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03-17-08 EUR ALL ON ONE PAGE
DIDDY AND BIGGIE KNEW ABOUT TUPAC ATTACK: LA Times article points finger at Combs and Notorious B.I.G. in 15 Year-old assault.
*New evidence has linked two associates of entertainment mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs and the late Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace to the 1994 beating of iconic rapper Tupac Shakur.
The article, written by Chuck Phillips on the L.A. Times website reveals that although Combs and Wallace knew about the Shakur ambush before it happened, there is no evidence that supports that they were involved in the actual attack.
The story claims that Combs was present in the Quad Recording Studio with at least two dozen Bad Boy Records Associates when the assault took place ten floors down in the lobby.
Shakur was pistol-whipped, shot five times and left for dead outside a New York City recording studio.
"It was supposed to just be a beating but it turned into a shooting because Tupac pulled a gun," Philips said.
Afterwards Shakur wrote about who he believed was involved in a song.
Phillips maintains that "Tupac's shooting at the Quad was really catalyst for everything that happened afterwards, including the death of Biggie (Christopher "Biggie/Notorious B.I.G" Wallace).
"It started the whole thing off and if you lay it out in a timeline which I do, you can see; it's obvious and kind of sad for two guys to be this talented."
The two men reported to have been involved in the attack are James "Jimmy" Sabatino and Czar Entertainment CEO Jimmy "Henchmen" Rosemond.
Sabatino is the son of a reputed captain in the Colombo crime family. Sabatino is said to have personally told Combs about the planned attack. Rosemond, it was speculated, was part of the attack as payback to Shakur for being slighted over prior agreements.
Soon after Shakur's 1994 assualt, sources claim Sabatino introduced Combs to mobsters and escorted the music executive to mobbed-up nightclubs in New York and Miami after he was welcomed into Combs' inner circle.
It's also alleged that Sabatino used fake credit cards to charge up hundreds of thousands of dollars in bills for posh hotel suites, limos and parties while doing busines with Combs during his 1997 No Way Out tour.
Sabatino's relationship with Combs allegedly continued as he worked with the mogul's Bad Boy Records until his 1998 arrest in London. Currently he is serving a 12 year sentence in a federal penitentiary for racketeering and wire fraud.
The implications are the latest in a series of events surrounding the murder of Shakur, who was shot to death in 1996 in Las Vegas, and Wallace, who met the same fate in Los Angeles a year later.
There is no evidence to suggest that Combs or Wallace were involved in the Shakur attack, only that they had prior knowledge of it.
Phillips also says the Shakur case has ties to the murder of Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell. One of the men present when Shakur was shot, Randy "Stretch" Walker, was later gunned down in Queens, New York on November 30, 1995, exactly one day to the date of the Quad Recordings shooting.
Combs and Wallace both denied any involvement in the 1994 attack. Combs or a representative could not be reached at EUR press time.
An interactive timeline, as well as audio of lyrics and videos from Shakur and Wallace is featured in Phillips' story available on the L.A. Times website: www.latimes.com/tupac.
HALLE BERRY GIVES BIRTH: Actress welcomes first child Sunday.
*Oscar winning actress Halle Berry gave birth Sunday morning at Cedars Sinai hospital to a baby girl at approximately 10am!
The 7 lb 4 oz baby is the first child for he 41-year-old actress and her 32-year-old boyfriend Gabrielle Aubry.
Although the couple said they have no plans to marry, Berry told Oprah in an earlier interview, the two of them are fully committed to each other. They met in November 2005.
The actress told Oprah Winfrey on her show last year that playing a mother in her latest movie, "Things We Lost in the Fire," helped convince her that motherhood was for her.
"I think it validated that I was meant to be a mother because every day I dealt with the character as a mother and thinking as a mother," Berry said. "It let me know that I must be a mother."
In the February cover story for In Style magazine Berry gave a clue as to her future motherhood plans.
"I may only do this one time, so I want this moment to be as big as it can be," she said. "I want the biggest bang I can possibly imagine."
No word on what the couple will name their baby girl, but in the In Style interview she said the baby would take the father's last name.
CHRIS ROCK INVOLVED IN PELLICANO TRIAL: Comedian's phone conversation with private dick is no laughing matter.
*Actor Chris Rock is in the middle of a federal investigation involving wire tapping and racketeering charges against Hollywood private investigator Anthony Pellicano.
The P.I. is on trial charged with secretly taping phone calls between himself and some of his celebrity clients, one of which was Rock.
One of Rock's conversations, recorded in 2001, was posted on huffingtonpost.com.
On the recording Rock says he was worried a rape allegation that could damage his career. (Scroll down to hear it) The woman, identified as Monica Zsibrita, never filed charges and her palimony suit was dropped.
Pellicano replies saying he will try to undermine the accuser's reputation.
"That's why I want to blacken this girl up, totally," the man says on the recording. "I want to make her out to be a lying, scumbag, manipulative (expletive)."
Rock was never arrested or charged in connection with the allegation.
According to the Associate Press, prosecutors in the ongoing federal wiretapping trial against Pellicano and four co-defendants declined to comment about the 31-minute recording.
It was unclear if it would be played for jurors during the trial. Rock's name appears on a prosecution witness list, but it also was uncertain if he would actually testify.
Rock's press rep, Matt Labov has previously said the comedian hired Pellicano but never asked the private detective to do anything illegal.
All five defendants in the case have pleaded not guilty to a variety of charges involving an alleged scheme to dig up dirt on celebrities and other clients for use in legal and other disputes.
TOWNSEND TO HELM CHILDREN'S FILM: He will direct 'Lil' Homiez.'
*Another Robert Townsend production, this time featuring children, is in the works.
The actor, writer and director is in final negotiations to direct the family adventure film "Lil Homiez." The movie is described as a hip-hop version of "the Little Rascals meets the Rugrats."
Overture Films has acquired the rights to the project, which was written by Dallas Jackson and Townsend.
"Homiez" recounts the adventures of five multiethnic kids as they try to save their neighborhood from being taken over by an evil developer.
Currently Townsend is directing actor Ving Rhames in "Phantom Punch."
GRAMMY PROGRAM FOR YOUTH: Summer program in its fourth year.
*Little more than a month is left to apply to a summer program that brings youth together with outstanding artists and music industry professionals.
The 4th Annual Grammy Camp is open to high school students from across the country.
The program offers 75 selected high school students a 14-day interactive residential music experience. Participants will find fifteen music career tracks including audio engineering, DJ remixing, film scoring, music journalism, music production, video game music and sound design. Also, concert promotion and production has been added to the program this year.
Artists who have participated in the past include members of the group Earth, Wind and Fire, producer Jimmy Jam and radio host Dave Koz.
This year's Grammy camp will be held at the University of Southern California, Thorton School of Music in Los Angeles.
The deadline to apply is April 30. GRAMMY Camp is open to all high school students and needs-based financial assistance is available.
For more info, email Christina Cassidy at christina.cassidy@grammy.com.
OBAMA EXTENDS LEAD: Latest delegate count puts him further in front of Clinton.
*Some of Iowa's Democratic state delegates have switched candidates and now support Sen. Barack Obama for U.S. President.
The delegates, allocated to John Edwards who has since dropped out of the competition, voted to support Obama during a state-wide convention over the weekend.
Seven of the fourteen delegates that were designated for Edwards on the bases of caucus night projections switched their support.
So far that leaves Obama with 52 percent compared to rival Sen. Hillary Clinton's 32 percent of that state's delegates.
About 16 percent of the delegates stuck with Edwards, even though he no longer is in the race.
Counting Iowa's results, Obama's total nationwide delegate count is now at 1,610 to Clinton's 1.496.
URBANITES SAY MAGIC IS THE MAN: Irving Johnson voted best urban representative.
*Irving "Magic" Johnson was voted number one at representing the urban community, according to a telephone survey conducted by Yankelovich marketing group.
Of the African and Latino Americans surveyed in a twenty minute phone interview, Johnson beat out Oprah Winfrey who was selected second followed by Black Entertainment Television (BET), Oscar De La Hoya and Russell Simmons, respectively.
In the same poll African-Americans said Magic Johnson has done the most to improve the quality of life in inner-city neighborhoods.
Magic Johnson Enterprises has partnered with corporations such as Starbucks, Burger King and NASCAR to name a few. His company was formed in 1987 to serve as a catalyst for community and economic empowerment by making available high-quality entertainment, products and services in ethnically diverse urban communities.
USHER GROWN AND SEXY ON NEW ALBUM: "Here I Stand' deals with loss, married life and intimate home videos
Collaborators on Usher's new album 'Here I Stand,' due in June, reveal that he's all 'growed' up now…if his new material is any indicator. They say the new husband and father will give his fans a blend of mature music and songs that will give the women something to move to.
'He's a grown man now,' producer Polow Da Don says of the R&B singer's mature sound on the new album.
Polow, who produced the album's first single and current #1 song in the country, "Love in This Club," worked on two other records for the album as well.
"This one joint is called 'Angel,' " Polow said. "I think it's the best and biggest song I've been a part of. Usher and Nelly actually wrote the song together. Me and this dude named Brian Kennedy produced the record. We was all in the room, kicking it, talking. This is when we had our first real conversation about dude getting married…'
Polow said "Angel" was cut right around Christmas, during the time in which Usher's dad was gravely ill (Usher's father died earlier this year). He says:
"[Usher] was open with his feelings and emotions at the time," Polow added. " 'Angel,' it's the full circle of his life. The first verse is dedicated to his mother. She's his angel. He's [singing] about being a little kid, being a badass and taking his mother through the hardship and not realizing the whole time she was always there. She is his angel. The second verse is about meeting this woman who is now his wife. No matter how bad he treated her or what he did - not recognizing she was special, thinking she was just a girl - as things unfold, she's his angel. And he's a grown man now. The third verse is about him and his wife having a child, and now he has to be a protector. Everything is the other way around. His son is now his angel that he must protect. Everybody is gonna love it, and it makes you think [about] whoever in life has been there for you."
The third song Polow recorded with Usher is way more physical than emotional.
" 'Lights, Camera, Action,' we made that song after the first night we played 'Love in This Club' at the club, Jermaine Dupri's club," Polow recalled. "It's a nice little way to tell a girl, 'Let's make a porno.' It could be with your girl or a new girl. It's telling her, 'You know you love right. ... There's something I wanna do with you I never tried before.' The song goes, 'First I go hit the lights/ I set up the camera/ Then we get to action.' It's dope. It's a dance joint. Usher's album is strong."
Former Roc-A-Fella R&B artist Rell wrote the title track, which is produced by the Grammy Award-winning team Dre & Vidal.
"It's a ballad," Vidal Davis said. "Classic. It's a smash. It shows that despite all the things he's been through, he's still here. The first time [Usher] heard it after Rell wrote it, he said, 'I gotta cut that.' He's really grown [on] this album. He's talking about some issues."
Dre & Vidal worked with Usher on 15 songs last year in New York and Atlanta and finished with him in August. "Here I Stand" is said to be addressing Usher's fans and family. "The song is saying, 'No matter how far I go, no matter how long it takes, here I stand,' " Vidal said.
The album isn't quite finished, so the final track list has not been announced yet. There's still no guarantee that all three Polow songs will make the cut. The video for "Love in This Club" is going into production soon.
THE GAME HEADED BACK TO COURT: Victim of alleged assault files civil suit against rapper.
*According to TMZ, the man allegedly assaulted by Game during a pick-up basketball game at the Rita Walters Educational Learning Complex in Los Angeles last year (February 2007) has filed a civil suit against the recently freed rapper.
Court documents posted on the site disclose Shannon Rodrick said Game, born as Jayceon Taylor, told him his "team is garbage" and "sucker-punched [Rodrick] with a closed fist on [Rodrick's] left cheek, causing [him] to fall backwards." In the suit, which was filed Thursday, Rodrick also alleges Game went to his vehicle to get a gun and approached him, saying, "I'm going to blast this fool."
The rapper wasn't arrested for the incident until three months later, when police searched his home for three hours in connection with the incident. He eventually pleaded no contest to felony possession of a firearm in a school zone and served just eight days of a 60-day sentence before being released last weekend.
Conflicting statements by his lawyer and manager about his actual release date lead Game to release a statement of his own apologizing for the confusion.
Calls to the rapper's rep for comment had not been returned on Friday, according to The Associated Press.
SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST EMBRACES HIP HOP: Music festival adds Ice Cube, Bun B, others to roster.
*The 'world's biggest music festival' South by Southwest, held in Austin, Texas, has transcended its usual fare of metal acts, singer-songwriters, and indie-rock bands, by adding hip hop artists to the list of perfomers.
SXSW music programmer Matt Sonzala, who has made it a point to increase the profile of rap at the festival - but was having a hard way to go, was responsible for securing Ice Cube, Bun B, The Clipse, Dizzee Rascal, 2 Live Crew, Talib Kweli, and the Cool Kids, among the 150 hip-hop performers that are scheduled to grace this year's event.
"Early on, I was trying to get artists to come down," Sonzala, who has been working for SXSW for five years, told The Associated Press on Saturday. "When I would talk to the labels, people would tell me things like, 'Why would I send my artists to that hippie festival? Why would I send them to this rock festival?"
But once labels started seeing the benefit of playing the SXSW - including garnering key publicity and making key industry contacts - Sonzala doesn't have that much of a problem anymore.
"…they see what it is, it's really the world's biggest music festival," he said. "Word has just spread," Sonzala concluded.
Houston rapper Bun B of U.G.K., who recently lost his partner, the late Pimp C, both part of the group U.G.K., said he reached out to acts like Kweli and Banner to appear this year. He said for many rappers, SXSW wasn't on their radar: "(But) I think it absolutely should be."
"Honestly I didn't know too much about this, and people would say, 'What - you don't know what that is? ... If you don't go, you trippin'!'" said Del the Funky Homosapien, who will play SXSW for the first time this year. "That's when I started realizing."
CUBE LAUNCHES NEW INTERNET TV PROJECT: Uvntv.com described as ESPN of hip hop with no boundaries.
*According to the Dallas Morning News, rapper/actor Ice Cube has just launched a new venture with partner DJ Pooh: Uvntv.com. He described the internet-based venture as "the ESPN of hip hop with no boundaries."
According to Cube, it'll have live channels devoted to extreme skateboarding, Hollywood, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and "even John McCain, if he wants one." He promoted the project during his appearance at South By Southwest in Austin, Texas.
The site, launched in January, also will stream live rap concerts from around the world.
OPRAH INTRODUCES 'A NEW EARTH:' Talk queen's Midas touch sends new book soaring up best seller's list.
*Oprah's book club has picked - or made - another winner. Echkart Tolle's spiritual self-help guide, "A New Earth," has shipped about 3.5 million copies since she revealed it as her pick 4 weeks ago. It has become the fastest selling pick ever at Barnes and Noble Inc. and topped the best-seller list on Amazon the moment her choice was revealed, according to a statement issued by Winfrey.
It's also a record shipment in a four-week span for any book by Penguin Group (USA), which has published such million sellers as Elizabeth Gilbert's "Eat, Pray, Love" and Ken Follett's Winfrey-endorsed "The Pillars of the Earth."
Brian Tart, president and publisher of the Penguin imprint Dutton, told The Associated Press that a key factor was the upcoming Web seminars featuring Winfrey and Tolle, to be held for 10 consecutive Mondays starting last week.
"Oprah herself has committed 10 weeks to talking to the author, and people from all over the world will be able to participate," said Tart, who added that more than 500,000 people, from more than 100 countries, have registered for the seminar.
HATERATION LEVELED AT WILL SMITH, DRE STYLE: Super-producer hides diss song in actor's movie soundtrack.
*Sanitized rapper-turned-movie star Will Smith was secretly dissed on the soundtrack of his own 2003 movie "Bad Boys II" - and the responsible party was famed producer Dr. Dre.
Dre's confidant for nearly 20 years, Bruce Williams, revealed in his hip hop memoir "Rollin' With Dre," that producers asked Dre to do some background music for a key scene in the movie.
Williams writes, "We made sure that the music underneath that scene was the song 'Bitch Niggaz' from 'The Chronic 2001,' because that's what we thought of that hater, Smith.
We had to get our fun where we could . . ." Smith has been critical of violent rap songs and has urged artists to tone down their lyrics.
NEVERLAND SALE IMMINENT?: Jackson property misses auction block but private sale considered.
*Seems Michael Jackson just may make good on his promise to never return to Neverland Ranch after he was "violated" in 2003 at his then home in a police search stemming from child molestation charges. The singer and his legal rep are tossing around the idea of selling the property to avoid public auction.
The ranch will narrowly avoid a previously scheduled public auction of the 2,500 acre estate next week that was spurred by his default on the $24.5 million he owes on the property. The auction was postponed until May 14 by "mutual agreement" of Jackson and his creditors, said Julie Wagner of Financial Title Co. of San Francisco, the firm that filed the default papers.
"That allows us to refinance or sell the property," Jackson's attorney, L. Londell McMillan, told The Associated on Friday. He added that Jackson is looking at both options.
"We expect to have this matter resolved well before May 14," McMillan said. Foxnews.com first reported the extended date.
Jackson, who moved out of Neverland more than two years ago, bought the property in the bucolic rolling hills of Los Olivos, 150 miles north of Los Angeles, from real estate baron William Bone in 1988. He brought in more than a dozen amusement park rides, including a merry-go-round, Ferris wheel and roller coaster and installed a zoo complete with flamingos, giraffes, elephants and orangutans.
KIMORA LEE TROUNCES TABLOID-TALK: Fashion maven calls relationship and baby rumors pack of lies.
*Kimora Lee Simmons took time out during Fashion Week in St. Louis to address the recent onslaught of tabloid rumors regarding her personal life.
"I'm in the paper every single week - that I had a fight with my ex-husband, or that I was mad at one of his girlfriends, or that I'm pregnant, or that I demand Fiji water," she said Friday at Washington University in St. Louis. "Lies upon lies upon lies."
Earlier this month, the New York Post's Page Six reported that Simmons, 32, and her new beau, actor Djimon Hounsou, 43, are expecting a baby.
Simmons, who was reportedly bump-free in a body-clinging salmon dress while addressing reporters, didn't take direct questions about the pregnancy rumors, but said: "[Reporters] call and ask if I'm pregnant. It all came from Page Six. ... You guys shouldn't believe it."
EUR FILM REVIEW: Doomsday
Team of Specialists Sent to Quarantined Scotland in Post-Apocalyptic Sci-Fi Adventure
Film Review by Kam Williams
*Neil Marshall's previous movie, The Descent, a harrowing horror flick which kept you on the edge of your seat, was good enough to earn the #6 spot on my 10 Best List for 2006. So, excuse me for expecting more from his latest offering than a sloppily-edited rehash of sci-fi clichés which look like they were thoughtlessly slapped together by Edward Scissorhands.
But that's exactly what we have in Doomsday, a soulless rip-off which shamelessly recreates a host of memorable scenes from such post-apocalyptic adventures as Resident Evil, Mad Max, 28 Days, Escape from New York, I Am Legend and others.
The story is set in Great Britain in 2035, a quarter century after the deadly Reaper Virus had contaminated Scotland and turned most of its citizens into a race of cannibalistic zombies. This led to the entire country's being quarantined behind a giant wall, a precaution which was thought to have worked, at least until the new outbreak that has just been discovered in London.
Urgently in need of an antidote lest he lose England to the scourge, too, Prime Minister Hatcher (Alexander Siddiq) decides to dispatch a rescue squad over the wall to retrieve Dr. Kane (Malcolm McDowell), a scientist who stayed behind to try to develop a vaccine. He's rumored to have succeeded, since there are still some Scots not infected.
When ordered to send in his best man for the job, Police Chief Nelson (Bob Hoskins) taps a woman, Eden Sinclair (Rhona Mitra), a cool, calm and collected gunslinger every bit as attractive, as she is fearless. She proceeds to lead a hand-picked team of crack commandos into an unrecognizable Scotland which has degenerated into a lawless, desolate environment. The landscape is swarming with gangs ranging from omnivorous ghouls feasting on barbecued human flesh to big-breasted biker chicks with major attitudes to neo-Native Americans with Mohawks and war paint to skull-and-cross boned creeps who look like they wandered in from an Oakland Raider tailgate party.
How these foreign groups have invaded, formed and flourished in the of absence of any infrastructure is never adequately explained, since there's no time for anything but slaughtering wave after wave of each successive thundering herd. Forget about trying to follow the preposterous plotline, unless you want to laugh.
There are only two reasons to recommend Doomsday. One, that the token black character, Norton (Adrian Lester), doesn't die first, the only surprise in a flick riddled from start to finish with shopworn screen conventions. Second, Rhona Mitra, the mixed East Indian and British actress, is pleasant to watch playing the invincible heroine, even if in service of a dreadful script.
Still, Neil Marshall should be ashamed for foisting such a disappointing follow-up to The Descent on his fans. For this lame excuse of a movie is an insult to the intelligence of anyone with an I.Q. anywhere above cretin.
Poor (0 stars)
Rated R for profanity, nudity, sexuality and graphic violence.
Running time: 105 minutes
Studi Rogue Pictures
ML KING III GOES TO KENYA: Visit will encourage dialogue on human rights issues.
Martin Luther King, III will travel to Kenya on a peace-keeping mission this week.
King's visit will encourage the Kenyan people to continue to preserve democracy.
The Generation II Global Peace Initiative was created last month after the recent turmoil that followed the elections in December 2007.
The Peace Initiative, known as Gen II, is a program of Realizing the Dream.
King is the founding chairman and CEO of Realizing the Dream, Inc. created to continue the human and civil rights work started by his parents Dr. Martin Luther and Coretta Scott King, Jr.
EUR MOTIVATIONAL NOTE
"Nothing happens unless first a dream." - by Carl Sandburg
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
March 17: Percussionist Harold Brown of War is 62. Actor Mathew St.
Patrick ("Six Feet Under") is 40. Actor Yanic Truesdale ("Gilmore Girls") is 39. Rapper Swifty of D12 is 33.
WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
*PlayYoSong.com surprised us is with real, original soulful music from mostly undiscovered artists like Maia and LA club favorite Jimmi Hamilton. It also features the legendary JJ Johnson as host/DJ:
www.PlayYoSong.com
Submit your favorite Web site to us along with a 15-20 word (or less) description to info@eurweb.com.
BLACK HISTORY
Mar. 17, 1946: Jackie Roosevelt Robinson made his professional debut as a member of the Montreal Royals in the Daytona Beach ballpark that now bears his name. One year later, Robinson would break Major League Baseball's color barrier and earn the inaugural Rookie of the Year Award as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers. (Source: www.BlackFacts.com)
She added, "People believe what they want to believe because it's sensational and it's fun. And they think that's fabulous. I encourage readers to ignore it and seek out the truth."
The fashion designer has two daughters, Ming Lee, 8, and Aoki Lee, 5, with ex-husband, Phat Farm and Def Jam founder Russell Simmons.
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