David Morales WMC 2011 Miami @ The Shelbourne

Amazing DJ Mag pool party at The Shelbourne at the WMC 2011 in Miami. David Morales and Frankie Knuckles absolutely rocked it. Check the video. Track is by Simian Mobile Disco.

St Patrick’s Day 2011 – New York 250th Parade

Lucky enough to be in New York on 17th March this year. A beautiful, sunny day for the madness of St Patrick’s Day in the big apple. They certainly know how to go for it. Brilliant.

Sasha at WMC 2011 in Miami

The legend that is Sasha rocked the opening of WMC 2011 on Sunday 6th March at Set nightclub, laying down a succession of twisted, high-octane beats for an intimate crowd to enjoy late into the Miami night. WMC 2011 kicks off for real today, Tuesday 8th, but Sasha got the unofficial party started with his unique brand of intelligent, deep, trance-oriented house. A brilliant set. A brilliant start to the week. Check out my video of the night here.

The one downside was the old ‘velvet rope scrum’ that is unique to Miami. What on earth is wrong with a queue? I know I sound like an old fogey, but queuing has stood the test of time, and even the Italians can do it now. Struggling to get the attentions of a power-crazed doorman who thrives on favours, handouts and nepotism is ridiculous. Even with tickets we had to battle our way through the silicone breasts and perfectly chiseled cheekbones to get in. Absurd. And unfortunately the door policy of “who do you know?” meant that the crowd, broadly, had no idea of the genius on the decks. But saying all that, Set is a cool nightclub, intimate and classy, and a good portion of the crowd were totally into the music and appreciated seeing Sasha close up and personal.

Can’t wait for the rest of WMC 2011 to kick off.

Range Rover Evoque – The Pulse of the City

Currently in LA for the latest phase of the Range Rover Evoque ‘Pulse of the City’ campaign I have been working on at The Brooklyn Brothers this year. The Coupe was launched in Paris, and the 5-door is launched this Wednesday – wouldn’t mind one myself if I’m honest – very cool car. Check out our Hello Evoque website to find out more about the project.

 

 

Very lucky to be working on this brand and this campaign, and indeed to be staying at a cool hotel with a very tasty little rooftop pool with stunning views over the shimmering diaspora that is Los Angeles. Looks incredible as the sun rises. But I digress.

We’ve got some cool geo-art type chicanery with OK Go coming up this week, and have been having fun with the campaign in great cities like Sydney, Sao Paulo and Paris to date. Check out the OK Go invite video below, plus some of the shots/videos from our activities and collaborations with cool artists, photographers, and designers so far. I’ve also added a few videos from our City Shapers, telling us about what they love about their cites and what inspires them.

There’ll be loads more over the coming months, so check out the website, stay tuned to the blog to see what we get up to, and download the app to get involved yourself.

 

Invitation to play with OK Go and get involved in our geo-art project

 

Fun & games in Sydney

 

Making a splash in Sao Paulo

 

 

Partying it up in Paris

 

Turning the streets of Paris into art galleries

 

 

Some amazing UV shenanigans with Timothy Saccenti and the GPS-wrapped Spy Cars

 

A smattering of our City Shaper videos

 

#worldview_tokyo

The #worldview Tokyo video has finally been done, only a year after I actually visited the city. Phenomenal place – can’t wait to go back one day. Enjoy.

World Cup 2010

Well, that’s it for another 4 years….. all the hopes, dreams and false expectations dashed for another tournament. Except of course for the mighty and richly deserving Spanish, who plied their fabulous brand of artistry to the very last, against the thuggish, disreputable Dutch, to emerge as Champions of the World.

Spain were truly exceptional in my opinion, and have been for the last 4 years. Ever since they changed their ethos from the Raul-inspired egocentricity that currently rots the heart of both England and France, and adopted a true team ethic – all for one and one for all.

Of course, no change in philosophy can win the World Cup if the talent isn’t there, but with magicians in the midfield in the shape of Xavi, Iniesta and Alonso, rocks at the heart of their defence in Ramos, Piquet, and the inspirational Carlos Puyol, plus a rapier at the tip in Villa and a truly World Class Goalkeeper and Captain in Iker Casillas, their squad simply overflowed with talent of the very highest order. The fact that neither Fabregas, who was wonderful when he came on, or the mis-firing Torres, were first picks for Spain, demonstrates amply how richly blessed they are in this era.

Their opponents in the final, Holland, have a much richer international heritage, borne from the wonderful ‘total football’ ethos that made The Dutch everyone’s second team. My favourite team as I grew up was the AC Milan of Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten, and Frank Rijkaard… and of course I was well aware of the 1974 & 1978 finals that the Dutch cruelly lost, with Johan Cruyff as their leader and emblem.

However, Holland disgraced their heritage and their principles in this final, I am sad to say. Their functional route to the final rightly won plaudits, as they smothered opponents and then let the excellent Wesley Sneijder and the artful but highly effective Arjen Robben pick up the necessary goals to take them through.

But their descent into downright villainy and genuine thuggery was disappointing and saddening. Mark van Bommel is an anti-hero, an anti-footballer, and a pantomime villain. It is absolutely right that he will never wear a World Cup winners medal. It would have been a travesty if he had been on the winning team. To quote Johan Cruyff, “This ugly, vulgar, hard, hermetic, hardly eye-catching, hardly football style, yes it served the Dutch to unsettle Spain. If with this they got satisfaction, fine, but they ended up losing. They were playing anti-football.” Nuff said.

Anyway, moving on from the Dutch, we turn our attention to the most unedifying team of the tournament… no, not England. The French. They did an old school Dutch trick on us and imploded dramatically (finding it quite hard to move on from the Dutch evidently… they pop up everywhere!!)

But now let’s look at England. Frankly, they were a disgrace. A hugely disappointing campaign that simply left me befuddled. I had huge faith in Capello, and thought that he might, just might, bring out the best of Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard et al…. but no. £6m a year to get knocked out by (an admittedly very good) Germany 4-1. £6m to learn about the nuances of keeping spoilt, rich, self-centred young men focused and happy during tournament conditions.

Expectations once again outweighed reality, but I certainly expected some performances, even if it meant glorious defeat, rather than the damp squib nature of the four games that we played. There are rumours of rifts in the camp, namely between the self-appointed alpha-chav John Terry, and his replacement as captain Steven Gerrard. Whatever the truth, it was a typically stodgy and tawdry tournament display from the pampered millionaires from our green and pleasant lands.

But enough of all this soul searching and self-flagellation. It’s over. We were rubbish. Same old.

Interestingly, no-one who plays in the Premiership played well. At least I can’t think of anyone. Maybe there is something in the fact that we don’t rest up as much as the Spanish, Germans, French, Italians et al. But again, it’s excuses. And actually, none of the players we all expected to be the stars of the World Cup ever really got going.

Ronaldo never got a sniff. Kaka produced one moment of sublime skill in 4 games. The less said about Rooney the better. Messi didn’t score, although he did play quite well to be fair. But he certainly didn’t set the tournament alight or lift his Argentina team beyond their true worth, like his magnificently charismatic and wonderfully personable coach did in 1986.

Ahhh, the great Diego Maradona… a quite miraculous ability to re-invent himself from overweight, hospitalized drug-fiend to a suave, sophisticated international coach (well, some creative license please…). The tournament would have been a duller place without him and I hope he gets the chance to take Argentina to Brazil in 4 years’ time. Hopefully, by then, he will have learnt that leaving out players like Cambiasso and Zannetti doesn’t pay. You do need high quality, experienced defenders to win the World Cup. Playing Gutierrez (the Newcastle right winger) as a left back just isn’t going to cut it.

And so, apart from the excellent Joachim Low’s youthful, counter-attacking Germany, and Dunga’s disappointingly dull Brazilians, that about sums it up for me… oh, of course there were the Africans who were generally poor, except for Ghana. Poor, poor Ghana. Cheated out of a first ever semi-final for their continent by Suarez in heart-breaking fashion. But Uruguay lived up to their billing as the skulldugerous South Americans, and were a whisper away from reaching the final. Fair play to them, and fair play to Forlan for being voted the Player of the Tournament.

So, here is my team of the Tournament (4-2-3-1):

Very honourable mentions go to Sneijder, Schweinsteiger, Maicon, Mascherano, Lucio, and (against my better wishes) Arjen Robben.

That’s that then.

See you in 4 years.

Barack Obama – forging a legacy in stone

Not content with having forced through health reforms against extreme and vitriolic political obstinacy, Barack Obama is turning his attentions to the much-needed reform of the banking sector.

It is a much repeated phrase in America, that “Main Street must never again be so reliant on Wall Street”, and it is the hypocrisy and self-indulgent ideology of bankers that will now come under genuine, tangible scrutiny for the very first time since the global economy crashed almost 2 years ago, as a result of the fraud charges brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Goldman Sachs.

In a few days time, Barack Obama will debate his banking reforms with The Senate in another round of hand-wringing, shaking of heads and venomous attacks on this “Communist” by Republicans and, even, some Democrats. It is no surprise that the timing of the charge of fraud being brought by the US SEC against Goldman Sachs is so aptly timed, and it is for this reason that I state that this will be the first tangible scrutinisation of the industry since the crash.

Up until now, Governments the world over have quite rightly focused their minds on saving the banking sector, utilising public sector funds in which to do so, thereby ensuring ordinary tax payers are not left totally bereft due to the actions of a small number of self-centred imbeciles. Only now, given that the global economy has stabilised, and investigators have had time to build water-tight cases, is the time right to bring lawsuits against those who brought the crash to bear.

In my opinion, it would be the wrong thing to do if banks and bankers had demonstrated some sort of remorse or indeed willingness to change their worst practices. However, the fact that Goldman Sachs have a huge $20bn war chest to dish out in bonuses this year speaks absolute volumes. They haven’t changed. They will never change. Unless they are forced to change through structural, regulatory and litigious force.

And that’s why this legal action brought against Goldman Sachs, and all the subsequent legal actions that will be brought against a variety of the worst offenders, is a hugely unfortunate necessity if the global banking system is ever to be rebalanced in favour of the ordinary man on the street. It is hugely unfortunate that this is necessary, because I believe that this legal action will be the spark that ignites a double-dip recession.

With the threat of legal action against fraudulent collusive practices between and within the murky worlds of hedge funds, investment banks and market analysts, the banks will once again close up shop, strangling the liquidity necessary to stimulate and fuel business in every corner of the globe. This will lead to another bout of job cuts, misery, and bankruptcies, as well as create a catalyst for further lurches towards extremist and non-mainstream political parties.

However, it is a legal action that, despite the short- to medium-term pain, is absolutely necessary in the longer-term. Just as America will have to go through huge amounts of pain to restructure it’s health system, the World will have to suffer yet more pain while the global banking system finally gets the attention it has deserved ever since bringing the economy close to total collapse.

Barack Obama is making very tough choices, and shying away from not one single battle.

He is the President that America needs, and he is the American President that the World needs.

All power to him. I believe his legacy will be unparalleled.

The Dogs of War

This is a great visualisation by John Snow at Gizmodo of the huge battle going on for our digital souls…. Google, Apple & Microsoft are fighting the first true war of the 21st Century (if we ignore those pesky terrorists) in their attempts to create lifestyle cocoons around each and every one of us, developing a multi-verse of platforms which will ensure that, once we are snared, it will be almost impossible to disentangle ourselves. The implications for personal data and privacy are, as we all know, enormous….

Culture Clash

And later the same night – on 17th Feb – hit the Roundhouse for a madcap bass soundclash featuring Metalheadz, Trojan, DMZ and Soul II Soul…

Had a slightly obscene ‘royale with cheese’ hangover the next day…. well worth it though – Goldie and the Metalheadz crew ran out fully deserved winners – top top notch.

Jay Electronica

Lucky enough to see the fantastic Jay Electronica at his first ever London concert on 17th February at The Jazz Cafe.

Absolute quality.