Virgin

Next week, pretty much anybody who is anybody is going to head down to DC with their best ballgowns in order to celebrate Barack Obama’s inauguration. This honored Virgin Music rep, who grew up in DC, will be going to partake in the free events - just to smell the air and soak up some of the energy and excitement… and maybe try to sneak in to one of the balls through a kitchen or something.

Better yet, now that the lists of musical acts are being revealed this week, it appears it is going to be a musical marathon!  You may have ‘heard’ of some of the performers on the list: Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Will.i.am., Shakira, Mary J. Blige, Garth Brooks, Herbie Hancock, Faith Hill, Ush, John Mellencamp, Sheryl Crow, John Legend, Beyonce and Jay-Z. For the Kiddies in the house, Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers are performing at the Kid’s Ball (evidently the soon-to-be first daughters Malia and Sasha Obama are BIG fans).

Still, you don’t have to shell out a couple thou in order to partake in the merriment. On Sunday, I’ll be one of the thousands to attend the biggest free public inauguration event at the Lincoln Memorial event, which will include glittering, studded appearances by Beyoncé, Shakira, Usher and Stevie Wonder. Better yet, Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx, and Queen Latifah will be giving readings.

I’ll let you know more when I see it first hand, but I am curious if these stars are paid for their appearances or are just doing it for ‘Bama love. I also am impressed by the diversity of all the acts - in terms of style, race, and taste. Out with the old, in with the new!

Estelle premiering her latest video for the song “Come Over” which features Sean Paul. This video is directed by renowned director Lil X, he’s worked on videos for a long laundry list of artists, such as: Usher, Ghostface Killah, Common, Jay-Z, Aaliyah and Kanye West to name drop a few.

“There are two arguments going on in your head,” Estelle answers when asked about her getting up close and personal with Paul on the video. “I can’t be fake, but how can I do this without feeling like a slut?”

“Come Over” is the fifth U.K. single and the second U.S. single from Estelle’s second studio album Shine.

MSTRKRFT (read as “Master-Kraft”) is an electronic group out of Toronto. This year at the Toronto Virgin Music Fest they replaced SebastiAn, when he missed his flight and they didn’t disappoint. The group came together in 2005 and consists of JFK (Jesse F. Keeler) and Al-P (Alex Puodziukas). The group has remixed over 30 songs of various genres including the latest remix of John Legend’s song “Green Light”.

On Friday I attended Fist Of God, which is the official name for the MSTRKRFT tour as well as their upcoming album, which is expected to drop in January of 2009. The stop I was at had Felix Cartal opening up, but there will be various openers throughout the tour such as DJ A-Trak, DJ Aoki, LA Riots, Congorock, DJ Assault and the aforementioned Felix Cartal. Blueprint Events, which is known as one of Vancouver’s best electronic promoters for a minute now, was hosting the event as well as the after party.

The event took place at Celebrities Night club and was fully packed, in fact this show could have easily taken place at Commodore Ballroom to accommodate more folks, but nonetheless the vibes were good as people were ready to dance their fuckin’ asses off. The duo came on at around 1am and they immediately had the crowd going crazy, as their sound is fairly distinct with that 4/4 beat and heavy heavy synths.

Like usual they played a range of stuff including their own remixes, from the Presets to Dem Franchise Boyz to Cupid to Daft Punk to Usher to Kylie Minogue and throwing in stuff from their first album as well. The set was filled with energy throughout and both MSTRKRFT and the crowd seemed to be feeding off of one another and it was non-stop. The set ended at about 2:30am, but an encore had JFK continue to rock the house til well past 3am. If you left this party not soaked from head to toe in sweat, then you my friend were not partying hard enough. Overall one word can describe this set. EPIC!

Thanks to Alvaro from Blueprint Events for hooking me up with the opportunity to attend the show. For more of their upcoming events check out www.blueprintevents.ca. For those out in New York on October 10th, MSTRKRFT will be playing at Webster Hall, but they’ll also be at the New Era Flagship store as they have a New Era collaboration that’s dropping.

If you like the review please vote for me.

David Thai
www.killahbeez.com

Here are the rest of their tour stops:

Fist of God tour dates:

09-26 Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theatre (with A-Trak, Felix Cartal, LA Riots, Congorock)
09-27 San Diego, CA - House of Blues (with Steve Aoki, Felix Cartal, LA Riots, Congorock)
09-28 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey Theatre (with Aoki, Felix Cartal, Congorock)
09-30 Pomona, CA - Glass House (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-01 San Francisco, CA – Mezzanine (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-02 Seattle, WA – Showbox (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-03 Vancouver, British Columbia – Celebrities (with Felix Cartal)
10-04 Winnipeg, Manitoba - Exchange Event Center (with Felix Cartal)
10-06 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-07 Chicago, IL - Metro (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-08 Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-09 Columbus, OH 0 Boma (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-10 New York, NY - Webster Hall (with Felix Cartal, Congorock, DJ Assault
10-11 Poughkeepsie, NY - Vassar College (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-12 Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of the Living Arts (with Felix Cartal, Congorock)
10-13 Boston, MA - The Estate (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots, Congorock)
10-15 Baltimore, MD - Redrock (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-16 Charlotte, NC - Forum (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-17 Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-18 Atlanta, GA - Masquerade Music Park (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-19 Memphis, TN - Hard Rock Café Memphis (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-22 Houston, TX - Warehouse Live (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-23 Austin, TX - La Zona Rosa (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-24 Dallas, TX - House of Blues (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-25 New Orleans, LA - Voodoo Music Experience: The Tenth Ritual
10-27 Lawrence, KS - Liberty Hall (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-28 Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre (with Felix Cartal, LA Riots)
10-31 Salt Lake City, UT - Salt Palace Convention Center (with Felix Cartal)
11-01 Las Vegas, NV - Fabulous Festival

Since I started blogging on music.virgin.com I get alot of messages on my MySpace about what I should post about and what artists to watch for. I also get emails from several people who visit our blog and they asked me why there aren’t any rap music reviews. Okay folks I have read your emails and I agree that music is all about diversity.

American rapper T.I. will be releasing his album on September 30, 2008. The album’s title, Paper Trail, comes from T.I.’s decision to write down all of his lyrics on paper. About 50 tracks have been recorded during production, including a collaboration with Fall Out Boy on a track called ‘Out in the Cold’.

Special guest appearances include Justin Timberlake, Rihanna,Usher, John Legend, Lil Wayne and Swizz Beats. Production from Kanye West and Just Blaze has been confirmed as well.

Critics are calling Paper Trail T.I.’s best work thus far. I’ve already have heard the album and I’m giving it 5 stars - it’s amazing!

Check out his MySpace.

Here’s a quick update:

Conde Nast Media Group announced today the following updates regarding New York Fashion Week’s most star-studded event:

Mary J Blige joins the line up and will duet with Usher. There will be further awesome duets from Fergie and Ludacris as well as Alicia Keys and Santana…

Presenters will include Jessica Alba, Mischa Barton, Teri Hatcher, LeAnn Rhimes, Denis Leary, Sean “Diddy” Combs, 50 Cent, Sean Lennon, Irina Lazareanu, Tyra Banks, Emily Proctor, Kimora lee Simmons, Michael Kors, Francisco Costa, Tommy Hilfiger and Max Azria.

The most important part of the entire concert: a portion of the proceeds from this year’s Fashion Rocks will go towards Keep A Child Alive (KCA). KCA is working to help overcome the AIDS crisis in Africa and the developing world. Check their website for more info.

The show will be hosted by Jeremey Piven from TV show Entourage and, as well as those promised dutes, will include performances from AeroSmith, Avril Lavigne, Carrie Underwood, Chad Kroger,  Jennifer Hudson, Jennifer Lopez, Maroon 5 and Martina McBride.

The concert will be at Radio City Music Hall on September 6 and will be on TV the following night on CBS.

Check back for my review on the performances!

See anna - back from the fjälls’ Flickr photostream for more Mary J Blige photos