The Paris party rides all varieties of waves of fun

The girl group legend collaborates with rock's heavy hitters

As a BBC Radio 1 presenter and DJ, Annie Mac is definitely a household name within the UK. After all, across the pond she’s considered the new voice of dance music due to her show Annie Mac’s Mash Up. Annie recently took over the legendary reins of Pete Tong’s famous Friday night slot on Radio 1 -- traditionally kicking off the weekend for those Brits to let loose. This past month, she came over to North America for a small club tour, stopping through New York City, of course. We caught up with Annie at the Tribeca Grand before her 2am DJ gig downstairs in the hotel’s subterranean dance den.

How to scalp a human head & have fun doing it

Paul Oakenfold could make anyone shake their booty. The world-class DJ and producer has been at it for almost 20 years, and he isn’t stopping anytime soon. In fact, he’s busier and busier. This month, he released Perfecto Vegas -- which includes a double CD of 21 exclusive tracks -- to commemorate the success of his residency at The Palms casino in Las Vegas. Perfecto Vegas is just one aspect of his recent body of work. Over the past year, he scored British film The Heavy, worked in the studio on Jerry Bruckheimer’s new film G-Force, and he’s on this “little” ride with that woman they call “M.” Take a guess who? That would be Madonna -- Oakenfold is currently DJing on her “Sticky & Sweet” global tour. Madonna also asked him to produce her latest single, “Celebration,” slated to come out August 3. Fortunately, I was able to catch up with Oakenfold in Oslo, Norway -- one of his tour stops with Madge -- and have a quick chat.

Kemado Records and its sister label, Mexican Summer, are quite busy to say the least. Over the past six months, both labels moved offices from Manhattan out to Greenpoint, Brooklyn, while simultaneously building a commercial recording studio within the vast new space. They’re also opening up a destination brick-and-mortar record store, organizing a music festival out in Big Sur, California, and of course producing a constant stream of new releases from their roster of artists. I sat down with label owner Andres Santo Domingo and label head Keith Abrahamsson to get the latest and check out their new pad.

It’s a mad dash for Rockefeller Plaza! Run! Run! Come this Friday, one of the biggest names in rock 'n' roll, Kings of Leon, will be performing live on NBC’s Today summer concert series. Those Southern boys from Nashville certainly put on a good show, and I know Friday’s gig will not disappoint. They are telling fans to show up at the wee hour of 6am to guarantee a good view. I’m predicting sleepovers within the confines of Rock Plaza. Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira, and Al Roker should be prepared for legions screaming girls. Of course, they're probably used to that kind of chaos by now.

Michael Jackson’s funerary festival isn’t stopping anytime soon. It just keeps going on ... and on ... and on ... Don’t get me wrong, I love MJ; Thriller was my very first album for god’s sake. Yet the media spectacle since his recent death has just been too much sensationalism for my taste. (This is probably the reason why I haven’t written one story or commented about his death until now.) I believe however there are those who genuinely want to honor the King of Pop and do so without ulterior motives. Case in point: come August 29 -- what would have been the Michael Jackson’s 51st birthday -- Q-Tip will present a tribute, “Long Live the King! A Birthday Celebration for Michael Jackson” at the NOKIA Theatre Times Square in New York.

Over the weekend, I kept hearing radio DJs comment on Amy Winehouse’s very recent and public divorce from Blake Fielder-Civil while playing the former's tunes on heavy rotation. So I decided to search around and see what’s been said across the pond about the hot-off-the press split. Lo and behold, I found a headlining story from British tabloid The Sun. Apparently, Blakeie-poo decided to have an official chat and “tell-all” about Amy. I can’t help but think how much The Sun paid Fielder-Civil for his words? The guy probably needed a few extra pounds due to the divorce, or perhaps he just wanted to take a stab at his ex. Regardless, it’s in bad taste. But what would one expect from the addict who admitted to introducing Winehouse to crack and heroin?

You know that Avery Storm’s first solo album is going to be interesting when, prior to its September release, some of his recent efforts include one of the few remixes of Jay-Z’s “Death of Autotune” off the Jiggaman’s soon-to-be-heard, Blueprint 3. Avery is among a handful of producers who somehow got his hands on the instrumental, then overlaid vocals. His remixing talent is just a taste of what’s to come, though. Avery recently played me a batch of new material off his new album, Shotgun Love, at Quad Studios in New York. The songs are filled with the kind of beats ideal for summertime blasting from cars and clubs both (Greenhouse, 1Oak, and Mr. West take note and get ready). The songs are hot, and Nelly seems to think so too. After all, Shotgun Love is being released on the rapper’s Derrty Entertainment label with a slew of guest producers and artists. Pharrell backs him too -- not so bad to have two heavyweights already in your corner.