Category Archives: Music
RIP Chuck Brown – Godfather of Gogo
I don’t really have any words to describe the sadness that has befallen the DC area with the lost of such a Legend. But I can tell you right now everyone is riding in their cars with Chuck blasting out their windows. His life will definitely be celebrated. If you don’t understand or know the kind of energy this man brought, please check out the video clip below. Its from the Summer Spirit Festival in 09′. While I could not zoom in any further you will definitely be able to see the energy in the crowd, as Chuck Brown and Lil Benny (another lost figure in go-go royalty) steal the show.
Wind Me Up Chuck, One More Time
RIP Chuck Brown – Godfather of Gogo
I don’t really have any words to describe the sadness that has befallen the DC area with the lost of such a Legend. But I can tell you right now everyone is riding in their cars with Chuck blasting out their windows. His life will definitely be celebrated. If you don’t understand or know the kind of energy this man brought, please check out the video clip below. Its from the Summer Spirit Festival in 09′. While I could not zoom in any further you will definitely be able to see the energy in the crowd, as Chuck Brown and Lil Benny (another lost figure in go-go royalty) steal the show.
Wind Me Up Chuck, One More Time
Summer Spirit Festival 2012
The Summer Spirit Festival ticket presale is today. If you would like to be among the first to get your tickets to this great show featuring Erykah Badu, Common, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Chuck Brown, Estelle, & Eric Roberson, use the presale code: SPIRITFLOW
Show Details:
Sat, August 4, 2012
3:00 pm
Merriweather Post Pavilion
Columbia, MD
Artist Profile: Alice Smith
One day I was watching a rerun of “Entourage” and a song played at the end of the show, as the credits rolled, that caught my ear. After some research, I discovered Alice Smith. Her youth was split between Washington, DC and Augusta, Georgia. She studied classical piano and loved 80′s pop. After high school , she moved to New York and attended Fordham University. While at school she got the opportunity to sing backup in the improv band, Moomtez. From that experience Alice knew she wanted to be a singer.
The song that led me to Alice, “Dream”, is a track on her album “
For Lovers, Dreamers & Me” released in 2006. Its an excellent mix of soul, blues and pop. In 2007, she was a Grammy nominee for “the Best Urban/Alternative” category. You’d think that being a Grammy nominee would propel your career but she seemed to disappear after a few tours. After some digging, I found a post on her Facebook page that reports she has a new album album in the works called “The Last After”. She is also making the rounds again, as she will be at Ramshead Live in June. I’m glad she didn’t completely fade from the music scene after all her early success. She is definitely someone to check out. I have posted a live performance of her new track “Martha” and the track that lead me to her “Dream”.
Just Around The Corner – 4/4
Happy Monday. New week new events. It seems that the amount of new events is picking up as the weather is starting to break. I also have an artist profile coming up this week. I’m also looking into a presale code list for my subscribers, so you will definitely want to sign up if you haven’t already.
New events are in red and free events are in blue. Feel free to subscribe to the blog and get this listing every week. Thanks for your support.
Upcoming Events:
- Today – May 1st – America I AM: The African American Imprint exhibit @ National Geographic Museum
- Tuesday - House of Pain @ 9:30 Club
- Wednesday - N’dambi & W Ellington Felton @ U streel music hall
- Thursday – 17th – DC International Film Festival
- Thursday – Marsha Ambrosius & Melanie Fiona @ Ramshead Live Baltimore
- Thursday – Acoustic Africa @ GW Lisner Auditorium
- Saturday - National Cherry Blossom Parade
- April 12th – 24th – The Color Purple Musical @ The National Theatre
- April 14th – Tina Fey @ Sixth & I Synagogue
- April 17th – Eric Roberson & Vivian Green @ Ramshead Live Baltimore
- April 18th – Eric Roberson & Vivian Green @ Birchmere
- April 22nd – June 5th – Ruined stageplay @ Areana Stage
- April 22nd – The Foriegn Exchange @ The State Theater
- April 23rd – Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra Ella Fitzgerald tribue @ Blues Alley
- April 29th – Poetry Out Loud – Spoken Words National Finals @ Lincoln Theatre
- April 29th – Carolyn Malachi @ Montgomery College Performing Arts Center
- April 30th – Stephanie Mills @ Birchmere
- May 3rd – Talib Kweli @ Blackcat
- May 8th – Angela Johnson @ Blues Alley
- May 10th – Eric Benet @ Ramshead Live Baltimore
- May 11th – Anthony David @ Blue Alley
- May 12th – Adele @ 9:30 Club
- May 12th – Eric Benet @ Birchmere
- May 13th – Anthony David w. Yahzarah @ Ramshead Onstage Annapolis
- May 15th – Maceo Parker @ Birchmere
- May 19th – Stephanie Mills @ Ramshead Onstage Annapolis
- May 19th – Avery Sunshine @ Blues Alley
- May 19th – 21st – Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival @ Kennedy Center
- May 20th & 21st – En Vogue @ Birchmere
- May 20th – 21st – Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Emerging Artist Showcase @ Kennedy Center
- May 20th – 22nd – Chuck Brown @ Blues Alley
- May 21st – INfieldFest at the 136th Preakness Stakes f. Bruno Mars
- June 1st – 13th – DC Jazz Festival
- June 2nd – 5th – Gil Scott Heron @ Blues Alley
- June 2nd – Aisha Tyler @ DC Improv
- June 2nd – Bill Cosby @ Wolf Trap
- June 4th – Steel Pulse @ Ramshead Live Baltimore
- June 4th – Chuck Brown @ Rams Head Onstage Annapolis
- June 4th – An Evening with Spike Lee @ Lincoln Theatre
- June 4-5 – Capital Jazz Festival @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
- June 16th – Sade w. John Legend @ 1st Mariner Areana
- June 22nd – Sade w. John Legend @ Verizon Center
- June 24th-26th – Last Comic Standing’s LaVell Crawford @ DC Improv
- June 26th – Earth, Wind & Fire @ Wolf Trap
- June 30th – Cheryl Pepsi Riley @ Blues Alley
- June 30th – 7/3 – Mamma Mia stage play
- July 1st – Eric Roberson @ Birchmere
- July 7th – 10th – John Witherspoon @ DC Improv
- July 9th – Frankie Beverly & Maze w. Rachelle Ferrell
- July 13th – Michael Jackson Cirque Du Soleil @ Verizon Center
- July 31st – Morris Day & the Time @ Birchmere
The Box Friday’s: Another Bad Creation
Happy Friday folks. Today’s video comes from one of my favorite groups back in the day. Now I know you see the title and think “playground” or “iesha” but I’m going with the New Edition cover of “Jealous Girl”. This video was on the box constantly. It was on the same album as their more well known hits and that album did reach platinum status. After their cameo in “The Meteor Man” we all know they fell off big time. In 2006, they started their own label, Another Bad Creation LLC, but it has yet to produce anything to hit the charts on Billboard’s top 200.
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Janet Jackson @ Dar Constitution Hall Recap
I’ve seen Janet Jackson perform numerous times. Typically the show is at a large venue and there is a lot of production, costumes, fireworks, male audience props, etc. This show was in a more intimate setting (Constitution Hall), none of the big show production, and not many outfit changes. But there was still plenty of dancing and more singing than usual.
The show opened with the preteen boy group, Mindless Behavior. While they may have been quite entertaining for tween girls, this night was about seeing Janet do her thing for the first time in 7 years. Janet dedicated one of her hits to each city she visits on tour. The song for Washington, DC was “I get so lonely”. The show started with the video of the song dedication blasting on the big screen to the excitement of the fans, who were very excited that they were minutes away from experiencing Ms Jackson live. She came out on stage in a leather cat suit and high heels performing “Pleasure Principle”. She continue to to roll through her hits, “Escapade”, “Control” ,etc, as her dancers joined her in various choreograph dances resembling the videos of the songs she performed.
At Janet’s first break and outfit change, snippets of her roles in movies & TV shows played on the big screen with the crowd cheering the memories. After sweating it out in the leather cat suit in the first set, Janet came out in a more comfortable outfit (jeans, tank top & boots) ready to dance. She continued through hits on the “Rhythm Nation & “Janet” albums, slowing it down briefly to sing a few of her popular ballads and then putting it back in to gear with “If” & “Rhythm Nation”.
On Janet’s last outfit change her band just showed off, doing a mash up rock version of songs Janet didn’t sing like “Anytime, Anyplace”. Once she and dancers came back on stage in all white, the show was punctuated with a tribute to her brother Michael. She sang together “Together Again” , which fit perfectly. At one moment her dancers cleared the stage as she continued to sing and point toward the sky as a slideshow with pictures of her and her brother played on the big screen leading to a huge ovation.
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The Box Friday’s: Janet Jackson
Happy Friday. Fresh off the Janet concert, I’m going with Janet for today’s vid. The concert was awesome and the review will come next wednesday. I’ve got lots of video to crunch. Enjoy and be sure to get your comments in on the baggy pants post.
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The Box Fridays: The Puppies
Happy Friday Indeed. So I’m digging deep in the Box pool of hall of fame one hit wonders. The Puppies, another Miami bass group. Two kids, brother and sister, that released two albums and got one Top 40 hit on the U.S. Billboard Top 40 ”Funky Y-2-C”. At the time, I could not understand why people ordered this video sooooo much. I once seen this video come on 12 times straight. After the demised of the box, it made sense that record labels used The Box to push certain artists. 
Music For Rain
The picture above, is one of many image taken by Dig for Fire on a recent trip to Kenya. The trip was to promote awareness for Music for Rain, which will be used to raise funds and awareness around the issue of access to water and sanitation in Africa. The group launched their website this week as part of Coca-Cola Foundation’s charity , Replenish Africa Initiative (RAIN). In 2009, Coco-Cola committed 30 million dollars for water projects in “19 African countries – Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Cote d’ Ivoire, Kenya, Mali, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia – reaching over 300,000 people”.
Music for RAIN wants to initially raise ten thousand dollars for three projects, to build girls latrines at local schools in Rwanda, the installation of water service points in Uganda, & to build wells in communities and schools as well as latrines and hand-washing facilities Cameron. Chris Taylor, Solange Knowles, Twin Shadow and director Natalie Johns collaborated to create “Kenya“, a donate to download track for RAIN”
As 300 million Africans lack access to safe drinking water, I think this is an awesome charity. Please visit the website.
www.musicforrain.net
The Box Fridays: Jodeci
Happy Friday. It has been a long week. I was having some technical difficulties with the blog this week. But I still had to get a video posted. After I seen Omarion’s horrible remake of Jodeci’s “Come & Talk to Me”, I knew exactly what to post. The group is apparently back together and signed to Interscope in 2009 but has yet to get an album done.
Enjoy the video. Keep the people in Japan in your prayers.
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