K-Ci and JoJo Need (To) 'Knock It Off'

If you're fans of K-Ci & JoJo, you'll be delighted to see that the brothers are making new music again. They released a new single, titled "Knock It Off," about three weeks ago, and on Thursday they dropped the music video for the song.

"Knock It Off" is a good re-introduction for K-Ci & JoJo onto the music scene. The song has an uptempo, two-step-worthy beat, and sounds like the kind of tune that will get played often on adult contemporary/R&B stations. The video is in black-and-white, set in a 1920s era (or some period close to it), seemingly to convey that K-Ci & JoJo make timeless music. It's the first single from their forthcoming album, My Brother's Keeper, which is scheduled to be released on September 24. It will be their first new studio album since 2002.

Yes, it's hard to be that it's been more than a decade since the brothers from Monroe, who at times have lived in Charlotte, have released a new album. During their absence from the new-releases shelves, their record labels have put out several greatest hits and compilations of their work, taking advantage of the fact that many people love their ballads, such as "Crazy" and the undeniable wedding anthems "All My Life" and "This Very Moment." And I'm not even going to get into the legacy they created as one-half of the 1990s chart-topping R&B group Jodeci.

While K-Ci & JoJo have continued to tour here and there over the years, the reason you haven't gotten much new music from them during the past decade (in case you didn't know) is because of the well-documented substance abuse issues they've had. I thought things were finally about to turn around for them in 2010 when I interviewed them for a Creative Loafing article published that October, a week before the premiere of their reality TV show, K-Ci & JoJo...Come Clean. In addition to talking about their new show, they told me about where they were in their lives and careers. After the show debuted on TV One, I was one of the fans who watched each week as they showcased their struggles with alcohol and drugs, addressed problems with their families and within their personal lives, and tried to convince music executives that they were getting their act together.

But no new, officially released music came for nearly three years, until now. K-Ci & JoJo seem to still have their great voices; let's just hope they have their health and sobriety. As with many legendary musicians that have taken a lot of time away from what made them adored by millions of fans, they're going to have to work hard to recapture the audiences who grew up with them--fans will always want to hear K-Ci & JoJo's classics, but will they want to hear the new stuff? And they'll need to capture the attention of the younger audience who probably have danced to one of their songs at a wedding, but don't actually know much about them. 

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'Banshee' Premieres Friday on Cinemax, Look for Charlotte

I added Cinemax to my premium cable TV lineup last week, so for the last several days I've seen previews for the network's new series Banshee, which premieres this Friday, January 11 at 10 p.m. The show is described as: "From the creator of True Blood, Banshee stars Antony Starr as Lucas Hood, an ex-con and master thief who assumes the identity of the sheriff of Banshee, Pennsylvania, where he continues his criminal activities, even as he’s hunted by the shadowy gangsters he betrayed years earlier." The series also stars Ivana Milicevic, Ben Cross, Frankie Faison, Ulrich Thomsen, and Lili Simmons.

Sometimes these action-crime dramas become television hits, and sometimes they only last one season. But I'm tuning in each week specifically to see if and when I spot scenes of Charlotte, and hopefully I become a fan of the show in the process. That's one of the things I enjoy about watching Homeland, in addition to it being one of the best shows on TV. Banshee began production in the Charlotte area last spring and, according to its local casting Facebook page, looks like filming continued here throughout the summer. Similar to Homeland where Charlotte plays the role of Washington, D.C., in Banshee the Charlotte area plays the fictional small town of Banshee, Pennsylvania.

In the trailer for Banshee, I spotted the Levine Avenue of the Arts in Uptown at the 1:24 mark. It's a quick snippet of a police shootout scene, and you can see the Mint Museum sign on the right and the historic St. Peter's Catholic Church across the street.

Screenshot.

For more details on Banshee, visit www.cinemax.com/banshee, and also check out the cool Gif Shop.

UPDATE
Small towns in the Charlotte area are more prominently used than the Queen City itself in this season of Banshee. "Five towns make Banshee: Monroe, Mooresville, Lincolnton, Gastonia, and Waxhaw," Banshee directing show runner Greg Yaitanes told The Charlotte Observer. "No one town captured everything that Banshee was, but everything existed in that area, and it allowed us to go to a lot of different places and make that town." Additionally, a local watering hole on Old Statesville Road in north Charlotte is used, and sets for select interiors were built on a sound stage in warehouses along Reames Road in Charlotte.

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Charlotte Metro Credit Union Celebrates 50 Years, but Should Consult Don Draper

Charlotte Metro Credit Union is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Founded in 1962, it now has eight branches in the Charlotte area. It appears to me that business is good for CMCU, as it is likely experiencing some of the resurgence that many credit unions and small, local banks around the country have ever since the "big banks" helped cause the financial meltdown a few years ago, and as consumers have grown increasingly frustrated with the practices and fees by some of the large institutions. So as CMCU markets the benefits of its services and touts its 50 years of serving Charlotte, it has been doing so with a bit of an edge.

A TV commercial CMCU first aired in the local market on NBC during the Super Bowl took shots at the big banks, which, as you know, have a major presence in Charlotte. "Apparently there's no limit to what big banks will do for profits," says the voiceover as the commercial shows, what is presumed to be, a banker going around sucking money out of people's pockets with a vacuum. In this, as in several of CMCU's advertisements, it ends with the slogan "like a bank...only better."

A couple of days ago I came across the ad below on charlotteobserver.com, in which the square web ad reads: "Fidel Castro started something in 1962. So did Charlotte Metro Credit Union. Celebrating 50 years." I was like, "What, Castro?" Because the first thing that came to mind was the controversy stirred up recently by Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillén after his comments about Castro, which made it clear how it can be risky to associate yourself in any way with the polarizing Cuban leader.

I'm assuming the "Fidel Castro started something in 1962" line in the ad is referring to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Putting my Don Draper hat on for a minute (my new addiction to Mad Men manages to creep up often in my conversations), here's why the ad doesn't work. 1) Until I Googled, I didn't know what Castro did in 1962. Yes, I'm knowledgeable of the Cuban Missile Crisis, but the date it occurred isn't infamous like 9/11. 2) When you see the web ad as a solo piece of promotion for the bank, it makes you question the association with Castro. It wasn't until I did a little digging that I came across a second ad, that uses Gregory Peck, that I realized it's part of a series (see that ad below). "Gregory Peck defended something in 1962," it reads, referring to the late actor's portrayal of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. Again, it takes too much work for the consumer. I appreciate the cleverness of it, but the campaign falls short without a reveal--the ads should link to a promotion that gives more depth to the campaign--sort of like Google Doodles; instead, when I clicked on them they simply took me to the bank's homepage.

So, in short, the Castro ad doesn't work. I am, however, more fond of this 30-second commercial about CMCU's 50th anniversary. It shows quick glimpses of several historical figures and important moments from the 1960s, including John F. Kennedy, Jackie Robinson, Marilyn Monroe, a space shuttle launching, as well as a shot of Castro, a news clip of "The Cuban Crisis," and a marquee of Gregory Peck and To Kill a Mockingbird. The TV spot works because you're given the full context right away.

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Phylicia Barnes Now Missing for Three Months, Featured Again on 'Today Show'

Tomorrow makes it exactly three months since seventeen-year-old Phylicia Barnes from Monroe disappeared while visiting her sister in Baltimore during the Christmas holiday. The Today Show aired a five-minute segment yesterday, updating the national public on her case. This is particularly great since her disappearance was scrutinized early on for the lack of media attention it received.

Phylicia Barnes, a star student at Union Academy, should've been preparing to graduate.

The Today Show is a huge platform, and it will spark many local news stations around the country to do similar updates on the status of Phylicia's case. Watch the Today Show clip below (or click here). You can also follow the "Pray for Phylicia Barnes" Facebook page where more than 20,000 people have shown their support. Hopefully this attention will lead to her safe return.

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Missing N.C. Girl Phylicia Barnes Now Getting Media Attention...for Not Getting Media Attention

Seventeen-year-old Phylicia Barnes, an honor student from Monroe, has been missing since December 28. She was spending the holidays with her sister in Baltimore, but there's been no trace of her since she went out shopping one afternoon--no activity on her cell phone or bank card.

Photo from the "Pray for Phylicia Barnes" Facebook page.

There's been debate and criticism over the amount of--or lack thereof--attention Phylicia's case received during the early days and now weeks of her disappearance. The one positive about the scrutiny of media and the often-played race card, whether valid in this situation or not, is that this missing young lady is now getting the attention she deserves. An official with the Baltimore Police Department, who questioned the level of media coverage, referred to this as "Baltimore's Natalee Holloway case."

See video below from the NBC Nightly News segment that aired this evening about Phylicia.

While I hope this case turns out better than another missing woman case we had a few months ago, I'm reminded of a point I made then about the importance of media attention: "Valerie Hamilton's Case on 'Good Morning America'."

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Up Against the Ropes...Course

Yesterday I wrapped up my weeklong position at a summer leadership camp for rising ninth graders. It was a lot of fun and a rewarding experience for both the students and staff, enhanced by the fact that we spent the final day of camp at Xtreeme Challenge, a ropes course facility in Monroe.

Xtreeme Challenge offers high and low ropes courses, and our group of 22 did the low ropes. We conquered The Challenge Walk, which is 12 interconnected activities, and as the site leader instructed us: "For the next two hours you aren't supposed to touch the ground." The challenge in many of the obstacles was to not fall off because if you touched the ground your team would be penalized one point. The overall purpose of the challenge is to promote team building, and you'd be surprised what lessons you could learn trying to figure out how you and your teammates are going to make it across a row of drawbridges or swinging on ropes like Tarzan.

Xtreeme Challenge is a good idea as an activity for anyone ranging from youth groups to corporate staffs. Adults, if they're brave enough, would want to try the high ropes courses, which include activities that are suspended 24 feet in the air and a 300-foot zip line that races across a lake. Visit www.xtreemechallenge.com for more details.

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