What it look like people of the world? We’ve reached the line finish of another five as we get closer to the Christmas holiday. More scandal for the week was front and center as Sen. George Mitchell puts Roger Clemens and other all-stars on blast with his report on steroid use in major league baseball, people in the Midwest and Northeast yield to a killer winter storm and boxer Floyd Mayweather remained undefeated after flattening Ricky Hatton. Condolences go out to the family of Ike Turner regarding the music pioneer’s death on Wednesday (Dec.14) and the families of the victims of the shooting at the Youth With a Mission Center in Colorado Springs. Congratulations to Jessica Alba, whose rep confirmed the actress’ pregnancy this week. Shout out to Will Smith for being immortalized by putting his hand and feet prints in cement in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in L.A., Gwen Stefani for donating $166,000 from a recent concert to provide scholarships for students who were affected by the California wildfires and Don Cheadle and George Clooney for accepting the Peace Summit Award on Thursday (Dec. 13) for their work in bringing the drama in the Darfur Region of the Sudan to the forefront. Last but not least, kudos to the sounding boards for showing up in the first place. So here we go. Lights, camera, action…the Last Word for the week ending Dec. 14, 2007. 1. Alicia Keys Leads Classified Life As one of the most talented and beautiful singers out now, Alicia Keys invites inquiries into her love life. But don’t expect the songbird to open up. Blame it on another well-known celebrity for Keys’ mum status concerning rumors of being more than friends with her producer. “That’s what they’ve been saying for a while now, but I don’t usually address that question,” the 26-year-old singer told Giant magazine. “Oprah told me never to tell – and I can’t disobey Oprah!” Although Keys will admit that she has “definitely found my partner,” the artist goes on to tell the mag that she’s been known to be a bit secretive when she first gets involved in a new relationship. “It’s my nature to let them show me who they are first before I show them who I am,” Keys said. “But once I’m in love with somebody, I’m the best girlfriend you could ever have.”Despite this, even the best girlfriend can fall victim to ordinary obstacles. In Keys’ case the obstacle is depression as her habit of concealing her feelings can ultimately cause emotional drainage. “I was feeling so sad all the time, and I couldn’t shake it,” she revealed. “I started burying my feelings, and it got to a point where I couldn’t even tell my family or my friends, ‘I’m twisted,’ or ‘I’m exhausted,’ or ‘I’m so angry.’ I became a master of putting up the wall so that I was unreadable.”Fortunately, Keys managed to overcome her depression as she told Uptown Magazine that she “had to learn to let go.” And the result is a fresh new album riding the top of the music charts as well as a better perspective on enjoying the fruits of life. While being classified can be cool, it’s sometimes better to say a little to get a lot. 2. Ginuwine Opens New Assisted Living Programs Ginuwine may be M.I.A. on the music charts, but the singer is giving back in a big way by teaming up with his wife Tonya Lumpkin to launch Special People Requiring Unique Care Equally (SPRUCE), a new assisted residential living program. The couple, who have partnered in the venture with health professional Terry Mason, officially opened the first SPRUCE program last week in Tonya’s hometown of Kansas City, MO. For Ginuwine, the opening is the culmination of years of hard work. “A long-standing friendship helped bring our attention to this very important issue. Always having a heart and desire to help others in need, partnering to establish SPRUCE has been our vision for years. Seeing it finally come to life is a very proud moment,” said the SPRUCE co-founder (born Elgin Lumpkin). “A cause very close to us, we are excited about providing disabled adults with the skills needed to lead a productive and happy life.” Co-founded by Ginuwine, the SPRUCE program provides real life skills assistance with a spiritual basis to physically and mentally disabled adults ages 18 and over. The initiative meets its objective by providing individualized supported living assistance, a non-facility based form of residential habilitation that gives participants a chance for independent living by providing support and training directly in the person’s residence, and personal assistant living services, a service that helps participants with their daily living activities by coaching, mentoring and providing minor problem solving skills that are needed to achieve increased independence, productivity and inclusion into the community. Ginuwine and Tonya will provide financial support for the program, while Mason will run the facility on a day-to-day basis. Plans to expand the program to St. Louis, Chicago and Kansas City, KS are currently underway.3. Amy Winehouse: WWE Fan With all the ups and downs and violent incidents as well as her mother making a public plea for her to come home and get some help, should it be too much of a stretch to label Amy Winehouse a fan of pro wrestling? Believe it or not, it’s true. According to the Sun newspaper, Winehouse is a die hard wrestling fan who enjoys watching WWE Smackdown and Raw. While many wrestling fans rank John Cena, the Undertaker, Triple H and Rey Mysterio among their favorite WWE Superstars, the Grammy nominated songstress counts Rob Van Dam and Chris Jericho as the wrestlers she loves to watch. Jericho and Winehouse share a common bond as the wrestler moonlights as the frontman of his own hard rock band Fozzy. After seeing Jericho in person years ago, a friend of Winehouse revealed that the singer was “so excited about meeting him, she wouldn’t stop talking about it.” “She was much more excited to meet a wrestler than any musician,” the pal told the Sun. “And she used to go crazy whenever Rob was on TV. He was her favorite.” Although she may be too thin to step in the ring with the WWE divas, Amy could be very effective as a manager for the most hated or popular wrestler out now. I can definitely see her interfering and taking a few steel chairs to anyone who tries to prevent her wrestler from winning the world title. Give her some time and she could eventually come into the ring for a mixed tag team match or a women’s title shot at Wrestlemania as she does double duty by performing on the show. Picture it for a minute as Amy comes of the top rope to lay the smack down with her beehive head butt.. Can you smell what the Winehouse is cooking? 4. R. Kelly Tour Comes to Church?! Despite a planned candlelight protest taking place tonight (Dec. 14) at the location of his latest tour stop, R.Kelly’s Double Up tour is planning to go on as planned. The trek, which is slated to play at the Forum in Los Angeles, will have more than those getting their flirt and bump and grind on as protesters will have lighted candles and questions pertaining to why the facility would host the controversial headliner. What’s so strange about this, you ask? Although the Forum served as a former playing home for the Los Angeles Lakers, the venue is currently owned by Faithful Central Church, a house of worship pastored by Bishop Kenneth C. Ulmer. “It’s like pulling teeth to get people to talk about this,” Jasmyne Cannick, an activist told the Los Angeles Times. “It’s a challenge to get the Black community to even discuss it. They’re acting like he doesn’t have 14 counts of child pornography against him. We’re all acting like we don’t have daughters and nieces and little sisters.” So let’s do the math. R. Kelly + church-owned venue = classic WTF moment for churchgoers and nonchurchgoers alike. “R. Kelly is currently facing 14 federal counts of child molestation. Why is the church not giving aid and comfort to the victims of sexual assaults?” Project Islamic HOPE activist Najee Ali in a statement. “How can the church allow R. Kelly to perform on Friday night, have service on Sunday morning and believe all is well? The message the church is sending to young children is that money is more important than taking a stand in support of victims who have been victimized by R. Kelly and other child molesters.” Call me crazy, but maybe they’re trying to drum up more money for their building fund. In the meantime, the candlelight vigil is scheduled to take place at 5 p.m. tonight outside the Forum in Inglewood. 5. Rihanna and Chris Brown Get Physical With Elephant Man Count singers Chris Brown and Rihanna among those lined up to appear on dancehall fixture Elephant Man’s forthcoming album. Brown will lend his vocals to “Feel the Strain,” while Rihanna makes a cameo on “Throw Your Hands Up.” Other featured guests on the album include Yung Joc, Diddy, Swizz Beats and Shaggy and Busta Rhymes, who team up to aid Elephant Man on a remix to the song “The Way We Roll.” Let’s Get Physical marks the first album from Elephant Man since his 2003 offering Good to Go. The Bad Boy/VP Records release is slated to hit stores on Jan. 29.
