Tuesday, September 8, 2009

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.......

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