Jill Scott

Between the first two songs of her album-previewing "Buzz" concert Friday at the Theater of Living Arts, Jill Scott caught fans up on what she's done in the three years since she last toured. She got a cat, the Philadelphia singer, songwriter and poet told the worshipful capacity crowd. She painted her house - and as if to prove her handiness, she later dropped a choice couplet about how she can "stain in polyurethane. " And the place erupted when, in the introduction to a new song titled "Whatever," she talked about getting married and the virtues of monogamy.

Can Jill Scott bring home a Grammy to Philadelphia two years in a row? Last year, this talented young artist shared a songwriting win with the Roots. This year, she's up for an amazing three Grammys for her stellar debut album blending urban soul, hip-hop and jazz, "Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1. " Scott will compete in the best R&B album category against another hometown crew, Boyz II Men (with "Nathan/Michael/Shawn/Wanya") and also the D'Angelo project "Voodoo," which featured studio production by local guys James Poyser and the Roots' ?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY this week to singer-songwriter-poet-actor and hometown honey Jill Scott, who does it all at 40 Wednesday. North Philly's favorite daughter has represented our fair city so well for so long, we wouldn't know where to start in running down her accomplishments. Suffice it to say, if this gorgeously laid-back diva sings, says or tweets it, we wanna be there. In her stars? No stopping her now. More music, more writing, more mothering and definitely more love to give.

Brooklyn, N.Y.-born soul singer Maxwell returns to town in a great double bill with Philly's own Jill Scott . Maxwell, whose 2009 album "BLACKsummers'night" marked his first release in almost a decade, has been enjoying some incredible success after such a long break. The album not only debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and was Maxwell's fourth platinum album, it also netted the singer R&B Album of the Year and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance awards at the Grammys. Meanwhile, co-headliner Scott has been prepping her fourth studio album, "The Light of the Sun," slated for release sometime this summer.

Jill Scott is off to a fresh start. "My music is a lot more free," says the North Philadelphia-raised R&B singer, actress, and poetess, speaking about the changes she's gone through, artistically and personally, in the years leading up to her new album, The Light of the Sun , which entered the Billboard album chart in the top spot when it was released on her own Blues Babe label last month. Since the release of her previous album, The Real Thing: Words & Sounds Vol. 3 , the 39-year-old Scott - who will headline the Jill Scott Summer Block Party at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden on Aug. 6 along with Anthony Hamilton, Mint Condition, and Doug E. Fresh - has had her world upended.

Let this be a lesson to all: The sniffles, if left untreated, can turn into a major problem. Just ask Philly R&B singer Jill Scott, who was released from Temple University Hospital yesterday after being treated for a lung infection that began as an itty-bitty cold. The illness has forced Scott, 28, to miss the first few dates as the opening act on Sting's tour, said Karen Taylor, the crooner's spokeswoman. The singer, recently named one of People mag's Most Beautiful People, was scheduled to perform Saturday at the kickoff of Sting's North American tour at Washington, D.C.'s MCI Center, as well as tonight in Greensboro, N.C. Taylor said the Grammy nominee is resting at home, and it hasn't been determined when Scott will head back to performing.

On stage at the Fillmore at the TLA, Jill Scott beams beneath an Afro that billows like a halo around her head. For the singer, spoken-word poet, and actress, this year has been a creative whirlwind. She recorded her deeply personal and impressively soulful third album, The Real Thing: Words and Sounds, Vol. 3, in Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Miami. She toured behind the album in the United States and Europe. And the newly divorced North Philadelphia native traveled to Atlanta and Africa for extended film shoots.

Just like the hundreds of students gathered in the Ira Aldridge Theater on the Howard University campus to hear her read from her new book of poetry, Jill Scott sets goals. "I have a checklist," the platinum-selling recording artist reveals to her adoring audience. "First, I wanted to be Storm from the X-Men, but that didn't work out. I wanted to be a ballet dancer, but that didn't work out, either. I wanted to be in a Broadway play. I checked that off. I wanted to win a Grammy.

Jill Scott is saying goodbye to the Chocolate Pagoda at Buddakan. She has admitted defeat: She couldn't get close to finishing the dense, three-layer temple. As the plate is cleared, she offers a rhapsody of respect and admiration. "How I have loved you," she sings, surging into an operatic flourish. Then comes a bit of scat in her forlorn jazz-diva voice, next a brief girlfriend-who-won't-take-no-mess. It's a performance, sure. Right down to the flickering of those mischievous eyes.

Reunited rap legends Run-D.M.C., as well as Drake, Philly's Jill Scott and Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, have been added to the lineup of the Jay-Z-curated Made in America festival during Labor Day weekend on the Parkway.   Drake was previously announced, then unannounced from the bill (as Live Nation wanted to be able to sell tickets for his Susquehanna Bank Center show in June) but was always expected to take part in the multiday festival, which runs Sept. 1 and 2. Run-D.M.C.'s performance is the first for Joseph "Run" Simmons and Darryl McDaniels since the 2002 murder of their longtime DJ, Jam Master Jay. Single-day tickets go on sale at noon Friday, starting at $75 through Ticketmaster.com, where two-day passes are also still available.

FIVE YEARS ago, Syreeta Scott felt stuck. Business was bustling at Duafe Holistic Hair Care, which specializes in locs, coils and other Afrocentric styles that don't require harsh chemical straighteners. Magazines like Essence were talking about her salon as the place to get your hair done in Philly, and celebrities like Jill Scott (no relation), Smokey Robinson, Vivian Green and Questlove frequented the shop. Scott, though, was plagued with inner turmoil and self-doubt. It was time to make a change, to move her business from a cramped space in North Philly to a place where it could grow, but she couldn't seem to make the leap.

ANOTHER YEAR! Can it really be We're about to start 2-0-1-3? We survived a Superstorm named Sandy , Renamed Obama Yankee Doodle Dandy. The Phils and Iggles let us down - So who's on first in our hometown? Happy New Year, Mayor Nutter , And every New Year Mummers strutter; You, too, Andy Reid , while you're still around, Chief Charles Ramsey (keep us safe and sound), Schools boss Bill Hite , please take a bow. Bart Blatstein (it's YOUR Tower now)

Vivian Green is best known for the way she belted each line of her first single, "Emotional Rollercoaster," with pain and angst you knew signaled the love was fated to end. More than 10 years later, on her new album, The Green Room , she's singing about the excitement of new love. What's inspiring all the happy lyrics? "I am single. I will say that," she said. "My first album [ A Love Story ], I was sad," said the 33-year-old Philadelphia native, "and the second album I was angry.

OH, TO have been a fly on the wall at last weekend's Made in America Festival when Kim Kardashian crossed paths with Beyonce . They're feuding. A source told the New York Daily News , "Kim and Beyonce barely spoke to each other. " Complicating the matter is the fact that Kardashian's man of the moment, Kanye West , is a good friend of Beyonce's husband, Jay-Z . The paper's source also said, "They were on opposite sides of the stage. Beyonce didn't even acknowledge [Kardashian] was there until the concert was almost over.

MUSIC Feed the beast Work Drugs could really mess you up with their groovin' loose and dreamy vibes. Think a whiny boy vocalist cooing sophisti-pop tunes with cool, breezing arrangements played to good effect on peeling guitar, breezin' keyboards and tastefully thumpin' disco beats. Give a special shout out for "Patty (Smile)," the band's timely, bittersweet ode to "another summer gone. " City Rain and Cold Fronts are also forecast. Johnny Brenda's, 1201 N. Frankford Ave., 9:15 p.m. Friday, $10, 215-739-9684, johnnybrendas.com.

Reunited rap legends Run-D.M.C., as well as Drake, Philly's Jill Scott and Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, have been added to the lineup of the Jay-Z-curated Made in America festival during Labor Day weekend on the Parkway.   Drake was previously announced, then unannounced from the bill (as Live Nation wanted to be able to sell tickets for his Susquehanna Bank Center show in June) but was always expected to take part in the multiday festival, which runs Sept. 1 and 2. Run-D.M.C.'s performance is the first for Joseph "Run" Simmons and Darryl McDaniels since the 2002 murder of their longtime DJ, Jam Master Jay. Single-day tickets go on sale at noon Friday, starting at $75 through Ticketmaster.com, where two-day passes are also still available.

In Concert 43 S. Broadway, Pitman; 856-384-8381. www.thebroadwaytheatre.org . Doug Church & Tom Sadge. $30-$40. 6/23. 9 S. Bryn Mawr Ave., Bryn Mawr; 610-864-4303. www.brynmawrtwilightconcerts.com . Steve Forbert. $10; free for children 16 and under. 6/23. 7 pm. 1853 Wrightstown Rd., Washington Crossing; 215-493-6500. www.crossingvineyards.com . Fridays Unplugged. $10. 6/22. 2125 Chestnut St.; 267-765-5210. www.r5productions.com . Plow United.

THE FIRST NIGHT Mike Dennis went to the Black Lily performing-arts series at the Five Spot, he saw a 13-year-old girl take the stage, start her set with a snippet of a gospel song and, with the crowd behind her, proceed to blow the roof off the now-defunct Old City club. Her name was Jazmine Sullivan, and she would later have a No. 1 hit with "Need U Bad. " Dennis and his partner, Daryl Debrest, continued to chronicle Black Lily, a weekly performance series that ran from 2000 to 2005 and was geared toward letting women have the mic. Black Lily flourished at a time when the music industry turned its eye to Philly to find the next big thing in neo-soul, a genre that gave rise to Jill Scott, Lady Alma and Jaguar Wright.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY this week to singer-songwriter-poet-actor and hometown honey Jill Scott, who does it all at 40 Wednesday. North Philly's favorite daughter has represented our fair city so well for so long, we wouldn't know where to start in running down her accomplishments. Suffice it to say, if this gorgeously laid-back diva sings, says or tweets it, we wanna be there. In her stars? No stopping her now. More music, more writing, more mothering and definitely more love to give.

After a tumultuous 2011 in which they opened a new Center City coffee-and-music venue amid a nasty labor dispute, no one would have faulted rising entertainment entrepreneurs Jamie Lokoff and Tommy Joyner for taking it easy in the new year. But that's not how they roll at MilkBoy, a blend of java- and music-brewed business ventures that seeks to reinvent itself in 2012. Joyner and Lokoff are focusing on Center City after a decade running a recording studio and their now well-known coffee house in Ardmore (and a smaller one in Bryn Mawr)