The Maze feat. Frankie Beverly

I got to see the entire concert of The Maze, featuring Frankie Beverly and I have to say that it felt like I was at a cook-out the entire time. They were completely awesome. To see those 60+ year old men jamming on stage was unreal. They sounded better in person than they did when I started singing along with them to my radio in the 90's and that was over 20 years ago. They put on a non-stop show that went from hit to hit. They only time that the show slowed down was to give Frankie Beverly the opportunity to take a swig of water and to wipe the sweat streaming down his face. There were many Frankie Beverly look-a-likes scattered throughout the audience all dressed in white pants and shirts toped off with a white baseball cap. But none of them compared to the real thing. Because when he left the stage of he looked as if he had been the top contender in a wet t-shirt contest. It goes to show you that really good music only gets better with time. P.S., as I was writing this, the co-founder of the group, McKinley "Bug" Williams passed away. My condolences to the band's family. Enjoy great music and its musicians while you can.

Kindness of Strangers

"I've always depended on the kindness of strangers"- Tennessee Williams. I never thought I would ever find that this quote would be relevant to my life until today. I've had the worst week ever. On Monday a kid backs his car into the rear passenger side of my car, laughs and drives o ff. When the cop questions him, he says he didn't think he hit me which is why he was laughing and why he drove off. On Tuesday I work a concert with a lot of drunk old people and by the end of the show it feels like my collarbone has pulled away from muscle. On Wednesday I have to drive myself to the emergency room to have my arm checked out. There I am told that I have to where a sling for a week and make sure I don't let my arm get stiff. Then when I get home I end up getting a piece of glass lodged into my hand, the hand attached to the sling-arm. After digging out the glass I entered a period of insomnia and restless sleep. It is now Thursday and this is where the upside of the story kicks in. I get to work only to find that I will be working outside in 40 degree weather all day. GREAT! Well waiting for Willie Nelson to arrive I get to meet some of the band. And I would just like to go on record to say that the bass player "B" is the best person on the planet right now. I'd been sitting outside in the cold and this man brings me a blanket and some coffee. The kindness of strangers is something I never thought existed until today and I'm glad that some kindness exists in this chaotic world. To cap off the kindness, I met four people from my hometown of little ol' Rocky Mount that were in town to see Wille Nelson. They talked with me for over an hour and even brought me back dinner. I guess sitting outside in the freezing cold brings out the sympathy in others or maybe that's just what the band and fans of Willie Nelson do.

Weird Al Yankovic

Here is another entertainer giving a high energy show non-stop. Running and jumping across the stage seems to be working to increase longevity. It will later be introduced into Hollywood as the "entertainment new fountain of life plan"

Taking a survey of the crowd, it is majority Caucasians ranging in ages from 0-99. I wonder why no people of color supported this particular show (it might be a southern thing). The best outfit for the night was a red dress made completely out of ballons. The workers were taking bets to see how long the dress would last and if it would hold up when the woman sat down in the theater. It held up great and stayed in place for the duration of the show and after-show.

Show favorites: the nirvana parody, Irish paradise, eat it, born this way, and the eminem parody. But the first parody I remember ever seeing, "I'm fat," was GREAT to see in person. But my new favorite was star wars with the dancing storm troopers and Darth Vader. Overall I think that the show was FREAKING awesome!

Charlie Wilson

The opening act for Charlie Wilson is Loose Ends. They appear to be an old school group. Made of mellow R&B melodies. Overall really nice sound.
But to be in the business this long, I think that the people in charge of the videography did not know what they were doing.
Then they sing a hit song "slow down"  and they used a hype-man that completely murdered the song. Granted I felt some kinda way about this, to my surprise the older people in the crowd were on their feet dancing.

Charlie Wilson gets on stage dancing in formation with his dancers. He is high energy performing. I'm going to state this again, it seems that older generations of singers have hit the Jackpot on the fountain of youth and longevity.

Best part of the show, when Charlie Wilson came out on stage in a glimmering Carolina blue suit that lit up when the lights were turned off.

We already know that Uncle  Charlie is, that old school new school all-in-one, packaged in a clean white suit with matching shoes and a jeweled covered fedora.  And he is dropping "bombs" all over the place!

Greatasmic show!

"Owner not here, Call back later"

So I have been given the task to contact local nail shops in order to promote this tutoring program.

Nail shops are a weird place, but a perfect place for finding the parents of the students we need. So here are my current numbers: out of the 10 shops that I have called so far 2 have said that I can post fliers and one of those is contingent on the flier size; 2 have said no; and the remaining 6 have given me the line "owner not here, call back later."

The thing I realized here was that either the receptionists were not able
to understand what I was saying or because I was not a paying customer scheduling an appointment, anything I had to say was not relevant to their business practices. But after getting that same one-liner six times in a row I realized that I need to learn basic Chinese, Korean, and Japanese soon.

Jobs

I've had mixed employment for last five years. This means that jobs never bloomed into careers. With that being said, I would like to say that I've been looking for long term, full time, and career path employment for about 2 years now.
So I put in about 10 applications this week. So far I've had 4 no and 3 no replies. So I was working with this particular one. Had a phone interview yesterday that I thought went ok at best. The person that interviewed me, referred me to go to the next step, another phone interview assessment. Well that was scheduled for this afternoon. Again was scheduled for this afternoon. It's not going to happen. Why? Because they decided to go with another candidate that was better qualified. Well this starts the whole, we will keep your application on file for any future positions that meet your qualifications, line. I'm a little upset about this but more so about the fact that there was nothing constructive to help me become a better candidate.

It seems that I'm going to fall through the existential crack.
Under-qualified and over-qualified to work in this tough job market that is too narrow and experience specific.

500 years later

I'm watching this documentary/commentary called . Its about what's happened in the world 500 years after slavery. I want to quote two African proverbs that resonate deeply with me: "Until a lion tells his tale, the story will always glorify the hunter" and "Children not taught by their parents will be taught by the world." I'm not really sure how I should be feeling about this film other than being filled with anger. It almost feels like another kill whitey moment but that will not solve the issue. This film talks about displaced Africans as a people that need to be told the truth about the history from which we have evolved. How do you do this? We are constantly being bombarded with images that cast Africans, and its displaced descendants as a victim that deserved what institution of slavery did to them. But now there are efforts to say that slavery was the best thing that could have ever happened to Africans and their descendants. We need to know our history, if you don't know your history you won't know how much you can achieve. This is why we have been given watered down history books. What is so scary about having a group people reach their full potential. That would create so much more opportunity by knowing that you have helped people reach their full potential. But we as a global nation thrive off hiding the truth and therefore throwing away potential to make this world a better place. "African people are the largest consumers of self-mutilation products; skin bleaching, hair straightening, artificial nails, false hair, etc." I think that this is the most interesting statement. To think of all the things that I was taught growing up are just forms of self mutilation. This is what years of hatred turned self-hatred has turned us into, nothing but self-mutilators. We are still in a state of slavery. People may not see it but its there. There aren't many people of color running fortune 500 companies, African-Americans are the most disenfranchised group of people because more or going to jail than to school, and we are still being fed lies about our history. "Education is the most powerful weapon that can be used to change the world." "Only a fool would let his enemy educate his children" -Malcom X Education should be liberating society and not enslaving it. But we are living under this draconian rule in which ideals from 500 years ago are still running a society in 2011. The ongoing African Holocaust. I am deeply saddened by this and see a great need for change... What can you do? Be a role model for kids, show them their history, be constructive and not destructive. Our children of color, better yet, Africans and African diaspora are falling through the cracks. If they are falling through the cracks then that means we are walking all over them, and that shows a lack of humanity. Show and Teach the TRUTH!

Blondie

So I'm at a Blondie concert. I'm watching a woman that's almost three times my age perform on stage and look absolutely great doing it! I think that's a great thing in itself. It's funny that she could possibly be her band members grandmother. I hope I can move this well when I'm her age.

Outside of that, I think that the 67 year old woman is the bomb. She had an all salt crowd with a little pepper mixed throughout. And they were loving every minute of the show, even the partial strip show by Blondie herself.

I think that it is great that she has become a musical conduit for her band members. They write her new songs and she brings them to life. I like the updated version of Blondie. That just means that, contrary to popular belief, that old dogs can learn new tricks. To bring her into the new millennium, Blondie is what Gwen Stefani has to look forward to in the next 40 years.

I'm a music lover, and although I wasn't born with Blondie first hit the scenes, I loved her laid back rock. And through her music she has created her own little fountain of youth.

The Amazing Earth Wind and Fire

I am currently typing from the Earth Wind and Fire concert at dpac. All I can say is they picked the best ever songs to commemorate their 40 years together. I'm sure that not many if any groups today can say they have performed together as long as two years let along 40 whole years. That's longer than some peoples marriages.
Let's take a look at the audience. There is a pretty even mixture. How many music groups can say that everyone can enjoy their music at anytime? People haven't sat down since the first note of the song "boogie."
I think the best part for me was seeing the bass guitarist Verdine White dancing across the stage shaking his hair. That is what I remember most about him as I was growing up. I used to record the HBO specials when they performed and all I remember was my mom talking about him shaking his hair and getting down on stage.
They started on time and went over 20 minutes pass show time. Well worth it is all that I can say. It was great to see Philip Bailey and son singing hit songs like "fantasy" and "reasons."

The entire mood in the place was relaxing and calm, who else has music that puts everybody in a good and relaxed mood? They have truly mastered their art. New artists need to take notes.

B.B. King

I want to start talking about the shows that I actually get to see in person. B.B. King came to dpac and put on a great show.
Here is my take on it. The audience was filled with a majority of white people. Nothing wrong with that at all. There were also many children present. Their parents wanted them to see history. And history it was simply because this 85 year old man was performing his chart topping hits from before they and probably their parents were born.
The King talked about his life, his beginning, and the time he has spent traveling and performing.
I think what made this person seem more realistic to me than a myth was when he brought his granddaughter on stage and she gave him a kiss. That brought humanity to him and his music. The fact that his nephew performed with him, shows a side to music that most people don't see. He is making sure his music lives long pass his death by including his family.
The thrill really isn't gone and if you ever get the chance to see B.B. King perform I highly suggest buying the ticket to the venue nearest you.

Today was different

Today I decided that I was going to try something different. After getting one kid on the bus to school, I called the 800 number on the back of my bank card. Instead of English, I pressed 2 for Spanish. I found that the translation was rather fun to listen to. The Spanish voice seemed more like listening to a real person than the English version( sounds mechanical).
I was even a little nicer by letting the second kid sleep in a whole extra five minutes. But eventually I had to get him ready for school.
Then later on the way to taekwondo I got a call. I actually got a call from someone that was interested in helping me find a better paying job. If it wasn't for the fact that I was driving I probably would have been consumed by tears. So by the end of that short 15 minute conversation this person refers me to 3 jobs that are hiring for immediate positions. Wish me luck!
Doing on thing out of my routine today...I think it has made all the difference. I would encourage others to do the same. Cheers!