Sunday, December 28, 2008

New Years Eve 2009

There are several events happening on New Years Eve 2009. Here are a few to check out:

Juste Lounge in Bethesda, MD - http://www.justelounge.com/flyers/event_7.html

Positive Black Men Coalition featuring Howard Hewitt in Arlington, VA - http://www.positiveblackmencoalition.com/newyears.html

Love Nightclub Casino Royale in Washington, DC - http://www.welcometodream.com/love/newyears.html

Zanzibar Nightclub in Washington, DC - http://www.zanzibar-otw.com/NewSite2/Americana/default.html

First Fridays DC Hush Galleria NYE Gala in Washington, DC - http://www.eventbrite.com/event/234607718/FirstFridaysDC/79072661

Things to do DC at Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, DC - http://www.thingstododc.com/events.php?show=1180

Professionals in the City at Hilton Washington in Washington, DC - http://www.prosinthecity.com/index.cfm?CityId=1&action=events&event_id=7117#Event7117

Euphoria at Almaz Restaurant and Lounge in Washington, DC - http://www.feel-euphoria.com

Indulj Nightclub in Washington, DC - http://www.induljdc.com/NYE_2009.html

TrueSchool Corp at Liv in Washington, DC - http://www.stockholm180.com

ENJOY NEW YEARS EVE 2009 AND BE SAFE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Events in January 2009

SHERYL UNDERWOOD at the DC Improv - January 2 to January 4.
KYONTE at Blues Alley - January 8.
GUY TORRY at the DC Improv - January 8 to January 11.
MINT CONDITION at Birchmere - January 14 to January 15.
ERIC ROBERSON at Black Cat - January 18.
LEDISI at Birchmere - January 19 - SOLD OUT.
VIVIAN GREEN at Birchmere - January 23.
JeCaryous Johnson's play "LOVE OVERBOARD" at the Warner Theatre - January 27 to February 1.
SOMMORE, GEORGE WILLBORN, HUGGY LOWDOWN & RED GRANT at The Lyric Opera House - January 30.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

October 2008 Events

10/15/2008 (2 Events)

BIRCHMERE-VA – After 7 (7:30pm)

VERIZON CENTER-DC – “Rock Witchu Tour” featuring Janet Jackson and LL Cool J (7:30pm)


10/17/2008

HIPPODROME AT FRANCE-MERRICK-MD - "Legends of Hip Hop II Tour" featuring Slick Rick, KRS-One, MC Shan, Special Ed, Dana Dane and Sweet T (7pm)


10/18/2008

WARNER THEATRE-DC – Sinbad (8pm)


10/19/2008 (3 Events)

BIRCHMERE-VA – Musiq Soulchild (7:30pm)

PATRIOT CENTER-VA – T.I. and T-Pain (7:30pm)

SONAR-MD – “Still High Tour” featuring Method Man, Redman and Keith Murray (8pm)


10/20/2008

BIRCHMERE-VA – Musiq Soulchild (7:30pm)


10/22/2008

DAR CONSTITUTION HALL-DC – Aretha Franklin (8pm)


10/29/2008

BIRCHMERE-VA – The Floacist - Natalie Stewart of Floetry (7:30pm)

Summer Spirit Festival 2008

I attended the Summer Spirit Festival 2008 at Merriweather Post Pavilion on August 2, 2008 featuring Estelle, Chuck Brown, The Roots & Jill Scott.

Doors opened 2 hours before the show at 4:00pm. I arrived before the show started. The crowd of people were still trickling in right before the start time.

First up @ 6:10pm for 30 minutes was Estelle - she came all the way from the UK and did all of her songs from the "Shine" album. Just a few people were jamming to her music and I was one of them.

Next up @ 6:55pm for 55 minutes was Chuck Brown - the crowd was loving Chuck and started shouting "Wind Me Up Chuck...Wind Me Up Chuck..." I have always loved watching Chuck Brown perform (the last time I saw him was at the Carter Baron Amphitheatre last year with the SOS Band). Chuck also had his son (Nekos) on stage with him for the whole performance and his daughter (KK) came on later to do one song. Also, Little Benny also came on stage doing his stuff..."Cat in the Hat" among a few other songs.

Next up @ 8:15pm for 55 minutes was The Roots - The Roots has always been a favorite of mine. Of course they held it down performing songs from some of their albums. Black Thought even did a little freestyling. Captain Kirk got down making his face match what he played on the guitar; Tuba Gooding Jr did his thing (sousaphonist) and of we all know how great ?uestlove is overall.

Lastly @ 9:25pm for 2 hours was Jill Scott - looking great as ever. Jill sang from her latest album but also did tunes from previous albums as well. For some songs she gave a little bit of intro before going into the song. There was a time when some people thought the concert was ending and started to leave. Oh they missed out on some good stuff, because Miss Jill Scott brought out Chuck Brown and Black Thought and ?uestlove onto the stage and all started jamming. The crowd got on their feet and never missed a beat.

Overall, the show was great and I had a blast.

Rock The Bells Festival 2008 - My Thoughts

I saw the Rock the Bells Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion on Sunday July 27, 2008. I arrived at the venue early @ 10:40am and there were already lots of cars in the parking lot. I sat in my car for a while before I decided to get out and walk towards the venue. To my surprise, there was a very long line to get in (more than 100 people in front of me). I decided to wait, and wait I did. I waited in line until a little past 11:30am when they started to allow the line to move. Finally, I got in. First thing I did was go and purchase a "Rock the Bells 2008" T-Shirt and a great one I got. I then walked around a bit and got me some lemonade.

Time passes by and the first artist comes on - Murs @ 12:30pm. He was okay - I'm not really a fan.
Next was Wale @ 1pm - He's a DC native, but he only did his thing for 15 minutes saying that he's going to be performing later (he had 30 minutes scheduled).
Next was Supernatural - and he killed it - lyrically he reminded me of KRS-One - grabbing things from people in the audience and adding those things to his lyrics - the man has skills - Freestyling skills.
Next was Dead Prez @ 1:40pm - They did their thing.
Next was Supernatural again - doing what he does best.
Next was Immortal Technique @ 2:20pm - didn't really like him too much as he was a bit too harsh for me except for one song.
Supernatural came on again. I forgot to add that during one of the times that Supernatural was on stage, he brought along DJ Scratch who was a staight up human beatboxer - the best I have ever seen and heard. wow.
Next was Rakim @ 3pm - he was good - took me back to my college days and I enjoyed the songs he did.
Next was Wale that came on for only 5 minutes (3:35pm to 3:40pm) - what was the purpose of that - I have no idea.
Next was Raekwon & Ghostface @ 3:40pm - I'm not a fan of their music but I could tell the crowd was really feeling them as they are part of the Wu-Tang Clan.
Next was De La Soul @ 4:30pm - I liked De La Soul especially when they did "Me, Myself & I".
Next was Jay Electronica @ 5:15pm - I had no idea what he was doing on the stage - didn't sound like hip hop and I couldn't tell what else it really was - He was only on stage for 5 minutes because he missed his 20 minutes scheduled time back at 12 noon - Oh Well.
Next was Method Man & Redman @ 5:25pm - I have to say that these two guys DEFINITELY STOLE THE ENTIRE SHOW - Oh Yes, they did - they got the crowd jumping up and down, waving their hands, they threw water at the crowd, several times, and Method Man even went WALKING ON THE CROWD - and I mean that LITERALLY. There was a time when Method Man was being carried on his back by the crowd and then Redman came running by the area where I was sitting in and walked right next to me giving the people that were seated further up - a better view of the Method Man/Redman Show - Oh it was all good. That was a performance and I would pay to see just those 2 guys (Method Man and Redman) again. Oh Yes I would.
Next was The Pharcyde @ 6:55pm (est.) - now some of their songs I remember from back when I was in college, but their performance on the stage now - kinda sucked - at least one or two of the group members were doing some strange things onstage that I spent more time watching the screen playing their videos than watching their performance.
Next was Mos Def @ 7:35pm - now I didn't really get a chance to see Mos Def performance as I was not in the pavilion at the time. However I did hear him play a few reggae selections that I was jamming to as I listened in. By the time I made it back to my seat, he was doing his last song - Oh Well.
Next was Nas @ 8:35pm (est.) - I am a big fan of Nas and have almost all of his CD's especially the last one he just came out with. It was just Nas by himself and DJ Green Lantern who definitely rocked it. Nas was definitely killing it - I love listening to his lyrics - he's a deep brother. He definitely smashed his performance.
Next was........yes, we waited.......waited for a loooong time......wondering when the next artist was coming on.......everyone for the day took about 10 minutes to get their set together......we waited for about 35 minutes for the next set.....still waiting....who comes out....Q-Tip from ATCQ @ 10pm - he did a few songs that we know but then he also did a few songs from his album that is not coming out until this Fall 2008 - wrong place to be playing a lot of your new songs - this is an old school hip hop concert, not future school. Anyways, he did okay. I sat through most of his performance because I was looking forward to hearing the entire group and not just 1 in the group. Suddenly we hear the famous Midnight Marauders voice and I knew that A Tribe Called Quest - the rest of the group was coming out next and they did. It brought me back to my college days. I remember my first ever ATCQ song "I left my wallet in El Segundo" which I heard many years ago and I have been a fan them ever since. A Tribe Called Quest closed out the show and a GREAT SHOW it was. People are now calling it the HIP HOP WOODSTOCK. Won't you agree?