by Jonathan Landrum Jr. It's tough to improve a video game that has been so excellent for the past several years, but 2K Sports has found ways to make "NBA 2K13" (for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, $59.99) even better—with some help from the league's most famous owner. NBA 2K13--This video game image released by 2K Sports shows an animated image portraying Los Angeles Clippers' Blake Griffin in a scene from "NBA 2K13." (AP Photo/2K Sports) Along with fluid gameplay, enhanced graphics and a smoother control scheme, this year's edition of the best-selling basketball franchise welcomes rapper—and minority owner of the Brooklyn Nets—Jay-Z as executive producer.
Roy·al·ty: Royal status, dignity, or power; sovereignty: to be elevated to royalty. Jazz is described as a style of music, native to America, characterized by a strong but flexible rhythmic understructure with solo and ensemble improvisations on basic tunes and chord patterns and, more recently, a highly sophisticated harmonic idiom. ROY HAYNES Let’s break it down for you further as we talk about Roy Haynes. Thelonious Monk once described Roy Haynes’ drumming as “an eight ball right in the side pocket.” Jack DeJohnette calls Haynes’ provocative percussion “a rare combination of street education, high sophistication and soul.”
Playwright and actor Joe Plummer turned his aunt’s love for the blues into the comic and touching play “Nothing But the Blues.” CAST REHEARSE FOR ‘NOTHING BUT THE BLUES’ “My aunt loved the blues. I hated it—I was into pop groups like The Jackson 5—but some of the blues was really good. I knew all the songs like Bobby Blue Bland and BB King,” said Plummer who resides in Chicago. “There was a lounge in Chicago—48th street and Indiana—that was a few blocks away from where I lived and I’d see people come out there. When I’d look inside, I’d see musicians and guitars and things like that and it all seemed magical to me.”
Thursday 18 offCENTER The August Wilson Center for African American Culture presents offCENTER: Just Us Dance Series at 5:30 p.m. This is a gospel showcase featuring the August Wilson Dance Ensemble, and artists such as the Covenant Praise Mime Ministry, Travis Malloy and the I am Saved Christian Contemporary Dance Company. The performance is free. For more information, call 412-338-8730 or visit www.augustwilsoncenter.org.
This week I visited the North Side Elks Lodge in the Hill District, Tim’s Bar in the Hill District, Savoy Restaurant in the Strip District, CJ’s in the Strip District and the African American Heritage Day Parade in Downtown Pittsburgh. Dwayne and Michelle Williams had a blast at CJ’s in the Strip District.
COPENHAGEN (AP)—Danish saxophonist and pioneer of free jazz in Europe, John Tchicai, has died. He was 76. Tchicai moved to New York in 1963 and co-founded The New York Contemporary Five with Archie Shepp. He later became a leading figure of the jazz avant-garde movement in Europe. He also played with John Coltrane, Milford Graves, Carla Bley and Steve Swallow. JAZZ PIONEER--July 7, 2006 file photo, of Jazz saxophonist John Tchicai in Copenhagen, Denmark. The Danish-born saxophonist was at the heart of the 'new thing' jazz movement of the 1960s. (AP Photo/Polfoto/Morten Langkilde, file) Tchicai was born to a Danish mother and a Congolese father in Denmark. He returned to Europe in 2001 and eventually settled in southern France.
by Sandy Cohen LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jennifer Hudson embodied the look of one of her idols, Whitney Houston, during a tribute to the late singer put on by Grammy organizers. WHITNEY TRIBUTE--Jennifer Hudson performs onstage at "We Will Always Love You: A Grammy Salute to Whitney Houston," at Nokia Theatre on Oct. 11, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) Rocking a pompadour and glittery jacket reminiscent of Houston's stage costumes from the 1980s, Hudson belted out a medley of Houston's hits Thursday at the Nokia Theatre for "We Will Always Love You: A Grammy Salute to Whitney Houston," which will air as a TV special next month.
by Jonathan Landrum Jr. Associated Press Rwiter Lupe Fiasco, "Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1" (Atlantic Records) Lupe Fiasco blacked out his album cover, except for the explicit content parental advisory. But he has plenty to say on his strong fourth offering, "Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1." BLACKED OUT—his CD cover image released by Atlantic Records shows the latest release by Lupe Fiasco, "Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Part 1." (AP Photo/Atlantic Records)
Hercules “Chico” Butler is known around Pittsburgh for relating to people on the dance floor clad in colorful Zoot suits hats, matching shoes and showing off his sharp dance moves. But in actuality the 79-year-old Garfield resident can relate to people in another way: through his pain as a disabled Korean War veteran who suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. CHICO BUTLER “People know me as the dancing, happy-go-lucky guy. They don’t know the humble, spiritual person who is loving and giving. I fought in Korea and no one knows I am a disabled veteran who suffers from severe PTSD,” said Butler who is most commonly known by his nickname, Chico.
One of your friends is about to do something extremely dumb. She never was one to make good decisions but this time, she’s made an awful one. It involves boys, sneaking out, a party somewhere out of town, a good chance for big trouble, and, well, you’re no snitch but somebody oughta know. This could turn out very, very badly. So what do you do when a friend is in a potential mess? For Chanti Evans, the answer is clear: detective work will keep her friend safe. In the new book “Creeping with the Enemy” by Kimberly Reid, the challenge is to weed through the lies.
