DJ Cassidy's Birthday Party

pictures by nekesa moody

I am embarassed to admit it, but when I heard that DJ Cassidy was having a hot party for his birthday at Cipriani's, my first repsonse was: "WHO?" But apparently I am ignorant, because DJ is the hot dude who DJed Beyonce and Jay's wedding (had my invite not gotten lost in the mail I would have known) and has all these A-list friends; many of them were on the guest list for the bash.

We got there just as the party was starting and it was already a zoo. By the time we left, we could barely leave due to the crowd. I left early so all I saw was Cassie and Jermaine Dupri but apparently other celebs were in the mix; tragically, I left before Bell Biv Devoe performed: They sang my theme song, "Poison!" So so so sad.

Here are some pics from the night (as usual, taken by moi).

Brooke Knows Best

Most of the time when I interview folks, I go to them, but every so often, the stars come to me _ well, really, to my offices, which have a pretty nice TV studio. That's why Brooke Hogan swung by our remote locale: I interviewed her for her new TV show, "Brooke Knows Best." But of course, what everyone really wants to know about is all the dang scandal: the parents' romantic hijinks, her brother's jail term, and more. Brooke was pretty open and cool to talk to; it's noteworthy that she still manages to goof around and laugh even though much of her life, at least family wise, has fallen apart. Here's a link to the article ....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080711/ap_en_mu/celeb_q_a_brooke_hogan

Usher at the Apollo

Usher came to the Apollo on June 6 for just a one-off show for fans, but he played it almost like it was a full-fledged concert; he crooned all the fave hits like "You Make Me Wanna" and "Burn," while also playing some of his new stuff, like "Love in This Club" and "Moving Mountains." Chris Brown was allegedly in the house, but I didn't see him. I did see Ciara jamming to the groove as well as Fat Joe; when we went to backstage, we also saw wife Tameka, who thanks to bloggers is probably just as famous as those other folks. LOL! Here are some pics of the great show, though a hater usher at the Apollo made me shut my camera off _ right when he was taking off his shirt! Talk about bad timing ... The first shot is a great one of Usher thanking a young disabled fan after the show.

Chad from the Neptunes/Kanye show ...

I interviewed Chad from the Neptunes recently ... since he's known as the quiet one I was worried that the interview would be a bland one, but Chad had a lot to say and was very nice and engaging. Here's a link to that story.




photo by Nekesa Moody

http://www.starpulse.com/news/index.php/2008/06/12/chad_hugo_the_other_neptune_inches_towar
Meanwhile, I interviewed him during the Kanye show; Rihanna was performing (and I hear killing it) so there was plenty of "ella ella" when I played back my interview to transcribe.

I did catch the Kanye set ... gotta say, very few performers can command the stage for almost two hours with just them onstage _ no musicians, no background singers, no booty girls. Kanye did his thing and the crowd was going crazy ... here's a snippet of that show as well.

Erykah at Radio City

I first saw Erykah Badu perform about ten years ago, and while she was in great voice, her stage show seemed a bit sterile then; she didn't engage as much with the audience. Flash forward a decade, and Erykah has developed into a sizzling performer whose eclecticism is as much a factor in her dynamic performance as her voice. When she performed at Radio City Music Hall on May 9, all of that was on display. Check out a glimpse of her performance.