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June 30, 1999
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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
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n s H iiiH H n u n
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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
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