Lulu

Back in the '60s, the British Invasion was basically a boys' club. All the major acts were male, from the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, to the Animals and the Yardbirds, and they wowed American audiences in ways that Britain's girl singers -- Cilla Black, Shirley Bassey, Lulu -- never could.Except for Dusty Springfield. Where the others seemed mannered or frivolous, Springfield exuded sophistication and soul, sounding so at home with the American-ness of rock and roll that many who heard her sing "You Don't Have To Say You Love Me" or "Son of a Preacher Man" never suspected she'd been born and bred in London.

Anew Cajun and Creole restaurant, Fat Lulu's, opened a couple of weeks ago at 1818 Maryland Ave. Eventually you'll be able to get dinner and a show there, but right now the management is concentrating on the kitchen, which is turning out shrimp gumbo, chicken jambalaya, Bourbon Street trout, blackened catfish with Louisiana crayfish sauce, red beans and rice with ham hocks, and crayfish pie. Entrees are priced from $9 to $16. Manager Eugene Jones promises "good...

Atlanta--Contentious, unyielding, litigious, uncompromising, bull-headed -- there are many unpleasant adjectives a foreigner might use watching how Americans come to loggerheads on issues from waste dumps to homeless shelters to low-income housing sites.We even have two new words in our language -- NIMBY for ''not in my backyard'' and LULU for ''locally unwanted land uses.''City councils argue such issues for years. Cases get ensnarled in endless litigation. Arbitrary court judgments sometimes frustrate all the parties.

Winning over Howie Mandel, Nick Cannon and thousands of other American TV viewers has its perks. Just ask Lulu, the "pleasantly plump" 27-year-old pole dancer from Hanover who auditioned on"America's Got Talent"earlier this month. She'll be a guest-judge for the first-ever Pole Dance Competition at Scores Baltimore Gentlemen's Club tonight. Lulu will be available for photos and autographs after the competition. The contest starts at 9 p.m., and will feature dancers from "all over," according to a press release from Scores.

THE NATIONAL Association for the Advancement of Colored People, just nine years shy of its 100th anniversary, was formed to secure full citizenship rights for the nation's African-American population. In this endeavor, it has been exemplary. When the organization has been right, it has been very right - NAACP lawyers argued successfully to end all-white primaries and segregated education. But oh, does the NAACP commit lulus when it's wrong. In the 1920s, the NAACP aided and abetted federal government officials in trumping up questionable mail-fraud charges against black nationalist leader Marcus Garvey, who was eventually deported.

On July 19, 2008, LULU, devoted sister of Willie Mae Washington. She is also survived by two god-daughters, Naomi McGee and Nellie Moore, nieces, nephews and other relatives. Friends may visit the JAMES A. MORTON & SONS FUNERAL HOMES, INC., 1701 Laurens Street, Friday, 1 to 7 P.M. On Saturday, Mrs. Commodore will lie in state at Whitestone Baptist Church, 3001 baker Street. The family will receive friends 10 to 10:30 A.M. Funeral service immediately following.

NAME : Lola NICKNAME : Lulu, Lo OWNER : Jenn and Herby HOW THEY MET : The Internet, it was love at first sight AGE : One year HOME : Davidsonville BREED : Pug FAVORITE ACTIVITIES : Snuggling, helping with laundry, visiting grandma and grandpa and playing with the horses BEST TRICKS : Gathering all the leaves in the yard FAVORITE FOODS : Steak, hot dogs and...

Douglas Radcliff-Umstead, a Baltimore native who was professor of Romance languages and literatures at Kent State University, was killed March 22 in the crash of a USAir jet taking off from La Guardia Airport in New York.A memorial service for Dr. Radcliff-Umstead, who was 52, was held Monday on the campus in Kent, Ohio.He is survived by his mother, Lulu Umstead of Kent; two brothers, Ronald and Gilbert Umstead, both of Catonsville; and a sister, Marlene Hetzel of Baltimore.

In New York the other night, I ran into my daughter's favorite author, Mary Pope Osborne, whose "Magic Tree House" books I've read to the child at night, and a moment later, Scott Turow, who writes legal thrillers that keep people awake all night, and David Remnick, the biographer of President Barack Obama. Bang bang bang, one heavyweight after another. Erica Jong, Jeffrey Toobin, Judy Blume. It was a rooftop party in Tribeca that I got invited to via a well-connected pal, wall-to-wall authors and agents and editors and elegant young women in little black dresses, standing, white wine in hand, looking out across the Hudson at the lights of Hoboken and Jersey City, eating shrimp and scallops and spanikopita on toothpicks, all talking at once the way New Yorkers do. I grew up on the windswept plains with my nose in a book, so I am awestruck in the presence of book people, even though I have written a couple books myself.