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07-03-08 EUR ALL ON ONE PAGE
DMX ARRESTED UPON ARRIVAL IN PHOENIX: Rapper taken into custody on two outstanding warrants.
*The arrests just keep coming for DMX. For a fourth time since early May, the rapper was put in handcuffs – this time in Phoenix due to two outstanding warrants, reports TMZ.com.
The artist, born Earl Simmons, was arrested Wednesday morning at a Phoenix airport as he exited a flight from Fort Lauderdale. His lawyer, Murray Richman, told MTV that X knew he would be apprehended as soon as he touched down in his home state for a court hearing on a previous case.
He could now face several months in an Arizona jail while waiting for his next court date to be scheduled, and possibly more time after that.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio — known as "America's Toughest Sheriff" and the man who snatched two honorary badges from Shaquille O'Neal following his freestyle about Kobe Bryant — reportedly told TMZ that X "never learns his lesson" and that he hopes to keep the rapper in jail.
DMX was returning to Arizona to face charges of animal cruelty and drug possession stemming from an arrest in May. He was arrested in Miami on June 27 for allegedly trying to buy cocaine and marijuana, just four days after his arrest in Florida for driving without a valid driver's license.
JEEZY GETS 'JANKY' WITH ICE CUBE: Rapper joins cast of Marcus Raboy-directed comedy.
*Young Jeezy has scored a major role in the upcoming film "Janky Promoters," a Dimension Films comedy starring Ice Cube and Mike Epps in the title role.
Epps and Cube, who also produces the film, play a pair of shady hustlers who get in over their heads while trying to promote a concert by a larger-than-life rap star – played by Jeezy.
Marcus Raboy is directing from a screenplay by Ice Cube. They previously worked together on 2002's "Friday After Next."
Next for Jeezy, a.k.a. Jay Jenkins, is the forthcoming release of his third Def Jam album, "The Recession."
KANYE TO DESIGN LOUIS VUITTON SHOES: Rapper takes his 'Louis Vuitton Don' tag to another level.
*Kanye West says he's about to create a line of men's footwear for the French fashion house Louis Vuitton, as well as a non-Louis-related line of womens wear headed for stores this fall.
The rapper showed up Friday at Vuitton's spring 2009 show in Paris’ Jardins de Bagatelle and told Women's Wear Daily: ”I’m here for Louis” before revealing that he is working with the fashion giant on a men’s shoe line.
He also used his appearance at the show to plug his own line of women's fashions that will debut this fall.
"I grew up with the Louis look, you know," West told the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper. "I just love the style."
JAY-Z'S 40/40 TARGETED IN CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT: Workers say club managers make them work for tips only.
*Some 20 workers for Jay-Z's 40/40 club in Manhattan are part of a class action lawsuit accusing the venue of forcing them to work for tips only, cheating them out of overtime and making them pay for breaks and spills as well as "walkouts."
According to the New York Daily News, the lawsuit from past and present servers, bartenders and other workers was certified as "class action" Tuesday by Manhattan Federal Judge Loretta Preska.
Hundreds of former 40/40 employees could also be eligible to collect if the current workers' win the trial, their attorney says. Preska said the workers' lawyers have made a "minimal" showing that the owners have violated federal wage and labor laws.
"The record contains corroborating evidence of the allegations," Preska wrote.
LIL WAYNE HAS HIS OWN CHAMPAGNE: Rapper partners with Milestone Brands and French grower to create signature bubbly.
*Having the hottest record in the country right now isn't enough for Lil Wayne. The New Orleans-born rapper just stepped into the bubbly business with his newly-launched Halo Champagne.
Weezy teamed with the company Milestone Brands and French grower Voirin-Jumeh to develop the product, which is scheduled to arrive in stores later this year. Halo made its formal premiere in the video for Wayne's No.
1 single "Lollipop."
“I’m excited about this venture with Milestone Brands,” Lil Wayne told AllHipHop.com in a statement. “Champagne is for celebrating. There are so many different business opportunities…I want to take advantage of it all.
I’m ready to put my foot in a new door.”
Halo Champagne is comprised of four sub-brands, each with its own flavor. Halo Brut, contains various flavors and a citrus finish, with hints of lemon cream and roasted hazelnut; Halo Brut Vintage features a classic, creamy consistency and a stronger mix of lemon blossoms and almonds; Halo Rose, a combination of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes, offers an aroma of pomegranate, crushed raspberries, and mint; and Halo Pinnacle is a fruity Chardonnay blend, capped off by hints of lime-tree flower and roasted hazelnuts.
In the meantime, Wayne continues to promote his current single "A Milli," from his new album "Tha Carter III."
GYM CLASS HEROES DUDE ARRESTED: Travis McCoy hit with assault charges Tuesday after alleged racist comments set him off.
*Travis McCoy, the lead singer of the pop/rock band Gym Class Heroes, was arrested in St. Louis Tuesday on municipal assault charges following an altercation with a fan during their spot on the Warped Tour.
"Somebody in the crowd was taunting Travis with racial slurs," the band's manager Bob McLynn told People.com. "Travis invited him onstage with the intent of calling him out in front of the crowd, with absolutely no intention of a physical altercation. When he tried to help him onstage, the guy hit Travis in the knee area, forcing Travis to defend himself. At this point, a scuffle broke out."
After the beatdown, McCoy apologized to the crowd, saying. "I'm sorry you had to see that. But when someone calls you something that's ignorant and that offensive, you have to bash their head in with a microphone."
McCoy was released on $500 bail. View clip here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78QL5NIKqzI
OPRAH CHECKS ON HER GIRLS: Talk show host takes 'secret' flight to SA for Leadership Academy visit.
*Students, faculty and guests of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa were sworn to secrecy last weekend after finding out that the school's founder was on her way for a visit.
South Africa's News24.com is reporting that everyone at the Academy had to sign an agreement promising not to have cameras or cell phones when Winfrey arrived, and not to tell anyone that she was coming.
The talk show host arrived via private jet from London, where she had attended events surrounding Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday celebration. With best friend Gayle King by her side, Winfrey threw a dinner for the students and presented 11-year-old SouthAfrican violinist In-Cha as the evening's special guest.
Oprah and the school's executive head, John Samuel, gave speeches at the dinner, while later in the evening, she joined the girls for dancing.
IS 50 PICKING A BEEF WITH T.I.?: Fans examine G-Unit song 'You So Tough.' Meanwhile, Tip is hanging with Andrew Young.
*While 50 Cent and his G-Unit posse may or may not have called out T.I. in their new single, "You So Tough," the jail-bound Atlanta rapper is busy with more important things, like receiving guidance from a veteran of the civil rights movement.
"He's a mentor of some sort to me," the 27-year-old T.I. said of former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young in an interview with the Associated Press.
Young, who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and was actively involved in the struggle for equality, has taken T.I. under his wing, believing he has the potential to influence today's kids in the way King did during the civil rights movement.
"If you put him in jail for 20 years, that won't do any good toward gun violence," Young told the AP. "The judge had the wisdom and courage to give him a chance and force him to think about the process."
T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris, was sentenced in March on several gun possession charges and will serve about a year in prison after completing at least 1,000 hours of community service. To avoid a lengthy sentence, he agreed to speak with youth about the pitfalls of guns, gangs and violence.
According to the AP, Young stepped in to offer some direction. He brought T.I. to a rehabilitation hospital in New York to meet with people who were paralyzed from gang violence. He's given the rapper books to read, including one written by Young and another on the genocide in Rwanda. Young said he hopes to take T.I. on a trip to Africa before he starts his prison sentence in late March. He already took him to an exclusive birthday party for poet Maya Angelou in May.
Meanwhile, hip hop fans who have heard G-Unit's single "You So Tough" believe the lyrics target T.I. and his gun drama by accusing him of working with police to get a lighter prison sentence.
On the track, which appears on G-Unit's new "Terminate on Sight" album, 50 raps: "Nowadays this rap sh** ain't adding up/ How n****s get caught with 10 machine guns, only get 12 months/ Oowee, don't talk to me/ You talk to him, you talking to them./I got the best lawyers that money can buy/They say at best they would've got me 10 or maybe nine/ I said, 'How do you explain how homie breezed?' They said, 'You keep your mouth shut or you eat the cheese.' "
Despite what sounds like an obvious dig at T.I., 50 told MTV he has absolutely no beef with the King of the South and never mentions his name in the song.
"It's like 'CSI': You use real-life situations to create something that's entertaining without being specific," 50 said. "When have you known me to be indirect with an issue? If I had a problem with any artist, trust me, they would know. I take [that situation], and I write that because a lot of people think that. They're not saying it because they're cowardly people. When you write it and put it there and leave and say, 'Let me watch and see what happens.' There's so much controversy around it, and you didn't say anything. Then you go, 'See, they think that.' They just won't say it to him because they're a bunch of punks."
GRATEFUL DEAD MAY LIVE AGAIN FOR OBAMA: Surviving members of 60s group consider reuniting for another fundraiser.
*Sen. Barack Obama has been praised for many things during the campaign season, among them offering hope and inspiration to millions of Americans, galvanizing the nation's youth, and yes, even raising The Dead.
In February, Grateful Dead's surviving members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart reunited for an Obama fundraiser in San Francisco, and Hart says it could happen again in the coming months.
"We're not making plans, but I think we stand at the ready to be of service," Hart told Billboard.com. "We're all deeply into this, into Barack Obama and the thought of taking this country back in some shape or form, what's left of it -- it's probably one thing we can all agree on! So, you bet, I would spend a night with my brothers for that any time, any place."
Hart said he's been exchanging "a few friendly e-mails" with other Dead members about doing something more for the campaign. The group officially parted ways following the 1995 death of frontman Jerry Garcia.
PHARRELL TALKS TATTOO REMOVAL: Producer opts for an alternative, and more painful way of removing ink.
*Pharrell Williams wants to get rid of his tattoos, but not through the traditional method of laser removal. The producer said he'd rather undergo an alternative procedure that grows fresh new replacement skin in a test tube.
"There's an institute called the Wake Forest Institute in North Carolina for Regenerative Skin Treatment," he told Britain's Daily Mirror newspaper. "It's going to be pricey, but … it's worth it."
"It's basically like getting a skin graft," he explains, "but you're not taking skin from you’re a** or legs – these guys actually grow the skin for you."
So which of his tattoos is so repulsive now that he's willing to undergo a skin transplant to cover it up? "I got fire on my arms, I don't need fire on my arms," he said. "I'm a grown man."
BARRY BONDS' 756TH HR BALL IN HALL: Cooperstown gets record breaker – but it's branded with an asterisk.
*The baseball that Barry Bonds smacked out of San Francisco's AT&T Park on Aug. 7 to break Hank Aaron's home run record has finally come to rest in the Hall of Fame.
The ball arrived in Cooperstown, N.Y. Tuesday via a driver, who walked into the venue and handed museum officials the ball along with a letter from its owner Marc Ecko, stating the treasure was an "unconditional donation."
"We are very happy to receive the baseball as a donation, and not as a loan," Hall spokesman Brad Horn said. "We look forward to adding this ball to our permanent collections."
According to the Associated Press, the ball is marked with the five-pronged asterisk dye-cut into the cowhide, from stitch-to-stitch where "Major League Baseball" is printed. Ecko, who bought the ball in an online auction for $752,467, asked fans to vote in an Internet poll on what he should do with it. The majority called for its branding with an asterisk, to reflect the steroid allegations surrounding Bonds, and its delivery to the Hall.
Horn said the ball will be displayed in the coming weeks, once it is properly documented. Bonds has already donated the batting helmets he wore when he hit his 755th and 756th home runs.
WU TANG'S GZA/GENIUS LAUNCHES SOLO TOUR: Rapper to get cross country trek underway in late August.
*Wu-Tang Clan member GZA/Genius today kicks off two warm-up shows in Canada before launching a North American solo tour in late August, reports Live Daily.
After a show tonight in Montreal and on July 26 in Toronto, GZA begins the tour's main leg on Aug. 21 in Los Angeles. After a few California gigs, he'll wind through the Midwest and the South, wrapping in mid-September with a run of dates on the East Coast.
The artist is expected to perform his classic 1995 album, "Liquid Swords," in its entirety. He'll also debut material from his forthcoming set, "Pro Tools," according to Live Daily. A release date for the new record has not been announced.
Here is GZA's tour itinerary:
July 2008
3 - Montreal, Quebec - Metropolis
26 - Toronto, Ontario -Wakestock
August 2008
8 - Horseshoe, NC - Deerfields Amphitheatre
21 - Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre
22 - Santa Cruz, CA - Moe's Alley
23 - Petaluma, CA - Phoenix Theater
25 - Portland, OR - Berbati's Pan
26 - Seattle, WA - Neumos
27 - Vancouver, British Columbia - Richards On Richards Cabaret
29 - Salt Lake City, UT - Paladium
30 - Denver, CO - Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom
September 2008
1 - Dallas, TX - Palladium Loft
2 - Houston, TX - Warehouse Live
3 - Austin, TX - Emos Austin
4 - Minneapolis, MN - Cabooze
5 - Grinnell, IA - Grinnell College
6 - Madison, WI - Southern Comfort Music Experience
7 - Chicago, IL - House of Blues
10 - Baltimore, MD - Rams Head Live!
11 - Atlantic City, NJ - House of Blues
12 - New York, NY - The Fillmore at Irving Plaza
13 - Allston, MA - Harpers Ferry
ITTY BITTY BITS: Audra's 'Allegro'; Booker T, Memphis Horns in Musicians Hall; FX nabs 'Hancock'; Mandela off terrorist list; Holyfield's child support.
*Audra McDonald joins other Broadway veterans for the first complete recording of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's Allegro, which features a 50-piece orchestra. The star of ABC's "Private Practice" sings as the mother of Allegro's main character Joe Taylor, Jr. Her contributions to the recording are "A Fellow Needs a Girl" with Nathan Gunn ) and "Come Home." The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization confirmed to Playbill.com that principal orchestral and vocal work has been completed for the recording, which will be released on a date and label to be announced shortly.
*Booker T. and the MGs, the Memphis Horns and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section are headed to the Musicians Hall of Fame, it was announced Tuesday. Booker T. and the MGs were part of the famed Memphis sound in the '60s, playing on recordings by Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, and Rufus Thomas.
The Memphis Horns also were an integral part of Memphis music in the '60s and '70s, appearing on nearly every recording on Stax Records. The Alabama-based Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section worked on classics like Aretha Franklin's "Respect" and the Staple Singers "I'll Take You There."
*Cable channel FX picked up rights to broadcast Will Smith's current movie "Hancock" beginning late in 2010. According to Variety, FX will pay more than $20 million if the film does as well as expected. The formula covers a payout of about 12% of the domestic box office, with a cap if the movie goes well above $200 million. Two Will Smith vehicles, "Independence Day" and "I, Robot," consistently earn huge Nielsen ratings every time FX schedules them, making the bid for "Hancock" a no-brainer for the network.
*Former South African President Nelson Mandela will finally be taken off of a U.S. terrorism watch list, thanks to a bill President Bush signed Tuesday. Mandela and other members of the African National Congress have been on the list because of their fight against South Africa's apartheid regime, which gave way to majority rule in 1994. The bill gives the State Department and the Homeland Security Department the authority to waive restrictions against ANC members. "He had no place on our government's terror watch list, and I'm pleased to see this bill finally become law,"
said Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.
*Evander Holyfield is back in the headlines over his child support situation. TMZ.com reported yesterday that Toi Jenese Irvin, the mother of his 10-year-old son Evan, is demanding that the former heavyweight champ pay his $9,000 debt in full, or go to jail. In addition to being three months behind with the checks, Irvin also alleges that the boxer dropped their son's health insurance, against judges orders.
EUR DVD REVIEW: War, Inc.
Sophisticated Political Satire Starring John Cusack Released on DVD
DVD Review by Kam Williams
*In the not too distant future, if it hasn’t already transpired, mega-corporations might replace nations as the world’s most powerful political entities.
This is the state of affairs contemplated by War, Inc., a sophisticated satire which reads like a logical extension of what cynics say already unfolded in Iraq.
The plot revolves around the efforts of a former U.S. Vice-President (Dan Aykroyd) to monopolize the economy of a mythical war-torn country, Turaqistan, on behalf of Tamerlane, an American company to which he has close ties.
This scenario amounts to a thinly-veiled allusion to Dick Cheney’s ostensibly engineering lucrative no-bid contracts in Iraq on behalf of Halliburton and its subsidiaries.
The fun starts soon after the ex-VP hires a mercenary, Brand Hauser (John Cusack), to kill Omar Sharif (Lyubomir Neikov), no, not the actor, but a Middle East oil minister representing Tamerlane’s primary competitor. Upon arriving in Turaqistan, Hauser is ushered into Emerald City, a heavily-fortified sanctuary suspiciously similar to the Green Zone where, while waiting for an opportunity to eliminate Omar, spends most of his free time wooing a leftist American journalist (Marisa Tomei).
Like a campy cross of Dr. Strangelove and Wag the Dog, this celluloid anti-war screed serves up a mesmerizing mélange of action, romance, slapstick, intrigue, gore, sentimentality, sensuality and sleight of hand when not offering pointed insights about the dire prospects for a corporatized planet. As humorous as it is thought-provoking, War, Inc. is chock full of memorable moments, perhaps the best being the hand-to-hand showdown in the belly of a garbage truck between our reluctant hero and a worthy adversary (Ben Kingsley). Ever seen a villain trash compacted into submission?
A preposterous, impossible to pigeonhole spoof which somehow satisfactorily adds up to more than the sum of its seemingly incompatible parts.
Excellent (4 stars)
Rated R for violence, profanity and brief sexuality.
Running time: 107 minutes
Studi First Look Home Entertainment
DVD Extras: Previews.
JOSEPH C. PHILLIPS: Wrong Answer
*The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has promised Americans a new kind of politics – “change we can believe in.” Who could’ve suspected that the change he was referring to was a reversion to the failed policies of 30 years ago?
In response to the rising price of gasoline, the senator responded, "I'll make oil companies like Exxon pay a tax on their windfall profits, and we'll use the money to help families pay for their skyrocketing energy costs and other bills."
For my middle class money, the senator gave the wrong answer to the first economic question. Go to the back of the line; no gold star for you.
In 1980, President Jimmy Carter signed into law a windfall tax on big oil profits also hoping to use the money to subsidize the cost of rising energy prices.
The policy was a failure. The Congressional Research Service found that “the tax reduced domestic oil production by 3% to 6% and increased oil imports from OPEC by 8% to 16%.” And what of all that revenue that was to pour into government coffers in order to give relief to American consumers, (who oddly enough were now burdened by higher gas prices and shortages)? It turns out that the tax was expensive to impose and equally as expensive to collect. Tax revenue dripped in rather than raining down. When the tax was finally and mercifully repealed, the New York Times summed up the policy thusly: “…when Americans waited two hours in gasoline lines and Saudi princes summered in Monaco, it seems almost quaint now."
It is remarkable how new liberals have convinced themselves that because their hearts are in the right place, the laws of economics (to say nothing of history) simply do not apply to them.
The senator’s answer does, however, reveal something about the basic tenets of new liberalism to whit: wealth is bad and always ill gotten – that is all wealth that is not their wealth. Further, they are committed to the redistribution of wealth over and above the stated goals of providing relief for the common man.
Obama, for instance, sniffs that lifting the ban on off shore drilling “is not something that's going to give consumers short-term relief, and it is not a long-term solution to our problems." If we can’t drill for oil and we can’t build nuclear energy plants, how can we achieve the independence from foreign oil that every president since Jimmy Carter has promised and failed to deliver? Of course, none of those other men promised to calm the seas and heal the world so perhaps Obama is up to a job the others were not.
In what can only be described as a truly cynical gesture the junior senator from Illinois recently voted for a farm bill that rewards corn based ethanol, which as it happens also drives up the price of everything from beef to beer.
Corn growers are reaping record profits. They have experienced a windfall if you will. The rising price of corn has also led to correspondingly high prices for wheat and barley and has sent the price of groceries soaring. Yet, there is no call for a windfall profits tax on corn growers who despite the increasing demand for corn are planting fewer acres this year than last. In fact, the senator wants to replace tax subsidies for the oil industry with tax subsidies for the ethanol producers. Most of these subsidies do not go to small family farms, but “big agriculture.”
Where is the relief for the common man? Most of us could stand to walk more and drive less, but none of us can stop eating. Of course, none of that matters so long as we punish big oil companies for making profits.
What remains unclear is what is new about demonizing “big oil” in order to earn populist points while at the same time supporting policies that hurt consumers? The answer is nothing. The new politics of Barack Obama smell an awful lot like the politics of old. And if it smells like bull, well…
Joseph C. Phillips is the author of “He Talk Like A White Boy” available wherever books are sold.
AUDREY’S SOCIETY WHIRL: Black Alumni of Pratt party
The Black Alumni Of Pratt Celebrated Quartet Of Creative Spirits At It’s Seventeenth Annual Benefit Dinner At The Fabulous Jazz @ Lincoln Center
By Audrey J. Bernard/Lifestyles & Society Editor
*On Monday, May 19, The Black Alumni of Pratt (BAP) celebrated its 17th annual benefit dinner at Jazz @ Lincoln Center, Allen Room, presented by Thomas F. Schutte, president of Pratt Institute and Dwight C. Johnson, president of BAP and the creative genius behind Dwight Johnson Design which is responsible for the innovative production behind some of the biggest galas in New York City – this one included.
Helping to make the evening a ginormous success was BAP’s advisory council consisting of notables such as Gayle Perkins Atkins, Jelani Bandele, Elizabeth Catlett, Malaak Compton-Rock, Evelyn Cunningham, Ruby Dee, Georgia Delano, June Kelly, Westina Matthews Shatteen, John Morning, Marva Smalls, Franklin A. Thomas and Denise Wiggins, manager of special events, and a driving force behind the evening’s success.
Themed a “Celebration of the Creative Spirit,” the black tie event honored four outstanding creative spirits – Preston Bailey (presented by Dr. Sheila Johnson); Lois P. Betts (presented by Kathryn Chenault); Julie Taymor (presented by Jessye Norman); and Veronica Webb (presented by Bethann Hardison).
Lovely Sade Baderinwa, co-anchor, WABC-TV’s Eyewitness News at 5, wore two hats as Mistress of Ceremonies and ace auctioneeress in which she raised additional funds to benefit BAP’s scholarship fund.
BAP was founded in 1990 to identify and advance scholastic and professional opportunities for Pratt students and alumni of African and Latino descent. Funds raised for the event are allocated to both BAP scholarship funds and BAP program initiatives.
The Honorable David N. and Joyce Dinkins served as honorary chairs for the stellar evening. The Betts Family Foundation and Kathryn & Kenneth Chenault served as co-chairs.
In tribute to honoree Taymor, creator of Disney on Broadway’s The Lion King, and the other honorees, cast members of the Tony Award winning play performed several hit numbers. (Photos: Crystal Cotton)
Audrey J. Bernard is an established chronicler of Black society and Urban happenings based in the New York City area.
THE PULSE OF ENTERTAINMENT: ASCAP R&S Awards honors New Edition; Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins is now on DVD, and Sanaa Lathan supports women of color July 4th at the Essence Music Festival
By Eunice Moseley
ASCAP honors New Edition at the 21st annual ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Awards
*The ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Awards was held recently at The Beverly Hilton Hotel and was hosted by Grammy Award winning song writer Johnta’ Austin. This year ASCAP honored New Edition with the Golden Note Award.
The ASCAP R&S Awards also honored a list of other song writers/composers in six categories, but undoubtedly the night was all about New Edition.
“It’s well deserved,” Kelly Price said about the honor, as well as everyone else I talked to on the red carpet that night.
All six members of New Edition were present to receive the honor: Michael, Ricky, Bobby, Ronnie, Johnny and Ralph. The Golden Note Award is given to songwriters, composers and artists who have achieved extraordinary career milestones. Previous recipients include Lionel Richie, Tom Petty, Stevie Wonder, Jermaine Dupri, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Jay-Z, Quincy Jones, LL Cool J and Steve Miller.
“I am singing Ralph Tresvant’s “Sensitivity,” J. Holiday said before the show about his performance in honoring the legendary group. Marsha Ambrosius (Floetry) performed Johnny Gill’s “My, My, My.”
In the early 1980s New Edition sold more units in the United States than any other teen singing group and their success led to the creation of late-90s boy bands, such as New Kids on the Block, Boyz II Men, Backsteet Boys, and N’Sync. New Edition released seven studio albums and its members have all enjoyed successful solo careers.
Black music star power was out that night when Ne-Yo, New Edition, Verdine White, Maurice White, MC Lyte, Kelly Price, Ludacris, Michelle Williams (Destiny’s Child) and Musiq came in support. Grammy nominated songwriters/composers were out as well: Carvin Haggin and Ivan Barias, DJ Dirty Harry, Kerry “Krucial” Brothers and The Dream.
Honors where also given to the Songwriter of the Year, Timbaland; Publisher of the Year, EMI Publishing; Ringtone of the Year, “This is Why I’m Hot;” R&B/Hip-Hop Song of the Year, “Lost Without U;” Rap Song of the Year, “Make Me Better,” and Gospel Song of the Year,” “Blessed & Highly Favored”
Other performers included Brutha, Raheem DeVaughn, The Dream, Flo-Rida, Krave, Jacob Latimore, Karina Pasian, Shawty Lo and Tank.
Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins starring Martin Lawrence now on DVD
“It was one big BBQ and family reunion,” Mike Epps said about the filming of the Universal Picture and Spyglass Entertainment presentation, Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins. “Michael Clark Duncan and Mo’Nique had fun though behind the cameras!”
The film has an all-star cast and is about a very successful black man, RJ, played by Martin Lawrence, who comes back home to attend his parents’ 50th wedding anniversary party with his fiancée, played by Nicole Ari’ Parker. His family had ridiculed him back-in-the-day and now that treatment does not fit with RJ’s current egotistical attitude. But his lovable but relentless family refuses to cut him any slack because of his superstar status.
The all-star cast also consists of Cedric The Entertainer, Mo’Nique, Margaret Avery, Joy Bryant, Michael Clarke Duncan, Louis C.K., James Earl Jones and Mike Epps. Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins is co-executively produced, directed and written by Malcolm D. Lee.
“I met Malcolm before…we’d worked together,” Mike Epps said about how he got this role. “So we were familiar with each other ……I wanted to do it and I was open.”
Epps is in an “indie” film, “Next Day Air,” with Debbie Allen where he plays a hustler. He has also just secured the role of Richard Pryor in an up-coming movie about the legendary comedian.
You can learn more about this family gathering DVD release at www.roscoejenkins.com.
Sanaa Lathan supports women of color at the Essence Music Festival July 4th in New Orleans
Actress Sanaa Lathan will be promoting a documentary that asked women of color around the globe how they honor their skin. The documentary, “Skin Stories,” will be premiered at the Essence Music Festival during the first day, July 4th in New Orleans.
“They approached me and let me know their concerns,” Sanaa Lathan said about how she got involved. “It seemed uplifting and inspiriting. People take skin for granted …haven’t put the spot light on skin…black is beautiful!”
“Skin Stories” is narrated by Sanaa Lathan, who is also a film and stage actress. Lathan has starred in Love and Basketball, Something New, Brown Sugar and the up-coming Tyler Perry film, The Family That Preys.
The film explores the global connection among people of color and how they feel about and relate to their skin. Women can add their own skin stories at www.skinvoice.com and contribute to the living documentary about skin color.
EUR MOTIVATIONAL NOTE
"You miss a 100 percent of the shots you don’t take." – Wayne Gretzky
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS
July 3: Talk show host Montel Williams is 52. Singer Tonia Tash of Divine is 29.
WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
Read the "real story" beyond Motown's legend and founder of the Supremes, Florence Ballard, in her sister's book "The True Story of Florence Ballard." Visit www.maxineballard.com.
Submit your favorite Web site to us along with a 15-20 word (or less) description to info@eurweb.com.
BLACK HISTORY
July 3, 1953: Harry Belafonte was shown with actress Janet Leigh and film star Tony Curtis on the cover of Ebony magazine. It was the first time a black person and two Caucasians were seen together on a U.S. magazine cover. (Source: www.BlackFacts.com)
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