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MIRAMAX PARTY: MARIAH CAREY'S POST-OSCAR EXPERIENCE 
"This is Ground Zero!" No, it wasn't the Bikini Atoll an awed guest was talking about, and it wasn't an atom bomb that was being detonated Sunday night at the town's hottest post-Oscar bash, the Miramax Pictures celebration party. The Beverly Hills Hotel's Polo Lounge, chilled by a midnight breeze, was simply jammed with anybody who was anybody in Hollywood.
At least it seemed that way, what with Ben Affleck snuggling up to Mariah Carey — to talk about music, of course. "You were very amusing," she told Affleck and then confided, "Do you know, this is the first song [the Oscar-winning 'When You Believe'] I've ever sung that I haven't written."
(Taken From: CNET Archives) MARCH 31, 2001 ARETHA FRANKLIN TO CUT CLASSICAL ALBUM
She may be the Queen of Soul but Aretha Franklin has hopes of expanding her empire to classical music.
The legendary singer, to be honored at a star-studded "VH1 Divas" special airing live April 10 from Radio City Music Hall in New York, told Reuters in an interview that she hopes to record an album of operatic arias this year.
"I'm planning to do a solo aria album. I wanted to start it earlier but it got delayed because I got so busy," said Franklin, 59, who became the first female performer to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
"I hope to record 'Nessun Dorma.' I just love Puccini," said the legendary singer, who has scored numerous Grammys (news - web sites) including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994. Italian operatic composer Giacomo Puccini wrote such masterpieces as "La Boheme," "Tosca" and "Madama Butterfly."
There has been some speculation the soul diva, who began singing as a young girl in her father's Detroit church, has been leaning toward classical since she gave a breathtaking, unrehearsed performance of "Nessun Dorma" at the Grammys two years ago, filling in for an ailing Luciano Pavarotti.
She called her planned classical album a labor of love that she may produce herself and will probably do sometime after she records another new album with R&B greats Babyface Edmonds, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis under the Arista Records label.
"We really are due for a planning session on that one," said Franklin, referring to the Arista album. She is also planning on recording a Christmas album this year.
Meanwhile, she is excited about the upcoming VH1 Divas tribute show, which will feature performances by many other artists including Mary J. Blige and Jill Scott. Janet Jackson will be a presenter.
While the Queen of Soul is also known as the queen of unpredictable last-minute changes, Franklin seemed pretty certain about which songs she will perform on the show.
"I am spontaneous sometimes," she admitted, but said she planned to perform as many of her hits as possible, including such favorites as "Respect" and "Freeway of Love." She said she will also sing an aria and do a jazz jam session where she will play piano.
According to media reports, last year's tribute to Diana Ross was marked by much behind-the-scenes turmoil relating to equipment and fashion problems. The Divas 2000 show drew 17 million viewers in its premiere week, down from the prior year's 20 million.
Franklin performed on the first "VH1 Divas" in 1998 along with Mariah Carey, Celine Dion and Gloria Estefan at New York's Beacon Theater.
In between her many projects, she said, she stays close to her home just outside Detroit. "I like to iron and cook and do normal things," she said.
Franklin was never far from the spotlight as the daughter of the Rev. C.L. Franklin, a gospel singer and preacher who was known as the "Man with the Million Dollar Voice." As a young girl, she toured America, including many racially segregated southern towns, with her father's gospel company.
Growing up, she was exposed to gospel singers, bluesmen and jazz musicians such as Sarah Vaughan, Dina Washington, Art Tatum and Sam Cooke, who would come to her father's church on Sundays. In 1960, she was signed to Columbia Records by John Hammond, who had discovered Billie Holiday when she was 17.
Eventually Franklin made the transition from gospel to jazz. By 1967, her "I Never Loved a Man had made her superstar. She followed that up with "Respect," which made her a major force in music.
Asked how it feels to be called a diva, she said, "I have a lot of fun with that. I know there are legitimate divas and its a tremendous honor but we still have a lot of fun with it."
Divorced twice and the mother of four sons, Franklin said she is currently in the throes of a new romance and would welcome another shot at marriage. "I like marriage. I like the institution and you never know where something would lead."
While not identifying her latest amour, she described the relationship as a "budding romance."
(Taken From: Reuters) | ||
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TO THE AIM
The relation that Mariah had with Tommy and his company since beginning of 1990, finished in 1998, when she separated with Tommy Mottola, the president, and although it was an open secret in the company, it was not but until the week that passed that found the opportunity to settle her labor contract with Sony Music.
In agreement with information provided by a spokesman of the offices of Sony in New York, the fiancee of Luis Miguel did not maintain three years ago direct relation with the company, since their musical works did outside Sony and it did not worry about some commitments of promotion. " she did not attend any meeting of planning and tried to stay remote of Sony, all we knew it, but she did not say myself for sure.
According the informant, Mariah had one first supply of another disquera house a pair ago of weeks, and when considering it seriously, she asked Sony for 20 million dolllars for each album for three years, to which the executives refused her.
"The argument of Sony was that she occurred to know in the company and that did not need to renegotiate because already they know as both parts worked. To Mariah they offered to him money and the directors no longer accepted the supply, leaving into the hands of the lawyers the legal subjects to settle the contract, that finished officially, for the press and the means in general, within days," explain the source.
The supply of a different disquera I arrive to him at Carey when this renew the one that already it had with Sony weeks ago, in which it was committed to give a disc more, which will be the one of the film All That Glitters, whose distribution, promotion and sale are had contemplated as of August next.
To the singer first they offered 20 million to him of dollar to give to three discs in a period of four years, but she is looking for a company that pays 25 million to her by material during five years, now giving one every 12 months, which would mean the contract most advantageous for a figure of music.
Warner Music is the company that sounds but hard like the new discografica house of the original writesinger of Long Island, New York, and although also they were considered Universal, Interscope and Jive, no official spokesperson of these houses in Mexico could confirm the interest which they have by the artist.
(Taken From: Reforma) (Translation: Eva) MARCH 30, 2001 THE SOUND OF SAMENESS
What does plagiarism mean at a time when pop stars want to sound alike?
In the age of sampling, the concept of plagiarism seems oddly anachronistic. Why bother when you can simply clear a sample or license a loop? It certainly costs less than settling a lawsuit with some angry songwriter. Besides ,in today's frothy pop climate , everyone wants to sound alike. The best -selling stars-VH1 divas Celine Dion and Mariah Carey , rappers Will Smith and Puff Daddy-are successful because of an uncanny ability to make music that sounds like hundreds of songs you've heard before...Mariah Carey has had no less than two people stake claims to parts of her 1993 hit "Hero".
Mariah Carey, whose greatest-hits album, #1's, was released in November, is a gifted singer, but she's been the focus of controversy over writing credits since the early '90s. She plays a substantial role in the shaping of her music,usually collaborating with her songwriting partner Walter Afanasieff - but this has not stopped several other songwriters from challenging her bona fides. Carey has never lost a judgment in court and has steadfastly denied any accusationsof plagiarism or copyright infringement; the closed cases against her have been dismissed without any finding of liability by Carey.But three dismissed copyright infringement cases against her have been settled out of court under confidentiality agreements ,according to press reports and documents obtained by Spin. (Carey and Sony Music declined to comment for this piece.)
In 1991, Carey settled with verteran R&B star Maurice White, the former leader of Earth, Wind, & Fire. Alleging that the Carey single "Emotions"(which was co-credited to C+C Music Factory) was too similar to his 1974 song "Best of My Love",he ultimately received a lump payment, a retroactive writing credit, and royalties. "Sampling is one thing," White says now,"but she took the whole song". In 1994, Carey and Sony settled with Detroit songwriter Kevin McCord.McCord had alleged that "Make It Happen,"which was also credited to Carey and C+C Music Factory,had borrowed heavily from his song "I Want To Thank You," a minor hit for Alicia Myers.
In 1996,according to documents Spin obtained from the clerk's office in Federal District Court in L.A., Carey and Sony settled with California songwriting team Sharon Taber and Randy Gonzales. The duo alleged that Carey and Afanasieff based the chorus to Carey's 1993 hit "Can't Let Go" on thier song "Right Before My Eyes".One of Carey's backup singers claimed he played the song for the diva before "Can't Let Go" was written;he was later visited at home by Carey's manager,Randy Hoffman,who surreptitiously recorded the conversation with the help of a private dectective.As part of the settlement,Taber and Gonzales dropped their case,and issued a statement that "we have now been played many songs before and after 'Can't let Go'...which sound very similar to ours."
Carey's songwriting has its defenders.According to ben Margulies,who co-wrote much of Carey's self-titled debut album," [Carey] was a good songwriter when I worked with her,had good ideas." Nathan Morris of Boyz II Men,who co-wrote "One Sweet Day" with Carey,says,"From what we heard,she was a pretty good lyricist". But since her early hit "Vision of Love", Carey's trademark has been songs with a familiar feel to them , generic titles("Dreamlover," "Fantasy"),and lyrics reminiscent of greeting cards. It's only a few short steps from writing a hackneyed MOR love ballad to someone saying ,"Hey,that sounds just like my song!"
Consider the history of the Carey song "Hero",the proceeds from which Carey earmarked for the survivors of the 1992 Long Island Railroad massacre.Former deli owner Chris Selletti claims to have written the lyrics to the 1993 ballad,dragging his bizarre case through the legal system for three years. Rhonda Dimmie, an amateur songwriter from upstate New York,is suing Carey and Afanasieff over music to the same song.The two plantiffs never met."I was shocked when I went down to the courthouse and saw Selletti's suit," Dimmie says.
Three years later , as he [Selletti] was listening to Carey's Music Box album,Selletti claims he realized that the lyrics to "Hero" nearly matched his poem.
Selletti filed suit in 1996 against Carey, Sony Music,Sly Stone ,and and Stone's manager Jerry Goldstein.It is Selletti's position that Stone gave him his poem to Goldstein,who then sold the lyrics to Carey or someone representing as something Stone had written himself.(Stone has no writing credit for "Hero")Even if Selletti's conspiratorial thesis were true,Carey may have thought in good faith that the lyrics were written by Stone. "I feel totally victimized ,"Carey told the New York Daily News in 1996." 'Hero' is my creation and it holds very special meaning to me.I have every intention of fighting this all the way."
At a hearing last December,then -Sony attorney Jonathan Liebman produced evidence of Carey's authorship : a November 20,1992 notebook ,and two audiotapes on which Carey appears to be writing "Hero" with Afanasieff.Liebman also argued that "Hero" was written,in part,for the soundtrack to the Dustin Hoffman movie of the same name,according to court transcripts,and claimed to have evidence to that effect. "Selletti's story is patently incredible," wrote Judge Denny Chin,upholding an earlier dismissal and concluding that Selletti is a "plaintiff without a legitimate claim" who is "intent on extorting potentially deep-pocketed defendants."
Selletti Hired a new attorney ,who discovered that the movie premiered on October 2,1992,a full six weeks before Liebman claimed Carey wrote the song in her notebook.Judge Chin considered the "newly discovered evidence" and refused to reopen the case.The dismissal remains on appeal.
Amateur songwriter Rhonda Dimmie has an equally weak case against Carey.Her lawyer,Les Levine,claims that "Hero" sounds "exactly like" Dimmie's song "Be Your Own Hero" which she copyrighted in 1991."If you were to take it and transpose it to the key Mariah's song is in,a layman would be able to tell it was the same song," Levine says.Dimmie will have to prove that the songs are substantially similar,which would entail employing a musicologist to "map out" both compostions,noting striking resemblance and any deviations from Carey's pre-established style.As for the prerequisite "accessibility," Dimmie merely says she sent her demo tape to Sony "many" times. "I wanted to be a star,just like everybody else,"Dimmie says."every six months, I would send tapes,pictures,bio -the whole works- to 15 different record companies."
"A lot of times you get a cockamamy claim, someone trying to establish a connection," says attorney Guido. "Most of the time, it's not true." Sony receives dozens of tapes a week. In a time when songs are designed to sound exactly like other songs, it would be foolishness to require anything less.
(Taken From: Spin) (Courtesy: Regina) MARCH 30, 2001 ERIC BENET TALKS ABOUT "ALL THAT GLITTERS" Here's a message from Hillary:
I was watching BET's 106th and Park, and today's guest was Eric Benet. The hosts mentioned his new film career and of course mentioned Mariah. They called the movie "All That Glitters", instead of Glitter", though. Eric told us that one day he had gotten a call from his manager saying that MC would call him shortly. MC called him and told him about her movie and that she thought he would be good for one of the parts... her producer. He accepted the offer immediately.
He first met Mariah on the first day of shooting "Glitter!" They then talked about the duet quickly. When asked about its arrival Eric said that he was unsure of exact dates and schedules, but that it should come out around the time of the movie at the end of the summer (at least the date Aug 31st sounds like a final one). The host then said that if they want the answers they will have to have Mariah on the couch... so maybe MC will be on the show soon! AJ said he knew a bunch of Friends o' Mariah, like Trey. They also wished her a Happy 31st B-day. AJ also said that he made his video debut as the drummer in "Make it Happen"!
Just thought you might wanna know. I am not sure when the show repeats, maybe in the morning if you wanna check it out."
(Courtesy: Mariah Carey Archives) | ||
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VH1'S ALL ACCESS: DIVAS
Since 1997, VH1's Divas concerts have united legendary female artists and bright newcomers for a night of great individual performances and rare collaborations. The series has done more than feature great music - it's also made a cultural impact, popularizing the use of the term "diva" to describe our most glamorous female pop stars. VH1 All Access brings you the most exciting moments from the Divas events, and goes behind the scenes with VH1 producers and staff to reveal the stories that haven't been told.
VH1 All Access: Divas, premieres April 5, 10:00 pm ET.
(Taken From: VH1) MARCH 29, 2001 MARIAH CAREY BREAKS AWAY FROM SONY MUSIC
Mariah Carey, who ended her five-year marriage to Sony Music boss Tommy Mottola in 1998, has ended her even longer relationship with the label itself. Carey, who owed the label one more album as part of her 1990 Sony contract, is nevertheless leaving the company that launched her to stardom and made her a "diva."
Columnist Mitchell Fink reports that the singer is seeking a four-record deal, worth $25 million per album, and that she's soliciting bids from Warner Bros., Interscope, Universal, and Jive. Mariah Carey's next project is the soundtrack to All That Glitters.
(Taken From: Los40.com) (Translation: Anna) (Courtesy: Regina) MARCH 29, 2001 DUELING DIVAS
As preparations for Divas 2001: A tribute to Arthea Franklin is underway, drama queens explode backstage. As of recent, Janet Jackson, Jill Scott and Mary J. Blige were confirmed guest on the VH1 annual special. Artists jumping on the bandwagon were quick to sign up for the popular high-rated cable show, includingMadonna, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Donna Summer and Dionne Warwick. However, the list may be shorter than expected.
During rehearsals earlier in the week, Mariah Carey threw a hissy fit, when she was informed that Madonna refused to be on the same stage with her. Madonna insisted to perform a duet with Donna Summer. Madonna stated, "Summer is a true legendary performer who I grew up with and have always admired.... I can not bare or will tolerate the screeching noises that comes out of the lips of Carey". The hurting Mariah burst into tears and ran to Aretha for consolation. Arthea assured her there would be no drama in "her show" and that the divas would have to "get along or get out".
Meanwhile, Whitney Houston also stated that she would not perform with Mariah and secretly told backstage crew that her recorded duet with Carey was "disastrous". Whitney also expressed interest in singing with Summer and Blige. Carey decided to take revenege and in the middle of the night Carey's crew members remove several walls in the other divas dressing rooms to make her area bigger and decreasing the sizes of the other divas dressing quarters.
This did not sit well with Madonna, who had 15 dozen black roses and animal waste delivered to Carey dressing room after this reconstruction incident. Carey was furious and called ex-hubby Mottola for advise, however, he could not be reached for comments. I am sure we haven't heard the end of Carey's explosive actions.
Meanwhile, Whitney almost got into a fist fight with Jill Scott, when she was caught spraying insect replentent over several of the divas wigs. Luckily Bobby Brown was on the set to seperate the two divas from punching each other out. Janet Jackson was in awe when she found out that Mary J.Blige wanted to sing "Natural Woman", which was originally assigned to Jackson. Blige stated "There is nothing natural about the Jackson family". It is also rumoured that Jackson will not be singing at all. Producers of the show have been quoted as saying that this is a show of "true singers", not machinery-pumped vocal perfomers/dancers.
Franklin informed the divas that she was the "queen" and she would decide who would perform with who and what songs they would perform. Warwick and Summer who were the only two remain calm throughtout the storm, expressed they were dropping out of the show. Warwick told Summer that "she knew and felt something like this would happen". Summer had no comment.
In recent years, the drama unveiled at the shows taping, but it appears the drama is in full force weeks befiore the show. Franklin is now considering that all talent sing solos and that there will be no pairings. Franklin also expressed that only Franklin songs will be sung and that current pop ditties from fellow divas will not be allowed. When asked if Diana Ross would appear, Franklin replied, "You have got to be kiddin". After all she is the queen and deserves "R.E.S.P.E.C.T."
(Taken From: Page Six Gossip) NOTE: This is obviously gossip. You can tell, hence many true facts have been distorted and untrue statments have been applied. The whole story is currupt and it proves that you shouldn't believe evertying you read. MARCH 29, 2001 SHAWN COLVIN'S "WHOLE NEW YOU"
This new collection from the folk-pop powerhouse with the gnomish voice immediately gets down to business. As front-loaded with commercial ammunition as any Mariah Carey album, Whole New You leads with two songs -- the Spanish-inflected "Matter of Minutes" and the title number, which expertly renovates antique Sixties teen pop -- whose tasteful hooks catch and grab, just like "Sunny Came Home," the intense little Grammy-winning tune from Colvin's 1996 album, A Few Small Repairs. The rest of Whole New You is as professional, if less immediate. But that's fine, because the contrast between Colvin's manner-free singing and the pristine arrangements by her co-songwriter and producer, John Leventhal, creates an interesting dance of the offhand and the strategic. In "Another Plane Went Down" and the curious "Mr. Levon," Colvin's voice drifts through Leventhal's crafted ambient folk -- like dream pop that stops just short of heavy snoozing.
(Taken From: Rolling Stone) MARCH 29, 2001 TREY LORENZ FEATURED ON "ALL THAT GLITTERS"? Here's a message from Joseph:
I don't know if it's true or not but the DJ wished MC a Happy Birtday and said that he heard that Trey Lorenz sings "Kiss" by Prince on the soundtrack and that MC sang the background vocals. He said it, I'm not sure if it's true but I could picture it. LOL! Maybe that's what Prince was given credit for? Producing it?
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CELINE DION BIGGER THAN JACKO
Canadian singer Celine Dion is bigger than Michael Jackson, according to their record company Sony.
Company insiders say that executives of the major label rate the French-Canadian singer as the premier artist on their books.
"Everyone's always really surprised," claimed a source, "but Celine is regarded as the most important act by the suits in the company."
Dion also ranks above top selling artist Mariah Carey, who has recently left the label.
(Taken From: DotMusic) (Courtesy: Ashes) MARCH 28, 2001 AMAZON ANNOUNCES "ALL THAT GLITTERS" Here's a message from Alisha: So it's about 2:30 am the normal time I'm awake and
bored as usual I was browseing sites, such as ebay, cd
now, and amazon. When I got to Amazon they had All
That Glitter listedin the DVD setion under a search
for mariah. Basically it says the general release
date is August 31, 2001 and they have a city search
with zip code to find out more theater information.
Well that's it. It's not too exciting but I thought
you might like to know.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS. MARIAH
Today, Mariah celebrates her thirty-first birthday. She certainly has lots to celebrate. She’s famous, rich and has everything she’s ever wanted. But most importantly, she is living her life-long dream as a singer and being the true person she is.
Just barely living in three decades and professionally performing for over one-thirds of that time, Mariah Carey has made a name for herself and has become a living legend. And to think all she really wanted to do was sing. Now, she’s the world’s most successful recording artist and has been named the Female Artist of the Millennium by the World Music Awards. The shy kid from New York is now downing glamorous gowns and mingling with millions of fans. The person that didn’t even know the Billboard Music Charts exist now is honored with Fifteen Number One songs on that very chart.
Ms. Carey surely has accomplished a lot and has taught many on her journey. She has given thousands courage to be their own person, put inspiration into the lives of people who thought all hope was gone and saved people from harming others or themselves.
MCWNO wishes Mariah a very "Happy Birthday." Although we could never begin to give you enough gifts to repay you for all the immeasurable things you have given us, we hope that you can accept our blessings. Regardless of what anyone may say, you are one of the most important and influential people in the world and your respect is long overdue. Best luck, now and always. Happy Birthday.
MARCH 27, 2001 DIVAS ESPAÑOL
Mariah has re-recorded a few of her songs in Spanish. Just remember "Heroe" ("Hero") and "El Amor Que Soñé" ("Open Arms"). Her last song in Spanish was "Mi Todo" from the "Butterfly" album. It was released in Mexico as a bonus track on the album and as a promotional single. It was also included on a bonus CD - "Bonus Tracks En Español" - with the Mexican release of the album "#1's".
Many fans are already looking for years for a copy of this single. For those fans, I have good news. As Chris reports, Columbia has released a compilation album called "Divas Español". Amongst many new artists like Jessica Simpson, is Mariah with "Mi Todo". As usual, Sony did nothing to promote this album, so no one knows about this album.
(Courtesy: Mariah Carey Archives) | ||
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JESSICA SIMPSON ADDS SOUL FLAVOR TO NEW LP
Pop songstress, Jessica Simpson has just recorded the last track on her new album. The song, which will be unlike anything Simpson has done is the past, is a gospel track and also a duet. Melonie Daniels, who is Mariah Carey’s long term backup singer and friend, will accompany Jessica on "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" – a song covered by many, most recently by Lauryn Hill for the "Sister Act II" Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Daniels has worked with Mariah Carey on many projects.
Carey first recruited Daniels in 1992, when she had to organize an acoustic band for her MTV Unplugged television appearance. Melonie (then Melanie) appeared as part of the Darryl Douglass Workshop Company, which also included Kelly Price and her look-alike sister, Cheree Price (now Shanrae Price-Lascelles). From there, Daniels continued to work for Carey – singing background vocals and arranging songs for the super diva, and does till this day.
Simpson herself is a known Mariah fan and has been heard to say she "wishes she could make an album just like Mariah Carey’s debut." Meanwhile, Simpson’s new album is scheduled to hit stores in spring 2001 and the first single, "Irresistible" can be heard on radio stations across the nation.
(Taken From: Entertainment Newswire) | ||
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THE WOMEN WON'T LEAVE HIM ALONE
The women won't leave him alone. The girl at the sports paraphernalia shop is coming on to him; the waitress at Hooters wants to indtroduce him to her mother. Gabe moves in with his mother at her retirement home and sleeps on the floor. Two weeks later, his mother is threatened with an eviction notice if he doesn't clear out. "I gotta get out of this rat race," Gabe tells Larry, referring, it would seem, to the voices, the gangbangers flashing him signs, the blond bitch on the air. He tells his mother he's going back to L.A. to stay at the home of Mariah Carey, with whom he's corresponded--to whom he's married, in fact, so Gabe told his jailers in 1995 when they caught him sending his jail ID card to her. But there's Madonna also--he's sent her a package already and has bought two of her CDs thought he has nothing to play them on--as well as the former "Married... With Children" star Christina Applegate, to whom he's also writen.
(Taken From: GQ) MARCH 25, 2001 UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH WESTLIFE
What an incredible year for the UK's most successful boy band - making records and then breaking them. Recording an amazing hit record with their idol, Mariah Carey. That's amazing stuff. As you ardent fans will already know, their outstanding new album "Coast to Coast" is already out and in the best record shops.
Westlife "Coast to Coast" brings the fans right up to date where "The Westlife Story" (VHS & DVD) left off. This is a message from the boys:
"Did you hear about our Coast to Coast album launch? Do you want to know the true story? We met 15,000 fans in 4 cities in 36 hours. And during this marathon event we even found time to perform an 8 track exclusive set. And it's all captured for you on this video. Love to all our fans - you're the greatest!"
This is what you'll find on this stupendous video:LIVE PERFORMANCES: 1. Number 1's Medley
2. What Makes A Man
3. More Than Words
4. I Lay My Love On You
5. Angel's Wings
6. You Make Me Feel
7. Fragile Heart
8. My LoveBONUS MUSIC VIDEOS: 1. Seasons In The Sun
2. I Have a Dream
3. Fool Again
4. Against All Odds (Featuring Mariah Carey)
5. My Love
And here's our special preview. Don't forget to choose the right connection speed for your computer! For those of you who don't have Windows Media Player you can download it from microsoft.com for nougat pence. (High | Medium | Low)
MARCH 25, 2001 JADAKISS FINISHING UP SOLO LP
Currently enjoying the heavy buzz he's getting as a guest with Mary J. Blige on DJ Clue's hit single "Back 2 Life 2001" and his own "Put Your Hands Up," the LOX's Jadakiss says he's two weeks away from finishing his solo debut, tentatively titled Kiss Tha Game Goodbye.
Trying to meet his scheduled late May release date, Jada is in L.A. recording with a host of hip-hop luminaries, including Eminem, Nas and Dr. Dre. The MC has also recorded with producers Swizz Beatz, the Alchemist and DJ Premier for the LP.
"I can't wait to get it out," said Jadakiss, 25. "I done been everywhere, and [everyone is] asking me for it — little white kids, rappers, notorious murderers. The anticipation I've got is crazy. This is my six or seventh project, so I'm a little more focused.
"The music I do is for the streets," he continued. "The gunplay, the drugs, I gave 'em that on this album, but I also gave 'em some big hits that I didn't even expect to do. You could hear a lot of maturity."
Among the tracks already completed are "Cruisin" with Snoop Dogg and the Timbaland-produced "Good Girls." Timbaland previously worked with Jada on the LOX's hit "Ryde or Die Bitch" last year.
As for the status of the Yonkers, New York, trio, Jada says that his album and the planned upcoming solo LPs by rhyme cohorts Sheek and Styles do not signify the group's end.
"Nah, they with me now," he said. "They go everywhere with me, it's all love. We're doing another LOX album right now. We're just getting more money to cop more houses. We're playing the game."
Speaking of playing games, Jada claims to a victim of industry politics. He blames record executives for the reason why his cameo on R. Kelly's "Fiesta" didn't make the final cut of the singer's 2000 LP, TP-2.com. The MC was surprised when the album hit stores and vocals by newcomers Boo and Gotti had replaced his verse on the song.
"This game is full of cowards," he said. "Kelly didn't even know about [me being taken off the song]. You gotta learn how to rub shoulders."
Jada, who's already done his fair share of shoulder-rubbing — appearing on songs by everyone from his Ruff Ryder family members Eve and DMX to the likes of the Notorious B.I.G., Big Pun and Mariah Carey — is also considering offers to cameo on the remix of Jay-Z's "Guilty Until Proven Innocent" and an untitled Jermaine Dupri cut.
(Taken From: SonicNet) | ||
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MARCH 24, 2001 NEW VOICE MESSAGE
Hello. So, it is like 7:30 in the morning here in my lair where I’m recording. And yeah, I do believe this is the standard hour that I go to sleep these days. But it’s been good cause I’ve been able to – like in between singing kind of like walk back and forth and that’s how I’ve been able to answer some of your questions. Walking in and out of the house. I rented this house. And I’m singing and then I have this kind of like recording tuck outside. I don’t know. It’s very bizarre. [Laugh].
But anyway, I’m working hard. And I just finished a nice collabo that I think you’re going to like with a person that I’ve worked with before. And yeah, I don’t want to give too much away. But it’s really, really. I quite like it and I hope you like it as well.
So, I got a chance to answer ten or so more questions. And I want you to know that I’m not trying to be slow with the answers. It’s just that I’m kind of taking my time because I don’t want to you know, it’s important to me.
So, anyway thank you all very much for your letters, inspiring words and things of that nature. And I love you much, I appreciate you enormously and hey, I enjoy you. [Laugh].
And one of these days I’m going to leave a message where I don’t go into like five different accents and personalities and that’ll just be great. [Laugh]. All right, bye.
This is what Mariah says in her latest voice message, left on her official website. MCWNO is enabling you to download this message. Just simply use the links below to start the message. Choose your format:
MARCH 24, 2001 MARIAH IN SWIPE SUIT
This week, I reported that Mariah Carey is working on ending her ties with Sony Music. Now her attorneys will also be busy on a different front — the singer was hit with a plagiarism suit yesterday.
The suit, filed in federal court by a Manhattan songwriter Vernon Minow, claims the pop diva ripped off three Christmas songs he wrote, reports The News' Robert Gearty.
Minow claims he was shocked when he heard Carey's hit "All I Want for Christmas Is You" because it sounded so much like his song of the same name. He also claims two other songs on Carey's 1994 best-selling album, "Merry Christmas," resembled his. The album has worldwide sales of 58 million, grossing over $500 million, the lawsuit says.
In his court papers, Minow claims he was ripped off after he tried unsuccessfully to strike a deal with Carey songwriting partner Walter Afanasieff to get his songs recorded by Carey.
A representative for Carey said neither the singer nor her lawyer was aware of the lawsuit.
(Taken From: New York Daily News Online)
MARCH 24, 2001 MARIAH'S MESSAGE TO HER FANS
I just want to let all of my fan club members know how much I appreciate your love and support for all my projects! You have always been there for me! As always, thanks again for everything you do.
Love + Thanks! Mariah
(Taken From: Official International Mariah Carey Fan Club) MARCH 24, 2001 MARIAH CAREY SHOPPING FOR $25M DEAL
Mariah Carey's relationship with Sony Music has gone the same way as her marriage to label boss Tommy Mottola.
Following on the singer's divorce from Mottola in 1998, Carey has severed her ties with the label, for whom she has recorded since 1990, The New York Daily News reports.
Carey had taken her feud with Sony public in recent months, posting messages at her website that alluded to problems with her career and the label. In recent months, the source of the conflict was the soundtrack to her upcoming film "All That Glitters," which is due in August.
The Daily News said Carey will now be able to take the soundtrack album to a new label, while Sony will maintain rights to the record in Japan.
The report added that Carey is searching for a deal worth $25 million per album, which would make it the richest record deal of all time.
The Daily News said the labels vying for Carey's services have been asked to submit sealed bids. Warner Bros., Interscope, Universal, and Jive have been mentioned as likely suitors.
(Taken From: Canoe) (Courtesy: Matt) MARCH 24, 2001 MARIAH CAREY DIGS FOR GOLD
Mariah Carey, who ended her five-year marriage to Sony Music boss Tommy Mottola in 1998, has ended her even longer relationship with the label itself, according to the New York Daily News. Carey, who owed the label one more album as part of her 1990 Sony contract, has reached an arrangement to move on to the highest bidder. Columnist Mitchell Fink reports that she is seeking a four-record deal, worth $25 million per album, and that she's soliciting bids from Warner Bros., Interscope, Universal, and Jive. (Last year, rumors linked Carey to former Arista bigwig Clive Davis' new J Records.) The singer's next project is the soundtrack to All That Glitters, a feature film due in August.
(Taken From: Wall Of Sound) MARCH 24, 2001 MARIAH CAREY EXPECTED TO LEAVE LABEL
Pop diva Mariah Carey is currently involved in contract negotiations with Columbia Records, but is expected to leave the label that she has been signed to since 1990, sources familiar with the situation said Thursday.
A spokesman for Columbia Records, a unit of Sony Corp.'s Sony Music Entertainment, declined to comment. Details of her contract were not available.
Carey, soon to release the soundtrack to her upcoming film "All That Glitters," previously was married to Tommy Mottola, chairman and chief executive of Sony Music. Speculation that Carey would leave the label has persisted since her marriage to Mottola broke up in 1998.
(Taken From: LA Times) MARCH 24, 2001 TUCSONANS 'BUILD BRIDGES' ON TRIP THAT IS 'HISTORY IN THE MAKING'
The Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus, back this week from a goodwill tour of Vietnam and Asia, learned much about the people and the culture of a country the United States fought a war over. The boys' final lesson shows how you can learn from your mistakes.
Within minutes of getting off the tour bus in Hanoi, many of them had donned a favorite souvenir among American tourists - bamboo hats, pointed at the top to help shed water from frequent rains. On the the last night of their three-day visit, their polite tour guide, Auynh Nu Huong or "Veronica," quietly tells a visitor that "those are women's hats."
By then, the 32 chorus members who made the trip - ages 11 to 15 - had become more knowledgeable on Vietnam, making strides toward their goal of boosting international cooperation and understanding.
"We're building bridges for the new day and age,'' said 13-year-old chorus member Logan Davis, who attends Booth-Fickett Magnet School. "I feel it puts a lot of responsibility on us. Whatever we do will pave the way for groups in the future who go there."
The trip to Vietnam was the highlight of a monthlong tour that started in Thailand and wound up in Hawaii, with visits to Hong Kong, China, South Korea and Taiwan. The chorus returned to Tucson on Tuesday.
Along the way, the chorus performed in some of Asia's premiere concert halls, dazzling their audiences with their piercing harmonies and their trademark lasso tricks.
Some of them suffered a bit from the whirlwind Asia travel, including chorus director Julian Ackerley, who got a bit queasy the first few days.
He dug deep to keep the boys' spirits up during grueling rehearsals in the heat of Bangkok, Thailand.
"Don't be tired, don't be hot," he repeated over and over. "You know what? I'm tired and I'm hot. But don't be. This is a fun set. Make it look like you're having fun! "Anybody hot and tired?"
"Nooooooo," the chorus grumbled in unison. Hanoi was cooler. And the chorus knew that as one of the first American performing arts groups to enter postwar Vietnam, their visit to the former enemy of the United States would be special.
Ackerley helped arrange the tour, dubbed "2001: An Orient Odyssey," through the International Society for Children's Choral and Performing Arts. Making the trip possible was a $22,500 State Department grant - and a special invitation from the Nightingale Chorus of the Hanoi Children's Palace.
Vietnam "was the question mark on the trip," said Ackerley. "But it's got to be the highlight. It was phenomenal. This was history in the making."
Some Vietnamese fans embraced the boys more than others during their appearances at places such as the Hanoi Opera Theater.
One group of young girls attended both their evening performances and skipped school the last morning of the group's stay to say goodbye.
"They are very warm and lovely," said 13-year-old Le Hpa Quyen, tears welling in her eyes as the boys performed their final songs. "They are much nicer than I thought they'd be." She added, "They are very handsome." There was more than infatuation in the air, though.
Said 11-year-old Andre Matlock of Corbett Elementary School, "Looking at the girls saying goodbye to us, saying, 'We'll never forget you and hope you never forget us' - that's a good turning point. I hope it will turn out to be something."
These peer-to-peer relationships were encouraging to Douglas B. "Pete" Peterson, U.S. ambassador to Vietnam and a former prisoner of war in the country
"We want to create friendships in the world and we have to do it through our youth," Peterson told the boys. "Old-timers, like me, we've already blown our chance. It is you that can really make a difference."
The boys saw a Vietnam much different from the divided nation where 8.8 million American troops served and 58,000 died from 1964 through 1973.
Still a communist state, Vietnam is the world's 12th-most populous country with 80 million people.
Vietnam has been opening markets to foreign investment since 1986. Inflation has fallen from 300 percent annually to under 4 percent and the gross domestic product, hurt by the Asian economic slowdown in the late 1990s, has rebounded to a growth rate of more than 6 percent last year.
Twenty-six years after the end of the war, in which the United States tried to protect South Vietnam from takeover by the North, the two nations last year signed a formal trade agreement.
"It's a very dynamic economy that's going to grow quite rapidly once they get it right," Peterson said.
The boys chorus saw signs of this growth everywhere. In Hanoi, five-star hotels are rising above the French provincial architecture; and rows of stores, some selling the latest Sony televisions, have opened.
Other signs of change are in the music of Vietnam, which now includes Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, ABBA, Savage Garden and Air Supply.
Actor Tom Hanks is popular, too, said tour guide Veronica, but violence in movies or even cartoons is not.
"It's funny, but there's a lot of fighting, so it is not good," she said. Despite the modernization, parts of the old culture have endured for centuries - in Vietnam and throughout Asia.
"You buy from me. You buy," shouted street vendors, offering the eager boys postcards, hats, fans, umbrellas and T-shirts.
"It seems like half the population are street vendors," said Joel Kreimeyer-Kelly, 13, who attends Miles Exploratory Learning Center.
Signs of the war endure, as well, though the tour guides hesitated to show them. Thu Nguyen Huong, known to the boys as Maggie, said the war is "the story of the past, and the younger generation shouldn't suffer from things from the past."
"We still talk about the hard times in the past, but we think more of the future. And we are looking to a brighter future of cooperation and friendship."
Still, the boys managed a tour of Hoa Lo Prison, the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" where Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Ambassador Peterson were incarcerated.
Pictures of both men, and three other POWs, are on display in the one room of the prison museum where American pilots are featured.
"It's definitely sad to see how the prisoners were treated there," said Connor Mendenhall, 13, who attends Alice Vail Middle School. "I knew a little bit about the history of Vietnam from the French Invasion through the Vietnam War, and this gave it a bit of perspective."
Asked by 15-year-old Oliver Green, who attends Tucson High School, about his time in Hoa Lo Prison, Peterson offered some advice.
"When you experience something that is unpleasant in your life, what you have to learn is to take that unpleasantness and try to use it in some way to be a positive feature in your life," he said. "Don't allow negative things in your life to keep you from doing positive things."
His experiences provided some of the lessons the boys took away from Vietnam.
Said Duy Quang, director of the Nightingale Chorus youth choir: "We have more reason to live, to survive in this world."
(Taken From: Arizona Daily Star) | |||
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FAN EMPORIUM DOES IT AGAIN
Fan Emporium has done it again – Issue 24 of the "Mariah Carey Official International Fan Club Newsletter" has been mailed out today (March 23). The issue is bound with a new message from Mariah, exclusive candid pictures and information, contests, pen pal listings and more.
With the publishing of the latest Mariah newsletter, Fan Emporium will also launch a new mailing system. From this point forward, Mariah Carey Newsletters will be mailed every April, July, October, and January.
For over ten years, Fan Emporium has been offering Mariah Carey fans an in-depth look at who the real Mariah is: the person and not just the singer. Since the beginning Mariah herself has contributed so much to the newsletters produced by Fan Emporium. Often, she writes extensive letters giving an update of her current issues and things that have been happening in her personal and professional life.
Fan Emporium all started in 1983 when Joyce Logan was working as a promotion director for a 50,000-watt AOR station in Connecticut. From there, she began Fan Emporium to specifically benefit an up-and-coming artist by the name of Michael Bolton. Joyce saw the potential that Bolton had and quickly began a database derived for him by acquiring names at concerts. From there, many artists sought out Joyce’s talents. One of those artists was Mariah Carey.
Mariah was contracted with Fan Emporium in 1990 and the club itself was made public the following year. Special merchandise was developed by Joyce for fan members only and the special relationship between Mariah and her fans were kept active by Logan's newsletters and personal, hands on touch. So, with a background in psychology and a love and passion for music, Logan began to receive phone calls from other artists who wanted to have their fan clubs serviced by her company. By the early 90s, Fan Emporium's client list included Mariah Carey, Michael Bolton, Kenny G, John Mellencamp and Wilson Phillips. All of these musicians signed with Fan Emporium because of their reputation for providing unequaled service, which was due greatly to Joyce's knowledge of promotions and media.
Fan Emporium is truly the connection for music and Mariah fans worldwide. For more information on the Mariah Carey Fan Club and Fan Emporium, sign on to www.mariahcarey-fanclub.com.
(Taken From: MCFC) MARCH 23, 2001 JUDY PARKER BOOKS RE-RELEASED FOR HARD COVER BINDING
Author Judy Parker will relive her fame with the re-release of several of her books. Parker wrote a number of books for the Celebrity Biography Department of Children's Press, Incorporated last summer. Coming this September, Ms. Parker's biographies of Mariah Carey, Ricky Martin and Kerri Russell will be re-printed in hard cover editions for school, library and educational bindings.
The books in the Celeb Bios series are targeted for a 9-12 year old reading level and showcalse the lives of modern day role models for young readers. The incorporated stories are of real men and women who have followed their dreams despite many obstacles.
The books mentioned should be available for retail at any fine store where books and educational tools are sold.
(Taken From: Children's Press) MARCH 23, 2001 SESAC SIGNS R&B LEGEND TEDDY RILEY
Continuing its strategic growth in the burgeoning field of Urban music, SESAC is proud to announce the signing of R&B/Hip Hop legend Teddy Riley for exclusive worldwide performing rights representation.
A Harlem-born-and-raised musical prodigy, Riley produced his first hit record at age 15, going on to become one of the true architects of modern pop music. In 1988, Riley produced his first No. 1 record, Keith Sweat's "I Want Her." That same year, he produced the multi-platinum Don't Be Cruel for Bobby Brown, pioneering the "New Jack Swing" movement that would dominate the R&B scene for the next several years. After establishing himself as one of the premier producers in Urban music, Riley's career as an artist and songwriter exploded with his own hit-making groups Guy, Wreckx-N-Effect and Blackstreet. In 1990, Riley established Future Recording Studios in Virginia Beach and produced Michael Jackson's Dangerous, an album driven by the Riley-penned singles "Remember The Time" and "Jam." Among his countless credits over the next decade are hits from Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, James Ingram, Mary J. Blige, Tom Jones, Mariah Carey, 'N Sync, the Rolling Stones, Heavy D and the Boys, and Patti LaBelle.
"We're thrilled to welcome Teddy Riley to the SESAC family," says Trevor Gale, the company's Director of Urban Writer/Publisher Relations. "As Hip Hop and R&B have grown to dominate the pop landscape, SESAC has been strategically and aggressively signing some of the most talented people in the field. R&B writers and producers operate in a fast-moving, ever-changing creative climate, and extra attention and quicker, more accurate payments are separating SESAC from the performing rights pack. In the R&B and Hip Hop community, the word on SESAC is spreading fast."
"The past year has seen SESAC making unprecedented inroads in the exploding fields of R&B and Hip Hop," says SESAC President/COO Bill Velez. "The affiliation of Teddy Riley is a major milestone for SESAC and further evidence of the company's continuing commitment to the Urban genre."
Established in 1930, SESAC is the second oldest and fastest growing of the nation's performing rights organizations. Headquartered in Nashville, the company also has offices in New York, Los Angeles, and London
(Taken From: Yahoo Business Wire) | ||
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WITH 'ALL THAT GLITTERS,' CAREY GOES FOR THE GOLD
Mariah Carey's days as a recording artist on the label headed by her ex-husband are officially behind her.
Lawyers for the singer, whose five-year marriage to Sony Music chief Tommy Mottola ended in 1998, have worked out a deal for Carey to leave the label to pursue an association with a rival company. Carey, who recorded her first-ever album for the label in 1990, had owed Sony one more disc as part of her contract. While there was much dickering over whether that album would be the soundtrack to her upcoming movie, "All That Glitters," it's now a moot point.
According to sources, Carey's exit from Sony allows her to take the "All that Glitters" soundtrack to another company. Sony will retain the rights to the soundtrack in Japan, where Carey is huge.
As for Carey's next move, I hear she's looking for a four-record deal that would pay her $25 million per album. If she gets what she wants, it would be the richest recording contract of all time.
I'm further told that the labels she's talking to have been asked to offer sealed bids. The labels most often mentioned include Warner Bros., Interscope, Universal and Jive.
Sony reps declined comment, as did Carey's rep, Cindi Berger. Meanwhile, the movie "All That Glitters" opens in August.
(Taken From: New York Daily News Online) MARCH 22, 2001 ARIES HOROSCOPE: MARIAH CAREY
Venus, Mercury and the Sun in Aries make Mariah Carey (born March 27) tempestuous, innovative, and spontaneous. Romantic disappointments have prepared her for the coming of a successful cycle of affairs of the heart. Fearless of the consequences, she will ultimately be victorious in adventures that her Moon in Scorpio entices her to pursue.
Love: The Sun is with you through April 19, making you feel like a goddess. You’ll be admired and pampered. Love will be more intense and passionate.
Work: Your creative projects will be applauded, and your undeniable talents will be recognized.
(Taken From: Latina) | ||
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CHIT CHAT WITH MARIAH'S LAMBS Here's a message from Honey & Kate:
We're Honey & Kate and as you may know we created the international MC Chat site "Chit Chat With MC's Lambz" (http://fly.to/chitchatmc) in February. And becoz there were pretty much lambz in the "Welcome Chat" and we got lotsa nice feedback, we decided to do one organized fan chat a month. The chat we'll do in March will take place on March 24th at 7pm EST, so we really hope to see ya there! If you don't know the site yet, have a look at it coz it doesn't only have a chat, it also features an E-Greetings service, pictures o' da week and some more things!
MARCH 21, 2001 RADAR, BOMBSHELTER CREW FLY OOVER NO-RULES ZONE
Several DJs have incorporated live instruments into their sets recently, but none have done it quite like Radar. Earlier this month, the Phoenix turntablist made history by performing "Concerto for Turntable #1" with an 80-piece symphony orchestra.
Radar wrote the piece with Arizona State University composer Raul Yanez using scratch notation, their adapted version of the classical staff system. The composition is based on Radar's recent single "Antimatter," the first turntable track ever to include a written score.
"I started working on scratch notation four years ago," Radar said. "I wanted to be able to write what I was doing in sheet music so other DJs could perform the same material. I'm trying to write my own music, not play other people's."
Radar, a schooled percussionist, logged most of "Antimatter" on his own, but enlisted the help of Yanez to notate the song's big solo. Once Radar showed Yanez that he could scratch an octave and a half of notes with a turntable, the two began composing "Concerto for Turntable #1," with conductor Joel Brown and the Arizona State Symphony Orchestra in mind.
The composition was finally performed March 7 at a free concert at the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Gammage Auditorium in Tempe, Arizona. A sell-out crowd of 3,000 was on hand for the 10-minute performance, including a PBS film crew that captured the event for an upcoming special.
Radar and Yanez are currently finishing two additional turntable movements, which may feature a turntable quartet. They're also planning a world tour with local orchestras in each city.
Radar's trailblazing efforts fall under the mission of the Bombshelter Crew, a no-rules Phoenix DJ troupe that focuses on fusing all forms of music through innovative ideas.
"Bombshelter is a concept that all music is pretty much universal; the only thing separating it is about 10 beats per minute," Bombshelter co-founder Emile said. "At 92 beats per minute you got hip-hop, at 100 — take out the vocals — you got trip-hop, at 110 you got R&B or maybe two-step, at 120 you got house, at 130 progressive house. You haven't done anything to that beat other than speed it up, but you got the urban black market here, the gays here, and you are separating all these different types of people and stereotyping them based on a tempo. It's musical racism."
The Bombshelter Crew's genre-bending take is captured on Future's Past, a mix album due Tuesday (March 20) that combines a wide range of tracks released on Tom Chasteen's Exist Dance Records over the past decade.
Radar and Emile recorded the album on four turntables and two mixers in one night. Radar holds back from scratching on the album to focus on a solid mix that slowly builds in tempo from beginning to end.
"A lot of people from my scene, they skipped over the main concept of DJing, which is mixing," Radar said. "The basics of hip-hop were founded on parties, bringing people together with mixes."
Future's Past blends a bit everything, from techno (Freaky Chakra's "Transcendental Funk Bump") to hip-hop (High Lonesome Sound System's "Champion Sound"), including Tranquility Bass' "They Came in Peace", the song that inspired Emile to form the Bombshelter Crew.
"I remember hearing it when it came out in '91. It was just amazing," Emile said. "It was hip-hop, and kind of psychedelic. And then every other release [on Exist Dance] was something different. A lot of people like different types of music, but a lot of DJs are monochromatic. I don't see anything out there that would indicate to me that playing one style of music is acceptable."
The Bombshelter Crew, which also includes Z-Trip, with whom Radar mixed the underground classic Future Primitive, is supporting its recordings with North American shows of all styles.
"We play drum'n'bass, hip-hop, hardcore, dub, electro — it all depends on the crowd," Radar said. "We can never get burned out. And the crowd won't either. They can't just say, 'Oh, it's Bombshelter.' Because we don't even know what we're going to do."
"Radar is going to be doing the symphony until 8 or 9, and then we're going to do a set at the house club, shoot over to the rave and then do a downtempo acid jazz night afterwards," Emile envisioned.
The Bombshelter Crew is also working on several other recordings, including a revolutionary techno hip-hop record and an electro album.
"We're not about wearing shiny shirts and getting chicks," Emile said. "How many DJs can say they have a concept behind what they are doing? [Paul] Oakenfold and those guys, those are Mariah Carey remixes. We're trying to push instrumental music forward."
(Taken From: Sonic Net) | ||
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MISSION COMPLETED
The "Birthday Card Project" has been received by Mariah's management and they assure us that Mariah will get the special package upon her return to New York. Furthermore, The "Mariah Birthday Card Project" was a smash success with over 200 cards, 80 messages and 30 presents.
The Birthday Card Project all started on February 1, 2001 when "Mariah Daily" teamed up with "MCWNO", "The Mariah Carey Archives", "Mariah Online", "Mariah's Diary", "Mariah Carey Fan.DE", "Sweet Day", "Mariah World", "Crybaby Land", "Rainbow Warrior", "Miss Mariah Carey", "Butterfly MC", "#1 Diva" and the "Friends Of Mariah Messageboard" to start a world-wide campainge to collect messages for Mariah on her 31st birthday.
Mariah will be greatly honored and touched to have received so many nice items in celebration of her birthday. She will get to hear all of your comments and we can thank Regina from "Mariah Daily" for enabling us to be able to express our opinions towards our idol, Mariah Carey.
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WEDDING RUMOURS Here's a message from Deborah:
I am a Luis Miguel fan since long ago. I'm Mexican, and unfortunatelly, I think that the "wedding" is just another rumour. Why? Well, for all of you who don't know, Gente is a tabloid which you shouldn't really trust. They are always talking about "confirmed" things that are never true. I read the article and it says that Luis confirmed this and I don't know how much you know about him, but he almost NEVER talks about his private life. I'm sure if someone had to confirm this rumour it wouldn't be him. I'm not saying that if he married Mariah he wouldn't admit it, just that he would probably do it AFTER the wedding.
As I said before, maybe many of you don't know much about him, but he is like an Elvis for Latinamericans and also Spanish people. I'm not exagerating, he is very famous and constantly being chased by paparazzis, which he really doesn't like very much. So I find it really hard to believe that he "confirmed" his wedding, with the month and city where it would take place, for all the press to be ready to search for him all over Acapulco (it says in the article it would be there) during April to tape or take pictures of his wedding.
Also, many of the facts stated in the article are wrong. I'm sure Mariah does have a key to his house in LA, but the part about him "recently buying it" is not true. He has got almost seven years with that house, and he doesn't really live there. He uses it when he is recording (which takes like 3 months) since he does that in LA, but he spends most of his time at Acapulco.
The thing about the ring in the popcorn is slightly distorted. All over Latinamerican TV, like a weak and a half ago, the story was told but differently. What she found in the popcorn was a dimonds necklace, and as far as we know, he only gave it to her for the sake of doing so, it was not a proposal. And, even if it was a ring, which is not the case (I can send you many different articles telling the same story about the necklace if you want), how would they know what he said to her? Was a reporter sitting on the row behind them? Well, all I'm saying is that coming from that source, which has a terrible reputation, we shouldn't really believe in this story - of course - I'd love to, because I think that they're a wonderfull couple, but, because he is so famous over here in Latinamerica, the press makes up any story just to sell.
Well, I hope everybody can read this, of course I am not certain that they are not getting married, but I'm sure that if they are, Gente magazine knows nothing about it, since they make up all their stories, and this one is just another invention. Although it would be nice if they "guessed" right!
MARCH 19, 2001 APPLETONS RUSH TO RECORD NEW SONGS
Former All Saints, Natalie and Nicole Appleton have rushed into the studio before the dust from the band's split has even settled. The party girls have managed to record a few songs before Nicole's pregnancy to Oasis' Liam Gallaher develops any further. The sexy sisters are keeping to the group's sound by making Pop/R'n'B and are following in the footsteps of Mariah Carey by titling a song "Fantasy". They have teamed up with Eurythmics musician Dave Stewart who directed their flop movie "Honest".
(Taken From: World Entertainment News Network) | ||
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MARIAH'S NEW VOICE MESSAGE
Hi. [High octave]. Hi everybody. I'm just calling to check in and say thank you for your letters and things of that nature. And yeah, I do believe that I've been working on the soundtrack, doing work on the movie and just like spiraling all about town - all over the land. And basically, what I'm doing right now is just sleeping and singing. And I'm finishing up the soundtrack. I know it sounds like a broken record - I keep saying that every time I call in but it's true. And there's a lot of other things going on that you will learn about shortly. But anyway, I can't wait for you guys to hear the soundtrack, to see the movie and to also see some of the new things that we're going to be doing with the site and things of that nature. So I appreciate you, I love you much and I enjoy you. Bye bye. [Laugh]. Bye.
This is what Mariah says in her latest voice message, left on her official website. MCWNO (along with "xRaiNBoWx") are enabling you to download this message. Just simply use the links below to start the message. Choose your format: | ||
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EN ACAPULCO PISARÁ EL PALITO CON MARIAH CAREY
Luis Miguel se aburrió de disparar de chincol a jote: Se casa en abril. Tanto va el cántaro al agua que por fin se rompe, dice un antiguo proverbio que, en el caso del cantante Luis Miguel, le viene como anillo al dedo, sobre todo porque se trata de su futuro estado civil. El ídolo mexicano fue vinculado sentimental desde los comienzos de su exitosa carrera con una serie de bellas mujeres del mundo del espectáculo. Ahora, el astro azteca anuncia públicamente que contraerá matrimonio oficial a mediados de abril próximo en una ceremonia de carácter eminentemente privado, en la ciudad-balneario de Acapulco y ante un reducido número de invitados.
El popular "Luismi" fue tema de rumores desde hace un par de años cuando comenzó un romance con la estrella del pop norteamericano Mariah Carey. La figura de la juvenil cantante se impuso a una serie de nombres de frecuentes acompañantes de "Micky".
Incluso durante la última gira del intérprete romántico al cono sur de América, Mariah lo acompañó, primero en algunos conciertos en Argentina y también en breve visita a nuestro país. Con ello, desmintieron los trascendidos de discusiones, escenas de celos y otras diferencias. "Novias".
Por ejemplo, se insistió reiteradamente que Luis Miguel mantenía una relación secreta con la espectacular modelo y animadora de televisión colombiana Sofía Vergara. Incluso se dijo que la ex Reina del Festival de Viña lo visitaba a menudo en su yate particular en Miami, Florida.
El artista cuate comenzó a ser objeto de rumores en cuanto a su corazoncito desde sus inicios como "niño prodigio" -junto a su padre, el fallecido Luisito Rey- con la sensual Lucía Méndez, después también con la experimentada Verónica Castro, quien lo habría iniciado en el complejo mundo del espectáculo y, más tarde, con la mismísima Lucero y, además, con la exitosa actriz Salma Hayek, quien no tuvo problemas en mostrar que fueron "más que amigos", inclusive durante la entrega de los premios Oscar de la Academia de Hollywood, hace tres años, hasta donde asistieron tomaditos de la mano.
Pero, en el último tiempo, era evidente que Mariah Carey era quien ocupaba todo el corazón del ídolo. Tanto, que varias veces se dijo que ya se habrían casado secretamente.
(Taken From: La Cuarta) MARCH 17, 2001 ANGELIC HIT
Before 2001, Shaggy had a variety of hits and misses but never a No. 1 on The Hits chart. However, this year is different for the Jamaican reggae singer. He started off the year with his first chart-topper "It Wasn't Me," a record that spent four weeks at No. 1. And now just seven weeks after "Wasn't" spent its last week there, the follow-up "Angel" advances 3-1 becoming Shaggy's second straight No. 1. That seven-week gap is the shortest amount of time between No. 1 hits by the same act since 1996. That was when Mariah Carey went to the top in November 1995 with "Fantasy" only to return seven weeks later in January 1996 with her duet with Boyz II Men, "One Sweet Day."
(Taken From: Canoe) (Courtesy: Elin) | ||
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A CRASHING TO PIECES RETURN
Mariah Carey prepares her great return with a new single, "Lover Boy," which should arrive in June. This single will be the first extract of the original soundtrack to the movie "All That Glitters," in which the diva holds the principal role. It's about a girl who's had a difficult childhood, but finally manages to find glory on a stage in New York.
The single will feature rappers Lil' Kim and Da Brat. In addition, Mariah should also make a blow of glare with another shocking duet, which should soon be recorded with Michael Jackson, to appear on his next album which should be released in June 2001.(Taken From: MCM) (Courtesy: Elin) MARCH 16, 2001 THIS WEDDING WAS OBVIOUS
Luis and Mariah Carey announced their wedding-extraofficially of course- for April. After 2 years together, the king of boleros finally poped the question to his famous girlfriend. The wedding will be a big secret and just for the closest friends.
Is it true? Just another rumour? It seems this time it´s not, that this time it is serious. And the news already schocked more than one fan: Luis Miguel and Mariah Carey are getting married. Yes, sir, that´s how they announced it - extraofficially of course - the couple.
Like an expert in love, Luis Miguel loves to surprise. That´s how he asked his girlfriend´s hand. In late February, in some LA theater, he offered her popcorn. Minutes later she started eating she found a gold, diamond ring. "This!?" she asked trying to reach the light to appreciate more the exquicit jewel. "This means I wanna marry you", it´s what apparently he answered. Kisses and more kisses follow by the "I DO" from the singer.
In late 2000 they decided to live together. Mariah has the key for Luis´s house he recently bought in Beverly Hills in one of the most exclusive places of Hollywood. And Luis Miguel feels at home in Mariah´s New York appartment. "Both are really into music and their work, but they really get along together! Everytime they can they run to each other!"
They say the wedding will be for late April, in secret, and just for the closest friends.
(Taken From: Gente) (Courtesy: Regina) | ||
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BLIGE, SCOTT TO HONOR ARETHA
Just to prove that Aretha Franklin still reigns supreme as the Queen of Soul, VH1 is giving her her own Divas special, instead of making her share the spotlight as she did in 1998 when the Divas series premiered with a special featuring Franklin, Mariah Carey, Carole King, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, and Shania Twain.
VH1 Divas Live: The One And Only Aretha Franklin will broadcast live on April 10th at 9:00 p.m. from New York City's Radio City Music Hall. Janet Jackson will be on-hand as a special guest, while returning diva Mary J. Blige (from 1999's Divas Live) and newcomer Jill Scott are the first two performers who have been enlisted for the event. "She was supposed to take some time [off], but when Aretha calls you don't turn her down," said a spokesperson for Scott.
VH1's "Divas" specials raise funds for the VH1 Save the Music Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring instrumental music programs in America's public schools, and to raising awareness of the positive impact that music participation has on students. This time out, most of the funds will go to Detroit's inner-city school programs in Franklin's name.
Tickets for the event go on sale through Ticketmaster on March 16th.
(Taken From: Rolling Stone) MARCH 15, 2001 NEW ADDITIONS TO THE LINE UP OF FOURTH ANNUAL STAR-STUDDED 'DIVAS' CONCERT
Music superstar Janet Jackson will be a special guest, and Mary J. Blige and hot Grammy-nominated rising star Jill Scott will join the lineup of performers when ``VH1 Divas Live: The One and Only Aretha Franklin - A Benefit Concert for VH1 Save The Music Foundation'' the fourth annual star-studded ``VH1 Divas'' concert, airs live on Tuesday, April 10 at 9:00 p.m. (ET/PT).
``VH1 Divas Live: The One and Only Aretha Franklin - A Benefit Concert for VH1 Save The Music Foundation'' will bring together some of the biggest male and female artists in music history for one unforgettable night, while spotlighting living legend ``Lady Soul'' onstage at New York City's legendary Radio City Music Hall. Additional special guests and performers will be announced as they are confirmed.
Janet Jackson is a superstar of the first rank, part of America's greatest musical family and one of the top-selling artists of the past two decades, counting ``Control,'' ``Rhythm Nation 1814'' and ``The Velvet Rope'' among her multi-platinum albums, not to mention dozens of chart hits. A former child actress on such series as ``Good Times,'' ``Diff'rent Strokes'' and ``Fame,'' she has starred on the big screen in ``Poetic Justice'' and, most recently, ``The Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps,'' with Eddie Murphy. Janet has received countless accolades and awards, including Soul Train's Lena Horne Lifetime Achievement Award -- which she was honored with at only age 31.
Mary J. Blige is a returning ``Diva,'' having performed previously on ``VH1 Divas Live '99.'' The multi-platinum hip-hop queen of soul artist's most recent album is ``Mary,'' following her stunning debut ``What's the 411,'' ``My Life'' and ``Share My World.'' A 1996 Grammy winner for Best rap performance for ``I'll Be There/You're All I Need'' with Method Man, Mary has been nominated for four other Grammy Awards as well as several NAACP Image Awards, five Soul Train Awards, and six Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards (winning for Best R&B Solo Single for ``Not Gonna Cry'' and R&B/Soul Album of the year Solo for ``Share My World''). Mary's humanitarian efforts have been extensive including her involvement with ``Rock the Vote,'' ``Partnership for a Drug Free America,'' and most recently with M.A.C. Viva Glam 111 lipstick in which all proceeds are donated to the M.A.C. AIDS fund.
Hot new star Jill Scott's dynamic and emotional debut album ``Who Is Jill Scott? Words & Sounds Vol. 1'' struck certified gold after only 14 weeks in release last autumn and went on to reach platinum status last month, led by the smash single ``Getting in the Way.'' Beyond heaps of critical acclaim -- such as being named USA Today's No. 1 R&B Album -- Jill has received nominations for three Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist, Best R&B Female Vocal Performance and Best R&B Album of the Year, as well as four NAACP Image Awards, three Soul Train Awards, and two BRIT Awards (including Best International Female Artist). She recently completed extensive concert tours of the U.S. and Europe.
The ``VH1 Divas'' phenomenon began on April 14, 1998, when ``VH1 Divas Live'' spotlighted Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan and Shania Twain together onstage at New York's Beacon Theatre. ``VH1 Divas Live '99,'' airing live from the Beacon Theatre on April 13, starred Whitney Houston, Cher, Tina Turner and Brandy, with special guests Sir Elton John, LeAnn Rimes, Mary J. Blige, Faith Hill and Chaka Khan. Last year, the April 11 presentation of ``VH1 Divas 2000: A Tribute to Diana Ross'' featured Diana Ross, Mariah Carey, Faith Hill and Donna Summer, plus Destiny's Child, Hilary Swank, RuPaul, Queen Latifah, and former Supremes singers Lynda Laurence and Scherrie Payne. One week later, Sting, Backstreet Boys, Tom Jones, D'Angelo and Enrique Iglesias challenged the Divas at their own musical game with ``Men Strike Back,'' the first-ever male dominated Divas concert, also featuring Christina Aguilera and Sisqo. The three ``Divas'' specials are among the all-time highest rated broadcasts in VH1's history.
VH1's ``Divas'' specials raise funds for the VH1 Save The Music Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring instrumental music programs in America's public schools, and to raising awareness of the positive impact that music participation has on students. Since VH1 Save The Music was created in 1997, more than $10 million worth of musical instruments has been donated to 530 public schools in 40 cities, improving the lives of more than 200,000 children.
``VH1 Divas Live: The One and Only Aretha Franklin -- A Benefit Concert for VH1 Save The Music Foundation'' is sponsored by Bristol Myers, Chrysler, Visa, Kodak, Diet Coke and Old Navy.
VH1 produces and programs a wide variety of music-based series, specials, live events and acquisition-based programming that keep viewers in touch with the music they love. VH1 is a registered trademark of MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom Inc. MTV Networks owns and operates the cable television programming services MTV: Music Television, MTV 2: Music Television, Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite, TV Land and VH1 as well as The Suite from MTV Networks, a package of ten digital services, all of which are trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks also has joint ventures, licensing agreements and syndication deals whereby its programming can be seen worldwide.
(Taken From: VH1) | ||
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DIVA SEARCHES
Pop diva Mariah Carey is on the prowl for a new record-label deal in what could end up being one of the most expensive artist signings of all time.
With just one more album owed to Columbia Records, a division of Sony Music — led by ex-husband Tommy Mottola — Carey and her reps are actively meeting with major labels, industry sources said.
Those who've gotten her call include AOL Time Warner's Warner Music, Universal Music's Universal Records and Interscope Records, the sources said.
Other possible takers include Clive Calder's Jive Records, Clive Davis' label J. Records and DreamWorks Records. There's also a shot that Carey will continue recording for Columbia.
In addition to a new record contract, the megastar's seeking backing for her own label. An effort three years ago to become a music mogul ended when Sony shut down her Crave label.
One complication could erupt over Carey's next album, a soundtrack for the upcoming summer movie "All That Glitters," in whichshe stars. Sources said it's unclear whether Sony will consider that her last album and then release her from her contract.
(Taken From: New York Daily News) MARCH 14, 2001 VH1 CONFIRMS INITIAL 'DIVAS LIVE' CAST
Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige, and Jill Scott will take the stage at New York's Radio City Music Hall for the 2001 edition of "VH1 Diva's Live." As previously reported, "VH1 Diva's Live: The One And Only Aretha Franklin," will air live on the cable music outlet April 10.
Although Mariah Carey was thought to be part of the line-up, her participation has not been confirmed. Additional male and female performers for the fourth annual benefit concert, proceeds of which are tabbed for the VH1 Save The Music Foundation, will be announced in the coming weeks. Tickets go on sale Friday (March 16) via Ticketmaster.
Jackson was just honored by VH1 sister network MTV as its inaugural "mtvICON," taped last weekend in Culver City, Calif. That event will air tonight (March 13) at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV.
Franklin was among the original "VH1 Divas" performers, along with Carey, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, and Shania Twain. Blige joined Elton John, LeAnn Rimes, Faith Hill, and Chaka Khan at the second installment. Last year's event took on a more specific focus, honoring Diana Ross. Carey, Hill, Donna Summer, actress Hilary Swank, RuPaul, Queen Latifah, and former Supremes singers Lynda Laurence and Scherrie Payne took part in that performance.
(Taken From: Billboard) | ||
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MAD MAX
Knowing the fiery temperament of Spice Girl Melanie B, you'd think that her actor/musician boyfriend Max Beesley would be well versed at 'Never Saying Anything Which Might Provoke An Outburst From 'Er Indoors'. What's more, being aware that Melanie was a tad jealous about his kissing scenes with Mariah Carey on their new film All That Glitters, you'd also think that he'd remember 'Not To Bang On and On About How Fantastic Ms Carey isn't'. However the Maz and Max Self Appreciation Society is up and running and Max has been heard telling all and sundry, 'We spent a lot of time together. She has a serious liking for macaroni cheese at 5am.' Bad move Max.
(Taken From: World Pop) MARCH 12, 2001 MARIAH: LUIS IS A VERY GOOD BOY
Mariah Carey caused a big interest in the center of Madrid when she dared to walk down the streets for a while signing autographs for her fans. The pop singer came out the hotel in the afternoon to go to a radio station.
When she appeared dressed completely in soft blue, in a sexy dress with a "honor vow", she caused madness for her fans, even though just ten of them had the privilege to have their idol’s autograph.
When asked what she though about Spanish people, she replied "I love them, of course." And when we asked what she could tell us about her superstar boyfriend, Luis Miguel, she said, "Well, he is a very good boy."
(Taken From: En Espana) (Translation: Almu Akane & Will Ward) MARCH 12, 2001 IS IT OR IS IT NOT? NOTE: The following article is taken from a column called "Shauna's View", which is an exclusive editorial to the Mariah Carey Archives. Every week Shauna gives her opinion on certain matters. I decided to add this particular one to my site because of all the rumors that have been circulating lately. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Reality or make-believe, true or false, non-fiction or fiction? Does anyone ever have problems trying to figure out the truth when it comes to reading articles relating to Mariah?
Every hemisphere has different rumors about her it seems and it varies from country to country. Some of the topics in America include comparisons to Christina and Britney, in Latino areas it's between Thalia and Mariah; and in the far eastern side the comparisons are of a singer by the name of Regina, whom also has strong vocals with a soprano side, and Mariah.
Some articles are more easily and even at times more humorously dismissed. In a few latino tabloid articles it's rumored that Mariah and Tommy had some children during their marriage which Thalia is helping to take care of now. The eastern hemisphere has some gossip columns that are actually questioning if Mariah's voice is her own or studio magic still. Over the past few years I've come across vicious articles on different areas of the globe that were trying to state that Mariah was really a man.
So, Mariah and Tommy had children during their five years of marriage and no news came to until 1999... am I the only one who missed something?
I don't know who's been asleep on the job questioning if Mariah can really sing or not, what have these people been doing for the past eleven years? She's performed live a thousand times and it's not uncommon for her to do it "unplugged" either.
I'm not really sure where "Mariah's a guy" actually originated from, but from all the articles that stated it, the writer's were only being nasty or the sole purpose of trashing the woman. It went beyond deconstructive criticism and they were wandering far from the subject at hand. If they can honestly say that they think Mariah's a guy after seeing her in a bikini then I want to know what their definition of a "female" is, or a "guy" for that matter.
These rumors that I've just posted above are the more humorous types, where even if you're not a fan, you should be able to tell the fiction from the truth. Some of the more trickier ones are about the "he said she said" things, all the so called "boob jobs", and the fights between Mariah and Luis. Some helpful ways to tell if a particular column or article is reliable or not is by checking for the general background. Back in the day, "good journalism" was supposed to be unbiased, contain facts, have more than one view point, and actually describe things with reason; which by today's standards for the most part, flew right out the window. Along with all of this is the background information which should be included in any article that's describing an event, which is to say, the who, what, where, when, why, and how. If you'll notice in tabloids for instance, they'll only have a few of those in there, which is a good indicator that it's not filled with actual facts. A few rumors from the past couple of months said that Mariah went in to a get a few "boob jobs" done this year. This year? So, when was this exactly? When she was secluded in Canada filming her movie, when she came to NY with a thousand fans watching her, when she was bouncing from NY to California to Colorado to Minnesota fininshing her soundtrack, or perhaps was it when she was vacationing with her beau and a hundred orphans on the slopes in Colorado?
Another helpful way to detect fiction from gossip fantasy are quotes. Quotes are more reliable than that average "inside source claims this or that" ordeal that seems to happen all the time. Look for quotations around actual phrases said by the "source". Most bogus columns will say "source" as an easy out instead of "friend" or "employee", because those latter two are more specific. These things are all more reliable, but understand that it's not always a 100% guarentee.
I think one of my favorite Mariah and Luis fables was the time when Luis was getting drunk in a local bar after Mariah had thrown things against the wall of their NY apartment. This article said that friends of Mariah and Luis claimed all of this and were quoted as saying that "Luis was a wreck and heartbroken" and "Mariah was in tears". It certainly seems like the kind of thing friends would say and that makes the story more believable. Although I seriously have a hard time believing any personal friend of Luis's or Mariah's would go running to some of the worst gossip columnists in the country and reveal this private information for them to nationally exploit. When you have friends like that who needs enemies? Furthermore, when did Mariah and Luis move into an apartment in New York together, because the last I heard Luis is all over creating a new album while Mariah's still moving every other week and appears to be possibly residing in a hotel in California at the moment.
Another way Mariah gets dissed are by her own "quotes", which she never says in the first place. One thing I've admired about Mariah is ever sense she came out, she's always chosen her words carefully when speaking. If asked a question about somebody, she either says nice things or lays it down on a general level so she's not dissing anybody and that her statements aren't directed tword that person. She doesn't specifically name names unless she's praising someone. If there's ever any type of statement where Mariah says this person is "stuck up" or starts name-calling, you can bet that's not reliable information. She's too careful and hasn't ever said anything like that before. She doesn't give anybody anything to fuel, so certain writer's have to switch words around to make sure there's some type of drama. Mariah does say things like she admires "people who are able to stay grounded after stardom" and that she doesn't "appreciate the people who think they own the world because they have a hit", she says things generally and doesn't direct tword anybody in particular, therefore others take the initiative to do it for her. For the majority of her career she was known as the sweetheart and I really believe that these people are so miserable about it that they are now doing everything they can to twist it all around and shove anything resembling the "good girl" from her name. All Mariah did was change her wardrobe, that's it. It's freer, sexier, and god forbide her to dance at clubs with friends every now and then. So, they make her out to be a slut, to be stupid, and utterly self-absorbed, all because she doesn't dress the way they like it? If they want to talk about stupidity, I have to wonder why if they dispise this woman so much and can't stand her type of music and everything that she stands for - why in the world do they keep doing reports on her? If you don't like urban/pop/R&B - don't write about it, if you don't like anything about Mariah Carey - quit reporting on every idiosyncracy that she does year after year, if you don't like the music you're hearing - change the dial on the radio, this isn't brain surgery here.
Gossip is like a river and can be traced back to it's source, so in the meantime keep this in mind: By putting percpective on certain situations and by looking for some basic information it's easier to tell fact from fiction, a story may look real, but is it really?
MARCH 12, 2001 INTRODUCING MCWNEWSLETTER/SITE NEWS
Today, MCWNO is being updated in more than just American News and Mariah's horoscope. We've improved some of our existing sections and even added a few. We also have something new which we will called "MCWNewsletter". By joining MCWNO's "MCWNewsletter" you can received all the latest news from Mariah right in your E-mail Inbox. You will get daily updates featuring American News (as well as German, Spanish, French and Portuguese), Mariah's Horoscope, Mariah History and much more. Enter your email address below and press the "join" button to subscribe to our mailing list.
We have also renovated a few selections and added new categories to out site, as mentioned before. We have created a wrap up of the updates and additions MCWNO has made below (Complete with descriptions). Click then to go directly to that page:JANEL SPEIGEL MEETS MARIAH IN NEW YORK CITY We have added tons of screen captures from Mariah's performance at Saturday Night Live in 1997. This is the performance Janel saw. We have also added a few more scans and Audio from Mariah's performances. RAINBOW OVER GERMANY We have added high quality Real Audio files of Mariah's complete performance at the Koln Arena last year from her "Rainbow Tour". SONGOGRAPHY Brand new section that has a complete list of all of the songs Mariah has performed, co-performed, written or co-written. Includes Song Title, Album Title and Release Year. VIDEOGRAPHY Brand new section that has a complete list of all of Mariah's music videos as well as all the music videos she has appeared in or co-performed with. They are all neatly listed in chronological/albumolical order with Video Title, Video Description and Video Captures. DISCOGRAPHY Brand new section. Thanks to the Mariah Carey Archives, MCWNO let's you see the most comprehensive survey of all of Mariah's releases. MCWNO also has a new "Sound Of The Week". This week, it's "I Still Believe (Damizza Instrumental)". This is a rare instrumental version of the "I Still Believe" Damizza Reemix. It was released explicitely for the USA 12" Vinyl Single for "I Still Believe". Click here to download MCWNO's "Sound Of The Week".
MCWNO would also like to announce that they are a proud member of "Lamb Central". For all information on "Lamb Central", visit: http://www.mariahdaily.com/lambcentral.html. We have put our "Lamb Central" affiliation icon on our main page.
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THALIA OR MARIAH?
One day before dazzling people with three clothes changes at the Lo Nuestro Awards, Thalía rehearsed her song "Arrasando" with her dancers. Thalia was dressed in low-waist jeans, fit top and curly hair.
If you looked at her closely, you would realize that she was Mrs. Mottola: but if you looked at her from a long distance, some of the people commented that she was Tommy Mottola’s ex-wife, Mariah Carey. What do you think about it?
(Taken From: TV y Novelas) (Translation: Almu Akane & Will Ward) MARCH 11, 2001 LUISMI AND MARIAH'S SIMILARITIES Here's a message MCWNO received from Prisilla:
Hi! I found this posted in a Yahoo! club dedicated to Mariah & Luis. It was
posted by a Yahoo! member called jeane_a79.
I think it's pretty cool that someone made up this list so I thought I'd
share it with ya :)
I'm very happy for them and hope their relationship last a long time. As for
their similarities, they do have a lot more than some of us thought. Here's
what I found:
(And the list goes on and on) | ||
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MARIAH & JANET SET FOR VH1'S ARETHA TRIBUTE
A host of top stars will be on hand April 10 at Radio City Music Hall in New York for "VH1 Divas Live: The One And Only Aretha Franklin." Although VH1 would not confirm the lineup, a source tells Billboard.com that the performers will include Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, and newcomer/multiple-Grammy nominee Jill Scott, according to a source.
Tickets to the event go on sale next Friday (March 16) via Ticketmaster. As previously reported, proceeds will benefit the VH1 Save The Music Foundation, specifically, inner city schools in Detroit in Franklin's name.
The "Queen Of Soul" will warm up for the "Divas" tribute with a trio of performances in Florida. The legendary vocalist is set to perform March 21 at the Times-Union Center For Performing Arts in Jacksonville, March 24 at the House Of Blues in Lake Buena Vista, and March 26 at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.
Franklin, Carey, Carole King, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, and Shania Twain all took part in VH1's first "Divas Live" event in 1998. The winner of 17 Grammy awards, as well as the 1991's Grammy Legend Award (1991) and 1994's Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Franklin also counts among her many honors a National Medal Of The Arts, presented in 1999 by President Clinton.
(Taken From: Billboard) | ||
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MARIAH AND LUIS SHARE ROMANTIC DINNERS
Luis Miguel and Mariah Carey recently went out to have dinner at a luxury restaurant in Los Angeles and they didn’t come out until the peak of dawn. Luis, without leaving his spectacular professional career, can act like a normal person from time to time. Moreover, he could celebrate love this month with his current girlfriend, Mariah Carey.
Even though both have packed schedules, they took some time for themselves in February, when they went out to have dinner.
The meeting was in Los Angeles, California. Luismi and Mariah went to have dinner at the French restaurant "L'Orangerie". They arrived at about 10 p.m. Their table was one of the most hidden ones so it was romantic as well. They enjoyed a delicious dinner and talked without interruptions for four hours.
At 2 a.m., they finally came out of the restaurant and before they got in their car, they posed for a few pictures. This shows that the couple is so in love that even the paparazzi can’t disturb their love.
During the first few months of their relationship, it was almost impossible to have any picture of the couple, because they showed themselves extremely reserved in that sense. But after all the things that have been said about their love, they have chose to show their faces, which are always smiling, and avoid having problems with photographers, like other artists who in their will of perseverance for their intimacy, have had a lot of legal scandals.
(Taken From: TVyNovelas) (Translation: Almu Akane & Will Ward) MARCH 09, 2001 COVERGIRL Here is a message MCWNO received from Zoli:
Mariah is on the cover of the latest issue of the Hungarian magazine,
Kéthetes! Please tell your readers that I can buy copies (e-mail: zkunsagi@yahoo.com) for anybody
who collects this stuff. All I want to ask from them is to write me in
the next few days. I think the pix are great, and this magazine is not
expensive at all!
(Thanks Zoli) | ||
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PUFFY'S VANITY VIDEO
As Sean "Puffy" Combs takes the stand in his weapons possession/bribery trial, The Smoking Gun is looking back at a simpler time, when Puff Daddy's celebrity pals didn't run the other way when Puffy's posse approached. In fact, it was only two years ago when a cavalcade of stars happily appeared in a vanity video Puffy sent around inviting cronies to his birthday party (one such invitee leaked the video to TSG).
As icky, embarrassing productions go, this 5:37 gem ranks up there with "Ishtar" and "Battlefield Earth." But the cast in Puffy's ego stroke is nothing short of spectacular:
Danny DeVito, Oprah Winfrey, Chris Rock, Pat O'Brien, Magic Johnson, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Robin Leach, Ellen DeGeneres, Sammy Sosa, Mariah Carey, Todd Oldham, Wyclef Jean, Stephen Baldwin, Will Smith, Clive Davis, Ben Stiller, Joan Rivers, Isaac Hayes, Tommy Hilfiger, Derek Jeter, Veronica Webb, Ananda Lewis, Kim Porter and Christopher Combs, Joe Perry and Steven Tyler, Ron Perelman, Lil' Kim, Donald Trump, Penny Marshall, Justin Combs, Pauly Shore, Kimora Lee, Shawn and Marlon Wayans, Russell Simmons, Michael Bolton, Heavy D, Kurt Loder, Christina Ricci, Stephen Dorff, Jon Bon Jovi, Tyra Banks, and Shaquille O'Neal.
Click here for Puffy's video invite. Note: You'll need Real Player to view this cinematic masterpiece.
(Taken From: The Smoking Gun) (Courtesy: Tomas) NOTE: Mariah appears in the video invitation. There are only three brief shots of her but they are very interesting. Mariah's parts were shot in 1998 at New York City's intimate SoHo Spy Bar. | ||
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WYNONNA GETS A VISIT FROM BRITNEY AND A NOTE FROM MARIAH
Wynonna Judd was in a Los Angeles recording studio last Friday (March 2) with her baby sister, Ashley Judd, listening to a few songs from Wynonna's upcoming project; when teen pop sensations Britney Spears and 'N Sync's Justin Timberlake stopped in to say hello.
Wynonna said that Spears was amazing, kind, and respectful on their first-ever meeting, and wanted to know everything the country singer was doing. Spears even told Wynonna that she performed the Judds' "Love Can Build A Bridge" several years ago on TV's Star Search. Wynonna returned the compliment to the pop superstar by telling her that she and her children are big fans, and that she recently got up in front of a small crowd and sang Spears's "Baby One More Time" to a karaoke tape.
Just a week earlier, in the same Los Angeles studio, Madonna and Mariah Carey were recording and checking out the schedule to see who was coming in to cut songs. Both stars noted to Wynonna's producer, Shep Crawford, that they loved Wynonna and her music.
(Taken From: Launch) MARCH 07, 2001 DEF MIX HELPS FIGHT AIDS
LIFEbeat, The Music Industry Fights AIDS, The Winter Music Conference and Def Mix and join forces for a party/fundraiser at South Beach hot spot Salvation, March 25, from 10PM - 5AM in honor of the 2001 Winter Music Conference.
Def Mix, one of the world's most successful dance music production companies, owned by David Morales and Judy Weinstein, will provide the following talent for the event: Grammy winner: David Morales, Grammy winner: Frankie Knuckles, Satoshi Tomiie, Lord G, Bobby D'Ambrosio, Hector Romero and Jeffrey Allen.
LIFEbeat is a non-profit organization dedicated to reaching America's youth with the message of HIV/AIDS prevention. LIFEbeat mobilizes the talents and resources of the music industry to raise awareness and funds, and to provide support to the AIDS community.
The Winter Music Conference is globally renowned for attracting producers, record company executives, radio personalities, celebrities and DJ's from around the world. Over 20,000 people attend the conference, representing more than 51 countries.
David Morales was nominated in 1996 for a Grammy Award for his production on Mariah Carey's ``Fantasy''. David and Mariah continued to collaborate which contributed to his second Grammy nomination in 1997 for ``Best Remixer'', a new Grammy category. In 1998 David Morales finally received his much-deserved Grammy Award for ``Remixer of The Year''. His production skills have kept him in great demand with top recording artists such as Mariah Carey, Backstreet Boys, Enrique Iglesias, Eric Clapton, Seal, Michael Jackson. David also spins weekly on his own mix show with New York's #1 Dance Radio Station WKTU, called ``Morales At Midnight''. He has also guest DJ'ed for MTV in the US and Europe.
Frankie Knuckles production and mixing career was officially recognized by the music industry when in 1997, he became the first recipient of a Grammy for ``Remixer Category'' by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences. Frankie has produced and remixed songs for artists such as Diana Ross, Luther Vandross, Michael Bolton, Mary J. Blige, Sounds of Blackness, and Toni Braxton. Frankie's nickname is ``The Godfather of House''. He has played a pivotal role in the creation and evolution of ``house'' music, which has become the dominant staple of dance clubs throughout the world.
Satoshi Tomiie is quite simply, Japan's most successful International DJ and Dance producer. He has remixed and worked with the likes of Simply Red, David Bowie, U2, Mariah Carey, Misia (Japan's #1 R&B artist), just to name a few. In 2000 Satoshi wrote and produced his debut album for Sony entitled ``Full Lick''. The album has been met with critical acclaim by his fans and the press with each single enjoying top ten chart success.
Lord G recently cut his remixing teeth with a Latin styled house anthem entitled, ``Cada Vez'' by Negrocans. He also put out his first live compilation on Night Groove records in America. Lord G is currently putting the finishing touches on his Latin Party Compilation due out this summer on Definity records. He also has a mix show for New York City's WKTU once a month on Saturday night. As one of the Def Mix crew Lord G has weekly residency at Pacha in Ibiza Spain.
Bobby D has worked work with artists such as Joe, Tevin Campbell, K7, K.D. Lang, Gloria Estefan, Tom Jones, Barry White and the Waterlillys. ``I Like It Like That'' by the Blackout Allstars, found itself as one of Burger King's most memorable commercials of the 90's. Bobby travels across the globe, packing dance floors as one of the Def Mix Crew.
(Taken From: Entertainment Wire) MARCH 07, 2001 STARS TALK ABOUT COMMITMENT TO OXYGEN'S "JUST CAUSE"
What do celebrities like Debbie Allen, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Roseanna Arquette do when they're off-screen? They help young people go to college, clean up the environment, help the homeless find jobs and mentor city kids. ``Just Cause,'' Oxygen's new multi-part special series that premieres on Sunday, March 11th at 7:30 p.m., explores the support that well-known creative people provide to non-profit organizations, and how their involvement in these efforts inspires others to get involved.
Hosted by Cheryl Mills, Oxygen's senior vice president of corporate policy and public programming, the premiere episode of ``Just Cause'' features leading ladies of movies, television and theater talking about their favorite causes.
The second episode of ``Just Cause,'' premiering in June, will feature Mariah Carey, Melissa Etheridge, Sharon Lawrence, and Victoria Rowell with their respective charities, the Fresh Air Fund, LA Chanti, Alzheimer's Association and The Rowell Foster Children's Positive Plan.
``Oxygen is giving the public the opportunity to witness amazing women making a difference in people's lives,'' commented Staness Jonekos, executive producer of ``Just Cause.'' ``By also focusing on the every day heroes who work behind the scenes on social issues, `Just Cause' reminds us of what is important in life - serving others and making our communities better places.''
Ms. Mills oversees Oxygen's public policy, philanthropic and grassroots initiatives, the Oxygen/Markle Pulse, and co-directs Oxygen's legal and political programming. Prior to joining Oxygen, Ms. Mills was the former White House Counsel and gained national prominence for her defense of President Clinton during the 1999 Senate impeachment trial. Only the third African-American to speak from the Senate floor, her presentation was praised by senators from both political parties.
Ms. Jonekos also serves as executive producer of ``Who Does She Think She Is?!'' and executive producer and director on ``Inhale,'' Oxygen's daily yoga series. Prior to joining Oxygen, Jonekos produced, directed and/or wrote for such productions as MTV's ``Road Rules,'' ABC's half-hour reality pilot, ``Young Cops,'' A&E's ``LA Detectives,'' the Travel Channel's ``Travel Daily'' series and A&E's two-hour special, ``Conspiracies.''
Oxygen Media is an integrated media brand that superserves modern women by combining the best qualities of the Internet and cable television. Founded in 1998 by Geraldine Laybourne, Marcy Carsey, Tom Werner, Caryn Mandabach and Oprah Winfrey, Oxygen consists of a growing network of popular Web sites located at www.oxygen.com and a 24-hour cable network.
(Taken From: Yahoo Business) | ||
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MARIAH'S PET LOVES
Mariah Carey loves her two Jack Russell dogs so much, that she has had them
shipped from New York to Canada while she filmed All That Glitters. They
didn't have a boring trip though - Mariah made sure her pooches appeared in
the film.
(Taken From: TNews Network) MARCH 06, 2001 MAX SPEAKS OUT Guy Lesser: I'm sure being a musician helped you play a DJ in All That Glitters. Did it also help with Mariah? I heard you sat down and played the piano on the set the second or third day of shooting, and gathered a crowd. Max Beesley: I think she was a little amazed I could actually play--you know, that I was a "real" musician. Guy Lesser: How'd you two get on? Max Beesley: I'd heard mixed things about her--some great things and some ridiculous things--but I've never been more pleasantly surprised. She's a beautiful woman, a really nice lady, and a good actress. I think she's going to surprise a lot of people with this movie. But yeah, we had a lot of fun together. She's got a pretty good British accent, and she's got a serious liking for macaroni and cheese at 5 A.M. (Taken From: Interview Magazine) (Courtesy: Regina) MARCH 06, 2001 IN TOP-SECRET TRIBECA, MAGGIE RIZER FEELS ANONYMOUS
Shortly before suiting up and taking the runway before hundreds of ogling, fashion-obsessed New Yorkers, supermodel Maggie Rizer, 23, the all-American face of Tommy Hilfiger’s ads, moved on Feb. 1 into a $1.6 million hideout at 90 Franklin Street.
Ms. Rizer, whose freckled face and blue eyes are plastered all over Manhattan, said she’s finding Tribeca to be a more private place to live than her former home, a rental in a brownstone in the West Village that she shared with her sister, a law student. She also likes having a doorman. "I feel like the doormen are the only [people] seeing me there every day!" said Ms. Rizer.
The condo near Church Street, which started life in 1931 as the Corn Exchange Bank, has a level of service once unheard of below Houston Street, including a 24-hour doorman, a full-time concierge, two porters and a handyman. "It’s nice because you don’t see anyone," Ms. Rizer said. "There are three elevators and 17 floors, so you don’t run into that many people."
Memo to Maggie: Lauren duPont, a fashion editor at W and Vogue’s gossipy Web site, Style.com, and daughter of the chief executive of Sears, Roebuck & Company, lives in the building in a three-bedroom apartment that she and her husband bought for $1.3 million last August.
Ms. Rizer is not totally uncritical of her trendy new home. "In Tribeca, you actually have to go to a grocery store," she said. But she moved into the neighborhood for the extra space, not for the delis.
Unlike her neighbor, Mariah Carey, who has hired Mario Buatta to wrap her $9 million triplex penthouse in chintzy fabric, Ms. Rizer and her boyfriend, Jorge Zavala, a student, have been giving their place "a little facelift" of their own.
"We did a lot of garden-sunset kind of colors; one of the bathrooms is very orangish-reddish," said Ms. Rizer between catwalk struts in New York and Milan. The 1,895-square-foot apartment has two bedrooms and two bathrooms, and maintenance is $1,084. "There are greens and blues and yellows. It’s a bit eclectic."
Ms. Rizer said she’s still looking around for the right artwork to spruce the place up, but she has installed some antique doors, some of which she bought in India. She’s still waiting for a big mahogany bed from Indonesia. "It’s kind of a work in progress," she said.
Right about now, Ben Stiller–whose new film Zoolander is a parody of the fashion flock–is kicking himself for never moving into the apartment he once owned in the building.
(Taken From: New York Observer) MARCH 06, 2001 RETRO A NEW 80S TREND
First came the return of Amazon.com’s “Sweatermen,” a knitwear-sporting glee club that could easily have appeared in a guest segment on an early ‘60s episode of “The Dinah Shore Show.”
Then we saw the Jack in the Box holiday ball commercial that looked like it was shot during the Eisenhower administration, complete with horrified housewife in apron.
What took the plum pudding in the midst of all this retro-flavored advertising, though, was the return of a commercial classic from more than two decades ago.
You remember her, the girl with Brecktastic golden locks sashaying into a bar. She swivels her narrow hips. Heads turn. Cameras flash. Beers suggestively overflow their glasses.
“The Jordache look!” a disco songstress croons in the background. “Workin! Playin! Day or night, Jordache has the fit that’s right!”
On the edge of the true millennium, the grainy, groovy jean queen from 21 years ago has been revived to help resurrect a similarly moribund denim line. The classic 1979 Jordache commercial, updated only with a tagline that says “Available at fine stores near you,” was recycled to the airwaves in full force mid-November. It might even air during the Super Bowl’s coveted ad time.
That Jack in the Box capitalized on the retro trend isn’t a surprising move for a restaurant chain whose creative advertising single-handedly rescued it from being destroyed by food-poisoning scares. The Sweatermen, too, stood out from the pack while maintaining a much-appreciated pleasantness. But what about Jordache, the company that’s had more success recently licensing FUBU and Gasoline clothing, recycling a commercial wholesale? What gives, other than the Spandex in the fabric?
The commercial’s return, along with the classic “Silhouette” jeans the model is sporting, was planned to coincide with the release of “Charlie’s Angels.”
“It’s really like an old friend,” said Michael Riego, senior vice president of advertising at Jordache Enterprises. “A lot of people have nostalgia for the brand because they have memories of the jeans. We just thought now was the most opportune time because in pop culture there’s been a re-embrace of '70s sensibility.”
Jordache certainly isn’t the first company to reinvent its cultural currency by digging up an old ad. Harken back to a few decades ago – or less than one, take your pick — when Good & Plenty candy brought back Choo-Choo Charlie with updated footage spliced into the classic old cartoon ad.
That was then. Now, old brands need new blood to make a comeback. Mariah Carey wears a pair of “Silhouettes” in the upcoming movie “All That Glitters.” Rosie O’Donnell donned a custom-made Jordache outfit on her show.
And I? Well, from my end - pun intended -the return of the Jordache look is succeeding in finally driving me around the bend.
Not for the usual reasons, mind you. Some commercials, successful though they may be, make you contemplate committing horrible crimes because of their ubiquitous popularity coupled with an annoying catch phrase. Even today, you can’t go anywhere without some numbskull screaming “WHAAAASUP!” still believing they’ve stumbled on the most hilarious thing since “Where’s the beef?”
That the Jordache song was so easy to remember many books, movies and beers later is a testament to the company’s branding success lo those many years ago. There I was Monday, marveling at the 21st-century fashions I saw in the windows of Broadway clothing shops, singing about “the Jordache look” to myself.
If Jordache reaps great rewards from this recent return, it will be due to countless dormant seeds sown in tiny brains in the early '80s, brought to fruition by the return of one of the first commercials shot on video. It’s an inexpensive advertising ploy that may be copied by other companies — heck, just raid TV Land’s archives.
Apparently lots of people are responding positively - lots of people other than me.
But upon checking in with James Lileks, a syndicated columnist who digs through pop culture’s horrors at lileks.com and in his upcoming book, “The Gallery of Regrettable Food,” I found I’m not alone in my grumpiness.
“We’re burning up our supply of nostalgia. We’re consuming it faster than we can produce it,” he said. “If contemporary pop culture becomes so saturated with retro references that they become the dominant cultural signifier today, what will we be nostalgic about in 20 years?”
(Taken From: Seattle Union Record) (Courtesy: Tomas) MARCH 06, 2001 MCWNO SITE NEWS
I'm sorry for lacking a little bit with news and the Sound of the Week. I'm currently working on updating order parts of the site that need updating and also creating son new sections - so look out for that.
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MARIAH AND LUIS ARE AS HAPPY AS ALWAYS
Usually, one says that the happiness of a person is often reflected in their face. A clear example of this is the singing sensations Mariah Carey and Luis Miguel. These days, when the couple need to eat, they make themselves happy by having dinner at one of the most fashionable restaurants of Beverly Hills. The only thing their relationship lacks is the wedding. But some say the pair already married secretly during one of their multiple trips around the world.
(Taken From: Hola!) (Translation: Will Ward) MARCH 05, 2001 "GLITTER" DATE PUSHED UP
We've been told everything from March 02, to October 05, to September 14. Now, UpcomingMovies.com reports that August 31, 2001 is the release date for Mariah's feature film.
UpcomingMovies.com provides previews of the movies heading our way in the coming months. Each preview gives cast, crew, and plot information, and includes my commentary and thoughts on what the movie might be like.
For more information on "All That Glitters," visit http://www.upcomingmovies.com/allthatglitters.html
(Taken From: Upcoming Movies) (Courtesy: Regina) MARCH 05, 2001 DEAR DAVE
Dear Dave, What's happening with the Mariah Carey movie? What's it called? Can I come
with you to the advance screening? Will Mariah be there? Dennis H.
DH: It's called All That Glitters, and I would like to take this opportunity to
start the Mariah Countdown right here and now. Now that Kubrick is dead, we
will need some Event Projects like this one to keep us hanging on. My people,
Mariah is that kind of event! She's going to be acting and acting big, I
guarantee. My sources tell me to look for a September 2001 release, so we're
only nine months away! And yes, you can be my date for the screening if you
bring me a corsage in the shape of a butterfly.Breathlessly Anxious, Dave (Taken From: IFilm.com) (Courtesy: Tomas) | ||
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IT GLITTERS SO IT MUST BE GOLD
It looks like a shiny, bright year ahead for Mariah Carey, who's working with Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis to finish the soundtrack for her film All That Glitters.
Mariah stars in the movie, a flick about an up-and-coming singer set in the early 80's.
To get the right musical feel for the soundtrack, Mariah knew she needed Jimmy & Terry's expertise and experience.
"We tried to create the feel and the sonic landscape of the time, which was pretty easy for us to do, because in '81 we were in The Time and kind of starting that whole Minneapolis sound," Jimmy Jam said. "We actually pulled out a lot of old keyboards and drum machines we used back then. [Carey] said it would be cool to do something like the S.O.S. Band, so we pulled out the drum machine that we used for the S.O.S. Band records in the '80s. It's amazing, you plug that stuff up, and you're really, like, back there."
Originally, the film was set to hit theaters around March. A 20th Century Fox spokesperson now says the movie won't hit screens until sometime in the second half of the year.
(Taken From: Flyte Tyme Online) NOTE: Above, you can see a brand new picture of Mariah on the set of "All That Glitters". Click it for a full scale picture. MARCH 04, 2001 STARS TO STARS
By now, you probably know who Christina Aguilera admires the most. And like Britney, Christina is thrilled to be compared to her idol.
"When I discovered Mariah Carey and 'Vision of Love,' that was a breath of fresh air. And I adored her from that moment on and idolized her. It's really amazing that in articles I've been compared to her." Of course, it shouldn't be that amazing to the young superstar. After all, she certainly has the pipes to be as popular as that '90s hit-maker.
And now that Britney and Madonna are planning to work together, will Mariah and Christina do the same? If they do, here's your one warning: beware of breaking glass.
(Taken From: Entertainment Asylum) (Courtesy: Regina) MARCH 04, 2001 GRIT AND MAGIC: VONDIE CURTIS-HALL AND KASI LEMMONS
Grit and Magic: the two opposite words not only describe the films of husband-and-wife directors, Vondie Curtis-Hall and Kasi Lemmons, but they're also two of the main ingredients that continually strengthen their nearly 20-year relationship.
Together for 19 years and married for four, Curtis-Hall and Lemmons have each been successful in front of and behind the camera. In 1997 Curtis-Hall made his feature directing and screenwriting debut with the semi-autobiographical $4 million film Gridlock'd. The gritty picture, which starred slain rapper Tupac Shakur and Tim Roth, was a day-in-the-life of two heroin-addicted musicians struggling to get into detox.
That same year, Lemmons' Eve's Bayou - a magical and haunting tale of family love and deception that was shot on location for 37 days in the Louisiana bayou - also hit the screen. Starring Lynn Whitfield and Samuel L. Jackson, Bayou was budgeted at $4 million and opened on 659 screens. It became the highest-grossing independent film of 1997 and won that year's Independent Spirit Award for 'Best First Feature.'
Now three years later, Curtis-Hall and Lemmons are on the verge of releasing their respective sophomore efforts, Hall's All That Glitters (A Star Is Born genre film starring Mariah Carey) and Lemmons' The Caveman's Valentine (a murder-mystery-drama with Jackson as the homeless, schizophrenic lead). Both are studio films on which each director joined the DGA.
Not surprisingly, the couple said that none of their success would be possible without each other.
'Our relationship has lasted, because A) It's love B) It's a really cool friendship and C) I respect her. I like what she's got to say,' Curtis-Hall said, adding that Lemmons' writing Eve's Bayou inspired him to write Gridlock'd. 'She pushes me. I wouldn't be who or where I am if it wasn't for her.'
Box-office numbers do not drive their relationship. 'There's no competition between us. Only support and love,' Lemmons said. 'He's a safe haven for me. I couldn't have done what I have in my life without him.'
In fact, it was Curtis-Hall who convinced Lemmons to take Eve's Bayou out of the drawer after she first wrote it in 1992. Unfulfilled as an actress in films such as Silence of the Lambs and Candyman, Lemmons had taken TV pilot season off that year to write the personal, fictional story. At her husband's urging, she sent it out cold to studios and producers and took at least 200 meetings until Trimark Pictures bit.
But before Trimark made a financial commitment to the film, producer Cotty Chubb encouraged Lemmons to make a short based on Eve's Bayou. Her 30-minute film, Dr. Hugo, sealed the deal. Then, the search for a director began and that's when things got scary.
'Dr. Hugo allowed me to really think of myself as a filmmaker, as opposed to an actress trying to become a filmmaker. That was a big change in me,' recounts Lemmons, who got her start writing scenes for her actor friends while studying documentary filmmaking at The New School for Social Research in New York City. 'So when we would take meetings with some of these directors and the ideas they had ... I was afraid someone would mess it up. I decided on my birthday that I would direct it.'
At the time, she was pregnant with her son, Henry. She was also relentless. Lemmons said she is still shocked that anyone took a 'dreadlocked eight-month pregnant woman that wanted to direct something wild' seriously.
Her husband, though, isn't surprised that his wife fought to get what she wanted. After all, Lemmons is the same woman who has always motivated him.
During the '80s when he was performing in Broadway musicals, Curtis-Hall began feeling stifled as an actor. After viewing Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It, he joined Lemmons to study filmmaking. Once they moved to Los Angeles, both of their acting careers picked up speed with Curtis-Hall playing memorable roles in Passion Fish, Crooklyn and William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet. On the smaller screen, he earned an Emmy nomination on NBC's ER for his portrayal of a suicidal transsexual and he landed the steady gig of Dr. Hancock on CBS' Chicago Hope.
Despite making a good living at his 'day job,' the Julliard-trained Curtis-Hall said he never lost the dream to direct.
'Kasi showed me that it could be done. Eve's Bayou was such a personal story for her. And Gridlock'd was a personal story for me. It was a world that I knew,' said Curtis-Hall, who wrote the screenplay while studying at the American Film Institute in 1993. 'I showed it to a producer friend and he gave me some very good advice - Don't use your own money and find a star to attach.'
The stars were Roth and the controversial Shakur, who was just out of prison. Once he met the now-deceased rapper, Curtis-Hall knew no one else could do the role. Gridlock'd, which was in production for 32 days, was Shakur's final performance.
Interestingly enough, that experience with a high-profile artist may have prepared Curtis-Hall for his present project, All That Glitters. Produced for Sony Pictures Entertainment, the $25 million picture stars Mariah Carey as a gifted young singer who fights to find her own voice in the music world.
'I thought it would be interesting to take the classic paradigm and make a cool movie out of it. I wanted to strike a chord emotionally. Nothing is as immediate as music,' he said. 'It's amazing how quickly I can cry listening to good music. So my decision to choose All That Glitters as my next project was also amazingly simple.
'Unlike Kasi, I was not the second-coming. She had much more pressure on her to choose her next project. People aren't sitting around waiting for the next Vondie Curtis-Hall movie.'
An exhausted Lemmons, on the other hand, fell headfirst into the 'sophomore slump.' And worst yet, she wasn't even sure if she wanted to direct again.
'Eve's Bayou was such a deep, artistic experience for me. Directing just wasn't calling me after that. I felt fulfilled. I had unleashed something and gotten it off of my chest,' she recalled. 'I knew that if I was going to direct another film, it had to be a situation where if I didn't do it, it won't see the light of day.'
After months of reading uninspired scripts, Lemmons was ready to concentrate solely on writing. Then, she received a valentine from a caveman.
'My agent kept pressing me to read this really weird, wild script. After Eve's Bayou, I knew my next project had to go there. There was no point in playing it safe. I needed black angels.'
The Caveman's Valentine had black angels and more. Adapted from the unconventional mystery novel by George Dawes Green, the film is about a mentally ill former Julliard music student who now lives in a cave in a New York park. When a corpse is found on his 'doorstep' on Valentine's Day, the caveman decides to solve the murder.
'I got involved with the project in 1996. Sam Jackson was already attached. I didn't know if he was going to go for me again. When he said he wanted to work with me, we were off and running.' Lemmons shares screenplay credit on The Caveman's Valentine with Green and writer Scott Frank. 'It was a very hard movie to sell. A schizophrenic homeless detective? It was tricky.'
After years of meetings, numerous rewrites and false starts, Universal Focus and Danny Devito's Jersey Films finally picked up the film. The Caveman's Valentine - budgeted for $13 million - shot for 49 winter days in New York. It opens in New York and Los Angeles on March 2, 2001, and goes wide in April.
Ironically, Lemmons got the green light for The Caveman's Valentine when she was eight months pregnant with her second child, Zora.
'I should have a motto: Have baby. Will travel,' jokes Lemmons, adding that her son Henry spent his early months on her Eve's Bayou film set. 'I think it was purely a coincidence that both of my films were green lit when I was eight months pregnant. In the case of The Caveman's Valentine, I believe it was the story and the vividly drawn characters. That's what attracted me. I got into the character of Romulus. He's an artist and as artists, we always stand the risk of being misunderstood.'
After reading the dense book repeatedly, Lemmons made sure that she understood how the complicated material translated into a film.
'With Eve's Bayou - even now - if I want to call up the characters, I can access them very easily. But The Caveman's Valentine is an intricate, difficult mystery,' she said. 'I kind of lived and breathed it until it became mine. Then it became very much me. It was like an inhaling process.'
This process - which she had four years to perfect - included director of photography Amy Vincent. Vincent worked on Eve's Bayou and Lemmons tapped her to bring the vivid images of the caveman to life.
'We talked about the visual plan for the movie years before we started pre-production and we storyboarded most of the movie. That's the way we work. It keeps me from going insane. I also used the process of magical realism,' said Lemmons. 'For me, magical realism helps you to set rules for yourself that are very solid. You have a way through the movie.'
Lemmons' production map outlined how flashbacks and Romulus' hallucinations were shot and when to use different film or black-and-white stocks. She was also able to pull a few magic tricks out of her sleeve.
'Jersey Films was great. They knew what I was trying to do and told me to go as far as I could go. It was very liberating.' Curtis-Hall's directing experience with a major studio, however, wasn't the free-flowing experience he was used to.
'I'm not used to being questioned and I had to deal with people telling me their opinions on the script. I worked really hard at communicating my story as succinctly and clearly as possible, so we could all see the same movie. Now we're pretty much in sync,' said Curtis-Hall, who was in the fifth week of a 24-week post-production schedule at the time of this interview. The film is scheduled for a summer run.
'All That Glitters really taught me about compromise. It was about knowing when is the appropriate time to fight your battle and where you are going to draw your line in the sand. For me, it's always about 'is this going to hurt the movie?''
Shot on a 'pretty aggressive, very tight 50-day schedule,' the film also gave him an opportunity to use the skills he observed from years of acting for great directors.
'Working with directors like Spike - who likes to improvise - and John Sayles - whose words are so wonderful you are able to say them just as they are - has helped me develop my own style,' said Curtis-Hall, who also did rewrites on All That Glitters. 'I use the word gritty to describe what I do, but it's not grit just for the sake of grit. It's reality. I like shooting things that look like they are happening. It's there. It's credible. It's real.'
And there's no more real experience than directing a story that you've written, added Lemmons, who is currently adapting a novel into a screenplay for Miramax.
'The next film I direct, I will write. There's a freedom when it's something completely from you,' said Lemmons. 'You're always ahead of the game.'
In a perfect world, Lemmons and Curtis-Hall both like to work out their game plan with their actors during rehearsal. But for The Caveman's Valentine, Lemmons instead had conversations with Jackson about every single moment in the film. And Curtis-Hall had to wait until the first day of production to see his actors perform.
'The studios didn't cast an English actor until three days before production. And because he didn't have his work permit, he couldn't work. So, we didn't have rehearsal. On Gridlock'd, we had two weeks of intense rehearsal. We got a chance to go through the script and make it work,' said Curtis-Hall. 'That's how I prefer to work. Then I can really create an environment where the actor feels totally safe.'
Safety, for Lemmons right now, is found within the secure walls of her home with her two children and husband. 'Do I want to direct again? There was a time during the middle of The Caveman's Valentine when I wasn't so sure,' she laughed. 'There are a couple of more movies I want to do and I definitely want a body of work that people can reference. But I don't need to do a movie a year. Definitely, not.'
Her husband, on the other hand, plans to keep the ball rolling.
'I think if you can tread both worlds - make a good studio movie that you've written and bounce back and do a good, cheap independent film - that's the best of both worlds,' said Curtis-Hall, whose production company - Motor City Films - has a first look deal with Fox 2000 and Fox Searchlight Films. 'I want to keep writing. Keep acting. Keep directing.'
And at the moment, the happy couple won't be writing or producing features together. While attending film school in New York, they co-produced a documentary and a few years ago, they co-wrote a screenplay for Touchstone.
'We're very different and we're interested in completely different things. But there is an area of agreement and I do feel we could work together,' said Lemmons, mentioning that The Caveman's Valentine landed on Curtis-Hall's desk before it was submitted to her. 'People tell us that would break us up.
I tell them that they don't know us. Vondie and I have been through too much together. We've known each other for too long.'
(Taken From: DGA Magazazine) (Courtesy: Tomas) | ||
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MARIAH "W O N D E R W O M A N" CAREY
This week ‘big hooters’ Mariah Carey announced she’s to return to the world of acting.
After getting her first hit in years last fall (by riding on the coat tails of those dirty little Irish peasants Westlife, who incidentally, cost their record company, thousands of pounds, because, whilst on the set of the ‘Against All Odds’ video, Brian McFatty, instead of looking straight into the camera, was caught ‘gauping’ at Mariah’s bazooka’s , the scene had to be shot again and again and again!),
Anyway, Mariah announced to the world that she has decided to take on a very ‘deep and complex’ role for her latest big screen epic.Yep, the filming of ‘Wonder Woman-The Movie’, starts early next year, with good old ‘horse face’ taking the lead role.
Apparently, she’s been ‘bombarded with scripts’ ever since she finished filming her movie debut ‘All That Glitters’. ( I haven’t seen it yet, but I can exclusively tell you it’s a ‘shower of shit’).
Anyway, this isn’t the only piece of ‘Mariah news’ this week. Oh no. She’s also reported to have insured her body for £7.5 million. Lord, if her career ever did go ‘tits up’ (what a thought !) she could just throw her self in front of a lorry, and ‘bob’s yer uncle’ she’d be able to live like a Queen (minus a leg or two!).
All of which reminds me of the time I insured my wife Tina’s body just before we went mountaineering in New Zealand in 1986. Let’s just say my wife suffered a very nasty fall, but thanks to her insurance money, we were able to have steak and chips for two at The Harvester, and enough change for a taxi home!
I think what I’m trying to say is a dead Rhino has a better body than my crippled wife. Still, beggars can’t be choosers!
(Taken From: UK Insider) MARCH 03, 2001 JENNIFER LOPEZ SPIRALS OUT, BUT BUTTERFLY IS BEAUTIFUL
How ironic: Mariah Carey had an insipid little number called "Butterfly" a couple of years ago that was just uhhhhhh ... boring. Columbia Records did what it could to push it along, although it was just more breathy yodeling.
Now Columbia has a single by a new group called Crazy Town - and it's called "Butterfly." What a hit! Very few records jump off what used to be called the turntable these days - or pop out of the CD player. But "Butterfly" is just one of those great, nutty grooves. If it's sampled from something, I don't what it is, but god bless 'em. Crazy Town's members are Shifty Shellshock (vocals), Epic Mazur (vocals), Rust Epique (guitar), Trouble Valli (guitar), Faydoedeelay (bass), DJ AM (turntables) and JBJ (drums).
The record is number two and I predict it will be in the Top Ten for many, many weeks. And it's a regular old single, not an album cut. Between this and Shaggy, hope springs up again for great pop music.
Maybe Crazy Town will bail Columbia out on the disastrous Jennifer Lopez album J-Lo. As of Tuesday, the poor thing had moved only 809,000 copies domestically - a mere 92,000 last week - even though, of course, it has that bogus Recording Industry Association of America platinum certification for 1 million sold.
It sits at number six rather forlornly, a referendum on Jennifer and Puffy's problems. If Puffy is acquitted of various counts of mischief, will it help sales? Something better. Lopez gets millions from Sony/Columbia and they want something back in return.
(Taken From: Fox News 411) MARCH 03, 2001 MR. JARRETT'S GONNA SPARKLE IN "ALL THAT GLITTERS"
Phil Jarrett's humor and talent have helped him overcome a turbulent youth to achieve success and happiness as an actor. The Waterloo, Ontario native is in demand on both sides of the border. Phil is currently doing double duty on both sides of the camera. An accomplished actor, Phil can be seen opposite Academy Award winner Denzel Washington in the powerful blockbuster, Hurricane. He followed this role with another feature, The Pilgrim. In the big action flick, Phil stars opposite Ray Liotta and Armin Mueller-Stahl. Phil has just completed filming Harvard Man, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Eric Stoltz and directed by James Toback (Black and White). Other film projects include All That Glitters, with Mariah Carey and Dorian Harewood and Mom's Got A Date with a Vampire, starring opposite Robert Carradine. Television projects include CTV's Twice In A Lifetime season premiere where he guest stars with Bruce Boxleitner, as well as the recurring role of Floyd Phillips in Soul Food - The Series. Phil is making his directorial debut for the short film, Black as Snow, which follows two black Canadian actors who decide to make a "blaxploitation" flick, but are they black enough? It is written, directed and stars Phil alongside veteran Stratford actor Conrad Coates. It's clear to see that Phil Jarrett's rise to the top of the acting profession is steady and unstoppable.
(Taken From: Publicity Group) MARCH 03, 2001 LONNIE GAETANO HAS SEX APPEAL
East Liberty native Lonnie Gaetano is sooo sexy. How sexy is he? He's so sexy that he's representing Pennsylvania in the "Sexiest Bachelor in America Pageant" airing 8 p.m. Monday on Fox.
Gaetano, a model and actor in New York who just landed a small role in Mariah Carey's new flick, "All That Glitters," didn't really give much thought to the pageant after auditioning for it at the New York City Hard Rock Cafe last month. "I just stopped by and gave it a shot, not knowing that anything would come out of it."
In the competition, taped Sept. 12 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Gaetano, who is half Italian and half black, put his studliness up against 50 other swoon-inducing males representing every state and Washington, D.C. The winner, who got more than $100,000 in cash and prizes, has already been decided, but Gaetano must keep the secret or hand over his first-born child to Fox. Just kidding about the first-born child part.
Similar to a beauty pageant for women, segments included question and answer, formal wear and bathing suits. And as pageant veterans will tell you, it's not all fun.
"It was great, but it was a lot of work," Gaetano said. "We didn't get a chance to do too much gambling." But there were some friendships formed. "It was amazing how 50 different [guys] got along for five days and just bonded," Gaetano said.
It's also amazing that with his good looks, Gaetano did not initially think about a career in modeling and acting. His mother, Susanne, who owns Pinache boutique in East Liberty, had always told him he should try modeling. "I thought I was too cool," he said.
Instead, Gaetano wanted to follow in the footsteps of his mentor, radio DJ "Brother Matt" Ledbetter, an institution in Pittsburgh urban radio. "I always wanted to do what he did growing up. He told me I had to go to school for communications; I went to school for communications," Gaetano said.
After graduating from Peabody High School, he spent a year at Cheney State University, then transferred to Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He acted in plays throughout college, including a few Kuntu Repertory Theater productions.
After college, he decided to take his mother's advice and try his hand at modeling. Locally, he landed some print assignments and a few commercials before heading off to the Big Apple in 1994. One of his mother's friends there let him live with her until he got on his feet.
Gaetano landed a gig as a production assistant on Spike Lee's "Clockers" before pressing his way into a role in the 1995 film. He's also had parts in "Law & Order" and "New York Undercover" and last year's "The Best Man."
In a career where gorgeous men are a dime a dozen, Gaetano has become philosophical. "You have to be able to take 'no' for an answer," he said. "It's a lot of luck sometimes, but you have to have a strong head on your shoulders. You can't take it personal at all."
(Taken From: Post-Gazette) | ||
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JACKSON TO RECORD WITH PRINCE
Michael Jackson, the self-professed king of pop, is to join forces with self styled Prince, to record a duet for Jackson's next album.
According to American US magazine, the pair have been talking about working together for Jackson's forthcoming album, which is to be released in the Autumn.
"The two are talking about recording together," says a source.
"Jackson was due to go to Studio 54 on 13 February, where Prince was celebrating his new NPG Music Club website, but he got delayed in the studio."
The new album was originally scheduled for release in June, but it was been put back after Sony boss Tommy Mottola told Jackson he was only interested in releasing another 'Thriller'.
As well as Prince, the album is expected to feature collaborations with Santana, Mariah Carey, and Will Smith.
(Taken From: Dot Music) NOTE: Above, you can see a brand new picture of Mariah on the set of "All That Glitters". Click it for a full scale picture. Special thanks to Matt from "FantasyLand" for suppling MCWNO with the photo. | ||
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MCWNO MARIAH CONTEST
"MCWNO" wishes to congratulate Vijay Limaye from Madison, Wisconston. Vijay won the February 2001 "MCWNO" Mariah Contest. The correct answers are posted below:
1) 'Against All Odds' was originally written and recorded by who? PHIL COLLINS2) 'Against All Odds' was Mariah's first UK #1 single. (True/False) FALSE3) The Duet Version of 'Against All Odds' with Westlife is available on their second album. What's the title of the album? COAST TO COAST4) The video for the Mariah Only Version of 'Against All Odds' is a compilation of live performances. (True/False) TRUE5) What's the catalog number for the 'Against All Odds' (UK Columbia silver CD-R acetate with custom printed disc, studio title sleeve and press release) found at ESPRIT? CD ACETATE
A new contest will be announced shortly, and a little note to Vijay: your prize will be mailed soon. Thank you for participating. I truly hope you enjoy your prize as well as the site.
MARCH 01, 2001 ESPRIT GIVES DISCOUNTED MARIAH MERCHANDISE
Esprit International Limited is currently having a special Mariah sale for all of Mariah's fans. When you place an order on their website and it contains atleast one Mariah product, you will receive 10% off your total purchase price.
There's no minimum order value but you must remember to quote the 'Mariah Carey Discount Offer' when placing your order. You have until 00:00 midnight (West Coast America PST)
on Monday 5th March 2001 (that's 08:00 GMT Tuesday 6th March 2001).
Esprit Online has the biggest and most complete list of Mariah merchandise for sale. You can get everything from Mariah's future releases (including the first single from her long-anticipated "All That Glitters" soundtrack) to different editions of her first release, "Vision Of Love." Check all this about by visiting Esprit online at: http://eil.com/partner/mariah13.asp
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