I mentioned a few weeks ago about the festival announcements starting to take place, and today was one of those big days in the music scene, as Oxegen was given the official launch for 2010.

In the busy Academy in Dublin the whos-who of the entertainment and media industry popped in to the launch to hear which international arists would grace the stages over the three day event, and I don’t think personally that anyone could really predict a line up like this. So far some of the names confirmed are:

EMINEM, MUSE, JAY-Z, BLACK EYED PEAS, KASABIAN, THE PRODIGY, FLORENCE+THE MACHINE, PAOLO NUTINI, FAITHLESS, STEREOPHONICS, DAVID GUETTA, VAMPIRE WEEKEND, MUMFORD & SONS JOHN MAYER, HOT CHIP, CALVIN HARRIS, NEWTON FAULKNER, GOSSIP, THE TEMPER TRAP, EMPIRE OF THE SUN, GOLDFRAPP, LA ROUX, WOLFMOTHER, RISE AGAINST, THE CORAL, BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE, ELLIE GOULDING, TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB, ARMAND VAN HELDEN, STEVE ANGELLO, SIMIAN MOBILE DISCO, EROL ALKAN, STEVE AOKI, A-TRAK, AEROPLANE

And there are more to be announced, as per usual.

Eminem is one the big boys playing the festival, along with rapper Jay-Z, offering a truly hip-hop feel to the mainstage. And, there’s the usual culprits in the form of Calvin Harris, The Prodigy and smaller acts. News about Eminem playing Oxegen was broken ahead of the launch, courtesy of a news article. [Thanks to Phantom 105.2 for that]

I wonder, since the criticism of Jay-Z at Glastonbury, will we have the same upset here. I doubt it, really. Oxegen is already diverse enough in terms of acts, but I may be wrong. Who knows.

As for other international festivals, T in the Park, which has a line-up which nearly imitates Oxegen, has been announced today. I’m certain a good few of the other acts from the festival which come across the water to Punchestown.

Oxegen itself is €224.50 for 3 days, with camping.

Electric Picnic and other Irish festivals have not announced their line-up as of yet.

Big Swap Songs is the newest campaign by chocolate makers, Cadbury (Yep, the one now owned by Kraft), in association with Fairtrade, to celebrate the Fairtrade Fortnight, which is from today for the next two weeks.

To celebrate it they’ve created an album featuring Mr. Paolo Nutini (Ladies, you may gasp if you like) with The Big Ghana Band, a traditional band from, well, Ghana. What the two have done is create eight songs, of which you know very well, and given them an African feel- and the results are brilliant, truly brilliant.

Tracks include a cover of “Pencil Full of Lead” featuring Paolo, along with versions of “Sound of the Underground” by Girls Aloud, “On a Day Like This” by Elbow, “Ooh La La” by Goldfrapp and Unbelievable” by EMF, with many others too. The covers are really magical, and give the track a whole new feel good mood, combining big drums and many other tribal and native instruments. I didn’t even cop-on that it was the Goldfrapp song when I first listened to it, as it sounds excellent in its own right.

The album has been released free of charge on the website, www.CadburyMusic.com. All you have to do is select which item, such as chocolate or clothes, that you have “swapped” in order to download it. For your information, I swapped a banana.

Seriously, go and get it now. Put this on your iPod or on a CD and slap it on your speakers as you make the commute to the office or college tomorrow. You’ll be in a great mood for the day, and these songs will be stuck in your head, in a good way.

And, while I’m here, a little update on my MTV for Dublin campaign: The lovely folks at Facebook have stopped our group being able to message all our members, due to the limit placed on groups of over 500 members. I’ve asked my tech-monkeys to help me find a workaround so that we can contact the members regularly (the main plan of ours), however we’ve reached a brick wall without success. I know that there are some third-party applications that we can use, not endorsed by the website, but we can’t find them. If you know them, please drop me an email: dave [at] MTVforDublin.com. I will reward you with a big virtual clap and a hug- what more could you ask for.

I’ve been nominated for the Irish Blog Awards 2010! I’m so chuffed that I made the list.

I’m featured in two categories: Best Newcomer and Best Youth Blog. Yep, I’m very honoured.

I would like to extend my thanks for everyone who nominated or voted on the website for my inclusion in the nominations. It’s very, very kind of you all. It’s a real thrill to see your efforts recognised by being nominated,and the fact that people actually took the time to enter me is even more generous. It is also great to be included in the same category as some of these other great bloggers.

The awards are taking place in March, so fingers crossed that I make the shortlist, or whatever other lists shall follow.

Thank you again, you beautiful people.

Dave
xx

Update:

Forgot to mention the sponsors. Yep, they are that important.

Go buy their stuff/use their services/shake their hand/buy them a pint:

Okay, I’ve been neglecting the updating of blogs over the past number of days. However, you not doubt have seen what I’ve been up to as of late.

Last Friday I launched my latest venture, MTV for Dublin, a campaign that attempts to bring the MTV Europe Music Awards to Dublin. I first started a group on Facebook, then it suddenly took off, and from there it has become bigger and bigger, now boasting 4000+ supporters, all after 4 days. And today alone it has jumped up by nearly one thousand. I’ve most definitely have learnt the power of social networking, and how much of an impact can be made in such a short space of time.

I’ve got an interview on student radio station DCUFM tomorrow night about the whole affair- 7pm, if you’re interested in tuning in- and it’s already been mentioned on Spin1038 after a supporter called into the late night radio show. Hopefully the level of publicity surrounding the campaign continues, as it is one way to bring everyone together in support and also get MTV Networks hearing us shout.

If you want to see some of the feedback from supporters, just head over to Twitter and search for the hashtag #MTVforDublin. We’ve also started to receive followers, albeit only a small amount right now, on our account. I really cannot get over the level of support received over such a short space of time.

I better start preparing the next phase of the campaign, and fast.

Those in relationships Women love Valentines, well those in relationships that is. They will await their Prince Charming to arrive home with flowers and/or chocolates, take them out for a fancy meal or some sort of romantic gesture, or even bring them on a nice breakaway.

And, as you’ve seen from any high street or shopping centre over the past few months (since Christmas really), the companies are offering many options for people to splash out on their loved ones- be it on over priced red coloured sweets, to teddy-bears holding hearts, that at any other time of the year would look creepy but just for this one day looks “cute”.

And, to keep my Blog light-and-fluffy, I shall delight you with a funny video- the Valentines Day Break up.