Whatup yall!!

Alicia performed in Bonn - Germany last Friday. It was a great show and here are some pics for yall.

From the latest issue of Marie Claire:

When Alicia Keys encountered the AIDS epidemic in Africa, she felt angry and helpless (millions die there each year) Today, she’s urging you to join her in a new program that lets you send money directly to those who need it most. Read on to see how. (as told to David Kirby)

I am the same age as the AIDS epidemic. I was born in 1981, around the time the first cases of AIDS were diagnosed. As a kid growing up in Manhattan, i didn’t know anything about the disease, but my Mother had a friend who came around to visit in the evenings. He always seemed healthy and strong, but over time, he grew weaker and weaker. Eventually, he stopped coming at all. I was 7 0r 8, and when i asked my Mother what had happened to him, she was vague and just told me he had passed away. I realized that this was my first encounter with AIDS. As i got older and embarked on my singing career, i became involved in AIDS awareness and prevention. I’ve always been very open about sex, though i can understand how confusing it can be. The way i see it, just don’t make it a topic that people get giggly about. So i did a public service announcement for VH1 about safe sex. But i knew i could do more. Then i met Leigh Blake, a Woman who has dedicated the last 12 years of her life to fighting AIDS. In 2001, Leigh started artists against AIDS with Bono of U2. They gathered a group of musicians together to record Marvin Gaye’s song “What’s going on” to raise money for AIDS in Africa, and they asked me to participate. Through Leigh, i learned that Africa’s AIDS epidemic is the most important crisis the world has ever faced: 2.3 million people dead in 2003 alone, nearly 27 million infected, 11 million children orphaned. Can you picture 11 million American children orphaned? In late 2002, i was in Eurpoe on my first concert tour. MTV was planning a televised concert in Cape Town, South Africa, on December 1, World AIDS day, to raise awareness about the disease. They asked me to go. I knew it would be amazing to do something that important to combat this devastating problem. So my manager, my band, and i flew directly there. I’d never been to Africa before, and in many ways, i felt like i was coming home. Africa is the origin of life. In Cape Town, our group visited an AIDS clinic on a dusty road in a poor neighborhood. I met 14 year old orphans who were taking care of brothers and sisters 7 or 8. These Children had watched their parents die of AIDS, and now they were the heads of households, taking care of their families with very little money and very little experience. These orphaned kids talked to me about losing family members or contracting the virus themselves. They told me how scary it was, how people stayed away from them when all they wanted was to be loved. Yet their eyes still shone brightly. I felt the heart and soul of South Africa: how beautiful it is, how strong these kids are, how much life they have inside. At the concert that night, i spoke about the clinic and the people i’d met. Hundreds of thousands of people filled the stadium-blacks, whites, and everyone in between. Miriam Makeba, the anti-apartheid hero called Mama Africa, sang “We shall overcome” with me. It was one of the most unbelievable experiences of my life. After the concert, i flew with Leigh to a remote airstrip in Zululand, a beautiful rural region outside Durban. The trip gave us a chance to talk for the first time about her vision for saving lives in Africa. Only 1 percent of all Africans can afford AIDS medications, she said. She wanted to start a foundation that would get Americans to sponsor Africans by paying for their AIDS medications. The foundation would raise money for the clinics in Africa so that they could buy the most effective and cheapest anti-retroviral medicines for their patients. Leigh planned to call her new group “keep a child alive.”

She told me how simple-and cheap-it is to save a life: only one dollar a day! These drugs can prolong life in people with AIDS and return them from sickness to health. In the U.S., these medicines were first discovered in 1996, and because they are now affordable and accessible to many Americans, what was once considered a death sentence is now managed as a chronic disease. But for most Africans, who live on a fraction of the money that Americans earn, these drugs are completely unaffordable. I thought Leigh’s idea was awesome. The next day, we flew to Johannesburg to visit a clinic at Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital. Most of the Mothers there had AIDS, and many of their children did, too. There was so much life in front of me, and so much of it was threatened. These smiling Moms and their beautiful children were so warm and welcoming. They sat on the floor singing my song “Fallin.” I could see the hope in their eyes. They were looking at me as if to ask, “have you come with the answer?” I didn’t have the answer for them, but i desperately wanted to.

I have probably never felt more helpless.

We asked one Woman, a Mother, “If we could give you anything, what would it be?” “We just need medicine,” she said sadly. “We don’t have it, and nobody can get it to us.” This made me angry and very sad. There are drugs available to save the lives of these Mothers and babies, but nobody was doing anything to get them the medicine they needed. Yet. Seeing firsthand what’s happening in Africa has changed my life. AIDS is an emergency that needs to be addressed now. I’ve learned that it’s not hopeless. It is solvable. We have the medications. The Africans need them. We may live in different Countries, but we all feel the same things. We hurt, and we cry. We’re confused, and we’re scared. We’re happy. When i was in Africa, i felt like i was watching my brothers and sisters, people i’ve known my whole life, being forgotten. I started working with Leigh’s foundation by sponsoring two kids in a clinic in Mombasa, Kenya. I haven’t been there yet, but i plan to go soon. I cannot wait to meet these children i am sponsoring: Husna, 4, lost both Parents a few years ago and is now being raised by her Grandparents. Her Grandfather carries her 3 miles to the clinic and back. And 11 year old Wesley is just full of love-now that his medication has made him healthy enough to play with his friends, i hear he has become a great soccer player. I also sponsor two Mothers, Anne and Veronica. Leigh gives me frequent updates on each of them. Before keep a child alive came to the clinic, no one there had access to treatment. I’ve seen pictures of the four people i’m sponsoring-before and after treatment-and at first, they looked emaciated and beaten down, like my Mother’s friend before he died. Today, they are happy and healthy and living positive, hopeful lives. Leigh tells me how much they love me, and how they thank God that somebody cared enough to save their lives. It blows me away, because it was so easy to do something so incredibly important. Now i’m trying to involve as many people as possible in combating this pandemic. I’ve written to celebrities like Halle Berry and Cher, who is looking to sponsor 5 Mother-and-child combinations (10 Africans in total) through keep a child alive. In May 2003, i attended a congressional briefing for the global AIDS bill that called for $3 billion dollars to go towards AIDS and other programs worldwide. In speaking from the heart about the need to help, I-one young Woman-gave a voice to millions of people. Happily, the bill has since passed, and $2.4 billion has been approved for AIDS and other programs. I felt so empowered. I didn’t feel helpless at all.”

What you can do:

Only 1 percent of the people who desperately need antiretroviral drugs can afford them. According to keep a child alive, if a mere 8,000 people contributed a dollar a day, nobody would die.(470,000 children die in Africa each year, and 8,000 people die worldwide every day, simply because they cannot get the HIV/AIDS medicine they need.) 97% of the money donated to keep a child alive is used to purchase medicine and fund clinics serving those with HIV/AIDS (the other 3 percent goes to administrative costs). For details on how to sponsor a child for $30 a month, to make a one-time donation, or to send a letter to Congress to ask that the pending bill, Assistance for Orphans and Vulnerable children in Developing Countries Act of 2004, be passed, log on to www.keepachildalive.org

Thx 2 Danniel Hernandez

Jul 2, 2004 11:48 PM
Hey

Did you miss me?

Man I’ve been kinda bananas. I haven’t even been on the board for a while and you know that’s not a norm for me as I am an admitted addicted of the
board;-)
Anyway I got a chance to catch up and it’s good to be back.
Right now I’m here in Germany on my way to Switzerland. I can’t wait to go!
I here that it’s going to be beautiful there. I’m going to play the same place that Marvin Gaye did years ago. WOW! Yall know how I feel about him.
That is going to be very special for me to touch the stage he touched once.

Sometimes when I’m on stage I look out to you and I just think “Oh my goodness” and I just want to live every moment like it is my last, because
God forbid if it ever is, I know that I didnt take it for granted and that I enjoyed it for all it was. Really that’s what you teach me. To enjoy every
moment.

I’ve been doing very well. You would all be proud of me, taking my vitamins and everythang! I have been flying back and forth across the atlantic like a
madwoman, but I always pray and God keeps me safe. Plus I have so much to do! It’s not my time yet.

The Shows in Europe have been unreal! For real. There’s been this crazy vibe floating thru everything and making it very magical. Today in Bonn was really special and I want to big up everyone I was able to meet afterward.
It always shocks me to put faces to the names I know so well on the board. I love getting the chance to talk to you in person. Thanks for the love. For
real! All of you, I mean it!

This sucks, but my bus rolls out in 10 minutes and I know I have to go but I just had to at least check in and say what’s up. Cause I’ve been getting it
from all angles lol “Alicia hurry up and write! We miss you!” But I’m not mad at that, believe me!

I’m reading a new James Baldwin book. It’s so deep. I’ll tell you more about it later, but in it there was a line that said “Nobody can stay in the
Garden of Eden”….
It got me to thinking cause I’m like, all our lives it’s like we’re searching for this Garden of Eden yet even if we find it, something about us
is always searching for more. So do we ever find it, something about us is always searching for more. So do we ever find this Garden of Eden? Or is it
just something for us to strive for? Maybe that is what he meant when he said Nodody can stay in the Garden of Eden.

I’m not sure, but what I do know is, knowing that something sweeter is out there somewhere sure does give us something to look forward to and I know
there’s nothing wrong with looking forward to the sweetness that comes with the search.
It brings out the best in you……

It’s late, I gotta roll

love 4eva

A to da K;-)

If you missed out on this event, we have the audio up for download in mp3 here on the site. And we also have a couple of snapshots of Alicia’s performance at the HOT97 Summer Jam 2004 Concert! Alicia did two songs at the Summer Jam in New York, they were “You Don’t Know My Name” and “If I Ain’t Got You.” Near the end of her performance, Alicia stopped when she noticed Method Man stepping out on stage and she got up off her piano bench to greet him.

You Don’t Know My Name (HOT97 Summer Jam 2004)
[ Click Here ] to Download

If I Ain’t Got You (HOT97 Summer Jam 2004)
[ Click Here ] to Download

Make sure to catch Ms. Keys performing at the 2004 BET Awards. It’s definitely going to be hot fo sho. Don’t kow what she’ll perform but it promises to be entertaining. Catch it on BET Tuesday June 29th/04 @ 8:00 p.m. TONIGHT! Also watch out for 106 & Park live from the red carpet you might see Alicia there as well. Watch the three hour telecast and the live after party. A. Keys is also nominated for two awards VIdeo of the Year ” You don’t know my name” and Best Female R&B Artist. Let’s hope she wins.
p.s. Catch Ludacris, Jay-Z, G-Unit, Usher, Kanye West, Janet Jackson and Outkast performances

Just found out that AK is playing live at an exclusive performance in London tower bridge. Tickets are free for American Express card holders!
visit: American Express
for more info!!!

Don’t we all wish she was our boo? Speaking of which “My Boo” is the hot new duet with Usher featuing Alicia Keys. The song will be sent to radio stations early next week. Listen to a preview right here, before it drops… this is a longer version than the clip’s that were leaked earlier this week. By the way… get familar with MBK, much love to them!

Usher Featuring Alicia Keys “My Boo”
[ Click Here ] to Download

It’s no mystery that Usher and Alicia Keys recorded two duets together! One is a remix of “If I Ain’t Got You” and a newer track, produced by Jermaine Dupri, is set to impact the radio stations across the country next week. The promo for “My Boo” is on it’s way as the mastering is being in the works since last week. So before the new single is finalized check out the duet to “If I Ain’t Got You.” Shout Outs to: Krucial Keys and Latin Prince holding it down with the hook ups!

Alicia Keys Featuring Usher “If I Ain’t Got You (Remix)”
[ Click Here ] to Download

I’m meeting Alicia Keys, in the middle of her European tour. She perches on a hotel sofa, dressed in faded jeans, long headscarf and dangly earrings, every inch the boho superstar. Despite life on the road, the 23-year-old New Yorker seems relaxed and daisy-fresh. “Touring is a discipline,” she says. “Especially when you do it the way I do, singing live every night, on stage for an hour and 20 minutes straight. I don’t go out the back or change my outfits. And I never have a backing track.”

Britney Spears committed such cardinal sins on her most recent tour and was critically mauled for placing style over content: too much wearisome cleavage-flashing; too few musical highlights. But Keys’s recent graduation to arena tours has received as many raves as Spears has had pannings.

Rightly so. As a live performer, Keys has long been impressive, able to re-enact note-perfect modern soul from her albums, 2001’s Songs in A Minor and last year’s The Diary of Alicia Keys, while tinkling the ivories like a modern-day Stevie Wonder. But now she’s gone up several gears. She no longer spends the entire show behind her beloved piano; during uptempo openers such as Rock With U, she prowls the stage and launches into dazzling Flamenco dance moves, her band pumping out taut disco grooves.

When she finally sits and plays, a different kind of electricity, no less intense, takes over. Her voice takes on a haunting, other-worldly quality, oohing and aahing and mesmerising the crowd to the point where you could hear a pin drop – before the opening bars of her breakthrough hit Fallin’ kick in to deafening cheers.

Watching her on stage at the Prince’s Trust Urban Music Festival last month, a taster for her forthcoming UK dates, I couldn’t help noticing the reaction of the pack of hip-hop fans in the seats next to me. While the rapper Jay-Z was on stage, they bounced up and down, punching the air and making pistol signs with their fingers. But during Keys’s set they simply melted, waving cigarette lighters in the air and singing along to every girly chorus.

The last time I saw a black American artist give a performance of that magnitude, it was Prince when he was at the peak of his career, and the purple pixie himself is one of Keys’s biggest fans. When she played Madison Square Garden earlier this year, Prince requested that he be allowed backstage to hand her a towel when the gig was over. “He walked me back to my dressing room,” Keys laughs, as if she still can’t quite believe that it happened. “He came backstage and we had a little chat.” (It reportedly lasted for over two hours.) “He told me how much he loved the show and he gave me a whole lotta feedback. He sparked my ideas. Nobody could tell me nothin’ after that!”

Rumour has it that the pair are planning to play together in a secret gig, or possibly series of gigs on both sides of the Atlantic – though Keys won’t be drawn. “We’ll just let it flow, the way it’s supposed to,” she says, suddenly coy. Though she can’t resist adding, “But wouldn’t it be just insane?”, and giving a long, appreciative wolf-whistle.

Keys doesn’t sound egotistical so much as plain enthusiastic, even slightly self-mocking. She is far from being a diva. There are no hangers-on today, no PRs waiting to pounce if I ask an awkward question, just her PA and her Italian-American mum waiting next door. Keys is used to handling herself. When she and her manager, Jeff Robinson, first negotiated with major record labels nine years ago, Robinson always ensured that Keys sat in front, so that CEOs had to address her directly. She was 14.

Now 23, Keys has done it all: sold 17 million records, swept the board at the Grammies (she won five of the top awards in 2002), and wowed audiences the world over. Most recently, now she has proved herself as an arena act. “It’s a completely different energy, trying to connect with someone way up there [she squints at imaginary circle seats] as opposed to down in the front row,” she says. “But I was completely ready.”

With her confidence high, Keys’s next career move will be in Hollywood, playing the lead role in the true story of mixed-race piano prodigy Philippa Schuyler, who found fame in the 1950s and had an intense relationship with her white mother. Halle Berry owns the rights and is set to produce. It’s difficult to imagine a more tailor-made role for Keys, and to help the film on its way, she hired a £10 million yacht for this year’s Cannes festival and threw a lavish party for big-hitters such as Miramax boss Harvey Weinstein.

She is now signed with the agent William Morris, whose clients include Quentin Tarantino and Tim Burton.

Two books are also on the cards: a poetry journal, and extracts from her diary, which she has kept from the age of nine. “It’s going to be very revealing,” she says, “and in some ways embarrassing. I mean, you can imagine the kind of stuff I wrote when I was nine!” I’m not sure I can, actually.

I ask if she ever saw the Martin Bashir interview with Michael Jackson. “Bashir?” her eyes widen. “That guy is so wrong.” I recall the scene where Bashir finds Jackson alone, delirious with boredom, having booked out an entire Las Vegas hotel floor but unable to leave for fear of being mobbed. Does she ever worry that this may happen to her? “Hell, no! I don’t care if 700,000 people jump on me – I’m gonna walk! I’ve never had a crazy, psycho, rip-off-your-shirt type of situation. My fans are real people. Sometimes they get a little worked up, but it can be easily dealt with.”

For those fans who do get a little “worked up”, Keys could simply soothe them with a song. It is this that puts the piano-playing, arena-filling saviour of sweet soul music, the poet, author and future movie queen, in a different league to other music stars. To rock an arena is special; to silence one is extraordinary.

Sweet soul superstar
(Filed: 19/06/2004)

Special thanks 2 txga!

An album you couldn’t sleep on… You’ve heard not ONE single, but TWO! And you already know her name! Now it’s time for an impact of a third single! J Records will finally release [i]”Diary” by Alicia Keys featuring Tony! Toni! Tone![/i] as the third single off her 2nd debut album “The Diary of Alicia Keys.” Help put this single on the charts! Call your local stations and make a request with the friendly djs to have them spin the record!

More news on the upcoming Krucial Keys Mixtape Vol.3 next week!

We will leave you with this:

[ Click Here ] to download the Instrumental for “Diary”

Another AKF.Com Exclusive…