rimblr.com

THE DEFENSE RESTS IN R. KELLY CASE: Rebuttal witnesses expected today; closing arguments could begin Thursday.
*After two days of testimony, defense attorneys rested their case yesterday in R. Kelly’s child pornography trial in Chicago, according to reports.
The singer’s attorney, Ed Genson, wrapped things up early Monday without calling any witnesses to the stand. Jurors sat in court for several minutes before they were dismissed by the judge and sent home for the day.
Today, prosecutors plan to call two rebuttal witnesses. According to the Chicago Tribune, one is Grant Frederics, a forensic video analyst who found what appeared to be a mole on the back of the man in the sex tape.
The defense told jurors in opening statements that Kelly has had a mole on his back since childhood and that since there was no mole on the back of the male participant in the video, Kelly could not be the man on the tape. Frederics is expected to rebut testimony from the defense’s forensic expert, Dr. Charles Palm, who said in his examination of the videotape that he could not find a mole.
The prosecution also plans to call Robert Wolf, an assistant district attorney from Atlanta who is expected to deny suggestions that Lisa Van Allen, who testified she had a three-way sexual encounter with Kelly and the alleged underage victim, was given a deal to testify in the Kelly case.
The defense suggested that Van Allen’s boyfriend, a felon who was recently arrested for possession of a loaded AK-47 and drugs in his suburban Atlanta home, was given probation by the Fulton County district attorney’s office because Van Allen testified in the trial.
Cook County Circuit Judge Vincent Gaughan told jurors closing arguments are likely to begin on Thursday.
WHY WAS MAGIC JOHNSON SO AMPED OVER HILLARY: Former Laker explains loyalty and switch to Obama in EUR exclusive.

eurweb.com

It’s Friday. You’ve had a marathon week. Time to put down the BlackBerry, forward the phone calls to voicemail and kick back. Oh, and break out of that incredibly predictable weekend routine (a.k.a. rut) you’ve fallen into lately. If your sofa has a permanent indentation and you’ve learned way too much about your local barkeep’s intimacy issues, you need a new gig. Lucky for you, you live in Chicago, which has a burgeoning coffeehouse scene. Before you think black beret and Nietzsche, hold on, daddy-o. The scene doesn’t go down like that anymore. For a guide to the klatch of coffeehouses in and around the city, read on.
Coffeehouses exist all over Chicagoland, for almost every personality type. And they’ve upped the ante by providing entertainment for patrons. From folk to rock, comedy to poetry, we’ve got it covered.
Ashbary Coffee House, 8695 Archer Ave., Willow Springs (708-839-6963; ashbary.com). It feels like someone’s living room and is the perfect escape from pesky adults who ask you to clean your room.
Couches overflow with teens playing video games, dealing cards and—yes—actually conversing animatedly in a way you’re sure they don’t when their parents are around. Lattes and energy drinks abound.
Upstairs, WompRat is making its debut before a crowd of 25 or so. Guitarist Billy Nevin, 18, and drummer Dan Nevin, 19, are brothers. Their father, the only man remotely over 21 in the room, is easy to spot. “They usually practice in the bedroom … and they’ve been practicing a lot for tonight … they’re my heroes,” he says, smiling. From the looks on the faces of a few girls in the audience, he is not alone in this sentiment.
). It’s a listening room (read: quiet, please—music lovers and aficionados only) where coffee is 75 cents and brewed the old-fashioned way. No expensive lattes or cappuccinos here.

chicagotribune.com

“Boom bye bye!” Don’t panic! That is the sound that police and other members of the security forces have to deal with daily. “Bloody Hell!” shout the Brits, as they got stuck in a crack on the prime minister’s recent interview. That is an accurate description of the spate of murders in recent days.
While our Labour prime minister was visiting the ‘mother country’, which is also headed by a Labour party, two policemen, labouring in the sun on Labour Day were cut down here.
We all felt ‘outrage’, and not the sort Peter Tatchell, the hetereophobe heads. All and sundry began once more to clamour for the death penalty, because it seems as if violent crime is running out of control. Since the new millennium, we have been averaging close to 1,300 homicides annually and since Driver took control of the bus, it has not stopped at all. In fact, in just over the eight months since the new Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) government has taken over, around 1,100 Jamaicans have been slaughtered like cattle.
These data are even more frightening because of the cold-blooded and barefaced approach of the perpetrators. Life imitates art and the late crackhead entertainer, Baby Wayne, predicted the emergence of these icy-veined villains. More than a decade ago, he warned that wicked men, “nah spare nobody life; dem wi murder you mumma wid a big kitchen knife … ” These criminals are apt to, “murder di big bull weh deh ina di pen, murder the she-goat, murder the hen … ina di housing scheme not even a puppy nah breathe.” They are fearless; killing a bus driver at the gate of the Central Police Station and killing scores of persons in central Kingston, including a daylight murder almost in the presence of the police in Allman Town last week.

jamaica-gleaner.com

(OPENPRESS) May 26, 2008 — Jesulu Productions announced today that it will buy one-thousand gallons of gasoline for the movie studio that purchases domestic theatrical distribution rights to its new suspense-comedy feature film, Lady Magdalene’s.
“We’re making this offer during Memorial Day weekend,” said Jesulu’s CEO, J. Neil Schulman, who also wrote, directed, and plays a supporting role in Lady Magdalene’s, “when even the major studios are feeling the pinch of increased gasoline prices as they roll out their summer blockbusters. If you’re in charge of the studio delivering prints of the new Indiana Jones movie to over 8000 screens, you’re well aware that filling up the gas tank can run up those distribution costs quickly.”
This is not the first time Jesulu Productions has engaged in non-traditional tactics to achieve a distribution deal for Lady Magdalene’s. While still in post-production they offered the film’s distribution rights for sale on eBay; however, no bids were received.
“We just didn’t fit into either studio or independent marketing categories,” said Schulman. “We aim to entertain a mass audience like studio blockbusters costing 500 times what we spent on production, but our micro-blockbuster is upbeat and feel-good, which disqualified us from most of the major film festivals. Who knew you needed to make a downbeat movie about a dysfunctional Inuit family whose lesbian daughter is molested by a Haliburton executive to get into Sundance?” Schulman asked.
Lady Magdalene’s was awarded “Best Cutting Edge Film” following its premiere at the 2008 San Diego Black Film Festival February 2nd, and was received enthusiastically by a large audience during its April 3rd screening at the Backlot Film Festival in Culver City.
In the title role of Lady Magdalene the film stars Nichelle Nichols, the iconic actress who played “Uhura” on the original Star Trek, as well as being a singer discovered at age 16 by Duke Ellington. Beginning in Fall 2007, Nichelle Nichols began appearing as “Nana Dawson,” a recurring player on the NBC blockbuster television series, Heroes. As well as starring in Lady Magdalene’s, Nichelle Nichols contributed her talents behind the camera as choreographer, and composer of two original songs for the film, which she performed as well.

theopenpress.com

    Rising Down, the eighth studio album from the Philadelphia (I mean, Illadelph) hip-hop band The Roots, continues in the vein of the last album, the excellent Game Theory, with dark, edgy, and issue-laden numbers. The obligatory brief intro leads to the title track, which features Mos Def, Styles P, and Dice Raw and ends up being a middling start by having all the attention go to the lyrics, about modern anxieties, without an imaginative, memorable backing. The following track, “Get Busy,” features a mounting tension, but things really get moving starting with “75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction)”—and they hardly let up until the end of the album. “75 Bars” is a formidable and exhilarating word-barrage from Black Thought, The Roots’ lead MC, with a relatively minimal arrangement of a soul-funk drum beat and choice synth notes;“Criminal” is sprawling and unflinching, with themes of violence, faith, and a futile sense of being trapped.
    Possibly the best track on Rising Down is “I Will Not Apologize,” with its starkly cool guitar and drum kit patterns and horn flourishes; it calls out gangsta rap for constructing fantasies with an air of authenticity and playing up stereotypes, in lines such as, “White kids buy it, it’s a riot when we talking about pimping, or sipping on Olde English brew, or whatever they think we do.” The album ends on an optimistic note with “Rising Up,” with some odd name-dropping (“We about to dominate the globe like Oprah did it”) and some jazzy vocal contributions from Chrisette Michele. Although it takes a little while to warm up, Rising Down is yet another impressive album from The Roots, standing apart from many contemporaries with inspired arrangements and smart, questioning, perceptive, and honest songs.
    Here’s an up-and-coming indie singer whose voice is a combination of Bryan Adams, John Cougar Mellencamp and Sunday-morning church. He sings songs with lyrics that offer many questions but few answers, without sounding quite like Bob Dylan.

chattanoogapulse.com

Nas has a long history of courting controversy. In 1994, his gritty debut, Illmatic, was roundly hailed as a rap masterpiece — but seven years later, he was exchanging scathing dis tracks with Jay-Z, who claimed the Queens emcee had run out of creative juice. (The two have since settled their differences.) And in 2006, some younger rappers decried Nas’ choice to title an album Hip Hop Is Dead. But none of those dust-ups may compare to the feelings the 34-year-old artist stirred up last fall with a single provocative word, when he announced that his ninth studio album would be called N—–.
Nas ultimately chose instead to make it an untitled effort. Yet the rapper, still working nonstop at NYC’s Electric Lady Studios, remains dead set on recording his most fiercely political music ever. ”I always speak my mind on my albums,” he says. ”But I never had an album dedicated to saying what I feel about [current events].” Driven by beats from a varied cast of producers, including pop wizards Stargate (Beyoncé, Chris Brown) and the guitar-sampling Stic.Man of radical rap group Dead Prez, he’s speaking out on all kinds of hot-button issues. Indeed, the CD contains his definitive statements on everything from mainstream-media bias to the war in Iraq to, yes, the connotations of a certain racial slur — and that’s just in the four tracks Nas has completed so far. (Scheduled CD release: July 1)
NAS: TRACK BY TRACK
”Y’all My N—-s” 

Nas defiantly addresses the controversy over his originally proposed album title (”No apologies on the issue/If it offends you, it’s meant to, simple as that”). ”There’s so much confusion with the n—– word,” he explains. ”But we should allow anybody to talk about who they are and not feel threatened or attacked because of it.”

ew.com

I was sitting with my family in a restaurant we’d stopped in on a break from an eight-hour vacation drive from Dallas to New Orleans, a trip filled with the sounds of Earth Wind & Fire’s 1977 album “All ‘n All.”
The tape with “Fantasy” and “Serpentine Fire” among its songs looped over and over - and over - during the drive. My sister and I had heard the lyrics enough by mid-trip to sing loudly from the backseat between naps.
But the nondescript restaurant with an unremarkable instrumental playing just above a lull was not the backseat of a car. It was not our stage. It was a place to eat.
And by my mother’s rules, eating and music didn’t mix.
“Stop singing at the table and eat,” she said as she glared.
Fast-forward to now, a time when many people fully expect to hear music wherever food and drink are served.
“I went to a Starbucks today and . . . there was no music in this one,” said Bob Hawley of Door County, while eating at Bosley on Brady, where a bluesy beat played in the background. “It was so quiet that I almost complained.”
Bosley has a reputation for playing blues, funked-up jazz and old school R&B, with a turn toward the genres’ more upbeat selections on weekends and after work. Using a satellite radio subscription, the restaurant plays the tunes - which have inspired conga lines through the dining room and the bar on Friday nights, according to owner Michelle Green.
“It’s got an eclectic appeal,” said Hawley, a reserve Milwaukee County judge who eats at Bosley about once a month. “It’s not for the 20-somethings and more for someone like me who’s in the 40ish range.”
Restaurant experts say that, as dining demographics have changed and eateries have had to compete for diners’ attention with stronger brand identities, music in restaurants has progressed from being forgettable to scene-setting and strategic.

jsonline.com

NEW YORK: He can't sing and he can't dance, but Gabriel Byrne can charm — and he did while portraying the chivalrous King Arthur in “Camelot.”
After playing the tormented shrink Dr. Paul Weston in HBO's “In Treatment,” the Irish actor went from couch to court, starring Wednesday in Lerner and Loewe's beloved 1960 musical.
It was the first of five performances through Saturday, with one of the world's greatest pit orchestras — the New York Philharmonic — continuing its recent annual tradition of producing semi-staged musicals.
The 70 instrumentalists, conducted by Broadway veteran Paul Gemignani, weren't UNDER the stage at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall but ON it — in the back. With only a few full rehearsals, the coordination was quite dexterous because there could be no eye contact between the actors and music director.
With the orchestra playing, Byrne spoke most of his lyrics, occasionally singing when the music fell within his range.
He seemed nervous when he first appeared after being summoned by the dreadlocked and red-cloaked magician Merlyn (delightfully portrayed by Stacy Keach). Of course, Byrne was depicting a king anxious about meeting his bride-to-be.
Whatever inner stiffness he may have had vanished by his first big number — “I Wonder What the King Is Doing Tonight.” Although he often beat the orchestra to the end of phrases, his overall performance as the idealistic and forgiving monarch was endearing.
His queen, Guenevere, had no trouble singing. Marin Mazzie, whose Broadway credits include “Kiss Me, Kate,” “Ragtime” and “Monty Python's Spamalot,” was in her element. Her sweet soprano voice and great looks were perfect for the role of the queen who falls in love with a knight.
Completing the triangle was heartthrob baritone Nathan Gunn as Sir Lancelot. He made his presence known immediately upon entering with testosterone swagger, his powerful voice booming the “Camelot” battle cry and then segueing into “C'est Moi.” His big number — the Act 2 ballad “If Ever I Would Leave You” — got the loudest ovation of the evening from the near-capacity audience of about 2,400.

iht.com

With his little ukulele in his hand, he was the toothy Lancastrian comedian who became Britain’s biggest box office act in the 1930s. But, with scant regard for George Formby’s fame and reputation, members of a folk club in the Scottish Borders have branded Wigan’s most famous son a racist and called for “zero tolerance” of his distinctive sound.
The row at the Friday night folk sessions in the Cobbles Inn, Kelso, centres on Roger Platfoot, the ukulele-strumming former treasurer of the George Formby Society.
His faultless renditions of vintage songs such as I’m the Husband of the Wife of Mr Wu, and the neglected Wunga Bunga Boo, have enraged a minority of his local folk club because they make fun of “Zulus” and use terms such as “Chink” for a Chinese person.
Keith and Cate Ryan said in a letter to their local newspaper that they had twice complained about the lyrics, but their grievances had been dismissed out of hand.
Mr Ryan said: “At the time of the 40th anniversary of Enoch Powell’s ‘rivers of blood’ speech, we were shocked by the acceptance of racist songs being sung at the sessions. My wife and I have raised our objections to the singer but on both occasions were told to ‘folk off’ in an aggressive manner. Our complaints to the owners also fell on deaf ears.
“There should be zero tolerance. We felt saddened that this racism happens in Kelso and is considered acceptable. What next? Songs about the disabled, gays or some other easy-to-target group?”
Some locals say that the row has a personal edge: Mr Platfoot and the Ryans live in the same street in the nearby village of Heiton. Mr Platfoot, who plays a 1930s Gibson banjo-
ukulele, was quick to defend Formby’s songs. “They’re certainly not racist,” he said. “All the stuff I play has been widely published, is on record and is a reflection of what was done at the time. The songs go down very well with others at the club.”

timesonline.co.uk

Karen Dalton - Green rocky road [Megaphone]
This 1963 home recording may be an unearthed treasure to Karen Dalton’s admirers, but to me it serves as an introduction, and a rather enchanting one at that. Recorded using the pretty basic (by today’s standards) equipment of hersound engineer friend, Joe Loop, these songs now stand as the closest thing to an actual studio album before her ‘69 debut ‘It’s So Hard to Tell Who’s Going to Love You The Best’.
Delays - Everything’s the rush [Fiction]
Recorded over twenty days in Spain with producer Youth,”Everything’s The Rush” is the sound of Delays striding confidently into a new chapter. The tunes are even brighter, the choruses even bigger, the need for emotional rescue greater than ever. “We recorded at Youth’s villa in Grenada, which is high up in the mountains” explains Aaron. “The live room has got ahuge window with panoramic views over the Sierra Nevada range. When you’re staring at a mountain in a room full of amps, you want to make a sound that’s as big as the sky.”
Hellacopters - Head off [Plastichead]
2008 release, the seventh and final studio album from the Swedish rockers, appropriatelytitled “Head Off”. The album features a little sonic taste from every phase of The Hellacopters musical past, from the feed-backed and hum-bucked mayhem found on 1996’s Grammy winning Super Shitty To The Max! to the refined songwriting and production found on their last studio album Rock& Roll Is Dead. Sayonara, my brothers in Rock!
Lyrics Born - Everywhere at once [Anti]
Lyrics Born (a.k.a. Tom Shimura) has long been known for his innovative beats, creative collaborations, and soulful vocals. Here he takes a giant leap forward in song craft, incorporating elements suchas pop, reggaeton, and R&B. It’s the rare MC who can bridge the gap between hip-hop and alternative rock, owning the crowd at Bonnaroo and Bumbershoot as easily as he trades rhymes with Charlie 2na. Just remember those can’t-get-it-out-of-your-head songs from Nokia and Diet Coke commercials.

mic.gr