A Day In "The Life Of Riley"

WELCOME to "The Life of Riley" which will include periodic chronicles of pop culture and possibilities that flow out of Patrick L. Riley's day. That's me!!! Through blogging (and soon some other technological features on which I'll keep you posted as they launch), I will pull experiences from my busy life to entertain and inspire all of you. Through this site, I will share my observations and insights.

Some features to look forward to:

1.) "PATRICK'S POP UP(DATES)" will feature stories from pop culture, music, theater, fashion, and the entertainment industry at large.

2.) "The Life of Riley" will also introduce a "take-a-look-at-your-life" section (READ: sort of an advice column), where I will help readers come up with their own questions and answers around what "ways of being" are working (or not working) to have them acheive their respective goals and live their best lives. This section is called "WHO YOU BE?".

3.) Additonally, there will be a free-flowing, organic section called "TESTIFY" from which I will pull from my own life's journey to share and hopefully inspire. Some of the fare may be new musings and experiences. Other times, I may pull from my journals and past sharings to shed light on some uncomfortable truths that I've experienced and that may perhaps play a role in healing someone else's wounds as the real-life experience did for me. From my experience of covering 9/11 as a freelance journalist to courageously coming out (as gay) to my family, "TESTIFY" promises to move those who choose to read it.

4.) And a section titled "PR" (like my initials, but also like "public relations") will include press clips from any coverage I get.

5.) And anytime pictures or video can support an entry (in the blog, and perhaps in the subsequent podcasts, my space, and website), those visuals will keep things aesthetically enrolling. That section will be called "MY TUBE".

PLAYING TO THE POP IN POSSIBILITIES!

Patrick L. Riley

Entries in Selma (2)

Tessa Thompson on Oscars Boycott

PRESENTED BY MISS JESSIE'S: Tessa Thompson ON OSCARS - A DailyCommune/LIFE OF RILEY SPECIAL!! Was great to re-acquaint with Tessa to whom Anika Noni Rose introduced me the opening night of Tyler Perry's’s For Colored Girls. Knowing I’d be interviewing her, LIFE OF RILEY partner, CEO and Co-Founder of Miss Jessie's, Miko Branch, sent over a VIP bag for Tessa to enjoy – including FULL-SIZED PRODUCT and her book Miss Jessie's: Creating a Successful Business from Scratch-Naturally (Amistad; Hardcover; $24.99). Tessa told me she LOVES MISS JESSIE’S: https://www.facebook.com/patrick.l.riley/videos/10153491349763737/?l=3404659370660713019! AND IN TURN, she shared her thoughts on Diversity in Hollywood; the Oscar Black-out; and the upcoming NAACP Image Awards for which she is a nominee for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture - Creed. Check it out: The 47th NAACP IMAGE AWARDS LIVE! FRIDAY FEB 5TH on TV ONE Red Carpet 8/7C Image Awards 9/8C. AND BEFORE WE TUNE INTO THAT, look for more information from Tessa and the rest of her cast members in SMART PEOPLE at Second Stage Theatre! All my LIFE OF RILEY fam knows when I can pour some THEATER tea for you, I do: https://youtu.be/LrdnbMgJn9s. MOREOVER, you ALL know that I am Mr. Kenny Leon’s #1 fan – from my days as a Man of Morehouse who got the chance to work under his expertise in his alma mater Clark Atlanta University’s Coronation for which he was Visiting Guest Alum Director in 1992 to the years of enjoying Atlanta’s Alliance and True Colors Productions under his helm (and promoting them accordingly as I started my career at Fox 5’s “Good Day Atlanta”) to these last twenty years that I’ve been in New York City and a front row to his many Broadway offerings – including his Tony-award-winning turn as Director of the most recent Raisin in the Sun Revival and the tour de force that was The Wiz LIVE! for which I got to interview this NBC event’s Dorothy, Shanice Williams for recurring client NBCBLK: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/shanice-williams-tonights-wiz-live-debut-n471616! My primary question for her? “What was it like to work with Kenny Leon?” AND LIFE OF RILEY and DAILY COMMUNE just got a NEW INVITATION to ask that same question of SMART PEOPLE playwright Lydia R. Diamond (whose last Broadway collaboration with Kenny Leon, “Stick Fly”, would provide me opportunities to do talk-backs on its Broadway stage: https://youtu.be/LrdnbMgJn9s). Same question for the impressive SMART PEOPLE cast – known for their work across all formats: starting with Tessa and continuing on with her fellow cast-mates Mahershala Ali (“House of Cards”); Joshua Jackson; and Anne Son. WELL, SMART PEOPLE’s OFFICIAL OPENING is February 11, 2016…and set on the eve of Obama’s first election, it captures the sentiments of a nation through the complex and not always harmonious lens of a group of four Harvard intellectuals. Though you may cry, you will also have many moments of LAUGHTER! INCLUDING PREVIEWS, it runs January 26 through March 6th. I’M THINKING FROM OUR MEET AND GREET…AND WHAT WE’RE TOLD THE NARRATIVE ENTAILS, THAT THIS IS A MUST-SEE! Who will join me and catch a performance?? CALL IN FOR TICKETS at 212.246.4422 or hit up www.2ST.com for TICKETS and MORE INFORMATION. COME ON, SMART PEOPLE! As always, THANKS to each and everyone of you for tuning into LIFE OF RILEY. SPECIAL SHOUT OUT to: Fox Entertainment Reporter Simone Boyce, a fellow journalist whose work I’ve been admiring since she hit the airwaves. Great to meet her and invite her out to our return to Billie’s Black for Billie’s Black presents All Star Karaoke with Patrick L. Riley in the SPRING 2016 (Dates TBD). AWESOME LUNCH-TIME MOMENT! #missjessies #allstarkaraoke #billiesblack #Oscarssowhite #BlackOscars #Oscars #Academy #iammissjessies #titibranch #SELMA #shondaland #shondarimes #naacp #imageawards #diversity #smartpeople #tessathompson

Posted on Thursday, January 21, 2016 at 03:09PM by

THE LIFE OF RILEY in BOYCOTT, CREED, Kenny Leon, Miss Jessie's, PATRICK'S POP(UP)DATES/TESTIFY/PR, SECOND STAGE THEATER, Selma, TESSA THOMPSON, THE OSCARS |

glory

SWEET ARISE

Hi folks! YOU can watch me (from time to time) on ARISE - now on Time Warner, Verizon Fios, and On Demand... www.YouTube.com/AriseENT360. THIS WEEK, I’m filling in for my friend Shannon Lanier who is on Oscar duty. I’m working alongside Sharon Carpenter who is filling in for our beloved Lola Ogunnaike. Earlier this week, Lee Daniels stopped by to dish on EMPIRE and its over-the-top SUCCESS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXw5_p5fpBI! This comes a couple of weeks after my NBCBLK interview with one of Hollywood’s finest directors:http://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/precious-butler-director-lee-daniels-building-empire-n290416. And ARISE AMERICA had me on with Debbye Turner Bell who – like me – is a FAN! GREAT CHAT with Debbye:https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152816022788737. THIS WEEK on Arise Entertainment 360, we talked OSCARS and interviewed actress Regina Taylor (star of USA Network's DIG on USA) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m8mfdjNa8Q; Anthony Harper's and my friends, Miss Robbie Montgomery and her son Tim Norman – stars of recurring client OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network’s Welcome to Sweetie Pie's -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9IXUAC2-JQ;

Claire Gilman on why Tomi Ungerer is the first illustrator to be shown at The Drawing Center in its over 30 year history -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT9uzh1U0Gk; Scheana Marie fromVanderpump Rules on Bravo -

http://youtu.be/NLDSsNK2OiQ;

Crystal Mccrary (Director, “Little Ballers”) -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiqM51G7YzI;

plastic surgeon Dr. Randal Haworth -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJF5icXRtjM;

Thelonious Monk III -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2A1abj_NMk4;

Jason Hervey (EP, “Outlaw Country”/Child star, “Wonder Years”):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzQYoXeTjJU

; fashion designer Kimberly Goldson (Season 9 FINALIST on “Project Runway”) -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jl2koRMa7Og; and – from MINIBAR (delivery apps) - Lindsey Andrews:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk3H3S-d8Kg. PRIMARILY I do Broadway/pop culture segments and guest co-host on ARISE ENTERTAINMENT 360:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYghWCBasyo&list=PL1TUj2SKo8ntR2D6QVDcQLwdykzvhtzbK. As always, THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT!#arise360#ariseTV360 #sweetiepie

QAASIM MIDDLETON

SHOUT OUT to Toni Seawright for sharing her son Qaasim Middleton (and his AWESOME brother Khalil) with us during the SPRING 2014 SERIES of Billie’s Black Presents All Star Karaoke with Patrick L. Riley (At the end of June, I also got to share a stage with them as I hosted their mom’s 50TH BDAY PARTY – a tribute to Michael Jackson!).

WELL, NOW WE NEED THE VILLAGE TO LIFT HIM UP as he is TOP 24 on this season of AMERICAN IDOL! TOMORROW night on Fox!!! This week, AMERICA VOTES!!! AND WE MUST GET HIM TO THE TOP 12! So please spread the word and vote for Brooklyn's BADD Boy, New York and Mississippi's Finest in Entertainment!!! And also join his Fan page on Facebook… and hit him up and follow him on:
His Twitter is @QaasimOfficial
His Instagram is @QaasimOfficial#billiesblack#allstarkaraoke #motownmay #AmericanIdol #LetsBegin #SypheEntertainment#MCMI #MCMIReport #RebellionEvent#idolauditions

Selma – Cochran Firm

During this last week of February, The Cochran Firm is giving high school students from selected metropolitan area schools the opportunity to see Selma Movie. Through the efforts of regional offices of The Cochran Firm, students aged 12 – 19 are seeing the movie, Selma, and are participants in a social media campaign highlighting their thoughts on current social justice issues. For the New York City screening at Magic Johnson Theater in Harlem, organizer of this effort/my NABJ sister friend Yolanda Young – an attorney and journalist – asked me to present the film; The Cochran Firm rep for NYC: Tracey L Brown; and the winnings from the student social media contest to three NYC students: Brian Brown Jr.; Zydasia Ramos; and Joshua Glover. As part of this event, students from across the country posted their original artwork, photos, poems, memes and essays - expressing their views on today’s social justice issues and what they would like to do to peacefully implement change. Winners for their work received a $50 Visa gift card, and the school with the most participation, shares, and entries will win $500. Platforms to follow these works are Twitter (@CochranNational), Instagram (CochranFirm) and Facebook (The Cochran Firm). THANKS COCHRAN FIRM! And SHOUT OUT to YOLANDA YOUNG, who last booked me a year or so ago to host “Lawyers of Color” HOT LIST ROLL CALL reception at esteemed law firm Sullivan & Cromwell!