9.6.03.AE.emai

What's Happening by Todd Mangatal

Greetings All:

We hope you had a very Happy Labor Day Holiday. Due to the many storms we encountered last week in our area, we were among the many who lost power and phone service, therefore we were unable to distribute our weekly on-line newsletter. For those who are interested in reading last week's "What's Happening and Events", please click on to the following link to view www.ariousentertainment.com/8.28.03.Finalemail.htm. To those who went to New York for the Labor Day Celebration (Carnival), we hope you had a wonderful time. We heard it rained quite a bit, so hit us back and let us know your experience.

We had a very busy and exciting weekend here in DC. Normally we travel to NY for the festivities, but this year we stayed in town because the BRE (Black Radio Exclusive) Convention took place here. Our associates from Los Angeles (Southpaw/Big 3 records), along with the "Lions Roar Music Group" crew from Bermuda was here also for the convention. Our weekend began on Friday at the Dream Nightclub which was the first event of the weekend. Mr. Matthew Knowles (Beyonce's father) hosted this event with a showcase of all the artists on his label, with special guest "Shawn Paul", there was also special performances by Destiny's Child. This was exciting since we were with the convention and had All Access VIP passes, so we got to experience the show up close and personal in a special VIP section directly in front of the stage. We arrived at Dream at about 7:00 pm, and the concert was already in progress. First an impressive stage was erected on the street in front of the nightclub (Okie St.), I think this was the biggest and most elaborate stage I've seen set up at a nightclub. So we hung out back stage chatting with the Southpaw crew Shana and Sherman. We were soon introduced to Impromp2 "Sean E. Mac" and "Johnny Britt", along with all the members of the band. We hit it off very well. Soon thereafter, Impromp2 took the stage, but we missed their performance because we were looking for the bar which was located on the streets and in the club, we choose to go inside before it got to crowded since we hadn't had the opportunity to experience and see Dream in the past. It was quite impressive, especially since we had seen it a few years ago when it was basically a warehouse/club called "City Lights" where they held dances, hip hop and reggae shows, as well as raves. By the time we decided to get back to the concert, the street was starting to fill up, so we headed back to the VIP area and grabbed some seats with the Southpaw Group. Russ Parr from WKYS had taken the stage and introduced a few of Mr. Knowles opening acts, about 3 of them performed (Pappa Rue, Solonge (Beyonce's sister), and a 4 girl gospel group. We all enjoyed them, as well as the other up and coming artist that came before them. At this point we could feel the crowd building behind us, and it was 15 minutes before the main event. Soon after the band for the next act completed setting up, Russ Parr introduced "Shawn Paul" who came out strong, captured the people, and took the stage. He really put on a great performance, and it was a joy to see the people were really "feeling it". It makes me feel good to see a reggae artist who just a few years ago couldn't bring out 10 people, packing in them by the thousands, and moving the crowd. His performance lasted approximately 45 minutes, and the crowd didn't want him to stop. He was very good. Soon thereafter, everyone was expecting to see Beyonce perform, but to all our surprises Destiny's Child was introduced (Beyonce, Kelly and Michelle). I have never been a Destiny's Child fan, but that soon changed. Before this happened, the stage was spectacular in size and lighting, but at this point the stage came to life. The music started and we were waiting for them to walk in, but they rose up from out of the stage instead with a burst of lights, fireworks and other pyrotechnics. What an entrance! I heard people say (such as EZ Street WPGC Evening host) raze over Beyonce saying she was extremely hot. Yes, he is absolutely right, when you see her up close and personal, she is quite hot and extremely sexy. Destiny's Child performance was truly spectacular, and has been the talk of the town here in DC. Each girl eventually performed one or 2 of their solo hits, once they left the stage we were exhausted from all the excitement. The club and the street was filled to capacity with tons of people. It was rumored there were 16,000 people at this event/club, but I know there was at least 10,000. Biz Markie was scheduled to entertain in the VIP area, but due to the crowd, they had decided to put him on the stage outside.

On Saturday we hung out at the convention headquarters (the Renaissance Hotel), and we had the opportunity to meet and mingle with some of the industry people. It was nice to be able to meet people in the same business and discuss where the industry is going and it's problems. One of the high points of the day was meeting Legendary Go Go collaborator Max Kidd. Growing up in DC, this is a name that I have heard most of my life, because the Go Go scene was very big in the 80's, and the reason for that was "Max Kidd" who worked with groups like "Trouble Funk" Rare Essence" and "Experience Unlimited (EU)" Some of you might remember the movie "Good to Go" staring Art Garfunkel. It was about the DC Go Go scene and the main character in the move was based on Max Kidd. I had always wondered what happened to Max Kidd, since I had been away from town for a few years. Max explained to me after the movie big things were suppose to happen for Go Go music, but as usual it seemed he was "screwed" by the record company, and it seemed from that point things didn't fall into place like he had planned and hoped (a progressive down-roll spiral occurred), but he picked himself up and as soon as he was back on his feet again he suffered a major stroke, which almost took his life. However, it's nice to see that he is out and about, strong, and still in the business. Big Respect is extended to Max Kidd!

We also had a chance to chat with our Friend Jamie Foster Brown from Sister2Sister Magazine, which was nice because we haven't seen her for quite some time. We ran in to many others to long to mention. We closed out the night, (or day you can say) by dragging ourselves away from the convention and chilling with our good friend DJ Moe who celebrated his birthday, this didn't finish until 6:00 am on Sunday morning. There was not much time to get some rest before attending the next event.

This event was held at Zanzibar and began at 11:00 am, it was taking place during their weekly Sunday brunch. We had not had the opportunity to attend Zanzibar's Sunday brunch in the past, but we really had been missing out on a great brunch. The first thing we did was grabbed some plates and checked out the food, because after a night of drinks and more drinks, you must have some food to start the day of with. All I can say this was the best Sunday Brunch we have had in a long time. It was very elaborate, because it included crab legs, shrimp, roast beef and many other great entrees'. If you are looking to go somewhere on Sunday for Brunch, check out Zanzibar on the Waterfront. This particular brunch was quite special because for no extra charge you received a day filled with entertainment from the groups that attended the convention, and Heaven 1580 was also in attendance broadcasting live. As we entered, we were not focusing on the entertainment, because we were heading directly for the food, but we noticed a beautiful young lady on stage singing her heart out, she was singing Jazz. Later we discovered to our surprise she was someone we had not meet, who had traveled from Bermuda, with our associates from the Lions Roar Music Group. All I can say is, she is definitely going to be a star. Her name is Maurita, and she is a jazz/cultural artist. If you are planning on traveling to Bermuda for the Jazz festival look out for her, she will be performing. The high-point of this Brunch was a performance by Impromp2. These guys and girl are "off the hook". When they took the stage "Sean E" opened with dialog of how he loves hip hop, and he did a little rap, then Johnny B said he loved funk, and since he is trumpet player, he and the band broke into a P-Funk tune. We were sold on this group at this point, and we were waiting for the "mother ship" to land. Then they went through a few songs from their CD and did their hit "Mocha Soul", which features Kim Fields. Since then all I can think about is how great Impromp2 is. This is a CD I'd recommend you pick up, it's called "Imprompt2 the Definition of love", and it's on the Big3 label, I guarantee you won't be sorry. Well for the rest of the day there were many surprises such as Roy Ayers, and many other acts.

Big Respect to Sidney Miller Editor of BRE Magazine...you truly put on a great event. Looking forward to next year.

After Brunch, upon the request of Southpaw, we were asked to place the reggae crew of the "Lions Roar Music Group" at a club to get some exposure, and thanks to the Crossroads, we were able to pull this together in a short period of time. Ras Mykkal (dub poet) and Truhneh (a dancehall/cultural) singer had an opportunity to "hit the mike" and do some tunes. I was truly impressed, because I reviewed their work, but did not have an opportunity to check them out "live". This was a treat, so I'm sure we will be doing some things with these artists very soon. Keep an eye out for them, they will be performing at the Bermuda Jazz festival as well. Throughout all the excitement of the weekend I forget it was a holiday weekend, so Sunday night at the Crossroads was filled to capacity, and during the early hours of the night the line stretched around the building. We chilled at the Crossroads for some time, and eventually "rolled" downtown with our friends from Southpaw and Lions Roar Music Group and finally said our good byes.

Monday was a great day, because we were able to rest up and prepare for this weekends' big 2k3 Reggae Fest at Crossroads. See below for details!

"Peace Out" to all of you!