EXCLUSIVE: Catching Up With Jason Derulo

J.R. Rotem believed “Whatcha Say” needed to be someone’s first single. Sean Kingston already had that lead hit in “Fire Burning.” I-Yaz wrote and sang on the beat – but even the artist himself knew it just didn’t work. Then Jason Derulo sang on it, with the sped-up sample of Imogen Heap’s “Lost and Found.” While others within Rotem’s camp may have known of the forthcoming success, Derulo did not.

“We all liked the song, but I mean, we never knew that it’d be my first single or that people would have received it so well,” revealed Derulo, who stopped by The Ralphie Radio Show before performing at The Woodlands for 97 BHT listeners.

“We’ll make six songs in a day. I mean, “Whatcha Say” is definitely special, and we definitely got spine chills from it, but it’s amazing that people are being so receptive to it, and I couldn’t be more pleased.”
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Part 1: "Whatcha Say", Forthcoming LP

Part 2: Performance at The Woodlands, A.J. In The Afternoon

Check out Jason's performance here.
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However, for Derulo, there is one drawback to the song’s success – some radio stations play an edit sans the trademark “J-R” stutter and “Jason Derulo” shout out over the beginning. The Miami-born singer feels that he can work around such an edit on the next single.

“Next time, I’m gonna actually put it inside the song, where it’s like, ‘Mhhmm Whatcha Sa-Jason Derulo!’” he joked. “Try taking that out.”

We’ll see if Derulo follows through on the follow-up single. While Derulo hasn’t named a second track for radio release – he has played “Ridin’ Solo” at radio performances. The song samples The Verve’s “Bitter Sweet Symphony” – and describes a bitter sweet breakup in an uplifting tone.

Derulo will open up for Lady GaGa on The Monster Ball tour this winter, and release his self-titled, debut LP in early 2010.

VIDEO: Jason Derulo Inside The Woodlands!

97 BHT Presented Warner Bros. Recording Artist Jason Derulo, featuring his hit song, "Whatcha Say", live inside Club HD at The Woodlands, Plains - Rte. 315 - on Thursday, October 8! Thank you for coming out!

Powered by The Woodlands, Warner Bros. Records, & The Only Radio Station in NEPA Playing "Whatcha Say" - 97 BHT!

JASON DERULO INSIDE THE WOODLANDS!

97 BHT Presents Warner Bros. Recording Artist Jason Derulo, featuring his hit song, "Whatcha Say", live inside Club HD at The Woodlands, Plains - Rte. 315 - on Thursday, October 1!

Plus, listen to 97 BHT to win Meet & Greet Passes! Powered by The Woodlands, Warner Bros. Records, & The Only Radio Station in NEPA Playing "Whatcha Say" - 97 BHT!

VIDEO: Funhouse Friday's w/ Shontelle, Adam Barta, DJ Woogie

Pandemonium. Enjoy.

DAILY DOWNLOAD: Adam Barta - QnA

03.26.09 : Adam Barta - QnA
Adam calls in to The Ralphie Radio Show!
On the song

Abercrombie & Fitch, Performing at The Woodlands

RALPHIE REPORT: Flavor Flav, Vegas, DJ AM, Hinder

Flavor Flav celebrated his 50th birthday last week. No, that is not a typo.

The “Flavor Of Love” star kicked off the celebration on the East Coast – with a star-studded bash at BB King’s in New York City. The party brought a pleasant surprise to ongoers, as Ice-T and Chuck D joined Flav on stage to perform a number of hits from Public Enemy’s catalog.

Last Friday, Flav flew the festivities to Las Vegas, with a party inside Jet Nightclub at The Mirage. The highlight? The rapper held his trademark, “Yeah Boyee!” catchphrase for an uncanny 35 seconds.

SPEAKING OF LAST FRIDAY…

So I spent part of last week in Las Vegas, betting on March Madness (How ‘bout Syracuse?!), partaking in bottle/limo service, and enjoying the amenities of The Strip (as in the stretch of attractions, not a prefix for a club).

You would’ve thought that these activities, especially with Spring Break, would’ve yielded a many stories for this column, between celebrity sightings and encounters.

Well, you would’ve thought incorrectly. I saw DJ AM spin at LAX inside Luxor, and didn’t bother with Flav’s aforementioned party on Friday night. All in all, I did not meet, let alone knowingly encounter any type of celebrity.

And as far as stories? I accumulated quite a few for a 72 hour period, however what happens in Vegas…

BUT AGAIN, BACK TO LAST FRIDAY…

Big thanks to everyone who joined 97 BHT for the return of Funhouse Friday’s inside The Woodlands. While I was actin’-a-foo inside Prive at Planet Hollywood, A.J. In The Afternoon was throwing a big bash inside Evolution at The Woodlands. I can only imagine what Week 2 will be like inside The Woods, with Shontelle, Adam Barta, and DJ Woogie slated to perform on Friday.

There was also a group of celebrities in the house last week. However the band Hinder was “less than friendly” according to one patron. Another person at the event noted that the band would only sign five CDs for 97 BHT to give to listeners (Most artists usually will agree to how many CDs asked of them).
But then again, I suppose it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise – we are talking about a “rock” group from Oklahoma that is notorious for playing by their own rules, whether that be shots of “Jager” prior to radio interviews or all-night benders on the tour bus before concerts.

It’s really quite a shame though. I remember hearing so many stories about an easy going Hinder – drinking at Tinks with fans, sleeping in their caravan outside of studios just to snag radio time and the attention of Program Directors.

I suppose it’s just an example of the affect that groupies, alcohol, cross-country tours, and a couple of Billboard “rock” hits can have on one’s ego.

BTW, if you weren’t one of the 5 to snag one of those highly-coveted autographed CDs, you might have a chance this summer, as the pompous partiers return to NEPA on July 14 to open for fellow “rockers” Nickelback at Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain.

JADA Inside Club HD Thursday Night!

Join 97 BHT for a special Club HD inside Evolution at The Woodlands - with a performance by Universal Motown's "Jada" - 18+ to party, 21+ to drink! Evolution inside The Woodlands, Rte. 315 in Plains! This Thursday!

To hear Jada's music, click here.

Miss Tanfastic 2009: Congrats Jessie!

(Btw, pics of this weekend will be up soon... and Friday at The Woods with this event went so well, big thanks to Amanda and everyone at Tanfastic, our three finalists, and you for showing up).

Congrats to Jessie - Miss Tanfastic 2009 with Miller Lite and 97 BHT!

BROUGHT TO YOU BY MILLER LITE, PAPA JOHN'S, CHACKO'S FAMILY BOWLING CENTER, KELSEY'S RESTAURANT, MASTER CUTS, DEVOTED CREATIONS, WHISKEY BUSINESS, RAMPEL, TANFASTIC, & 97 BHT!

RALPHIE REPORT: Partying Priest leads to Daily News Collab

The following will appear in this Wednesday's edition of The Weekender.
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An appearance by a disgraced pastor at a 97 BHT event led to a major collaboration between The Ralphie Report and the New York Daily News.

As of late Sunday evening, a reporter from the Daily News and me were in contact, exchanging e-mails. A phone interview followed Monday.

This second stream of communication began with revelation of a cameo by Episcopal Reverend Gregory Malia at “Club HD” – the Thursday night 18-and-up party held weekly inside Evolution at The Woodlands Inn & Resort. The evening in question fell two weeks before Christmas.

It seems the news won’t get better in the New Year for Fr. Greg, who found himself as the subject of a Daily News Sunday edition article last week. The piece cited various sources in outlining nights where Malia would spend tens of thousands of dollars on bottle service at posh nightclubs located throughout Manhattan, primarily in the Chelsea district. Some were quoted as mentioning that Malia was both a generous purchaser and tipper – sending bottles of Dom Perignon to complete strangers, all while throwing down thousands of dollars – and in some cases – shopping sprees as gratuity.

The day the article ran, Bishop Paul V. Marshall of the Diocese of Bethlehem, called for a probe in to the allegations, while stripping Malia of his priestly duties. Bishop Marshall previously appointed Malia vicar of St. James, a summers-only parish in Dundaff.

As widely speculated and confirmed by the Bishop – the small parish isn’t the revenue source of the outlandish Manhattan lifestyle. Rather, Malia’s spending is a result of his pharmacy. New Life Home Care launched in 2000 and specializes in medicines for blood disorders. According to the Daily News, the priest is a hemophiliac.

But this story seems far from finished with news of a rumored night of clubbing right here in Northeastern PA, as well as photos that emerged last week. The shots, printed in the Daily News, depict the pastor partying at New York hotspot Pink Elephant with short-skirted cocktail waitresses while shots were served and bottles handed out.

As of press time, the Diocese’s committee had not reached a decision regarding Malia. But, the Diocese’s website still contains Bishop Marshall’s initial statement, along with a running list of links to various news articles on the events. Yes, there’s even a link to the Daily News’s photo gallery of Fr. Greg inside Pink Elephant.

Call the Diocese what you’d like, but you’d be remiss to call them secretive.

BON JOVI BECOMES A “HILLRAISER”

Jon Bon Jovi will perform a fundraiser concert for Senator and soon-to-be Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The event, scheduled for later this month, could run you as much as $1,500 per ticket. But if you can afford admission, you will be afforded an intimate performance with the Garden State singer inside Manhattan’s Town Hall.

Clinton is still millions of dollars in debt from her 2008 Presidential Campaign.
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Listen to Ralphie Aversa weekdays from 5-10p on 97 BHT.

2007 weekender MOTY jen smith...

Download the mp3
Jen is still crying... wtf.


The Weekender's Man & Model of the Year Party is Friday, Oct. 17 inside The Grand Ballroom of The Woodlands - Route 315 in Plains.

RALPHIE REPORT: chillin' with blg's martin...

Its just past 3 a.m. Martin Johnson spent the day traveling, meeting fans, and living the life; granted by the pop-rock quartet he fronts. Boys Like Girls caught a 6 a.m., from their hometown of Boston – and were stuck in Philadelphia for the majority of the morning due to plane issues. Upon arriving in Avoca, the four were swept up by a Columbia Records rep and driven to The Woodlands – where I awaited with the rest of the 97 BHT staff for an interview/photo-op date.

But Johnson’s finished with media and other obligations for the night. Yet despite the 9 a.m. lobby call for a flight back to Beantown, the BLG lead singer is fidgeting through his iTunes playlist. At my suggestion, a Goo Goo Dolls live LP from a 2004 concert in Buffalo, NY (my hometown) is selected. Johnson skips through a couple tracks – Martin insists he “only wants to hear the hits.”

The comment is a microcosm of the singer. Call his group what you may, and categorize his music how you will, but one thing is for certain – Johnson is true to his art. We spend most of the time discussing and dissecting not just pop rock, but radio songs, and subsequent hits.

“(I) Love ‘Crush’,” Johnson admits of the debut single from American Idol runner-up David Archuleta. “It’s just a good radio song. He’s got a great voice.”

It isn’t often that you’ll meet an artist who genuinely enjoys the work of their peers. I suppose hanging out in an artist’s hotel room after last call with a few close friends isn’t all too much of an everyday occurrence either. Nonetheless, Johnson loves pop music. He thinks the latest Katy Perry song (“Hot N Cold”) is one of the top three tracks on radio. And Johnson insists that Metro Station’s second single, “Seventeen Forever” is a better song than “Shake It” – so much that he originally suggested to MS’s manager (who also heads up Boys Like Girls) that it should be the debut single.

“Yeah, I ended up being wrong on that one. But still,” says Johnson.

Of course, Boys Like Girls scored a few hits of their own. Johnson – even at this late hour – continuously flaunts his music cognoscitive. He compares the band’s success to that of fellow pop rockers All-American Rejects.

“’Great Escape’ was our ‘Dirty Little Secret’” explains Johnson. “It allowed us to have ‘Hero/Heroine’ and ‘Thunder’ – like ‘Move Along’ and ‘It Ends Tonight.’”

All in the room nod in agreement. Like AAR, Boys Like Girls roughed it on the Vans Warped Tour – one of the many concerts hit hard this summer by rising fuel prices.

“Bands that are starting out right now, it’s going to start to literally be impossible to tour,” the singer told me earlier. “When we did a 15 passenger and a trailer, we were just surviving barely on gas – hoping we could maybe get a hotel room for six people to share.”

Not the case anymore. Funny how Martin once worked in Hollister – listening to the type of music he’s now paid to perform for millions of fans across the world.

And he doesn’t even have to take care of the gas bill.

BOYS LIKE GIRLS this friday!

Join 97 BHT, Boys Like Girls, and All About Singles inside The Woodlands on Friday September 19 for Happy Hour, a special guest appearance from BLG, and an All About Singles Mingle!

5:00-6:00P : Happy Hour Specials!
6:00-6:30P : Boys Like Girls Special Guest Appearance
6:30-8:00P : All About Singles Mingle

Powered by Columbia Records, All About Singles, The Woodlands, and 97.1... 97 BHT!

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pics from the jonzin show...

my sad attempt at modeling, and much-much more, when you click through.

thanks to anthony from afcmedia.com.

thank you thank you thank you.

mucho gracias to everyone who made my 23rd anniversary of existence on this earth an enjoyable one. it was great seeing you friday night at the woodlands - lots of laughs and fun times, not to mention a nice mix of stogies, beverages, and some trademark woodlands cuisine. even one of my former roommates from syracuse made the trip up, and sam enjoyed his time inside the woods.

i owe a few people for the experience i had saturday. angela, will, and johnny damon all have drinks coming on me. okay will doesn't, he just accompanied me to the game - but ang picked out two amazing seats, and damon decided to turn in his best performance of the season, hitting a perfect six for six, including a walkoff single. the yankees trumped the royals 12-11 in the four-hour slug fest.

as tony would say, i boogied back to nepa in record time to continue the celebration with club bht inside colosseum night club. again, great times, thank you for showing up.

much love to my fellow staffers - adam, marino, a.j., and d-dubs danny waters. my boy anthony from afc media also covered some of the festivities. i couldn't have asked for two better venues and hosts than mitch & the woodlands and rob dale & colosseum night club. as always, the best.

and of course, if you were one of the hundred or so that left a facebook wall post or myspace comment, i appreciate it, and by now i've responded.

believe it or not, we don't have too many photos from the weekend-long extravaganza. i'm not sure if that's a good thing or not...

hope you enjoyed the long weekend...

i know i'm not alone on this.

you walked in to work and thought it was monday. sad thing is, i actually worked yesterday.

nonetheless, welcome back to your regular life. my bad for five days of no posts. i suppose if you're of age, i owe you a drink this weekend. i'll be rockin' the woodlands on friday and colosseum night club on saturday. this seems to be the norm as of late, which of course, won't solicit any complaints from me.

lots of fun stuff on the way in this shortened week... special sex and the city movie premiere, sean kingston/flo rida flyaway, couple big events with rampel/royal blu, plus we're gearing up for the jonzin art/music festival inside the woods on friday. i'll be hosting the fashion show!

i feel like the past 10 days have been a non-stop whirlwind... rihanna, work, clubs, holiday parties, appearances, and of course, the normal and not-so-much trials and tribulations we all go through in our early 20's. don't get me wrong, i'm in no position to complain, and i'm thankful for everything - but that doesn't mean it isn't stress-free.

it does mean that you should take a few moments this week or weekend and relax. reserve an afternoon for yourself, to accomplish or experience whatever you love. whether that's watching your favorite sports team with a frosted beverage, jogging over the market street bridge, or grabbing a bite to eat with a friend - make it happen within' the next seven days.

in my case, i chose all of the above. trust me, i walked in to work today feeling a lot better about things, regardless if i didn't know what day it was.

tonight on the ralphie radio show...

- 7:15 - guest list for club x inside the woods

- 7:30 - maroon 5/counting crows/sara bareilles tickets

- 7:50 - tmz's michael hundgen on mariah's (pending) marriage

- 8:00 - hanson tickets during the gallery of sound top 8 at 8

- 9:00 - time's 100 list revealed - you'll never guess who we voted as most influential

... something tells me a surprise is in the works for tonight after 9 as well.

the ralphie radio show - 7p-12a est - online at 97bht.com!

kat + clinton = crazy week.

seriously, this week just kept twirling inside the bht studios...

more about the week that was, and the reason for a lack of postings, here...

uneventful end to eventful weekend.

oh the irony - after two drama-less weekends with dramatic finishes, i pour in the action this weekend, only to look into the work week with possibly a full night's sleep, and no tasks to complete on monday.

at least nothing related to my job. i do have that hair appt. at 1.

a couple sundays ago, i hailed cabs and hopped on trains headed uptown, downtown - met friends, drank beverages, and enjoyed an unexpected galavant throughout most of new york city. i spent the night/early morning writing the ralphie report from the second floor of mcdonald's in times square and sending it out from the starbucks inside penn station - a walk from times square to madison square garden sandwiched in between the events.

last week i drove from lake geo... err... bolton landing, ny to wilkes-barre, with a pitstop turned day long jaunt in syracuse. visited family, former coworkers, and friends on the su hill. i also devoured my first chocolate milkshake of the season, ordered and later enjoyed some real chicken wings from my favorite college bar, and drowned myself in caffeine.

and today? attended church, cooked homemade sauce/pasta, cleaned my apartment, and watched my yankees lose in boston.

if only the weekend mirrored the previous two. and it almost did - until last night just after 1a.

kev the rev and i held down the woods on friday. the next night, i found myself inside colosseum night club. the fact that in a weekend i am paid to host parties in both of the aforementioned venues still reminds me to be thankful for my occupation.

anywho - saturday night could not have gone better - until. it's 1a, and i head to the bar to grab drinks for friends. on my way back, i fell victim to a lack of traction on my chuck taylor's and a slippery dance floor. i took a spill in the middle of denny tsettos's set, saving the drinks in the process.

this is where my night hits the apex and begins to end.

as i regain posture, i feel a tug to my right. suddenly - a flash and an unfamiliar burst of pressure flushes my face.

a girl i accidently ran in to decided that i deserved a knuckle sandwich for my innocent tumble. she landed a roundhouse square on my cheek bone.

thankfully, rob dale of colosseum night club witnessed the entire course of events. before i could even think of responding, the overzealous dancer found her night finished, on outside looking in from adams. big big thank you to the security staff at colosseum - true professionals - and i'd expect nothing less from that place. have you been? not only does everyone RAVE about it - but i have yet to hear a complaint.

i think nothing of it, a mix of a beer and adrenline preventing any feeling from entering my body. let's not forget, i still had drinks to distribute.

after handing out the last beer, tony from the street team informs me that all is not over. apparently, i'm gushing blood from my cheek.

a half roll of paper towels and 20 minutes later, the blood ceases and i move about my way, to my car, and back to wilkes barre.

after all, i had a busy sunday to prepare for.

blake lewis - beatboxing machine!

club x-goers get treated to a little beatboxing session with idol runner-up blake lewis...

blake lewis photos!

blake co-hosted the gallery of sound top 8 @ 8 with me and chilled with the bhtizzle crew inside club x at the woods. fun times indeed!

click here for the funness.