I'm Ed Hunsinger, a 28-year-old East Coast native who now calls San Francisco home.
I can't remember using a cell phone that wasn't a Sidekick and I've been a Sidekick user and part of the online community for years.
I'm responsible for multiple Sidekick-fan websites and you may also know me as "divinity" on the poweredbydanger.com forums.
When I'm not sitting in front of the computer, I'm probably out playing with fire as part of Interpretive Arson, a Bay Area based group of fire artists. I'm a seasoned traveler who loves new places, music, photography, and desert camping.
Favorite Sidekick? The Midnight Blue LX.
Blogs/Websites? Hiptop3.com, sk3themes.com, sklxthemes.com
Yo! My name's Dave.
I'm an actor/director making super cool movies full-time in Hollywood, U.S.A.
I'm gearing up to go on tour with T-Mobile Sidekick and things are gonna get CRAZY.
Favorite Sidekick? Blue Sidekick LX w/ one-touch MySpace!
Blogs/Websites? davidlehre.com
I don’t even know where to begin with the show Busta Rhymes put on. He was so incredibly good. And he performed songs from all over his entire 17 year career. At one point the crowd was asked who has been with Busta from day one? Who were the “true” fans? Then as a test to see who was telling the truth, he busted into “Woo Hah” and the crowd exploded. Oh, but he wasn’t done there. After that he took it super old school with one he did with A Tribe Called Quest and one of my favorites, “Scenario”. I could hardly believe my ears.
Busta Rhymes grew up in New York so you could tell this wasn’t just another show. He was having a good time and he had Spliff Starr alongside him who was having just as much fun. The joking around and interaction that they had on stage had the crowd cracking up in between dancing and singing along. They had everyone “put on their headphones” and then urged us all to jump. You could feel the balcony shaking from the number of Sidekick VIP upstairs jumping to the thumping bass. Oh, and the bass… I’m a sucker for some strong bass, and they definitely had the speakers hitting hard. The entire building was shaking with each percussive blast. Like Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes had a more relaxed and unrehearsed sort of show. He’d be doing a song and then when he got tired of the song, he’d just stop whenever he felt like it. His reasoning? “I’ve got hits.” You can’t argue with that.
The most memorable part of the show was him pulling out the bottle of Courvoisier and instead of passing it, he literally poured it into a lucky fan’s mouth. I guess this is one of the benefits of being in the front row!
After Busta Rhymes and Spliff Starr left the stage to a thundering applause and screaming, we snuck off to the after-party at the Marquee club. Private table, bottle service, and a long night of dancing with T-Mobile, the VIP winners, and fellow bloggers (Crunchgear’s Peter Ha and Eric from Phonescoop). It was getting close to 4am when the club finally started clearing out, so I was off to bed for a couple hours sleep before my flight home. Whew… what a trip. One more to go for me! Next stop Miami!
-Ed
Wow, what a show. My ears are still ringing from the bass but you can’t wipe the smile off my face. A recap of the night is in order…
I got to Webster Hall early, about 10 minutes before the doors opened, got my badge and wristbands and snuck in past the line that extended the entire block. I ran around taking pictures in the club swarming with people rushing to get last minute things done. Webster Hall is a really cool venue, with an old building aesthetic and a ton of different floors and rooms. I’m sure I didn’t even see all of it! The decor was similar to Chicago, with Sidekick LXs on display all over, and cushy couches and pillows for relaxing in the VIP area. Shortly after 8pm the doors opened and people started flowing in, one after another, eventually filling the place to the brim.
Before the show got kicked into high gear, I got a chance to meet Jafari, the VIP winner for New York. Like the last VIP winner in Chicago, he won by entering the contest after receiving a text message from T-Mobile. And just like everyone always thinks, he doubted he would win but figured “why not” since it only took a snippet of time. Jafari had kindly brought along his girlfriend, Rhaema. She was sporting the Sidekick iD and trying to convince Jafari to hand over his Sidekick 3 since he was getting a brand new Sidekick LX for winning. Both were excited for the show and dressed to impress!
As the club continued to fill up I went and staked out what seems to be my usual spot, up on the balcony on the right hand side. I eagerly waited for Missy to take the stage while the house DJ spins some good tunes that keeps the crowd bobbing their heads. Finally the house music is turned off, then the lights go down and the smoke starts on stage.
The show began and ended with 4 dancers dressed as classic horror movie characters shuffle across the stage and was filled with an incredible amount of fancy footwork. Missy opened with one of my favorites, Pass That Dutch. But my favorites definitely didn’t end there. Her performance was filled with great tracks I (tried) to rap along with and could not help dancing to. What was great about her performance was that it was more relaxed than I thought. Don’t get me wrong, the dancers were off the hook with their choreography, but Missy was all about having fun with the crowd. She made comments about how she had just had McDonald’s and even stopped a song when the music wasn’t making people lose control enough. All in all an excellent show that I wish could have gone on all night.
Once Missy Elliott left the stage we headed downstairs for a meet and greet with Busta Rhymes. He came out and I was surprised at how much bigger he was in person! I was introduced, shook his hand, chatted for a minute, and then took a photo with him. He was really cool and friendly. He hung out for a bit, taking pictures and chatting with everyone, including the staff from Webster Hall who happened to be hanging out. Unfortunately the picture of me with him is on the photographer’s camera so I’ll have to wait to see it. Then he was either whisked away to get ready while we weren’t looking, or turned into the black cat that was wandering the ballroom we were hanging out in.
Then we were off to wind our way through the maze of stairways and rooms in the Webster to go meet Missy Elliott. We found ourselves in some weird hallway/room when Missy came out. She apologized for not being all dressed up since she was walking around in a pair of stuffed animal slippers. We all had a chance to meet her and then posed for a couple photos. She is such a cool person, with none of the stuck-up “rockstar” attitude! While we were chatting with Missy, Busta took the stage. After thanking Missy and saying our goodbyes, we headed back out to the main stage.
Stay tuned.. Busta Rhymes is up next...