| Parts of Argentina have prairie flavour
Corinne Thomson can turn a morning ride astride a polo pony or a pre-dinner glass of local wine into a near-perfect vacation escape. Of course, these could be just a warm-up to a host of other adventures -- tango lessons, anyone? -- on the tours she operates to Argentina. Thomson runs Voyages Millefleurs, a small company specializing in European and South American vacation quests, and counts many Saskatchewan residents on her client list. .
Backstage boy shines in the spotlight
Johnta Austin is not a household name, although any fan of pop-R&B is familiar with his work. He won Grammys in 2006 and '07 for co-writing Mariah Carey's We Belong Together and Mary J. Blige's Be Without You, and also penned Don't Forget About Us, It's Like That and Shake It Off for Carey. Now, the Atlanta hit machine steps from behind the scenes with his first solo album, Ocean Drive, named in the spirit of the ''classy, sexy, fresh'' strip on South Beach. And the album more than lives up to that standard. Johnta (pronounced ''John-tay'') has been compared with iconic singers Marvin Gaye, Luther Vandross and Babyface, but he's more neo-soul than old-school. Turn It Up, featuring Jadakiss, is a smooth anthem about seduction in the clubs, but too many shout-outs to Johnta's colleagues such as Usher, Tyrese and Ginuwine tilt the scale away from inspiration and toward marketing ploy.
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