06-07-06 EUR: Friends Reflect on the Passing of Billy Preston / Ashanti Sued

EUR Headlines

FRIENDS REFLECT ON PASSING OF BILLY PRESTON: Natalie Cole, Andrae Crouch remember the musician and his legacy.
*Longtime friends of singer-songwriter Billy Preston are mourning his passing with the sharing of fond memories. The piano prodigy, known as the fifth Beatle for his early work with the Fab Four, died Tuesday following a long illness. He was 59. Read Full Story

EMINEM SETTLES RING TONE DISPUTE: Rapper sought to prevent five companies from selling ring tones of his tunes on the Internet.
*Eminem reached a settlement last week in his lawsuit against a company he says tried to illegally sell his songs on the Internet as cell phone ring tones. Read Full Story

ASHANTI SUED BY FORMER MANAGER: Singer accused of breaching contract in May 2003.
*A former manager for Ashanti filed a lawsuit against the singer in Manhattan federal court Tuesday claiming breach of contract. Read Full Story

BASSETT, DENZEL, UNDERWOOD TO READ THE BIBLE: Stars lend voices to celebrity audio recording of New Testament.
*Angela Bassett, Denzel Washington and Blair Underwood are among the celebrities who will contribute to a dramatized audio recording of the Bible’s entire New Testament. Read Full Story

‘CRASH,’ ‘GLORY ROAD’ WRITERS HONORED: Works among finalists for Humanitas Prize celebrating ‘positive values.’
*The screenwriters for “Crash,” “Glory Road” and “ER’s” recent Darfur episode were among the finalists announced Monday for this year's Humanitas Prize, which honors film and TV writers whose work "honestly explores the complexities of the human experience and sheds light on the positive values of life." Read Full Story

MARTHA REEVES IN VIOLATION OF HOUSING CODES: Advocate of stronger enforcement neglects infractions in her own backyards
*Former Motown great Martha Reeves, a longtime advocate of tighter housing code enforcement, has been found in violation herself at her two-unit rental property and various vacant lots, The Detroit News reported. Read Full Story

BET TO AIR WINNER OF RAP-IT-UP FILM COMPETITION: ‘Let’s Talk’ centers on young couple forced to confront disease.
*“Let’s Talk,” the winner of BET’s 2nd Annual Rap-It-Up/Black AIDS Short Film Competition, will air on the network June 25 at 12pm and 10pm as a reminder that National HIV Testing Day is June 27. Read Full Story

CUBE BLASTS BUSH IN NEW ISSUE OF COMPLEX: Rapper talks politics and race in the magazine’s June/July offering.
*In the upcoming issue of Complex magazine, Ice Cube gets candid on several of his favorite topics, including the U.S. President, race relations and hip hop’s growing influence on pop culture. Read Full Story

HBO PICKS FINALISTS FOR FILM COMPETITION: Winner to be announced during American Black Film Festival in Miami.
*Home Box Office has selected five finalists whose films will compete for the 2006 HBO Short Film Award grand prize during the 10th anniversary celebration of the Film Life & HBO American Black Film Festival (ABFF), to be held July 19-23, in South Beach. Read Full Story

EUR DVD ('Freedomland') REVIEW: Samuel L. Jackson and Julianne Moore in Cross-Cultural Crime Thriller
*When Brenda Martin (Julianne Moore) arrives bruised, bleeding and mute at an emergency room after a carjacking, Detective Lorenzo Council (Samuel L. Jackson) is soon summoned to the hospital. In the course of taking the shaken woman’s statement, Lorenzo learns that her four year-old son, Cody (Marlon Sherman), was asleep in the back seat of the automobile at the time of the heist. Read Full Story

OLIVIA BROWN: Secrets of a “Miami Vice Maven”
By Kenya M. Yarbrough
*The 1970s gave us Cleopatra Jones – a United States Special Agent assigned to crack down on drug-trafficking in the U.S. and abroad. And then came ‘80s heroine Detective Trudy Joplin – the sexy and serious narcotics detective of “Miami Vice.” She was what every vixen wanted to be, and what every gent (surely including Crocket & Tubbs) wanted, period. Read Full Story

FILM/TV/MUSIC NEWS: Whitaker’s ‘Shield’; Montel’s weed; ’16 Blocks’ Ruiz dies; Chingy sued; RanJac on MySpace; Gnarls dethroned; Wyclef’s ‘Hips’; Bolton wants Whitney.
*Forest Whitaker will have a limited run on the sixth season of FX’s critically-acclaimed drama, “The Shield,” which begins in early 2007. Read Full Story

THEATER/BOOK BITS: Zadie wins; Givens’ autobiography; ‘Hot Feet’ benefit; popular ‘Color Purple’; Rubin-Vega in ‘Les Miz.’
*Author Zadie Smith won the Orange Prize for Fiction on Tuesday with her third novel, "On Beauty." Read Full Story

SPORTS BITS: Venus out of French Open; Magic legal dispute; Bonds hits 716; Duke lacrosse team returns.
*Venus Williams was bounced from the quarterfinals of the French Open early Tuesday with a loss to 17-year-old Czech player Nicole Vaidisova 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-3. Read Full Story

EVENT CALENDAR: Snoop honored by Recording Academy; Reggae Sumfest taps 50, Sizzla; Master P and Lil’ Romeo to entertain troops.
*Snoop Dogg is among the honorees at the upcoming Recording Academy Honors 2006, presented by the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences on Thursday (June 8). Read Full Story

THE EURweb FREE-4-ALL PAGE/BOARD: Talk about the stories we didn't cover in this issue.
Just like the headline says, this page/board is where you can discuss the stuff that we didn't cover in today's issue. (It's sort of like feedback with a twist) Remember, NO name calling, racial taunting, graphic sex talk and vulgarity in general, PLEASE. Read Full Story

06-07-06 EUR FEEDBACK: Before rappers, Oprah dissed Ray Charles / David Nathan remembers Billy Preston
"Oprah and her apparent diss of (rappers) brought to mind Oprah and Ray Charles. I ran Ray's record label, Crossover, and when we came with the first cd "Thanks for Bringing Love Around Again" ... I was putting together the short list of shows Ray was willing to do to promote the CD ... when I mentioned Oprah ... he said 'Sure, she has asked me to be on her show...when I saw her last she said ..." Read Full Story

06-07-06 EUR ALL ON ONE PAGE
EUR all on ONE page Read Full Story