Idle and Joi-fully Wild...

  

Another interesting and fun-filled weekend was had.. I was definitely anticipating my Saturday because I knew I'd be checking out the creativity of Outkast under the direction of Bryan Barber who is equally creative... The direction was so cool with the photographic images seemingly coming to light. I loved that effect. I was also anticipating seeing Joi in concert on Saturday night once again at the temple bar in Santa Monica.

My Saturday was real cool and the anticipation was worth it...sort of... The movie was good.. I enjoyed it.. A lovely escape.. I like Terrence Howard in that role of being mean and shady.. he plays that kind of thing really well.. I always like seeing Ving Rhames representing himself as only he can do...strong.. And there's nothing more powerful than seeing Cicely Tyson on screen no matter how small the role. She always makes an impact... At times I had to remind myself that what I was watching was a musical because there were moments when the music came out of nowhere and caught me off guard because I was so into the story. At times I wish it were just a serious movie with a musical backdrop ala Ray with Jamie Foxx but I wasn't at all disappointed.. It was a great movie and definitely an escape from the usual. Not to mention, I have a love for going back in time so watching Andre 3000 and Big Boi aka Andre Benjamin and Antwon Patton doing there thing in an era gone by was real cool.. I wish I could go back to those times. As much as we're spoiled by technology and so called advances in life, etc etc., it just seems like actual LIFE and living meant so much more.... but anyways...

Saturday night it was time for Joi... Beautiful Joi... The Temple Bar is a cool place to hangout though I would love to see Joi in a larger concert hall type of place rather than a club. And I'd like to see her get down with some well rehearsed, confident playing musicians BUT...I digress... however, the musicians did struggle but Joi was the bomb! Her singing was very strong, she was in great spirits despite the trials of everyday life that she explained to the audience. Valet parking in Hollywood lost her car keys. There were wardrobe issues and other last minute craziness but she thanked a couple ladies in the crowd that she'd met recently who came to her rescue. She said they bonded as sisters and she was blessed because of it. She talked about relationships and her degree in psychology that she hopes to complete in three years. She was proud to say that one day she'll be known as Dr. Joi Gilliam and charge $300 per hour for folks to sit on her couch.. *smile* That was cool.. She also mentioned with pride about a song that's featured in Idlewild called Movin Cool. She wrote that! She had a lot of time to talk to the crowd due to more malfunctions but nevertheless she sang her heart out.. It was pretty cool. I enjoyed the night and ate some very delicious calamari... yummy.. I had the waitress laughing because I finished them so fast and had to order a second plate.. I was hungry!!

Sunday, I was expecting to rest up from Saturday. I had to work during the day on so my plan was to go straight home and get some much needed sleep. My plan didn't workout because as soon as nightfall hit, I was feeling that urge to go go go!! Joi was gonna be performing on the "black" side of town, which she said she couldn't wait to do. I figured that might be pretty interesting. Maybe her choice of songs and performance would be a little different. At the Temple Bar it was a crowd that was about 60% white but at this place in the hood called The Camelot it was about 98% black.

The Camelot was a nice place located not too far from Crenshaw Blvd. on 54th Street. I walked in and immediately loved the decor and the whole vibe.. Sort of an afrocentric thing going on. Looked like the perfect place for soft music, poetry, wine and dine. It wasn't really a restaurant and it wasn't even a bar. This was like a very large converted house turned into a rental hall or ballroom, I guess. They had an artist in the open air patio area showing off his work. Candles everywhere.. A couple of sofa's, different areas to sit inside and outside.. Really great place to mingle.. As it neared showtime I noticed a lot more very lovely ladies crowding in. The DJ was playing some real cool music that went from neosoul to old school. I sat down on one of the sofas with a lovely plate of soulfood just as the DJ began playing the Brother's Johnson track; Strawberry Letter. Ahhh... That felt like stepping back in time during that moment. The plate was super lovely because I had a couple biscuits, some heavenly gravy, fried chicken, greens, and sweet corn...Oh my!! I was about to really start enjoying myself... Lovely perfume from the ladies mixed with incense filled the air and sweet sounding voices could be heard along with the great music... I adjusted myself and began to sop up some of that gravy with the biscuit when all of a sudden those famous words came through loud and clear.."Good evening folks! This party is over! Women exit first and men follow!" My mouth was open but the biscuit hadn't reached my lips yet... It was the police and I mean A LOT OF POLICE standing together and giving us all looks like, you better not make any sudden moves. So, I dropped my biscuit in the gravy and stood slowly. One of the police told me to set my plate down.. Then I overheard others saying they planned to take all the equipment to the police station. One of the police officers took my plate and sat it down somewhere. I thought to myself, this is funny.. My soulfood got confiscated!! I felt bad for those musicians because their gear was about to be taken from them and it would be a long night and a hassle for them getting their stuff back. One policeman said they had been to The Camelot before and shut things down because they weren't allowed to have musical events there, especially concerts. That ran through my mind when I first came in because this place as I said was great for SOFT music, poetry, etc etc but Joi playing live is anything but soft. She likes to get loud and raw with her music from the opening number to the very end. She would've had that place rocking loud and made everybody in the neighborhood come outside. Somebody didn't do their research but it still made for an interesting night, capping off a fun weekend but damn them for taking my soulfood!! Aaaaaaarrrrgh!!