I met up with the always energetic and entertaining Rich P (aka the Riddler) and we went daytime party hopping. Starting at the Nash Hotel with the networking mixer, we shmoozed the crowd. It was obvious who the power player was, concentric circles were forming around Michael Permule, the music supervisor for Queer as Folk. People were obviously taking to heart the quote from last years Billboard DMS - "Music supervisors are the new A&R people." Kudos to Deborah Eriksen for helping organize this event. Crossing over to Ocean, we stopped by Laid - the Peace Love and Beats party at the Leslie Hotel. Jennifer Warner greeted us and we chilled for a while enjoying the ocean view, good music and friendly vibe.
Then the hike to Doraku started, a festive sushi place all the way down Lincoln that was hosting a party for Haru. The Haru record has been big in clubs with remixes by Widelife, Junior Vasquez and Deep Influence but no one knew what Haru was. I can now tell you - it is a new restaurant opening in New York. The record was created to promote the restaurant on a nationwide level and this brilliant idea has been executed by the FlyLife staff. Sushi and drinks were being brought out as we all chatted and enjoyed great music by Monty Q and Tony Moran. George Michael's "Amazing" stood out as I realized I kept hearing it throughout the week. I am not one to drink but the sake-tini was quite good and after two of them, I was feeling quite, how should I say it, lightened up.
I didn't want to leave but the WMC International Dance Music Awards were starting at 8pm at the Wyndham hotel and I had to hoof it back to my place to change. Arriving at the awards show, I found a seat and bumped into Christophe Chantzis from Ian Van Dahl. I pulled out the voice recorder and asked him about these rumors I hear of him going hip-hop... watch for the interview to be posted here soon. The awards show kicked off with an energetic performance by Electric Skychurch which set the awards show in a good tone. The show seemed streamlined- bordering on rushed. There were no major technical problems, which for them is a major step forward. There were the usual - where is the person accepting the awards. Sheila Brody of Amuka sounded and looked incredible singing her club smash "Appreciate Me" and Kevin Aviance debuted his new single "Power." I get the feeling that the event was not completely thought out, if only because some of the presenters seemed not as smooth as would be expected. Granted there were no major snafus like a tribute to Robert Cole/David Clivilles or special awards to Peter Hofer, but I was on the edge of my seat praying for it to go smoothly. Daniel Glass was an excellent host and Gramma Funk worked to increase the energy. Best acceptance speech goes to Oba Frank Lords who accepted passionately on behalf of Celia Cruz. An unexpected performance by Chyna (singing Paul Johnson's "Doo Wop") was unfortunately missed by some who left after the last award given, but it does seem to make up for that "nookie" rapper who seemed out of place. For a list of winners, click here.
There was so much going on at this point, I just needed to take a break, so I took a cab up to Twist and had a peaceful dinner at the Diner next door. Nothing like Diner food to clear the mind. Outside Twist, I ran into Beth Anne from P-1 who showed me her video on a palm pilot. Trend #8 - Classily-dressed/styled female entertainers. Beth-Anne looked like a movie star in a black and white striped couture ensemble which showed that she had thought out her presentation to fit the song. On stage that night, the other female entertainers seem to have followed the trend as as well dressing appropriately to fit their song/character ie Dana Rayne (youthful/girl next door) for "Object of My Desire," Rachel Panay (vampy/mature) for "Walk of Shame," and Solaris (sporty/trendy) for "Without You."
