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http:/A(vww.thecharlottepost.corn CI)arlotte $os(t THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2006 D Section, PHOTO/WADE NASH Mason Price brings the Holiywood shuffle to Chariotte as he films his indy flick “From Tragedy to Triumph.” He’s iooking to cast acting hopefuis this Saturday at CPCC in uptown. A dream for film Charlotte filmmaker financing first feature movie effort By Cheris F. Hodges cherts Jiodges&tkecharlottepost£om Mason Price has taken a page out of Robert Tbwnsend’s movie making book and financing his own'film. “From TVagedy to Tri umph” is about a man who has a string ofbad luck and ends up in prison, yet turns his life around to become a millionaire. “When he goes to jail, he meets a drug dealer who tells him when he gets out of jail don’t make the mis take that felons make and commit a crime,” Price said. ‘T want to show you how to hustle the legal way. So he learns tricks of the trade and turns some thing into nothing.” The man becomes a licensed barber and opens a shop. “He turns tragedy to tri umph,” Price said. Price, who has filmed commercials and videos, knows that the road to stardom is going to be diffi cult, but he’s ready for the diallenge of produdi^ a hit movie. He’s pulling a Spike Lee because he also directs, produces and stars in the movie as well as wrote the script. He’s also keeping it clean - there isn’t any profanity. But before he can put the film into action (shooting is scheduled to begin the first week of March), Price needs to find actors. He’s holding a casting call at Central Piedmont Commu nity College Saturday in the lobby of Boj ante’s at 10:30 a.m. Price said it doesn’t mat- t^* if you’ve acted before or See FILMIVIAKER/2D Producer shops for full-length feature Temptations Reflections Various Producers Motown Records By Aisha Lide TH£ CH.^RLOTTE POST The Motown label is only a shadow of what it used to be. There’s hardly ever new prod uct rdeased and when it is, who knows it’s out? The label must have a promotions bud get of $10. At least it still has to do some hyping in order to keep the artists that made it famous. Stevie Wonder’s “A Time 2 Love” was one of the best surprises of last year. Now it’s the Temptations’ turn. The histcaic group’s latest effort is a collection of remakes - all Motown • that are familiar, maybe too much so. Most of the songs are Grom the eariy ‘60s to 70s with one dip into the disco bin. The Tfempts do an interesting take on “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” a 70s smash for Thel ma Houston. The Tfempts ver sion sovmds more like the Harold Melvin original. The rest of the CD stays in a mid-tempo to ballad groove. The classic Tfemptation har mony is present, but I would have preferred more of the frequent lead vocal changes that made the Tbmpts famous. You get that on. ‘Til Be Thd:^,” but I would have liked more songs with these exchanges Most of songs are updateci but stay amazin^y dose to the OTiginals. When the group departs the results are more pleasing ‘This Ol’ Heart of Mine” is more syncopated T Hear A Symphony” is a little softer with Ron Tyson’s falset to as the anchor. ‘T^ever Can Say Goodbye” pulls ^fichael Jackson’s bey soprano range to a more soothing baritone register. Even when the Tbmpts stay doser to the original arrange ments, this works There’s not a bad Version Dee Thompson is still hung up on ‘3arbed Wire.” The Harding High Schcwl graduate and acting coach hopes to turn his short film into a full-length motion pic ture. “Barbed Wire” was writ ten 10 years ago and is now being submitted at several film festivals, induding Spa^^ttj^Junction,. an urban film festival in Atlanta. As of now, “Barbed Wre” is a 6 minute, 7 second short fixim a 90-page script. Thompson hopes to have ‘3arbed Wre” turned into a full-length fea ture with proper funding. “Barbed Wire” is about a young woman, Barbara, struggling with drug addic tion and rehab. She has a boyfii^d, Michael, who tries to stand by her but eventual ly moves on with his Life and finds a new love, Andrea. Andrea and Mchael eventu ally become engaged and Mchael gets a big promotion at his job. After a ni^t of cel ebrating, they get home, and there is a knodc on their door -Barbara. She finally has her life back on track and is hop ing that she and Mchael can reconcile, but Andrea is not having it. The women have what Thompson calls “a showdown.” The Chariotte premiere of “Barbed Wire” will be shown in February at a film festival hosted by Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. “There is no guaran- See BARBED WIRE/2D CODE RED Rapper aims for success with indy label By Aisha Lide THE CHARLOTTE POST Code Red has made mis takes. but is motivated to get on die right track. The 21-year-old Charlotte rapper (birth name Marico Dalton) dropped out of Olympic High School and hustled drugs at 17. After a series of scrapes with the law, including jail time for intent to sdl marijuana, Red decid ed to follow his dream as a rap artist. He records on Huntersville-based Fero C^ty Records, where he wrote every track on his debut CD “Bom to Die.” ‘T am happy to be alive and telling my life in my songs,” he wrote on his website. The Carolinas is not a rap hotbed, Greenville, N.C. native Petey Pablo (*113136 Up,” “Freek-a-Leek”) is per haps the best known artist the state has produced. While Los Angeles and New York produce rappers routinely, how can a North Carolinian break in? ‘Tt can be done,” says Dalton. Tt ain’t hard, it’s just got to be done ri^t.” Red also envisions creating an identity beyond music. He would like to get into real estate, host a football camp, and eventually start a doth- ingline. T’m trying to be a mogul,” he said. Of course, to become a mc^ul, he’ll need to be heard That’s difficult for relative unknowns in commerdal radio, which is programmed to favor estaldished stars. An alternative is college radio, Rease see CODE/2D PHOTO/GEORGE SCOTT Rapper Code Red wants to be rap’s next mogul. Home girl basks in glow of local star status See TEMPTATIONSV2D By Cheris F. Hodges chenshodges^thecharlf’tteposseom With long blond hair flow ing, skin showing and boots giitt«*ing, Rhcaietta Johnson sang (if you want to call it that) her way onto “American Idol.” But it was a tirade against Idol judge Paula Abdul that lifted Johnson fixan rejected to revered There’s a web site dedicated to her - www.ihcnettajohn- son.com - and her own web site — www.rhonetta.net, where you can buy T-shirts and sunglasses with her name on them. PHOTO/WADE NASH “Bow down” Rhonetta Johnson plans to be a success despite being rejected by “American Idol.” Rease see RHONETTAy2D ‘Blues’ are all right Hill St Blues Daniel J. Travanti, Thurean Blacque, Michael Warren, L^nee Moody, Rene Enrauguez and Joe Spano MTM Productions/ Steven Bochco, creator 20th Century Fox And then there are her TV appearances. Johnson has been on Weep-Tv’s “Fox News Edge” twice and accord ing to executi ve producer Reed Sartin, (Tiariotte can’t get enou^ of Johnson’s funky stuff “We got five times the amount of calls that we nor mally get* after her appear ance,” he said And why wouldn’t they? JohnsOTi’s ‘how down” speech has become an instant part of pop culture, just like tone deaf William Hung’s “Sie Bangs” performance last season. “Hill Street Blues” was nearly ignored by the public when it debuted in 1981. Most viewers didn’t get the shaky, hand-held camera angles and the leapfix)g story lines. But an Emmy for best drama and NBC settling on a viewing night jump-started the ratir^s for this, the grandaddy of ensemble cast television. It was so different fi*om any cop show because it was actually character-dri ven. Every story line was not wrapped at the end of the hour. Some ran for the entire season. Dialogue was layered and everything seemed to be in perpetual motion. Yet Steven Bochco’s “Hill Street Blues” did more for television - they made it appealing. This show expand ed the horizon for minorities. The show was based in a (Dhicago-like dty and the cast and stories* reflected a diverse, urban setting. For mer UCTA basketball star Mchael Warren was a lead character, the sympathetic officer Bobby Hill. The char acter’s interaction with the cowboy cop Andy Renko (the wondoful Charles Raid) was one of the biggest break throughs of black and white relations on television. Taure- an Blaojue was a detective, maybe the first Afiican Amer ican in such a recurring role. Rene Enrauguez’s Lt. Ray Calentano avoided a lot of the hispanic stereotypes. But the ^ue for this pro gram was Daniel J. TVavanti as Captain Frank Fuiillo. He had the tou^ job of keeping everything fi*om exploding as well as his own emotions for hottie Grace Davenport, the lovely Veronica Hamel. This three-disc set is just the be^nning. Its features are a bit skimpy, but still a worthy tribute to this ground breaking series. Ratings Classic, Good Fair Why? No stars-Amess
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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