Quickies: Spice celebrates at Waves

Dancehall's diva Spice will be celebrating her birthday with some of the industry's biggest local and international stars. Her party, which will be staged tomorrow at Waves Beach, Portmore, will feature international recording star Mya, Beenie Man, Lady Saw and Bounty Killer. Mya, who was recently on the island to perform alongside Spice at Reggae Sumfest's Dancehall Night, will be returning for this weekend's festivities.

The 'Jim Screechie Queen' who has been diligently accumulating international collaborations, the most recent being her track with Missy Elliott entitled Fun, says "Mya and I have a track called Take Him Out and that's where it really started. She's such a wonderful person to work with. She came out for Reggae Sumfest and we premiered the track there and it went well and she will be back in the island for my birthday party this weekend. Apart from that, we will also be shooting the video for the track on Monday. So it's a busy week overall, but I expect it to be lots of fun."

The birthday celebration kicks off at midday and ends at 2 a.m. on Sunday. "I just want everyone to come on out and have fun, fun, fun. There's a major surprise guest artiste that will be there, but I can't give that away. So everyone just has to come on out to see," Spice said.

Washroom focuses on Tami

The members of Washroom Entertainment are about to rinse the entertainment scene with yet another project, featuring songstress Tami Chynn. The production group, which consists of Conroy Forte, Damian 'Beachy' McGann, Ryan Chin and Jathneil Randall, has been together since 2009 with the release of their first project Dance The Night Away, featuring Voicemail and Busy Signal.

Subsequently they released a number of projects, including Last Drink featuring Voicemail and Konshens, Certified Diva featuring Tami Chynn and Tifa, Tami Chynn's Bad Suh (Neva Know) on the Bad Suh Riddim, the Matrimoney Riddim which was co-produced by Wayne Marshall, and the summer hit Swaggin', featuring Tifa, Wayne Marshall and Future Fambo.

Forte said, "Tami Chynn is our next big focus. I can't give away too much details, but it's going to be huge. We are extremely pleased with the responses from the music industry, friends, family and most of all the fans of our music. It's been an incredible summer and everyone can feel free to search us out and follow us on Twitter and 'like us' on our Facebook page to get the very latest from the Washroom."

One-month run for HAIRPEACE

Sankofa Arts & Facilitation's upcoming production HAIRPEACE is scheduled to open on August 19 and run until September 18 at the Pantry Playhouse, New Kingston. The play is written by Janice Liddell, who also wrote the highly-acclaimed Who Will Sing for Lena?and depicts the lasting bond of friendship between four women with different hair 'expressions', as they gather for the 40th birthday party of Carmen who is a cancer survivor.

The play also explores the relationship between three of the women and their mothers, as well as the issue of alcoholism, with a well-crafted mix of comedy and drama.

Director Fabian Thomas has assembled a stellar cast of actresses for HAIRPEACE, namely Julene Robinson, Noelle Kerr, Marguerite Newland, Faith Gordon, Veronique Smith, Kerrie Ann Cameron, Shanique Brown and singer/songwriter Althea Hewitt. This is the second time Thomas is directing HAIRPEACE and he explains the script is "simple, yet powerful truth, humour and heart" , causing him to revisit the play.

Thomas was also influenced by the fact that the play's subject matter provides a unique opportunity to twin efforts to promote the production with raising awareness about cancer and substance abuse. Jamaica Cancer Society and Woman Inc. have taken benefit fund-raising nights of HAIRPEACE and Thomas hopes other organisations, NGOs and groups that focus on women's health and well-being will follow suit.

'American Idol' judges, host return

Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson are all returning to American Idol. The three judges - who appeared for the first time together on the show this year - have signed up to return for another season, according to the show's executive producer Nigel Lythgoe.

Speaking on Ryan Seacrest's radio show, he said: "I am delighted to say that all three judges, along with the brilliant host of American Idol, are back for the next season." Ryan - who presents the singing talent show - confirmed auditions will be starting in the near future, but the three would not be seen on television until January.

In a series of tweets he said: "Auditions with all three start in a couple wks." Asked when the show would be back, he said: "January. this show is a year-long process!"

It is believed both Jennifer - who recently split with husband Marc Anthony - and Aerosmith singer Steven have received substantial pay increases to stay on the show. Last month Jennifer revealed she did not know if she would return and was "on the fence" about it. She said: "I don't know. I haven't been forced to make a decision and I'm glad about that because, honestly, I'm very on the fence about it.

Sanjay releases 'Harder They Fall'

Sanjay Ramanand, better known as Sanjay released a new single exclusively to his fans on Facebook earlier this week, titled Harder They Fall.

The single is a remake of the 1972 smash hit by Jimmy Cliff, The Harder They Come, the title track for the soundtrack to the iconic film of the same name, released in 1972 on Island Records in the United Kingdom. It was then released in 1973 in the United States. The movie was directed by Jamaican film icon Perry Henzell, and starred Jimmy Cliff.