XposureNovember/December 2010

AVANT Previews The Letter For the world

“I want to bring feel good music back”

Xposure Magazine is a bi - monthly magazine published on a bi monthly basis. ISSN - 2158-0421. Copyright 2009-2010.

All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher is strictly prohibited. Views expressed by writers are not necessarily the views of Xposure Magazine. We welcome and accept unsolicited materials. Materials submitted to Xposure Magazine is the person’s guarantee that submitted items are not in violation of or infringing upon the rights of others and that said materials may be reviewed and subject to critique without any third party consent.

Star Watson is a recent graduate from Ohio University’s Scripps College of Communication. Aside from contributing to the high ranking in the party school poll, Star also wrote killer articles for different newspapers and magazines in a va-riety of subjects. Now people can always find her catching the latest concerts in Atlanta, wonder-ing aimlessly through the city with the biggest and brightest headphones, or got her head in a book. She still contributes work to many other magazines, newspapers, online publications and blogs.

Xposure Credits &Contributors

Gift, 26, of Louisville, Ky YES Ky attended Western Kentucky University majoring in Exercise Science and Broadcast Communications &Journalism. He is by his own account, and admissions of others, one the most diverse people you will ever meet. His ultimate goal is to continue to build his brand and become a global mogul, He enjoys long walks on the beach, playing scrabble with Chuck Norris, volunteering at sheltors and helping to feed the poor. In High School he was voted most likely to contribute stories to Xposure Magazine and self-ishly right his own bio. U SEE ME!!

Photos - Danilel Ray, Jim Wright, Getty Images,O Magazine, Wire Image.

Goldyn’s Touch

It’s hard to believe it’s the end of the year, it went by so quickly. I want to thank you all for all of your support, criticism, emails and all around love for the magazine and myself. As you know, it has not been easy by no means but getting easier by the day. Being an army of one can only last so long. With that said, in 2011 you can look forward to more contributors and expanded sections on all this culture, lifestyle and currency. Before we get to 2011, we have to celebrate the year that was 2010. There is a special section featuring the Top 10 people of 2010, we also celebrate Decoded by Jay-Z. The Heavy Metal section give you a preview of the all new Range Rover Evoque which is the one you all will be talking about in the near future. The Haute Plate section showcases Lanvin for H&M which will go on sale worldwide November 23, 2010 and it is expected to be a quick sellout.

R&B Soul singer Avant is my cover story, he is celebrating his sixth studio release The Letter. I have had the album for a for weeks and trust me you all will love it as much as I do. Avant talks about preserving R&B music which I feel may have started to get lost in all of what you hear on the radio. We also talk about the tracks on the album, relationships and his plans of conquering the film industry. I will admit during my conversation, I started to feel like I was being interviewed. I enjoyed the interview with Avant, I hope you will too. I also caught up with the ultra talented Brian Culbertson to speak with him about his album XII and how the album came together. Brian has such a cool demeanor to him, after you read the article, you can understand how the album came together with such ease.

Before I close this letter, I want to send a huge thank you to Sujata Murthy, Meg McLean, and Heather Lewandoski and Avant’s management for all of their support and professionalism. I also want to thank Avant and Brian Culbertson for their time as well. Thanks to my contributors Star and Gift and all of my friends and family. I wish you all a very happy holiday season and a happy new year. Xposure will be back on 1/11/11 with a special collector’s edition, there will be limited edition printed copies for sale. Until then, don’t forget to log on to www.xposure365.com for your daily dose of all things culture, lifestyle, and currency. The best is yet to come, see you in 2011.

Goldyn P. Smith goldyn@xposure365.com Publisher/EIC

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Vashtie Kola has quite a few titles to her name – fashion designer, director, artist, and blogger. Back in September she celebrated the title of being the first woman to design shoe for the Jordan brand. The Jordan brand released a statement about their collaboration with Vashtie “We want to pay homage to the ladies who are rocking Jordan kicks on the daily, and we’ve teamed up with New York-based creative visionary Vashtie Kola to do just that. As an accomplished fashion designer, video director and artist, we knew Vashtie would have a fresh take on the classic Air Jordan 2. This limited-edition shoe brings a lavender and deep-purple colorway to deliver a more feminine style. The details didn’t go overlooked either, with hints of silver integrated into the laces to complement the metallic midsole.” The shoe was released to great success on October 2, 2010. Vashtie’s accomplishments this year makes her Xposure Magazine’s Power Mover of 2010. For more information about Vashtie check out www.vashtie.com/blog.

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have changed so much since then, I’ve also gotten better as a player too. When my first record came out, I wasn’t known as a piano player, I was mainly known as a trombone player. I used to do local gigs around the Chicago area as a trombone player. I released the first album and everyone was kind of confused. I breakout my trombone for live shows, it’s a way for me to escape standing behind a keyboard the whole show.

Reception of the album – You never know what your fans since the start are going to say, the reaction to the album has been amazing. Everything is still the same, I added a little more vocals and because of that, it’s helped widen the audience. I will continue that on the next album.

Skies Wide Open – I’ve never had a single on the Adult Contemporary chart ever, its gotten national airplay on the Michael Baisden Show, Tom Joyner’s show and it was amazing. Thankfully, Avant has a real good name in that format so it turned out really well. We cut a video for the song and even performed it on The Monique Show. Avant and I have huge respect for each other. I think he has an amazing vocal ability and a unique phrasing about him. Whenever I hang out with him, he is all about music, we can be walking down the street and he will sing along to the street sounds. We have really great chemistry. Even on the set of the video shoot, I started playing some chords on the piano and he started harmonizing. We wrote a song while we were on the video shoot on Skies Wide Open called Never Give Up The Fight. It’s been great working with Avant.

Working with Faith Evans – she is such a sweet person, I loved work-ing with her. I was working on a track with Chuck Brown and Faith’s a really big fan of his. Faith heard about us working and came over, I wasn’t planning to have her on the record. We were working on Feel-ing It and she asked how the rest of the album was going.

Brian Culbertson released his 12th studio album earlier this year called Twelve which received a wealth of praise and accolades. I recently caught up with Brian to discuss how the album came together and the reaction it has received.

How he describes the album – R&B record, it happens to be half vocal and half instrumental. Over the past 11 projects, I’ve been known for instrumentals only. I thought it would be cool to do some collaborations and work with some great artists. I love writ-ing with other people because every time I’m in the studio, I learn new things.

What he knows now with album 12 – With my first album, I didn’t know anything. I just knew I had the passion for new music. At this point, I know how to make a “hit song” now learning by trial and error. The technologies

II had Don’t You Know Me By Now as a demo and was still looking for a female vocalist. She told me she was a female vocalist but I didn’t want to presume anything and that’s how it came together. Things came along organically and it just works, I ended up working on one of her songs called Everyday Struggle .

Working with Ray Parker Jr. – I asked him to do a Christmas tour with me a few years ago and he lives not to far from me. He loves to play guitar and he is one of the best in the world, he was one of the Funk Brothers. He has the most amazing sprit and one of the happi-est people I’ve ever met.

How Sinbad became involved – Sinbad does a lot of Jazz festivals and he loves that music, he would come back and talk to me. I told him I was doing a go go record with Chuck Brown and he said I’m coming over right now. He was there within the hour and once he heard the mp3 he was there.

Live From The Inside – It’s me and my band in a recording studio, we did 17 songs and we did vignettes. I showed the sessions, places back home in Chicago. It’s a lot different that a concert DVD. We recorded the film at Capitol Records Studio A where Sinatra and The Rat Pack and every legend has recorded there. They still have the microphone that Frank Sinatra used and it still has his name on it. About to go out on a Christmas tour and after than writing for other people.

More information – www.brianculbertson.com and I interact a lot on the Facebook fan page and Twitter. I also have a Youtube chan-nel called Brian Culbertson music and you can see the video foot-age of the making of the album. I want you to put on my records and start moving, grooving and enjoying it.

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With his sixth studio album The Letter being released in a few weeks, I caught with Avant to discuss the album. In the interview he talks about what the album means to him, his relationship guru title and his plans on conquering the film industry. Check out the interview and get ready for The Letter December 7, 2010.

The 6th studio Album – I wanted my fans to feel like they were they with me. I put all the juicy information into this production and hopefully they enjoy it that way.

Favorite track on The Letter – I have a wonderful song called Wake Up. It basically talks about when we get excited in the middle of the night and we need that young lady to handle our excitement. Sometimes in the middle of the night we have to wake you up and we have to be relieved so we don’t have that extra pressure.

Kiss Goodbye – I love that record because it gives caution to the fellas.Body Police – A typical Avant record that sticks with the police theme. It’s hard to explain but once you hear the record, you will understand. That Dude – A lot of times ladies feel like they can change you, they don’t have the guy they need. They think they can mold the man into what they want him to be. The record lets you know you can’t change me, I’m going to be this guy. It’s who I am.

Where Did We Go – The reason for this song is kind of funny because people call me the relationship guru. They asked me what I thought happened to relationships, and asked me to write a song about it. Technology is what happened to relationships, before we found time for people. Now there are so many different things that you can be with someone and not really be with them. You’re on the internet, texting, on Twitter, Facebook etc. It’s a lot of different things in your way, before it was just a phone. I think that is killing relationships now. I think you should shut off all the electronics and have a good week with your mate and see how it pans out. You may learn what they used to like, they no longer like but you never knew because you were wrapped up in technology.

But business is business and things have to be done – Back in our parent’s day, they didn’t have to do business all the time. While you’re looking at the computer, you’re losing time with your mate.

Graduated – We all have been through that, you see people you went to school with that have changed.

Is the album based on all personal experiences? – It’s about life, it’s not as personal. Sometimes we get too far away from everyday life. People understand that more, I keep it as relatable as possible.

How do you find the balance with revitalizing the sound – I still give people the Avant sound, I’m not trying to be a hip hop artist. I think that’s where you start to lose your fan base, I don’t need to curse in every record. I don’t need to take it to the club in every record. There are still people out there who love the vibe of R&B. I feel I have to continue to give people what I am but what Luther was and Babyface is.

Purity of R&B and trying to preserve it – I have to be conscious of the music I put out. I don’t want to make outdated music. I think you have to create a niche for yourself and teach people with your music. I try to show you the mistakes I made so you won’t have to.

The pitch – I would say if you live everyday life, you will find some of your everyday life in this music. That’s what I try to bring across. I always try to cater to my fans, it’s not about me it’s about the music. Walking on water – The record was written because a lot of people ask me to sing at their wedding. I said for this album, I wanted to make a record that can be for a wedding. So now, if anybody wants a wedding song from Avant, please pick walking on water. I pulled out all the emotion I felt, if I was in a relationship.

You know I can’t let that slide, you know the ladies want to know your relationship status – I’m single too and it is by choice. I haven’t met a lady that makes me feel like walking on water. I’ve been sinking, and falling in. I have to find that lady who makes me feel like I’m walking on water. I can’t even swim, you have to help me; I need someone to help me.

More to the album than just love – With this album, everything is something you’ve dealt with before. There is a special energy in the nightlife, so I wrote a record about that energy. Being in the spot, it’s a lot that happens at night and it’s not all negative. It’s exciting and that’s what I try to bring across in the record.

Where he’s been – I’ve been working, I have a song with Brian Culbertson called Skies Wide Open. It’s done really well on the AC charts. I did a play that turned into a DVD called Love In The Nick of Time that I did with Morris Chestnut and Ella English. I’m trying to write a scary movie right now and trying to navigate my way through the music and movie sides of entertainment. I’m not going anywhere baby, I love the mess out of music and I’m trying to elevate.

Legacy – I want people to say that guy or that mf was real, that’s all I’m trying to bring across. I want people to say he dealt with the truth of life. I want people to say he helped me get out of relationships, with My First Love he helped me stay in the relationship. When we came up, Luther Vandross and Babyface showed us how to be men with what to do and what not to do. I think that’s what we’re losing right now. I.’m trying to bring the truth of life in R&B. Marvin Gaye helped us navigate through the tough times in the seventies. It was through music we felt uplifted. Michael Jackson helped us to know we were special people. I’m trying to get back to the feel good music and you want to go get the album because he talks to you personally.

That’s the vibe I’m trying to come across with.

December 7th 2010 – It’s The Letter. We’re setting up some things right now for tours, trying to decide on the right packaging. I’ve got to get out and see my people, there are a lot of people that need my guidance.

Follow up single – Haven’t decided yet. What do you think it should be? I’m going to let you choose right now. It’s hard for me to choose because I love each song, I know you can’t make singles out of the whole album. I think it should be Nightlife. So you don’t like Body Police?I love the whole album but Nightlife is one of my favorites.

I’m going to take that into consideration for real seriously. I feel like a walking door salesman, I have to sale the product and hope you buy it. That’s how I keep my humbleness it’s not about me, it’s about my fan base. In a lot of cases, I think cats forget what it’s really about, the fans are the ones who put you in the position you’re in. I try to keep my walking door salesman pitch ready at all times.

Most important lesson – Please stay true to you, it’s hard doing material that’s not you. If you can be a write, be a writer you don’t have to wait on or try to find material. If not people may tell you it’s a hit but it may not be a hit for you. If you’re not a writer, still stay true to who you are.

Contact – Twitter.com/avantmusic and I’ll keep you posted on everything I’m doing. Last words – I love y’all and continue to read about your man. It’s a movement baby, I’m trying to bring the R&B movement back. I love y’all.

Top 10 of 2010

Earlier this year, Oprah made it official by announcing season 25 would be her last season. Oprah also made headlines with the announcement of O.W.N – The Oprah Winfrey Network. The network will start airing shows January 2011. Oprah held an open call for potential contestants to win their own show, the competition will air with hosts Carson Kressley and Nancy O’ Dell. There have also been reports shows have been offered to Rosie O’Donnell and others. Over the years with the Oprah Winfrey Show, she has helped countless people, added a resurgence to book publish-ers and encouraged us to live better. The final season is airing now with the farewell episode planned for May.

It was the year of Drake, he was everywhere on television, radio, all over the web and everywhere in between. He won a Grammy this year for his critically acclaimed So Far Gone, and released his debut album Thank Me Later. He has a few endorsements and was recently named breakout of the year by GQ magazine. Drake also just released the name of his sophomore release called Take Care and plans to release an R&B mixtape in the near future.2011 looks to be an even more promising year for Drizzy.

Top 10 of 2010

She had the biggest and most controversial year with the release of Telephone featuring Beyonce. Lady Gaga has always been controversial but it wasn’t until the release of the video for Telephone that sparked a frenzy. In classic Gaga style, the video was a film that continued from the Paparazzi video with Gaga being jailed for murder. Beyonce arrives to bring Gaga home but along the way there was a deadly detour that took place. The video caused a meltdown with parent groups and conservatives stating the film was too much for children to watch. Gaga took the criti-cism in stride and kept it moving in her 10 inch heels. She sparked even more outrage with the visual for Alejandro where some felt she was being disrespectful to the Catholic church. She wore a lot of looks this year but her most talked about was her meat dress with a purse and hat to match. With a new album in the works, we are looking forward to what she will have in store for 2011.

Once celebrated as a hero, this year we saw Lebron James become the most talked about sports figure this year. With speculation about him leav-ing Cleveland and going to another team reaching an all time high, he held a press conference to announce his decision. The press conference was considered by some as over the top, many forget the proceeds from the ads went to charity. When Lebron made the announcement he was leaving Cleveland to head to Miami, he was instantly named a coward, traitor, dumb jock etc. Shortly after the conference, the Cavalier’s manage-ment released a heated, confrontational, uncalled for statement which led to even more heated exchanges in the days following. At the end of the day, Lebron made the best decision for him, no matter what the public thought about it. Now with the Heat it will be interesting to see who will end up in the NBA Finals in 2011.

Top 10 of 2010

2010 has been a tough one for Lindsay Lohan who has been to jail and to rehab this year. Her mother finally acknowledged her daughter is an ad-dict, Lindsay violated her probation and served jail time for the offense. Currently in rehab until the new year, Lindsay is reportedly getting the help she needs and has movie offers on the table.

He’s covered Forbes Magazine with Warren Buffett, captured in film with Mayor Bloomberg and had rumors started about a potential bid for the President of the United States. It’s been a busy year for Jay-Z, while constantly adding acts to his Roc Nation label, he also had time to release De-coded - a memoir about his life, time and rhymes. Decoded was just included in Oprah’s favorite things, he’s made one appearance on Oprah with a second appearance coming soon. He also teamed with Eminem for the historic Home and Home tour along with the Blueprint 3 tour earlier this year. Seems he has not plans of slowing down with plans to tour with U2 over in Europe and working on a joint album with Kanye West coming early 2011.

Top 10 of 2010

She’s been the most featured artist this year appearing on countless songs with her Barbie persona. Nicki is about to release her highly anticipated debut Pink Friday this month with features from Eminem, Kanye West, Rihanna and others. Nicki received a lot of criticism from Lil Kim fans who felt Nicki needed to create her own image. There have been lyrical jabs traded between the two with reports of Foxy Brown now trying to insert her thoughts as well. Nicki has a film debuting on MTV this month that tracks her as she records the debut album and goes back to her home of Trinadad. Some feel her best work is as a feature only artist, only time will tell with Pink Friday set for release in a few days.

He had the biggest single this year with Rihanna and received the most accolades for his album Recovery. Eminem sat down with Anderson Coo-per and 60 minutes to talk about how much sobriety has changed him. He also had a very successful tour with Jay-Z and has been on all the top artists list this year. There is speculation he and Jay-Z will expand the tour for dates in 2011.

Top 10 of 2010

Making his directorial and film production debut, Kanye released his highly anticipated film. The film received great and not so great reviews and will be packaged with his album My Dark Twisted Fantasy. Kanye also started Good Fridays which has been well received and will continue until Christmas. Kanye also has plans to finish Watch The Throne, his joint album with Jay-Z coming early 2011.

Serving as host of Late Night with Conan O’Brien from 1993 to 2009, Conan was asked by NBC to succeed Jay Leno at The Tonight Show. Conan left New York and moved to Los Angeles to start work earlier this year for The Tonight Show. Unhappy with the ratings after seven months, Conan was asked to move the show back to accommodate Leno. Once Conan refused it became suddenly ugly between Conan and NBC. Conan ad-dressed the issue in an open letter to the public and decided to leave the network. September of this year marked the new era in Conan’s career with Conan on TBS which is a hit and more than likely continue to be successful.

Haute Plate

Currency Matters

It was the year of corporate apologies from companies who stumbled this year like BP and Toyota. It was also the year of gloom news about the current economy. Everyone had thoughts on how to improve the economy, what cuts to make and what to save. Some thought we would be out of the slump by year’s end and some predict the economy will get worse and then bounce back. With the Toyota recall as with BP it took a long time to admit something was wrong. The ethics of those brands were called into question. There were congressional hearings and the faces of the companies went to Washington to testify about what they knew. The BP oil spill caused the whole fishing industry in the Gulf to down, incomes were lost and claims took a while to resolve. Then came the apology commercials on the televisions across America, Toyota also started releasing apologies as well. All at the same time, the unemployment numbers continued to increase. At this time, there is an unemployment extension waiting for passage but there is not enough of a ma-jority for passage. If the bill is not passed, to allow a three month extension for unemployment benefits two million people will lose the benefits as soon as the end of November. There is hope things will get better in the near future for the economy in 2011 and hopefully real solutions to the issues that benefits everyone.

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