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Ch-Ching! Fan Scores $10,000 Date With Lady Sovereign

The Internet has had its fair share of goofy fundraising attempts over the years, but none goofier than the one initiated by San Francisco Bay area music geek Zach Slow. Last month, Slow launched a website, self-descriptively titled helpmegetrandomwithladysovereign.com. Slow's idea was that if he could raise $10,000, he might be able to persuade his favorite rapper, U.K. sensation Lady Sovereign, to go on a date with him.

Now here's the kicker: It worked. Slow raised the ten grand, and on Friday, June 9th, after Lady Sov's show at the Fillmore in San Francisco, he and the pint-sized rapper -- along with a few friends -- set out for an evening on the town that included a cruise around the city in "the biggest, most excessive possible SUV limo," a private yacht tour of the San Francisco Bay, and a party in a five-star hotel suite. All paid for by donations to Zach Slow's website. Why didn't we think of something like this?

Slow reports that Sov was "more nervous than me at first... which totally makes sense. For all she knows I could be a crazy axe murdering clown." He also described her as "incredibly cool, mellow and down to earth. I've hung out with local musicians who have bigger heads about their careers than she does.... She's also funny as sh*t and had me cracking up constantly."

It's not clear whether Lady Sov finally agreed to the date because she thought Zach Slow sounded like her kind of bloke, or because she and her management recognized his campaign as a great way for her to get more publicity in the U.S., where she remains largely unknown. That's likely to change soon, however, with Sov's debut album for Jay-Z's Def Jam Records due out later this year. As for Slow, his career might actually get the bigger boost out of his $10,000 date stunt -- one of the last contributors to his website was a Santa Barbara company that agreed to donate $500 in exchange for having Slow help them come up with some viral marketing campaigns.

--The ARTISTdirect Staff
06.12.06