Quickies

Sean Paul makes splash on Poolside

The Poolside 'riddim' has caught the attention of international dancehall superstar Sean Paul.

The Washroom Entertainment, produced riddim has spawned Voicemail's Clap It Up, Hold On by Tifa, and the collaboration Siddung, courtesy of Darrio and Konshens.

Despite the riddim being released in the summer, Sean Paul only decided to record and release Gyal Bruk Out for the project. The single is a dance-floor track that fits the high-energy aesthetics of the Poolside riddim.

Sean Paul is excited about the project and even lauded the Poolside the "maddest riddim a road", adding that "I think it was Shabba who said that deejay ears cock up when dem hear a boom riddim".

Listeners can also look out for the Dog Bite riddim from Washroom Entertainment, which will also feature Sean Paul among a slew of other artistes. The latest production from Washroom has already begun to impact airwaves for the Christmas season.

More singles from I-Octane

Dancehall singjay I-Octane continues his success on the music scene with several hard-hitting singles.

His collaboration with Bounty Killer, Bad Mind Dem A Pree, has been sitting in the number-one position for the past three weeks on the ER Top 10 Singles Chart.

Throughout the year, I-Octane has enjoyed chart dominance with L.O.V.E Y.O.U, Love Di Vibes, Jiggle Fi Mi and My Story.

I-Octane shows no sign of slowing down, and released videos over the past two months for More Money, Bun It and Laugh and Badmind Dem A Pree.

On December 7, he will appear at the Courts store's grand opening in Half-Way Tree and, on the same night, will trek to Negril where he will perform at the Jungle Nightclub. On December 14, he will be busy at three different venues in Montego Bay. I-Octane will be performing at Fort Clarence Beach on December 16 and, a few days later, he heads to St Thomas for another gig. Boxing Day will see him at the Montego Bay Seafood Festival.

"Come 2013, it will be even more positive songs, great videos and me just trying to step up my game," the singjay said.

Love, laughter from Ity and Fancy Cat

Popular comedy duo Ity and Fancy Cat brought early Christmas cheer to their hometown with the second annual treat for the children of Trench Town on the Heroes Day weekend in October.

The event saw over 300 delighted children receiving goodie bags and gifts of school supplies, plus enjoying food and drinks and hilarious entertainment from Iceman, Kathy Grant, G Whizz, Chosen 1, Potential Kidd and more. The duo also used the occasion to hand over a cheque for $50,000 to the Trench Town Reading Centre.

Last Wednesday, the duo provided heart-warming moments for caregivers and magical memories for some children when they paid a surprise Christmas visit to Windsor School of Special Education in Spanish Town. The comedians interacted with the children, who showered them with love and appreciation in return. Last Saturday, the duo travelled over to Discovery Bay in St Ann to perform for the children of Glen Prep School in Discovery Bay.

"Yuh can't be a comedian if people don't decide to laugh wid yuh, so we owe everything to the people," says a smiling Fancy Cat.

"That's definitely true," adds Ity, "And that's why doing these charitable shows and sharing with the community is so important. It's our way of giving back, or repaying the people, for the gift of love and the loan of laughter."

Ity and Fancy Cat, who recently completed a successful fifth season of their popular television show, will be among the headline acts for the ninth annual Christmas Comedy Cook-up, scheduled for the Wyndham Kingston Hotel on December 26.

Carnival starts early with Rewine

Each year, the new carnival season is traditionally heralded by Carnival Rewine.

Gems Jamaica, organisers of the event, have collaborated with Kirov Premium Vodka to present Kirov Carnival Rewine ... The Return of Mas, Bacchanal Memories!

The event takes place at 1B Oxford Road in New Kingston, adjacent to what used to be Mas Camp, today. The DJs fuelling the debauchery will be FAME FM tag team Arif 'Supa Coop' Cooper and DJ Sanjay, ZJ Sparks from ZIP FM, and up-and-coming soca deejay Soca Master DJ Chin.

This year, the event has broadened its offerings to patrons with inclusive drinks, shots on entry, inclusive body-painting, inclusive snacks, inclusive fête memorabilia, Soca Junkies T-shirts on sale, regular bar, special Kirov vodka mix bar, detox bar, and giveaways. Food will also be on sale by Bad Dawg sausages.

Even with all of this, the organisers have kept the cost to $1,500 presold and $1,800 at the gate for females, and $1,700 presold and $2,000 at the gate for males. Rewine event will be supporting the Toy Box Charity Foundation.

As usual, all patrons will be under the protection of the Sentry Security crew and members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force. All patrons must be 18 years and over to attend.

Tanya Stephens on Sankofa's WORD-SOUL

Performing arts ensemble Tribe Sankofa is fully immersed in rehearsals and other preparations for a very significant event, their upcoming full-fledged debut called WORD-SOUL - The Redbones Edition at the Redbones the Blues Café on Wednesday, December 5.

Tribe Sankofa's founder and artistic director Fabian Thomas, who also performs with the group, describes Tribe Sankofa as "a 15-member performing arts ensemble comprised of a vibrant and eclectic cadre of multi-talented performers who are combining their artistry to add an exciting new dimension to the performing arts landscape of Jamaica and the rest of the world. Our niche is spoken word/poetry, soulful song-styling uniquely blended with other visual and performing arts. Our vision and market is global".

WORD-SOUL: The Redbones Edition, will showcase the group's spoken word/poetry performance and vocal/musical skills. Special guests will be sharing the stage with Tribe Sankofa during this milestone. They include the critically acclaimed Tanya Stephens, Michael Sean Harris, actor Christopher Hutchinson, Jesse Jones and Tevaughn Gordon (from Seaview All-Stars) dancers Kevin Nelson, Renee McDonald (from the Company Dance Theatre), Roxan Webber and Ramone Gordon (both from The Quilt Performing Arts Company), sign-language performer Keanu Daley, and drummer Jordache Jones.

Tribe Sankofa will also be enlisting the commitment of sponsors to make donations to assist two students from the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona.

The performance will be followed by an after-party featuring DJ Denvo.

Thomas also expressed his gratitude for the support and sponsorship that the group has secured so far. Partners already on board are Shades of Africa, Supreme Ventures, Mystic Delights, Dutches Delight, Rituals Coffee House, Jus Call Couriers, Copy Cat and the British Council.

Sheen gives away scary money

Charlie Sheen gave away all of his earnings from Scary Movie 5.

A source close to the 47 year-old Anger Management star told gossip website TMZ.com that the actor was paid a total of US$250,000 for one day's work on the movie in September, but kept none of it for himself.

The generous actor reportedly gave Lindsay Lohan US$100,000 to help her pay off a huge chunk of her US$233,904 tax bill after they bonded on the set of Scary Movie 5, and then donated the rest to charity.

Sheen - who has been in rehab five times - topped the Forbes list of highest paid actors on TV last year, and is reportedly worth US$125 million.

Lohan - who has been arrested six times - checked in to rehab five times and her probation is tipped to be revoked in the near future after she allegedly lied to police officers about being behind the wheel of a car during an accident in June. She is reportedly set to earn more than US$2 million by the end of this year from her movies, Playboy shoot and promotional tweets.

The Liz and Dick actress says she feels "bullied" by the constant attention surrounding her personal life, and thinks other stars would have crumbled under the pressure and speculation.

"Since I was a kid, I've loved being on camera. Don't misconstrue that; I didn't strive to have flashbulbs at dinner or people who don't know me calling TMZ. And 99 per cent of the time, it's not true. I feel bullied. I can't think of any actor who has been subjected to such extreme publicity who hasn't, like, committed suicide," Lohan said.

Executive producer of Liz & Dick, Larry Thompson admitted hiring her was an incredible risk. "If we couldn't have gotten insurance, there would have been no movie. We wound up having to go to Lloyd's of London to get what we called incarceration insurance. We had to protect ourselves that, if she were to have violated her probation during production, we wouldn't have had to close down and lose our movie." Thompson told Entertainment Weekly.

Star power for Sandy, hunger relief

Rapper 50 Cent used the proceeds of sales from his SK Energy Drink and SMS Headphones to team up with Feeding America, the Food Network and SMS Audio last Wednesday. They gave meals to people affected by Hurricane Sandy and other hungry New Yorkers at the 'Our Table Is Yours' event at New York restaurant Cipriani.

"I'm able to provide meals for victims of Sandy or other people in New York City that don't actually have food. It's a world issue, it's not a Third-World issue. One in six Americans is actually going hungry. You got kids that are surviving based on their school lunch, and more than one out of five kids are experiencing hunger," he told MTV News.

Sex and the City actress Sarah Jessica Parker is auctioning off a meal with her and TV executive Andy Cohen at the Blue Hill restaurant in New York City for a celebrity charity auction being held by CharityFolks.com.

All proceeds raised from the auction will go to the relief efforts of the super storm and the Community Food Bank of New Jersey.

Other stars taking part include Selena Gomez, who is offering one lucky fan the opportunity to guest star in one of her music videos, while 101 Dalmatians actress Glenn Close is offering to record a personal voicemail message for a lucky bidder.

Actor and Charity Folks spokesman Billy Baldwin thinks the participating celebrities will gain more awareness for the relief work being carried out in the wake of the devastating natural disaster which hit the 'Big Apple' in October.

Other auction items include a night of mystery in illusionist David Blaine's private New York studio and the chance to be personally styled by Kim and Kourtney Kardashian at their Dash clothing store.