Talk about a busy Weekends

I have this theory that the world goes through a variety of cultural renaissance, some of the most famous being the Harlem Renaissance period which had a variety of epicenters including yes even Durham, and the Greek Renaissance if we are talking more ancient history, and often times these renaissance take place during hard economic times...remember one of the most famous movies, the Wizard of Oz, which is being re-released theatrically on a one time basis was done during the Depression....So with all of that said, I truly believe we are in and have been for some times in the midst of a new cultural renaissance...I think we are seeing some innovative music, thought provoking poetry, and even some new and deep literature surfacing and I believe that will continue for some time......
Now, coming back to what has been happening in the Bull City of Durham, a area I love calling home, and which I firmly believe will play a role in the new cultural renaissance....On Friday, I was working at Hayti and Lenora Helm was celebrating her new CD and gave a great concert in front of a small but appreciative crowd....There was so much going on of a positive nature on that Friday...That same day, Nnenna Freelon, the grammy nominated jazz singer, was doing a fundraiser for See Saw, an organization that teaches youths about a variety of things ranging from Graphic Design to Photography...This is indeed a worthwhile organization and my friend, Michelle Gonzalez, has been doing a great job of running this group and I look forward to seeing what new and innovative projects the kids involved with this project come up with........In addition to that, both the Carolina Theatre and the DPAC had national performances in town on Friday....Saturday was equally busy with Centerfest jumping off downtown in the Parking lot near the YMCA....I am still hopeful that one day the festival will return to the Streets of downtown...It just seemed like more of a truly community activity and had a lot more energy when it was spread out throughout downtown....I also noticed it had many more vendors then, and the music seemed to be of a higher quality back in those days in my opinion. As it is, it just reminds me too much of a county fair, the only thing missing from what I remember seeing in Warrenton is a Ferris Wheel, some cheap amusement games, and the prize animals being shown.....I know Durham can do better, but I do know these are hard times and that has to be considered....
In the past, I had a more direct involvement as one who helped in the planning and booking of entertainment, but even with limited involvement hawking information and painted violins for the Durham Symphony, I do still enjoy outside festivals and yes, even enjoy Centerfest but I look forward to it rising up to what it once was.......
By the way while Centerfest was taking place in the Bull City, Sparkcon was taking place this weekend in Raleigh and on Sunday, Carrboro was having its music festival....I have worked that in the past, but not this year...Hopefully soon I will be back to doing some announcing at that event as well...
Another event that I had fun attending Saturday was Lois Deloatch's birthday party thrown at the Washington Duke....Hard to believe the woman just celebrated her fiftieth, she could easily pass for her 30's, and she's incredibly talented as a singer...It was great seeing friends of hers like Dianne and Vincent Pledger, Titus Heagins and his wife Maureen, as well as Desiree and Michael Palmer, Ira Wiggins and his wife, as well as Scott Sawyers, E'vonne Coleman, and others celebrating this fascinating and wonderful ladies birthday........
Sunday after being at the Symphony for awhile, I went to see Mallarme's performance at Nelson Music Room on Duke's campus......It was great hearing a great vocalist as well as the Saxophone group perform these wonderful tangos, some composed by a Duke professor I had the pleasure of meeting, and seeing some great Tango dancing..Tango is such a sensual and lovely dance to watch, and one of these days, along with Swing Dancing, I'm going to learn how to do those steps........By the way, my friend John Brown was playng on the Bass during the performance and talking about a man having a busy Sunday...He told me was leaving from there to go to the Mama Dip party which featured Lois, and from there he was going to a recording session with Nnenna Freelon.......
Oh well, enough of this for now, don't forget that this Thursday there will be pep rally featuring both Duke and NCCU marching bands, as well as some of other entertainment over at Duke on Thursday evening........Now, while I think it's wrong that Duke scheduled Central as its homecoming game, and while I have ties to both universities, you know I'm going to be rooting for the impossible and the unlikely, a NCCU upset of Duke right here in Durham.......Wouldn't that just be too fun and interesting....Wonder how Durham would handle that.........
In other news, I recently learned that Scene of the Crime Rovers will be returning to the Massachusetts area for Honk fest which is made up of many social activist marching bands, some borrowing from the tradition of Brazil and some from the tradition of New Orleans, and some that are just scrappy and fun like our own folks....This is taking place the second weekend in October and sounds like it should be a lot of fun...The week before that, the Beer Festival will be taking place at the Durham Athletic Park, and this is on the same weekend that Chuck Davis and AADE is having their home shows at the Carolina Theatre. That same weekend Central will be opening its October play, and it will be playing both that weekend and the following one.
I'll holler at you folks later with more news and interesting developments from the Bull City and nearby...

Blues Festival another Success

The economy may have slowed things down, but there were still a lot of people who really enjoyed the Blues Festival and had a great time....Things started off at the Hayti Heritage Center on Friday and got kicked off in fine form with the Jon Shain Trio, and then Jasme Kelly did a nice solo show and then Eric Bibb took people on a great musical journey that had the audience captured and had them dancing in the aisles.
On Saturday, in a new format that 12 hours long, the festival returned back to the Old Ballpark..Yes, with a newly renovated ballpark, the field had to be covered with that plastic substance, and the acts were great though a lot of folks may not have been aware of how talented many of them were, but now they have a understanding of how great they are. Among the highlights were the kids who make up Homemade Jamz Blues Band and it was great watching one of the teens going into the audience and jamming, and also the young lady who is not even a teenager yet, rock on the drums........
And all kinds of other things were going on Saturday....The Farmer's Market and the Durham Crafter's Market were happening and that afternoon there was a pig pickin'...I understand there were also events happening at NCCU......
On Thursday, I had fun with another great Blues show at WCOM.....and that evening was a relaxing day.......
The Wednesday before I was at Papa Mojo's roadhouse and it was great seeing my friend Sharon perform again at the open mike.....
This weekend a bunch of things are happening....Nnenna Freelon is doing a fundraiser for See Saw at the Arts Council on Friday, Lenora Helmsey is performing at Hayti on Friday and also Playdate is taking place in Raleigh and King and Jeff are jamming this weekend at Pinhook......And all this is going on while Centerfest is taking place this weekend and Sparkcon is going on in Raleigh......Today Liz H is performing at Marvell with several performers, King and Jeff are having a funk jam at Alivia's, and Open Mic is jumping again tonight........Like I said there is all kinds of things going on in the Bull City and surrounding areas...

Activities from End of Month

Blog entry for End of August....

Once again, Durham has had all kinds of exciting things taking place in its midst....Why, just this weekend, King and Jeff closed out their series of August music with the sounds of 1969...it was great hearing folks like the Archies, B.B. King and Isaac Hayes just to name a few. And on Saturday, I had the pleasure of watching my Uncle and Aunt celebrate their 45th annniversary and be surprised by their sons coming up from Georgia, including one who is usually occupied by family and military duty......This really brought tears to my Aunt's eyes as in January he will be heading to Afghanistan for another tour of duty where he will be serving their in an officer's capacity. It's amazing watching kids grow older and develop into graceful young ladies. Here I am thinking about my cousin Tonya's two daughters, one of whom is an aspiring Pharmacist and the other who could be clearly a super singer or model.
On Friday, I went to watch my Aunt Julie retire after some 42 years of service with Duke...and later that evening, I went to the Isaac Hayes tribute that Aleycia Sanyika put on through her company and hearing Isaac's interview and also giving some insight into this great legend and hearing Darrel Stover's motivating poem about funk music and Isaac's relationship to it.....The funk group that played Hayes music and also some great Barry White tune's was awesome and I really enjoyed their sound...lronically, I later learned that the bass player in the group was Mr. Towne's son....For those of you not in the know, Mr. Townes was the band teacher who kicked me out of the band for lacking rhythm, wonder what he would think of my entertainment and radio career know.....SMILE.....
And speaking of radio, after doing my show on Thursday, I headed back to Durham to catch some dynamic music.....At American Tobacco, probably over a 1,000 people, caught the sounds of the Carolina Chocolate Drops which are an awesome old timey group that definitely has a great and unique sound and can do tunes ranging from classic Mountain tunes to a Blu Cantrell cover....I personally wished the PA system had been slightly better, but then again, I also didn't have the best vantage point arriving late...But what I heard I enjoyed....I also saw several friends there including the talented vocalist and author Kim Arrington, poet Lamont Lilly, Russell who helps John Dee Holeman, Maurice Darden, and many more....After the concert, had the pleasure of catching the tail end of Freeman Ledbetter and Generation....You know yours truly wound up getting thrown into some work, and making sure some folks did some surveys for Parks and Rec.
On Wednesday, I went to Brett Chamber's Open Mic at Papa Mojo's Roadhouse...It had been several weeks since I had been, and from the moment I walked in and heard the rocking sounds of Prince Miah and Girl Toyz I knew it was going to be a great set, and I wasn't disappointed..Among the highlights were poems by Rie Shontel, and performances by some awesome saxophonist, and of course Jasme Kelly rocking the house as always............After the performance, Trevy McDonald gave me a lift and said she was still working on her children's book and was looking for an illustrator......Hey, yours truly might know somebody in that category and need to do some follow up....Hey, if you are looking for talent or putting together a great event, get in touch with me and we will make some magic happen.....
Hey, it's been a minute since we have talked on this blog, so I need to catch you up on a couple of things from the week before as well.. On Sunday, the 23rd I heard King and Jeff rock the house with some awesome Stevie Wonder music.....it was great seeing old friends like Satos, Ray Paschall, Betty Rhodes, and others and making new friends like Danielle DeSoto who was raised in Miami, one of my favorite places to visit, and who is a Flamenco Dancer.....It was great talking to her and Aidel about a wide range of topics, including how Successful Sisters sometimes have a hard time on the dating scene because guys are intimidated by them, as well as how her take on the relationship between African Americans and Latin Americans....We, minorities, really have to work on better communications across the cultural lines, and we need to find common goals.....Really, as one who has Native American ancestry, in addition to my African American ancestry, I think we need to pride in all of our heritages but also share our common struggles as we battle injustice and unfairness.......
On the Saturday before,. I went to the Latin Festival and had a great time......Though I was first worried about the rain, and I learned it really hurt Lazy Daze in Cary, it didn't stop the show in Durham and everyone from the Mexican band that was playing when I first came in to the more upbeat groups the Latin Project and Carnivilito really rocked the show........Also the clown from Puerto Rico was really good as well, though I didn't understand a word he said (hey an achille's heel is I need to learn another language) and yes I have gotten over my fear of clowns that my friend Barbara Gault used to tease me about....Hey, you can blame the Stephen King movie “IT”
And finally last Friday, I hit two events...I started off with Cool John Ferguson who was very much on point and gave a monster performance that had all kinds of folks out there dancing, and later that evening, I went to Durham Be Easy II and heard Liz H, Dasan Ahanu, John Darnell who is part of the Mountain Goats, Language Arts which rocked as always, and a great Reggae band from Greensboro called Uprite Lion.
Told you, the cultural minister is on point and can't wait for more exciting events like the Blues Festival in less than two weeks and Cenerfest in less than Three.......