This past Saturday, the second annual Broccoli City Festival went down once again at the Gateway DC pavilion.  

Even during an abnormally chilly spring day that gave folks a pretty steady amount of evening rain in Southeast D.C., a sellout crowd was in full swing at the event and had a good time checking out a lot of different independent and major label musicians on two different stages, such as Erykah Badu (who did her thing in DJ Lo Down Loretta Brown mode, who gave folks a pretty solid mix of old and new school tunes on the selector end and did a bit of singing), Joey Bada$$ (who along with Kirk McKnight represented PRO ERA proper with energetic, lyrical MCing), Willow & Jaden Smith (who came in with an insane amount of security and entourage folks, but did a pretty solid, if a bit rough around the “let’s get turnt up” edges, music set of rapping and singing, especially for their age), Tink, Tiara Thomas,  Kaytranada, Kali Uchis, Sunny & Gabe and lots of quality #DMV/DC Metro acts on the rise.

While the weird weather and distance between the stages made it kind of hard to check out everyone performing (and some acts sadly got washed out later on in the day at the One Love Massive stage), there was a bit of something for everyone with the music options on deck with the scheduling – Rock, Soul, R&B, Reggae, EDM, House, Reggae were all in the mix.

A nice mixture of local and national brands along with various parts of the local government represented on the vendor end in abundance with all sorts of clothing, food, literature, collectibles, artwork and more for purchase.

The Broccoli City Festival had a few rough edges this year but most of its issues were due to something that was totally not in the staff’s and organizers’ control – the weather conditions.  

It’s pretty natural for scheduling, etc. to be a bit off or altered when you’re trying to handle sound equipment, making sure everyone arrives and sets up for their various sets on time, etc. in the rain. 

The hosts from Rock Creek Social Club skillfully handled the situations thrown at them with professionalism, quality banter and making sure to keep the day’s DJs spinning the right tracks to keep the crowd from getting too restless in between acts and some schedule changes.

Overall, this year’s event was worthy of going to – and for someone like me who is NOT beat for being in the rain for outdoor music festivals, that’s saying something.  

The upward growth of the Broccoli City Festival is very encouraging to see, especially as an event that happens in a usually neglected part of Washington, DC for such big, multi-faceted, affordable (like, for $35 general admission, you got over 9 hours of music acts – can’t beat that) and community based event programming.  

The embrace of big name international and quality local area act lineups is a trend more music festivals in this area need to follow since there is a treasure trove of musical talent in DC, Maryland and Virginia.

I’m hoping that the event keeps growing while keeping its roots (as much as possible) in the area.  The D.C. Council for Arts & Humanities is doing a stand up job with providing the Gateway DC venue and R.I.S.E. Demonstration Center for happenings like this and I hope the trend continues.

Check out our BlackRadioIsBack.com and FuseBox Radio Broadcast's coverage and pictures from last year's event here.

** All pictures taken by Mary Nichols (DJ Fusion/FuseBox Radio Broadcast) under a "Creative Commons Attribution - No Derivatives" license. Please feel free to use & share them if you wish with attribution/credit to the photographer (besides these pictures, there are plenty more from this and other events over at the official FuseBox Radio Broadcast's Flickr Page and Behance/Prosite Page) ... thank you! **

Erykah Badu (aka DJ Lo Down Loretta Brown)

Joey Bada$$ (PRO ERA)

TINK

Tiara Thomas

Marlee in the Mixx & Ras Nebyu

Kali Uchis

Sunny (of Sunny & Gabe)

Gabe (of Sunny & Gabe)



ABIR


Jaden Smith

Kaytranda

Willow Smith

Mannywellz

Audience Shot

Artists at Work

Audience Shot


Vendor Shot (Ward 8 Arts & Culture Council)

D.C. Food Truck Shot

Audience Shot

Vendor Shot (STUDY)

D.C. Food Truck Shot

Audience Shot

Vendor Shot (Hats By Will)

Vendor Shot (Bulletproof. #BlackLivesMatter)

Artwork

Vendor Shot

Young Drummers at the One Love Massive Stage

Audience Shot

Artwork

Artist at Work

Artwork

Audience Shot




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This is a flashback episode of the syndicated FuseBox Radio Broadcast with DJ Fusion & Ausar Ra Black Hawk for the week of April 15, 2015 (due to it just being yet ANOTHER VERY hectic week with DJ + press events and more for the radio show; originally broadcast on week of January 25, 2012) with some new and classic Hip-Hop & Soul Music, news and commentary.



Our extended commentary during that week touched base on the last Republican Party Presidential Debate, the sheer WTF-ery of The Tennessee Tea Party not wanting any mention of slavery mentioned with the history of the Founding Fathers of the United States, a HUGE cocaine delivery being intercepted at the United Nations headquarters in New York city this week, Soul music singer D'Angelo making what looks like a triumphant creative comeback and some other diverse topics here and there.

There were Free Press "Media Minutes", Black University Radio Network (B.U.R.N.) Direct EFX & Black Agenda Report mini-segments on this week's episode.

Feel free to check out some recent episodes of the syndicated FuseBox Radio Broadcast over at our official blog, BlackRadioIsBack.com - all of the shows are clean/radio friendly.

FuseBox Radio Playlist + Charts for the Week of April 15, 2015 [originally broadcast on the week of January 25, 2012]

Top Spins (Music Still Lasting in Rotation/Music Played Live on Air Each Week/As Well As Music Requested By The Listeners)

1. Robert Glasper Experiment feat. Erykah Badu/Afro Blue/Blue Note (Played Live) 
2. Erick Sermon feat. Jimi Hendrix/A Way Out/White Label (Played Live) 
3. MPA (Marvin Ambrosius)/Soulja System/Keda Mgmt. (Played Live) 
4. SmCity feat. Trey Dupree/Watch Me/SmCityMusic.com (Played Live) 
5. Roq'y TyRaiD/Preach!/RoqyTyRaiD.com (Played Live) 
6. B.o.B. feat. Andre 3000/Play The Guitar/Grand Hustle (Played Live) 
7. The Wonderful Sound of Induce/Livin' In The Future (Gigamesh RMX)/The Wonderful Sound (Played Live) 
8. Rampage feat. R.A. The Rugged Man/Zig Zag Zig/Def Jam Digital (Played Live) 
9. yU/Time Machine/Mello Music Group (Top Song Requested) 
10. DJ Premier & Bumpy Knuckles/We Are At War/White Label (Top Song Requested) 
11. Buddy Holly/Slippin and Slidin (Jacques Renault RMX)/Verve Forecast (Top Song Requested) 
12. Georgia Anne Muldrow/Seeds/SomeothaShip Connect (Top Song Requested) 
13. Julien Dyne feat. Mara TK/So Far/BBE (Top Song Requested) 
14. Doomtree/Fresh New Trash/Doomtree (Top Song Requested) 
15. Saigon/Hungry/White Label (Top Song Requested) 
16. Second Sky/The Others (Kaushik RMX)/Rhythm & Culture (Top Song Requested) 
17. Common/Gold/GOOD (Top Song Requested) 
18. Nujabes/Dawn On The Side/Hydeout-Tribe.net (Top Song Requested) 
19. ClanThuzulah (Clan Destined and Methuzulah)/Me and the Clan/White Label (Top Song Requested) 
20. Live Tropical Fish feat. Omar/Rubber Soul/LTF Records (Top Song Requested) 
21. Gods'illa feat. Maimouna Youssef, Bahamadia, Monie Love & MC Lyte/You Don't Have To Be A Star RMX/UAU Music (Top Song Requested) 
22. Beyonce/Love On Top/Columbia (Top Song Requested) 
23. J*Davey/Queen of Wonderland/JDaveyBaby.com (Top Song Requested) 
24. The Roots feat. Phonte & Dice Raw/One Time/Def Jam (Top Song Requested) 
25. Metronomy/Everything Goes My Way (Ewan Pearson RMX)/Big Beat & Because (Top Song Requested)

Top Adds (New Joints Played Live On This Week's Broadcast)

1. Bill Ortiz/I Still Believe (Montgomery Bus RMX)/Left Angle Records 
2. Emcee Jermaine/Rap Casserole/Rock The Dub Records 
3. Sonnymoon/Magician/Plug Research 
4. Wiley/Scar/Big Dada 
5. D.P.E./Memoir/DPEMusic.bandcamp.com

DJ Fusion Flashback Tracks:

Ghostface Killah/Child's Play [Altnerate Version]/Epic 
Donald Byrd/Estavanico/Blue Note

PLUS Some Extra Special Hidden Tracks in the Ausar Ra Black Hawk Master Mix w/ Old School Black Music Classics and Independent Music Finds

Current FuseBox Radio Broadcast Radio & Internet Affiliates

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Here are some various pictures of performers, speakers and more at the Global Citizen 2015 Earth Day event and concert at the Washington Monument and The National Mall on Saturday, April 18, 2015 by DJ Fusion of the syndicated FuseBox Radio Broadcast with a Sony A58 camera with various lenses.

This free event of entertainment and speakers (which represented global policymakers, finance ministers, environment and development NGOs, actors and industry executives) was held by the Earth Day Network and The Global Poverty Project to correspond with the 45th anniversary of Earth Day and had a mission to further various movements to end extreme poverty and solve climate change.

A huge audience (that literally filled out the majority of the National Mall) was hosted by will.i.am and Soledad O’Brien and featured musical headliners  No Doubt, Usher, Fall Out Boy, Mary J. Blige, Train, My Morning Jacket, Common and D’Banj. 

** All pictures taken by Mary Nichols (DJ Fusion/FuseBox Radio Broadcast) under a "Creative Commons Attribution - No Derivatives" license. Please feel free to use & share them if you wish with attribution/credit to the photographer (besides these pictures, there are plenty more from this and other events over at the official FuseBox Radio Broadcast's Flickr Page and Behance/Prosite Page) ... thank you! **


Audience Shot

 My Morning Jacket

 Train

Mary J. Blige

Fall Out Boy

 Fall Out Boy

Frieda Pinto

 Usher

Common

Usher & Common

Don Cheadle

D'Banj

Chris Martin of Coldplay

Soledad O'Brien & Will.I.Am

Gwen Stefani of No Doubt

No Doubt

Audience Shot