 |
 |
|
|
KISS 106.1 Big Freakin’ Deal 4
Monday, August 19, 2002 1:00pm
The Seahawks Stadium
By: Clarissa (Japanissa) Grayson and Sirion (Tha Wonder Kid)
Sewell, Industry Insider 4 Muzik ‘N’ Axion Entertainment and
Seaspot Media Group
ALL ACCESS at BFD 4 w/ The New Seaspot Street Team.
Hey, Clarissa I got some Big Freakin’ News about the 4th
Annual Big Freakin’ Deal Benefit
Concert. Check it out!
Right now, Sirion and I are gonna to let y’all know
what it was like to kick it back stage at Kiss 106.1’s BFD #4!
This 9hour concert started off with American Idols, and
finished strong with Bad Boys tearing up the joint! And all
the while, the Seaspot Street Team was backstage, on stage,
front stage, and in the dressing rooms, making sure we got all
the inside info and hot photos, just for y’all.
Sirion: When I arrived at the new Seahawks Stadium, it was a
cold and foggy morning at about 10:00 a.m. The KISS booth was
already set up, fans were screaming for their favorite artists
and they were broadcasting live, all at 10:00 a.m. I went to
go pick up my tickets and media passes and set out on a
mission. The outside and inside of the stadium were awesome.
I made my way back to Mario’s dressing room, where I would
later meet him and hang out with him. Word, was that he was
running late, so I networked with record label execs and
waited anxiously. I had already missed Mario at Summer Jam, so
I was looking forward to finally getting to meet him. I was
sitting down the hall reading a magazine, when all of a
sudden, I see Mario standing right next to me, talking about,
"Ahh man, my head hurts", as he rubbed his freshly braided
hair. I said, "Oh, hey Mario wassup?", halfway noticing that
he was there. I was kind of caught off guard. I knew he was
going to be there but I wasn’t really expecting to see him, at
that time. We got to talk for a second, before it was time for
him to perform. The kid is really cool and down to earth. I
made my way out to the field where I took my place in front of
the stage, not wanting to miss a thing. Even though I’m two
years older than he is, it’s as if he’s my elder.
Clarissa: When I arrived, I hit the side stage where Mario and
his dancers were preparing to rock the stage. While there,
Mario and I got a chance to chop it up about pre-show
nervousness.
Clarissa: "Are you nervous?"
Mario: "Yeah a little, but you can ask any artist, even P-Diddy,
you always get nervous until you hit the stage."
You could have fooled me. As I spoke with this extremely tall
15 year-old artist, I saw no signs of pre-show anxiety. His
backup dancers, however, were a little on edge with
excitement. They did everything from push-ups to pep talks to
shake off any bad nerves.
Mario’s performance was really good. With the help of his
dancers, Anthony and Mark, Mario took the screaming Seahawk’s
Stadium audience by storm. He performed favorites: "Just a
Friend (2002)", "Braid My Hair", and "C’mon". Their dance
steps were crisp and Mario’s vocals were very impressive for a
15 year-old. Mario, dressed in his usual sweat suits, this
time, Roca Wear, moved effortlessly and with the slightest of
ease. Mario sang his heart out. We were very pleased with his
performance. What can we say, the kid has got it.
When we spoke to the dancers in the dressing room after their
perfect performance, they told us how much they loved dancing,
and that they had been doing it for years. One dancer in
particular was 25 year old Mark, who started his career in
Toronto, Canada. It was crazy! what you ask? Anthony and Mark,
Mario’s dancers, were attacked by ecstatic fans while trying
to walk through the food court. At first they thought Anthony
was Mario and girls were asking to take pictures with him and
asking both of them for autographs. But then some fans even
thought Sirion was someone famous and started asking him for
his autograph and to take pictures with him. One group of
girls even thought he was Mario, but after he told them he
wasn’t him, they still insisted on taking a picture with him.
. We found it surprising to see them get mobbed by crazy
concert goers just like the artists do.
After his show we met up again with Mario at the Kiss 106.1
tent where he signed autographs and we chopped-it up little
more.
Mario:"Did you enjoy the show sweetheart?"
Clarissa:"Yeah, it was nice. You did good job"
"Sweetheart?" Haha...he must not have known that I was 4 years
older than him!" But I took it the compliment and laughed
about it later to the rest of the Street Team.
All day long the concert stage was touched by some of your
favorite TRL artists: Daniel Bedingfield, The Calling, BBMak,
Avril Lavigne, Shaggy, O-Town and a big fan favorite Michelle
Branch.
Backstreet Boy, Nick Carter, had the privilege of announcing
Miss Michelle Branch (who is one of his favorite artists).
With guitar in hand, Michelle wooed the crowd with her
soothing vocals. Before one of her songs, Michelle dedicated
it "To the guy in the back with the ‘MARRY ME MICHELLE, sign".
To our surprise, the guy with the "I LOVE YOU MICHELLE" sign,
was right next to us. He knew he had no chance, but enjoyed
the show all the same.
Avril Lavigne was a little ball of energy. She was wildin’
out. Her style is unique. Her sound is cool. And she is very
cute. Avril seemed to be everyone’s favorite, next to P. Diddy.
She performed her current singles and kept us awake and
bouncing. We both love the video where she’s running around
the mall messing up all the stores, acting crazy and having
fun.
"MR. LUVA LUVA". Shaggy was up next. Along with him were
friends and reggae sensations, Rayvon, and Ric Rock. He and
Ric Rock performed their worldwide hit, "It Wasn’t Me",
"Angel" and a few others. Shaggy shocked Seattle, by giving
them a sneak peak into his soon to be released album. He had
everybody dancing with his first new song "Sexy Lady" (I
believe is what he called it). We call it HOT!!!, and his
second soon-to-be released single, dedicated to the ladies.
Yes, Yes, Yes. Shaggy was definitely one of our favorite acts
at BFD 4.
Later in the day we ran into "American Idol" star, AJ. Gil,
who, earlier had sang the National Anthem. We talked for a
while about the show, and he assured us that everyone was as
nice as they appeared to be on TV. We also asked him if he had
signed with a record label yet, he said no, but that didn’t
mean that he hadn’t received offers.
Clarissa: On a personal note, I have to say AJ was all smiles
all day, which was very refreshing to see. He was truly one of
the humblest people I met at the concert. During our many
conversations and meetings throughout the day, AJ would flash
me one of his bright smiles if he saw that mine was fading.
Now he's a sweetheart!
The O-Town guys continued to warm up the stage, and please the
crowd. After watching them for months on television, it was
sort of weird actually seeing them face to face. After their
show, they were happy to stop by and check out the Seaspot
crew and snap some photos with us. Jacob, a member of O-Town,
had a cute, 3ft long, grayish-brown monkey, that he brought
with him to their dressing room before their show. The lil’
guy was quite an attention getter.
ALL EYES ON US. Sirion and I had all eyes on us when we when
we started our own little C-Walk’n, Harlem-Shak’n, and Freakin’
competition in the middle of the field. We had the whole
stadium standing, watching and cheering us on! It started off
with a white boy C-walk'n and show’n off his skills. And we're
here to tell y’all, he put down and represented! Then the
homie from BadBoy came and dusted his shoes and was showing
off his Harlem shake. But it got crazy when they both tried to
break Clarissa off, with their booty shak’n & pop’n all over
the place dance skills. The crowd fell out with laughter and
cheered. We were like, "Whoa!" we had totally forgotten there
was an audience, it was such a rush.
PART OF THE FAMILY. Leave it to the Seaspot Street Team to
slip into the BadBoy Family and blend right in. We spent some
time with Mark Curry, Manager Wop, and Loon before, during,
and after P-Diddy hit the stage. My (Clarissa), cousin,
(Remy), was asked by Mark Curry to act like his son so that no
one would point him out while we all walked around the stadium
with no "all access" passes. We were the only ones allowed on
stage, and in the dressing room of the BadBoy family before
and after Diddy performed.
Diddy put on phat show that I watched front row, while Sirion,
Remy, and Chaz ( The New Seaspot Street Team ) watched from
backstage.
Sirion: I wished Diddy a good performance, he said thanks,
gave me a pound, and was off to do what he does best,
entertain. “Go Diddy, Go Diddy, Go Diddy”, is what we cheered
from the side stage. I loved Diddy, he was the biggest
performer I had ever seen live. He really knows how to put on
a show. I was giggin’ the coldest backstage. Loon, Mark Curry,
Jeremy, and their dancers did their thing on stage with Diddy.
Diddy performed all the Billboard hits: “I Need a Girl Pt. 1 &
2”, “All about the Benjamins”, “Bad Boy 4 Life” and a moving
rendition of “I’ll be Missing You”. Even Busta Rhymes
participated in the show (via satellite) and added to the heat
by helping to perform, "Pass The Courvasier." The crowd was
definitely feeling that! Diddy had lots of pyrotechnics,
flames, smoke, and silver paper streamers that were blasted
into the air above the crowd. It was well worth the 8hour
wait. Much props to Diddy and Jeremy, the sickest Harlem
Shaker, ever.
OOPS! Sorry Diddy but we have to tell our people about your
little "slip up". Diddy was the only artist who didn’t really
have time to chat with anyone, except with MTV. We tried to
bring y’all a little insight into Diddy himself but he wasn’t
really feeling it. But no worries, after the Street Team
watched Diddy slip on a towel and bust his A$$ we weren’t the
sore ones anymore! Diddy didn't seem to shaken though, as he
turned laughing and asked, "Did y’all get that on camera?"
Sorry Diddy, don’t be mad at us, we still love you. Come back
and see us.
This was a very exciting day, for all who attended. There is
so much stuff that happened and so many things that we did,
that if we told them to you, our stories would go on forever.
For all y’all fans who came out and supported your favorite
artists at this Kiss 106.1 concert, you understand exactly
what were saying, when we say to the rest of Seattle that they
missed a really good show!
We did it way big. WAY BIG! We can’t wait until next year.
Seaspot Power!
KISS 106 BFD 4 Line Up:
AJ Gil (national anthem)
Daniel Bedingfield
Mario
BB Mak
The Calling
Nick Carter (Backstreet Boys) (guest host)
Michelle Branch
Avril Lavigne
Shaggy
O-Town
P. Diddy and the Bad Boy Family
For more of KISS106 and BFD4 go2:
http://www.kiss1061radio.com
Special thanks to: Marc Jones at KISS106 and all the artists
who took the time to talk to us, make us feel welcome, hang
out with us and take pictures with us, we really appreciated
it. Especially Mario and his crew and the whole Bad Boy
Family. We won’t stop! Please Believe.
-Out 1
|
