Akon’s Freedom

I’ve always been an Akon fan, but I have to say dude really knocked it out of the park with this CD. Some of the song seem like they were rehashed, but I couldn't stop bumping Beautiful on my stereo. Akon really gets the lyrics right on this CD too. It’s like he’s reaching for a completely new level for the female fans.

Every time I step out of my house and turn my I-pod on, the first thing I do is listen to this album. He must be doing something right because I usually don’t like listening to an album more than twice a week.

His remix of I’m So Paid with Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy is also off the hook. These are three artists that I really like and the music they make is sublime. This CD just has amazing track after track. It’s like the first Kanye West album, you never have to press fast forward, but you might need to rewind every now and then.

Top ten New Years resolutions for Amy Winehouse by Golden Touch

Stop drinking
Most people are moderate drinkers, but you get the feeling Amy Winehouse drinks a lot, and that leads to a lot of other things that may not be helpful to the singer’s voice. She’s got a beautiful coarse voice and that distinguishes her from others who try to copy her, so this coming New Year, she should stop drinking.

Stop doing drugs
It has been documented throughout history that performers are hindered by their use of drugs. Some think that doing drugs is necessary to live the rock star life, but Winehouse is not a rock star, she’s a blues and soul singer and she doesn’t need the use of drugs to create more demons for herself. If she kicks the drugs out of her regimen, she will come out the better for it –one would hope.

Stop dating losers
As the New Year comes, most people should follow this resolution, but none other than Winehouse. She has a habit of attaching herself to the loser boyfriends. She needs to weed out the crap and find someone who would be good for her. she doesn’t necessarily need to start dating a church going goodie-goodie, but there are a lot of good guys out there who would be interested in helping her come out of her troubles.

Listen to your loved one’s advice
When you are a big star and everyone expects something from you, it’s hard to tell who’s out to help you. But there has to be people in her circle who give her good advice, especially her father and mother. Parents usually have the best ideas about what their children should do, and Winehouse should grow up and stop rebelling before she completely destroys her life.

Learn to love yourself
Above all else, this coming year Winehouse should learn to love herself. There has to be a level of self-hatred which leads her to doing the things she does. She needs to get herself a guru and learn to be in touch with herself and love herself.

Express yourself through your music not your hair
Winehouse’s hair gets a lot of attention, it looks like she killed an animal and placed it on top of her head. This New Year she needs to express herself more through her music instead of her hair. She needs a new hairstyle and more music.

Write about your pains don’t hold them in
There is nothing worse than an artist who holds everything in instead of putting it out. What makes an artist come across as sincere to the audience is when they write their own material and show what they are going through. Music, when it is sincere, is a shared experience with the fans. She should write more of her own stuff and put it out for her fans.

Make more music
Winehouse does not have enough music out there. Sometimes it’s good for an artist not to put out music every month, but she needs to put out more music than she currently does. Fans want more from her even though she is going through problems right now.

Stop cancelling shows
Fans hate it when they pay for a ticket and the show gets cancelled. Winehouse has cancelled a few shows during the past year. In 2009 she needs to stop cancelling her shows and frustrating her fans. She needs to set herself the goal of finishing a tour without a bump in the road.

Get a stylist
Winehouse needs to get herself a stylist for the New Year. It is okay for a starving artist to look like she hasn’t got anything in her closets, but once you’ve made it, you should not continue to look like a starving artist because it is an insult to others who are struggling to get that much needed record deal. Winehouse needs to change the wardrobes. She shouldn’t scarify her personality, but she can do much better than she is doing right now.

Darfur and other atrocities

I'm sure you are well aware of the problems with Darfur and the world's horrible response to helping the people there. Atrocities like the ones in Darfur have happened all over the world and we as a world are not going to be better in the future unless we learn to quickly aid the people that are being oppressed and killed because they are different or happen to live in a part of the world from where oil happens to sprout. Take a look at Christiane Amanpour's documentary tonight to get more information about this worldwide problem. You can also go to http://www.savedarfur.com/ to learn more about this problem and the things you can do to help.

Kanye West: what is going on?

I know Kanye had his moment at the AMA recently, but what I can't get past is the new weird album. 808's and Heartbreak is just too bizarre for Kanye. I know some may think that he is brave for stepping outside his artistic norm but this is just plain bizarre. Kanye sings throughout the whole album. I REPEAT, he sings throughout the whole album. I kept waiting for Kanye to drop some slick lines. I waited and waited but it still didn't come. I know he lost his mother and maybe he is hurting from that but crossing into RnB is a whole other game. He even had Young Jeezy and Lil Wayne on the album, but it just isn't worth the buy. I have every single Kanye album, but this one makes me feel like I've been sold to a strange family for dinner. The beats are cool -we all know Kanye is a great producer- but outside of that, he falls short on this album. He should donate the album to people. This is not Kanye caliber.

Restaurant Daniel

If you haven't been to the restaurant Daniel in New York City then you are certainly missing out.

I recently took a lady friend to the restaurant for a birthday celebration and had quite a fantastic evening. It was my very first time at the establishment and I wasn't really sure what to think of it. I have never really been a big fan of french cuisine, but I wanted something new, to kind of change things around a little.

When we entered, we were greeted by a wonderful french hostess. We sat in the foyer and drank wine while they prepared our table. We were so deep in conversation about the look of the restaurant that I was almost disappointed when told that our table was ready. But when we got to the table it just got better. We were seated against the back wall so we could see the beauty of the place. The lights were at a perfect shade which created a romantic atmosphere. And when the food came we went into overdrive. Since I'm not a food critic, I do not have the words in my arsenal to describe every single bite, but I have to tell you that the food was amazing. The service was fantastic. I felt like royalty even though I knew I could hardly afford the bill. I went over my budget, but happily so.

Obama and Romney

I’ve been paying a lot of attention to the primaries lately, even though I have no stern interest in politics. What I find is that Americans are going to run the risk of making the same mistake once more. Out of all the candidates on show this year, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney seem to be the best choices to run against one another. I happen to like Obama because he makes one feel as though one’s opinion of the world truly matters to him and that people should not hold back from the truth. While Romney might seem like a decent candidate, the fact that he’s a Mormon may be a turn off for some. It sure is for me. But I think these two are the best because they bring something different to the table. They have personalities that pique interest and other world leaders might be more open to dialogue with them.
While I like McCain, I think he is starting to sound a little too much like the much maligned Bush. I like his attitude, but since he has become a front runner, his words have changed. Hilary Clinton is also an admirable candidate, but she doesn’t breathe fire into my lungs. I’m not excited by the prospect of her presidency. She might be a good vice president, but I don’t see much else from her. If McCain and Clinton end up being the two candidates, it will be a real shame. People will resort to voting for the lesser evil, and we will have to deal with four more years of bland presidency.

American Zoetrope

Hello all,

I know i've been away for a very long time, but that's not what this post is about. Many of you may not have heard of American Zoetrope, owned by the great Francis Ford Coppola. Well i would suggest you take a look at it. While browsing through their website, i came across what seems like a creative hub for artists of the literary type. My favorite so far has been the short story section where a slew of writers can post their short stories for thirty days and have other writers who think they know better, write reviews about them. Some lucky writers get the chance to have their work published in Mr. Coppola's All-Story magazine. I have no bone to pick with Zoetrope, but i do think some writers might not get a fair chance in the system. But i would love for more people to check it out and let me know what they think. Maybe i'm just jumping the gun.

Till next week, stay cool.