Star Sparkle Blog

Here's the next video in The Defamation of Strickland Banks series. This song is called Hard Times; it is the 6th song on the album and the 7th single. Since it follows on from Welcome To Hell, I take it that's about Strickland having hard times now he's gone to prison but there was also another version featuring Elton John and Paloma Faith that was released as a charity single in May 2011. Listen to the version featuring Elton John and Paloma Faith here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkykQy4g6Ow Here are the other videos in the The Defamation series: Love Goes Down (song)/Writing's On The Wall Stay Too Long Love Goes Down She Said Welcome To Hell

Today's video is Zeze by Tanzanian singer TID . His real name is Khaled Mohammed and his stage name stands for Top in Dar  (Top in Dar es Salaam, his hometown). TID started out  with a group called Black Gangsters in 1994. His first single was Mrembo (released in 2002) and he has brought out two albums Sauti ya Dhahabu (2002) and Kiuno Viuono (2012). TID is best known for his singles Zeze and Siamini. He is a Bongo Flava musician and sings in Swahili . I first heard Zeze a few years ago on the Putamayo compilation album Global Soul (2003). I haven't heard any of his other songs but will check them out. :) Does anyone know who the rapper is? Also if anyone has an English translation of the song, please let me know. :) According to comments on YouTube, "Zeze" is the name of the instrument and TID compares a girl to one or he wants her to get him a zeze. Update 10/7/20- I think the rapper is called Jay Moe. Read more about TID here: http://web.archive.org/

Here's the next instalment of The Defamation of Strickland Banks posts. This song is Welcome To Hell. It's the 5th song on the album and is about Strickland going to prison after the Guilty verdict. (He was wrongfully convicted of rape). It wasn't a single so there's no video.                                    Watch the other videos here: Love Goes Down (song)/Writing's On The Wall Stay Too Long Love Goes Down She Said                                                                                                                                                                                                          

This week's video is Running by British singer Jessie Ware . Jessie (real name Jessica Lola Ware) started singing at school but after she left she worked as a journalist until she was asked to do backing vocals for her friend singer Jack Penate . She became his backing singer and made contacts which led to her being signed by record label PMR. Jessie released her debut solo single Strangest Feeling on vinyl in 2011 and  the following year she released Running, which was the first single from Devotion (the first release in 2012). Wildest Moments (the third single from Devotion) has been Jessie's most successful single to date. Devotion was re-released as Devotion- The Gold Edition in April last year. I first heard of Jessie when I saw the video for If You're Never Gonna Move (the album's second single) on one of the music channels last year. Apparently it was originally called 110% but had to be changed due to legal issues. She doesn't seem to have too much promo

I went on a nostalgic kick on Pinterest the other day! lol. I created a nostalgia board and one of the things I pinned on it was Ghostwriter . I was watching old episodes on YouTube, so I'd thought I'd post about it today. Ghostwriter was an American kids' TV series about a group of teens/pre-teens who solved mysteries helped by a ghost who communicated in words. He talked to them on the computer and by "borrowing" any nearby words and writing or spelling out messages. (That was the reason they nicknamed him Ghostwriter). The series ran from 1992 to 1995 and it was designed to teach children reading and writing skills. I remember them showing it at my first school and I think it was also part of the BBC Schools programming. The main group of kids when the show first started were Jamal Jenkins (played by Sheldon Turnipseed ), Lenni Frazier ( Blaze Berdahl ), Alex Fernandez ( David Lopez ), his sister Gaby ( Mayteana Morales ) and Tina Nguyen ( Tram-Anh Tran ).

This week's video No Letting Go by Wayne Wonder . His real name is Von Wayne Charles and he's a singer and rapper from Jamaica. Wayne started making music in the 80s and later formed a band called Alias. He started out as a dancehall and reggae singer but in later years has moved towards rap and on Wikipedia he's described as a reggae fusion artist. He launched his own record label Singso in 2000. Wayne's most popular song is No Letting Go, which was released in 2003 and was very successful around the world, it got to No 3 in the UK. No Letting Go was from the album No Holding Back, released the same year. He also had another single in the UK called Bounce Along (2003) but I don't think he's brought anything out over here in a while. (I think I did see him on a Caribbean programme- shown on one of the African channels like BEN - a while ago though). His latest album is My Way (2012). I'm not that keen on reggae but I do like some and I used to really l

Here's the next video in The Defamation of Strickland Banks post series, this one is called She Said. It features Strickland's trial for rape which ends with his wrongful conviction. Watch the other videos here: Love Goes Down (song)/Writing's On The Wall Stay Too Long Love Goes Down

Today's video is Paradise (What About Us?) by Within Temptation featuring Tarja . It's the first single from the band's new album Hydra and will be released this month. Hydra is out on 31st January.

I've been meaning to do this post for ages but hadn't got round to it, lol. I've done vampire films , so I thought it was time for a vampire books one. So here are my fave vampire books and series. This post contains spoilers. :) 1. The Night World series by L.J. Smith (published 1996-1998) These aren't entirely about vampires but a lot of them are. L.J. Smith is also the author of The Vampire Diaries (the books the TV show is based on). The vampire stories are: Book No 1: Secret Vampire Poppy and James are best friends but James has been hiding a secret from Poppy for years- he's a vampire and belongs to the Night World, a secret society of vampires, werewolves, witches and shapeshifters. Although there are no rules against hunting humans, it's forbidden to fall in love with them or tell them about the Night World. When Poppy finds out she's dying, James is tempted to break the law by telling her about the Night World and offering her a chance to

I was going to do this week's post on New Year's Eve because it was New Year's Day yesterday but I wasn't able to get online, so I'm doing it today instead. :) This week's video is All Night Long by the Mary Jane Girls .They were a 1980s girl group formed by musician/composer Rick James . The original members were Joanne "JoJo" McDuffie (lead singer), Cheryl Ann "Cheri" Bailey/Cheri Wells, Candice "Candi" Ghant and Kimberly "Maxi" Wuletich, session vocalists the Water Sisters (Maxine and Julia Water) were also part of the group. Cheri left in 1985 and was replaced by Yvette "Corvette" Marine. Apparently Mary Jane Girls was basically a launching pad for JoJo to get her career off the ground and the other members couldn't sing very well! Kind of like how the Pussycat Dolls was said to be a vehicle for Nicole Scherzinger. The Mary Jane Girls released two albums Mary Jane Girls (1983) and Only Four You (1985)