Groove

Bela Fleck really gets around.Rummage through the bins at your local CD store, and Fleck turns up everywhere. In addition to albums with his own jazz band, the Flecktones, the banjo virtuoso also can be found all over the place. He's in the bluegrass section (on albums by dobro player Jerry Douglas and mandolinist Sam Bush), in the world music section (on an album by Chinese erhu player Jie Bing Chen), even in the rock section (that's him on the latest Dave Matthews Band album, "Before These Crowded Streets")

Jennifer LopezOn the 6 (Work 69351)Pop stars who aspire to acting may invite snickers, but few things in the entertainment world invite as much outright derision as actors-turned-singers.Over the years, countless movie and TV stars have cut records, from Johnny Depp and Cybill Sheppard to Don Johnson and Jennifer Love Hewitt. And in almost every case, the music-buying public's reaction to those efforts has been: "Don't quit your day job."Jennifer Lopez doesn't quite fit that model. For starters, she was a singer and dancer before she became an actress (her first big break was as one of the dancers on the comedy show "In Loving Color")

John Lee Hooker leads a stellar lineup of blues musicians Saturday and Sunday at Sandy Point.A whole lot of people ask me where I originated my beat from," said John Lee Hooker, on the 1961 single "Teachin' the Blues."

It's hard to imagine Drew Barrymore's never been kissed.Get beyond that, however, and her performance in "Never Been Kissed" should work on you just fine. The film confirms its star's status as America's sweetheart; if there are people out there who don't find Barrymore utterly charming, it's only because they try real hard to feel that way.Too bad the film, about a budding journalist assigned to do an expose on the degradations of high school life, simply isn't worthy of her. The script displays little feel for either newspapers or high school, as though screenwriters Abby Kohn and Mark Silverstein only know what they've seen in movies.

Oakland pitcher Kenny Rogers looks at the Orioles and sees a club with quality players at every position. He doesn't, however, see a club the Athletics can't beat, no matter the difference in personnel, payrolls or playoff expectations."

Athletics: For only the fourth time in 28 games, the A's never held a lead. Ben Grieve entered yesterday's game in a 20-for-47 (.426) groove, with 11 RBIs and 14 runs scored in 11 games.Pub Date: 5/03/98

"How Stella Got Her Groove Back," a tropical romance based on the novel, Stella gets her groove back relatively early in the game. Which is all to the good, since that means filmgoers wind up getting a major groove on for the rest of this funny, sensuous and thoroughly delicious picture.Angela Bassett plays Stella Payne, a divorced 40-year-old financial consultant with an 11-year-old son. Stella is comfortable: She has feathered a sumptuous nest in a gorgeous San Francisco neighborhood, her son is a terrific kid, and she maintains a close, if sometimes fractious, relationship with her two sisters, Angela (Suzzanne Douglas)

Some people talk about drum 'n' bass as if its 170-beat-per-minute tempos were inhumanly fast. But that frenetic pace is nothing compared with the kind of schedule that U.K. DJ Groove-rider maintains.That's as it should be, though, because if it weren't for Groove-rider, it's doubtful that drum 'n' bass would be anywhere near as well-known as it is.After all, the whole drum 'n' bass explosion began when Groove-rider was resident DJ at the London club Rage.Some critics have even gone so far as to credit Groove-rider with inventing the whole hyperkinetic language of drum 'n' bass, in which break-beats (sampled snippets of drums or percussion)

How Stella Got Her Groove BackMusic from the Motion Picture (Flyte Time/MCA 11806)Obviously, if you're putting together the score for a film with a title like "How Stella Got Her Groove Back," you're going to want music with plenty of groove. Moreover, given the story's Caribbean setting, you're going to want a specific kind of groove, one that suggests the sweet, hot sensuality of Jamaica - but without going entirely native."Music from the Motion Picture 'How Stella Got Her Groove Back' " meets both criteria, and then some.

When Tricky began his career, working with the British dance music combine Massive Attack, he came up through the club bTC circuit in and around Bristol, England. As such, he was used to working in the studio and did occasional DJ gigs.But playing on a stage, in front of a rock and roll band? That was something totally unknown to him. So when he went solo, and began touring behind his debut album, "Maxinquaye," he was a little less than confident on stage."When we started off, we were shy," he says over the phone from a tour stop in Knoxville, Tenn.

The National Art Honor Society at Howard High School will sponsor "Empty Bowls," a fundraiser for Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday in the school cafeteria, 8700 Old Annapolis Road, Ellicott City. Admission is $10 and includes a soup-and-bread dinner and a ceramic bowl. The ceramic bowls were created by Howard High students, teachers and families. The soup comes from teachers, parents and other members of the community. Proceeds will go to Grassroots, Howard County's 24-hour crisis center and homeless shelter.

Musical 'Dreamcoat' at Mount Hebron High Mount Hebron High School will present its spring musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, at 2 p.m. today and 7 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the school's auditorium, 9440 Route 99, Ellicott City. The production includes 70 high school students and 55 elementary and middle school children, who make up the chorus. Tickets are $10. To reserve tickets, call 410-313-2880. Tickets can also be purchased in the school cafeteria between 10 a.m. and noon weekdays.

The Ellicott City Senior Center, 9401 Frederick Road, is offering two new classes. A free Cardio Groove Fitness class will be offered from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. March 4. The low-impact class is designed for ages 50 and older. Tracy Cox (e-mail cox@freedomfitness.info) will lead the class. Reservations are not needed. A Cardio Groove class will be offered from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, starting March 9. The session runs through April 29. The cost is $69 for 14 classes.

For a fun, soulful outdoor barbecue, there are several things you must have. Of course, there's the food: potato salad, baked beans, ribs. (And whoever is manning the grill better know what he's doing.) You must have beer and liquor for the adults, Kool-Aid or Capri Sun pouches for the kids. But if you want to keep the barbecue from sinking into lame territory, you must also have music - plenty of good, upbeat jams. As friends and I prepare to get together for the Fourth of July, we delegate different duties.

White Sox@Orioles 7 P.M. [MASN2] Orioles pitcher Adam Loewen gets his third start and will try to find a groove. The left-hander has had two shaky outings (7.45 ERA in 9 2/3 innings) in his return from elbow surgery. Also, the Boston Red Sox are visiting the New York Yankees at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.

Hometown -- Annapolis Current members --Marty Bouchard, drums; Larry Byrne, organ; Matt Dalton, tenor and alto saxophone; Jason Crawford, vocals and percussion Founded in --2003 Style --jazz funk Influenced by --Bill Withers, Jaco Pastorius, Sergei Rachmaninov, Billy Cobham and Mos Def Notable --The group recently finished mastering its debut record, which features 11 originals and one cover -- of a Bobby Hutcherson tune. The originals span multiple genres, from straight jazz songs to hip-hop fusion tracks.

Over the years, Groove Stu has become a familiar Baltimore neo-soul group whose sound is gradually getting out to the masses. Since its arrival in 2000, the band has played at some local clubs and at some of Charm City's high-profile cultural events -- Artscape, the African American Heritage Festival and the New Africa Festival. Groove Stu is quietly making inroads on the larger music scene, taking its brand of soul, reggae, hip-hop and rap to such cities as Washington, Atlanta and New York.

Just announced Sinead O'Connor -- Music Center at Strathmore in Bethesda on Oct. 24. 410-547-SEAT or ticketmaster .com. Tori Amos -- DAR Constitution Hall in Washington on Oct. 26. 410-547-SEAT or ticketmaster.com. Phil Lesh & Friends -- Lyric Opera House on Oct. 16. 410-547-SEAT or ticketmaster.com. Perpetual Groove -- Recher Theatre in Towson on Oct. 26. 410-337-7210, 410-547-SEAT or ticketmaster .com. Morrissey -- Rams Head Live on Oct. 31. 410-244-1131 or ramsheadlive.com. Still available Bob Dylan and his Band and Elvis Costello -- Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia on Sept.

Sam Cassell stretched out his hands, the ones that held the imaginary torch. "It's passed," Cassell said with the smile that still can't be mistaken for any other. "Here it is, 'Melo, here it is." Carmelo Anthony wasn't standing right there to physically accept what Cassell was handing him. In reality, Anthony already had taken it, and the sea of humanity swarming all over the Cloverdale courts yesterday was proof. It was Anthony's second annual Melo's HOOD (Holding Our Own Destiny) three-on-three basketball tournament and family day, and Cassell, who completed the Baltimore-to-NBA journey a decade before Anthony, was there to pay homage.

Concert Group plays the Recher The sound of the quintet Sound Tribe Sector 9 has been de scribed as consisting of "lay ered sonic landscapes, devel oped melodic movements and deep groove sensibilities." The group will play the Recher The atre, 512 York Road, tonight. Doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets, $17 to $20, are available by calling 410-337-7210 or 410-547-SEAT or through ticketmaster.com.