Posted on March 1, 2010 with No Comments
Check out this quirky video for new artist Bousal. Produced by Etop “Segaffi” Akpabio, the video makes use of hand-drawn and digital images, computer graphics and evokes a style reminiscent of an MTV promo video.
Tags: Bousal, Etop Akpabio
Category: Music
Posted on February 24, 2010 with 1 Comment
Sade conveniently dropped her new album in time for the Valentine’s day weekend and it quickly shot up the Billboard charts to #1 where it has remained for two weeks. Is anyone surprised? Not us. Helen Folasade Adu’s voice is just as sultry and rich as when she debuted as Sade in 1984, and her songs are timeless ballads of love and heartbreak. Buy it. Download it. Listen to it.
Tags: Helen Folasade Adu, Sade, Soldier of Love
Posted on January 15, 2010 with 10 Comments
The promising new artist Bousal debuts his first album today, Music of My Soul, showcasing his penchant for “lyrical expressionism” through an eclectic array of tracks that he describes as influences of vintage reggae, blues, and “DJ chatting.
Bousal prides himself on his songwriting skills and says “I just want to be known as a man who has strong lyrics” and even confesses his mother once told him, ‘you don’t know how to sing but you know how to express yourself.’
A self-trained singer, Bousal began performing while attending high school in Brooklyn, playing small clubs and parties in the neighborhood. His favorite artists are as varied as his musical styles as he lists reggae artist Buju Banton, Blues men B.B. King and Buddy Guy, and even Frank Sinatra among his top five -perhaps a sign that this artist won’t allow himself to be pigeon-holed into one genre.
Independently produced by Etop “Segaffi” Akpabio, Music is a nice departure from the usual over-produced music from mainstream labels and their stylized artists and delivers that edgy unfettered realness that only an indie album from an artist-on-the-rise can offer.
Music of My Soul is available at Amazon.com and on iTunes.
Tags: Bousal, Etop Akpabio, Segaffi, World Music
Category: Music
Posted on November 3, 2009 with 1 Comment
Forget the praise given to Tarantino for rebooting and reaffirming the careers of Bruce Willis, Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson and others. Give that crown to Lee Daniels, for stripping away the stardust personas of Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz and Mo’Nique to reveal believable and very real working class New Yorkers in Precious, the tour-de-force film adaptation of the novel Push.
Daniels not only showcases the talent of a most unlikely ensemble cast, he succeeds in pushing these actors to the forefront of the Awards season competition. They’ve gone from being the biggest long shots for dramatic roles to possible award contenders, which makes the vision and talent of Lee Daniels’ direction one to watch during award season as well.
Newcomer Gabourey “Gabby” Sidibe, a Harlem raised 26-year-old has already won a New Hollywood Award on Monday in Los Angeles and Daniels received the Breakthrough Director Award.
Paula Patton turns out a performance Blindie always knew she was capable of giving if ever the right script came along. She plays her role with such delicacy and care that we can’t help but see the forming stages of the motherly adoption we all hoped would eventually develop between her and Precious.
The tension in Lee Daniels’ film Precious is as gripping as any Hollywood Thriller. There are no chase scenes, no explosive helicopters and no espionage wordplay. There is however the poetic hard-edge slang of the late eighties, brought to you in hues of grey and dark-brown depictions of Harlem circa 1987, when crack cocaine was in full-effect.
Clairece “Precious” Jones chooses to live in her head. In her dreams she’s locking lips with her curly-haired light skinned boyfriend, and posing for the flashing bulbs of fashion photographers. Already, Daniels’ showing us that this girl dreams big, even if she dreams to drown out the onslaught of abuse from her mother, played to perfection by Mo’Nique, in the year’s most head-spinning drama boot-camp makeover.
Precious opens in theaters nationwide on Friday, and if Oprah’s endorsement of Halle Berry’s performance in “Monster’s Ball” was any indication, her late addition to the film as one of the executive producers alongside Tyler Perry, is definitely serving as a marketing goad, pushing Precious to the top of both the critics list and (fingers-crossed) the Oscar nom list. O! The power of Oprah.
Blindie will be watching and reporting on the trajectory of Precious.
Tags: Gabourey Sidibe, Lee Daniels, Mariah Carey, Paula Patton, precious
Category: Mariah Carey, Movies, Paula Patton, Precious
Posted on September 16, 2009 with 1 Comment
Chris Brown began his court-ordered 180-day sentence of community service for assaulting his ex-girlfriend Rihanna on Wednesday at the police horse stables in Richmond, Virginia. Yup, south of the Mason-Dixon line!
The 20-year-old singer was dressed in an orange safety vest, jeans and a tank top as he cleared weeds and debris.
Brown was sentenced in California last month to five years’ probation, six months of community labor and a year of domestic violence counseling. He must also pay for the extra security guards that are required while he is performing community service.
Tags: Chris Brown
Category: Chris Brown, Music, Newsy
Posted on September 14, 2009 with 1 Comment
Even though Kanye West was out of line when he interrupted Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for best female video at the MTV VMAs on Sunday night, we kind of think he was right in declaring that Beyonce “had one of the best videos of all time!”
Everyone was doing the “Single Ladies” dance, from the President to Justin Timberlake, so how did country singer Taylor Swift end up with the VMA for best female video? And coincidentally, Kanye had an outburst in 2004 when Gretchen Wilson, a country artist, beat him out of the best new artist award at the American Music Awards. He fumed, “I left like I was definitely robbed and I refused to give any politically correct … comment. I was the best new artist of the year!” He even alluded to a conspiracy of some sorts.
Does Kanye have a grudge against country music? Is country music grinding it’s boot on his neck holding him down?
Tags: Kanye West, MTV, taylor swift, VMA
Category: Kanye West, Music, Newsy, TV
Posted on September 5, 2009 with No Comments
After passing away more than two months ago, Michael Jackson finally reached his fnal resting place on Thursday, at a private mausoleum at the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.
Close friends of Jackson who didn’t attend the public memorial service on July 7 were in attendance invitation-only funeral service including Elizabeth Taylor, Lisa Marie Presley, and Macaulay Culkin.
The Jackson family paid $150 thousand dollars in advance to the Glendale police department to provide security and released the following statement after the 90-minute service: “Michael Jackson reached his final resting place tonight at 9:43 pm PST…At the beginning of the ceremony, Michael’s children placed a crown on their father’s coffin to signify the final resting place of the King of Pop.”
One of the funeral programs contained personal messages from Michael’s brother Jermaine and sister La Toya:
“Michael, I always think about the time when you and I were in our bedroom in Indiana and it was snowing outside, we had our faces pressed against the window singing x-mas songs. It was the innocence and joy that made us sing as the snow was falling,” Jermaine writes.
“Your dreams were so incredible that it made the world a much happier place to live, and the world wouldn’t let you rest because they demanded your dreams to transport them to another place. You’ve done your work here Michael, you’ve entertained us for decades and there’s nothing else that you can prove or accomplish here on earth. You taught us how to laugh, how to love, and how to believe,” La Toya writes.
Tags: michael jackson
Category: Deaths, Michael Jackson, Newsy
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