I sure do miss watching episodes of The Wire on HBO.  I’d been wondering if David Simon, creator of The Wire, was working on anything new since The Wire went off the air, and I found out that he, along with Eric Overmyer (writer and producer of Law & Order), has a new series coming to HBO starting next month called Treme.  The series premieres on April 11, 2010.

Oh, here’s a special treat: If you’re a fan of The Wire like me, you’ll be happy to see Wendell Pierce (Bunk Moreland) and Clarke Peters (Lester Freamon) each week in Treme. No, Bunk and Lester haven’t relocated to New Orleans (woulda been a cool idea to have Bunk and Lester tag teaming on crime in NOLA), but Wendell and Clarke are now regulars in this new series. And if you’ve seen the Spike Lee documentary, When The Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, you already know that Wendell Pierce is a native of New Orleans. So Treme is like going back home for Wendell.

Cast
Steve Zahn
Rob Brown
Melissa Leo
Khandi Alexander
Kim Dickens
Clarke Peters
Wendell Pierce
John Goodman
Michiel Huisman
Lucia Micarelli

Synopsis: Antoine Bastiste (Wendell Pierce) is a smooth-talking trombonist who is struggling to make ends meet; his ex-wife, LaDonna Batiste-Williams (Khandi Alexander) a bar owner concerned over the disappearance of her younger brother David; Toni Bernette (Melissa Leo), an overburdened underpaid civil rights attorney; Toni’s husband Creighton (John Goodman), a university professor and local history expert who’s becoming an increasingly outspoken critic of the institutional response to the disaster; Davis McAlary (Steve Zahn), a rebellious radio disc jockey and musician; Janette Desautel (Kim Dickens), Davis’ occasional partner and a popular chef hoping to regain momentum for her newly re-opened restaurant; Albert Lambreaux (Clarke Peters), a displaced Mardi Gras Indian Chief who returns to find his home and his tribe, The Guardians of the Flame, scattered; and Albert’s son Delmond (Rob Brown), an exile in New York playing modern jazz and looking beyond New Orleans for his future.

Beginning Monday, March 22 at 9 PM ET, TV One brings back Unsung, its acclaimed, original series of one-hour biographies that celebrates the lives and careers of successful artists or groups who, despite great talent, over the years have been under-recognized or under-appreciated. Everyone recognizes Aretha, Whitney, Diana, Stevie, and Marvin. But the full picture of black music in America is much larger than those acknowledged superstars, and many of the greatest have failed to achieve that same level of superstardom.

Four all-new episodes of Unsung, TV One‘s top-rated and most highly anticipated series, will premiere, beginning Monday, March 22 at 9 PM with an encore at midnight (all times ET), and will chronicle the careers of:

Rose Royce (premieres March 22) – Rose Royce emerged from South Central Los Angeles in the mid-1970s to become one of the top-selling groups of that decade. Nurtured by legendary Motown producer Norman Whitfield (Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Gladys Knight), the group topped the charts with their first LP, a soundtrack for the movie Car Wash that sold three million copies and spawned such hits as I Wanna Get Next to You, I‘m Goin Down, and of course, the mega-successful title track. With vocalist Gwen Dickey leading the way, this nine member ensemble combined classy pop stylings — the name says it all— with funky R&B riffs, a pop-funk blend that paved the way for Michael Jackson‘s breakthrough at the end of the decade. But after three consecutive platinum albums and lasting hits like Wishing on a Star and Love Don‘t Live Here Anymore, both of which have since been widely covered, Rose Royce succumbed to the too-frequent stresses of overnight success. Dickey, not yet 20 when she joined in 1975, was so burnt out and disillusioned that she left the group at its peak — some band members say she was fired and refused to perform or record for years. As the group floundered, bassist Lequeint “Duke” Jobe, a musical phenom who was widely considered one of the top R&B bass players in the world, fell prey to drugs and wound up homeless and in jail. Despite it all, the core of Rose Royce has managed to stay together for 35 years, while Dickey has developed a successful solo career in the UK, where she has lived for the past two decades. Now they reveal their long, strange journey on Unsung.

Sylvester (premieres March 29) – Sylvester James was the undisputed King and Queen of disco. He strived for fame, fortune and freedom during a time when it was highly unlikely for a large, openly gay, sometimes in drag, African American male to make it in the world of entertainment. But with a powerhouse falsetto voice to back him up, that‘s exactly what Sylvester did. On this ground-breaking episode of Unsung, Sylvester‘s family takes us to his childhood home and the church where it all began in Los Angeles. We visit his old neighborhood and the Palm Lane Church of God where he got his start singing and performing in the choir, becoming a gospel sensation around town. But it was also here where Sylvester would learn that being “different” was both a challenge and an opportunity for someone with courage and personal flair. Moving to San Francisco, Sylvester began his rise to stardom performing with a theater troupe, which ultimately led to a recording contract. Gold albums, movie roles, and TV appearances followed. Then the glow faded as he endured the loss of close friends through the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. Sylvester ultimately succumbed to the disease as well, while leaving a legacy of music, which embodied a generation‘s determination to live their lives on their own terms. Now, through interviews with music colleagues such as Narada Michael Walden, The Pointer Sisters, Martha Wash and Jeanie Tracey, along with close family members and friends, Unsung chronicles a music career which reached heights that few expected, but in retrospect was fully earned.

Stacy Lattisaw (premieres April 12) – She was a child star who was signed to a major label at the age of 12, and enjoyed a top ten hit a year later. Stacy Lattisaw was a charming teenager with the voice of a singer far beyond her years. She seemed to be living a dream, opening for and befriending Michael Jackson, and sharing songs and romance with another teenaged talent, Johnny Gill. But after a decade long career that produced thirteen albums and nearly two dozen charted singles like Let Me Be Your Angel and Love on a Two-Way Street, Stacy abruptly turned her back on the music business and walked away – even as her farewell single Where Do We Go From Here? – a reunion duet with Gill – topped the R&B charts. Fans and music industry types were stunned, but family and friends were not so surprised. They knew the price she had paid for a decade at the top of the music business and how she’d fulfilled everybody’s dreams…except her own. In this remarkably intimate portrait, Stacy Lattisaw reveals the drive and emotional forces that pushed her to stardom – and ultimately drove her away from popular music.

Bar-Kays (premieres April 19) – First rising to prominence as a house band for the legendary Stax record label, the Bar-Kays have survived 40 years, 27 albums, 25 members, 23 hits, a tragic plane crash, a stroke, a murder and at least five major shifts in Black music. By consciously adapting their style to the trends of the day and constantly tuning their voice to the will of the streets, they‘ve managed to make hits in every prevailing genre: R&B, Soul, Funk, Disco, Techno and even Hip Hop. Many bands had greater hits, but none have earned greater longevity. The miracle is that this band nearly ended before it began, when all but two members – Ben Cauley and James Alexander – died in the plane crash that killed singing great Otis Redding. Yet those two members rebuilt the Bar-Kays into a remarkable hit machine – and never looked back – until this exclusive episode of Unsung.

The episodes will have a primetime encore Sunday nights at 8 PM and 11 PM (all times ET), as well as re-air Tuesdays at noon, Wednesdays at 3 AM, Thursdays at 5 PM, Fridays at 5 AM and Saturdays at noon.

The final episode of the fourth season (or possibly the last episode of the entire series) of Heroes picks up right exactly where the last episode left off.  Noah is still holding on for dear life while her daughter Claire shouts for help.  It’s pointless, though, because they are about 50 feet underground, thanks to Samuel, who obviously put Claire with Noah so she can watch him die.

For the time being, Noah and Claire make use of their time left to sort of their father-daughter issues.  It’s pretty emotional to see Noah, who is usually described as a man with a plan, feel hopeless and helpless.  He asks for Claire’s forgiveness for the things he’s done in the past but reassures her that he did all those things to protect her.  He also tells her that he loves her and that he can now die a happy man because Claire changed everything in his life for the better.   And before taking what looks to be his final breath, he makes Claire promise that her true identity will remain hidden from the world as Samuel makes his big carnival reveal.

While this should have been a heartbreaking scene, I didn’t really feel like Heroes was going to kill off Noah.  And my suspicions were correct, because out of nowhere, Tracy arrives to save the day, quelling whatever suspense there’s left in this storyline.

Meanwhile, Peter and Sylar are trying to get info on the carnival through Matt Parkman, who remains skeptical about Sylar turning a new leaf.  But Sylar begs for another chance to redeem himself, since he’s not the same person he used to be.  They eventually learn about Samuel’s wicked plan to gather people with abilities by looking into the mind of Eli, who was sent by Samuel to stop Peter and Sylar from saving Emma.

Unfortunately, Emma is already playing her solo at the carnival against her will.  Doyle, the puppet master, is manipulating Emma while Samuel is trying to convince his people that revealing themselves to the world is a good thing.

Elsewhere, Hiro finds out that the love of his life, Charlie, is at the same hospital floor as he is.  She’s still the same sweet chirpy chatterbox she used to be. only this time she’s 65 years old.  Hiro apologizes to Charlie and beats himself up for how things turned out between them, but Charlie is just happy she got a chance to see Hiro again before it’s too late.  Apparently, her brain aneurism is gone but everything else in her body is about go give up.

Hiro never learns, because he wants to correct the past again in order to save Charlie, but Ando convinces him not to, and Charlie seems to be at peace with her life now, having been married with children and grandchildren.  Just like that, Hiro bids farewell to a storyline that should have never been dug up in the first place.

Back at the carnival, Noah and Claire try and stop Samuel.  Claire tells everyone about Samuel’s plan to gather people with abilities so he can be the most powerful and then reveals Samuel’s crimes such as killing his brother Joseph and putting a hit on Lydia.  No one wants to believe Claire until Edgar and Eli step up to confirm everything.

To weaken Samuel, Claire tells everyone to leave, but she needs a quicker solution to get everyone away from Samuel.  Noah calls in Hiro, who then teleports everyone into an unknown place with the help of Ando’s supercharging ability.  Meanwhile, Sylar saves Emma from Doyle and now loves the idea of becoming a hero.  And that is the conclusion of the Redemption volume.

The end, however, is only the beginning of yet another chapter.  After her father spent years trying to shield and protect her from the world, Claire actually does the one thing that Samuel wants to do: expose herself to the world………….by jumping off the top of a ferris wheel, no less, with television crews watching.  Now, the cat finally out of the bag and it might be nice way of rebooting the series, though I’m not sure if the people behind this show can actually pull it off, that is if and when Heroes gets renewed for another season.

We start off with Sylar doing what he used to do best; fixing watches.  Ironic, since it becomes clear upon meeting Peter inside his lonely dream world that time is incredibly relative here.  Three hours in the real world also feels like three years in the dream world.

Peter vows to free Sylar from the mental prison, though he initially does it more out of duty to his vision of Emma rather than a moral purpose.  When he can’t liberate them from the solitude of the city, he starts to despair.  A month goes by with no further hope of ever returning.  Peter starts to suspect Sylar doesn’t actually want to leave, a suspicion Sylar confirms.

As soon as Sylar agrees to help Peter free them both, a giant brick wall appears, surrounding the outskirts of Faux York.  Peter notes that the bricks resemble that which trap Sylar inside of Parkman’s basement, so hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work he goes.  Peter Petrelli turns into Peter Gabriel, trusty sledgehammer in hand, battering endlessly away against a wall that just won’t budge.

The conceit of the time lapse soon becomes apparent.  Heroes needed to get to a place in which two things could logically happen before the end of the volume.  First, Peter Petrelli had to achieve closure over his brother’s death.  Still reeling from it, he’d moved on numbly through life with little to no purpose.  Second, the show had to earn any semblance of Sylar’s redemption through a penance that lasted literally years.

Putting the two of them in a situation to spend approximately a decade getting to their points while only using up 12 hours of plot time isn’t the cleanest way to do it, but I do give props to the show for at least realizing that the two men couldn’t realistically reach these emotional points through a measly conversation.

Personally, I’m intrigued to see where Sylar goes now.  It could be terrible, but at least it will be different.  And if he chooses to forge a path of righteousness, using Hiro as his Obi-Wan would be incredibly amusing and entertaining to watch.  Which means, of course, that it will never happen.  Oh well, moving on.

Sure, we’d seen Noah as a Company Man, in Season 1, but did we ever learn how he joined The Company?  That’s what tonight’s 2nd plotline focused upon, as Samuel sought to sever her from Noah once and for all.  Luckily, smart Claire showed up this weekend, rendering Samuel’s mind games null and void.  But in the interim, Heroes showed Noah’s past in great detail.

It turns out that Noah used to be a used car salesman with a heart of gold and a wife named Kate.  He’s too gosh-darned nice to sell an overpriced car to a young couple, instead giving them info on the down low about a comparable car down the street at another dealership.  When he learns his wife is pregnant, he’s thrilled, even though their money situation isn’t the best.

One night, their usual Chinese deliveryman is replaced by a special, who uses telekinesis on both of them in order to rob them.  He ends up sending Kate through their glass coffee table, a leg of which protrudes through her belly.  This incident turns Noah into HRG, a man that patiently constructs a detailed map over the course of a year to find the man that murdered his wife.  He eventually locates someone with special powers near the one he’s looking for, at which point the intolerance metaphor starts going into overdrive in tonight’s episode. Noah thinks that all people with special powers know each other.  He assumes they are all evil.  He kills the one in self-defense, though to be fair and balanced, Noah had conducted the entire conversation up to that point with a gun pointed in the that person’s face.

After that murder, Noah goes downhill.  He’s still a used car salesman, but now he’s an evil car salesman.  He’s wearing dark clothes and pressing young couples to buy his overpriced models.  The high-pressure tactics amuse a familiar face: Thompson, the Company man played by Eric Roberts.  Thompson is impressed with Noah’s tracking and killing of the special, and wants to hire him to “sell paper” rather than used cars.

Flash forward a bit and we find Bennet and Thompson having lunch.  Turns out that while working with Claude, a number of individuals with powers the duo have tracked, managed to turn up “accidentally” dead.  Thompson figures that Noah still bears a grudge over Kate’s death (gee, ya think?) and all but orders him to marry their waitress in order to provide both offspring and order into his life.

The last bit truly sends Claire, who has been watching all these visions via a funhouse mirror, over the edge.  She realizes that The Company essentially pimped her dad out.  Noah insists that he did love Sandra, and that is why he married her.  But since that marriage dissolved last season, wouldn’t it have been a bolder choice to show the roots of the deception inherent in their marriage via this flashback?  Noah’s relationship to Claire, in terms of importance as well as devotion, has always superseded his relationship to Sandra.  To use this episode to demonstrate the inherent crack in that foundation would have been nice, but it also would have severed Noah’s relationship with Claire.  Couldn’t have that.

End of episode.

At the carnival, everyone’s kind of on edge since Samuel brought forth the destruction of an entire town. He gets into it with Lydia because she doesn’t trust him anymore, and everyone is looking up to her for their next move. Samuel decides he’ll do whatever he has to, to get back in the family’s good graces, which I’m assuming will mean things get worse before they get better.

Peter has a weird, messed up dream about Emma and Sylar at the carnival.  Sylar is going to save Emma somehow and oh, I get why this volume is called Redemption now.  Peter wakes up and calls Emma, but she doesn’t answer.  I don’t know how he was going to talk to her via his cell phone anyway.  What the hell?   Did he forget that she’s deaf?  He goes to see his mother and they discuss the mutual dream they shared.  She reminds him that just because Sylar might help Emma, it doesn’t mean he will be reformed.  Somehow, Angela knows where Sylar is and she tells Peter.

Sylar is at Parkman’s place where he talked up Mrs. Parkman by telling her he was on the force with Matt.  Matt comes home of course, and isn’t all that excited to see Sylar.  There’s a tense lunch were Mrs. Parkman is amazingly clueless before Sylar and Matt retreat to the basement.  Sylar admits that he needs Matt to go back into his head and take all of the abilities away. Matt says he’ll try, but only after Sylar threatens Janice’s life.

Matt goes into Sylar’s head and on try number one, nothing happens. So, he tries again. Strike two! Janice walks in with bad timing and Sylar throws her against a wall with his telekinesis. His threat doubles, and he says he’ll REALLY kill Janice. Matt tries to teach Sylar that he’s more than his abilities, and Sylar lets Janice go. She tells Matt that Sylar is broken and he has to be buried so deep that he can never come back. Matt tries for the third time and we see flashes of Sylar’s life in black and white before Matt pulls away.

Sylar says he doesn’t feel any different but when he tries his abilities on Matt, they don’t work.  Instead of taking his abilities away though, Matt trapped Sylar in his own head.  I’m not exactly sure what happened, but now he’s trapped in a nightmare and Matt bricks him up in his basement.   Then, who should show up but Peter who immediately takes Matt’s ability and finds out about Sylar. Matt tries to warn him, but Peter goes into Sylar’s head and it’s an empty city.

Gretchen decides to force Claire to tell Noah about her Sylar escapades.  There’s hand holding and supportive gestures before Claire goes up to her dad’s apartment.  TWIST: Lauren answers the door and Noah isn’t even there.  Claire sees all the carnival stuff lying around and starts asking questions.  Lauren explains via some fantastic Sprint product placement that Samuel buried a town and that the more specials he has around him, the more powerful he gets.

Back at the dorms, Claire tries to get Gretchen to give her some advice, but Gretchen is deciding not to be the supportive girlfriend type and instead be argumentative about the carnival and how Noah was right about it.  Claire doesn’t have time for this, and she borrows Gretchen’s car to head back to the carnival.  She meets with Lydia who finds out quickly that Noah is heading to the carnival to kill Samuel. Somehow Eli heard all of that from like, four trailers away.

Samuel heard it too, or else Eli told him that fast, and confronts both Lydia and Claire, saying that he wished he could take back what he did. Claire argues that he has to take responsibility by turning himself in to her dad but Samuel’s with me in knowing that Noah tends to screw these things up.

Meanwhile, Noah and Lauren are already staking out the carnival because they managed to use that homemade compass.  They hone in on Samuel, and then Claire through their sniper rifles. Claire calls her dad and tells him that Samuel is willing to turn himself in as long as the rest of the carnival goes unharmed.  Lauren also doesn’t believe this will go down that easily and decides she’ll be the one to go collect Samuel.

Before his big surrender, Samuel addresses the family and apologies for his shady leadership skills.  As he speaks, Noah just can’t help it and starts firing, taking a shot at Samuel and then accidentally shooting Claire in the throat.  That is the best way to show you care, I’ve heard. TWIST: It’s not Noah, it’s Eli. Samuel needed a villain bigger than him, so the family would look to him again.  Lauren gets shot, and then we find out Lydia is hit too. Lydia dies, knowing the truth about what Samuel did.

Eli drags Noah in and he manages to tell Claire that he didn’t do the shooting before he’s dragged away to be tied up in the House of Mirrors.  Claire is sent to Samuel’s trailer. Samuel calls Emma, and there’s some kind of medical set up which is so convenient, now she can help them all. But she’s really there to create a New World, just don’t tell anyone.  Samuel tells the family that it’s time to show the world what the carnival truly is.

Meanwhile, Lauren is still bleeding to death in the woods, and she calls Tracy Strauss.

End of episode.

Gretchen tries to get Claire to talk about the death of Nathan, or her time with the carnies, but Claire shrugs her off.  Literally.  And who should appear but Sylar and his eyebrows.  He’s in Claire’s classroom when she gets there.  She explains how much she’d love to kill him, and he says he needs a friend.  And just to drive home that he’s being sincere, he kidnapped Gretchen.  Because nothing says “I don’t want to be alone and I need your help” like kidnapping your college experiment in sexuality.

Sylar makes a list of things he and Claire have in common.  Claire tells him their difference is that he’s a psychopath and she goes to let herself out, but Sylar knocks her down with his ability.  He leans over her and kisses her and oh God, this is the most vomit inducing thing I’ve ever witnessed on this show, and that includes when Sylar was poking around in Claire’s brain.  He goes on for way too long about Claire and her sexual subtext with Gretchen, and is anyone else getting secondhand awkwardness?  Claire stabs Sylar in the eye, which is what I’d love to do to myself right now after that kissing scene.

Running back to the dorm, she unties Gretchen but Sylar is pissed now and blows out the windows.  Gretchen decides the best way to run and hide is to yell, “Someone’s coming!” as she ducks into a closet with Claire.  Claire explains that she’s afraid of being hurt, so she can’t put herself in this relationship with Gretchen.  Gretchen then suggests that maybe for Sylar to become human again, he has to get rid of all his powers.  And then she turns into Sylar and he peaces out.

Claire runs to find Gretchen in the cafeteria and tells her she wants to hold her hand and doesn’t care who stares or talks.  Sylar sits back and takes the credit for bringing the little love birds together before going to find Matt.

Hiro, Ando, and Mohinder are still hanging out at Noah’s place.  Mohinder makes a compass from scratch and leaves just before Hiro blacks out.  He wakes up in a room with Adam Monroe.  He says it’s up to the judge to decide whether or not he’s living or dying.  It’s the world versus Hiro, and his dad is the judge.  Adam says to a jury that Hiro used his abilities selfishly.  Hiro pleads not guilty and suddenly Ando appears to be his lawyer.  Hiro’s sister and Ando come in as children and testify that Hiro altered time during the slushy incident.  Ando objects and Hiro says that as long as no one gets hurt, it’s okay to alter time.

The next witness:  Sylar.  He says that he’s killed hundreds of people because of his agreement with Hiro.  Hiro asked for Sylar to spare Charlie, so in turn Sylar killed a bunch of innocent people.  Hiro says that he stands by his decision to save Charlie, because the world is a better place with her in it.  Adam then calls Charlie to the stand, but she can’t testify because she’s lost in time and space thanks to Hiro and his deal with Samuel.

Ando calls his own client to the stand, which Hiro questions but Ando works his magic and gets Hiro a not guilty verdict.  Just kidding, calling your own client as a witness never works, and Hiro is found guilty.  Back in real life, Hiro is flatlining.  Just as he makes his way to that white light, he changes his plea to guilty, because he wants to die with honor.  Then, that one sword from season one shows up, and he has to fight Adam for his honor.  Hiro kills Adam, and then his mother appears to tell him it’s not his time yet because he still has a destiny.  She heals him and that’s that.  Hiro is no longer dying.

Vanessa is still being kept at the carnival and Samuel remembers a time back in the day where he broke her record player.  He asks her to at least stay for breakfast and then she can go.  She agrees, because she really believes Samuel will take her home after.  He takes her out for a strawberry milkshake…for breakfast?  And he tries to reminisce with her.  Vanessa tries to bring him back down to reality even as she admits there are times she thinks of their past relationship fondly.

Back at the carnival, Samuel keeps trying to persuade Vanessa that she wants to spend the rest of her life with him.  They describe their dream house, and he reveals that he’s drawn it out for her.  They make eyes at each other, and I bet that she’ll be dead within the next three episodes which will be fuel for Samuel’s predictable season ending rage.  He leads her to the oasis in the desert where the cabin has already been built.  She tells him that she can’t actually live with him.  Okay, so maybe he’ll be killing her in rage.  She tells him that this is his fantasy but not hers anymore.

Samuel ends the date and tells her he should take her home.  He’s upset, and she kisses him because that will make everything better but he takes off.  He goes off to have a milkshake alone and then gets up in all up in the face of some waitress talking about how she’s looking at him all weird and judging.  Vanessa scorning him was the last straw, and he causes a massive earthquake.  But Vanessa is free, and she goes home.

End of episode.

Having said that, if you’re looking for reputable organizations to donate money, clothing, etc. to the Haitian Earthquake Relief, then this information is for you:

• Yele Haiti is sponsored by prominent Haitian-born musician Wyclef Jean. You can donate through its website or via text message.  Wyclef is urging all of his followers on Twitter to text “Yele” to the number 501501. If you send the text, the organization will receive $5. The amount will be added to your next cell phone bill. Consider retweeting Wyclef’s updates and get some of your Twitter followers to donate, too.

• American Red Cross is also using texts to raise donations.  You can text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to American Red Cross relief for Haiti.

• The American Jewish World Service has set up the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund to respond to the crisis by supporting a network of organizations it works with.

• AmeriCares has pledged $5 million to Haitian quake relief, and is soliciting donations to a general emergency disaster relief fund to help it accomplish that.

• CARE is sending relief workers into the city of Port-au-Prince and needs funds to support its efforts. Suggested donations range from $50 to $1,000, but you can name your own amount if you prefer.

• Catholic Relief Services has an office in Haiti, and luckily it’s still standing even though one of its neighbors collapsed. The organization is accepting donations of any amount.

• Direct Relief International has committed up to $1 million in aid through two on-the-ground partners, and is sending containers of medical material aid.

• Oxfam has 200 people on the ground to deal with the crisis, and began its efforts by trying to get clean water to victims of the quake. One of its staffers recorded a podcast describing the situation. You can donate on the American or UK site, depending on where you’re located.

• Google Support Disaster Relief is a website Google has updated to respond to the crisis. Google has promised $1 million in support, but the site is also an easy place to donate money to either UNICEF or CARE. It also provides hospital addresses and links to sources for news on the situation.

Samuel talks to Lydia and asks her to be on his side, to help him realize all their dreams.  Lydia points out that they are his dreams, not theirs.  He tells her that he has waited a long while to finally bring Vanessa and the time has finally come.  Lydia tells her daughter that if they are to survive, that they will need a new leader, a man that even Samuel himself said could be the next Joseph.  Her daughter says, “Well maybe you can call him.” “Well maybe I can,” Lydia answers, and then she closes her eyes and starts to concentrate.  We then see Peter, laying in bed asleep, and his eyes suddenly open as the compass tattoo on his arm starts to spin.

Noah visits Matt and tells him that he had left 5 messages, and needs his help with a man named Samuel.  Matt doesn’t really want to help, after the last time that he did.  Noah explains that Samuel Sullivan is a very bad man who is trying to recruit Claire.

Hiro is being committed and Ando tries to slow the process down enough to understand what Hiro is saying.  As Hiro passes Mohinder’s door, he yells to Ando “Watson Watson” telling Ando to free Dr. Watson.  Ando uses his power to unlock the doors to get to Mohinder.

Noah and Matt went to meet Vanessa.  She denied knowing him, but Noah told her that they had pictures of the two of them together, so they are aware that she knows Samuel.  Matt pushes into her thoughts and makes her want to talk to them.  She says that she needs to talk to someone, she is worried about Samuel.

Peter is walking along, and hears the cello which Emma was playing.  He goes up to her apartment, and she lets him in.  Peter asks Emma about Samuel, after she tells him that Samuel gave her the cello.  He tells her that Samuel gave him a fake name, and she shows him the compass.  Peter tells Emma that she should stay away from Samuel, because he is a bad man.  Emma acts as if Peter is wrong and he tries to tell her why he says that Samuel is bad.  Angela walks in and acts very snooty to Emma, asking “Peter what is that woman doing here?”  So Emma leaves.

Vanessa shares with Noah how it was, growing up with Samuel, that his parents lived on her families’ land.  She said that she never noticed that his family was poor and hers was rich when they played together as children.  He showed up in her room one night when she was in college, and then he asked her to marry him and run off to his carnival.  She was seeking a music while at Yale and could not go.  She said since Joesph died, Sam haa been showing up more and more sounding obsessed.  Noah asks Vanessa to call Samuel.

Hiro explains to Ando, in his fairytale language, that Mohinder has been drugged and needs to be brought back.  Ando switches Mohinder’s drugs when the orderly isn’t looking, but had to swallow the pills when the orderly turns around…not good.

Samuel shows up with Vanessa, but Eli is there to stop both Noah and Matt.  Samuel takes Vanessa, and then causes the earth to break apart in front of Noah, as Samuel vanishes.  Matt shows up with the car, but it is too late, Samuel and Vanessa are gone.  Noah is tracking her cellphone however, so the chase is on.

Angela explains to Peter that Vanessa is going to kill thousands of people with her cello, and that Peter cannot save her.  Peter asks her if anyone else can, but she refuses to answer him, and tells him that dreaming the future was not a gift.

Hiro knocks at Mohinder’s door, and wakes him.  No longer drugged, Mohinder breaks free, and Hiro helps him to escape.  Mohinderi cannot understand anything Hiro is saying, but he goes along with him.  They put Ando in a wheelchair (remember he is drugged) and run.  All of the orderlies begin to run toward them, but Ando opens the door with his electric powers again.

Noah and Matt show up in the field, and the signal says that they are there.  The carnival is gone, and Noah tells Matt that somehow they have to find the carnival.  Matt argues with him, just as Lauren did, that he needs to stop burning his bridges and that if he could talk to Claire, he could use her compass.  Noah refuses.  Back at Matt’s place, they argue over whether or not they will leave Samuel alone.  Matt does not want to pursue it any further, but Noah cannot let it go.  Noah leaves as Matt is preparing dinner.

Peter has a dream, where he sees Emma playing the cello, and crying as people scream.  At the end, he sees Syler come to her and says, “Don’t worry, I’ll save you.”  He then goes to her apartment and shatters her cello.  As he tried to explain why, she kicks him out.  She sits looking at the cello and crying alone in the dark.

Monhinder is angry with Hiro for getting him locked up. Ando tries to explain to him that Hiro is not okay, that his brain is fried.  The hunters force them to run deeper into the woods.  Mohinder convinces Ando to use his “red lightening” to do a type of electro-shock therapy on Hiro, which brings Hiro back.

Noah finally goes to Claire’s dorm, and tells her that he is not there to try to talk her out of being mad at him.  She asks why he is there, and he tells her that he had been thinking about bridges, that connect him to the people and things in his life that he cared about, and how he had been burning them all, and hoped that he had not burned it with her.  She tells him that she was late for something, and that maybe they could talk later, and shuts the door.

Matt is sitting at the table with his wife and baby, and asks “Do you think I am a coward? I think I am a coward.  I had the worst guy in the world living in my head and when I got him out, I didn’t do anything about the problems that I have caused.”  His wife replies, “Matt you have a family, you have to be here for us and let the rest of it be, there is nothing cowardly about looking after your family.  You belong here with us, okay?”  Matt responds, “Okay.”

Vanessa is at the carnival with Samuel, and she tell him that she wants t go home.  He tells her that the day she arrived was supposed to be perfect, but Noah got in her head, and he had to protect her from Noah.  “By kidnapping me?”  He says, “I wouldn’t say that.”  Vanessa points out that he won’t let her leave, and that is kidnapping.  Samuel says that he has one perfect thing to show her and if she still isn’t happy, he will take her right back to California.

Lauren shows up at Noah’s apartment.  He tells her that he cares for her more than he wants to admit, and it is complicated.  “I know,” she says, “Just don’t do it again.”  They start to kiss, and suddenly…POOF… Hiro, Ando, and Mohinder are suddenly in Noah’s apartment.  “Oh, you have company, sorry to barge in,” Hiro stutters.  “Hello boys,” Noah says, as they all wave at him.

End of episode.

Last time on Heroes, Claire was at the carnival, Mohinder was in the madhouse, Hiro was cuckoo for cocoa puffs, and the Nathan/Sylar combo pack split up and went on solo tours. Unfortunately, Nathan’s tour went to heaven.

Still reeling from the brain scramble at the hands of Samuel’s carnie cronie, Hiro teleports to Tokyo, Japan.  This time out, he’s not a small child so much as a major geek who thinks he’s living in the greatest, most elaborate anime of all time.  He calls Ando “Sancho Panza,” drops references to Cylons, and litters his language with references to a bevy of other sci-fi, fantasy, and fable.

Ando brings Hiro back to their office, attributing the dementia to his friends’ brain tumor.  Kimiko wants to send her brother to Japan’s top neurosurgeon, but Ando soon realizes that Hiro’s jibber jabber is actually code for some important task.  By the end of our time with this pair, we realize that they are about to rendezvous with the monologuing marvel known as Mohinder in the same asylum in which Hiro deposited the good doctor back in Brother’s Keeper.  The lesson? Always listen to the woman.  It’s a lesson Peter Petrelli luckily heeds in the wake of his brother’s death.

Claire spends much of the first hour acting like she’s in a Geico commercial, to the point where I kept waiting for the world music version of Rockwell’s Somebody’s Watching Me to play as the Eli’s multiplying man kept her inside the carnival via his omnipresent stare.  Having been directed by Lydia to bring Samuel pancakes before his trip to recruit Emma Coolidge, Claire realizes that the great and fearless leader of the outsiders has both a Primatech box full of information about supers and a mysterious map of the nearby landscape.

Samuel’s visit to Emma ties in with the topographical map.  Through him, we learn the true nature of Emma’s powers: she not only makes pretty light shows with sound that only she sees, but she can use those sounds to draw people to her, in a siren-like fashion.  In particular, Samuel needs Emma’s music to sooth the savage beast within one particular powered person, the recluse Ian Michaels.

Ian’s power? The ability to accelerate plant growth.  After incorporating Ian into the carnival, the newest member takes the barren landscape adjacent to it and instantly ups its property value by filling it with grass, trees, plants, and flowers.  Ian’s creation of Samuel’s proposed homeland stunts a lot of Claire’s venom towards Samuel, but Eli’s eyes (all three sets of them) unnerved her enough to leave anyway, albeit with conflicted feelings in her heart.

Upon leaving, Claire checks her messages and learns of her father’s death through Peter’s phone call.  Milo Ventimiglia absolutely brought it tonight in showing Peter’s stunted grief in the wake of his brother’s death. With Claire furious with her father’s deception and Peter’s wariness of his mother all but solidified, the unlikely uncle/niece combination have no one else but each other to turn to in their grief.

And it makes sense, after all, both have a hard time feeling in one way or another: Claire physically, and now Peter emotionally.  But thanks to Peter’s Haitian-obtained ability, Claire’s clumsiness while slicing lemons for the funeral reception allows her the unique experience to bleed and feel pain in a normal fashion.  Peter, unable to face the reality/finality of Nathan’s passing, retreats from Claire’s outreach.  He leaves the reception to play hero at a shoot-out in a local office building, where a fired employee had gone postal on his ex-coworkers.  Peter manages to bare his soul to the attacker in a way he could not to Claire.  Pretty powerful stuff.

He gets a bullet for his troubles, but manages to subdue the attacker anyway.  He absorbs Claire’s power soon after, but recognizing the godlike ability as a potential temptation, he removes it in a way that doubly honors the memory of his brother.  Not only does he chose hope over fear by opting not to seek out revenge against Sylar, but he absorbs the ability to fly from Season 2 takes off into the sky for a memorial flight in his late brother’s honor.  But while Peter managed to fill the hole in his heart, two other major players in the Heroes universe weren’t so lucky.

At some point, the writers of  Heroes decided that having a villain who all but shouted “Power! Sweet delicious power!” all the time wasn’t exactly what people in the industry call “good.”  So now they’ve decided to add in what I call “The Annie Factor.”  See, over on Lost, über-evil Benjamin Linus had a childhood friend Annie that may or may not be his only touchstone to anything approaching humanity as the show approaches its endgame.  And in Heroes, Samuel now has his own Annie, and her name is Vanessa.

All we know about Vanessa is that 1) Samuel’s known her for most of his life, 2) she plays the cello (her old instrument now sits in Emma’s apartment), and 3) we’ve never, ever, ever heard of her until this week.  I’m guessing that now we’ll learn that Samuel killed his brother and started to assemble a collection of supers to augment his powers to unspeakable levels in the name of getting to second base with a girl.  But while Samuel pines for a lost love, Sylar apparently doesn’t even have the luxury of that.  He storms into the carnival, finally fully intact and ready to kill, only…he can’t.  Why?

Because he’s lonely.  I swear to God, this is the explanation the show gives.  Stop laughing.  I’m serious.  He’s lonely.  Lonelier than Kim Jong-il in Team America. Just when I thought the show couldn’t neuter Sylar anymore than they already have, they go and pull this.  Apparently, Hiro’s words back in Once Upon a Time in Texas have haunted Sylar ever since.

Samuel and Sylar should be living the thug life, but apparently they are all about the hug life now. These two should be engaged in an epic life-or-death struggle, but instead they are letting the mystical flip of a coin decide things.  Translations: having absorbed Lydia’s power via foreplay (don’t ask), Sylar gets inked by Samuel (again with the not asking) and sees, lo and behold, Claire pop up on his forearm.  Well, that’s quicker than filling out that eHarmony profile, I guess.

Normally, it would now be Noah to his daughter’s rescue, but he has problems of his own. Having been banned from attending Nathan’s reception, Noah leaves Claire’s dorm and goes back to his apartment, but he senses something following him.  It’s Edgar.  The man can move 600 MPH, but yet gets caught by Noah via the ol’ “turn around and taser” technique that all good Primatech employees learn during orientation.

Noah doesn’t think much of this remarkable luck, but Lauren is there with both truth serum and an objective point of view.  Noting that Edgar no longer has a compass, she advocates the use of “tea and conversation” over “knives and serration.”  Edgar admits that he initially sought to kidnap Noah to reprove his worth to Samuel, but reluctantly agrees to aid Noah in removing Samuel in order to regain the type of carnival life he enjoyed under Joseph Sullivan’s reign.

All is going swimmingly until Lauren starts dropping the word “cult” and Noah starts dropping the word “assimilation.”  Edgar (along with the majority of the carnies) have no desire at all to reintegrate themselves back into society.  A simple regime change back to their dull, nomadic lifestyle would suit them just fine.  He splits, along with Noah’s plans to infiltrate the carnival.  Noah rues his missed opportunity, and both he and Lauren wonder if Samuel’s influence has already penetrated Claire’s mind past the point of no return.

With Samuel (almost literally) sowing the seeds of his plan, and Noah finally poised to make an assault on the cult leader, we’re finally getting to the inevitable confrontation hinted at all season.  And while the show has often been clumsy in getting there, the pieces seem to be coming into place. That doesn’t mean the show will avoid another Kirby Plaza-esque catastrophe, but stranger things have happened at the carnival.

Mark your calendars ladies and gents, and prepare for the return of Sade!

Now, I’ve seen Frankie Beverly perform almost every year since the mid-90′s and this is the first time that I’ve been in attendance where there was a Cougar Crowd.  Older women had that joint packed!

Anyway, here are a few photos that I took at that concert.  Click photos to enlarge.

For more concert pics, head on over to Flickr:  Maze ft. Frankie Beverly

As Don Cornelius would say, “It’s a biggin’ you sho nuff ‘gon be diggin’!”  Oh, and did I forget to mention that the EP is free?  So what are you waiting for?  Download it already, sheesh!

Click to download:  Zo! – ….Just Visiting Too




Tracklisting
1. Perfect Angel feat. Yahzarah
2. Nights Over Egypt feat. Carlitta Durand
3. Crazy You feat. Sy Smith
4. Holding You, Loving You
5. My Flame feat. Phonte
6. Somethin Special feat. Yahzarah
7. The Highways of My Life (Pts. 1&2) feat. Darien Brockington

Release Date: January 15, 2010

Directors: Allen Hughes & Albert Hughes

Screenwriter: Gary Whitta, Anthony Peckham

Cast: Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis, Ray Stevenson, Jennifer Beals, Evan Jones

Synopsis: A post-apocalyptic tale, in which a lone man fights his way across America in order to protect a sacred book that holds the secrets to saving humankind.

Believe it or not, I grew up a very shy kid, until books were introduced to my life.  Books took me on journeys in my mind, and that led me to gain confidence in speaking to others, as well as becoming a better writer.  Reading Rainbow helped to play a huge part in that.  But……..you don’t have to take my word for it.  *weep*

All this time I was thinking that dude was really enthusiastic about Orange Glo and Oxy-Clean, because he was screaming at the top of his damn lungs, when all the while he was hyped up on coke.  Sham-fucking-wow!

Finally, you know I have to always leave you with a zinger so….

Click on the Episodes link at the top of the homepage for past episodes of the Soulrific Podcast Show.  And if you’re looking for a new mix, head on over to download Episode 54!

Most Mondays you’ll find me posting a Soulrific Podcast Show mix, but not this Monday. You see, since the passing of Michael Jackson, the internet has been flooded with hundreds of thousands of MJ tribute mixes, and I must admit, I almost posted one of my own…………..that was until I heard DJ Ayres‘ Radio Rub Michael Jackson Mix from 2008. It gets no better than this!

For those of you who own the Off The Wall (Special Edition) cd, you’ll find in this mix the familiar snippet of the original demo that Michael did of Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough, which blends so smoothly into the song that we know of today. I felt it’s only right to give DJ Ayres his props as well by sharing with those who may have missed it last year.

Now, I don’t have a tracklisting for this mix, but don’t let that stop you from getting your download on, because it’s a keeper! Share it with others and let’s keep the music alive.

If you’re having trouble using the player, I’ve uploaded it to Mediafire:  Michael Jackson Mix

As I listened from my bedroom window, the cries got eerier and were getting louder.  Afraid that the baby may be harmed, I put on my robe and slippers, grabbed my gun (hey, I didn’t know who the hell was out there at that time of the morning), and walked outside to find out where the wailing was coming from.

Turns out it was not a baby, but a stray cat in heat.  Good Lord, that cat sounded like a baby crying.  After shooing the cat away, I could not get back to sleep because I kept hearing that mournful wail in my head.

I love spicy foods, even though I know that they’re not good for me, because I tend to suffer from acid reflux.  So what do I do?  I eat spicy foods anyway.  And living down South, that’s kinda hard to escape because that’s part of the beauty of Southern cooking, the use of spices.

So I’m attending a BBQ on Mother’s Day and I’m dining on BBQ ribs, jambalaya, crawfish and corn on the cob which has been boiled in crawfish boil.  And what do I wash it all down with?  Well, margaritas of course.  This a recipe for death!

After ingesting all of those spicy foods, combined with the tequila in the margarita, my fuckin’ heart stopped!  I kid you not.  I blacked out momentarily and had an out of body experience.  I was screaming, but no words were coming out.  My friends were running to help me and everyone was panicking because I was panicking.

Luckily, most of my friends are nurses and one of them had sense enough to ask for glasses of milk for me to drink to coat my insides.  But there was no regular milk on hand at the BBQ.  The moms at the BBQ were able to scrap up Similac in their baby bags, so I had to down glasses (or shall I say bottles) of Simlac until I could get my bearings.

Thank God for Mothers!  They came to my rescue and the Similac was a lifesaver.  And for the record, Similac is nastier than a mofo.  Babies must have awful tastebuds.