Gladys Knight

The whirling shades of purple mesmerized me for hours. As a child, one of my favorite pastimes was playing my stacks of 45s till Mama screamed, "Boy! Turn that music off." I had a cool record player -- one that looked like a jukebox with a plastic dome-like top and flashing lights in the center of its red rectangular base. Daddy gave his old records to me, so I was on a steady diet of Parliament, Marvin, Stevie, Aretha. The music was wonderful, of course. But I really loved to see the discs spin, especially the ones with the deep purple and lavender Soul label, a subsidiary of Motown.

Tom's intro reminds us that last week it was "Wagner who got jacked. "  They tell us that it's "Rock Week" and the reanimated corpses of KISS are on the ballroom floor to get us pumped up with "Rock and Roll All Nite" - "Nite" is their spelling not mine.  Good grammar and spelling rock, kids Stay in school! There's pro dancers in unitards and KISS makeup and it looks even sillier than the old men rockers, which I didn't think was possible. The female pro dancers are in leather bikinis and this is all uncomfortably close to a primetime cop drama strip club scene.  Tom, enthusiastically exclaims after the song is over that "[they]

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU knew soul food inside and out, here comes something else to make your mouth water. Unusual, maybe -- delicious, definitely. Make way for fried chicken ... and waffles!?! Yes, and brought to you by none other than Gladys Knight and Ron Winans' Chicken and Waffles Restaurant, a sleek, suburban eatery brimming with sophisticated soulful flavor. The Largo site is the third site in the family franchise, which originated in Atlanta. Gladys Knight is an Atlanta native, but the enterprise is the brainchild of her son, Shanga Hankerson.

He has sold more than 75 million records worldwide, won a Grammy and collaborated with Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin and Frank Sinatra. Yet saxophonist Kenny G still approaches his craft like an "A" student who insists on nothing shy of "A" plus. "I've put in two to three hours [of practice] a day for the last 30 years. I figure that over time, this stuff is going to sink in and I'm going to keep getting better and better," said the instrumentalist, who is scheduled to perform at this weekend's 18th annual Capital Jazz Fest at Columbia's Merriweather Post Pavilion.

Smokey Robinson and Gladys Knight / Constitution Hall They're both Motown legends, each with a list of hits that runs forever. Smokey Robinson and Gladys Knight will revisit their classics at Constitution Hall, 18th and D Streets N.W. in Washington, Saturday and Sunday nights. Both shows start at 7 and tickets are $66. To purchase, call Ticketmaster at 410-547-SEAT or visit www.ticketmaster.com. The Nighthawks and the Kelly Bell Band / Funk Box The Nighthawks and the Kelly Bell Band rock and roll it at the Funk Box, 8-10 E. Cross Street, Saturday night at 8. Tickets, available through Ticketmaster, are $10. Patty Loveless / Birchmere Country queen Patty Loveless plays the Birchmere, 3701 Mt. Vernon Ave. in Alexandria, Va., Wednesday night at 7:30.

A post-dinner performance by Gladys Knight may have been the high point of LifeBridge Health's "The Magic of Life" gala, but the Towson Center opening reception was abuzz with news about the Motown legend. "She's one of the warmest entertainers I've ever met," said LifeBridge board member Joe Cooper, after telling of the hours Knight spent that day visiting children and adult patients in Sinai Hospital's oncology units. In fact, Cooper said, the singer stayed with the patients so long, she missed her own rehearsal.

Gladys Knight to debut at the LyricW hen "Madame Lily" opens a one-week run at the Lyric Opera House Tuesday, Baltimoreans will get to see singer Gladys Knight portraying the madam of a New Orleans bordello.Curtain times are at 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and at 7:30 p.m. Sundays, with matinees at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $17.50-$27.50. For more information, call (410) 889-3911.@ Rather than settle for being merely a straight-up jazz stylist or a standard-issue pop singer, Al Jarreau tries to be a bit of both.

Carole Joyner Gourley, 59, who wrote the lyrics for the 1957 pop hit "Young Love," died of cancer Dec. 7 in Atlanta. She wrote the song with her guitar-playing sweetheart, Ric Cartey, when she was an 18-year-old high school student. The catchy melody and dreamy lyrics caught on, selling more than 2 million copies in 1957.Versions by Tab Hunter and Sonny James reached the No. 1 and No. 2 spots on the Billboard chart, the only time the same song has occupied the top two slots. Over the years, more than 25 million copies have been sold.

Just announced Allman Brothers Band, Phil Lesh & Friends: Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia on Sept. 30. 410-547-7328 or ticketmaster.com. Martina McBride: Nissan Pavilion in Bristow, Va., on Sept. 27. 410-547-7328 or ticketmaster.com. Indigo Girls: Rams Head Live on Sept. 17. 410-244-1131 or ramsheadlive.com. Lez Zeppelin: Recher Theatre in Towson on Sept. 27. 410-337-7210, 410-547-7328 or ticketmaster.com. Kathy Griffin: DAR Constitution Hall in Washington on Sept. 25-26. 410-547-7328 or ticketmaster.

IN A way he is a modern breed of film star. A man as interested in the business of show as he is in performance. An amalgam of magnetism and marketing savvy. Talented and shameless. A charming control freak. George Clooney minus the smugness. Arnold minus the skeeve. Tom Cruise minus the crazy. Ryan Seacrest, if Seacrest were a man." That's Alison Glock writing in Men's Journal about Dwayne Johnson, formerly known as pro wrestling's "The Rock" and later as a tight-jawed, heavily muscled action hero in over-the-top projects such as The Mummy Returns and The Scorpion King.

Classical Fiesta: . Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela; Gustavo Dudamel, conductor. Released on the Deutsche Grammophon label. Retail price about $17. Available from various retail and online stores. One way to deal with all the heat at this time of year is to just crank up the air conditioning and chill. Another is to pour on even more heat. For a particularly steamy dose of the latter treatment, check out Fiesta, the newest CD by the sensational Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra and its high-wattage conductor Gustavo Dudamel.

Today BALTIMORE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL : Second day of festivities at the Poly/Western High School field, 140 W. Cold Spring Lane, which hosts a multicultural event with various activities, including performances by Nu World Art Ensemble, an African dance troupe and reggae artist Maxie Priest; demonstrations of capoeria, a Brazilian blend of martial arts and dance; and tae kwon do. Festivalgoers can also choose from an array of ethnic foods. The event runs noon-9 p.m. today. Free. 410-396-3141 or baltimorecity.

Just announced Allman Brothers Band, Phil Lesh & Friends: Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia on Sept. 30. 410-547-7328 or ticketmaster.com. Martina McBride: Nissan Pavilion in Bristow, Va., on Sept. 27. 410-547-7328 or ticketmaster.com. Indigo Girls: Rams Head Live on Sept. 17. 410-244-1131 or ramsheadlive.com. Lez Zeppelin: Recher Theatre in Towson on Sept. 27. 410-337-7210, 410-547-7328 or ticketmaster.com. Kathy Griffin: DAR Constitution Hall in Washington on Sept. 25-26. 410-547-7328 or ticketmaster.

Joan Osborne should have been a much bigger star. Relish, her 1995 major-label debut, sold more than 3 million copies, spurred by the No.1 smash "One of Us." The video for the controversial song - whose chorus asked, "What if God was one of us/Just a slob like one of us ... " - was a constant on MTV. Osborne was also a hit on the Lilith Fair tour that year. But four years passed before she released Righteous Love, the proper follow-up to Relish. The album flopped. Osborne and her label, Mercury, parted company.

IN A way he is a modern breed of film star. A man as interested in the business of show as he is in performance. An amalgam of magnetism and marketing savvy. Talented and shameless. A charming control freak. George Clooney minus the smugness. Arnold minus the skeeve. Tom Cruise minus the crazy. Ryan Seacrest, if Seacrest were a man." That's Alison Glock writing in Men's Journal about Dwayne Johnson, formerly known as pro wrestling's "The Rock" and later as a tight-jawed, heavily muscled action hero in over-the-top projects such as The Mummy Returns and The Scorpion King.

The last person Patti Austin wanted to see was Judy Garland. It was the early '60s, and the singer-songwriter, a precocious 13-year-old at the time, was at the Newport Jazz Festival with her parents and godfather, the illustrious Quincy Jones. The bandleader-producer urged the girl to check out Garland's set. Reluctantly, she did, and the aspiring young artist was forever changed. "Her voice sounded like it had been dragged behind a truck for 20 miles on a rope," Austin says of the legendary Garland.

Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery elsewhere, but in the music industry, nothing says "We admire you" more eloquently than an all-star tribute album. Moreover, it generally follows that the bigger the star, the greater the compliment -- that is, to be celebrated by such stars as R.E.M. or Sting means a great deal more than being lauded by the likes of KMFDM or Prong.That ought to give you some sense of the praise implicit in "A Tribute to Curtis Mayfield" (Warner Bros. 45500, arriving in stores today)

Classical Fiesta: . Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela; Gustavo Dudamel, conductor. Released on the Deutsche Grammophon label. Retail price about $17. Available from various retail and online stores. One way to deal with all the heat at this time of year is to just crank up the air conditioning and chill. Another is to pour on even more heat. For a particularly steamy dose of the latter treatment, check out Fiesta, the newest CD by the sensational Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra and its high-wattage conductor Gustavo Dudamel.

The whirling shades of purple mesmerized me for hours. As a child, one of my favorite pastimes was playing my stacks of 45s till Mama screamed, "Boy! Turn that music off." I had a cool record player -- one that looked like a jukebox with a plastic dome-like top and flashing lights in the center of its red rectangular base. Daddy gave his old records to me, so I was on a steady diet of Parliament, Marvin, Stevie, Aretha. The music was wonderful, of course. But I really loved to see the discs spin, especially the ones with the deep purple and lavender Soul label, a subsidiary of Motown.

JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU knew soul food inside and out, here comes something else to make your mouth water. Unusual, maybe -- delicious, definitely. Make way for fried chicken ... and waffles!?! Yes, and brought to you by none other than Gladys Knight and Ron Winans' Chicken and Waffles Restaurant, a sleek, suburban eatery brimming with sophisticated soulful flavor. The Largo site is the third site in the family franchise, which originated in Atlanta. Gladys Knight is an Atlanta native, but the enterprise is the brainchild of her son, Shanga Hankerson.