Month: April 2011

JASMINE WITH EVERYWHERE & NOWHERE DIRECTOR MINAJ HUDA.

This week’s been like a Craig David 7 day story for me.
Monday I went to a private film screening of ”Everywhere & Nowhere”. Tuesday it was the IVY MEMBERS COMMITTEE dinner at tres sophisticated Mayfair restaurant Scotts, Wednesday I started at the Cuckoo Club to see Loiekk Essiens showcase before legging it across Leicester Square to watch Jennifer Hudson perform at the Ivy Club, Thursday it was dinner with my parents, Friday another dinner party chez Dotiwala. Saturday MOBO CEO Kanya King took me rowing along the serpentine-and yes-she rowed! Sunday was all about chilling out.
”’Everywhere & Nowhere” kicked off the week correctly- its in cinemas across the UK from May 6th. A new British youth culture film, it would be easy to lazily call it an Asian Kidulthood /Adulthood but its much more than that. It does,its true, focus on a group of young Asian boys and their British experiences of feeling like they’re from ”everywhere and nowhere” and the trials of friendship, family and career within the Indian culture. It’s both real and gritty and unashamedly raw without the usual comedy element that many Indian actors and scriptwriters insist on including to entertain our native English audience.
The lead character –Ash, played by a very intense, gripping actor James Floyd– is a man torn between two worlds, that of his family and friends and the other, of his dreams. This is a  drama centered on a British Asian torn between honoring his family traditions and his love for Djing. Its his story set across London with it’s fast paced nightlife and run ins with the law all caught on camera from the Director of Kidulthood Minaj Huda. My parents are from Kenya and India so I could relate to many of the issues set out in the movie. I felt sad for the old,ignorant beliefs that were highlighted within the film that the older generation of Asians carry. It felt good to observe that we all share the same issues but made me realise how sad the olde worlde with its ignorant values was. If only we could take the best from the old and modern worlds for harmonious unity. Everywhere & Nowhere has a gripping storyline and fun moments and is a beautiful, emotional, touching look at young British Asians. Director Minaj has done a great job with his first big outing and like Noel Clarke before him will no doubt set a fast pace in his own lane in the near future.
Aside from James Floyd, boy band Blue member Simon Webbe plays a DJ that dates Ash’s sister and their story focuses on the issues of a black man dating an Asian woman. A true dynamo onscreen is Adam Deacon.

JASMINE WITH ACTING TALENT ADAM DEACON.

Adam has made his mark recently with his movie ”Anuvahood” which had young brits laughing all the way to the bank of Deacon. Adam has an onscreen energy that is mesmerizing and whilst he’s usually cast in a number of BBC and mainstream TV shows as the hype road-man , he is capable of playing much more. In ”Everywhere & Nowhere” Adam shines as Ash’s Bangladeshi mate but shows a real variation in his character. Its clear that in the next few months Adam is going to blow up in the same way as his peers Aml Ameen and Idris Elba (now both in Hollywood). He’s busy having just had a UK hit movie out,is starring in 2 films this year and writing more comedy. As well as ”E&N” , Adam is starring in ”Weighed in”-with legend Bob Hoskins where he plays a cockney, eighties print worker with no street slang in his character.

Adams had a busy life.Brought up in Hackney he reveals he didn’t have the best childhood. He was in a hostel at 16 before being given the opportunity to attend The Anna Scher school – a community-based theatre school in Islington.He admits he was  the class joker that didn’t always do his school work but he did connect with drama and music. The great thing about that school was it was open to everyone reminisces adam. He had his name on the 2 year waiting list and when he went to look around the school saw photos on the walls of who had been there which really inspired him.
His teacher ,Miss solomon from Stoke Newington School told him about the summer school waiting list which cost 80 quid so Adam did loads of odd jobs to raise 80 pounds as a 12 year old and went!. He recalls casting directors from soaps like Eastenders watching the classes but they were there so often they got used to them and just carried on. He recalls his first film was called “Face”. He had one line in it which was eventually cut out. So he learns a valuable lesson early on. He continued his auditions and secured so many small jobs. He wants to shout out Anna Scher as ”she had the rowdiest kids and put them on, now Anna’s not a part of the school any longer the real talents gone too. She’s teaching from a church now. I cant believe I invited her to my ”Anuvahood premier and she came! I wouldn’t be here today without her”.

Adam has that incongruous look about him that has him looking anything from Asian , Middle Eastern,European, African-in fact he could be from anywhere. But he tells me he’s half Egyptian and half white English.  At ages12-13 he did Eastenders/ The Bill/ Spooks/ Goodness Gracious Me/ London’s Burning and more, but says that actor and director Noel Clarke putting him in Kidulthood was his first big break as was his part in the Ali G movie. About Kidulthood Adam gushes ‘”it was the realest script I’ve seen, I met Noel, we did some improvisation, I stood out. I had the slang and realism. I got called back to act with Noel. Noel told me i had the part. That’s where i met Aml, Femi and other actors. Now we’re a strong team of British brothers that are in my world. This is the beginning of something big!”.
A few years after acting in Kidulthood Adam wrote his own film titled ”Anuvahood” which he says taught him a lot about the industry about politics and the business. He was disappointed in that side . ”We were told if you work,train and act you get paid. Now I realise the talent and acting is only 5 percent of the whole job, the business is a major part too”..
You may have also seen Adam in ”Shank” directed by Mo Ali. Adam reveals that apart from himself and music star Bashy none of the other cast were from that underground world. So altogether they edited the dialogue alongside Mo but didn’t receive any extra credit or extra income for this so he thought ”I’m going to do my own thing”.
With Anuvahood he says he wrote a film that he thought British kids wanted. ”The culture has stereotypes that you can laugh at. I had some hectic organization to get through. With the music side all the music acts on the soundtrack supported it. Dizzee gave is music for much less than it would’ve been worth. There was a whole, exciting, unified teamuk feel to the project.
Adam is clearly taking his own DIY route as he’s not getting the breaks he wants or deserves. He concludes that he wants to do a few comedy films and a would love to make a documentary on grime godfather Wiley. ”Wiley is someone I’ve admired for years. Seeing him and his career showed me how to manage and reinvent my career even without mainstream support. Its shown me its ok to be the underdog”.
Adam laughs as he see’s that with Anuvahood now mainstream media have been proven so wrong. ” The scene is big enuff for the mainstream to understand it. I naively assumed that reviewers would do their research. Anuvahood is a spoof and parody of the world. A reviewer for film site IMBD wrote that whilst she was too old to understand my movie- she wrote that she didn’t have to get it as her son got it and loved it. My biggest problem was critics dismissing a whole section of community.  Some said that I shouldn’t ever be allowed to direct again as it was apparently homophobic and racist. Theres nothing in there that isn’t in Little Britain!”.My film was Number 1 in London-i’m proud!”. And with that Adam completes his rant , bids me farewell and tells me he’ll see me again-in the big time! Love that confidence!

JASMINE WITH AML AMEEN AND KAMARA BACCHUS.

So London’s in full swing for fabulosity this month. This week alone has seen me swapping heels and kisses at numerous events. First musician Loick Essien invited me to his showcase tat the cuckoo club where he performed for an industry crowd.  Straight after he finished it was a sprint across Leicester square to the uber cool IVY PRIVATE MEMBERS CLUB where American songstress with stronger than strong pipes-Jennifer Hudson put on a private performance in the rooftop VIP lounge just for the club members. The next day I had a good old media family reunion with my old MTV News team where we reminisced about the good ole days as you do. I also managed to fit in time to cook for 2 dinner parties round at our place. I rate my life by the number of dinner parties I have. If I’m in dinner party mode it’s a barometer of positive happiness in my mental frame. Until someone spills red wine on my carpet or gets drunk and attempts to vomit on said carpet. Then the Dotiwala dragon emerges quicker than Usain Bolt on a pattie dash when he’s peckish.

One thing that does leave me proud to be a Londoner is the pure ambition and guerilla soldier attitude that new talent is coming with. The work of MEDIATRUST and their numerous projects that help young people across the nation has caught my attention this week. MEDIA TRUST’S corporate members include BBC, ITV, CHANNEL 4, SKY and more. As well as supporting numerous media projectswhere people are empowered to make their voices heard via media; they actively recruit, teach and champion new, young talent from marginalized and diversecommunities across the country. As well as currently looking for new peoplefrom 18-25 to join their new LONDON NEWS REPORTING team, this week they re-launched for the second year their huge COLUMN IDOL 2011 competition in conjunction with THE SUN newspaper to find undiscovered raw talent aged 18-25. Column Idol see’s young people who enjoy writing and want to have a chance to see their work printed in THE SUN explain what they would like to write about and why they deserve the chance to have their work printed. They will be mentored by some of newspaper’s top journalists. Six entrants will be shortlisted and judged by a panel including Editor Dominic Mohan. The winner will receive the prize of having their column printed. The hunt is being supported by songwriter Jessie J and and England and Arsenal star Theo Walcott, who has written a popular series of children’s books.
JESSIE J’s distinctive style and evocative lyrics have helped her become an almostovernight chart star. Jessie, 22, told us it’s a great opportunity foraspiring young writers. She said: “This is a fantastic chance for anyone who likes writing and has an opinion.” “Young people are always saying that they want to be heard, and this is an opportunity for them to step up and do it! You don’t have to be academic to write passionately about something. You can’t be a writer and feel like you have to follow a script – Column Idol is all about doing it YOUR WAY, which is what makes this competition so special.”  Entering a competition in the country’s biggest newspaper is a daunting prospect, but Jessie urges you not to be put off. I would say to young people reading this – take opportunities when they come, because life doesn’t hand it out. When I was younger, I never entered anything to win. I entered to learn. I would audition for things knowing that, even if I didn’t get it, the people there would remember me in future for a better-suited part’’. So Voice readers- get entering and when you’re up there running things in the print press world remember I put you on!

Someone else who embodies all I’m excited about this week is British/Hollywood actor Aml Ameen and actress Kamara Bacchus. Aml will be a familiar face to most of you. He was a long-term copper on THE BILL, played lead parts in films like Kidulthood and more andlast year was snapped up by Hollywood producers to star in new drama HARRYSLAW. He moved to L.A but proving his passion for the UK, he continued his drama academy ASA- Actors Studio Alliance, -for young,marginalized youth in Camden. This week Aml had a screening at BAFTA where hundreds of people were treated to a screening of his 3 short films. To start the night Aml was introduced onstage by his class tutor and mentor who spoke about Aml as a passionate young manwith a dream. Hence Aml’s production company is called AmeenDreamEnt. Aml explained ‘’ everyone that knows me knows I’m a big dreamer. I go through stuff and I get disappointed but I keep going for it and I try things all the time and dreams can come true’’.
Aml explained that we would be viewing 3 short films, a music video by his brother-musician Mike Ameen , and a set of hilarious outtakes.
The first film THE PICK UP was made after a student-badgered Aml to look at his script and finally convinced Aml to make it. It’s about 2 guys (Aml and actor Najan Ward) trying to pick up two girls in a club. It’s a hilarious and well-shot story about their scam and its ultimate consequence. The second film SPECIAL DELIVERY was written and starred in by actress Kamara Bacchus and was a beautiful piece of visual film. Like a silent movie it was poetic and innocent about a postal delivery girl and a relationship she strikes up with a resident and the audience raved about it at the end. The final film and the main draw for the night was DRINK, DRUGS & KFC written and directed by Aml. It was a very funny, well written, street drama about a group of boys and their innocent,fun, adolescent good times, trials and tribulations.
Aml explained at the post screening Q&A session that was about ‘‘the brotherhood and young men being in love, hopeful and innocent. He wanted tomake timeless beautiful classic pieces that inspired and entertained’’. He said he was inspired by a lot of good old and modern day films and that he wanted to make stories that were different to the norm about our scene and culture and not just repeat the same stereotypes about ethnicpeople that had become popular recently. He gave props to his friends Adam deacon and Noel Clarke and added that he too was ‘’throwing his dice as a film maker into the pot’’ and that there was room for everyone.
Aml wanted to thank his cast and crew fortolerating him and giving him the opportunity as a first time director and for their unwavering humble attitude throughout,  ‘’my tip for success is If you want to be great surround yourself with world-class people’’.
There followed lots of congratulations from the audience which included actors Cyril Nri (The Bill), Johnny Gill (Harry’s Law), Adam Deacon, Femi Oynerion, Jimmy Ackingbola (Holby City), Gugu Mbatha-Raw, William Gaminara (star of Silent Witness), Arinze Kene (Connor in Eastenders), Chucky Venice and Jason Barret, the night left us all feeling positive, empowered and proud of Aml as a trail blazer and community champion!.

JASMINE WITH DAMIEN ”JUNIOR GONG” MARLEY”

All roads led to Wembley Arena last week for the much-anticipated concert seeing 2 musical brothers come together again. after last years Nas and Damien Marley joint onstage show people had heard this was a once in a lifetime event and a slow moving cavalcade of cars crawled up to Wembley on a balmy spring night. As if the main acts weren’t a big enough draw we were informed also that the inimitable Erykah Badu would be the opening act so we were ampted. Well promoter Hanif had one more surprise for the crowd- Spragga Benz was the first act on. Could this line-up be any better.

Once we actually managed to navigate the extra long queues outside we noted that Wembley arena was totally rammed up with fans and a great party atmosphere.

JASMINE AND GOD’S SON NAS.

Spragga and Erykah did their thing throwing out all their classic hits and setting off the night correctly then the crowd went nuts as bobs son Damien entered the arena and his locks were swinging wildly non stop throughout his set. But much of the crowd were as impressed by the man waving the huge flag throughout the show. we were fascinated by his arm strength and couldn’t stop watching as he mesmerised us all. Even female boxer Lesley sackey who was in the crowd was speechless with awe. Nas and Damien rocked the crowd in such a positive, old skool , fun way that it brought back faith in modern music showing it could be both hot and positive in this day and age when much of it often leaves a lot of musicality to be desired.

Then designers Dolce &Gabbana had one of their classic bond street parties where this time there was a twist. Unlike the usual celeb infested, champagne swilling, pretty food platters being the be all and end all, this night involved the D&G windows being dressed by fashion bloggers and was called a ‘’dress me up party’’. Celebrating the revamp of the window displays at Dolce & Gabbana’s London flagship store. The company had tasked a number of bloggers including Sasha Wilkins, Bip Ling and Carrie Harwood to refresh the windows. DJ Jon Jo spun during the night, who played a mixture of house, dance pop and RNB.  The guests drank Dolce&Gabbana Martini gold-doesn’t that just sound tres extravagant? . celebs I spotted included Alexandra Burke, Rox, Simon Webbe, Sunday Girl, Henry Conway, Pixie Geldof, Leah Weller, Natt Weller, Toby Kebbell, Keisha Buchanan, Devlin, Will Poulter, Leo Gregory, Katy B, Mary Charteris, Olivia Grant, Peaches Geldof, Nick Grimshaw, Naomie Harris, Daisy Dares You, Professor Green, Polly Brown, Suki Waterhouse, Rob Knighton, DJ Shane McPherson, Ashley Walters, Jasmine Guinness, Adam Deacon, Hofit Golan, Isaac Ferry, Tara Ferry and Portia Freeman.

There was a tea area located at the back of the store for guests to sit down and shill out, the bloggers were active in the windows re vamping the mannequins, guests went crazy dancing to Rihanna’s What’s My Name track and Madonna’s Like A Prayer track. On the Menu was a SICILIAN ROTISSERIE which included Potato croquettes, Rice croquettes stuffed with various meats and cheese, Fritters of codfish and “Panella” chick peas flour fritters. Guests were from all walks of life and looked totally outrageous, with people from all different cultures but all involved in some kind of thought of fashion. If you had any concerns about deciding what to wear on a night like this before leaving home all was in safe hands as this definitely wasn’t one of those nights to worry about what you were wearing or feel anyhow uncomfortable. From People dressed to the hilt galore in designer such as D&G to LV and Christian Louboutins to name just a few to your normal day-to-day wear of t-shirts, jeans with kicks or sneakers. Continuous hors d’oeuvres, cocktails and champagne were at arms reach through the night which meant that every sensory function was satisfied from hunger, thirst, audio and visual entertainment via the life action dressing fashion bloggers – a great, progressive, unique night-kudos D&G and their celeb fashion team Chandni and Ruth.

After these 2 fabulous bits of entertaining fabulosity you know the universe balanced up my work-play karma by giving me two subsequent weekends of work. The first week saw me driving through the madness of the central London TUC marches to get to south bank university where I was sitting on a panel for the regular INSPIRATIONAL YOU quarterly motivational conference.  The MOTIVATIONAL YOU team alongside founder Sonia Meggie, provide workshops, seminars, exhibitors’ stands and networking opportunities. I’d heard about this event in the past and was finally happy to get involved speaking to ambitious young women and young people where they can connect with industry professionals and successful entrepreneurs. Giving back to the community regularly like this makes me feel better when I cant afford to give regularly to charity. After all, quality time and attention is really what young people need. The event was buzzing and full of energised people when I arrived. I saw in on a journalism panel and then entered the main arena for my panel, which was most fun as my fellow panellists were a TV presenter and actress. The youngsters in the audience asked a multitude of interesting questions that gave me faith that our future was in good hands.

JASMINE with ANDREW DAVIES, BLACK THE RIPPER, CHARLIE SLOTH and SWAY CALLOWAY.

The following weekend I got the blessing from my mother to miss Mothers Day and fly to Rotterdam for the largest international urban music conference NEW SKOOL RULES where I was sitting and speaking on 2 panels over the weekend. I joined a strong industry team from the UK which included radio 1xtra dj and artist Charlie sloth, island records A&R man ben scars, flava magazine editor and founder annika allen and Leonard foster, Andrew davis former myspace don now freelance international advisor to international brands and more. Established delegates had been flown in from all over the world including from the USA MTV VJ and radio host Sway Calloway, Grammy winning song writer Bryan Michael Cox, and current hot producer Drumma Boy. Over a 3 day period there were a lot of panels, workshops , showcases (including the UKs very own black the ripper , R.I.O, and R.T.I ) and master classes in everything one could ever hope to know learn to make it in the music industry. Whilst the day time saw learning and networking opportunities, the evening held club events where yet more showcases from established and new acts took place. It was a great experience and definitely an event with aot of future potential . but for now I think it has a long way to go. It seems that the Netherlands government pay a substantial amount of money to throw the event- 80,000 euros in funding with the overall project costing more than 150,000 euro’s so a lot of passionate people behind the scenes making it work. And the locations and panellists are incredible, so it seems very disheartening that even though in total there were 976 people attending from 31 countries, each panel that i witnessed individually only held around 20-30 maximum young people. A total change from the urban music seminars I’ve been used to attending in the uk in the past where there are thousands of eager attendees. I heard that NEW SKOOL RULES attendees have to pay 150 euros to attend for the weekend, which seemed unfair to people struggling to get into the game. Lets bring it to London and make it free to attend and take this to the heights it deserves to be.

JASMINE WITH OK NIGERIA’S ALEXANDER AMOSU.

I know we laugh at celebs who we say would go to the opening of an envelope well this week I pipped that. I went to the opening of a shed. The ‘shed’ in question was a café called THE SHED opened up by my mate (one time nemesis), spice sister Danielle Brown- actress and sister of Mel B and one weeknight the café was officially opened with a bang!

THE SHED is in Fulham Road so a very nice area with a football club just up the road so footballers and wags should be frequenting regularly.

We arrived to find paparazzi outside and wondered who they might be after. Once inside it was clear they were after tabloid celebs Peter Andre and his girl friend Elen Rivas. Reality TV and real life car crash Kerry Katona arrived with her DANCING ON ICE partner Dan Whiston, and the only way is Essex slacker Amy Childs who people were eager to get snapped with Peter Andre cos apparently she looks like Jordan. She doesn’t.

Peter Andre and Kerry Katona laughed a lot all night. Kerry wore a leopard print cat suit which wasn’t very flattering on her figure but her hair did look classy in its chopped short wedge style. Other guests included self-professed model Nicola McLean and her footballer husband Tom Williams, Chico, Zilli the chef, André from former boy band Damage and his wife Wendy.

Danielle was wearing a Forever Unique black prom dress and handing out goody bags which contained coffee, fancy herbal teas, jammy dodger necklace, red velvet cupcake, an easy read book, crisps and a free voucher for Venture Portrait Company,

Looking at the blackboard price list full of cakes, cupcakes and toasted bagels, I was impressed to note a sit-in cappuccino is only a reasonable £1.85 unlike the usual £3 quid stings I have to pay for at Starbucks and its peers. Free Wi-Fi and a child friendly atmosphere made me wish I had kids and lived in Fulham just to frequent the Shed.

The intimate venue was packed, decorated with neon green ceiling lights, loads of Babika Vodka was served, as well as espresso martini’s and strawberry cocktails, the DJ was playing old skool rare grooves and soulful house, there was a massive cake (red green and gold), in ‘’The Shed’’ colours, with an edible Danielle on top.

The night finished around midnight with extremely strong coffees so no one had sore heads the next morning.

A lot was made in the press the next day about the act that sister Mel B wasn’t there. Big deal. She lives in LA, is pregnant and apparently relations between Mel and the rest of the brown family based in the UK have been strained for a while now. So no one really expected or needed her to turn up frankly.

Danielle had called all her close friends and family and a great evening was had by all.  OK Magazine actually did a full feature on it showing that maybe envelope openings could actually be the next big thing LOL!

Speaking of OK! Magazine, the world’s biggest celebrity lifestyle is set to launch in Nigeria this year.  The magazine, which will be published in Nigeria and printed in the United Kingdom, will be distributed on newsstands in Nigeria and readers throughout the world can subscribe to the magazine.

OK! Magazine Nigeria will be owned and operated by famed serial entrepreneur Alexander Amosu. (The same guy I met around 2 decades ago at Earls Court Exhibition Centre who told me he was making a company selling R&B ring tones) he’s come a long way!

The magazine will be a monthly publication and content will be 60% Nigerian celebrities on a global scale, whilst just 20% of the 60% will be local Nigerian celebrities in Nigeria. The remaining 40% is divided into 30% African American celebrities such as Will Smith and Oprah and the remaining 10% will be the usual celebrities we love to read about such as Paris Hilton and David Beckham.

Alexander told me : “Nigeria’s probably one of the most vibrant, affluent countries in Africa, a nation with this juxtaposition of poverty and immense wealth; a style leader for Africa that continues to shine despite hardships and negativity that try to mar its progress.  I’m honoured to bring OK! Magazine to Nigeria and I am convinced that the publication will enjoy great success.”
He told me about the endless opportunities for OK! Magazine Nigeria which will enjoy sharing news of the world’s fast growing entertainment industry, from Nollywood stars, to the plethora of singing talent currently coming out of the country.
He exclaimed: “Worldwide there is love for what comes out of Nigeria; from the movies to the music.  What better way to showcase this positivity and share it with the rest of the world.”  I recall when Alexander signed the deal last September and has been quietly working to launch ok magazine in Nigeria later this year. It launches in June in Lagos for the first time. It’s the very first time OK has launched in an African country. Alexander is the chairman, and the over seerer, and is putting together a reality show from May to June to find the editor of OK Nigeria. There will be a series of TV tasks and the lucky winner will crowned editor of OK Nigeria. The OK brand is in 19 countries around the world but this is its first foray into the African continent.

A man making new in-roads daily-are you inspired? Still happy to sit back and let others have the glory and shine? If this story doesn’t inspire you nothing will!.