Bill Cosby

At a Fourth of July cookout, my niece, her husband, and some of their friends gathered to eat, talk and debate current events - everything from the economy to the war in Iraq, from the Bush presidency to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11. But the topic on the minds and lips of most people was Bill Cosby's critique of black America. On July 1, at the annual PUSH/Rainbow Coalition convention in Chicago, Cosby made the latest of a series of tough speeches about the state of the black community.

The Greater Philadelphia Year of the Child event on Sunday will be the area's endeavor at putting children's futures into the forefront. It is a celebration of children and a tribute to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It was created for children ages 8 to 18 and their parents with the hope of inspiring education and appreciation of cultural heritage throughout the city and surrounding counties. "Our goal is to have children recognize that Mayor Street requires something of them, that they need to take control of their lives and be productive and outstanding citizens, because they are our city's future," said Lana Felton-Ghee.

Big surprise: NBC won the week ending Feb. 23, and The Cosby Show and Family Ties were the top-rated shows of the week. With the passage of each week, the ratings race becomes interesting more for style rather than outcome. NBC is sure to win; the question is: by how much? In the big Sunday square-off, when all three networks trotted out highly publicized, original productions, NBC didn't do well at all. CBS's Blood & Orchids mini-series landed in the Top 10 with its first installment - the highest-rated start for a mini-series this season since North & South and Kane & Abel.

What does Camille Cosby have that the rest of us don't? Bill Cosby for a husband. And these days that seems to be a pretty wonderful thing to have. Bill Cosby is, after all, the No. 1 husband and father on American television. Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable, the character he plays on his hit sitcom, the "Cosby Show," is the charming kind of husband who can keep his wife in giggles with droll little comments that expose the frequent absurdities of family life. He is the wise, sensitive kind of father who can herd the family into the upstairs bathroom to attend the funeral of his youngest child's pet goldfish because he knows it's important for children to learn how to come to terms with loss.

I suppose he could be mistaken, but Bill Cosby has made the startling claim that he is, indeed, alive and well. A perturbed Cosby called into Larry King' s CNN show live on Monday night to refute what seems irrefutable: The Internet. Specifically widely-disseminated Web reports that the Philly native has died. Cosby, who needs to live long enough to make his Aug. 28 date at the Borgata, seemed especially upset at the conspirator(s) who started the rumor. "I don't want this person, or whatever, I don't want them to do this anymore," Cosby, 73, told temporary host, Kyra Phillips . "I found out when my daughter called the house.

Undoubtedly, some ill-feelings have arisen since Bill Cosby's unfavorable diatribe concerning the upbringing of African-American children and the almost blatantly irresponsible actions of their parents. Some might wonder how Cosby could muster the unmitigated gall. But, what Cosby so eloquently is attempting to remind us is that the strides made during the civil rights movement, and the many lives lost because of it, should be reflected by our sense of self-integrity. There was a time when our black parents who lacked education, wholeheartedly encouraged their offspring to never settle for a second-hand education, but to excel in their studies.

The situation is this: Young marrieds were having their first baby by natural childbirth and the husband is remembering the event: ". . . My wife and I were suddenly sharing the greatest moment in our lives. This was what we had asked God for; this was what we wanted to see if we could make. And I looked at it lovingly as they started to clean it off, but it wasn't getting any better. And then I went over to my wife, kissed her gently on the lips and said, 'Darling, I love you very much.

In a field inundated recently with the loud, the neurotic and the sarcastic, Bill Cosby has become a relic on the stand-up comedy circuit. Wholesome, warm-milk-before-bed humor doesn't have a place with too many of the popular late-night comedians of today, but Cosby just chugs along, doing what he has always done, the way he has always done it, and he continues to be a smashing success. During his hour-long appearances at Harrah's Marina Hotel Casino showroom over the weekend, a relaxed Cosby sat back in an easy chair and just talked about what it's like to be 51 years old and married for 25 years with five children.

"Don't write me negative on this," Bill Cosby pleads as he launches into a pointed, even downcast, analysis of the jazz record business. "When you hear Kenny G or the Yellowjackets, you get a sheet of good sound," he says. "It's really pleasant. But if you play it for the sixth time, your ear doesn't get past what you heard the first time. There's nobody doing anything underneath. " Cosby, the producer, author and sitcom kingpin, has always been into jazz. His NBC series has featured appearances by jazz artists such as Joe Williams and Wynton Marsalis.

Bill Cosby was a guest last night at a Society Hill fund-raising event for a new Temple University program of research into AIDS in children. Almost 700 people paid $250 each for dinner at the Sheraton Society Hill Hotel after previewing the Cos' latest movie, Leonard, Part VI, across the street at the Ritz 5. For sure, the comedian didn't go to the movie. So dismayed is Cosby over the film ("I don't want to talk about Leonard," he told a reporter Monday) that executives at Coca-Cola, parent company of Columbia Pictures, couldn't get him to attend the movie's premiere Monday in New York.

Actor Lou Myers, 76, best known for his role as ornery restaurant owner Mr. Gaines on the television series A Different World , has died. Tonia McDonald of Mr. Myers' nonprofit, Global Business Incubation Inc., said the actor died Tuesday night at Charleston Area Medical Center in West Virginia. McDonald said Mr. Myers had been in and out of the hospital since before Christmas and collapsed recently. An autopsy was planned. His TV credits included NYPD Blue , E.R. , and The Cosby Show . He also appeared in a number of films, including Tin Cup , and How Stella Got Her Groove Back . A Different World ran from 1987-93 and originally starred Lisa Bonet of Cosby fame.

ROBERT AVERY, the founder and president of the Philadelphia Wax Museum, admits that people often get the wrong idea about his museum: They think it actually exists. Type "Philadelphia Wax Museum" into Google and you might reach the same conclusion - that it's a real place with wax figures of real Philadelphians, from Betsy Ross to Bill Cosby. Why? For starters, the news release says so. "Our museum offers veterans a 30 percent discount on admission," Avery is quoted as saying in a release announcing that the museum is "a reality.

Think things were bad for Prince Harry back home after reports of his Vegas game of strip billiards? Well, if new reports about his carousing are true, then he's royally funked. RadarOnline says Harry and his retinue didn't engage only in innocent games of strip billiards, but were carousing in manners hard-core. "Things got pretty crazy in Prince Harry's suite that night," Anonymous Source tells Radar. "Everyone was drinking and drugs were also being used by some people.

Fat Albert probably won't be there. He grew up in the Richard Allen Homes project mostly in the imagination of Bill Cosby, who, in his comedy routines, recounted their adventures as kids in the iconic North Philadelphia public-housing project. But hundreds of others are expected to attend the 22nd Annual Richard Allen Homes Reunion, Saturday at Lemon Hill, 33rd and Poplar streets, in Fairmount Park. The Original Richard Allen Committee is hosting the annual picnic starting at noon.

THE MOST RECENT recipients of the Marian Anderson Award are actress Mia Farrow in 2011, actor and comedian Bill Cosby in 2010, author Maya Angelou and screenwriter Norman Lear in 2008, actor Richard Gere in 2007 and actor Sidney Poitier in 2006. No award was given in 2009. n

Bill Cosby went on CNN's "State of the Union" yesterday to discuss the Trayvon Martin case with host Candy Crowley. Tattle has no idea why he was on. Or what he said. Cosby tried to make the point that the Martin shooting was about guns and not race, but his reasoning and syntax got so convoluted, his point got lost. Cosby: "I believe that when you tell me that you're going to protect the neighborhood that I live in, I don't want you to have a gun. I want you to be able to see something, report it, and get out of the way, because you happen to be a part of the neighborhood.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Heaven help Bill Cosby if he loses his TV remote control Saturday afternoon. The comedian and actor, arguably Temple's most famous graduate, said Wednesday that he plans to spend Saturday watching Temple's football bowl game, which starts at 2 p.m., and the Owls' basketball game, which starts at 2:30. But he won't be using two TVs or picture-in-a-picture technology. He'll do it the old-fashioned way. "I have a remote that says 'previous channel,' " Cosby said by telephone from his home in Massachusetts.

Kevin Hart's new film Laugh at My Pain , which opens Friday, captures his record-breaking 90-city stand-up tour this year. It also contains documentary-style footage of the celebrated comedian revisiting his roots in North Philadelphia. We talked with Hart, 33, about the unusual hybrid project.   Question: Why did you put the homecoming in the film? Answer: I took a risk. I wanted to show you guys where I come from, what I stand for. Going back to Philadelphia where I grew up at, where I lived, where I went to school at.   Q: What did you learn growing up in North Philadelphia?

WITH AN angry blast (following earlier ones that didn't pinpoint race), an impassioned Mayor Nutter said what no white person could (safely) say: Philadelphia's flash-mayhem mobs are black and black parents must accept a role in stopping them. It was his Bill Cosby moment. By playing the race card in an unexpected way, Nutter can expect a lashing from the black apolog- I mean academics who are more interested in justifying bad behavior than in condemning it. This nonacademic white boy knows the vast majority of African-Americans are law-abiding and hardworking.