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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 30, 1999)
: ........... ■ «MDMMH y (> ♦ » » June 30, 1999 (fljp jJortkwh (ßhsmier Page A7 C o c a - C o l a P r e s e n t s The ‘Essence £Music Testivai A n n o u n c in g 1999 C e l e b r it y H osts oca-C ola P resen ts T h e Es sen ce M u sic F e stiv a l, h as .a d d e d th e le g e n d a ry R&B g grotlp ro u p T I h 1 e O ’J a y s, w ith special guest G erald L evert, to the lin eu p o f artists scheduled to p erfo rm in New O r leans at th e S u p erd o m e d u rin g this y e a r’s F o u rth of July w eekend cel e b ratio n . T h is com pletes the 1999 c o n c e rt b ill, w h ich also in c lu d e s G ram m y sensations L au ry n H ill, R. C; In his latest film, the comedy-adven ture “Wild Wild West,” Will Smith plays a character who is, like the actor him self, long on charm and style H e’sjam es T. West, a special governm ent agent assigned to protect the president of the United States (circa 1869) from a bril liantly diabolical assassin whose arse nal of weapons includes an 80-foot m e chanical tarantula. I l was a role that Smith thoroughly enjoyed. “Jam es W est is the coolest m an aro u n d ,” says Sm ith. “H e’s straig h t forw ard and direct. T h e re ’s a certain way to do things - a code - and th at s K elly, P a tti L aB elle an d M o n ica, along w ith m any o th er ch art-to p p in g favorites such as E rykah B adu, Brian M cK night, D eb o rah C ox, D ru H ill, M aze featu rin g F ran k ie Beverly, I he T e m p ta tio n s an d W ill D ow ning and G erald A lbright. E nsuring th at each evening is filled w ith n o n sto p e n te rta in m e n t, th e ce- Patti LaBelle H event u n iq u e will again be p resen ted M ark C u rry , A.J. Ja m a l and T om m y in clu d in g th e E ssence M ark etp lace a n d B o o k C e n te r w ith a u t h o r D avidson. C oca-C ola P resen ts T h e Essence M usic F estival, will also offer the series of E m pow erm ent Sem inars that co n sisten tly draw large crow ds to the E rn est N. M orial C o n v en tio n Cen- ter. O th e r featu res th at m ake the Lauren Hill C leb rity h o sts th is year are com edians I R s B IG G E R 6 R issues of Essence W eb site at www. E ssence.com . 0 C K BLACKER T h e New Y ork T im es described C hris Rock will unveil his all-new stand-up act in an exclusive H BO com edy event shot Ju n e 17-19 at the legend ary Apollo T heatre in H arlem . C hris C h ris Rock as “probably the funniest an d sm artest co m edian w orking to d ay ,” while V anity F air called him Rock: Bigger & Blacker debuts Satur day, July 10 (11:15 p.m. - 12:15 a.m. “young, gifted and the funniest m an in A m erica.” T h e W ashington Post cham pioned him as a brillian t comic, ET), on HBO. "T he Apollo is The only place to play,” says Rock of the famed venue. He signings. F or a d d itio n a l in fo rm a tio n on C oca-C ola Presen ts T h e E ssence M u sic Festival, see c u rre n t an d fu tu re to do his w ork.’ T h e trouble with A rtem us is that he tends to fill up his partn er’s pockets with ingenious explo form er “Men in Black” director, Barry Sonnenfeld. But he warmed to “Wild sive devices and other useful contrap tions w ithout always letting him know. “I find out about ’em at really inoppor tune m om ents,” says Smith. “It would be nice if he let m e know before he slipped som ething into my pocket. But he m eans well, and it does m ake for of elem ents it contained: “excitem ent, action, adventure, am azing visual ef fects,” and what he calls “a brilliant interaction” between him self and his fellow stars, Kevin K line, K enneth Branagh and Salma Hayek. Filming on location in Santa Fe, New Mexico, also gave Smith an oppor tunity to take a 3-week crash course on horse back riding, an ex p erien ce ab o u t w hich he will only say, “You have to have a really good saddle.” great comedy.” It was partly the comic elem ent that interested Sm ith when he given the script bv his Wild W est” because of the whole range what he lives by.” W hich is not to say that West is always on top of the situation. “W hat I w anted to brin g to the character was just a touch of uncertainty,” he says, believing it’s the uncertainty th a t h u m a n izes the hero. “You know he’s going to do everything in his power to win, but you’re not com pletely sure how it’s going to com e out until it’s done.” Smith credits much of the film’s buoyancy to the relation ship between his charac ter and the A rtem us G o rd o n c h a ra c te r p lay ed by K evin Kline, as two opera tives working on the same but employ ing entirely differ ent methods and not always in perfect com- m u n i ca tio n . “W est is a man of ac tion,” Smith e x p la in s , “ w h e re a s Will Smith is James T. West and Kevin Kline s Artemus Gordon in the A rtem us relies on newly released Wild. Wild West. Smith decided to become involved with gadgets and disguises this movie project when he found it contained a whole range of elements: “excitement, action, adventure and amazing visual effects.’ Show” will be released on HBO Home video in late summer. WILL SMITH ■¡¡«Eisfii KEVIN KLINE ■iinsiitmi« a cheerin g presence, a hum ble star, n oting, “his com edy is full of intelli gence, im p ud en ce and take-no-pris plans to cover a wide range of topics in his new material, including race and relationships. Rock selected the title of the special, he says, as “a knock-off on LL CoolJ’s second album. Bigger &Deffer,” It’s a title that puts pressure on myself.” C hris Rock: Bigger & Blacker is his third comedy special for HBO, and o ners social com m ent." His hit late-night show, “the Chris rock show,” will return to H BO for its fourth season this September. Presented from New York, the weekly show fea tures Rock’s signature high-energy blend of comedy, music and talk, with guests from entertainm ent, politics and other fields. ‘T he Best of T he C hris rock follows his groundbreaking 1996 Emmy winner “Bring the pain.” B Chris Rock Dmitri M atheny f i ^ ^ ^ m i t r i M athen y has ju s t been J n am ed “Best New A rtist in th e J a z z l z R e a d e r s P o ll (alo n g w ith B rad M a h ld a u , R avi C o ltra n e an d Stefon H a rris ) and “T a le n t D eserving W id er R ecogni tion: in th e D own B EA t In te rn a ito n a l C ritics Poll. A risin g star celeb rated for his “w arm ro m an tic to n e ,” “so ar ing lyrcism " a n d “m asterfu l tech- n iq u e,” M atheny is a jazz a rtist w hose in im itab le sou n d has been d escrib ed as “so cool it’ll ru n a shiver th ro u g h WILD WILD WEST your m a rtin i.” Born on C h ristm a s D ay in N ash IT’S A WHOLE NEW WEST. ville, T en n essee, an d raised in G eo r gia and A rizo n a, D m itri b egan p lay ing the tru m p e t at age 9. H e is an honors g ra d u a te o f th e In terlo c h en A rts A cadem y in M ichigan and of the Berklee C ollege of M usic in Bos KENNETH BRANAGH WlfflßRÖS PfifSfMS ton W hile in college, th e young tru m p eter led his own b an d s w hile w ork in g p r o f e s s i o n a lly w ith th e T em p a ta tio n s, M arth a R eeves, th e T ru e C olors Big B and an d Sam R iv ers. In 1989 he g ra d u a te d m ag n a cum hwhimh ' iim n s H iiiH H n u n ■ l «WS”^U M ■ M ffM iffiM “ ai»««! laude from B erklee an d relo cated to the San F rancisco Bay A rea. In sp ired by his teac h er an d m e n to r the leg en d ary flu g elh o rn ist A rt D m itri M atheny & D arrell G ran t Duo. He has a p p eared at th e M onterey, m i PG 13 Rinans syiowgiv cwmowio F arm er, M atheny set aside th e tru m pet a d ecade ago an d has since b e com e id en tified w ith th e m o re lyrical flugelhorn. T oday, M atheny perform s over 100 con certs an n u ally on to u r w ith the D m itri M ath en y G ro u p , D m itri M atheny Ja z z O rc h e stra and SALMA HAYEK www wild wild wes t mt Dmitri Matheny to P o lan d , an d in p restig io u s concert halls w orldw ide, in clu d in g regular app earan ces in New York at the Weill M atheny has released th ree c riti cally-acclaim ed C D s as a lead er on the M onarch R ecords label: R ed R e fle c tio n s (1 9 9 5 ), P e n u m b ra : T h e M oon S essions (1997), an d S tarlight R ecital H all at C arn eg ie Hall. C afé (1998). T ellu rid e, an d San F rancisco jazz fes tivals, in n ig h t clubs from P o rtlan d MM J 'J r Wnà n« « M'«* f J M l l J l I l Mfl S m t H M WIM W BÜBS WARNE* BROS.1 A TIM I » « V I I IS T U T Al«VWIN! it<MFA«A WITH K W MUSC I Ï M J! SlflfitS « M O M R S I O M W O ■M M ® .