Happy Johnson: Back From Haiti.

Happy Johnson, founder of Blanket Haiti, spent the last week of February living in a tent in Port-au-Prince, delivering blankets to orphans and serving as a relief worker with the Haitian Red Cross.

Happy has returned home. He joined Eric Paulsen and the morning news team at WWLTV to discuss his small team's relief effort and ways in which people can become more involved.

Peep:



Click here to see photos from Blanket Haiti's first relief mission.

Ways to donate:
- Donate $10. This sends one new 35x45 relief blanket to Haiti. To donate, click here.
- Drop off 15 new blankets @
IWC Community Center
8316 Apricot St.
504.784.2212

To find out more about Happy and Blanket Haiti, visit the website. ♥

Patois pour Haiti: Songs of Solidarity.

Thursday, March 11, 2010
8P | $8
Maison | 508 Frenchman St.

Hosted by Truth Universal + Valery Jean

Featuring Luther Gray + Bamboula 2000
Truth Universal
E-PROPS
Skipp Coon + Mr. Nick
BzyBee
Slangston Hughes + Blaze: The Verbal Chemist
DJ EF Cuttin on the 1s and 2s.

Each and every dollar goes to Partners in Health in Haiti. ♥

Happy for Haiti.

Happy Johnson, founder of Blanket Haiti, spent last week in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to personally deliver clean blankets to an orphanage of Haitian kids and serve as a relief worker with the Haitian Red Cross.

"The situation throughout the capital city of Port-au-Prince and beyond is horrendous," says Happy. "There is absolutely no hot water, clean water, electricity or edible food for the vast majority of people. The roads are not safe for women and children, many people have no where to go and nothing to do but survive."

Last week, Happy called in from Haiti to speak with news reporters at Fox 8 Live.

Peep:



So sad. Though we've all moved on with our lives since hearing about the January disaster, Haiti is still in need.

You can help by donating $10. This sends one new 35x45 relief blanket to Haiti. To donate, click here.

To find out more about Happy and Blanket Haiti, visit the website.

Romeo Throws Haiti Benefit Concert.

Son of Hip-Hop Mogul Master P, rapper and former USC basketball star Romeo, is doing his part to donate to Haiti's relief effort by teaming up with ihearthaitikids.org to throw a benefit concert.

He, along with his Hip-Hop group, The College Boys, his little sister, up and coming singer, Cymphonique, singer JoJo, and more, will be performing at Six Flags Magic Mountain on February 27.

The concert is free and admission to the park is discounted that day. Attendees are asked to bring books to the park to donate to Haiti.

For more information, and/or to make a monetary donation to Haiti, visit ihearthaitikids.org.

Side-note: If you've been wondering what's going on with Romeo, he gave up his basketball career to launch his record company, Next Generation Records, and make music with his group, The College Boys.

Their debut album, Box Office Hits, drops in August.

[SOURCE] ♥

New Video | 2-Cent TV - "Every Book"

♥

"The Real World" Returns To New Orleans.

MTV's reality show that follows 7-8 strangers, picked to live in one house, and have their lives taped while getting to know each other, will be heading back to "The Big Easy" for its 24th season, MTV confirmed on Thursday.

The show will be based on recovery efforts.

“Hurricane Katrina threw New Orleans for a punch, but the city is coming back and we’re hoping our cast members and the series can play a small role in the city’s rebirth,” said creator and executive producer Jon Murray.

Season nine, The Real World: New Orleans, was taped at the Belfort Mansion on Saint Charles.

Production will begin shortly. So if you see cameras, please don't jump in the background, waving to Peanut and them. Please and thank you. ♥


The cast from The Real World: New Orleans, season nine.


[SOURCE]

Tonight's Event: The First Annual HAMP Fest.

The First Annual
HAMP Fest

with live performances by Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Rebirth Brass Band, Soul Rebels, The Show, Dee-1, 5th Ward Weebie, and more. Also, featuring a fashion show, acoustic VIP lounge, silent auction, and more. Phat Phat N' All That will be filming.

Here's a description of what the HAMP Fest is about:

A New Orleans World AIDS Day benefit festival, by the people, for the people. The concept of HAMP, short for HIV Awareness Music Project, is to utilize the large New Orleans HIV community to promote an annual music festival specifically geared towards increasing the knowledge and understanding surrounding the HIV/AIDS crisis in Southern Louisiana. Today New Orleans and its neighbor, Baton Rouge, are number two and three respectively for new cases of HIV in the country. “HAMP FEST” is thus a vision to engage the members of the local communities to manifest the communal will and desire to end the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, increase prevention measures, empower citizens with knowledge, and raise the necessary resources to successfully fight HIV in New Orleans.

[via fb page]

All proceeds go to the New Orleans HIV non-profit community.

Schedule:

Hosted by: 2-Cent

6:00-6:50 Wisebird

7:00-8:00 Kermit Ruffins

8:05-8:45 Jeff & Vida

8:55-10:00 Rebirth Brass Band

10:05-10:20 Fashion Show

10:20-11:20 Trombone Shorty

11:20-11:25 Raffle Drawings

11:25-11:40 Fleur De Tease

11:45-12:45 Soul Rebels

12:40-1:10 Dee-1

1:15-1:40 5th Ward Weebie

1:45-2:10 The Show

Cover | $20 @ door, or click here to purchase advance $15 tickets.



Tuesday, 12.01.09 @ 6pm
Howlin Wolf
907 S. Peters

Hip Hop for Hope.

Over the weekend, The 4th Annual Hip Hop for Hope benefit concert was held at Tipitina's Uptown. All proceeds went to the Roots of Music program, the Benjamin Foundation, and 2-Cent's Change We Can Create Program. If you're unfamiliar with the event, read the Hip Hop 4 Hope Mission Statement:

- The goal of this annual event is to raise money to support educational programming at local schools and to raise awareness about two key community issues; Education and HIV/AIDS.
- This not-for-profit event is focused on building community through the music and culture of New Orleans Hip-Hop, by providing a forum for expression, an avenue for contributing back to the community, and a venue for positive affirmation and cross-cultural interaction.

via HipHopforHope.com. Click on the link to learn more about the benefit concert and the people involved.

The line up featured:
MIA X
MANNIE FRESH
THE SHOW
DEE-1
TRUTH UNIVERSAL
SESS 4-5
K. GATES
SKIP
LYRIKILL
3DNA'TEE
TEAM ROBOT
TYGAH WOODS
PHAT WORD
DJ EF CUTTIN
DJ TONY SKRATCHERE
and MORE...

Here's what you missed:



Mia X

K. Gates


Skip

Lyrikill

Truth Universal

Power to this dude.


Tygah Woods

Mannie Fresh

The Show

3D Na'Tee

Phat Word

Videos coming soon...

N.O.'s longest killing-free stretch -- this year.

All weekend long, I've been seeing retweets, status posts, and now an article on nola.com about N.O. being crime free for 15 days straight. Everyone is so happy and thankful. And why wouldnt we be? One would think, "15 days? Thats not long at all!" But when you're living in New Orleans, you better get down on your knees and thank God because 15 days is like 15 months around here!

But wait...today ended that stretch when police got a call about a killing of a 22-year-old male in the Desire neighborhood. So much for excitement; but hey, thank God for those 15 days. It's uber crazy in these streets.

See the full story. ♥

I Witness the 7th Ward.

I Witness the 7th Ward: Celebrate Food, Stories, and Neighbors

Wednesday, September 30th @ 7:30pm
7th Ward Neighborhood Center
1943 Pauger Street

Celebrating the 7th Ward's History!

I WITNESS 7th Ward is a Story Mapping project in collaboration with Mondo Bizarro that seeks to open up living and breathing personal histories to a wider audience via live performance, digital story maps and a new cell phone walking tour.

This screening was made possible by a generous grant from
the Art Council of New Orleans.

via 7th Ward Neighborhood Center.

I'm SO with it. Born and raised, I'll always the 7th ward. ♥