Monday, May 10, 2010
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Coming to ears near you...Monday, November 30, 2009
Whenever, Wherever, Whatever...Oct. 3, 2009, Philadelphia, Music
The bright hues from the blue, yellow and purple lights dimmed and within seconds the excitement from the female-dominated crowd elevated. Seats were taken, drinks were bought and eyes were fixed because it was time. Time for after months of anticipation the Wachovia Spectrum to be packed and anxiously awaiting the return of the sultry, tantalizing, neo-soul star -- Maxwell.
Grown women with their men, without their men, with a gang of girls, or with only two of them were here.
Out of towners, recently married, students, aspiring lovers, and roughly the whole of Philadelphia were present.
Anxious and excited all in one breath because this one man was in attendance. His band, his voice, his music was in Philadelphia, live and in full effect.
I was 7 when his first studio album was released, and while I’m sure I didn’t quite understand what he meant by wanting to “lock us up in love for days,” I was certain that his voice alone represented music; real, classic music.
For my mother’s ears he was a hint of Al Green, a pint of Prince and a tip of Marvin Gaye, but for me he was Maxwell –fresh, authentic and alluring.
Therefore at age 20, in my light teal sheer top, high-wasted brown and black dotted skirt and my black ankle length booties I sat there waiting; with my camera barely leaving my fingertips and my eyes intensely stalking the stage, I sat anticipating the liveliest and most authentic concert that I dreamt of but still had yet to witness.
With in an instant of the last light dimming, the suspense was over.
“Let me grove with you mamaaaa…” were the first words that filled the Spectrum. An explosion of drums, guitars, and trumpets followed, and added to the soft but intense feeling that Maxwell began to offer in the first two minutes that he had been on stage.
If my eyes were bonded shut I would have thought I was front row, up close, smelling his cologne and picking up on each and every note strung out by the guitarist. But I was in section 312, row 12, seat 15, and swearing by the clear, distinct sounds I heard that he was next to me singing in my ear.
Within the next three minutes, “Dancewitme,” a track that Maxwell followers were introduced to on Maxwell’s Urban Hang Suite made the already insane Philadelphia crowd go ballistic. In the first couple of moments the fluorescent lights transformed the intimate night into a sensuous one, and the live band instantly made my rather far-away seat feel close.
As the fingers of the musicians maintained their movement and Maxwell’s mouth continued to open I was lost. Lost in the intensity of his soprano, the volumes heard in the bass and the rhythm piercing from the strings.
The music drowned out the screams, the sounds from the unpaid and not very talented backup singers in the bleachers, and the gasps of “I love him” that could even be heard from the men who brought their ladies to the concert as a prelude to the rest of their evening.
A quarter OF THE WAY into the show Maxwell stood still at the edge of the stage, he cued the band with a single finger, lifted the mic to his lips, closed his eyes and then it began almost effortlessly.
He stared to sing AGAIN and we melted. We, as in me and my three companions sitting in section 312.
We, as in me and the two ladies in front who hadn’t sat down since Maxwell took the stage.
We, as in me and everyone else in the packed Wachovia spectrum who felt it in their bones when he sang “all the things we should have done that we never did.” We felt him, and by the passion heard in his falsetto, he felt us too.
I heard “This woman’s worth" many times before on the radio during my evenings driving back from work, as a soundtrack to romantic movie scenes, and from the privacy of my rather small but boisterous mp3 player head phones, but not like this.
I felt it in my bones. The drums, the strings, the organs, and the bass drowned my ears and his voice encompassed me slowly. Without a doubt I thought: If this isn’t love personified it‘s dangerously and unmistakably close.
The live experience was incomparable to any other music form I’ve ever witnessed. It was raw, intense, engulfing and organic.
Thirteen years later, I think I get it. The feeling that I felt but didn’t quite understand at age seven; the feeling that 30-year-olds appreciated and expressed when they experienced real music suddenly made sense.
Having felt the swarm of goose bumps on my arms, the gasps for air, the attention deficit, the instant high and love for the very first time --words still could not do the experience justice.
Maxwell left my ears how he had at age 7 –mesmerized, and floored and undoubtedly “locked in love for days”…to come.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Concert Review: Lupe Fiasco @ Temple University Homecoming 09’
The music blaring out of the overtly loud speakers hushed. The fog rose. The equipment crew that worked as if they were not receiving a Friday pay stub vanished and the lights dimmed. Within seconds the rupture of the crowd could be heard in stadiums all throughout Malaysia. The darkness filled the packed Liacouras stadium and the concert goers anxiously awaited the arrival of Mr. Wasulu Muhammad Jaco, better known to hip-hop lovers as the never dull, nothing short of hype --Lupe Fiasco.
The aviators, black v-neck t-shirt, khakis, and black acid wash jean jacket came out with a distinctiveness that shouted cocky. A walk that sang I’m here, and an energy that by now, after two highly-praised albums, and one Grammy, screamed I’m not going anywhere.
To me he never gets old. Four Lupe Fiasco concerts later and I’m still hooked. I still get a rush that hours later I can’t shake and days after I’m still reminiscing about.
Tonight is no different.
The bright lights flare and the Chicago native opens the show with “The Cool” the 10th track off his 2006 debut Food and Liquor.
He begins to warm up and by the time he spits his verse from the “Everyone Nose (remix)” he as well as the crowd were…well, hype.
In the mist of tracks from Food and Liquor and The Cool he gives us a taste of his new album L.A.S.E.R.S (Love Always Shines Everytime Remember 2 Smile) --“Shining Down” which is already my classic and “Fire,” which he continued to bring.
Tonight, like previous nights I’ve seen him, he lectures much and rambles a bit. Expressing love for Philadelphia, reflections on his success and questions about war.
He sets the stage for “Little Weapon” with Philadelphia resident Nikki Jean.
After the song wraps he goes on with his war lecture, and I’m thinking: play "Streets on Fire," just play it.
“Tonightttttttt……”
I go crazy.
He does as instructed and track 11, my favorite track on The Cool emerges lyrically from his mouth and instrumentally from his Dj, drummer, and guitarist.
I love it.
With his one and I mean only “one,” for the ladies as he too exclaimed, (playing “Paris, Tokyo”) he stayed focused, keeping it real and the crowd hype with an ending of “Superstar” and “Day Dreamin’”.
With the absence of some of his classics and my personal all time anthems (“Real,” “Pressure,” “American Terrorist,” “He Say She Say,” “Sunshine”) his performance was like always: classic. At 27 he has the energy of a 5-year-old and in Philly he fosters the same love as though he were in the Chi.
He can’t stand still, he doesn’t miss a beat, and he gives the crowd even more than they’ve expected.
His fusion of hip-hop and rock is classic. His performances’, priceless. His Fiasco, necessary.
Definitely a must see.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Continuing my adoration...
The sun has finally settled. The hot steam outside has emerged into a smooth cool breeze and the fast pace of the day has finally come to a slow and steady jog. It is at this moment I find the time to slip into my car and begin the hour long journey home, my ears anticipating this weeks latest delivery: the rebirth of Maxwell, in his 4th studio album BLACKsummer’s night.
The black disc emerges and not to long after, my drums are filled with real ones: the sound of steady heart beats accompanied by Maxwell’s soft and sensual voice. With “Bad Habits” the opening track of the album, Maxwell explains his addiction to a love that encompasses and controls him in every way but simultaneously drowns him and leaves him lost. The track delivers an intensity from his soul-fused genre that by far hasn’t been heard all summer.
By “Cold” the second track on the disc, I hear an explosion of drums, guitars, and trumpets all adding to the soft but intense feeling that Maxwell begins to offer in this collection . He utilizes every sound imaginable, turning natural sounds into music: heart beats, chimes, organs, horns, and strings; creating a sound that is alluring and distinct.
On my way to “Stop the World” the fifth track on the disc, Maxwell continues to fuse the acoustic sounds of guitars and the funk aspect of blues with his soft serenading voice. Pleading to stop the world in the moment when he resides with his love, leaving nothing to matter -- not even the wretched and chaotic world outside their love struck doors.
When I reach “Love You,” I’m convinced. For the non-believers he has made them believers, for the liars --honest and whole. “If you take this rib don’t let it go/ baby don’t leave or ever go, no,” are the last words to make it out of the 3 minutes and 35 second track, but by far stick the longest. You not only feel the warmth and steady energy of his voice but the passion that is nonetheless exerted through each and every instrument used.
By the end of my journey, Maxwell leaves me with the sounds of his band on “Phoenix Rising.” Using every sound imaginable at it’s finest element.
Maxwell left not to come back snapping, with loads of collaborations, or more thankfully with an impulsive computerized voice. Maxwell comes back with an authenticity that embellishes every song, every ear and every emotion. The tracks are raw and honest. Intense and engulfing. BLACKsummer’snight is real music.
Love your ears with: “Love You”
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Africans at their best: My fellow West African bred brotha repping the DMV extra hard...
Wale: Crisp as he wanna be...check him out: real spicy.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Ears blazing...
Enjoy!
Love,
Bug
New-Ish