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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2007 > February > 22 > Entry
Ryan Cameron dines with music royalty
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Last week, Ludacris gave a shout-out to Ryan Cameron in his Grammy acceptance speech, and that alone would make for a great “thank you” from a former intern. But for an encore, the Atlanta rapper-actor invited the V-103 announcer to dinner with Prince during the NBA’s All-Star weekend in Las Vegas. “It was absolutely the highlight of my career,” said Cameron, who returned to the airwaves Tuesday afternoon. “I’ve been trying to explain to people, it was like being a computer geek and not only getting to meet Bill Gates, but sit down and break bread with him.”
Actually, the meal included corn chowder, a field greens salad and sea bass. And not only were Cameron, Ludacris and Prince there, in a private area of the Rio Hotel (where Prince performs each week), but the dinner party also featured reclusive Dave Chappelle, part-time Atlantan Toni Braxton, actress Gabrielle Union and actor Hill Harper. The highlights? “With Prince, it was just his voice. How it resonated. It’s so low and just carries, it almost sounded like he had a microphone on. But of course, he didn’t.
“Everybody has been asking: Were both of them weird?” Cameron continued. “And they were totally the opposite. They were just as normal and as engaging as any person you would be having a conversation at dinner with — for two-and-a-half hours. I mean, we talked about family, ‘Happy Feet’ … I got the feeling that if Prince didn’t have to go do a show, we would all still be talking.”
More Luda
“Runaway Love,” which Ludacris performed with Mary J. Blige and Earth, Wind and Fire at the Grammys, has reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Audience chart, becoming the second single from his 20-week-old album “Release Therapy” to reach that mark. (The first was “Money Maker,” heard on more than a half-million cellphones since September.)
Well Met
Unlike “American Idol,” auditions for the Metropolitan Opera don’t ensure household-name status and a record contract. But plenty of opera stars, from Jessye Norman to Renee Fleming, have passed through the regional competitions that the Met uses to winnow out the country’s best singers.
This time last year, tenor Ryan Smith had come back from a three-year hiatus from performing and wowed the crowd at the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions at Spivey Hall — but he left the regionals empty-handed.
Sunday afternoon, the 30-year-old Decatur resident opened with the same aria as last year, “E la solita storia del pastore” from Cilea’s “L’Arlesiana,” and walked away with the top prize, advancing to the finals in New York City. The Morehouse graduate was accompanied by Atlanta Opera’s highly regarded chorusmaster Walter Huff.
“We’ve invested a lot in Ryan, and we’re thrilled with his progress,” said Atlanta Opera general director Dennis Hanthorn. A member of the opera chorus, Smith had a small but noticeable part in “Porgy and Bess” last season and sang a solo recital at the Woodruff Arts Center in the fall, sponsored by the opera. “Ryan’s got talent and tenacity, and he makes an impression on people,” Hanthorn added. “He’s got the goods for a serious professional career.”
Lips service
Buzz is frequently inspired but rarely floored. Except by the Flaming Lips, whose September show at the Tabernacle was head-squeezingly good. Next Monday, Lips frontman and kooky guru Wayne Coyne will be heard on National Public Radio’s “This I Believe” feature speaking about his humble origins and his recipe for creating one’s own happiness. (NPR revived the feature created in the ’50s by newsman Edward R. Murrow that includes statements of core beliefs and values from everyday Americans, and some not-so-everyday Americans.)
Before making it big in the wild world of the Lips, Coyne worked for 11 years in his native Oklahoma as a fry cook at a Long John Silver’s. “I feel lucky to have fans around the world, a house with a roof, and a wife who puts up with me. But I felt this way even when I was working at Long John Silver’s,” he says. “The first year I worked there, we got robbed. I lay on the floor, I thought I was going to die. I didn’t think I stood a chance. But everything turned out all right. A lot of people look at life as a series of miserable tasks - but after that, I didn’t.” Coyne’s prescription for happiness? Recognize the good times while you’re in them. The Lips return to Georgia on April 11, playing at the Classic Center in Athens. Tickets go on sale Friday.
Overscene
Eighties funkster Larry Blackmon of the group Cameo at Smith’s Olde Bar, where local record label Brash Music was showcasing its artists, including Julie Dexter, Khari Simmons, Danny Flowers and PJ Morton.
Britney’s to-do list
>>> Shave head.
>>> Get tattoo.
>>> Check into rehab.
>>> Check out of rehab.
>>> Take Sean Preston to Gymboree.
Celebrity birthdays
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy is 75. Film director Jonathan Demme (“The Silence of the Lambs”) is 63. Basketball great Julius “Dr. J” Erving is 57. Actor Kyle MacLachlan is 48. Actress Drew Barrymore is 32.
Contributing: Sonia Murray, Pierre Ruhe and news services
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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