The Pulse of Entertainment: Grammy
Nominated Monique Nikkole Releases ‘We Are One,' a Frankie Beverly Remake; Coco Tunes to Release Monique Nikkole's ‘Enigmatic'
EP in October
"I'm an enigma," said Grammy nominated
vocalist Monique Nikkole about the name of her new EP "Enigmatic" (Coco Tunes).
"That's where the title comes from."
Monique
Nikkole is currently promoting the current single from the "Enigmatic" EP (out in October) titled
"We Are One." The single is a remake of the Frankie Beverly & Maze classic.
The artist is a very stylish singer/songwriter and the recipient of the Presidential
Lifetime Achievement Award. You can say Monique Nikkole is a Renaissance women, she does so much. She is marathon runner;
a real estate investor; an entrepreneur with a lifestyle and fitness brand; a concert promoter, and has her own record label
Coco Tunes Publishing, Inc.
Nikkole also
has a career as a Nassau County police where she climbed the ranks to being a detective sergeant. She retired though in 2021.
From there I guess the focus was her music. Before retiring she had already opened her own recording studio; launched her
record label; formed a music management company, and a... <Read the full September 30, 2025 column here...>
The Pulse of Entertainment: Baltimore's Gabby Samone Ends American Idol Finals with a Tour That Ends
September 27, 2025 at the Horseshoe Casino
"I study the greats," said Gabby
Samone, an American Idol season 23 finalist, about her style of vocal performances when
I complimented her song delivery style - opening softly, then building to a climax and then bringing it down to very soft
end. "Like Whitney Houston, she does that a lot."
A Baltimore native Gabby went through performance after performance on American Idol making her way to the
finals of season 23 of the very popular broadcasted talent competition. She sang a wide array of genres of music too, such
as Nina Simone's "Four Women," "Donny Hathaway's "A Song for You," Whitney Houston's "Saving
All My Love," Celine Dion's "It's All Coming Back to Me," and Barbra Streisand's "Don't Rain on My Parade."
"I do love all different genres," she said when I pointed
this out.
Lifetime Network
to Release Toni Braxton's ‘He Wasn't Man Enough' and ‘Breathe Again' Movies Based On Her Hit Singles
(Los Angeles, CA) - Following Lifetime's multi-picture deal with Grammy
Award winner Toni Braxton, it is debuting two movies under this partnership - He Wasn't Man Enough
and Breathe Again. Braxton serves as both star and executive producer, collaborating with an ensemble
cast.
Set to premiere Saturday, November 22, 2025
at 8/7c as part of the network's Love of a Lifetime November Romance Movie slate, Toni Braxton's He Wasn't Man Enough,
stars Braxton alongside Essence Atkins (First Wives Club) and Emmy nominated Yvette Nicole Brown (The Mayor). Prremiering
in 2026 is Toni Braxton's Breathe Again, which reunites Braxton with Atkins who will be joined by Emmy Award winner
Cree Summer (Rugrats).
Jekalyn Carr Announces Her New Album, 'Jekalyn
X. Legends'
(Atlanta, GA) - WayNorth Music's
Grammy Award winning, Stellar and GMA DOVE Award winning artist Jekalyn Carr announces the release date of her forthcoming
album, "Jekalyn X. Legends," as November 7, 2025.
In such a short period, Carr has achieved many notable accomplishments. Not only does she
have Grammy Stellar and Dove Awards, but Jekalyn has spent half a decade on top of the charts as a top-selling independent
recording artist with ten Billboard #1 hits. Those hits include nine #1 radio singles; two #1 albums; two #1 digital singles,
and seven top 10 songs. In addition she has garnered two Billboard Music Award nominations, and millions of lifetime global
streams.
"Uplifting Minds II" Entertainment Conference - (562)-424-3836
"IMAGIINATION LUNCHBOX
INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S & ADULT'S FILMN FESTIVAL"
(Baltimore, MD) - Filmmakers from the U.S.,
Columbia, and Australia shine bright as winners of the 9th annual Imagination Lunchbox International Children's &
Adult's Film Fests (ILICAFF), held recently from September 8 - 14, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. The ILICAFF offered
free admission to the screening and awards of short films from eight different countries that included the U.S., the U.K.,
Netherlands, Portugal, Colombia, Canada, Mexico, and Australia. Winning films included Mariposa, by director Brook Vitovsky
from the United States for "Best Film For Kids;" Evil Eye, by director Mia StarrFrank from the U.S. for "Most
Uplifting Film;" Snow Bugs directed by Jenny Shuermann from the U.S. for "Film Festival Favorite;" Who Has
Taken My Cheese from director Cristian Rojas from Colombia for "Best Film By Kids," and Doomsday 2000 by director
Harrison Lysaght from Australia for "Best Film Made For Adults." The growing popular film fest for young, as well
as adult, filmmakers also offered a filmmaking workshop at the Eubie Blake Cultural Center in Baltimore that had virtual access;
a virtual open call audition powered by Zoom, and open court community basketball games at the UA House at Fayette for fun
and free giveaways. All events were hosted by ILICAFF's founder Anthony Michael Hobbs (Anthony-Michael.com), a current SAG/AFTRA
member who is a multi-award-winning actor (PBS, DreamWorks) and filmmaker with over 20 awards won worldwide.
The ILICFAFF Imagination Lunchbox/Eubie Blake Filmmaking Workshops
held at the Eubie Blake Cultural Center with virtual access via Zoom offered such speakers as John Wesby (Wesby One Productions)
a producer at BET Networks who talked on film production; documentary film attorney Richard B. Jefferson, Esq (M.E.T.A.L.
IP Law Group), whose clients include Disney, for his Ask a Lawyer Session; stuntman/director Chuck Borden (Faceplant Films)
whose credits include stuntman/directing for Fast & Furious and Star Trek franchise films spoke on directing stunts, and
founder Anthony Hobbs (Imagination Lunchbox, LLC), who produced and directed three shorts garnering over 20 awards, spoke
on scriptwriting. The Imagination Lunchbox Virtual Open Call Auditions had a panel of casting directors that included Mark
Hunter (Remarkable Productions) who has projects on TUBI; Arthur Mohammad (Chariots Productions) who has projects on Netflix,
Hulu and Fandango; Alander Pulliam, Jr. (Power 98 Media Group) whose production credits include Fast and Furious: Hobbs and
Shaw and 2019 BET Awards, and Nicole Butler (A&B Productions) whose series of sitcoms for kids air on YouTube's Channel.
The ILICAFF ended with the Imagination Lunchbox Open Court Community Basketball Games at the UA House at Fayette where founder
Anthony Hobbs, coached the teams through two games (winners received cash prizes) and then played one-on-one with two players
from the winning teams for cash prizes. Highlights of ILICAFF, in pictures, are available at https://imaginationlunchbox.com/ili-film-festival.html.
The Imagination Lunchbox International Children's Film Fest (ILICFF)
was created first in 2016 by Hobbs, who started out as an actor at age four with credits that include projects for DreamWorks
and PBS. It most notable role is in the PBS documentary-series "The Abolitionist" as a young Frederick Douglas.
That role resulted in him attending the Emmy Awards for the film's nomination. Anthony Hobbs went on to become a young prodigy
filmmaker at the age of nine garnering over 20 awards world-wide for writing, starring-in, directing and producing his own
shorts, such as One Nation, and Naga Pixie. He has also produced through his company Imagination Lunchbox, LLC a short film
for his former coach titled Agent Hollywood - another multi-award-winning film. Hobbs started ILICFF so that young filmmakers
like himself, would have a platform to showcase their films. In, 2023, as Hobbs entered A&T University, he expanded his
film fest to include the Imagination Lunchbox International Adult's Film Fest (ILIFF), to give "adult" short films
made by and for adults a chance to be seen. As a result, the Imagination Lunchbox International Children's & Adult's Film
Fest (ILICAFF) was created.
Feedback from attendees: "Good afternoon, I participated in the film festival, and the selected pieces were truly amazing. I have to give additional
kudos to the films, by children. Their creativity and vision was next level. I also want to thank you for the email follow-up
and reminders. The constant communication was welcomed and appreciated. I wish you and your team continued success. Respectfully"
by Jacquel Tomin (2025)
"Simply the best
festival ever!" said filmmaker Alan Chriest (2021)
"Super
impressed with them and love that they have kid judges," said filmmaker Nicole Rose (2020).
"Such a friendly creative film festival. It was a wonderful experience,"
said filmmaker Charlotte McLaverty (2019)
Learn
more about the Imagination Lunchbox International Children's & Adult's Film Fest log onto https://imaginationlunchbox.com/ili-film-festival.html (screening and awards; https://imaginationlunchbox.com/iliff-filmmaking-workshops.html
(filmmaking workshops); https://imaginationlunchbox.com/il-virtual-open-call-auditions.html (open call auditions), and https://imaginationlunchbox.com/iliff-open-court-basketball.html.
