JASMINE WITH PREEYA KALIDAS
A room full of global and political leaders, sporting stars, music legends, business tycoons, Television and film celebrities – it could only be the annual Asian awards!
In its third year, the awards opened out the winners for the first time to include the whole of Asia-not just South Asians as per the first two years. So this year the Grosvenor House hotels Great Room saw a whole realm of Asians from all over Japan, China, India, chorea and the UK attend.

ALL THE INFO YOU NEED ABOUT THE ASIAN AWARDS
‘’These awards were born out of a single vision – to create an event, which would recognize exceptional achievement from those within the global Asian community, on a scale which had never been seen or done before. The Asian awards are about people – about those who stand up for what they believe in and those who step forward to make a difference ‘’- Paul sago Asian awards founder.

JASMINE WITH ASIAN AWARDS FOUNDER PAUL SAGOO’S PARENTS AND MOTHER=IN-LAW
Paul is a man that started his career under the tutelage of Lord Alan Sugar. A straight speaker and a man most would love to call their boss. Always demanding the very best of his team and himself, he said he founded these awards after attending so many others and being left frustrated ‘’Unanimously the quality of these events wasn’t great, there would always be something; a spelling mistake in the brochure, the microphone wouldn’t work, the screen would disappear, they’d run out of time or the food wouldn’t be great. The second thing was the winners. I’d think ‘’truly why does that person deserve the award?’. We’re always looking to celebrate people who are genuinely outstanding in their field’’.

JASMINE WITH MOBO AWARDS FOUNDER KANYA KING AS THE ASIAN AWARDS.
Alongside Sotheby’s, other sponsors of the evening included elite face Cream brand Crème De La Mer, Perrier Jouet Champagne, PR Newswire, the East India Company, Asian Wealth Magazine and Cobra beer.
Sophie Panizzo , the director of UK Sothebys International Realty said ‘’In a period when much in the news is about struggling economies , it becomes ever more important for us to remember that the world is full of amazing people , their achievements and accomplishments a constant reminder of what can be achieved with dedication and determination’’.

JASMINE WITH SWAY AT THE ASIAN AWARDS.
Hosted by (half Asian) Lord Sebastian Coe, who said he was proud to be hosting the awards for the third year running, Sir Coe’s introduction was funny, engaging and sincere. (In my youth, when he was winning gold medals for this country in the Olympics and European championships, I don’t ever recall the British press mentioning that he was half Indian, with a father from Gurarat?).

EACH TABLE HELD A MINI TABLET TO BID IN THE SILENT AUCTION-VERY MODERN DAY!
On each table were two mini IPads for guests to bid for the items in the silent auction, which was a very chic and modern tech way of donating some money. A simple tap of a button and I felt good about giving, instead of the usual rigmarole of pens, booklets and filling in bank details! Often when I attending these functions I note that the auctions are very unsuccessful, but here you couldn’t stop the guests bidding!. It was quite exciting to observe the Asian wealthy tycoons all trying to outbid each other for Aston martin days, designer brands, music experiences, bespoke artwork, chef dinner parties, signed sporting paraphernalia from legendary sportsmen, holidays of a lifetime, even drumming lessons with Duran Duran’s Roger Taylor! At one point TV newsreader Tasmin Lucia Khan was onstage, auctioning off herself and other sexy ladies for an evenings dinner, and managed to set Dragons Den judge James Caan and another wealthy tycoon against each other to the audiences delight!

DECADENT MACAROONS ACCOMPANIED BY COFFEE AT THE END OF THE ASIAN AWARDS FEAST!
Food was courtesy of Madhus and was unquestionably the best food I’ve ever tasted or seen presented at an awards show of this caliber. Sea bass with mango salsa wrapped in a banana leaf for starters. A royal thali (silver tray) with chicken, lamb, pomegranate and mint raita with pilau rice main. Finished off with a pistachio and almond mousse cake and masala chai panna cotta. All mouth watering to the palette and the eyes. Even the post dinner coffee arrived not with the usual petit fours truffle chocolates, but decadent flavoured macaroons. Waiters even regularly asked if anyone desired any more. If our over full stomachs could have taken any more we certainly would have. Full marks!
(one man clearly had eaten too much and had ITIS- here he is asleep post dinner -anyone know him?)

”ITIS”

SIR BEN KINGSLEY COLLECTED HIS AWARD WITH A HEARTFELT SPEECH.
Adding a Royal presence to the night’s events, Princess Michael of Kent arrived in elegant fashion in an off white sequined ensemble. Legend Sir Ben Kingsley accepted his fellowship award with a touching speech.

SIR BEN COLLECTS HIS ASIAN AWARD!
Actress Preeya Kalidas looked very elegant in a black long sexy black sheath accented with fire engine red lips and nails. Rapper Sway commented on how glamorous and chic the awards were as it was his first time attending. MOBO Awards CEO Kanya King was rocking a demure black Chanel skirt suit.

JASMINE WITH KISS100RADIO DJ NEEVE.
KISS100FM’s Dj Neeve was my belle of the ball looking stunning in an Indian princess beehive adorned with an Indian sequined bindi headdress.

JASMINE WITH 102-year-old marathon runner Fauja Singh!.
I tried to badger 102-year-old marathon runner Fauja Singh about his secret to a long healthy like and which face cream he uses, but he didn’t seem to want to divulge that information.

PETER ANDRE HAD A GREAT TIME!
Peter Andre arrived in sunglasses for an evening where he was going to be indoors. Thankfully he took them off when curtseying when introduced to Princess Michael. My mate commented that they couldn’t believe he was now pretending to be Indian so he could enjoy a free meal LOL! Former athlete, now TV sports pundit Colin Jackson looked suave in his suit. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne spoke about the impact of Asians on the financial market globally. Eastenders actress and acting legend Nina Wadia won the bid in the auction for the Aston Martin experience for five thousand pounds and later, on collecting her award for outstanding achievement in television she began in the usual well mannered way but then slightly inebriated yelled ‘’oh fuck it-its about time!’. We cheered!
Radio 1’s hardest working broadcaster Nihal ran in to show his face before escaping to host his evening radio show.

BEVERLEY KNIGHT SANG AT THE ASIAN AWARDS.
Others in the house included singer Beverley Knight who sang mid awards, Gurinder Chadha, Amy’s father Mitch Winehouse, Emma Noble, Elen Rivas and nineties music act Sonique.
A very unique night where British Asians were proud of all the opportunities that this country has offered them, overseen and joined by many multi cultured high influencers and power players from every industry who were happy to unite to celebrate that! .

JASMINE WITH WEST LONDON MUSIC STAR-ANGEL.
MUSIC
A busy week. Music stayed strong on the scene with Angel having an album launch party at the Mayfair Hotel where so many other young peers joined him to show their support. In the house sipping lots of Red Bull special edition beverages were; Wretch32, Tinchy Stryder, Fazer, Stooshe, Leigh Anne from Little Mix, Jamelia, Nate James, Oritse from JLS, Daley, Cleo Sol, G Frsh and Preeya Kalidas.
On the same night Ty had a show at Jazz Café which according to all accounts was great too!

JASMINE WITH FILM MAKERS ROY AGYEMANG AND NEVILLE HENDRICKS.

FILM
The world’s getting smaller. We are no longer hostages to national media broadcasters who transmit every story from their own individual political angles. With social media connecting us in seconds to people across the globe, the truth is closer and more available than ever.
In my youth in the 80’s, I devoured media in the only ways available – print press, radio and TV. Therefore I was told the world’s news stories from one point of view. The British one. Like many, I still jump daily from many news platforms so I can see the same story from different points of view. Luckily I’ve also always worked in media establishments where I have access to a multitude of daily press. I like to think I see a balanced view of the world’s news.
As a teenager I recall visiting my parents birth homes in Kenya and India and my cousins laughing at my ‘’western brainwashed way of thinking’’ as I staunchly championed and supported my colonial British roots with pride.
A big eye opener was after 9/11 when; their thinking on why it had happened, who had caused it and why it wasn’t such a bad thing, shocked me to the core. Viewing their news channels and papers in Africa and Asia made me see that the world sees the west aka the USA ‘’and its puppy dog’’ – the UK, as the worlds playground bullies that pillage other countries for their natural resources, lie to justify their presence in other countries and think its ok to police the world.
Today it’s a very different world. Social media means that we hear the truth and diverse points of view without propaganda clouding our judgment as much as it once did.
Politically exposing documentary film makers used to be few and far between. Michael Moore and his peers make revealingly exciting docs that get mass media promotion but there are millions of lesser known doc makers that are about to break through the big screen horizon, and this week I was lucky enough to see 2 films by 2 very brave, pro-socially minded film directors.

The first was a movie about Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe. The second was called ‘’ONE MILE AWAY’’ (which I will tell you about next week).

Mugabe – The man that I had been informed by the western media was an evil villain. A dictator who was evil and needed to be brought down. The film was titled ‘’Mugabe – villain or hero?’’. Of course many of us would think clearly-villain! There are always three sides to every story though, one side, the other side and the truth.
Riverside studios in West London held a special screening that saw a diverse audience attend to make up their minds about the title. The doc was made cheaply. But its not its filmic qualities we are interested in-it’s the story.
The story of Zimbabwe, its people and history was told in an easily digestible manner from way back when it was called Rhodesia. The country was one of the last in Africa to fight for and win its independence from British colonization. The film showed how Mugabe was once a revered hero that moved in social circles with every great world leaders including American presidents, British prime ministers ,The Pope and even our Queen!. He was knighted by our Queen and visited London as her guest many times.
So where did it all go wrong? It seems that was when he decided to make the call for ‘’Zimbabwe for Zimbabweans’’. When he had to free his country and people of British rule he was suddenly cast as the evil dictator. In the now infamous Lancaster House agreement, Robert Mugabe and his supporters were pressured into signing and agreeing to wait ten years before instituting land reform. At the time, an agreement under Margaret Thatcher’s government had promised Zimbabwe that 10 years after signing the Lancaster house agreement, Zimbabwe land would be handed back to the people of Zimbabwe from the white farm and land owners. However once Thatcher was ousted and a Labour government took over the UK, they reneged on the agreement whilst Mugabe had played everything by the book. The then letter from Tony Blair’s cabinet member Clare Short, told Muagbe in no uncertain terms, that “I should make it clear that we do not accept that Britain has a special responsibility to meet the costs of land purchase in Zimbabwe. We are a new Government from diverse backgrounds, without links to former colonial interests. My own origins are Irish and as you know we were colonised not colonisers’’ and would not stick to the UK’s agreement.
Mugabe argues that land remains an issue because of the constraints placed on him by the 1979 Lancaster House agreement to end white rule in the former Rhodesia, and Britain’s betrayal of the promises it made to ensure a settlement. Since independence, only 10% of arable land has moved legally from white to black hands. Mugabe’s detractors say that that the black people that Robert Mugabe gave those farms to are political supporters of Mugabe who were given those farms as payoffs.
History states that more than thirty years after ending white-minority rule in Zimbabwe, Mugabe accuses the United Kingdom and the United States of promoting white imperialism and regularly accuses opposition figures to his government of being allies of white imperialism. When the United Kingdom once condemned Mugabe’s authoritarian policies and alleged racist attitudes as being comparable to those of German Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, Mugabe responded with an extremely controversial remark, mocking the UK’s claims by saying about himself and his policies that “I am still the Hitler of the time. This Hitler has only one objective, justice for his own people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people, and their right to their resources. If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold.
Mugabe then left with no choice but to take matters into his own hands had to take the land back for his people by force. In any change to society, wars are fought and there are many casualties. Many would suggest that Tony Blair is a much bigger war criminal than Mugabe for sending our troops into Iran for the weapons of mass destruction drama. I don’t want to spoil the film for you but it an absolute must see to get a more balanced view of the relationship between Africa and the west. At one point in the film we even see leaders from China and Russia siding with Africa on the unfair sanctions and interference of the UK and USA in Zimbabwe. If the world is slowly getting wise to this concept of western bullying is it a wonder that we no longer feel safe in the UK anymore? What will happen in a generation when Africa regains its once former glory pre-slavery and colonization? Are we ‘’the West’’ doomed?

And here’s the most intriguing part of the story-this documentary was made by Roy Agyemang who used to be a KissFM DJ and TV producer for “Katie and Peter – the next chapter”
After the film there was a Q&A session where Roy revealed, “I wanted to show that Africans aren’t just killed by Tarzan. I went out there a proud British Ghanaian. I reconnected stronger with my African heritage – there’s no doubt about that. The UK only show press images of African leaders as negative dictators so I was spurred on to find out what was behind the headlines, we went out to Zimbabwe for 3 months and ended up there for 3 years! We were constantly fobbed off about getting interview time with Mugabe and at times did fear for our lives’’.
Now readers, I thought I knew the stress of making docs for usually a few weeks, with famous talent, albeit mine were all MTV music acts. Getting through layers of record labels, agents and managers is excruciatingly crazy at times, so I can’t imagine trying to work on a film for 3 years and risking my life in another country where government sensitivities are concerned.
Roy continued his thoughts on Mugabe ‘‘We in the UK awarded him a knighthood even though he was committing atrocities? Really?. It’s only when you go there that you can see the spiritual connection between the land and its people.
The funder of the film Neville Hendricks, who also used to work in the Katie/Peter team, was very passionate about the film, and even though he had advised director Roy to return to the UK when things got hairy he was pleased with the final outcome of the doc ” my take is that none of u would sit on a jury and hear the case just for the prosecution…the Lancaster house agreement was a deal which Britain reneged whilst Mugabe kept his word. What did we expect him to do? This is about right and wrong not black and white. I’d love to see an election in Africa where the west takes its nose out of the trough”
Many audience members spoke up in support of the films version of events and stance, and one lady born in Zimbabwe now a British resident summed it up for many of the Africans present when she stated that the film encompassed a true representation of her feeling of Mugabe being a hero.
A timely reminder of a famous Malcolm X quote ‘’Don’t be in such a hurry to condemn a person because he doesn’t do what you do, or think as you think. There was once a time when you didn’t know what you know today’’.

CARMIT BACHAR-PULSE TOUR HOST, FORMER PCD AND ”MOMMY!”
Girl bands. They come. They go. They usually don’t stand the test of time. Alas, once many achieve group fame and success they can’t go the solo road alone.
But it’s a new day. Women keep their fingers in many pies. Their cups are not half empty or half full, as generally, they have a numerous cups. Multi tasking is the name of the female game.
Not long ago, Pussycat Dolls went from a Hollywood burlesque troupe to dominating the pop charts. For a short while. But then music bigwig Jimmy Iovine, decided to scoop the lead member up and catapult her to solo stardom and we assumed the rest would scatter by the wayside never to be heard from again.
But no- PCD’S Ashley Roberts joined the reality TV show path with her appearance in ‘’I’m a celeb get me out of here and Carmit-the fiery red head with attitude and a saucy smirk, kept on keeping on with juggling all her cups.
Thus far she is a relatively new mother, with a 2- year old toddler and hosting a dance tour all over the globe. This week that dance tour hits London.

Don’t get it twisted though this isn’t just any dance convention. This is the elite of dance conventions.
Imagine if you will in the music world, record label heads like Russell Simmons, Clive Davis, Jimmy Iovine, Tommy Motola and Kevin Liles travelling the world sharing their knowledge with the musicians of the next decade. Or celebrity chefs Delia Smith, Marco Pierre White, Madhur Jaffrey, Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver travelling altogether on a cooking roadshow. Well this is the one the younger generation wants right now-the Pulse Tour!

Dance has never been bigger. As a child, like many other kids, I rocked up to my part time ballet, tap and jazz classes, but back then it was considered elite and niche. Now with a million global TV show competitions, hip hop dancers teaching class at gym chains and more-dance is cool! Refreshingly as many males as females want to dance. Look at Flawless and Diversity!
This weekend the biggest buzz for London’s youth and young adults is for the Pulse Tour at Olympia in West London. Tickets are selling like hot cakes for the classes, which are led by the crème de la crème of the dance world. Every dancer has heard of these very strong dance personalities.
Cris Judd came to light after dating the infamous J Lo, but is a very established choreographer in his own right. Next we have reality TV star and choreographer to all the stars- Ms LaurieAnn Gibson. X Factor straight talking dance guru Brian Friedman and last but not least an incredible dancer- former fiery redhead pussycat doll Carmit Bachar! I caught up with Carmit a few days before the tour kicks off to discuss both of our first loves-the world of dance!

After congratulating Carmit on motherhood and her incredible journey back to showbiz, I confided in her that I was extremely jealous that as a young dancer years back I didn’t have anything as amazing as the PULSE TOUR in London.
She laughed ‘’All of us on the tour say we wish this was around when WE were younger, this has been going nine years in the states but this is our first year in London. Our faculty has around 12 of us and we have our own strong niche in the industry, it’s the premier dance convention that exists right now. If you’re aspiring to be a professional dancer then this is the tour to come and take part in’’.
Each teacher is not just famous, but has their own very unique style of teaching too. Carmit summed it up thus ‘’ with Brian-you never know what you’re gonna get, he’s very detail orientated, fast, always technical but fun! Criss Judd is very stylised, you almost have to wear a fedora whilst doing his moves, you can’t teach it but practice until it sits in your body. Laurie Ann- you never know with her either as she comes from an Alvin Aliey very technique oriented base but she also has her base in the hip hop world , as well as that she works with Lady Gaga and is very jazzy –she’s about the feeling. Me? I’m more on the sassy side like my former PCD style, a mix of street and sexy stuff, I call it sexy street sprinkled with technique-I like lines and flow!’’.

This powerhouse of dance influencers and names came together out of mutual respect ‘’ We’re like the dance power movement globally, we’re friends, family, we’ve grown up together, and have mutual respect, We still take each others classes and we feel honoured to pass down our experience to the next generation of dancers now and you never know what could come of attending this tour. For example, Brian often teaches and if he spots new talent that he likes he hires them for X Factor in the USA!’’.

Back in the USA Carmit has been multi tasking wildly; hosting Pulse Tour conventions, her latest music project- a female duo that she’s a part of called Lady Station and being a ‘‘mommy’ ‘Being a Mother to a 2-year-old baby daughter has been totally worth it. I had a baby! I’m in heaven! It took me out of the game for a minute but was so unbelievable. It’s difficult to juggle, and yes, it would probably be easier for me to have been a housewife, but I’m fortunate to have an incredible partner, we’ve been together 14 years. He’s also in the industry and we share the responsibility, she’s with daddy right now, I’ll be home in a week, this is the longest we’ve been apart.

Looking at Carmit its clear her body has muscle memory and that post baby her body must’ve irritatingly snapped straight back into dancing goddess mode. She point blank denies that ‘’I only recently came back into my body after having my baby, aside from my physical form I still have out of wack hormones, I’ve always been an active and physical person but I had a 24 hour labour and emergency C section. Now I’m still healing and nursing and am very stringent with the choices I make with my food’’.
So she’s not a typical post baby Hollywood nip and tuck mum then? ‘’I did yoga for ages but my weight wasn’t dropping, it was so frustrating, and it was only after a year the weight started going. I did an active regime, with advice from Brian (Freidman), he got me onto Herbalife shakes and a healthy dinner routine. Now I’m back in a healthy zone and conscious about the stuff I put in my body. I look at my blood type to see which foods agree with me. Now I’m older and as a woman I feel the importance of the balance between mind and body. Power yoga is prominent in my life now’’.

I recall my numerous interviews with PCD in the nineties when they first came out recalling that Carmit was the very reason that powerful Jimmy Iovine at Interscope Records even spotted and signed the band. When the group was still doing their burlesque thing in nightclubs, Carmit knew No Doubt band lead Gwen Stefani, who had come to see the PCD girls perform. Gwen bought Jimmy along and the rest was history. Carmit recalls ‘’The way things fall into place there’s never rivalry, I was happy to link the group to Interscope, I met Jimmy through Gwen, Jimmy said what do you do?, I said ‘I’m a Pussycat Doll, he said ‘’what the f*** is that? Next thing, he came to see us with Gwen’’. So without Carmit, music and motoring power couple Nicole and Lewis, may never have been!

Carmit left the group in 2008. Reading between the lines its clear there were fallouts amongst band members. But I didn’t need to scrabble much for information, Carmit was pretty honest about the way history played out ’’We were all fortunate, I choose to remember the amazing times of performing onstage.Its unfortunate that girl groups have this stigma of bitchy rivalry. Unfortunately we fell victim to the same stereotype, but we will always share these amazing experiences. Now everyone’’s spread their wings.I’m happy that Ashley is doing so well here in the UK. In ‘’I’m a celebrity-get me out of here’’ she really surprised me, in the days of the band we used to scream if there was a spider in the vicinity-I cant believe she managed to do so much, I’m so proud of her!’’.

Dancing is a dream job for so many young people- but what are the realities of the job long term? ‘’Its fantastic that dance has been given so much exposure recently; it’s a new era. However when that happens you get a saturated market and now a lot dancers want to do it to be on TV, not to be able to dance. But look at the world now. With dance anything is possible! Dancers get to set trends these days, the market’s changed. If you dance, do it cos u love it. If the commercial world isn’t right for you, just participate in dance classes. Come and join us this weekend. We’re all super excited as this is our first UK tour and we cant wait to dance with you all!’’.

JASMINE WITH THE ORIGINAL DRU HILL!
By now you all already know about the infamous R&B superstars show at Wembley Arena last fortnight. You already know it was a great evening-akin to an R&B legends festival. Well organized and running to time the evening showcased 6 acts; Damage, Changing Faces, SWV, Dru Hill, Blackstreet and Jodeci.
We arrived very early at 5.30pm for the VIP backstage reception pleasantly surprised to find the private suite heaving with people all in great spirits drinking and socializing. The whole night had been organized by my host Lisa Maffia with her partners Clint Ippoma and Steven Beckford. Yes, she of So Solid fame.

JASMINE WITH LISA MAFFIA-BOSS LADY OF SO SOLID AND BUSINESS WOMAN DOING BIG THINGS!(PIC Anneliese Harmon)
She’s clearly not just the 1st lady of a tumulus male group, but also an extremely astute business lady. Just 2 days earlier she had performed a great show at the 02 Arena with her group playing her role of sexy front lady boss woman. Now 48 hours later she was in full business lady mode in a monochrome dress and vertiginous Chrissy Laboutin studded heels running around getting things organized with her team.
The launch was sponsored by audio sound company Bassbuds so the goody bags were astoundingly good. Each contained hair products, sweets, crisps, downloadables, Swarovski crystal earphones and mini speakers (which we fought over once we got home lol)!. Lisa very kindly walked around and handed them out and as much as I am used to a media freebie- I was impressed and thankful. Lisa made it a family affair as her partner was the host with the most greeting family and friends and his dad Michael was helping guard the goody bag area-we introduced ourselves after Michael said hi and informed me he read THE VOICE every week. He didn’t look old enough to be anyone’s dad! Good genes!

JASMINE WITH MODEL TYSON BECKFORD.(PIC Anneliese Harmon)
There was even more to be thankful for as the legendary visually pleasing male eye candy that is model Tyson Beckford was backstage causing a buzz amongst the ladies. I caught up with Tyson for a minute as we discussed old MTV issues. Lovely Misha B was sat with friends at his table. The always beautifully mannered Oritse from JLS was excited to be at the show too. We caught up at the bar and he explained that tonight’s acts were all the music he had grown up on.
The vibe was so good backstage that actually once the show began we were all still socializing. We literally took our wonderful seats just as Changing Faces finished. But all reports said the 1st 2 acts were good.
SWV in my humble opinion should have been nearer the top of the show. They are the ONLY ACT on the night that had their original full line up and sang strongly with powerful vocals. They held the crowd with hit after hit. In between acts the big boys at CHOICEFM-Jigs and Rampage had the party going with host Eddie Kadi who at one point had the whole arena-a sold out 11,000 crowd-all doing the candy dance!
The stage set changes from act to act were slick, quick and not noticed so entertained were the audience. Dru Hill were also great but it really was just Sisqo and overweight member Jazz from the original line up. And it showed. Sisqo was on fire! As always with ridiculous levels of energy as he bounced around the stage and held our focus. Jazz was too heavy to join in all of the dance routines so he literally stood by the side of stage and joined in the songs. The other 2 members just weren’t up to scratch. A pity as I would’ve liked to have seen Nokio and woody too. However luckily with Sisqo leaping from speaker to speaker and having us singing along to all their hits it was a great set. I was ecstatic as they performed ‘’Tell me’’ with the complete old skool, original dance routine where they bounced along the piano.
Next it was legends Blackstreet who showed their set was rehearsed down to the last bar. From the get-go all in white top to toe outfits and headwraps they had a dance routine comparable to the 90’s and hit after hit flowed from the band. Their sound was the best of the night in terms of band and production. However once again only Teddy Riley was present from the original line up and the end of the bands set was an ode to his contribution to the music world as he conducted a 20 minute mash up of every hit he had ever made from bobby brown, Michael Jackson, the whole swingbeat era and more. We weren’t complaining, every track was a jump out of your seat smash and we were dancing hard.
Then it all came to an abrupt emergency break halt. Where before we had slick, quick set changes suddenly we were left with a monotonous length of time as they prepared for the headliners –Jodeci. Now backstage there had been a big debate where I had assumed Blackstreet would headline. Next I was about to find out why they should’ve. Jodeci took ages to get their stage ready. The DJ’s started getting us ready by playing R Kelly vibe tracks. Suddenly the beats changed to jungle, grime and much more modern stuff which had us all bouncing around. Hell-the DJ even played Mary J Blige ‘’Real love’’ which I thought would surely put Jodeci member K-Ci off as his ex lover crooned about their ill fated relationship just before he took to the stage! (IT DID!)
What happened next was like slow motion. The band finally came onstage and for a hot minute it was looking good. They all strutted out in white shirts and sneakers with black trousers and leather jackets. It was a real rock star entrance. Then band member Mr Dalvin walked to the front of the stage and kept walking-right offstage and took a huge drop to ground where he fell on his back and stayed there motionless as if in shock before struggling up and spending painful moments trying to figure out how to get up onstage again. When we viewed this back post show on the video camera it seemed that he didn’t fall, he definitely jumped, but perhaps misjudged how high the drop was. Everyone was in disbelief. Jaws were hitting the arena floor in shock. Worse was to come. The vocals were awful. K Ci was struggling. The hits weren’t attempted. At one point the whole audience was booing. K Ci seemed oblivious and asked ‘’you want some more?’’ by now it was well past 11pm and much of the audience began leaving as it was clear we had already seen the best of what the night had to offer us. After another 5 minutes we too left. Even as we walked to the car we could see by twitter that it was getting worse and that at one point apparently Dru Hill came back out to help sing with Jodeci!? Oh the tragedy. It turns out afterwards that they had only bothered with a 3 minute soundcheck, Blackstreet meanwhile had around an hour and UK band Damage had to fight to get any!? Outrageous!
This is the band we had all saw as our version of the Rolling Stones. The band that everyone got frisky to. The band that females lusted over and males wanted to emulate. To see them reduced to this was car crash tragic-funny-disappointing. Dear immigration officers-please ban this act from the UK until further notice. Banished!

JASMINE WITH ELO-THE MAN BEHIND TKO MANSORY CAR CUSTOMISATION-(REMEMBER HIM FROM ALL THE BIG MODELLING CAMPAIGNS BACK IN THE 90′S?)
A few days later I found myself at the launch of TKO Mansory-a customizing service for cars for very high-end earners with a lot of wealth. Housed in a huge warehouse just outside of West London in Hayes, the evening saw a mixture of trendy model types, rich arabs, bankers and financers and the man who invented bikram -Mr Bikram Choudary!

JASMINE WITH BIKRAM CHOUDARY!
I was fascinated that Mister Bikram wasn’t 300 years old and looking like Jesus- he was a young, quite trendy LA hot bod! Literally! After I gushed at him about how much I loved bikram I returned my focus to the cars. It was fascinating to see all the cars. Every type of car you can imagine from Hollywood movie star cars, to sexy fast and furious style rides to Royality style Rolls Royces and Bentleys.

ELO AND HIS TEAM AT THE TKO MANSORY CAR CUSTOMISATION LAUNCH.
The evening showcased the vast variety of possibilities for cars if you have the cash to have the work done. Former model and face of numerous big campaigns in the 90’s –ELO-was the mind behind it all and with his wife Mai and 2 young daughters hosted a wonderful testosterone fueled night followed by an indulgent party at the Rose nightclub. If you like cars or live in London do go and check out the place- London motor museum. An amazing experience for the whole family!

THE SATURDAYS AT THE V INSPIRED AWARDS RED CARPET.
Finally I saw what was really important by attending the roundhouse in Camden where the annual V Inspired Awards were taking place. The V Inspired family are young people all across the UK that give up time to volunteer to do amazing things for the communities around them. Their stories are heartfelt and truly inspiring. Youth that are carer’s for their parents, youth that have set up charities and made loads of cash for their youth centres as they would have been scrapped by the council and more. The night was hosted by the man of the week-MISTER EDDIE KADI-and model Katie Piper.
The V Inspired National Awards aims to challenge negative attitudes towards young people by highlighting the talent, motivation and generosity of young volunteers.
The categories and winners were:
All Round Commitment to Volunteering: 18 year old Beth Carty, from Chester, set up a youth club to support families affected by ADHD after her frustration with the treatment of her younger sister who has ADHD. Beth also creates weekly sessions for the young people with to try new sports and make new friends
Best Young Volunteer: Amy May Knowles, from Cirencester, at just 16 is the main supporter for her mum who has three complex illnesses, but despite this, launched her own charity to raise awareness of CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome) and also chairs the Cirencester Youth Town Council. Her goal is to inspire children to help other people in life
Most Outstanding NCS Team: National Citizen’s Service (NCS) Padgate aim to bring their community together, following the tragic murder of a young local man that had created huge divisions. They decided to unite locals in a good cause by collecting donations for a local homelessness shelter
Outstanding Contribution to Youth Volunteering: Linda Markey, a 64 year old from Fylde, has helped thousands of young people reach their potential through volunteering during her 30 year career in youth work
Team Activity: The Save Epsom Phab Team clubbed together to save their youth group after their council decided to sell off their centre. They campaigned tirelessly to win their cause and secured a new location for the young people.

JASMINE WITH V INSPIRED WINNER-Eliza Rebeiro
My particular favourite was the Bringing Communities Together award which was won by Eliza Rebeiro, from Croydon, who set up the Lives Not Knives project, after seeing two of her friends stabbed, with the aim of reducing gang related violence in her area. She runs road shows in over 30 primary schools and manages a team of 20 mentors. I’ve watched her project go from strength to strength-she’s a great young achiever with huge potential.
Terry Ryall, vInspired CEO says, “This year has seen some of the highest youth unemployment figures of recent times, so it’s testament to all the young volunteers here at the vInspired National Awards who have worked tirelessly to achieve their dreams and help others. The awards are a chance to celebrate all the great things young people do and celebrate their passion, creativity and determination”.

THE SATURDAYS ONSTAGE TO END THE V INSPIRED AWARDS!
It was a really lovely evening which culminated with a performance by the number 1 UK chart toppers of the week-girl band-The Saturdays!

JASMINE AT THE RTS AWARDS-PRE DINNER RED CARPET
Started the week last Thursday celebrating Persian New Year with an abundance of food, flowers and family around our Persian church. Then ran off to so solids much hyped come back gig at the indigo 02. Next was the big Jodeci, SWV, Blackstreet concert at Wembley Arena, finally finished the weekend back at my own ballet school in west London-shout out BABEL SCHOOL OF DANCE and my ballet teacher Sara Ridley. Then it was the v inspired awards at Camden’s roundhouse. So much great engaging life in this city!

The most fun part of the week was attending the annual ROYAL TV SOCIETY dinner and awards. The RTS Television Journalism Awards were founded in 1978 and seek to recognise creative and excellent journalism by organisations whose broadcasts are received in the UK and by the agencies, which supply UK news broadcasters. The Awards ceremony is held each February in central London. At the Grosvenor house hotel, the evening was black tie and full of the really real powers behind the UKs TV. I was attending in my capacity of being an RTS Futures committee panel member. (The RTS fUTURES are an absolutely essential group to become a part of if you want to be in TV. Its free and easy to join up online and the best place to make those early TV industry contacts).
On the night the Grosvenor was a heaving, very formal venue of fabulousness. Black taxi’s pulling up, tipping out black tie clad tuxedo slick shiny shoed men. Very swishy knee length cocktail dresses on not to be messed with feisty TV females in vertiginous heels. The occasional long sweeping ball gown on a TV princess. I fell into the latter.
On arrival after sweeping down the famous ballroom staircase and passing the red carpet photo pit where TV faces like Ant & Dec, Keith Lemmon, Jo Brand, Coronation Street actors, high drama actresses and more were posing and pouting for the paps, I was guided to the very VIP reception on the balcony overlooking the Great Room. Determined to stay sober for as long as possible I scooped up water and wandered around seeing whom else I knew. I stopped at the huge dinner plan board to check out where I would be sat and whom with. To my horror even though the names were clearly in alphabetical order and clear as day I couldn’t find my name!. I looked again, tried all the usual mis-spelt spellings of my name but nothing. Just as I was about to question this with the head of the RTS organizing committee, I paused to check out who was at the uber fab top table? As I scanned the table plan I spotted my name. There must be a mistake I assumed. I can’t be sat with the Patrick Younge’s and Trevor Phillips of the industry. Yet-indeed I was. I didn’t point it out to anyone in case they’d realized they’d made an error and felt that id better get my best dinner party conversation genie ready fast.

JASMINE’S TOP TABLE SEATING PLAN.
Luckily all was well as I was sat next to other lovely RTS members that I knew so we talked shop, laughed, talked home DIY, men and more over the sumptuous 3 course dinner. The fish starter, lamb main and chocolate orange dessert were all delicious. The brandy/port option at the end as we toasted the Queen reminded me of the regality of the event and off the awards began.
The evening was hosted by female comedienne Jo Brand, who was hilarious, fast, witty and very entertaining. Whatever she was paid was well worth it. A TV audience are very tough to please. Many of us think we’re way smarter than your average Joe Blogs and it takes a hell of a lot to keep us cynics amused. We’ve seen it all, heard it all and experienced it all. It’s hard to impress a TV bod.

THE LEGENDS ANT & DEC ACCEPTING THEIR AWARD-RIDICULING JESSICA EXPLETIVE FILLED SPEECH JUST BEFOREHAND LOL
I live tweeted all the awards as they happened to the great joy and disappointment of those not there that were part of teams that won or lost awards. By now you know the winners list. The most touching moments of the night were a unanimous standing ovation room for presenter Clare Balding, the whole of the Coronation St cast onstage to accept their award, Keith Lemmon heckling Jo, Ant & Dec acknowledging the previous best comedy winner actress Jessica Hynes expletive filled hilarious acceptance speech which included loads of “fuck film- TV rules’’ statements. (Funny the next days press suggested that the audience were gasping and shocked at her speech-nope-they were laughing and entertained-press hype LOL!) When THE BANK OF DAVE won best nations and regions show, Dave showed how eccentric his personality is by trying to do a call and response moment with the TV bigwig crowd which fell spectacularly on its head LOL. All the ladies present fell over themselves to gush over how sexy best male actor winner Sean Bean is.
The BBC lifetime award winner was sports caster Dave Gordon who made us all well up saying “thanks to BBC for making my dreams come true-I’ve enjoyed being an ambassador for them-I can die a happy man”. The final judges awards of the night went to channel 4 for its coverage of the Paralympics and to Danny Boyle for his vision of the Olympics opening ceremony. No one argued that UK TV was strong and made stronger by its pride in being British. A great night!