Kingston Jamaica: 2006 ‘Deejay of the Year’ Sheldon ‘Aidonia’ Lawrence is definitely on a path to reclaim the top spot in dancehall. The J.O.P leader fresh from his two weeks tour of the United States where he made stops in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut last Friday clinched his first No.1 for 2010 on the FIWI Choice chart with the hit single ‘Evil Head’ produced by Tarik “Russian” Johnston of Head Concussion Records.

The single now gaining international notoriety also received top accolades on the ZIP FM Dancehall chart last week, while the Stephen McGregor produced ‘Mood For Love’ continues to steadily inch its way up the FIWI Choice chart positioning itself at No.4 this week.

Last Saturday saw the unveiling of the 2010 Youth View Awards where the savvy lyricist gave a stellar performance in front a packed house at the National Indoors Sport Centre. Aidonia was also nominated for ‘Male Deejay Of The Year’ with the award going to Portmore Empire’s, Vybz Kartel.

Now back in the island Aidonia will continue to work on his debut album, still untitled while preparing for an extensive European Tour.

WATCH VIDEO: Aidonia – Evil Head

Aidonia, Bugle, Charly Black, Demarco and I’Shawna at Hot 97 (during tour):

Source: Raymond ‘Shadow’ Small

According to our source, there are several reports circulating the internet and among members in the music industry that Dancehall deejay Mavado was robbed at gunpoint while voicing several dub plates at a studio in Canada early Sunday morning.

According to one report, Mavado and his manager was robbed at a studio called Sonny Diamonds located in Toronto, Canada.

Reports are that, a group of armed men stormed into the studio making demands. They allegedly stole Mavado’s jewellery and money and they also robbed other persons who accompanied the Deejay to the studio.

Mavado suffered a similar fate back in 2007 in Canada, when his passport, credit cards, laptop and other valuables were stolen forcing the deejay to cancel his appearance at several events.

(Photo by Cassius Watson: Chino accepting his EME award)

(Kingston, Jamaica) — After a lengthy night at the EME awards on Thursday, sprinkled with ‘Hellelujahs’ (Denroy Morgan after receiving his award) and psuedo male strippers (Dancehall/Rapper, Unique from the USA), Chino and Spice were ranked among some of the top awardees for the night.

Reggae/Dancehall artiste Chino, received the award for ‘Breakthrough Artiste of the Year’ alongside JahVinci. The award is presented to the artiste whose work attracted local and international attention, and who is seen as poised as a leader for the next generation of Reggae/Dancehall stars.

This is an undeniable achievement for Chino, who released a plethora of hit songs last year ranging from, From Mawning, Pon Yuh Head, Call We Name, We Nuh Like Dem (Featuring Di Genius), Protected, and others, while balancing a three month European and US tour. Only a few weeks into the new year and Chino already has more than four major stingers released; among them are Buy You A Round alongside Sean Paul, Find It Hard featuring Dean Frasier and Phone Gyalis.

Chino whose correct name is Daniel McGregor says, “I have to say thanks to everyone who helped me to make my success possible. One person can’t do it, it takes a lot of belief in yourself and a great team, great fans and media persons and others in the industry who believe in you. So thanks to everyone and for the new year I’m staying focused and coming with a lot of hot new tracks and two albums: one for the US market and the other for Japan.”

Also from the Big Ship family, Stephen ‘Di Genius’ McGregor won the award for ‘Dancehall Producer of the Year’.

(Photo by Cassius Watson): Spice collecting her award from Dancehall/Rapper Unique

Dancehall’s top diva Spice, also received the award for ‘Female Dancehall Artiste of the Year’. Armed with a number of the island’s well known songs last year including Ramping Shop, Fluffy Vs. Slim (Featuring Pamputae), Chattie Back, Ten Long, Nagging Man, Bad Mind, Draw Mi Out and others, Spice says she is pleased with her reward after putting in the hard work last year.

Two days after his brothers Stephen and Ziggy picked up Grammy Awards in the Best Reggae Album and the Best Children’s album category respectively, Julian Marley played to a full house at the Negril Escape Resort at Negril One Love Reggae Concert show which was held on Tuesday February 2, 2010. It was Marley Magic all the way as Julian Marley rocked the house in fine style.

His nearly two hour long performance saw him reeling of songs such as Father’s Plce, Harder Dayz, Boom Draw, Awake, Lion In The Morning and Loving Clear along with several of his father’s timeless hits. The huge audience sang along, screamed and applauded right throughout his performance.

The show was opened by Ras Noble, Power Drill and Iron Head all these acts gave a good account of themselves.

The next show in the Negril One Love Reggae Concert winter series will feature veteran lovers rock singer John Holt along with Richie Melody and the Uprizing Band.

2010 saw the 14th renewal of the JAMAICA Jazz and Blues Festival, and the event moving from a three day event, to an all-out, week-long musical experience, that drew thousands of people to witness it. With prelude shows in Kingston and along the northern coast of the island, the Festival headed to its new home, The ‘Greenfield’ Stadium, for an awesome three nights of live music from performers like Babyface, Gladys Knight, Marion Hall, Erykah Badu, Hall and Oates, Machel Montano, Jon Secada, Joss Stone, and more.

“It was magnificent,” said Walter Elmore, Executive Producer for the festival. He commented that the event had stepped into a new era this year, and that “more growth is inevitable”.

The event brought in tourists yet again, filling hotel rooms, from Montego Bay to Ocho Rios. “There basically wasn’t a room to be had on the North Coast. As Minister Bartlett would say, the Festival really brought ‘heads to beds’ and the week-long formula that we now have, brought tourists in earlier, and had them stay longer,” Elmore, who is also principal of TurnKey Productions, said.

Regarding the new home of the Festival, TurnKey Productions transformed the multipurpose sports stadium into a nostalgic, intimate concert venue, without losing any of the traditional Jazz and Blues Festival appeal. “Its perfect. There’s nothing missing, and we have the ocean as the backdrop,” said one patron when quizzed about the festival’s new home – The Greenfield.

“It is important to note that patrons benefited the most from this move, as the new venue allows for more and better parking, has infrastructure already in place, and allows more and more ‘jazzmaniacs’ to enjoy the feel of the Caribbean’s largest and best musical experience,” Elmore said.

He added that with a venue such as The Greenfield, TurnKey Productions could look at bringing more prestigious perfomers, without having to raise ticket prices.

“The Greenfield is a venue that can hold more than 17,000 people, and with that ability, we can look forward to getting bigger acts and growing more as an event”

This year’s festival was also broadcast live online at popular video streaming website LiveStream, and this also attracted several hundreds of thousands of viewers around the world. Live streaming, which was offered free of cost, was a new addition to the Festival, to accommodate music lovers globally who just couldn’t make it to the event.

“We are definitely looking to go bigger next year. The Festival is an ever-growing event, and so as new challenges arise, we have to adapt accordingly. The week-long formula worked well for us, and persons liked it. 2011 is definitely going to be a year to look forward to,” promised Elmore.

Rising reggae/dancehall artist Timmi Burrell was in fine form when he performed at the Excellence in Music and Entertainment Awards (EMEs), which was held last night at The Gardens at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston. The dapperly dressed young man was the first performer in a segment of the awards show dubbed the Tribute To Studio One and he got things off to a very good start with a splendid rendition of Horace Andy’s timeless classic Skylarking which was produced by the great Jamaican producer Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd who founded the Studio One studio and label in the 1960s.

Judging from the response of the audience his effort was well appreciated. The main man behind the EMEs Richard Burgess was very pleased with Timmi Burrell’s performance; “Timmi got the show off to a very fine start I must say, he is certainly poised for great things”, said Richard Burgess when asked for his thoughts about the budding artist’s performance.

His return to the local musical landscape has found favor with fans and music industry insiders alike. Therefore it comes as no surprised that he has copped the award for Biggest Come Back Artist of the Year in the Excellence in Music and Entertainment Awards (EMEs) which was held last night at The Gardens at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston.

When contacted Spanner Banner was in a very happy mood as he expressed his gratitude to the fans who voted for him on the EMEs website; “Right now I man haffi big up all the fans who vote for me, them and Jah made it possible and I give thanks to them and the creator who give I the inspiration to write and sing good music.”

Spanner Banner was also one of the performers at the EMEs. He and his three musical siblings Pliers, Richie Spice and Snatcha gave patrons attending the event an extra special performance that was dubbed the Bonner Brothers Moment.

LOS ANGELES – With a criminal charge looming, Michael Jackson’s doctor is negotiating his surrender to Los Angeles authorities, his attorney said Thursday.

A statement from Ed Chernoff said he was negotiating with the district attorney’s office for Dr. Conrad Murray to turn himself in, but there has been no agreement on specifics.

“When the agreement is complete, we will report further,” Chernoff said.

Murray has maintained that nothing he gave Jackson should have killed him.

Murray’s arraignment already has been set for Friday afternoon, a person familiar with the planning told The Associated Press. The person declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the situation.

The possible charge was not disclosed. However, two law enforcement officials have told the AP prosecutors plan to charge Murray with involuntary manslaughter, alleging he gave Jackson a powerful anesthetic that led to his June 25 overdose death at a rented mansion in Los Angeles.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the case.

Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman for the district attorney, would not confirm or deny that Murray would appear Friday at the courthouse.

Murray, who has a practice in Houston, came to Los Angeles last weekend and has been strategizing with his defense team.

Police have been investigating Murray since Jackson’s death. The doctor told detectives he’d given the singer a powerful anesthetic and other sedatives to get the chronic insomniac star to sleep. Jackson, 50, died soon thereafter, and investigators have been gathering evidence to try to show Murray was negligent in administering the drugs.

DJ Currency unleashed his best performance yet at “Mix It Fridaays” last weekend at The Roof located at 07 Half Way Tree Road. Currency had patrons dancing up a sweat and ‘bussing blanks’ to his selections as he launched into one hour of red hot, blazing high energy performance. Many female patrons were seen backing it up on their male counterpart as they get on bad at the sound of the music. Such was DJ Currency performance that immediately after, several party fans scrambled to take photos with him “for facebook of course” said one excited female fan. DJ Currency who celebrates his 21st birthday on Thursday February 4th and plays next at Club Afrodiziac on Saturday February 6th.

Sophia Brown’s recently released video for single Gimmi that good love has hit number one this week on CVM Hitlist. Brown who is back in the island from a recent performance at the Roxy’s in L.A. and other business is pleased with the latest development in her career. Universal has begun distribution of Gimmi That Good Love which is now available at all major music outlets to include Starbucks, Best Buy, Walmart and Sprint. Sophie now prepares for a US tour where she will be opening for Rapper Scarface.

Cush Hunta’s celebrates his birthday this Saturday February 6th at Club Afrodiziac, Portmore Heart Academy. The party which is sponsored by “Taste the tropics” a new energy drink on the market, will kick off at 9pm to much excitement and fan fare while DJ Currency and Ryme Up, two up and coming party blaster selectors kick off the night’s proceeding with an up tempo party vibes before the introduction of Guest DJS Smurf, Johnny Kool and Fresh Fridays crowd pullers DJ Krazy Dean and Santana heats up the place.

Singer/Songwriter Greg Nesbeth who has been in the shadows continue to rise in pursuit of a life long dream of becoming an internationally acclaimed artiste in this new decade. Since teaming up with producer Jan Biggs both have created a synergy among them that seems to have found its place in the local industry. Nesbeth is now enjoying some positive feedback for his work not only from fans but importantly from various media representatives, some of whom have invited him to sit a number of radio interviews. His current single, A Nuh So Me Waan Live and hit single Drive By are now being played concurrently on number of major radio stations both locally and internationally. The demand for his appearance on major shows is steadily increasing which is good because it would have put into perspective the results of his efforts over the years.

HIGHLIGHTS!! Tremma House Production recorded Sweden number one Reggae artiste, Million Stylez on its recently released “Massaca” riddim. Tremma House recently released potential hit tunes by Capleton, Fantan Mojah and Teflon as well as tracks by up and coming artistes Bitta, Prrpropa Ting and Craig Scott on the same riddim. Roots Revealers video for their cover version of the legendary John Holt hit single, “Sweetie” is steadily moving up the local charts. The duo has also found a new market in Canada with the single which is now in rotation on at least one major Reggae radio station.

Ed Meyer, Noa’s business manager, told us he was ready to call Combs as a witness in court proceedings and quiz him on the possible existence of an alleged sex tape of the pair, who dated for over two years until 2001.
Meyer also said he intended to put J.Lo on the witness stand and ask her about her sexuality since she was allegedly seen kissing a woman in another video filmed more than a decade ago.

The move is part of a legal battle over Noa’s attempt to release a video he shot of J.Lo when they were married for a year in 1997. J.Lo’s lawyers have gotten an injunction blocking the release on the basis that the video is private and personal. Meyer insists the footage is not overtly sexual, containing nothing more than images of the star kissing a woman and performing a lap dance.

Meyer told Page Six, “Ojani’s footage is not a sex tape. In addition to kissing women, there are points where she’s lap dancing Ojani [and others]. All with her clothes on. We’re trying to establish that it’s not a sex tape and therefore usable in Ojani’s movie.”

Meyer says he wants to call Combs to attempt to illustrate any differences between videos he and Lopez may have made and the one Noa possesses. Meyer said, “We will ask: Is there a sex tape between [him] and Lopez, and what does it involve?”

There is no proof the rumored J.Lo and Puffy sex tape exists.

Jay Lavely, Lopez’s lawyer, said, “Ed Meyer’s comments are false and ridiculous. Ms. Lopez will be completely vindicated on her claims in this matter.”

On Friday, Lopez lost a motion to have the case with Noa settled in arbitration, and another court date was scheduled for March 4.

A source close to J.Lo said, “Meyer will say anything for publicity.”