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reel to real: first female director of the u.s. secret service

3/28/2013

The phrase 'life imitates art' springs to mind in light of very recent US political developments. Only last week saw the release in America of a major Hollywood film called 'Olympus Has Fallen', directed by Antoine Fuqua (who also made Denzel Washington's Oscar winning gritty urban thriller 'Training Day') and starring Gerald Butler, Aaron Eckhart ('The Dark Knight Rises') and Morgan Freeman. Also included in the cast is the always on point, talented Oscar nominated actress Angela Bassett ('What's Love Got To Do With It?') The story of the movie centres around the drama of a terrorist attempt to attack the President of the United States and in particular, his place of residence, The White House in Washington DC.

Bassett plays the role of the Head of the Secret Service. In real life this job has never been held by a woman,and in actual fact the original script for 'Olympus Has Fallen' had the part written for a man. At a recent press 'junket' for the film Fuqua said, "I wanted great actors in this movie period," When talking about the casting of Angela Bassett, he then went on to say, "And I thought, why does it have to be a guy? Get Angela. Like in my mind it didn't sit back in my mind and think they never did have as the head of the Secret Service as a woman in the movie. I just wanted to work with Angela, that's how it came about." He felt sure that Bassett's powerful screen presence would make it believable that a woman could hold this lofty position. Little did Fuqua know this piece of fiction would soon become fact.

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'the untold story of emmett louis till'

3/27/2013

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Leading US hip hop artist Lil Wayne (real name Dwayne Michael Carter) recently caused an almighty furore amongst the African American community when he added his rap to a remix of a song called 'Karate Chop' by Future. In it he talks about performing rough sex with a woman and says the line "beat that p***y up like Emmett Till". After which, quite rightly so, all hell broke loose.

The name Emmett Till holds a lot of emotion mixed with tremendous hurt for a whole generation of people, and continues to do so. In 1955 Emmett Till was a 14 year old boy from Chicago who went down south to visit relatives in (Jim Crow racist) Mississippi. While there an allegation was made that he had been seen flirting with a white woman. A definite no-no for a black male of any age. He paid the ultimate price for this by being tortured in a most horrific fashion and then murdered. So brutal were Emmett Till's injuries that his mother decided to have an open casket funeral so the whole world could see the results of bigotry and hatred. The images, which went worldwide, kick-started The Civil Rights Movement and only a few months later Rosa Parks would refuse to give up her seat on a bus to a white man.

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gig review: Nas rocks the o2, london!!!

3/21/2013

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This week saw the return to London of one of the greatest MC's in the rap game, his full name being Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, sometimes known as Nasty Nas and often referred to as God's Son (the title of one of his albums), but to most of the outside world he is simply known as Nas. This 39 year old Queensbridge, New Yorker who now carries the mantle of being one of hip hop's most respected elder statesmen (even though he still remains ever youthful with his baby face features in tact), rolled into London off the back of the release of his current album 'Life Is Good'. His first album in four years (not counting the 'Distant Relatives' project he released with Damien 'Welcome To Jamrock' Marley back in 2010) found high praise and was warmly embraced by the entire hip hop community, even picking up a Best Rap Album Grammy nomination earlier this year. A superior 'return to form' was the word on the street. Being the true artist that he is, Nas filled the album with real life tales and situations, including the problems of being a father dealing with a young head strung daughter and his much publicized marriage break up to r&b singer Kelis. In fact he can be seen on the cover of 'Life Is Good' holding her actual green wedding dress. So with all this in place you might wonder for Nas, is life good? What he displayed at the O2 showed he is indeed in a good place.

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nicki's natural look

3/20/2013

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Rapper and 'American Idol' judge Nicki Minaj recently conducted an indepth interview with the US edition of the high quality fashion magazine Elle. To accompany the article she had an Elle cover photo shoot, but instead of appearing in her usual outrageous over the top attire, Minaj decided to go completely the other way and just go au naturel to shocking effect. Gone are the crazy colours and weird hair styles, along with the in your face bright lipstick and huge lashes! The transformation is stunning. Here we see Nicki Minaj in just her natural beauty and she looks so much better for it.

On viewing the end result Nicki said this, "When I saw myself with barely any make up at all, it was such a....like I'm so, so attached to my pink lipstick, it's hard. I feel like it's become a part of me. To go in front of the camera, without pink lipstick or big ol' crazy lashes - you know, nothing - I felt naked. It was scary. So this photo shoot was a real accomplishment in my eyes."

Her new appearance certainly adds weight to the line - less is more.
You go girl!!!

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bobby smith (from the spinners) dies

3/19/2013

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Another soul man has just left the building. Bobby Smith was the co-founder and sometimes lead singer for the hit making r&b group, The Spinners. He shared lead vocals with Phillipe Wynne and then John Edwards who replaced Wynne in 1977. Smith's cool, soulful tones could be heard upfront on some the group's biggest hits including 'I'll Be Around', 'Games People Play' and 'Could It Be I'm Falling In Love'. He had been battling cancer for some time and unfortunately passed away recently due to complications from pneumonia.

Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He and his fellow Spinners got off to a rocky start. They signed with Motown Records in the mid 60's and although they were in the middle of the action, they found themselves overlooked by Motown's bigger stars. Having no hits and feeling no love, it was somewhat ironic that as they decided to leave the label in 1970, Stevie Wonder wrote and produced the group's very first international smash, 'It's A Shame'. With this hit under their belt they still pursued another path, heading to Philadelphia to work with a new talented songwriter-producer called Thom Bell. It was the right place to be as Philly also had the dynamic team of Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff also bursting through with their Philadelphia International. Thus would begin in the early 70's the golden age of sweet soul music, putting a spotlight on artists such as The O'Jays, Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes and The Stylistics, and though all of these groups hailed from the City of Brotherly Love, The Spinners with some the biggest hits of the genre came from the industrial motor city of Detroit.

1973 would see the beginning of an extended run of big hits for The Spinners, beginning with their album 'Spinners' giving them four Top 10 hits. Throughout the decade they were rarely off the charts with hit after hit, picking up gold and platinum albums and Grammys along the way. Here in the UK, they were known as The Detroit Spinners to avoid confusion with a British folk outfit with the same name. My own memory of seeing The Spinners live in concert stems back to 1976 when they performed at the Hammersmith Odeon in London. The Spinners were very slick and professional, easily holding their own even though the support group was the (then red hot and never been to the UK before) New York funk outfit, Brass Construction. A mis-match of sorts with the high energy of BC, then followed by the smooth sounds of The Spinners, but a great show nonetheless. A great band, a great singer. Bobby Smith will be missed but he has left us a bunch of memorable songs. R.I.P. Bobby Smith.

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quincy jones hits 80!

3/16/2013

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A couple of days ago, 14th March 2013 to be exact, the music legend Quincy Jones celebrated a major milestone in his life, he turned 80 years old. It's hard to imagine that Q (as he's known to his friends and was christened thus by none other than the Chairman of the Board himself, Frank Sinatra) is now in his 80's and even more harder to envisage the vast sum of music he's managed to pack into those years. His long and varied musical career has truly been unique. Starting off in his youth as a trumpet player during the jazz era, he was soon playing with the greats of the day, including Lionel Hampton and at just age 14, Billie Holiday. He quickly established himself as a major talent and was soon working with such 'heavyweights' as Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Tony Bennett and of course Frank Sinatra, who hired Quincy to be his musical arranger on the famous 1966 'Sinatra At The Sands' album which featured Count Basie & His Orchestra.

Qunicy's multi faceted talents led him in different directions, sheer love of music being the driving force. One area he absolutely loved was composing music for movies. His scores were used in several Hollywood films including 'The Pawnbroker' (with it's driving jazz pulse), the Oscar winning 'In The Heat Of The Night' and the gritty Steve McQueen thriller 'The Getaway'. However, it was through composing the music for a 1960's British crime comedy that he met a lifelong friend, actor Michael Caine. The film in question was 'The Italian Job' (made in 1969) and both Jones and Caine hit it off straight away. What may have helped things along was the fact that they discovered they were both born on the same day in the same year, 14th March 1933! Just another gem woven into the extraordinary career of Mr Jones.

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jeffrey wright joins 'boardwalk empire'

3/7/2013

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Some exciting news has just reached my ears concerning the acclaimed theatre and film actor Jeffrey Wright. This accomplished man with an undeniable screen presence has already proven his worth both on stage and in front of the camera, first bursting onto the scene in 1994 when he appeared in the award winning Broadway play, 'Angels In America', for which he won a Tony award. Incidentially, I should add he was the only actor from the original stage production to appear in the 2003 HBO TV miniseries version, which starred Al Pacino and Meryl Streep. For his efforts he received both the Emmy and the Golden Globe for Best Supproting Actor.

Wright made a lasting impression in 1996 playing the New York street artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in the film 'Basquiat' where he appeared alongside Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman and David Bowie. From this he launched himself into several high profile movies including John Singleton's remake of 'Shaft' (which I felt had a terrible script but showed Wright to be the powerhouse actor that he is), the Muhammad Ali biopic, 'Ali' and the story of Chess Records, 'Cadillac Records' where he played blues legend Muddy Waters. His knack for playing real life characters paid off in dividends when he portrayed Dr. Martin Luther King in the 2001 TV movie, 'Boycott'. So impressive was his performance that he received the Actor Of The Year award in a miniseries or movie from the American Film Institute.

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d'angelo & Questlove jam together

3/6/2013

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If further proof were needed that the neo-soul maestro, otherwise known as D'Angelo was definitely on the comeback trail, it was displayed last Monday (4 March) when he performed alongside Questlove, the drummer and leader of the hip hop group The Roots, at a special concert in New York's Brooklyn Bowl. The gig, which was billed as 'The Soulquarians: Brothers In Arm' show consisted of D'Angelo squarely in front of his keyboard accompanied soley by Questlove. The one hour set had the two musicians not only performing several songs from D'Angelo's soul, funk and rock drenched catalogue, but also a few cover versions including The S.O.S. Band's 'Tell Me If You Still Care' and Prince's 'New Position'.

Word has reached me that the concert was electrifying and greeted with wild enthusiasm from the appreciative crowd who witnessed this special happening. Such was the fever of the night that some people stated at times the atmosphere was almost bordering on religious. I believe such a positive experience should be reported and it bodes well for the somewhat overdue follow up to D'Angelo's magnificent 'Voodoo' album, which was released way back in 2001 and became my favourite record of that year.

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unsung: eddie kendricks

3/3/2013

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Timing can be very ironic. Just 2 weeks ago it was announced that former member of the premiere Motown soul group The Temptations, Damon Harris (who sang on 'Papa Was A Rolling Stone') had sadly died after a long runnning battle with cancer. The irony comes in the form of just last week in the US, TV channel TVOne aired an edition of the music documentary show 'Unsung' on the soul singer Eddie Kendricks, who was the member of this legendary r&b outfit that Harris replaced when Kendricks decided to leave this hitmaking team in 1971.

Eddie Kendricks, with his smooth, distinctive high pitched falsetto voice sang the lead on several huge Temptations hit songs during the 60's right into the very early 70's, including their very first big hit, 'The Way You Do The Things You Do', 'I Can't Get Next To You' and my own favourite Temps track of all time, the sweet soulful 'Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)'. In fact Kendricks sang lead on 8 US No.1's for the group before departing. As a solo artist on Motown he hit the floor running in 1973 with his debut, the superior funky offering, 'Keep On Truckin'.

But there was far more to this slick cool dude than this. His contribution to The Temptations helped the group, especially during it's heyday, to become without doubt the most popular black group on the planet, second to none. Along the way he had his own demons to deal with and throughout his life he experienced several ups and downs before he sadly passed away in 1992. His fascinating story is documentated in 'Unsung', which you can view right here. This is Eddie Kendricks story.

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reel to real: first female director of the u.s. secret service

'the untold story of emmett louis till'

gig review: Nas rocks the o2, london!!!

nicki's natural look

bobby smith (from the spinners) dies

quincy jones hits 80!

jeffrey wright joins 'boardwalk empire'

d'angelo & Questlove jam together

unsung: eddie kendricks

EON IRVING

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