Queen Latifah

Toby Keith / Nissan Pavilion Country superstars Toby Keith and Lee Ann Womack headline the Big Throwdown II Tour, which stops at the Nissan Pavilion at Stone Ridge, 7800 Cellar Door Drive in Bristow, Saturday night at 7:30. Tickets are $33.25-$68.25 and are available through Ticketmaster. Dinosaur Jr. / 9:30 Club Dinosaur Jr., Bardo Pond and Majik Marker take over the 9:30 Club, 815 V. St. N.W. in Washington, Monday night at 7:30. Tickets are $30. For more information, visit www.930.

Billy Wilder said that what Greta Garbo and Marilyn Monroe had was "that strange trick of flesh impact - that is to say, their flesh registered for the camera and came across on the screen as real flesh that you could touch." In Barbershop 2: Back in Business, director Kevin Rodney Sullivan finds that same "flesh impact" in the new gal on the block, Queen Latifah, and the returning cast (female and male) of the 2002 hit about a South Side, Chicago barbershop. He guides them with such intimate assurance that they envelop audiences in the warmth of a small, tight-knit and joyous body politic.

An update on the concert scene: newly announced shows and ticket availability. For ticket information and purchase, call Ticketmaster at 410-547-SEAT unless otherwise noted. Just announced Teena Marie performs at Constitution Hall in Washington on Aug. 6. Chayanne, Alejandro Fernandez and Marc Anthony will perform at Nissan Pavilion in Manassas, Va., on Sept. 10. Also, Eminem and 50 Cent, with guest Lil John & the Eastside Boyz, play there Aug. 5. "Scream IV Tour," featuring Bow Wow, Omarion, Marques Houston and Bobby Valentino, will be held at 1st Mariner Arena on July 24. Also, System of a Down, with guests Bad Acid Trip and the Mars Volta, is there Aug. 22. Still available Basshound at the Funk Box on July 5. "Sugar Water Festival," featuring Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Queen Latifah and Floetry at Merriweather Post Pavilion on July 9. "Groovin' for Grover," starring Gerald Albright, Jeff Lorber and Kirk Whalum at the Lyric Opera House on July 15. Show benefits the Protect A Dream Foundation.

NEW YORK -- A woman in black rushed up to Todd Oldham as he entered the paint-by-numbers show at the Bridgewater Lustberg gallery in SoHo a few weeks ago. "Of course, you'd be here," she chirped, throwing an air kiss to the 30-year-old designer. "Your work is so kitschy."Mr. Oldham, a native Texan who can look like a wholesome farm boy one minute and a Joe Orton punk the next, smiled his best Opie smile and walked away, slightly irked."Congratulations, you star," said Kachin Kobayashi, a fashion stylist.

Queen Latifah sued by makeup artist, stylist A makeup artist and a fashion stylist claim in coordinated lawsuits that they got ugly treatment from Queen Latifah when she cheated them out of $1 million. Celebrity cosmetology consultant Roxanna Floyd says she lost $700,000 when the rapper-actress failed to pay her for work she did between July 2005 and February 2008. In a separate lawsuit, celebrity fashion stylist Susan Moses said she was cheated out of $300,000 during the same period.

Bringing Down the House is a gut-busting black-and-white culture clash comedy. It's not elegantly done. Some of the acting is too broad to enjoy. It has plot problems and racial-stereotype problems. And truth be told, Disney is not the studio you'd expect to try to get jiggy with it. Disney's comedies with black actors have often had an unpleasant aftertaste. But that's kind of the point. The first truly funny movie of 2003 plays the race card, often to hilarious effect. In this corner - Peter, an uptight divorced white lawyer, played by the perfectly cast Steve Martin.

Fox Broadcasting has finally become a full-time, seven-night-a-week TV network. But from the looks of the schedule it announced yesterday, Fox has had to take some of the edge off its cutting-edge approach to programming to do it.Fox will still be the youngest and most hip network by far next fall, with a new variety show from Robert Townsend and a sitcom featuring Queen Latifah among 11 new shows. But it will also have a sitcom featuring Don Rickles and a talk show with Chevy Chase, neither of whom are exactly twentysomething.

Showing no signs of a sophomore slump, Damages returns tonight as the creators of the legal drama intensify their intricate thriller. Emmy winner Glenn Close is back in the hot seat as big-time litigator Patty Hewes. After defeating billionaire Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson), the steely Hewes plunges into a new battle, weathers personal anguish and finds a vast conspiracy. Patty's protege, Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne), seethes over Frobisher, blaming him for her fiance's slaying. Ellen also has become an FBI informant to take down Patty, and no wonder: Patty put out a hit on Ellen.

From the cover Queen Latifah takes a `Holiday' Queen Latifah ratchets down her typically outsized persona to great effect in Last Holiday, an endearing fish-out-of-water comedy that's best when its tone matches its star's performance. Unfortunately, director Wayne Wang (The Joy Luck Club, Because of Winn-Dixie) displays a tendency to slip into slapstick mode. When he does, my best advice is: Go for the popcorn. By the time you come back, Last Holiday will be back on track, Latifah will be back on the screen, and all will be well with the cinematic world.

Queen Latifah was in Maryland in October, giving concerts at the Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda and at Baltimore's Lyric Opera House as part of the Sheroes program, which honored women for their community service in the Baltimore area. Here are some things you might not know if you didn't see Latifah perform: She likes to relate to her audiences by playing up her homegrown roots. She spent many a day in Edgewood, where she has relatives, including her grandmother. Her father was backstage at both shows.