Category Archives: Feeding The Music Jones

Ready For Love?

10 Thursday Apr 2008

Posted by in Feeding The Music Jones

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I am ready for love
All of the joy and the pain
And all the time that it takes
Just to stay in your good grace

After a very rough day, I was relaxing with a glass of Riesling and watching the NCAA Women’s Tourney. I got a text from a good friend telling me that she planned to unplug for a few days because she was going through a tough time. She was growing impatient with some changes she wanted to come about in her life.  Even though I had hung a “Don’t Disturb This Groove” sign on my door, being the super friend that I am, I offered my ear if she needed it. After all, she was the only person, besides my Mom, who was really there for me when I was going through some trying times last year.

As we talked, she shared how she has been having a rough couple of days dealing with overwhelming pangs of lonlieness. She has long been ready to meet that special someone and commence to birthing his babies. She wondered why Mr. Right kept taking a detour right before he got to her doorstep.  She was ready for love and. In addition, although she wouldn’t admit it, I knew a part of her is also still hurting at the fact that the man she thought she was supposed to end up with is getting married this month. Obviously, she wasn’t invited and will have to sing “Congratulations” from afar.

She’s also dealing with a lot of her friends getting engaged, married, and pregnant.  When would it be her turn? She felt bad for even thinking it, but so many of her friends that are coupled up hadn’t been doing right…whatever right is…not that she should be the one to judge.

I listened and empathized – to a degree. Over the past few months, I’ve noticed a shift in my own mindset – not something I’ve been consciously working on. For the past few years, I’ve been focused on sowing my royal wild oats. Looking like this, slowed my flow a tad in my early 20s. Lately, I definitely see that I’m starting to think differently. Lizz Wright’s “When I See Love” often plays randomly in my head. I think it’s also because I finally have real life examples of good relationships that are working. I’m starting to come around and think the same just might be possible for me (though I still think my wedding song will be Van Hunt’s “Down Here in Hell (With You)”…but that’s another post).  I’m still working all that out in therapy.

Where we differ is that I don’t find myself dwelling on it. My singleness doesn’t keep me up at night. Now full disclosure here: I could probably snap my fingers right now and be in a relationship with not one, but two men that could potentially lead to marriage. These are good men…for someone else. Vivrant Thang has a pretty clear picture of the attributes “the one for ME” should have. I won’t settle.

I can’t spend my time obsessing about when he’s going to come into my life. I gotta keep on living…and that’s what I want to make sure that she does. She has a lot going for her…new business venture, grad school, travel, certification exam prep. I told her she knows good and damn well that when he does come walking through that door, all of that stuff will fall by the wayside. She’d be too busy hugged up, frying chicken and shit. (She’s all domestic). All the things she’s trying to accomplish would become secondary.

I remember when I was last involved. Particularly in the beginning, all I wanted to do was be in his face. All I was thinking about was planning things for us to do, not things I needed to do – beyond my basic responsibilities of course. At some point, you try to find that balance. But that takes a while when love is new. I advised her that as a single woman, the last time in her life when it’s truly all about her, she needed to focus on her and getting things done.

It’s hard, if not impossible, to control your feelings. We’re not meant to be alone and if you are, loneliness is inevitable. (Hell, you can be lonely even when someone is around. Another post for another day). You have no control over when (and even if!) the right person will show up, but you do have control over how you spend your time until you meet them.

Nothing wrong with being ready for love. Just make sure you are ready when it shows up.

I am ready for love
If you’ll take me in your hands
I will learn what you teach
And do the best that I can

For those of you still “living the single life,” how are you spending your time while you “wait for love?” 

Love What You Do…And Do What You Love

08 Tuesday Apr 2008

Posted by in Feeding The Music Jones

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by vivrant thang on side hustles

Now life is what you make
Of your time, sometimes you can even fake it
If you doing something other than what you like
You can escape, just don’t give up the fight

I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately to “loving what I do and doing what I love.” One of the biggest things I will accomplish during year one of my five-year plan is the development of my side hustle – which will be something I’m passionate about. It should be a realization of my purpose and what I was put here to do. It should generate income as I’ve had to face the harsh reality that the better your income looks on paper, the bigger chunk Uncle Sam will snatch. And the more you spend. But that’s another post for another day.

It’s always been very important to me to discover just what my purpose is since one of my mother’s biggest regrets in life is what she has never really pursued her purpose – or even discovered what it is. As with a lot of baby boomers, she has worked tirelessly  at her job year after year.  Job hopping for advancement or to gain skills is foreign to her.  She’s kind of fallen into human resources/accounting functions, but there is so much more to her than that. She has so many skills and talents that she’s never utilized. I don’t want that to be me.

Don’t you know that you came from the Earth
Have some faith, best believe what you’re really worth
Whole lot more and so much in store
For ya if you just…

Last year, I had a nice freelance web development thing going. Garned me enough income to ball out of control in Miami and Jamaica. However, that’s not my passion. Not even that good at it because I haven’t taken the time to advance my skills. My heart wasn’t in it.

What my heart has always been into is the written word. In high school, I would bring my fiction stories to class and my friends would be engrossed in them instead of reading about how Columbus discovered America. My vivid imagination had me creating characters involved in situations that a fifteen-year-old should have known nothing about (remember this was early 90s!). I even completed a young adult novel somewhere in there.  Went on to be editor-in-chief of the newspaper and yearbook. Won all kinds of journalism awards/scholarships. Attended numerous journalism-related summer workshops. Worked as a features reporter during the summers at The Newark Star-Ledger (still have my clips!). My path seemed clear. It was only natural that I would go on to get two degrees in English. What else was there for me, a lover of the word?

Somewhere in between writing 20-page papers about Chaucer, I stopped writing for me. I fell out of love with the word – or I should say creating the word because I was still reading and getting lost in bookstores – amassing a ridiculous amount of books. I always missed it though. Some part of me always felt unfulfilled. I could no longer call myself a writer because I wasn’t writing.

Do what you love and love what you do
In this life there’s a place for you
Love what you do and do what you love
Make sure that it’s something from above

-For Da Love of The Game f/ Raheem Devaughn and V

I created this blog as a way to reclaim my identity as a writer. To fill that hole. I’m loving what I do here and doing what I love. The fact that people are reading and responding positively is just the icing on the cake. I have my doubts some days when I read other writing that I feel is so much better than mine. However, again, I’m loving what I do here and I think it’s showing. Directly or indirectly as a result of blogging, I have a book review coming out in a literary magazine in the next few months. I’m also going to be a guest blogger over at Sweet Potato Pie, which was featured in Heart and Soul magazine. I have a feeling this is just the beginning.

I hope all of you are utilizing your talents and finding some way to do what you love. Time’s a wastin’ and none of us are getting any younger. One of my male friends is a photographer with a really good eye. Clearly, he loves taking pictures. I keep urging him to put himself out there and start his own business. People are always going to need a good photographer. He listens but doesn’t hear me. Not to get religious on ya’ll, but that’s a God-given talent and I think it is a slap in the face to Him when we don’t use what we’re blessed with. Besides, we have to work everyday and most of us aren’t fortunate enough to be bringing home a paycheck from a job that we’re skipping to everyday. Life is too short not to be spending that time outside of work discovering what you’re here to do and pursuing that. You never know where it may lead.

Have you discovered what you have been put here to do? Do you have a side hustle – loving what you do and doing what you love? Tell me about it in the comments.

Tony, Act Like You Know! : Review of Cat on A Hot Tin Roof

04 Friday Apr 2008

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by vivrant thang on cat on a hot tin roof

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You probably can’t tell but your girl Vivrant has other cultural interests outside of music. I try to see as many plays as possible, particularly if they have an all-black cast. Don’t get it twisted. I’m not talking about those chitlin-circuit Why-Did My-Baby-Daddy-Screw-Madea-And-My-Play-Cousin-And-Drink-Up-All -The-Kool-Aid joints. I’m talking about theatre. I’m talking about real Tony-award worthy productions.

Speaking of Tony, I expect to see several nods for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,  currently at the Broadhurst Theatre on Broadway. I was fortunate to see one of the last productions before Terrance Howard goes on leave, presumably to make a movie. Boris Kudjoe will replace him, but his sub-par acting skills are already causing side-eyes to twitch to the point that I believe there may be plenty of tickets to be had during that month. I mean, beyond the opening scene where Brick is shown showering in a very sexy, muscular silhouette (we know “Damon” got that covered, I just don’t know if Boris has the acting chops to carry it much further.

Beisdes, Terrance IS Brick. The irreverence, the contempt, the sardonic humor, the “I don’t give a flying f*ck” attitude…all of the qualities which made him the real scene stealer in The Best Man. I can see why Debbie wanted him.

Terrance is serious about his shit. I can’t think of a role I’ve seen him in where I wasn’t impressed with his acting. He is sort of typecast, as there is a dark element to all of his roles, which is probably comes easy to him. I must say he took to the stage like he had been there all his life. Although he says he was terrified to take the role, he looked totally comfortable up there.

I know he is so proud to be working with his baby, Heaven – getting an early start at an acting career perhaps?  She is one lucky girl to be learning under an all-star cast.

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I didn’t know the story before seeing the play. Never caught it on Turner Movie Classics on a lazy Sunday afternoon. Read about it here. If you know the story and liked it, I think you will be highly impressed with this production. The acting was superb.  One wouldn’t expect anything less from veterans Phylicia Rashad and James Earl Jones, who played Big Mama and Big Daddy Pollit.

Also no stranger to the stage, Anika was equally impressive as Maggie, a role made famous on the big screen by Liz Taylor. I was able to find some of the scenes from the original production on You Tube. I am going to step out there and say that Anika better captured the desperateness of her character, begging her husband, Brick to see her, to want her again.  She had a 15-minute opening monologue that made me want to put my IPOD on to drown out the sound of her incessant, mindless drivel. I wasn’t as adept at it as Brick was. “Did you say something, Maggie?” She got through it without missing a beat.

Overall, I highly recommend seeing this production. Someone who was familiar with the original said that she didn’t remember it being so humorous. With actors like James and Terrance, who elicited the majority of the chuckles, I think it was inevitable.

Tony needs to pony up awards for all four major cast members. Since that’s highly unlikely, I’d like to see Anika and Terrance walk away with Best Actor/Actress nods at least. The whole production should win for Best Play or Best Revival of a Play. Debbie Allen should be recognized in the Best Director category as well.  I’ll be keeping an eye on the situation. I think nominations are announced next month.

Here’s a couple of pictures I snapped of the set and the cast, followed by a video of cast interviews.

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If you’ve seen this play or any others on Broadway or in your city, tell me about it in the comments.

The last one I saw before this was Color Purple in the opening weeks when LaChanze was playing Celie. Although I wasn’t thrilled with the adaptation, the acting and the experience of it all was an experience I’ll never forget.

Beat It

28 Friday Mar 2008

Posted by in Feeding The Music Jones

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by vivrant thang 

So many things almost made your girl’s side eye explode this week.  I am still fighting what has turned into a very nasty cold so I just don’t have the energy to write a proper Side Eye of the Week Week Week post today.

At the top of my list  though are Hillary and Kwame, who are both making my blood boil more as each day passes.

Hil, GIVE IT UP, TURN IT LOOSE. We’re so weary of your lies and alibis. You are driving this election right into McCain slimy little hands. You can’t get Obama’s votes. And now we know you can’t get Edwards either.  If you stole the nod, there would be an ridiculous surge in “McCain Democrats” and we’d probably be assured four more years of Bush. Calgon, take me away.

Kwame has already “felt” my wrath and so shall the “prominent businessmen, power brokers and politicians” (who were probably  at the stripper party at the Mansion) behind this foolishness. Why the hell should anyone pass the plate for this negro? Can we take up an offering for the poor people of Detroit? Most of them will never see his $175K salary in their lifetimes. “Hip-Hop Mayor,” time to trade in them polka dots for some stripes.

For goodness sakes, I just want these two to beat it.

Thank the Lord for good music in times like these.

Stevie Wonder and Omar, “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing”
(I’ll try, Stevie. I’ll try.)

Stevie Wonder, “Sir Duke”

On another note, I’ve been steadily updating my “Top R&B and Soul Songs”  list. It remains my most popular post. It’s now up to 91 and growing daily. Check it and let me know if I’ve added some of your faves.

I’ll be in NYC tomorrow seeing Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Pray that this Nyquil-induced coma I’m about to put myself in works!

Music Makes Me Highhh!

23 Sunday Mar 2008

Posted by in Feeding The Music Jones, Let's Rock: Concert Reviews

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by vivrant thang on let’s rock

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Just a quick post to talk about my musically delicious weekend. Will be very brief because I’m recovering from the strip aerobics class I took on Saturday that had me using muscles I forgot I had. I literally feel like I’ve been thrown down a flight of stairs. Ahhh, feels good.

Friday night, I went to a party held at the Meat Market Gallery. I know. Got the side-eye from me too. More important than the promise of free food and open bar (sponsored by Hennessey), 9th Wonder was going to be on the wheels of steel. You should already know I was in there. He’s not local so when he’s in the area, I try not to miss him!

As usual, he didn’t disappoint. I was pop locking, doing the snake and whopping it out like I didn’t have a care in the world. It was the perfect way to end the week. However, as is typical in DC, I felt like I was one of the museum displays because the fake-bourgeois folk must have forgotten this was the music they grew up on. The most they could manage was the cool head nod. Yes, it was one of “those” parties.

Whateva.

I couldn’t stay still and I was glad I brought along a girlfriend who also knew what time it was. She says she hadn’t danced like that in a minute. I proudly handed her a membership card for the 9th Wonder Stan Association.

I spent a good part of the evening just looking up at him do his thing. He was up in this space above the party so I had a good view. The artistry of DJ’ing has always fascinated me…when he or she is in the zone and really feeling it. Totally different type of head nod.

Don’t know what I’m talking ’bout? Check out DJ YZO of Industry Soul’s ode to the ones who keep your body rocking…and make you forget that you’ve been waiting over an hour for the next act to take the stage (looking at you, Bilal)

I’d be remiss if I didn’t shout out some of my favorite female DJs.

I’m crazy for you, Mr DJ. Keep Playin.

Saturday night was the Amp Fiddler, Fertile Ground and Tortured Soul show. I was anticipating this show because while I grew up on house music, being from North Jersey and all, I tend to get all caught up in soul music and forget my roots.

I’ll have a full review and videos coming up in the coming days weeks. This wasn’t a concert. It was an all-out party. I felt like I was back home. I still haven’t come down from the high.  While I thoroughly enjoyed Amp’s set,  Tortured Soul has a sista clearing space on her stan list…as if it isn’t jam packed already. I must see them whenever possible.

Here’s a preview. I couldn’t even get this posted without getting up for a dance break…sore and all.

Play that funky music white boys!

This kind of flava will have Vivrant Thang considering putting a little creme in her coffee.

JKriv, call me! Something about those bass players.

 *photo credit: forever12