Why I never watch B.E.T

I recorded the BET awards and watched it as soon as all of the Twitter commentary ended…which was hilarious!  Kept me in stitches all night.  I fast forwarded through all of the awards and commercials and much of the “hosting”.  I just wanted to see the performances.  Here’s my take on it all.

• Jamie Foxx is not that funny…but that Sheneneh + Wanda skit was hilarious!
• Keri is a mess. [fast forward]
• Ne-Yo is wonderful.
• Queen Latifah looks good!
• I mean, is this a Jamie Foxx concert?  Enough already!  Oh here’s Ne-Yo again.  I guess he saves it for me.  Too much dry ice though.  And what is this staccato ballet thing going on? [fast forward] Oh Fabolous! [fast forward]
• Keef Sweat?!  Nice!  I mean, he can’t sing any better today than he could in 92, but it’s all good.  It’s still good to see him.  *gasp*  GUY?!!  With a keytar?!  Oh snap!  Oh, Aaron sounds and looks a mess…just like he always has.  :-)  Souljah Boy is a cutie, I can’t lie.  And LeBron.  And Bell Biv Devoe too?!?!  Singing Poison!  Ha!  I think I was in like 2nd grade when this song came out.  Nice performance.  What’s up with the censors though?  Wack.  Ooh, Ne-Yo singin’ with ‘em!  He sounds good!  I’m a fan.
• Lots of cuties in the crowd!
• Real Housewives of ATL?  [fast forward]
• Who is this?  Ciara.  Oh goodness.  We never agreed that she was really even a singer, so why is she allowed to sing.  No CiCi.  [fast forward]
• Keyshia.  What’s up with the outfit?  She’s tiny.  Monica?  Bring it Moni!  Yes!!  Love Monica!  When is her album coming out?  The rotating stage is kinda corny.  Monica made that song her own.  LOVE HER!!  Why are they sinking into the stage and still singing?
• Really?  Sponsored by Citi Trends and Applebees?  Ugh.
• Marlon Wayans has always been my favorite Wayans boy.  Cuteness!  But, what is Beyonce wearing?  Are shoulder pads in now?
• Jay-Z!  ”Swagger” is overused, but Jay has IT.  This performance is nice!  Ha!  ”I might wear black 4 years straight!”  So many artists performing tonight are using autotune though.  Kinda sucks.
• Day 26 look a mess.  They look like all of the pieces of like 3 suits were laying on a bed, and they just randomly picked out stuff to wear.
• Don Cornelius looks good, but is he sick/drunk?  This is painful [fast forward]
• Tevin Campbell!!  Used to LOVE him!
• Tyrese, Johnny and Trey Songz!  Trey has a great voice.  So underrated, mostly due to the crappy songs he sings.  :-(  This is a nice tribute to the O’Jays.  Oh snap – Stairway to Heaven!  Trey is handsome.  Johnny doesn’t know the words!  They look nice in suits too.
• More Don C.  Gotta love the O’Jays.  Eddie looks good for his age.  God be with him.  He’s overcome so much in his lifetime.  LOL @ him cursing on stage!! Classic.  Let’s get to the singing.  Get ‘em Eddie!  He sounds amazing!  And they all look good.  Wow!  They’re schooling the youngins.  They still got the footwork.  (How did I know Neicey Nash and Kim Coles would be friends?  lol)
• Debra Lee talking about what BET had to do to pay tribute is not paying tribute to Michael Jackson – it’s making the show about her.  I’ll always know her as Debra [L]evil.  Not a fan.
• Nice.  Alicia is beautiful.  Wyclef’s jacked looks like that 3rd grade ribbon-weaving project everyone did with construction paper.
• [fast forward through all this]
• MAXWELL!!!!  MAAAAAAAAAAXXXXXXXXXWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLL!  Jesus, help me.  I love that man a little too much.  I don’t even like the song, but I LOVE the man!!  Pretty WANGS, your pretty WANGS.  lol  *gasp*  Feathers!!  Ooh, he looks so good in a suit!  How is his skin so nice on his face?
• this camera-in-the-corner-while-folks-take-bathroom-breaks is awful!
• Drake got a bad ankle, huh?  He’s not cute.  (loving Melo’s MJ shirt) Drake is alright.  I’m still not feeling all of the hype.  So many others are deserving.  I’m just saying…  Oh Wayne.  The censors are failing!  His locs look nice though.  This is horrible, coming after Maxwell.  And I really hate it when folks who aren’t from Atlanta say “shawty”.  [fast forward]
• Ooh Janet.  This is hard to watch.  She’s in so much pain.  Joe Jackson doesn’t look like he’s grieving at all.  I’m just sayin’…
• Ne-Yo’s performed like 5 times.  I can live without Jamie ever singing again.  eh…not really feeling this either.  It’s just ’cause of Jamie though.  I should be able to remove that from my mind.

Wow, so Ne-Yo carried the awards by himself!  I wish they would have just put together a real special for MJ later.  This was poorly produced.  I knew it would be a mess and, in that respect, it didn’t disappoint.  In all other respects, it did.

*sigh*

Good mo[u]rning.

I’m sure everyone knows by now that Michael Jackson has died.  It’s very sad, but I don’t want to be sad right now.  I’ve been cramming my brain with happy thoughts of him, which isn’t hard.

To start, I remember a particular Christmas present that I got many years ago that was hilarious!  It was a glitter/sequined glove-making kit.  My very own.  And, if I remember correctly, it had only one glove!  Ha!

I also remember sitting around the tv in the grandparent’s little living room watching the full-length Thriller video.  It scared the mess outta me!

And who doesn’t remember seeing the Jackson 5 reunited, singing I Want You Back at the his 30th Anniversary celebration?  The song may have been sung in a lower key, but the dance moves were STILL on point!  And I remember Michael and Usher bumping into each other dancing on stage.  And I remember Chris Tucker acting a plum FOOL impersonating MJ in front of MJ on stage! [Watch that video here]

With all of that, I refuse to be sad about his death.  He gave his life to us.  We have purchased almost a billion of his albums, and filled cities with screaming fans desperate to see him perform.  We’ve all crowded around televisions to see videos and movies (Thriller, Moonwalker/Smooth Criminal, Remember the Time, Scream), and we all have some of his lyrics and dance moves memorized.  I tried my hardest to get the choreography from Remember the Time down!  I left Thriller to the professionals.  :-)

So, I’m going to be happy, to remember his life and his many contributions to charities, hospitals, and causes around the world.  He will be missed, but he left us with so much to remember him by.  I’ll leave you with a clip of him grocery shopping.  So funny and personal…just how I want to remember him.

Vintage shopping

Today, there was a really nice arts and crafts festival near my apartment. I walked up with no plans to purchase stuff. I just wanted to browse around and maybe get a funnel cake (which wasn’t available).

Well, I did buy some stuff. I got a cool knit cap from a crochet artist. I started browsing some vintage clothing and grabbed some button-down shirts that look like they were once owned by my grandfather. Just my style. . I also found a cute brown clutch. 3 shirts and a purse for $12? You can’t beat it! And everything was 10% off.

The shirts and clutch were from a local vintage shop I’d never been in. I stepped in and nearly lost my mind. It’s huge! They had so much stuff I remembered seeing in my grandma’s house. So cute. There were lots of 45s and records, shoes, dresses, and Pound Puppies (and I HAD to buy one).

A classmate and I are planning on going back soon. Anyone need a sea green rotary phone? What about polyester Winne the Pooh night gown? Or portable typewriters? LOL

Anyway, I had a great Saturday. What about you all? Any fun stuff going on in your neck of the woods?

Veg vittles

This is for Meika.  If you’re not into veg food in Atlanta, you won’t like this. Here are some of my favorite veg-friendly eateries in the Atlanta area.

R. Thomas Deluxe Grill
This is absolutely, 100% my favorite restaurant in Atlanta.  It’s open 24 hours a day, you eat under a tent right on Peachtree surrounded by exotic birds, they have tons of veg food, and the fresh juice/smoothie selection is incredible.  It’s an experience!  If you go, try a Mr. Rogers.  You’ll thank me later.

Soul Vegetarian
There’s a large Hebrew Israelite population in the West End area where SV is located.  They’re vegan, so I’m sure there are other vegan spots around there.  In fact, there was once a veg-friendly raw food place just across the street from SV where folks would go and get fresh orange juice.  I can’t remember the name of it.  It’s on or near Ralph David Abernathy though.  They have really good collards and sweet and sour tofu…and “milk” shakes made with almond and rice milk.  And carrot raisin salad!

Cafe Sunflower
I’ve only been to CS a few times, but I remember thinking it was a joke.  There was just no way that all of that stuff DIDN’T have meat, but it’s true.  It’s a veg restaurant and it’s GOOD!  The Buckhead location is nice and cozy, in a shopping plaza on Peachtree.

#Iremember

Walk with me down Memory Lane, ATL style.  I remember…

when there was a Gap at Greenbriar.
when there was a Zayre’s on Stewart Avenue.
when there was a Stewart Avenue.
when 404 was the only area code.
when the creek on Blount Street across from Parklane was clean.
when Sherry Brady fell on her head at the pep rally.
when Sid Bream slid into home plate.
when the AJC had an entire section dedicated to Evander Holyfield’s new house.
Jade Buddha.
Mervyn’s.
Service Merchandise.
Cub Foods.
riding the TAG bus to Harriet Tubman every Wednesday.
Coach Tanks.
when Kilroy’s was Tower’s.
“Lakewood Freeway”.
“Lakewood Amphitheater”.
Atlanta College of Art.
when MARTA was $1.25.
when Quillian closed.
when National 7 was THE movie theater.
when McDonald’s was across from Walter’s.
when “Rock Band” was a Casio keyboard.
when Verizon was AirTouch.
when Kia had cars for $7999.

And most importantly, I remember life before Visa debit cards!

See more #Iremember stuff here: http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23iremember

About my hair…

For quite a while now, the top internet searches that lead to my blog have been related to Sisterlocks. I think that’s kinda cool…and I don’t really know what other subject would get you to my page. (What if there was a dashboard feature that showed what words you use most often in posts? That would be cool.  Does that already exist? )

I’ve exchanged tons of emails about Sisterlocks and even linked together some international ladies looking for services and clients. That felt good.

Where am I going with this? Oh yeah, I get asked what products I used for my hair. My routine has changed a bit over the 2 years I’ve had my SLs, so allow me to tell you. 

There’s no place like home

After DC, I went home to Atlanta for a while. I had a list of I wanted to get to, just because: Rathbun’s, R. Thomas Deluxe Grille, El Ranchero, The Flying Biscuit, RuSans, Chow Baby, Noodle, The Vortex and the Dwarf House. I did my best to get to them all, but only got to 4. Bummer.

I had fun with friends organizing baby registries, celebrating a friend’s graduation from Clark Atlanta with her MA, downing a pitcher with my favorite Deltas, getting my brows and hair done professionally by my fave folks, and just chilling with the wonderful people I know. Miss y’all!

And because Steph and I are so fabulous, Jazze Pha decided to join us at the Biscuit. LOL!

The pics are all out of order and I just don’t have the patience to manually order them. Sorry.

My favorite veteran

2 weeks ago, I hopped on the road to Maryland to visit with my uncle. I’m a little jealous that his apartment is 3 times the size of mine, but I won’t harass him too much about it. He lives only 20 minutes from DC and 45 minutes from bawl-duh-moe, murrrr-lynn (that would be Baltimore, Maryland to normal folks). I spent the weekend with him and he was a great tour guide! We hit all of the major monuments and museums that you got to see when you visited DC in middle school…if you got to see them. I didn’t, so this was my first time in DC ever!

Let me start with this: when I tell people that I live in Cleveland and they give me that look of pity, I understand why now. I’m such a fake optimist that I try to see the good in things, even when there isn’t any good. Like Cle. I’m here and I’m tolerating it. When I’m here for several months at a time, I start to like it and forget what I’m missing. Before I even got out of my car in the DC/MD/VA area, I saw more Black people than I’d seen in about 5 months. No joke. I’d gotten so accustomed to being the only Black person around, that I forget what it was like to live in a city full of my people. In Atlanta and DC, it seems that everywhere you go and on any side of town, you see brown faces. It’s simply not like that in Cle. DC’s a great city/area for folks who’ve grown up in Atlanta.

Anyway, my uncle showed me around and we took lots of pics. My favorite part was being in the air and space museum with him. He knew everything about all of the planes. He even showed me the one he worked on while he was enlisted with the Air Force. He’s a Korean War vet and thinks that his hearing loss is a result of being on the flight deck with all of those planes. It’s pretty loud, so I can’t argue.

DC was great. I even got to hang out with a friend from graduate school who’s at GWU. I *almost* got to chill with brran1 and lboogie but it didn’t quite work out. And I’ll just apologize to all of my DC people I didn’t even think to contact [*ahem* fresh *ahem*]. My bad y’all.

Click on ‘em for bigger pics. Enjoy!

Summer Break (part I)

Spring semester is over! I finished with 2 As and one A minus. Yep, I’m a genius.
So, as soon as my responsibilities for spring semester were over, I hoped on the road and went to visit my uncle in Maryland. That was a lot of fun. He took me around to see many monuments and the museums along the mall. He also showed me where the VA and Howard University were. DC is a great city that I’d definitely like to live in. *hint hint*

After spending the weekend in DC/VA/MD, I drove down to Atlanta. Oh, how I love the major city of the Bible Belt. I’ve spent as much time as I can with friends (Kathy, Candie, Tracie, Andy) grubbing at La Fonda and Chow Baby, attending an initiation, helping my preggers rhino with her baby registry, and still hoping to see more friends (Harpo, Steph, Keanna, LBoogie) before I leave on Monday.

Lots of fun so far.
I’ll post pics later.

April showers bring Brandon Flowers

Last night, I attended my first non-rap/Hip-Hop/R&B/orchestral concert ever!  I was lucky enough to be able to see The Killers (woooohoooo!!) with a grad school friend Mandarella, who also loves the group.  I didn’t know what to expect (other than being one of only a handful of brown faces), but it was amazing.

So, the opening act was Chairlift.  Never heard of them?  Yes, you have.  They sang one of those groovy songs in an iPod commercials. You know, the one that goes…

We didn’t know who they were until they sang that song.  The girl has some pipes!  She hit high notes like the old Mariah Carey. Nice. The band has a sorta throwback 80s vibe mixed with some Portishead with a touch of Fiona Apple plus the soundtrack to the original Miami Vice.  You’ve gotta hear it yourself. It’s different, but I like it and…I downloaded the album that night.  I know, I’m a sucker.

Chairlift

On to the main act…

They played for almost an hour and a half.  Within the first 5 songs, they’d played their current single and big hits from Hot Fuss and Sam’s Town.  The stage and lighting was incredible.  It looked like a net at first.  But when it got dark and they performed, we discovered that there were tons of lights on it.  When they sang Human, there were beating hearts on the ceiling and a lifeline on the “net” behind the band.  AWESOME!!

The Killers - Opening song

I’m so glad I went.  I’d heard good things about The Killers’ live performance from a friend in NY and from my Jamaican buddy.  They didn’t disappoint at all.  In fact, even if you don’t know all of their songs, I’d recommend going to see them just to hear good sound engineering and vocals on stage.  I’m convinced that they pay their roadies well.

The Killers - More lighting

What else can I say?  Brandon Flowers’ voice sounded really good, the drummer was pounding away like there was no tomorrow, the guitarist was trying to channel Hendrix, and, at times, the bassist was strumming like he was Bootsy Collins’ cousin.  Super Funky!

Honestly, it was one of the best shows I’ve ever attended.  Hands down.