Calling Darius Lovehall

Ok.....so the other night, Love Jones was on (one of my favorite movies......"Masterpiece of Minimalism") *anyway* It made me wonder, where in the HELL is Larenz Tate?? I know he was a young Qunicy Jones in the movie Ray, but where has he been? Biker Boyz should not count on his movie list, but can we hear from Darius Lovehall? Can he show up on Jay Leno or
on the Tom Joyner morning show to say hi? This is just my shout-out to him, to say we miss you. "I've got to admit girl you're the shit girl.....and I'm digging you like a grave. Who am I? Well, they call me Brother to the night. And right now I'm the blues in your left thigh....trying to become the funk in your right. Is that all right?"

Hustlin' and Flowin'

Can somebody tell me why I can't seem to go see Hustle and Flow in Memphis?
I mean, damn!!! I don't want to go to Peabody Place, because if I pay to see a movie, I want to see the movie...not hear the conversation in front of me while they're on their cell-phone talking to their friends in the row infront of them.

On one hand, I'm glad the people of Memphis are supporting this film.
Hopefully this will bring more films to Memphis, which means more revenue, more jobs, on and on.

On the other hand, I would hate it if the people that see this movie that are not from Memphis, have never been to Memphis and only thought of Memphis as it relates to Elvis Presley and the slaying of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr (moment of silence, please); thinks that this is all there is to Memphis. Just a bunch of Hustlers(well..there is Mayor Herenton), and Underground Rappers (no offense to any fans of Three Six and Eight Ball and MJG).

Memphis can be a great city, if we try. Sometimes I get so mad at my black people in Memphis. I mean, why do you need to take a bottle of Vodka into a movie theater? Is it that serious? Air-brushed shirts are soooooo over, why are we still wearing them. And when you go hang out on Beale St., do you have to have your entire ass out? Come on people, give me a break (give me a break, break me off a piece of that Kit-Kat bar).

So High

Alright, so I got this blog-thing going, and the next step is what the hell am I supposed to write about? Do I relive each childhood memory and try to dissect each event in my life? Who knows.....Let's see.....I'm kinda at a crossroads in my life. Trying to figure who I am and who I've been for the last 20-some-odd years.

Okay, let's go with one of my more recent favorite subjects....John Legend!!!

Countdown to JL in Memphis is T-minus 10 days. I feel like the movie Brown Sugar "When did you first fall in love with Hip-Hop?" I first fell for John Legend on September 17th, 2004. My wondereful husband knew that I was totally digging Usher at the time, and he bought me tickets to see Usher and Kanye West for my birthday. We went to the concert and I really wasn't feeling Kanye West before the show. I hadn't really listened to his CD before that. We almost missed Kanye West's performance and in hindsight, I'm glad we didn't.

Kanye (i'm talking about him like I know him) performed with a keyboardist name John Legend. About halfway during Kanye's performance, he introduced a guy who was going to be releasing an album on his label - John Legend.

John moved to the center of the stage and said that he wanted to perform his first single, Used to Love You. When he started with the "holla, holla, holla" I was out of my seat. He was hitting chords that I wasn't really expecting. Now, let me explain. I do not play piano, but I have been a musician since the age of 10, playing the violin and french horn. John sounded like 'old soul'. 1960's soul, Temptations, Smokie, Motown-soul. He was infusing classic 'Marvin Gaye" R&B with some gospel. You could tell that he was brought up in church - no matter how much you train and take lessons and practice, you can't learn 'church'.

I think almost immediately, I turned to my husband and said, "mark my words, he's gonna be huge!!" Not to take away from Usher - he put on a fantastic show - I couldn't stop thinking about John Legend.

That following Monday, I searched the internet for anything John Legend. I made a mental note to buy his CD as soon as it dropped. It got pushed back to December 28th, I attempted to buy it online because the site said that it would be delivered on the 28th. I didn't get my CD until January 10th. I was so mad, but once I finally got the damn CD opened, I was cool. I listened to that CD so much, that by the middle of March, I had to buy another one.

In March, my husband and I traveled to St. Louis to see John Legend and Alicia Keys in concert. If I already wasn't in love with John Legend, I definitely was after the concert. He was great.

I found out later on that John Legend was going to launch his solo tour during the summer and that he was coming to Memphis on August 5th. I cannot wait until August 5th to see this show. I blocked out time on my work calendar to purchase my tickets online as soon as they went on sale.

I know what I'm gonna wear - I'll post pictures later.

Anyway........that's my soapbox about John Legend....."Let's Get Lifted".

Self-diagnosis, stage 1

Depression is a BITCH!! The more you read about it, the worse you think you are. Even when you think you're feeling better, one thing can happen to set you waaayyy back. The problem is that everyone wants to analyze you and figure out what started the depression, but everyone comes up with different comclusions. "It's your childhood; you moved around too much" "It's obviously post-partum, you just need an anti-depressant to take for the rest of your life" "It's just the stressors of the early years of married life, it'll settle out soon"

Between the diagnosis (both self and physician) and numerous medications, one to help concentration and one to help mood swings (yeah, right!), I kind of lost myself. I relied too heavily on other things without looking at the one constancy in my life......my father.