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Music

Hot ticket: The queen who wears several crowns

By SEAN DALY
Published August 18, 2005

Can you picture 50 Cent crooning out the Sinatra songbook? Gangstas in the Night, perhaps? Or maybe Eminem paying tribute to Engelbert Humperdinck? After the Lovin' (I'll Kill Kim)? It could happen.

Sixteen years ago, when a tough young rapper named Dana Owens became the one and only Queen Latifah, there weren't many people who could have predicted her post-MC career as a soulful jazz singer. Her 1989 debut, All Hail the Queen, was a rhymer's delight, a female-strong shot at the boys club that was (and still is) the rap universe. It was good, yes, but it sure didn't hint at her one day covering Billy Strayhorn's swoony big-band staple Lush Life.

Being nominated for an Oscar can do things to a person. Latifah was lauded for her work as Matron Mama Morton in 2002's Chicago, which featured her show-stopping When You're Good to Mama.

That did it. In 2004, the Newark, N.J., native released the decidedly rapless Dana Owens Album, a critically adored showcase of soul (Al Green's Simply Beautiful), jazz (James Moody's Moody's Mood for Love) and R&B (Screamin' Jay Hawkins' I Put a Spell on You).

Latifah, now 35, comes to town Wednesday with a big band, a big voice and a big personality. And who knows? Maybe she'll sneak in a rap or two. After all, the Queen does whatever she wants.

Queen Latifah, Wednesday at 8 p.m., Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, 1010 N W.C. MacInnes Place, Tampa. $45.50-$85.50. (813) 229-7827, (813) 287-8844 or (727) 898-2100.

Sure, the annual Warped Tour already blew through town, but listen up, punk fans: Wednesday night at the State Theatre, you might have the chance to catch next year's featured Warped acts. That's because the aptly named Take Cover Tour is making a local stop, offering the opportunity to check out some newly discovered rockers.

The bill is topped by Seattle pop-punksters Acceptance, bringing along the equally alarmist-sounding band Panic! At the Disco, the Receiving End of Sirens (kind of cryptic, no?), Cartel and upstart rockers Augustana (pictured here). And though mayhem may appear to be the order of the evening, many of the bands, especially headliner Acceptance, actually have sensitive sides, playing up the pop and saving the moshing for a more hard-core set.

The same sensitivity goes for Augustana, a young band readying its debut album, All the Stars and Boulevards, for release next month. The group - none of the members is older than 21 - earned impressive buzz in the Chicago music scene, which caused producer Brendan O'Brien (Pearl Jam, Neil Young) to invite it to Atlanta with him to record.

Wanderlust is stamped all over the album. See, the members of the band were so convinced they were going to make it big that they quit school in Illinois and took off to Southern California. But then they returned to Chicago and launched their careers. Try listening to the album like a travelogue; some songs - like Boston, about a friend who is also weary of California and wants to check out the East Coast, and California's Burning - serve as a road map of sorts to the band's journey.

The Take Cover Tour is at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the State Theatre, 687 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. $10. (727) 895-3045. - BRIAN ORLOFF, Times correspondent

[Last modified August 17, 2005, 12:54:04]