Reflecting on the Past and Thinking about Great events I have attended recently

while I was sitting at Blue Coffee, i started reflecting on some great things from the past....Why just here at this location and the building next door used to be a club run by Zammas called the Corcoran....I remember many a night of coming in here and checking out the great music, and of course trying to get my flirt on......SMILE......This is a place where many musicians like Stanley Baird, Sweet Dreams, Johnny White and others were playing here. Across the street was a place called Off Main Street which later became the Palace which is now in a location on Broad Street....I also was talking to some folks about the old Hayti district which used to have great shops like Woolworth (makes me think of the days of getting the old S&G cards), Kress Building, Cicero, and Marvin's where apparently you could get more than Hot dogs......
And of course even now we are losing things that used to be so great........Yorktown which closed ages ago, and became the site of a Church, is now gone and this was a great place to see movies......Like the Biltmore Holiday and Regal theatre, it has now gone totally to history.....Also in this category it looks like is the concept of Drive-Ins here in Durham with the Starlite having been gone for a few years.....Some friends were remembering other movies that left, and I fear this will happen to the movie theater off of Club Blvd. in that Shopping center near the old Time Warner location.
Hopefully some great entrepreneurs will come and rescue some of those buildings that can be saved and used for cultural purposes...I'm even hopeful that the folks that eventually get the old Operation Breakthrough building will make use of the theatre in there.....One of my pet peeves is Durham has plenty of Theatre seats that are not being fully used, and this is a shame...Yes there is plenty to do in Durham and nearby but there could be even more if we maximize our resources.....
But, enough about this, let me tell you about some of the great things that have happened over the last few weeks that I had the pleasure of checking out...On Saturday, I went by Restaurant Eden and had a great meal of Duck and Mushrooms and heard some great music performed by Martin Eagle and his trio during their hard opening...Hopefully they will have regular jazz at this nicely decored and professionally staffed new restaurant...The jazz was a nice touch and would be a nice touch on a regular basis........
On Friday, I was working at Hayti and heard Don Byron and his gospel group perform......They gave a great show, but the one the week before called the Hallejuah Train which featured Rev. Blade was in a whole other category...and speaking of last week, for the first time ever, I went to Shakori Hills festival in Siler City and it was indeed a great experience...This festival had booked some great performers like Mosadi Music, the Beast, a poetry slam that was hosted by Kane Smego and C.J. Suitt, the Apple Chill cloggers, a Latin group from Miami, and some Fire jugglers just to name a few of the great performers that were there......Folks were definitely enjoying themselves out on the land that this festival is held at, some camping, and cavorting in various ways around the grounds......I will definitely have to add this festival to my regular Festival rotation......I had already planned to add Leaf Festival in black Mountain, Spoleto in South Carolina, The Heritage Festival and Essence Festival, both in New orleans, and the Telluride and Sundance Flm Festivals to this list...Now if I could find an angel to help sponsor all these trips..
By the way, a very unique event I went to last Wednesday was a concert by Nii Ooto, a Ghanian drummer, who performed some unique music, some accompanied by the sound of Gutter Toads, and others on a instrument he developed himself...The first set was definitely more experimental and the second more traditional jazz but both were great and later that evening I went to the Jam session that John Brown has at the Mary Lou william's center on duke's campus....I had been promising Brown I would be coming for awhile, but this was my first time there....The crowd was a nice crowd and it was lively session that featured such musicians as John Brown, Brian Miller, and Alex Coke as well as Nii ooto performing just to name a few......I definitely had a great time and will have to return again, maybe even this Wednesday when John tells me has Vincent Gardner coming to play with him......
By the way, another event I went too recently was a screening of a film that deals with Relationships, Revenge, and Loyalty among other things that Rodrigo Dorfmann is working on...This film that hss some film noir moments in it is very delightful and led to some interesting discussion about the direction the film is taking afterwards as this is a film in development....A friend of mine Banu valladares was in the film and another acquaintance who was in my friend Dilsey's film was also in the film and I can't wait to see what the finished product looks like....
Don't forget that there are lots of things going on this weekend as well.....On Friday, the 23rd Blue Coffee will be having Game Night and the Hayti will be the host of the NC Sneak preview of Blood Done Signed My Name.....The Playdate folks will be having their monthly game event at the Brownstone in Raleigh......and of course there is always great programming at the Durham Performing Arts Center, the Carolina theatre and the Durham Arts Council.......
By the wa I mentioned Blood Done Signed my Name, well the play version is the day before the movie and Mike Wiley always does a great job with his One Man shows.....and Sunday there will be a discussion about Devin Ferguson's book about Soul City and other things that happened in the late 60's, including the Malcolm X school that was here in Durham....i went there as a youth, and my Dad is actually mentioned in the book, as is one of my Marquette mentors mentioned throughout the book, that being Howard Fuller.........
So as always there is plenty to do right here in the Bull City.......

No Telling Who You Might Run In The Bull City and What Fun You Might Have

Today was a great day for traveling and learning about the Mass transit systems of the Triangle....Something I do on a regular basis, but with the exception of the Chapel Hill system which I ride on Thursday, you have to pay a fare no matter how small it might be........But today, the systems of Raleigh and Durham and TTA had their try transit for free event, so I was able to get on a DATA Bus and a TTA For free...If you want to do what our mass transit system is like, you still have the rest of the day to try it for free and see what you think......
Earlier today, I was in Blue Coffee grabbing some lunch and while there I ran into some friends who run North Carolina's first latina owned Video communications company, as well as Connie Campanero of the Carolina Theatre who introduced me to one of her latest hires, and Rev. William Barber, the head of the state NAACP who referred me to one of his friends who has a young gospel artist in his family and who told me he would be in touch with a family soon for a project he has in mind........By the way, Connie loves calling me 15-501 cause she says I'm everywhere in the area and seem to know everyone, or if not everyone, quite a few people.........Now hopefully some of these friends and associates can help Lee Entertainment go to the next level...Speaking of Blue Coffee, this is the same restaurant where I saw President Obama coming out of and got a chance to wave at him while he was on the campaign trail, and had some friends, including the owner of Blue Coffee, who got a chance to talk to him and yesterday members of Alice Cooper's group were in there...I'm not that big of a fan of heavy metal, but hey everyone is entitled to their music preferences....
For those of you wanting something to do this weekend, you have plenty of options.....On Friday and Saturday, you can go to the Carolina Theatre and celebrate one of this area's true treasures, Chuck Davis and the African American Dance Ensemble as they celebate the home season.........and on Saturday, way too much to do..........On the Street near Hayti Heritage Center will be Phoenix Festival celebrating the rich history of that neighborhood, and at American Tobacco, Family Fest sponsored by Fox 50 will be held, and at Brightleaf area, there is another festival, and of course at the Old Ballpark is the Beer Festival with its usual two sessions, an afternoon session and a nighttime session.....Or if you want to get away from Durham, a festival I have enjoyed is coming back to Raleigh this weekend, the International Festival, celebrates the rich cultures that are often found throughout the Carolinas as people from various countries and regions have settled in this area....There is great entertainment representing some of these countries at the festival, and there is often some awesome food from these places as well, and the art they provide is quite inspiring.....
And if you have a cat or a dog and are thinking it is driving you crazy, maybe it doesn't want to eat what you give it or maybe it thinks the whole house is its latrine, or maybe it's chewing on your favorite book or blanket, and you think you need some divine intervention...Or maybe it's the opposite and your pet has provided you with all kinds of support and comfort and you want to thank them and praise them to God. Or maybe you have an usual pet like a Llama or a Goose and it's got away a couple of times, and you need that divine intervention again or maybe you have learned valuable life from a Turtle and you want to thank God...Well this weekend is your chance because several local churches in Durham are having a Blessing for the Animals this weekend......
By the way, the Bull City Classic between NCCU and Duke wasn't a bad game and though they lost handily, NCCU did show signs of life...After falling down by 21, railing to within a touchdown off of a interception before not doing much at all offensively in the second half.......This team definitely gave a valiant effort in a losing cause and miserable weather and I agree with the Duke coach, it looked like they may have had more student support than Duke did and quite a large following of community support in my opinion.......and by the way, the battle of the bands was no contest either...NCCU won hands down.....SMILE........As I was getting my hair cut, I looked at the paper yesterday and realized that NCCU is not backing down from challenges as they go division 1...their opening game in basketball is defending champion UNC and they have several other top rated opponents on their schedule...yes, they will take their lumps but eventually they will make noise in division 1 in my opinion.
and speaking of NCCU, I stopped by their theatre department and realized that this weekend they are opening their 60th season with a production of "Slapping God In The Face" which will run from this weekend and next....Looks like a lively production and yours truly will check out the musical and let you know what I think...Other plays on the schedule include the New Work series in November which features a adaptation about James Shepard's life, for those of you that don't, that's the founder of NCCU...Other plays to be presented this academic year include Dance on Widow's Row by Samm-Art Williams and the school's rendition of the now classic "Little Shop of Horrors."
Also NCCU got a piece of the U2 action which shouldn't surprise me since Bono is definitely an activist and involved in Human and Civil rights..Yes, there was a conference on U2 at NCCU and I understood the roads of Raleigh were packed with people going to see this well recognized band play...One of these days I will get to one of their concerts...and speaking of concerts, I have learned that Ohio Players, Bar-Kays and Con-Funk-sion will be at DBAP at end of month and in November Maysa, Will Downing and Najee will be in town.......and don't forget Hallejuah Train is coming on the weekend of Oct. 9 to Hayti.
By the way, I also understand there was a walk for Breast Cancer awareness at North Hills Mall in Raleigh over the weekend, and who knows I might be bold and participate in the Bike event at the end of the month for Habitat for Humanity.....
By the way, I also talked to Brett about the Open Mic I missed this Wednesday and he said Pam Saulsby came by and sang a couple of numbers, including a Jill Scott number, and that he had a couple of other new talents appear as well........I keep telling folks Durham and the surrounding region have such great talent....
Oh well, about to bounce.. but You know your minister will be keeping you informed of the various things happening in town......