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THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 1997
10AARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Battle’s
‘Grace’ is
wonderful
By Winfred B. Cross
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Kathleen Battle
Grace
David Frost and
Steven Paul,
producers
Sony Classical
☆☆☆☆ 1/2
Ka
Lathleen Battle’s voice
should be listed as one of the
wonders of the world. It is a
unique instrument fdled with
passion, emotion and beauty
It radiates as warm as the sun
and is as nearly beyond
description. Whatever she
sings becomes a part of beauty
itself.
Her latest effort, Grace, is as
awe-inspiring as anything I’ve
ever heard her sing. It is filled
with the music of deep and
abiding faith, worship and
praise. Recorded at Riverside
Church in New York City,
Battle masterfully interprets
the music of George Frideric
Handel, Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart, Johann Sebastian
Bach and others as if she was
bom singing these complicated
masters’ music. She does, it
with such an ease its' almost
eerie, chilling. She makes you
believe everyone can or should
sing like this.
But we know everyone can
not sing like this. This is a gift
from God - one Battle is in
complete control of. From the
opening power of Handel’s
“Rejoice Greatly” to the lilting
splendor of “Ave Maria,” Battle
is intent on showing off her
glorious pipes.
Not into classical music you
say? Give a listen to Battles’
interpretation of “Were You
There When They Crucified
My Lord? You’ve never heard
this traditional hymn until
you heard her version. It shim
mers with emotion, with quiet
fire. She communicates as if
she’s watching the crucifixion
firsthand. Her voice radiates
like a beacon for the lost,
drawing him nearer to salva
tion. It’s breathtaking music
making.
Various Artists
Original Motion
Picture Soundtrack
Love Jones
Various producers
Columbia Records
☆☆☆☆
I can’t begin to tell you how
good it is to hear a movie
soundtrack that isn’t filled
with foul-mouthed rappers
spewing out hate and other
forms of nonsense. No, Love
Jones is filled with singing -
real singing that’s more about
conveying emotion than ring
ing up sales.
Not that this CD isn’t capa
ble of racking up huge sales.
It’s got the star power to do so.
Xscape, the Fugee’s Lauryn
Hill, The Brand New Heavies
and rising stars Kenny
Lattipiore, Dionne Farris and
Maxell contribute a host of
good music that should satisfy
any listener.
See SOUNDS paQe 5B
Rap world mourns B.LG’s
death, hopes violenee ends
By Paula Story
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ANGELES - The
Notorious B.I.G.’s lyrics mir
rored the hard and fast life he
lived.
“You wanna see me locked
up, shot up. Mom’s crouched
up over the casket screamin
bastard; crying, knowing my
fnends is lying, ya’ll know who
killed him,” he sang on his
upcoming album Life After
Death ... ‘Til Death Do Us
Part.
The lyrics were prophetic:
Christopher Wallace, whose
stage names were The
Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie
Smalls, was shot to death
Sunday. He was 24.
A drive-by shooter killed him
as he sat in his vehicle after
leaving an industry party.
Stickers on the GMC
Suburban bore the message
“Think B.I.G., March 25,
1997,” the release date of his
album.
Once a crack-selling kid who
had a knack for rhyming,
Wallace became a hulking man
who commanded respect as
the king of East Coast rap. He
was a dapper dresser at 280
pounds and more than 6 feet,
often topped with a derby hat.
Wallace was Billboard Rap
Artist of the Year in 1995. His
single, “One More
Chance/Stay With Me,” was
named best rap single that
year, after debuting at No. 5.
His debut album. Ready to
Die, sold more than 1 million
copies.
“He knew where he came
from and he knew what was
up,” said Peter Spirer, who
worked with Wallace on the
newly released rap documen
tary “Rhyme & Reason.”
“I think the guy had a great
ability of being able to talk
about his environment,” Spirer
said.
TTie music is hard for some to
listen to and even harder for
some to understand. But the
gangsta rapper was also a new
father who looked at what he
was doing as a business.
Kurtis Blow, a rap pioneer
and disc jockey for IffWR-Los
Angeles, said Wallace had a
distinctive. East Coast style.
“Biggie was smooth, his vocal
delivery was one of pure silk,”
Blow said. “He was the chill
gangster. His lyrics were real
ly hardcore expressing his
innermost feelings coming
from a Brooklyn ghetto, and he
was real, because everything
he said, he lived that life.”
Wallace visited the station a
few weeks ago and music
director Damion said the rap
per was positive and happy to
be in Los Angeles, despite
rumors of an East Coast-West
Coast rivalry.
“This guy didn’t want any of
this drama, he was finishing
his album,” Damion said.
In an interview Friday,
Wallace told the Los Angeles
Times he had begun thinking
more about where his life was
headed.
“When you start making a
whole lot of money and you
start living too fast, it’s up to
you to slow yourself down,” he
said.
“You can’t be getting drunk,
smoking two or three ounces of
weed a day, and (having sex)
with all these different
females. Something’s bound to
happen.”
The Notorious R T H
Rapper’s death shoeks nation J |
By Winfred B. Cross
THE CHARLOTTE POST :
L ife After Death. . .Until Death Do Us Part, a two-
CD, 22-song set to be released March 25, was how
rapper Notorious B.I.G. planned to answer a num
ber of questions about his troubled life. Now it will stand as
his swan song.
B.I.G., real name Christopher Wallace and also known as
Biggie Smalls, was killed Sunday morning in Los Angeles
while leaving a Vibe Magazine party in his Suburban. He
was 25.
Reports about B.I.G.’s death are sketchy. He was shot
several times while parked at a stop light. He was taken to
Cedars^Sinai Medical Center and died shortly thereafter.
Police have no leads and have conflicting reports about the type of vehicle the cvilprit drove.
Some say the assailant was driving a white sedan. Others say it was a black van or sport utili
ty vehicle. At presstime, no suspects had been arrested and Los Angeles police had no solid leads.
Funeral arrangements will not be announced, according to Kirk Burrowes, president of Bad
Boy Entertainment.
“To his friends and fans: there vrill be plenty of time in the coming weeks for you to show your
support, yom- love and your respect for B.I.G.,” Burrowes said. “But for now we ask the public
and media to respect the wishes of his family and let them mourn in peace and solitude.”
B.I.G. recorded a string of hits that included “Juicy,” “Big Poppa” and “One More Chance,” the
first single to debut at No. 1 on Billboard Magazine’s Rap and R&B Singles charts. His new sin
gle “Hypnotized” - based on a sample of Herb Alpert’s “Rise” - is already causing a buzz at radio
stations.
“When I did the first album I was in a living hell, stressed and depressed,” B.I.G. said. “I was
more relaxed making this one and I’m proud of what I came up with. I want this to be the biggest
record ever. I want it to hit the streets harder than any record before. I want to live up to my
name and prove to everybody that there really is life after death.”
Sean “Puffy” Combs, also known as Puff Daddy, is founder and CEO of Bad Boy Entertainment.
Responsible for'B.I.G.’s' r&b, rap and hip-hop sound. Combs was also a close friend to B.I.G. In a
statement released Tuesday, Combs said: “B.I.G. was one of my closest fnends. Words can’t
express my pain. He was one of the greatest .artists I’ve every had the pleasure to work with. I
love him and will always miss him.”
The news of his death spread across file country as if it were natural disaster. Phones started
See Murder Page 11A
LaVern Baker dies in N.Y. hospital
By Larry McShane
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK - LaVem Baker,
the gutsy rhythm and blues
belter who went to the top of
the charts in the ‘50s and ‘60s
with “Jim Dandy” and
“Tweedle-Dee,” has died at 67.
Ms. Baker was the second
woman inducted into the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame - after
Aretha Franklin — and was a
favorite of Elvis Presley, who
recorded eight songs in her
repertoire.
She died Monday at a New
York hospital. Ms. Baker had
suffered from diabetes and
had both legs amputated
below the knees two years ago.
Ms. Baker scored 20 R&B
hits between 1955 and 1965,
including “Tweedle-Dee,” “Jim
Dandy,” “Play It Fair,” “I Cried
a Tear” and “See See Rider.”
Like black contemporaries
such as Little Richard and Big
Joe Turner, Ms. Baker was
late in receiving recognition
for her role in the birth of rock
and roll.
“Regardless of how old you
are when you get this, it’s still
good, baby,” she said upon
being inducted into the Rock
Hall of Fame in 1991.
Born Delores Williams in
Chicago, she was the niece of a
blues singer named Memphis
Minnie. Her first perfor
mances were in her hometown
at age 17. Under the name
Little Miss Sharecropper, she
signed with National Records
in 1950 and made her first
recordings. Her career took off
after she signed with Atlantic
Records in 1953.
Segregation kept her R&B
songs off the radio, where soft
er cover versions by Pat Boone
and other white artists domi
nated playlists. Ms. Baker’s
irritation with singer Georgia
Gibbs’ frequent covers led to
one particularly pointed inci
dent.
“When I went to Australia
with Bill Haley, Big Joe
Turner, the Platters and
Freddy Bell and the Bellboys, I
left her my (flight) insurance
policy,” Ms. Baker recalled. “I
sent it to her with a letter:
“Since Ill be away and you
won’t have anything new to
copy, you might as well take
this.’”
There were other artists
whose covers didn’t bother Ms.
Baker. She liked Elvis Presley,
and the Grateful Dead were
among the bands that later did
“See See Rider.”
When her career cooled off in
the late ‘60s, Ms. Baker visited
Vietnam to entertain the
troops. She came down with
bronchial pneumonia and was
told to recuperate in a warm
climate.
She settled in the
Philippines and spent most of
the next two decades there
managing a club near the U.S.
mihtary base and performing
on weekends. Her first return
to the United States was for
Atlantic’s 40th birthday party
in 1988, where she performed
in Madison Square Garden.
Ms. Baker subsequently
enjoyed a career resurgence,
performing at the Kennedy
Center in Washington, record
ing a pair of songs with Ben E.
King and doing one song for
the “Dick Tracy” soundtrack.
She appeared on Broadway
in “Black and Blue,” starting
in 1990. In 1992, she released
a new album. More recently, a
recording of her nightclub act
was released as “Live in
Hollywood ‘91.”
She was married twice,
including to the late comic
Slappy White, and had two
daughters. Funeral arrange
ments were not immediately
available.
Shop owner suit slows Spielberg’s ‘Amistad’ movie \
&
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEWPORT, R.I. - Angry
comments and letters have
been directed toward a busi
ness owner who sued Steven
Spielberg’s production compa
ny and the city after claiming
work on the film “Amistad”
was hurting his business.
“People are getting the
wrong impression and unfor
tunately it’s something I can’t
control,” said Mike Carlin,
owner of One Hour Moto
Photo.
Carlin said his Touro Street
business has suffered and he’s
been besieged with phone calls
and letters, some anonymous,
protesting his lawsuit seeking
a restraining order against the
movie.
“I’ve been characterized as
everything from evil to tacky,
to why don’t I relocate my
business, to why don’t I put my
tail between my legs and go
with the flow,” he said
'Tuesday.
In a ruling Monday, Superior
Court Judge Francis Darigan
prohibited Dreamworks from
making any exterior or interi
or alterations to Carlin’s shop,
which faces Washington
Square, where filming begins
today.
Production crews converted
the area to a 19th century
town for the filming of
“Amistad,” the true story of the
1839 slave rebellion aboard a
Spanish slave ship and the tri
als in New Haven, Conn., that
followed.
“I was seriously concerned
that my business would suffer
so much that I would go out of
business,” Carlin said. “I sin
cerely believed that and I saw
that happening.”
“I’m not trying to gouge
Dreamworks,” he said. “I’m
just trying to protect my busi
ness.”
Carlin still is seeking com
pensation for business he
claims he lost during two days
of preproduction work last
week, but was happy with
Darigan’s ruling.
Carlin’s lawyers were seek
ing $25,000 in compensation
and $10,000 in lawyer fees, a
source close to the case told
The Newport Daily News. No
monetary settlement was
reached Monday.
Carlin also got a court order
providing him unlimited
access to his property.
Washington Square has been ■
closed to automobile traffic :
and a parking ban is in effect. :
In court papers, Carlin pre- ;
dieted those measures would |
cost him up to 50 percent of his •
business during the five weeks ■
that Spielberg will be filming
in Newport.
Dreamworks has given cash
to businesses affected by film- ;
ing, said Keith Stokes, execu- ;
■five director of the Newport ;
County Chamber of
Commerce.
Some shopkeepers have been ^
given a security deposit to .
make sure their storefronts .
are returned to their original
state, while others have
received compensation for lost ■
revenue.