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■ O http://www.thecharlottepost.com THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2004 1D Arts Wi)e Cljarlotte Intertainment Reid Reid takes over as Island Def Jam chief By Alex Veiga THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LOS ANGELES - Antonio “L.A” Reid, ousted from the top job at Arista Records barely a month ago, was named chairman of Island Def Jam Music Group on Tuesday, where he will over see the label’s stable of acts, including Jay-Z, Bon Jovi and Melissa Etheridge. Reid’s three-year deal with the Universal Music Group- owned label will pay him just under $10 million, according to a source familiar with the contract. He also has a one- year option on the contract. Reid, who over his career as a music producer and label head has racked up hits with artists such as Whitney Houston, Avril Lavigne and, most recently, hip-hop duo OutKast, could earn more with contract incentives linked to his ability to gener ate hits, the source said. The appointment is effec tive Thursday, Universal offi cials said. ‘We couldn’t be happier to be working with an executive who has the range of talents that Antonio brings to the company,” Doug Morris, UMG’s chairman and chief executive, said in a state ment. Reid replaces Lyor Cohen, who started Def Jam 21 years ago and left Island Def Jam last month to head Warner Music Group. In a statement, Reid called the job “an amazing opportu nity.” Reid first gained promi nence in the early 1980s as a founding member of the R&B group The Deele, which fea tured then unknown Ken neth “Babyface” Edmonds. The pair built a successful production and songwriting partnership with hits for artists such as Houston, and later for the group’s own label, LaFace Records, whose artists included Ibni Brax ton, TLC and Usher. Reid became president and CEO of Arista in May 2000 after the company’s founder and then CEO, Clive Davis, who left because of parent company BMG’s mandatory retirement policy. Davis was named chairman and chief executive of BMG North America last week. During his time at Arista, Reid ovemaw the rise of new artists like Lavigne, Pink and OutKast, who made a point of thanking Reid on stage at the Grammy Awards when they won album of the year. But Arista also had some lowlights under Reid. The fol low-up album from Pink, “TVy This,” has sold poorly since its release in the fall; her last album, “Mlssundaz- tood,” sold more than 5 mil lion copies. Reid also re-signed Whit ney Houston to a $100 mil lion contract in 2001, despite rumors of drug use and errat ic behavior about the singer. Houston’s subsequent album, “Just Whitney,” was the poor- est-selling release of her career. Grammy-nominated poet to visit Davidson By Herbert L. White herb, white @ thecharlottepost. com Poet, writer, activist, and Grammy nominee Nikki Giovanni will speak at Davidson College on Feb. 19. The 7:30 p.m. talk at the Duke Fam ily Performance Hall of the Knobloch Campus Center. Call (704) 894-2140 for more information. Admission is free Giovanni, a Tfennessee native, has taught writing and literature at Vir ginia Tbch since 1987. She is recog nized as a leader in the black poetry movement, and uses her literary voice to campaign for equality and civil rights. She has received numerous hon ors and awards, including woman of the year awards from three different magazines, and governors’ awards in the arts from both Tbrmessee and Virginia. Two volumes of poetry, “Love Poems” and “Blues: For All the Changes,” won NAACP Image awards. In 1996, Giovanni earned the Langston Hughes Award for Distinguished Contributions to Arts and Letters. Recently, she has pub lished “The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1998,” and “Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea: Poems and Not-Quite Poems.” Giovanni has written more than two dozen books, including volumes of poetry, illustrated children’s books, and collections of essays. Giovanni’s appearance is part of Davidson’s Reynolds Lecture Series, “Desegregat ing American Culture: Fifty Years after Brown v. Board of Education.” 1^- Giovanni “Barbershop 2: Back In Business” brings back the original cast and adds Queen Latifah (left) to the mix. By Andre Herndon WAVE COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS LOS ANGELES — The original “Barbershop” was one of the sleeper hits of 2002. With the release of “Barbershop 2: Back in Business,” Cube and Cedric are more than happy discuss their latest project. Just don’t ask them (again) about the Rosa Parks controversy. Ice Cube wasn’t trying to hear all that. Or even really talk about it. “It” being, of course, the controversy that enveloped the 2002’s “Barbershop.” The sur prise hit has spawned the highly-anticipated sequel, for which promotion duties had a sub dued Cube up early on a Sunday morning in the Century City hotel, talking to members of the Hollywood studio junket press corps. The first question was on his reaction to the furor that erupted in the wake of some outra geously impolitic comments one Barbershop character — the loud elderly barber Eddie (Cedric The Entertainer) — makes about civil rights icons Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Now, more than a year, a threatened boycott and one denied request for DVD censorship later. Cube — whose checks for both movies (which he also executive-produced) arc made out to O’Shea Jackson, 34 — appeared to be in little mood to reflect. But like his character Calvin, he stiU had plenty to say. ‘We just wanted to be true to what a barber shop is, which is a place where you can go, and be yourself and ... don’t have to be politically correct,” he said. “The controversy kinda came out of nowhere, [and] I thought it was really all ado about nothing. We’ve got bigger problems that some of these leaders could have dealt with besides our movie.” The man who uttered the controversial lines said the whole affair gave rise to some rather surreal experiences. “I was on CNN, and had to defend myself,” said Cedric. “I had to be on the phone with Jesse [Jackson], praying. When [the controversy erupted] it seemed like we were fighting one another. You actually for get that the man is a reverend ... so before you end a phone call with him, you gotta pray. And I mean in a real prayer, where you gotta be Yes sir, that’s right, amen.”’ “It was just strange because it was a fiction- ^ movie, you know, with fictional characters,” added Cube. “I really had no comment throughout the whole ordeal, because to me it was [just] talking about a film. Either you like it or you don’t. I’m fine with you if you don’t... but I wasn’t going to sit here and debate on a film. Talking to these so-called leaders about what was said ... these people, the^ve been in a barbershop, they know how it goes down. Secretly, without the cameras rolling, they tell you that. Nobody is bigger than the chair.” Apparently not. Plans for this sequel seem to have gone full steam ahead from day one — the day, that is, after MGM realized that its small budget “urban” comedy opened as a box office Number 1, eventually grossing more than $75 million — despite the protests and an unrelated decision by the film’s original direc tor, Tim Story, not to helm the new film. Please see WILUSD Academy Awards tape delay angers motion picture academy By Gregg Kilday REUTERS LOS ANGELES — Five seconds might not amount to a lot of time considering that ABC’s Academy Awards broadcast is expected to run 3- 1/2 hours on Feb. 29. But the network’s insistence on using a five- second tape delay has angered Frank Pierson, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In a letter to the Academy’s mem bership, he warned that a delay, which has not been used before on an Oscar show, could be the first step on a slippery slope that “introduces a form of censorship.” Although the Academy’s board of governors refused last week to endorse ABC’s request to use a tape delay, the Academy admits that the decision ultimately rests in ABC’s hands. And, in the wake of the fallout that followed Janet Jackson’s breast-baring on CBS’ broadcast of the Super Bowl, ABC intends to use a tape delay for the Oscar show. While ABC has not subjected the Oscars to the delete button in the past, a network spokes woman said that even before the Super Bowl incident, the network has routinely used tape delays for its other live broadcasts — largely so that it can be ready to deal with any technical problems that might arise. Pierson wrote Academy members that “even a very brief tape delay introduces a form of cen sorship into a broadcast - not direct govern mental control, but it means that a network rep resentative is in effect guessing at what a gov ernment might tolerate, which can be even worse. While he acknowledged that this year’s delay “would be aimed at individual words,” he warned that “once the principle of a delay has been accepted, though, how much broader a scope might be sought in subsequent years, and how long before not only words but ideas become subject to deletion?” So while the Academy will bill the show as live — which carries promotional value since it promises suspense and unexpected develop ments — ABC will ensure that it is live but for a five-second delay. “We will present the show live, a celebration of achievement, with a little glitz, a little glamour, as always,” Piereon promised. “If it comes with a bleep, we are all losers.” A1 Green ‘Can’t Stop’ with old-school secular CD A1 Green I Can’t Stop A1 Green & Willie Mitchell, producers Blue Note Records A1 Green is an American icon. His string of pop and R&B hits from 1972-77 would make any one a proud artist. Green’s southern-fried tenor could make women swoon and men a bit jealous if their lady fraends were pay ing A1 too much attention. But A1 gave up show biz for the cloth and got a second career as a gospel singer. That career alone would have been enough. Now Al’s got the itch again to do some secular singing. He’s teamed again with WiUie MitcheU, the architect of aU his secular hits and the results are pretty good. “1. Can’t Stop” isn’t the best thing this team has pro duced, but it ranks with the best. Green and Mitchell decided not to mess with a good thing. They rounded up most of the old guys from Hi Records to produce this retro outing. Some may find the sound dated and on a few songs it is. But this is the Al Green 1 remember and the one I stiU want to hear. His voice is still great. There are signs of aging but it’s stiU a powerful instrument, one that can’t be duplicated. The first five songs are vin tage Green.-They bring back memories of poorer but hap pier and simpler times. Green sings these songs - especially “I Can’t Stop,” Tve Been Waiting On You” and “Raining In My Heart” - as if he never left the ‘70s. That’s a good thing because that’s the Golden Age of R&B. “I’m not crazy about “Tbo Many” because it’s just a bad ■ song. But the rest of this pro ject is fine. Green may get dagger eyes from church folk, but his R&B fan base could n’t be happier. It’s nice to have you back, Al. Ratings Classic; .p- ^ P P P PP PP P Excellent; Good Fan- Why? No stars — A mess
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Feb. 12, 2004, edition 1
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