I attended New Edition’s show at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT hours after Whitney Houston’s “Home-Going” ceremony in Newark, NJ. I talked about Bobby Brown’s performance and the video I shot on site with A.J. Hammer on HLN’s “Showbiz Tonight.”
Thanks to Mark Goldman of Goldman & McCormick PR.
I talked about the feud on Twitter between Chris Brown and Miranda Lambert with A.J. Hammer on HLN’s “Showbiz Tonight.”
Thanks to Mark Goldman of Goldman & McCormick PR.
Bobby Brown attempted to attend Whitney Houston’s “Home-Going” in Newark, NJ on Saturday. Later in the evening, he attended his own homecoming in New England. Hours after the world paid its final goodbye to Houston, Boston’s New Edition performed in front of a sold-out crowd of over 7,000 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT. 
Brown took a planned absence from the night’s first three songs, then entered stage right for “Hit Me Off.” As the band introduced themselves one by one before “Jealous Girl,” Brown acknowledged the woman he was married to for almost 15 years.
“I want to give blessings to my ex-wife, Whitney Houston. I love you,” Brown said, motioning towards the sky. “I want to give a lot of blessings to my kids, my fiancée, my brothers, and all of you.”
By “brothers,” Brown was referring to his New Edition band-mates. The sextet powered through a set that lasted almost two hours. Songs performed Saturday evening spanned from New Edition’s 1983 Candy Girl debut to Brown’s 1988 solo smash “My Prerogative” to Bell Biv DeVoe’s 1990 hit, “Poison.” Michael Bivens and Ricky Bell founded New Edition with Brown. Ronnie DeVoe joined a few years later.
With Ralph Tresvant and Johnny Gill also on board, the group had the crowd inside Mohegan Sun on their feet for most of the evening. As the night wound down, the six members sat on stools while the group’s lead singer addressed the crowd again.
“I lost three great people in my life, in the last year,” Brown told the audience of over 7,000 before New Edition wrapped with “Home Again.” “But, nothing makes me happier than to be right here, right now.”
Brown’s brothers were happy to have him there, and had his back. Bivens recognized the emotions that everyone was feeling due to the funeral. The singer said that Bell was “like a bull in a china shop,” watching TV coverage of the event.
“I told (Bell), hit them with your voice, not your fist,” Bivens said to the crowd.
Some New Edition fans, like Lisa Pollock of Bridgeport, Conn., were simply happy just to see Houston’s ex-husband in the building.
“(New Edition) just held it together. I can’t imagine what today was like for them,” Pollock said after the concert. “For them to come and do a show for all of us, definitely exceeded my expectations.”
Pollock thought that in the wake of Houston’s death, Brown is being portrayed unfairly by the media.
“We all have free will in this world,” she said, a nod to the notion that Brown was the direct reason for Houston’s eventual demise. “I’m not going to say what people did or did not do, but he’s his own person (Houston) was her own person.”
Serita Outlow of Norwich, Conn. also attended the show unsure if Brown would make it. 
“I think he did an excellent job considering what he must have been feeling,” she said. “I don’t know what he went through with his voice today but I think he still pulled it off. I’m very proud of him.”
I stopped by WBRE’s “PA Live!” for my weekly segment, “The Ralphie Report.” This week, I recapped my interview with “Dancing With The Stars” pro Mark Ballas. Also covered: “The Voice” contestant Raquel Castro calls Christina Aguilera, “a very good role model,” and Adele’s manager casts possible doubt on the singer’s 2012 tour plans.
I talked about Whitney Houston’s death and some of the details allegedly surrounding it on HLN with anchor Mike Galanos. Houston died on February 11 at age 48 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. As I mention during the segment, I believe Houston was clean of illegal drugs prior to her passing.
Thanks to Mark Goldman of Goldman and McCormick PR.
“The Voice” season one contestant Raquel Castro doesn’t care what the media says about Christina Aguilera.
Aguilera picked Castro on first season of the NBC competition to join her team, and the teenager found the superstar’s knowledge priceless.
“She’s experienced things that some people haven’t yet, so she can kind of guide you in a way, so you don’t make those same mistakes yourself,” Castro said. “I think that makes a great role model.”
Castro has experienced quite a bit herself for only being 17. The Long Island native received her big break in showbiz at age 9, co-starring with Ben Affleck in the movie, “Jersey Girl.” Since, she’s appeared in a number of film and TV shows – and was even cast for Ludacris’ “Runaway Love” music video.
The artist now finds herself working on her own music video. Castro filmed the piece for her new single, “Diary” last Saturday, and expects to release it within a month. The song is about a relationship, although the New Yorker says that she kept a private journal while growing up.
“I had like three different diaries,” recalls Castro, even remembering the cover of a specific diary. “My first one was a Britney Spears diary I got in first grade.”
Ironic given that while she was writing daily happenings and private crushes in a book with Spears on the cover, she would eventually come to work with and learn about how to obtain her dreams firsthand from the woman compared to and with Britney the most.
Before The Grammy’s, and before TMZ reported that Mark Ballas’s girlfriend crashed his Audi, the singer, songwriter, and dancer extraordinaire was looking forward to Valentine’s Day.
Before flying back west, Ballas performed inside Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT. The “Dancing With The Stars” pro is in the studio working on the follow-up to HurtLoveBox.
“I’m not sure when it’s going to be out yet, but it’s a lot different to my old stuff,” he noted. “My other two records are just acoustic albums, they’ve been kind of more singer/songwriter. So this next record, we’re going a little more urban/pop with it.”
If Ballas could compare – essentially he’d like to play the guitar like John Mayer, sing like Bruno Mars, and move like Justin Timberlake. Yes, he is taking the project in a much more mainstream direction, but Ballas insists that has nothing to do with the mainstream show he dances on.
“For me, this is what I wanted to do,” he revealed. “When I do my music, I don’t really do it because I think that it’s what should be done, I do it because it’s what I feel.”
As far as “Dancing” goes, season 14 kicks off next month, and one person Ballas feels would be great for the show is legendary actress Betty White.
“I think she would be amazing!” he gushed. “I think if Betty White were to come on, they’d bring my dad (Corky) back for her… it would be great to have my dad back, you know?”
Ballas will continue writing and recording throughout the year, and hopes to drop a single from his new project before 2012’s end. Since her appearance on “DWTS,” he has become close with singer Nicole Scherzinger, and hinted that they may collaborate in the future.
Whitney Houston, one of the best vocalists of her generation, passed away Saturday night. She was 48.
I joined Fox News to begin the network’s coverage of Houston’s passing at 10 p.m. with different insight and reactions from people across the world.
Big thanks to Mark Goldman of Goldman & McCormick PR.
I stopped by WBRE’s “PA Live!” for my weekly segment, “The Ralphie Report.” This week, I chatted about the UK boy band The Wanted, and the group’s American invasion. The boys have already appeared on “Ellen,” “Chelsea Lately,” and my show. Plus, The Wanted signed with Justin Bieber’s manager, Scooter Braun. Also covered: Sean Kingston’s alleged tax problems and Hollywood week on “American Idol.”