A & E -> A&E WED, FEB 13 3:21PM by The Associated Press
Essence Fest expands lineup
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — R&B singer-songwriter Trey Songz, who has collaborated with hip-hop artists Jay-Z, Drake and others, has been added to this year's Essence Festival lineup.
The festival is scheduled for the Fourth of July weekend in New Orleans.
On Wednesday, organizers also announced that Solange is joining the lineup that already includes her big sister, Beyonce.
Beyonce is headlining one of three night concerts during the festival, which runs July 4-7. It'll be Beyonce's second performance in the Superdome this year. She entertained a huge television audience during the Super Bowl halftime show earlier this month.
Other acts scheduled to perform are Jill Scott, Maxwell, New Edition, Charlie Wilson, Keyshia Cole, LL Cool J, Brandy and others.
New additions announced Wednesday to the intimate Superlounges — stages set up in the Superdome's massive corridors — will feature: Faith Evans, Tamia, Rachelle Ferrell and Mali Music. They join previously announced crowd pleasers: Anthony David, Big Daddy Kane, Bridget Kelly, Blackstreet, Jody Watley and Mint Condition.
As music concerts take place in the Superdome, seminars on education, health, civil rights and personal empowerment will be held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. This year's speakers include Steve Harvey, the Rev. Al Sharpton, state Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., an icon from the civil rights era, and best-selling author and relationship expert Iyanla Vanzant.
There will soon be a whole lot of shakin’ going on at Benny’s Sportshack Supplement Depot, a new concept by Opelousas native Benny Nele. Located at 2002 Johnston St., the supplement shop, smoothie bar and café, featuring hot off the press paninis and wraps, plans to open in late May.
Philip deMahy Sr., a once respected New Iberia ad exec, was sentenced May 2 to spend the next two years (he faced up to 100 years) in a state penitentiary after state and federal investigators found dozens of images depicting children engaged in lewd sexual acts on his personal computer.
This year’s Cool Town issue is all about people who are not native to South Louisiana but made a conscious decision to be here, to be among us, to participate in our culture and contribute to it.
A shelved ordinance transferring $200,000 from a northside drainage project to a south Lafayette development may not break any laws, but it stinks to high heaven.
An effort to restore a shuttered dancehall and document other vacant or razed honky-tonks could serve as a model for saving an endangered species of entertainment.
Lafayette’s gene pool has been host to a long line of eccentric characters who have blurred the lines between crazy, genius, disturbed and curiously entertaining.
Subscribe to this comment's feed