I stayed in last night and ended up watching some of the BET Awards. Busta Rhymes' performance was off the hook. First he did his current single "I Love My Bitch" featuring Will I Am from the Black Eyed Peas and Kelis (who I love!). Then they did the remix for Busta's HUGE hit "Touch It". And all the stars featured came out to do their verse. Mary J Blige, Rah Digga, Papoose, Lloyd Banks. DMX was just arrested again so he wasn't there. But the highlight had to be when EMIMEN came out of nowhere to rap too. He's been gone for minute since his best pal Proof was killed.
It was so good to see him there. I have to say I was LOVING watching that performance last night. I love my man Busta. Check it out:



What was also great was Prince, Stevie Wonder, Yolanda Adams and India Arie doing a tribute to Chaka Khan and then Chaka herself performed a few songs. Man, she can sing and she's had some great hits over the years!

Let's hear it for Jay-Z!!!

Man, I was a lucky girl on Saturday night. I got to attend the Jay-Z Special Preview Concert at the Nokia Theatre. He performed all of his classic album Reasonable Doubt and then brought out the HITS for the 40 minute encore. I was in heaven!! Jay-z is still one of the best rappers around in my opinion.

He swaggered out on stage in a white blazer to be backed by a FULL ORCHESTRA!
?uestlove from the legendary Roots crew was on the drums. Just Blaze was on the turntables. And he brought out 2 guest rappers: Memphis Bleek and Sauce Money.

I got to enjoy the show in a seat in the second row thanks to rapper M-1 from dead prez who has a solo album out on KOCH Records (the label I work for). M-1 was there with singer Rae and some pals and he gave me the extra seat they had. I had fun hanging with them! And the concert was a blast!!

Celebrity sightings included QUEEN LATIFAH and DAVID SCHWIMMER aka 'Ross' from Friends.

Last night Jay-Z performed at Radio City Music Hall to commorate the 10th anniversary of Reasonable Doubt so Saturday night's show was a warm-up for that. Although tickets went for $250 to $1,000 I heard...so I'm glad I was able to go on Sat for free!!

I think this is one of the tracks of the summer...way to go Christina. Famous hip hop producer DJ Premier did the track. Maybe that's why I like it so much.

I love HOVA - check this Jay-Z commercial for HP!

Gnarls Barkley did a cool version of "Crazy" on Later With Jools Holland in the UK. Check it.

Life is short, you're capable...

One of my fave bands cover one of my fave songs!!!

Click the link above to hear Franz Ferdinand's version of "What You Waiting For?" by new momma Gwen Stefani. And they even throw in another classic 80's track in there.

See if you can spot that too!

WHAT YOU WAITING FOR?

Like a cat in heat stuck in a moving car. A scary conversation shut my eyes can’t find the brake. What if they say that you’re a climber? Naturally I’m worried if I do it alone. Who really cares cause it’s your life you never know it could be great. Take a chance cause you might grow. WHAT YOU WAITING FOR? (tick tock) (Take a chance you stupid ho)

Like an echo pedal you’re repeating yourself. You know it all by heart, why are you standing in one place? Born to blossom, bloom to perish. Your moment will run out cause of your sex chromosome. I know it’s so messed up how our society all thinks. For sure. Life is short, you’re capable.

Look at your watch now. You’re still a super hot female. You got your million-dollar contract. And they’re all waiting for your hot track. WHAT YOU WAITING FOR?

I can’t wait to go back and do Japan. Get me lots of brand new fans. Osaka, Tokyo. You Harajuku girls, damn you’ve got some wicked style.

Look at your watch now. You’re still a super hot female. You got your million-dollar contract. And they’re all waiting for your hot track. WHAT YOU WAITING FOR? (Take a chance you stupid ho)

?uestlove from The Roots has an amazing record library!

My boy Jay-Z boycotts Cristal...you go Hova!!

I've DJed at this spot...check this out

From the New York Post gossip section PAGE SIX:

"Some lithe young blonde is pretending to be British actress Sienna Miller. The faux-Miller and her name-dropping "publicist" turned up at Manitoba's, a rock 'n' roll dive bar on Avenue B, and announced their presence to the owner, "Handsome" Dick Manitoba. But if the dubious duo were looking for VIP treatment, they went to the wrong place. Manitoba wasn't familiar with Miller, who's best known as Jude Law's cuckolded girlfriend. "I said, 'You're Sienna Miller, good for you,' " Manitoba relates. "Then someone who knew who she was came in and told me, 'That wasn't even Sienna Miller.'"

For sure they went to the wrong place as Manitoba's is a definite New York dive bar. In the best way of course!

This has got to be my new favorite video.
Check out this one by my pals in Broken Social Scene. Hilarious!
See if you can spot the Canadian hard rock hero cameo in the middle of it.




(Thanks Judy!!)

They're coming back to NYC next month and I'm excited!!

July 6th, 2006 Brooklyn, USA Prospect Park Bandshell w/ the Hidden Cameras

Word - this is classic - all star rappers appearing on Arsenio Hall's last show. It's got MC Lyte, Das EFX, Guru of Gang Starr, KRS-One, Wu-Tang Clan, A Tribe Called Quest and more!

Man, it was good to be back in the homeland!

I went to Toronto last weekend for business and pleasure. It was an amazing trip! Such good times and good people!! Here's a bit of a recap.

Thursday night - DJ Catskillz (that's me!) spun a few tunes at Teatro with my pals Jane and Brad. It was super fun!! People dug my selections. In the house were:
Pauline, Sarah, Exan, Jessica, Rick, Max, Matthew, Shawn Marino, Jordy (Universal urban rep), Ice (Virgin urban rep), and more!!

Friday night - Linda called and invited me to see her band controller.controller open for The Cult. Rock on!!! What fun! controller were really great. They have certainly stepped it up a notch since the last time I saw them! At one point, we were even on the side of the stage watching The Cult. A tad surreal and a blast!! Pics to follow of Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy's butts. I took a ton of photos since I was so excited. It was so great to see Linda and catch up. She got ENGAGED!! Congrats!! A bunch of us headed to a new bar on Queen West called The Social for a nightcap. It was cool until a guy started to harass me and I thought he asked me what turns me on but instead he asked what kind of rum I was drinking. Classic!

Saturday day was spent brunching at Kalendar on College Street. I forgot how much I loved that spot! Hanging with Exan, Pauline and her friend from Houston. Then Exan and I went shopping in Kensington Market. I scored an amazing brown leather jacket for half price. Got to love Toronto vintage!!

Saturday night was THE TWILIGHT SINGERS. Woo! First Exan and I went for dinner at Mini-Market by Tempo. It was excellent to see Greg Bottrell who owns the restaurant. Total sweetheart! And I also ran into my pal Jeffrey Remedios who owns arts & crafts. Then Jane and Rick joined us for a snack and then we were on our way to Lee's Palace. Pauline met us out front and then it was on! Great to see Natalie on the door and Sherry serving drinks. The show was amazing!! I took a ton of photos that need to be developed...so I will post those soon. Dulli was spot on during the show and the band even played "Faded" by Greg Dulli's former band The Afghan Whigs. It was heavenly and I wished my gal Judy was there with us ladies. (I met Judy and Pauline met at that same venue 12 years ago at an Afghan Whigs show. April 1st, 1994. Crazy how time flies!!) I called her on her cell so she'd be able to hear the tune. It's one of our faves. I'm posting shots from the Twilight Singers Philly show 2 nights later since my shots are not developed yet.





Then on Sunday, I had a coffee with Judy's parents. So good to see Charlie and Marg. They are so sweet. Lovely lovely people. And then I hung with my good pal Steve Jordan and his girlfriend Michelle. They are expecting a baby in about a month. A little boy who will be named either Otis or Austin. Which name do you prefer? And I also had the pleasure of meeting Steve's daughters Evie and Bea. Cute girls! Then Sunday night I had sushi and drinks on the rooftop of The Drake Hotel with Jane, Jessica and Rick.



Monday, I had breakfast with sweet Jane at the Drake Hotel. Then the rest of the day was spent working at the KOCH Canada office. That night I attended the URBAN DJ STYLUS AWARDS. I even had the honor of presenting an award for College Radio Hip Hop DJ Of The Year. Very fun! It was wonderful to see a bunch of former co-workers in the music business in Toronto. And I hung out with Michael Williams who was one of the original VJ's on Much Music. He was very sweet and even joined me at the KOCH table to watch the awards.

My alarm clock went off at 6am Tuesday morning (after getting in at 1am from the awards) for my flight back to New York. Yikes! Thank heavens I slept on the flight back but it's only an hour...back to New York City.