Intimate Friends
Nestled in the heart of New York City’s SoHo neighborhood SOB’s has a cozy appeal that cultivates closeness between performer and audience that’s not matched in many venues around the city. On a late summer Thursday night, Kindred the Family Soul took the stage at SOB’s and celebrated their love for one another, their love for music and appreciation for their fans with an inspired performance.
Fatin and Aja Danztler are closing in on 12 years of marriage and decided to start their anniversary celebration with a few intimate friends and a lot of classic Kindred music. The show opened with “Rhythm of Life” and they effortlessly moved through tracks from their three albums such as, “Can’t Help It”, “Where Would I Be (The Questions)” and “Woman First”. A moving performance of “House of Love” was preceded by a cover of Eddie Kendricks’ “Intimate Friends” which also served as a theme of the night.
As they moved into crowd favorites “Stars” and “Far Away” it was obvious there was more of a kinship between the artists, the music and the audience as the couples in attendance held hands, rocks to and fro and identified with the running commentary the Dantzler’s provided between songs about the highs and lows of marriage and parenthood. By the time members of the audience joined them onstage to perform the chorus of William DeVaughn’s “Be Thankful for What You’ve Got”, a family reunion of sorts had broken out after the sing-along was complete, and everyone went their separate ways into the New York City night.
Gettin’ Funky on the Scene
The next morning I was en route to Bryant Park to catch Bad Boy Records’ Janelle Monae entertaining a lunchtime crowd as part of Levi’s “Wear What Fits” event in Bryant Park. Levi’s was promoting their new Curve ID line by giving away new pairs in exchange for old articles of clothing to be donated to charity. While the few who made it inside of the barricades took part in the activities, those who came specifically to see Janelle Monae and passerby’s lined the barricades and all jockeyed for a good position to see the high-energy performance.
I had to be standing next to her #1 fan, who even rocked a similar hairstyle and sang all the lyrics to her songs, especially loud when technical difficulties through two songs. But the mic came back to life as she slowed it down a bit to dedicate Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile” to Michael Jackson before launching into her hit “Tightrope”. It was obvious what song those in attendance were waiting to see as the crowd exploded when she yelled, “You can’t get too high!” However, there were more troubles with her microphone and a portion of her trademark hairstyle came undone from all of her dancing, but she kept on singing, danced with her hair and the young lady next to me climbed the barricade, sang, bumped, yelled and did everything she could to show her appreciation. And just like that she was gone…leaving those who bore witness to talk about it amongst themselves as they went back to work or continue
Doin’ It in the Park
An order of sticky wings and slice of red velvet cake later, the R train brought me to City Hall Park where Roc Nation newcomers Alexis Jordan and J Cole were showcased as part of the 16th Annual J&R Music Fest. Jordan, the former “America’s Got Talent” winner had the #1 Dance song in the country with “Happiness” and gave a slick performance of her hit. The 20-year-old seems poised to make a run in the Rihanna pop lane, but this crowd was not here for her, as evidenced by the “J Cole” chant that began as soon as she left the stage.
While he may overshadowed by another light-skinned young rapper that’s been on fire over the last 18 months and his boss may be the greatest rapper of all-time; J Cole is creating his own lane and judging by the reaction to his first single “Who Dat” and his verses on Miguel’s “All I Want is You” and the young lady who planted her lawn seat at the front of the stage at 3:30, many people are going to ride along with him. Besides, as he told those in attendance that evening, he left St. John’s with “a lot of debt”!
Doin’ It After Dark
Once J Cole left the stage, so did the youngsters who made their way to see him. As they left, the after-work crowd made their way to the immediate vicinity of the stage where Marsha Ambrosius was set to sing some grown folks music. As the moon took its place in the sky, the songstress formerly of Floetry to her place center stage to sing a few Floetry standards such as “Superstar” and “Say Yes” before going into a few of her mixtape favorites like “Co-Star” and “Take Care”.
Marsha said good night after performing “Butterflies”, a song she wrote and Michael Jackson performed as a dedication to his birthday. Moments later she reemerged for an encore consisting of her many guest appearances and a performance of the title track of her album, a very sensual tale of a passionate night (and day) that put the exclamation point on an excellent performance that no doubt sent spectators away anticipating October 26th for the release of Late Night and Early Mornings.
No Bourgie People in the Park
Her distinctive, soul-filled voice ripped through the air as she performed “Music” and set the tone for her set. She moved into “Love and Happiness” and the late-arriving crowd sang along to the Al Green classic before she went into “I Want it All” (the only song performed from her latest album My Soul), a throwback song about the aspirations of personal and social improvement. Someone in the audience yelled out “My Joy” and Leela switched gears and provided that fan and the couple hundred others with an exceptional performance of the song.
After the final verse, the band played on and she decided that she wanted to be up close and personal with her fans and walked among them. She even made her way to a group of people in the back that she said were looking at her funny, so she returned the favor. As she made her way around the park, she talked, sang, joked, plugged her album (in stores now) and reminded each person there to never let anything or anyone take away their joy. In under twenty minutes I made up my mind that the next time she’s in a four state radius I’ll make my way to her.
Guys Night Out
A few hours more sleep than I had in three days was right on time as I made the drive down to Camden’s Susquehanna Bank Center to check out the 2010 incarnation of the Budweiser Superfest starring Raheem DeVaughn, Jaheim, Kem and Anthony Hamilton. I remember my mom attending the Budweiser Superfest a number of summers during the 80’s & 90’s and always wanting to go, so the final heat wave of the summer did nothing to deter me from buying the best seats available on the night before the concert and it didn’t keep the thousands in attendance glued to their seats as these four soul men took turns wowing the crowd in four distinct ways.
While many of the Raheem DeVaughn and Jaheim fans sought pictures with the two men in the atrium, your auntie’s favorite singer Kem took the stage and showed why he’s a favorite amongst the Adult Contemporary crowd as he went through his chart toppers and crowd pleasers “Find Your Way Back (Into My Life)”, “I Can’t Stop Loving You” and “Why Would You Stay”. He took a break to testify before the Sunday evening crowd about how good God is, bringing the entire crowd to their feet before he moved into “Love Calls” from his debut album “Kemistry”, and the 70’s babies in the audience sang along to every lyric of his spirited performance.
A little less than four hours after most people took their seats they were heading back into the night air, wiping sweat, laughing, singing, holding hands and maybe, just maybe, a little more in love than when they took their seats. That statement may even ring true for the couple next to me that arrived extremely late and proceeded to argue through Jaheim’s set, but settled down while Kem performed. Yeah, five concerts in four days seemed like a crazy idea, but it gave me a weekend filled with good music, good times and great memories.
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