HUBBS GROOVE@THE SPOT II

TUESDAY JULY 27TH 2010 8P

THE SPOT II

PARTY GIRLZ PRESENTS TASTY TUESDAYS CAR LINGERIE EDITION

TUESDAY JULY 27TH 2010 9P (LAST TUESDAY OF EVERY MONTH)

BEETHOVEN’S

DOCMAN ENTERTAINMENT- LADIES APPRECIATION NIGHT-FREE DRINKS & FREE FOOD

WEDNESDAY JULY 28TH 2010 6P

GIBBS@SEVERANCE CIRCLE

SOULFUL EXPRESSIONS@JOE’S URBAN CAFE HOSTED BY LS ROYAL

WEDNESDAY JULY 28TH 2010 8P

JOE’S URBEAN CAFE ST CLAIR

OPEN MIC NIGHT AT KINGS & QUEENS

WEDNESDAY JULY 28TH 2010 9P (EVERY WEDNESDAY)

KINGS & QUEENS – 20840 SOUTHGATE PKWY

BACK STAGE JAZZ CAFE WITH SKIP GIBSON THURSDAY JULY 29TH 2010 4P INSIDE THE AGORA

DOCMAN ENTERTAINMENT – MENS APPRECIATION NIGHT OUT

THURSDAY JULY 29TH 2010 8P

GIBBS@SEVERANCE CIRCLE

WORD OF MOUTH – FANCY THURSDAYS@THE FORTRESS

THURSDAY JULY 29TH 2010 9P

FORTRESS NIGHTCLUB

HUBBS GROOVE@THE SAND PIT

FRIDAY JULY 30TH 2010 8P

THE SAND PIT -29 PENN AVE SE MASSILLION OHIO

WORD OF MOUTH FRIDAYS@FORTRESS

FRIDAY JULY 30TH 2010 9P

FORTRESS NIGHTCLUB

OX ENTERTAINMENT & SHAKE CITY PRODUCTIONS- THE TATTED UP PARTY

FRIDAY JULY 30TH 2010 10P

BENTLEY’S ENTERTAINMENT COMPLEX-4102 LEE ROAD

PIE FACE ENTERTAINMENT- FINAL FREAKIN’ FRIDAYS SKATIN’ TO IMPERSONATIN’ TRIBUTE TO USHER & CIARA

FRIDAY JULY 30TH 2010 11:55P

PLAYMOR SKATING RINK-22466 SHORECENTER DRIVE EUCLID OHIO

TOUCH SUPPER CLUB – I GOT FIVE ON IT

SATURDAY JULY 31ST 2010 9P

TOUCH SUPPER CLUB

WORLD OF MOUTH FORTRESS SATURDAYS

SATURDAY JULY 31ST 2010 9P

FORTRESS NIGHTCLUB

THE JUMP OFF

SATURDAY JULY 31ST 2010 10P

ANATOMY ULTRA LOUNGE

Posted July 28th 2010

(PHOTO BY BILL MCKAY-WIREIMAGE.COM)

Respect mutual between surprise pairing of former Republican secretary of state and the Queen of Soul!

it was an unlikely pairing. Stage left, Condoleezza Rice, the former Republican darling, a classically trained pianist and academic perhaps better known as George Bush’s enforcer. Stage right, Aretha Franklin the Queen of Soul, the voice of black emancipation and a performer at the inauguration of Barack Obama.

The former US secretary of state and Franklin took the stage last night at Philadelphia’s Mann Music Centre in a rare duet. Their aim was to raise money for urban children and awareness for music and the arts.

Their appearance in the three-hour concert before an estimated crowd of 8,000 overflowed with Franklin’s catalogue of hits and arias from the world of opera and classical music.

“We decided to give it a try,” Franklin said. “So here we are, in the city of Brotherly – and Sisterly – Love.”

Rice played piano while Franklin sang her hit I Say A Little Prayer as well as My Country, ‘Tis of Thee. Earlier in the programme, Rice performed a selection from Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor with the orchestra, a piece she said she practised furiously.

Franklin even tickled the ivories a few times, including for a song from her new album A Woman Falling Out of Love, which will be released later this year. She also sang a duet – The Way We Were – with surprise guest Ronald Isley.

The critics weren’t convinced by the combination but applauded the cause. The Washington Post said putting the two together on the stage “had a kind of goofy brilliance”. While Franklin still gives “a heck of a show”, Rice’s performance was more circumspect. “Her playing may have been a little foursquare, a little obedient, but that really wasn’t the point,” the paper said.

The Philadelphia Inquirer felt that “history of a sort was in the making”.

Rice, it noted, was “diplomat first, pianist second”, and this showed in her opening Mozart offering: “She wasn’t able to voice effectively in the stormier middle section so that the more important material could be heard. On the whole it wasn’t an artistic statement as much as an exercise in survival, and, heard from that point of view, she achieved what she set out to do.

“Rice got a nice, mostly polite reception, but after intermission, the star power intensified exponentially with the arrival of Aretha Franklin. Listeners roared, and she gave them what they came for – Respect, (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, Think, and more,” the Inquirer wrote.

Rice has played with big names in the past, including cellist Yo-Yo Ma. But, she said this was “the first time I’ve played with an orchestra since I was 18.”

When she learned that Rice played classical music, Franklin sent for one of her recordings “to hear what she sounded like”.

Previously, she said, “all I had seen of Dr. Rice was in a political atmosphere. It just seemed foreign that she would be a classical pianist.”

Franklin was surprised.

“She really does play,” Franklin said. “She’s formidable.”

By Lauren Walker

Posted July 28th 2010

We already know the brother can sing, with the way he set the R&B scene on fire with his hits “Customer” and “Woman.”  He is back on the scene with his latest hit “Bulletproof”, and released his much anticipated double disk album ‘Love & War’ at the top of this year.

Raheem DeVaughn sits down with Singersroom and take us on a tour of himself, his insight into the government and even his thought process behind why he creates his music and the message he wants to convey to the world. You may have thought you knew, but it’s so much deeper this is the mind of Raheem Devaughn.

Singersroom:You went to the left when everybody is making club songs and inventing sex, why did you write “Bulletproof”? What was your inspiration?

Raheem Devaughn: I’m a different kind of dude…I marched to the beat of a different drum. I feel like balance is important. I have songs, even from my first album I’ve always been on some, socially conscience/love whatever music you know? I just wanted to write the soundtrack to the times: Where we are, where I am as a black man, just some things that I see…I’ve seen. Where we are as a country, where we are globally…Like music and songs, what we do, we can capture history, as artists, so that’s what I really try to do. It’s like a painting with a canvas. We capturing like a moment, that’s what my attempt to do, not only with the single but with the album. Half of the album is on a “Bulletproof” vibe, like socially conscience, touching on different issues and half of the album is “love.” So, I get a chance to get my message across and but I also get a chance to do what I’m blessed to be able to do.

Singersroom: On “A Wing and Prayer” & “Bulletproof” you discuss the social problem of your neighborhood and “God” is this the overall storyline on the album?

Raheem Devaughn: Yeah, everyone I’m not just talking about the same thing. “Bulletproof” is more like these are the problems; this is what we facing…almost like it’s a warning. Then “A Wing and a Prayer” is like okay, we know these are the problems, but I still believe in the power of prayer. Regardless of your faith or whatever your religion is, you got to believe in a higher power, of something positive and living for a will of good, living for a will of God. You can’t be afraid to talk about that in your music. I feel like that could be one of the biggest sins or one of the biggest contradictions, is not acknowledging his name and say his name. Some people don’t…we live in some strange times. There aren’t people that always feel like I feel…they going to talk about who they want to talk about, so I’m going to talk about what I want to talk about.

Singersroom: That’s true and very important that you touch on the fact that we need to pray to God. So are you very spiritual?

Raheem Devaughn: Oh, definitely. Yep! Now is definitely a time to be it. Like, people don’t pay attention and understand that it’s a spiritual war going on…like right now, we in it. So, you gotta pick your side wisely…Like people daily are picking their side, you gotta draw your line in the sand and hold your ground because that’s just where we at. It’s no time to be like sugarcoating nothing, like this is my rawest album yet. I’m going in on the “War” side and I’m going in on the “Love” side too. This is going to be yet another chapter, of some real music from a real dude.

Singersroom: “BulletProof” is fits with the times now with the announcement from President Obama to send 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan. What are your thoughts about the war?

Raheem Devaughn: Let me just say this, the record “Bulletproof” could have easily been on my last album…Most of this stuff I’m putting out now has been sitting, it’s been recorded and it’s been sitting for like two years. So, all this that’s coming out was fresh through the years. “Bulletproof” could have easily been on my last album, “Cocaine Dreams” which was on my mixtape, could have been on my last album. I pay attention to the history, where we are and what’s going on, like we just in the thick of it, we ain’t seen the worst yet. Although I love [President] Obama, I voted for Obama and all of that. Certain things just have to happen…it’s just the way it is. He only has a certain level of control. What people don’t know a lot of time or realize a lot of time, is [President] Obama has to answer to somebody too.

That’s just the bottom line. He’s in a situation that was already initiated and created; he was just like thrown into the frying pan, but the flame was already on, the grease was already there, the other ingredients were already there, you know? He has to maintain, so I pray for the brother. I try to be as supportive as I can as an American citizen you know? I’m going to do my part. At the end of the day people can knock and say what they want about him. But he has a job to do, and I can’t do his job. I’m not skilled to do his job I’m skilled to do my job, which is what I do. We got to all do like he says we got to all do our parts, so I’m doing my part musically.

Singersroom: You discuss (in your songs) how the government is “big brother” what type of programs would you like the government do?

Raheem Devaughn: (Chuckles) Wow, I don’t know. I don’t know how I feel about that one. Because I don’t feel like the government is necessarily designed to help me. I can’t really speak on that one. I would LOVE to see the school system be more developed. See the teachers be paid more. I would love to see the government contribute to employment being on the rise. I could go on and on and on with things I would love to see the government do. But at the end of the day I don’t feel like the government is necessarily designed to help me. I believe that we live in a system; we live in a world where we got to help ourselves. I’m not looking for them to help me. You know? They have a list of rules that we need to live by and I adhere to those, but I’m going to help my self.

That’s the thing that I try to instill to the youth when I go out and speak to the schools: “ain’t nobody going to give you nothing!” So, if you’re waiting for the government to help you and give you something, they’re not going to do that.  It’s a system and a program that they have to run, it’s been in place since forever and it’ll continue to be in place, so you got to help yourself.

Singersroom: Has fatherhood changed what you want to create for the public?

Raheem Devaughn: Yeah, it definitely plays a factor. It’s not just fatherhood though, just me being a black man. All the stigmas we have on us anyway. And just for what we had to fight for as a people. Why pay all those dues just to set myself and my people back 20-30 years? Like speaking about women in a disrespectful manner or stuff like that, I feel like that’s the set up to be set back. That’s why I make records like “Woman” and “Black and Blue” that’s going to be on my new album, or a record like “Greatness” which is on my new album, it’s like “Woman” part 2, it’s called “The Greatness.”  That’s why I make records like those in particular, to show women in another light.

Singersroom: What issue or cause are you most passionate about?

Raheem Devaughn: These days…Domestic violence, I got a song on my album called “Black and Blue” that’s quickly becoming the new domestic violence fight anthem song. I’m days away from being, from signing a contract for being the official spokesperson for the CDC (Center for Disease Control) to help bring awareness to HIV/AIDS to the country as well as other STDs. So, I’m like days away from inking that as well.

Singersroom: With you having such a versatile way of storytelling in your music. What mark do you want to leave on the music game when it’s all said and done?

Raheem Devaughn: You know that I did it my way…That I had music with a message and music with a purpose. That I made music that was timeless, and I love performing. I think those are the things I want people to understand.

RAHEEM DEVAUGHN WILL PERFORM AT THE MACY’S MUSIC FESTIVAL IN CINCINNATI OHIO THIS WEEKEND JULY 30TH & JULY 31ST!

Posted July 28th 2010

The 157th Ohio State Fair kicks off today Wednesday, July 28th and will run through Sunday, August 8th. BabyFace, George Duke, David Sanborn, Heart and many more are on the concert line-up!  There are many, many more events also.  Just added this year is the Mixed Martial Arts Competition. There is are over (300) exhibitors for your shopping pleasures! Heyyyyy check it out yourself at the OHIO STATE FAIR website!  Here’s your link: OHIO STATE FAIR WEBSITE

For the full concert line-up click here:

OHIO STATE FAIR CONCERT LINE-UP

OHIO STATE FAIR FACTS

COLUMBUS – The 157th Ohio State Fair is nearly here. This year’s event offers new attractions, agricultural exhibits, sports competitions, great Fair food and a variety of shopping opportunities you won’t want to miss.

Dates:  July 28 – Aug. 8, 2010

Hours of Operation

Fair admission gates open:  9 am – 10 pm, except Aug. 8 (9 a.m. – 8 p.m.)

Commercial exhibit buildings:  10 am – 9 pm

Youth Center:  8 am – 8 pm

Janis Center:  9 am – 7 pm

Other exhibit buildings:  9 am – 9 pm

Gate Admission Prices

Adults (13 – 59):  $10

Youth (5 – 12):  $8

Senior (60+):  $8

Children under five:  Free

Mountain Dew Midway

Sunday – Thursday:  10 am – 11 pm

Friday and Saturday:  10 am – midnight

Rides

$1 coupons Special ride-all-day wristbands are available for $22.

Kiddie – 1 coupon

Super Kiddie – 2 coupons

Spectacular – 2 coupons

Super Spectacular – 3 coupons

Discounts on Admission and Ride Wristbands

Save on gate admission prices with $6 tickets available through August 8 at Kroger, participating AAA locations and Ticketmaster outlets. Purchase ride-all-day wristband vouchers (to be redeemed at the Fair for a wristband) for only $19 at Kroger Stores and Ticketmaster outlets through July 27.

Special Discount Days

Wednesday, July 28

Ohio Lottery Day

WBNS 10 TV & ONN Opening Day

$3 admission until 3 pm.

Thursday, July 29

Kroger Day

Kroger Plus card members: Present your card at a booth outside entrance gates to receive $4 admission vouchers for every member in your party.

Friday, July 30

Ohio Lottery Admission Discount

Present a non-winning Ohio Lottery ticket at a booth outside entrance gates to receive a $4 admission voucher.

Sunday, August 1

Time Warner Cable Day

Veterans & Military Day

Free admission for veterans and active military with appropriate identification.

Monday, August 2

NBC4 Family Value Day

Until 6 pm, adults will be admitted for the kids’ admission price of $8, and kids 12 and under will be admitted free. With the purchase of one wristband, a second rider can ride free until 6 pm with a handstamp. After 6 pm, all riders will need either a wristband or vouchers to ride.

Wednesday, August 4

QFM 96 Fair Attitude Wednesday

Fairgoers will enjoy $5 admission all day.

Thursday, August 5

AAA “Show Your Card and Save” Day

AAA members: Show your membership card at a booth outside entrance gates to receive $4 admission vouchers for every member in your party.

Friday, August 6

Meijer Day

Meijer customers: Purchase $25 or more in Falls Creek merchandise in Fashions at Meijer and receive a voucher in store good for $4 gate admission at the Ohio State Fair to be used on Friday, August 6, 2010 only. Offer available in-store 7/22 – 8/5/10.

Saturday, August 7

AEP Ohio Day

Sunday, August 8

Printer’s Day

Pepsi-Cola Day

Bring your specially marked Pepsi-Cola can or any Pepsi-Cola product to a booth outside entrance gates for a $3 admission voucher for every member in your party before 3 pm.

All special days and discounts are not valid with other offers.

Stroller, Wagon, Wheelchair and Locker Rentals

Stroller, wagon, wheelchair and locker rentals are available at the Cardinal and OHIO gates only (these are the two main entrance gates). Strollers, wagons, wheelchairs, electric wheelchairs and lockers will be available for rent on a first-come, first-served basis.

Stroller:  $9 per day

Wagon:  $13 per day

Manual Wheelchair:  $15 per day

Electric Wheelchair:  $50 per day, or $30 after 5 pm

Lockers:  $1.00 per locker per day

(12″ wide x 12″ high x 15″ deep)

Parking

$5 per vehicle. Easy access to AAA Parking Lots from I-71 at the 17th Avenue exit and the Hudson Street exit at Silver Drive. Handicapped parking available. Ride the AAA Road Service Shuttles to and from the main entrance gate and your vehicle.

On-grounds Shuttle

Makes frequent stops around the perimeter of the grounds, 10 am – 8 pm Sunday – Thursday, 10 am – 10 pm Fridays and Saturdays. Free.

Fair Information and Special Services

Address

Ohio State Fair

717 E. 17th Ave.

Columbus, OH 43211

Contact

614-644-3247 (Recorded Information Line), 1-888-OHO-EXPO (646-3976), TDD: 614-644-4009

Edition

157th Ohio State Fair

Website / e-mail OhioStateFair.com; info@expo.state.oh.us This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

For more information, call 1-888-OHO-EXPO or 1-614-644-FAIR. On the Web, visit us at OhioStateFair.com.

The Ohio Expo Center is proud to host the Ohio State Fair. With a spectacular midway, big-name entertainment, hundreds of exhibits and one of the largest junior fair shows in the nation, the 2010 Ohio State Fair will run July 28 – Aug. 8.

By Harry R. Weber, Jane Wardell

Posted July 27th 2010

American Bob Dudley sees challenges as he takes over for Tony Hayward

The American picked to lead oil giant BP as it struggles to restore its finances and oil spill-stained reputation pledged Tuesday that his company will remain committed to the Gulf region even after the busted well is sealed.

Robert Dudley will become BP PLC’s first ever non-British chief executive, the company said as it reported a record quarterly $17 billion loss and set aside $32.2 billion to cover costs from the spill.

Ending weeks of speculation, BP confirmed that gaffe-prone Tony Hayward will step down Oct. 1 as the London-based company seeks to reassure both the public and investors that it is learning lessons from the spill.

“There’s no question we are going to learn things from this investigation of the incident,” Dudley told reporters by phone from London after the announcement was made.

BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg echoed that during a webcast presentation on the company’s earnings, telling investors that BP will change as a result of the April 20 oil rig explosion that killed 11 workers and set off the worst offshore spill in U.S. history.

“We are taking a hard look at ourselves, what we do and how we do it,” he said. “What we learn will have implications for our ways of working, our strategy and our governance.”

Svanberg said the company’s priority was to stop the Gulf leak permanently and then to clean up miles of spoiled waters and beaches and compensate people whose livelihoods have been lost because of the accident.

But he added that the company was determined to restore value to shareholders, after a 35 percent, or $60 billion, drop in market value to around $116 billion since the explosion. Under U.S. political pressure, the company also axed dividends to shareholders this year.

The stock started out marginally higher on Tuesday, but dropped 3 percent to 404.2 pence in afternoon trade on the London Stock Exchange.

In New York, BP stock slumped about 2 percent to $37.87 after BP announced it would sell $30 billion in assets to help pay potential costs related to the spill.

Analysts said they were disappointed at how many assets BP was willing to sell, and its cost estimate was thought to be on the conservative side.

BP made its estimate on the assumption that it won’t be deemed “grossly negligent” in its handling of the well. If it is, then BP won’t be able to ask its partners to help pay for the cleanup, and federal fines will go up.

“The penalties are obviously going to be more than what they’re saying,” Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Fadel Gheit said.

Dudley, BP’s managing director, was brought in to oversee the spill response after Hayward was vilified for a series of ill-timed moves, including saying that he would like his life back and attending a yacht race off the coast of England as Gulf residents struggled to cope with the spill.

Dudley spent some of his childhood in Mississippi and worked for 20 years at Amoco Corp., which merged with BP in 1998. He lost out to Hayward on the CEO slot three years ago.

“I don’t particularly like talking about myself, but I think you will find I listen hard and carefully to people and have worked with restructuring organizations to achieve change,” he said. “I did not seek out this job. I was asked to step into these shoes, and I firmly and deeply believe that BP is a company made up of great people and great businesses.”

Dudley will be based in London and will hand over spill response coordination to Lamar McKay, the chairman and president of BP America.

He also downplayed speculation that BP might pull back from the Gulf once the flow of oil is stopped permanently, which could happen as soon as mid-August.

“There’s no one thinking that way,” he said.

BP kicked off the revamp by announcing the sale of $30 billion in assets to streamline the company into a leaner, higher-quality business.

The company has already made a start with the $7 billion sale of gas assets in the United States, Canada and Egypt to Apache Corp.

Svanberg said the planned asset sales did not necessarily reflect a fear that spill costs could soar above the $32.2 billion set aside by the company. That charge includes the $20 billion compensation fund the company set up following pressure from President Barack Obama as well as costs to date of $2.9 billion.

Hayward, who will stay on BP’s board until Nov. 30, said the company had reached a “significant milestone” with the temporary capping of the leaking well, which stopped oil from spewing nearly two weeks ago. Before that, anywhere from 94 million to 184 million gallons had gushed into the Gulf.

In a mark of faith in its outgoing leader, the company said it planned to recommend him for a non-executive board position at its Russian joint venture, TNK-BP.

Hayward remains well-regarded in Europe and his appointment would be a benefit for Dudley, who, as the former head of TNK-BP, was forced to flee Russia and run the company in absentia after a flap with shareholders in 2008.

Hayward will receive a year’s salary of 1.045 million pounds ($1.6 million) as part of his severance package. He will also be entitled to draw an annual pension of 600,000 pounds from a pension pot valued at around 11 million pounds and retains his rights to shares under a long-term performance program which could eventually be worth several million pounds if BP’s share price recovers.

Hayward said it was right that BP embark on its next phase under new leadership, and expressed his condolences for the families of the workers killed in the explosion.

“The Gulf of Mexico explosion was a terrible tragedy for which — as the man in charge of BP when it happened — I will always feel a deep responsibility, regardless of where blame is ultimately found to lie,” he said.

Posted July 27th 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Singer Wyclef Jean is considering a run for president of Haiti but has not decided whether to seek a five-year term as leader of the quake-ravaged nation, the musician’s family said Monday.

There have been rumors for some time the Haitian-born entertainer might enter the 2010 presidential contest, ever since his 2007 appointment as ambassador-at-large for the Caribbean nation by President Rene Preval, who cannot seek re-election.

In a statement e-mailed to reporters, the family said, “Wyclef’s commitment to his homeland and its youth is boundless, and he will remain its greatest supporter regardless of whether he is part of the government moving forward … If and when a decision is made, media will be alerted immediately.”

The letter was signed “The Jean Family.” A spokeswoman for the musician confirmed the message’s authenticity.

Jean, 37, was born on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince but left the hemisphere’s poorest country as a child and grew up in New York City’s borough of Brooklyn.

He told The Associated Press in a recent interview he intended to be involved in the Nov. 28 election, but not necessarily as a candidate.

“Do I have political intentions? At this time no. But what I do have is a movement — it’s called Face a Face, ‘Face to Face’,” Jean said. “The youth population … we are going to encourage them to vote.”

The singer has been active in recent years in raising money through his Yele Haiti Foundation. The organization was widely criticized for alleged financial irregularities after the Jan. 12 quake, when scrutiny revealed it had paid Jean to perform at fundraising events and bought advertising air time from a television station he co-owns.

The organization hired a new accounting firm after the allegations surfaced.

Jean, who said he voted for Preval in 2006, would not have an easy road as a candidate. Haitian elections are contentious and often violent.Dozens of candidates are expected to declare themselves by the Aug. 7 deadline. Preval’s opponents have threatened to block the Nov. 28 vote if he does not replace the presidentially approved electoral council, which he has refused to do.

To enter the race, Jean would have to prove he has resided in Haiti for five consecutive years, own property in the country and have never been a citizen of any country other than Haiti.

Whoever wins will face the gargantuan task of rebuilding a country devastated by the Jan. 12 earthquake. Haiti has not had a functioning economy in decades and its presidents have only rarely completed a constitutional five-year term — more typically being overthrown, getting assassinated, declaring themselves “president-for-life” or some combination of the three.

Posted July 26th 2010

‘Inception” is no deception holding down the  #1 spot at the box office this weekend with an additional $43.5 million is in box office sales for a cumulative total of $144 million.  Angelina Jolie is the action star of the summer to date  in ‘Salt’  as she kicks butt all the way to the  #2 position  with $36.5 million in sales receipts while ‘Despicable Me’ tacked on another $24.1 million with a cumulative total of $162million while sliding into the #3 position at the box office this weekend!

SALT MOVIE TRAILER

Movie Review: ‘Salt

TheHollowoodReporter.com

By Kirk Honeycutt

Posted July 26th 2010

Bottom Line: A spy thriller more than worth its salt.

She never quite says: “The name is Salt. Evelyn Salt.” But Angelina Jolie, for all intents and purposes, is James Bond in her new film “Salt,” and it’s really no surprise that Jolie, the only female action star in Hollywood, more than measures up to Daniel Craig.

Donning several guises while on the run in Columbia’s spy thriller, she even — with the help of considerable facial latex, mind you — turns up as a guy in one scene. She makes a pretty ugly one, but it makes an amusing gag, a kind of acknowledgment that kick-ass action heroes now come in both genders. In Jolie’s case, it’s more convincing than ever because in those Lara Croft movies, she looked like an animated creature that popped out of a video game.

While preposterous at every turn, “Salt” is a better Bond movie than most recent Bond movies, as its makers keep the stunts real and severely limit CGI gimmickry. This is a slick, light summer entertainment that should throw considerable coin into Sony’s coffers while re-establishing (if it needs re-establishing) Jolie’s bona fides as an action star. The film certainly didn’t need the assist, but recent news events have erased any objection from critics, tied to laws of plausibility, over the film’s key concept that Russian sleeper spies still exist in the U.S. long after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Another talking point here is the similarity between this film, reportedly first developed for Tom Cruise, and the action-spy thriller he chose to do, the lamentable “Knight and Day.” There are astonishing similarities: An American spy believed to be a rogue agent gets chased by the CIA, with the protagonist escaping by, among other tricks, leaping from one fast-moving vehicle to another on a major thoroughfare. These similarities only point up how smart “Salt” is in crafting its escapist fare.

Director Phillip Noyce and stunt guru Simon Crane, working from a clever though shallow screenplay by Kurt Wimmer, make sure the stunts in “Salt” look like a dangerous and demanding day at the office. In “Knight and Day,” the movie’s absurd physicality is played as effortless clowning replete with repartee that is supposed to remind you of 007 but in fact is embarrassingly flat and banal.

There’s no joking around here. Jolie’s Evelyn Salt is made of sterner stuff, the kind that can survive a North Korean prison without giving up the name of her employer, the CIA. Back in D.C. and married to a nice though naive German arachnologist (August Diehl) — yes, he studies spiders and, yes, there is a payoff to that — she is assigned to CIA desk duties when a supposed Russian defector (Daniel Olbrychski) walks in one day.

Nobody is particularly buying his act, especially Salt’s superior, Ted Winter (Liev Schreiber), but she accedes to his plea to interrogate the man briefly before she heads home to an anniversary dinner. The Russian talks nonsense about sleeper cells and a plot to assassinate the Russian president on American soil. Then he happens to drop the name of the Russian sleeper spy: Evelyn Salt.

This apparently is enough to turn the Agency’s counterintelligence officer, Peabody (Chiwetel Ejiofor), into her instant foe. Nothing that happens after this deserves any serious scrutiny, but it’s fun to watch Jolie’s Salt seemingly transforms into the Russian sleeper agent she is reputed to be — escaping from a virtual lockdown, dodging cars and bullets, making her way to New York and through subway tunnels to confront the Russian president, then take on, seemingly, every Russian and CIA op in her way.

All those “seemingly” qualifiers are meant to indicate that no studio is going to cast Jolie as a villain or even an anti-hero. What do you think this is, the ’70s? But there’s just enough doubt for the ad copy to read: Who is Salt?

You can’t say the movie keeps you guessing about this for long since most attentive viewers will figure out the true villain(s) well before the climax. But the chase is the whole point.

Here Noyce and his team excel. Propelled by James Newton Howard’s nerve-teasing music and enhanced by Robert Elswit’s clear-eyed, smartly positioned cameras, “Salt” moves ever forward — pushing, pushing, pushing its heroine to greater feats every minute. It doesn’t stop for martinis, either shaken or stirred, or any other detours. The movie is lean and muscular, looking for action even in situations where a little sleight of hand might have done the trick. You do wish that maybe it did slow down to consider the human factor. Salt is married; let’s dig into that. A marriage between an agent and a civilian is never explored. In making the husband a problem that needs solving, here — not to give anything away — the movie stumbles badly. At the end of the day, “who is Salt” is less a tagline than a criticism. Eventually, you know what Salt is. But who she is isn’t satisfactorily resolved. In story terms, that is. In Hollywood terms, there’s never any doubt: Salt is Angelina Jolie.

Opened: Friday, July 23 (Columbia) Production: Columbia Pictures presents in association with Relativity Media a di Bonaventura Pictures production

Cast: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Olbrychski, Andre Braugher, August Diehl

Director: Philip Noyce

Screenwriter: Kurt Wimmer

Producers: Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Sunil Perkash

Executive producers: Ric Kidney, Mark Vahradian, Ryan Kavanaugh

Director of photography: Robert Elswit Production designer: Scott Chambliss Music: James Newton Howard

Costume designer: Sarah Edwards

Editors: Stuart Baird, John Gilroy

Rated PG-13, 100 minutes

WEEKEND STARTING  JULY 23RD 2010 BOX OFFICE

1. INCEPTION
2. SALT
3. DESPICABLE ME
4. SORCERER’S APPRENTICE
5. TOY STORY

DVD’S

1. BOUNTY HUNTER
2. OUR FAMILY WEDDING
3. BROOKLYN’S FINEST
4. HOT TUB TIME MACHINE
5. PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTENING THIEFS
6. GREEN ZONE
7. THE CRAZIES
8. BOOK OF ELI
9. SHUTTER ISLAND
10. GREENBERG

Posted July 26th 2010

By Margaret Bristol

Posted July 26th 2010

Valid through September 4

Treat somebody to a burger today — for free! White Castle is offering a buy one, get one promotion on their Saver Sack Meals. That’s lunch for two people for just three bucks! All you need to do is print out this coupon, available on White Castle’s Facebook page, and present it at the counter. The offer is valid for seven varieties of Saver Sack Meals through Sept. 4 at participating locations. Make sure you share this offer with your friends so they can treat you tomorrow!

CLICK HERE FOR WHITE CASTLE COUPON ON FACEBOOK

By Jamesetta Walker

Posted July 26th 2010

JUNE 26, 2010: Teena Marie can hold onto clothes for a long time. So long that the singer’s 18-year-old daughter this week did a photo shoot in the dress her mother wore on the cover of her pivotal 1981 album, “It Must Be Magic.”

“Rick brought me that dress, and I saved it all these years,” Teena Marie said by phone Thursday afternoon from her home in Pasadena, Calif.

The Rick she refers to is the indomitable Rick James, her late musical mentor, one-time love interest and a pioneer of punk-funk music.

Her daughter, who records under the name Rose Le Beau, is picking up the musical torch and completing a solo project. Teena Marie also is wrapping up what she said will be the last major music project of her 31-year career.

But before she winds down, fans can catch one of the Ivory Queen of Soul’s performances tonight at the Hampton Jazz Festival.

Teena Marie said she’s always been on tour, which has contributed to her longevity.

“My concerts are off the chain,” she said. “People don’t ever really get a chance to miss you if you’re there all the time.”

She indeed has a cult following. Her first album, “Wild and Peaceful,” was released in 1979, and she has fans today who fell in love with her then.

Perhaps most known for her monster hit “Lovergirl,” Teena Marie enjoyed a string of hits before that single and in the 2½ decades since. They include “I’m a Sucker for Your Love” (duet with James), “Square Biz,” “It Must Be Magic,” “Fire and Desire” (duet with James), “Out on a Limb,” “Behind the Groove,” “Dear Lover,” “Work It,” “Ooo La La La,” “If I Were a Bell” and “Still in Love.”

Her most recent CD, “Congo Square,” was released in June 2009 and included the single “Can’t Last a Day.”

“La Doña,” her first album of original music in 10 years when it was released in 2004, spawned three singles and earned her a third Grammy nomination. It was followed two years later with the acclaimed “Sapphire,” which included the single “Ooo Wee.”

But Hurricane Katrina indirectly affected the release of subsequent singles from “Sapphire.”

“All the plans for that album went in another direction,” she said. Her label at the time, Cash Money Classics, is based in New Orleans, and its founders had to spend much of their time coping with the storm’s effects. She remains close with the Cash Money family, she said.

Timing, again, was not on Lady Tee’s side after she signed to Stax Records and it released “Congo Square” last summer. That same week, the King of Pop died.

“Everybody went into Michael Jackson mode,” she said.

Teena Marie is that rare artist – her fans say Prince is her only possible contemporary – who can sing, play multiple instruments, write, produce and arrange music in several genres while remaining original.

Singer-musician Alicia Keys and hip-hop artist and producer Missy Elliott, a Portsmouth native, are modern incarnations of Teena Marie. Elliott has paid homage by including an interpolation of the rap from “Square Biz” into her rap on Ciara’s “1, 2 Step.” She also tapped Teena Marie to be a judge on her one-season reality talent show “The Road to Stardom With Missy Elliott.”

Teena Marie, 54, also a prolific poet, is a free-thinker. She has been known to nurture talents, often including lesser-known artists on her albums along with A-listers.

No guest singers are planned on her forthcoming project, though. “I decided to stand on my own this time,” she said. Teena Marie said the album also will include the single “Wild Horses,”  which originally appeared on her CD “Passion Play” that was released on her own label in 1994.

Then she plans to kick back.

“I’m going to retire. It’s my last real R&B album as far as a major label,” she said. “I’m just tired, tired, tired.

“I’ve probably done about 25 shows this year with another 15 to come.”

She said she’ll sporadically release jazz and inspirational music, along the lines of her Hurricane Katrina tribute song, “Resilient,” via her website.

That kind of music is needed, she said.

“It’s very sad what’s going on in the country, politically, economically, environmentally, even the lyrical content in music. It’s really just saddening.”

Her last project is upbeat, she said, “because we’re living in some really hard times.”

No release date has been set for the album, which would be her 14th.

Said Teena: “I do my projects how I want to do them, and then I get the deal.”

We’ll be holding on.

Jamesetta M. Walker, (757) 446-2211, jamesetta.walker@pilotonline.com

TEENA MARIE WILL PERFORM AT THE MACY’S MUSIC FESTIVAL IN CINCINNATI OHIO THIS WEEKEND JULY30TH & JULY 31ST!