4-1-1 ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE WEEK OF AUGUST 18, 2003
I have some good news about singer Luther Vandross. Since his stroke in April, he is making remarkable strides. Luther has shown movement on the right side of his body and he has regained 90% of his speech. Luther still has a long way to go, but it is good to know he is making progress.
Jada Pinkett-Smith the singing star? Jada has a band called Wicked Wisdom and they have been playing to sold out shows in the Los Angeles area.
This weekend make sure to check out the 9th Annual Lady of Soul Awards. The Lady of Soul Awards will be hosted by Aisha Tyler, Heather Hedley, Arsenio Hall and Tyreese. Vivica A. Fox and Erykah Badu will be the special honorees at the awards.
Lenny Kravitz and Denzel Washington are going into the club business. Their club, Kos, will be in New York with a special VIP area called “The Kitty Box.”
Jennifer Lopez says damn those critics…the wedding will go on! Despite reports of her fiancé, Ben Affleck, cheating on her with strippers and a flop movie, Gigli, Jennifer Lopez has hired designer Vera Wang to do a wedding dress for her. Jennifer wants to be married and she is ready for husband number three. The wedding may happen before the fall. Meanwhile, next year Jen and Ben have another movie coming out called Jersey Girl. This is the movie they filmed in Philly. Producers realize Jen and Ben have no chemistry on screen and she is only going to be seen in the first 15 minutes of the film before she is killed off. Wow! Jennifer got $4 million to make this movie but producers feel she will hurt the movie so they are cutting her part.
Paula Abdul wants more money to stay on as a celebrity judge on the hit TV show American Idol. The executives at the network are not happy with her demands and they have no intention of giving her a raise. They recently released a statement saying they hope she continues with the show.
Rapper/actress Eve says she is meeting with her lawyers and she is going after Internet sites that are peddling nude photos of a woman who looks like her. The woman in the photo looks like Eve, but she does not have Eve’s famous tattoo claws on her chest. Before she became famous, Eve says she used to work as a stripper and earlier this year she admitted a man who claimed he had pornographic pictures of her, was blackmailing her. Eve has a new TV show debuting on UPN next month. (Afrochic's sidenote: I saw the pic and that's Eve
)
Actor Mekhi Phifer is hard at work on two new movies. Mekhi is doing a remake of the classic horror movie Dawn of the Dead with Ving Rhames and he is doing a movie with LL Cool J called Slow Burn.
Tamia’s LP has been pushed back until October 28th. Tamia is currently topping the charts with two songs “Into You” with rapper Fabolous and “Officially Missing You.”
Actor/dancer Gregory Hines died from liver cancer. He kept his illness from his family and close friends. He was diagnosed with liver cancer a year ago. At the time of his death, his divorce from his wife was about to be finalized. Hines’ wife had cited abandonment in her divorce papers. Hines left one million dollars in his estate and sources say it will have to be split between his estranged wife, their child, her child from a previous marriage, his child from a previous relationship and his lady friend who was at his side when he died.
The “Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin is getting honored on BET’s Walk of Fame. The show will air on October 28th. Past honorees include Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Luther Vandross and Boyz II Men.