Team Edward or Team Jacob?
The success of the Twilight series of books by Stephanie Meyer took many by surprise. After Harry Potter, no one thought that there could be another fiction series that would excite a teen reader and create such a fan frenzy. Catherine Hardwicke was handpicked to direct the first movie “Twilight” and the secret was out- everyone is picking up the books and enjoying them. The movie opens November 21 and the early buzz is very positive. Virgin Megastore Time Square has some of the actual fashions worn in the movie on display right now. Twilight tees and accessories are available for a limited time in all stores, and don’t forget to pick up the awesome movie soundtrack with artists like Muse, Paramore and Linkin Park contributing. If you haven’t read the book, we offer all 4 at the store. My buying team is all hooked and they highly recommend the adventures & love story of Bella & Edward!
Dirtbombs/TV on the Radio – Wiltern Los Angeles
So I’ve never really understood the fanaticism that people have for TV on the Radio, but my friend wanted to go to this show so I decided to give them a try as ‘they are great live’ is something these fans keep on telling me.
I got there for the opening band, who I have been a fan of for 5 years or so but have never seen, The Dirtbombs…and they slayed me, one of the best sets I’ve seen this year. Mick Collins is the heart of the band, a 40 something black man who fronts the band, who are essentially a garage rock act with soulful vocals, with endless leg kicks, jumps and guitar antics. The band has two drummers who pound away in unison and a firecracker of a female second guitarist who rocks almost as hard as Mick. They just rock, killer riffs had me banging my head with joy, just simple really well played rock n’roll. They finished their set by leaving the drummers playing and the band packing up around them, by the end it was left with both drummers pounding on a snare and a bass drum after everything else had been taken off stage, then the guitarist took away their sticks. A great end to a great set.
So after that I was hyped up and suspected that TVOTR would not be able to match up…and I was right. I gave them a honest try though, we stayed for all of the main set. Their sound was muddy and it wasn’t the venue because the Dirtbomb’s sound was just fine. And the songs…well I just don’t hear anything that grabs me. But I had a great night anyway thanks to the Dirtbombs and good company.
Andrew Gyger
Sr. Music Product Manager
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE OF ALL TIME?
I’ve been asked this question several times since we expanded a section of our Times Square store to make room for a special Warner Bros. DVD pop-up store. I guess I’m somewhere between “An American In Paris” and “300” — so I’m finding the 400 sq. foot interactive Warner Bros. 85th Anniversary store more like a mini-movie museum than a typical DVD – flip-the-bins type shop. The store is complete with a red carpet – and a huge flat screen that shows cool movie clips from WB’s 85 years in the moviemaking biz. Now all I need is a Lazy Boy recliner and a box of Red Vines and I might not ever leave. Come check it out for yourself…or click on this YouTube link to see a sneak peak.
BTW…what is your favorite movie of all time?
Cheers,
Dee
NAS MAKES TIME FOR VIRGIN MEGASTORES
Cool event today, I’d thought I’d share with you all. One of Union Square’s all time favorite customer’s, NAS, came to the Virgin Megastore Union Square to release his new CD, “Nas” for a special autograph signing today. Over 600 of his fans packed our store after waiting countless hours outside in line. He spent nearly three hours signing his CDs for the group. Check out the pics below. Great event!
Cheers
Dee
” UNITED BY PRIDE” – VIRGIN HOSTS PRIDEFEST ACTIVITIES – COME JOIN US
To help mark the 38th anniversary of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration and Parade we’re hosting a Virgin Megastore booth at the two day event in San Fran – we’ll be offering quite a bit of music, DVDs and fashion items. You can also look for our truck in the parade on Sunday – we’ll be following Cyndi Lauper while we jam to her new album “Bring Ya To The Brink.”
In NYC we also have some cool things planned as it’s our 2nd year to be involved in the Pridefest there. Starting on Saturday at noon at our Union Square store we have quite a line up of performers including: Ari Gold, Joi Cardwell, Jason Walker, Brian Kent, and more. Also on hand will be some of the hottest porn stars, including Porn Studio “Raging Stallion”, to sign copies of their films and meet their fans. Starting at Noon DJ Max Rodriguez will kick off the Pride festivities to celebrate the release of his new PRIDE 2008 from Centaur Entertainment. To keep things rolling right along we’ve asked our hostess and HX DRAG Queen of the Year, Peppermint, to come back for the second year and join our festivities! Virgin is also happy to be the sponsor of HX’s Pride Float which will be featured in this year’s Gay Pride Parade on Sunday, June 28. We’ve been told that Jake Deckard, Steve Cruz, Damien Crosse and Antonio Biaggi are all slated to be at the cities events as well! Should be a great weekend.
Here is some additional info on Pridefest in San Francisco in case you need it —
Hope to see you out there!
Cheers,
Dee
About the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Celebration
San Francisco Pride has been said to be “one of the last remaining pride events that can truly be called a rite of passage.” This year marks the 38th anniversary of the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration and Parade. This year’s theme is, “United by Pride, Bound for Equality.” The event will be held over the weekend of June 28 and 29, 2008 in the Civic Center of downtown San Francisco.
With over 200 parade contingents, 300 exhibitors, and 19 stages and venues, the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration and Parade is the largest LGBT gathering in the nation.
The two-day event is packed with a wide variety of vendors, artists, music in a variety of genres, performers, dance stages and venues, and fun. There really is something here for everyone.
The Celebration at Civic Center is also host to our Main Stage where this year you can catch Cyndi Lauper, Margaret Cho, Inaya Day, Kat DeLuna, and Crystal Waters.
Our Latin Stage with the best national and international performances taking place on our community stages – our third year stages include the Trans Stage and Homo Hip Hop – as well as our veteran stages, the Asian and Pacific Islander Stage, NectArena Women’s Stage, Soul of Pride African American Stage, Latin stage and more! We also have gathering spaces for the Clean & Sober community, kids, elders, and the Deaf & hard-of-hearing.
KNOCK OUT EVENT AT VIRGIN MEGASTORE HOLLYWOOD
We had a great event last night at our Hollywood & Highland store, UFC Champion, Tito Ortiz, signed copies of his autobiography, This Is Gonna Hurt; The Life of a Mixed Martial Arts Champion. I’ve always been a big fan of Tito’s and after watching him on last season’s Celebrity Apprentice, was pumped to meet him in person. He was terrific with his fans as he took time to chat with them in between his signings. Great night. Great Guest. We’d welcome him back anytime.
Cheers,
Dee
“Golden” Event at Our Hollywood Megastore
Hi all,
Last night we had a great in-store with Downtown Records artist, Santogold. We saw her perform at Coachella this year where she also signed at our Megastore tent and she also did a phenomenal in-store performance for us at Union Square store! So we knew we wanted her for our west coast location as well!! Despite being on the verge of losing her voice, Santi performed a great 5-6 song set in the Hollywood & Highland courtyard to about 300 fans, complete with her amazing back-up dancers/vocalists and a DJ. Directly following her performance she signed CD’s for her fans at our store. A big Thanks to everyone involved – Downtown, ADA, Rocket Science, Indie 103, Dwayne & Tony’s team at H&H and the staff at Virgin H&H who helped the event run smoothly. In case you missed out….here are a few photos from the event.
Cheers,
Dee
CLAY AIKEN CREATES QUITE THE COMMOTION AT OUR TIMES SQUARE MEGASTORE:
Well Clay Aiken fans were out in full force last night as they descended on our Virgin Megastore Times Square – two days early to secure a place in line to meet Clay Aiken. Fans slept on the streets outside our store for two nights waiting for his arrival yesterday afternoon. Clay’s CD went on sale at midnight on Monday and it was quite the event for our friends outside. Hundreds of fans chanted as midnight approached in anticipation of purchasing “On My Way Here”. Multiple copies were bought by each fan making it a record breaking Clay Aiken fan night! Clay arrived at the Virgin Times Square on May 6th just before his scheduled 2PM signing from his busy TV appearance schedule in NYC. Clay Fans (not to be mistaken with the Clay Mates) clapped and screamed as he went down the escalator. We were only able to get the first 300 fans in to meet him, due to his packed schedule — however we look forward to having him back again in our stores soon. In case you couldn’t make it out – check out the video below.
Cheers,
Dee
Virgin VIP Winner Sulin Yao got the chance to meet her favorite star Clay Aiken yesterday at the instore. Sulin was very excited to have this opportunity and said, “I never win anything, glad I signed up for VIP!” It was a very exciting moment as Sulin and Clay had the opportunity to chat before he signed CDs for 300 eager fans. Clay even inquired about our VIP program and loved that we offer such a unique opportunity for our customer’s.
Virgin Recommends at Coachella
We had a great weekend at the Coachella festival! Fantastic performances, perfect weather and Prince on stage – it couldn’t have gone any better. The signings inside our Virgin Mega Tent were really fun as well. A first for me, as Les Savy Fav actually allowed their fans to pose and take some fairly creative photos with them. Crowds packed our tent for Gogol Bord performance — her and her back up dancers have energy to spare! Truly a great show. Hope you were able to make it out to the desert. As always, Coachella definitely delivered once again.
Cheers,
Dee
SPIDEY’S CO-CREATOR HEADING TO VIRGIN IN TIMES SQUARE:
In doing some research for this year’s Comic-Con NY I came across this Singapore Superhero – Batman Bin Suparman. In Singapore, English is the most widely used language and all names
are translated to English when their birth certificate is issued. It appears this young man was blessed with being named after two superheros: Batman and Superman. Don’t you wish you had
thought of it? Speaking of Superheros Virgin is fired up about hosting Marvel Comic’s Spiderman co-creator, Stan Lee. (Now he would be proud of Batman Bin Suparman, don’t you think?) Anyway
as part of this year’s Comic-Con NY we’re pleased to kick off the event with a reception and ceremony at our Times Square Megastore honoring Mr. Lee. Lee is best known for his creative masterpieces
The Hulk, The Fantastic Four, X-Men, Iron Man and Captain America and is being presented with the New York Comic Legend Award at 8 PM at the Virgin Megastore Times Square. We expect quite a turnout so
make sure to pick up your tickets early at http://www.nycomiccon.com. Comic-Con NY will be held at the Jacob Javits Center April 18-20th. If you go…let me know if you run into Batman Bin Suparman.
Cheers,
Dee
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