Gwyneth Paltrow And Cee Lo Rock Grammys After Bad Teddy Pendergrass Tribute

Actress and (now) singer Gwyneth Paltrow and Cee Lo just rocked The Grammys with a soulful, spiritual duet, and just on the heels of a epically awful tribute to the late Teddy Pendergrass by Lady Antebellum.

Whatever The Grammys producers were thinking, Twitter's complaining about the result.

jbphebus Jason
by 6sixnine9
teddy pendergrass will have his revenge on lady antebellum
8 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

FuquaManuel FuquaManuel
by JulianaPache
Whoever thought "Lady Antebellum" was a good band name clearly did not form their band with the intention of having black fans. #CivilWar
13 minutes ago Favorite Retweet Reply

And there were other tweets even worse than that one!

Look, there's no question that Lady Antebellum is an excellent country rock band. But asking them to do the tribute for Teddy Pendergrass was a mistake.

The massively soulful voice of the legendary Pendergrass wasn't even partially evident in a segment that Lady Antebellum sang as if they were eager to get through it to sing their own music.

If there's justice in the World, Lady Antebellum should either ask for a do-over, or just apologize.

Meanwhile, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cee Lo burned down the house.

Thank you, Gwyneth and Cee Lo for saving us.

Lady Gaga Egg Wows Grammys 2011

The moment everyone was waiting for came and left, and it's still talked about online. Lady Gaga, never one for boring entrances at big events, didn't disappoint at the 53rd Grammy Awards, the Lady Gaga Egg wowed's Grammys 2011. And even the Grammy producers are asking you to rate the event, which you can do with a click here.

As for the Lady Gaga Egg (in this Plixi.com photo by Billboard), she was said to be "incubating" in it before the show, according to her creative director, Lori Ann Gibson, as told to Ryan Seacrest. She was not to be "born" until this evening and the Grammys, in this "womb" designed by the London fashion designed Hussein Chalayan.

Who?

Hussein Chalayan is an internationally celebrated fashion designer who, until tonight, was known more to those who paid constant attention to the fashio scene. Not anymore. The Hussein Chalayan is swamped, and website Designboom.com, which includes more information about the designer, has crashed as of this writing, all thanks to Lady Gaga.

Wow.

The 53rd Annual Grammys continue now, with a duet featuring Justin Bieber and Usher.

Grammys After Party Action At The Alta Club

The Alta Club at 1714 North McCadden Place in Hollywood, CA., is the place for the Grammy Party & CD Release Party for Doug Christie's daughter Chani Christie's new CD Lyrics & Lipstick, which comes out on Valentine's Day. The red carpet starts at 7 PM PST, Confirmed celebrities include: Doug Christie, Chani Christie, & Jackie Christie (Hosts). Also attending are Raven Symone, Madison Leslie, James Pitt, Maegan Stewart, Taya Rayden, Ice Marrow Jr, Harvey Walden, Taylor Parks, Paige Hurd, Austin Anderson, Mikey Reid, Kofi Siriboe, Kwame Boatend, and Alexis Swanstrom. For more information, call (323) 871-2401.

Valentine's Day 2011 In Oakland - Keep Your Money In Oakland

Ok, for all practical purposes, Valentine's Day 2011 is here, (or if you did it on Saturday, gone) even though it's really on Monday. And while I am in suburban Atlanta doing what I'm supposed to do at this stage of life - keeping my Mom company (she's in good health, thanks for asking) I have a life in Oakland, too. For all of my complaints about Oakland, it's a wonderful, beautiful city, that too often takes itself for granted.

So, on Valentine's Day 2011, I ask you to please keep your money in Oakland.  Don't go over to San Francisco, as I often do, or jet off to LA or New York or Chicago or Atlanta.  And it's nothing against SF or LA or New York or Chicago or Atlanta; I go because I know a lot of people there and Mom's here in the ATL.  But the more time you spend in Oakland, the more you realize it's a massively cool place to be.

I got a message from beautiful, dear friend, that she was going to try Miss Saigon Vietnamese Restaurant at 3345 Grand Avenue for the first time, and due in no small way to my video to get the word out about it. This one:



I highly recommend Miss Saigon for Valentine's Day 2011, or any year for that matter.

But maybe pho's not your thing and you want a really nice Valentine's Day experience?

In Oakland, no problem.

Go over to the Lake Chalet at 1520 Lakeside Drive, where you can sit at any one of a number of tables with a great view of the Lake. Here' a video from Lake Chalet's opening day in September of 2009, in case you have no idea what it looks like:



Or...

If you're desire is for a great steak dinner with your sweetie, go to Flora.  It's on the corner of Telegraph and 18th Street in Downtown Oakland across from The Fox Theater, and the Art Deco style is just the right backdrop if you want to make an impression, or just have a good time.

I also have to plug Luka's on Broadway and Grand.  It's for more than just dancing, drinking, and  romancing - the food's really improved.  I recently ordered a steak at Luka's and was out-of-this World surprised.  Since then, I've went back more just to eat.  If Flora's too crowded, go over to Luka's.

If you live in the Oakland Hills, and don't want to drive a long way, go to Crogan's on Mountain Blvd.  That place, for me, goes all the way back to Skyline High School days, but today the food is consistently good and inexpensive.

And if your bent is for something really different, go to Enssaro Ethiopian Restauant at 366 Grand Avenue. It's rare - actually, this is the first time - I recommend a place I've not yet tried - and that's only because of my addiction to steaks - but word of mouth about Enssaro is just insane. The place is getting rave reviews.

And back on steak, The Alley at 3325 Grand Avenue, has a great 20 ounce one that's off the menu.  It's just that Rod Dibble plays the piano on Saturday's so you'll miss him today or Monday.   I love to give Rod support, so make sure you have dinner there when he's playing.

Ok.  Enough from me.  Happy Valentine's Day, Oakland!

Yesha Callahan Was Rep. Chris Lee's Craigslist Valentines Date - Almost

Since the blog Gawker revealed that GOP Representative Chris Lee sent a racy photo of his shirtless self to a woman on Craigslist, thus providing the catalyst for his resignation from Congress, many have wondered who the female was.

On Thursday, we learned her identity.

Her name is Yesha Callahan, a 34-year-old single mother who works for the University of Maryland. For a set of reasons that seem to boil down to just plain boredom, Callahan put out the now-infamous Craigslist post that she was looking for someone who didn't look like a "toad."

What's great is that the fact Lee's white and Callahan's black has gone without conversation, and just may provide evidence that seems to fly in the face of the findings of a U.C. Berkeley study on online dating and race, to be released within weeks.

The study says that "In online dating, blacks more open to romancing whites than vice versa." And the lead author, UC Berkeley psychologist Gerald Mendelsohn, said "Whites more than blacks, women more than men and old more than young participants stated a preference for a partner of the same race." And from his preliminary findings, it's an 80 percent chance that would be the case.

Professor Mendelsohn (who give a nutty reason to back his study's conclusions that blacks are more likely to go after whites online, saying that blacks want to be a part of the "dominant racial group") didn't talk to the Republican Congressman Lee.

It was Lee who went after Callahan via her Craiglist post, which explained that she was an African American woman (and "black / Irish"), so her being black was an attraction for the GOP Conservative white male.

Take that Professor Mendelsohn!

What's so great about this otherwise rather sad story of the rapid downfall of a young Congressman is that it not only defies how some view American society, but fits my observations about how we've changed: a lot of Americans just don't care about race and those that do are more often than not treated as if they're cavepeople - which they are.

Now that we've got the race issue out of the way, - sort of, because it's still worthy of lengthy conversation, we can get back to the issue of Callahan and Lee.

Since Callahan "came out," she's been the focus of more than a little nasty commentary. Over at Gawker, commenters were obsessed with her 34 years of age (and all because she told Gawker she could pass for 24) as if that's a sure ticket to a death sentence. (34 is not "middle-aged and you should read Yesha's great blog post on this issue.)

Meanwhile, the 46-year-old Lee, who stepped down faster than it took LeBron James to announce he was going to The Miami Heat, went into hiding, but his wife is talking.

Michele Lee, 44, (a real looker, which makes you wonder what's going on between them) said they would try and work things out by taking a trip to the Florida Keys. The DailyMail UK reports that she's crushed and his father's "enraged" at the situation and the photo.

(Wait. What's his father got to do with it? Is Dad really just angry that his white congressman son used a popular website to arrange a hook-up with a black woman, and has to talk? Geez."Enraged?" Give me a break!)

The real problem is Chris Lee doesn't seem to have enjoyed his life. Otherwise, he'd not have resigned so quickly. But he did.

Lee was looking for a way out of his current existence, subconciously created an escape hatch, and jumped through it.

Now, he's almost a free man. And the rest is based on to what degree Chris Lee loves and wants to be exclusively with his wife.

Stay tuned.

And keep Dad out of it.

SF News: TransBay Terminal Demolition and Construction Update

As explained in this space before, the new San Francisco Transbay Terminal is under construction. Here's a recap of what happened, followed by a look forward:

Weekend Work (2/5/11 – 2/6/11): This weekend, underground utility work will continue on Howard Street at the intersection of Howard Street and Beale Street on Saturday and Sunday between the hours of 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM.

Demolition activities will take place at the West Terminal building. The Crusher/Conveyors operation at the Center Terminal lot this weekend will be in use between the hours of 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM on Saturday.

Weekday Work: Weekday work will take place between Monday, February 7, 2011 and Friday, February 11, 2011. All contractors will work between the hours of 7:00 AM and 9:00 PM. Demolition activity to demolish the East Terminal building basement slab will continue into mid-February.

Demolition activity will continue through February at both the Center Terminal building and West Terminal building.

Demolition activity will take place at the old concrete traffic island on First Street between Mission and Howard Streets.

Underground utilities work will continue and include:

And here's what to expect this Valentine's Day weekend:

Underground utility work will continue on Howard Street between Main and Beale Streets (in front of the Temporary Terminal) between the hours of 8:00 AM and 7:00 PM on Saturday and Sunday.

Underground Utility work will continue along Minna Street between the hours of 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM Saturday, February 12, 2011.

Demolition work will continue on Saturday, February 12, 2011 between the hours of 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM, at the West Terminal Building. The Crusher/Conveyors will be in operation at the Center Terminal.

And the Transbay Terminal people say "If you have any urgent questions regarding site - specific demolition or construction activities, please call our construction activity number: (415) 409-TJPA (8572)."

Oakland Kona Club Ejects Patron For Negative Twitter Tweets

Talk about the bad business practices of sensitive bar workers, and the Kona Club comes to mind. This only because of the Club's unbelievable-but-true act of asking Aimee J to leave simply because she made a Twitter Tweet against them.

What good asking Aimee to leave the Kona Club - formerly the legendary King's X Bar on 4401 Piedmont Ave, between Pleasant Valley Ave and Ramona Ave (and not far from where my grandfather rests at Chapel Of The Chimes) - was going to do, I have no idea.

 It certainly did a lot of bad, including a bunch of tweets that can be seen on Twitter if one does an "Oakland" search today, and this blog post.

 Aimee took to Yelp to complain about the action:

Against my promises i would NEVER return to this place, I did, because friends were there and I am not to proud to bend to the will of my friends. And SHOCKINGLY i had just as horrible time as ever. I actually had this conversation- I CANNOT BELIEVE IT. them: "Are you the Aimee who has been tweeting against us?" (which i have- ONCE- after I was treated badly there the last time.) me : "Yes" them: "You are not welcome here anymore."

Instead of trying to make things right, they kicked me out again, because all this place is comprised of sad employees living off of low salaries and power trips.

I feel sorry for them mostly. I mean, I've already moved on in my life, but that is where they will be, serving their sad drinks, being jerks: FOREVER.

Pathetic really.

And regarding Aimee's first encounter with the Kona Club, she was asked to leave because she had too much to drink and reported what happened on Yelp on September 18th:

I have never been so humiliated in my life as I was last night, because of this place. I wish i could give this review ZERO stars. HORRIBLE staff.

We arrived about 10:50, the night was young and full of promise. However, when I walked into the bar I made the mistake of having my arm around my boyfriend's shoulders. This apparently made the female bartender there entirely positive that I was actually leaning on him for support, and was too drunk to drink any more. I had, in fact, had a couple of drinks already, couple that with it being Friday and a long day in the office, yeah I probably looked tired, I was! But cut off before the bartender even talked to me? It was funny (frustrating) though because it was that catch-22 situation- the more you argue you aren't drunk the drunker you sound right? LOL. So we just left and had a fabulous night elsewhere therefore ultimately it wasn't a big deal, but I think the principle of it is what bothers me now. I've never been "cut off" from a bar in my life!!! I mean, truth be told, the female bartender was a bit homely and well, plus-sized, my speculation is that she really enjoyed having the power over another woman?

I've been here before and have never been impressed by the service or the bar, and i certainly will not ever return. This is a mediocre bar, with expensive mediocre drinks, sub-par staff and INCREDIBLY cheesy decor. If you're near it yeah i guess stop by as you're waiting to go somewhere else, don't EVER make this place your main event though, unless you're aiming for humiliation. I dunno, may be you're into that kind of thing. haha.

Ok. The Kona Club was both wrong and right: wrong for ejecting Aimee for a critical bar review, but right for cutting her off from having more cocktails during her first visit in 2010. The Kona Club may have saved Aimee from a DUI or at least made her think that stopping drinking was a good idea. The Kona Club should be applauded for that. What the bartender should have done is nicely said "hon, you need a lot of water before your next round. OK?" That would have added sugar to the salt.

But kicking Aimee out later, this year and for negative Twitter tweets, wasn't cool. That's where the Kona Club needs to find Aimee on Twitter @inaimless and apologize to her.

As for Aimee, I recommend visiting The Alley at 3325 Grand Avenue in Oakland. The patrons are helpful. The bartenders, Jennifer and Jackie (who's also the owner) are my long-time friends, and are great. Plus, you can sing your ass off with Rod Dibble at the piano, which is a great diversion from drinking more than you should!

Brandon McDonald, Detroit Lions CB, On Fat Women And Buffets

Perhaps thinking expressed in Twitter Tweets like the one Detroit Lions Cornerback Brandon McDonald sent out today will help curb obesity:

Mane I'm hungrier than 39 fat bishes at a all u can eat buffet....
44 minutes ago via TweetCaster Favorite Retweet Reply

Now, let's think about that for a moment.

First, apparently, Brandon McDonald associates "all you can eat" buffets with getting fat. Second, he thinks of women when he thinks of "all you can eat" buffets, and getting fat. Third, he thinks not of one of them, or 10, or 20, or 40, but of 39 "fat women." (I dare not even use that other term).

Just for research, Googling "All You Can Eat" buffet comes up with a Wikipedia listing that reads, in part:

Another form, known as the all-you-can-eat buffet, is more free-form: customers pay a fixed fee and can then help themselves to as much food as they wish to eat in a single meal. This form is found often in restaurants, especially in hotels.

So, Brandon McDonald, Detroit Lions Cornerback and food expert, probably should have mentioned hotels in his Twitter Tweet about fat women and all-you-can-eat buffets.

As one who enjoys all-you-can-eat buffets, and occasionally with women, including my Mom when we visit Vegas, I must explain I have yet to see what he's tweeting about on Twitter. I think he gave both all-you-can-eat buffets and overweight women a really bad rap.

As they say on ESPN's NFL Prime Time, C'MOM, Man!

And now all of this buffet talk's making me hungry!

Valentine's Day Party At Field Museum, Chicago (Ashton Kutcher Tip)

If you're in or visiting Chicago for Valentine's Day, are single, and are looking for a different V-Day experience, Ashton Kutcher @aplusk issued this tip on Twitter:

If you are single in Chicago and looking for something to do on VDay my friend is throwing an event http://www.allneedlove.com/

I clicked on the link and the page that follows communicates the makings of a cool, hip, dreamy Valentine's Day Chicago experience that cries for you to wear a black suit or for the women, a black cocktail dress.

Held at the historic Field Museum of Natural History - a heck of a place for a party - the All Need Love Festival is "to remind people that there is love in the world and that it is a universal," according to festival producer Juliette Marquis, as told to Trib Local. And celebrated Rabbi Yehuda Berg describes the All Need Love Festival as only he can:



Get Tickets Online

You have to get All Need Love Tickets online; they will not be sold at the door. Visit the website at AllNeedLove.com for pricing and more information. You can also call Brown Paper Tickets at (800) 838-3006.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Quora Is Interesting; Self-Important Posters Make It Annoying

Quora's the rapidly growing question-and-answer web platform started by former Facebook executives Adam D’Angelo and Charlie Cheever, was a fun place to read and post questions and write and post answers. But of late, as Quora has grown in users (estimated to be about 150 percent for January 2011 alone), some of the posted entries exhibit an annoying self-important pseudo-intellectualism that has grown to such gargantuan proportions the whole of Quora's making sick.

There's no one post that sparked my move toward this view of Quora.  Well, OK, that's not true.  There was one that started off with the rather funny idea that "Social Media Experts" were those who had 25,000 followers, or some such garbage.  In reading the post, which I prefer not to link to or mention in detail, it was obvious the author was trying to say "I'm much better than those people."

Who cares!

As I commented at Quora, I always thought Twitterers like Ashton Kutcher, known as @aplusk with (as of this writing) 6.3 million Twitter followers, were the real social media experts, not someone with 25,000 or whatever followers.

But then the author used that idea to go off on some long-ass rationale of how they think these so-called "Social Media Experts" get to be that way; since I didn't except the initial premise, I thought the whole post was a joke.

But then, as more self-important posts and posters have emerged, and others on Quora have expressed the idea that they have to write "something profound" just to keep pace, my stomach's begun to churn to the point where my personal intestinal Defcon needle is pointed at "HURL!"

Now, it's just plain not fun to read Quora.  My expectations were that the Q and A style would be more helpful and supportive, like that of Linkedin.  But that's not the way Quora is turning.   More and more, we get posters who have to create a dialectic designed to make you think they're smart.

Personally, I could care less.  There's nothing wrong, and everything appealing, about admitting you don't know something and showing some degree of real curiosity.   That's what's so cool about the Sports topics section of Quora.

Sports is the one subject that has no experts, everyone has an opinion, and people who think they're "all that" are always humbled.   Maybe if I stay exclusively in the sports area of Quora, my personal intestinal Defcon needle will move back to normal and I can stop drinking Pepto Bismal.  

Paladinette Responds to 99er Death Threats: Bring it on Baby!

Today on Jobless Talk, Paladinette responded to recent death threats she received with a taunting: “Bring it on Baby!”

To begin her Blog Talk Radio Show this week, Paladinette’s special Guest was none other that Mr. G (Gregg Rosen) fresh off his appearance in Washington, D.C. along side Rep. Lee & Rep. Scott to reintroduce the idea of adding 14 weeks to Tier 1 in an effort to help all Americans unemployed over 6 months - ESPECIALLY the UI Exhaustees.

Incase you missed it, CNN aired an interview with Gregg on Wed. Feb 9, 2011 and is well worth seeing.

After a very informative interview with Mr. Rosen, Paladinette took the rest of her abbreviated show today to rant against the “ignorant few” who actually sent her death threats via her social networking sites and personal email accounts.

Hear the complete rant on the video below, but the following are just some snippets - (the actual verbiage of the threats will not be published here but is included in the video)

My Show today is titled: Bring it on and IS NOT SUITABLE for anyone offended by strong language.

Usually I would not give idiots like this a second thought not to mention any air time - but in the light of recent tragic events like in Tucson AZ - I feel compelled to say this today as the offense has been most egregious and dumber than dirt!

NOTE to MORONS- it is not terribly bright or the smartest thing to do to threaten to kill someone from your personal FB Page or by email...... I mean exactly how many brain cells does it take to do something like that?

During Sunday's cacophony of idiocy Let me see, I was accused of being the only reason HR 6556 did not pass in December last year and that The American’s want to work act never came to a vote because of YES you guessed it ME - which would imply that I alone had the power to make those bills law to begin with...and NOTHING could be farther from the truth. I am just a lowly Unemployed US Citizen with a YouTube Channel, a BlogTalkRadio show and some moderately visible blogs.

To those who egged on the real psychos you are just as guilty as the law breakers who sent the death threats. I wonder if you are proud of yourselves. You are no better - in fact you are actually MUCH WORSE that the Limbutts and Becksters of the world because YOU have become the problem! Your thinking that you can relentlessly shout down the other voices who disagree with you is nothing more than BS bullying and if you had the capacity to feel such you should be ashamed of yourselves.

To those lazy cowards threatening me via internet - I say: BRING IT ON BABY - come find me and tell me to my face! Because I am a woman who can take care of herself and although it is illegal to hound someone with death threats - it is still quite legal to defend one’s self and I firmly believe in 2nd amendment self defense.

For every one of you (few vocal idiots) there are hundreds of thousands of good decent productive 99ers that I continue to fight for and there is NOT a DAMN THING YOU CAN Do about it!

******DO NOT FORGET:

99ers Aid Twitter Event February 15, 2011 8PM EST

On Tuesday February 15, 2011 at 8PM EST join us for #99erAID, a twitter chat designed to bring 99ers, 99er advocates, and journalists together to discuss the latest 99er news and strategy ideas for the growing, peaceful movement."

The event will be moderated by @99erAID (Examiner.com’s Jason Tabrys) and all who participate are asked to use the hash-tag #99erAID in their tweets.

The hope is to trend on Twitter of course but more important than that, to inform, inspire,discuss and strategize the means to have a real positive impact and influence real solutions to this growing problem.

Solutions like this H.R. 589 which now has over 60 Co-Sponsors. You must contact every Republican member of the House

ESPECIALLY: Speaker Boehner

Majority Leader Eric Cantor

Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy

and demand Speaker Boehner bring this to the floor immediately! Keep fighting as this IS a battle we CAN and MUST WIN!

Egypt CAN happen here. Listen to this: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-charles-rangel/egypt-and-joblessness_b_822072.html?ref=tw

Cal Athletics Cuts Two Sports - Chancellor: Donations Came Up Short

In a statement today, UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau said that "Regrettably, in spite of the best efforts of a number of their key supporters, Men’s Baseball and Men’s Gymnastics fell far short of raising the necessary philanthropic support."

From sources, the "Save Cal Sports" effort netted just over $1 million in hard cash donations, versus over $11 million in pledged donations. That wasn't good enough to even come close to the total of $25 million needed and to sustain all of the five sports set for the chopping block, yet meet Title IX requirements, so Women's Gymnastics, Women's Lacrosse and Men's Rugby will remain.

But no Cal Baseball or Men's Gymnastics? Shocking.

Here's Chancellor Birgeneau's entire statement to the Cal Community, courtesy of the UC Berkeley News Center:

Dear Campus Community:

We are very pleased to announce today that Men’s Rugby, Women’s Gymnastics and Women’s Lacrosse will continue as Intercollegiate Varsity sports at Cal. Thanks to the efforts, commitment and generosity of our donors, we are able to retain these sports at the Varsity level while still meeting our goal of reducing annual support to Intercollegiate Athletics to $5 million or less by 2014.

The continuing financial challenges facing the University of California have led us to make a number of very difficult decisions, including planning to eliminate five Intercollegiate Athletics sports by the end of this academic year. Because of the strong response of team supporters, we agreed to keep open the possibility of reviewing this decision to the end of January 31, 2011, if additional philanthropy could be found to make the programs self-supporting over the long term. The requirements for continuation called for philanthropic commitments to ensure that the teams would be self-funding for seven to 10 years while a plan is built to secure long term funding that would fund expenses, both direct and indirect, in perpetuity. These commitments would be incremental to goals currently in place for the major campaign to retrofit Memorial Stadium.

A number of donors have come forward to help sustain the costs of Women’s Gymnastics and Women’s Lacrosse. These are net costs which take into account the difference in the number of scholarships required depending upon how Title IX is satisfied. By offering all of our women’s sports, we can meet the requirements of Title IX in a way that will allow the return of men’s sports, provided that the returned sports can cover all direct and indirect costs, including those of support programs and use of facilities. Rugby has raised significant funds providing a clear pathway to covering its own full costs as well as contributing to the stabilization of the women’s programs. In the best of Cal sports tradition, with this solution, we have a win for both our men and women student-athletes.

Regrettably, in spite of the best efforts of a number of their key supporters, Men’s Baseball and Men’s Gymnastics fell far short of raising the necessary philanthropic support. Accordingly, students and staff associated with these teams must now be allowed to move forward to make other plans as these teams will cease competition as intercollegiate Varsity sports for the university at the end of this academic year.

Robert J. Birgeneau
Chancellor

As you might guess, there's a lot of alumni buzz about this action.  More on that in the next blog post.  

But.  

With that, it's time to move forward.  The overall issue is the long-term decline in State of California support for U.C. Berkeley.   The Great Recession added to the problem, and forced this zero-sum decision that the Chancellor and the Athletic Director were forced to make.   

A lot of people, including me, have been critical of their decisions.  But frankly they didn't create the environment around the problem and I'm certain would love to be in a place where they didn't have to make the cuts that were done today.  

Still, GO BEARS!

Stay tuned. 

Oakland Zoo Names New Board Members Including Mark McClure

Just got this press release announcing the Oakland Zoo's new board members: Sebastian DiGrande, Daniel Boggan, Jr., Cassady Hudson, Mark McClure, Lora Tabor and Jim Wunderman. To them all, and to one of them, I say congratulations. To my friend amoung, them, Mark McClure (pictured in an Oakland Chamber photo), let me say not only congrats, but maybe this is a good time to get off the Ron Paul bandwagon, eh?

Just kidding, sorta.

But back to the Oakland Zoo.

The rep for the Board of the East Bay Zoological Society (EBZS) was good enough to send over full bios of all of the new board members, so here they are:

Jim Wunderman is the President and CEO of the Bay Area Council, a business-backed public policy organization. Since becoming CEO in 2004, Wunderman has significantly helped increase the council’s advocacy efforts. A couple of the accomplishments under his leadership include: expanding the reach of the Bay Area Council with the opening of its first overseas office in Shanghai, leading the coalition that passed SB 375, a comprehensive law that binds transportation and housing planning, and passing legislation to establish a statewide education data system, a crucial step in fixing education in California.

Prior to his work at the Bay Area Council, Wunderman’s career from 1984 to 2004 was split between both the private and public sectors. In addition to serving on the EBZS’s Foundation Board, Wunderman also serves on the boards of the Bridge Housing Corporation, Fisher Center for Real Estate & Urban Economics, The Keston Institute for Public Finance and Infrastructure, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Sierra Energy, and TMG Partners. Jim was a member of the Governor’s Adaptation Task Force and currently serves on the Transit Sustainability Project Steering Committee.

Sebastian DiGrande is a Partner and Managing Director at the Boston Consulting Group, a global management consulting firm and the world’s leading advisor on business strategy. DiGrande, who joined the group in 1996, is BGC Americas’ leader of the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Practice. He partners with clients in all sectors and regions to address their most critical challenges. In 2009, he provided pro bono services to the Zoo.

Before joining BGC, DiGrande worked as a product manager and major account executive for GTE. He earned his MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a BS in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Daniel Boggan, Jr. most recently served as Chief of Staff for Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums in 2007. Prior to working for Mayor Dellums, Boggan assisted the municipal firm of Siebert, Branford & Shank Co. in business development from 2003 to 2006. He acted as Senior Vice President and COO for the NCAA from 1994 to 2003. He has also served as Vice Chancellor for Business Administration at the University of California, Berkeley and as Berkeley’s City Manager. Boggan is deeply committed to public service, and has served on the boards of many local and national organizations. He has been involved with the National Writing Project, the East Oakland Youth Development Foundation, the African American Experience Fund, the California Endowment, and is a lifetime member of both the NAACP and Black Coaches Association. In addition, Boggan serves on the board of directors for Clorox, Collective Brands, Inc. and Viad Corp. Boggan earned his BA at Albion College and his M.S.W. at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Cassady Hudson is a Senior Revenue and Royalty Analyst at Hands-On Mobile. She has been volunteering as a docent at the Oakland Zoo for the past ten years and recently completed two years as President of the Zoo’s Docent Council. She joins the EBZS as a Docent Representative. During her tenure as President of the Docent Council, Hudson has ensured council stayed within budget, mentored new docents, developed an annual docent evaluation program in compliance with Association of Zoos and Aquariums standards, and updated by-laws to improve tracking docent commitment.

Mark McClure is a partner at California Capital and Investment Group, a real estate brokerage and development firm based in Oakland, CA. He has worked on both residential and commercial development projects primarily in the City of Oakland.

Mark is proud to be a native Oaklander and has served the public both in appointed positions and on various public boards and community organizations of personal interest. His appointed positions include four years on the Oakland Planning Commission, which he chaired from 2004 to 2005. In September of 2005 Mark was appointed to the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC). Finally, He was appointed to the Port of Oakland Board of Commissioners in December of 2006 where he served as the First Vice-President until March of 2009.

Mark has also served on the Board of The Crucible, a non-profit educational collaboration of art, industry and community in West Oakland. Mark has supported Children's Fairyland by serving on their annual fundraising gala committee. Mark also served a member of the OakPAC Board, an organization that functions as the political action committee for the Oakland Chamber of Commerce. Additional, in February 2006, Mark was nominated to the Oakland 100 Club, a philanthropic organization that benefits the Oakland Boys and Girls Club. Currently Mark serves on the Board of the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and on the Board of the Oakland Police Foundation.

Lora Tabor joined the East Bay Zoological Society Board in June 2010. Ms. Tabor is the General Manager, Corporate & Services HR, for Chevron Corporation in San Ramon, where she provides Human Resources support to Chevron’s Executives and Corporate staffs. She also manages the Human Resources Development Program for Chevron world-wide. In 2006, she returned to the Bay Area headquarters after two years in Cape Town, South Africa where she served Chevron Corporation as the Manager, Internal Total Remuneration. In that capacity, Ms. Tabor managed a global team of professionals developing policies, processes and tools for world-wide use, and coordinated benefit and compensation plans for over 100 countries. Ms. Tabor began her career as a Production Engineer with Gulf Oil & Chevron USA.

Tabor takes an active role with her children in Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts, and has coordinated the Chevron United Way Campaign. She holds a Chemical Engineering degree from the University of Pittsburgh, and lives in Oakland with her husband and children.

If you're wondering how one becomes a board member, the Oakland Zoo's Development Director, Emma Lee Twitchell explains that "Individuals interested in joining the Board may contact the Zoo or a Board member directly, or be recommended by one of the Board members. The process then involves meeting with the Nominating Committee, which makes recommendations to the Executive Committee, then a final confirmation/vote by Board members. The Nominating Committee looks closely at diversity and other criteria to help fill any specific needs of the Zoo based on skills, experience, community representation, etc."