Obnoxious 01/08/07

Usher gave himself a very nice Christmas gift that will keep on giving. A week prior to Christmas Usher Raymond opened his franchise of the restaurant and bar called The Grape. Marked the opening of the seventh location in Metropolitan Atlanta, Usher's Inman Park location will be a sure hit according the franchise president.



Usher opened the doors to his pashe' new business venture with a private luncheon for members of the press on a Thursday afternoon that would insure positive reviews. The star and his mother were very gracious host and proud of their new baby. In a purple sweater Usher was well dressed for the event and greeted the press as he and The Grape staff laid out a six course meal of all the high end offerings of the quant new establishment.



A Grape in New York is scheduled to soon follow and the opening will coincide with the release of his new album. After the Grape conquers the Big Apple, the superstar will head West to Las Vegas and possibly Los Angeles. Jack Mazur, Grape CEO, shareed with me that he has a vision of the company growing in cities like Chicago, South America, Shanghai, and Tokyo. "We decided to capitalize on the growing interest of wine among younger drinkers and came up with the concept for Grape," Mazur shared. "Usher fits that demographic perfectly."



Usher was available to a number of questions during the opening about his career and future business ventures. Broadway came at a unique time for him during his career. "Most people do Broadway first and then movies," Usher explained. "It was a wonderful opportunity and I had a great time, but now my focus is not my next album." Usher made it clear that he will not return to "Chicago," for the last run of the Broadway musical that called on all of the artist talent night after night. The singer will continue to do big business.



Already a partner in an NBA franchise and now with the Grape under his belt a clothing line might be next for "Yeah" man. "You will have to wait to see, you are going to fast man," Usher said smiling. "I want it to be right, whatever I do--I want it to be a good product and not rush into anything." Not that a clothing line is totally out of the picture, but it will have to happen at the right time for the singer and he would have the time to devote to the success. "The number of opportunities for celebrities and minorities in business is amazing," Usher said. "I want to be a part of as many of them as I can." Well, he is not doing a bad job at making it happen.



Steve Harvey has back pedaled many of his early comments about Radio One and the company's CEO, Cathy Hughes. The host of Premiere Radio network's syndicated The Steve Harvey Morning Show from Los Angeles radio station KKBT-FM (100.3 The Beat). Harvey had just finished his toy drive when he was asked about the removal of The Tom Joyner Morning Show from the same station. "That's really sad. That's really a sad thing that's happened over there to The Beat," Harvey, who hosted mornings at the Radio One station from 2000 to 2005 before leaving and eventually being replaced by Joyner. Harvey parted ways with Radio One after attempts to syndicate his program nationwide fell short. Radio One soon partnered with Joyner to syndicate the Tom Joyner Morning Show on KKBT—until news came that Joyner's program would be dropped because of a format change at the station.



"I don't gloat and revel in stuff like that," Harvey said. ...It's just really sad what happened to the station. The Beat was once a heritage station, for it to be happening like this right now, it's a sad day. I wish Radio One and the owner the absolute best and I hope they can turn that station around. They're a black-owned business and I alwa