Edition 1: April 17th, 2011

Going Universal in SA - it’s Fairly Legal

The star of the hit show Fairly Legal premiering on Universal Channel, South Africa on April 26, Baron Vaughn spoke to me (Sdu Kaz Gerasch) from the People of Libya’s Sandton investment the Michaelangelo Hotel recently. 

Lucky him.

I was almost not available.

Vaughn cracks up people for a living - on stage in LA and New York and whoever else will have him.

In Fairly Legal though his role is pretty straightforward, as the help for always getting into trouble lawyer turned mediator Kate Reed, played by Sarah Shahi (seen above in a man's mag shoot).

As an interviewee, here for the media jamboree and to spot some wildlife in our parks, Vaughn was very accommodating. He had a great sense of  humour and oozed confidence and, dare I say, sex appeal.

Unlike the bimbos to traverse our paths; he’s not heard of the “lions and tigers and bears” that roam central Jozi.

 “No I haven’t heard of that. Though I must say, South Africa is a beautiful country. I’m planning to come here for another visit pretty soon.”

And indeed he might be.

An entertainment fundi aligned with At Vogue Communications, who facilitated his media schedule with Universal Channel execs, was already in chats on development theatre involving township kids and Vaughn.

Durban comic Neville Pillay who moonlights daytime as an East Coast Radio jock (and a werewolf in his own movie ahoooo) interviewed Vaughn exclusively for radio. He also expressed an interest in working with him on another visit.

In Fairly Legal, Vaughn plays Leonardo Prince alongside FHM SA double page splash and Tonight cover babe Sarah Shahi (her real name’s Aahoo Jahansouz Shahi).

He reckons that they had great chemistry working together.

“Sarah was the best choice for the show. She is very interesting and sexy too,” guffawed Vaughn. 

The artist was butt-freezing in Canada where they shot the series.

“Most of the cast and crew were married or had girlfriends. So they had warmth or someone to go home to,” laughed Vaughn who missed his cat back in LA tremendously.

But he and Shahi - a true professional - got on like a bomb.

He said it was awesome working with the star of shows like The L Word and Life who here plays a mediator who turns her back on the law landing herself in loads of trouble in the TV drama series.

When Shahi traces her heritage her great great grandfather is royalty: the 19th century Persian Shah Fath Ali Shah Qajar.  

I quizzed Vaughn of whether he was also keen on tracing his ancestry a la Oprah and Forrest Whittaker in Africa.

“ Oh yes I would like to do that. I have friends back at home who traced their ancestry and they also found out  that their generation is of the Igbo tribe. I want to do it as a present to my mom. I know she’d like that.” 

And so he’s loving it here, admitting it’s the first time he’s been to the continent since they took his people away as slaves to the colonial rhythm.

Vaughn has traveled to other countries promoting Fairly Legal. He was recently in Paris, Italy and Hawaii. 

But he shares more in common with moi…red wine and fine food.

“I enjoy spicy food and good wine; Shiraz to be exact. And I can’t wait to try authentic South African cuisine.’’ 

• Baron Vaughn is on Fairly Legal, Universal Chanel, at 8pm on Tuesdays, from April 26, on DStv, channel 108. 

Pop Star Happy Playing Poppa 

SINGER Robbie Klay who lost a case against musician mentor Jurie Els, whom he claimed had repeatedly sexually molested him in his teens (Els was acquitted in 2009), is back in the news again.

This time for making a 16-year-old schoolgirl pregnant.

SABC news reports Klay passed a DNA paternity test. No doubt with flying colours.

Reports stated Klay was “pleased and proud” for fathering the baby boy but needed to be “100% sure” that the child was indeed his. Hence the test. This is his second child. Like the mom, Klay too fathered a child when he was 16 - a girl.


Seeing the bottom of Top TV

SO I said Goodbye to Grey's Anatomy Durban DStv and Hello Jozi Top TV at the insistence of my man who suggested we give the underdog a shot. But what a nightmare at their Call Centre.


On Wednesday, April 6, we were given numbers of installers in Gauteng for whom we could make arrangements with.

On Friday, April 8, after 12 minutes on hold, we get the operator who “sorts out Top TV” to sort out the connection. Another call to their credited installer sees him install the dish for free that same afternoon.

On Saturday he arrives with a decoder said he he purchased from Game for R300 for which he was promptly paid for.

And now to activate those channels promising an Indian bouquet for R60, top music channels like rock-oriented Kerrang, alternative music channel Q, Baby TV et al for R250...

A 10 minute wait on the line.  

Lots of funeral music. Little else.

An SMS follows to which the automated response says, and to paraphrase, “we’ll sort you out within 48 hours”.

That was not good enough for this TV hungry family. So we called again from the mobile. A full 15 minute wait around 12 noon with no one picking up the call.

We’ve been calling diligently, daily since, with, to shorten the saga, no assistance, call centre operators dropping calls, promising to call back, being rude. It’s 10 days later and I’m still not connected to Top TV. 

It’s a bit of a joke actually. And tomorrow’s Monday so I figure Grey’s Anatomy might just win the day. And no shot for the underdog. Maybe a kick.

SPORT
El Clasico Stalemate - by Siphesihle Mlambo

LAST night we witnessed the most emotional of El Clasico derbies in recent history. Real Madrid having succumbed to Barcelona in the most recent encounters walked into the Santiago Bernabeu as the dark-horse.

Yes, dark-horse. At home. That’s what happens when you play against the planet’s best football unit. Barcelona are reminiscent of the Netherlands of the 1970’s era and the Hungarian football team of the 1950s who introduced us to the concept of Total Football.

Back to the El Clasico. Last time out at the FC Barcelona’s homestead, the Camp Nou, Barcelona demolished Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid 5 – 0 with goals from Xavi, Pedro, a brace from David Villa and a final nail to the coffin by Gerard Pique. FC Barcelona fans will remind their Madrid counterparts of what a fantastic showing of attacking football that particular football match was.

Touch base with 2011, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid will have to endure a four round battle against each other. Of course we’ve had the first round last night with the game ending in an exciting 1-1 draw, with penalty goals from the worlds’ best players Lionel Messi for FC Barcelona and Cristiano Ronaldo for Real Madrid.

Here’s a bit of trivia

1. Lionel Messi scored his first goal against a Jose Mourinho-managed football team; this after 6 attempts.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo scored his first goal against FC Barcelona; this after 7 attempts.

Though both players broke their respective “hoodoos”, it must be said that they were from the penalty spot. But congratulations none the less.

Match Report

Line Ups 

Real Madrid – Casillas, Ramos, Albiol, Carvalho, Marcelo, Pepe, Alonso, Khedira, Di Maria, Ronaldo, Benzema

FC Barcelona – Valdes, Alves, Puyol, Pique, Adriano, Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta, Pedro, David Villa, Messi

It was shocking to see the omission of talented German Meusit Oezil  from the Real Madrid starting 11, but the line-up yielded by Mourinho did suggest a hard working team that would be willing to chase the Catalans through all corners of the pitch.

For Barcelona there was a shock return for veteran skipper Carlos Puyol who has not played since January suffering from a leg injury. There was another shocking return for Pedro who was expected to be on the treatment table, but the most famous of Pep’s fledglings was available and ready.

FC Barcelona started the match in typical Catalan style, retaining possession and penetrating the defensive looking Real Madrid who opted to play a defender (Pepe) as a midfielder to clamp down the Barcelona intricate football.

It would prove to be a 20 minutes of full-blown Barcelona attacks and Real Madrid containment and playing on the counter attack. Barcelona failed to make any clear cut chances. The closest they came to scoring was when magical Lionel Messi drove the Madrid defence into the box before being thwarted by Casillas in goal.

Mourinho’s decision to deploy Pepe in midfield would prove to be a stroke of genius. He worked hard and was Madrid’s defensive spine and Madrid’s engine going forward, starting attacking moves and driving the likes of Angel Di Maria and Cristiano Ronaldo forward.

The latter 25 minutes of the first half would belong to Real Madrid as they continued to string together chances and passes and worked up the Barcelona midfield and defence.

Real Madrid’s best chance of the first half fell to Cristiano Ronaldo. First he was played through by Pepe, took a poor first touch and Adriano came racing in with the clearance in the box. The next was off a corner kick, headed back in by Sergio Ramos, Ronaldo casually headed into a gaping net, and again, Adriano cleared off the line.

The half ended with Barcelona being refused what seemed like a decent penalty appeal.

The second half started with Barcelona quickly moving the ball around and starting as they did the first half basically. In the 53^rd minute Barcelona forward David Villa was hurled down by Raul Albiol in the penalty area and the referee rightly pointed to the spot. To add to the misery poor Albiol was sent off, an act that Real Madrid coach Jose found amusing as he had predicted that his team would eventually play the El Clasico with 10 men. 

Messi stepped up slotted the spot kick into the back of the net. His La Liga record this season reflected 30 goals after that penalty and 49 goals in all competitions, mind you, just THIS season.

Funny enough, Messi’s goal came moments after Ronaldo rattled the foot of the Barcelona goal in the other end of the pitch when he struck a fierce free kick.

After Barcelona took the lead, Mourinho rang the changes, taking off Benzema who had become invisible and bringing on creative attack-minded Oezil who would go on to have a stellar performance. With the Kings Cup final in mind for Wednesday, Alonso and Di Maria were withdrawn and Arbeloa and Adebayor entered the fray. 

For Barcelona, Puyol was forced off after the pain became unbearable after the Barca goal. He was replaced by Malian Seydou Keita. Affelay came on for Pedro and Maxwell replaced Adriano late on.

Oezil would prove to be quite the spark Madrid needed, he changed the game for the Madridsta’s, creating openings for Ronaldo, Adebayor and Khedira. His pass was instrumental in Madrid being awarded a penalty on the 83^rd minute.

Ronaldo scored the penalty, and with great confidence, Madrid believed they could one more, but it prove too little too late, and in the end, a confidence booster for Madrid in the pending Kings Cup final versus Barcelona on Wednesday. 

Other Football

Manchester City defeated rivals Manchester United in a bitter old FA Cup semi final at Wembley. A single Yaya Toure goal was enough to see off the red neighbours who have inflicted so much pain on the blue Mancs over the years. Manchester City now await either of Stoke City or Bolton Wanderers for the FA Cup Final that will be placed at the same venue in May. Yaya Toure was coincidentally voted Man Of The Match.

Kaizer Chiefs inflicted more pain in the sorry story of Mpumalanga Black Aces who increasingly look National First Division bound. Chiefs beat the Mpumalanga based side 2 0 at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Limpopo with goals from skipper Jimmy Tau, and the league’s top scorer Knowledge Musona. Musona could have scored many more were it not for Ace’s keeper Onyango who saved the Mpumalanga side from conceding at least 10 goals. He was voted Man Of The Match and took home a miserly R1,000 compliments of the league sponsors ABSA.

While on that Chiefs versus Aces game, the bush marketing campaign by the newly red cellular network is worthy of mention. Vodacom handed out 15,000 red t-shirts to the fans and had a permanent team of promoters strategically shuffling the new logo in high school war cry style.

Of course the SABC was more than willing to entertain the new reds, but we do believe the segment was paid for, hence the active support and mention from the commentators throughout the match.

McKay to aMuze in Cape Comic Night

CAPE Town comic treasure Wayne McKay will set tonight ablaze at Theatre in the Muze in Muizenberg, Cape Town with his homegrown pot of lekker laughs.

McKay who has played at Grahamstown, Durban’s Suncoast Supernova and all over the blerry shore has become a household name on the Cape comedy circuit. Tickets are R60 a head and payment for other body parts are purely optional. Showtime’s from 5pm to 7.30pm at the 19 Atlantic Road venue.  Call 076 0424 653 to book. For out-of-towners, remember Muizenberg is the place where you CAN actually swim. Unlike the gorgeous but buttfreezing Camps Bay and Clifton and Langebaan, the beaches in Muizenberg (before the show) are a few degrees warmer. Icy in comparison to Durban’s Blue Lagoon though but devoid of Pakistanis selling pirated DVDs.

Sunday Opinion:

'Shoot the Boer' or 'Shut Up'?

FREEDOM songs are part and parcel of the fabric of our collective struggle for emancipation. The fact that they can be sung out of context, for cheap whipping up of emotions today may be frightening for some - especially those on  then receiving end of the messaging.

Yet are these songs important cultural gems that can bring up nostalgia of lives lost for freedom in times of togetherness, a help today to further spur the masses to struggle, to not accept third-grade service delivery and slow changes in our baby democracy?

Aren’t these songs necessary to keep the past in focus, so as to build on these memories for a better future? As opposed to simply forgetting the past as blacks are oft enjoined to do?

Surely there exists no tangible evidence that people will go out to kill farmers after a march where such songs are sung. In the same way there is no evidence that bringing back the death penalty could convince someone not to commit a murder.

However, in a democracy with a revered constitution like ours, where both former oppressed and oppressor have recourse to the law, it makes sense for us to navigate our paths forward in a responsible fashion. Without forgetting the songs of freedom and struggle.

That having been said, our courts are going to have a tough time ascertaining whether the “shoot the boer” song or chant amounts to hate speech or whether Julius Malema and whoever else wants to sing it, can do so freely.

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