Quickies

Beyoncé nabs half-time slot

Love on Top singer Beyoncé will be the musical act at the 2013 NFL Super Bowl XVLII, which will be held in New Orleans on February 3. The Super Bowl is one of the biggest TV events in the US and is watched by an estimated 114 million people.

This will mark the second time at the Super Bowl for Beyoncé, after she appeared to sing the national anthem in 2004 in her hometown of Houston when the New England Patriots defeated the Carolina Panthers.

Traditionally, Super Bowl performers are joined by special guests and, although nothing has been confirmed, there is plenty of chatter about who should join 'Queen Bey' onstage. Fans are expecting to see cameos from Beyoncé's husband, rapper Jay-Z, and her former Destiny's Child bandmates, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams.

Beyoncé has a tough act to follow, however, as Madonna's performance at this year's Super Bowl was the most watched half-time show in NFL history. The performance proved controversial when special guest star M.I.A. swore to a live TV camera.

Madonna, who was also joined onstage by rapper Nicki Minaj and pop duo LMFAO, later said she wasn't impressed by M.I.A.'s actions. "I wasn't happy about it. I understand it's kind of punk rock and everything, but to me there was such a feeling of love and good energy and positivity, it seemed negative," said the Girls Gone Wild singer.

TV station NBC Sports issued an apology over M.I.A.'s actions, calling it a "spontaneous gesture that our delay system caught late".

'Bellywoman Bangarang' starts today

The School of Drama, Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, will premiere its dramatic production Bellywoman Bangarang today.

The play, originally directed by Honor Ford-Smith, past lecturer at the Jamaica School of Drama and a founding member of the Sistren Theatre Collective, is being revived for a six-show run from October 19-21 and 26-28 at the Dennis Scott Studio Theatre on the college's 1 Arthur Wint Drive campus.

Directed by Carolyn Allen, Bellywoman Bangarang details the stories of four teenage girls living in rural and inner-city Jamaica during the colonial era and their struggles with issues such as rape, sexual exploration, child abuse and neglect. Thematically, the play addresses concerns that are still current in present-day Jamaica, including sexual ignorance, teenage pregnancy, mother-daughter relationships and sexuality.

"The condition of working class women is certainly one of the markers of national development and Sistren has made a notable contribution to making visible issues concerning women. Looking again at this play created in the '70s, which itself was reflecting on childhood in the colonial era, allows us to check again how far we have come," Allen says.

The play, which is the School of Drama's first full-length dramatic production for the academic year, is expected to jolt audiences with the depth of their portrayal of the controversial issues being tackled. Due to mature content, parents are asked to exercise their discretion with children under 13 years old. Tickets cost $800 each, with group rates available.

Sanjay makes wining request

The 'Intense' dancehall artiste Sanjay has released a new single, instructing the ladies to Wine Like You Love Me.

The uptempo, high-energy song is sure to get the ladies moving on the dance floor, as it blends hardcore dancehall rhythm with a level of music not always typical of the dancehall genre.

Sanjay says he wanted to experiment and make the song authentically dancehall but still very musical and bright, with the use of extensive harmonies and interesting keyboard phrases.

"Recently, a lot of the wining songs targeting the ladies have been pretty raw and hardcore. I wanted to do something with a more sexy feel to it," Sanjay explained.

The artiste has been doing some heavy promotion for the single. The Wine Like You Love Me contest encourages ladies who are fans of the song to record a dance routine for the song and email it to Sanjay at sanjayisthename@gmail.com. Shortlisted finalists will then be announced and on November 5 the contestant with the most likes on her video will win for herself a brand new BlackBerry 9360.

Sanjay's facebook page is www.facebook.com/sanjayisthename.

'Run Road' top local charts

Fully equipped with hard-hitting lyrics, dancehall artiste Aidonia has been dominating local charts with his Run Road. The single, which features Aidonia's protégé Deablo, landed at number one on the Entertainment Report Top 10 chart last Friday. Run Road entered both the ER and FiWi Choice Top Ten charts at number 10 and since then has been climbing the ranks

The deejay says that he is not surprised that the song is now on top, as it has been receiving a lot of support from fans since its release.

"Everywhere we go people greet us by saying 'run road' and it's a great feeling to see everyone appreciating the song," said Aidonia. He also added that it was because of the overwhelming response he got for Run Road that he decided to start the clothing line of the same name.

The dancehall artiste's team has been working hard promoting the single both locally and internationally. The video for Run Road was first released in Amsterdam, Holland, and received favourable feedback. Hype TV then premiered the video in Jamaica on 'Up and Live', and due to the overwhelming request from fans had to give the video an encore run.

According to Deablo, since the release of the video featuring himself and Aidonia, he has been getting a lot of recognition, for which he says he is "humbled and thankful".

Aidonia's publicist, Kaylia Williams, says that the team has been working on getting the Run Road clothing line into Amsterdam, Switzerland and Russia, places which have shown interest.

Johnny Depp to launch publishing imprint

Johnny Depp has partnered with major publisher HarperCollins to publish books under the Infinitum Nihil imprint. The Latin phrase infinitum nihil means 'nothing is forever', and is also the name of Depp's production house.

"Infinitum Nihil will do its best to deliver publications worthy of people's time, of people's concern, publications that might ordinarily never have breached the parapet," Depp said.

Among the titles to be released through the imprint will be The Unraveled Tales Of Bob Dylan. The book - which is slated for release in 2015 - is penned by historian Douglas Brinkley, who has interviewed the notoriously private singer several times for the book and aims to reveal the truth behind the songwriter's life and career.

"Johnny and I thought the Dylan book was the ideal way to inaugurate the Infinitum Nihil series. Bob has been very warm and forthcoming with us. His music has inspired us both deeply since we were teenagers," Douglas said.

In January 2013, the imprint will publish the late folk singer Woody Guthrie's novel House of Earth. The musician finished the book in 1947 but did not seek its publication.

An essay by Johnny and Douglas will introduce the novel. Woody's daughter Nora Guthrie and the Woody Guthrie Foundation are assisting with the publication.