A Lot About Nothing

One of the perks of my job is that every once in a while I get to interview different artists for promotional purposes (last month I got to interview R&B singer, Ne-Yo). Today at the tranquil Cosmopolitan Hotel I got to ask Mr. Country Grammar himself, Nelly, 10 questions on behalf of one of our third party partners.

Nelly’s one friendly guy… very personable. He walked in the room with a huge entourage, and shook hands and hugged those of us who were already in the room (including a “how you doin’, beautiful” to me *blush* ). I’m happy he didn’t didn’t seemed irked at all that we had to interview him before he got a chance to eat (hope his take-out didn’t get too cold!). He answered the questions with a lot of depth, including thoughts on his new album Brass Knuckles, his collaborations, and even his desire to play for the St. Louis Cardinals if he had the choice.

I’ve always found Nelly’s tracks fun, catchy and perfect for any party. I love how he collaborates with different artists (Ron Isley, Christina Aguilera for example) and genres to create hit tracks such as “Over and Over” (with Tim McGraw), “Dilemma” (with Kelly Rowland). Now I don’t know how I didn’t notice this before, but dayyyum he sure is looking deezed! I shook his hand goodbye after the interview and he gave me a kiss on the cheek. It was getting hot in therre.

I’ll try to post the link to the transcript of the interview once it’s publicized! Check out Nelly’s official site herre.

If I learned anything last night, it’s that Kanye West really knows how to put on a damn good show. Kanye West’s Glow In The Dark Tour, featuring Rihanna, N.E.R.D. and Lupe Fiasco took place last night at Moslon Amphitheatre in Toronto, and lucky me got some great seats for the show.

I wish I left work a little earlier though, because it ended up taking my friend and I almost 45 minutes to get from Union Station to the Exhibition grounds. The station was packed with concert patrons and Toronto FC fans who were also lining up for the streetcar to see the soccer game that just happened to be at the same time in the same area. We should’ve took the Bathurst station route instead.

The show was slated to start at 7pm and we got there around 7:40. Unfortunately we missed Lupe Fiasco’s performance (which was the main act that I really wanted to see), but luckily Lupe came out at the end of the show to rap a few verses with Kanye. It was cool seeing them together.

We found our seats in time to see a good chunk of N.E.R.D’s performance. The group had brought a couple of fans onstage from the front row, one of which took their sweet time getting off the stage (I mean… we’re not here to see and 18-year-old “try” to dance to hip hop on stage). Pharrell got the crowd going. “Lapdance” is one of my favourite tracks from N.E.R.D. And surprise surprise, they ended up bringing up a multitude of girls/groupies on stage for “She Wants To Move”.

The next performer was songstress Rihanna. I didn’t realize that she had cut her hair even shorter… it looks good on her though. Rihanna came out in a red, military-style jacket and skin-tight pants (first of a couple costume changes). Her performance was good and she had the crowd ella-ella-aye-ing when she sang her hit “Umbrella”. This girl could go a wicked bogle, let me tell you.

And now to the star of the evening (which his performance stated more than once) Kanye West. The last time I saw him live was a couple of years ago at the ACC. This performance blew that one out of the water. Instead of just going from track to track, with some shout outs to the city’s audience, Kanye’s performance played like some type of apocalyptic sci-fi drama. The stage was set up to perfection… it really looked like a planet’s surface (no wonder they took so long to set up). The giant screen where “Jane”, the ship’s computer, spoke from looked like a suped-up version of the original Star Trek’s technology with all those flashing buttons and streaming starlight (now that I think about it, the set up kind of reminds me of the Synergy computer from Jem and the Holograms… lol). With levitating orbs that had planets and and anime-looking ’shooting star’ character projected on them, smoke and pyrotechnics, the whole set-up looked really good.

One of the things I liked about Kanye’s performance was that he was in character the entire time. From beginning to end it was almost as if you were watching a play of “the biggest star in the universe” (Kanye) crash lands on a remote planet and tries to find his way home. Even the order of which tracks he performed related to the theme of the show: obvious ones like “Touch The Sky”, “All Falls Down” and “Spaceship… and then there were tracks “Wake Up Mr. West” (to start the show when he wakes up from the crash landing), Jesus Walks” (when he was feeling lonley and isolated on the planet), and “Stronger” (when he had to find the power within to find his way back to earth).

Kanye had energy from beginning to end. He ended the show on a positive note with some words for the audience on his personal philosophies, some of which are included “Thank You and You’re Welcome“, his new book co-authored by J. Sakiya Sandifer. Luckily they were giving out some copies after the show… it was a pretty interesting and entertaining read filled with “Kanye-isms”.  I have to give props to the live band that was playing below the stage as well… great job with the music.

And yes… things did glow in the dark during the show!

I got a chance to interview Tokio Hotel today. Let me tell you for a pop/rock band they are the most adorable things I’ve ever seen! They almost look like life-sized anime characters with a German twist. I wanted to take the lead vocal singer (Bill Kaulitz) back with me (I think it was the cool eye make-up and crazy hair). We had an interpreter there, so I was asking questions (in English of course) and they were replying back in German, and I tried to look like I was remotely understanding what they were staying (there were English phrases here and there). Makes me kind of want to pick up a German phrase book right now…

Visit Tokio Hotel’s official site to check out the band and their music. Their shows in Canada have been crazy so far. The music’s not bad if I do say so myself. I’m feelin’ “Ready, Set, Go”. When the interview gets posted I’ll make sure to edit this post with the update.

UPDATE: Yeah, yeah I know all you Tokio Hotel fans are eager to see them in the interview, but I promise, the interview WILL be up before the release date in Canada (March 25th)… lol (our editor is swamped with work… but trust me, I remind him every day, don’t worry!)

UPDATE #2: Yay! It’s FINALY up! My apologies again… but honestly it wasn’t my fault. I think the editor just had a lot on his plate and putting the audio together w/ the interpretor’s track was kinda tricky. I look like a slob, so forgive me… this was last minute. At least the guys look good!

Tokio Hotel interview with umusic.ca (if it’s archived visit the ‘footage’ section and click on “Tokio Hotel”).

Canadian jazz pianist Oscar Peterson died late Sunday night, just a few days shy of Christmas. The Montreal-born Peterson, 82, died at his Mississauga home of kidney failure and stroke complications. According to Celine Peterson, Oscar’s 16-year-old daughter, he went “peacefully”. My condolences are to his family in their time of need.

Peterson’s illustrious career spans seven decades and has played with jazz greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker and Nat King Cole. He’s also a multi-award winner including eight Grammy Awards and the Companion of the Order of Canada–Canada’s highest civilian award.

You can visit Oscar Peterson’s official site at oscarpeterson.com

If you haven’t heard the premiere track “Seven Day Fool” from Ms. Black’s sophomore album titled Revival, you’re missing out. I just came back from Jully Black’s showcase performance at The Supermarket in Toronto. This woman has such a great voice. It was a pleasure putting together her revamped official website JullyBlack.com (although cross-browser compatibility can be a pain). Be sure to check it out, as there are photos, videos, audio and wallpapers (avatars will be up soon). Jully blogs regularly to the site, so if you want to keep up with what she’s going through as her new album drops, keep it linked.