The Liberia Project
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A few months ago, in our article Hipco’s OnStage, we talked about what a great project it would be to organize a contingent of DMV Hip Hop artists, and bands, and producers and videographers for a trip to Monrovia, Liberia, and about bringing home a fantastic documentary film and soundtrack. And we said that given all the overlooked resources that were right here in DC, organizing that kind of once in a lifetime trip really shouldn’t be all that difficult to pull off. All it would take is buy-in from folk who wanted to go, supporters who want to see it happen, and working our social networks until we reach a tipping point.
OK, we know it’s not that simple. It’s probably as formidable a task as making OnStage DC the premier platform for streaming high quality video of live concerts. But what is life without a challenge? Both things are achievable goals. They just require a willingness to grind. At OnStage, we grind. We haven’t been standing still since we first brought this up. We’ve been researching, talking to folks, wrapping our minds around the real stumbling blocks and costs. We’ve got a clear picture in our minds of how to make it happen, even who we’d like to see be a part of the contingent. So The Liberia Project is something we believe in and something we’ll be reaching out to you for input and for your support in a series of upcoming posts. And no, it’s way too early to ask them, but it’s no secret that we think a contingent of RAtheMC, Lyriciss, Black Alley, Trilogy III & Nu-Era, Morgan the CEO, Young Sir, and Awthentik would represent the DMV in a way that’s really beyond words. Dream Team!
Beef and Broccoli #HighlyRecommended
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Awthentik and Ethan Spalding have put their considerable individual talents together to come up with a superb release in the infectious head bopper “Beef and Broccoli”. For anyone putting together a new summer download list this is a must include. From the opening till the end it doesn’t disappoint. By the time you get halfway through to “Wood Rolled Tight” and “Love Me or You Love Me Not” then glide into “Fine Wine” and finish with “Today” you’ll have a new appreciation of what’s musically possible in hip hop in the DMV. The liner notes on the download page say that “the DMV fundamental sound shines right through” but that’s incorrect in a sense… This album is a cut above what passes for the fundamental DMV sound.
Summer Style
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I would match the stylishness that we see everyday in the streets, parks, work and play spaces of the DMV against any locale in the world and feel confident that our love for sartorial presentation will always carry the day. But let’s face it; summer can be a challenging season for looking cool in DC. It’s hot for one thing, and for another, maybe nobody has outright announced that in the war between T-shirt designers and short sleeve shirt makers for guys, the T-shirt designers have pretty much thrown in the towel. That means guys now have to fork out more $$ to keep showing up cause buying a quality fashionable short sleeve can put a dent in your weekly beer budget for real!
It’s a lot easier for the ladies of the DMV. The style choices are as diffuse as ever, from long cotton dresses to lycra under a sheer blouse. Shorts still make a statement and stylish exercise wear will get you into a lot more places these days. But a trend to take note of is the very cool hats gracing the heads of so many ladies this summer. It’s either a hat or an immaculate hair style and both serve a purpose. They pull the eyes in their direction and deflect a thorough examination of what’s worn beneath. Very big help for the summer because all-in-all, the DMV was batting about .275 in Everyday Style when we hit Malcolm X park on the first Sunday of the summer. Take a look through the pictures in Diggs Gallery.
JC Live!
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It's always a pleasure to visit B-More, our Charm City neighbor, and doubly so when the reason is to catch our favorite acoustic duo JC performing at the Canal Street Festival. We made it just in time for the start of their set and in addition to hearing them at the top of their game we also snapped a few pics for the Everyday Style section. JC is comprised of Jenee Bevett on vocals and guitar impressario Cornell Pearce providing string accompaniment. We call Jenee our DMV Diva and his contemporaries call Cornell one of the best guitarists in the area, hands down. We added a video of JC performing live at the festival to the OnStage Video Showcase and you can find 15 photos of what folks were styling in our Everyday Style Photo Showcase.
Q & A with OnStage
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Answers to a few of the questions people ask about OnStage Global Entertainment…..
Q. Your “About Us” section describes OnStage as a platform for streaming live music concerts but it doesn’t seem as if that’s what you’re doing now. When are you going to begin streaming shows?
A. Our business model is built around streaming concerts as premium content, essentially pay-per-view shows. We can do that now but we prefer to continue working to attract the partners and investments that will ensure the product we put out is closer to perfect than anything else out there. Meanwhile we probably will go ahead with some free shows just as demos.
Q. Aren’t you concerned that some other company will take your ideas about live streaming shows and run with them?
A. Not really. We don’t own the idea. We weren’t the first to come up with it and aren’t the first to act on it. It’s been around for years. On the scale we’re talking about the question isn’t who else is doing it but have they also figured out a compelling approach to marketing and viewer engagement.
Q. Why are you convinced folks in DC will pay to see a concert or show they aren’t actually attending?
A. DC is our home and we know the love of good music in this town is off the charts but DC represents a fraction of the market we want to sell to. OnStage DC has site visitors from around the world, like Eastern Europe which is strong, and China, Japan, Canada. They love this music. And we showcase videos from artists from New York and California and Pittsburg and Atlanta because we want to build brand recognition in those markets as well.
Q. What about those videos in your OnStage Video Showcase; how did you get permission to put them on your website?
A. These are all YouTube videos that link back to YouTube channels, many of which were sent to us by the artists themselves. We did a couple of them. Others we see out there and when we add them we hit the artist up to say we put the video OnStage. There aren’t many working artists who don’t want their work as widely disseminated as possible, so we get a lot of good feedback. Obviously, anybody who doesn’t think their work is good enough to be featured in the showcase can let us know and we’ll take it down right away.
Q. Do the OnStage partners have music backgrounds?
A. We’ve all been involved in music or the business of music, yes. Our webmaster also plays guitar, Khari, our co-founder is lead singer for the band Bombaye (formerly The Insurrection) and is a great music critic, Diggs started putting together shows when he was still a junior in high school and has been involved in club promotions, and James has had a fairly long hiatus before these past two years but also produced and promoted shows and briefly managed one of DC’s most popular R&B groups at the time.
Q. Are there artists or companies involved in music that you want to work with eventually?
A. Absolutely, pretty much everybody that follows us on Twitter we could see ourselves working with.
