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Memphis

I took a break from Philly’s geek fest and saw a live performance of the Broadway musical, “Memphis,” captured for the big screen.

The 2010 Tony Award-winner for Best Musical is loosely based on the life of pioneering disc jockey Dewey Phillips. It tells the story of a fictional white DJ, Huey Calhoun, who introduces white kids to “race music.” The back story is one of “fame and forbidden love.”

“Memphis” will be shown in movie theaters nationwide on selected dates.

The unvarnished Memphis was the backdrop for a seminal event in the civil rights movement.

This morning, President Obama will meet with several of the workers who took part in the 1968 Memphis Sanitation Strike. Following the meeting, they will go to the Department of Labor for an induction ceremony.

Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis announced that the 1,300 workers who took part in the sanitation strike will be inducted into the Labor Hall of Fame.

For more info about the Memphis Sanitation Strike, visit “I Am a Man.”

UPDATE: Eight members of AFSCME Local 1733 met President Obama at the White House. One, Joe Warren, celebrated his 90th birthday the day before arriving in DC.

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They later attended the induction ceremony before a SRO crowd in the Grand Hall of the Department of Labor.

Get the Gist

It’s Day 4 of Philly Tech Week.

I’m beginning to long for the good old days when what happened in Vegas, stayed in Vegas.

In the era of the social web, I know what you did. Thanks to Gist.com, I don’t even have to Google you. Gist delivers information directly to your inbox so that you "can know more about who you know." SMH

And if you think social media is a fad, think again.

Get Off of My Cloud

On Day 3 of Philly Tech Week, I feel geeky and cheeky.

I now know there’s no there there in cloud computing. Like a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, the “cloud” is little more than servers packed inside containers stored in data centers around the world.

With growing concerns about security and privacy, cloud computing gives new meaning to the Rolling Stones’ warning, “Hey you, get off of my cloud.”

Head in the Cloud

It’s Day 2 of Philly Tech Week. For most of the day, my head will be in the cloud – cloud computing, that is.

First, there is a workshop on why nonprofits should care about cloud computing.

Later, I will attend CloudCamp Philly.

At the end of the day, I should understand why Amazon’s cloud computing customers are not on “Cloud Nine.”

Black Founders Are Too Legit to Quit

Today is opening day of Philly Tech Week, the first annual celebration of technology and innovation in the City of Brotherly Love (and Sisterly Affection).

Between getting my geek on, I will be working on the trailer for “The Innovators,” a web documentary that will show the changing face of innovators. While African Americans are celebrated as music and sports innovators, the story of entrepreneurial-minded black innovators is largely untold.

I want to give a big shout-out to Angela Benton and Wayne Sutton, organizers of New Media Entrepreneurship Accelerator, for stepping up and helping black founders bring their ideas to the marketplace.

This summer, NewME will host a select group of minority-led start-ups in the San Francisco Bay Area. The program will provide mentors a co-working space and networking opportunities with some of Silcon Valley’s digerati. NewME will culminate with a Demo Day, which I plan to shoot for my webdoc.

The speakers and mentors will include MC Hammer, who told the Wall Street Journal:

Just as it was no big deal to get a hold of me for this (interview), I’ll be just as accessible and available to NewME entrepreneurs. Hollywood is in the perception business where you create layers to create mystery. In Silicon Valley it’s about taking away the layers to get to the substance.

And when the layers are taken away, venture capitalists and angel investors will discover that black founders are, well, “too legit to quit.”

Happy Earth Day

Be good to the planet because “when it all ends up, you have to go back to Mother Earth.”

Young Black Voters Turned Out in 2010

A newly released analysis of Census data by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement found that young black voters had the highest youth turnout rate in the 2010 midterm elections.

CIRCLE reported:

In 2010, young African Americans voted at a rate of 27.5%. This was an increase from the 2006 Midterm elections, when 24.0% of young African Americans had voted. The relatively strong showing continues a trend from 2008, when young African Americans showed the highest turnout rate among any youth racial/ethnic group since 1972. Despite lower levels of turnout all around, young African American voters are still relatively engaged politically.

As Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, reminds us, “Don’t believe the hype.” In every election, black voters show up and turn out.

Read more: The Youth Vote in 2010: Final Estimates Based on Census Data