THURSDAY, May 15, 1997
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Def Jam comics delight Ovens audience
Rome debut
CD is worth
a listen
By Winfred B. Cross
THE CHAKLOTTE POST
Rome
Rome
Gerald Baillergeau
and Victor Meritt,
producers
RCA
☆☆☆
Black radio needs another
new male vocalist like Dennis
Rodman needs another tattoo.
Thank goodness Rome isn’t
just another male vocalist.
No, he’s not a great singer -
he doesn’t have a whole lot of
range - but he’s an honest
singer. Rome sings with a clear
voice, both figuratively and lit
erally. He sings without over
embellishment, no vocal gym
nastics or wretched over
singing that is taking over the
air ways.
Rome’s material isn’t much
different from stuff you hear
every day, but at least his
approach is. His producers
smartly layer his voice, which
builds layers of harmony,
much the same way Marvin
Gaye did. Also like Gaye, he
sings about sexy subjects, but
comes across more as the boy
next door than a roaming
Casanova. When he sings
something as sweet as “I Gotta
Be Down,” which speaks of
sacrifice and commitment, you
believe him. Even when he
lapses into “Do Me Right,”
basically a “booty call,” he still
sounds honest.
Most of this CD is ballad-
based and it tends to get a bit
tedious. A few up tempo tunes
would have done the trick.
Still, if Rome keeps singing
songs as well as he sings
Bobby Womack’s “That’s The
Way I Feel About ‘Cha,” that’s
all his fans will want to hear.
Wu-Tang Clan
(Featuring
CappaDonna)
Jnumph
The Rza, producer
Loud/RCA/BMG
Records
☆☆1/2
There’s a heck of a lot of
street buzz about Wu-Tang
Forever, the double CD sopho
more effort from Wu-Tang
Clan which is set for release
June 3. If the first single is
any indication, it will be a
monster hit. “Triumph”
bounces along with a menac
ing, head-nodding beat (which
is similar to one used by
Scareface on The
Untouchable) and spine-tin
gling lyrics, which display a bit
of growth. The single is heavi
ly edited for radio play, but the
full-length CD is not.
Christopher L. Gray
and
The North Carolina
Mass Choir
Great Things!
Christopher L. Gray,
3roducer
! Records
prc
CGi:
☆☆1/2
pf-way into Chris Gray’s
new CD and I finally discover
what’s odd about it. The N.C.
See SOUNDS on page 6B
By Mark Pendergrass
FOR THE CHARLOTTE POST
On Friday, the Russell
Simmons Def Comedy Jam
show came to Ovens
Auditorium with all the laugh
ter, excitement and side-split
ting jokes it provides on Home
Box Office.
Like the late night comedy
extravaganza on cable televi
sion, there was no language
barriers or FCC restrictions
during the two-hour show
which highlighted the talents
of some of the hottest African-
American comedians in the
country. Hosting the show was
BET Comic View host Somore,
who also appears regularly on
various tapings of Def Jam.
She was introduced by ’WPEG
Power 98 DJ Nate Quick.
According to several atten
dees, the freedom of speech is
Somore
From left to right: Zoo Man, Kid Capri, Joe Clair, Somore, Mike B and Def Comedy Jam associate
producer Bob Sumner. Mike Epps is kneeiing.
an/video disc jockey enter
tained the audience with his
performance of TV sitcom
songs. The crowd participa
tion enabled Clair to clown
See COMEDY on Page 6B
one of the reasons people come
to see the show..
“I think it’s all part of the
comedy,” said South Carolina
native Trina Jones. “The come
dians are really displaying
their talent and their talent is
what makes the audience
amused. The language doesn’t
bother me because it’s all
entertainment “
Opening the show was BET’s
host of the video show Rap
City, Joe Clair. This comedi-
Romantic comedy ‘Sprung’ falls short of its premise
Review
By Winfred B. Cross
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Sprung
Tisha Campb^l, Rusty
Cimdieff, Paula Jai
Parker,
Joe Torry, John
Witherspoon, Jennifer
Lee and. Clarence
Williams III
Rusty Cundieff,
director
Trimark Pictures
Rated R
Now showing
☆☆
There’s a point in “Sprung,”
a romantic comedy, where the
character Montel (Rusty
CundiefO tells his girlfriend
Brandy (Tisha Campbell) he
wants to make a movie about
two couples who sit around
and talk about life. Puzzled,
she asks if this is a black
movie, to which he replies,
“Yes.”
“Oooo, you ain’t ‘gon’ make no
money,” she says.
Is this stinging! commentary
on black filmmaking or an
ominous prediction about the
outcome of “Sprung.” It may be
a little bit of both. “Sprung”
(head-over-heels in love for the
“Seinfeld” crowd) does by-pass
much of the run-of-the-mill
PHOTO/TONI SCOTT
Joe Torry gets a ride from Paula Jal Parker In the Trimark film
“Sprung,” now In theatres.
black themes - gang bangin’,
violence, drugs - and goes for
romance. But it falls a bit flat
and is destined to be an also-
ran.
Montel, a wide-eyed roman
tic who gets tongue-tied when
trying to express his feelings
towards women. He falls for
Brandy (Campbell) a law clerk
with higher aspirations. The
relationship blossoms and
they become a couple.
They have two big problems:
Adina (Paula Jai Parker), a
hoochie and Clyde (Joe Torry),
a wanna-be playa. Each is jeal
ous that their friends may
have found Mr. Ms. Right.
So they cook up outlandish
schemes to break them up.
I’ll give Cundieff credit, he
has a good premise. Mix
bawdy comedy with heart
warming romance and you
have a winning combination.
The problem is the comedy is
bawdy but not all together
funny. The fast-paced over-
the-top sex scenes between
Adina and Clyde are cliched,
but Tony and Parker breath
life into them with funny facial
expressions. The film also
seems a tad longer than the 1
hour and 45 minute running
time.
The romance is so-so.
Cundieff and Campbell are a
good looking couple on screen,
but their dialogue often
sounds forced. It’s almost as if
each is trying too hard to make
the relationship seem unlikely,
not destined to happen. Even
when the mood gets romantic,
something doesn’t seem real.
The scenes seem to drag on.
Cundieff may have bitten off a
bit much in starring and
directing the film.
Parker and Torry seem per
fectly cast as the antagonists.
Torry isn’t a great actor hut he
works well as the hapless
Clyde who has no rap, no game
and, as we find out, no
PHOTO/TONI SCOTT
Rusty Cundieff and Tisha Campbell try to find true love in
“Sprung.”
Porsche. He delivers the film’s
funniest lines, none of which I
can repeat in this column. The
role also gives him the oppor
tunity to be just about naked
in most of the first half of the
film. Parker is a scream as
Adina, a role which can be
looked at as demeaning were it
not balanced by the Brandy
character. The special effects
used to show off her ability to
scope out fake Rolexes and
cheap suits are too funny.
“Sprung” is no where as stu
pid as “Booty Call,” but it does
lack the romantic spark of
something like “Love Jones.”
Still, it’s worth a look-see.
Rating:
☆☆☆☆☆ Classic;
☆☆☆☆ Excellent;
☆☆☆ Good;
☆☆ Fair;
☆ Why?:
No stars given - A
mess
Blues tour rides on freeway in pink ‘55 Cadillac
By Woody Baird
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CLARKSDALE, Miss. - “My
nickname’s Sonny, but my
friends call me Rat.”
With that introduction,
Frank Ratliff takes blues fans
through the old, beat-up
iRiverside Hotel in Clarksdale.
I It’s where singer Bessie Smith
died and a young Ike Turner
and his band practiced in the
basement.
The Riverside was popular
with black blues musicians in
the days of racial segregation,
and it’s a favorite now with
travelers on the American
Dream Safari.
The Safari, traveled in a
pinkish-beige ‘55 Cadillac,
begins in Memphis, and takes
a winding, change-it-as-you-
want route through the birth
ground of the Delta blues and
rock ‘n’ roll.
“What I’m looking for is the
quintessential American expe
rience,” said Tad Pierson,
Safari creator and honky-tonk
guide.
He knows the back roads and
the beer joints. And there are
stops, too, at the Riverside,
which was a small hospital
when Smith was brought there
after a traffic accident in 1937.
Turner, bluesman Robert
Nighthawk and many other
musicians, passing through or
from the region, were wel
comed to the Riverside by
Ratliff’s mother, Mrs. Z.L.
“Mama” Hill, who bought the
building in 1944. She died
recently at age 90.
Pierson’s travelers also stop
off at places like Ruth and
Jimmie’s Sporting Goods and
Cafe for coffee and peach cob
bler, or the Rev. Willie
Morganfield’s church for some
gospel music and prayer.
The Rev. Morganfield is a
cousin of McKinley
Morganfield, better known to
blues fans as Muddy Waters.
Pierson conducts tours
around Memphis as well as
day trips down into
Mississippi. But his real love
is taking music fans on three-,
five- or seven-day excursions
through the Delta, with the
longer ones winding up in New
Orleans.
Tooling around in that Caddy
with the stereo cranking,
Pierson tries to match his trips
to customers’ tastes. Some
want the usual sights like
Elvis Presley’s Graceland or
B.B. King’s club on Beale
See BLUES Page 6B