What's The Download Blog

Grammy Wrap Up..

So, everyone else has posted up their summarys of the week and I'm not going to repeat that, but I will try that it was real nice seeing you guys.  The Grammy's were great, and although I felt some of the presenters and performances were stale and a bit forced, there were some shining moments.  Jay-Z and Linkin Park w/ Paul McCartney was AMAZING.  Kanye put on a great performance even though I think everyone on the planet has heard that song 1,000,000 times.  John Legend did his thing and is a very talented individual as well.  U2 and Mary J sounded awesome as well.  It was an awesome experience.  The Rap Session went well, although it wasn't exactly what I expected.  But the important thing I guess is what the high schoolers, media and trustees think, and I think we made a good impression for ourselves and our cause.  It was great to sit in a room and discuss the final report with everyone to see where exactly we all are and how it ties in to the paper as a whole.  Looks like we got a lot of work ahead of us.  I'm looking forward to working on this as well as future projects with the rest of you guys (is anyone other than WTD members reading this stuff???...lol)  Anyways, just wanted to drop by and give you all my 2 pennies.  Had to bring the color fonts into it since my man B did it.  Can't wait to see those pics from last week Christie.

- Robbie

Still Recovering

Sooo...now that I've come back to life (I've been dead for the past three days cause mixing a cold with severe jet lag is a *bleep*) and have the time to write up my experiences I thought I would do so. I think I'm gonna have to get one of those nifty little sidekicks or blackberrys so I can have internet access all the time but anyhoo...back to the subject at hand. Grammy week was really fun, really busy, and fun and busy. Let's see Sunday we watched the Superbowl at Staples but I didn't really get into it too much cause I've been out of the country and being out of the country means not being not into American sports. However, I did want the Seahawks to lose just so Brian could shut up. And I will repeat again: The USC Trojans are the greatest football TEAM in the nation. I will say Vince Young is the greatest QB...or is it running back? He should really make up his mind about that. California is the best! Texas can secede from the united states for all I care (I'm sorry Kelly).

Monday the "Discussion" as I like to call it took a place at my home at USC. Thornton School of Music's Newman Hall...many WTD conference calls took place back there. And now my awesome bosses Jeremy and Courtney saw that I wasn't making up excuses to talk to random people on the phone for an hour once a week. Anyhoo, meeting Common was awesome. He's so nice, so down to earth, and he has such a smooth voice. And I'm super upset he didn't win best rap album. That shoulda been his, not Kanye's. Anyway...Kelly Clarkson was super sweet as usual...she's always a cool, fun girl. And Sway was nice, cool and down to earth too. It's kinda surprising that all of the honorary board members were so approachable and friendly. The only one I didn't really get to talk to was Chris Brown (his album is in very heavy rotation on my iPod...i've actually played it so much I'm starting to get tired of it...) but I did talk to his manager Tina Davis who gave me some advice because she's someone I admire in the business, how she came up at Def Jam and everything.

The pre-discussion we had with Kelly and Common and Sway was awesome. The discussion discussion was for the kids so obviously they didn't care what we the WTD board had to say. But that's cool though, I was in their shoes once and if I had heard Chris or Kelly say something I would've taken it as gospel too. Hopefully, they learned something and got some sort of message from everything that was said during the discussion though.

So in conclusion (temporarily) I just wanna say big up to Common, Kelly Clarkson, Sway, and Chris Brown for rolling through. That was very nice of them and it was good to have them there.

NO! Stupid blog.

Hey guys,

I'll post the actual blog again. The stupid website timed out before I could finish, and deleted my WHOLE blog complete with pictures. 

So after I cool off a bit, I will re-type my whole blog and insert all the pictures again.

Lame!

Christie

Brian's Blog--Part 3 (Da Grammys)

    The ending of the trilogy is usually the most-anticipated, most unexpected, most, everything.  And Brian's Blog should be no different.

     The day of the big show was, GREAT!  After all, like Kanye said, the Grammys are like The Super Bowl of the Music Industry.  Well, Kanye was right (this time). 
      
     Chillin' on the GREEN carpet was funky this year.  I saw Chris Brown (and he spoke again, so, that was pretty cool), Kelly Clarkson (she spoke again as well), Sway (who remember'd my name and spoke to ME before I even saw HIM.  Wow!) John Legend, Lincoln Park, Evander Holifield, the Black dude from CSI, Mary Mary, Omarion, Gwen Stefani, and a bunch of other cats.  But while I was chillin' down there, Beyonce walked right by me.  That was, BANANAS!

     And at the Pre-Tel, I saw a couple of celebrities over that way as well.  I saw T.I., Fantasia, Ellen Degeneres, and Randy Jackson.  That was pretty fonky stuff (a good thing).

    The show itself was ok this year.  I thought that the performances were a lil' better last year, but this year was cool.  Of course, Kanye had the most-entertaining performance.  To me, Bruce Springsteen was pretty solid as well.  And I enjoy'd seeing Jay-Z & Lincoln Park w/ special guest Paul McCartney (the song "Yesterday" is my JAM!  So that was fun to see). 

     The Afterparty was cool.  I got to meet Brian McKnight (but, he didn't seem to receptive as an artist.  I was upset over that.)  Earth, Wind, and Fire tore the house down with special guests Raphael Saadiq, Kelly Roland & Sleepy Brown, Floetry, and Brian McKnight.  It was somethin' solid to see.  And, most importantly, I got full from eatin' at like, every station in the place.  Now that, was wassapp!

     I was also glad to meet Ms. Shannon Emamali (the executive director of the DC Grammy Chapter).  That's wassapp!  She was very nice and receptive so, that's always cool.

     I had a great trip but, now it's, back to real life, chillin' and, gettin' back to the drawing board (or, singing board for me).  I loved it though and, hopefully, one day I'll be able to bring home a Grammy instead of just going to the show.  Until next time, have a nice day and keep ya heads to the sky.

Have Peace,
B 

Brian's Blog--Part 2 (Banana Nuts!!!)

    Ok so, here's the sequel to the first one (obviously from, looking at the name).  So I had to flip the script and change the color, 'cause, that's how I geddown!

     So, this entire blog is dedicated to the issue of a LACK of BANANA NUT MUFFINS in the CITY OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. 

     You know, I don't know what the world is coming to these days.  We have High-Definition TVs, cars that seat 10 people, phones that download music and have the internet on them,  and portable devices that can play over 2000 songs.  But how in the name of all good things does it have to be so hard to find a Banana Nut Muffin.  That's right!  I had to go to 5 bakery-type stores before I finally found 1 that had the right Muffin.  I thought that that was the craziest thing in the world!  Repeatedly getting turned down on finding a muffin. 

     I think that the people of America should just sit down and just write a letter to their respective congressperson regarding the lack of a decent Banana Nut Muffin.  On one day, everybody conveniently decided to run out.  WHAT IS THAT ALL ABOUT?  I felt like I was on an episode of "Punk'd!"   

     So remember kids, if ya want a good Banana Nut Muffin, downtown LA might not be the place where ya wanna go.  Say no to strangers and, say no to stores that don't sell Banana Nut Muffins.  I didn't say BANANA MUFFINS ('cause that's a cheap imitation), I said Banana Nut.  That's how I see it!

To Be Continued (again)...

Have Peace,
B

Brian's Blog--Part 1 (Ready or Not)

Wassapp cats,

     I should've done this a good while ago, but here I am again back in DC with the trip over, and I'm just now writing about MONDAY.  O well.  It was a funky day, so, I gotta script something about it.

     Monday was a fonky lil' day (good day)!  Got to have a sit-down with Common, Sway, Kelly Clarkson, and Chris Brown.  (All of 'em were really cool by the way!)  It's always good to meet big-time cats and find out that they're cool people to talk to.  Wish it could be like that with more of the big-time artists, instead of people simply justifying the cockyness of the artists. 

     Before the rap session, I got a chance to see my Wanna-wife--Amerie.  No matter what they say about her, I think she's beautiful and, in my mind, me and her are currently having a wonderful marriage.  (It's good to dream, right?)  But the discussion went well.  It was cool seein' all the cool lights and cameras and everything.  I just wish that we could've asked more questions to the kids and have more time for it. 

     Gotta give props to USC for havin' such a fonky campus (nice campus).  It was beautiful.  Just, nice and sunny and, goodness gracious.  And, it look'd much better when I saw my wife (Amerie) doin' some commercial or somethin' out there. 

     Ready or Not, but, Monday night was somethin' special.  Robbie and I got a chance to attend one of the tightest (coolest) concerts that I've been to in a good while.  I got to see The Fugees a GREAT reunion concert at the intersection of Hollywood & Vine in Hollywood's entertainment district.  The show was AMAZING!  It's great to see them back together.  And they sound well.  It had to be a couple of thousand people out there.  They did alot of their old school joints with a couple of tracks off the new album.  It should be fun to hear when it comes out. 

     We ate at this fonky lil' restaurant off of Hwy 101, and conveniently, the diner is called Cafe 101.  It was good eats.  I digg'd it.  I had the pancakes and, I'd go back out there for some more. 

     It was a great night.  I digg'd it.  But, I was mad tired when I got back to the hotel so, I think I fell asleep as soon as I walk'd into my hotel room and, the next day I woke up in my bed so, I think I may have pull'd myself over there.  Yep!

To Be Continued...

Have Peace,
Brian

Hey guys! Katie and Andy here from the red (well, green) carpet. Right now we are stationed in the bleachers with a bunch of other music fans waiting for the celebrities to roll on by. Oh my gosh....it's the What's the Download Advisory Board walking past us right now!!!! The "cute one" (as many of his fans call him), David Wurzberg is wearing a classy suit with some fly sneakers to compliment his overall look, while "the shy one", Brittany Frey is wearing a super cute dress with ballet slippers. The rest of the board will be spending the morning in the media center and at the pre-telecast getting the scoop on digital downloading from the nominees and presenters. We will be here for the next hour blogging LIVE from the green carpet until Christie and Spencer take over so that we can interview some celebs at Grammy central! We will keep you in the know for the rest of the afternoon so stay tuned!

12:40 pm: Our proud "papa" Ron Roecker (VP of Communications for NARAS) is making his way down the carpet looking HOT...what a stud

1:00 pm: DJ AM is reporting live for E! Right across the way

1:02 pm: Honorary Board Member Sway stops by to say "hello" and broadcasts right from the bleachers for MTV

1:12 pm: Floetry arrives and starts down the carpet

1:28 pm: We are singing "Gold Digger" in unison with the rest of the bleacher kids...crazy (it is also like 120 degrees)

1:33 pm: Burt Bacharach walks past with his family and signs some autographs

1:37 pm: Kevin Spacey walks past...we both agree that he is beautiful (well, Katie agrees, but she is typing, so she automatically wins)

1:46 pm: David Foster and his wife arrive

1:47 pm: Shadow Fall walk past us

1:49 pm: Carmen Yuen struts her stuff like we have never seen before

1:55 pm: Death Cab For Cutie (as Andy says "the best indie band EVER") walks on by and heads to MTV

2:00 pm: Slipknot slips on by as Vanessa Minillo from MTV also makes her way towards MTV headquarters at the end of the carpet

2:12 pm: Sean Paul makes his way past and the screaming ensues...insanity to say the least

2:15 pm: Damien Marley and his date (clad in head to toe yellow) make their way past the press

2:21 pm: Mary Mary come by as the bleacher kids sing their song in unison...rockin'

Well, that is all for us for now! Stay tuned for more!!!

~Katie and Andy

It's Grammy time!!

Hey everyone!

Christie here.  I just wanted to post a quick blog before we head out for the red carpet and such.  All of us on the board are super excited for today, and we will be posting blogs throughout the day from the red carpet.  The first half of the blogs on arrivals will be coming to you via Sidekick from Katie and Andy from the bleachers right at the front line of arrivals.  Then they will switch out with Spencer and me.  The rest of us will be doing various interviews and reporting from around the Staples center.  We will have people stationed all over Grammy Central (the red carpet), the media center, backstage, and the pre-telecast.

I hope you guys are all going to watch the show tonight because we've sat in on some rehearsals, and as a top notch music geek, I am supremely excited.  At one rehearsal yesterday my jaw dropped, and I couldn't wipe a look of shock and amazement off my face for the rest of the night.

I promise to post a full run-down of the whole week when I have better access to a computer.  The past few days I've been fighting businessmen for control of the computer in the lobby. 

BYE!

Christie

kelly, my new best friend

Work It Out...

Good morning everyone! Just when the board thought that yesterday could not get any better, 8 of us ran into Sting and his wife last night in LA. He agreed that the industry is not spending the time to "nuture artists" anymore. He was very interested in WTD and provided a few quotes for us to use in our final report. Speaking of the final report, we are spending most of the day working out the kinks as a group and discussing possible solutions for the industry. Tonight we are going to the Nominee's reception, so that should be very exciting. I haven't been able to post any of my pictures yet, so hopefully I can do that later today. Stay tuned.. ~Katie