This message is to all my folks, especially my die-hard folks, the ones I call the “Board Members” – you know who you are . By now I’m sure you all know that I have moved my TV shows to OWN and on May 28th and 29th I have a two night premiere. On Tuesday night, my new hot drama THE HAVES AND THE HAVE NOTS starts. I’m telling you, I put it all in this show. I not only want you to watch it but we need you to watch it for several reasons. The biggest reason is this is a fresh group of faces and I am beyond excited to see them get their shot. I make you these promises, this SHOW WILL HOOK YOU!!! I KNOW IT! Then on Wednesday night, which used to be my original night of TV, I’m going back to it with a brand new show called LOVE THY NEIGHBOR. It stars a bunch of new faces including the two folks I said I would give a sitcom to, Mamma Hattie (Patrice Lovely) and Floyd (Palmer Williams, Jr). They are so excited and this show is so funny. So Tuesday get your drama on and Wednesday get your funny on OWN, OK?

The guest line-up for the Donald Lawrence’s ‘20th Anniversary’ Live Recording was announced yesterday, and you’re not going to believe who will be hitting the stage to help D. Lawrence celebrate his 20 years in music.

Find out who’ll be celebrating will D. Lawrence below…

The network today announced the following headliners for the extravaganza:

* Natalie Grant

* Karen Clark Sheard

* Kierra Sheard

* Vanessa Bell Armstrong 

* Coko (of SWV)

* Rudy Currence

* Faith Evans

* Lalah Hathaway

* Kelly Price

* Ted & Sheri

* Bishop Hezekiah Walker

* dancer Laurieann Gibson.

The impressive cast of vocalists will be backed by D. Lawrence’s amazing singers. The Chicago event takes place on June 18th at Living World Christian Center.

As one who has contributed so much to music, this will be indeed an unforgettable evening!

What do you think of the line-up?

Kerry Washington is a fan of her “Scandal” character, Olivia Pope, and would prefer if she not be described as a “side piece.”

Though the fictional character is involved with a steamy affair with a married man and father on the hit ABC show, Kerry said she would not use that word to reference to Olivia.

“I don’t like the expression ‘side piece’ ‘cause I think when you call a woman a piece it sort of objectifies her,” explained Kerry, who pointed out that her TV lover seems to have genuine feelings for Olivia. It’s not just physical.

Fans of the show, whose season finale airs Thursday, likely witnessed the fictional president choose his mistress over his wife in the latest episodes. “The president has said to her, ‘I will leave my wife for you,’” clarified Kerry who questioned whether Olivia falls into that “side piece” category.

While some “Scandal” fans aren’t bothered by the fact that the show’s main character is involved in an elicit affair, others find it hard to root for Olivia. However, Kerry said it’s those layers that make the character interesting.

“I feel like we all relate to that. We all have a job identity where we have to be in control, and we know what we’re doing,” she told Wendy Williams. “Then, behind closed doors we’re human, and you know I love that about her.”

Dr. Maya Angelou, one of the nation’s greatest national treasures appeared on the Tom Joyner Morning Show this morning to discuss her new book “Mom, Me and Mom.” It’s yet another of the sweeping series of autobiographical books that Angelou has released over the years, including her classic “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.”

Here in her own words, is the story behind her latest memoir:

My mother and my father sent me and my brother away when I was 3 and my brother was 5. They sent us by train from Los Angeles, CA to Stamps, Arkansas, which is about as big as your studio, without any adult supervision. We had tags on our arms and thanks to the goodness of the Pullman car porters and the dining car waiters, we were taken off certain trains and put on certain trains and we actually arrived in Stamps, Arkansas. It’s so hard to believe that sometimes we wonder did we even get there. We were taken to live with my grandmother, my father’s mother, and we stayed there for seven years.

At one point we were taken up to St. Louis to my mother. She had come back to be with her family and my mother’s boyfriend raped me. The man was put in jail overnight, and the police, two big white policemen, came to my mother’s mother’s house and they said the man had been found dead and it seemed he’d been kicked to death. I was 7 years old and I thought my voice had killed him. M brother said I had to tell him. I said ‘He said he would kill you,’ and my brother was nine and he said ‘I won’t let him.’ So of course I believed him and I told him and the man was put in jail. He was released and then killed. So somehow I figured that my voice could go out through a keyhole, through the window and through the door and kill people randomly.

I knew I couldn’t kill my brother because he loved me so much and I loved him so much that any curse wouldn’t work between us. So I spoke to him and he was the only person I spoke to for six years. I stayed with my mother’s people and they did their best to woo me away from my mutism but they didn’t know what I knew – what my voice could do. After a few months in St. Louis, Bailey and I, my brother and I, were sent back to Stamps, Arkansas, to Mama. You’d have to see Mama to see what a cozy and safe place she presented. When she died, Tom, she was over 6 foot and she spoke very softly. She had a huge voice in church. She would start to sing and people would fall out. They’d pick up their purses and throw them at the preacher. Mama could sing, but at home she spoke very softly.

She was a devout Christian. She didn’t allow hot dogs. She didn’t allow us to say “Hot dog!” That meant “d***.” We couldn’t say “By the way” because she said Jesus is the way, the truth and the light and when you say “By the way” you say by Jesus and you won’t use that language in this house. And yet she was so loving and you know, let me tell you, for instance. I didn’t speak and you know, but in the South, well, you don’t know, but when I was growing up, children were supposed to speak when they’re spoken to and come when they’re called. I didn’t speak and Mama didn’t force me to speak. She said ‘I don’t care what these people say about you must be a moron, you must be an idiot cause you can’t talk. Mama don’t care. Mama know when you and the Good Lord get ready, you gon’ be a teacher. You’re gonna teach all over this world.’

I tried to write this book 15 years ago but it wasn’t ready. I don’t say I wasn’t ready but the book wasn’t ready. I know so much more now than I did 15 years ago. I know this – that parents need, desperately, to be on the side of the child. The child needs to know my daddy backs me up, my mother backs me up in public. Now you can go home and chastise, but let the child know that you got a friend. The most powerful person in the world is your parent. And my parent is my friend, my parent thinks I’m the bee’s knees. Now if I do something wrong, my parent is going to chastise me, but he doesn’t hate me. And sometimes in today’s families, you see children in public with their parents and their parents talk to them like they hate them. I’m encouraging because I went through so much, I’m encouraging parents to look at this book and see that because of the love of my grandmother, my brother, and my mother, I became whatever is called Maya Angelou.

President Obama issued his annual proclamation declaring the first Thursday in May as the National Day of Prayer, a long-standing 62-year tradition that began with Democratic President Harry Truman.

This year's theme for the National Day of Prayer is a call for believers to "pray for America," and it echoes the words of Martha Washington, by honoring today as a day to "remember that God is our only sure trust."  The scripture selected this year is Matthew 12:21, which reads:  "In His name the nations will put their hope."

In his proclamation, the president asks all Americans of faith to pray for healing for the nation following the aftermath of the violent shootings in Newtown, Conn., the Boston Marathon bombings, and the fertilizer plant explosion in the town of West, Texas. He also requests prayers for the first responders who put themselves in harm's way to protect their fellow Americans, and for the safety of the members of the U.S. Armed Forces and the families.

Observing the power of prayer in times of prosperity and during moments of hardship and struggle, Obama noted that throughout the nation's history, Americans have turned to prayer to unite and sustain the country. "…Americans have prayed as a means of uniting, guiding, and healing. In times of hardship and tragedy, and in periods of peace and prosperity, prayer has provided reassurance, sustenance, and affirmation of common purpose," Obama said.

Obama said communities can come together through prayer to support and strengthen each other. "In the aftermath of senseless acts of violence, the prayers of countless Americans signal to grieving families and a suffering community that they are not alone."

"Their pain is a shared pain, and their hope a shared hope. Regardless of religion or creed, Americans reflect on the sacredness of life and express their sympathy for the wounded, offering comfort and holding up a light in an hour of darkness," he added.

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"All of us have the freedom to pray and exercise our faiths openly. Our laws protect these God-given liberties, and rightly so. … Let us give thanks for the freedom to practice our faith as we see fit, whether individually or in fellowship," Obama said.

This year's 62nd National Day of Prayer honorary chairman is prominent California minister Greg Laurie, the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif., and the speaker for the Harvest Crusades. The group's chairperson is Shirley Dobson, the wife of Focus on the Family founder Dr. James Dobson.

On Wednesday Laurie provided Americans with a word of encouragement, and asked believers to "pray for the United States of America."

"What do we pray for?" Laurie asked.  "Well first of all, let's pray that our country turns back to God. America needs a spiritual awakening; let's pray that a revival will come to our shores again.  With all that's happening in our country, the attack of the two young terrorists in Boston effectively bringing one of the great American cities to a standstill, we realize how much we need God's help. Let's turn to the Lord and ask him to bless out nation as we turn from our sins."

Laurie's speech and prayer will be broadcast live on the internet from the National Observance of the National Day of Prayer that will be held in the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill from 9 a.m. to noon, Eastern Time.  

The National Day of Prayer was officially created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress, and signed into law by President Harry Truman. Since 1952, every president has signed a National Day of Prayer proclamation.