“YOU’LL NEVER KNOW” LIVE – SEPTEMBER 2009 

Well, I’ve been talking about this for over a month but when things come to be, you should consider shouting it from the rooftops. Clarence (Collins) and I have been working with a promotion company Carolina Entertainment. That’s Peter Gallo’s company based in the Southeast. We’re a good team.  

We all worked to organize a mini-tour, “You’ll Never Know” – taking the CD on the road live. The show features our hits and provides an opportunity for us to stretch musically.  

Some insight into the original recording of “You’ll Never Know” - there is a duet with Deniece Williams. This woman is a Grammy-winning vocalist and I love singing with her. I love doing duets, period but Deniece’ and I are like Rogers and Astaire, man. She brings out the best vocal you can strive for in a song. Deniece will perform for the first time live in concert in years. I think Deniece is a little scared but she trusts me and Clarence. Deniece is such a pro once she sings one song live, her world will change. She’s with friends and the dates are excellent venues for our “You’ll Never Know” show. 

So, Little Anthony and the Imperials are taking Deniece Williams and “You’ll Never Know” on the road. Here are the confirmed dates (I think the list will add some soon) of “You’ll Never Know” live: 

Here’s the best part: we are going to have “tour buses” with “You’ll Never Know” banners on the side. I’m like a kid sometimes. I’ve talked about being on tour buses before. We did extended weekends but this will be two weeks long easy. I can’t wait.

As a group, we accomplish more on our bus than any other time we meet causally. It’s Clarence, Ernest and me just like it was over 50 years ago but now, we are calling our own career shots. Little Anthony and the Imperials were always rebellious and someone once said, “Little Anthony and those guys are un-manageable”. We paid a price and we survived. We all made lots of wrong moves but lately, we’re makin’ all right ones. Cool, huh? 

In show business today that is being blessed. We are attracting fans new and old alike, we’re inducted into the Rock HOF and we just celebrated our 50th anniversary. Now, this upcoming tour with Deniece and no more “Doo Wop reunions”, what is there not to like?  

CAN YOU IMAGINE? 

A few days ago, I was watching Mrs. Joyce Meyers, who is a preacher and evangelist on TV. She said that do you know there are 7 men - documented as the richest men in the world and if they pooled their resources, they could end poverty in the world. They could end world hunger and suffering. Can you imagine? If that were to happen, their riches would be the solution. Genocide would end. Darfur would be a bad dream. Haiti would join the 21^st century and Asian countries would fully modernize. Third World countries would cease to exist. Can you imagine? 

The world would change and there would be “no haves and have nots”. Being impoverished would be a thing of the past and we might be able to unite this world of ours. Can you imagine?  

I don’t believe we were put on this earth to do nothing and just stand by waiting. When so many are suffering from hunger and lack of common necessities, that we in the Western world take for granted, you have to do more – do something, at least.  

We hear and read about the poor impoverished almost daily in our own country. Maybe that consumes us and it is hard to fathom worse conditions. Poverty in the U.S. compared to other countries is literally world’s apart. In some countries, like India, their mountainous garbage dump is walking distance from the village they call home. Can you imagine? 

If these blighted areas in the worst impoverished nations were gone, we could level the world playing field. Can you imagine?  

Are you hearing John Lennon’s “Imagine” as you read this? Hopefully you are because Lennon knew what he was talking about in his song. I don’t know about you but I feel I have to do something. Take Bono of U2, he works with his charity to eliminate world poverty. They are trying to inspire us, create a working model or plan and make the world a better place. Idealistic? Can you imagine?  

I’m always amazed at how we here in the U.S. define poverty. By our standards, people who live below the “poverty level” are impoverished. In other countries, they would be living well but our standards are higher. There are some “hoods” where they think they are sunk and not salvageable. Some use “the hood” as an excuse. “Our hood” is far better off than say, if you are living in a tent or shack in Kingston, Jamaica. Can you imagine? 

As I tour the U.S. in particular, I see these “hoods” first-hand but there are apartment and home satellite dishes and cable hook-ups no matter what block you travel. There are houses. Some in disrepair but it isn’t a “Third World tent” man. There is indoor plumbing and clean water. There are schools, churches, a change of clothes and the ability to rise above it all here in the U.S. That dream of rising above doesn’t exist elsewhere in the world though. What if it did? Can you imagine? 

TIGER WOODS AND ECONOMICS OF SPORTS 

I like to play golf and my buddy Clarence (Collins) lives there when we are home here in Vegas. I appreciate the game and I really appreciate Tiger Woods. He has to be the greatest golfer in the world and he is in his prime. However, there are some people in the black community that feel he is not doing enough for his people. He should be out there promoting “black golfers”. Give the guy a break man. I’ll digress here. 

I was channel surfing the other day when I came upon Bryant Gumble’s HBO sports talk show. They were doing a segment on why there aren’t more “black golfers” on the pro tour. The opinions expressed on the subject were not favorable and some claimed Tiger Woods should be promoting or sponsoring “black golfers”. He could give them help like no other. He could help them get on the pro tours and encourage the sport in “the hood”. 

First of all, I see their sense, concerns and I sympathize but the truth is Tiger Woods (and all of his accomplishments) have helped “black golfers” already. He is the first in the history of the professional golf. Like Jackie Robinson, Tiger Woods is a start in the right direction. Tiger isn’t Martin Luther King or Abraham Lincoln and he shouldn’t try to be. Tiger is simply a gifted golfer of black/Asian decent and that sets the bar, two ways. I don’t hear the people from Thailand knocking Tiger. The people from Bangkok are his people, too.  

Second, in my opinion, Tiger has done more for giving young kids of color – not just black kids – promise and belief. They can desire to be like him and they can follow in Tiger’s footsteps. If Tiger were not there, it would seem unreachable. Tiger’s father Earl dedicated himself to his son Tiger knowing that he could perhaps, make golf and cultural history. Today’s kids of color just have to watch and look up to Tiger.  

You can have a career in sports like baseball, track, football, swimming, hockey, etc. but you need lots of money to play golf - amateur or pro. It’s expensive man. To play golf you need cash, golf clubs, gear, shoes, clothing, boxes of golf balls, pay course fees, memberships, etc. I would say you need over $1000 easy just to tee off. You see money is the “true deciding factor” in modern-day sports that many overlook. Money can determine “your sport of choice”. In the tough economic times and your “hood” paving the way, our choices are molded by what you can afford. 

However, when you play a team sport, money is not a big telling factor. Baseball, for example, requires a good glove. You can buy one at a reasonable price anywhere. You need a bat, a baseball, maybe cleats and that’s it. You are ready to round the bases. With basketball, sneakers are the key and basketballs today are better made and cheaper than ever. You can wear shorts and a large T-shirt and you are in “hoops mode”. Then, there is the almighty American past-time, football and really, all you need to start playing the game is, that’s right, a football. 

Where am I going with all this sports/money talk? In my opinion, playing sports is all about economics not race as some may think. Tiger can bring an entire “hood” onto the green but other than an introduction to the sport, playing golf is years and thousands of dollars away for them. He can bring over villagers from Thailand but golf to them would be a once in a lifetime thrill – no more. Let Tiger be all that he was meant to be but let him do it his way. It’s not about race and it certainly isn’t up to Tiger to make it right. 

Do the homework and I think you will see how economics play a pivotal role in the world we call sports. There are no sandlot golf courses and borrowing someone’s clubs isn’t the same as borrowing someone’s garage NBA Spalding basketball. How many Little League golf games have you attended? How many times though have you played “touch football”? In sports today, race is an excuse that doesn’t fly anymore. The money required to play and experience the game, talks loud and clear. 

So lay off Tiger and let him break more records and set new standards. You cannot expect him to be everything to every one of us. Next time, you want to lash out at Tiger’s ties to the “black community” think about how much golf costs first. It kind of puts it in all prospective, you know?  

Back in the ‘40s an income-earning black couple would have trouble buying a home in modern-day cities like Los Angeles. It took time, economics and money to change that bias. It will take time (economics and money) again. Thereafter, sports like golf may become just another “American mountain to cross” – another milestone waiting to happen. PGA and the Tiger Woods Foundation are working to make that happen.  

Race affects sports - that’s true but now, today, sports is really determined by dollars, work and experience. Ability comes in a second or third. Get used to it and we’ll all be better for it. Welcome to the 21^st century, guys – the changes we’re seeing are real, like them or not. Plainly put, you really gotta pay big time to tee off but when you step up to home plate, it is a bargain sale you lean into.