Like meeting an old friend again...

We went out clubbing last night to the Playboy party at Confession, which is a new club here in Aruba. And you know what? I honestly can not remember the last time I was in a 'real' club. I mean I've been to parties on the beach and to small-scale bar/clubs in the last few years, but I just haven't been to a straight-forward big nightclub with pumping house music.

But it was like meeting an old friend again. Like we hadn't seen each other for only a day. I guess I have spent so much time in clubs, it's like I have taken out a lifetime membership that just hasn't expired yet.

It was great! Danced solidly the whole night...God bless dance music!

Another old-school dance gem! Josh Wink's 'Higher state of consciousnes'

This is one of those tracks that I had kind of forgotten about until I heard someone play it again on the radio. I nearly blew up the speakers of my car! Man, this track is still insane. It's one of those tunes where you try and dance harder and harder as the pitch raises at the end until your limps nearly fly off your body (well, that's how it feels to me anyhow; )

Funny I forgot about this though as I am even in the video (only for a second, but still...)

Walk your way to the MTV Europe Music Awards

From 29th October to 6 November, Sony Ericsson and MTV Networks International are inviting music lovers from across Europe to swap their dancing shoes for walking boots and win the chance to walk their way to the 2008 MTV Europe Music Awards – literally!

100 music fans, 400km, 9 days (29 Oct-6 Nov) – the Sony Ericsson MTV FanWalk will see die-hard music fans from across Europe embark on a musical pilgrimage from London to the world capital city of pop, Liverpool – in time to see the show and take part in the full MTV EMA experience.

On top of that, MTV will provide the once in a lifetime opportunity for one lucky FanWalker to present an MTV EMA live on stage in the Echo Arena, Liverpool.

If you want to become a FanWalker just log onto www.fanwalk.tv

"You’ll Never Walk Alone" will certainly be the anthem heard around Liverpool when the 100 FanWalkers grace the red carpet with some of the world’s most famous entertainment personalities of the past year.

And if that’s not enough, Sony Ericsson and MTV will chaperone the lucky FanWalkers to the infamous after show party to mingle with the stars!


Okay, so that the official story. Now my little addition to that....

It's a great chance for someone to be at the MTV Europe Music Awards (or EMA's). But I do have to burst your bubble about this whole 'infamous after show party where you can mingle with the stars'. Because MTV's own after-party (I'm sorry to say this) is usually pretty crap. It is full of marketing people and the sponsors with the occassional 'famous person' there. But the famous ones normally don't stay for long. Because the real after-parties are the ones thrown by the stars themselves.

And its funny, everyone is usually backstage trying to figure out who's party is going to be 'the party' to be at & it's a bit of a battle between the biggest stars as to who will be the biggest party host of the night. And then it's a case, of course, of trying getting invited to that specific party (only a select few will be allowed in). Or the other option is to party-hop. That way you'll end up at the right place eventually. Some of the biggest party hosts are usually P.Diddy, Madonna & Donatele Versaci. Funny enough, there are hardly ever any MTV people at these parties. Not even they get in.

But still...even without going to the after-show parties, it's worth trying to get the Awards themselves. So, get your walkingboots on & start marching. Good luck!

Happy 50th birthday Michael Jackson!

After all the 'hooha' of Madonna turning 50 recently, it's surprisingly quiet about Michael Jackson's 50th. So, happy birthday, self-proclaimed King of Pop/Peter Pan.

I wonder, by the way, how Michael would have looked if he hadn't be restructuring his face for all these years. Would he have had wrinkles by now? It's possible that those would have made him look more human. He just looks like an alien now, doesn't he?

Anyway, apparently he will make an appearance at the 2008 MTV Music Awards in LA on the 7th of September, where he will hand out an award with his sister Janet.

Oh, and after the earlier rumours of Britney performing at the Award ceremony, the latest is that she won't. The word is that she is 'too busy recording new material' to attend the MTV Awards. Either that, or 'her people' are too worried that she flunks another MTV comeback performance.

Terrible celebrity hotel guests

From the Music-news website:

Michael Jackson named as one of the worst hotel guest ever.

Jackson was included on the list compiled by website concierge.com due to his irresponsible behaviour in dangling his nine-month-old son Prince Michael II over the balcony of a hotel in Berlin, Germany, in 2002. The website also criticises Jackson for forcing the World Music Awards to book nearly the whole of London's Hempel Hotel before his performance in 2006. He also asked staff to erect an 18ft wall on the first floor to protect his privacy. In 2007, Jackson reportedly requested bowls of Haribo gummy sweets, a large mirror, and a giant xylophone for his stay at another London hotel.

Other celebrities to be named on the list include Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Nicole Kidman and Amy Winehouse.

Britney has been shamed for reportedly trashing rooms at hotels in Los Angeles' Beverly Hills area and attracting swarms of paparazzi.

Mariah appears for her alleged diva demands such as requesting gold faucets, new toilet seats, mineral water for her bath and dogs and two DVD players showing her own music videos. She also insisted on a red a carpet greeting at London's Baglioni Hotel before she would leave her limo.

'Rehab' singer Amy is accused of wrecking rooms by leaving alcohol stains, dirty underwear, bottles and cigarette butts in her rooms, and staining bathtubs with black hair dye. Before her performance at the 2007 MTV Europe Music Awards, Amy tossed a plate of pasta Bolognaise at the wall of her hotel room in Munich, Germany, before cutting up the carpet in front of bemused onlookers.



I have been part of quite a few wild celebrity 'hotel moments' myself over the years & will blog about that in the coming days....

Kanye West's latest vid: 'Good Morning'

Now, I am not a great rap fan, but I can definitelly appreciate Kanye West's music. It's the kind of rap that appeals to a larger audience because of the catchy hooks & the cool vids that go with them. Like this one for his new single 'Good Morning'. Taken off his third studio album 'Graduation'.

The video was created by the Japanese artist Takashi Murakami and the bear is meant to be Kanye himself....

Finally......Pink's new video 'So what?'

It's finally online. The latest from Pink. Great as ever! Thank God she's still a 'rockstar'! Oh, and I love the little 'booby-cover Toe Jam moment' in the clip.

James Hyman's latest adventure, providing music for Guy Ritchie's 'RocknRolla'

He's been Guy Ritchie's musical advisor before and he's provided him with the opening track for his new movie yet again (I'm talking about my old Partyzone director James Hyman). The track is Blackstrobe's 'I'm a man'. The movie 'RocknRolla' will be out on September the 5th.

What's up with all these celebrity twins?

Okay, can someone please tell me what they are putting in the water in Hollywood these days? Because all the stars seem to be having twins. Look at the list:

• Jennifer Lopez & Marc Anthony-twins!


• P.Diddy-twins!


• Brad & Angelina-twins!


• Julia Roberts-twins!


• Ricky Martin-twins!


• Patrick Dempsey-twins!


• 'Ugly Betty's' Rebecca Romijn-twins!


• Lisa Marie Presley-twins!

Are these all IVF babies? If so, why is no one mentioning this? Or is this all just coincidence?

Article on Conde Nast's family site 'Cookie'

This just came out, a short piece on my blogging life on Cookie:

She travels, she blogs, she rocks.

If you've always suspected that MTV veejays led cooler lives than you both on and off the camera, well, you're probably right. Case in point? Simone Angel. After she left MTV Europe, she got married and had two kids, but instead of settling down in suburbia, she and her husband moved to Central America and started Belize Jungle Dome, an adventure travel company and resort. She now splits her time between Belize and her family's new home in Aruba, and you can check out her travel tips and daily adventures (like almost running over a wild goat) at Simone's Family Travel Blog. Oh yeah, she also writes a music blog and sings in a band, proving rock star dreams don't have to end with diaper duty. If living vicariously through Simone isn't enough and she inspires you to chuck it all and transfer your family to paradise, check out her moving to Belize guide.

My BBC World service interview on Madonna's 50th birthday

This went out on the BBC World Service yesterday. Everyone has an opinion of Madonna and what it means for her to have celebrated her 50th birthday whilst still topping the worldwide charts. These are my personal thoughts on her, her music and her amazing career.

madonna interview BBC world service.mp3

By the way, before I anger any hardened Madonna fans, let me just explain why I said that 'Madonna is very clever at looking what's happening on the fringes of the music scene, taking elements of it & making it her own'.

Basically, as I was working on the Partyzone, I often saw first-hand what was happening outside the mainstream & I often saw or heard how Madonna incorporated these things into her own performances. Very clever of course, as most audiences would not know where these ideas came from and would assume they were Madonna's own creative inventions. And I bet that she surrounds herself with some hot young things who will let her know what music to listen to and which acts to watch.

Brian Adams used to attempt the same thing and would hang out with young (at the time) people like myself & would ask us all about what was hot. I would take him out occasionally and show him what was happening in London & would mention tracks for him to listen to. He never really got it though, he's too set in his ways. When he mentioned to me that another young friend had called him 'a musical dinosaur' I just giggled.

Still, he's a brilliant artist of course & a wonderful person. But he has never been really 'with it' like Madonna always has been.

I also mentioned U2 in the interview (which was edited out), as they have this same talent that Madonna has, they always have their finger on the pulse, they check out hot new acts, they get inspired & then they incorporate elements of it into their own performance. It simply is the only way to stay relevant.

This is gonna be huge! The Sugarbabes new single 'Girls'

This is a taped-off-the-radio recording of the new Sugarbabes single, which will be out on the 6th of October.

I have to say, I've always loved the Sugarbabes. It's just good, solid pop music. And this is one along the lines of Destiny's child 'Independent women', so you're sure it will be a hit with the hoards of drunken women on their weekly nights out. Men, feel free to be embarrassed for us, whilst we blow our own trumpets. It's just what girls love to do ; )

Gabriella Cilmi's new single 'Save the lies'

If her first single 'Sweet about me' sounded a lot like Amy Winehouse, this track is just Anastacia all over. So I guess what I would like to know is 'who exactly is Gabriella Cilmi'? Maybe it's the fact that she's so young (16 years old) & is still trying to find herself, but it seems to me that she needs to define her own sound a bit more. Still, she's a very talented young lady with a very powerful voice and I guess she'll do well again with this track.

Btw, that dude with the bad dreads reminds me of the crazy fake blond dreads I used to have myself. Oh, the things we do when we are young ; )

Back on radio/ Madonna's 50th birthday

After a 6-week-break I will finally be back with the Weekend Express on Cool FM tomorrow from 10-12 am (Aruban time)

Also, somewhere between 6-9 am (UK time) tomorrow, I will be discussing Madonna's 50th birthday and look back on her career on the BBC world service.

My God, I have missed radio. It will be good to back! Oh, and happy birthday lady Madonna.

The 'Bono and Liam Gallagher snogging' picture

Wow man, they're all tongues...how come I have never seen this picture before? Maybe I did see it before, but forgot? (damn those wild braincell-killing nights)

Anyway, I just saw this picture on the NME website's 'Oasis gallery' and it brought back some more MTV era memories...

Years ago I-along with Liam Gallagher, Robbie William, The Prodigy, Black Grape and some others-went to Dublin on New Years Eve to see in the new year at Bono's house. Prodigy and Black Grape were performing in Dublin that night & Bono had said that afterwards we could all come to his house for a party. At the end of the gig there was still no Bono, but the Edge walked in and said 'Sorry, Bono has canceled the party. He has gone to Cosovo instead.'

So, even on New Years Eve, Bono was trying to save the world.

And we all ended up sitting in a hotel lobby that night. It just wasn't what we had imaged.

Still, Bono is such a wonderful guy. And he is so down to earth, you wouldn't believe it. One day I will share some other 'Bono moments' with you. And Liam? Well, I've told you before what I think of Liam...great show man, but a total fool. Still, he may be a good kisser?

Music legend Isaac Hayes has died.

From the BBC News website:

US singer-songwriter Isaac Hayes has died at his home in Memphis, Tennessee, at the age of 65, police said.

Police were called to Mr Hayes' home after his wife found him unconscious. He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead at 1408 (1908 GMT).

Mr Hayes, a flamboyant, deep-voiced performer, won an Oscar for the 1971 hit Theme From Shaft. He was perhaps better known to a younger audience as the voice of Chef from the hit cartoon show, South Park.

The cause of death was not immediately known.

"Family members believe at this point it is a medical condition that might have led to his death," a police spokesman said, adding Mr Hayes was being treated for "a number of medical issues".
Mr Hayes suffered a stroke in 2006.

Isaac Hayes - along with Al Green, James Brown and Stevie Wonder - was one of the dominant black artists of the early 1970s.

Hayes was renown for his deep voice and flamboyant on-stage style.

Hayes, a self-taught musician, was hired in 1964 by Stax Records as a back-up pianist and saxophone, working as a session musician for big names such as Otis Redding.

He established a songwriting partnership with David Porter, and in the 1960s, writing hits for Sam and Dave such as Hold On, I'm Coming and Soul Man. This success led on to a recording contract, and in 1969 he shot to fame with the release the groundbreaking album Hot Buttered Soul.

The theme from the film Shaft was a number one hit in 1971. He won an Academy Award for the song and was nominated for another one for the score. The song and score also won him two Grammys.

Isaac Hayes was also in several movies, including It Could Happen to You with Nicolas Cage, and Ninth Street with Martin Sheen.

He had success later in life as the voice of the South Park character, Chef. But he angrily quit the show in 2006 after an episode mocked Scientology, a religious movement to which he belonged.

He was married four times and has 12 children.

Last ever gig for The Police? And why Sting is one of the sexiest men I have ever met.

The Police played New York's Madison Square Garden a few days ago (7th of Aug) at, what is believed to have been, their last ever gig together. Since they reunited last year they have played to three million people and earned about 181 million Pounds. Not bad, right?

Sting joked on stage that the real achievement of the tour was that they hadn't strangled each other (but that it had crossed their minds)

Also, during this last gig, Sting had his beard shaved off live on-stage, even though his wife had said in an interview recently that she found the beard quite a turn-on. I'm surprised he didn't keep it on for her.

Anyway, I've had the pleasure of interviewing Sting several times over the years and he is one of the most charismatic men I have ever met.

Unlike most people in the music industry, Sting is totally present when he talks to you. Whilst you're with him, he makes you feel like you are the most important person in the world. He really listens to you, takes his time talking to you and- when you see him again months later-remembers all the details of what was discussed. And he doesn't just pay this kind of attention to people in the limelight, but to everybody. He is the kind of guy that remembers details of the people who brought him his coffee months ago.

Maybe it's all this yoga and the tantra that he does, I don't know.

And when you hear him talk about how much he loves his wife, you just melt. I once interviewed him with an all-female crew and we all went totally soppy when he talked about Trudy. It was so sweet. At one point you even see the boom (microphone) sink into the shot as the girl who was holding it just went 'ahhhh' and went kinda floppy with it. I am not sure if we broadcasted it like that or re-did the shot. But I always remembered the incidence.

So there you go....Sting rocks!

The truth about VIP or Celebrity parties

Have you ever wondered what VIP parties and these exclusive celebrity nightclubs/bars are really like? With everybody so desperate to get into them, so you'd assume they'd be great places to be, right? Well, let me burst your bubble right here...most of them are rubbish. Honestly, so many of these places are so far from 'cool', you wouldn't believe it.

This is my theory...many celebs are not all that 'cool' or interesting to start with. Many of them would be turned back at the door of the real hot places if they did not happen to be in the limelight. I truly think that the coolest people are the ones who get picked out of the crowd outside clubs and get ushered to the front door without being famous. I ran my own club night for a while and got to decide who got in, who didn't and who would get in without paying. And you can just see who's 'got it'. Many celebs just haven't 'got it'.

So many of these celebrity clubs and bars are like school discos, but then with ridiculous price tags to them. It's like they are saying to everyone, of course we are cool, look at how expensive and exclusive we are, yet they play crap music and there is absolutely no atmosphere. Everyone is just there to pose and to see who else is there (meaning, how many famous people are there and how many they can try to casually mingle with)

To me the prime example was the old 'Brown's' nightclub. I didn't come there too often because I always thought all this VIP stuff was nonsense anyway. But this is what happened there:

First of all, you would have to get on to the guest list or arrive with someone super famous and important to get in. Then, once you were inside, you would quickly notice that most people on the ground floor were cramped together at the bottom of the stairs trying to persuade security let them onto the next level. This was because the 'VIP' room was on the next floor. Rediculous of course, as everyone was already meant to be a VIP in the first place. So anyway, once you got onto the next floor you realized that it was extremely boring there as you could hardly hear the music (the DJ and dancefloor were downstairs) and, again, you would hear everyone talk of the celebrities that were meant to be on the next floor, in the super, super VIP room. And that room was even more boring, completely shut off from the rest of the club and just with a bunch of people hovering around Madonna or Prince or whoever else happened to be there.

I used to get the impression that everyone was on edge in this place as there was always 'the next level' to get on. So people just didn't enjoy being where they were. The only person I ever saw there who just didn't give a toss was Jay Kay from Jamiroquai. He was like Peter Pan dancing with his shadow, just dancing in front of a mirror with himself all night on the ground floor.

The best 'VIP rooms' are actually just the small, cornered off parts of a good club. At least there you could enjoy the atmosphere and the music and not just be stuck in an empty room with some people who's faces you've seen on TV before.

The up-side of some VIP areas/rooms is free drinks (you either get that or over-priced drinks, so one round costs you most of your week's earnings ; ) Also, they often have more comfortable seating, little snacks on the table and you have a guaranteed spot to find back your friends in a big club.

But that's it. So, if you're a person who never got to go to any these places, please don't feel that you missed out in any way. It's all a load of crap.

What the hell happened to Nikka Costa?

I just stumbled across this old clip of Nikka Costa and remembered how much I loved her album 'Everybody got their something' in, what was it, 2001?

So anyway, I checked her MySpace page and apparently she has recorded a new album, called 'Pebble to a Pearl' which she'll release on Stax Reocrds on September 23rd.

So here it is, her old stuff (major label) and her new (small label) stuff. Nikka says that she is much happier with her music now that she is away from the majors. But what do you think?





Find more videos like this on Nikka Costa

Latest release from The Feeling, Join with us

The Feeling definitely are one of my favorite bands. Their albums 'Twelve stops and home' and 'Join with us' are ones that I play a lot at home. I always love albums that don't seem to have a bad track on them, that work well as a whole. And music from The Feeling is the kind of stuff that is easy to play in the background as you go about your day. It doesn't intrude on your brain too much or get you edgy when life itself is rather chaotic (very important when you have a house full of hyperactive young kids, like myself)

What I do have to say though is that, as their music works so well as lovely album tracks, individual tracks don't jump out in the way that you go 'Oh My God, that track is amazing!' And so the same goes for this, their latest release.

From the Toyota advert, here is 'Join with us', set to be released on September the 22nd.

Lindsay Lohan & Samantha Ronson's wedding plans

Isn't that funny? For the longest time these girls kept insisting that they were 'just good friends' & now they taking the marital plunge together. Good luck to them.

But one thing I don't get, why did Lindsay get so miffed about the LA police chief saying that she 'had gone gay'? I mean, the fact that she is marrying another woman would suggest that right? Or does she just get annoyed about the fact that he said that she had 'gone' gay, as if she wasn't gay before? Maybe she just means that, deep down, she has been gay all her life? (I don't know?)

Oh, and apparently Samantha's brother Mark Ronson has also announced that he is getting married to his 19-year-old super model girlfriend (I forgot her name). The Ronson household must be a happy place at the moment ; )

N.E.R.D. 'Spaz'

I really enjoyed the BBC Live Lounge performance that N.E.R.D. did recently, even though you had to see the clip of it to fully realize that it was indeed a live performance. Their live version of 'Everybody nose' (All the girls standing in the line for the bathroom) was so slick it just didn't seem 'live' at all. But it just shows what perfectionist these guys are.

Pharrell Williams, of course, will now go into history for being the man who made Madonna cry, as he was producing tracks for her for her 'Hard Candy' album. Apparently she didn't understand what he was trying to make her do rhythmically on a track and when he told her off again for doing it wrong, she burst out crying. But, as I told you in an earlier blog posting, I am sure that most her producers have seen her cry at some point or another as she is rather hysterical. I already told you that I saw her throw a wobbler to William Orbitz before.

Anyway, of their 'Seeing sounds' album, here is the vid for 'Spaz'.

Possible VJ reunion?

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know that Radio 3FM in Holland are considering setting up an MTV VJ reunion. This is something that has never happened before & would be soooo cool! If you think they should go ahead with the idea, let them know. Post a comment on Michiel Veenstra's blog: www.michielveenstra.nl

Just scroll down to the piece on our interview & tell him you'd like to see/hear the old VJs again.

I so hope this will happen. In the meantime, you can read about what many of the VJs are up to these days in the 'VJ updates' postings from this blog.

Backstage at the MTV Europe Music Awards

I had been working for hours at the MTV Europe Music Award, doing the countdown to the Awards, the Red Carpet and backstage interviews and all I wanted was to join my partying friends. But I was told that there was one more thing I had to do, I had to play 'Tabloid Journalist', going around finding gossip and make up some myself as well.

Of course, my gossip had to be rather far-fetched. But do you think anyone helped me come up with some good lines? Not a chance! I had to think of stuff myself. Problem was, I was exhausted at that point & couldn't think of anything.

My best attempt was 'Did you know that Kylie fancies you?'

I thought that that was far-fetched enough. I mean, every guy fancied her, but I assumed that these guys would all understand that she would never fancy them back. Still, I was wrong. It was taken seriously.

So a few weeks later my phone rang and it was Kylie Minogue. She was pretty pissed off with me. Aparently, my stupid gossip had got her into trouble with Jay Kay from Jamiroquai and his girlfriend (who turned out to be a friend of hers)

I apologized to her then, we issued a press-release & I believe (I hope) that I was forgiven.

Here's the clip:

Another bit of old skool MTV Partyzone

There are so many of these Meditation rave clips on Utube (10 in total, I think). Here's number one. It was shot at our hotel as we suddenly saw these people sitting around in a circle, singing these schlager songs...it was most bizarre. Still, they probably would have thought that the place we ended up in that night was bizarre, especially seeing all these kids (myself included) suck at balloons of laughing gas, which were sold at the bar. Much more fun than drinking alcohol, if you ask me. And no hang-over!

South African dance music, Dr. Mujava & Township funk

This fantastic clip has been floating around on the Internet for a little while now and has been picked up by the legendary Warp label. It will get a worldwide digital release on August the 11th, with a general release on September the 15th. Marvelous stuff!

Drumming gorilla secures a number one hit for Phil Collins

He may have officially retired from the music industry, but Phil Collins has still ended up with another hit.

With the help of this drumming primate in the Cadbury commercial, Phil is currently back at the top of the charts in New Zealand with his 1981 hit 'In the air tonight'.

Apparently, Phil Collins was already paid one million dollars by Cadbury for the rights for the use of the song in the campaign, so he's done good from it all round.

Here's the clip:

Gym class heroes, featuring Busta Rhymes with 'Peace Sign/Index down'

This track should be in stores early September. Very cool tune again of Gym Class Heroes and this time with the fantastic Busta Rhymes. btw, I interviewed Busta Rhymes once and asked him to record a message for my phone's answering machine. I was hoping for something like 'Wooha, Simone's not here right now', but instead Busta started rhyming and just didn't stop, it went on forever. It felt too rude to ask him to do it again, so I just left it (it was impossible to edit down to something usable for me). Anyway, here he is with the gym class heroes....