Scene and Heard

SHAQUILLE O’NEAL & AEG LIVE ANNOUNCE FIRST

ALL-STAR COMEDY JAM TOUR

New York, NY, June 15, 2011 – Shaquille O’Neal, through his company Shaq Entertainment, today announced the launch the first All-Star Comedy Jam tour.  “I played with many All-stars on the court and laughed with these All-stars off the court,” said Shaq.  “I’m happy to present this hand-picked lineup as the first Shaq All-Star tour.” 

The tour kicks off Friday, September 9^th in Memphis as part of the Southern Heritage Classic and will play in more than 20 U.S. cities this fall.  This is the first new venture following Shaq’s retirement from the NBA and is produced in association with AEG Live.  Tickets go on-sale Friday, June 17 at 10am at http://www.aeglive.com.

The tour brings many of the hilarious comedians presented at Shaq’s All-star Comedy Jams shot during NBA All-star Weekends over the last three years.  These highly rated television specials have aired annually since 2009 and a new full hour special for tour host, DeRay Davis, will premier Friday, July 1^st.   The lineup may also include All-Star comedians such as Aries Spears; Corey Holcomb; Tommy Davidson; Capone; Gary Owen and Tony Roberts. 

The tour will also be filmed live for a reality show called All-Star Comedy Jam Backstage Pass.  The filming of the show will be produced and distributed by Codeblack Entertainment.

In the last four years, Shaq Entertainment has launched the highly successful All-Star Comedy Jam brand, producing several television specials, a highly successful DVD series and also helped catapult comedian Kevin Hart into the national spotlight.   

For further information: http://www.shaqallstarcomedyjam.com

ALL-STAR COMEDY JAM DATES 2011

Date                                        City                                         Venue

September 9                           Memphis, TN                          Orpheum Theatre

September 10                         Clearwater, FL                        Ruth Eckherd Hall

September 16                         New Haven, CT                      Shubert Performing Arts Center

September 17                         New York, NY                         Best Buy Theater

September 23                         Seattle, WA                             The Moore Theatre

September 24                         San Diego, CA                        Humphrey’s Concerts By The Bay

September 30                         Richmond, VA                                    Landmark Theater

October 1                                Washington DC                       DAR Constitution Hall

October 7                                Atlanta, GA                             Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center

October 8                                Birmingham, AL                      Alabama Theatre

October 14                              Baltimore, MD                         Modell PAC at the Lyric

October 15                              Norfolk, VA                             Chrysler Hall Theatre

October 21                              Nashville, TN                          Ryman Auditorium

October 22                              Charlotte, NC                          Ovens Auditorium

October 29                              Louisville, KY                          W.L Lyons Brown Theatre

November 4                            Hammond, IN (Chicago)        The Venue at Horseshoe Casino

November 5                            Cleveland, OH                                    The Palace Theatre

November 11                          Philadelphia, PA                      Keswick Theatre

November 12                          Pittsburgh, PA                         Byham            Theatre

November 18                          Kansas City, MO                    The Midland by AMC

November 19                          Minneapolis, MN                     State Theatre                 

SHAQ ENTERTAINMENT founded by NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal is a vertically integrated entertainment and new media company primarily engaged in the promotion and management of live urban themed stand up comedy events. Shaq Entertainment has a partnership with AEG Live to co-promote and produce its live events as well as a partnership with Codeblack Entertainment to produce, film and distribute its properties via Television, DVD, Mobile and Digital outlets.

AEG LIVE

THIS MARKS A CAREER MILESTONE

FOR BOTH SUSAN TEDESCHI AND DEREK TRUCKS

WHO COLLECTIVELY CELEBRATE THEIR HIGHEST DEBUTS TO DATE

 Tedeschi Trucks Band debuts big with their inaugural album Revelator, breaking into the Billboard Top 200 Chart at #12 in their first week with 26k units sold.  The highly anticipated and critically acclaimed Revelator, marks a career milestone for both husband and wife team Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks, bringing both artists their highest first week sales and charting that either artist has had to date.

The album, available in stores and online now, has been met with tremendous excitement from the media and TTB’s fan base alike.  Praised as a “masterpiece” by Rolling Stone Magazine in a FOUR STAR REVIEW, the first single, “Learn How to Love,” has been embraced at radio consistently being one of the top most added song at AAA from week to week.

Tedeschi Trucks Band kicked off their release with a soulful and anthemic performance of the album’s first single, “Learn How To Love” on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno followed by a flurry of positive reviews.  Rolling Stone hailed the album, “a deep soul laced with Indo-slide ecstasy.”  USA Today called the album simply “Outstanding.”  The Boston Herald honored Revelator as their “Album of the Week.”  Others like the Charleston City Paper in Charleston, NC where the band recently performed describe them as “staggering, uplifting, and damn near soul-saving.”

Revelator (Sony MASTERWORKS), the long-awaited, song-oriented debut album by the husband-wife team of singer/guitarist Susan Tedeschi and guitarist Derek Trucks, is filled with smoky, blues-dipped rockers and heart-stilling ballads that show off, respectively, the gutsier and softer side of Tedeschi’s vocal ability, plus a series of emotive, story-telling solos shaped by Trucks’s uncanny agility on slide-guitar, and introduces the couple’s new, 11-piece ensemble—Tedeschi Trucks Band.

A dramatic leap forward for two of the music world’s most dynamic performers,  Revelator is a confident yet unforced triumph offering a cohesive vision: an idyllic, musical world in which the echoes of so many great traditions—Delta blues and Memphis soul, Sixties rock and Seventies funk—organically flow together, blending with an entirely original, modern sensibility.

In addition to the combined weight of Tedeschi and Trucks’ equally renowned abilities, Revelator benefits from an impressive circle of talent that the two brought together. Trucks co-produced the album with multi-Grammy-winning engineer Jim Scott, whose genre-bending credits include popular albums by the Dixie Chicks, Johnny Cash, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Both Tedeschi and Trucks co-wrote the album’s twelve new songs with an impressive list of experienced songwriters, including Jeff Trott, John Leventhal, David Ryan Harris and Sonya Kitchell; Gary Louris and Oliver Wood—of the Jayhawks and the Wood Brothers, respectively; and old friends like guitarists Doyle Bramhall II and Eric Krasno (of Soulive), and band members Mike Mattison, Kofi Burbridge and Oteil Burbridge.

Most notably, Revelator features the newly formed Tedeschi Trucks Band, an eleven-member ensemble overflowing with talent and musical familiarity. Brothers Oteil Burbridge (noted for his years as bassist with the Allman Brothers Band) and Kofi Burbridge (longtime keyboardist/flutist with The Derek Trucks Band) have joined forces with a pair of drummers J. J. Johnson and Tyler Greenwell, trumpeter Maurice Brown, tenor saxophonist Kebbi Williams, trombonist Saunders Sermons, and harmony singers Mark Rivers and Mike Mattison. (Additionally, Ryan Shaw and David Ryan Harris supplied harmony vocals to various tracks on the album, and Alam Khan adds his masterful sarod playing to “These Walls”.) The fact that this aggregation includes so many musicians related by experience—and blood—clearly adds to the notion of Revelator as a true group album, the product of a musical family.

The band will perform “Learn How To Love” on Conan on July 19.

Tedeschi Trucks Band is currently on tour, performing the music from the album as well as old favorites. For a list of tour dates and more information please visit www.TedeschiTrucksBand.com.

Dwight Yoakam is a singer-songwriter, actor and film director, most famous for his pioneering country music. Popular since the early 1980s, he has recorded more than twenty-one albums and compilations, has charted more than thirty singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, and sold more than 25 million records. This one time performance will be held on September 2nd at 7:30 p.m. in the Showroom.  Tickets go on sale Friday June 24th, 2011 and may be purchased through Ticketmaster or the Horseshoe Box office.

This competition will feature some of the nation’s finest performers with a special appearance by 2010’s Entertainer of The Year Vanessa Demornay . This event is a pageant competition where contestants will be judged in five categories.

Don’t miss this exciting event at Horseshoe Southern Indiana on July 31^st, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. in the Showroom.  Tickets are on sale June 20th, 2011 and may be purchased through Ticketmaster or the Horseshoe Box office. 

To attend Entertainer of the Year ticket holders must be 18 years of age with valid ID.  Any guests wishing to visit the casino floor must be 21 years of age or older with valid ID.