Month: January 2013

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JASMINE’S JUICE featuring JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, DJ IRONIK’S BIRTHDAY PARTY and BBC WORLD TOP MUSIC TOURS DEBATE.


JASMINE WITH JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE.
A busy week preparing a lecture that we are holding at the BFI (British Film Institute) on the South Bank about filmmaking, and then off to the RTS (Royal Television Society) monthly committee meeting which is brilliant fun to banter about media and broadcast with my peers. If any of you young newbies to the TV world are looking to get in or up the ladder in television there’s nothing I recommend more than joining the RTS-its free- and their regular sessions at least once a month after working hours at all the big TV broadcasters help you go from runner to TV superstar very quickly. take a look at the site here and get involved-I’d love to meet as many of you here as possible!
http://www.rtsfutures.org.uk/
My highlight of the week had to be catching up with the delectable Justin Timberlake! I cant tell you how amazing this young man is musically. A true musician that has an impressive history of R&B knowledge all up in his head. Justin was always a pleasure to work with at both MTV and Channel 4 and has always been the most well mannered young superstar. Even at the height of his fame he has been the most well mannered, welcoming, friendly act. This month he’s back with new music and like the classic melody maker he is-the track SUIT and Tie’ is classoic Justin. a great hook uninfluenced the the modern day hype of dubstep or dance music. Justin is a strong believer in the classic soul music he’s grown up on and revealed that his new music is simply great material that he had been inspired to make after ticking many other boxes in his life. The music drew him back, the time was right and with love and melodic hooks in his heart he’s back! The rest of the album is exactly what fans of smooth R&B have been craving for so long. Could this be a wave turning back in favour of mainstream soul? I hope so!

JASMINE WITH DJ IRONIK!
Next it was off to DJ Ironik’s birthday party which was hosted by Lil Chris from Towie and also DJs Scottie B and DJ Woody from Choice FM.. As a testament to just how popular Ironik is in the industry, as well as his mum and family all being there other acts like Chipmunk, Russell Kane, Derry from X Factor’s The Risk and lots more.. And it was amazing seeing real party DJ’S like Scottie and Woody-who really always drive crowds into a frenzy whether at carnival, Ibiza, Aiya Napa or a house party-they truly know how to make a party rock. We partied till we dropped LOL. When I mentioned to Ironik that I wouldn’t be staying all night as I felt slightly older than his crowd he laughed and told me ‘’ Jas-don’t be silly my mums here-you’re NEVER too old!’’

Then it was off to borderline to watch PJ Morton at his showcase, (more on that young man next week).
After those I rushed off for an appearance on BBC WORLD TV where I was talking about the top 10 live music tour list from the past 12 months that saw Madonna lead the top 3 (at $296million!) that also included Bruce Springsteen and Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters. The youngest act in the top 10 at number 4 was Coldplay.
In comparison, teen sensation Justin Bieber, who played a 35-show tour, failed to crack the top 20, taking in $40.2 million, at No. 23.
This led the BBC to question ‘’if pop music is a young persons game how come the top 10 live music earners are over 40?’’ Well let me break it down for you dear readers.
The main thing here is the longevity of the pop star. The more years they’ve been around the more experienced they are so their shows are brilliant. Older bands know how to create a stadium experience.
For big established older acts that do a much shorter run of shows for much higher ticket prices, their costs for catering/ live musicians, roadies, security is much smaller.
Barbara Streisand, Madonna and the Stones tickets often start at 500 pounds. Younger acts like Rihanna’s start at 27 pounds. Rihanna has to do a lot more work to try and equal her elders.
She might get the daily column inches, which of course lead to chart hits as young people run and buy her material but ultimately she’s more famous than she is rich. So there isn’t always a correlation between chart hits and real money made by the music act.
The bigger acts like Madonna and Rolling Stones will perform at massive venues for a shorter period as opposed to Rihanna who will do numerous numbers of night after night at the 02.
Older acts have fans that have been loyal to them for years and they continue to pick up new fans from younger generations.
Older music fans and audience’s have a much higher disposable income so the older music starts can charge big bucks knowing that their fans are more organised, will book tickets early and pay whatever they are charged. When you are an older act your key appeal is to have an audience with a more disposable income- when you charge £200-£1000 per ticket you knock out the younger fans that don’t have the money. Younger audiences want cheaper tickets for a much more tangible experience.
So is there a difference between who tops the charts and who has the most successful tour?
Not really, anyone these days can have a number one hit with a song that comes from nowhere. See Psy last year. A great act will have a reputation for delivering a great live show.
A one hit wonder can even have a great one off show, (see Bobby Valentino, Sunshine Anderson, Tierra Marie etc a few years back), but the biggest tour earner will always be someone more established that can command cash.
The band the Black Keys tend not to have chart hits but have successful tour after tour, Pop acts don’t have that experience.
The figures are staggering, what percentage of those ticket sales do you think the artist gets to keep?
Every single show is different. It depends on the promoter. Pop stars are guaranteed their fee, it’s the promoter who either makes above the odds or loses money.
Some acts will demand 100/200, 000-million per show, but then an act like Mariah or Beyonce can charge anything for a private show and both have been rumoured to have received up to 4 million for one night for a private show, so it really depends on each individual deal.
You may notice that most major music acts these days tour alongside promoters like Live Nation who pay over the odds for the artist so they squash their competition and other promoters. They might not make loads of cash but they get the kudos for being the staple, trustworthy promoter.
Which countries are these acts touring, are they going to established countries or are they trying to break into new markets? Have any of them ventured into territory where they haven’t been before?
Honestly nowadays acts will go wherever pays them…they have their set territories that work for them, but then once in a while a promoter in Timbuktoo or Turkey offers a big pay check for a gig so they’ll go. The artist doesn’t ever take the risk, the promoter does…
So when you next see your average UK pop star in the tabloids day after day don’t assume they’re wealthy-their record label is-they’re most likely not. Hopefully you can now understand why the older music acts that have been around since the 80’s and 90’s aren’t past it- they’re rolling in it!
The only unfortunate thing about my whole appearance on BBC WORLD was that just before I was seated in the hot seat I had been told I had at least 10 more minutes before I was on air, so I moisturized my hands having just come in from the cold. Suddenly 30 seconds later, I was dragged onset and the presenter Peter Dobbie immediately reached out to shake my hand with a smile. I automatically clutched his with my hand all moist and creamy!. I saw him inwardly squirm and wipe his hand as discreetly as he could on his chair. How embarrassing! I didn’t even have a second before we went live to explain it was cream not sweat. So my apologies Peter- I’m really not a sweaty Betty!

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JASMINE’S JUICE FEATURING GEORGE THE POET AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL!


JASMINE WITH A JUBILANT GEORGE THE POET AND A PROUD WRETCH32 AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL!
Last week I had the honour of witnessing something refreshingly new, unique and positive in the UK music industry.
I get invited to showcases that are promoting new acts all the time. Much of the time it’s a struggle to even reply to every invitation so similar are all the artists’ looks and sounds. People see Beyonce and Jay Z and try to emulate them. We don’t need a cheap version of a great act that we already have.
This is why anything that’s sent with a personalised invitation and great manners that intrigues is a winner. I wasn’t the only one that thought so as on my arrival at the Royal Albert Hall’s very private rooftop live music room-the Elgar room- was heaving with every table full of playlist heads, A&R teams, print press journalists, bloggers, radio heads and more. The buzz was quiet but strong.
It helped that the invitation had promised ‘’ Wretch and Zeon have asked to extend a personal invitation for you to join us for the George The Poet’s headline show in the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall, January 14th 2013.George sold out the event in less than 24 hours and with that we anticipate this being an amazing night. Also to add to this special evening Jacob Banks will be the supporting act. It would be amazing if you are able to make it down to be a part of a landmark moment for the young man.’’

They weren’t lying. It was certainly a landmark moment. The grand venue is special. It can’t just house any old random newcomer. You need to be as dynamic as your surroundings. Everyone was on time, seated, drinks on table and there was a great vibe of anticipation in the room. The room is a large square with a wide stage, which comfortable houses a complete live band and a patent blood red grand piano. This means every audience member has a great view of the act. Around the room are huge arty black and white prints of classic acts like James Brown and Little Richard. It’s a nicer version of Camden’s Jazz Café.

1Xtra DJ Vis introduced the night and brought on opening act Jacob banks who started with a cover of the all time classic ‘Let’s get it on’. Even though it’s hard to judge talent when they perform cover songs-he owned it in his own very relaxed style.
Jacob looked like a classic model dressed all in black everything trousers, shirt, coat and acoustic guitar. He performed 3 more songs for an enraptured audience; “Simone”, “Coward” and “Something beautiful”. Jacob has strong wispy yet soft vocals. Very reminiscent of lighthouse family lead singer Tunde Baiyewu / and soul singer Lyndon David hall RIP. He sang his whole set with his eyes closed. Shy or caught up in the moment? No one cared. He was hypnotic.
Jacob won the Adidas competition to work with Plan B back in 2011 as part of their ‘ALL IN’ campaign and I could see from the sports brands table that they were very proud and delighted seeing Jacob on stage and appreciating that he is in the great hands of manager Zeon Richards under the Renowned Collective. Adidas might be a humungous global brand but don’t sleep on the breaks they’ve given new, disadvantaged up and coming talent in the UK over the past few years, in the worlds of sport, music, comedy and more.

In the audience and up on their feet the crowd included eighties singer Gabrielle (Dreams can come true), the Adidas team Paola, Akua, Aisha, music producer Naughty Boy (Chip. Wiley, Emile Sandi), former Radio1Xtra head Ray Paul, Radio1Xtra playlist head lady Laura Lukanz, Girls Aloud member Nicola Roberts, Radio 1 broadcaster Nihal, Tinie Tempah, Richard Antwi-director of Levels Entertainment, George the poets parents, friends and family.

After a very brief break for a drink, Vis introduced North London’s finest Wretch32 who is from the same music stable as Jacob and George (XYZee Ltd/ Renowned Collective) . Wretch bounded onto stage wearing a sharp black suit and welcomed us as he explained why George the poet had his total support ‘’ when I saw George perform I was immediately a fan of his work’’. Later George and Wretch’s manager Zeon told me that he literally had to hunt George down after seeing him perform. Apparently he asked him to call him numerous times but never heard back from George. Zeon finally got through to George via Georges girlfriend. Perhaps its cos George is in his final year of his politics degree…at Cambridge and therefore otherwise distracted!

When George finally took to the stage he was immediately engaging dressed to resemble a young Malcolm X wearing thick-rimmed black specs, a black suit, white shirt and maroon tie.
The show started with a solo George introducing a young, male, black character called ‘’Malik’’ whose story he would tell us throughout his set.
His set began in total silence, and then eventually a lone violin, then a piano, then a guitar, then his opening act Jacob helped him sing hooks and finally a small choir of singers scattered throughout the audience. George would build his narrative up into a crescendo where the audience were literally hanging off his every word and then bring us to a climax with a clever line or observation (“A man either kills or destroys- don’t be Scarface-he kills his boys”) and we would applaud or cheer.
You would think after every part of the story the set was over such was the audience applause, but then George would gently start to speak again and the lighting would change colour for each act and we would be back on his journey with him again.
Make no mistake; this was no ordinary spoken word poetry show at all. Onstage behind George were 6 huge video set lights and a bank of video shoot strip lights. They looked dramatic. Like a hip hop video visual. It was clever juxtaposing simple word with modern day visuals.
The performance was of a real ghetto story of struggle and strife and family breakdowns in a poem called “Malik”. A story that millions of young disadvantaged men of colour across the globe can relate to. It’s your fathers, brothers, son’s story. It’s clever.
A true theatrical spoken word experience that kept us engaged, it felt like a new artistic modern genre.
I could see it as a regular theatre tour across the country, but also as a 1 hour TV special on Channel 4 or MTV.
A friend that was my plus one who hadn’t originally wanted to come as ‘’spoken word isn’t really my thing’’, was visibly moved and impressed and couldn’t stop gushing about how inspired she was. George will have this effect on you all. I guarantee it.

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JASMINE’S BIRTHDAY KARAOKE 2013!


JASMINE’S BIRTHDAY KARAOKE. Friends including MOBO CEO Kanya King, Trident Police’ Claudia Webbe, PR MAVEN Jessica Huie, music scene photographer to the stars Paul H, actress/singer Preeya Kalidas, record label boys JP and Trenton and more.
Every year the pressure heightens to outdo my last birthday adventures. You know I lived the YOLO brand way before Drake had teenage northern kids yelling about it in Magaluf!
Previous years have seen me celebrate many of my born days in new york, los Angeles, on a boat, in a plane, having my notorious underwear and pyjama parties in the 90’s, to Motown themed and old skool hip-hop themed parties, to dinner in the private dining rooms at The Ivy and Chiswick House in most recent years. My birthdays actually in January but many think its in February, April or may as I always have a smaller gathering of close friends in January and then another big party later in the year. Why not? I take my cue from her majesty the queen who has a public and private birthday. It’s a great way to extend your celebration for 6 months of the year.

JASMINE WITH HER GIRLS L-R, MARCIA, MONIQUE, ANNELIESE, ANITA, HEATHER AND CLARE.
This year I couldn’t bear the thought of yet more food and dinner after so many holiday seasonal dinners at Christmas, which was just a fortnight ago so I decided we needed to do something different. I told my nearest and dearest to come and join me for a karaoke evening at Bloomsbury bowl where we had the private jumbo-sized room to ourselves.
The dress code was black and white for artistic reasons. The night began at the nice and early time of 6pm. with so many friends in the music industry-many of them DJ’s- one has to often juggle times so everyone can be included. By 6.30pm the room was already half full and both ChoiceFMs best DJ- Manny Norte (rocking a black and white Ali tee) and actress/singer Preeya Kalidas (rolling in a Russian glam hat!) were rocking the mic to our delight!

JASMINE GETS SINGING LESSONS FROM ACTRESS/SINGER PREEYA KALIDAS
My mate Oliver made a very handsome Frank Sinatra and as he chose great track after track we got into our best musical theatre vibe.
Manny also played conductor and mystro as we did our best renditions of john Travolta and Olivia Newton John in ‘’Summer loving’’ (at that point al the Bloomsbury Bowl customers crowded at the see through glass window to peer at us do our thing so loud were we!)
Everyone got all church and gospel when ‘Like a prayer’’ was on, and then a little x rated when Biggie Smalls remix of Nasty Girl cam on. (These music industry folk can be just as vulgar and outrageous as the acts they represent!)
There were only 2 mics but that didn’t stop all of us just joining in and singing along to every song that played. My girl friends Monique and Heather were wilding out to everything! New Scotland Yard’s Trident Police’s Claudia Webbe was brilliant dueting with Preeya on Lauryn Hills killing me softly. Preeya’s dulcet tones were singing away whilst Claudia did the straight mic man ad libs-it was hilarious! Preeya ‘’ Strumming my pain with his fingers’’, Claudia ‘’yes his fingers!’’ MOBO CEO Kanya King looked gorgeous in her movie star black frock and hair did! She was shy about taking the mic but you know me, I thrust it at her so we all had a great trio going in Salt and Pepa’s ‘push it’.

JASMINE WITH THE BBC’S JAY DAVIDSON AND MOBO’S KANYA KING
All the guys had fun with the rap songs especially Jay Z and Kanye’s verses. Photographer to the UK music world Paul H and Manny Norte did a great set of very manly hip-hop tracks; they also rode madness ‘’Baggy Trousers’’ word for word. Former MC now music manager JP was under pressure but did Jigga more than enough justice, Someone mentioned that they ‘’rode that track like Dizzee and Wiley’’ at which there was much hilarity!
Legendary cookie crewmember Cookie had us rocking as did PR glam chic Jessica Huie. BBC marketing maven Jay Davidson was jumping around to cypress hills jump around. My mate Marcia looks the spitting image of a young Whitney Houston so of course she belted out Whitney classics (see if you can spot her in the group photo!), whilst her husband Fabien came in black and white chef garms so we referred to him as Raekwon the Chef all night.
Amy Winehouse management team member Trenton did Amy proud with his rendition of her classic hits (even though he did have to look at the words- why weren’t they imprinted on his brain already? LOL). My oldest best mate Anita who’s known me since I was a cocky, prissy 10 year old princess did her best to keep me in non tipsy order, my old ballet school pal Clare knocked out a few old skool dace moves. My close friend, new Yorker, former Def Jam, V2 Music, music manager Anneliese screamed her lungs out on Estelle’s American boy-it’s the American in her.
Then Marvin Gayes sexual healing took the party in another direction as my homie Troy broke into a duet with Jay-wild!
There was a particularly poignant moment near the end. My surrogate big brother Richard Pascoe was in hospital but he has never missed any of my birthdays in the past 2 decades. My other half dialled him up on facetime on his IPad screen, and there from his bed was Richie wearing a black and white outfit, eating chicken and red velvet cake and singing along with us. The whole room then broke into Queens Bohemian Rhapsody in his honour as we all screamed our lungs out.

TALENT MANAGER RICHIE PASCOE JOING THE PARTY VIA FACETIME FROM HIS HOSPITAL BED WEARING THE REQUIRED BLACK AND WHITE AND SINGING ALONGSIDE US!
A great moment. A great night. A great set of people!

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JASMINE’S JUICE featuring festive fun, PIERS MORGAN, CHRIS BROWN and KANYE WEST!


JASMINE WITH HER MENTOR PIERS MORGAN
Happy New Year! I hope yours was as fun and relaxing as mine which mostly consisted of cosy, frolic filled moments with family and friends. A lot of board games like Taboo were played, a lot of screaming went down for Connect 4, a lot of hearts were beating hard after Wii dance offs to the Michael Jackson Experience and too much weight was gained eating copious amounts of rich food!. Time to feel guilty and hit the gym before that summer bikini has to make its debut!

I was also lucky enough to go to the Christmas carol service at St Paul’s cathedral. There’s nowhere more festive and Christmasy to hear the choir sing whilst sipping peppermint hotchocolates and eggnog lattes. On new years day we watched London’s New Years Day parade where competing drum line bands from America and dance troupes from the UK performed impressive numbers in the freezing January cold in skimpy costumes whilst we were wrapped up in our snug hats, scarves and fur mittens.

Throughout the festive activities it was important to keep my eyes open to the realness out there too and nothing could’ve been realer than the stories that kept hitting us from across the globe. Firstly the horrific tragedy in the USA where a mentally affected young man shot and killed so many school children and teachers. The same day we heard about the China tragedy where a similar incident with a man stabbing young children shocked the world but at least in the Chinese tragedy the children were still alive!. One of my mentors, the often loved but mostly hated broadcaster Piers Morgan, who has gone from a newspaper pop culture columnist, to the editor of a UK newspaper to now hosting his own TV show on American network CNN, was very vocal about Americas gun laws pleading with the public to make a change.

Americans have embraced their right to protect themselves and ownership of guns is so important to them. They state things like ‘’guns don’t kill people, people do!’’ Now I know the worldwide stereotype of many Americans is a lack of brain cells and tunnel vision but even a nursery schoolkid knows that only people with guns can shoot other people. Americans started a petition to deport Piers Morgan home. They don’t like us Brits (who are supposed to pander to their every thought), to challenge them on anything. Piers might irritate and be very in your face but he’s real. He speaks like your mate down at the pub, not a puppet puled by establishment strings. We have loaned him to the yanks-I hope they can be open minded enough to hear that he speaks the world’s thoughts on the gun issue. Slavery was once seen as a right to this nation too. No one ever thought we’d see a black president either. It’s never to late to change.

I was reminded of our own issues here when I attended a theatre play called the forty elephants, which I’d heard great things about all through the autumn months. A thought provoking stage play, by new writers & directors Nadine Woodley & Dani Moseley on the hidden, yet rising issue of girlgangs in London.

Think about the word ‘gang’. What image comes into your mind? A group of young urban black males is probably the first thing that pops up. This type of gang would be described as vicious, threatening and brutal; but would you use these same descriptions for a girl gang? Or do you see them as a milder version that commit petty crimes and just seen as girlfriends of the male gangs? I do not recall hearing anything on the news about girl gangs – and why is that? Maybe the media don’t see girl gangs as a threat to society and perhaps the public wouldn’t even be alarmed by them. Nonetheless, after seeing Forty Elephants, I have been more informed on a culture that was unknown to me.

Crude dialogues and monologues with vulgar gestures and expressions shocked the audience to realise that this is how girl gangs would behave. A normal group of female friends have been transformed into a jealously driven clan of girls who strive to gain power and money amongst the male dominated street culture. Even though it sounds like a play that does not seem to be humorous, it was impossible to keep a straight face throughout. The girls mocked how immature and juvenile boys acted around girls and showed the boys who ‘run tings’, whilst even scaring the boys at most times. They laughed at the cruel and meaningless attacks they committed, and then bragged about them at the feasts at the chicken shop they would have after their fights with rivals. Girls carrying knives was another shocker to the audience. Young boys would be constantly ‘stopped and searched’ by police, but girls would never be suspected of carrying dangerous possessions.

Although their casual conversations about their fearful day-to-day acts seemed like fun to the girls, there was obviously a reason that made them turn out like this. Issues such as troubled family problems, wanting to be taken seriously by men, following the crowd and peer pressure are just a few reasons to why the girls believe what they do is right. Being a part of the ‘Forty Elephants’ meant to them a sense of togetherness and security for each one of them. But they didn’t foresee, inevitably, that all would turn sour amongst the gang.

The actresses Nadine Woodley and Dani Moseley wrote and directed Forty Elephants wishing to show an eye opener to the increasing underground culture that we should fear. Afterseeing this play I questioned, how many people have been attacked by a girlgang? And how many males have been attacked by a girl gang but could not admit so, only to protect their masculinity? There are numerous programmes and courses to keep young boys off the streets, but what is there encouraging girls to do the same?

They have truly highlighted the struggles that some young girls face in life; not in a degrading way, but in a way that motivates the audience to make a change. If you get a chance to see this play do so. The writers have used art to portray life in a way that really hones why we must protect and nurture our young ladies who see the Rihanna’s and Kim’s of the world as their role models.

JASMINE WITH CHRIS BROWN
Rihanna and Kim Kardashian have probably had the most global column inches this past 12 months and no doubt will continue to make them in 2013. Their respective drama’s around domestic abuse and home made sex video tapes haven’t set them up in the best possible light, but like I said above –its never too late to change. They’ve made their marks and are now independent women. Rihanna’s has shown forgiveness and Kim has matured into a very able businesswoman. Being partners to famous females like Riri and Kim isn’t easy. When I recently caught up with Chris his attitude was that he has repented and will live his life as best he can but can’t be a slave to the publics opinions.

JASMINE WITH KANYE
On his visit to London last week Kanye told me he can’t wait to be a father. I applaud Chris Brown and Kanye West on coming through their respective issues in the past to stand strong by their ladies. I congratulate them all on their success. May 2013 be even greater for them all.