Beyoncé Interlude

I never heard any more from Sony BMG Music UK regarding winning tickets, in an online competition, to see Beyoncé Knowles perform live before a specially invited audience, backed by a 12-piece band, on an outdoor stage at BBC Television Centre last November!

Over the New Year weekend BBC 2 showed highlights (in SDTV and HDTV formats) of the Beyoncé concert. The one-off show looked and sounded spectacular. An acoustic arrangement of Irreplaceable was particularly effective.

No follow-up calls or an explanation has been forthcoming from the Sony BMG Music UK offices! Don't you think I deserve some form of compensation? My B-Day is on January 23rd and I await concert tickets and a backstage VIP pass. Thanks in advance Sony BMG Music.

Meet & Greet

Last evening I received a telephone call from Sony BMG Music UK! I've won tickets to see Beyoncé, in concert, later this month at an exclusive BBC event! What an amazing pre-holiday surprise!

Don't ever recall winning a competition before, and am therefore, if you'll excuse the informality, stoked! I've been a fan of Beyoncé since 1999 when I saw Destiny's Child perform, seminal song, Say My Name on MTV.

Hmm, wonder what future Sony swag is in-store for consumers following the release of the P!nk co-branded PSP? One endorsed by Beyoncé or Jennifer Lopez? Yum, yum!

Dismissed

Destiny Fulfilled completes a quartet of albums from DC (in all the groups various incarnations). From the bland self-titled debut to multi-platinum breakouts The Writing’s On The Wall (1999) and Survivor (2001), DC has delivered consistent commercial and creative success. Expectations for the fourth album were understandably high.

Upon opening the CD jewel case the listener (captive audience) is exposed to a marketing onslaught from Tommy Hilfiger’s True Star campaign (fronted by Beyoncé) and McDonald’s tour sponsorship pack-ins.



Destiny Fulfilled opens with the dynamite duo of Lose My Breath and Soldier (video promo already available online). This listener was so impressed that he had to play them twice a la Michael Jackson’s Dangerous. Then something unexpected happened. It all went so horribly, horribly wrong! Ballad followed ballad showcasing what we already know; the girls harmonise without peer and Beyoncé is the star. Where did the attitude-enthused anthems, Bootylicious, Bills, Bills, Bills and feted CD/DVD flipside technology go? Beyoncé’s second solo album may provide the answer.

If the band's manager, Mathew Knowles, is so astute then why didn’t he assemble an EP or greatest hits package – a fitting final curtain call for DC - instead of this misguided mess? Fulfilled suffers from Beyoncé’s solo success and has echoes of The Jacksons Victory (1984) album. Will a Victory tour debacle follow?

For the time being I'll seek sonic solace in my Canadian roots, and listen to DC's stablemate Avril Lavigne. The string section on Nobody's Home is sublime.

Express Yourself

Pepsi has announced an iPod promotion in Australia alongside sponsorship of pop sensation Delta Goodrem! Presumably there'll be a similar Pepsi promo in Europe when iTunes Music Store is released?

After losing many daylight hours testing the World of Warcraft beta. DarkRyder has been joined by Human Warrior Mondas (named after the home planet of Doctor Who's calculating Cybermen). He resembles the new He-Man sculpt from The Four Horsemen! Fans of Blizzard's various franchises may be delighted to learn that Mac OS X installation patches for classic titles Diablo and Starcraft are to be released over the coming weeks. Feel the love!

Can't wait for Friday's release of The Day After Tomorrow! CGI geeks (and who isn't?) should see Terragen, a landscape generator that is heavily utilised in the movie!

Madonna begins her "Reinvention" World Tour tonight. Aroused by the success of Britney, Beyoncé and Kylie, Madonna is "dusting off" those old hits - Get Into The Groove to Vogue - and promises a show as spectacular and provocative as Blond Ambition '90 (I attended the infamous live BBC Radio One broadcast from Wembley Stadium in July, 1990).

The Sun and listening to Alanis Morissette's So-Called Chaos is so soaking up my time! BTW I watched The Corrs new video on MTV! It still "hurts" to look at Andrea!