Musica: Omar Lye-Fook

On a gray and rainy day, I finally got around to uploading the video footage I caught with my camera at the ultra rare August 14th NYC appearance by UK neo-soul / r'n'b singer Omar Lye-Fook (one of my all time favorite artists).

In part, it had taken me a while to upload the videos due to the unfortunate awful sound quality. I should have known that others had uploaded better clips on YouTube from some of the shows he did on the mini-tour. To wit:

"Ghana Emotion" from the show at SOB's (another take here):


A cover of one of my favorite songs. Roy Ayer's "Everybody Loves the Sunshine" from a February show in North Carolina:


From the same show, his recent international hit "It's So...":


Here's his take on Stevie Wonder's "Be Thankful" from a January show in France (another angle here):


If you'd like to know more about Omar or purchase some of his amazing records:

• Omar's official page
• Omar on Amazon.com
• Omar on MySpace

Musica: Outdoor (and indoor) summer lovin'

By now the greatness that is Alison Moyet should be walking among the mere mortals here in New York. Along with Vince Clarke (as Yaz) she will be performing at two shows at Terminal 5 tomorrow and Thursday and then on Saturday at the more intimate Beacon Theater (and I got good seats! Hmmm... Bacon!).

In the meantime there's even more summer lovin' coming our way so - if you allow me to highlight a couple of the music events that I consider as unmissable - here we go:

This Sunday: Santogold, Diplo, A-Track, Kid Cudi, Blaqstarr & Mz Streamz - Central Park's SummerStage starting at 3PM (Free): OMG, trust me. It'll be hot, humid, drippy and packed! Get there early.

Sunday, August 3, 2008: Jamie Lidell, Janelle Monae, Little Jackie, Jose James & Gilles Peterson (jazzmatazz-funk courtesy of Giant Step) - Central Park's SummerStage starting at 3PM (Free): Spazzmatazz alert!

Thursday, August 14, 2008: Omar (OMG! OMAR! In NYC!!! OMG!!! Yes! OMG!!!) - SOB's starting at 7PM (Show starts at 9PM) One of the most under-appreciated singers ever in the history of amazing singers makes his way to New York City (video above). He's sung with Mary J. Blige and Stevie Wonder, amongst others.

Friday, August 15, 2008: Bajofondo (hm, ok) and Osunlade & The Yorubasoul Orchestra (OMG! Aural orgasm!!) - Central Park's SummerStage starting at 7PM (Free): I swear to you! Orgazm! Orgasm, I say!