Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Red Hot + Riot

Weekend before last my girlfriend was in town from Atlanta for work and extended her trip so that we could hang in the big city. So I make my way to her midtown Manhattan hotel to meet up and make plans on how we were going to spend our Saturday together. We're brainstorming things to do when all of a sudden her face lights up, she whips a piece of paper out of her bag and asks me if I want to go to a concert in Brooklyn that night. I scan the page that's been ripped from Spin magazine and see that Red Hot + Riot is scheduled to take over the Brooklyn Acacemy of Music (BAM) and inspire the masses at 7:30p sharp. It's an all-star concert benefiting the African Services Committee, "an organization which promotes the health and self-sufficiency of New York City's African and Caribbean immigrant communities through the provision of HIV/AIDS care and support services."

I cannot contain my excitement when I see who's on the bill:

And they were all in the building to celebrate none other than Fela Kuti (who died a few years ago from HIV-related illnesses).

So we called BAM to see if we could go to the show and were told the show was solid out. Our hearts sank! I was looking forward to jammin' up and down the aisles. But my girl and I are little too determind to let "sold out" status mess with our plans. So we decided to decend upon the venue and buy from a scalper, a no-show patron, SOMETHING!

To pass the time till *showtime*, we hit up an FIT fashion show. I'm sure FIT is a fine institution, but the fashion show was NOT good. Totally lame...totally unorganized. And frankly, totally boring. Was not wowed by anything that came down the runway-that-was-really-just-a-stage. I'm hoping that the show was produced by high school students hoping to make it into the program. Sorry kids, but just was not feelin' it.

After the fashion show we did a little light shopping and decided that we needed to get our stuff from the hotel, b-line it to my place in Brooklyn to change and then head over to the venue to score some tickets.

When we got to BAM we asked a man near the ticket window where we should go to purchase any cancelled tickets. *and this is where being a cute black chick comes in handy* He gives me a wink and tells me that the line starts over there, but that we should check back in with him in about 30 minutes because he will probably have something for us. SCORE!

We make it to the line...my girl is going to hold our place while I make a round outside the building to see if there are any scalpers. Having zero luck, I come back to the line only to find my friend gone. Panicked and thinking we'd lost our place in line she strolls over cooly and says she just bought a ticket. This girl is just too slick! So now we only have one ticket to buy. Not five minutes later, a woman comes walking down the cancellation line with a man looking to sell one ticket. My girl and I practically knock the woman over clammering for the little sliver of paper that will grant me entrance to the hottest show of the season. Apparently the folks in front of us didn't want to buy just one ticket because they were looking to sit together. Their loss! My girl and I now had two tickets into a HOT ass concert! And I didn't have to pimp myself to the dirty old man at the ticket window! The stars had aligned and my karma was showing her good side.

The show was absolutely amazing. My seat was three rows back, far stage right. About halfway through the show my girlfriend came and got me, took me to sit next to her which was about 10 rows back...directly center. We danced and sang and clapped and hollered and had a good 'ol time in our fabulous seats.
Fela's song "Zombie" put me in such a good mood...something about the beats and the chanting...I just loved it.
Some of the artists on the bill I knew, some I had the pleasure of hearing for the first time live. They were all magnificently off the chain. :-)

I cannot say enough about the brilliance of the musicianship and talent collected on one stage. And all in support of such a great cause!

Love live Fela!

2 souls spinning:

At 6:23 PM, December 12, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

See-
That is the exact reason why I need to move back to Jerz. I'm missing out on all the good stuff. Down here in Atlanta, we only get concerts all the time with Young Jeezy, Gucci Man, and s**t like that! I AM NOT interested, at all!

Every once in a while, they might have a good concert with one or two good artists. But they dont even promote it!

I can't wait to get back home!

 
At 11:09 AM, December 13, 2006, Blogger me said...

How fun!
I love it when stuff like that happens...it was meant to be!

 

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