At this stage I'm sure many of you have heard of Marina and the Diamonds, one of the 2010's most exciting musical prospects. Brainy, quirky pop with a powerful mix of mainstream appeal and individual charm it wouldn't surprise me if her album The Family Jewels became something of a chart behemoth this year.
A sure sign of the impact of Marina on her already wide group of fans, Dublin club night Listen | Love are holding an album launch tomorrow night (Thursday the 18th) at the Chocolate Bar in Tripod. Organised by fans for fans (old and new) it's a chance to hear a genuinely great new pop album in the rather lovely settings of the Chocolate Bar. There'll be two plays of the album, tunes selected by Marina herself (I've had a sneak peek and she's picked a typically interesting but rather good mix!) and plenty of guest DJs including the wonderful Joey Kavanagh and Eimear Fitzmaurice of Come As Soon As You Hear taking over duties in the Chocolate Bar post Marina album (expect more than a fair share of great remixes and hidden gems).
Not only that but I'll kicking off things in Crawdaddy from 11pm with a bit of a DJ set, followed by other fab DJs including Rich JC of Supersuperdisco (who I'm playing with this Saturday, do come along!), Aine Macken of Áit Ait and Peter Fingleton of C U Next Tuesday. There is also a bucket load of cheap booze, lots of Marina goodies and a general air of all around mischief.
If all that weren't enough (you greedy sod) there is also this rather lovely promo that myself and Helen O'Reilly of IMTV shot with the lady herself last week in Dublin (with thanks to both Listen | Love and Warner Music Ireland for having us in). We only had Marina for a brief few minutes in a rather hectic press day. She was very polite, professional and seemed very focused. I caught her talking to her PR about her other interviews that day. She was gracious and friendly but also wary of interviewers trying to portray as something she wasn't. It was nice to see that the intelligence of Marina's music was more than evident in person. And all that and she is awful pretty too. You can't quite see it in the video but her outfit was pretty fierce also.
Anyway enough droning on, check out the video below and do say hello if you make it to Listen | Love tomorrow!
So at this stage we all know Miss Heidi Montag has had way too much plastic surgery. It was pretty hard to escape that rather scary People magazine cover and even creepier TV interviews last week. The Hills star seemed insistent that her work was done to make her happy and help her pop career and not because she was addicted. What was scary was as creepy as the overly airbrushed People cover was, the interviews on TV were even worse. Her face is still obviously slightly in shock from the procedures and she has managed to both age herself and remove the expression completely from her face. Frightening:
Getting less attention this week was Heidi's sometimes co-star on The Hills Kelly Cutrone. She may not have shared any screen time with Heidi but Kelly was as big a part of the show (when it wasn't AWFUL) when she happily tore lazy L.A. girls apart for their lack of work ethic. Having happily moved her antics to the far superior Hills spin off The City, Kelly has finally landed a show of her Kell On Earth. It'll air on US station Bravo next month. Already home of Kathy Griffin, various Real Housewives and the Rachel Zoe I think Miss Cutrone is in excellent company. Kelly was doing press for the show, and one of my favourite blogs Jezebel linked readers to the highlights of her press conference. It's interesting, funny and a great teaser for the show and a reminder of why Cutrone is such a breath of fresh air. A quick dig around Jezebel also pulls up this great profile which sketches in her background as publicist which is fascinating reading.
It's funny how someone like Heidi is convinced that being this plastic will benefit her career. But then you see someone like Kelly. Someone with a genuinely interesting backstory and a career on her own terms who didn't have to alter her face to an ridiculous extent to get there.
Admittedly these aren't totally accurate comparisons. Heidi was a famous girl's friend who aspired to be a popstar. And Kelly clearly stumbled into a career she was made for in a place where how blonde or big her boobs where didn't matter. But still, it's interesting how The Hills has thrown up such different women going on two different paths in the pop culture mainstream.
In a sense the level of outrage, shock and general sense that this does not look good on Heidi might spur people to move away from ever seeing this a look that suits somebody. Having said that, as Heidi points out, life in the permanently perfectly world of Hollywood is very different to anywhere else in the world.
And while we're here, Kell on Earth looks like an awful lot of fun:
