bigted

LL Cool J "Mr. Good Bar"

That interview hit a lot of important topics there, Chuck D is one of the most intelligent people in the music industry.

Eric B. and Rakim "Paid In Full"

I think the line: "We could rap without A&R's..." is FP pleading that hip-hop needs to go back to be an artform and not only be a buisiness, there's a lot of peeps on record labels that don't care about what gets released, they only wanna get paid, people need to stop stressin' over sales and put out music that people'll enjoy.

Im just don`t get that... Why People always say stuff like that about Borne To Regin? Because it didn`t sell much? It`s still a great Album.. You call Borne To Regin disapointing...But you`r also saying Wild Wild West was a great song :wtf: Exactly.. ← I wasn't dissin' "Born To Reign", it had it's strong moments on it but not as many as his other albums is basically what I'm sayin', "Wild Wild West" was an ok movie that also had it's moments but it's not as great as his other films, I'm not putting it down 'cause it didn't sell, I'm just saying it's not my favorite album from him, many JJFP fans say that "Code Red" is the best JJFP album and that sold the least, nobody's perfect even Michael Jordan didn't win the MVP every year he played, so Will's still the greatest entertainer in the hip-hop generation. Back to the topic though, this is great that "Party Starter" is getting more spins even though it hasn't been officially released yet.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chuck D Interview By Antonino D'Ambrosio From the August 2005 issue http://progressive.org/?q=node/2191 I first heard Public Enemy in 1987 when a tape of the rap group’s Yo! Bum Rush the Show was making the rounds in my neighborhood. While the boldness of the music was like nothing I had heard before, it paled in comparison to the group’s next record, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988). Incendiary and groundbreaking, it now stands as a political manifesto for youth—both black and white—to quote a lyric, “of the same mind, unblind.” Chuck D, born Carlton Douglas Ridenhour in Roosevelt, Long Island, in 1960, is Public Enemy’s visionary songwriter and rapper. He told me once that he “wanted to be Wilson Pickett,” the soul singer. With his signature baritone voice, limitless vocabulary, and revolutionary ideas, Chuck D instead went on to guide the most important rap group in music history. A highly intelligent and talented student, Chuck D attended Adelphi University in Long Island, where he put his artistic skills to use by designing posters for the burgeoning hip-hop scene. He became a DJ at the campus radio station, and that’s how he met future collaborators Bill Stephney and Hank Shocklee. When Chuck D put his vocals over Shocklee’s “Public Enemy No.1,” Public Enemy was born. The song impressed producer Rick Rubin of Def Jam, an upstart rap label, who quickly signed the group. Terminator X was the DJ, Flavor Flav was Chuck D’s comic foil, Professor Griff was the Minister of Information, and the innovative Bomb Squad produced the beats. The first four albums that Public Enemy recorded transcended rap music. Each record built upon the previous one, offering the listener “music from the people, not above the people,” as Chuck D puts it. Fear of a Black Planet ushered in the 1990s with the song “Fight the Power,” a rallying cry for rebellion. Spike Lee used it to frame his landmark film, Do the Right Thing. Then in 1991, Public Enemy came out with Apocalypse 91 . . . the Enemy Strikes Back, its most resolute political record. It is anchored by the song “By the Time I Get to Arizona,” the group’s response to that state’s refusal to honor Martin Luther King’s birthday. Chuck D continues to make work that “moves us forward.” He now divides his time between working with Public Enemy, collaborating with new artists, hosting a radio show on Air America, and speaking to audiences around the world. In 2004, I began a collaboration with him. He contributed a preface to my book Let Fury Have the Hour: The Punk Rock Politics of Joe Strummer. We also have spoken together at public events discussing the importance of cultural activism. The following interview began in the Air America studios, moved to an airport in Alaska, and ended in Long Island. Chuck D encourages everyone to check out his dispatches on www.publicenemy.com and correspond with him at mrchuck@rapstation.com. You have been an outspoken opponent of the Bush Administration and the war in Iraq. Chuck D: Where do we start with these guys? The first thing I would like to say is that to be truly American and represent American ideals you need to consider yourself a citizen of the world. American policy has gone contrary to that ideal. The Bush Administration is bent on making the world submit to “Americanism” instead of becoming a member of the world community. This orchestration comes from the very top of the Administration and has pushed America into a corner. So, rather than trying to humbly mix with the rest of the world, we are forcing ourselves upon it. We seem to create conflicts with everyone. Q: How is the Bush Administration trying to coopt hip-hop for war? Chuck D: The powers that be are trying to meld, shape, and corral the culture of hip-hop into another speaking voice for the government. They have exploited hip-hop and some of the culture around it—magazines, videos, etc.—to recruit people into the military. The Army says it will give out Hummers, platinum teeth, or whatever to those that actually join. Early on in the recent war, Vibe magazine was working with the Army to recruit black youth. They are willing to do this because they will take money from the highest bidder. It’s one corporation dealing with another corporation. Q: How are corporations commodifying hip-hop? Chuck D: If you checked out the news lately, McDonald’s offers a king’s ransom to any hip-hop artist who is able to put Big Mac into a song. MTV—and more to the point, Viacom—is succeeding in extending a teenage life to twenty-nine or even thirty-one years old. It is about extending this market and removing any intelligent substance in the music. Why would twenty-six-year-old “teenagers” care about political ramifications if their backs are not up against the wall? But if their backs are against the wall they may be plucked to fight in Iraq, and all of sudden they become politicized real quick. Q: Do you think that hip-hop can escape the corporate grip? Chuck D: I always remain optimistic. There are three levels of music production: the majors, indies, and what I call “inties,” music distributed via the Internet. The Internet is one area that I have used pretty effectively to break free of corporate control. Alternative spaces, independent media, satellite, these all provide some tools by which we can work more independently and deal more directly with communities we hope to reach. Distribution is key, and finding alternative ways to do that with new media is critical. Q: Why did you get involved with the Internet? Chuck D: I became tired of submitting my art to a panel of corporate strategists who decide if it meets their standard of what gets into stores or not. It was quite simple for me: they act like judge and jury of my art, and that is unacceptable. I wanted to give it right to the public. Q: How would you describe Public Enemy? Chuck D: Public Enemy started out as a benchmark in rap music in the mid-1980s. We felt there was a need to actually progress the music and say something because we were slightly older than the demographic of rap artists at the time. It was a time of heightened rightwing politics, so the climate dictated the direction of the group. The Berlin Wall was up. Nelson Mandela was in prison. Margaret Thatcher was running the U.K. Reagan was out of control in the White House. And Bush Senior was Vice President soon to be President. You can say we were up against it. Q: What were some of the influences on Public Enemy? Chuck D: The Last Poets, Gil Scott-Heron, and also eight years of rappers that came before us. I grew up with Motown, Stax Records, and Atlantic. The Philadelphia International sound like the O’Jays had a profound influence on me. As a late teenager, the punk movement pushed me further. In particular, the Clash, which happened to leak through the time of disco, showed me that there was this cross-cultural sound that could cut across genres and audiences. Like punk was to disco, rap music was a rebellion against R&B, which had adopted disco and made it worse. Q: What kind of political and cultural resistance did Public Enemy encounter? Chuck D: We were coming out of the black community with this thing called rap music, which was basically black men yelling at the top of their lungs about what we liked and what we didn’t like. It was disturbing to the status quo. It really shook things up. And those in power didn’t know what to make of us, but they knew that we had to be silenced, stopped in any way from expressing our outrage. Q: The media was quick to characterize Public Enemy as militant black nationalists. Chuck D: That comes directly from how and when we grew up. We came up in the 1960s. Political and cultural groups like the Black Panthers, and the Nation of Islam were reference points. Our parents brought the work of these groups to our attention, and it was educational and inspiring. My parents were radicals politically, but more than anything they were young parents who actually understood that there was a need and a time for change. They had a respect for the civil rights movement but also understood the need to further it. As black people we were out to further our equality. I don’t pay attention to the controversial connotations put on by media and the undermining labels they place on us. We pay attention to what our community situation is and what we need. Q: Talk about It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Chuck D: It Takes a Nation was an album that happened to cross the roads at the right place at the right time. Rap music, as recorded work, was just eight years in. The music was ready to break nationally in album form as opposed to what it had been, which was a singles medium. The album was released by a small radical label called Def Jam. Def Jam was distributed by staunch old school institutions such as CBS and Columbia. We happened to find that loophole and use their distribution system to be able to get to the people in a brand new state of mind. We wanted to be a social critic, a community voice. We wanted everyone to know, truly understand, that our music was from the people, not above the people. Q: What are some of the songs that remain vital from It Takes a Nation? Chuck D: “Don’t Believe the Hype,” without question, still speaks volumes. To me it is Noam Chomsky-like in its theme and content. Like Chomsky does with his work, “Don’t Believe the Hype” addresses media disinformation and picks it apart. Q: The album in many ways was Public Enemy’s Manufacturing Consent. Chuck D: Definitely. Q: Who are some current rappers that you like? Chuck D: Nas, Mos Def, and Talib Kweli for sure. Wu-Tang Clan delivered the goods musically and to a certain degree politically, in particular GZA/Genius. But I must point out that if you had to look in a book for the definition of a rapper you would probably see a picture of Jay-Z. He is the chosen one right now. Q: Do you think current hip-hop artists like Jay-Z possess the same kind of timeless quality that Public Enemy has? Chuck D: Someone like Jay-Z does have a timeless quality, but it’s much different than ours. You can look back at something like “At the Hop” by Danny and the Juniors or the music that was on American Bandstand in the 1950s-’60s. It was the emergence of rock in the suburbs—without its teeth, let’s say. You will get the same thing out of Jay-Z with the street hustler mentality of the late 1990s. It won’t be able to resonate far beyond that, but it’s something that will go on with just a different person telling it. When it comes down to Public Enemy and the Clash or Bob Marley, who is a great example, you can play the music now and it’s like, “Damn, what the music is saying is just as important today as it was when they recorded it.” It also becomes a powerful historical document of a particular time of struggle and resistance. But this is maybe the purpose of artists like Public Enemy—speaking truth to power—while artists like Jay-Z represent the escapism of that time. Q: What are your thoughts on Eminem’s foray into politics with the anti-Bush song “Mosh”? Chuck D: These are inevitable destinations for artists like Eminem. Where else can you go with respect to the work, lyrics, and message of the music? If you are past high school age, you can get by with saying very little the first or second time around. However, after a while you know you are going to have to say something beyond high school stuff. Eminem has talent, and his talent is the thing that influences many young people who would have never gone anywhere near rap. White kids in different parts of the world use him as a barometer and the standard to live up to. In some ways, Eminem is an artist who has ushered in a new movement. Q: So, do you see someone like Eminem leading to more diversity in hip-hop—not just white rappers but across the ethnic and cultural spectrum? Chuck D: If you want to speak about different ethnicities and diversity, rap and hip-hop are all over the planet. Every country, from Turkey to Australia, now has tons of hip-hop artists. The music and artistry have moved way faster than the corporatization of the music. You do need organization and opportunity for these artists to express themselves, and I don’t think it has to come from a corporate co-signing. Q: And what about the current wave of bad press for rappers like 50 Cent? Chuck D: A lot of artists have been persuaded into doing whatever they can do to gain attention. The media, of course, will position and promote the worst of them to the front page. The sidewalk to crime becomes the marketing campaign. These artists have seen it work and sell millions and millions of records for other artists. Rap comes from the humble beginnings of rebelling against the status quo. Now, rappers have become the status quo themselves. You can’t rebel against the Queen and then become the Queen yourself. I attribute much of the blame to testosterone—male dominance and patriarchy. Q: Hip-hop is thirty years old and now a dominant global musical force. What has been the biggest change in hip-hop over this period? Chuck D: The biggest thing that has happened to hip-hop in the last ten to twelve years is the clinging on to the corporation as the all-mighty hub of the music. When culture is created in boardrooms with a panel of six or seven strategists for the masses to follow, to me that is no different than an aristocracy. It’s not created from the people in the middle of the streets, so to speak. It is created from a petri dish for the sake of making money, and it is undermining the longevity of the culture. Q: Then music for you is about building a community. Chuck D: I don’t think that the music should be above the people. Class doesn’t cost a dime, and you spread it around. Knowledge, wisdom, and understanding don’t come out of the microwave. You got to keep moving forward because the evil doesn’t sleep. Q: Why do you consider yourself a citizen of the world? Chuck D: I first consider myself a man and then a grown adult at that. Next, I know I am judged unfairly by my physical characteristics and ostracized because of that so I say, “Yes, I’m a black man.” Then it goes to things I do—songwriter, musician, and activist. I adhere to the philosophy, “I don’t care who writes the laws, let me write the songs.” Our expressions in the arts are something that reflect life and propel us as human beings. Culture is this thing that we can exchange among ourselves as human beings to knock aside our differences and build upon our similarities. Cultural exchange is the ultimate exchange. Q: You do a radio show on Air America, tons of public speaking and performing. Discuss your most recent activism. Chuck D: My work throughout my life is always representative of the time we live in. It’s all about keeping it in order and keeping it in gear. I want to always move forward with everything I am doing. So, I do the radio show, speak at universities and other social institutions all around the world, appear on TV, and continue to create music all in the hope to keep the struggle alive. Most other artists are always fighting for their fame. They have that fear, like the saying goes, “out of sight, out of mind.” They need to keep themselves out there. I have never had that fear. If I have any fear, it’s not doing enough to reach people. Antonino D’Ambrosio, a writer and filmmaker based in New York City, is the author of “Let Fury Have the Hour: The Punk Rock Politics of Joe Strummer.” He is currently working on his next book, “Politics in the Drums,” and his next documentary, “Piccolo Colli: The People of Russell Street.” He is the founder of La Lutta New Media Collective.

"Wild Wild West" was a great song and a great soundtrack too, the movie was a dissapointment though, that was the "Born To Reign" of his movie career.

Maybe they'll make an announcement on Will's website about when the video'll be released but I won't hold my breath on that, I bet Tim'll find out 1st!

:lolsign: I didn't know that! That's really ironic! They need Will, who's "to old" to make records, to sell this one! Sonny Sucks! Can I get an Amen? ← They don't they need him to sell their "Now 19" compilation. Lol, I think we're taking that to the extreme a little. The same Sony Music people seem to hate now is the same Sony Music that brought us Big Willie Style and Willenium. As much as we may believe Sony was entirely responsible for Born 2 Reign and evil for dropping Will inspite of the fact that Will himself was eager to leave and to become more engaged in Overbrook, lets not forget Big Willie Style and Willenium. Will doesn't seem to have any anomosity towards Sony, I don't see why the fans should. Now Amen to that. ← :word: If Will's gonna be mad at a label it'd actually be Interscope for giving 50 cent more promotion than him 'cause most of his sales were on Columbia but he's not concerned with sales so I don't think we should trip over this anyway. btw, that's nice to see "Switch" on the Now 19 CD, more people could hear the song now.

Hey I wanna check out that Nas track too, when's his album coming out? btw, I'm listening to Common "Heat"

Well the reason why his last album didn't sell was 'cause he released it a year after his 1st single, sorta the reason why Fat Joe ain't doing well either right now, he delayed his album a year too, that didn't make sense to me! He's gonna release his new album this fall, so hopefully he releases another single besides "Can I Live?" before then 'cause it seems like a lot of people are gaining interest in him from that single and if he keeps the momentum up with another single, he might have a chance to go platinum.

I actually like the radio edit a lil' more more surprisingly, it actually gives it more of a throwback hip-hop sound, the original's dope too but it sounds a lil' more commercial, hip-hop heads'll love the radio edit, black radio will definately play this one for sure! :jazzy: The bad thing though could be that pop radio might not feel it much, it doesn't sound top-40 friendly.

Since there's a million commercial rappers trying to remake "The Chronic", I guess there's nothin' wrong if Nick Cannon tries to make an album like "Big Willie Style" or if Kanye West tries making an album like "Criminal Minded", they can't top the originals but at least I could give them props for not trying to sound gangsta like the rest of them commercial rappers.

Hurricane Dennis Swipes Florida Keys By CORALIE CARLSON, Associated Press Writer 15 minutes ago KEY WEST, Fla. - Coastal residents packed up and evacuated or were hunkered down early Saturday as Hurricane Dennis lashed the Florida Keys with wind and rain and churned along a path toward areas still rebuilding from last year's storms. ADVERTISEMENT Key West residents who didn't heed an evacuation order covered their windows with plywood and attended the island's famous hurricane parties. Landfall was expected Sunday or Monday anywhere from the Florida Panhandle to southeast Louisiana. "When this kind of weather happens, its a chance for locals to see who's going to tough it out with them," said David Noessle, who watched surfers in the hurricane-spawned waves on his way home from a party. The storm, the earliest to reach Category 4 strength in the Caribbean on record, was expected to bring up to 8 inches of rain and 6-foot storm surges Saturday. It was blamed for at least 10 deaths in Cuba and 10 in Haiti. The storm decreased in strength to Category 1 after passing over Cuba, but strengthened again as it moved over open water into a Category 2, with top winds of 105 mph. Much of Key West was without power Saturday morning as the hurricane passed west of the island, producing stinging rain and wind gusts that buckled windows. Tree branches, plywood and other debris littered the streets, and awnings hung precariously from storefronts. "We're holding up," Key West Mayor Jimmy Weekley said. "The biggest damage right now of course is the power being off." Key West police said four women had to be rescued after a tree fell and trapped them in a house; no injuries were reported. About a half-million people in coastal Alabama and tens of thousands more in the Keys and low-lying areas of the Florida Gulf Coast were told to evacuate. Alabama officials were turning Interstate 65 into a one-way route north from the coast to Montgomery. "All day long all of our phones have been ringing. The only thing we can tell people is that we are sold out," said Lasonya Lewis, a clerk at a Montgomery hotel. Normally busy shops in Key West were boarded up and one liquor store had a sign that read: "Dennis Don't Be a Menace." Still, a few places were open to feed the holdouts. "We've never been in a hurricane before, or even near one," said David Keeley of Peterborough, England, who drank at Sloppy Joe's bar and made plans to go back to his hotel with his wife, "lock the door, pull the blinds and hope for the best." "If the power stays on, we've got the TV. We've got the minibar. We've got each other," he said. Myra Gamblin, whose home in Pace, Fla., was heavily damaged by Hurricane Ivan last September, said the storms were wearing on her nerves. "We finally got everything repaired in January and here we go again in July," she said. At 7 a.m. EDT, Dennis' eye was about 95 miles west-southwest of Key West, or roughly 520 miles southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River. It was moving northwest at about 14 mph, and should reach the southeastern Gulf of Mexico by Saturday morning, forecasters said. Many in Dennis' strike zone were aware that it was following nearly in the path of Ivan, which came ashore at the Florida-Alabama line, causing 29 deaths and $4 billion damage in the Panhandle alone. Mitch Lamb had lived in a government-issued travel trailer while his home was being repaired and only recently moved back. About 9,300 other trailers were still in use by Floridians whose homes were damaged or destroyed by the hurricanes. As he packed up his belongings Friday, Lamb was ready to give up on his Gulf Breeze home after spending $70,000 out of his own pocket on repairs. "I hope this house is gone when I get back because I do not want to go through it again," he said. "We'll just sell the waterfront property and take the loss."

Thanks for this, I already taped it though but if the Bulls were in the Finals this year I'd bought it!

Finally MTV paying attention to what people want, maybe if people start complaining about all the wack videos they play they might start playing good ones, wishful thinking. :1-say-yes:

:word: There's like 10 CDs that I wanna get right now so dishing out $100 for that ain't easy when a brotha's just trying to eat. btw, it seems like every brotha and motha got a reality show, but this Rev. Run one should be interesting.

Common feat. Kanye and The Last Poets "The Corner"

I just heard it, it's dope, is that Jazzy on the wheels? It got a Eric B. and Rakim "Paid In Full" egyptian theme to it so a lot of hip-hop heads'll feel this one.

Don't You Mean "I Know You Got Soul" by Eric B. and Rakim? btw, I got on FP "Afro Angel"

Nick Cannon Goes 'Wild' With Kanye, Ying Yang Twins, Common 07.07.2005 8:34 PM EDT New sketch-comedy show will also feature Method Man, Christina Milian. HOLLYWOOD — Nick Cannon is no stranger to comedy. The aspiring funnyman first honed his stand-up skills at the age of 12 and four years later he was already landing gigs at famous venues like the Comedy Store, the Improv and the Laugh Factory. Now the 24-year-old is revisiting his roots with his new sketch-comedy program, "Wild 'N Out," debuting July 28 on MTV. The show's roster is an eclectic blend of rap, hip-hop and comedy performers. "It's amazing. I just got all my comedic friends together, introduced them to my hip-hop friends, and we just created this big, huge improv sketch-comedy show that's unlike anything you've ever seen on television," Cannon told MTV News backstage at the BET Awards. "Common came through. Kanye West, the Ying Yang Twins, Method Man, Christina Milian. Comics like Kat Williams and Wayne Brady. It's just like a party in every episode." Ever the industry chameleon, the multi-tasking Cannon also has five films in the works (see "Nick Cannon Flexing His Mogul Muscle In Hollywood"), plus his sophomore LP, Stages, which drops this fall. The video for the album's first single, "Can I Live" featuring Anthony Hamilton, which Cannon directed, recently debuted at #1 on BET. Longtime friend Kanye also worked on the new record, which will include a track featuring Talib Kweli. "The record I did with Talib was real soulful stuff," Cannon said. "I was just trying to express myself more than anything and really get out what was inside of me. On my last album, I worked with R. Kelly and P. Diddy, and that was amazing, but I didn't feel like I really put myself out there. On this I feel like I and showed what I could do as a producer, as an artist and as a musician." As for the slew of films in his arsenal, the actor is most looking forward to "The Underclassman," a Miramax project he stars in, wrote and produced. Out August 5, the film features Cannon as a baby-faced detective struggling to gain respect from his peers. When he is sent to investigate the murder of a posh private school student, he stumbles upon an underground auto-theft ring. "It's like the new 'Beverly Hills Cop.' It's my baby," the actor said. "It really is like watching your kid go to school on the first day. You just hope for the best. But however it does at the box office, it doesn't matter. I'm proud of it, and how often can somebody say that a kid who's under 25 actually wrote, produced and starred in his own film? So that's an accomplishment in itself." Next up, Cannon can be seen alongside Bow Wow in the '70s-inspired roller-skating flick, "Roll Bounce," dropping September 23. Currently, he's filming the political thriller "The Beltway," for which he's also executive producer. Finally, the actor will play the brother to Forest Whitaker in the indie gambling drama "Even Money" (formerly titled "Jump Shot"), featuring Hollywood heavyweights Ray Liotta, Kelsey Grammer, Kim Basinger and Danny DeVito. The film, which incorporates multiple story lines à la "Crash" and "Traffic," is slated to hit theatres later this year.

MTV Will Air 10 Hours of Live 8 Reruns By DAVID BAUDER AP Television Writer NEW YORK - In the television equivalent of a do-over, the MTV Networks said they would air 10 commercial-free hours of performances Saturday from last weekend's Live 8 concerts. Viewers will be able to see the entire sets of U2, Coldplay, Pink Floyd, Kanye West and Green Day on either MTV or VH1, and sometimes both, Van Toffler, president of the MTV Networks Music Group, said Friday. MTV took a critical whipping and received complaints from more than 2,000 viewers about their eight hours of Live 8 coverage on July 2. Between commercials, interviews and reports from correspondents, MTV often showed only a song or two from several of the performances. Toffler said the list of performers at each concert, held in 10 different cities, kept growing in the days leading up to the show - partly because MTV was helping organizers book acts. "It just got bigger and bigger and we couldn't accommodate them all," he said. At the same time, MTV had made a commitment to organizers to explain the purpose behind the concerts, and many artists wanted to be interviewed about their reasons for being there, he said. MTV's telecast stood in contrast to America Online, which offered most of the performances in their entirety. Many of MTV's viewers weren't even alive when Pink Floyd broke up, so Toffler said he was surprised at how many wanted to see the band's reunion performance in full. As the complaints flooded in, Toffler said he contacted Live 8 organizers on Wednesday to see if some of the performances could be rerun. VH1 will air selected performances between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. EDT/PDT, featuring artists more popular with its older audience: Rob Thomas, Sting, the Dave Matthews Band and Maroon 5, for example. MTV will show performances between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m., featuring Linkin Park & Jay Z, the Killers, Kanye West and Green Day. Both networks will air U2, Pink Floyd, Coldplay, Paul McCartney and Orchestra Baobab. The full list of performers became available Friday on the networks' Web sites. After the performances, MTV will air a 30-minute special, "Live 8: Next Steps," with news reports on the concerts and the G8 summit. ABC has probably seen all it wants of Live 8, however. Its two-hour concert special July 2 was seen by fewer than 3 million people, a smaller audience than even coverage of the rain delay of the Daytona 400 on NBC.

Vandross' Funeral Soulful and Powerful By LARRY McSHANE Associated Press Writer NEW YORK - The funeral service for eight-time Grammy winner Luther Vandross hit just the right notes Friday: soulful, joyful and powerful, an echo of the late singer's unforgettable voice. Family, friends and fans filled The Riverside Church for a celebration of Vandross' too-short life, a memorial service that morphed into a revival meeting before ending with an all-star rendition of his hit single "Power of Love/Love Power." Vandross' wide appeal was evident in the first few rows of mourners, where current hit-makers Usher and Alicia Keys shared space with music legends Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin and Patti LaBelle. "There are no sad faces here today," said longtime friend LaBelle, resplendent in a bright yellow dress with a diamond necklace and earrings. "It's not a mournful service. I'm celebrating because Luther would want us too." Vandross, 54, died July 1 at a New Jersey hospital, two years after he suffered a debilitating stroke. He sold more than 25 million records in his long career, with hits like "Stop For Love," "Here and Now" and "Dance With My Father." As Vandross' gold coffin sat at the foot of the altar, LaBelle read a poem written by the R&B icon's mother, Mary Ida, who was seated in the front row. Vandross' other family members, nine nieces and their 11 children, filled in the seats around the family matriarch to remember the man known to them as "Uncle Ronnie." The altar bore just a single, simple floral arrangement, with white lilies rising from a collection of white and yellow roses. Mourners lined up for two city blocks in a driving rain before the church opened. Once inside, they were brought to their feet and moved to cheers repeatedly as Vandross favorites Wonder, Franklin and Cissy Houston sang in tribute. Houston performed the gospel standard "Deep River," while Wonder left the crowd breathless with his version of the gospel song "I Won't Complain." But it was Franklin, brushing aside a slight sore throat, who sent choir and clergy dancing on the altar with her version of "Amazing Grace." Franklin began to ad-lib at song's end, addressing the Vandross family and congregation as the music swelled and the crowd clapped along. "There's healing in the name of Jesus!" she sang before returning to her seat, where Franklin raised her hands and waved along with the rest of the church as the organ music pulsated. Before the funeral service, a hearse carrying the native New Yorker's remains took Vandross on one final tour of Harlem, pausing outside the Apollo Theater before heading west to the church. Before achieving stardom, Vandross had twice finished second at the Harlem theater's famed amateur night. Singer Gladys Knight, another Vandross friend and admirer, sent along a faxed message that referenced the singer's last hit, "Dance with My Father." Luther Vandross Sr. died when his son was still a child. "We should be happy for Luther," her message said. "He made a difference in this world, and now he has the extraordinary chance to dance with his father again."

:word: It's never too early to start a Christmas wish list!