Platinum Pen Exclusive: Interview With UK Electronica Artist Antigone

Look out Kylie Minoque, there's a new musical majesty in the land of the Gays. The UKs Antigone is the newest thing out on the market and she's already tearin up clubs and car stereos alike. The first single off of Antigone's latest album "AntigoneLand" is called "More Man Than Man." The single is upbeat, uplifting, and you totally can't help but sing along. The rest of the album is eclectic. Each song is completely different. You have your jazz, your disco, your dance, your lounge. Antigone is definitely an artist worth giving a listen because whatever your musical preference, her album has something for everyone.

I had the wonderful opportunity to interview this artist, and she had a lot of interesting things to say about her music, music in general, and women empowerment in the bedroom ;-)

THE PLATINUM PEN: Let's talk about your hit song, "More Man Than Man." It's a great song, by the way. And I have a pretty good idea what it's about, but let's hear from you, the artist. Describe what the song means.

ANTIGONE: At a basic and more primal level it's about a girl telling her frisky fuck-buddy to chill out and grow up about their brief sporadic encounters. She's urging him to become the man he is at night the morning after! At a more subterranean level it's about sex and gender perception, and the fact that even today, many women are castigated as sops who automatically want a relationship with anyone they sleep with when quite often, they seek out casual intimacy as frequently as men. What I like about the title of the song is that it seems at first glance to be about men, whereas in fact it is all about women, and women with stronger libido's than many of their male counterparts. Ha!

THE PP: Who are some of your musical influences?

ANTIGONE: Well my forthcoming album is very eclectic and it betrays a diverse musical upbringing and interest. My parents were both jazz musicians before they became novelists and prison counsellors, so my childhood soundtrack was impeccable - I'm very grateful! I'm usually obsessed with some female singer or another, but I've tended to ease off on listening to one too intensely for too long or I invariably end up imitating them and that's not good. It's good to begin with, but in order to stay true to your own voice there comes a point where you have to stop listening. But I would say my life-long influences are Sarah Vaughan and Syreeta Wright (look her up if you don't know her), probably Bjork, and to an extent Moloko and Goldfrapp who have always encouraged me with their leftfield pop vision. Mostly I'm influenced by artists whose names I don't even know though, because most of the music I listen to is mixtapes by DJ friends and I never end up with the playlists!

THE PP: Who do you listen to the most in the house/dance/electronica genre, and also in other genres?

ANTIGONE: I rarely listen to house. It's for dancing to at clubs! I'm really so much more of a disco lover, and so is my producer. For me disco is still the best dance music, and in a way I consider my dance music to be disco not dance or house. But I can dig bent or more 'haunted' house, like say remixes by Herbert, or the kind of beautiful dancey stuff that graces Hotel Costes compilations. M.I.A and Bugz in the Attic have a good tip on dance. Electronica-wise I'm into so much different stuff but generally the more musical the better, like Susumu Yokota, Wagon Christ and AIR. Otherwise I listen to all sorts of stuff, from Radiohead to Jamie Lidell to Beach Boys. Just good music.

THE PP: How did you end up getting a music deal? How long have you been doing this?

Well it was quite simple because I signed myself. I've been signed before to both majors and indies, and it's not that I don't want to be signed again, but because myself and my producer did the album ourselves, we figured we would try and hold onto the rights for as long as possible while we built buzz around it. In the dance scene particularly, it is not unusual now for artists and producers to put their own records out as the first step. It's really a 'soft' release structure because you're just ensuring that people can buy it if they know about it, and with digital distribution that's easy now. But marketing and promotion remain the biggest challenge. I've been in the biz now for 8 years. They say it takes 10 years to have overnight success, so I'm nearly there - hurrah!

THE PP: What can we expect on the album?

ANTIGONE: It's 11 tracks so a proper LP. Here's what the Editor of PopJustice, Peter Robinson, recently said about it:

"A surefire hit for anyone whose two favourite genres are pop music that sounds like dance music and dance music that sounds like pop music, 'Antigoneland' is a smart and sophisticated club record full of stylish tunes and a fair number of surprises. The hypnotic technological pop of 'Promiscuity' should please those left disappointed with the new Goldfrapp album while tracks like 'Mirror' and last week's single 'More Man Than Man' hit the spot in a brilliantly Roisin Murphyesque way." Hopefully it will be released by the end of the year.

THE PP: Include any other info you would like readers to know about you.

ANTIGONE: Random fact--As well as jazz I have studied Indian singing. On a trip to Mumbai/Bombay for 3 months I sang an impromptu gig with Talvin Singh and also had quite a novel Valentine's Day experience: hanging out on set with esteemed Bollywood siren Rheka, whose only husband died in very mysterious circumstances shortly after they married (in the Indian film industry female stars are instantly relegated to matronly roles as soon as they marry, even if they are still very young and beautiful).

THE PP: Thank you so much for your time. It was wonderful having the opportunity to chat with you and get a better perspective into your world and music. I look forward to listening to your future material. All the best of luck with the success of your current album.

FOR MORE INFORMATION or to order "More Man Than Man," please visit Antigone's myspace: http://www.myspace.com/antigoneland

Platinum Pen EXCLUSIVE: The Hills is Even Faker Than You Think!

A Platinum Pen reader reveals to me exclusively that she spotted Lauren Conrad and cohorts on Friday, filming a scene for The Hills on location—on location of a set, that is. Yup, not only are the events and drama on the faux-ality show acted out, but even some of the locations are fake!

My source spotted LC in her black Mercedes in the parking lot of a lighting studio off of La Brea Ave. in Los Angeles. Apparently the parking lot had a fake traffic light set up and the idea was to impose Lauren in her car on the road, having a conversation with someone. Now it all makes sense. I always wondered how they managed to so accurately film those car scenes. Duhhh…because most of them are not actually on the road.

As I watch the updated preview for Season 4 of The Hills (which premieres Aug 18th, FYI), I pretty much assumed everything you see is fake. Although I have to wonder if LC’s crying scenes are real—either that, or she’s really mastered this whole acting thing to a tee. But then again, she does so much crying on the show that she’d have to have mastered that action by now.

Huge Word-of-Mouth Denim Sale in Hollywood This Weekend

Paige Premium Denim, one of the trendiest jean lines in LA--and everywhere--is offering this amazing word-of-mouth opportunity. I figured I'd reward my loyal readers by giving you guys the chance to take advantage of this wonderful offer. All the 411 is listed on the flier. NOTE: Don't worry about the RSVP option. You do not need to do so. Just show up and be prepared to buy, buy, buy!

Platinum Pen Exclusive: Breasts, Booze and the Beach Drew the Crowds to Hermosa's Fifth Annual "Margarita Wrestling"

BEFORE YOU READ, PLEASE NOTE: For some reason, this site will not allow me to post some of my photos' full size, so if you see a pic that looks like someone has been cut out, this is not intentional. This is completely at the cause of the blogger program. I did NOT cut anyone out of any of the photos.

Celebrities, commonfolk and media took over Hermosa Beach on Friday, making the city's fifth annual 4th of July Margarita Wrestling event a surefire success.

Talk about a quadruple threat. For a mere $20 cover, not only were guests of M.W. guaranteed an open Vodka bar, a live DJ, and the gift of being surrounded by a plethora of scantily clad, big breasted women, but all of the proceeds from the hyped event went to the Barbara K. Robinson Breast Cancer Foundation.

Guests each had their own reasons for attending the extravaganza, but everyone was more than happy to be there, and it surely showed by the way everyone interacted, drank, danced and participated in the main event--which consisted of a selection of women dressed in bikinis, battling it out in a wrestling competition in a pool of margarita mix. Best thing about the event? The Platinum Pen was there to cover it!

"My mom has beat Breast Cancer twice, so it’s like anything that has to do with Breast Cancer, I try to come out and actually get involved with, because it’s so close to me," says Yo on E!'s Michael Yo.

"I talk to my mom all the time, and know her struggles, so I have to come out and support anything that has to do with Breast Cancer."

Yo brought along his Miami intern Courtney Meredith, who was also excited to be in Hermosa to show her support for the event and for the cause.

"I like to watch girls get crazy. I think every girls does," says Meredith, who was eagerly anticipating being able to watch the bare-ly there women get down and dirty.

102.7 KIIS-FM's Manny on the Streets says raising money for the Breast Cancer foundation was what drew him to the event initially, but once he got there, he realized, "there’s like tons of beautiful women. And you’re on the beach for Fourth of July, [and you're] just being with good people."

Perfectly fitting for the beach theme of the event, E!'s Sunset Tan cast members Jeff Bozz and Jenae Alt
co-hosted the event.

"We’re here looking at breasts, we’re here raising some money for a good cause. Margarita Wrestling—great people, we’re having a good time. It’s Fourth of July," says Bozz.

Alt was thrilled about the event as well, even taking on the role as one of the Margarita Wrestling team coaches.

"When you think of Fourth of July, you could do the chi-chi Malibu thing, but I wanna have fun, let my hair down, fireworks, and a little Margarita Wrestling. I’ve done it four years in a row, my girls have always won. And they’re paying me an insane amount of money to be here and be fabulous; and I’m at the beach, on a Friday!"

Alt took a moment out of her coaching responsibilities to let fans of Sunset Tan know, "Watch out, Olly Girls. Nay-Nay’s in town."

"If you love Season One, Season Two is Season One times ten on steroids," says Bozz.

Step-Up 2's Black Thomas also had some thoughts on the event.

"The Fourth of July is such a day of unity and independence that you one can’t not partake in the festivities; and Margarita Wrestling—how patriotic!"

The actor/dancer/musician was also celebrating the upcoming release of the very first Hip-Hop musical, entitled, "Jump Off," which will be released shortly. You can expect Thomas and the other characters, including Cedric the Entertainer to appear on the soundtrack.

For more information on this event, or to make a donation to the Barbara K. Robinson Breast Cancer Foundation , please visit the official Margarita Wrestling website.

A special thanks to Josh Zimmerman & Rachel London

(l-r) Josh Zimmerman, Dahvi Shira, Michael Yo, Courtney Meredith



(l-r) Josh Zimmerman, Dahvi Shira, Michael Yo, Courtney Meredith


(l-r) Manny on the Streets, Dahvi Shira


(l-r) Dahvi Shira, American Gladiators' Lee "The Hawk" Reherman


(l-r) Dahvi Shira, American Gladiators' Lee "The Hawk" Reherman


(l-r) Dahvi Shira, Aaron Norvell


(l-r) Josh Zimmerman, Dahvi Shira


the Bartending Babes @ the event


(l-r) Black Thomas, Dahvi Shira


(l-r) Cyndi Ruth, Margarita Wrestling Ref


(l-r) Alex, Jenna


(l-r) Dahvi Shira, Cyndi Ruth


(l-r) Jeff Bozz, Jenae Alt

Platinum Pen EXCLUSIVE: Interview With Amy Paffrath, the Freshest Face of E! Talent

[Exclusive photo courtesy of Amy Paffrath, taken by Lisa Villasenor. Dress by Dye 4 Gething. Makeup by Casey Jo Cheek]

Several months ago, she was the main (albeit nameless) character of a chart-topping music video. Fast forward a few months later, Amy Christine Paffrath still has a lead role, but this time, her name is written all over it. As the friendly face and bubbly voice of E! News Now, and daily disher on Yo! on E!, Paffrath delivers the hottest celebrity 411 to viewers on a several-times-a-day basis—a dream come true for the Missouri-born beauty.

Despite donning a killer bod, an adorable face, and as aforementioned, a fresh gig at the immensely popular E! Network, the newfound entertainment host still keeps it as down-to-earth and cool as ever (as cliché as that may sound). Heck, I’d hit the clubs with her!

The Platinum Pen had the wonderful opportunity to interview Ms. Paffrath, who openly and happily dished about her confidence, her proud love for Hanson (yup, the MMM Bop-pers), how she landed her E! gig, boys (sorry fellas, this one’s taken!), living in the nine-double-oh-six-nine (also known as West Hollywood/WeHo for those of you non-Angelenos),and pretty much whatever else I pushed her way. And although you may not know her just yet, following this interview, you will definitely want to make her part of your entourage.

Oh yeah, and she totally digs her butt.


I started off by asking Paffrath those generic LA/Hollywood questions. Her answers are listed below.

Favorite Bar in LA – Lola’s has THE BEST martinis

Favorite Club in LA – Changes all the time! I really like Goa at the moment, but Social and Blvd 3 can be really fun, too.

Favorite boutique in LA – I love the Fashion District. There is an amazing shoe store called Picasso’s shoes and they sell literally every type of shoe you could dream up! I also really like Mannequin on Melrose, they have fun funky stuff.

Favorite radio station in LA – KROQ

Favorite restaurant in LA – Too many! La Fritte in the Valley is a new fave.

Favorite website in general (besides The Platinum Pen, of course ;-) ) – EOnline!

Favorite album of all time – OMG, Hanson, "Middle of Nowhere." I LOVE it, it makes me happy all the time. I also love Hot Fuss by the Killers

Team LC or Team Heidi – They are both ridiculous, so I say Audrina [laughs]

Harvey Levin or Mario Lavendeira (Perez Hilton) – Perez

Favorite designer (doesn’t have to be LA-based) – Debbie Gething

Favorite body part (had to ask!) - Butt [wide grin]

The Platinum Pen: Now, speaking of Hollywood and LA and living the life, you just bought yourself a pretty lil thang, didn’tcha, in honor of your new gig at E! (which, big CONGRATS, btw!). Why don’t you tell the Platinum Pen about your gift to yourself? Didja name it?

Amy Paffrath: Thank you! I did, I had to congratulate myself since two years ago, I said "I wanna be a host at E!" and I can’t believe it actually happened! It was definitely time for a new one, so I bought a car! It is beautiful. It all started because my make up artist was looking for a new car and she had done all this research. She showed me one that she was considering and it was a VW Eso. I absolutely fell in love. I HAD to have it. At the time, I was just freelancing and I made a promise to myself that if I was offered the job, I would treat myself. Two weeks later, I’m cruising in my shiny new convertible. As of now it is still unnamed, I’m getting to know her first ;)

The Platinum Pen: That's awesome. As we know, in LA, it's very important to feel cozy in your "whip"—pardon my lingo. [laughs] Anyway, something kind of interesting. I noticed you had a role in the movie “Hauntsville.” Turns out an old friend I’ve known forever, Monique La Barr, had a role in the film as well. Did the two of you work together? Small world.

A.P.: Very small world! No, we weren’t in any scenes together. My character was seen in flashbacks. I can't say much about the character without giving away the plot, but I did meet her at the table read and she is very sweet! I still haven’t seen the finished film, let me know if Monique has!

The Platinum Pen: I'll have to get back to you on that, but let me know when the film comes out, as I would love to watch you guys on the big screen! Now as mentioned above, you just landed an exciting gig as one of the hosts of E! News Now. How did this come to be?

A.P.: I first auditioned for the show back in November. It was the same day I got my California license so I’m all glam in my picture. Anyhow, I read for Annie Roberts and the audition went great! I got a callback and that went great as well. Then, I heard NOTHING until February. I went in and auditioned a third time and after that they asked if I’d work two days as a test. So I came in and did my two days and apparently I passed the test because they asked me back to do two more, then two more after that. Then one day while I was at E! my manager called to tell me I’d been offered the position! I was so excited but I didn’t say anything at first because no one at E! said anything about it! I had a week off while my contract was negotiated and now I’m here for good!

The Platinum Pen: That's so great. I have to admit, I'm a total fan of your videos. I watch them all the time. You certainly possess a great sense of charisma. But assigning you an official title sounds like it was quite a process for E!. Like when people were in the process of auditioning for one of the two host positions available after Ashlan Gorse and Valery Ortiz left the department, I watched those videos on E!’s website, and good heavens! Some of the girls they brought in were hot disasters! Because this is Hollywood and all, cockiness is A-OK. So tell us the truth: Did you know from the get-go you had the gig in the bag?

A.P.: [laughs] I am definitely confident in my skills so I thought I’d be a natural choice. But after the three great auditions I was thinking, what they hell are they looking for? After I came in for the test, my optimism came back because I had such a great instant rapport with the staff. They were all giving me such great feedback and HUGE compliments. It was nice. I kept going back and forth like, "It’s gonna happen, maybe not, NO it IS gonna happen!" And then it did!

The Platinum Pen: Well I cannot congratulate you enough. What a wonderful accomplishment. I'm sure this will open an array of doors for you. What would you say is the easiest part of your job as a host of E! News Now? And what would you say is the most difficult part?

A.P.: Well since this is truly my area of expertise [grins] I find it all relatively painless. I’d say the easiest part for me is just being me in front of the camera. Letting personality shine though has always been easy for me. The hardest part is reading copy on the prompter and remembering to breathe and to lower my register. It’s the newsy voice we have, when you read sometimes your voice naturally wants to go up, but in news, we want it be low so that it is perfectly clear what we are trying to say. Sometimes you forget to take a breath or to speak from your diaphragm, so it can be a lot to think about at once, but I love it!

The Platinum Pen: My next question is so cliché, but I feel like I have to ask: What is your *ultimate* goal in this business?

A.P.: Wow. Honestly it has changed a little bit since I moved here. When I first moved to LA my dream was to be a host on E! and I’m so happy that I’m doing that. But I’ve also been really interested in acting, and I have done some really great projects. I’ve always said my ultimate goal is to be the female Ryan Seacrest. He’s juggling more jobs right now than most people have in a lifetime. I just want to be able to keep working, whether it be in films or as a host.

The Platinum Pen: Those are excellent goals to have, and I sincerely hope you achieve them. Now to move on from the career-related questions, but sticking with the theme of cliché questions, are you dating anyone? Who? Anyone juicy?

A.P.: I am. It is kind of juicy actually! His name is Drew Seeley and he is an actor/singer. He is the singing voice of Zac Efron in the first High School Musical and he has a movie with Selena Gomez coming out. Pardon my shameless plug. He is incredibly talented and so supportive of everything I do. I want to go on for hours about him because he’s just an amazing person and so fun to be around, but this article is about me!

The Platinum Pen: Aww...that's so cute. Really, it is. And depressing at the same time. Well not for you, but for me. But why are we talking about me? Okay, sorry to sidetrack. And wow, quite interesting that he was the singing voice of Zefron! I don't think most people know that. Thanks for the insider's scoop! So would it be redundant for me to ask who is the most famous person you’ve kissed? [laughs]

A.P.: You slick little girl you! Drew Seeley of course!

The Platinum Pen: Okay, okay, I get the point. Moving on, you had a really cool role as the main character in the music video for the chart-topping Paramore hit, “Misery Business.” You looked like you were having a lot of fun in the video. Have you done other music videos and do you have any in the works?

A.P.: "Misery Business" was an absolute blast and total surprise. I had no idea who Paramore was when we shot it. It was like 7 months later when it blew up. Such a surreal experience having my face on a jumbo-tron in Times Square! I have done 2 other videos, one was for the Malibu based band Whitestarr fronted by Cisco Adler. That was my very first acting role in LA. It was a great time and awesome opportunity. It’s a little bit racier than Misery Business, I play Cisco’s love interest, his “Sunshine Girl.” You might not recognize me, I’m blond! I don’t have any others lined up but I’d love to do more in the future, they are great!

The Platinum Pen: Speaking of which, what is your favorite music video of all time?

A.P.: Hmm, this question made me rack my brain! I really like Madonna and Justin’s "4 Minutes" video, it’s really cool!

The Platinum Pen: You grew up in Missouri, but you seem like you’ve adapted quite nicely to L.A. When you first moved out here, what was the most shocking thing to you? Like what was the most difficult thing to get adjusted to?

A.P.: I moved to LA in January 2006 so when I first got here is was rainy and cold! I was like what is this, I did not move 2500 miles for rain! I guess I just thought it was sunshine and rainbows all the time. Initially it was sort of shocking to me how many people live here and don’t really work. It was sort of shocking to hear all these young girls say they are actresses, yet they don’t take classes they don’t study; they are out all night partying hoping to be discovered at the club. Any man who tells you he is a producer while handing you a cocktail is not going to advance your career! The most difficult thing to adjust to was definitely the amount of time I spend in my car. It’s crazy. I didn’t realize LA was so spread out and it literally encompasses a 50 mile radius, so to say "I live in LA" could mean you live anywhere from downtown LA to the beach to the valley, it’s just HUGE!

The Platinum Pen: Wow, all of that is so true. Glad we see things similarly. Anyway, thank you for the interview, Amy! You rock. And you’re super cute! Keep up the good work on-cam and we look forward to checking out your future developments. We should grab coffee or lunch sometime and chat some more. Keep us Platinum Pen readers posted, ya hear?

For more info on Amy Christine Paffrath and to catch her on-screen, click on the following:


http://www.eonline.com/videos

http://amychristinepaffrath.com/

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=14932463

EXCLUSIVE: Today I Chatted With Tori Spelling

On the brink of the 3rd season of her Oxygen-hosted reality show "Tori & Dean," the former (and perhaps re-appearing) Donna Martin shared some words about what to expect this season. I don't watch the show (duh), but I was digging much deeper, for like actual juice. I asked her about the current relationship she has with her mom Candy, and if Mama Spelling would indeed be making an appearance on the show this season. Tori blatantly ignored the question about the status between her mom and she, and in a cold-mannered tone, responded, "No, no, there will be no family appearing on my show. After all my family drama portrayed in the media, at this point, having anyone in my family appear would only seem like a gimmick to get people to watch." (ala Dina Lohan, perhaps??... hmmm....)

She also mentioned that her son Liam loves the camera and hubby Dean chimed in, saying Liam is "a pro."

She's stoked about appearing on the 90210 spinoff and says she owes everything to the original show and all of it's fans. She doesn't know if Donna and David are still married (so it looks like you'll have to tune in to find out [dun dun dun...]).

Lastly, there's nothing she regrets about publishing her tell-all book, "sTORI TELLING," and Jennie Garth is the only original 90210 cast member who she gave a copy to.

-Exclusive photo Copyright The Platinum Pen-