Playlist

Want to play for the many hungry fans at Taste Addison? You can enter tracks to compete to be one of the musical entertainers at the big fest here. The festival runs May 9 to 11 and the performance slot they're looking to fill is on May 10 (the winner also gets perks like two VIP passes to the fest, 20 free admission tickets and hotel accomodations).

According to Billboard, Solange Knowles has set an Aug. 26 date for her second CD, titled Sol-Angel and the Hadley Street Dreams. Producers for this album include Raphael Saadiq, Cee-Lo, Q-Tip, Mark Ronson and Pharrell, which broadcasts (to me, anyway) that she's going in a decidedly different direction from any of her previous efforts to grab some star shine. Remember her duet with Bow Wow?

OK, you need further proof that she might be going in a new direction (besides the all-too-funky and Cee-Lo-like title)? Bilal wrote a song, and Marsha Ambrosius of Floetry performs on a track with her. But just to make sure she gets a radio hit, she does have a song with Lil Wayne, called "Champagnechronicnightcap." Remember, you gotta hit all the bases or the run doesn't count.

It smells like it to me. Check out today's story from the Associated Press:

SCARSDALE, N.Y. -- A village clerk says a marriage license for Beyonce Knowles and Jay-Z, dated April 4 and signed by the person who officiated at the wedding, is being filed with the state.
The license was received by mail last Friday, says Scarsdale Clerk Donna Conkling. She would not say who officiated.

I don't like big pink elephants sitting in the middle of a hot topic. This story about rappers performing for youths and giving their testimonies on the syndicated radio show The Spirit of Hip-Hop exposes the humongous rosy pachyderm that always accompanies the topic of mainstream hip-hop and religion: How can you rap about b*tches and hoes, then turn around and tell kids that God is real in your life?

It reminds me how amazed I get sometimes when listening to "K104" KKDA-FM (104.5). It has the pastor of Friendship West Baptist Church on most mornings to give a spiritual, "inspirational vitamin" about the love of God, living right and becoming a better person. Then what follows? Often a song celebrating strip clubs, drunkenness, violence or the degradation of women. No transition, no sense of irony and no acknowledgement of the very obvious hypocrisy served up.

CNN International poses the same question to Sprit of Hip-Hop host Corey Condrey in this video.

ZZ Top will release its first concert DVD, Live From Texas, on June 24. Shot here in November at Nokia Theatre, the DVD features all the hits, as well as footage of Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill and Frank Beard discussing band history over a game of poker. The trio's been in Dallas recently recording its first studio CD since 2003.

This just in to my mailbox today: Al Green's Lay It Down (a lot of it produced by the Roots' Ahmir "?estlove" Thompson!). The first track, also the title track, is vintage Al ... with guest singers John Legend, Corrinne Bailey Rae and Anthony Hamilton joining in. I'm gonna love this one. Legend, Hamilton and Rae pop up on other collaborations, too.
?estlove is quoted in the press materials as saying, "The reason why we are doing this is because we all idolize Al Green. Even today, nobody has range like him."

As for Al, he says he's spreading his "healing message of L-O-V-E." I ain't mad at him. Like the chorus of the title track says, "Lay it down/Let it go/Fall in love."