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