fodfrontpage@gmail.com

David Archuleta at Harmonies for Haiti last night.  Thanks to sarahmonline for the picture!

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Thursdays with Dapo: Seal/Sting/Stevie

Wow. 

Dapo Torimiro is humble, grounded in faith and family, a little shy, feels like he expresses himself best through his music, and he’s an incredibly gifted musician.  Does he sound like anyone you know?  I believe that Dapo and David may be spiritual twins.

We just may have to do this every Thursday.

First, thank you so much to Dapo Torimiro for chatting with us last night!  We are honored to be the host for Dapo’s first chat ever! 

Thank you to Lisa Murray who helped me to set this all up and got Dapo all connected with the (evil) BlogTV, and thanks to the fans who attended!

Dapo answered questions (we respected his stand on not answering any questions relating to studio work), played the piano, sang, and played the guitar for us!  And let me just say, Dapo Torimiro is the real deal.  He has been described as a mash-up of Sting/Seal/Stevie Wonder, but honestly, he has a sound all his own.  An incredible multi-instrumentalist!

Dapo had some insightful things to say about David:

• Dapo feels that music is the “freedom to express what is inside of me,” and in working with David, he recognizes this same characteristic.
• Dapo described David in five words: “Incredibly talented, pure, honest, compassionate (that comes through his voice and music) and very dedicated to his craft.”
• David had a lot of fun at the Grammy party–dancing, laughing, hugging.  And no, he wasn’t shy!
• In terms of how David compares to other artists that Dapo has worked with in regard to vocal prowess and general artistry, Dapo had this to say: “David is right up there with the best of them.  There’s a purity about him that I cannot describe.  It’s just amazing.”
• Dapo thought “Desperate” was incredible!
• David’s most unique quality as an artist is his purity.  “If an artist can take words from the page and make it touch you and give you goosebumps when you listen to him, that’s priceless, because someone like that can help you transcend what you’re going through in the moment and take it to the place you want to be.  That purity comes through his voice and performances.”
• The first time Dapo heard David sing, he was “completely blown away.”
• When I mentioned that David is firmly grounded by faith, family and friends, Dapo said “Those are the exact things that keep me grounded.”

If you missed it or want to watch again, just click below!  The picture is not great, but the audio is fine and you can hear the whole interview and see Dapo pretty clearly.

Thanks to Becky for holding up her iPhone and videotaping the screen during the entire interview.  BlogTV does NOT allow recording when you have co-host on board, and if it does by some chance record, it just shows the two people talking over each other because of the lag time.  We will definitely be moving to Ustream for our next interview. 

So the videos below are not incredibly clear, but you can catch everything he’s saying (and of course everything I say, because for some reason, I was using my teacher voice). 

And you can hear Becky typing and laughing on her end!  Hahahaha!  More for your money.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

Part 6:

WHAT A GREAT NIGHT!

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Harmonies for Haiti

Harmonies For Haiti, which connects the youth with helping the relief efforts in Haiti, took place at the House of Blues on Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles.  This concert–in which all donations go to the Red Cross–was organized by Chelsea Staub, an actress on Disney Channel’s Jonas.  Over $8,000 has been raised so far.

David’s pal Benton Paul performed, and David was on hand to watch!  No videos as of yet; hopefully some will surface!

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CUTEBOT-5000: Katie Stevens Perfect for David Archuleta?

This Idol recap blog is hilarious!  Here’s what Cary Aspinwall had to say about Katie Stevens (one of my personal favorites this year). Click below (thanks for the link, Elena):

Judge for yourself.  She’s “quite good,” says Simon, and he’s quite right.

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Valentine’s Day Group Card for David

Do you wish David Archuleta was your Valentine?  Well, get in line.  Do the next-best thing and sign the group card:

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Faxo Twitter Wall Best Celebrity Website Voting Ends Today.  David is NOT WINNING!

Really, I know that in the grand scheme of things, this contest–well, it just doesn’t matter to terribly much.  But that’s not the point.

The point is that David is in 2nd place, and haven’t we vowed that would never happen again?

Today is the last day to vote.  Go forth and conquer!

fodfrontpage@gmail.com

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Dapo Torimiro Video!

A very special thank you from me goes out to Jenny and Becky for hosting this interview with Dapo, and for recording the interview for those (like myself) who were unable to watch it live. Of course, we also need to thank Dapo, on behalf of FOD, for giving us time out of his day to share his precious experiences and thoughts of David with us. And finally, a thank you to Lisa Murray for setting it all up. Without her, none of this would have ever happened.

As of now, we just have parts 3 and 4 up on YouTube, but the rest will be up soon. Keep an eye on our fansofdavidvideos account for more later:

Part 3:

Part 4:

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Hypnotize Yourself!

Hello Fans Of David!

Before anything else, I would like to congratulate you for a job well done with your site!

This is Melanie Simons from Hypnotize Yourself (http://hypnotize-yourself.blogspot.com), a new blog which features different illusions and simple mind tricks which we believe are really interesting! From time to time, we post our own creations, which we base from popular illusions of the recent years.

For today’s entry, we posted a simple illusion which features none other than David Archuleta himself! The entry can be seen here at Hypnotize Yourself with David Archuleta. The simple instructions for the illusion are as follows:

Instructions:

1. Stare at the center red dot for 30 seconds.
2. Right after the staring at the red dot, immediately stare at a blank wall or a blank paper and blink TEN times.
   
3. Enjoy!!

Melanie Simons
http://hypnotize-yourself.blogspot.com
hypnotizey@gmail.com

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–Fran

Tags: Dapo Torimiro

fodfrontpage@gmail.com

Join us next Thursday, February 11th at 9pm ET/6pmPT for a live video chat on BlogTV with Dapo Torimiro!!

About Dapo

So who is Dapo?  Many of you have been following Dapo’s tweets about his successful two-day writing session with David, but to truly appreciate the depth of this artist, you must visit his website: dapomiroworks.com.  Follow him on Twitter: DapoTorimiro.

Dapo is a songwriter, producer, composer, accomplished pianist, multi-instrumentalist, and singer born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria.  He began with his own band, Kush, and then moved onto perform as a studio and touring musician, working with such artists as Lauryn Hill, Lalah Hathaway and Stevie Wonder.  His ultimate goal, however, was to songwrite and produce for major artists, and he has definitely achieved that goal!  His resume includes work with David Archuleta (production/songwriting/musician credit on “Running” and musician credit on “A Little Too Not Over You”), John Legend, Brandy, Elliot Yamin, Jordin Sparks, and Justin Bieber.

Dapo has written and produced songs for several Disney projects including Camp Rock 2 and The Princess and the Frog.  WHAT?!?  If you haven’t heard it, that’s a fantastic soundtrack, and Dapo has production/musician credit on “Down In New Orleans.“ 

Dapo recently teamed with David Foster to produce songs for Toni Braxton, Olivia Newton John, and Charice.  And here’s something amazing to watch: Dapo played guitar on “What Child Is This?” and “O Tannenbaum” on the David Foster Christmas special “My Christmas,” which aired on PBS in December.

Inspiration

Check out this vlog from Lisa Murray, an artist who is genuinely is inspired by Dapo and is shooting a documentary about those who follow their dreams.  She gives a nice bio of Dapo:

Send Us Your Questions

Anything in particular you would like to know about Dapo’s experience with David? 

Email us at foddapochat@gmail.com! 

Email your questions by Monday at midnight.

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More Pictures From Miami

Thanks so much for sharing these, Shelley!

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Owl City, Intense Taxi Drivers, and Tiny Planes

David is still in Miami and was excited to have seen Owl City in concert last night.  (Owl City is selling out everywhere; good for them!)

And this morning, David apparently had an interesting cab ride followed by a tiny plane ride.