Over 500 of New York’s most elite technologists, publicists, designers, and press crowded into Manhattan’s Webster Hall last wednesday night to catch a premier glimpse of Motorola’s new ROKR cell phone with Apple iTunes. Headlining hip hop act Common rocked the mic after The Juan Maclean’s rocked-out electro hybrid and DJ Stretch Armstrong rocking bootleg remixes on the 1’s & 2’s. EJ K controlled the immersive seventeen-screen visual extravaganza consisting of a huge 6K lumen main projector, 4×40-inch plasma screens, 4 balcony projectors and 8 additional house screens scattered throughout the release party of a product sure to be a must-have item for the 2005 holiday season.
Motorola CEO Ed Zander got on stage to introduce the new ROKR phone and video advert which features Madonna, Iggy Pop, Common, Amerie, Bootsy Collins, Norah Jones, ?uestlove, Mya, The Bravery, Little Richard, Beethoven, and Jimi Hendrix jammed into a phone booth during what seems to be a Julliard undergrad prank gone awry. The spot ends with an ultra-trendy Notorious B.I.G. cameo, adding an extra bit of street cred. Before introducing the clip, Zimmer mobilized the audience to go pick up the new phone at their local Cingular Wireless store. VJ Lyrics
Motion graphics for the event were created by Make Believe / Council of Foreign Recreations and performed live by EJ K. Justin Kent, president of EJ Enterprises reportedly ranted ‘We don’t give a WHAT?’ from the stage while pitting a pair of EJ MIDI Turntables and dual Titanium Powerbooks against the popular Pioneer DVJ-X1s DVD video scratching system in a 4-source audio-visual battle that tore the house down. Running an experimental, pre-release version of ScratchTV Remix X not available to the general public, EJ Justin Kent aka EJ K aka Special Agent K mixed branded Moto content with behind the scenes footage from the new commercial and music videos of the featured artists.
Rumors of a special edition Common ‘Go’ video remix by EJ K to be available as an exclusive download from the iTunes music store and as a video ring tone on the Common Music website were dismissed as unsubstantiated. With Apple currently selling over a million iPods a month, this “benchmark in mobile music” is almost guaranteed to ship platinum by the end of ’05. The ROKR is a hot slice of gadget envy that embodies some great work by all parties and a lot of future potential.
Mack Industries coordinated the event under the direction of Fish Can Sing with support from The Usual Suspects. The party included a copious and rather creative assortment of hors devours and desert, as well as an open bar and freely flowing champagne. Not to mention a pole in the VIP. Jose. John Wernecke, head of global PR for Motorola, was on site during the days leading up to the event to ensure a smooth product launch. Jon, Dennis, and Ben held down A/V at the venue, while Tina, Sheila, Karina, Jordan, and Greg Deocampo attended to EJ K’s personal needs.
