A bad combination

When I first heard that Ne-Yo and Chris Brown were coming to Charlotte, I encouraged my girl and another buddy of mine to let their teenage daughters attend the show.

Brown and Ne-Yo are the new young heartthrobs whose posters are plastered on the walls of thousands of teenage girls' bedrooms. They're the kind of artists who should be on the Scream Tour.

I was about to order tickets for my friend's kids when I started thinking about the supporting acts: Lil' Wayne, Dem Franchise Boyz and Juelz Santana.

I didn't order the tickets.

I like the rap acts on the tour, but they shouldn't be packaged with Brown and Ne-Yo. These rappers draw the gold-tooth, white T-shirt crowd. Too often they think women should be treated like the women in music videos - disrespectfully.


Let me see, teenage girls whose bodies are beginning to bud and whose hormones are on overdrive combined with amped grown men, some of whom will be drinking. And way too many of whom will be making inappropriate comments to women and girls.

It's a bad combination.

What do you think? Am I overreacting? Should I have let the girls go? Post your replies below.

Dave Attell ain't right

Listening to comedian Dave Attell is like spending an hour with your most obnoxious, insensitive friend. At his opening show at the Comedy Zone on Thursday, he insulted blacks, Jews, lesbians, women and Mexicans, among others.

Some of his jokes were incisive and others were downright mean, especially the ones about people with disabilities. He dipped into pop culture, current events and frat-boy humor.

A few of my favorites:

*"Smoking is evil now," he said, lighting a cigarette. "That's why you should do it on evil days like Scott Peterson's birthday."

*"There's a lot of hot women here tonight. If I were Flava Flav, I would give you all a clock and call you a derogatory name."

*About crocodile hunter Steve Irwin's death: "The crocs put a hit on him."

The funniest part of Attell's act is how he insulted the audience with compliments:

*"You're a great crowd. Nobody f------ laughs at the joke."

*"It's great when a girl laughs at a rape joke."

If your feelings get hurt easily, Attell's show isn't for you. But if you want a night of chuckles interspersed with some knee slaps, then head to the Comedy Zone. He's there at 8 and 10:15 tonight and Saturday, and 8 p.m. Sunday. www.thecomedyzone.net.