-* 1_L IT
GARY COLEMAN
Gary Coleman
Serves As Special
Games Marshal
LOS ANGELES, Calif. (AP)—
Gary Coleman, star of the once
popular TV aeries "DifTrent
Strokes,” served as grand marshal
and honorary chairman of the
Louisiana Special Olympics last
Nancy Marsiglia, chairperson of
the gamee, said officials were de
lighted that Coleman agreed to
preside over the event, which be
gan Friday and ran through Sun
day at Tulane University in New
Orleans.
'Gary, who has overcome many
barriers in his life through hard
work, perseverance and courage,
will prove a true inspiration for all
those competing,” Ms. Marsiglia
said.
Coleman, 24, has suffered from
kidney disease since infancy.
The Special Olympics is a multi
event sporting competition for
mentally disabled children and
adults.
PlayMakers
Repertory
SetsAuditions
PlayMakers Kepertory Company
will audition professional actors
for its 1992-93 season on Satur
day, July 11 and Sunday, July 12,
at the Paul Green Theatre on the
University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill campus.
Each actor must prepare two se
lections, one by Shakespeare and
one modem, not to exceed a total
of five minutes.
All actors who satiety certain
professional criteria, whether Ac
tors’ Equity Association members
or not, will bo treated in the same
manner with respect to the sched
uling of auditions.
A professional theater company
in residence at UNC-CH,
PlayMakers acknowledges the
need for expanding the participa
tion of women and all ethnic
groups and minorities in the artis
tic process. The company is com
mitted to non-discrimination and a
flexible, imaginative, non-tradi
tional casting policy. “Non-tradi
tional easting” is defined as the
casting of ethnic minorities or fe
male actors in roles where race,
ethnidty or sex is not germane.
lb arrange an audition, call 962
1182 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
weekdays. The deadline for sched
uling an audition is July 9 at 4
pjn.
Free Pops Concert
SetForUNC-Ch
Campus June 9th
CHAPEL HILL—A loaf of bread,
jichunk of cheese and a aoda... or
maybe Mad chicken, potato salad
and lead tea—the poaaibilitiea an
endless Taka whatever makes a
picnic for you, along with a lawn
chair or a blanket, to Polk Place on
the UNC campus at 7 p.m. Tues
day, June 9, and enjoy a Area pops
concert by the North Carolina
Symphony.
The theme for this year’s concert
is "A Salute to America and Great
Britain.” Gerhardt Zimmermann
will conduct the orchestra and the
program will include Custer's The
American Frontier” Handel’s “Mu
sic tor the Royal FinworksLeroy
Anderson’s “Home Stmtch," plus
selections from Broadway musi
cals and “English Folk Song Suite”
by Ralph Vaughan-Wilhams.
THE NEVR.LE BROTHERS—With the help of new co-producers Hawk WoNnski
and Dovo Leonard, the NevMe Brothers have packed their latest album, “Family
Groove” with seme of the most propulsive music in their Mustrlous history.
Neville Brothers Pour
Out Syncopating Funk
“Whether as solo artiste or, since
1977, as bandmates,” Newsweek
has observed, they’ve “poured out
a stream of syncopated, funky, riv
eting music that makes you dance
and ache and cry inside.” To say
that the Neville Brothers’ latest
album, Family Groove, contains
some of the most compelling music
Art, Charles, Aaron, and Cyril
Neville have made either collec
tively or individually in their com
bined century-plus of music-mak
ing is to say a great, great deal in
deed.
“We were trying to do something
different,” confides keyboardist
Art, the eldest of the brothers.
“We’re singing about what we’ve
always sung about—love, justice,
and waking up to the fact that
we’re all human beings on the
same planet. But on this album
we’ve got a state-of-the-art sound.”
With the help of new co-produc
ers Hawk Wolinski (heretofore
best known for his collaborations
with Chaka Khan, the Commo
dores, and Jermaine Jackson) and
Dave Leonard (who engineered for
Prince, Indigo Girls, John
Mellencamp, Sheena Easton and
Oingo Boingo, among others), the
Nevilles have packed their latest
album with some of the most pro
pulsive grooves in their illustrious
history. Where their previous
couple of albums often seemed
aimed at the cerebrum or heart',
Family Groove resonates primarily
in the listener’s solar plexus.
Hawk encouraged the brothers
to record Steve Miller’s remark
ably prescient “Fly Like an Eagle,”
the first single from the LP, after
hearing it on a live recording the
band made a decade earlier. Just
as they convincingly Nevillized
“With God On Their Side” that
you’d have thought Bob Dylan had
written it just for Aaron to sing, so
do they make “Eagle” theirs, too.
“It was a challenge for all of us to
do that song,” says Cyril, “since it
had already been a hit. For a little
something extra, what we call the
lagniappa’ down here, we got
Steve Miller playing and singing
on it. When he heard what we had
done with it, he said he was chang
ing his version” (laughs).
You probably haven’t heard as
funky a track in the ’90s, but you’ll
hear an even ftinkier one on Side
2—-the title track. In reference to
which Cyril asserts, “The family is
the basis of civilization, and our
connection to God.” Family Groove
features the contributions of sev
eral Nevilles other than the four
brothers.
“One More Day,” a consideration
of the tragedy of homelessness,
showcases a rap written and per
formed by two of Aaron’s sons and
betrays the influence of such
young black superstars as Bobby
Brown as vividly as “Day To Day
Thing” evokes the “Ball of Confu
sion”-era Temptations. And it was
Cyril’s wife Gaynielle who wrote
the song’s single most poignant
line, that about children who live
in the very streets in which they
play. “She wonders,” Cyril relates
gravely, “if people realize how
many of the homeless are chil
dren.” In "Line of Fire,” Art takes
up the subject of another Neville
concern, violence in our cities, ad
monishing the young inner-city
resident whom the song addresses
to “out down that gun, bov.”
The Nevilles have occasionally
been criticized for their preoccupa
tion with injustice and racial intol
erance. But any notion that they
spend the whole of Family Groove
atop a soapbox will be quickly dis
pelled by tile exultant, calypso-fla
vored “On the Other Side of Para
dise,” which finds them crooning
delightful choral “show-wadda
waddies” behind Art’s joyous lead,
while "True Love,” the samba-in
flected “Take Me To Heart,” and “I
Can See It In Your Eyes” feature
Aaron singing about romantic love
as only Aaron can. Thanks to its
Hi Records-like rhythm track, inci
dentally, some are apt to hear the
latter song as a tip of the Nevilles’
caps to the Rev. A1 Green.
FAM-LEE-A vibrant mix of boats and rapld-llrs rap
rosalt In a naw sound (Or FAM-Loa, anathar group
Kptriwwnttm with Mp-hop m< a catagary In rhythm and
hluas many toaaaly rafar to at “rap music.”
Fam-Lee Bringing Rapid-Fire Rap
As Bold Leap Into R&B Industry
They have been described by
fans and excited record industry
execs as "the Jackson Five with a
’90s spin.” But to the brothers
Prearyer, the four fresh-faced
teens who make up the JMJ/RAL/
Columbia label’s slammin’ new
R&B group, the Fam-Lee, their
sound can best be described in one
word—funky.
1110 Fam-Lee’s exquisite harmo
nising is merged with hyperkinetic
beats and rapid-fire raps, and the
result is an incendiary new sound
that takes a bold leap beyond the
“overworked, smoothed-out hip
hop on the R&B tip” brand of mu
sic, as characterised in Billboard.
At age 18, Berkley (Poppie) is
the eldest of the quartet which
also includes Anthony (Tony),
Keef, and Cores. Berkley at
tributes the group’s magic to its
blood ties. “We are family and ev
erything is tight,” hs reasons. “Our
singing, our dancing, our musical
skills, the bonds of blood and love.
All of those things go into what the
Fam-Lee is about.” Jason Misell
(better known as Jam Master Jay
of the supergroup Run-DMO) first
got caught up in the Fam-Lee’s
magic when he heard them sing at
the Apollo Theater. So moved was
Jay by their version of Smokey
Robinson’s classic “Who’s Loving
You,” that he went backstage to
congratulate them on their wining
performance—promptly offering
them the chance to join his new
label, JMJ Records.
Under Jay’s guidance, the Fam
Lee turned out “Love Me,* their ir
repressibly hype debut single,
which was featured in the movie
Livin' Large. Now, after climbing
the charts with “Love Me,” the
Fam-lee is poised to drop Runs in
the Fam-Lee, their debut album,
an aptly titled, funky family affair
guaranteed to move the crowd.
Despite its hardcore beats—
courtesy of producers Mizell,
Stanley Brown and Bobby
Walker—the new album is really a
street-style paean to young love
and fine Nubian teen queens. It is
a vibrant mix of soulful crooning,
timeless R&B stylings, and hip
hop grooves that should prove irre
sistible to any listener.
The album kicks off with “Al
ways On My Mind,* the second
single, a rollicking dance tune
about a sweet young thing who the
boys can’t get out of their minds.
The beats then slow to a hypnotic
boom on “Precious Girl,* in which
our sweet young thing has been
promoted to girlfriend. Cores soars
with a plaintive falsetto reminis
cent of a younger Michael Jackson,
giving the tune a hauntingly inno
cent feel.
New R&B group, the Fam-Lee, sound best
described in one word—funky!
f
Teddy Riley Plans “New
Jack City” Production
PARAMUS, N.J.—Hailed world
wide as the creator and king of
“new jack swing,” producer/artist
Teddy Riley said recently that he is
putting his career as an entertainer
on hold for a while. Rest assured,
however, that the “future” of “new
jack swing” is a bright one. Enthu
siasts can expect to see a multitude
of forthcoming projects, stamped
with Teddy’s unique musical style,
released on the young producer’s
Future Records label, distributed
by MCA Records.
Future Records, which has offices
and production facilities in Virginia
Beach, Va., was established by
Riley a little over a year ago
through a deal struck with MCA
Records. The first project slated for
release on the label this June is
Hard or Smooth, the new album by
duo the WreckX, formerly Wreck
N-Effect, who scored a hit two
years ago with their single “New
Jack Swing.” The group, which fea
tures Teddy’s brother Markell Riley
along with partner Aqil Davidson,
describes their music as “a
streetwise blend of R&B ballads,
and rap, smoothly brought together
by Teddy’s production work.” ' I
Other forthcoming Future
projects include an album by the
new five-member all:female group
GirlsTown. Created by Riley, he de
scribes the group as a cross be
tween En Vogue and WilsoR>
Phillips. Also in the works is an al
bum by female vocalist Tammy
Lucas, who can currently be heard
as the featured vocalist on the
Riley-produced single “Is It Good
To You” from the gold certified
Juice motion picture soundtrack.
In siddition to developing projects
under his Future Records label,
Riley also has his hands full com
pleting production on the much-an
ticipated follow-up album from
Bobby Brown and is currently re
mixing several songs from Michael
Jackson’s 13 million-plus, plati
num-certified Dangerous album.
Teddy co-produced and wrote six
songs on the Dangerous album, in
cluding the No. 1 Billboard Hot 100
single “Remember the Time.’
TEDDY RILEY
Billy Preston Pleads
Innocent To charges
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (AP>
Soul singer Billy Preston pleaded
innocent to sex, drug and assault
charges involving a 16-year-old
boy recently.
Preston, 45, entered the pleas
May 18 in Los Angeles County Su
perior Court and was ordered to
return June 26 for a pretrial hear
ing. He remained free on $25,000
bail, Deputy District Attorney
Loni Petersen said last week.
He faces up to six years in
prison if convicted.
The entertainer was arrested in
August 1991 after a 16-year-old
boy told sheriffs deputies Preston
showed him sexually explicit pho
tos and tried to assault him.
The youth said he accepted a
ride from Preston at a spot where
day laborers congregate. The boy
said Preston smoked cocaine in the
car and also showed him sexually
explicit pictures, detectives said.
He told police he escaped after
Preston drove him to his Malibu
home and tried to assault him.
Preston was charged with four
felonies—possession of cocaine,
sexual battery, assault with a
deadly weapon and false imprison
ment. He also was charged with
the misdemeanors possession of
drug paraphernalia, child molesta
tion and exhibiting pornography to
a minor.
Preston has performed as an inr
strumentalist, singer and songr
writer, since the early 1960s, per
forming with the Beatles, Little
Richard, Ray Charles and the Roll
ing Stones.
His solo hits include “Will It Go
Round in Circles?" and “Nothing
from Nothing.”
Oprah To
Pen Story
Of Her Life
NEW YORK, N.Y. (AP>-As she
closes in on the big 4-0, Oprah
Winfrey has started looking back
at her life—and writing it all down
for an autobiography due out next
year.
HAs I near my 40th birthday in
January of 1994, I find that more
and more I have been reflecting on
the path my life has taken. This
book will be my life as I see it, and
I look forward to sharing it with
readers,” Winfrey said of her deal
with publisher Alfred A. Knopf.
Winfrey, the host of the popular
syndicated talk show, will turn in
a manuscript of the untitled work
in February 1993, the publisher
said. The book is expect out in the
fall of 1993, with a paperback edi
tion out a year later.
CO-WRITER—BMT» tong of the year,
“Lova Takas Tima,” was awarded to
Baa MarguNes and ca-wrtter Mulsh
Catty. marguNas is also producer
instrumontalst-arrangor-businessman
and wrote seven of tin songs on the