The Morning After

Okay:

In case you were wondering, last night was a screaming success. And you'll be glad to know that I'll no longer be posting the flyer at the header of each blog. And a special thanks to all of you who attended; it was much appreciated.

Monday Night Open Mic at Bar Nun has been a staple on U Street for as long as I can remember. Occassionally, they have allowed me to be the featured act at their event. So this wasn't the first time I'd done this. It was, however, the most interesting.

The night began for me around 6:30 after I got off work. I raced home and had some private time, a pre-show ritual. Then came the painfully uncomfortable pre-show gas, which I quickly treated with a few Gas X chewables. Then I got dressed and went to pick up Gill who would be filming and just being all-around supportive.

We arrived at the venue around 8:30 to learn that the drummer had yet to arrive and, gasp, the guy who usually brings the microphones is out of town and the other guy forgot to make arrangements. There is no microphone. Luckily, I had the forsight to pack an extra microphone because these things happen, but it wasn't going to be enough. I needed two microphones for my performance. I raced home to get another microphone and returned about half-way through the first open mic set.

This is where things start getting funny.

I've been to this Open Mic a million times and this by far was the most "interesting" night ever. It began with two white boys, obviously from out of town. They were hard. They cursed and screamed over their demo CD and were very upset to learn that the crowd was not "feeling" them. They left angry, exclaiming that we were all "whack, yo".

They were followed by a slew of aspiring rappers, none much different from the last. A reggae singer did a song called "Fireman" to the melody of "The Spiderman Theme". It went, "Watch ooooout! Here come di fiyahmon!"

A couple of young guys did their thing. Pretty impressive. I didn't get their names though. The highlight of night, however, was a Biggie-Smalls-esque emcee from Northeast. He had a pair of gazelles, an expensive-looking t-shirt and two big icey chains. He was HUGE. Truth be told, he was pretty good. Reminded me of one of those uber-aggressive New York emcees from the late nineties. Subject matter was par for the course though. And the host didn't miss the opportunity to tell him so. He went on a ten mintute rant about how rappers with negative messages are part of the problem and whatnot. I admired his courage but I wondered whether or not the night was going to end early. Luckily, things ended peacefully but they could have easily gone the other way. I remember inching my way toward the door at some point and suggesting to Gill that he should do the same. But he had camera equipment.

Then there was the crooner who sat his mic down, stood up in a chair and sang acapella. Then he started singing to women in the audience. A black woman with a short natural. "Hey, you there with the afro". The white woman sitting next to her. "Sexy, white chocolate". But he sang it though, so it was really funny. Sing it to yourself and see if you don't giggle a bit.

Finally, it was time for me to perform. There were a few rough spots, but I'm not sure if anyone else could tell. All in all, it was a good set and I sold a few CDs. I was just drunk enough to not be nervous and not drunk enough to make a fool of myself, which I have done before. I call it Buddha Drunk. The Zone. Two and half scotches on a full stomach I think is the formula.

I shook hands and got a few people to sign the mailing list. The whole thing was video-taped and I'll be posting some of it soon so stay tuned. Thanks again for your support, everyone.


Thanks for reading.

GO OBAMA!

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Innocent Question: Before the show, I was outside smoking a clove with the white boys and Biggie Smalls' manager. A homeless woman asked us for change and I was the only one who didn't give her any. So, as she was walking away, she gritted on me. You know, scrunched her face up and looked me up and down like I wasn't shit. Was she being rude or was I being callous?