LIFESTYLE36 SATURDAY, JUNE 27, 2015 Features Courtney Lovegets caught in Paris taxi protest nti-Uber strike could have been just an ordinary demonstration in AFrance, a country famous for the enthusiasm of its protests-but it became even bigger news thanks to Courtney Love’s tweets. Paris doesn’t actually have “no-go zones,” but Love, who got caught in the middle of escalating violence between Uber drivers and taxi drivers, tweeted that she would have felt safer in Baghdad. The singer boarded a taxicab leaving Charles de Gaulle Airport and tweeted that the vehicle was ambushed by picketers and the driver was taken hostage. She then tweeted that she “paid some guys on motorcycles to sneak us out, got chased by a mob of taxi drivers who threw rocks, passed two police and they did nothing.” Love blamed French President Francois Hollande for failing to enforce safety meas- ures amid the strike. “I’m scared out of my Courtney Love wits. Mr Francois Hollande president or lib- ertine? I can’t believe this really just hap- low-cost Uber service allowing non-profes- pened. love French people but your gov- sional drivers to take clients. Although ernment blows,” wrote Love. The strike UberPop was banned in France in January, against Uber isn’t just mobilizing taxi driv- Uber has not removed the service from its ers but also a wide range of French citi- app. Uber was also deemed sexist after the zens. In a debate similar to the one faced European branch of the company planned by Netflix when it launched in France, local to launch an app in partnership with the reports have emphasized the fact that website Avion de Chasse to have aspiring Uber is an American service that doesn’t models drive cars in Lyon. The promotion Eyeing jazz empire, Blue was later cancelled by Uber Europe, which pay taxes in France and is hurting the livelihood of French businesses. Taxis have issued a public apology to “the people Note club expands to China also been protesting against UberPop, a who might have been offended.” —Reuters lue Note, one of the world’s grassy courtyard dates from 1903 opened a club in Tokyo in 1988 and at the original New York venue. best-known jazz clubs, and briefly served as the Beijing later in the industrial hub of While jazz is smaller in China, it is Bannounced an expansion base of the Dalai Lama before the Nagoya. Bensusan said that the not new. Shanghai had a vibrant Thursday to China as it banks on a Tibetan leader’s flight into exile. It cases were not an exact parallel, as jazz scene amid its roaring nightlife growing appetite for live perform- now houses several high-end busi- Japan had a dedicated jazz scene in the 1920s and 1930s, with swing ances among moneyed consumers. nesses. well before Blue Note. But he said era trumpet legend Buck Clayton The club, based in New York’s that the club has succeeded in starting his career in the cosmopol- Greenwich Village, said it would Jazz roots and renewal building Blue Note’s brand, with itan city before returning to the open a Blue Note Beijing in the Blue Note is taking a page from Japanese visitors now making up a United States. Chinese capital in March, and with- its success in Japan, where it significant portion of the clientele Clayton was a major influence in three years spread to Shanghai on Li Jinhui, often called the father and Taiwan’s capital Taipei. Blue of Chinese pop music. But jazz Note will also open next year on grew out of favor with the commu- Honolulu’s Waikiki beach, a loca- nist takeover and was considered tion chosen in no small part due to decadent during the Cultural the popularity of Hawaii with Asian Revolution. Since the economic tourists. boom started in the 1990s, The move comes as Western Shanghai has again developed a musicians from veteran pop stars jazz scene. Even many non-con- to classical orchestras look to noisseurs know the smooth jazz expand their footprint in China, saxophonist Kenny G, whose tune eyeing future growth in the matur- “Going Home” is routinely played ing economy of 1.3 billion people. at China’s shopping malls and oth- “Do I believe there is a large er venues to announce, as the song demand for jazz in China right title indicates, that it is closing now? No, not necessarily. But I time. In this July 27, 2012 file photo, Bristol Palin attends the “Dancing with the believe we can help develop the Stars: All Stars” panel at the Disney ABC Television Critics Association ses- music and the market,” said Steven Regional jazz networks sion in Beverly Hills, Calif. —AP Bensusan, president of the Blue Blue Note Beijing plans two Note Entertainment Group. shows every night except Monday. Bensusan said the 250-patron club Bensusan said that at least one could distinguish itself in China by night each week would be devoted Bristol Palin says she’s offering an intimate concert to local talent. Once clubs open in accompanied by food, which will Shanghai and Taipei, Bensusan be adapted to local tastes. “In some hopes to create a network for jazz pregnant for second time senses, it’s not like buying a con- musicians to tour across Asia. He ristol Palin, who launched an absti- close friends, and to many of you,” the 24- cert ticket and just relying on the said Blue Note was considering nence campaign after giving birth as year-old Palin wrote, before asking for priva- artist to draw people,” he told AFP. South Korea for an additional club, Ban unwed teenage mother, cy for her and her son Tripp. “I do not want “It’s more about a venue. It’s a although no plans have been set. announced Thursday she is pregnant with any lectures and I do not want any sympa- lifestyle place, it’s a place for peo- Blue Note opened its first European her second child out-of-wedlock. The dis- thy,” she said. Palin was 18 when her mother ple to experience the music, even club in Milan in 2003. Bensusan closure came a month after her wedding was selected by US Sen John McCain to be not knowing who the musicians said Blue Note was also mulling an with Medal of Honor winner Dakota Meyer his running mate in the 2008 presidential are,” he said. Aptly for a venue eventual expansion to Paris and was called off. Palin, the daughter of 2008 election. Shortly after the selection, it was devoted to the American-born art London. Despite their established Republican vice presidential candidate and announced that Bristol was pregnant. Sarah form, Blue Note Beijing will set up jazz scenes, Bensusan said that the former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, directed Palin said Bristol and the baby’s father, later in the renovated site of the former European capitals were not saturat- Twitter followers and Facebook friends to revealed to be Levi Johnston, would marry, US embassy near Tiananmen ed and that Blue Note could create her blog, where she announced the preg- but the couple eventually ended the rela- Square. The complex-a group of a similar European network for People walk past the jazz club Blue Note in New York. nancy. Her representative, David Martin, tionship. Bristol Palin later became a paid elegant stone buildings around a touring. —AFP and Palin family lawyer John Tiemessen spokeswoman advocating abstinence and confirmed the blog post. Martin declined warning against teenage pregnancies. She further comment. twice performed on “Dancing with the “I know this has been, and will be, a Stars” and had a short-lived cable television Tatum and Pinkett Smith on ‘Magic Mike’s’ radical positivity huge disappointment to my family, to my show, “Life’s a Tripp.” —AP hen Jada Pinkett Smith got the would that be?” a philosophy that this is a woman who py to sit back and watch with feverish call from her agent about the So they got to work making Rome a looked at eroticism and sexuality as a female extras. And they weren’t just act- Timbaland, Jay-Z, Beyonce W“Magic Mike” sequel script, there woman, resting heavily on Pinkett Smith’s gateway to enlightenment,” said Pinkett ing - their reactions were real, she said. “It among ASCAP Rhythm was something she needed to know: Her input on who exactly this enigmatic club Smith. “We didn’t have to do very much. was the show of our lives. Really. It’s the part as Rome, the owner of a male strip owner from Mike’s (Tatum) past should We just got out of the way,” added Tatum, crËme de la crËme. It’s not going to get & Soul Awards winners club, was written for a man. “I was like, be. The road-tripping strippers (including who meant it pretty literally, comparing any better than that. To have a front row OK?” she said. She was skeptical, if Tatum, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, and her energy to that of a lioness. “It’s like, ‘no seat watching Channing and Twitch? Just intrigued. Pinkett Smith had actually been Kevin Nash) don’t meet up with her until one move. shut it down. It’s over,” she said. And yet, imbaland and Jay-Z shared thinking about the world of strippers; about half way through the film. Though “Magic Mike’s” phenomenal appeal is Songwriter of the Year honors on though she’d never set foot in a strip club, the guys are bigger than life, it’s the Dynamic shifts something that Tatum still can’t really TThursday night at the American she had just wrapped a documentary for diminutive Pinkett Smith who dominates If you don’t look at it in the eyes, it wrap his head around.