Former Boston Celtic and Hall of Famer Bill Russell once said, and I quote, "The power in this town is overwhelmingly WHITE MALE. We’ve got to change that." End quote. Old School Entertainment is working hard towards that goal with its Old School "NETWORK."

In a recent report published by the Selig Center In Atlanta, research indicates statistics that Black people in the United States will have generated $533 billion by the end of 1999. But Black entrepreneurs are frequently turned down for loans to start a business, or expand a business. The other very vital statistic is that we, Black people, spend approximately seven percent of that $533 billion with Black owned business. We must encourage Black consumers to THINK about our expenditures, to ask: Who is getting my money? What are they doing with it? Are my people receiving any benefit from it? Do those with whom I do business with respect me? In the new millennium Black people should be doing business with Black people on all levels.

The Boston nightlife scene in the Boston Common-Downtown Crossing area is on the move with a bevy of restaurants/bars, many aimed at the white upscale adult club market. (Silvertone at 69 Bromfield St.; The Good Life at 28 Kingston St.; The Big Easy at Boylston Place; Mistral at 221 Columbus Ave.;) just to name a few. And recently "Envy" has opened in the Back Bay.

Patrick Lyons, Boston’s famed night club czar whose Lyon’s Management Group owns and operates a number of upscale clubs in Boston (Avalon; Axis; Venus de Milo; Zanzibar; and Mama Kin), just to name a few, seem to never have caught on with the black and Hispanic communities. The limited choices have left nigtspots like the Harbor Club on Northern Ave. which attracts African-Americans primarily on Thursday nights to perform a miracle: provide satisfying entertainment to an increasingly diverse group under one roof. With surprisingly few exceptions, the Harbor Club is one of Boston’s only snazzy place for people of color in Boston; and people of color visiting Boston.

But, the Harbor Club has long since closed, and reopened under the Polly Esta’s umbrella with a different Thursday night format that no longer attracts the African-American crowd like it once did. The new Thursday night format at Polly Esta’s on Northern Ave. leaves a significant market without upscale entertainment. And now due to the Big Dig construction on the Southeast Express Way and in the Northern Ave. area, Polly Esta’s has closed. The immensely popular club "Satches" that was owned by former Boston Celtic Tom Sanders, closed in 1983 and was the last big-time hot spot for blacks in Boston.