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Essence Festival
wraps up in New Orleans
By CHEVEL JOHNSON
The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS - The Essence Music Festival wrapped up its 14th year Sunday
night, which was marked by the return of Grammy Award-winner Mary J. Blige and
comedian Chris Rock.
The Louisiana Superdome was even more packed than it was Saturday as Blige
appeared once again at the festival, while Rock returned for the first time in
12 years.
"I'm so honored to have been invited four years in a row," Blige told
reporters before her set. "It's such a blessing."
Blige was welcomed by a wild crowd that remained energetic until she
departed the stage. But the music wasn't the only attraction for
festival-goers.
Danae Green, of Pittsburgh, Calif., said she was enthralled by the free
empowerment seminars and marketplace sponsored by the festival and held inside
the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.
"This is just my second year attending," Green said as she looked at jewelry
on display. "I had a good time at the concerts, but I didn't know all this was
going on."
Sunday's seminars included performances by gospel stars Tye Tribett and
Regina Belle as well as inspirational words from televangelist Juanita Bynum.
 Green
said last year she didn't even venture into the convention center.
"It's different this time," she said. "I'm enjoying the food, the artists
and the vendors. I was able to attend the worship service. I'll definitely be
back."
Reggie Wilson of Atlanta said he and his family have turned attending the
festival into an annual affair.
"I really enjoy it," he said. "We've made it into a reunion. It's one of the
few times of the year that we're able to meet up together as a family. The
empowerment seminars are great, the concerts are the bomb and I'll keep coming
back as long as they keep having it."
The Superdome's main stage acts Sunday also include Morris Day and The Time
and Maze featuring Frankie Beverly. Maze has closed out the festival each year
since it began in 1995.
Saturday night's lineup included LL Cool J, Musiq, Jill Scott and a tribute
to soul diva Patti LaBelle.
Hear Some Of Ne-Yo's
Brand-New Material!
MTV News - 2008 - Hear Some Of Ne-Yo's Brand-New Material!
Rape charge dropped
against Poison drummer
By CHRIS TALBOTT
The Associated Press
 JACKSON,
Miss. - A rape charge against Rikki Rockett has been dropped after authorities
determined that the Poison drummer was not in the state at the time of the
alleged crime.
Authorities say they are now looking for a man with a history of passing
himself off as a rock musician to pick up women.
Rockett was accused of raping a woman at a central Mississippi casino in
September 2007 and arrested in March. The Neshoba County district attorney's
office confirmed Tuesday that the charges were dropped.
Rockett said he was in California when the rape was alleged.
"I was with my fiance watching her try on wedding dresses," Rockett said in
a Tuesday phone interview with The Associated Press from Salt Lake City, where
Poison is preparing to launch a 49-date tour. "We've got eyewitnesses to that."
Police arrested Rockett, whose real name is Richard Ream, at Los Angeles
International Airport upon his return from a concert in New Zealand in March.
The 46-year-old said he's never been arrested before and feared his reputation
would be ruined.
 "That
is one word you don't want associated with your name," Rockett said. "Rape is
right up there with murder and child molestation."
Authorities are now looking for John Minskoff, who authorities say has a
history of passing himself off as a rock musician to pick up women. Messages
left with the Neshoba County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday were not immediately
returned.
Rockett held an exoneration benefit party on Saturday to raise money for
Centurion Ministries, which aids those who have been wrongly convicted of
crimes. He's now in Utah practicing with bandmates in preparation for the tour
that starts Thursday.
The hair-metal act that scored hits in the '80s like "Talk Dirty To Me" and
"Every Rose Has Its Thorn."
50 Cent Says His Ex 'Said All Kind
Of Things About Me I Never
Would Expect' After House Fire
'I'd like to be able to just see my baby,' rapper says of
his son, Marquis, with Shaniqua Tompkins.
By Shaheem Reid, with additional
reporting by Tim Kash
MTV news is reporting that
50 Cent just
celebrated his 33rd birthday on Sunday, he has a
new
G-Unit album out in stores, millions upon millions in the bank — heck, a
park in the neighborhood he grew up in is about to be named after him. But the
Queens, New York, icon told MTV News last week that it's difficult for him to
be the happy person we might assume he is.
Fif is going through what he called the "toughest" thing he's encountered in
his life: not being able to see his 11-year-old son, Marquis, when he wants to.
"I'm not going through a custody battle; just a transition," 50 clarified. "I'd
like to be able to just see my baby."
With Marquis on break from school for the next couple of months, 50 would
love to bring him out on the road, like he has in the past. This year, it will
be different.
"In the summertime, for the first two years I was successful, my son has
traveled with us on those tours. He was on the
Rock
the Mic Tour, he was on the
Anger
Management Tour. This summer, when he's free, it's, like, no communication.
It's tough."
Just a couple of weeks ago, Shaniqua Tompkins took out a temporary
restraining order against 50 in the wake of her $4 million Long Island home
burning down in a fire the authorities classified as "suspicious." Tompkins
quickly charged foul play, accusing 50 — who was on a movie set at the time in
Louisiana — of possibly having something to do with the inferno. "He said that
he was going to have someone come kill me, and see what he does? This is what
he did," she told TMZ cameras.
50 responded through lawyers and online, calling the accusations ridiculous.
"It's a surprise," 50 told us about the fire. "Nobody anticipates a house
burning down." Tompkins' next step was filing a defamation lawsuit in late
June.
While talking to MTV News, 50 didn't want to say too much about his drama
with Tompkins. "I really don't wanna talk about it, because my son at some
point will have the opportunity to see the tapes," he said. "She's still his
mother, and I'm still his father, regardless. He's gonna love both of us.
"My relationship with my son is changing because he and his mom aren't
friends anymore," he added, giving a more in-depth explanation. "There's
different channels I have to go through. He has lawyers appointed to him
through the court. So I have to talk to his lawyer to get things situated for
me to for me to actually get him. The relationship between my wallet and his
mom has changed. When people have expensive habits, it's a hell of a transition
for them when that money is not there anymore. She said all kind of things
about me I never would expect."
50 surmised that the discord between him and Tompkins has put their child in
a difficult situation.
"I think he doesn't want his mom to feel like he's a traitor," the rapper
said. " ... The time I spent away is the time he developed this thing he's
afraid to break with her. There's nothing you can do about that. This is the
toughest [thing I've had to face], because he's my motivation."
The Who
honored in Los Angeles
By DERRIK J. LANG
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES - The Who was celebrated at a special
concert by a few bands outside of their generation.
 The
legendary band was honored at the Saturday taping of the third annual "VH1 Rock
Honors," which will air Thursday on the cable channel. Celebrity guests such as
David Duchovny, Mila Kunis, Rainn Wilson and Adam Sandler introduced The
Flaming Lips, Foo Fighters, Incubus, Tenacious D and Pearl Jam, who covered
songs from such Who albums as "Tommy," "The Who Sell Out" and "Quadrophenia."
Who guitarist Pete Townshend and lead singer Roger
Daltrey closed the special concert at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion with a performance
of some of the band's greatest hits. Original drummer Keith Moon died in London
in 1978. Original bassist John Entwistle died in Las Vegas in 2002. Moon and
Entwistle were remembered in pre-taped retrospectives during the over two-hour
show.
"I have had a life of absolute privilege and wonder,"
Daltrey told AP Television News on the red carpet before the concert. "How
could it ever be bittersweet? I miss old friends, but they are with me. When we
start playing our music, John (Entwistle) and Keith (Moon) echo with us all the
time, so it's kind of like they never left."
"The Office" funnyman Wilson, dressed as Elton John's character Local Lad
from "Tommy," introduced The Flaming Lips, who performed a medley of songs from
The Who's legendary 1969 rock opera. Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne began
the "Tommy" set inside of a giant plastic bubble that traveled over the first
few rows of the audience.
 "It's
an honor to honor what I consider to be the greatest band of all time," actor
and Tenacious D lead singer Jack Black told the crowd before acoustically
performing "Squeeze Box" with musical partner Kyle Gass. "Wanna know why they
were the greatest? Because they were the first ones to really rock hard."
Sean Penn introduced Pearl Jam, who were joined for
"Love Reign O'er Me" with an orchestra and "The Real Me" with horn players.
Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder and lead guitarist Mike McCready
respectively paid homage to The Who's penchant for destroying instruments by
throwing a microphone into the audience and a guitar up in the air.
"We know that we're all here tonight because The Who
never did sell out, unlike certain music channels," Penn told the crowd.
The Who wowed the packed audience with such tunes as
"Teenage Wasteland," "The Seeker," "My Generation," "Two Thousand Years,"
"Batman" and "Who Are You." Townshend stopped the band in the middle of
performing "Won't Get Fooled Again" because of an issue with his speaker and
later started the song over from the beginning. Daltrey and Townshend closed
the show with "Tea and Theatre."
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