21-27, 1
Zydeco mu ic i
non of Loui inC jun fol
mu ic, roc ,rhythm nd blu ,
bl country nd ltz. Ac or-
dion i m in fe ture of Zyde o.
The n me Zydeco evolved
rom th Fren h word h ricot (a-
- o h), which mean n p-
n. Loui inn tive
attribute the Zydeco name to a
deriv tion of the popular C jun
fol ong called"Le H ricot ."
Zydeco i tyle th t w
popul rized by Clifton Ch nier
and hi protege Stanley Dural Jr.,
Buckwheat Zydeco.
Chenier' rna tery of the ccor
dio nd hi pl ying tyle made
him t nd out a the best of
Zydeco. He kept Zydeco in the
limelight by touring and record
ing veral album .
Even though Dural has fol
lowed in hi late mentor'
foot teps he wasn't alway
Zydeco' bigge t enthu ia 1.
Behind- The-Scene
Chronicle
"lOY W NT to one or
two Zydeco when I was young,
and I left them a oon a could.
They eemed just a little too
fol y for me in my preteen
years. I wa more into the
Motow-n sound. Now I like tbe
mu ic and find it lively and inter
esting.
"I li e it even more ince di -
ICHI A
month pr gnant ... By now,
Mica Pari hould be a ely at
home in London, and awai ti ng
the birth of her fir t child.
The sexy, S'tl" i n g e r ,
who made quite a pIa h on
In Loui i n children don't
tay home or go to the b by itter
wh n th danc t pl ceo Th
Zydeco re time when
familie com tog th r."
WDET' r dio per onality,
Kim Hunter, feel th t altern -
tive radio fill void that the
other st tion . "WDET
give mu ical nrc uch a
Zydcco ch nc to be heard.
It is a mu i that tell a lot
about America. Anything that
come from Louisiana will tell a
lot about America with n
African influence.
America' R&B cene l a
year with the hit single, "You
Are My One Temptation", wa
recently in th tate to
promote her newe t album,
"Compo it i ons", due thi.
month.
Pari s a y it wa a hard
album to make. M tly be
cau e he wanted to how off
her ver atility. "I can. ing up-
,tempo a well a low ongs.
Not many femal can do
both." It i clearly om thing
that make her c c l good.
Pari, born and reared in Lon
don, ay' he fir tang at
even, in her Grandfather
church and the pari hioner
went crazy. "That' when I
realized I had omcthing".
That omething landed her
e ion work a a t en, and
eventu lly 'r ord contract.
Pari i part of a talented
group of Briti h Blacks (in
cluding Soul 11 Soul) torm
ing the Americ n R B mu ic
in D troi t we' re unique."
Hunter' how air Monday
through Thur day from 10 pm to
midnight. "It' called" Radio
Free Earth." It c rrie mu ic nd
information that i n't normally
beard on oth r t tion .
June 10 Brown's comebeck
Madonna' love interest in
.he r "Like A Prayer" video,
generating a firestorm of con
troversy. But it's a fantasy he
lives out in "The Five
Heartbeats", Robert
(L-R) Jame
Townsend's latest film.
As "J.T." he get to playa
lady killer,-a very effective
one at that Leon hopes the
role will open the door to
many more like it, while ad
ding that "being in ,a good
film wa the mo t important
thing." Say the 6'3" actor,
who' screen credit include
"Brewster's Place", "A
Mother�s Courage-The Mary
Thomas Story" and "All The
Right Moves" with Tom
Crui e: "I"m lucky because I
think I'm getting a chance to
use the full range of my
abili tie and people are begi n
ning to recognize and enjoy
my work."
On the home front: Actre
Lynn Whitfi Id (who played
Jo ephine Ba r in HBO'
highly touted ilm pecial)
and hubby dir ct01lo..Brian Gib-
on re exp cting their fir t
child. Lynn i nearly five
cene. For a while, thing
were tough. "1 came over with
Milli Vannilli and they were
rude, and of cour e we knew
they we ren 't talented.
I couldn't under tand how
the y hot to fa me. 1 though t 1
mu t be doing omething
w ron g , but now t w y a r'
later. look at them." Of
c o u r e, in t o d a y t s highly
vi ible media, her tunning
good looks wo n' t hurt.
Ironically, she doe n't
think he' sexy. "Growing
up, the kid u ed to make fun
of my eye becau C they are
so big. They u ed to call me
e m u-a nd they aid that my
leg went on forever." Today,
Pari only hopes that it' her
music that goe on forever.
P G 13
nd of mile my'
ep rat ountrie, but different
typ of mu ic I influ nee c n
be ound any place in the orld."
Hunter emph ized that ven
thou h A ri an yncop lion i� in
Imo t- v rythin, young
Bl ck nev r Ii ten to the secor
di n be au e they aren't e -
po ed to it. .
"They don't get t he r dif
ferent typ r mu i rom oth r
part of th world. You can't like
thing or di like it if you don't
know about it."
By L a Collin
James Brown will make his
official comeback live via
pay-per-view with "James
Brown-Living In America
Live! One Night Only!. The
two-hour long musical gala
will originate from LA's Wil
tern Theater, with the nation'
three large t pay-per-view
_, net orks carryin the show.
Brown has also teamed up
with M.C. Hammer for some
upcoming project.
Meanwhile, "Hammer-
man", an animated series tell
ing the story of the rapper
who dreams of hitting the big
time, hosted by M.C. Hammer
will join ABC's saturday
morning lineup this fall. M.C.
Hammer will also be featured
on an upcorni ng release from
Bebe &. Cece Winans latest
LP entitled, "The Blood".
Motown Chief Jheryl
Busby was honored,
proclaimation upon
proclaimation from state a�d
ci ty offic ials for his work 1 n
the industry as well as the
community, at a South Central
Los Angeles Festival, geared
towards raisi ng awareness to
the dangers of drug and al
cohol abuse.
On hand were the Good
Girls, Whispers, the Winans,
B ar ry W h i te, Herb A 1 be! t,
Vesta Williams and Jim
Brown. Among the groups
received most enthusiastical
ly was Pretty In Pink, which
features Chaka Khan's
teenaged daughte�, Milini.
A sex symbol is born? Leon
has been waiting to playa sex
symbol all his life. He got a
taste of it while cast as
RadioScope ... The Column
Rough times for Female Rappers.
From Bailey Broadca ting Service
Via Serra Syndication
Hard core. Rough. Ta k i n '
no stuff torie of life in the
treet and a whole lotta macho
posturing and hragging are
orne of the thing that give
rap music it' fire.
Tho e arne thing make
,'rap music a man' world.
Early on Roxanne Sh a n t c
broke through the baricade.
And then Salt 'n Pepa, MC
Lyte, Queen La i i fa h and
Monic Love to name a few fol
lowed. But the overall picture
hasn't changed tOQ much.
On Valentine' Day, orne
of the bigge t and newe t
female rapper (including MC
Lyte, MC Trouble and Queen
Latifah) got together in LA
r 0 r a B I a c k Worn e n i n .R a p
Concert. By all account the
, how wa great, but there wa
hardly anyoneto ee.
The arena wa n't even half
full. Part of the rea on w ai
poor promotion. Beyond that,
people di d n ': come be c a u e
lady rapper aren't con-
idered hard ore by men who
tend to be rap" bigge t up
po rte rs. And m�re tha none
woman ha ru rned a deaf ear
to rap becau e too much 0 it
di ed them.
LADY APPER ay
they've got to turn that whole
ituation around. Another
thing women ay i that men
don't want them to ucceed.
It' almo t a if th'e'y want to
keep rap all .to them elve .
MC Lyte, who' con idered t
be hardcore, cored big with
"Capuccino" and "Cha Cha
Cha" off h r "Eyes On Thi "
album.
Th t ucce earned her
headliner tatu omething
h ay mor than one male
rapper ha n't liked. "Some
times it' rough," he a y s ,
"but I'm r a dy for the r ugh
time. It "The b-w rd a l ng
with the way men d i women
on record i a big i u for
female rapper. "It' like
thi ." I Cube a y , "the i it le
"bitch" d o n ' t a p p l y , to all
women, b ut all women h a c a
littl hitch in lhem".
No one a d v o ate' en or-
hip, and not even al� of the
ladie ar ffended but i t '
h rd to di put that i h pi
ture painted .by many men i
an ugly on . A lot of omen
feel that k i nd of talk bring
rap dow nan d h r.i n B I a c k
men and women d wn too.
Th n there'. the violence.
NWA' Dr. Dr c ha been in
v Ived in t w puhli fi ht.. In
one, he cho-ked in e r
Michel'le in an LA ni ht l ub ,
and in the other, he ph 'i ally
a suit ed y no i c a I ,t1 TV h 0 � -
t ',Dcc Barnes 01 ("Pump It'
Up"). Rc c c n t l v , Puhlic
Enemy memb r l av o r Flav
wa a rr e: ted after punching
hi girlfriend in the fa e.
The bo unda r ic s or rap are
being tret h d ev ryday.
"Thin lik that. houldn't be
d i played. Alot 'f kid are
10 king up t u ," 'ay Queen
Lati ah. A bi chan e i even
tually going to come and
worn n will be at the front f
it. And y u can bet rap mu ic
will be en better b cau e of
it.
rabo re l li, the 'man who wrote
"Call Her Miss Ros "
Th book i d ue out later
this month and it' uppo ed-
ly got orne andalou
revelation in it about
Michael' ex life, or Jack of
sex life, and many other
thing the u p c r s t a r would
like to keep private,
The highly-t u t e d NBC
serie "Th Fr It Prince of
Bel Air" never did l iv up to
all the hype that urrounded
its debut. It didn't bomb, but
it' not at the top of most
people' viewing Ii t either.
That apparently doe n't m t
te r to NBC be au e they've
got plan to p i noff from the
"Fre h Prince" a new erie
called "Homeboy".
Don Cheadle, who co
starred in i h movie "Ham
burger Hill". n a bed
" Hom b 0 's' � tar r in' r 0 I e a
a hip co l lc e ra'l try ing to
rna k e i lin 1 h e b us I net . w 0 rid
on hi "own terft! ''. The how
i. produced by Quincy Jone
along With Andy and Su an
Bor witz, the rna termind
behind "Fre h Prince".
La t year, 60' oul inger
Mary Well popped back into
the headline when it w dis-
overed he wa uffering
from thro t cancer nd finan
cially de titute. An outpour
ing of upport gener ted
fund enough to help pay
medical expen e : And now
there' even mor good new
for Well. It appe r the r dia
tion therapy that he under-
went ha been complete
u ce . A far her ability
to ing, "it i till not kno n,
and it won't be known for
ever 1 month," y Joyce
Mcere , who head the
Rhythm & Blue Foundation.
t