parents, she has a wonderful story. The Hollywood Bowl season is opening and we will have the line up for you soon. The Playboy Jazz Festival is coming up and we will cover their series of Festivals. We also covered the Richard Dreyfuss movie “Lightkeepers. ” We attended the premiere of the movie and we interviewed Dreyfuss himself. Pictured above is myself, Buddy Sampson (L) with Ben Dreyfuss, Crystal Stranger and Richard Dreyfuss.

In “People You Should Know,” we have Ameona Almund and Derek C. Pratt, something for the guys and a little sumthing sumthing for the ladies. Almund and Pratt are both great to look at. We have a gorgeous new Ms. Scoop coming up, Rose Chie from Nairobi, Kenya that captures the essence, sexiness and beauty of women of color. But we’ll be doing much more.

Speaking of sexy, Jennifer Day is one of the sexiest entertainers I know. She performed recently at the Jennifer Day Theater. You’ve got to make the time to check out her revue, craftily executed by music mogul Ron Eckstine. She’ll be performing June 22nd at The Jennifer Day Theater. Stay tuned and always tune into her page on this site.

Sympathies

Monica Burgos

The Scoop LA sends out sympathies out to the family of Monica Burgos, owner of Zabumba Restaurant. She was a princess of a lady and left us too soon. Her family needs your help. We will provide an address soon for you to send donations. There’s still an ongoing investigation into the details of her death. I want to give a shout out to all my Brazilian friends that knew her. I met her several times and while she was an acquaintance, she didn’t deserve to leave us the way she did. It is a real tragedy and I’m sure you’ve heard the very public details of her passing. God Bless her and her family.

We also want to send a shout out to David Harrison Levi, who just received a proclamation from the mayor of Beverly Hills for his tireless work on finding a cure for cancer. In a ironic twist of fate, he lost his sister to cancer the day after receiving the award. Our prayers go out to David and I’m sure he knows that The Scoop LA is his friend.

Help Please- They Need Your Support

Please send donations to St. Mary’s Center c/o OLA Metro, 4665 Willow Brook, Los Angeles, CA 90029. A part of the Catholic Charities of Los Angeles, St. Mary’s is on the front lines of the fight to help those are in need. In these tough ecomonic times, they help those that require affordable psychological services, homeless shelters, immigration assistance, emergency food help and aid for the elderly. For information call (323) 662-4391 or 4392.

Ah, my good friend, LeChein Taylor. He runs a foundation that helps at risk kids, kids that have averted the attention of gangs and drugs. I’m so proud of this man because he is on the front lines on the war to save kids in the minority community. We need more men and I mean MEN like him that take the time to help our youth and help affect a future for them. We’re doing an article on his foundation soon and we hope that some of you readers will join in his efforts to make lasting change. I want to send an apology to him that his story hasn’t been published yet, we’ve experienced growing pains. We have a lot more features and stories coming up and hope that you like them.

In Closing…

Finally, thank you for taking the time to tune into this site. We’re working hard to get you the best content and we have some exciting things coming up soon. Tell your friends, family, companies or whatever to advertise with us and support Black owned businesses. We, as Black media, have lots to say and we have an unique perspective that only people of color have. We are going to be reaching out for mainstream stories, but we will never turn our back on the loyal readers of The Scoop, who have been with us since 1967.

Buddy Sampson

I want to give a big shout out to Andre Cohen, of Andre Cohen Photography. He took the candid picture of me at the top of the page doing an interview and it’s, no doubt, one of the best pictures ever taken of me.

And do give us your feedback. E-mail me at buddy@thescoopla.com.

Be blessed, God Bless You and be a lightning rod of Blessings.

Buddy Sampson

I’d love to hear from you. E-mail me at buddy@thescoopla.com.

Buddy Sampson interviewing Arsenio Hall at Hollywood-Pantages Theater

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