Music Review: Wake Up, Alice Smith Is Singing

Alice Smith

Before I start talking about rock/R&B/soul "chanteuse" Alice Smith of Washington, D.C. and of "Woodstock" and "For Lovers And Dreamers And Me" fame, full-disclosure, I am hopelessly biased. It's easy for anyone to be biased for Alice if they know her journey, have enjoyed her in concert and donated to her Kickstarter campaign that got this album off the ground. (Fuller disclosure, I donated.) But probably the only person more biased than maybe me is her own family, who I had the pleasure of living with the entire time I lived in Washington, D.C.

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P90seX: How A Capitol Hill Fitness Craze Helped Your Congressman Get Laid

One dude is the founder of P90X, the other is Rep. Paul Ryan, who helped is fellow Congress Critters get buff using the program (and inadvertently, helped a few of them get dates).One of the talking points meant to “humanize” newly appointed veep candidate and Mitt Romney second banana Paul Ryan is that he got a six pack blowing $120 bucks and countless hours going hard thanks to the popular exercise DVD series P90X.

In my brief time in D.C., particularly around 2011 after the GOP took the House, I started hearing quite a bit about Congress Critters and their ilk going hard using P90X. Soon a rash of nerdy, GOP (and some Dem) Butterfaces with washboard abs started humping about the Capitol, getting too flirtatiously aggressive while I was politely trying to get drunk on the rooftop of the W Hotel.

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The Snob Recognized as a "Game Changer" by Politic365

Last week The Snob was among the honorees for Politic365's "Game Changers" event. I along with 364 others, including TheRoot.com's publisher Donna Byrd, former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton, MSNBC host and activist Rev. Al Sharpton, Awkward Black Girl creator Issa Rae were honored at the event. Also among those recognized was Trayvon Martin, whose parents were honored at the event Politic365 had last week for being "Game Changers" in their push for justice for their son.

Check out the full list of honorees here.

The Snob Talks "Media Poison" on D.C. Panel Tonight

The Snob will be taking part in a panel discussion in Washington, D.C. this Thursday at Busboys & Poets on 5th and K Streets NW, discussing the intersection of race and media. Hosted by Krystal Glass, "Media Poison" will feature yours truly along with political consultant and Politic365 managing editor Charles D. Ellison, TV marketing producer Mia Hall, Counsel Fellow for U.S. House Committee for the Judiciary and social justice advocate Ify Ike and author Tariq O. Walton.

Click here to read more about the event.

The Root 100: Awards and Goodbyes (Photos)

Photo by Jada PratherThe Snob attended The Root's first ever live awards ceremony for their The Root 100 list. Published last month, The Root 100 honored and ranked influential African Americans. Among the award recipients in attendance were writer Adam Serwer of Mother Jones, Baratunde Thurston of The Onion and Jack & Jill Politics (author of new book "How to Be Black"), Beverly Bond of BET's Black Girls Rock, news producer Jamil Smith of The Rachel Maddow Show, political analyst Jammal Simmons, NAACP President Benjamin Jealous, Charles Blow of The New York Times and Suzanne Malveaux of CNN and many more.

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Ten Percent of D.C. 8th Graders Have Considered, Attempted Suicide

About 400 eighth graders in Washington, D.C. public schools claim to have tried to kill themselves, according to a recent middle school survey reported in The Washington Post. That's 10 percent of the district's 4,000 eighth grade students. The WaPo says D.C.'s teenage suicide rate has consistently been almost twice the national average, which is around 6 percent. Administrators say this reflects the bleakness many area teens face, dealing with real world stressers while navigating public school.

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Essence Magazine's "An Evening of Excellence" Honors the Joyners, Surgeon General (Slideshow)

(Left to Right) Fitness expert Donna Richardson Joyner, "Fly Jock" Tom Joyner, Southern Company Board Director Juanita Baranco and Essence Magazine Editor-In-Chief Constance C.R. White

Last Friday Essence Magazine honored fitness expert and motivational speaker Donna Richardson Joyner; her husband, syndicated radio "Fly Jock" Tom Joyner and the U.S. Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin at their "An Evening of Excellence" event during the Congressional Black Caucus' Annual Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. The Snob was there to document the proceedings and chat up Essence's new editor-in-chief.

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DC Bus Driver Power Throws Guy Off Bus (Video)

Metro D.C. is searching for the bus driver who was captured on a cell phone video body slamming some guy straight off his bus. While some have remarked at how bad the video looks, as a regular rider of D.C. many fine, insane buses, this really didn't seem all that bad to me!

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Martin Luther King Jr. On the Washington Mall (Photos)

Photo by Danielle Belton

A month before the monument opened, The Snob got the chance to check out a preview of the statue dedicated last week to slain Civil Rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. King is the first American who was not a former president to be honored with a monument on the mall. Inspired by line in a King speech, the monument consists of a "mountain of despair" with King emerging from "the stone of hope." As a history nerd, I was pretty moved. (It honestly doesn't take much for me. I sometimes get emotional over seeing the Capitol building at night.) Have you had a chance to check out the monument yet? It opened to the public for the first time -- amidst a freak earthquake, and later, a hurricane -- last week.

Photo slideshow after the jump.

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