Gil Scott Heron @ SOBs

Gil Scott, a politically charged poet and musician, performed two shows at SOBs last Wednesday with a full house each show. This is my second time seeing him perform and for me personally, he has a soothing presence on stage, almost like hearing your granddaddy telling you a bedtime story. Each song has a story and each story has a meaning.

The best part is he tells jokes and cracks himself up… as you’ll see below.

Roots Picnic 2009

Having attended the first annual Roots Picnic last year, I knew this year’s line up wouldn’t disappoint. Tickets were sold out on the day of with 6,500+ in attendance.  The picnic held at the hometown of The Roots, went from noon to 11pm with food and drinks served all day and shows going on in the main stage and tent area. From acts of old school legends to contemporary, it was a concert for everyone.

The Set List

The crowd at 3pm.

Antibalas, a Brooklyn based Afro-beat group, who are much respected by Questlove after he witnessed their FELA! musical last year.

Black Keys, a pretty rocking band comprised only of two guys. Dan Auerbach, vocalist/guitarist of Black Keys blew his amplifier out in the between sets and the crowd called for a drum solo drummer/producer, Patrick Carney, but he didn’t. Perhaps next time.

Santigold did her thing with a live band, flanked by two sidekicks and brought on Spank Rock as a special guest.

Girls going wild for Asher Roth.

Public Enemy, backed up by The Roots band and Antibalas horns, came out and blew everyone away. Their songs never get old and the crowd never gets less hyped and Flavor Flav who’s practically 50yrs old is still jumping around like there’s no tomorrow.

Brooklyn based, Tv On The Radio, performed last right before The Roots. Starting off with Young Liars, they performed crowd favorites like Wolf Like Me, Staring at the Sun and more.

The Roots closed out the show with a bang, including a 10-minute rendition of You Got Me. They are no doubt one of the greatest bands of our time, consistently pushing the boundaries of music with improvisation and appreciation of different genres.

Superbad BDAY

All in a night’s work

If you love parties and free alcohol… New York is the place to be. I managed to hit up three events last night and all of which had open bar and food! How ridiculously awesome is that?

First stop – SOBs holiday party. Thanks Marc and Kozza for the invite. It was finally time to sit down and chat with Marc over catered food and free drinks. I didn’t stay for long though as I had to hustle my ass to the next event.

Softwear by Microsoft - Held in a loft space on the west side. There were pictures on the wall of Common’s designs, open bar and fun snacks. A few celebs were in the house. I didn’t have my camera on me so I used my not-so-progressive flip phone to take a few pics. Please pardon the lack of quality.

Peep the vid – http://www.microsoft.com/windows/softwearbymicrosoft/

Biz Markie on deck

Wall Deco

Common t-shirt design

The space

Common arrives

Jeremy Piven!

Blocked by a champagne glass!

Complex Mag/Marc Ecko – They threw a party at the Marc Ecko studios and since we got word it was poppin, we hopped right over. Again… free alcohol and snacks. Gotta love it. This joint was way rowdier that the last one and people were crowded at the bar the whole night until it was literally out of alcohol. We saw a number of familiar faces from the previous party and hey.. it’s New York. Party hopping is practically a requirement. There was a cool photo booth by Patron that took black and white photos and you get a copy so people grouped up to take one after another.

 

There were also a Fader party, Highline Ballroom Red Bull event, Nextaid at Cielo and a ton of others going on last night which I had planned to check out but … you can only do so much before your body screams in protest for rest. And so I listened.

Until the next round.

Tonight

Introduction of Softwear by Microsoft
This an exclusive and private event. Admittance is by invitation only.
Invite is non-transferable.

Featuring the official unveiling of the apparel line designs inspired and created by actor and Grammy winning Hip Hop artist COMMON

December 3rd
8:00pm – 12:00am

Hosted by COMMON
Music By DJ Biz Markie

It’s CMJ WEEK!

Asya is in town. =]

Tuesday night, our night kicked off at a bomb ass Japanese restaurant, Oh! Taisho, on St. Mark’s Place. We got our CMJ badges, grubbed, caught up on news and headed over to Brooklyn Bodega’s event with Fresh Daily, Che Grand, Homeboy Sandman, Platinum Pied Pipers with Coultrain, DJ Parler on deck and special guests. That joint was a freakin reunion event. Unfortunately we missed a few performances but got to see Tanya Morgan and Platinum Pied Pipers.. my favorites! They put on a great show and shout out to Craig Hackeysack for getting me a drink and always giving me shit to keep me on my toes.

Following suit, we hopped in a cab to SOBs for the next event where Wale, Daniel Merriweather and Rhymefest were set to perform. Again, we were late. It seemed to be the theme of the night. The showcase was over capacity and was jumpin when Wale came on. Crowd was hyped and sound was good. If you weren’t there… u missed out.

A million more events to go this week but most importantly, come check us out at our 5th Anniversary party at Studio B this Friday. It’s free with RSVP and did I mention Dwele is dj-ing AND open bar?

RSVP Link: http://fuse5nyc.myviprsvp.com/rsvp.asp?rsvp_ID=45

YOUNITY presents Heart and Soul Friday, Oct 17th!

YOUNITY’s Heart & Soul Exhibition and Book Launch
October 17,2008
OPENING RECEPTION ( open to the public ) 8pm – 10pm
ALPHABETA
70 Greenpoint Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11222
Exhibit Dates: October 18, 2008 – November 17, 2008

- Second Annual Exhibit Features 60 Avant-Garde Urban Contemporary Female Artists –

Queens, NY (September 2008)— We are excited to announce the second annual YOUNITY art exhibition entitled Heart & Soul opening on October 17th, 2008 at Alphabeta in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. As a celebratory theme between 60 international women artists and what they identify as “heart and soul,” the exhibit promises an urban landscape installation piece that unifies and pushes the boundaries of graffiti, photography, urban contemporary art and fine art. In addition, YOUNITY will release Heart and Soul, a book featuring works from all 60 artists including: Lady Pink, Martha Cooper and Swoon. With so very few art books that explicitly showcase women’s urban contemporary art, Heart and Soul will debut as much needed authentic niche material for the ever-expanding art industry. Artists Alice Mizrachi and TOOFLY, founders of YOUNITY, look to unify and empower established and young artists through expressive art.

The exhibition will showcase original artwork by current YOUNITY members as part of an indoor/outdoor site specific installation that pays homage to the urban landscape. Members include world-renowned artists: MAD C (Germany), Aiko Nakagawa (Japan), Faith47 (South Africa), Krista Franklin (Chicago), and Diana McClure (NYC), to name a few. Only 60 out of 300 female urban artists were selected to participate in this special exhibit. Works will range from hand-styles and graphics to collage and abstract riffs—all expressing ideas on female identity, the urban habitat, life and love.

The exhibit will also launch the Heart and Soul book, comprised of 60 artworks formatted for a 5×8 inch postcard-style flipbook. It is the first publication in the YOUNITY collector’s book series that will showcase the work of current YOUNITY members. The Heart and Soul book will retail for $19.50 and will be sold at targeted, limited locations. Premiere copies will be available at the YOUNITY Heart & Soul event. Overall, only 120 books in this special series will be available.

YOUNITY is the first ever international women’s urban contemporary art collective that brings female artists into a global networking system as a means to create art exhibitions, installations, books and a much needed archive of women’s urban contemporary art. With the success of their premiere exhibit, The C R O S S O V E R, YOUNITY has become a sought after collective devoted to women with an inherent need to perfect their craft through self-expression and pass the torch on to younger female artists. Both the Heart and Soul book and exhibition artwork will be on view and for sale on-site at Alphabeta, as well as online at www.theyounity.com

YOUNITY is in need of continued support to foster its self-publishing endeavors and independent growth.

Any and all donations to the collective can be directed to: contribute@theyounity.com

VH1 Hip Hop Honors week

Last week was ka rayy zeee running around, going to some great parties and seeing some great performances. Here’s how it went.

Monday – Robin Thicke

There is a monthly party in LA called Soul Food which is starting out here now. Fusicology was one of the media partners so I had to check it out which also promoted Robin Thicke’s listening party. I got to meet DJ Scetch who flew in from LA (waves hi!). The party was jumpin even before we got in. There was a long line going in but thank god the venue was well ventilated otherwise there would have been a lot of sweaty nasty people. Robin Thicke showed up for an hour and the women pretty much went ape shit. The DJ had to make an announcement to give him some room because they were suffocating him. I have more dignity than that thank you. I only tried to rip some of his hair out so I can make a voodoo doll out of it and bind a love spell…umm..  I spoke too much. Moving on…

Tuesday – Raphael Saadiq

Phil, Thuy and I went to check out Raphael Saadiq’s show together. The venue sold out of tickets a few days before but luckily we have a great relationship with SOBs so I managed to get in. Word from another friend who went was that Wesley Snipes was there! How random is that ish?

Raphael doesn’t interact with the audience much but his music speaks for itself. Switching from his Lucy Pearl to Tony! Toni! Tone! days and his new album, everyone sang along and would not leave after his last song. Encore please!

Another show is added tonight due to the success of last week so if you missed out last time, go tonight!

After Raphael Saadiq, Phil and Thuy called it a night while I sauntered over to APT to check out OP! dj-ing for the monthly Raw Fusion party and saw Taylor McFerrin performed for the first time which was awesome.

Wednesday – VH1 Hip Honors pre-festivities

In honor of VH1 Hip Hop Honors, there were a bunch of parties going on. I attended the Back to the 90s party where Rahzel, Primo, AZ, and a bunch of folks came through. We party hopped around but everything else was pretty much dead and then ended my night back at APT where it’s always guaranteed good music.

Thursday – VH1 Hip Hop Honors Taping

My friend Danny G. who you may have seen on VH1 as one of the comedian commentators on reality shows, invited me to the VH1 Hip Hop Honors taping hosted by Tracy Morgan. WooOo. I was excited.

It was held at Hammerstein Ballroom. The main floor was the pit where the general audience stood and the first mezzanine was where we were situated with seats thank goodness. There was a full open bar and free snacks all night. I got to literally brush shoulders with Wyclef, Gym Class Heroes, Fat Joe, Charlie Ahearn but it was too bad cameras weren’t allowed inside.

The honorees this year are Cypress Hill, De La Soul, Too Short, Naughty by Nature and Slick Rick. I loved that De La performed since I’ve never seen them live plus they were on stage with Mos and Q-tip. There was also a tribute to Isaac Hayes (R.I.P.). The audience was super hyped seeing all the performances by Bun B, Chuck D, Eve, Q-tip, Mos Def, Ceelo, Wyclef, The Roots, Ghostface, etc etc. I think Too Short was the least well received because he represented the westside. buncha haters I think!

Who performed for who:

Tribute to Isaac Hayes performed by The Roots, Estelle, Q-tip and Ceelo. Juelz, Wyclef, Big Boi did Too Short. Bun B, Lil Jon and Kid Rock performed for Slick Rick. Eve, Ghostface, Biz Markie, did Naughty by Nature. Q-tip, Mos, Flava Flav did De La Soul.

I know I missed out a few people but that’s all I can remember for now.

VH1 Hip Hop Honors airs tonight, Oct 6th so if you’re not a Heroes fan… check it out.

Abby Dobson

Abby at Tillmans

Singer/Songwriter Abby Dobson is performing her special birthday set show on Monday, September 29th-  10PM at Tillman’s Lounge.

She is raising money to put the finishing touches on the anticipated debut called  ‘ Sleeping Beauty: You are the one you have been waiting on’- Coming out on LadyBraveBird Music.

She’s selling raffle individual tickets and books and plans on raising 10,000-15,000 by end of October where she’ll do the raffle drawing at Solomon’s Porch where she’ll be performing also.   Thursday, October 23rd.

Abby Dobson is also performing at the All-Star Jam on Saturday, October 4th in Detroit during the Soultracks Readers’ Choice Awards weekend.

http://www.abby-dobson.com

Anyone who wants to buy raffles can buy them on Abby’s website and or email or in person.

Foreign Exchange is coming!!!

Foreign Exchange

I’m so excited! I’ve been a fan since my friend, Jen, turned me on to them last year. And finally they are going to be in town in November to perform.

“Four years after the release of their critically acclaimed debut “Connected,” The Foreign Exchange returns with their sophomore set, “Leave It All Behind.”

Consisting of singer/songwriter Phonte and producer Nicolay, The Foreign Exchange came together via the online hip-hop community Okayplayer.com in 2002. After trading files through Instant Messenger for over a year, Nicolay (living in his native Holland at the time) and Phonte (a Raleigh, NC resident) completed their debut album before they ever met each other in person. The album, “Connected,” was released in 2004 to positive reviews, and was praised by legendary DJ’s such as Jazzy Jeff, King Britt, and DJ Spinna for its inventive mix of hip-hop, R&B, and electronica.

“Leave It All Behind” finds The Foreign Exchange much closer in geography (Nicolay has since become a resident of Wilmington, NC), but located much further from their hip-hop origins. The duo’s second full-length is a dark, multilayered affair that features Phonte showcasing his abilities as an exceptional lead and harmony vocalist, while Nicolay extends his musical palette to include sprinklings of jazz, downtempo, and house. The lush, Darien Brockington-assisted “Take Off the Blues” picks up where Connected’s sleeper hit “Come Around” left off, while the complex polyrhythms and dreamy synthesizers of “Sweeter Than You” are described by Phonte as “swing jazz for the next century.” Marc Mac (of legendary UK production team 4hero), also contributes a string arrangement to the duo’s glorious cover of Stevie Wonder’s oft-forgotten 1991 gem, “If She Breaks Your Heart.”

In addition to appearances from longtime FE affiliates Darien Brockington and Yahzarah, the album also features guest shots from producer/keyboardist Zo! and vocalist Muhsinah.”

They will be performing on November 15th at Highline Ballroom.

Peep website: http://www.theforeignexchangemusic.com/

Show info: http://www.fusicology.com/new/index/events/detail.cfm?id=17934&rid=3