Kanye West’s Glow in the Dark Tour

SARA MARSH & SABRINA BROWN '09

Get ready for May 15th! Kanye West is coming to the Tweeter Center, located in Mansfield Massachusetts for his Glow in the Dark Tour directed by Larry Charles. The artist will be joined by popular R&B and pop singers Rihanna, Lupe Fiasco and N.E.R.D. This fabulous line consists of Grammy winners and top seller artists.

Recently, Kanye West has been getting media attention for his top selling album Graduation that includes three top hits: Stronger, Flashing Lights, and Good Life. He released his debut album, The College Dropout, in 2004, and his second album, Late Registration, in 2005. He is a nine time Grammy award winner and also runs his own record label GOOD Music. West's mascot and trademark is a teddy bear which has appeared on the covers of his three albums. He enrolled at Chicago State University but later dropped out to continue pursuing his music career, which is how he developed the name for his first album. In July 2007, West changed the release date of Graduation, from September 18, 2007, to the same release date as 50 Cent's album Curtis, September 11, 2007. 50 Cent later claimed that if Graduation were to sell more records than Curtis, he would stop releasing solo albums. In the end, 50 Cent ended this bet. The album has been certified double platinum, with guest appearances from T-Pain, Mos Def, & Lil Wayne.

Rihanna, a native from Barbados, is currently heating up the charts with her new album Good Girl Gone Bad, which hit stores June 5, 2007. The artist has recently changed her image from a sweet innocent teen, to a feisty, sex image. Her hit “Umbrella” became the number 1 hit single for ten consecutive weeks in the United Kingdom, and was played all summer on the radio in the United States. Rhianna has won many awards including World's Best-Selling Pop Female Artist & Entertainer of the Year at the 2007 World Music Awards, "Favorite Female Artist - R&B" at the 2007 American Music Awards. Her hit "Shut Up and Drive" won best R&B song at the 2008 People's Choice Award, while "Don't Stop the Music" won best international song at the 2008 NRJ Music Awards in France.

Lupe Fiasco is a Grammy-winning American Hip-hop artist, who is also the co-founder and vice-president of 1st & 15th Entertainment, a record label under Atlantic. Lupe is open about discussing his Islamic beliefs, and one of his musical influences happens to be Kanye West. Fiasco, a Grammy winner for the 2008 Best Urban/Alternative Performance ("Daydreamin' (feat Jill Scott)"), hasn’t been recognized for any other awards, however he’s been nominated for many. These nominations include BET Awards Best New Artist of 2007, Grammy Awards 2007, Best Rap Album: Food & Liquor, BET Hip Hop Awards 2007 for Hip-Hop CD of the Year (Food & Liquor) and Hip-Hop Video of the Year ("Kick Push”). His most recent hit song is “Superstar” from his 2007 album Lupe Fiasco's the Cool featuring Matthew Santos. “Superstar” was the first single off his album released September 25, 2007.

N.E.R.D. is an alternative rock band consisting of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo of The Neptunes, and their friend Shay Haley. When asked what n.e.r.d. stood for, Pharrell Williams, the lead singer replied, “N.E.R.D stands for No One Ever Really Dies.” Their second album, Fly or Die, went on sale on March 22, 2004. The album went top 10 in the USA, featuring their hit single, “She wants to move.” Their most recent album, Seeing Sounds is due to be released June 10, 2008. The group is currently promoting it during their tour with Kanye West.

If you are anyone you’ll be at the concert Thursday, May 15th! We hope to see you there!

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Fashion News: The Natick Collection

SARA MARSH '09

The Natick Mall just got a lot more interesting! The beginning of September became a very busy shopping season due to the grand opening of the Natick Collection. The mall, located off route 9 on the Natick-Framingham border, just expanded and inherited a wide variety of luxury shops. Due to the extensive advertisement of new stores, thousands of people are checking out the new extension of the mall and they are not disappointed. Most are astounded by the amazing sales, special promotions, and unprecedented discounts. The new addition features trendy and sophisticated restaurants, upscale department stores such as Nordstrom’s and Neiman Marcus, and a wide selection of other high-end clothing and accessory stores.

The Natick Mall has always attracted shoppers in need of new outfits or electronics, but the creation of the Natick Collection allows one to do their shopping in style and luxury. The new are more designer based and offer clothing and accessories at better quality. Stores such as, Kate Spade, Betsey Johnson, Juicy Couture, Tommy Bahama, The Apple Store, Banana Republic, J Crew, Lulu Lemon Athletica, BCBG, Max Mara, Burberry, Lacoste, Louis Vuitton and others are some of the new designer stores added to the mall. While these stores are more expensive, they are also more upscale and attract more people. For many, it is easier to travel to Natick than to Boston to find the same selection, and no one wants to deal with Boston traffic and parking? Before Natick collection opened, the only place to grab a meal at the mall was if you either visited the food court, or went to California Pizza Kitchen, which always seems to have a long wait. Some of the new restaurants are The Cheesecake Factory, Finale, The Metropolitan Bar and Grill, Melt Gelato and Crepe Café, Nordstrom Café Bistro, Sel De La Terre, and many more. The wide variety of restaurants allows shoppers to enjoy dinner, lunch or a tasty snack at trendy, high quality restaurants.

The interior decorations throughout the mall are fantastic! There are statues of realistic birch trees throughout the mall, and the floors have all been retiled with marble and are nicely polished. A giant fountain, located where the new section and older section of the mall meet, has created a nice courtyard feeling. The balcony of the second floor looks over the treetops of birch trees that have been mounted into the first floor and the glass ceiling allows the sunshine to glimmer through.

Looking around, the shoppers appear to be happy, excited and overwhelmed. I think that many people are still in shock about how nice the new addition is to the mall. The older part has been refurbished and is still crowded with people. The new wing has brought in many more people to shop at the new stores and as a result numerous people are discovering the improvements to the old section of the mall. If you haven’t already gone to visit the Natick Collection, it’s definitely worth a visit. Make sure you check out the new stores, and restaurants, and bring some extra cash, you may find yourself a new wardrobe!

Image from: www.Boston.com
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Justin Timberlake: Future Sex and Love Sounds

SARA MARSH '09

On August 10, 2007 traffic was backed up all through Boston. Reason being that Justin Timberlake was about to perform in front of a sold out audience at the TD Banknorth Garden. The Garden is located down by North station, and besides concerts, the Bruins and the Celtics play their home games there. The audience was full of mainly teenage girls, twenty-year olds, and mothers accompanying their younger daughters. The teenage girls were interested in taking pictures of the stage and Justin, whereas the twenty somethings were more interested in the alcoholic beverages for sale. The few men among the crowd were attached to their girlfriends with looks of embarrassment across their faces. This was not a testosterone filled experience. The energy level was high as everyone was anxiously waiting to see Justin perform.

The stage design was fabulous. People in all areas could see the entire stage. There was a revolving circle in the center, so when playing the piano or guitar, the performer wouldn’t be facing one angle. The stage was in the middle of the arena, with people seated stadium style surrounding it. On both sides of the stage off the center walkway, there were instruments for the live band to perform. White drapes hung from giant metal bars and were used as screens throughout the concert. Instead of pure videos on the screen, there was an interesting special effect allowing the performers to look like as if they were 3-D drawings.

The opening band for Timberlake was Good Charlotte, a pop-punk band, from Maryland. They are well know for their song “Lifestyles of the Rich and the Famous” that was all over the radio in the early 2000’s. Just recently their newest album, Good Morning Revival hit number 7 on the Billboard charts. The room felt scilent just minutes before Good Charlotte took the stage. The band had a good set and there was a vibe going throughout their performance, however there was not enough enthusiasm in the crowd, and their music didn’t fit the scene of people going to see Timberlake. Within the short time between when Good Charlotte had finished and when Justin came on, more and more people were starting to fill out the empty seats.

Justin opened the concert with his song “Future Sex Love Sounds” and the crowd went wild. Girls were crying and screaming as Justin broke into one of his many complicated dance routines. The moves were sexual, and amusing to watch. Each fast paced song had choreography that Justin and his dancers preformed to. He sang everything from his ballads, to his pop/dance songs. He even preformed an N’Sync song, following with various top-selling songs from his Justified album, released in 2004. Along with singing, the multi-talented star danced and played instruments to a majority of his music. He even gave a toast to the fans and personally talked about his experience in coming to Boston. The toast was a nice touch and got the crowd riled up.

Half way through the concert Timbaland, a popular producer to the famous and successful musicians, performed the half-time performance. Timbaland’s act consisted of the crowd yelling along to popular songs while he d-jayed his beats. His work was amusing and boosted the energy level. After Timbaland finished his performance, Justin came back out to sing his last songs. Many people started rushing out of the stadium thinking that the concert was over in attempt to beat the rush of screaming pre-teens. However, Timberlake surprised the crowd and played a series of ballads on the piano.

The concert was amazing and a great experience. Timberlake is a talented performer and knows how to work the crowd, and perhaps he deserves more credit than his boy band reputation has given him. His dancing, singing, and instrumental abilities are real crowd pleasers. No wonder all his concerts on his Future Sex Love Sounds Tour were sold out!
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