Grammy nite 2010 (compliments of Concreteloop)

I think the Grammy’s were built for people like me. Full throttle self diagnosed A.D.D, fast and furious. I realized that the show is typically programmed for someone probably between the ages of 16 and 23, but for some reason even after tuning in almost 30 minutes late, I was enthralled and glued to the tv.

Here were some of the thoughts I quickly jotted down to note:

1. I’m sorry Bocelli and Mary don’t really mix. (Though I am impressed with them teaming up for the Haitian Relief) Mary’s not going to the opera and Bocelli aint coming to the hood. So if they could table that love affair and save them for their Christmas get togethers round the fire for future Haitian relief efforts, that would be great.

2. Finally my girl Lalah was nominated, but lost to B-Jiggity. I really feel like Lalah has FINALLY broken through that barrier that had her largely unknown for going on 20 years. Its ok for her to go mainstream. She doesn’t BELONG to me anymore.

3. Ok. I LOVE Sara Smile by Hall and Oats, but what the hel! year is this?

4. Style Watch…the black man equestrian boots, I can’t feel that right now.

5. What in the hel! has Tpain done? I went and took a bathroom Grammy break and all I could hear was Bon Jovi and some autotune. I be damned.

6. Ok how sick is Travis Barker on drums with Drake, Wayne and Em? This dude was like almost dead in a plane crash last year. That was a super hot performance, though Drake really bothers me, but I gotta say it was a little over a year ago when our faithful reader NoNo was talking about this underground Canadian rapper that was gonna blow up.

7. Am I the only one who loves Carlos Santana and his peep toe pumps? Does anybody know that he’s also a mean @ss shoe designer or is that his wife?

8. After watching 60 minutes this morning, I have a whole new respect for Beyonce. I still say I AM the ultimate Barbra Streisand fan and have been since birth, but this girl is the bomb.

All Girl Band, Klymaxx

Its 6:05 pm Sunday night and almost two hours before TV One airs Unsung this time featuring the all girl group Klymaxx. I haven’t been able to watch a lot of tv lately, particularly Unsung, since the episode chronicling the life and career of Minnie Riperton. But Unsung is a brilliant concept; it exposes black artists (and Tina Marie) who never really got the acclaim they deserved from the Clark Sisters to Donny Hathaway to Debarge-the list is REALLY REALLY long.

But back to Klymaxx, when I wasn’t spending time in my mother’s closet and high heels trying to be Shelia E, I was pretending to be apart of this all girl band. I remember even taking my fisher price record cassette player to school swearing up and down I was going to sing “I miss you” for the talent show. As a kid, I never knew that that group’s biggest problem may have been their own internal issues and ego battles.

But I also got to thinking about other artists who never got the fame they deserved.

I can think of a several:

1. Donny Hathaway
2. Stacy Lattisaw
3. Eva Cassidy
4. Tonya Blount
5. Yahzarah
6. Lalah Hatahway
7. Choklate
8. Milira

Wow, half of my list are DC area home grown artists. But Comebackers, what artist or artists can you think of who never got the acclaim they deserved? If you don’t have TV One, call your cable station to request it. Its the smarter, more original version of B.E.T. and owned and operated by the brilliant trailblazer Cathy Hughes.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_puDEpDSm50]

I just want to wish everyone a very happy holidays:  Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Feliz Navidad, and a Happy New Year.

I’m extemely thankful that this has been an outstanding year. In every single way. This time last year, I was in a horrible relationship situationship that I couldn’t figure out how to get out of, I was plus almost 20 pounds of ”love weight”, and spending even more time giving a dam#n about what people thought about me (check the tape). For the first time in my adult life I can honestly say that I think I am a better person this year than I was the previous year or any year before that and its no longer tied to another person(s) or e-stalker’s opinion of me.

I blog alot about love and though,(treehouse confession…Hummy’s eye is good.) Santa did bring me my very own man . Lalah,start writing THAT song (lol). It’s not REALLY about him. At least not yet. What it remains about for me, is being my absolute best. Being the person that I am attracting into the relationship designed for him and I. (like attracting like in the simplest form).

This blog has been the catalyst for that. I’m deeply grateful for each and everyone one of the readers and the lurkers. Life is about knowing what you know for sure and/or realizing other personal truths.

Lastly, myPastor said something this past Sunday that deeply touched me. I’ve heard it most of my life. But sometimes you have to hear it from someone else and in a different way. “You are blessed to be a blessing. Its not about the stuff you have”. You are given, so that you may give (that includes time just as much as it does money).

With that said I am hoping we all will spend some time (and money) being of service to those in need and setting a service minded tone for the upcoming year as well. Your local shelters and meals on wheels are always in need of help.

Note:::The former time selfishness I have been VERY guilty of so I will be MIA for a few days, walking my talk.

PS…its also nice to see black blogs (and black women especially) writing about being service minded all year around and being fabulous too. Shout out to: The Fabulous Giver.

PPS..I also wanted to publically thank Jac for organizing the Secret Santa and helping me do a few other things offline.  

–Your Favorite Comeback Girl

next treehouse meeting 12/29/08

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DShK-Bu5eMc]

Today is a Lalah Hathaway Friday. And one of gratitude as well. I take nothing for granted. And I am grateful for it all. Gratitude follows the spiritual laws of success. Things flow where they are appreciated.

Don’t Forget To Remember
(written by Donald Lawrence and Andrae Crouch)
(recorded by Donald Lawrence & The Tri-City Singers) Lead by Lalah Hathaway

Chorus:
Don’t forget to remember where all your blessings come from.
Don’t forget to give honor where honor is due.
Don’t forget to give thanks to the One who put you there.
Don’t forget where your blessings come from.

Verse:
Some people get  money,
and get on their feet,
and then they change?

Some aquire fortune achieve fame,
some establish value to their name,
and then they change?

Just like the lepers in the Bible days,
who were blessed by the Lord
and went on their way.
 Only one came back with gratitude,
Always give honor where honor is due.

This cover is done by Danny McClain. I like how he put his own little touch on ” I Love You, More Than You’ll Ever Know” Nice. I’m over here having church.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wxEV4M1rSU]

 This is from The Daughter’s Of Soul tour. Comprised of Lalah Hathaway (Donny Hathaway), Simone (Nina Simone), Indira Khan (Chaka Khan), Leah McCrae (George and Gwen McCrae) along with the spiritual daughters, Joyce Kennedy, Nona Hendryx, Caron Wheeler, and Sandra St. Victor.

I love this Lalah Performance: “We Were Two” (from “Outrun The Sky). Cross your fingers for some grammy nods and wins on her latest ”Self Portrait”. I still have it on heavy rotation. Its a super smart CD. Get it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xx1qyW9KDM8]

(recently quite a few music greats crossed over from this life: Hiram Bullock, Joe Beck, Lee Young, Isaac Hayes, and LeRoi Moore. Rest in Peace. )

I’m bout to take yall to school Comeback Kids. For one week, I’m gonna show yall what true musicianship looks like for 7 days. Now some of yall youngins can blame ya mama and ya daddy for not scoopin you on the classics and the masters of the past. But Imma take yall to the present for one week. I’m going to be as objective as I can about this, so you already know Lalah Hathaway is gonna round the week out. To start the seven days and in the spirit of serious sangin and real serious instrumentation…lets go to Mint Condition.

“Breakin My Heart” aka “Pretty Brown Eyes”. This performance is SICKER THAN SICK. Great music is transcendental. It should make you go into twitches and you should probably see a dead relative too on the other side. Its not black its not white. IT JUST IS. I’m not sure what my man Stockley saw at 3:33 but whatever it was, that’s what the FYCK I’m talking bout people.

Don’t let Comeback Girl mess around and get a tv show.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZRiacQSUjQ]

Regrets Anyone?

I was over at VSBthis morning and I didn’t think they were gonna be waxing philosophical on a Friday to the tune of regrets. Like are there people you  wish you never met? Are there things you never wish you did ? Are there things you wish you had done or better ?

I believe that all people and situations are by design. They are sent to show you opportunities for growth. Imagine meeting a man or woman you aren’t ready for. I thank God for “O” on many levels. I would hate to meet a great man and show him my not so great self three years ago. It happens all the time I think. We meet people who we aren’t ready for or who aren’t ready for us. Kismet is when two well aligned people come together at just the right time and where their “readiness” is a match.

Friendships and social situations are the same. We hate things in people that WE ourselves wish to repress. They’re like mirrors. For you to notice AND HATE it, means on some level you are projecting it and thereby hate it about YOU. And it doesn’t mean that you need to go buy them a Popsicle, it only means that that’s part of the inner work you must do.

If this part of my life had a soundtrack then surely my favorite singer in the world, Lalah Hathaway would be singing it from (Self Portrait). This is a song you can’t drive to. Its SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO damn deep. If Rihanna is my hamburger then Lalah is my porterhouse.

…”nothing can stay the same…only the change remains..so bittersweet to know …that everything will go…leaving the world just so…the way that its supposed to be…maybe we…maybe this…maybe this is not a tragedy.”

**I hope my 2 readers enjoy this today** (inside blog joke).

Ok I vote for Benicio (Ejam’s nephew)  in the next Lalah Hathaway video

———————————————–

So its been about a week and a half since Lalah Hathaway’s “Self Portrait” has hit the streets. And if you don’t have it by now, something is wrong “in the state of Denmark” (A little Macbeth for yall). Please believe that you are missing out on some of the most incredible writing and singing EVER.

I come up with a favorite song every week every day. This week, today,  my song is “Little Girl”.

…”Mama in that big old Lincoln…frying fish good to the bone. 2 Baby Girls…she did it all alone…Daddy in that big ole sky…ran fast…maybe too fast sometimes…always there…right here…pain and glory…on my FM dial.” Did everybody’s Mama have a Lincoln?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgWMfkPYRuw]