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MediaEye #3

By Ron Wynn

Editor, Everything Underground

Media & culture update
Everything Underground By Ron Wynn 

            The police and media in Chicago, notably WBBM-TV, are now blaming each other for 
the fiasco that resulted in Ice Cube accidentally being wrongly linked to a series of sexual assaults
 in Wicker Park.
 The Chicago Police issued a community alert on July 21 saying that a suspect they were seeking in 
regards to
 several incidents "resembled"  Ice Cube. WBBM-TV picked up the ball and ran with it on their 
evening news broadcast, airing the report while showing an Ice Cube video.                  Unfortunately, it turns out that the police had released incorrect information. 
"We acknowledge the information should not have been in the alert," said police spokesman 
Dave Bayless, trying to get the Chicago Police off the hook for what could potentially be
 an expensive and publicly damaging lawsuit. "We took immediate corrective action. We apologized
 to Ice Cube for what was an honest mistake and came with no ill intent." 
            While WBBM representatives
 were issuing their own statement putting the blame on the police, left unanswered were a couple
 of basic questions. One, why didn't the television station try to talk to Ice Cube and even find out
 if he knew anything
 about the alert before running the story? Two, why did they use a music video as footage in what was
 supposed to be a news story? Three, how could the police department make this kind of a 
mistake in the first place? 
            There's been no comment as yet from Ice Cube¹s camp about what he
 might do in response. Cube is now in Chicago filming Barbershop 2

.             The forthcoming video for the Luther Vandross single "Dance With My Father,"
 has become a hot ticket. Though the still severely ill Vandross won't be participating, 
an A-list roster of guest stars includes Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Monica, Brian McKnight, 
Patti Labelle, Babyface, Whitney Houston, Beyonce, Johnny Gill and Jason Kidd, thus far.
 The album's already shaping up as Vandross's biggest seller since his glory days with Epic.
                 Thousands of people from around the world, as well as many notable musicians, 
performers, artists, and actors gathered at the Abyssinian Baptist Church July 26 to honor the
 great singer Nina Simone, who died this past April. There's also been a rush to get Simone albums
 back on the market,
 as the spate of commemorative articles and tributes triggered interest in her career again. 
A new two-disc Anthology collects singles from more than 40 Simone albums and covers
 the period from her earliest hits in the Œ60s to her final album in 1993. 

                Even the Jacksons aren't sure about when or if their reunion tour and recording will happen.
 Jermaine, in an interview for the British Broadcasting Corporation, insists that now only will the 
family act perform and record again, but that they'll do it under the Jackson 5 banner. 
That would be interesting since they lost that name to Berry Gordy in a court battle many years ago, 
but apparently there might be some settlement in that regard. 

                But he might want to inform Tito, who's going ahead with plans to cut a Chicago blues album, according to press reports.

                 Missy Elliott topped the field for the forthcoming MTV Video Music awards, earning eight nominations for "Work It." These included video of the year and best female video. 
                Because the show's ratings and luster have dipped in the past couple of years, the 
producers are bringing back Chris Rock to host this year's edition, which airs August 28th. 

(Material is gathered from several sources, among them the Electronic, Urban Report, Vibe, The Source, Entertainment Weekly, Zap 2 It and Blackvoices.com)