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Paulina Phelps • April 11, 2014

Now in its second week, the case of missing eight-year-old girl Relisha Rudd is proving more perplexing, as more details surface. She was last seen on March 1, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

During a March 27 press conference near Kenilworth Park, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said, “We cannot ignore the possibility that he may have killed her.” Lanier was referring to janitor Kahlil Malik Tatum, who worked at the shelter, where Rudd and her mother lived.

Last week, D.C. Police issued a regional alert for Rudd, believed by police to be with Tatum. Later that day, police issued an alert about the missing 1976 GMC white truck, which they had been looking for in search of Rudd in Hyattsville, Md.

Relisha Rudd’s mother – Shamika Young — currently resides at a homeless shelter at the former D.C. General Hospital. A month ago, police reported, Young had allowed her daughter to be cared for by Tatum.

In its eighth day, the search has revealed interesting information about Rudd’s difficult past, making the case more convoluted. Records at the Daniel A. Payne Elementary School show Rudd has missed up to 30 days of school before going missing. Despite these attention-grabbing records, the city agency didn’t take action before Rudd had gone missing. School officials said they were confused about her absences from the excuses given by her relatives, who said Relisha was safely in the care of “Dr. Tatum.” Echoing this reassurance, Relisha’s mother Shamika Young, said Relisha was in a “safe place.”

The Washington Post reported that leading up to Rudd going missing there have been many miscalculations made by the city and institutions, such as the school and the shelter. For instance, city records reveal instances of physical abuse, lack of food, and unsanitary living conditions were present in the home of Relisha and her siblings. The D.C. Child and Family Service Agency has been involved with the family for years, however records do not show children being removed from various residences.

Another miscalculation was made on the part of the shelter, which failed to notice or report Tatum’s fireable offenses, such as offering gifts to children and spending time alone with Relisha. Both of these actions violate several shelter rules. “This is an unusual case,” said D.C. Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, Beatriz Otero, according to the Washington Post. “The parent didn’t file the missing child report. There were various workers within DHS and the school system that became concerned. It was their call that alerted us.”

Look for updates on this article as more information about the investigation is disclosed.
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Gary Tischler •

Mickey Rooney has died. The first movie that Rooney, who was 93, ever appeared, he didn’t make a sound, didn’t say a word. That must have made him itch. The cause — or date — of his death was not immediately available, as it should be.

Not many actors of that era are left—the guys and gals who started out in vaudeville, their stage moms dragging them into the spotlight, their natural gifts finding the warmth of that light comforting and comfortable. Donald O’Connor, who will be always remembered for his “Be a Clown” in the movie, “Singing in the Rain,” recalled being put on stage by his mom when he was a toddler. That’s entertainment.

They would have started out in silent movies, the tail end of it, and that’s what Rooney, who still had some film and movies in the can, did, beginning a career that would last until: THE END.

For two years, the smallish—5-foot, 3-inches—Hollywood star, for that’s exactly what he was— was the top box office attraction in the world.

Not too shabby when you think there were people like Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Cary Grant and Errol Flynn around at the top of their game. That was the time, when Rooney was making Andy Hardy movies, those series of movies which idealized small town America in a way that only MGM seemed to manage to do back then.

Rooney was a raffish kid, up to mischief if not no good, and he got fatherly advise from a judge played by Lionel Barrymore—the imposing leader of the Barrymore clan—and then Lewis Stone, who made a career of playing steady members of officialdom no matter what century—a bishop in Robin Hood’s time, a general during Pax Britannia and so on. He was also smitten by Judy Garland and Deanna Durbin, both budding teenaged stars at MGM, which, they said “had more stars than there are in heaven.”

He could sing—sort of—he could tap and dance, play the drums, clown around and be serious on the screen, even a little scary like the time he played a gangster in “The Last Mile,” which refers to that long walk to the electric chair experienced by many movie gangsters, including James Cagney. Spencer Tracy, in one of his priest guises, saved him from a life of petty crime in “Boys Town.”

For my money, one of the more interesting performances Rooney gave came as Puck in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” a black-and-white extravaganza from the 1930s, directed by Max Reinhardt, a legendary German stage director. Rooney’s Puck blazed around the screen like a derelict bee on drugs, eyes blazing, making his way through the Shakespearean lines almost like a latter-day rapper.

Rooney was a big star when the studios were big, and he took to stardom like water, although he did not take to adulthood as well. There were lots of child stars and grown-up stars around then, watched over by parents and agents and the studio bosses. By all accounts, Rooney needed lots of watching. He loved the track, and he loved the ladies. Quite a few loved him, at least for a while. His first (of eight) wives was quite a fetching catch by the name of Ava Gardner—the marriage lasted about a year. Others lasted longer or not.

Rooney continued to work—sometimes in memorable fashion as in roles in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “The Bridges at Toko Ri” and a Playhouse 90 version of “Requiem for a Heavyweight.” Laurence Olivier—who ought to know—called him “the greatest actor of them all.” He had terrific energy. He could take a long and winding sentence and turn it into a punch line. He starred on Broadway in a musical revue called “Sugar Babies,” took to the road with his last wife in a show of reminiscences and even took a shot at “The Wizard of Oz,” the shadow of which his dear friend Judy Garland never quite escaped.

He cast quite a shadow, a big life fully lived, with few apologies.

Maybe now, somewhere over the rainbow, there’s this loud voice yelling: “I know. Let’s put on a show.”

For heaven’s sake.

Robert Devaney •

The D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration announced that it “will begin accepting applications for four ABC licenses available in Georgetown beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 10. Available licenses include:

• One tavern license — available only to an existing restaurant located in the Georgetown Historic District. Application may be made for either a tavern or nightclub license in the historic district.

• Three new restaurant licenses (either C/R or D/R) in Georgetown.”

A Georgetown neighborhood moratorium on restaurant licenses caps the number at 68. There are 65 operating ones, leaving three “underperforming” or “left on the shelf,” as indicated by advisory neighborhood commissioner Bill Starrels, who heads the Alcohol Beverage Committee.

Starrels said these were licenses “not performing” and said he was “absolutely appreciative of what ABRA is doing here. It showed due process.” Some licenses can sit for years before put back in circulation, so to speak.

“We have some serious restaurant people looking at Georgetown,” Starrels said. “We cannot have licenses sitting on the shelf.”

A tavern license allows an establishment to have a smaller percentage of food to alcohol sales.

In order to apply for the tavern license, applicants should:

1. Complete a License Class Change application.

2. Submit the application and all required materials in person to ABRA beginning at 8:30 am on Thursday, April 10. The office is located at the Reeves Center, 2000 14th Street, NW, Suite 400 South, 4th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20009.

In order to apply for a new restaurant license, applicants should:

1. Complete an ABC License application.

2. Submit a Tax Registration Certificate with the application. Obtain a Tax Registration form by filing for a DC business tax number at the Office of Tax and Revenue.

3. Provide a Clean Hands Certificate with the application. The Clean Hands Certification form (to be filled out when you obtain your certificate) is included with the ABC License application, and confirms that you do not owe more than $100 in outstanding debts to the District.

4. Submit the application and all required materials in person to ABRA beginning at 8:30 am on Thursday, April 10. The office is located at the Reeves Center, 2000 14th Street, NW, Suite 400 South, 4th Floor, Washington, D.C. 20009.

Completed applications for the licenses will be reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis and are subject to the consideration of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.

Members of the public who have questions can call ABRA at 202-442-4423.

Paulina Phelps •

Lucky Strike, the restaurant with bowling and billiards, has awarded 62 U.S. Olympians complimentary bowling to thank them for their efforts at the 22nd Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

Athletes who medaled are receiving four years of complimentary bowling while athletes who placed are given one year of free bowling.

Three Olympians were honored April 3 and took time out of their busy schedules to accept Lucky Strike’s award in bowling the ceremonial first bowl, taking photos and answering questions. These athletes included silver medalist in speed skating Jordan Malone, ski jumper Nick Fairall, and luger Tucker West. The evening before all three athletes shot “Best of the U.S. Awards,” an awards show which airs on April 7 on ESPN, at the Warner Theatre. Out of the three, West is the only one up for an award.

The three young athletes are a “rare combination of mellow and easy going,” said Douglas Eldridge a partner at DLE, an agency which has represented many Olympic athletes.

Eldridge reflected the agencies hope to accomplish their client’s goals and objectives saying in commenting on the promising future of his youngest Olympic client Tucker West. “Tucker will be one of the faces of 2018,” Eldridge said.

West, whose father built a luge track in the family’s backyard, expressed his preparation and the surreal experience of making it to the Olympics. “Sochi was a great time. It was something I dreamed about since I was a little kid,” West said. Olympic ski jumper Nick Fairall who placed 35th in the event, the best placement for the U.S., described his favorite part of the sport: “The feeling of flying through the air.”
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Robert Devaney •

Tonight, the Georgetown Burleith Advisory Neighborhood Commission will meet for its April meeting because of the Old Georgetown Board’s meeting on April 3.

The monthly meeting for ANC 2E begins 6:30 p.m., March 31, Heritage Room, second floor, Founders Hall (main administration building), Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, 35th Street and Volta Place, NW.

The following agenda was provided by ANC2E (202-724-7098 — anc2e@dc.gov — www.anc2e.com):

• Approval of March 31, 2014, ANC 2E Public Meeting Agenda

Administrative

• Approval of March 3, 2014, Meeting Minutes

• Public Safety and Police Report

• Financial Report

• Transportation Report

• DPW Report Community Comment

• Nike Half Marathon at the Waterfront New Business

• DC Water re: upstream fracking

• Wisconsin Ave/Whitehaven/35th Street – new traffic signal and traffic pattern

• Concerts in the Parks 2014 – Sunday, May 18, Volta Park, Sunday, June 15th, Volta Park, Sunday, July 13, Rose Park

• Nation’s Triathlon – Sunday, September 7, 2014

• 3040 O Street, NW – Temporary closing of the alley for 4 hours

• Delivery schedule for new trash cans

DDOT Public Space

• 1912 35th Street, NW, DDOT Tracking Number 92472, Application to occupy public space for the purpose of Paving: Driveway(s) Repair or Replace, Fixture: Wall/Fence Combo, Projections: Balcony, Projections: Stoop & Steps (April 7)

• 2810 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, DDOT Tracking Number 92496, Application to occupy public space for the purpose of PS Rental: Sidewalk Café (unenclosed).
(April 7)

ABC

• 1855 Wisconsin Ave, NW, ABRA License No. 75687, Safeway – hours for ABC license

Old Georgetown Board — Major and Public Projects

SMD 03, Government of the District of Columbia, Department of General Services, 3219 O Street, NW, OG 14-020 (HPA 14-024) Hyde-Addison Elementary School, Addition, Concept

SMD 05, M Street and Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Government of the District of Columbia, DC DDOT – Urban Forestry Administration, Installation of FlexiPave material on tree beds on M Street and on Wisconsin Avenue, Final

SMD 05, 3601-3607 M Street, NW, OG 14-113 (HPA 14-220) Residential, New building, Concept

PRIVATE PROJECTS:

1. SMD 07, 2703 P Street, NW, OG 14-126 (HPA 14-265) Residence, one-story rear addition, Concept

2. SMD 02, 3413 R Street, NW, OG 14-140 (HPA 14-280) Residence, two-story rear addition plus basement to replace porch, Concept

3. SMD 03, 1236 33rd Street, NW, OG 14-135 (HPA 14-275) Residence, Demolition of rear garage, new garage, Concept

4. SMD 03, 3422 P Street, NW, OG 14-144 (HPA 14-284) Residence, Alterations to carriage house, Concept

5. SMD 05, 3000 M Street, NW, OG 14-130 (HPA 14-270) Mixed-use, Partial demolition, addition, alterations, Concept

6. SMD 05, 3241 M Street, NW, OG 14-119 (HPA 14-233) Commercial, Awning and sign – Bandolero – existing, Permit

7. SMD 05, 3256 M Street, NW, OG 14-035 (HPA 14-057) Commercial, Rooftop antennas, Permit

8. SMD 05, 3600 M Street, NW, OG 14-120 (HPA 14-234) Office building, Demolition and reconstruction of brick walls, alterations to roof terrace, Permit

9. SMD 05, 3604 Prospect Street, NW, OG 14-139 (HPA 14-279) Residence, Alterations to rear, decks, awnings, replacement windows, Permit

10. SMD 06, 1231-1235 31st Street, NW, OG 14-137 (HPA 14-277) Alterations, Concept

11. SMD 06, 3025 M Street, NW, OG 14-129 (HPA 14-268) Commercial, Awning and signs – American Apparel – existing, Permit

No Review At This Time by ANC 2E: The following additional projects, which are on the upcoming April 3, 2014, agenda of the Old Georgetown Board, have not been added to the ANC meeting agenda for OGB-related design review and we do not propose to adopt a resolution on them at this time. If there are concerns about any of these projects, please contact the ANC office by Friday, March 28, 2014.

1. SMD 02, 1660 34th Street, NW, OG 14-062 (HPA 14-104) Residence, Rear additions, demolition and reconstruction of front façade, Revised Concept

2. SMD 07, 3205 R Street, NW, OG 14-127 (HPA 14-266) Residence, Alterations to pool house, Concept

3. SMD 02, 3520 Reservoir Road, NW, OG 14 -122 (HPA 14-239) Residence, Replacement windows and door, Permit

4. SMD 02, 3223 Volta Place, NW, OG 14-118 (HPA 14-230) Residence, Alterations to rear yard, brick wall, fence, pavers for parking pad, Permit

5. SMD 03, 1512 33rd Street, NW, OG 14-136 (HPA 14-276) Residence, Replacement fence, Permit

6. SMD 03, 3403 O Street, NW, OG 14-128 (HPA 14-267) Residence, Replacement windows, alterations to rear, Permit

7. SMD 03, 3238 P Street, NW, OG 14-103 (HPA 14-206) Residence, Two- story rear addition, Concept

8. SMD 03, 3240 P Street, NW, OG 14-053 (HPA 14-077) Commercial, 2- story rear addition plus basement, Revised Concept

9. SMD 03, 3107 Dumbarton Street, NW, OG 14-058 (HPA 14-100) Residence, 2-story rear addition to replace 2-story porch, Revised Concept

10. SMD 04, 3700 O Street, NW, OG 14-132 (HPA 14-272) Georgetown University – Athletic Training Facility, New construction, Concept—design development

11. SMD 04, 3700 O Street, NW, OG 14-141 (HPA 14-281) Georgetown
University – New Science Center, ADA ramp and curb-cut

12. SMD 05, 3000 K Street, NW, OG 14-133 (HPA 14-273) Mixed-use, Wall-mounted antenna for Verizon Wireless, Concept

13. SMD 05, 3286 M Street, NW, OG 14-034 (HPA 14-051) Commercial,
Signs for parking lot, Permit

14. SMD 05, 3314 M Street, NW, OG 14-111 (HPA 14-217) Commercial,
Alterations to Cady’s Alley: green screens, lighting, speeding tables, landscaping

15. SMD 05, 3323 Cady’s Alley, NW, OG 14-121 (HPA 14-236) Commercial, Banner sign – Artist’s Proof Gallery, Permit

16. SMD 05, 1209-1211 Potomac Street, NW, OG 14-070 (HPA 14-112)
Restaurant (Georgetown Cupcake), Alteration to first floor window, 2nd floor replacement windows – existing, Permit

17. SMD 05, 1025 Thomas Jefferson Street, NW, OG 14-138 (HPA 14-278) Office building, Alterations to paving, Concept

18. SMD 05, 1045 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, OG 14-131 (HPA 14-271) Residential, Alteration, Permit – revised design

19. SMD 05, 1251 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, OG 14-142 (HPA 14-282) Commercial, Back-lit sign, graphics – Reebok, Permit

20. SMD 06, 1510 30th Street, NW, OG 14-134 (HPA 14-274) Residence, Site work: stairs, replacement fence, paving, Permit

21. SMD 06, 2722 P Street, NW, OG 14-124 (HPA 14-263) Residence, Replacement windows and doors, alterations to rear, shutters, Permit

22. SMD 06, 2715 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, OG 14-102 (HPA 14-205) Commercial, Signs – Valero gas station, Permit

23. SMD 07, 1601 30th Street, NW, OG 14-123 (HPA 14-262) Residence, Brick wall and gate to replace fence, Permit

24. SMD 07, 3028 Cambridge Place, NW, OG 14-100 (HPA 14-203) Residence, Replacement windows, Permit

25. SMD 08, 3700 O Street, NW, OG 14-125 (HPA 14-264) Georgetown University – Healy Hall, Restoration, Concept

Agenda as of 2 p.m., March 24, 2014.

Robert Devaney •

For the Washington Nationals, the new baseball season brings new developments. Besides the new coach and players, check out these new options at National Park, which has new clubs, concessions, menu items, ticketing platforms and eCash apps.

“This is baseball. We’re blessed to work here,” said Valerie Camillo, who was recently appointed chief revenue and marketing officer for the Washington Nationals. Camillo was explaining what is new for the fans in the stands this season. It is all about making the best fan experience with “team service,” she said.

For season plan holders, here are some ballpark upgrades: a redesigned webpage and use of a personal dashboard, along with mobile apps and “eCash Only Lines,” a quick way to purchase. With their special access cards, fans can earn Red Carpet points, which can get them practice passes, autographed items and more.

Bobbleheads are popular, and the Nats have increased the give-aways to seven. There are redesigned stands with digital menus — and even an increased farm-to-table program.

The new concessions and food made the most news.

There is G at National Park from chef Mike Isabella with his sandwiches at Section 136. While there is a cauliflower veggie sandwich, there’s also the Drewno, centered on kielbasa, and called “a hot dog on steroids.”

There are Intentional Wok, a great name for stir fry noodles, Chesapeake Crab Cake (great crab nachos), Bullpen Burrito — and even South Capitol Sushi.

The Nats expanded Ben’s Chili Bowl, Hard Times, Change Up Chicken and Field of Greens.

For sophisticated drinks, there are aged bourbon at various spots and “Firkin Friday” with special beers in the Red Porch.

The team store will be expanded and moved to the right of center field plaza. There will also a shop dedicated to women’s wear with original designs.

As for new clubrooms in the suite level, Norfolk Southern Club replaces the Star & Stripes Club, along with the newly built Gold Glove Club and Silver Slugger Club.

The Heineken Red Star Bar, located near Section 205, should be a popular destination as D.C. is the number-one market for Heineken for volume per capita.

The Levy Restaurant Group runs the concessions for the stadium and manages other food businesses at many other stadiums and event arenas across America, including Wrigley Field and Verizon Center, as well as O2 Arena in London.

Meanwhile, Sport Illustrated and ESPN Magazine have picked the Washington Nationals to win the World Series. Now, that’s “Nothing But Natitude.”

the Georgetowner •

During a search for missing Relisha Rudd in Kenilworth Park March 31, Metropolitan Police said it discovered the body of an adult male.

During an afternoon press conference, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said that the dead man’s identity was not yet known but expected an ID soon and that the search for Rudd would continue. Lanier also told the media that the man appeared to have killed himself but could not confirm that.

According to ABC7 News, sources told the news outlet that “it is possible the body belongs to Kahlil Tatum, Relisha’s alleged kidnapper, who is also wanted by the FBI in connection with the death of his wife, Andrea Tatum.”

Those same sources told ABC7 News, it reported, “that the male victim appears to have been shot in the head and that a gun was found in his lap …”

During a March 27 press conference near Kenilworth Park, Lanier first announced, “We cannot ignore the possibility that he may have killed her.” Lanier was referring Tatum, the suspected abductor, who worked at the shelter, where Rudd and her mother lived. D.C. police also labeled their efforts “a recovery operation.”

The search at Kenilworth Park has involved the D.C. Fire Department and Emergency Services, the Metropolitan Police Department and a K-9 unit and the Prince George’s County Police, conducting a “grid search” of the wooded 700-acre area in Northeast D.C. on the Anacostia River.

After information was disclosed which tracked Tatum to the Kenilworth Park area, investigators began the search. Investigators also reported that on March 2, a day after Rudd was last seen, Tatum spent considerable time in Kenilworth Park. In addition, according to NBC4 News, on March 2 he had purchased suspicious items like garbage bags, a shovel, and lime, which can be used to speed up the decomposition of bodies as well.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Relisha Rudd or Kahlil Tatum is asked to call 911or the Command Information Center at 202-727-9099 or 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324).

Gary Tischler •

Musically, the guy known as Keb’ Mo’ (a street variation on his given name of Kevin Moore) can do a lot of things. Whether it’s smooth or fast-paced rhythm and blues, funk, jazz, folk and even a little bit of country, here and there, he loves to collaborate with other musicians, notably jazz players or country legend Vince Gill and the great Bonnie Raitt.

But when you get down to it—and he can get down to it—Keb’ Mo’ is a blues man, pure but probably not so simple.

In a way, he’s keeping the tradition alive. The blues (and southern gospel) are the wellspring of rock-and-roll and American pop, rock and all that jazz as well as the songs and poetry of southern African Americans. He is a link to the Delta Blues of Lightning Hopkins, Robert Johnson, the Reverend Blind Gary Davis, Sonny Terry and others, but he’s also a blues man in the contemporary vein.

“I tried to do something different every now and then,” said the Los Angeles-born star in a phone interview. “But you know, people know you for who you are, and they don’t want you to stray too far.”

While he has a string of hit albums—his latest, coming out this month. “BLUESamericana” features songs and music played to good effect in the juicy stews of live performance. To that end, Keb’ Mo’ is playing again at the Music Center at Strathmore at 8:30 p.m., April 3. Perhaps not the hotbed of down and low, low down blues, but there it is.

“People—everybody—respond to the songs,” he says. “It’s about real life. It’s modern blues, but it’s like the old blues, been-down-so -ong songs, people getting love, or sex, or love, losing it, trying to survive, get down with some joy in the music. Today, life is a little different, and I write my songs to be about today. The music, that comes from everywhere, from all the greats, but the songs, they’re mine.”

His voice is direct and smooth. Accessible, it speaks right to the heart and soul, and feet, as the blues are wont to do.

“Yeah, sure, I like to play with other people,” he said. “That Bonnie Raitt, man, she can play. She is one bad-ass player. I can hardly keep up with her.” That’s not exactly true, although Raitt has a high-power way about her on stage, and her playing is what he says it is. “And country music, it’s like regular blues. It’s about drinking, lying, cheating, love, heartache, that kind of thing—you got those guys that could really sing that.”

“Oh, yeah, I had some thoughts about being a rock star, you know that kind of life,” he said. He comes from Compton, Calif., a city in Los Angeles County. “That kind of thing … you know it took me a while to get everything straight, and forget about that. “ One of his musical mentors was a guy named Papa John Creach, who played with Jefferson Airplane, one of the premier rock bands from the San Francisco Bay area.

The really personal and original stuff in his music comes from his own life. He has even written songs for a children’s album, called “Big Wide Grin.” He appeared in 2001, on Sesame Street with the whole gang—Kermit the Frog, Grover, Elmo— all singing “Everybody Be Yo’self.”

Keb’ Mo’ no longer lives in L.A. He and his wife moved to Franklin, Tenn., where they’re raising a six-year-old son named Carter. “That kid is a trip, let me tell you,” he said. “It’s an experience, you know, to be with a little kid. Everything’s new. They got all that energy.”

This is a blues man decidedly in the real world, doing his part: he’s part of the No Nukes group, for which he recorded his own version of the Buffalo Springfield song, “For What It’s Worth.”

He says “BLUESamericana” is a new phase for him. It’s different from his last album, which included India Arie, Vince Gill and Marcus Miller. If the last album, “The Reflection,” sounds personal, it is with a personality touched by the blues, for all the things that matter: “Do It Right,” “For Better or Worse”, “The Worst Is Yet To Come”, “Somebody Hurt You, “The Old Me Better”, and “I’m Gonna Be Your Man.”

He remains a traveling man. His tour stops at New York City; Victoria, Canada; Evanston, Ill.; Middletown, Ohio; Grants Pass, Oreg., Saratoga, N.Y.; Minneapolis, Minn., among many other places.

But home is in the back of his mind and where he came from, as he sings in a song about his bringing up in L.A. — “There’s More Than One Way Home”: “Daddy came around every once in a while/but momma, she was there all the time/and summertime in Compton was not like TV/but we were right there where we needed to be.”
He says he was influenced by Taj Mahal from the 1970s: “He was doing things his way and that’s what you do”—but he, too, has found that there is more than one way home. “My audience, it’s a little bit of everybody—older people, blues people, black and white, young people. Sometimes, I think I’m the oldest guy in the building.”

Maybe yes; maybe no. Keb’ Mo’ sure doesn’t play or sing like the oldest anything when it the blues.

Paulina Phelps •

Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier announced April 3 that the weeklong search for missing eight-year-old Relisha Rudd in Kenilworth Park in Northeast Washington, D.C., has ended.

“We came here expecting the worst, a grave site,” Lanier said. “We’re relieved that we did not find that . . . We’re always hopeful. Children are found years after they disappear.”

While the search was unsuccessful in finding Rudd or evidence of what might have happened to her, it did result in the discovery of the body of Rudd’s suspected abductor, Kahlil Malik Tatum. The search of the 700-acre park has been exceptionally thorough with police looking through trash bins, digging large holes and using flashlights to look into storm drains.

The search for Rudd has been described as a recovery operation, but many people disagree. For instance, although the search in Kenilworth Park has come to a close, different conclusions have been posited by other organizations investigating the case. The most recent speculation was by a National Missing Persons Organization called the Black and Missing Foundation. This organization believes Rudd’s disappearance is the result of a human trafficking network. WUSA 9 News reported that co-founder of the organization Derrica Wilson said, “I’m pulling at everything in me and there’s nothing in my gut that tells me we’re in a recovery operation. I feel that we’re searching for a live person.”

Wilson co-founded the Black and Missing Foundation with her sister Natalie Wilson to raise awareness and efforts in locating missing persons of color, a segment of the population far overlooked. For instance, according to the foundation in the last year more than 200,000 persons of color were reported missing. Compared to other cases, Relisha’s serves as an exception as it has gotten a great deal of media coverage, which many people believe is because she is so young.

“This case has really rocked me to the core,” Derrica Wilson told WUSA-9 News. “I personally feel that this little girl was sold. I think her mother sold her to Tatum and I think Tatum has sold her in this worldwide industry of trafficking.”

Wilson says that she believes the investigation needs to expand far beyond D.C. and incorporate more than just police. “She could be anywhere and we need to help find her,” Natalie Wilson said. “We would like the public to get involved. Again, somebody knows something.”