Whoopi Goldberg signs on as Guest Presenter and Alicia Keys, Ludacris, Mira Sorvino and Petra Nemcova added to Concert’s Host Committee.

Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc. announced today that Garth Brooks, Joss Stone, Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds, and Queen Latifah have joined the all-star line up for The Dream Concert to benefit the building of the Memorial on the National Mall.
Tickets for The Dream Concert, which will be held at Radio City Music Hall on September 18, 2007 at 8 p.m., go on sale to the public on Monday, July 30th at 9:00 a.m. Tickets are priced at $250, $500 and $1,000 and are available through TicketMaster phones and outlets and at www.ticketmaster.com. Go to www.thedreamconcert.com for more information.

Garth Brooks, Queen Latifah, Joss Stone and Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds join the world’s top artists including Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Carlos Santana, Robin Thicke, Bebe Winans, Cece Winans and Jessye Norman for a once-in-a-lifetime concert. Whoopi Goldberg has joined as a special guest presenter and Grammy-award winner Alicia Keys, along with Oscar-winner Mira Sorvino, Petra Nemcova and Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, are the newest additions to The Dream Concert Host Committee. Rickey Minor has signed on as Musical Director.

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If you’re a member of the Alicia Keys Fanclub be sure to check out the fourth book club post of Alicia in the forums. Click here to access the forums.

(PS: it’s Some People, Some Other Place by J. California Cooper)

A Note from Alicia:

This moved me. And this day 8.29.07 is very important! Would you believe after 2 years this is STILL going on?? It’s obvious that if we don’t make some noise about this, it’ll never change.

So, Let’s just take 5 minutes starting now, to read through this message from Susan Taylor, editor of Essence Magazine, call the number(s) provided, make some noise and let those in power, who think that we are passive and that they can get away with ANYTHING, know we’re not going for this….

Subject: 8/29 - A DAY OF PRESENCE - Message from Susan Taylor

Greetings, All-

I’m just back from the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans, which was a grand success, contributed more than $120 million to the city and raised the hope and spirits of our people throughout the region. While there, Tommy Dortch and I, our spouses Carole Dortch and Khephra Burns, Marcia and Michael Eric Dyson and PR guru Terrie Williams met privately with Mayor Ray Nagin about the deplorable and shameful conditions that the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region are still suffering under, the obstacles the mayor has faced in trying to marshal resources for the recovery and the actions we all can and must take on August 29, the second anniversary of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

There must be a national outcry, a day of outrage, a day of protest, pray and possibility that the media cannot ignore; a day during which we demand that our national decision makers redirect our tax dollars away from war and war profiteering to create a regional Marshall Plan that restores New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

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R&B superstar Alicia Keys is desperate to team up with rockers The White Stripes and begged bandmembers Jack and Meg White to perform on her new album. Keys - who claims The White Stripes’ new album Icky Thump is her favourite this year - reveals the trio are planning a collaboration soon. She says, “I’m dying to work with them. Me and The White Stripes are going to do something crazy. We tried to work something out for this record, but the timing got a little crazy and it didn’t come off. I know we can do something next time around.” The Fallin’ hitmaker hints at move in a new musical direction by revealing her dream to team up with another rock group: “I’m dying to work with Queens Of The Stone Age too. Both bands have a very simple approach to music, but it has a soul to it that I totally get. If we did something together, it would be incredible.”

Alicia is in the UK right now, she flew into London last night for an album playback and surprise performance at Portman Square’s Home House.

She also did an interview which you can here at The Hookup Myspace. She confirmed that her upcoming album, As I Am, has been pushed back to November 6th.

Brad Paisley will perform in Elmo’s Christmas Special on ABC later this year. Other guests on the show include Sheryl Crow, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, Ty Pennington, The Sopranos’ Tony Sirico and Steve Schirripa (who will portray Bert and Ernie in a skit) and Ben Stiller (who will voice Stiller the Elf). The characters Big Bird, Grover, Oscar, Count von Count and Snuffleupagus will also appear.

Soul legend Al Green says it’s been all love and happiness working on his next album — a duets project produced by Roots drummer Ahmir “Guestlove” Thompson that will feature collaborations with Anthony Hamilton, D’Angelo and possibly Alicia Keys and Joss Stone.

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