: ........... ■ «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