Category: entertainment/pulse-of-entertainment

“I love Christmas. People are happier,” said nine-time Grammy Award winner Mary J. Blige about the holidays. The two-time Golden Globe Award nominee (Bobby, The Help) recently released a Christmas album, “A Mary Christmas,” from her own label Matriarch/Verve/Interscope Records. The album features duets with Barbara Streisand, Jessy J, The Clark Sisters and Marc Anthony.

“The album is beautiful and you are going to feel— the spirit of love and giving— [that’s] what Christmas means to me.”

The varied styles of some of the world’s favorite Christmas and inspirational songs on “A Mary Christmas” album is certain to make it classic for many people. Her husband, Kendu Isaac was the executive producer of the project with production and arrangements by David Foster.

“People have a whole lot of love and respect for each other, mankind [during the holidays]. That’s what I put into this. It’s how I felt about Christmas as a little girl and even now. How much I believe it brings to the universe,” Blige said.

What a gift Christmas is to the world and what a gift Mary J. Blige is to music. She has sold over 50 million albums and 13 million singles as of 2013. Billboard magazine names her the most successful female R&B singer in the past 25 years. In 2011 VH1 ranked her 80th of the greatest artists of all time and in 2012 VH1 ranked her #9 in their “100 greatest women in music.”

Those accolades are well deserved and when you listen to “A Mary Christmas” you will understand why. Nearly every song is great including my favorites “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” for its touch of jazz and The Sound of Music classic “My Favorite Things” which brought back childhood memories.

Mary J. Blige is also an actress that has starred in “Rock of Ages” with Tom Cruise and “Betty & Coretta” with Angela Bassett and Malik Yoba as Dr. Betty widow of Malcolm X. She will play Nina Simone in the upcoming biopic “Nina.”

Eunice Moseley is an entertainment writer and a public relations/business management consultant. For more entertainment news, visit: www.FreelanceAssociatesInc.com or www.ThePulseofEntertainment.com or www.UpliftingMinds2.com.

“I get all of these letters from men and women going through the system. I felt I had to step in and try to help,” said Harvard JD graduate, best-selling author and actor Hill Harper about his new book “Letters to an Incarcerated Brother: Encouragement, Hope, and Healing for Inmates and Their Loved Ones,” released on Tuesday, November 5, 2013. “Real struggles— publishers didn’t support the book because, of course, people would have to buy it and give it to those incarcerated.”

The book provides advice and inspiration to restore a sense of self-worth. Through his nonprofit organization, Manifest Your Destiny, Harper has witnessed the transformation of at risk teens because of mentorship.

“I discovered there aren’t very many resources directed toward this population,” Harper pointed out. “The material takes a top down approach about the justice system, not down top.”

As an actor Hill’s credits date back to the late ‘90s which led to his current co-starring role in “CSI: NY” and most recently on USA Network’s “Covert Affairs” where he plays a bad guy. The finale episode of “Covert Affairs” airs on Thursday, November 21, 2013.

“Set your DVRs because it’s on the same time as ‘Scandal,’ ” Harper said laughing because the “Covert Affairs” finale airs at 10 p.m. the same time as Scandal.

Harper acquired a recurring role on “Covert Affairs” as Calder Michaels, an ambitious CIA station chief based in Latin America. “I’m a bad guy on this show, but you don’t know if I am good or bad. He [my agent] knew I wanted to play more bad guys. It’s been so much fun,” Harper said.

Harper’s first book “Letters to a Young Brother” was named “Best Book for Young Adults” by the American Library Association and has garnered him two NAACP Image Awards.

His acting credits include his role as Dr. Sheldon Hawkins, the reclusive coroner in “CSI: NY,” the starring role in HBO’s Lackawanna, The Handler, Soul Food and “The Sopranos.”

Find more information about his book, “Letters to an Incarcerated Brothers: Encouragement, Hope, and Healing for Inmates and Their Loved Ones” visit: www.HillHarper.com and to learn more the “Covert Affairs” finale, visit: www.USANetwork.com/CovertAffairs.

Eunice Moseley is a public relations/business management consultant. For more information, visit: www.FreelanceAssociatesInc.com or www.ThePulseofEntertainment.com or www.UpliftingMinds2.com.

KiKi Shepard, the face of Showtime at the Apollo, recently hosted The K.I.S. Foundation’s 10th Annual Celebrity Bowling Challenge at the PINZ Entertainment Center in Studio City, California. The fundraiser benefits her foundation whose purpose is to bring awareness to Sickle Cell Disease. The K.I.S. Foundation is committed to improving the social health and quality of life for children, adults and families living with the disease.

The bowling event included 32 teams of celebrities so the list and red carpet arrivals were long. I was able to greet KiKi Shepard herself, Alimi Ballard (Fox “Dark Angel”); Rocky Carroll (CBS “NCIS”); Yvette Nicole Brown (Nickelodeon “Drake & Josh”); Salli Richardson Whitfield (I Am Legend) and husband Dondre; Dorian Missick (“The Manchurian Candidate”); Glynn Turnman (Showtime “House of Lies”); Omar J. Dorsey (Django Unchained); Vanessa Bell Calloway (The Temptations); Aldis Hodges (TNT “Leverage”); Eugene Byrd (Anacondas), and Dondre Whitfield (ABC “All My Children”) and wife Salli— just to name a few as they arrived.

KiKi is a graduate of Howard University and a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and is best known as the co-host of “Showtime at the Apollo” with the fashionable dresses.

To learn more about KiKi Shepard and The K.I.S. Foundation, visit: www.TheKISFoundation.com.

Eunice Moseley is a public relations/business management consultant with an entertainment column that reaches thousands. For more information, visit: www.FreelanceAssociatesInc.com or www.ThePulseofEntertainment.com or www.UpliftingMinds2.com.

“Since I was a little girl people would say ‘Alex you are such a character you should be on television.’ So when this opportunity came I jumped on it,” said Alexandra Dilworth the star of the new Bravo reality show “The New Atlanta,” which also stars Emily Lipman Dish.

The show follows single upcoming entrepreneurs in Atlanta who are doing big things.

“We are young [and] upcoming. There are not many people in their early 20s that you hear about doing big things. My business is the hipster clothing line called Generation E– the E stands for three different things: electric with the glow, epic with the rave and exclusive the custom made.”

Her clothing line also offers accessories such as gloves. The online boutique identifies its line as electronic dance music (EDM) and hipster lifestyle designs.

The Bravo reality show, “The New Atlanta,” is the brainchild of Mona-Scott Young, CEO of Monami Entertainment, the home of Grammy Award winning artist Missy Elliott and VH1’s “Love & Hip-Hop.” The premiere show in September 2013 attracted over one million viewers.

Check out Alex Dilworthon on Bravo’s “The New Atlanta” and get to know her for yourself. For more information, visit: www.Bravo.com/The-New-Atlanta for more information.

“The first season of ‘Ray Donovan’ is coming to an end,” said Baltimore native Johnathon Schaech about the dramatic series in which he co-stars with Jon Voight and Liev Schreiber as troubled A-list actor Sean Walker. The series airs every Sunday at 10:00 p.m. on Showtime. A second season has been picked up to air in 2014.

“I play the role of Sean Walker. He’s a big time movie star,” Schaech pointed out. “They brought me in [and] said, ‘Johnathon [you] are perfect for this role.’ I felt the role as more like Brad Pitt but they wanted him to be more over the top— like Tom Cruise.”

In addition to his Showtime role he also plays Tarak in Hercules 3D alongside Kellan Lutz (Twilight). Hercules 3D is due to be released in March 2014. He also has a role in the new “Star Cross,” a science fiction series on CBS. His credits also include the role of Jimmy Mattingly in the hit “That Thing You Do” with Tom Hanks.

For more information about “Ray Donovan” on Showtimes, visit: www.sho.com/RayDonovan.

The Pulse of Entertainment is written weekly by Eunice Moseley. For more entertainment news, visit: www.ThePulseofEntertainment.com or www.FreelanceAssociatesInc.com.