Love JonesIt was an amazing night at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA, where DaimlerChrysler honored the legendary
Quincy Jones during its 5th Annual 'Behind the Lens' Award ceremony. The swank affair brought together am eclectic mix of Hollywood old-school and new school for a night that brought laughter, inspiration and an all-around hobnobbing, networking good time.
'Girlfriends' star
Tracee Ellis Ross hosted the fabulous event.
Debbie Allen,
Norman Lear,
Benny Medina,
LaVar Burton,
John Singleton,
Bud Yorkin and
Norman Jewison were among the presenters who shared profound speeches and stories about Jones, whose humanitarian deeds and philanthropic efforts far exceed his accomplishments in music and film. There were also some genuinely funny moments as well. "When I think of Quincy, I think of a monster motherf@%@#%," offered Burton during his dramatic monologue, before adding: "Yes, the 'Reading Rainbow' man just said 'motherf@%@#%!'"
Greg Phillinganes and the All Star Band provided the musical backdrop, while artists including
Chaka Khan dazzled the crowd by singing the theme song to 'In the Heat of the Night,' which was scored by Jones.
TaTa Vega belted out "Miss Celie's Blues" from 'The Color Purple,' which was another Jones composition. Gospel sensation
Yolanda Adams received a standing ovation for "Someone Watching Over You," from her own album 'Day By Day,' while a video montage of Jones played on two jumbo screens.
Jones shared with the crowd that he's 73 years old and spoke candidly about why he continues to work. "I want to stay young. Staying young is not talking about retiring. Who's talking about retiring? I ain't retiring," he said. "My next door neighbor is
Art Linkletter. He's 94 years old and sharp as a tack. He always says, 'Quincy, you want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans.'"
Jones had just arrived back in the U.S. the night before the event. He had been in Beijing, China where he was appointed as one of the star arts consultants for the 2008 Olympic Games, along with Hollywood filmmakers
Steven Spielberg and
Ang Lee. "It's a lot of stuff going on in the world. You better get past Nikki Beach, Bahamas and Jamaica," Jones told the celebrity-packed crowd. "And everyone needs to go study some mandarin. Cause the Chinese are about to eat our lunch!"
Influential in the careers of several of Hollywood bigwigs and music megastars, Jones shared candid memories about two of his favorites,
Will Smith and
Oprah Winfrey. "Will was a bankrupt rapper who went from making $20,000 a week on 'Fresh Prince [of Bel Air]' to being a $20 million a movie actor. And he hasn't changed a bit," Jones shared. "And Oprah, she only made $35,000 for 'The Color Purple' and her name wasn't even on the marquee. I had a suite in my house made for her and she stays there a lot. She does! So for her birthday, I had her name added to the marquee of 'The Color Purple' in her honor."
Among those in attendance to celebrate Jones were
Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon,
James Pickens Jr.,
Patti Austin,
Richard Roundtree,
Niecy Nash,
Judge Greg Mathis,
Telma Hopkins,
Mario Van Peebles,
Kym E. Whitley,
Herbie Hancock,
Rolonda Watts,
Glyn Turman,
Shaun Robinson,
Sean Blakemore,
Teena Marie,
Michael Colyer,
Roberta Flack,
KiKi Shepherd,
Paul Mooney,
Sheryl Underwood,
Nichelle Nichols,
James Ingram,
Anna Marie Horsford,
Cathy Hughes,
Ricky Minor,
Tasha Smith, Congresswoman
Maxine Waters,
Dave Koz,
Beverly Todd,
K.D. Aubert,
Robbie Reed,
Marla Gibbs,
Art Evans and
May May Ali. And those were just the folks I spotted!
Jones admittedly was overwhelmed by the entire celebration. "You wonder if you deserve this," he told the crowd. "But I didn't deserve two brain surgeries and three divorces, so I'll take it!"
Certainly the über-personable
W. Frank Fountain, senior vice president of Government Affairs for DaimlerChrysler Corporation, and the gracious Angela Spencer Ford, manager of Diversity and Human Resources Communications for Daimler Chrysler, couldn't have wished for a better night. Special thanks to
Jackie Bazan of Bazan Entertainment Marketing, Inc. and
Cassandra Butcher of CBPR.
Coming HomeDon't call me psychic, just call me good!
All hell broke loose when I reported this past summer in the July 10 edition of the
BV Buzz that the Essence Music Festival signed a multi-year deal to return to New Orleans in 2007. Two different publicists from the Time Inc.-owned women's glossy called asking for a retraction and even someone from the marketing department called the bosses at AOL BlackVoices trying to get folks worked up. The whole thing was just preposterous and their actions, to me, were the tell-tale signs that a reporter is right on the money.
It was outrageous, the response my story caused! The way the folks at Essence got all worked up, one would have thought I had arbitrarily reported that Editorial Director
Susan L. Taylor was abandoning her signature slick-back braids for a blonde weave or, better yet, that
Paris Hilton was gracing one of their upcoming covers.
I reported what I knew in my July 10 column and that has since proven to be true. Last Tuesday, Essence magazine formally announced that the Essence Music Festival will return to New Orleans on July 5-7, 2007, and its theme is "Coming Home." Now it would be easy for me to talk about 'the chickens coming home to roost' and getting in a few additional digs at Essence magazine, but like I said in the July 17
BV Buzz, where I had to run a statement from Essence claiming the deal wasn't done yet, despite the way they acted, there are no hard feelings here.
Read Page 2 of the BV Buzz 
