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| 9/30/04 |
Hollywood meets Miss. in Stars scholarship fund-raiser Residents in Amory are rolling out the red carpet this weekend — Hollywood style. More than a dozen celebrity guests are slated to arrive in Amory to take part in Stars Over Mississippi, a three-hour, full-scale production that raises money for in-state college scholarships. Television actors Tony Danza and Patricia Heaton and pop star Lance Bass of N'Sync will host the event to be held Saturday on the Amory High School football field. Musical entertainers will include country artists Wynonna Judd and Brad Paisley. "I asked them to come, and they do because they know it's something dear to my heart," said Sam Haskell III, an Amory native, University of Mississippi graduate and current executive vice president for William Morris Agency Inc. in Los Angeles. "We've all had success, and my mother taught me that whatever blessings we have in our lives we have to share or they aren't blessings at all," he said. In 1991, Haskell started Stars Over Mississippi and its scholarship foundation in honor of his mother, Mary Kirkpatrick Haskell, who was a public school nurse in Amory for 20 years. She passed away in 1987. The concert — along with a formal gala Friday night and a parade Saturday morning — is held every two years and has raised close to $3 million in scholarship money. Currently, 185 students attend a Mississippi public college or university on a scholarship, Haskell said. He hopes to top $750,000 this year. "I would like to keep the best and brightest here in Mississippi," he said. This weekend, small-town Amory will transform into an entertainment mecca, with local residents housing celebrities and shuttling them to and from locations. Officials expect about 8,000 people to fill the football field stands Saturday. "We'll have more people on the field than we have in our town," said Jean Pinkley, co-chair of the event. "There are so many people who put in countless hours of work. This is a major volunteer effort." During the weekend, camera crews from The Oprah Winfrey Show and The Tony Danza Show will follow Judd and Danza, respectively. "One of the things that people don't realize about Hollywood is that it's one of the most generous communities in the world," Danza, 53, said. "Anything that supports education and young people should be our main focus in life." Clinton native Bass arrived home to the Jackson area Wednesday to meet his new nephew, spend time on the plot of rural land he owns near Greenwood and throw in philanthropic work for good measure. "It is something necessary for me to do ... for everyone to do," Bass, 25, said of charitable contributions. "It's so easy to leave Mississippi and never look back, but I've been blessed my whole life and it's a way for me to give back. It's very grounding for me." Now on break from N'Sync and busy with television and film production projects, Bass plans to arrive in Amory for the Stars Over Mississippi festivities with his entire family in tow. "It'll be good 'ol Mississippi, which is going to be fun for me," he said, speculating how the other guests will take to the experience. "I'm used to it," he said. Details # What: Stars Over Mississippi concert. Celebrity guests # Wynonna Judd (country music artist)
Flaming Lips, Wilco, 'Commercial Weirdo' Avril Lavigne
Head Up 'SpongeBob' LP ...Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne was even a bit surprised to discover the company he keeps on the album, set for release November 9. "I actually suggested that maybe I could try to get Justin Timberlake to do a duet with us, as an off-the-cuff idea," Coyne said. "But [Nickelodeon series creator Stephen Hillenburg] said, 'I don't want any of those sort of commercial weirdos on there. I don't like those commercial people. I like you guys, and Wilco and Ween...' "
JC to do Hilfiger fashion show That's right folks. THE MAN will be walking the runway tonight and tomorrow night for a Tommy Hilfiger fashion show. It is a charity event. Keep an eye out for pictures.
Judd, Paisley and Bass to perform at Amory benefit
concert AMORY, Miss. - Country singers Wynnona Judd and Brad Paisley and N'Sync's Lance Bass, of Clinton, will perform Saturday at a concert in Amory to raise money for scholarships for Mississippi students. Stars over Mississippi will be held at the Amory High School football field. Also scheduled to participate as hosts are television actors Tony Danza and Patricia Heaton, Brad Garrett and Doris Roberts from the popular sitcom "Everybody Loves Raymond." "The 2004 concert marked the 12th anniversary of the Mary Kirkpatrick Haskell Scholarship Foundation, and it promises to be our biggest show ever," said Sam Haskell III, executive vice president for William Morris Agency Inc. in a statement. Haskell, an Amory native, started the concert and scholarship foundation in honor of his mother who was a public school nurse in Amory for 20 years. The concerts are held every two years and have raised close to $3 million in scholarship money. The foundation has awarded more than 200 Mississippi students with about $3 million in scholarship money, officials said. "It is amazing that in a little town of 7,000 people, you walk in to the gala and feel like you are in Los Angeles," said Haskell. Past stars participating in the event have included Whoopi Goldberg, Ray Romano, Brooks & Dunn and Dolly Parton. Events Saturday will include a parade and the concert.
DJ Shigeki likes ADIDAS mix DJ Shigeki, who is playing in the Royal Hall of Industries at Sleaze on 2 October, gives us his top five dance tracks at the moment. You can also catch him playing at Stonewall on Fridays, Midnight Shift on Saturdays, Manacle on Sundays and at Queer Nation parties. ...ALL DAY LONG I DREAM ABOUT SEX
Boy Band Revival Boy bands more or less died when Justin Timberlake left *NSYNC like the last rat fleeing a sinking ship. Somehow, as we got older and wiser, our generation realized that boy bands weren't a group of singing boys, but were instead a corporate wolf in sheepish young boy skin. Or maybe the evil spirits that powered their ascent were drawn instead to reality television. Whatever the cause of their decline, the world is poorer for their absence. Sure, the emotions and rhymes were often so super-sweet and saccharine that it could have exploded a Care Bear. But in today's dark, dreary atmosphere, with a forecast of gloom, this excessive sweetness is more needed than ever to combat the modern blues. Or it could meet the gloom, matter-and-antimatter alike, and destroy us all. But that's a chance we have to take. For the children. A classic boy band had several "styles" of boys in it. There was the shy one, the cute one, the unclean one, the effeminate one and the mime. Tried and true and trite. We need something new and shiny, with bells and whistles, fresh and hip, filled with sweet caramel. Let's introduce the wave of the future, and may we all drown in their cultural perfection. Nowadays kids are into electronical wondertrons, and the first band member covers this - enter the Hacker! Hacker refers to himself by his Internet name, "h4x0r," and while he knows all that kind of nerdy stuff, he's not the glasses and acne kind of nerd. He's the cute computer-savvy rebel who hacked into the English department to change your grade. His single, "You Hacked Through the Firewall to My Heart's CPU," will score big with girls who like a smart guy, or smart guys who wished girls liked them. It's quite chic to pretend to be earth conscientious, and the next fellow covers this. With his braided, beaded $60 haircut, here cometh the Hippie. Technically a second-generation hippie, the Hippie has inherited both the morals of a flower child and the pocketbook of soulless corporate puppet. He's the whole package - a vegan who knows where to get a $30 tofu burger. His breakaway hit, "Earth Second, Our Love First," donated all its profits to Greenpeace. But where is the fire? Where is the spirit? Carefully bottled away in the Corporate Rebel. His feisty spirit and flippant apathy was the product of focus group research and hours in makeup and wardrobe. Sure, you might be saying, "But all pop stars have that. What makes the Corporate Rebel unique?" Bangs, my friend. Bangs that barely hide his piercing sad blue eyes, as his rebellious spirit hides his truly sensitive nature. His song, "No One Can Tell Me Not to Love You," shows off the group's talent with rage-filled a cappella. This would be a group for today's youth. Unfortunately, what with file stealing, it wouldn't make quite so many billions of dollars, leaving your group in tragic, comparative poverty. Oh, you'll need a few more in your group. Go with a cute one and another cute one with a cool haircut. People love originality.
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