08-07-09 EUR ALL ON ONE PAGE

LATOYA HORDES NEW MICHAEL JACKSON MUSIC: Singer's sister reportedly grabs hard drives containing unreleased songs.

 *Rolling Stone magazine is reporting that LaToya Jackson has gained possession of a computer hard drive containing both new and unreleased songs from her brother Michael that he had recorded with such singer/producers as Ne-Yo, Akon, and will.i.am.

      The drives were housed in Michael's rented Holmby Hills, Calif., mansion when he died suddenly in June. Hours afterward, the family descended on the house to claim all its contents, and LaToya grabbed the drives, Rolling Stone said, quoting the late singer's manager, Frank DiLeo.
     
      "They backed up trucks, removing everything," DiLeo was quoted as telling the magazine in its issue that hits newsstands today. "They thought Michael owned it all, so they took even the rented furniture. That's who's going to run his estate?"
     
      Jackson's will gave 40 percent of his estate to his 79-year-old mother, Katherine, who wants more control and has raised doubts about the pair of high-powered executors currently overseeing his business affairs.
     
      In a follow-up interview with Reuters, DiLeo said he was "pretty sure"
the hard drives were at the family's Hayvenhurst compound in Encino, Calif.
"The estate lawyers will send out letters" to recover the drives so that the contents can be logged, DiLeo added.
     
      A spokeswoman for will.i.am said the singer did not have duplicates of his work with Jackson. Representatives for Akon and Ne-Yo either could not be reached or had no information.
     
      DiLeo told Rolling Stone that there were at least 100 songs -- including many recorded at Jackson's 1980s peak -- that were never released, including a few "sensational" tracks that were left off "Bad," the 1987 follow-up to his blockbuster "Thriller."

MUHAMMAD ALI TO VISIT HIS IRISH ROOTS: Boxing legend to tour town in Ireland where his great grandfather was born.

      *Boxing legend Muhammad Ali is to visit the Irish town from where his great-grandfather emigrated to the United States in the 1800s, the town's mayor announced Thursday.
     
      Ali, 67, has finally agreed to take up a long-standing invitation from the town council to visit Ennis, County Clare, reports Reuters.
      "We will make him very welcome," Mayor Frankie Neylon told AFP. "We will be delighted to see him. I would hope to arrange a vote of the council to make him a freeman of Ennis."
     
      Ali will be in Ireland later this month to take part in "An Evening with the Greatest," a Dublin-based fundraising event for the recently established Alltech-Muhammad Ali Center Global Education and Charitable Fund. The Irish biotechnology firm Alltech established the fund with Ali to promote educational and humanitarian goals.
     
      Alltech president and founder Pearse Lyons said Ali will revisit Dublin -- where he fought Al "Blue" Lewis in 1972 in front of a crowd of 25,000 -- for "a new and equally profound fight, a fight in the name of benevolence."
     
      Research by genealogists found that Ali's great-grandfather Abe Grady emigrated to Kentucky in the 1860s. Abe married an African-American and they had a son called John Grady who was Ali's grandfather. He in turn had a daughter called Odessa Lee Grady who was Ali's mother.
     
      Ali was originally Cassius Marcellus Clay Junior but changed his name to Muhammad Ali when he converted to the Nation of Islam.
     
      Genealogists also claim that both President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are descended from Irish families of shoemakers with their ancestors leaving Ireland within weeks of each other in April and May 1849.
     
      Obama's ancestor came from Moneygall in County Offaly in the midlands and Biden's is believed to have emigrated from Carlingford, County Louth in the north-east.
As a result of waves of migration, about 34 million people in the United States claim an Irish connection today.

RON ARTEST HELPS POOR CHINESE STUDENT: New Laker gives 15-year-old expensive watch to help fund his education.

      *New Los Angeles Lakers forward Ron Artest has donated his $45,000 diamond watch to a Chinese teenager, apparently to sell so that he can fund his education, according to AFP.
     
      Artest made the generous gift after playing basketball with 15-year-old Zheng Fengyu, who is from a poor family, in the central city of Wuhan on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.
     
      "He is great. Never let me shoot easily," Artest was quoted as saying.
"Hope this can help realize his basketball dream."
     
      After receiving the gift from the NBA star, Zheng, who is the captain of his school team, said: "August 14th is my birthday, this is just the perfect gift for me."
     
      Artest, who signed with NBA champions Los Angeles last month, also enjoyed a game with young players at a local university.
     
      Around a dozen NBA players have visited China in the past few weeks, including Kobe Bryant who has been teaching his skills to youths and launching his fund to raise money for education and health programs in China. Wherever they go they have been mobbed by adoring fans, AFP noted.

MORE WITNESSES CALLED FOR C-MURDER TRIAL: Wednesday testimony includes contradiction.

      *Louisiana prosecutors were looking to call more witnesses Thursday in the murder trial of rapper Corey "C-Murder" Miller.
     
      A key prosecution witness told jurors Wednesday he was positive that Miller shot a 16-year-old fan during a 2002 nightclub brawl in the New Orleans area. But witness Darneil Jordan Sr. admitted on cross examination that he never actually saw the artist with a gun.
     
      If found guilty of second-degree murder, the 38-year-old Miller will spend the rest of his life in prison.
     
      Miller was convicted in 2003. But the judge granted a new trial after finding prosecutors improperly kept the defense from seeing criminal background information on three witnesses.

SNOOP VISITS BALTIMORE RAVENS TRAINING CAMP: Rapper watches from sidelines before joining team huddle for end-of-practice chant.

      *Snoop Dogg got in some practice time with the Baltimore Ravens Thursday morning, joining the team at their Westminster, MD training camp strictly out of curiosity, reports the Associated Press.
     
      The rapper and his entourage - including a Fonzworth Bentley-like assistant who held an umbrella over Snoop's head - reportedly watched from the sideline for about an hour before ending practice by leading a chant within the team huddle at midfield, AP reported.
     
      After leading the Ravens through the chant barked famously before every game by linebacker Ray Lewis, practice ended with a whoop from the players - several of whom posed for pictures with the rapper.
     
      Snoop, who runs his California-based Snoop Youth Football League, said his attendance at the training camp was to study the Ravens' famous defense in action.

'IDOL' DOOR MAY NOT BE CLOSED FOR PAULA: Producer Nigel Lythgoe says anything can happen.

      *Fox Entertainment Chairman Peter Rice has confirmed Paula Abdul's Aug. 4 Twitter that her negotiation period is over and she will not return to "American Idol" when the new season begins in January.

      But.

      When asked specifically by the Associated Press if the network would consider taking her back if she agreed to accept their final offer, Rice declined to answer.
 
      "Idol" executive producer Nigel Lythgoe didn't completely rule out Paula's return either, and went so far as to tell critics that he will meet with the former dancer in Las Vegas this weekend to discuss "what opportunities there are out there," whether it's "Idol," Lythgoe's other series "So You Think You Can Dance" or something entirely new.
 
      "I still don't know if she's going  to leave 'Idol,'" Lythgoe told the Television Critics Association on Thursday. "I know this is going on and the tweeting and the official statements and everything, but until 'Idol' goes on the air, there's always opportunities of renegotiations. Who knows what might happen."

      Rice said that the network made an offer it felt was very fair to Abdul, but she and her new manager turned it down.
"We're very sad that she's not coming back, she's been a very important part of the 'Idol' family," he told the critics.  "We're looking forward to the season. Obviously there's going to be a different dynamic. There's going to be a change this year."

      Among the changes - the fourth chair on the judging panel will be filled throughout the seven week audition period by various female pop stars. So far, Victoria Beckham and Katy Perry have been confirmed.

JAY-Z, RIHANNA, KANYE TO 'RUN' LENO PREMIERE: Trio to perform new single on 10 p.m. 'Jay Leno Show' next month.

      *Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West will share the stage on the season premiere of "The Jay Leno Show" on Monday, Sept. 14, NBC announced Thursday.
     
      The trio will perform their single "Run This Town," a song from Jay-Z's highly anticipated new album "The Blueprint 3," set for release on Sept. 11.
     
      The show, which marks Leno's switch from latenight into primetime; will air at 10 p.m. EST five nights a week.
     
      Prince ushered out the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on May 28, and Pearl Jam was the first band to play under Conan O'Brien's tenure as host, which started June 1.
MARIAH CAREY JOINS HUBBY ON 'TALENT': Singer performs new single, then engages in post-performance banter with Cannon.

      *Mariah Carey performed her single "Obsessed" on NBC's "America's Got Talent" Wednesday, joining her husband and show host Nick Cannon.
     
      "I don't care what nobody say, that song is about me because I am obsessed with this beautiful girl right here," Cannon said as his wife finished her song, the first single from her upcoming album "Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel." "This beautiful woman next to me has more No. 1 hit singles than any single artist in the world. How do you do it?"

      "Well, there's a group that has more," she said, referring to the Beatles. "And clearly, we can't touch them."

      "We ain't worried about them because it's all about Mariah right now,"
Cannon replied.

      "No, no. This is your show," she said to her husband. "I'm just so happy to be here."

      "She's modest, she's beautiful," a proud Cannon continued. "Ladies and gentlemen, my soulmate Mariah Carey."
     
      Several weeks ago, the video for "Obsessed" premiered at the end of "America's Got Talent."

ICE CUBE, BOW WOW WIN THE 'LOTTERY': Pair to star in urban comedy for Cube's production company.

      *Alcon Entertainment has picked up Abdul Williams' script "Lottery Ticket" in turnaround from Rogue Pictures, and will finance and produce the urban comedy as a starring vehicle for Bow Wow and Ice Cube, reports Variety.
     
      The story revolves around a young man, portrayed by Bow Wow, living in the projects who has to survive a three-day weekend after his opportunistic neighbors find out he's holding a winning lottery ticket worth $350 million.
     
      Music videdo helmer Erik White will make his feature directorial debut on the project, which is set to begin production in Atlanta in October.
     
      Alcon toppers Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove will produce, along with Evolution partners Mark Burg and Oren Koules. Matt Alvarez of Ice Cube's production company, Cube Vision, will also produce.
     
CHRIS BROWN SENTENCING DELAYED: Court date pushed back to Aug. 27 due to community labor questions.

      *A judge has delayed sentencing R&B singer Chris Brown on an assault charge to seek more input from Virginia authorities about whether Brown could do community labor in that state, reports the Associated Press.
     
      Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg said at a hearing Wednesday she will sentence Brown on Aug. 27 in the beating of Rihanna, who did not attend the hearing.

      With Brown in the courtroom, the judge met with a prosecutor and defense attorney briefly before Brown's scheduled sentencing. When she emerged, Schnegg said Virginia had yet to say if it could accommodate her requirement that Brown serve community labor, rather than community service.

     
      The Virginia Department of Corrections said earlier that it typically doesn't consider whether to supervise a person on probation until after they are sentenced.
     
      Brown, 20, pleaded guilty in June to one count of felony assault stemming from the altercation with his then-girlfriend. A plea deal calls for him to serve five years of probation and six months of community labor.
The judge has said she wants Brown to do community work comparable to graffiti removal or roadside cleanup.
     
      The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said Brown's recommended sentence was in line with what others received when charged with similar crimes and have no prior criminal history.

TV ONE EXPLAINS LISARAYE REALITY SHOW: Cameras to follow actress' comeback attempt and more. 

      *TV One has provided details of its new reality show following the goings on of actress LisaRaye, who came to Los Angeles from her native Chicago more than a decade ago and launched her career in Ice Cube's "The Players Club."
     
       After announcing its existence last week at the summer meeting of the Television Critics Association in Pasadena, Calif., the network has revealed that cameras will follow LisaRaye as she attempts to mount an acting comeback while balancing a roller-coaster personal life.
     
      The half-hour show's eight episodes will be shot in both Los Angeles and the island of Turks and Caicos, where she served as the First Lady during her turbulent marriage to former Premier Michael Misick.
     
       LisaRaye will be shown focusing on her acting career, helping her 19-year-old daughter Kai transition into adulthood; keeping her incarcerated sister, Da Brat, in line; taking care of her ailing mother, and trying to hold down a love life.
     
      The reality series is slated to go into production this fall.
     
      LisaRaye came to Los Angeles from her native Chicago more than a decade ago, and got a taste of stardom and strong reviews in Ice Cube's The Players Club and later leading roles in The Wood, Civil Brand and other films. More TV and film roles followed, including the role of Neesee in the popular sitcom All of Us.

PRESIDENTIAL DEATH THREATS UP 400 PERCENT: New book claims Obama gets 30 death threats a day.
     
      *President Barack Obama is the target of more than 30 potential death threats a day and is being protected by an increasingly over-stretched and under-resourced Secret Service, according to a new book.
     
      Since Obama took office, the rate of threats against the president has increased 400 percent from the roughly 3,000 per year under President George W. Bush, according to Ronald Kessler, author of "In the President's Secret Service."
     
      Some threats to Obama, whose Secret Service codename is Renegade, have been publicized, including an alleged plot by white supremacists in Tennessee late last year to rob a gun store, shoot 88 black people, decapitate another 14 and then assassinate the first black president in American history.
     
      Most however, are kept under wraps because the Secret Service fears that revealing details of them would only increase the number of copycat attempts. Although most threats are not credible, each one has to be investigated thoroughly.
     
      According to the book, intelligence officials received intel that people associated with the Somalia-based Islamist group al-Shabaab might try to disrupt Obama's inauguration in January, when the Secret Service coordinated at least 40,000 agents and officers from some 94 police, military and security agencies.
     
      More than a dozen counter-sniper teams were stationed along the inauguration parade route and the criminal records of employees and hotel guests in nearby buildings were scrutinized, the book states.
     
      Despite all this, there were glaring loopholes in the security.
Kessler describes how more than 100 VIPs and major campaign donors were screened by metal detectors but then walked along a public pavement before boarding "secure" buses and were not checked again. It could have been relatively simple for an assassin to have mingled with them in order to get close enough to shoot the new president.

      After Obama was elected president, his two children Malia, 11, codenamed Radiance, and Sasha, eight, codenamed Rosebud, began receiving Secret Service protection. Obama's wife Michelle is codenamed Renaissance.
The Secret Service also started to protect Vice-President Joe Biden's children, grandchildren, and mother.
     
      Instead of bringing in more agents, the Secret Service directed agents to work longer hours to cover the extra load and to miss firearms training, physical fitness sessions and tests.
     
      "We have half the number of agents we need, but requests for more agents have fallen on deaf ears at headquarters," a Secret Service agent told Kessler. "Headquarters' mentality has always been, 'You can complete the mission with what you have. You're a U.S.S.S. agent'."

MIKE TYSON TO GUEST STAR ON 'BROTHERS': Boxer to appear on episode to air later this season.

      *Mike Tyson has been tapped to appear as a guest star on the upcoming Fox comedy "Brothers," starring former NFL star Michael Strahan and Daryl "Chill" Mitchell.
     
      In the series, Strahan plays a former NFL star dealing with post-gridiron life as he moves back home with his family - brother Daryl (Mitchel), mother (CCH Pounder) and father (Carl Weathers).
     
      Tyson, in his first role following his cameo in "The Hangover," Iron Mike will show up on the series to collect money from Mike (Strahan) at his brother's (Mitchell) restaurant.
     
      The episode is scheduled to air later in the season. The series, meanwhile, will premiere with a special one-hour episode on Friday, Sept. 25 at 8 p.m.
     
SECOND HARVARD PROF. ALLEGES POLICE BIAS: S. Allen Counter speaks out about a previous arrest.

      * A second black Harvard professor accused the Cambridge police of racism yesterday in wrongfully arresting him outside his home nearly three years ago, according to the Boston Globe.
     
      S. Allen Counter, a prominent Harvard Medical School professor and head of the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, spoke about his arrest on assault and battery charges in an editorial published yesterday with The Bay State Banner.
     
      The disclosure follows last month's high-profile arrest of renowned African-American scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.
     
      Counter's attorney, Ozell Hudson Jr., told the Globe yesterday that Counter is considering his legal options over the manner he says he was treated after he complied with a request to step outside his house in December 2006 when police arrived to investigate a call by his former wife.
     
      She reported to police that Counter had tried to push their teenage daughter out of a moving car during an argument. Counter said he had not previously publicized the arrest because he feared that police would harass him and his family.
     
      But he told Harvard colleagues about the incident and said he felt he had been mistreated because he is black. Counter said he was not told why police were at his home nor why he was being arrested.
     
      In recent years, he said, it has become a common belief among the black community at Harvard that they should stay put when police come to the door.
"The word around Harvard is never step outside your house with these guys,'
Counter said in a phone interview. "We advise people not to step out. You call an attorney and stay in your house.'

      Cambridge police would not comment Thursday on Counter's arrest. But a spokesman said that police have a right to enter homes without a warrant if there is probable cause.

OPENING THIS WEEK: Kam's Kapsules: Weekly Previews That Make Choosing a Film Fun         
For movies opening August 7, 2009
by Kam Williams
                  

BIG BUDGET FILMS

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (PG-13 for mayhem and graphic violence) Action-oriented thriller about an elite team of gadget-equipped, military spies who venture to the ends of the Earth in search of the international arms dealer (Christopher Eccleston) masterminding a diabolical plot to plunge the planet into complete chaos. Supporting cast includes Channing Tatum, Dennis Quaid, Arnold Vosloo and Sienna Miller.

Julie & Julia (PG-13 for sensuality and brief profanity) Nora Ephron directs this lighthearted bio-pic merging the memoir of celebrated chef Julia Child (Meryl Streep) with that of her biggest fan, a suburban housewife (Amy Adams) who tried to cook 524 of her idol’s famous recipes over the course of a single year. With Jane Lynch, Stanley Tucci and Chris Messina.

Paper Heart (PG-13 for profanity) Romantic comedy revolving around a jaded young woman (Charlene Yi) who meets the guy of her dreams (Michael Cera) while traveling across the country interviewing people for a documentary she’s making about the meaning of love. Cast includes Seth Rogen, Jake M. Johnson and Paul Rust.

A Perfect Getaway (R for profanity, sexual references, graphic violence and drug use) Horror flick about a newlywed couple (Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich) whose backpacking honeymoon on Hawaii turns into a nightmarish struggle for survival when they discover that psychopaths are stalking and slaughtering tourists camping out on the beaches. With Timothy Oliphant, Kiele Sanchez and Marley Shelton.

INDEPENDENT & FOREIGN FILMS

Beeswax (Unrated) Quirky ensemble comedy, set in Austin, Texas, centering on a couple of identical twins, one, a wheelchair-bound paraplegic (Maggie Hatcher), the other, a clothing store owner (Tilly Hatcher) who rekindles a romance with an ex-lover (Alex Karpovsky) in order to get legal help with a lawsuit filed against her by her business partner (Anne Dodge). 

Bliss (Unrated) Dysfunctional family drama based on Omer Zulfu Livaneli’s incendiary best seller about a 17 year-old rape victim (Ozgu Namal) whose mortified Muslim parents (Emin Gursoy and Sebnem Kostem) ask her cousin (Murat Han) to perform an honor killing when she refuses to commit suicide after her loss of chastity. (In Turkish with subtitles)

Cold Souls (PG-13 for nudity and brief profanity) Paul Giamatti plays himself in this droll, sci-fi dramedy about an off-Broadway actor with performance anxiety who travels from New York to Russia to retrieve his medically-extracted soul from the ambitious, soap opera actress (Dina Korzun) who borrowed it. Cast includes David Strathairn, Emily Watson and Katheryn Winnick. 

I Sell the Dead (Unrated) Horror comedy, set in 19th C. Ireland, chronicling a condemned grave robber’s (Dominic Monaghan) confessing his and recently-beheaded partner’s (Larry Fessenden) exploits to a priest (Ron Perlman) en route to the guillotine.

Smile ‘Til It Hurts (Unrated) documentary revisits the rise of Up with People, the cult-like, faith-based singing sensation sponsored in the Sixties and Seventies by the Religious Right as a politically-conservative alternative to rebellious Rock & Roll. 

EUR MOTIVATIONAL NOTE

 "Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." — Thomas A. Edison
 
CELEBRITY BIRTHDAYS  

 Aug. 7: Singer Herb Reed of The Platters is 81. Bluesman Magic Slim is 72. Singer Harold Hudson of The Commodores is 60. Actor Harold Perrineau ("Lost," "Oz") is 46.

 Aug. 8: Singer Airrion Love of The Stylistics is 60. Rapper Kool Moe Dee is 47. Singer Marsha Ambrosius of Floetry is 32. Actress Countess Vaughn ("The Parkers," "Moesha") is 31.

 Aug. 9: Rapper Kurtis Blow is 50. Singer Whitney Houston is 46. "Today" co-host Hoda Kotb is 45. Rapper Mack 10 is 38.

WEBSITE OF THE WEEK
 
       ThugExposed.com promoted the book "Thug Mentality Exposed," which takes readers into the heart of the thug world through the eyes and experiences of a correctional counselor and photojournalist: www.ThugExposed.com

 Submit your favorite Web site to us along with a 15-20 word (or less) description to info@eurweb.com.     

BLACK HISTORY
    
  Aug. 7, 1948: Alice Coachman becomes the first African American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in the high jump during the Summer Games in London.

 Aug. 8, 1885: African American inventor William C. Carter patented an umbrella stand (U.S. patent#323,397).

 Aug. 9, 1936: Jesse Owens wins four gold medals in the Berlin Olympics. (Source: www.BlackFacts.com)