All I gotta say is wow. Lots of percussion. Everyone sounded amazing. I loved the outfits. Dave’s reaction. Everyone rhyming along with Wale’s Olsen twin line. Classic.

Jul 19 2008 Rock The Bells @ First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre Chicago, Illinois
Jul 20 2008 Rock The Bells TORONTO Toronto, Ontario
Jul 26 2008 Rock The Bells @ Tweeter Center Mansfield, Massachusetts
Jul 27 2008 Rock The Bells @ Jones Beach Amphitheater New York, New York
Aug 2 2008 Rock The Bells @ Cruzan Amphitheater Miami, Florida
Aug 3 2008 Rock The Bells @ Susquehanna Bank Center Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Aug 9 2008 Rock The Bells @ Coors Amphitheater Denver, Colorado
Aug 16 2008 Rock The Bells @ Glen Helen Amphitheatre San Bernadino, California
Aug 23 2008 Rock The Bells @ Shoreline Amphitheater San Francisco, California
Aug 30 2008 Rock The Bells in VANCOUVER Vancouver, British Columbia

Had the pleasure of attending the opening of the newest BAPE store in LA last night. In attendance: Kanye, Pharrell, Chad Hugo, Shay (from NERD), Rick Ross, Jermaine Dupri, Pete Wentz, Nicole Richie, Serena Williams, Takashi Murakami and Nigo. The store has about 20′ ceiling with a circular glass room in the middle with a conveyor belt of shoes going around it. Shirts on hangers line the left two walls, while the right wall is a 20′ high glass case with product folded inside it along with the largest pair of BAPE jeans I’ve seen (about 4′ high). The back wall is the cashier with a display case featuring clocks, CD cases and other BAPE accessories. They also had BAPE toilet paper!

Me and Takashi Murakami




Peep the Play Clothes shirt!

Best hip hop show I’ve ever seen (Dr. Dre’s Up In Smoke was #1 until last night) and 2nd best concert ever (Prince’s Musicology Tour in 2004)

(more…)

Stunt? Nike Ad? Both? Real? Fake? True? False?

The Greatest Showman in the History of the Universe reveals his secrets for accumulating vast sums of wealth so that anyone can follow his program and become rich. After a wonderful career in which he made and lost fortunes, captivated Kings and Queens, and used his genius, wit and eloquence, P.O. Barnum wrote these golden rules for making money.

Phineas T. (P.T.) Barnum (1810-1891) was one of the most popular lecturers of his day. Over the course of his career, he held audiences spellbound at lyceum`s, museums, tent-gatherings, theatres, private homes, and in any room that could hold a paying audience.

Contrary to his popular image (He never uttered the phrase “there`s a sucker born every minute”), Barnum generally conducted his business enterprises in a virtuous manner, respecting his customers and making sure they were satisfied. Indeed, he was among the first to appreciate fully — and to articulate — that an honest approach was the most reliable path to long-term wealth. He was, in other words, one of the pioneers of business ethics.

Barnum made an important financial discovery during the course of his business career. He observed that nearly all his deceptive schemes “ended in disaster,” reducing him “to the pinching income of $4 per week,” whereas his fortune derived almost wholly from the legitimate enterprises.

Barnum thus learned that, in business, virtue is considerably more than its own reward. News about this discovery can easily be lost when it is imbedded among picturesque yarns about humbugs, but it was of great significance to Barnum, and, more broadly, it was probably important to the massive economic expansion that took place in what we now call the developed world during and after his lifetime.

CLICK HERE TO BUY

Everyone needs to know about this.

I am not sure if this is available everywhere yet, but the Ralph’s near me has it and my goodness if this isn’t the best OJ I’ve ever had.

Please try this if you ever see it on the shelf somewhere. Seriously.

This OJ is so good, it inspired me to write to Tropicana.

I just tried Tropicana Pure Valencia Orange Juice for the first time and I gotta say, it’s the best orange juice I’ve ever had. I have never written to a food company before but this juice deserves a lot of attention and praise. I manage a hip hop artist signed to Interscope and we have a blog, check out our post on the OJ
http://elitaste.com/blog/2008/03/13/best-orange-juice-ever-tropicanapure-valencia-orange-juice/

Best,
Dan

So on Friday the 15th, Wale called me and was like “let’s go to New Orleans…Kevin Durant is giving us his tickets, Bun B is gonna be there, Jay’s gonna be there…we gotta go.” So we booked our flights the day before and it was surprisingly not that expensive. However, I must warn you, do not fly Continental Airlines under any circumstances. I had a 5:45AM flight out of LAX, I got there at 4AM. Somehow my reservation had disappeared even though I had a confirmation number and money had changed hands. I had to deal with people at the counter and on the phone for an hour. I almost missed my flight and had to rebook my flight at the counter. It was ridiculous. Luckily I was compensated with a sweet Continental Airlines duffle bag on my return flight since I got too much swag in New Orleans and my bag was too heavy. See bag below. And that’s Brady, my dog, he’s a Katrina rescue. Call him Little Duffle Bag Boy.

So we got into New Orleans on Saturday afternoon
Bun B had an extra hotel room for us at the Crowne Plaza where the boss Ricky Ross was staying. He had a wrapped bus and Escalade parked outside. We headed over to the LRG x Casio x EA gifting suite a few blocks away where Kevin from LRG and Melissa from Casio were hanging out. Got some cool watches, LRG gear, video games.

Such an intense game of NBA 08



We then headed to lunch with Bun B at world famous Mother’s. Bourbon Street was popping off before it even got dark.

There was a line at Mother’s which we had no problem waiting in except that everyone recognized Bun B and the employees refused to let him wait in line. Wale had a hard time ordering since everything in New Orleans is made with pork, but he and I ended up with some good fried chicken and french fries and fried Apple Juice (you gotta try fried Apple Juice…wow). Passed this Nike pop up Be True store. Nothing good, just a lot of dunks.

We then headed to the skills challenge, 3-point challenge and dunk contest.

This guy standing outside was pretty amazing. He’s like Small Wonder, except taller and a black dude.

They didn’t show it on TV but Wale won the shooting stars award

And me and Hornet go way back…to like Charlotte…with Larry Johnson and his Converse Reacts

After the dunk contest, we headed to Jay Z and Lebron James’ 2 Kings event

Traffic was ridiculous. Streets were closed. But we were rolling with Bun B whose name carries more weight than the President down in Nawlins. We were just driving up to cops saying “We have Bun B in the car” and they would open streets just for us. It was pretty remarkable.

L’Chaim!!!

DC’s finest were truly in the house house house

Wale and Mick Boogie…he did Kanye’s last mixtape. Might wanna check for him.

I went to All Star Saturday in New Orleans and all I got was this lousy pack of gum…and G-Shock…and gold bottle…and Zune player…and LRG hat…lol

There’s 2 more where those came from.

Congrats to Mark Ronson winning three Grammys last night. Including:
Record Of The Year
(Award to the Artist and to the Producer(s), Recording Engineer(s) and/or Mixer(s), if other than the artist.)
Rehab
Amy Winehouse
Mark Ronson, producer; Tom Elmhirst, Vaughan Merrick, Dom Morley, Mark Ronson & Gabriel Roth, engineers/mixers
Track from: Back To Black
[Universal Republic Records]

Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical
(A Producer’s Award. (Artists names appear in parentheses.))
Mark Ronson
• Back To Black (Amy Winehouse) (T)
• Littlest Things (Lily Allen) (T)
• Rehab (Amy Winehouse) (T)
• Version (Mark Ronson) (A)
• You Know I’m No Good (Amy Winehouse) (T)

Song Of The Year
(A Songwriter(s) Award. A song is eligible if it was first released or if it first achieved prominence during the Eligibility Year. (Artist names appear in parentheses.) Singles or Tracks only.)
Rehab
Amy Winehouse, songwriter (Amy Winehouse)
Track from: Back To Black
[Universal Republic Records; Publisher: EMI Music Publishing]

After the Grammys, we made a quick stop at Fatburger

Then it was off to the Thom Thom Club for the Interscope after party.

Allido Records is the new Grammy family.

Remember this?

Click here to buy Amy Winehouse BACK IN BLACK
Click Here to buy Mark Ronson VERSION
For a complete list of Grammy winners, click HERE