Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • 27

ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL CD. 0 Classifieds 3 Section 0 14 Comics 15 TVWeather 16 QAAXlMMAAAJlAs Actor, banker help raise the roof ,000 and $118 Inside Source Banker Mike Stanford, left, cuts up Saturday with actor Lou Diamond Phillip at Legacy Art Albuquerque. i PHOTO COURTESY OF STEVE $18,000 offering, Stanford bought it himself for $20,000. Stanford's wife, Marissa Stanford, served on the organizing committee and the couple have two children in the school. The painting was only one of the pieces Stanford bid on during the evening.

Early on, he persuaded his buddy, Fred Montano of Falcon Ridge Development, to bid with him on a pair of Paul Namkung drums painted by Challenger. Montafto's fiance, Karen Duran, was rewarded for the See 'AFFAIR on PAGE C2 During the auction held under a large white tent at Sandia Casino, Phillips played the prankster, frequently baring his oh-so-buff chest, bussing the ladies and threatening to strip. (At one point, the audience was treated to a more than a passing glance at Phillips' black skivvies.) Phillips was only outdone by Stanford, who at one point took over the microphone and auction duties to sell a painting by his longtime friend J.D. Challenger. When he couldn't get other bidders to outmatch his 3f During Saturday's fourth annual Legacy Art Albuquerque, banker Mike Stanford proved once again he was the big man in the tent.

The 6-f oot-7-inch chairman of the board and CEO of First State Bank teamed up with actor Lou Diamond Phillips to spontaneously stage a comedy routine that helped gross more than $118,000 during the auction of high-quality original art. The money will be split evenly between scholarship programs for St Pius High School and the Art Has Heart SNOWDEN I. CHARLOTTE BALCOMB LANE Of the Journal Foundation. Art Has Heart is a nonprofit organization established by Native American artist Amado Pefia and his wife, J.B. Pefia.

I Leaving the. Duke City behind, Xzibit took control The wheel world f-a rap career that would steer him I ji I I I I II I IVIJT I IUU MTV's "Pimp My Ride" airs on Sundays at 5 p.m., and again at 7:30 p.m. It also airs repeatedly throughout the week. Check your local listings for days and times. 1 Adding bling to the beater i j.

I 1. 4 I II IF I I I 1 Stories by Rick Nathanson Journal Staff Writer By the time Xzibit found fame and fortune, the used Geo Tracker that he originally drove to Los Angeles had long since been repossessed. What a difference a few years can make. MTVs wildly My fiide an extreme makeover program for vehicles. Xzibit, 29, has been on the marquee as part of the Anger Management and the Up In Smoke tours, sharing the stage 1992, Ahrin Nathaniel Joint er, having been kicked out of a string of Albuquerque high schools, loaded ud a black and purple Geo Tracker and He now drives a $50,000 2003 H2 Hummer and an $80,000 2004 S500 Mercedes.

He took the headed out to Loj Angeles. vehicles to West Coast Customs and had them add thousands of dollars worth with Metallic, Eminem, Cyprus Hill, SO Cent, Limp Bizki Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, to name a few. He has also appeared on the recordings of artists including Snoop Dogg, EnimemandLinkin Park. "It's been a wild ride," he said by phone from Mr He took his life savings of $2,000 but the real money Was on young Alvin himself, blessed with musical talent and a vision for his future.

Today, Alvin Joiner is known 1 as the raptup-hop' artist Xzibit, with four albums to his credit and a fifth to be released this summer. He's had a role in Eminem's movie, "8 Mile," and a guest spot on the TV series "CSI Miami." I And now he is the host of i 1 his accountant's office in Los Angeles. To be PAQEC2 1 Albuquerquealeed rap and hip-hop artist XrfbhVhost of MTVs "Pimp My Ride," la tarn hera with program participant Nlla. I COURTESY I MTV of multimedia bells and whistles, including monitors with touch screen technology, and killer speakers. "Well, I cant ride a bicycle to work, now can he asked.

It was at West Coast Customs that he met a producer for MTV. One thing led to another, and Xzibit was asked to host the pilot for the show, "Pimp My Ride." "I did it, they put it out and it was like an avalanche," he said. "It's like the No. 2 rated show on MTV Networks and it was just picked up for a second season. I think people like it because, unlike most reality TV shows that are based on somebody else's humiliation, with Timp My there's no down side.

At the end of the day, everybody wins. There's an actual genuine feeling that comes from seeing something good come to some deserving person, and that never gets old." MTV, he said, does the casting and selects the people whose vehicles get the extreme makeover. "The cars that come through here are all beat up. See SHOW on PAGE C2 Nile's Caddy Is "pimped out" with a hot sink pearl paint Job, custom Rolls-Royce type grille, 20-Inch Asantirlms, Pirelli tires and a motorized shoe rack In the trunk. Nlla'1978 iv Cadlllao arrlvaa at the garage at Waat Coast Customs, Banderas glad to cat around in 'Shrek 2' j0e much.

With the investments I made in Spain, here, I can cover my life. And I am going to take only those jobs that I really feel that my heart goes with them" For his latest film, you can practically see Banderas' heart as he poses and prances and swashbuckles as the cocky Puss-in-Boots in "Shrek 2." Banderas' voice is so perfect as the darling little feline that his few scenes actually steal the show. See BANDERAS on PAGE C2 at the beginning: my hobby," says Banderas, seated with one foot tucked under him on a beige chenille couch in a hotel room. i "In the sense of, in these years, I have worked a lot-especially in the last five years," says Banderas, best known for projects like "Evita," "Spy Kids," "The Mask of Zorro." "But something very interesting happened about that," he says in his still-thick Spanish accent "I was kind of conscious (of it) when I was Spanish actor vows to keep landing on his feet in Hollywood By Lvaine Lee Knight RidderTribune News Service BEVERLY HILLS. Calif.

-Spanish-born Antonio Banderas has already achieved the ambitions of most actors. Now he wants something else. "My dream now is to make my profession now what it was doing some of the jobs I've been doing, and it's the possibility of buying my freedom as an actor. To have the possibility with the investments with the money that I made in the movies to buy my financial freedom, my economic freedom So I don't have excuses now, because I don't have to actually take jobs in order to maintain my style of life or whatever," he shrugs. "I just got to a point where I dont need to work in order to live, especially because I am not a person who needs too As the cocky Puss-ln-Boots In "Shrek 2," Antonio Banderas Is so perfect that his few scenes actually steal the show.

1.