PATTY JACKSON'S 4-1-1
Week of December 17, 2007

If you are unable to read this HTML click here

Happy Holidays from the staff of 2 Down Front Entertainment

Fantasia has left the building! According to published reports, the American Idol Winner is expecting her second child. Fantasia has been dating Rapper Young Dro, and she has come under fire for missing over 50 shows during her run on the Broadway production of The Color Purple. Fantasia will be leaving the show as they prepare for BeBe Winans and Chaka Khan to join the cast.

Al B. Sure left his 16-year old son disappointed over the weekend. Sure skipped out on his son’s birthday bash after a dispute with P Diddy. Sure has a son, Quincy, by Diddy’s baby momma Kim Porter. Diddy basically raised Quincy when Sure wasn’t there. Diddy and Kim wanted Quincy to have a grand celebration for his 16th birthday. MTV was on hand to film the festivities, and Quincy got a brand new Range Rover. He also got a 1964 Lincoln Continental. The one thing Quincy didn’t get was a visit from his biological dad, or a visit from his Godfather Quincy Jones. Sources say Sure resents the fact that Diddy was always there for his son. Sure has been working as radio DJ, and working with a new group, Duo Live. Duo Live recently shot a video for their new song Princess, which samples from Sure’s hit Nite And Day.

The tension is growing between Sherri Shepherd and Whoopi Goldberg on the daytime talker The View. What is it with this show and people getting along? This past week the tension came to ahead, and Whoopi accused Shepherd of wanting to fight her. Since Shepherd joined the show, she has been having a hard time fitting in, and it doesn’t help with Whoopi’s eye-rolling and down talking.

The Aretha Franklin movie is in trouble, and it’s all Re-Re’s fault! The Queen of Soul is insisting on having final say in the casting, and she wants what she wants. Franklin is pushing to have Billy Dee Williams cast as her father, Rev. C.L. Franklin, Terrence Howard cast as Smokey Robinson and Halle Berry to play her. The producers have been urging Aretha to think more realistically about the project, but Aretha won’t budge. Oscar Winner Jennifer Hudson would be perfect for the part. Why won’t Aretha just pick her?

Happy Holidays! Here’s your cheeseburger! Staffers for Tyra Banks talk show were pretty bummed out after their Christmas party. Banks stayed for about five minutes. Sources say there was plenty of booze and cheeseburgers, but no bonuses. Many of the staffers relocated to the east coast when Tyra left the west coast. Tyra moved to the east coast to find a man, and a lot people rearranged their lives for her. Needless to say there were a lot of staffers disappointed when they realized Tyra was a real life Scrooge.

The music industry lost one of the founding fathers of Rock & Roll when Ike Turner died last week. Turner was a great musician, but his legacy will always be overshadowed by his abuse of his ex-wife Tina Tuner. Tina discussed her abuse at the hands of Ike in her best selling book, I Tina, and movie What’s Love Got To Do With It.

The new Janet Jackson album Discipline is scheduled to be released on February 26th. The video for the first single, Feeling Lucky, is coming out next month. Rodney Jerkins produced Feeling Lucky. As Janet gears up for her new project, she is also battling rumors of a secret child. Janet’s former brother-in-law, El DeBarge, recently opened up a can of worms. In a recent interview, DeBarge was asked did Janet and his brother James have a secret child. Debarge responded he doesn’t talk about these things with them, and he respect their privacy. He stated they will let everyone know when they are ready to talk about it.

The 65th Annual Golden Globe Awards are set for January 13th. It could be a Denzel Washington night. His two movies The Great Debators and American Gangster are both up for best picture and Denzel’s nominated for Best Actor for Gangster.

Director John Singleton will be bringing the 1980’s classic TV show The A Team to the big screen. The show made Mr. T famous, and featured characters based on U.S. Army Special Forces veterans. Singleton says the big screen version will be more action oriented and not campy. Word has is Rapper/Actor Ice Cube will be “B.A. Baracus,” the role made famous by Mr. T.

Get ready for the ultimate Ashford & Simpson music collection. The 2CD set will feature their best selling songs, including those songs that are out of print and 12 inch remixes.

Congratulations to Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. The creators of the Sound of Philadelphia will be receiving the Ertegun Award at next year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Awards. The awards ceremony takes place on March 10th, 2008. Gamble & Huff have been a major force in the music industry for over 45 years. The Ahmet Ertegun Award is named in honor of the legendary founder of Atlantic Records. The award is given to disc jockeys, record executives, and industry professionals who have made a major influence on the development of Rock & Roll.

Chilli from TLC has found love after Usher. Chilli is best known for her high profile romance with Usher and from her days with the music group TLC. Chilli is currently dating CNN News Anchorman T.J. Holmes. Sources say now that he is divorced, they may tie the knot next year.

Bobby Brown is getting ready to go country. Bobby Brown and Sisqo will be appearing on the Country Music Channel's new reality show Gone Country. The seven episode show will show non country singers trying to be the next big country music superstar.

Bishop T.D. Jakes is returning with Megafest. Bishop Jakes is taking the event out of the country. Megafest International is moving from Atlanta to South Africa, and will take place from Oct. 6th through the 20th.

The BET network is gearing up for a new awards show. The BET Honors takes place on February 22nd. Cedric The Entertainer is hosting and honorees include Alicia Keys, Tyra Banks and Dr. Cornel West.

It could be an end of the year wedding for Eddie Murphy and Tracey Edmonds. Edmonds recently had her engagement party in Las Vegas, and she is ready to be Mrs. Murphy.

Is former Seinfeld star Michael Richards trying out for the new season of Dancing With The Stars? Richards is best known for his role as the wacky “Kramer” on Seinfeld and for his racist rant against concert goers at a Los Angeles comedy show.

Prophetess Juanita Bynum is getting ready for her closeup. Bynum is preparing for a breakthrough in 2008. She is currently on the cover of the new issue of Essence magazine, and she talks about the future. Bynum will be co-starring in the movie Mama, I Want To Sing with Ciara. She’s also getting ready to unveil a line of candles and cosmetics, and she’s writing a book, Accessing The Power Within. 2007 was a rough one for Bynum and her husband Bishop Thomas Weeks. Bynum and Weeks had a physical altercation that left Bynum bruised and battered. The confrontation ended their five year marriage. Weeks has apologized publicly to his wife, and has asked for her forgiveness. He has also vowed not to release a planned tell all book that he was writing. Weeks says it’s time for the healing to begin.

Wesley Snipes has a February Trial date. Snipes faces 16 years in prison for tax evasion and tax fraud. Snipes says this is all a big mixup, and he is the victim of racism.

Essence magazine is getting ready to start their Save Our Library’s campaign. The Essence Literary Awards take place next month, and Terry McMillan will be getting the Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Muhammad Ali greeting cards debut next month. The cards will be sold at grocery stores, drug chains and supercenters.

Oprah Winfrey will be producing a movie based on the life of Lena Horne. Alicia Keys will star as Horne.

Production starts in March on the Vivica A. Fox and Mo’Nique movie Three Sistahs. Filming is taking in Philadelphia.

Last week, I talked about the hot new romance between Rapper Common and a popular Tennis star. I had the names wrong I mentioned Venus Williams, but it is her sister Serena who is dating Common. Thanks to all who noticed the typo.

Superbowl XLII is set for Sunday February 3rd, 2008

Oscar Winner Cuba Gooding, Jr. will be starring in the movie The Vapors. The movie will detail the early days of hip hop with the Juice Crew. Gooding, Jr. will play Marly Marl, the founder of the group, Keke Palmer will play Roxanne Shante and Idris Elba will play Fly Ty.

Is that a tattoo ring on Beyonce’s ring finger? Yes it is….. she and boyfriend Rapper Jay-Z had tattoos engraved on their fingers. I guess this is the prelude to the engagement rings.

Queen Latifah’s new commercials for Jenny Craig will start airing in January. Latifah follows in the footsteps of Kirstie Alley and Valerie Bertinelli as celebrity endorsers for the weight loss brand. Latifah is kicking off the year with a bang. She is set to host the Peoples Choice Awards and her new movie with Diana Keaton and Katie Holmes, Mad Money, opens in theatres on January 18th.

Is the romance still on between Nicole Murphy and Football Star Michael Strahan. The ex-wife of Eddie Murphy had been dating Strahan for most of this year, but he has spotted out and about with an ex-girlfriend. In the meantime, Nicole has been linked to a well known man who’s married to one of her friends. Hmmmmmmmmmm!

Comedian Chris Rock is going worldwide. Rocks movie career has not taken off the way he hoped, so he’s going back to his roots. Chris Rock is about to embark on a worldwide comedy tour that will take him to Australia, South Africa, London, Philadelphia and Atlantic City, to name a few.

So what’s next for movie legend Will Smith? Big Willie’s latest movie, I Am Legend, set the record for best December opening, and now he’s returning to the summer. Smith’s next project, Hancock, about a troubled superhero comes out next summer.

::::: FEATURED EVENTS ::::::

::::: UPCOMING  MOVIES ::::::

Get ready for Sex And The City, the movie. The movie opens in theatres May 30th.

Alicia Keys will be joining Carson Daly for his New Year’s Eve show on NBC. Lenny Kravitz is also performing.

Get ready for these hot new music releases on December 18th- Mary J. Blige- Growing Pains | Jaheim- The Makings of a Man | Kirk Franklin – The Fight of My Life.

Martin Lawrence is also gearing up for a busy 2008. Lawrence has two big movie projects coming out: College Road Trip with Raven Symone opening in theatres March 7th and Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins with Mo’Nique, James Earl Jones and Nicole Ari Parker.

“The Boss”-Diana Ross, Director Martin Scorsese, Beach Boy Founder Brian Wilson and Comedian/Actor Steve Martin have been named for The 2007 Kennedy Center Honors. The awards ceremony takes place on December 26th on CBS.

The 34th Annual Peoples’ Choice Awards is set to air January 8th. Halle Berry, Queen Latifah, Denzel Washington, Beyonce, Jamie Foxx, Dwayne “The Rock “Johnson and Chris Tucker are all up for awards.

The new season of American Idol: Season 7 premieres Tuesday January 15th.

BET’s Celebration of Gospel takes place January 27th, 8pm on BET. There will be special appearances by Patti LaBelle, Kirk Franklin, John Legend, Dr. Bobby Jones and the top five Sunday Best finalists. Steve Harvey is hosting.

The 50th Annual Grammy Awards will air February 10th on CBS.

December 25th: The Great Debaters – Starring Denzel Washington (Director), Forest Whitaker and produced by Oprah Winfrey.

January 11th, 2008: First Sunday - Ice Cube, Tracy Morgan and Katt Williams.

February 2008: The Better Man- Martin Lawrence, Mo’Nique and James Earl Jones.

::::: WHAT’S THE UNDERGROUND BUZZ :::::

This female celebrity had a fairytale wedding, but her marriage is turning out to be a disaster. Her husband is a public figure who cheats on her constantly. He recently started creepin’ with one of his wife’s closest friends. The wife’s friend has been buck wild ever since she left her famous Hollywood husband.

Lets here what you think at: http://downfront2.blogspot.com/

Did you miss the last 411 Report?  Click Here to view previous reports

Check our page on myspace:  http://www.myspace.com/downfront

PRINT THIS PAGE