20 Years Later, 'Do the Right Thing' Still 'Happens'

CLEVELAND - It was 20 years ago today that filmmaker Spike Lee released his seminal film, Do the Right Thing. Both controversial and highly acclaimed, the flick turned out to be a classic.

Maybe not in the traditional sense.

Do the Right Thing never got the credit it truly deserved. For one, Lee was establishing himself as a militant and controversial director. At age 32, he was releasing his third straight envelope-pushing film which was an ingenious piece of work due to its unflinching look into the world of racism. Indeed, the chasm between Black and White cultures and beliefs and how racial tension is almost always bubbling beneath the surface were on full display.

There was the Italian-Americans proudly extolling the greatness of Frank Sinatra and Sylvester Stallone while the African-Americans touted Michael Jackson and Sammie Davis, Jr as their heroes. The confrontation between the Black kid in the Michael Jordan sneakers and the White kid in the Larry Bird jersey. And of course, the tragically violent, yet stunningly realistic climax and ensuing interracial riot in the streets of Brooklyn, New York.

Blacks and Whites often behave the same way in real life against each other and it's the reason that we'll never make real progress; we continue to segregate ourselves from other races and act as if we're not all the same in the end. Violence is never a good solution, especially when it's racially motivated. Even the election of Barack Obama doesn't show TRUE progress because he's still so unaccepted by many people solely because of the "black" half of his ethnicity.

Lee was a genius with this film. The story continues to play out.

Happy Birthday: Spike Lee Turns 52

CLEVELAND - Filmmaker Spike Lee, one of my all-time favorite people in the entertainment industry celebrates his 52nd birthday today.

Happy Birthday, sir.

Lee, a Brooklyn, N.Y. product through and through made his name as a controversial, envelope pushing filmmaker in the 1980's. His first six films, beginning with 1986's She's Gotta Have It and ending with the 1992 epic Malcolm X are hands down, some of the best films of the past 25 years. I became aware of him after his gutsy Do the Right Thing, a 1989 film that remains his most popular work and the flick with which he is most identified by.

Hope your day goes well, Mr. Lee and may you live long and continue to prosper.

20 Years Ago Today: Arsenio Makes History

CLEVELAND - I have always had a propensity for staying up well past a normal bedtime. When Arsenio Hall came to television with his own late night talk show, my habit got even worse.

Arsenio was must-see TV.

Hall, a stand-up comic from Cleveland, Ohio was a guest host for The Tonight Show in the late 1980's. He even had a brief stint on a Joan Rivers talk show. But his appearance in the 1988 Eddie Murphy film Coming to America gave him real visibility and opened the door for the popularity he would gain with his seminal talk show, The Arsenio Hall Show.

The show premiered 20 years ago today, on Jan. 3, 1989 and was a stunning success. It catered to the so-called MTV generation and featured a wide variety of hip-hop artists, including icons such as N.W.A., Snoop Doggy Dogg and Tupac Shakur, long before they became historical figures, forever immortalized in their genre's history.

Mariah Carey made her public debut on the show in 1990, and every "hot" or noteworthy figure of the time appeared on the show, whether in music, film, politics, sports or ...you name it. Mike Tyson and Don King came on. M.C. Hammer, at the height of his perplexing greatness was on. There was Tone Loc, Vanilla Ice, Pee-Wee Herman, and many others. Filmmaker Spike Lee came on in 1991 and criticized Hall's close pal Murphy for not using his enormous leverage at the time in Hollywood to open more doors for Blacks. He and Hall had it out on the air.

Bill Clinton came on in 1992 while running for president of the United States and played the saxophone. Shakur came and discussed his serious legal problems and pending trial on sexual assault, nearly three years before his murder. Michael Jordan gave Hall a pair of the then-brand new Air Jordan V's and talked about coaching teammate Scottie Pippen for the 1990 Slam Dunk contest. Arsenio's good pal Earvin "Magic" Johnson came on the show on Nov. 7, 1991, the night he disclosed to the world that he was HIV-positive.

The show will forever be an enormous piece of pop culture history.

Arsenio wasn't the best interviewer, but he spoke to a segment of America that was becoming more relevant. The legendary Johnny Carson retired in 1992, giving way to Jay Leno and on another network, David Letterman. But Hall was exciting and hip. He was fresh and cutting edge and often had controversial figures on as well. The Nation of Islam's Louis Farrakahn appeared on the show. Suge Knight came on and revealed that he was in the process of forming Death Row Records, possibly with drug money as his start-up funding.

The show lasted for over 1,200 episodes and ended in May 1994. Just two weeks later, O.J. Simpson got tangled up in his historic drama, being accused of murdering two people. I only wish Hall's show would have been around for that. His monologues were often uproarious and Simpson's situation would have been perfect fodder.

Since the show aired at 1AM locally, I was often banned from watching it on school nights. I used to sneak and watch it before my mother eventually gave in and allowed me access.

As Arsenio would say, "yessss!"

Hard to believe it's been 20 full years since the show's inception. I will forever remember it as a being, not only a pivotal piece of television history, but my own history as well.

That's kinda why I have my own talk show nowadays!