Diesel celebrated its 30th anniversary this weekend by hosting the Diesel xXx Rock & Roll Circus event on Pier 3 in Brooklyn, NY last night. The coolest kids in NYC this weekend made their way off the island and ventured into Brooklyn for the festivities … here are a few pics from the red carpet:

Since 1978, Diesel has been producing (in my opinion) the most consistently cool fashions around. Year after year, season after season, Diesel has been designing and producing the hippest fashions, the coolest accessories and the best jeans around. While other fashion houses may have more caché, I find that Diesel manages to put out very cutting-edge fashions that are relatively inexpensive (at least, compared to the higher-priced fashion houses). I’ve been a Diesel fan for years and rarely ever go anywhere without wearing at least one piece from Diesel. But, I digress … last night’s Rock & Roll Circus soiree in NY was a balls-out shindig that really did bring out all the coolest kids in town. The concert was broadcast live online and performers included Chaka Kahn, Franz Ferdinand, T.I., Pharrell, Hot Chip and the always amazing M.I.A. — who also inadvertantly made an announcement while she performed on stage. She is pregs, y’all! After the jump, check out a few pics of M.I.A.’s very prominent baby bump …

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In mid-June, the amazing artist M.I.A. played one of her usual stunning shows at Day 2 of the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, TN and announced from the stage that that performance was her “last show” ever, implying that she was forever quitting the music biz. In a new interview, M.I.A. confirms that she did intend to stop making music after her Bonnaroo performance but has since changed her mind:

MIA has spoken out about her comments onstage at Bonnaroo in June, when she told the audience that the slot was her last gig ever. The Brooklyn-based Sri Lankan said “It was my last ever show. And it still is. I stopped touring after that and I didn’t want to make music again. I was quite happy to just leave it all behind. I was happy with what I had achieved.” As previously reported, the rapper cancelled her summer tour of the UK, and while onstage at Bonnaroo said “This is my last show, and I’m glad I’m spending it with all my hippies.” But it seems she’s finding it hard to stay away from music, and is currently planning her new record after enjoying massive success with her song ‘Paper Planes’ in the US. “With the success of ‘Paper Planes’, there’s pull for me to make another record. Even my mum believes in me more” she told Entertainment Weekly. “It’s a nice encouragement. But I was planning my life as a fishing woman on the outskirts of Cambodia. That’s a joke.” She also says if she had permanently quit the music business, that a foray into the film world was likely to have been her next step. “I think I would have gone and made a film. As an artist you want to play around with mediums and see if you can get the point across in a different way. I wanted to stay an outsider and prolong the process of getting accepted.”

Praise sweet baby Jebus, this is great news. M.I.A. is one of those artists who is far too creative to stop making her art. She is just so talented, it would’ve been a damn shame if she had decided to stop making music altogether. This is really great news, I’m glad to hear that we can expect to hear more from her in the future (that being said, I hope she does make a foray into film in addition to making more music, I think she’d do well in that arena as well). I suppose a movie like Pineapple Express (which used her brilliant song Paper Planes to promote the movie and shoot the track into the public consciousness) does have its merits. Wee!

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The amazing musician M.I.A. performed on Day 2 of the 2008 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, TN yesterday … and announced that it was her “last gig”. Uh, yeah. When I first read the report from The New York Times, I assumed that M.I.A. meant this was her last US show or her last show on this tour. Upon a closer reading of this report, it now appears that M.I.A. was announcing to the world that she is retiring from performing. Here are a few pics from her supposed “last show”:

“This is my last show,” the rapper M.I.A. announced from the stage of That Tent, “and I’m glad I’m spending it with all my hippies.” If, as she announced at least three times, it was M.I.A.’s last gig ever, she went out with a boom. The seismic riffs of her songs, which sound like they’re made on the world’s cheapest equipment, puffed bass notes at everyone’s chest, and M.I.A. was all of her interlocking selves: fighter, lover, immigrant, instigator, party girl. Wearing an outfit that included shiny streamers as tails, she shook every part of her body sooner or later, yelping her hooks and spitting out her rhymes, dense with allusions and snappy enough for slogans. She brought “girls” and then “boys” onstage, surrounding herself with happy dancers, and brought the Nigerian rapper African Boy onstage for her encores, rapping about how immigrants have to hustle. For her finale, “Paper Planes,” the audience that spilled far outside the tent pumped fists happily at the gunshot sounds that are also one of the song’s hooks. “Thanks for coming to my last gig,” she said, amid noise that continued well after she was gone.

Now, I simply refuse to believe that yesterday’s performance at Bonnaroo was M.I.A.’s final performance ever — whether I’m in denial or part of me just can’t believe that she would stop putting on the live performances that she seems to love so much, I just refuse to accept it. That being said … if she really did just peace out on live performances, I PRAY that doesn’t mean that she will stop making music altogether … cuz, I’ll just flip my shizz. M.I.A. has to be one of the most electric and inventive music makers around right now and it would be a travesty if she stopped making music after only 2 albums. I’m hoping that she was either just playing around yesterday or she misspoke. Time will tell if M.I.A. the musician is really dunzo for good … I hope she was just messin’ around.

[Photo credit: Wireimage, Source]