Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / March 4, 2004, edition 1 / Page 25
Part of The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
http://www.thechariotteposl.com CI)K Cljarlotte THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2004 1D Arts ^ i^7ENTEKrAiNT^««T Spike on Oscar, Halle and Osama By Jesse Washington THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK - Oscars? Spike Lee don’t need no stinkin’ Oscars, Sure, the director votes for the Academy Awards. And the outspoken film maker would surely give an acceptance speech for the ages. But that doesn’t mean he’s waiting around for a golden statue to fall into his lap. No, Lee is sticking to what he does best: making provocative films; running his ad agency. Spike DDB; and rooting for the Knicks. Spike DDB has just released a three-minute movie to promote Microsoft’s new Wrist Net service, which beams information like headlines and sports scores directly into specially equipped watches. And Lee, 46, is finishing his new feature film, “She Hate Me,” about a man who starts a busi ness impregnating les bians. AP: So you’re making this new movie, some thing with lesbians ... Lee; No no no no no. It’s called ‘She Hate Me.’ It’s coming out this summer on Sony Classics, starring Anthony Mackie - he was the young brother battling Eminem at the end of “8 Mile” — Kerry Washington, Ellen Barkin, Monica Bel- lucci. Woody Harrelson, John Tlirturro, Brian Den- nehy. Q-Tip’s in it. It’s about a young African American who gets involved in some shady things and gets set up at his company and he’s fired. Because of his predica ment he puts his morals and values aside and starts a business impreg nating lesbians who want to have kids. AP: Personally impregnating them? Lee: It depends. Any way you want it. Artificial insemination or the real thing, $10,000 each. In a month he impregnates 19 women. AP; How far into the movie before you get to that point? Lee: That’s the first 10 • minutes (big laughter). Nah, I’m joking. But really, it’s a comedy. What’s great about this film, this is an examination of what’s hap pening' in this country that’s really demonstrated by the Super Bowl. I’m not just talking about Janet. You' look at the commer cials, the rest of the half time show, it wasn’t just Janet, it was the whole thing. So this film really talks about the moral ethic of this country, and how money is God. It’s an examination of the moral and ethical decline of America, from the board- room to the bedroom. We deal with Ken Lay and Enron, WorldCom, (former IVco CEO Dennis) Kozlowski, Adelphia, all these crooks. AP: You mentioned John Ttmturro is in it. You’ve “broken” a lot of actors in your movies. Lee: I- didn’t break John Turturro, but he’s one of my dear fiiends. Tve done like 18 or 19 films, and he’s appeared in more of them than anyone. But I gave Rosie Perez her first role, Martin Lawrence’s first See SPIKE/2D o#o Bringing ‘Raisin’ to life in Charlotte Production of classic play opens March 11 THEATRE CHARLOTTE PHOTO Theatre Charlotte’s production of “A Raisin In the Sun” includes cast members Paris Simpson and Olivia Bost (standing); Morayo Orijia and Brian Simmons (on sofa) and Roderick Mobley (front). By Paula Young FOR THE CHARLOTTE PO^ “A Raisin in the Sion” will premiere at Theatre Charlotte March 11-28. The play is based on the Youngers, a Chicago family who faces oppression, poverty and dreams deferred in the late 1950s. Marilyn Carter, director of the play, is excited about the opportunity to direct this production. “I was honored to work it,” she said. Carter, who has been directing for over 30 years, is originally from Indi ana. She has lived in New York, where she started teaching and directing. Since moving to Charlotte over 20 years ago. Carter has direct ed dozens of plays here. What attracted her to this play was “A Raisin in the Sim’s” writer, Lorraine Hansberry. “Lorraine Hansberry is an extraor dinary pla3^wright,” said Carter. “She knows how to create believable, poignant family characters...she really knows how to design a play.” The other attraction for Carter was working with Candace Sorensen again. Carter says she was asked to direct “A Raisin in the Sun” by Sorensen, who is executive director of Theatre Charlotte and producer of the play. The two have worked together on previous productions and each respect and admire their work ing relationship. “She’s a phenomenal director that works well with people,” said Sorensen of Carter. “I love her,” said Carter of Sorensen. “She has a phenomenal amount of energy and an extraordi nary theatre background. She really knows her stuff and I admire her.” Carter says the production took up to six weeks. Because it’s community theatre, she says sometimes it’s diffi cult to work around actors’ schedules. Aside from hectic scheduling. Carter thinks the cast is talented. Brian Simmons plays the main character, Walter Lee, who appears in every scene. This is Simmons’ first performance with Theatre Charlotte but not his first time on stage. He has been a professional actor since age 16, appearing in various plays, films and TV commercials. “I know I was supposed to be Wal ter Lee,” Simmons said. “It’s a dream come true.” It’s a dream that Simmons has held onto since seeing the play at age 9. He says that even at that age the life lessons of the play really touched him. Walter Lee is a dreamer, a charac ter Simmons said he relates to. In the play- Walter Lee says, “There is not another man on the Southside that can understand my kind of thinking.” Simmons says he feels that way at times because his thought process and patterns are dif ferent from most too. Simmons says he has enjoyed working on this production and is thankful that Carter allowed him to explore and discover the character. Sorensen says “Raisin” is a must see for everyone because it’s a piece of history. She also says the play fits the theatre’s mission, which is to edu cate and entertain. Please see A RAISIN/3D Blues saxophonist considered one of best THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CHICAGO ~ Blues saxo phonist AC. Reed, who com bined a simple, eloquent style of play with an offbeat sense of humor and per formed with the likes of Bon nie Raitt and Stevie Ray Vaughan, is dead at age 77. Reed, whose songs tended to mock the music industry and often had humorous titles, such as “I’m in the Wrong Business” and “I Am Fed Up With This Music,” died last Wednesday of com- phcations from cancer. He performed until two months before his death. “He played blues of the first-class quality,” said Grammy Award-winning blues vocalist Koko Taylor, a friend of Reed’s for 40 years. “Everyone knew him for his good music. It was just so good to listen to.” Bom Aaron Corthen in Warden, Mo., Reed was raised in southern Illinois and moved to Chicago dur ing World War II to work at a steel mill. He bought a sax ophone at a pawn shop with his first paycheck and stud ied at the Chicago Conserva tory of Music, according to officials of Aligator Records, the company Reed worked with for 25 years. Reed toured with the late Earl Hooker and Dennis “Long Man” Binder in the 1950s, collaborated with Buddy Guy and the late Junior Wells in the 1960s and joined the Rolling Stones tour in 1970. He began fronting his own band in the 1980s. "In terms of the blues world if you were asked to name the best-known living sax players, he would be one of the three or four, world wide,” said Bruce Iglauer, founder of Alligator Records. Reed is survived by his sis ter, Sarah Corthen. His funeral is planned for March 6 in Carbondale, said Marc Lipkin, an Aligator Records spokesman. Affleck-Lopez bomb takes Razzie dishonors By David Segal, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES - The hon eymoon’s over for Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, but their mob-comedy flop "Gigli” real ly cleaned up Saturday at the Razzies, the first movie to take all six top trophies in the annual dishonorable-men tion awards. Golden Raspberry Awards voters picked “Gigli” as 2003’s worst picture, Affleck as worst actor, Lopez as worst actress and the two as worst screen couple. “Gigli” film maker Martin Brest also took the Razzies for worst director and screenplay. Winfred Cross “Gigli” hit theaters last summer amid the tabloid frenzy over Affleck and Lopez’s on-again, off-again wedding plans. They finally announced in January the Please see AACT/2D Cee-lo aims high with ‘Soul Machine’ Cee-lo Green Cee-Lo Green... Is The Soul Machine Various producers Arista Records Cee-lo Green is the chameleon of music. This guy’s talents lie in lots of areas: rap, hip-hop, southern soul and gospel. What ever he chooses, he does well - very well. That’s what makes “... Is The Soul Machine” work so well. Cee-lo pours himself into this wicked mix of every thing. There’s more soul here than anything but hip-hop and rap fans should not feel slighted. With guest artists Ludacris (what rap CD is he not on?) Jazza Pha, T.I. and Big Rube, this is as much a rap CD as anything. “Ill Be Around” with Timbaland sums up the rap selections - radio friendly without losing street credibility. But for me, Cee-lo works best when he uses his South ern-fried voice to sing. He’s a cross between A Green and almost every other ‘70s singer. Give him something like “All Day Love Affair” and he ranks with the best of these neo-soul singers - no, he’s better. The song is pure ‘70s magic, including a real horn arrangement. Cee-lo’s Please see CEE-LO/3D Billboord top-|0 Weekly charts for the nation’s best-selling recorded music as they appear in next week’s issue of Billboard maga zine. Reprinted with per mission. (Platinum signi fies more than 1 million copies sold; gold signifies more than 500,000 copies sold.): Billboard Hot 100: Ibp 10 (Compiled from a national sample of sales reports collected, com piled and provided by SoundScan; radio playlists; and monitored radio by Broadcast Data Systems) 1. “Yeah!” Usher (feat. Ludacris & Lil Jon). Arista. 2. “Slow Jamz,” ’Twista (feat. Kanye West & Jamie Foxx). Atlantic. 3. “The Way You Move,” OutKast feat. Sleepy Brown. Arista. (Gold) 4. “One Call Away,” Chingy (feat. J. Weav). Disturbing tha Ffeace. 5. “Me, Myself and I,” Beyonce. Columbia. 6. “Hey Ya!” OutKast. Arista. (Gold) 7. “Hotel,” Cassidy (feat. R. KeUy). Nick. 8. “Tipsy,” J-Kwon. So SoDef. 9. “Splash Waterfalls,” Ludacris. Disturbing tha Peace. , 10. “Sorry 2004,” Ruben Studdard. J. Copyright 2004, VNU Busi ness Media and Nielsen SoundScan, Inc.
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
March 4, 2004, edition 1
25
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75