Month: November 2011

JASMINE AT THE ES 1000 CELEBRATION NIGHT!
The very posh Evening standard 1000 most influential gathering party at Covent Garden transport museum was a who’s who of London. The transport museum is a fascinating space that every Londoner should check out-its history of the capitals transport with real old skool buses and trains on display and a real gem in the centre of town. On arrival on the drizzly wet night, the red carpet was surrounded with heaving paparazzi and just inside A lister after A lister were having theirpics taken up against the evening standards branding board. Once we had navigated the museum and led to the main central stage space I spotted Jemima Khan, Boris Johnson, Ken Livingstone, Dragons Den panellists,
A very fancy food menu and champagne were distributed the whole night. There was atower of cupcakes and the room was like a James Bond party and the over powering scent of money and power were not to be sniffed at. Boris Johnson kept a wide berth from his old nemesis Ken Livingston, The former Mayor posed alongside Lib-Dem rival Brian Paddick. “Where’s Boris?” asked Mr Livingstone. “We want Boris to make it a threesome. We want a threesome with Boris.” cringe.com. Vivienne Westwood and Kids Company charity founder Camila Batmanghelidjh had an unspoken outfit competition to see who could be more eccentric. Pop star Holly Valance and her billionaire boy friend Nick Candy made a striking couple. My mates tried not to ogle male model David Gandy too hard. Brian Paddick, Jemima Khan, Riz Lateef, Kathy Lette, Henry Holland. BA head Willie Walsh Ian Duncan Smith and Toby Young were all chatting and laughing hard. It was good company to be in!

Next Tinie Tempah and his manager Dumi invited me to come and watch his gig at Wembley. The whole arena was packed out and I sat in wonder observing the crowd and how far we’d come since the days when a UK urban act couldn’t even get a gig at the jazz café let alone a few nights at Wembley to a sold out crowd!. The support were a class with Tinie’s mate Labrinth warming up alongside DJ Zane Lowe and DJ Nero who turned the whole rave pre-Tinie into a hot sweaty rave. a real jump up and down, to every beat including the one in your head , mosh pit of madness!. By the time Tinie came onstage they were amped up to hysteria and the show was magic! Fantastic visuals and graphics that were mesmerising alongside a simple but structured framed stage set that lit up in a variety of guises throughout kept us engaged. Tinie performed hit after hit alone and with his buddy Kelly Rowland and left the crowd overly hype and content as they left at the end of the night.

Like many parts of the country West London has its own gang and youth issues and the drama between Kilburn and Mozart Estates in that part of the city has been well documented. Not all the youth in these areas are into negative pastimes though and as proof there was a massive turn out at Ladbroke Groves Tabernacle Centre for The Avenues Show where all the young people from the club performed a variety of song, dance and spoken word sets for a very happy audience. The talent was of a brilliant standard and I was more than impressed! The youngsters raised £3000 in ticket sales and hopefully that money will go back into funding their club and regenerating their area!

Next I attended the JAMAICA HIGH COMMISSION’S CELEBRATION OF KINGSTON at the Jamaica High Commission in Kensington where there were presentations from key travel and tourism officials on howKingston will be supported on a world stage into 2012 for the Olympics in London. I know from my inside contacts that a certain part of London is going to be transformed into a mini Jamaica city where no doubt there will be much excitement!

Alesha Dixon invited me to come and see her on set as she made her charity video for this years poppy appeal event in Central London. She was paying homage to Dame Vera Lynn with a modern more up-tempoversion of the war classic ‘’We’ll meet again’’. She looking drop dead gorgeous in a floor length slinky ball gown and dramatic make up. She also wished the LONDON360 TV show luck with our City Hall event (more on that event next week) that celebrated series 1 with the mayor, youth, reporters, press, celebs and more. Alesha spoke at the event and said ‘’ as soon as I heard London 360 involved London’s young people uncovering grass roots news stories, I wanted to get on board and support it. I’m part of a generation of Londoner’s that believes in positive stories about our capital and its communities.it can be difficult for young people in today’s climate and it is important to encourage and support them through mentoring, training and real industry experiences like those offered by media trust. It’s vital for young people and local communities to have a voice in mainstream media, to talk about the things that matter to them and showcase the great work they are doing in their communities. Earlier this year London 360 highlighted an issue i feel passionate about, female genital mutilation. It’s really important to raise the profile of issues like this and encourage debate in the wider community. Thanks to London 360 this feature aired on TV and online, as well as subsequently being picked up by BBC Radio London and in a national newspaper. It’s amazing that the young reporters have captured so many untold stories about our city over the past few months! London 360 has enormous potential and will continue to affect the capital with positive change’’. Then I had some good news for Alesha. Because of the success of LONDON360 the TV show is now being extended across the country so UK360 begins at the end of this month. As if that wasn’t enough a YOUNG PEOPLES QUESTION TIME is being planned for our screens next year too! All change for a positive impact between adults, youth and society!
Next Boris Johnson called us and said ‘’’this is a great celebration of talent, and shows how gifted and creative young Londoners from across the capital are. It is important for young people to have a chance to get together and debate, as well as hear from experienced professionals in the media industry as they start their own careers. I’m pleased to endorse the Media Trust’s work and wish them well’’.
With Alesha and every other major celeb nowadays paying serious attention to giving back and charitable issues to help society we are all #WINNING!

Its easy to become complacent about fabulous events in London town as there are so many every week, but once in a while one comes up that still excites everyone and has the whole city buzzing. One such event was the film premier for ‘’MICHAEL JACKSON- THE LIFE OF AN ICON’’ (a David Gest production) that was held at the Empire, Leicester Square. As you can imagine it was pandemonium in the square with security, fans and tourists all bustling through. The red carpet was heaving with celebs but we all persevered through the rain and finally found our seats. I had kindly been given a set of 10 tickets for the film premier and the dinner afterwards (worth £15,000!) at the Connaught rooms and invited amongst my guests music manager Richard Pascoe, graphics design guru Troy Davies (Interscope), the D&G celeb team ladies Ruth and Chandni, former Honeyz lead singer Celena and her man, celeb facialist Nuz Shugaa and PR maven Jodie Dalmeda. Sitting next to us was magician Dynamo and just behind us MOBO’s Kanya King and BBC reporter Brenda Emmanus.
Michael’s sister Remi and brother Tito Jackson along with one of Michael’s closest long-time friends David Gest did the film intro onstage and Michael’s abuse-trail lawyers including Susan Yu (who proved MJ innocent in court) were also onstage all talking about Michael and their favourite memories and anecdotes about him which was lovely as it reminded you of how human he was. . David Gest interviewed the Jackson family members about the innocence of Michael Jackson. Lawyer Susan stated ‘’There was no doubt that Michael was innocent when we 1st met him”. She added ‘’Martin Bashir was a disaster and refused to answer q’s”.
They told us that in the recording studio “Michael would jump onto the studio desk and dance and scream his songs until the speakers blew up. That’s how he knew he had a hit”. Tito revealed “Michael had 7 Bentleys and offered me one, I said Michael I cant take your Bentley-Michael said sure you can and so I took the one that had been signed by numerous stars like Beyonce…and.(he hesitated)…Liza Minelli..LOL’’. David Gest and the audience laughed as Tito paused before mentioning David’s ex wife Liza! The MJ film is fascinating. What a man. What a life. How hounded he was by vultures. It also included many amazing anecdotes from his friends and family over the years. A totally powerful and mesmerising film. Michaels mum Katherine said ‘’it’s a truly remarkable film that captures the true character, wit and sensitivity of my son. Producer David Gest takes you on an emotional rollercoaster that will bring people to tears as well as really understand who the man behind the music was and is’’.
Straight after the film the entire cinema load of tuxedo clad men and ball gown draped ladies trotted up the road to Covent Gardens Connaught Rooms for the star-studded gala reception, where the paparazzi were out in full force snapping away.
Outside I caught up with Capital Radios entertainment reporter Kevin Hughes before a pap asked me to pose alongside Tito and Dynamo. Anytime this happens I cringe inside wondering if they’ve mistaken me for someone else and how peeved they’ll be when they realise they have a nobody in their press photo LOL. David Gest and his friend –man about town-Imad Handi -greeted and caught up with us at the entrance of the ballroom and guided us to our table where we were treated to a slap up 3 course meal where much fun and jokes were had before a few of the Motown legends attending sang for us until the early hours as we slow danced. We had performances by legends like Martha Reeves, Peabo Bryson, Deniece Williams and more!
Dancing up a storm after dinner to the live performers was Kanya, Brenda, Ricky and Bianca from Eastenders, Celena Honeyz, actress Preeya Kalidas, stylist Richard Shoyemi and more. What a surreal night at the ‘Michael Jackson; life of an icon’ premier and dinner.

Next I went to church with Akala and Bashy. It was St Peters Church in Notting Hill where First Direct bank were holding a ‘’dialogue’’ festival in the church where fascinating acts like Pérez Hilton, Tim key, will self and many more were performing sets across a week. Akala’s Hip Hop Shakespeare Company were part of the line up one night so we went to check them out. Pre-show Akala invited us backstage to the dressing room where he was chilling out before he hit the stage by kicking around a football with a young fan. There were an abundance of red velvet cupcakes, which he asked us to help ourselves to. Stunningly I declined after seeing a photo of myself last week next to a ridiculously skinny person that made me look like a ridiculous obese person! The church venue had been transformed into a theatre setting and it felt right. It felt community like and important and the positive vibe testified to that fact. Akala introduced his band and vocalists who were of a very high standard especially a female rapper and singer, he explained to the audience that there were many stereotypes about hip-hop and that acknowledged poets and writers like Shakespeare weren’t far from a rappers skill set. He did this by quoting lines from rappers like Eminem, Jay Z, Wu Tang’s Inspectah Deck and Shakespeare and asking the audience to guess which line belonged to a rapper or Shakespeare. I was particularly impressed with an MC called Rowan ‘’Disraeli’’ Sawday who was very dynamic and animated and in my humble opinion has the potential to be huge. And then finally Akala introduced his friend and artist Bashy. Between them all they were by far the strongest act onstage that night. I paused to wonder at the juxtaposition of religion and music as I noted the branded logo being projected onto the churches beautifully painted frieze ceiling but then my mate told me not to worry as God would co-sign community events in his house as they were inclusive, made the church money and he has a sense of humour and needs to laugh and sing too!.

JASMINE WITH MUSIC LEGEND AND BROADCASTER GOLDIE.

Its been a week full of top boys !
Drum and bass legend, actor and artist Goldie invited me down to view his Athleticizm” (adidas) Art Exhibition art exhibition of 13 paintings of TEAM GB Olympians that he was holding in the arch tunnels of South East London. The evening was choc-a-block full of tastemakers from the worlds of art, sport and music and Goldie excitedly showed us all his paintings of athletes like Jessica Ennis and tom Daley. Goldie used to be a very accomplished graffiti artist before he ventured into music so he’s always dabbling away at his art even now and the paintings were very impressive and reminded us all of the impending event that hits our shores next year! Goldie emphasised his respect for the athletes discipline ‘’ you look at people like Tom Daly and Jessica Ennis. You could literally pass them in the street if they weren’t as well known. You would think they’re literally quite superhuman these characters. The one thing that you have in common with them that I think that a lot a people don’t seem to see is the dedication they’ve had in doing what they love, they spend many years. You might see them coming off the high board at the Beijing Olympics and thinking it’s great. Did we see how many times he got that dive wrong? Did we see how many times he was there in the pool, in that pool time and time again?’’. Goldie summed up the amazing night by stating ‘’Street culture has come a long way and I think the way we look at graphics and the way that we look at art in general we know has changed and I wanted to have my take on it, my spin on what is only of my opinion, it might not be your cup of tea but it’s what I like and a lot of my young friends or people that are around who are into art and music that’s what they like, they like that kind of style’’.

JASMINE WITH BOXER AND STRICTLY COME DANCING CONTESTANT AUDLEY HARRISON AND HIS WIFE RAYCHEL.
Next Olympic boxing champ and now strictly come dancing contestant Audley Harrison invited me to his 40th birthday dinner party at Cottons restaurant. Seated next to his American wifey Raychel and their adorable daughter, Audley hosted a very fun night for 35 of his nearest and dearest that included his dad, brother, cousins and lots of tough he-men boxer types. They all warned me I wouldn’t want to bump into them in an alley on a dark night if we vexed Audley! Originally they had booked the original Cottons restaurant in Camden but then had to move it to the new Cottons in Islington. Whilst the staff were polite and lovely, the food it has to be said wasn’t a touch on the Camden restaurant. In the Camden branch the curry goat is so tender it melts in your mouth-in Islington my plate was full of bones-no meat-so many bones that guests teased me with ‘’did you order curried bones and rice?’’ Not good. Will stick to the Camden branch moving forwards. The dinner party had Audley and his missus playing perfect hosts introducing all their guests to each other and entertaining us. Audley made a touching speech about all his achievements thus far and said he couldn’t imagine sharing this special moment with anyone else anywhere else, then proceeded to demand ‘’absolute smooth lump free custard’’ from the waitress to go alongside his apple pie! A memorable evening with lovely people, great conversation and much family love!

JASMINE WITH MC SWAY, ACTOR AML AMEEN and ADIDAS HEAD MAVEN PAOLA LUCKTUNG!
In recent years there have been major swings in areas of success for young British youth. The main winner for so long was making it as a music star, especially since #TEAMUK stars like Wiley, Chipmunk, Wretch32, and Tine staked their hold on the UK charts. Then came the new wave of young comedians spearheaded by Kojo. Next in line has been the new eruption of young actors and filmmakers led from the front by Noel Clarke. Noel and other film makers and actors like Ashley Walters and Aml Ameen have been working hard and steadily at their craft for many years now with noel having starred in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and Dr Who as well as writing and directing his films Kidulthood and adulthood. Similarly Aml Ameen has starred in the bill, Kidulthood and is now a Hollywood star appearing in Harry’s law. Ashley Walters has had a career as a musician with so solid crew as well as numerous acting roles in Grange Hill, Get Rich or Die Trying, London’s Burning and now the Channel 4 4- part series Top Boy which had the urban world buzzing so hard last week that it was trending worldwide on twitter!
Ashley Walters, Kane ‘’Kano’’ Robinson and Channel 4 invited me to a red carpet TV launch event for the major new TV drama from the award-winning producer of the Last king of Scotland and writer Ronan Bennet-TOP BOY. Aside from Ashley and Kano the film also featured Scorcher, Sway and Giggs.
We arrived at the plush Mayfair Hotel to view episode 1 whilst it also aired on public TV, where a drinks reception over flowing with wine and apple martini’s was in full swing whilst excited fans were taking photos of the cast. Bashy rocked a bright orange Adidas jacket and dark shades on the red carpet, I nearly didn’t recognise rapper Sway as he reached out for a hug as he was in full sharp grey suit, white loafers and a trim! Singer Kel Le Roc looked as fierce as she ever did, Davinche in his bleach blonde Sisqo hair, J2K bantering away loudly, Aml was looking as well as ever having flown in from L.A with his lady friend. After an hour or so of drinks and tiny canapés going around we were invited to the basement private screening room where instead of introducing us to the film and requesting we turn off our phones we were asked to keep them on and add to the twitter conversation as everyone talked about the show live whilst it was going on both in our screening room and on real TV. It was interesting to read the comments live and unedited as celebs like Rio Ferdinand and more tweeted their approval at the show!
Many guests were left standing for the viewing so popular was the turn out, Bashy and singer Loickk Essien were seated directly in front of me and the Adidas celeb press team led by Paola Lucktung. Bashy had a silver tray of drinks delivered to him in his cinema seat, Loickk offered the Adidas team a drink ‘’even though you sent me the wrong size trousers!’’ LOL.
Once the show began there were cheers and whoops as we all recognised the cast, the viewing was rawkus and fun. Everyone agreed at the end that we would all make an appointment to view the next 3 nights before making our judgement of the series. I did hear many complaining that it was ‘’just another one of those dramas that glamorise gang life and hood mentality’’. On the other hand many were pleasantly impressed by the high production qualities. I thought it was representative of many real life stories (except the TV version didn’t seem to have any police?).
I also think broadcasters and film makers need to commission a variety of content. I agree so much of our content is extremely stereotypical. In America they have balanced representation of ethnic people, they can have African American drama like the wire and the Cosby Show. Here its all very one sided. Take the example of film company Revolver (they that brought us other deep titles like ‘’Anuvahood’’ and ‘’Shank) who this month have churned out yet another ‘’UK hood film’’ called Sket. ‘’Sket” is a term of abuse for a worthless woman, another word for slag. This is lazy and insults females and puts a very negative message out there to young people. I don’t want females in my scene described as Sket’s to the nation as if this is what we’re about. Also how many post Kidulthood dramas can there be? Revolver will keep exploiting our culture-and we will keep buying into it. They get rich. The community stays poor-financially and mentally. The vicious circle continues. Until all of us collectively take responsibility for our output nothing will change and we’ll all continue to blame each other. We need film makers that are brave enough to invest in it or a UK Spike Lee character that will stand up to the film companies that exploit our talented young people and culture, but whilst no-one is brave enough to do this-they continue to win and we wonder where its all going wrong!