via Huffington Post

Former NFL defensive end Michael Strahan gears up for the third annual 2008
Michael Strahan/Dreier LLP Charity Golf Tournament to benefit the foundations Children’s Rights and Keep a Child Alive. The two-day event will include a private concert with Alicia Keys and an auction on Sunday, June 29; followed by the celebrity golf tournament on Monday, June 30.

“We make sure everyone has a good time but we never lose focus on why we’re doing it,” said Strahan whose guests include Spike Lee and Steve Nash, according to NY Daily News.  “We never lose focus on what the night is about and what the charity is about.”

Last year, the New York Giant great raised more than for $300,000.  We can’t wait to see how well he does this year!

Contributed by CGG Youth Reporter Shayla Price

via concreteloop.com

Magic Johnson, his wife Cookie, and Spike Lee are teaming up with Abbott, a health care company, and the Magic Johnson Foundation to slam dunk HIV. They have come together to create a series of PSA’s featuring the Johnsons to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS through the I Stand With Magic Campagn, which over 87,000 people have joined. Magic and Spike are urging people to stand with them and to help prevent the spread of infection through awareness and early detection.

The two PSA’s are dubbed “Stand” and “Talk.” “Stand” encourages viewers to take action and get tested, while “Talk” promotes communication between the two potential sex partners. "I think a lot of times we just don't have the information," Johnson told People Magazine. "Especially young people. They think they're invincible and nothing can happen to them but the numbers are showing that those getting HIV are real young now. We have to now do something about that."

Contributed by CGG Youth Reporter Rhonesha Byng

Never fear, Rent fanatics. Though your favorite musical is closing on June 12 (and the Do Something staff is giving it a final salute by attending en masse on April 1), there’s a new show in town that will satisfy your hunger for gritty authenticity, or “the real”. Young and hip, it’s also got a toe-tapping, head-nodding, shoulder-shaking rock & roll soundtrack. And it has a star in the form of narrator/musical maestro Stew who’s bound for greatness – and a Tony award (along with longtime collaborator Heidi Rodewald) later this year. Remember, you heard it here, at CelebsGoneGood, first!

Passing Strange recently celebrated its Broadway debut in a big way, bringing out the stars (think Blondie’s Deborah Harry, Danny Devito and wife Rhea Pearlman, Diana Ross and our very own Do Something finalist, Jeremy Dias.) This week, Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg are reportedly planning to attend.

And Spike Lee (pictured above) is such a fan that he’s seen it three times…so far. Here's an excerpt from a letter Spike Lee wrote on the Passing Strange Myspace page:

"Can you deal with the real?"

At [New York City’s] Public Theater last spring, I saw a musical called Passing Strange. I was so moved and inspired I went back a second time with the quickness…

I'm writing to urge you to go see it, as this fresh musical is an unstoppable force of energy, music and mayhem — just what Broadway needs.

The creation of a visionary artist named Stew, a phenomenal singer-songwriter from South Central L.A. by way of Amsterdam and Berlin, it's the story of a young black man on a journey of self-discovery. But the pure rock energy, Soul, profound humanity and brilliant cast are the elements that make Passing Strange unforgettable.”

So what’s the big deal?

For starters, Passing Strange (the title is taken from a line in Shakespeare’s Othello) is a musical journey for all who watch it. But it happens to be one for the play’s protagonist too. The young man, generically named “Youth”, follows his winding path to enlightenment from a high-brow Baptist community in LA, to the free-lovin’ cafes of Amsterdam, to the fierce shadows of Berlin. Youth searches for an identity that he seems only to approach through struggle and grasp through art. His battles with family, race, class, religion, and love are infused with biting humor and powerful beats. The in-your-face portrayal of Youth’s insatiable craving for “the real” is something that anyone who’s ever been young (and that’s everybody) can identify with.

Not only will this show blow you away, but if you’re under 25 you can purchase $25 tickets at the door! Now how’s that for showing some love to the plight of youth! Check out www.passingstrangeonbroadway.com – their site rocks too!

Last night, I was able to attend the prestigious Sidney Hillman Foundation Journalism Awards, honoring writers, photographers, reporters, and artists who are using the power of words and images to encourage social change and fight for equality. The honorees, all listed here, included the AP reporter who covered the aftermath of Katrina, the man who wrote extensively on the Iraq war, and photographers who documented the faces of AIDS orphans in the US and Carribean.

Acclaimed filmmaker Spike Lee (Inside Man, Do the Right Thing, 25th Hour) won the Broadcast Award for his work with Sam Pollard on When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts. The series documented the devastation following Hurricaine Katrina. Lee was quick to note that this was an "unfinished work" with follow-up to be done in other states and again in Louisiana. He said that he was in Italy for the Venice Film Festival when the storm hit and that no Europeans could believe that the United States had yet to respond to its own people. He became determined to create this project. Desperate to get it green-lit, he told HBO that the film would take ten artists from New Orleans playing ten original compositions amongst the rubble. Once he got the money and permission from the network, he set out to create a documentary that really told the story. That, folks, is determination!

I was backpacking around Eastern Europe and had just flown into Madrid to begin a teaching job in Spain when Katrina hit. I knew NOTHING about the hurricaine, but I remember getting on the metro from the airport and looking up at the flat-screen TVs on the train (I know, fancy train!) and seeing the footage of the wreckage. For days, Spaniards were asking me how this could be happening in America. Very much like Mr. Lee's experience, I found that Europeans were so aghast that a natural disaster could become a social disaster. There is still so much rebuilding to be done, so much work.

Related Cause:          Katrina Relief