Had his life turned out differently, Max B couldve easily reached Drake status, says Jim Jones.
In an interview with Rap Radars podcast, Jones discussed Max Bs 75-year prison sentence, and squashing their beef.
READ: Jim Jones Prepares "The Kitchen" Album
Jones signed the now incarnated rapper to his BrydGang Records imprint in 2008, but they fell out after Max B left the label. He later linked with French Montana to push the Coke Boys crew.
However, the Diplomat doesnt have any ill feelings towards his former artist. I dont even think about that no more, said Jones. He got his own circumstances that hes going through right now.
WATCH: French Montana Discusses Max B"s "Waves" Mix-Up On "The Breakfast Club"
Later in the interview, Jones denied rumors that he was involved in Max Bs arrest, stating that he bailed him out, and put a lot of money in his pockets.
He had a chance to be as big as Drake is right now, Jones continued. A lot of these artists right now that are singing, and being very melodic, a lot of that came from that boys whole catalog.
Max B is credited with pioneering the melodic rap style used byDrake, Fetty Wap, and Wiz Khalifa. According to Jones, Khalifa studied Max Bs music word for word.
While Jones had positive thoughts on Max B, the same cant be said for Dame Dash.
A pipeline leak in Alabama may bring back a bad memory from the late 1970s for consumers on the East Coast surging gasoline prices and stations that run out of fuel.
The good news the price spike shouldn"t last that long. On the other hand, when speculators get involved, as they did after 2005"s Hurricane Katrina, the long term effect on prices can be hard to predict.
Already the gasoline futures market has responded with a rise in prices. In a Tweet, GasBuddy senior analyst Patrick DeHaan predicted prices at the pump could rise between five and 15 cents a gallon in Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, and as much as 20 cents a gallon in South Carolina. He says some station tanks may run dry.
Week-long shutdown
A week ago the Colonial Pipe, which is the main transporter of gasoline and diesel fuel from Houston to the East Coast, suffered a leak in rural Alabama and had to be shut down.
Now, engineers say it may be another week before the leak is repaired and the fuel can start flowing again. That could result in a significant draw-down in supplies in areas served by the pipeline, resulting in price hikes and possible shortages.
At the same time, Reuters reports BP will conduct major maintenance this weekend at its Whiting, Indiana refinery, reducing its output by as much as half. So, as oil prices have been fairly soft this week, the outlook is for gasoline prices to move in the other direction, at precisely the time they normally start to fall.
Low-priced states hit first
For consumers in the most-affected states, the saving grace is the fact they are starting out with some of the lowest gasoline prices in the country. South Carolina, expected to be the hardest-hit state, currently has the lowest prices in the nation, with a statewide average of $1.94 a gallon. The price is $2.02 in North Carolina and $1.98 in Virginia.
Meanwhile, Georgia Governor Nathan Deal has declared a state of emergency, allowing the suspension of federal rules and regulations that limit the hours of operation that commercial vehicles may be in use.
Edward Albee, the three-time Pulitzer Prize winner who ushered in a new era of American drama with such plays as Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Zoo Story, Three Tall Women and A Delicate Balance, died Friday. He was 88.
The playwright died at his home in Montauk, N.Y.,after a short illness, his assistant Jackob Holder confirmed.
Influenced by Bertolt Brecht and the Theater of the Absurd, Albee invited the audience into his characters psyches in a way that challenged both topical and structural theatrical convention. From the wacky-turned-dangerous dinner party games of 1962s Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? to the b********y of 2002s The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, the playwright eradicated the illusion of normalcy by placing seemingly ordinary people in far-fetched situations.
Thats what happens in plays, yes? The s**t hits the fan, Albee saidin an interview with Playbill in 2002.
Albee was presented with the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for A Delicate Balance in 1967, Seascape in 1975 and Three Tall Women in 1994. Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, arguably his most well-known play and Broadway debut, was selected for the Pulitzer in 1963, but an advisory committee overruled the nomination because of the plays use of profanity and sexual themes, and no award for theater was presented that year.
It did capture the Tony Award for best play, as did The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, and Albeewas awarded a special Tony for lifetime achievement in 2005. The American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters handed him the Gold Medal in Drama in 1980, and in 1996, he received the Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts.
Among our few genuinely great playwrights, Edward Albee seems to be the most fearless and the most successful at discovering difficulty, fellow playwright Tony Kushner saidat the PEN World Voices Gala in 2012. Certainly, hes the one important American playwright who has made the investigation of the meaning of dramatic form, the structure of dramatic language and the contract between play and audience a substantial aspect of his lifes work.
Born Edward Harvey and adopted when he was 18 days old by Reed and Francis Albee, he grew up as Edward Franklin Albee III in Larchmont, N.Y. Albee was expelled from three schools, culminating in his dismissal from Trinity College in 1947, and he later moved to Greenwich Village. Many hypothesize that Virginia Woolf took inspiration from Albees collegiate experience, but the playwright denied autobiographical allegations.
I think thats foolishness on the part of the playwright to write about himself, he saidin a 2013 interview with The Believer. People dont know anything about themselves. They shouldnt write about themselves.
However, Albee did admit that A Delicate Balance came from his experience growing up with a right-wing, rich, prejudiced family with whom he never saw eye to eye. I wasnt growing up to be what they wanted, he toldtold the Dramatists Guild. They wanted a young corrupt CEO, a lawyer or a doctor. They didnt want a writer. Good G*d I wasnt going to be what they had bought, so to speak, which gave me great objectivity about them.
Albee said he decided he was a writer at age 6 and began his career by dabbling in poetry and novels, neither of which garnered much success. He didnt author his first play, The Zoo Story, until he was 30. The one-act premiered in Berlin after being rejected by American producers. Albee continued writing one-acts with The Sandbox in 1959 and The American Dream in 1960 before his three-act opus Virginia Woolf premiered in 1962.
Im infinitely more involved in the reality of the characters and their situation than I am in everyday life, Albee told The Paris Review afterVirginia Woolf debuted and as he was writing A Delicate Balance. The involvement is terribly intense. I find that in the course of the day when Im writing, after three or four hours of intense work, I have a splitting headache The involvement, which is both creative and self-critical, is so intense that Ive got to stop doing it.
Hollywood came calling early for Albee, with Mike Nichols directing Ernest Lehmans Oscar-nominated adaptation of 1966"s Virginia Woolffilm that starredElizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Albee was skeptical of Taylors ability to play Martha (Uta Hagen had toplined the play) but ended up being impressed with her Academy Award-winning performance as well as the film.
In 1973, Katharine Hepburn starred in director Tony Richardsons film version of A Delicate Balance, for which Albee is credited with the screenplay. (Albee muse Marian Seldes had starred in the play.)
Virginia Woolf has been revived three times on Broadway, with Kathleen Turner, Colleen Dewhurst and, most recently, Amy Mortonas Martha. The latest production won the Tony for best revival of a play in 2013, as well as Tonys for lead actor Tracy Letts and director Pam MacKinnon.
MacKinnon also directed Albees latest Broadway revival of A Delicate Balance, starring Glenn Close, John Lithgow, Martha Plimpton and Bob Balaban. If you can get over the Edward Albee myth and intimidation, hes very approachable, MacKinnon saidin an interview with American Theatre.
Albee was openly gay, and his longtime partner Jonathan Thomas died of bladder cancer in 2005. Albee avoided the classification of a gay writer. A writer who happens to be gay or lesbian must be able to transcend self, he said when accepting the Lambda Literary Foundations Pioneer Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2011. I am not a gay writer. I am a writer who happens to be gay.
When this remark was met with critique, he told NPR, Maybe Im being a little troublesome about this, but so many writers who are gay are expected to behave like gay writers, and I find that is such a limitation and such a prejudicial thing that I fight against it whenever I can.
Though known for his temper and irascible nature, Albee also was a famous champion of young playwrights. In 1963, he founded the New Playwrights Unit Workshop (renamed Playwrights 66 in 1966), and the organization provided emerging writers, including Terrence McNally, Lanford Wilson, Sam Shepard and John Guare, some of the first opportunities to have their work produced at the Cherry Lane Theater in the West Village.
If you have the ability to help other people in the arts, its your responsibility to do so, Albee toldNewsday in 2005. Playwrights 66 folded after eight years, but Albee started the Edward F. Albee Foundation in 1967, and it operates The Barn in Montauk, N.Y., providing residencies for writers and visual artists. He also served as a distinguished professor of playwriting at University of Houston.
Will Eno, an Albeeprotegewho had a residency with the Foundation in 1996, sat downwith him for The Dramatists Guild series The Legacy Project, in which Albee reflected on his life and influence.
If you dont live on the precipice, right close to the edge, youre wasting your time, Albee said. I hope that my plays are useful in that sense, that they tryto persuade people to live right on the edge dangerously and fully. Because you only do it once.
Bobbi Kristina Brown: Nick Gordon No-Shows in Court, Loses Wrongful Death Suit
(CNN) - A Georgia judge has found Nick Gordon legally responsible for the death of his girlfriend, Bobbi Kristina Brown.
Gordon failed to show up to a civil hearing at the Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta on Friday. This is the second hearing he"s missed. As a result, Gordon was found in contempt of the order and the judgment was made "by default."
Brown"s estate filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Gordon last year, alleging he beat her up after a "cocaine and drinking binge." The estate also claimed that Gordon gave Brown a "toxic cocktail" that caused her to pass out.
Brown, the only child of the late Whitney Houston and singer Bobby Brown, was found unresponsive in her bathtub on January 31, 2015. She remained in a coma until she died six months later.
An autopsy in March revealed her cause of death was due to drug intoxication and immersion in water, according to the Fulton County Medical Examiner"s Office. They were unable to rule whether her death was "due to intentional or accidental causes."
CNN"s Faith Robinson spoke to Nick Gordon by phone. He said he had no comment on Friday"s ruling.
The court ordered a jury trial to determine damages in the case.
An attorney for Brown"s estate, R. David Ware, wrote in a statement that the estate would pursue collection of any determined judgement with "fervor."
No criminal charges have been filed against Gordon.
Copyright 2016 by CNN NewSource. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Heads Up: Pipeline Explosion To Cause Gas Shortages on East Coast WLOS
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Governor McCrory"s office declared a state of emergency in North Carolina due to the gas shortage expected from a major pipeline burst in Alabama.
"We are working with state and national officials to make sure North Carolina is not impacted by this leak," said McCrory in a press release issued Friday evening. "This executive order will help protect our motorists from excessive gas prices and ensure an uninterrupted supply of fuel that is essential for the health, safety and economic well-being of businesses, consumers and visitors in North Carolina."
Some experts expect gas prices to go up as much as 20 cents in the next few days. Several Ingles gas stations across WNC are completely out of gas, with no estimate on when they"ll be back in business.
Officials believe six states--North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia and Alabama--are all facing possible shortages due to the spill.
McCrory"s Executive Order 101 eliminates certain size and weight restrictions on vehicles transporting gasoline into the state. It also eliminates registration requirements for those vehicles. According to Section 6, parts of the waiver are in effect for 30 days or the duration of the emergency, whichever is less.
The Colonial Pipeline runs from Texas to New York and supplies gas to an estimated 50 million people a day on the East Coast. On September 9, a 36-inch pipeline near Birmingham, Alabama began leaking gasoline into a nearby pond. The pipeline was shut down after the leak was discovered.
Approximately 230,000 gallons of gasoline and water have been recovered as of Friday afternoon.
A picture snapped by an amateur photographer in Scotland has created a huge splash because it appears to show the fabled Loch Ness Monster.
The photographer is 58-year-old Ian Bremner, a worker in a whiskey warehouse who was in the area looking for red deer, Britain"s South West News Service (SWNS) reported. On Saturday, he snapped the photo of what some say is Nessie when it or whatever it is in the picture was close to the coast between two villages on the southeast side of the long lake.
While theres no definitive word on whats in the image, it certainly shows something: perhaps a single creature of some kind, or maybe three seals, as some have suggested. The Scotsman newspaper has even headlined an article about the picture: Most convincing picture of the Loch Ness monster ever taken?
This is the first time Ive ever seen Nessie in the loch, Bremner said, according to SWNS. I would be amazing if I was the first one to find her.
His sighting is just one of over a total 1,000 reported sightings of the mythical creature the idea of which has captivated people for years and years.
Purported sightings of the Loch Ness Monster continue to be hotly debated, with some described as hoaxes or just caused by natural phenomena, like logs.
Kelsea Ballerini felt like she already knew Dolly Parton before sitting down with the living legend for Cracker Barrel"s Front Porch Series.
"I grew up going to Dollywood. Every Christmas they would have a parade, and she would always be there," the East Tennessee native tells Rolling Stone Country. "So I even told her, "I"ve kinda met you before. I was always at your parade!""
Still, the CMA New Artist of the Year nominee admits feeling overwhelmingly nervous before Parton sat beside her in matching rocking chairs for their informal interview. But it didn"t take long for the nerves to subside to laughter.
"My favorite part was when I asked, "How do you play guitar with your big nails?" And she said, "Pretty good,"" Ballerini recalls with a laugh. "I was like, "Drop the mic!""
Watch above as the two talk about their mutual Volunteer State heritage, Parton"s first musical hero and her multi-faceted career. They also play "Real or Fake" with a bunch of bizarre song titles and Ballerini proves her country smarts.
The "Yeah Boy" singer compares her 70-year-old hero to one of her 20-something-year-old friends. "She was just so genuine. I feel like she"s probably the same person every day, no matter who she meets, no matter what kind of mood she"s in," says Ballerini. "Taylor [Swift] is the only other person I know like that."
Parton"s Cracker Barrel Front Porch Series also includes clips with Cam, RaeLynn and Lauren Alaina. Watch them all here. This newest clip comes as both its stars are celebrating major milestones: Parton"s Pure & Simple album debuted at Number One in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Australia. And with "Peter Pan," Ballerini is the first female artist ever to have the first three consecutive singles from a debut album hit Number One.
