Photo of the Day December 4, 2008

Lyston Laurence Male 21 years old  London, London

MM URL: http://www.modelmayhem.com/LystonLaurence

‘CRIANNA’ SUED OVER INCIDENT WITH PAP December 4, 2008

 

The St. Petersburg Times is reporting that a photographer is suing Chris Brown and his girlfriend Rihanna for $1 million after alleging their bodyguards roughed him up and took off with his camera in May. [Scroll down to hear 911 call.]

 

       Luis Santana, 26, is suing to replace the $3,000 camera that was broken and stolen; to pay for the photos he lost; and compensation for his injuries and emotional distress, said his attorney, Paul Kimsey.       

       On May 6, Brown and Rihanna celebrated his 19th birthday at Vintage Ultra Lounge in St. Petersburg. Santana took at least one picture of the stars through an open window of their limo, Kimsey said. Then bodyguards working for Brown, Rihanna and Vintage Ultra Lounge chased Santana, forced him to the ground and stole his camera, breaking it in the process, according to Kimsey.

 

       The club and three alleged attackers are also named as defendants in the suit.      

       “This is America. It’s called the First Amendment. If you’re in public, you’re subject to being photographed,” Kimsey said. “Everyone is, celebrity or not.”

 

       The state attorney’s office is not prosecuting because witnesses provided too much conflicting information to identify the suspects beyond a reasonable doubt, said Bruce Bartlett, chief assistant state attorney. Police also presented Santana with photos of possible suspects, but he was unable to make a clear identification, Bartlett said. Instead, he pointed out the defendant and said the picture “looks like him,” Bartlett said.      

       Listen to 911 call here.

TINA TURNER PLAYS GARDEN DESPITE FEVER December 4, 2008

 

Anyone who is aware of Tina Turner’s history with her ex-husband Ike knows she has performed through much tougher ailments than flu-like symptoms.

 

       However, the 69-year-old dynamo had a fever so high on Monday that she was hospitalized and put on oxygen hours before her show at New York’s Madison Square Garden – and still managed to rock the house.        

       Whoopi Goldberg raved about her the next morning on “The View,” urging every woman in the audience to go see the show.      

       Other celebs attending “An Evening with Tina Turner” Monday night included Anne Hathaway, Molly Simms, MTV head Toni DiSanto, Tom Cruise and his wife, Katie Holmes – who were celebrating their second anniversary.      

       The stars were brought backstage to meet Turner before the show, but due to her illness, they were told “no one is to shake her hand, and she cannot talk before performing [because of the illness]. She’s very shy.”       

       However, Turner not only shook hands but spoke with each guest, noted the New York Post’s Page Six.

Tina Turner – Madison Square Garden – Dec 1, 2008

AKON ‘FAN THROWING’ TRIAL POSTPONED December 4, 2008

 

Akon was supposed to begin his fan tossing trial on Dec. 1 in Fishkill, NY, but the start date was postponed until Dec. 17, according to the Times Herald Record.

 

      The Senegalese artist is accused of throwing a teenager from the stage into the crowd during a concert in June 2007. The boy had reportedly heckled him during a performance. After Akon sought the help of crowd members to point him out, the singer’s security pulled him on stage.

 

       In footage of the incident posted on YouTube, Akon picked him up and threw him back into the crowd, where he landed on another concertgoer, who said she suffered a concussion.       

       The singer has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor charges of endangering the welfare of a minor and second-degree harassment. It will be decided on Dec.17 if a trial will go ahead, or if a settlement will be made, reports the Times Herald Record.

Watch footage of the “fan throwing” incident:

CED BLAMES CRITIC FOR ‘BUFFALO’ FLOP December 4, 2008

 

Cedric the Entertainer says the failure of his Broadway play American Buffalo was due to one particularly harsh review from a famous theater critic.

 

      “We got crushed by one critic, Ben Brantley from The New York Times,” said the actor. “All you need is one to say bad things and he was the only one. So, write your protest letters to Ben Brantley!”

 

       The play, which also starred Haley Joel Osment and John Leguizamo, opened to much hype on Nov. 17, but it closed after just eight performances.

 

       Brantley’s Nov. 18 review compared the David Mamet revival to “a souped-up sports car’s flat tire, built for speed but going nowhere.”

AMC TO AIR SAMUEL L. JACKSON TRIBUTE December 4, 2008

 

For the seventh time, AMC will broadcast the 23rd annual American Cinematheque Awards, which this year honored the film career of Samuel L. Jackson.

 

      The special will premiere Tuesday (Dec. 9) at 10 p.m. ET as ” Hollywood Celebrates Samuel L. Jackson: An American Cinematheque Tribute.”

 

       Many of Jackson’s colleagues and past co-stars were in attendance to help celebrate his cinematic accomplishments, including Denzel Washington, Justin Timberlake, George Lopez, Andy Garcia and Sharon Stone.      

      One running theme of the evening was guessing what the “L” in “Samuel L. Jackson” stands for. Timberlake, who acted in “Black Snake Moan” with Jackson and who started off the evening, said it stood for “Love. Man love.” Lopez said it was definitely not for “Latino.”

 

       Stone put her hands on her hips and purred words such as “Luscious,” “L’amour,” “Ladies love Samuel L. Jackson” — and told a story about seeing Jackson “nekkid” in a movie and then trying to talk to him at a premiere. She eventually got serious, talking about the moral compass he brings to his characters, and saying that the “L” stood for “Legend.”

 

       Denzel Washington said Jackson plays men who can be considered “the righteous who believe they are sinners and the sinners who believe they are righteous.” Vin Diesel called Jackson “a poor man’s acting coach,” and Kerry Washington noted that the actor brings truth to his roles, making his “heroes so imperfect and (his) villains so lovable.”

 

       Also making speeches were Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who used basketball terms to describe Jackson as being as unstoppable as Kobe Bryant, as versatile as Larry Bird and as smooth as Michael Jordan; John Singleton, who told anecdotes from the set of “Shaft”; and Jackson’s wife, LaTanya, who talked of the movies Jackson made with Spike Lee.       

       After finally accepting the award from his “Star Wars” director George Lucas, Jackson talked about how much the experience of going to the movies meant to him, when he would catch Saturday double features in a segregated theater in his hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and how important he thinks the Cinematheque’s work is in promoting the social side of filmmaking.      

       “I felt a bond with everyone in that theater,” Jackson said, according to the AP. “(It was) a kinship that opened up a whole new world.”

FOLK LEGEND ODETTA DIES AT 77 December 4, 2008

 

Folk singer and civil rights beacon Odetta, whose power-packed voice influenced fellow musicians for a half-century, died Tuesday of heart disease at Lenox Hill Hospital. She was 77.

 

       Odetta was admitted to the hospital with kidney failure about three weeks ago, said her manager of 12 years, Doug Yeager.       

       The Associated Press reports: “With her booming, classically trained voice and spare guitar, Odetta gave life to the songs by workingmen and slaves, farmers and miners, housewives and washerwomen, blacks and whites.      

       “First coming to prominence in the 1950s, she influenced Harry Belafonte, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and other singers who had roots in the folk music boom.”              

       Odetta called on her fellow blacks to “take pride in the history of the American Negro” and was active in the civil rights movement. She sang at the March on Washington in August 1963 and had hoped to sing at the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama, though she had not been officially invited, Yeager said.

 

       She was nominated for a 1963 Grammy award for best folk recording for “Odetta Sings Folk Songs.” Two more Grammy nominations came in recent years, for her 1999 “Blues Everywhere I Go” and her 2005 album “Gonna Let It Shine.”      

       In a 1978 Playboy interview, Dylan said, “the first thing that turned me on to folk singing was Odetta.” He said he found “just something vital and personal” when he heard an early album of hers in a record store as a teenager. “Right then and there, I went out and traded my electric guitar and amplifier for an acoustic guitar,” he said.      

       Belafonte also cited her as a key influence on his hugely successful recording career, and she was a guest singer on his 1960 album, “Belafonte Returns to Carnegie Hall.”      

       Born Odetta Holmes in Birmingham, Ala., in 1930, she moved with her family to Los Angeles at age 6. Her father had died when she was young and she took her stepfather’s last name, Felious. Hearing her in glee club, a junior high teacher made sure she got music lessons, but Odetta became interested in folk music in her late teens and turned away from classical studies.       

       She got much of her early experience at the Turnabout Theatre in Los Angeles, where she sang and played occasional stage roles in the early 1950s.       

       Over the years, she picked up occasional acting roles in TV and film. None other than famed Hollywood columnist Hedda Hopper reported in 1961 that she “comes through beautifully” in the film “Sanctuary.”       

       Odetta is survived by a daughter, Michelle Esrick of New York City, and a son, Boots Jaffre, of Fort Collins, Colo. She was divorced about 40 years ago and never remarried, her manager said.  A memorial service was planned for next month, Yeager said.

Odetta “Water Boy”

O.J.’S TEAM ASKS FOR MINIMUM SENTENCE December 4, 2008

 

O.J. Simpson’s lawyers are asking that he receive the minimum sentence of six years in prison for his October robbery and kidnapping conviction, calling a recommendation of 18 years “inappropriate and knee-jerk,” reports the AP.

 

      Simpson was found guilty on October 3 in the armed robbery of two memorabilia dealers at the Palace Station hotel and casino in Las Vegas. The 61-year-old former football star and his co-defendant, Clarence “C.J.” Stewart, are scheduled for sentencing on Friday and could face life in prison for their conspiracy, burglary, kidnapping, robbery and assault convictions.

 

      “Simpson has never previously been convicted of a crime. Thus, he now stands before the court as a first-time offender,” defense attorney Gabriel Grasso told the judge in court papers filed in advance of Friday’s sentencing hearing.

 

      Grasso called for Simpson to be given the minimum term of six years behind bars, adding, “Such a sentence would be a sufficient reflection of both the nature of the case as well as the first-time offender status of the defendant.”

 

      A report filed by the probation officials has not been made public, but according to the defense, it calls for Simpson and Stewart, 54, to be sentenced to 18 years behind bars.

COPYRIGHT CASE AGAINST TYLER PERRY BEGINS December 4, 2008

 

Tyler Perry is in a Texas courtroom this week facing allegations of copyright infringement by a woman who claims material from his 2005 film “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” was stolen from her 1991 play, “Fantasy of a Black Woman.”

 

      Donna West is suing the actor-screenwriter in U.S. District Court and is seeking all profits made from the film, reports the Associated Press.

 

       “I can’t put my play on because the stories are basically the same and nobody wants to see that again,” she said.

 

       Jurors on Tuesday watched Perry’s film and listened to a reading of the script from West’s play. West testified that her script was based primarily on her own experiences. With her in the starring role, the play was performed in July 1991 at the Junior Black Academy of Arts and Letters at the Dallas Convention Center.      

       “The play was open to the public. Anyone could have attended,” West said.      

       In her opening remarks to the jury, Perry’s attorney, Veronica Lewis, said her client is an “immensely talented” individual “who has no need whatsoever” to use the materials of others.      

       U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis told jurors he anticipates the case will be completed by next Tuesday.

BEYONCE, BRODY DISCUSS ‘CADILLAC’ KISS December 4, 2008

 

Darnell Martin, the writer/director of “Cadillac Records,” admitted at Monday’s premiere that she took some “dramatic license” in creating a make-out scene between Etta James and the head of her label, Leonard Chess.      

       But, Adrien Brody, who plays Mr. Chess, said he had no problem with the historical inaccuracy of kissing James, who is played in the film by Beyonce Knowles.

 

       “Let’s just say it wasn’t a deal breaker,” the grinning actor told the New York Daily News. “When I met Etta [the real one], she told me, ‘Leonard and I did not do those things!’ So, yes, it was somewhat embellished. But what’s wonderful is the truth Beyonce brings to that moment. That justified it.”      

       Beyonce, who came to the premiere with husband Jay-Z, said she didn’t find the intimacy repellent.      

       “It wasn’t so bad,” she said. “I remember when he kissed Halle Berry. He’s not shy! Not at all.”      

       Meanwhile, Cedric the Entertainer, who plays bluesman Willie Dixon, said he was upset that “they wrote me out of a scene with Beyonce.”      

       Following the premiere, cast members Mos Def, Gabrielle Union and Emmanuelle Chriqui hit the after-party at Marquee with guests Leonardo DiCaprio, Diddy, Ne-Yo, John Legend, Kevin Connolly, Akon and Russell Simmons.

Watch the trailer for “Cadillac Records”: