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What's Happening At Hidden Beach New Poems In The Family Conversations In The Family Reunion
Cast your vote now and let the fans know you think is “The Real Thing”. Click the banner below, watch all the videos and cast YOUR vote.
To VOTE: (1) Register on the forums + (2) Confirm the OPT-IN Email + (3) Then Vote For “The Real Thing”
Voting ends this Friday, February 1, 2008 at 11:59 PST.
There will be 2 FREE Screenings for Live In Paris+ in Los Angeles, CA and Silver Spring, MD.
WIN A INVITE TO THE PRE-RECEPTION
For the Los Angeles Screening please reply to this post to enter yourself into the contest. We will randomnly pick 5 Hidden Beach family members +1 guest to join us at the pre-reception (FREE FOOD).
Both screnings are FREE
LOS ANGELES Live In Paris+ Screening
The Bridge Cinema Deluxe - 6081 Center Drive. - Los Angeles, CA 90045
SILVER SPRINGS Live In Paris+ Screening
at AFI - Silver Spring, MD
Stay Tuned to the site we will provide the exact dates and times soon.
Enjoy… more coming soon.
Premiere’s on BET Friday, February 22 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT.
- Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Wyclef Jean, Danny Glover, Kerry Washington, Vivica A. Fox and Hill Harper Will Pay Tribute to African American Luminaries
- Hosted by Cedric ‘The Entertainer,’ the Inaugural Event Will Recognize Alicia Keys, Tyra Banks, Dr. Cornel West, Richard Parsons, the Honorable Maxine Waters and CEO Janice Bryant Howroyd, and Premiere on the Network Friday, February 22 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT
NEW YORK, Jan. 7 — Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Wyclef Jean, Danny Glover, Kerry Washington, Vivica A. Fox and Hill Harper will pay tribute to Alicia Keys (Entertainment Award), Tyra Banks (Media Award), Dr. Cornel West, University Professor in the Center for African American Studies (Award for Education), Richard Parsons (Corporate Citizen Award), The Honorable Maxine Waters (Public Service Award) and CEO Janice Bryant Howroyd (Entrepreneur Award) at THE BET HONORS on Saturday, January 12 at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C. Hosted by Cedric “The Entertainer,” THE BET HONORS, which celebrates the lives and achievements of African American luminaries, will premiere on the network during Black History Month on Friday, February 22 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT.
“We are thrilled to present the first-ever BET HONORS and pay tribute to the thinkers, trailblazers and trendsetters whose accomplishments serve as inspirations for current and future generations,” said Debra Lee, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, BET Networks. “Each of these remarkable individuals has made significant contributions to the Black community and American culture overall, and BET Networks is proud to recognize them through this very special, new tentpole event. We’ve done a number of significant shows in other cities, but what better place to honor these individuals than in our home city of Washington, D.C.”
Stephen Hill, BET’s EVP, Entertainment Programming, Music & Talent and Lynne Harris Taylor, VP of Specials are the show’s executive producers, along with John Cossette of John Cossette Productions.
For up-to-the-minute and archival press information including releases and photographs, visit BET’s press-only Web site at http://www.bet.com/pr.
About the Honorees
TYRA BANKS — Tyra Banks is a supermodel, host and judge of the reality television show America’s Next Top Model, and is currently hosting her own Daytime Emmy Award-nominated talk show, The Tyra Banks Show.
JANICE BRYANT HOWROYD — Janice Bryant Howroyd is the chairman, chief executive officer and founder of ACT*1, a personnel servicing company that provides staffing, human resources and management solutions to Fortune 500 companies in many industries.
ALICIA KEYS — Alicia Keys is a nine-time Grammy Award-winning R&B and soul singer, songwriter and pianist, who has sold more than 25 million records worldwide.
RICHARD PARSONS — Richard Parsons is Chairman of the Board of Time Warner Inc., whose businesses include filmed entertainment, interactive services, television networks, cable systems and publishing.
THE HONORABLE MAXINE WATERS — Maxine Waters (D-CA) was elected in November 2006 to her ninth term in the House of Representatives, serving the 35th District of California, which represents a large part of South Central Los Angeles, the communities of Westchester and Playa Del Ray, as well as the diverse cities of Gardena, Hawthorne, Inglewood and Lawndale.
DR. CORNEL WEST, UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR IN THE CENTER FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES — Dr. Cornel West is a professor of religion and African American studies at Princeton University, and is considered one of America’s most gifted, provocative and important public intellectuals. He has won numerous awards, including the American Book Award, and has received more than 20 honorary degrees.
About BET Networks
BET Networks, a division of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is the nation’s leading provider of quality entertainment, music, news and public affairs television programming for the African-American audience. The primary BET channel reaches more than 87 million households according to Nielsen Media Research, and can be seen in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean. BET is the dominant African-American consumer brand with a diverse group of business extensions: BET.com, a leading internet destination for Black entertainment, music, culture, and news; BET Digital Networks — BET J, BET Gospel and BET Hip Hop, attractive alternatives for cutting-edge entertainment tastes; BET Event Productions, a full-scale event management and production company; BET Home Entertainment, a collection of BET-branded offerings for the home environment including DVDs and video-on-demand; BET Mobile, a service venture into the lucrative world of ringtones, games and video content for wireless devices; and BET International, an extension of BET network programming for global distribution.
SOURCE BET Networks
All entries have been received and we have nominated 16 Videos for the contest.
Voting ends this Friday, February 1, 2008 at 11:59 PST.
They are…
By Steve McKeever
The idea to record Jill Scott in Paris was one of those almost impossible ideas to pull off with the limited time available when the thought first came up. Jill was already on tour in Europe nearing the end of the run. In fact, the first serious conversation about recording a show took place the Wednesday before Thanksgiving about recording the two shows in Paris the upcoming weekend. Initially the idea was to make an audio-only recording of Jill’s flaming-hot band and European run in support of her second studio album “Beautifully Human.” On Thanksgiving Day, Thianar Gomis, the eventual producer of the project, had the even crazier idea with the short timeframe to pull it off, of trying to shoot video of the performance in addition to capturing a pristine audio recording. Low and behold, two and a half days after it was all brought up, we were all in a chilly PARIS with equipment at the ready.
With the camera crew fairly well hidden in head to toe black, and clearly instructed by Jill not to be seen nor heard from, the cameras were carefully tucked away; not to intrude in any way on the intimate exchange between audience and artist. We recorded 2 shows back to back at the historic Elysee Montmartre, a grand old venue which contained the standing room only, sold-out crowd. The first night Jill delivered her usual classic and special performance. Head and shoulders above most in her generation, Jill left this Parisian crowd speechless as she burned up the stage with her intelligence, uncanny vocal ability, and passion. After the first night, no one was mad about the decision to record and it was clear that we had something special in the can - then came night two.
Everyone on tour with Jill had grown accustomed to her brilliance night after night, but knew almost from the beginning that a different current of electricity in Paris was shooting through to everyone in the building. Some of her crew, who had at this point seen her do just about everything, were standing in the wings speechless like star-struck fans. Moments in the building, seemed to those there, moved as in slow motion as everyone concentrated hard to preserve every moment of the experience. On the second night during Jill’s classic “I Need You,” the massive 19th century hall was so quiet it seemed that everyone in attendance was collectively holding their breath, not to disturb the air as she reached her climax. The extraordinary rendition of “Golden” embodied here which followed it. Take a look for yourself at what happened during the solo. Jill’s extraordinary band - Fat Back Taffy - walked off the stage sharing stories of the outer body experiences they all seemed to have had while playing this remarkable set. Fresh from a fun leisurely shopping day, walking and taking in the magic of Paris, Jill herself was in an exuberant space but still asked her familiar “Really?!?” after witness after witness reported to her what they had just seen.
With the whirlwind of the Christmas holiday season that followed the tour, as well as several technical questions that arose, this special recording was initially overlooked with other urgent priorities looming. Not one to simply accept the initial technical questions as fatalities, Thianar teamed up with engineering and mixing savant Thierry Migeotte in a painstaking process that consumed almost the better part of a year. Thianar and Thierry worked on the audio portion of the recording daily, for over 7 months. Never adding a note or altering the reality captured by the machines, these two huddled in the studio with a commitment almost unseen in today’s music business. At the same time J.G. Biggs, the director, spent time with the “hidden camera” footage and came up with the mondrian effect on telling the story visually. When Thierry and Thianar finally emerged from the studio, they presented an absolute audio masterpiece that created a buzz in the studio engineering Los Angeles community.
Person after person was ushered down to listen to Jill’s work of art performance presented and preserved like a work of art. Those who got a chance at this sneak peak, never experiencing Jill live, found often themselves with the same goose bumps the original audience had and in certain occasions their eye ducts filled with tears like those who were moved in person. When Jill herself came into the studio almost a year after this process began to hear what the mad-scientists had resurrected, she sat there in stunned disbelief. She had previously often remarked how she had wished she could have the experience of seeing herself live in person from the audience’s perspective. The clarity, passion and singing through the speakers in the small darkened studio on a bright spring afternoon were probably as close as she’ll ever get. Quite speechless, Jill’s dumbfounded look was very similar to those watching her when the recordings were made. She listened closely for self-perceived mistakes that she thought she remembered on stage but couldn’t find them; they never existed. Sitting in the reclining studio chair, dead-center between 2 powerful monitors, she could listen to every nuance of her remarkable band and concentrate on them without the thought of pleasing an audience. When her attention went to the high-art musicality of the artists on stage with her, her eyes often exploded from a tightly clenched closed eyelid to the wide-eyed expression of a child believing they had just seem a ghost. In fact, Jill walked out of the studio mumbling the same chant over and over, “I thought this was dead?”
Later, one by one, several members of Jill’s band came in to hear the tracks. Most didn’t remember everything they played and a couple of them remarked that they heard things they didn’t know they were capable of playing. Pete Kuzma, the band’s music director and only keyboard player in the group even asked “was there another keyboard part added to the recording?” When he examined the individual tracks for himself he could hardly believe it was him communicating such polar opposite thoughts at the same time that it seemed like two people. His chant was “Oh my God this is so special, we’ve got to put it out!” Fast forward now 2 years and the timing is finally available to share this exceptional recording with those who should appreciate it most - Jill’s fans.
Fresh off of the release of her critically claimed, third studio album, “The Real Thing”, this disc goes into production just after her 3 Grammy nominations have been announced. This recording underscores why she’s so special and deserving of such critical acclaim and gives evidence to the fact that she should soon be receiving much more. We hope you enjoy this wonderful disc, the first DVD form Hidden Beach and the first in a series of “Hidden Beach Basement Tapes” of previously unreleased recordings which deserve to be devoured by the public.
Stay tuned we will be announcing the Top 20 video entries for the contest. Thank you to everyone who submitted we look forward to starting the voting process later today… so tell your friends to vote and the haters too…. ha.
Stay glued…
She wrote us:
Thank you for this opportunity! I have been very inspired by “The Real Thing,” so much so that my friends and I have been talking about it since its debut. So I am honored and pleased to share my inspiration from the CD with you. The poem was written specifically for the contest, only the pictures and Naomi quote were borrowed, otherwise everything else is of my own creation. Enjoy!
Will she win.. two hours to submit your video….
Watch this young man Elijah Hughes draw photos proving he is “The Real Thing” Who will take the iPhone and the get the call from Jill Scott on GRAMMY night? Are You The Real Thing? Contest Details.
Will she win the iPhone, Call from Jill Scott and the FREE Concert Tickets? Less than 14 hours to enter your video…
