Pretty Ricky has `meet and greet`

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The ‘Scream Tour’ heartthrobs pound
Cleveland with knockout performance
By FELICIA C. HANEY
Contributing Writer
Recently BET presented the
“Scream Tour IV” at the Wolstein
Center in downtown Cleveland.
Helping the tour to live up to it’s
name were hip-hop and R&B sensations B5, Pretty Ricky, Bobby
Valentino, Marques Houston,
Omarion and Bow Wow as they
made thousands of yelling teens
scream for more.
Although the tour was missing
in action last year, these go-getters
have captured the charts all year
long and their star power has caused
the tour to reemerge by popular
demand. The heartthrobs jumpstarted the tour on July 20 and by the 27
they were hitting up Bow Wow’s
home state of Ohio with back to
back performances in Cleveland and
his hometown of Columbus. By the
end of its run, the Scream Tour will
be heard in over 30 cities across the
nation.
To really review the all-male
line up, one would have to picture
themselves seated in what would be
considered a really great row at the
Wolstein Center (formerly known as
the Convocation Center). Then
imagine being surrounded by hundreds of antsy teenyboppers, holding handmade signs and wearing
handcrafted outfits displaying the
various performers’ names embedded in airbrushed hearts and stars.
Suddenly the lights go dim,
immediately followed by pure pandemonium. Unless you’re one of the
high-strung, hollering fans, you
can’t even hear yourself think.
Nevertheless, whatever position you
play in the crowd your eyes are
deadlocked in the direction of the
stage waiting for the slightest movement. After a few seconds, which to
some seemed like hours, the overhead announcement blared out the
question “Are y’all ready to see
B5?” The response is deafening,
amazingly somehow higher-pitched
than the previous outburst.
Finally brothers Dustin, Kelly,
Patrick, Carnell and Bryan Breeding
(better known as B5) enter the stage
and it is official that the show has
begun. P. Diddy’s protégés look as if
they’ve just graduated from the
Sean Jean Preparatory School. The
five little cuties were in sync from
there high-fashion apparel to their
high-stepping dance moves. The
Atlanta based band put on a good,
old-fashioned, wholesome show
reminiscent of their old school predecessors The Jackson 5, but with
more energy, modern day finesse
and hopefully more staying power
like they’re former label mates New
Edition. Still a bit rough around the
edges, they have a long way to go
before achieving the legendary status of either of the afore mentioned
quintets, but do an okay job of balancing breaths with singing and
dancing. Most importantly their
lyrical content and stage performance was age appropriate.
(SEE SCREAM/PAGE 12)
Pretty Ricky has ‘meet and greet’ with
Single Parent Initiative contest winner
By ReGINA “G STYL”
CRAWFORD
Contributing Writer
Pretty Ricky was in town on
Wednesday, July 27 with the
“Scream Tour IV,” and held a special
Meet-And-Greet
with
Christina Smith and her father
Michael Singley, at the Embassy
Suites. The two won tickets and
all- access passes to the concert.
Pretty Ricky took photos with the
winner and her dad, gave autographs, and had a general one-onone chat session with Smith, Erika
Bumgarder, myself, and other special guests Tyra Byrd, Alexis
Bumgarder, and Bria Starks.
Pretty Ricky has joined up with
“It’s Cool to Be Smart (IC2BS)”
and the “Single Parent Initiative,”
and have donated their time, as
well as, provided scholarships for
youth associated with the program.
While at the Meet-And-Greet, the
group also gave me a one-on-one
interview discussing issues such as
why they have teamed up with
IC2BS, their clothing line, and
their career so far.
“We have been going up and
down the coast giving out scholarships for the kids because we care
about the kids,” states Slick ‘Em
one of the group’s older members
and self-appointed spokesperson
for this group of four brothers. “It’s
Cool To Be Smart is a program
dedicated to the urban kids in the
community who don’t really get to
see celebrities how they’re supposed to, so what we do is we
come out on our own time and
show them some love,” he continued. “We just love spending time
with the kids.” “We just love being
able to do something positive for
the kids,” adds band member Baby
Blue. “We told a director from
Atlantic [Records] that we wanted
to work with the kids,” said Slick
‘Em, “Just to give back to the community.”
When asked to talk about their
clothing
line,
Slick
‘Em
replied,“Our clothing line, Marco
De Bleu, is different from everybody else.” “We want to be trendsetters,” declares Baby Blue on
their web site PrettyRicky.com.
“Everything somebody is doing,
we try and go against the grain and
do something else just to be different. It will be out by the end of this
year,” he adds. So be on the look
out for it in a store near you,” concludes Baby Blue’s statement on
the anticipated line.
“I don’t know if ya’ll remember that episode on ‘Martin’ when
Martin went to a class reunion, and
Ricky Fontaine was there but
Pretty Ricky is what they called
him. Well, we all went to school
together. You know Ol Boy [their
dad Blue Smith] got about twelve
kids, so every kid used to dress
alike and we always liked to wear
the glitter. And every time we
walked by, all the girls would be
like there go Pretty Ricky; that’s
Pretty Ricky; Pretty Ricky what
they call ‘em; them some pretty
boys,” is the story related by Slick
‘Em as to how the group came to
be named Pretty Ricky.
“As a child I was the one who
was always trying to be slick;
sneaking out the rooms and stuff,”
Slick ‘Em relates on how he came
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by his stage name. Baby Blue
states, “You know I’m like the
young version of the Ol Boy (who
has been compared to Joe Jackson;
father of the Jackson Five). I make
sure everything runs smooth, keep
everything together.” Band member Spectacular answered, “It’s my
real name. I was born with that
name ‘cause when I was born they
already knew they had a star.”
Unfortunately, by this time their
fourth member, Pleasure, was
unavailable to respond.
When asked about their first
encounter with Craig Kallman, CoChairman/COO
of
Atlantic
Records, Slick ‘Em admitted, “We
didn’t even know Craig Kallman
was Craig Kallman. We thought he
was just this man in the room.”
“We thought he was the door
man,” reveals Baby Blue. “So
Craig Kallman told us to perform,
and we had knives and forks and
performed,” Slick ‘Em concludes.
The rest, as they say, is history as
Craig made them an offer on the
spot.
The guys are really down to
earth, and were very accommodating to their special guests even
though they had just performed,
and it was after midnight. So, on
behalf of Curtis Benjamin and
Erika Bumgarder of It’s Cool To
Be Smart, Mr. Michael Singley
and his daughter Christina Smith,
other special guests, and myself, I
would like to thank Pretty Ricky
and their management, as well as
the tour publicist, Linda Stewart,
for setting up the Meet-And-Greet
with Pretty Ricky, and allowing us
to get to know the “people” behind
the “artists”.
This is the sixth story in the
series of articles on the Single
Parent Initiative and IC2BS. I continue to encourage our community
organizations and activists to join
up with this powerful initiative and
organization for the education of
our children, so they can have the
opportunity to meet these public
personalities in a one-on-one type
atmosphere. IC2BS is organizing
several programs for Single
Parents all over the county from
Celebrity Meet-And-Greets and
Parent Makeovers, to Scholarships
to help the parents and children of
our urban communities learn the
value of education. Cleveland
show some support for one of your
own [Curtis Benjamin is a native
of Cleveland] and support the
Single Parent Initiative. That message goes out to children, parents,
and celebrities.