From Reginald Dwayne Betts:

Please check out the news of the first reading for my newly released poetry book, Shahid Reads His Own Palm. It’s a special mother’s day edition reading, and I’d love to have some friends come out. The paperback of A Question of Freedom will also be available.

WHAT: The Nine On the Ninth Monthly Poetry Series
WHEN: Sunday May 9th, 2010 / Doors open between 8:00- 8:15pm. Show starts @ 9pm
COST: Free (however, donations are strongly encouraged. We got to pay the features!)

The limited open mic list opens between 8:30-8:45pm. So I suggest if you wish to get on the list, you may want to arrive at 8:15pm to get a good seat.

WHO:Reginald Dwayne Betts
WHERE: Busboys And Poets in The Langston Room
2021 14th St NW ( at the corner of 14th and Vst N.W.)
Washington DC 20009

Metro Accessible: Green Line/ Ust Cardozo stop
HOSTED BY: Busboys and Poets own Poet-in-Residence Derrick Weston Brown
For additional info on times and schedules please call:

202-387-7638 (POET)
From Derrick Weston Brown, Poet in Residence at Busboy and Poets 14th and V

I’ll keep the summary of the April edition of the Nine On The Ninth to a minimum. Poet, Father, cultural critic and all around dope poet Abdul Ali was a great feature, and an even greater interview, as we kicked of what continues to be a stellar national poetry month. The open mic was short, but fierce, and I,as usual, walked away wondering how to make the month of May just as awesome.

I have no doubt that I have just the person to do that.

If you don’t recognize this face, then you either have been hiding under a rock or haven’t turned on a television, opened a newspaper, or read a book in a looongwhile. So consider yourself lucky that your chance to meet Reginald Dwayne Betts has arrived.

From Clayton LeBouef
Henrietta Vinton Davis Plaque Unveiling
Saturday, May 8, 2010
2:00pm – 4:00pm
Cultural Tourisim DC’s African American Heritage Trail
1219 Linden Place NE
Washington, DC

A plaque will be unveiled on this date on the home where the Honorable Lady Henrietta Vinton Davis lived.

Lady Davis’ residence is part of Cultural Tourism DC’s African American Heritage Trail.

Miss Davis was an elocutionist and dramatic actor who later in life worked closely with Marcus Garvey as a leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association — African Communities League (UNIA-ACL). Garvey’s UNIA was a mass self-reliance movement founded in Jamaica in 1914 and incorporated in New York State in 1918. The progenitor of the modern “black is beautiful” ideal, Garvey is best remembered as a champion of the “African Redemption” movement.

ABDUL ALI – Words Matter
Abdul and I had a wonderful conversation as he was finishing his review of Erykah Badu’s New AmErykah Part II album for The Root. Yeah, the “video” kind of distracted me from the music. But Abdul doesn’t get stuck there. Funny how the video controversy has withered. Let’s see if the music survives.