http://marcustroy.com/mttv/mttv-johnny-and-marcus-chop-it-up-in-nyc/

Thanks to an amazing Nike party, I spent the majority of last week in New York City. New York is known to many as “the greatest city in the world,” and I grew up believing it.

I project an impossible image of Manhattan into my head. I see a 17 year old Madonna playing in punk bands with Vincent Gallo, wearing a homemade Samo shirt, Andy Warhol attending their shows. Lou Reed talking shit about them. I’m always searching for that memory. Maybe if we look hard enough we can live it.

The romance of NY is that it doesn’t completely fail at that impossible memory. The things I’ve lived in New York I will not forget, no matter how many Sonic Youths move away, no matter how high rent becomes, no matter how much the city has fallen. Anywhere else could be the future, but I go to New York because it is the past.

To celebrate the launch of their New York City store at 21 Mercer, Nike threw one of the best parties I’ve ever been to. Spike Lee and Roger Federer opened the doors, Mark Ronson Djed, Just Blaze, Clark Kent, Katy Perry, Katy Perry’s boyfriend, yeah amazing. This stuff will be on MTV News next week, but until then, eat photos:

Jesse Leyva from Nike is the sneaker guru at the company. He’s showing us what went into the Nike Air Max Current’s design. That is one hot shoe.

My boy Jarrett is senior designer at Nike. His stuff is all over the new store and it’s fresh, but what I can’t talk about was especially fresh: he was wearing really hot prototypes for next season. He’s holding the flywire windrunner that they decided deserves wider release than they first imagined.

This was the hottest example of Nike iD in the spot:

And the hottest pair in the store period:

Ladies and gentlemen, Don King. This is gonna be a good US Open.

OK, let’s party. The Nike 212 Platinum ticket got you into one of the biggest block party lockdowns I’ve ever seen. I walked into a converted Mercer street, stadium bleachers, stadium food, ice cream from little baseball helmets. As I’m taking it all in I couldn’t help but notice the music was intriguing me - Gorillaz, The Four Seasons, Amy Winehouse. I barely had to turn around to notice that Mark Ronson was right behind me DJing.

Takeru Kobayashi the hot dog eating king, I told you there were crazy celebrities out!

This is that dude Marcus Troy, famed blogger that took on Kanye West (without even really meaning to?). The dude is always blogging, most of the time about himself:

But nah really my boy Marcus is the blogging king, add him to your bookmarks now!

It was 5 years ago now that I moved to Toronto.

It seemed like so long I was the new kid. Stories from afar (ooh, Montreal), asking how to get around, what’s fun on weekends. By the time I knew what was fun on weekends I was telling people to check out Expensive Shit at 56 Kensington. Lowest ceilings in town, a sweaty basement with $3 beer (which at the time I could not afford) and dubious fishtanks.

(The other party was Hot Times, though both apparently stood in the shadows of Block Party, which was before my time.)

In hindsight, many of the people I know now went to these events, many I met there. But at the time they were dark, they were mysterious.

Cassie in the new issue of Complex Magazine

Cassie - Nobody But You (Produced By The Dream)[zShare]

These are fresh!!

http://www.myspace.com/theverve
the new verve single debuted at 5 on the UK charts which surprised me. All of these comeback bands have spotty luck. It’s a lot of pressure to release new music if you’ve been away for a while, and I’ve been so disappointed by Oasis and the Chemical Brothers.

I was not expecting it, but I love this new Verve song so much. It reminds me of another band who came back and still had good music: the Rolling Stones. Not bad company to be in.

Colin Munroe is bringing a U2 cover as his first single since his flashing lights kanye remix. His indie-poster-boy you-heard-it-at-urban-outfitters sounds assure that you’re going to hear a lot more from Colin this year. He’s produced hip hop beats for Canada’s best, and he’s always doing something fresh.

On his first single, this U2 cover, he’s mashing Sufjan Stevens banjo aesthetics with the emotion of old U2. It works pretty well, and gets me excited to see what sounds make up his album early next year. Perez is already repping him, and he’s a homegrown Toronto boy! Here’s the video, worth a look:

Colin Munroe - Sunday Bloody Sunday

I have no computer! What is happening! I’m sorry that it’s cutting into my updates in this space, but I am happy to announce it has not cut into my DJing. This Saturday at the Skyy Vodka Lounge in Circa come check out the things that I do.

Had some fun the other night at the Drake Hotel. More Proof popped off and Bobmo, Kap Bambino, and Jean Nipon did things to that I dream of. Mr ableton master. I was secretly recording everything until the recorder didnt catch it all so now you’ll NEVER GET TO HEAR IT MWAHAHHAHAHA. frown.

p.s. I have a french doppleganger named dAta that you should really check out. especially the new single Rapture featuring my pal Sebastien Grainger, perhaps my favorite vocalist on synth music.

Download Data’s Rapture here