My dear friend Jenifer Lewis is continuing her tour of the country in order to promote her book, The Mother of Black Hollywood. While I was in NYC, she was in Baltimore.  And since she was in the neighborhood, she zipped to our nation’s capital to catch Patti LaBelle in concert.  Of course, Patti had to bring Jenifer onstage, who had to be coaxed into joining LaBelle for “Lady Marmalade”.  You can catch the video on BillyMasters.com.

Then Jenifer and I rendezvoused in Fort Lauderdale, where I joined her at several of her events.  In addition to meeting with hundreds of fans who came out to see her, buy a book, and take a photo, she put a day aside to meet with the students from Parkland and Liberty City to discuss what they had been through.  More than anything else, Lewis listened as they shared their stories of survival.  It was an emotional and cathartic meeting.