The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • E2

Filename: E2-LIVING-AJCD0327-AJCD created: Mar 26 2007 Username: SPEED4 AJCD0327 Tuesday, Mar 27, 2007 LIVING 2 AJCD 2 Cyan Magenta Yellow Black E2 Tuesday, March 27, 2007 4 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ajc.com 2 Cyan Magenta Yellow Black AJCD Filename: E2-LIVING-AJCD0327-AJCD created: Mar 26 2007 Username: SPEED4 JEANNE PHILLIPS DEAR ABBY Are six lovers too many for a 17-year-old? DEAR ABBY: I am a 17-year-old high school senior. Last summer I lost my virginity. Since then I have slept with six guys. Do you think my future husband will be seriously upset about it? I guess I want to know whether you think I have become free-spirited or just promiscuous. POSSIBLY PROMISCUOUS DEAR POSSIBLY: What I think is less important than what you think is appropriate behavior.

And if you were comfortable with what you have been doing, you have written me. If you continue on this path, you are in for trouble. The thing that comes to mind is whether or not you know how to protect yourself from an unplanned pregnancy or a sexually transmitted disease. If the answer is no, then you need to see a doctor or visit a Planned Parenthood clinic. You say that in the last seven or eight months you have slept with six different men.

At the rate going, in another six months that number could double, and by the time you are 25, the total could be close to 100. That is promiscuous. So, please take a break from men for a while and think carefully about how casual sex could affect your future. DEAR ABBY: Three years ago, my husband told me he was no longer in love with me. We been getting along, and I been giving him the attention he deserved.

When he said he want to come home from work at night, it hit me like a ton of bricks. It was the wake-up call I needed. We have worked things out and managed to stay together, and my husband says he loves me. But I found out that he told a friend at work that he was no longer in love with me before he told me! on an antidepressant, which helps some, but I still feel sad about what he said. How can I get over the hurt and shame? HEART ACHES DEAR HEART ACHES: possible that in addition to the antidepressant, you could use some counseling.

You are viewing this life lesson from a negative perspective. You have nothing to be ashamed of. You and your husband worked out your problems, and you are both winners. So stop feeling like a loser, and call your doctor for a referral. DEAR ABBY: I have a dear friend who recently met a man through an online dating service.

When she told me about him, I thought he sounded too good to be true. Through public records, I did a check on him. His picture is not a good one. There are foreclosures, liens, bankruptcy, nonpayment of child support, etc. I am very worried about my friend.

I know really none of my business, but never going to be able to forgive myself if something happens to her because of him. LINDA DEAR LINDA: right, this was none of your business. However, now that you know the truth, time to observe the Golden Rule and ask yourself how you would feel if the situation were reversed. If the answer is you would prefer to know all the facts before becoming further involved, tell her what you have learned. What she chooses to do with that information is up to her.

Dear Abby is written by Jeanne Phillips, also known as Abigail Van Buren. Write Dear Abby at www.dearabby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069. ROCK This is worth a swig, if you ignore the lyrics Three5Human Swig From the Acid Anaphora Music. 12 tracks Grade: B- Taking Swig From the Acid is as dangerous as this record sounds.

on the Has it got your attention yet? Well, electric Atlanta vocalist Trina Meade surely will, starting at full blast on the opening track, (with Indigo Girl Amy Ray), and coursing with the kind of power and charisma that should get stadiums to cheer along to the standout track, Seemingly plugged into the same riveting source of voltage is guitarist Tomi Martin, a wide-ranging ax wielder who makes two chords on sound as menacing as snake hisses. The only thing that detracts from this longtime potency is their songwriting. the chain and free as a the least interesting use of metal here. HOT DOWNLOAD: Sonia Murray Three5Human is scheduled to perform at Attic on April 5. JUST OUT MUSIC COUNTRY McGraw lets it go in form Tim McGraw It 13 tracks Grade: A- Fourteen years into his career, Tim McGraw remains one of country most creatively restless and ambitious superstars.

It follows his second greatest-hits collection, and he used the three-year break between original albums to assemble his strongest set since This Circus in 2001. recent focus on acting hindered his talent for outstanding material. Songs like and Need the latter one of two duets with wife Faith Hill, illustrate knack for straddling earthy, blue-collar material and cutting-edge, contemporary country. surprising is that McGraw also offers some of the most traditional-sounding cuts done in a decade. and and are all unrepentant barroom country tunes that would have George Jones or Willie Nelson.

infectious new single, casts poverty as a situation that allows for more personal freedom a point that many poor people would debate. But lack of careful careerism means that, while he may make a few missteps, also climb mountains that his more calculating peers will never scale. HOT DOWNLOAD: Michael McCall, Associated Press Big, beautiful sounds on Macy latest Macy Gray Will.i.am Music 12 tracks Grade: A- One of the more inspired pairings of producer and artist, Macy latest CD puts will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas behind the console for most of the tracks (with a couple of assists from Justin Timberlake). It take a big leap of imagination to think of as a grown-up version of the massively successful debut solo album from the Fergie. That one was largely the work of will.i.am too, but the writing teams differ which probably accounts for maturity.

quirky, crackly voice gives will.i.am’s hip-pop soundscapes more heft and heart than Fergie ever could. Miss Fergie even pitches in on without being obtrusive, but Gray is in control, sounding right at home on this old-school soul throwback. There are minor missteps, but repeat-button moments abound. On Gray lets her freak her voice roaming into ever weirder pastures. is a fun and funky dance Timberlake puts a Prince-ly stomp beneath the kiss-off of Forget Macy is a lot more delicious.

HOT DOWNLOAD: Shane Harrison Earth, Wind Fire classics get new life Various Artists Celebrating the Music of Earth, Wind Stax. 10 tracks Grade: A- nothing on this album of Earth, Wind Fire covers better than the originals, but boy, oh boy, does it try. The co-executive producer is none other than the founder of himself, Maurice White. So you know these remakes start off much higher on the register. The lineup of contributors is outstanding, from veteran soul power Chaka Khan to contemporary gospel titan Kirk Franklin to underappreciated vocal heavyweight Lalah Hathaway.

The material? Come on now: Ever Hide and talking classics. Ultimately, the way Ledisi lends a jazz accent to Musiq Soulchild employs his best falsetto on and Hathaway transforms into something starlight and trippy and wonderful together make this album of compositions one of the best releases this year. HOT DOWNLOAD: Sonia Murray POP Mika does it all Mika in Cartoon Universal 12 tracks Grade: On his debut album, rangy singer- pianist Mika goes for broke with a disc that careens between pop ear candy and earnest balladry. The music never sits still for long, and talent is audacious enough to keep the quality level consistent throughout. This is a man who understands camp value, but he seem to have a vicious bone in his body.

And so his ode to plus-sized dancers comes off as truly admiring. His self-deprecating single works both as a kiss-off and an introduction. His serious opus Other feels like Elton John, and his trancey dance track feels like Madonna. You might think that the stylistic diversity is a sign that this young artist found his sound. In fact, the diversity is his sound.

HOT DOWNLOAD: Nick Marino Tuesday FOR REPRINT PERMISSION, GO TO AJC.COM/PERMISSIONS COMING THURSDAY Kitchen revamp A Marietta couple double- teams their home renovation. In Home Garden LIVING Young impressive talent just needs tweaking By PIERRE RUHE Some performers into town on a balloon of hype, then, once you actually hear the person sing, dance or play the xylophone, to realize that the artist in question is not, in fact, the greatest who ever lived. Morris D. Robinson, an Atlanta native with an unusual career trajectory from college football at South the Citadel to New Metropolitan Opera made his Spivey Hall debut Sunday with the opposite problem. His managers, publicists and debut album on EMI Classics) had awkwardly positioned him as a crossover crooner a big, handsome voice offering meek arrangements of great gospel standards.

Instead, as heard in golden acoustic, Robinson has the potential to be a major singer in a rare (and desperately needed) vocal category: a basso profundo a deep, deep, unbelievably deep voice lyrical, and godlike. Now on contract with the Met, he sang in the Atlanta Boy Choir and graduated from what was then called Northside High School for the Performing Arts (now North Atlanta H.S.) before redirecting his energy (and linebacker-sized frame) to football in college. With energetic pianist Caren Levine, Robinson fought the cross over tag on Sunday with a program covering three languages and three centuries, from 18th-century Italian (a Mozart concert aria) to 19th-cen tury German (Hugo Michelangelo to several generations of American English, including the studied eloquence of Leonard the Appalachian melancholy of John Jacob Is the Color of My True and Leslie tender You There Is No The pair closed the formal part of the hourlong program with a rousing version of Low, Sweet in zesty arrangement, sounding like Gershwin meets honky- tonk cabaret, a treat to hear. Their one-hour show held nothing especially virtuosic or emotionally demanding for Robinson, but he delivered everything evenly, and with ear-catching (and seat-rattling) appeal. As vocally imposing as a redwood tree, with a wine-dark timbre and a serious approach to singing, a formidable talent but an artist a miracle voice of endless potential.

A few mannerisms need to be clipped, such as a tendency to add an umph to the end of phrases, like expelling air from his lungs; he also needs to get his wide vibrato and soft, slow passages under control, so he can taper a line smoothly, seamlessly. Major opera roles for his voice type Sarastro in Magic the King in require deep reserves of sound and majestic control. In his mid-30s, still young for a bass, Robinson has a lot of hard work ahead in the rehearsal studio, not the publicity department if to join the top roster of opera stars. RECITAL REVIEW Bass Morris D. Robinson and pianist Caren Levine.

Sunday at Spivey Hall. www.spiveyhall.org.