Beyonce Knows

The Sports Illustrated Swim Shoot Issue

This year's Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue has a music theme (as you probably know by now, the cover proclaims boldly `The Music Issue') so we're just trying to work out who played second fiddle.
Among the many landmark venues for the several shoots, the Cleveland Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum played host to Russian Anne Vyalitsyna, who posed with Jon Bon Jovi's motorcycle and other Rock Hall items.
According to MyFoxCleveland.com, the magazine portrayed the museum with respect, said Todd Mesek, Rock Hall spokesman. "We felt it would've been an omission if we weren't included," he said.

Also in the issue, models are featured at Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion in Memphis, and posing with Kanye West, Aerosmith, Kenny Chesney, Gnarls Barkley and Panic! At the Disco.

And guess who's featured on the cover? If you haven't worked that out by now, it's the former star of Destiny's Child, singer/actress Beyonce.

For the photo shoot, she posed on a Florida beach in a yellow-and-pink bikini by House of Dereon, the fashion label she started with her mother, Tina Knowles.

We should applaud Beyonce because - if I'm not mistaken - she is the first person who is neither a model nor an accomplished athlete to grace the cover of the swimwear issue. That's a great achievement for her and a wonderful decision by the editorial board of the magazine. This is the 21st century, after all.

FOOTNOTE: Music theme? It must have ended on a high note.