High Quality
Open the downloaded document, and select print from the file menu (PDF reader required).
G.J. McCARTHY/Staff Photographer
Aussie Michael Johns
calls FortWorth, where his in-laws live, “myfamily home in America.”
As soon as
American Idol
’sseventh season ended, MichaelJohns got to work. Quickly.“Once you’re on
Idol
,you’d better know who you are and what you want to do,” says the Aussie, who finished eighth. “Otherwise, you get stuck in limbo writing[songs] with 50 million people,and all of the sudden two yearshave gone by. Once you get off thatshow, every month the light gets alittle dimmer.”His work has paid off with adebut album,
Hold Back My Heart
,which is out today.“I really had a vision for whatthis record was going to be — a JoeCocker meets Otis Redding kind of thing,” says Johns, who wroteseven of the 12 tracks. “On theshow, I got most of my reactions when I sang the soul stuff, so I want to give the ladies what they like.”Johns calls Fort Worth “my family home in America,” becausehis in-laws live in the city. He andhis wife, Stacey, are now based inLos Angeles, “but we’re here every time there’s a big meal:Thanksgiving, Christmas,anniversaries, birthdays,” he says.“My mother-in-law is one of thegreatest cooks around.”Stacey, an interior designer, metJohns one day as they waited for a valet in Hollywood.“We started talking, and she was feisty,” he recalls. “I was feisty,so I thought, ‘Oh, I’ve got to hangout with this girl for a little whilelonger.’”They wed at the Little White
No idle time for ‘Idol’ alum
By DARLA ATLAS
Special Contributor
See
JOHNS
Page3E
POP MUSIC
With new album, Season 7’s Michael Johns is where he wants to be
B0623SE001PCB0623SE001PMB0623SE001PYB0623SE001PKB0623SE001PQ
E1 _ 06-23-2009 Set: 18:15:49Sent by: ajharrisjr LifestylesCYANMAGENTAYELLOWBLACK
The Dallas Morning News
Section ETuesday,June23, 2009
_
........
INSIDE
MUSICALLY SPEAKING:
Al B. Sure returns
3ETHE DOCTOR IS IN:
Debunking diet myths
4EPEOPLE’S PHARMACY:
Get mosquitoes before they get you
5EDOLLARWISE:
Stretch your restaurant meals
12E
Arts, Entertainment & Life
Working out as a couple can help keep bodies and relationships healthy. But lackof communication, personal baggage andtired gender stereotypes get in the way.For men, it can be a real challenge to work out with a partner who canoutperform them, said Rob Lord, owner of Fit214, a small-group personal trainingstudio in Uptown. He’s seen some men try to fudge a bit. “Guys have such a big ego. Itcan be a very humbling experience for somemen.”Gonzales, a personal trainer and weight-loss expert in Kennedale, agrees.He said it’s rare for couples to come to himtogether “simply because the husbandscan’t handle it. Men, most of the time, aretoo prideful and too much of a know-it-all,”he said. Another frequent problem, Lord said, isthat the partner who has the most fitnessexperience will often take on the role astrainer.“It shouldn’t be a deal where the guy becomes the trainer, or if the girl has moreexperience, she’s the trainer,” he said.“There will be conflict.”Even when one partner is qualified tolead the other, it’s still not a good idea.
ELIZABETH M. CLAFFEY/Special Contributor
Jeremy Tyra and Melissa Truly
work out at Fit214. Communication and cooperation are essential when couples train together.
HEALTHY LIVING
M
ary Ellen Hicks gets irritated when her husband, David,cheats a little to keep up with her during their runs.J.D. Gonzales knows a whole lot more about fitnessthan his wife, Jennifer.Jeremy Tyra’s schedule clashes with fiance´e Melissa Truly’s. What do these couples have in common? They’ve overcome the barriersand annoyances of exercising with their significant other.
By CHRISTY ROBINSON
Special Contributor
See
COUPLES
Page12E
Couples therapy
Exercising together can be a kick, but watch your step
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichiehas, perhaps reluctantly, becomethe new global face of Africanliterature.“I’m not interested in being aspokesperson or in being anythingmore than a writer,” she says by phone from Toronto, where she isona book tour that will bring her tothe Dallas Museum of Art tonightaspart of Arts & Letters Live. “Themost important thing is that I haveareadership.”It’s a readership that’s growinglarger every year.The 32-year-old Nigerianauthor grew up in the former houseof the famous author Chinua Achebe(the renowned1958 novel
Things Fall Apart
)on the groundsofthe University of Nigeria inNsukka, where her parents wereprofessors. Her first book, 2003’s
Purple Hibiscus
,tells the story of a15-year old Nigerian girl growingup in a wealthy, hypocriticalhousehold run by a tyrant,and wholater escapes to a better life withher aunt. It immediately put her onthe literary map. But it was 2006’s
Half of a Yellow Sun
,an astoundinghistorical epic about the bloody 1967 Nigerian-Biafran civil war,that made her reputation, winningher both the Orange Prize forFiction in the United Kingdom anda$500,000 MacArthur geniusgrant in the United States.Her visit coincides with thepublication of
The Thing Around Your Neck
,a collection of shortstories. Adichie says she doesn’t planahead what to speak about.“Perhaps I’ll read a story,” she says.The dozen stories in
The Thing Around Your Neck
span a decade of
See
ADICHIE
Page3E
Beowulf Sheehan
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
willappear at the DMA tonight.
BOOKS
Author’s writing does her talking
Adichieuncomfortable inrole as face ofAfrican literature
By EDWARD NAWOTKA
Special Contributor
Free Tours This Week!
Monday – Friday, June 22 – 26, 9am – 9pmand Saturday, June 27, 9am – 5pm
Live Giveaway on NBC 5 at 6:00pmon Saturday, June 27, 2009!
Register FREE at the house to win a Home Entertainment Package, including a 50" Panasonic Plasma TV, 32" PanasonicLCD TV and Home Theater System, courtesy of Best Buy!
$ 4 3 9 , 0 0 0
www.stjudedreamhome.org
1-800-535-6748
Toll-free telephone services and Internet services are provided as a convenience to St. Jude supporters and friends. Reservations do not constitute the sale of a ticket by telephone or by mail. Reservations will beveried and processed by your local St. Jude representatives. Giveaway conducted by ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Proceeds will benet St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn.
Home built by Graham Hart Home Builder
LAST CHANCE TO WIN THE ST. JUDE
DREAM HOME
HOUSE
FOR ONLY $100!
Paid for by Dream Day Foundation.
Add a Comment