Through May
9 – “The Space Spot” interactive science exhibit at the Museum of
Arts & Sciences. “Larry, Cat in Space” in the Planetarium Saturdays at
Noon. $4 - $8. 478.477.3232.
MASMacon.com.
4182 Forsyth Rd.
The Central Georgian
MUSIC/ENTERTAINMENT
Mar. 10, 17, 24 &
31 – Dinner & a Classic Movie at Cox Capitol Theatre. 6:30 p.m. Call or
check website for menus & films. $5 or $17.50 with dinner. 478.257.6381
CoxCapitolTheatre.com.
382 Second St.
Until March 25, the 3rd
Annual Youth Arts Festival exhibit will be hosted by Middle
Georgia Art Association.Tuesday – Friday, Noon – 5 p.m. Saturday, Noon – 3 p.m.
478.744.9557.
MiddleGeorgiaArt.org.
2330 Ingleside Ave.
(By Arianna Davis from rap-up.com) The King is returning to claim his
throne. Less than a month after entering a halfway house, T.I. is back at work
recording a new album.
Jim Jonsin, who helped take Tip to No. 1 with “Whatever You Like,” will once
again be involved with the project. Jonsin recently spoke with the rapper upon
his release to an Atlanta correctional facility after serving seven months
behind bars on weapons charges.
According to the producer, the King of the South hasn’t let lockdown dampen his
spirits. “It doesn’t seem like he missed a beat,” he exclusively tells Rap-Up.com.
“He was so upbeat, his spirits were up, and he’s excited to be out and working.
He hasn’t changed, he sounded exactly like he did when I talked to him months
before he went in.”
T.I. hit the ground running and is already in the studio crafting the follow-up
to 2008’s multi-platinum Paper Trail. “He’s back in the studio. I sent him some
music via email,” Jonsin reveals. “He can work during the week and not on the
weekend, I believe. He’s definitely working on an album for this year right
now.”
The project’s direction is still up in the air. “That’s really going to be
determined by him. We’re supposed to get together or talk more about it soon,”
Jonsin shares. “But his last album was great and his sound already does really
well, so I wouldn’t see him changing too much.”
Chrisette Michele is still
cutting her teeth - literally.
In June, the 24-year-old singer's wisdom teeth were hurting so much she was
praying for relief. "Oh, my God, they were killing me," Michele recalled. "It
was definitely interfering with my performing. I had a lisp because my tongue
was being pushed forward."
Michele's prayers were answered - more on that later - so you won't hear a lisp
when she performs today in Brooklyn. She's touring to support her Def Jam debut,
"I Am," a collection of torchy, sultry soul-jazz numbers that may come as a
surprise to those who thought she was just another hip-hop hook girl. A music
major at Five Towns College, Michele made her name singing on Jay-Z's "Lost One"
(from his 2006 disc "Kingdom Come") and helping write "Can't Forget About You"
on Nas' album "Hip-Hop Is Dead," but in fact she studied jazz vocal performance
as a youngster and likes to sing Billy Strayhorn's "Take the 'A' Train" in
concert.
There's another surprise about
Michele. In her single "If I Have My Way," a slow-burning love song, Michele
promises "passion unheard of" and swears to her man, "we will see heaven," but
she also sneaks in this couplet: "There's no one I'd rather share my good lovin'
with/But I promised I'd wait till I'm ready for this."
"I'm talking about abstinence in general," Michele said. "I encourage people to
wait about doing things, as opposed to doing things because somebody tells them
to do it."
Raised as a deacon's daughter in Central Islip and Patchogue, Michele is
preaching a message not often heard in urban music, or in most kinds of popular
music these days. ("I'm a good girl, ain't many left," she sings on "Good
Girl.") But she wouldn't say whether she herself was a virgin: "That's not
something I choose to talk about," she demurred. "I think people make a lot of
judgments."
Speaking by cell phone from a mall in New Orleans on her current tour - she was
buying Mardi Gras masks and spa products for a "spa party" at her hotel -
Michele said she sees little distinction between her own brand of classy jazz
and the bawdier genre of hip-hop. "Hip-hop touches on a lot of subjects," she
said, adding that even Busta Rhymes sang about commitment on "Give It to Me." "I
have a wide range of allegiances to a lot of genres."
Her next projects, she said, include an appearance on the ABC Family cable
television show "Lincoln Heights" and a memoir. Having her wisdom teeth removed,
though, is not on her list. That problem was solved by - of all things - a
pedicurist.
"After she finished massaging some areas on my toes, my teeth stopped hurting,"
Michele said. "I don't know, I guess they're not coming in anymore."
