Part Tres!!! The Finale to the Bday Xtravaganza!!!

Coming off this weekend of such a joyous occasion as celebrating my life was the most honoring feeling ever. First off I never had a better birthday in my life! (Partly becuz it lasted 4 days! :-D) All the free concerts plus the inspiration I got to just be who I am was ABSOLUTLEY INCREDIBLE!!! It really let me realize how blessed I am!!! God LOOOOOVVVVESSSSS my ASS!!!

I ended up waking up and having the chance to watch Nas be interviewed by Wendy Williams on her television show. Might I add that THAT really felt amazing to me too becuz Hip Hop isn’t really accepted in morning talk shows or talk shows period!! So I felt an extreme moment of happiness and accomplishment for what Wendy Williams did on her show with the prominent Nas. It was a pinnacle moment in Hip Hop and that’s to be acknowledged!

Everything else revolved around this Erykah concert that I already knew I was running late for. I had a thousand things to do and wasn’t sure when I was gonna get to BK. I flew down Route 80 and picked up Kena and was out!!!

The gates opened at 6p which basically meant u needed to be there at least by 4p to get a decent seat in the front. Luckily, even though I got there 5 minutes to 6p, I had my homegirl Kali holding down the front cuz she got there 3 hours ahead.

“Hallejah Holla Back” was my catch phrase of the day and pretty much the whole damn weekend.(LOL!! wack right?) Thank God for blessing Dope Settings!!!! The Sun shined so bright on this day! It was incredible to believe that it was just a beautiful summer day.


Erykah Erykah Erykah Amazing and beautiful and pregnant as usual. @(^_^)@ (only kidding)

She let ‘A Milli’ by Lil Wayne open the show and when it got to “Where is Erykah Badu at?”, the music switched up to the ‘My People ’instrumental and in that moment Hip Hop came full circle. Then I had to wonder? What is it about Hip Hop that allows us all to embrace it in this world wide driven way? I watched in amazement as the words “… where is Erykah Badu at?” floated out the speakers and then low and behold Ms. Badu traveled across the stage as the bass kicked in. Moments later the band switched up to an instrumental that I knew too well, that flowed off strings and drums where melodies collided to make the song, ‘The Healer’. “humdiliah, Allah, Jehovah, Yaweh, Dios, Maat, Jah, Ras Tafari, fire, dance, sex, music, hip hop…”came together. The stage looked like nothing that had to do with a free show. They had the huge screens up so that all the thousands of people could see the magnificence happening.




It’s something profound about watching an artist you love, develop into this mass icon that thousands upon thousands would come to see. The band plays as she introduces who she is for the audience who is already very aware. “Ms. Analog girl in a digital world/ Ms. Obdullah oblagotta / Ms. Annie don’t wear no panties otherwise known as Ms.Badu.”




Some would say she’s changed into this artist that can’t be controlled. That her music has become so left field that her core audience has disappeared. As I watched in amazement at the mass of ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS people surrounding the huge stage that all of a sudden looked extremely small compared to the enormous amount of people standing in Wingate Park, I realized change is ok.

Change… I’ve always wondered when watching artists, where in the dynamic of development is it okay to change? We all love “Otherside of the Game” yet a revamped version of it should always be accepted.


New Amerykah is a play on words and also the inspired title of Erykah Badu’s latest album release. Now if you’d like to know how I feel about the album you can check the review on www.GakCity.com under Erykah Badu. Grasping what I got from the actual performance of her show is a whole other dynamic.

She performed sooooo many pieces and gave the audience what she could. Considering that it appeared that I was in a somewhat burgeious crowd of beautiful prissy black folk, the energy she got could only be returned with half assed enthusiasim towards her fans. I could see what was happening right away. So could she. It became acknowledged at one point where she addressed the crowd with, “I see what you’re trying to do Brooklyn. I’m gonna let you know that I’m not scared of you.”

Slightly saddened by the non-movement of the thousands of people who could’ve truly given more spunk in their happiness to witness a free show, I knew I’d still get a dashing performance. Now this was no Radio City Music Hall Performance (which might I add was PHENOMANAL) but the range as to where she could get her voice with a child growing inside of her was something of greatness.


There’s a true feeling of appreciation that I feel comes from seeing an artist such as her. She’s someone who’s been quoted as allowing herself to be a spirit first and a human later. So, as many nay-sayers of whom may have been in the audience, it didn’t seem to matter because art is art. Each individual will get from her whatever it is that they’re supposed to get.



For me…, I believe that there was room in this free concert to be appreciative of what art is, what blessings look like and what God-given gifts are. (She even let me sing in the mic on the “Bag Lady” song!!)


I learned from that phenomenal weekend that we’re all allowed to be as happy as we wanna be about our day or as sad. I chose to be appreciative and thankful of all the free concerts and inspiration it caused me to have so that I could share it with the world.


I ended that night by going to a diner over on Montague St. in BK. I ending up at one of my most favorite places to be which was the Promenade which sits right above the BQE. I walked the whole boardwalk singing Prince, Biggie and Nas songs. It was truly the most beautiful ending to the best damn birthday weekend I ever had.
So as I sit and type this review on such a grandiose show 4 weeks late (turning into 4 months late in posting) sitting inside Starbucks, I’ll raise my Vente Caramel Frap in the air and toast to the life of a journalist that will get no sleep just to catch up with reviews that document a star in the making and a life in motion.

Next up to bat… Jill Scott. @(^_^)@

Part Duece of My Birthday Extravaganza!!

Just the fact that it was such a beautiful day and the sun was so BRIGHT it made anyone wearing white (like myself) be bright too. It felt like a true blessing to just be able to enjoy such a beautiful day with an array of people.






There was a beautiful girl named Imani from the group Little Jackie and they were pretty damn dope too. Although I’d never heard of them, I later found out that they’ve been written up in Spin Magazine, had been feature as BET's Artist of the Month and they’re kind of a “big deal”. I guess you would be if you were doing Central Park’s SummerStage.













Check them out at
www.myspace.com/LittleJackieMusic

Then on to the main act which was Jamie Lidell



and BOY! Did he blow me away. I don’t even think I wanna write anything about his forever stamped flyness. Although if I had to say one thing, I’d explain how he makes all his own songs. He beatboxes and plays all the instruments and when it was time for to him tour and become bigger than he’d imagine, he had to hire a band to learn his material. His band seemed a bit awkward, as they are all individuals in their own insanity and creativity.



He actually did a particular song that Taget ended dubbing as if it was their's for one of their commercials. :-O Peep it!




He's been on Letterman and he's an EXTREMELY big deal in the UK. U can find Jamie at www.myspace.com/JamieLidell. And of course what would a day be without seeing beautiful people everywhere u turned ...



And networking my behind off??? I tell u what it wouldn’t be. It wouldn’t be a JwaStar day. I met soooo many amazing people and networked into Kingdom Come. I even met a chick that kinda looked like me!!!



I’m friends with the drummer of Janelle’s band, Pete, so I stayed walking all over the place getting convo wherever I could. Pete introduced me to the guitarist Kellindo from Janelle's band which was pretty cool. I dont even remember how I got into the VIP section but I believe it had sumthin to do with a cool ass security guard and my already made connects. I followed cutie pies out of the venue and just stared in the amazement of all the hot guys in the crowd.



Maybe I’ll find love and won’t boo it next time a great singer wants to dedicate his set to love. Jose James wasn't nuttin to fuck wit!!!

Then off to Fort Greene to dance in the park for the last hour of the party and meet interesting people. Network network network. I guess you’ll have to stick around to see what dope people I have up my sleeve. What a great weekend it was AND it was my birthday. :-D



I got free dinner and wine and even a candle and a cake from a stranger whom I met an hour b4 he became my new friend right in Fort Greene (Thank u TUNDAE!!!). And did the waitress really forget to bring me a fork for my cake??? She didn't bring it until my last bite but I’m dope with the chopsticks tho, I’ll have my cake and eat it too. Lol.



What an absolute best way to end the weekend to a dope ass birthday but it’s not over yet. Erykah Badu here I come! Lol



Peace!!!

AUGUST (the Alpha to my fun, life and career)

August 3rd into August 4th 2008 Sunday Nite/ Monday Morning

2:07 am

It’s the day after my birthday but I’ve decided to celebrate the WHOLE damn month of August so fuck it.

It’s so amazing. This life and how everything moves in it. I could truly say it’s just art in motion, full of emotions and a soundtrack that no one could make up. Multi-tasking to do my laundry at 2am and get to bed to wake up for the next phenomenal show is so exciting. But hmmm boy is that laundry calling…

3:12am

And so an hour later as wet clean clothes sit in my basement waiting to get in the dryer I write. @(^_^)@

What an amazing day today was. So I woke up with a shower on my mind and the possibility of making an Apple, Pineapple, and Ginger smoothie. (Inspired from the Vegetarian Paradise Restaurant down in the village. Cuz why pay 5 bucks for a smoothie when u can make it urself?) I made it but what a task it was for me and my mother. I’ll just say that it was great experience to have with my mom early in the morning. @(^_^)@. So finally scooping up the lovely Ms.Kena Sage,

I was in route to get down to the SummerStage event I’d been wanting to go to for the last 3 weeks.


As soon as we got there I ran into one of my very BEST compradres Onician!!! So happy to see him, he took me right to the front where he was.



OMG!! What an amazing show. I’m sure it’ll be on Youtube somewhere today. The fire and spunk in today’s show was so fab. Who knew that a dude named Jose James was gonna be so dope and blow my mind as I entered the venue. Not to mention he wasn’t bad on the eyes either ladies. His songs reigned with this supreme soul and melodic flow that was a nice delight considering Kena and I had barely gotten comfortable yet. He eased us into the new sound of what R&B sounds and looks like (although I’m getting to a point of not wanting to call an artist ANY type of genre of music) we’ll just call what I walked into “Dope Ass Heavy Hitting Hotness!” Lol.



After he did a couple of songs and practically dedicated his entire set to love I retorted back at that statement with a loud “YEA RIGHT WHATEVER!” Not realizing I said it outloud as the crowd around me laughed I retracked a bit by saying, “Oh my! I thought I was thinking that. My Bad.”

His set was still in all and a whole… AMAZING. And that last song that he dedicated to love was hot too. U can check for him touring all over the world at http://www.myspace.com/josejamesquartet

Then our ultimate favorite…

Janelle Monae.



Heat! Heat! Heat! Hot fire! Now I’m not burning anything down but let me tell u this little chick was! There’s something about seeing this little person all of a sudden named Cindi Mayweather march all over the stage. Something about her spunk and energy that is an undeniable head turner. Not to mention she’s absolutely got the face of an angel.



She did her infamous stage dive against the hand tussling of Bad Boy’s very own Harve Pierre. (You can check for her crazy type stage dives on her blog at www.myspace.com/JanelleMonae)

She had the crowd carry her for one end of the stage to the middle of the audience and graciously they kept her afloat. It was beautifully done. Her inspiration was mesmerizing, what she gives her fans in performance is breathtaking. I enjoyed every minute of my birthday weekend with Janelle Monae.



Stay tuned for the rest of my day it'll be up in about day or so. U'll be surpised what I can do with chopsticks!!!!


Peace.

Roy Hargrove and my bday

So Today or should I say yesterday now, was my birthday and it started it out early and crazy and long. I been up since 7am cuz i had an 8am appt to get a 2 hour full body massage that was WACK!!! Weird cuz i go to the same person all the time but for some reason he was just dumb wack today. I then left and went and picked up my sidekick Ms. Kena Sage. She's the dopest chick around these here parts of town.

She came with me on errands that ran from Long Island to flushing to Times Square and then to Central Park.

It was all wonderful I mean even including the rain. I mean i wouldn't have minded if it didn't rain half the day but I did get a chance to see Roy Hargrove at SummerStage in the Park.

That was really amazing!! I mean 18 piece band and a cutie pie on the piano :-) (It's always nice to have eye candy.)

In my head I was thinking about my blogspot that I need to put up all day and if there was anyone that I wanted to network with but truthfully it was my birthday so i figured that it was ok to take a break for even one day.

Back to this phenomenal show It was 2 and half hours long of special lady guests scatting and singing with all types of beautiful pipes. 4 trumpet players, 4 trombone players, 5 sax players, 2 different types of drum players, an upright bass player (the dopeman dopeman lol) , the guitar player and last but not least the infamous cutie pie piano player.

Inspiration really just was being dug all out of Roy as he'd belt out out these amazing harmonies all over the stage. Whether he was singing or playin the trumpet or leading his orchestra, he chose to be nothing less than extraordinary tonite. even when the rain came tumbling out the sky for all of 12 minutes his music stayed in tack and so did the fans. He was truly an honor to be able to watch and gift to be able to see and on my b-day at that! :-O

It's amazing what type of inspiration can exude out of seeing 20 some odd people on stage really doing their thing. It really makes me feel like the sky can truly be the limit for my expectations out of life, music and my art. I hope people will come to this blogspot on Jwa's Starz and truly learn and love who I am but rather than hope I'll believe that it will soon come to pass and the joy I'll have from seeing my prosperity is something beyond words.

I'm so tired I could fall alseep on the keyboards right now so let me be gone.

And God said let there be light and so it was...


Believe and I shall have my light too. :-)

Peace.