Danny Glover, 'Dream' Interpreter
Friday, December 8, 2006; Page C03
So, if Jamie Foxx is sort of playing Berry Gordy Jr. in "Dreamgirls" -- not officially, but his ruthless "Curtis Taylor Jr." sure resembles the Motown Records founder -- and Beyonce, as "Deena," channels Diana Ross down to the tiniest flick of her elegant wrist . . . then who's Danny Glover?
In the movie, screened at a packed-house preview Wednesday by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Glover plays the manager for a bad-boy singer (James Brown? Wilson Pickett?) portrayed by Eddie Murphy. "He's part of the collective memory of managers who supported artists, who did the nasty dirty work for the artists," Glover told us.
  The actor Wednesday night at the Washington preview of "Dreamgirls." (Robert McMillan Photography) |
And honestly, we were lucky just to get that much from Glover, since everyone in the room was clamoring to get next to him. The actor and activist (in town for meetings at TransAfrica Forum, whose board he chairs) was having one of those moments showbiz folks live for -- a big movie, opening to rapturous reviews and Oscar buzz -- and everyone wanted to get next to him. He was happily doling out hugs -- to his hometown congresswoman, Barbara Lee; to his niece Alissa Grier, a senior at Howard; to Roberta Shields, Ludacris 's NoVa-based mom and director of the rapper's charitable foundation.
"Something happened in that time in history," Glover told us. "The commercialization of music, the commodification of artists. And the person most identified with that is Berry Gordy. Whether he knows it or likes it or admits it."
An Artist in the Spotlight and in High Spirits to Boot
Which came first -- the bash or the booze? Artist Bill Dunlap had three book parties in a row for the new retrospective of his work, "Dunlap" -- one on Monday night at the Corcoran, one on Tuesday in the Capitol hosted by his home state Sen. Thad Cochran, and Wednesday's at the McLean home of collector/pal Jim Kimsey. The Mississippi native inspires plenty of stories and plenty of spirits: Dunlap spent most of the night inscribing each book and adding his own special touch to the cover portrait of a bird dog. "It's an enhancement," he whooped. "A politically incorrect but anatomically correct enhancement of the male dog."
And what about the intoxicating theme of GOP consultant's Juleanna Glover Weiss's party tomorrow -- drinks from bandleader Eric Felten's WSJ cocktails column, with the Distilled Spirits Council as sponsor? Sure, it's all for a good cause: Horton's Kids, a support network for Anacostia children. But will Weiss's famously teetotaling boss John Ashcroft attend? "No," she told us, " he'll be in Virginia." How conveeeeenient.
A 'Junkie' Puts Up His Dukes
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| He's a radio host! He's a boxer! He's nuts!!(Courtesy J.P. Flaim) |
So, um, why? The radio personality says he's pals with Jimmy Lange (the Great Falls-based contestant on reality boxing show "The Contender") and had a "crazy, light-bulb moment" while watching one of his fights. Flaim took the plunge and has been training several hours a day for the past two months under boxing coach Willie Taylor.
"I've sparred 30 rounds against some talented kids," Flaim said. "I can get through four rounds pretty easily now." He's even got the smack talk down: "My guess is he's going to think this is a radio DJ who is doing a radio stunt and is going to try to decapitate me. . . . I'm going to fire back and I'm going to hit him in the face."
Or vice versa. Good thing he's in radio.
Quote
"Every move I make at this point has been magnified more than I expected, and I probably did take my new found freedom a bit too far. Anyway, thank God for Victoria's Secret's new underwear line!"
--Recently single Britney Spears, explaining on her Web site that yes, she revealed a bit more than intended when photographed in micro-minis and no panties last weekend. Sounds like an endorsement deal!
