JASMINES JUICE feat Addictive, N*E*R*D, Vanessa Amadi, African Music Awards Launch.

Jasmine & Addictive.

Aisha Stuart and Louise Bagan, are 2 musically talented young ladies that go by the name Addictive.i spotted them at controversial blogger Perez Hilton’s recent party at the 02 and noted that they were the only act to have the paparazzi excited with their Richard shoyemi styled outfits and swag. The girls have already tasted success thanks to a massive club hit, the T2-producedbassline masterpiece ‘Gonna Be Mine’. They’ve also had success on MTV DANCE and MTV BASE as well as in the BBC1 radio dance chart. Not bad going for two girls from East London. They first met as children ten years ago, through Louise’s cousin, but it wasn’t until one fateful Christmas in 2005 at an open mic night that the girl’s realised their shared ambitions. “I went up to the mic and started singing Silent Night, the Mariah Carey version,” laughs Louise. “Aisha was there, and ‘cos we knew each other I invited her up onstage to join me. We just started vibing off each other. Everyone assumed we were a group already – so we decided to give it a go.”
Both girls had years of singing behind them, honing their musical talents in gospel choirs and talent shows which included Louise beating Leona Lewis to 1st prize in an East London singing competition but it was only when they formed Addictive that everything seemed to click. “We could write music individually, but we worked better as a duo,” explains Aisha. “It fell into place. We had the same goals, had had similar experiences and we were both really serious.”
The ladies recently invited me down to the release party for their Mix CD ‘They Wonna Wife Me’ – a welcome breakthrough after their years of hard work. “We killed ourselves trying to get things done,” laughs Louise, “but it’s all been worth it. We’re so proud of the work we are doing worked hence the amount of effort we put in. World domination is next – we want an Addictive perfume and clothes range!” You heard it here first – It’s all go in the Addictive world -get ready to be addicted to Addictive.

Whitney’s right hand in Europe and my friend, PR maven Vanessa Amadi threw her birthday drinks at Soho Hotel . The hotel even gave her their private bar room at no cost cos they know they should keep this powerful media honey on their good side. On entry the barman was pouring rose Armand De Brignac champagne for us all,which I’m told is currently the worlds number 1 brand. Other industry players like newspaper editor and one time VOICE ex staffer Eva Simpson passed through, as well as Radio One DJ Reg Yates, MOBO founder Kanya King, KISS100FM DJ Manny Norte, Ex Sugababe Keisha Buchanan, and artist Chocolate Doll AKA Nay Nay. There were 2 huge cakes. I tried to feed one that looked like it may contain walnuts to a man with a peanut allergy to ‘’see if it really works’’ but was held back. Instead I wrote a message to the sophisticated Vanessa on her huge white canvas board and stuck a Polaroid of us next to it. Good times!

Its very exciting that finally African music seems to be about to have its big about to blow moment. International acts have been collaborating with African artists for years and many European countries like France have huge African music festivals like Africa Express so it’s a little strange that the UK has for once been the last to catch on instead of at its usual forefront status of trend setter. The 3rd annual African Music Awards takes place at Wembley Arena this October 15th and the launch party was held at Covent Gardens Africa Centre where champagne, wine, nibbles and t shirts were handed out to a sparse crowd that were a little weary of the late start but their passion and belief in the focus of the event kept guests like entrepreneur Alexander Amosu, ChoiceFM DJ Abrantee, old Big Brother contestant Aisleene, founder of Colour Blind Cards Jessica Huie, and many more in the venue to watch Chocolate Doll and MC Sway do their thing onstage as founders of the AMA’s Eric and Nick told the attendees a little about it. I alas had to run about 10 minutes after it began as I had a date with Pharrell Williams.

Well I say a date. What I meant was I had been invited to an exclusive listening party in a store in Shoreditch to hear NERDs new album ‘’Nothing’’. When I jumped out of the black cab with my MTV and Channel 4 buddies we were a little intimidated by the hardcore looking guest list bulldog on the door but luckily our faces seemed to be our tickets in, so we were ushered in with her muttering to the security ‘’ok these are the last 6 allowed in-we are at capacity!’’.
Inside the brightly lit, sparse clothes store was filled with uber trendy fashion heads wearing mis matched, bright, ill-fitting garms in the way that only north London trendys can do. I bantered with RWD magazine top lady Hattie Collins and her crew who impressed me by being out the night after their own massive RWD bash after which they hadn’t slept all night.
NERD man Shae was walking and working the crowd speaking to all and sundry in that relaxed, non-diva manner that he has. We reminisced about old days when we were all running around New York and Cape Town and recalling unprintable stories. Pharrell of course was working his profile like only Skateboard P could rocking Billionaire Boys Club camouflage clothing and stunner shades. The crowd was ultra cool and not one person asked him for a photo or screamed at him groupie style. A really nice vibe. The last time I was in his vicinity it was like the Beatles and Justin Timberlake had just walked out together!. Pharrell talked us through each track on the new album and played at least 50% of most of them. I really liked ‘’Perfect Defect’’ and ‘’Victory’’ whilst ‘’Help me’’ was a very slow down tempo song that I felt could only work if you were very high and chilled. But in all honesty it was so busy in the room and so many people talking you couldn’t really appreciate the sound except to note that the new material sounded very similar to the NERD we know and love and no doubt there will be thousands of skateboard types putting yet more cash into the NERD trios pockets once NOTHING is released. It was way too hot and sweaty for us in the room though and the strange outfits surrounding me were starting to break me out into an imagined rash so we stepped out and went for a late night curry instead.
Enjoy your bank holiday weekends and make the most of your free time! (in my spare moments I like to add to my CV and think about what else I can add to it-life’s too short to spend 3 whole days at carnival worrying about where to go to the toilet!).

JASMINES JUICE featuring PEREZ HILTON!

Jasmine with Perez Hilton

My boss threw his annual summer party at his country retreat 2 hours outside of the capital. We arrived to find a few outdoor marquees with chandeliers housing silver service dinner placings, an outdoor dj set up with Saturday night fever style dance floor, an open bar that never emptied, a croquet playing area, a huge maze which led in the centre to a strawberry and chocolate fountain, a huge home that was open to wonder around, a living room with a piano and opera singer in full performance mode, a hot air balloon that guests were taking turns to go view the countryside from and….wait for it…..a full fair ground. Oh how the other half live! I must work harder to make this my reality too!

The launch party for the AFRICAN MUSIC AWARDS was aptly held at Covent Gardens Africa Centre. If you have your finger on the music pulse you will already be aware that very soon African music is about to blow up in the mainstream. For years now British and other international acts have been slowly collaborating with their African peers and performing at international music festivals alongside each other. This year the AFRICAN MUSIC AWARDS take place at Wembley arena on October 15th- a mere 5 days before the MOBO AWARDS in Liverpool on the 20th. So much opportunity for young talent to get a platform to shine! As if that wasn’t enough, the multi award nominated Broadway musical based on musician Fela Kuti’s life ‘’FELA’’ comes to London in November at the National Theatre. This show has been financed by none other than Will Smith and Jay Z, proving that this genre is ripe for picking!.

Then it was time for a chat with a kindred spirit- a man that loves to chat and gossip and have fun doing it making loads of power moves and money! Mr Perez Hilton!. Showing how technology waits for no-one, perez had me conduct the interview via skype whilst we were both snuggled up on our respective sofas. I could work like this all day!

Love him or hate him you cant ignore this incomparable showbiz gossip blogger and taste maker and believe me, ive loved and hated him!. We’d last worked together on the 2008 MTV EUROPE MUSIC AWARDS in Liverpool where we had a lot of fun. Perez recalled the most amazing moment when we were both backstage and Sir Paul McCartney wandered over to Perez unsolicited and said ‘’I hope you’re staying out of trouble!’’. Perez recalled being shocked thinking ‘’I didn’t think he’d be that plugged into the blogging world to even acknowledge my existence!’’. I am so ingrained in the showbiz world that I didn’t think it was possible for anyone not to know who Perez Hilton was so was particularly shocked when my mate had to be told recently so for those of you who aren’t aware a young man who grew up called Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr. called himself ‘’Perez Hilton’’ after a trip to Miami where club bar staff kept cajoling him to stay and buy drinks on the premise that ‘’Paris Hilton will be here tonight’’ and Mario snorted ‘’I don’t think so-more like Perez Hilton!’’ and an icon was born! Back then Perez used to blog about celebrities as ‘’just something fun I used to like doing when all other bloggers were blogging about their daily boring lives’’. Nowadays, 7 years down the line Perez life couldn’t be any different from his past where he had a job working as a janitor at a department store where ’’my title was store clerk- I had 2 responsibilities; separating hangers’’(Perez proceeded to tell me about 20 different types of hangers) and ‘’cleaning the bathrooms where the women’s toilets were WAY filthier than the mens!’’.

Like a kid in a candy store that cant believe how their luck has changed Perez admits that his proudest achievement was 3 years ago when he was able to move his mum and sister from Miami to la to work with him. With readers now getting their daily gossip fix online rather than via a newspaper we discussed whether print press and gossip mags can still exist in this day and age. Perez thinks they will explaining ‘’they will exist-people will always be travelling and want a mag, although now that aeroplanes are getting wireless internet as well as trains , well who knows!’’. I know from my wild days of gossiping on CHOICEFM that once you begin to befriend celebs you end up having to tone down the bitchy stuff but Perez insists he doesn’t ‘’I Never tone my material down, I have grown and evolved, it would be silly of me to stay the same, I’ve changed in that I don’t post extremely naughty things anymore, no more nip slips…I have a new website for naughty stuff called –‘’unratedperez.com’’. he then goes on to explain that people like looking at ‘’celebrities vagayjays’’ and it generates a lot of traffic but his advertisers don’t like it. Hilarious!

Also from my wild days I know the threat of law suits are funny. In fact they’re extremely scary but once again perez laughs and says ‘’I am never scared of lawsuits, they are scary if you worry about money and I never had money back then so I didn’t care-I had nothing for anyone to take,i didn’t start my blog for money, it was just for fun, I knew I couldn’t go to jail, I was just expressing myself’’. Perez like many has become a victim of his own success in many ways but lets not get it twisted, he has made millions and is a celebrity himself now. So I wonder how he feels when people bad mouth him, and they do. He admits that he is ‘’constantly googling myself-I’m not even exaggerating, sometimes a few times an hour, I’ve read a lot of bad things,but I remind myself that its worse not reading anything about myself…I wouldn’t say it bothers me, but its not always easy’’. Ah ha! So he does feel emotions and breath like the rest of us! He recalls the best thing that’s ever happened to him is a ‘’video that Madonna made for me, she acknowledged my existence!’’.

I follow Perez on twitter so I know his moods know no bounds and he can switch on a m***** f****** in hours so I asked him what the defining factors are in whether he likes or hates a celeb? He revealed ‘’There are factors, its a gut thing, my gut is usually right, I like people who are talented, that’s why I love musicians especially those that have a sense of humour…and those that work hard’’. Now hearing Perez quote that made me sit back in awe as he is always cussing my girl Mariah and she is a talented hard worker with the funniest sense of humour most people have come across so I of course challenged him on it. Perez broke it down like this ‘’I love Mariah, she is funny, but I expect more from her. Art is all subjective, I feel possessive about her and her music, and I have said this publicly, I think I have a good ear, I would love to give my ear to her and give her feedback….the last couple of albums haven’t been the best,,…I talk to Nick Cannon daily, I do a live feature to Nicks morning breakfast radio show, I know lots of hot producers for Mariah and would love to suggest people .i think she lost her sense of self, and wanted to rebel against her previous image too much, to me she’s a pop act but along the way she tried to reinvent herself as an urban artist, in the 90s she made Honey! I want Fantasy , Honey , Dreamlover….L.A Reid played me her album early once….’’ ‘’ In fact I’ve championed her when I had secret meetings with Simon Cowell and Simon asked me who should be an X Factor judge, I said ‘’not Cheryl cole, I said MC, ,then I think a rumour was started by Sinitta telling people it would be mc!’’.Perez and I then had around 10 minutes of me breaking it down for him that MC has to like all of us grow and change with the times and informed him that she had been doing urban versions of her tracks since the beginning and surely at this stage she should be allowed to make good music that she wants to make as opposed to trying to please everyone all of the time. We debated, we laughed. We raised our voices. We agreed to hang out in L.A the next time we were all there. My theory with Perez feelings towards MC is that he’s frustrated that she doesn’t acknowledge him the way the madonnas and the kylies of the world do. Truly a diva in a league of her own not bowing to media manipulation.

Perez agreed that when celebs don’t react to him he does get frustrated and the one hes been dying to get a rise out of for years is Oprah….’’i love her even though I make fun of her…I make fun of her and say she’s a lesbian, in fact Oprah, Madonna and Angelina Jolie are the 3 that inspire me most. Angelina is someone who isn’t perfect. She is flawed but an amazing brilliant actress, mother and humanitarian’’. Like most of us media hacks, Perez loves twitter as it cuts out the old fashioned middle man of the publicist. Now he can get the words straight from the horses blackberry and respond immediately-albeit in full view of the watching, titillated globe of gossip hungry followers. Perez admits he loves following Dita Von Teese on twitter as her life is fascinating, we aren’t familiar with the life of a show girl so it enthrals me!’’

I’m convinced Perez wicked tongue comes from the fact that his parents are Cuban. Any island in those waters will give you fiery, feisty blood! Trying to milk all his projects whilst he can Perez revealed to me that he’s setting up a music production and management company and is currently looking for a boy band . he gushed ‘’The time is right for a boy band for a global impact, JLS are great in the UK but they haven’t broken worldwide- I really like them though, they’re hot’’. Perez admits that he doesn’t do ‘’payola’’ (talk about bands in exchange for money), but that he chooses the music acts that he promotes online in his ‘’listen to this ‘’ category as his ‘’readers send him links and he listens to everything including singers in different languages!’’. Nearly everyone alive these days has their own blog, so its interesting that Perez stands out first and foremost in our world. He explains it thus ‘’in this day of illegal downloading and MTV not being as relevant as they used to be and artists need every but of help they can get, anything helps. I first started writing about Lady Gaga years ago and championed her and now look how far she’s come’’.

I challenged Perez on the fact that even though he appeared on MTV’s Celebrity Rap Superstar show he didn’t seem to focus on hip hop stars very often and joked with him that it could be as he was worried they would get all will I am on him. He laughed ‘’ I talk about Lil Wayne and T.I! ,I am a hip-hop fan if its good- Kanye is a genius, he transcends the genre, he’s not a rapper he’s a musician; I think B.O.B is amazing, I love his variety. He’s not rapping about violence or materialism he’s talking about dreams , I love Nicki Minaj’’ (Perez then recites a whole 3 Nicki verses much to my amusement and if im honest-I was impressed at his flow!) . Getting serious about the hip hop world for a minute though Perez said ‘’I wish that they were slightly more accepting of gay men, if you’re bisexual that’s cool but gay men and lesbians aren’t accepted and welcome in the hip-hop and mainstream music world and that saddens me’’. I wondered if Perez had made up with will I am and the Black Eyed Peas after THAT incident? He answered ‘’we haven’t made up and i’ve not run into him, but I have congratulated the band online’’. Perez confessed that there was once that he regretted writing something online ‘’my biggest regret was when I said that fidel castro was dead . we were really sure it was true as our source was very reliable-oops’’. Perez revealed his top celeb mates are now ‘’Lady gaga, she and I talk several times a day and see each other regularly-we talk about art, I feel like part of her team, she likes to pick my brain, Katy Perry- ive known her for over 3 years, we too see each other regularly’’ I recently saw Perez at his ‘’One night in Perez’’ music show at Londons 02 and noted that he’d slimmed down and had a demure dark brown hairstyle. A conscious effort to get healthy? He nodded ‘’ yes its a lot of hard work, all my successes in life are from hard work, from my blog to my physical transformation, I’ve lost 61 pounds. my lack of sex inspired it and now I’m getting laid a lot, I’m dating around and right now that part of Perez is looking fine honey!’’.And with that I laughed, suggested we better stop before we got carried away. After all, 2 media hacks , both with fingers in print press, radio press , tv and multi platform media frolicking together can only be an explosive, dangerous hot mess waiting to happen!.

JASMINES JUICE featuring Dynamo, Aml Ameen & Zoo Nation.

Streetdance has come a long way since I was a break dancing kid on my mates lino in Covent garden back in the day. Back then hip-hop wasn’t even taken seriously let alone the dance form that accompanied it in the 4 cornerstones of the culture that also included graffiti and turntablism. So now that djs are superstars and graffiti is being displayed at art galleries its only natural that the dance form explodes too. Over the years UK ambassadors like Jonzi D have kept the art form in the theatrical world. More recently filmmakers have made a small fortune from dance films both American and English leading to dance troupes Diversity and Flawless achieving mass fame last year. Another group that’s been sweating away selling out theatres and wowing audiences from around the world are choreographer Kate Princes group called Zoo Nation who have been performing a spectacular show titled ‘’ into the hoodz’’ . the show had a sell out run in theatre land last year and last week brought back another run at the Royal Festival Hall on the South Bank. The press night was attended by a lot of talent from the music world and celebrity but it was the reaction that Diversity got that was mind blowing. The audience were seated and the show was ready to begin when diversity came in quickly, quietly and without fanfare to take their seats and before you knew it a few kids spotted them, shrieked with delight and chased them for autographs and photos. Well within minutes 40% of the audience that were seated were trying to grab, scream and get a piece of the group. The show start had to be delayed until everyone could be calmed down.
Once the show began it was as amazing as I recall it the first time around. The story is a very witty amalgamation of fairy tales with characters including Lil Red, Spinderella and Rap-un-zel but all based in the Ruff Ends Estate. The story sees 2 young kids run away from home, one of whom is played by reality dance show star –Akai, who the crowd roared for throughout the show – his female counterpart was ultra impressive with her dance skills too. The kids befriend a dodgy character who persuades them to ‘acquire’ 4 items – a red hoodie, an ipod, a weave and a gold sneakers. the music is an amazing mix of urban genres and the dancing is literally out of this world!. The choreography is very witty and perfectly narrates the story enchanting young and older audiences simultaneously. A thoroughly well thought out show with brilliant graphics, sets and atmosphere that leads to spontaneous audience participation and excitement. Later the same week ZOO NATION performed at the queens park festival for the west London community and had local youngsters enchanted with their 15 minute set.

I was invited to join actor Aml Ameen at his 25th birthday party that was doubling up as his and his girl friends leaving the UK party. Aml had people from all walks of live glued to THE BILL years ago as the young black policeman, and also in Noel Clarkes movie Adulthood as well as appearing onstage in theatre roles. Both actors are moving to L.A as Aml has been offered a big part in an American drama. Fittingly Aml’s party was held at the Hollywood Arms in Hollywood Road in Chelsea. Could it have been in a more apt location? On arrival I was pleasantly surprised to note that it was a very small gathering of his closest family and friends which included actor / playwright Kwame Kwei-Armah and good friend and actor Adam Deacon, both of whom gave heartfelt fitting speeches in honour of Aml on the night. As well as Amls lovely daddy singing bob Marley songs and both Aml and his lady speaking of their love for each other and the support of their loved ones ,a cake was cut, a lot of catching up was done and you could feel the love and unity in the air.  Also it must be recognised that a young aml must have had to battle all types of stereotypes, issues and hurdles to reach the top of his profession throughout the years. Its easy to get pulled the wrong way for young people in the current society climate but Aml has been a strong, positive soldier in TEAMUK , helped make my job empowering young people and giving them a platform to show their talent to the world and I cant wait for his American takeover.

Finally I caught up with a young man that has had me intrigued for a good couple of years now. I first spotted magician Dynamo on the music scene pulling magic for stars that I was working alongside and always wondered what his story was. We always have fun together at parties but I don’t really know his story so  I met up with him in a pizzeria opposite the roundhouse in Camden where we spent the afternoon chewing the fat.
Dynamo grew up in Bradford which he admitted ‘’doesn’t have much goin on. It’s not a wealthy city. It’s famous for riots. For me being a kid I got picked on cos I’m small and an easy target’’ but he admits that ‘’If it hadn’t have been for the negative things I went through, they wouldn’t have shaped me’’.

Dynamo revealed it was because he got bullied as a kid that his granddad stepped in with an occasional trick to cheer him up and the young dynamo calls him his ‘’magical grandpa.-My role model’’. ‘’I had 2 guys who used to pick on me called  “Sonny and Dean”. They put me in a wheelie bin and threw me down the hill. After that my Grandpa taught me a technique to stop people lifting me up-and that’s how it began’‘’I had to use magic to get me out of trouble and it became a way of life. I entertained the kids at playtime. The big kids were scared of me cos they thought I’d put a curse on them lol!’’.

His granddad may have introduced him to magic but it was a magician in New York at a convention that dubbed him with the name ‘’Dynamo’’. He explained ‘’it was in New York in the Hilton hotel in 2002. I was there for the legendary magician Whodinis 100 year death anniversary. All the big magicians were there. I ended up performing to all these famous magicians. A magician called Aaron Fisher yells “this kids a fuckin dynamo” so that’s how the name came about’’.

Its interesting to me that Dynamo has performed for many music stars and events and I was intrigued to learn how music had influenced his career.
He informed me ‘’Music has always been a part of my life. My mum had a radio but no TV. So I grew up to MagicFMs style songs. Like many kids I tried dance moves that I saw in music videos. Michael Jackson used a lot of magic in his music videos and shows. The most famous being the Lean forwards in Smooth Criminal,I started body popping at Mapa West Bowling Estate. It was run by a guy called Emile who introduced me to The Princes Trust’’.

Dynamos success story is paralleled by sadness and pain though as he tells me that his first big break came in hospital as he has always suffered from Chrohn’s disease. He nearly died aged 19. He describes Chrohns disease as being ‘’Like an open wound and having dirt rubbed into it all the time. Its a pain u get used to 24 hours a day’. In hospital I was having treatment and remember thinking, If I had died in hospital what legacy would I have left behind? So I decided to pursue my magic. My mum often let me try anything and fail myself so I could learn my own lessons’’.
Dynamo created a master plan for funding. All his mates were making mix tapes on laptops so he used the same technique to create a mix tape style DVD.
He then got a princes trust award in 2000 to buy a laptop and planned road trips where he went to the middle of town centres and just did magic all day long to random strangers. He moved to London 7 years ago but didn’t really want to be here .‘’I didn’t wanna move here. I’d still prefer to be in Bradford.When I buy my first home it will be in Bradford. at the time my manager was promoting rappers tours. All the people were too drunk to notice me as a magician but I persevered’’.

Dynamo encompasses a true young element of swagger and hustler that reflects the ‘’cant stop wont stop’’ ethos of hip-hop icons such as P Diddy. He once ended up blagging himself backstage to Snoop Dogg at Wembley, and showing the hip hop star some magic which led to the over impressed snoop making up a 3 min freestyle in honour of the young dynamo and now they’re twitter compadres!. Since then he has performed backstage for Coldplay leadman Chris Martin and his wifey Gwyneth Paltrow as well as footballer Rio Ferdinand and many more superstars-just go to his site to see the footage-its impressive!.

Dynamo is also responsible for bringing a modern day approach to his field which up until now had mostly been dominated by older magicians like Paul Daniels in the UK. He is responsible for the worlds first twitter magic by asking snoop to pick cards online across the Atlantic-once again just go to his twitter page to check him out.

He reveals that to get him into the right frame of mind pre show he listens to a lot of hip-hop. ‘’I use music a lot and am inspired by it. I always listen to Lil Wayne “shoot me down”….and “stronger” Kanye West. it gets me ready to take on the world!’’.

Dynamo stands out amongst his peers cos he thinks out of the box and involves current visuals and excitement into his magic set. During a 5 night theatre show at Soho Theatre he included hip-hop elements that had a diverse crowd awed by his talent when he brought a hip-hop style to his set with a hype man and a dj. To finish the show he made the dj booth vanish!.

This smartass now does as much work in Asia and Singapore where he is treated like a superstar.He smiles ‘’My vision of a stage show is I want to be a rock star on stage, People from Bradford don’t travel the world and party in Vegas and I can’t believe where I am now. When it comes to young people there are too many doors that are put up and we need to smash them down. Kids are force fed a structure for success but we need to let kids make their own paths. Most successful paths come from mistakes. Nowadays there’s too much control. There needs to be more creativity and freedom. Magic is taking something that doesn’t yet exist and making it happen. I constantly reinvent tricks. I like interaction. I am doing well but I try to only use my powers for good!’’.
Another young champ doing his thing in his own lane- you’ve gotta be proud of our UK strong hold right now, its unbeatable!

Quincy Jones & comic duo KG & Nicholas Marston!.

KINDRED SPIRITS- Quincy shows Jasmine his must pack suitcase item- hot pepper sauce.

When asked whom in the music world my industry friends would most like to meet its not the artists that grace our tabloids that come up most frequently but a man who is single handedly responsible for much of the great music from yesteryear that has facilitated present day music- a man renowned for working with Michael Jackson on off the wall and bad, and who pointed Michael in the direction of new jack swing and Teddy Riley to update his sound. A music conductor, record producer, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter.  A man that worked alongside Ray Charles, Dizzy Giiespie, Lionel Hampton, a man that arranged music for Frank Sinatra, Dinah Washington and Ella Fitzgerald, a man who scored the music for iconic movie The Color Purple’, earned a record 79 Grammy Award nominations,27 Grammys- a man called Quincy Jones. One of the last living music legends that encompass’ and embraces acts from the early days to having respect from modern day acts like Mariah Carey and Snoop Dogg. In all my work with young music stars in the states, when Quincy turns up on set, its as if the lord himself has graced earth with his presence!. Probably as many modern day artists have sampled old classic beats that Quincy was responsible for making!

I first met Quincy in South Africa 4 years ago at Oprah Winfreys New Years Eve celebrations. He spent hours talking to us and recounting olden day stories that are fascinating. Listening to him recall the conversations with legendary figures and talk about what the world was like once upon a time is a thing I could do daily. So when our mutual friend fashion and jewellery designer Heba Elawadi asked me to join herself and Quincy- (or Q as all his friends call him) it was a no-brainer. Heba asked me to invite a few friends if I liked so I reached out to music colleagues and friends including MOBO founder Kanya King, singer Terri Walker and others that I knew would appreciate lunch with a legend.
We arrived in the grounds of a fabulous home in the country where Q, Heba and a few family members were awaiting my arrival before eating. I was of course late due to the usual hiccups and racing around country lanes trying to figure out why they don’t just number their homes instead of giving them fabulous, grand names. When I did finally turn up, Q was sat chilling in the garden chatting to friends and enjoying the rare UK sunshine. Hebas parents had laid on a feast fit for a king which was apt as Q is royalty. Heba was rocking a lovely maxi dress by her own brand El Horreya: Designs For Freedeom (www.elhorreya.com <http://www.elhorreya.com> ).

We spent the afternoon laughing, teasing each other and talking about music.i kept trying to force Terri to sing but she kept it moving with polite conversation. We toasted our blessed lives and danced with the belly dancer that came out to entertain us post-lunch. It was a very opulent day sipping the best beverages, tucking into exotic Egyptian food and sharing time with very special people. My favourite moment was just before Q began his food and pulled out of his travel bag a bottle of hot pepper sauce! Well-I nearly screamed with delight! I have always put hot sauce on all my food. When I say all I mean all. I have even been known to smear it on pancakes much to Mariah’s families disgust lol! Quincy revealed he took mini bottles on all his travels as well as small packets of healthy Korean seaweed to eat alongside his food. those tips from Q, plus his still twinkling eyes and appreciation for life and the good things were enough to make me smile all week long! Always up for a laugh, when asked what the secret to his long, successful life was Q retorted ‘’booty!’’.

The next night I was invited to dinner at the rooftop Chinese restaurant at the royal garden hotel overlooking hyde park with another legendary A&R man – Jack Stevens- a man that has worked alongside Sade, the Eurythmics and many more. Me being the ever attentive nosy journalist hack pried him for more music industry stories from back in the day and whilst I’m under oath not to repeat any I did conclude that back in the 60’s and 70’s they were really rock n roll unlike our pretenders to today’s throne.

With young comic talent like Jason Lewis and Kojo  making waves at the BBC and MTV it was only a matter of time before many more began emerging and one duo that are making a name for themselves with music artists even pointing me in their direction are new urban comedians KG & Nicholas Marston who are a comedian and a writer that have with their comical interludes had the internet alight this month. I attended their live show night at the Gem Bar just off Regent Street which was heaving with a young, sexy crowd that were hysterically laughing all night as the comics did their thing with their hilarious characters ‘’English Dread and African Dread, Shadrack and the Mandem, Caramel the R&B group from Brooklyn South London’’. 2 other performers that had us rolling with their original, very on-point comments were Jason Howard and Kayleigh. Look out for them!

I ended the week by having my hair trimmed at the uber cool 3V HAIR SALON in Notting Hill where paparazzi stalk clients. I go there so I can pretend to be famous whilst I enter and leave- sometimes it works but it mostly doesn’t. as soon as my Barnet was a decent state i whizzed up the road, again to the Royal Gardens tea rooms for a high champagne tea for my friends birthday before popping off to the ‘’Off the Radar’’ music event at Westbourne Studios where a lot of music acts including Preeya Kalidas and Terri Walker were performing for a very local, cool, West London crowd.
Finally I attended THE BILL/KIDULTHOOD actor Aml Ameens birthday/ leaving for L.A soiree –more on that next time!

Queens of American Soul, Mikhailovsky Ballet ,Nas & Damian gig, Cartier International Polo!

NAS & Jasmine.

As well as the very commercial pop acts that sweep through the uk on tour that are regular chart toppers, there are also just as successful, legends that quietly pass through doing their shows that you’d only know about and attend if 1-you really know your music. 2- you want a night with fellow hard-core music lovers. So imagine how excited I was when leaving the 02 arena a few weeks ago and being handed a flyer promoting the ‘’QUEENS OF AMERICAN SOUL’’ -Gwen McCrae (All this love that I’m giving) , The Jones Girls (Nights over Egypt) , and Jean Carne (Don’t let it go to your head) all in the same show! The one person I knew who would know and be excited alongside me was friend and colleague Trevor Nelson who expressed delight too. The night was the most fun, old skool classics were sung amongst a beautiful crowd and all was good in the world of real soul music. Watching the oldies kick back, sing and dance with their two-step was sweet and made me yearn for yesteryear where men and women two-stepped with each other all night.

My once-upon-a-time fellow ballet student and teacher Gavin roebuck invited me to see the Mikhailovsky Ballet (from St Petersburg. Russia) at the stunning Coliseum theatre in Covent Garden where I attended the opening night of the great classic ‘’Swan Lake’’ alongside Hugh Grant and Cilla Black! It was my first time seeing a bonafide Prima Ballerina (the young diva Polina Semionova) perform live since my dancing days years ago when I used to practically stalk ballerina Darcy Bussell . Polina was breath takingly beautiful and divine. The evening was magical and a much-needed refreshing bit of cultural entertainment that had us enraptured from the moment the live orchestra struck up their first note. There is something so traditionally quaint and classic about attending the ballet. If you love great live music that will touch your soul and admire the elegant lines, technical skill and beauty of the dancer then a night at the ballet every now and then is a great thing to share with a loved one.

The much anticipated Nas and Damian Marley concert finally took place at Hammersmith Apollo which was packed to the rooftops with a mix of hardcore hip-hop aficionados for Nas and weed smoking rasta heads who rocked up for Damian son of the almighty Bob. The anticipation for the concert had reached fever pitch by the time I rocked up to the HMV Hammersmith Apollo. It was packed to the rafters!!
With a line up like this you know it wasn’t going to be just any UK support act who had paid to get on the bill. Kicking off proceedings were Ty and rebel Akala with their positively progressive hip-hop stance. Things just got hotter as sound clash master David Rodigan selected some classics! Next up DJ Green Lantern took to the wheels of steel. It felt like a blues as the herb smoke rose and the crowd swayed, putting their lighters in the air and did I mention it felt like 100 degrees in there.  ‘As We Enter’ blasted out and the flagman was in full swing with the Lion of Judah; there was a roar from the audience as The Distant Relatives emerged. The magic in the air was electric.  What followed were two brothers so naturally interconnected in sprit, you saw them lean on each other and laugh, throwing meaningful looks between them as they weaved between solo performances and collaborations. Nas’ ‘You Can Hate Me Now’, ‘Made You Look’ and Damien’s ‘Jamrock’ brought the house down. ‘Road to Zion’ and ‘War’ showed them ease between verses. We went back stage (where everyone on our scene seemed to be) and watched from the side of stage. Damien stood opposite me had locks that reached his ankles and his proud stance felt regal while Nas retained his crown as rap’s favourite son. They mashed up the dance with the multicultural crowd jumping, dancing and singing every word. This was the gig of 2010 and the fusion of these two giants proves positivity in music rules!

I ended the week at the annual Windsor Cartier international polo day at Windsor Great Park where the England team were playing new Zealand. This is a very long and fabulous day where women spend days in preparation preening themselves with hair and make up artists at their beck and call and spent thousands of daddies money on a sexy frock to strut amongst their peers and get trollyed out of their minds by 3pm. The day begins with a champagne breakfast at the open bar area where still hung-over from the previous night Henrietta’s and Sebastian’s all chortle and toast their spectacularly wonderful lives. At 11am the first match begins after which is a 4-course lunch in the grounds of the tres exclusive china white tent. Post lunch there was yet another match by which time the grounds are packed with jewel coloured frocks of every assortment and men in typical Ralph Lauren meets puff daddy attire. I managed to drown a pint of Pimms in the heat and then watched enraptured as riders thundered along the pitch , one strong arm controlling the speedy horses, whilst the other swung the stick to whack the ball into the goals. The excitement and danger of the game makes it extremely sexy to watch and that coupled with alcohol made this upper classed crowd extremely frisky!. At 6pm the party begins and for a furiously noisy 5 hours the guests get through 50,000 bottles of champagne, shots and goodness knows what else. I of course found myself in the vip amongst the music heads like Wileys manager John Woolf and record label head Clive Black as we caught up and giggled at the madness surrounding us. I spotted a couple of England footballers, a lot of young lords and ladies and a lot of chancers who were hoping to bag themselves a rich partner. Thank goodness DJ Sam Young played the first part of the party with great music or Pete Tongs main dance music set would’ve finished me off!. It occurred to me as I left that unlike the festival scene which had now been taken over by our urban music strong hold, the Polo arena is ripe for the picking and having the occasional NERD or Dizzee performing to this crowd would be a good new untapped venture.