Random Thoughts

1. Looks like The Lakers , The San Antonio Spurs and possibly the Celtics are having or (in the case of the latter two) have had their last hurrah...There is a new pecking order about to begin in the NBA.

2.I've noticed that this blog has been dropped from the blog rolls of some of the people I used to commiserate with in the so called blogosphere...I don't take it personally...I suppose it's because I don't come around much anymore...(as in comment) Facebook and Twitter will do that to you!

3. Don't you just hate people who switch lanes all of  a sudden and don't use their turn signals?

4.Jennifer Hudson's song -"Where You At?" reminds me of every sister I know, who's been mis treated and lied to over and over again by the same guy...

5. Is it me or is an inordinate number of reporters "accidentally" saying "Obama" , when they actually mean ''Osama"? Hmmmmmmmm!

6.And speaking of Osama Bin Laden...Now that he's dead...will there be a group called  "Deathers" Who'll demand to see a death  certificate or photos of his corpse??? Eeeek...(This is so stupid, no illustration is necessary!)

7.Isn't it Amazing how gas just quietly creeped up to four dollars or more?

8.Back on Osama Bin Laden again...You know...People keep saying that he was living in a mansion...but I saw that place he was staying in...You mean to tell me that for one million bucks, he couldn't do any better than this???

9.Why Is "Sugar " Shane Mosley still boxing?

10. It won't be long before we will be downloading all of our music, movies ,books and magazines and carrying them on ipads, ipods and kindles.....What will our living rooms have in them? Just a thought!

I mean....I'm just sayin!

Is 911 Really a Joke?

I don't know where these studies come from...but supposedly, or at least according to writer, Hyat Mohammad,Black folks would rather call a friend, if they are having a stroke or a heart attack before they call 911. If this is true, it's very distressing...Probably why so many of us end up going to the Medical Examiner's office (The Morgue) instead of a hospital when these things happen.

There are a number of reasons for the disparity between African-American and white stroke victims, but no one would think it had anything to do with calling 911. A recent study by Georgetown University Medical Center showed that instead of calling 911 during a stroke, most African Americans call a friend or relative, significantly decreasing their chance of survival.

When researchers asked 100 acute stroke patients, along with those who accompanied them to the hospital, they found that a whopping 75 percent called someone else first instead of 911 when they realized something was wrong. Eighty-nine percent said that there was a significant delay in seeking medical attention, while almost half attributed the delay to not thinking their symptoms were serious.

Every minute, more brain cells die," said Chelsea Kidwell, director of Georgetown University's Stroke Center, which conducted the research. Even though the window for treatment can be up to 4½ hours for some people, "the time between hitting the emergency room door and getting the medication should be under 60 minutes," she said.

Researchers were also shocked to discover that few of the patients were aware of the time-sensitive, clot-busting medications at hospitals that could help them during a stroke.

Again , as I stated above in the first paragraph...I don't know where these individual studies come from...but if you find yourself in distress...and it's possible for you to use the phone...Don't call snuffy or Betty Lou..Call 911..It could be a matter of life or death~!    YOURS!

A Public service announcement from the Maverick of All Bloggers!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY !

My mother departed this existence three years ago this month...So as you can understand , this is a rough time of year for me...but I still would like to dedicate this to all of the living mothers of the world....Those of you still fortune enough to have your mothers are truly blessed.

It would be remiss of me if I did not honor two living mothers in my life....My wife, Rosalyn and my daughter,
Tasha...

Honor the mothers in your life!

Weekend Humor

Women most probably won't understand this, so ask a man to explain it to you.

A wife asks her husband, "Could you please go shopping for me and buy one carton of milk, and if they have eggs, get 6!"

A short time later the husband comes back with 6 cartons of milk. The wife asks him, "Why did you buy 6 cartons of milk?"

He replied, "They had eggs."

Same Thing That Made You Laugh!

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy."-Unknown author, often attributed to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.


Osama Bin Laden is dead! I'm glad that he's dead....It means we don't have to listen to anymore tapes or see anymore videos with his threats to innocent citizens and his calls for fatwas and holy war and all of that crap!
It means that maybe, just maybe justice really was done in the case of September 11, 2001 , the bombing of the ship in Yemen that killed several U.S. servicemen in 1998 and the bombings of several U.S. embassies in Africa by his Al Queda cell.

That said....I can certainly understand the elation and jubilation of the families of all of the victims of September 11th...What I can't understand is the party atmosphere of a lot of people who took to the streets, cheering and celebrating his death as though it was New Years Day this past Sunday.

Not a good look....kind of creepy....I remember on September 11th 2001....They showed film footage of people in some Arab country partying and cheering and tossing candy in the air....I was saddened and apalled.. I said -"What is wrong with these people? How can they cheer?  3000- 5000 innocent people were killed today when those towers fell, when that second plane crashed in Pennsylvania and when that third plane hit the Pentagon....Innocent people , how can they cheer?

Now I see my own countrymen cheering the death of someone. Granted, Osama Bin Laden was a monstrous mass murderer who declared war on American civilians...and while I'm not sad to see him go...I'm not out in the street cheering either...One of my frat brothers put it this way- "The same thing that made you laugh is the same thing that could make you cry....we should be praying...."  My sentiments exactly!~

Season Of The Virus

Yesterday, a very aggressive virus attacked my computer at work.  This was particularly aggravating to me because it was one of those rare days that I had gotten up early, showered, shaved and had a big breakfast and had actually gotten to work early.

This was a day that I had actually planned to get ahead on some pressing work....Instead, as soon as I booted up, some box appeared telling me that I had a major virus and that if I clicked on this icon, it would install free software that would take care of the virus...This is an old trick...this was actually THE VIRUS! I knew this and so I tried to get rid of it...It came back...I xed it out and it came back again...I tried to get on internet explorer and it came back yet again!!! This time it was running....I quickly called my I T person...I had a hot cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee which I hadn't yet opened to drink...I offered it to her!

It's good to stay in good with your I T person...you never know when you might need them...It took her several hours to get rid of this virus...She had to take down and rebuild my entire profile to finally get rid of it.
It was an aggressive little bugger. A year ago, around this time, I had to have both computers at my home "cleaned and debugged " of viruses.  Lucky for me...I have a brother that does this for a living...It could have cost me some good money to have had this professionally done at work. (I know because I've done it before.)

I was talking to one of my frat brothers yesterday on Facebook chat and he was telling me that this was the season for viruses anyway.  He is a very no nonsense and sensible guy...not the type that would believe birther theories or way out conspiracy theories...So when he talks like this, I tend to listen.

He said beware of things on both Facebook and Twitter that appear to come from "friends" like a status update that says-"I can't believe how many people have viewed my profile...click on this and you can see how many have viewed yours."  It's actually not your friend...someone has hacked into their system and assumed their identity and is sending unsuspecting people sites that are actually viruses...

He said to beware clicking on Obama photos like the one used in my last post or fake photos of the recently deceased Osama Bin Laden in death....Those photos are fakes and loaded with viruses...It's a nice easy way for Al Queda operatives to get a little revenge...You know I'm not a conspiracy theory kind of guy....But this stuff doesn't sound that far fetched. Since I have been fooled a couple of times and have actually gotten a virus...There is more than enough reason for me to believe that what my frat brother told me yesterday was so.

A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer. The term "virus" is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, including but not limited to adware and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability. A true virus can spread from one computer to another (in some form of executable code) when its host is taken to the target computer; for instance because a user sent it over a network or the Internet.  Viruses can increase their chances of spreading to other computers by infecting files on a network file system or a file system that is accessed by another computer.


A computer virus is sometimes used as a catch-all phrase to include all types of malware, even those that do not have the reproductive ability. Malware includes computer viruses, computer worms, Trojan horses, most rootkits, spyware, dishonest adware and other malicious and unwanted software, including true viruses.

Viruses are sometimes confused with worms and Trojan horses, which are technically different. A worm can exploit security vulnerabilities to spread itself automatically to other computers through networks, while a Trojan horse is a program that appears harmless but hides malicious functions.

Worms and Trojan horses, like viruses, may harm a computer system's data or performance. Some viruses and other malware have symptoms noticeable to the computer user, but many are surreptitious (Didn't know I knew a word like that did you? Every now and then, I make use of my college education.)or simply do nothing to call attention to themselves. Some viruses do nothing beyond reproducing themselves.

Well good people...that's your education for today...in case you missed it through all of this technological mumble jumble...I'm just trying to say...be careful what sites you visit, be careful what you click on...It could very well be...The Season of the Virus..

A Public Service announcement from the Maverick of all bloggers!

Obama Got Osama!

Well...It took ten years..but U.S. forces and justice finally caught up with Osama Bin Laden, the world's most wanted terrorist and the financer and mastermind behind the September 11th attacks in New York City, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C.

In a nutshell, here is what happened..In case you've been living under a rock for the past 48 hours..U.S. intelligence officials were aware of bin Laden’s growing radicalism before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and began assembling a dossier on him.

"From the time that we first recognized bin Laden as a threat, the U.S. gathered information on people in bin Laden's circle, including his personal couriers," a senior official in the Obama administration said in a background briefing from the White House early Monday.

After the Sept. 11, attacks, "detainees gave us information on couriers. One courier in particular had our constant attention. Detainees gave us his nom de guerre, his pseudonym, and also identified this man as one of the few couriers trusted by Osama Bin Laden."

In 2007, U.S. Intellingence agents learned the man's name.It was not immediately clear where the information that opened the end game was obtained. The New York Times reported yesterday that detainees at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, gave the courier’s pseudonym to interrogators and identified him as a protégé of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the confessed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.(In custody) But the Associated Press quoted unidentified U.S. officials as saying that CIA interrogators at secret prisons developed strands that led to Osama Bin Laden.

In 2009, "we identified areas in Pakistan where the courier and his brother operated. They were very careful, reinforcing belief we were on the right track."The official said.

He went on to say-"In August 2010, "We found their home in Abbottabad, not in a cave, not right along the Afghanistan border, but in an affluent suburb less than 40 miles from the capital. When we saw the compound, we were shocked by what we saw: an extraordinarily unique compound."

The plot of land was roughly eight times larger than the other homes in the area. It was built in 2005 on the outskirts of town, but now some other homes are nearby.

"Physical security is extraordinary: 12 to 18 foot walls, walled areas, restricted access by two security gates." The residents burn their trash, unlike their neighbors. There are no windows facing the road. One part of the compound has its own seven-foot privacy wall.

And unusual for a compound valued at more than $1 million: It had no telephone or Internet service.

This home, U.S. intelligence analysts concluded, was "custom built to hide someone of significance."

Besides the two brothers, the U.S. "soon learned that a third family lived there, whose size and makeup of family we believed to match those we believed would be with bin Laden. Our best information was that bin Laden was there with his youngest wife." said another intelligence official.

There was no proof, but everything seemed to fit: the security, the background of the couriers, the design of the compound.

"Our analysts looked at this from every angle. No other candidate fit the bill as well as Osama Bin Laden did," an official said.

"The bottom line of our collection and analysis was that we had high confidence that the compound held a high-value terrorist target. There was a strong probability that it was bin Laden."

That conclusion was reached in mid-February, officials said. Beginning in mid-March, the president led five National Security Council meetings on the plans for an operation.

On Friday, President Barack Obama gave the order. "Go get him." This information was shared "with no other country," an official said. "Only a very small group of people inside our own government knew of this operation in advance." As Tony Soprano once said..."Three men can keep a secret if two of them are dead."

With Bin Laden believed found, focus shifted to taking him out. A senior U.S. security official told Reuters that it was a "kill operation," removing the option for the team to simply capture Bin Laden. Meaning...They weren't playing with old boy...All bets were off!

With Barack having authorized the operation,Leon Panetta, the CIA leader gave the order at midday Sunday for the joint special operations-military team that carried out the assault to raid the compound, the officials said. A senior U.S. official declined comment on whether CIA officers were on hand at the site, but Panetta's role as commander would suggest they were. The CIA and special operations forces have worked together for years in counterterrorism operations.

As you can tell..I'm enjoying telling this as though I was there...This reads like a movie I saw or something I might've written..According to current and former officials, Panetta was able to watch the operation in real time from the CIA, conferring live with Vice Adm. William H. McRaven, head of the Joint Special Operations Command, who was in Afghanistan.

A live video feed of the assault was available in both in the conference room and at the Situation Room at the White House, narrated by McRaven. One official described two moments in particular as "heart-stopping": the moment the choppers arrived on the scene, and when they left the country.

President Obama and the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, were among those on hand in the Situation Room. One official said it is unlikely that the entire video will be released because it contains operational information.

Following the death of Osama Bin Laden, a loud cheer went up from the CIA officials assembled in the conference room, which is just off the director’s main office.

At the same time, attention turned to identifying the remains as bin Laden. First, the commander on the ground (whose name has not been released) made a visual identification. Then, a digital image of OBL's remains was fed back to the CIA, where it was processed through a facial recognition system.

Also,Osama Bin Laden’s' widow, a young Yemeni woman, identified the remains as those of her husband. In addition to Osama Bin Laden, one of his adult sons, probably 19 year old Hamza Bin Laden, was killed as were a courier and the courier's brother. Bin Laden's widow remains in Pakistan, the officials said.

When the remains arrived in Afghanistan, an initial DNA test showed a high correlation of a match with the DNA on file. Saudi government had supplied the DNA long ago, having secured it from members of the bin Laden family. Bin Laden is one of 53 children of the late Mohammed Bin Laden.(Boy, those guys didn't buy many condoms did they?) Results of a more complete DNA testing later confirmed the identity with "100 percent certainty," the FBI said.

Early Monday, an official told NBC News that bin Laden's body had already been buried at sea — eliminating the possibility of a burial shrine.

Islamic tradition calls for a body to be buried within 24 hours, but finding a country willing to accept the remains of the world's most wanted terrorist would have been difficult, a senior administration official said.

According to the White House briefing, the military operation went smoothly except for a helicopter landing that was not part of the original plan. The choppers were only intended to hover over the scene, but due to a technical malfunction, one of them landed or fell — "not a crash," the official said — so the military dispatched a third "emergency" helicopter to the scene.

"This operation was a surgical raid by a small team designed to minimize collateral damage. Our team was on the compound for under 40 minutes and did not encounter any local authorities."

Bin Laden himself participated in the ensuing firefight, the officials suggested.

"Bin laden was killed in a firefight as our operators came onto the compound," an official said.

I heard he got a double tap...two shots to the dome...and it was "storyyyy over." So he's gone...Do you feel safer? I don't...He was basically a symbolic figure..He hadn't been running things or calling too many shots for years...There are others out there...and hopefully, they'll be gotten too..dead or alive..makes me no difference...

I'm happy for my President...This may just win him re-election...Who knows!! One thing it has done...If just for today and the rest of the week..It's brought all of us Americans together as one..If just for this moment!

What I've Learned

1. I'm not the best writer in the world by any shape of the imagination...probably not the best blogger either, but I know what I do...and what I do, I'm damn good at it!

2.In the end...It's human contact, friendships, reltionships that really make you happy...nothing else!

3.Don't surround yourself with stupid people....I've always surrounded myself with pretty smart and pretty positive people..You truly are judged by the company you keep!(My Mother taught me that.)

4.I've always liked my first name...It was short, easy to spell (although I've had teachers who've spelled my name wrong) and easy to remember...I've known so many people who didn't like their name and have gone around all of their lives with a nickname..That's so tragic.

5.My Grandfather used to tell me that the Devil was on one shoulder and that there was an Angel on my other shoulder and that both of them was vying for my attention. I used to wonder sometimes why it seemed like the Devil was yelling louder in my one ear!

6.There are some mistakes it doesn't pay to make...They may change the entire course of your life.

7."As Long as you can be convinced that you never did anything, you can never DO anything." Malcolm X said that...It's true!

8.Don't Allow too many negative thoughts to cross your mind....it can become habit forming.

9.I appreciate the seeming mistakes in life that turn into great opportunity and invention.

10.I've learned to let other people run their mouths, while I run my business. (My Grandmother taught me that...)

Peace!

Keith's Favorite Quotes

"Our Deepest Fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure...And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same..As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others" - Marianne Williamson.

Weekend Humor

Hakim had a bit of a drinking problem, you might say
Every night, after dinner, he took off for the neighborhood bar, spent the entire evening there and arrived home, drunk as all get up, around midnight each night. He always had trouble getting his key into the keyhole and getting the door opened.

His wife,Juanita, waiting up for him, would go to the door and let him in. Then she would proceed to yell and scream at him for his constant nights out and his returned drunken state. But Hakim continued his nightly routine. One day, Juanita, distraught by it all, talked to a friend about her husband's behavior.

The friend, Geneva listened to her and then asked, "Juanita, Why don't you treat him a little differently when he comes home? Instead of berating him, why don't you give him some loving words and welcome him home with a kiss? He then might change his ways." Juanita thought it was worth trying.

That night, Hakim took off again after dinner. Around midnight, he arrived home in his usual condition. Juanita heard Hakim at the door and let him in. This time, instead of berating him as she had always done, she took his arm and led him into the living room.
She was dressed in some sexy lingerie and heels.

 She sat him down in an easy chair, put his feet up on the ottoman and took his shoes off. Then she went behind him and started to cuddle him a little. After a while, she said to him, "It's pretty late baby, I think we had better go upstairs to bed now, don't you?"

 At that, Hakim replied in his inebriated state, "I guess we might as well. I'll get in trouble if I go home anyway!"

Now Can We PLEASE move on?

Yesterday, the White House released President Barack Obama's long form birth certificate which states what people with common sense have known all along as well as what the President has been saying...That on August 2, 1961, Barack Hussein Obama II was born in Honolulu Hospital in the county of Oahu, State of Hawaii, U.S. of A.  Okay? He is indeed an American Citizen....

Some people still won't believe it...The truly mindless...This issue was dead in the water until a certain millionaire-celebrity gave it a kind of legitimacy that it didn't deserve....yesterday, Mr. Comb over himself, Donald Trump weighed in on the issue.

He says that he is "proud" of himself for, as he puts it, "getting the president to release his birth certificate." In the minutes before Donald Trump landed in Portsmouth, NH, to begin a day of stumping or not stumping,depending on which of his press releases you hear on any given day, the White House released President Obama's long-form birth certificate, and Trump told the press he heard about it while flying to the airfield.

"Today I'm very proud of myself, because I've accomplished something that no one else has been able to accomplish," Trump said, adding, "Our president has finally released a birth certificate."

However, he said he would have to check out the certificate himself and wondered why the president didn't do this "a long time ago." Oh puh-lease, give it a rest Donald.

With his Trump-emblazoned helicopter behind him, he began to answer questions about the birth certificate issue and whether he would run or not.(See what I mean?)Donald Trump reiterated that he wouldn't announce until NBC's Celebrity Apprentice is over, but that the public would be "surprised" by his decision.(I'm betting they won't.)

"I think if I do run I'll do very well. Look, I'm already leading the polls and I'm not running." He continued, "I think I'd beat Obama."

Donald Trump and the press moved away from the "birther" issue, allowing him the chance to disagree with the President on how he's handling rising gas prices in the country saying Obama "should be focused on OPEC and getting those prices down." (He was trying to, but all of you idiots keep bringing up his birth certificate and his college grades among other non-related junk.)As well as Libya where Trump said he would've handled that situation differently, "The rebels, I hear, are controlled by Iran and Al Qaeda...You could end up with worse than Ghadafi  perhaps."(Well this country could wind up with you and that's a real scary thought!)

After the press conference, Trump heads to the Roundabout Diner to meet and greet with local diners. Uh yeah...He's not running.....
.

R.I.P. Phoebe Snow

Phoebe Snow (July 17, 1952- April 26, 2011)

I believe I was 18 years old the first time I heard Phoebe Snow's music...So that makes the year, 1976...I had just graduated from high school and I was in my first semester at college. I was in the hallway of the women's dormitory, my home away from home at the time...and I heard this beautiful melody coming from this sister's room....It was the most beautiful piece of music I had heard at the time...

Now mind you...This was the age of Earth ,Wind & Fire, War, Mandrill, Parliament -Funkadelic, Graham Central Station and the like....People put on their boogie shoes on Friday nights and shook that booty to Wild Cherry and KC and the Sunshine Band....but this music was like none of that. I don't know how to categorize Phoebe Snow....She was like, Jazz, light r& b, folk, and just plain eclectic all wound up into one...

I ventured into the sisters room...She had a huge afro..bell bottomed jeans and incense burning...She offered me a joint...I passed...(I was still kind of green back then) She offered me some tea and she began rapping about this two year old album by this white girl, who's hair certainly made her look like she was half black.

The song that hooked me was "Poetry Man", but she played another song off that album called "Two Fisted Love" that is one of my favorites to this day. Everytime I hear either one of those songs..I'm reminded of that time so long ago...When I was young...When everybody I knew was young and innocent.

Another piece of my youth...of my innocence died yesterday....For those that didn't know...Phoebe Snow...born Phoebe Laub was raised in a household where Delta blues, Broadway show tunes, Dixieland jazz, classical music and folk music recordings were played around the clock. Her father, Merrill Laub, was an exterminator by trade, had an encyclopedic knowledge of American film and theater and was an avid collector and restorer of antiques. Her mother, Lili, was a dance teacher who had danced with the Martha Graham group at one time.

Her mother died after a 12-year struggle with bone cancer. She grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey and graduated from Teaneck High School. She subsequently attended Shimer College in Mount Carroll, Illinois, but did not graduate. As a teenager, she carried her prized Martin 00018 acoustic guitar from club to club around Greenwich Village, playing and singing on amateur nights. Her stage name is the same as a fictional advertising character created in the early 1900s for the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, a young woman named Phoebe Snow, who appeared on boxcars traveling near her hometown.

She was briefly married to Phil Kearns, and, in December 1975, gave birth to a severely brain-injured daughter, Valerie. Snow resolved not to institutionalize her but instead care for her at home, which she did until Valerie died on March 18, 2007 at the age of 31. Snow's efforts to care for Valerie greatly and negatively affected her professional career, nearly ending it; it also adversely affected her personal life.

Phoebe Snow continued to take voice lessons, and she studied opera informally.But it was at the Bitter End club in 1972 that Denny Cordell, a promotions executive for Shelter Records, was so taken by the singer that he signed her to the label and produced her first recording.

She released an eponymous album, Phoebe Snow, in 1974. Featuring guest performances by The Persuasions, Zoot Sims, Teddy Wilson, David Bromberg and Dave Mason, Phoebe Snow's album became one of the most acclaimed debut recordings of the era.[citation needed] It spawned the Billboard Hot 100 #5 hit single, "Poetry Man," reached number 4 on the Billboard 200 album chart, won Phoebe Snow a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, and established her as a formidable singer/songwriter.

The cover of Rolling Stone magazine followed, while she performed as the opening act for tours by Jackson Browne and Paul Simon (with whom she recorded the hit single "Gone at Last" in 1975). 1975 also brought the first of several appearances as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live, on which Snow performed both solo and in duets with Paul Simon and Linda Ronstadt. During the 1975 appearance, she was seven months pregnant with her daughter who was severely brain damaged.

Legal battles took place between Snow and Shelter Records, and Snow ended up signed to Columbia Records. Her second album, Second Childhood, appeared in 1976, produced by Phil Ramone. It was jazzier and more introspective, and suffered disappointing sales.[citation needed] Snow moved to a harder sound for It Looks Like Snow, released later in 1976 with David Rubinson producing. 1977 saw Never Letting Go, again with Ramone, while 1978's Against the Grain was helmed by Barry Beckett. After that Snow parted ways with Columbia; she would later say that the stress of her parental obligations degraded her ability to make music effectively.

In 1981,  Phoebe Snow, now signed with Mirage Records, released Rock Away, recorded with members of Billy Joel's band; it spun off the Top 50 hit "Games". The 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide summed up Snow's career so far by saying: "One of the most gifted voices of her generation, Phoebe Snow can do just about anything stylistically as well as technically ... The question that's still unanswered is how best to channel such talent."

However,Phoebe Snow would now spend long periods away from recording, often singing commercial jingles for AT&T and others in order to support herself and her daughter. During the 1980s she also battled her own life-threatening illness.

Phoebe Snow returned to recording with Something Real in 1989 and gathered a few more hits on the Adult Contemporary charts. Also, Snow composed the Detroit's WDIV-TV Go 4 It! campaign in 1980. She sang Ancient Places, Sacred Lands on Reading Rainbow's tenth episode The Gift of the Sacred Dog which was based on the book by Paul Goble and narrated by actor Michael Ansara. It was shot at Crow Agency, Montana in 1983.

Phoebe Snow performed in 1989 on stage at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City as part of Our Common Future, a five hour live television broadcast originating from several countries.

In 1990, she contributed a cover version of the Delaney & Bonnie song "Get ourselves together" to the Elektra compilation Rubáiyát which included Earth Wind & Fire guitarist Dick Smith. In 1992, she toured with Donald Fagen's New York Rock and Soul Revue and was featured on the group's album recorded live at the Beacon Theater in New York City. Even when she wasn't recording her own works, Phoebe continued to tour extensively as a solo artist throughout North America, Great Britain, Germany, and the Far East.

Throughout the '90s she made numerous appearances on the Howard Stern radio show. She sang live for specials and birthday shows.  In 1997, she sang the Roseanne theme song a cappella during the closing moments of the final episode.

Phoebe has performed with a numerous artists including Lou Rawls, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Dave Grusin, Avenue Blue with Jeff Golub, Garland Jeffreys, Jewel, Donald Fagen, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Queen, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Jackson Browne, Dave Mason, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Michael McDonald, Boz Scaggs, Cyndi Lauper, Roger Daltrey, Chaka Khan, CeCe Peniston, Take 6, Michael Bolton, Thelma Houston, Mavis Staples, Laurie Anderson, Tracy Nelson, and The Sisters of Glory (with whom she performed at the second Woodstock festival), among others.

She also sings the title track on the 1997 Laura Nyro tribute album, Time and Love, and recently Snow joined the pop group, Zap Mama, who recorded its own version of "Poetry Man," in an impromptu duet on the PBS series, "Sessions At West 54th." Hawaiian girl group Na Leo also had a hit on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1999 with their cover version of "Poetry Man."

In May 1998,Phoebe Snow received the Cultural Achievement Award by New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. She is also the recipient of a Don Kirschner Rock Award, several Playboy Music Poll Awards, New York Music Awards and the Clio Award.

She performed for President Clinton, the First Lady, and his cabinet at Camp David in 1999.

In 2003, Snow released her album Natural Wonder on Eagle Records, containing ten original tracks, her first original material in fourteen years.

Phoebe Snow performed at Howard Stern's wedding in 2008, and made a special appearance in the film Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom as herself. Some of her music was also featured on the soundtrack of the film. Her Live album (2008) featured many of her hits as well as a cover of "Piece of My Heart."

Phoebe Snow suffered a brain hemmorage  on January 19, 2010 and underwent surgery. Prior to her illness,she had planned to release a new album in 2010, and had been scheduled to begin touring with her band in March. Unfortunately...with her death yesterday, that was not to be...

Rest in Peace Phoebe...and thank you...for everything!