As reported, the Fashion Rocks 2007 concert took place in New York City this week. A host artists performed at the star-studded event including Usher, Mary J. Blige, Alicia Keys and Jennifer Hudson. Check out some of the performances below:

For the first time in the longest, I felt everyone did great. One of the standouts, for me, was Usher & Mary’s performance. With the way Usher was nailing the James Brown choreography I was left thinking ‘Justin who?’. Jennifer Hudson was also a standout; it was good seeing her sing something different. She really has a great stage presence too. I was pleasantly surprised with J. Lo’s performance – she is far from a great vocalist, but her live singing has improved a lot.

What do you think of the performances?

Stars from both the fashion and music industries were out in full force yesterday for the 2007 Fashion Rocks concert. The event, which took place in New York City, saw performances from Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Usher and Jennifer Lopez. Visitors from the US can catch the show when it airs, tonight at 9pm ET/PT on CBS.

{Click pics to enlarge}

Jennifer Hudson & Jennifer Holliday – ‘And I Am Telling You’

T.I. – Big Things Poppin’

Diddy (w/ Keyshia Cole & Lil’ Kim) – ‘Last Night’

Beyonce & Kelly Rowland – ‘Get Me Bodied’ / ‘Like This’

Ciara – Like A Boy / That’s Right

Robin Thicke – Lost Without You

50 Cent – Amusement Park

Eryka Badu – Diana Ross Tribute

Judging from some of these performances as well as viewer reports, this years show was definitely one of the better instalments of the annual event. Performance of the night, in my opinion, goes to Beyonce and Kelly Rowland’s joint showing. Everything about the performance was on-point; Beyonce nailed ‘Get Me Bodied’ and Kelly had her ‘coming out of the shadows’ moment by tearing down the stage with ‘Like This’ alongside Eve. Another notable performance was from Ciara, who did her thing with a medley of ‘Like A Boy’ and future single ‘That’s Right’. She has definitely upped her stage presence and live vocals too. I also really liked the Dreamgirls opening- which saw Jennifer Hudson perform ‘And I Am Telling You’ with the original Effie, Jennifer Holliday. It was a monumental moment seeing Jennifer Holliday finally get her moment to truly shine as Effie. On a side note, her facial expressions are still priceless lol. 50 Cent’s performance didn’t go…well just watch it lol. Overall it seemed like a great show.

NY Daily News is reporting that R&B star Alicia Keys has pushed back the release of her third album from June to October. The official reason given by her spokesperson was that there were ‘scheduling conflicts’ with her blossoming acting career. However, it is rumoured that the singer is unhappy with the promotions situation at her label, J Records. Ken Wilson, the promotions director Keys ‘trusted and relied on’ was fired from the Clive Davis owned label.

Whatever the case, there are definite problems over at J Records. Solid albums by previously successful artists such as Fantasia and Monica severely underperformed due to bad promotion. It was as if the label’s artists would pop-up a month before their album would drop. With no single out now, Alicia would have been in the same situation come June. The label need to sort themselves out if they want their artists to actually sell; it’s not good when the top artist isn’t happy. It kinda makes me worry for upcoming J Records releases from Whitney Houston and Jennifer Hudson.

Main Winners

Best Motion Picture: “The Departed”
Lead Actor: Forest Whitaker, “The Last King of Scotland”
Lead Actress: Helen Mirren, “The Queen”
Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin, “Little Miss Sunshine”
Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson, “Dreamgirls”
Directing: Martin Scorsese, “The Departed”
Foreign Language Film: “The Lives of Others,” Germany
Adapted Screenplay: William Monahan, “The Departed”
Original Screenplay: Michael Arndt, “Little Miss Sunshine”
Animated Feature Film: “Happy Feet”
Sound Mixing: “Dreamgirls”

Jennifer Hudson wins Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer (Original Effie) Holliday performs ‘And I Am Telling You’ On E! Pre-Show. You gotta love the facial expressions…priceless. Great performance.

Eddie Murphy and Baby Faces’ Ex Tracy Edmonds

Anika Noni Rose and Jennifer Hudson

Beyonce

Spike Lee

Djimon Hounsou

Forest Whitaker & wife Keisha

The Smiths

Jennifer…No No No…lol…

More as they come….

Hollywood is gearing up for the Academy Awards, taking place later on tonight. Industry critics are tipping Jennifer Hudson to win Best Supporting Actress (she better win!) for her performance in Dreamgirls. Keep it locked on That Grape Juice for Oscar Award updates.

That Grape Juice is now live on MySpace. You can find us at: www.myspace.com/thatgrapejuice. Be sure to add us!

Future Appearances

Janet will be at Jennifer Hudson’s pre-Oscar party held by Jamie Foxx this Wednesday, so I guess we can expect new pics soon.
Janet will be visiting the board when things are set in stone. She’s really busy right now, so that’s why she hasn’t been on here.

Tour/Business Affairs

Janet still has a manager and a publicist and once things are cleared up, she will future events will be announced.
Janet is currently in Los Angeles
Janet wants to tour for the fans and we won’t hear about a tour unless it’s coming from a PR person. When that will happen is unclear.
The tour is supposed to be worldwide, including Europe and Australia; they want to hit up everywhere.
The concepts, the choreography, the staging, setlist, costumes, etc. have already been completed for the tour.
When asked if Janet still owed Virgin anything on her contract, he said Janet doesn’t owe anyone anything, so I guess we can take it that her contract obligation is completed.
The tour is supposed to be an all out dance/artistic show.
The tour will not open nor will it end with Weekend and Just a Little While
As far as getting good seats, some people in the back might win front row seats as well as diehard fans.
The dancers are fine
The Call on Me choreography will be on the tour
There will be a Meet and Greet
Do it 2 Me and other uptempo songs off of 20 Y.O. will be performed

Future business/life

Janet is talking to another label right now, but the label she is considering is remaining confidential and she is getting offers from different labels.
She is NOT pregnant (I told yall rolleyes.gif )
It is uncertain whether or not she would release one of her old concert DVD’s
He also suggested she should release her unreleased songs and that might actually happen
Janet will make a deep album and voice her opinion
Empty will not be performed
It was Janet’s idea to have less girls; Danielle was not meant for a group thing, which is why she’s no longer there.
Some of her music will be used as a soundtrack but the time frame is unknown
There will be a new fan site
This board will probably be closed
No future promo for 20 Y.O., including performances

Miscellanous Janet information

Janet is hands on with her myspace.
She won’t be collaborating with Diana Ross
Janet’s stylist is Kim Bowen who doesn’t have a website
Janet is fine and stronger than ever
Janet respects all artists, Ciara is unfortunately included.
She is not insecure about her legs
She is always looking at possible movie roles, but none are in the imminent future
Janet has never been irate with one of her dancers
Likes to watch 20/20 and the news
Doesn’t discuss Jermaine and Latoya on reality TV shows
Invites past dancers to parties, and throws a party after a tour is finished
It was her manager’s suggestion that “S.Ex” be written on that wall during her Billboard performance.
Feelings for Madonna are unknown (thus you can interpret that how you like)
If you don’t like her sexual stuff, you don’t have to stay
Loves antiques and paintings
Never has gotten into a fight that Gil had to break up
Janet did not fight Paula; Gil claims that Paula probably fought herself.

Jennifer Hudson covers yet another magazine, this time its for Life magazine.

This chick is EVERYWHERE right now. More power to her.