Ty-DMusic.com: Musicscene 26

Amel Larrieux makes her 'animated' debut on Sci Fi

Beautiful songstress Amel Larrieux, the former lead singer of Groove Theory will have her voice debut on the small screen (computer screen that is) in "Maatkara", an animated adventure series made for the Sci Fi Channel's Web site. Her role will be the voice of the heroine Maat. a young Egyptian princess Amel said "is just someone you would like to be like, she becomes a warrior but is a gentle soul. That's something of a balance I'm trying to find." The first installment in the 13-part series was shown last week (June 28th) on Webcast.

The plot undertakes Maat, a priestess and healer chosen by the gods as a divine administrator of justice who must fight evil forces. The tale takes place in the year 9002 A.D., when the descendants of Egypt survive deep within the planet. Maat's role is to defeat the NetworQ, an evil technological cabal led by the god of chaos, Set (voiced by actor Kevin Conway)

Amel carried a lot of emotion and ability to the role and said "As a woman, as a mother and as a black female, I'm always feeling kind of depressed in how we are represented and how we represent ourselves," she said. "So it was easy for me to become emotional in that role, because it represents everything I think about.".

__________________________________________________________________
Essence Music Festival: is it the last one ever?

The Essence Music Festival was held this past weekend in New Orleans and features a host of today's hottest including Destiny's Child and Angie Stone to name a few. The three-day event -- which started last Thursday (July 5) through last Saturday in the Louisiana Superdome and the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center held host to over 180,000 people last year and most are wondering will the festival return in future years?

Letena Spriggs, public relations manager for Essence Communications Inc., said no decision has yet been made on the festival's future plans. "Our focus was just on making our seventh annual festival the best festival that we can make it, we will evaluate the entire event afterward."

Other acts that appeared was Jill Scott, Patti LaBelle, The O'Jays, and Maze, featuring Frankie Beverly. Also on hand was Eric Benet, Jeffrey Osborne, Erykah Badu, The Whispers, Teena Marie, and The Dells. The festival also showcased gospel music with a superb performance by Yolanda Adams.

_________________________________________________________________
Motown legends to perform @ imfamous Roostertail

Some of Motown's legendary stars of yesteryear will perform at Detroit's legendary Roostertail nightclub this coming July 20th. The Motown Revue will kick off the now somewhat controversial Detroit 300 celebration to commemorate the 300th birthday of the Motor City.

Scheduled to perform will be The Miracles, The Contours, The Velvelettes and The Undisputed Truth. A number of surprise guests will appear as well. Tickets are $50 with a portion of the funds going to support the Inkster Schools Music Program. Inkster is a suburb of Detroit.

Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster at: (313)645-6666 or, you can get them online at: http://www.ticketmaster.com. The event promoters expect tickets to sell out quite quickly so make haste want not. The Roostertail may be contacted at: (313)822-1234.

__________________________________________________________________

Puff Daddy and the family to appear @ megastore in NY.

As part of a promotional push for his latest effort, Puff Daddy or P Diddy (don't know which is which nowadays) and some of the Bad Boy family will make an in-store appearance at the Virgin Megastore in Time Square tonight (midnight) to coinside with the release of the compilation P. Diddy and the Bad Boy family...the saga continues.

The compilation features almost all of Bad Boy's roaster including Carl Thomas, Black Rob and Faith Evans. who will also make the in-store appearance. Combs and the rest of the family will be signing posters and autographs until 2 a.m. Tuesday (July 10), which is when the album will go on sale.