Played last night at Corner Coffee. Finally came away with what I was after since the first time there. A recording tight enough to market as a live CD. The engineer got the sound letter perfect. I, so help me God, didn’t miss a single note. And actually did a few interesting things on guitar (with my Richie Havens influenced self).
Did not, alas, get Smokey Robinson’s “Baby, Come Close” into the set list: slipped on the ice the other day, jacked my ribs up, cutting rehearsal time considerably short. Had to go with familiar stuff and never mind breaking in a song I ain’t sung in ages. Next time. Copped a Smokey riff, though, on “Ventura Highway”. The whole thing was a ball. Owing, oddly enough, to injured ribs. The other day, coming back from the market – completely sober, swear to God – slipped on some snow-hidden ice, landing not on the concrete (that’d been too easy), but on a bottle of grapefruit juice in the bag. One of them sturdy bottles. So. While I’m singing to audience, my ribs are singing to me. I can’t go full out. Shit, somebody should’ve put that ice on the sidewalk a long time ago. Restrained, measured and emotive – not to mention clear (give the engineer a round on me!), this is one time I can take home a CD of the set and not pick the performance apart from beginning to end.
Meanwhile, promotion has started for Something I Said (Papyrus Publishing, Inc. $14.99), but the book’s moving a few copies. Papyrus Publishing set the official release for April. So, I’ll be on “Health Notes From the Heart of a Natural Woman” with producer/host, my girl, Kinshasha Kambui. That’s April 2. April 10 is On The Leapord Carpet with Lady Flava. (Flava News Radio – www.blogtalkradio.com) 6PM Pacific Time, 8PM Central, 9PM Eastern. Roger E. Lear, that beloved rascal and ace music producer, agreed to sit in. So did Anura Si-Asar, owner of Papyrus Publishing, Inc. And historian, scholar and griot Mahmoud El-Kati, who wrote the foreword to Something I Said). Not sure whether it’s gonna be an interview or a conference. For good measure, Marcie Rendon is doing the review for MN Spokesman-Recorder (I asked, but they refused to let me write about my own book).
The commission by Minnesota African American Museum & Cultural Center for a short play about Jackie Robinson proceeds swimmingly. Turned in the first draft and gave Dan Sullivan a peek (former L.A. Times critic for 20 years, he gives it two thumbs up). Anura likes it, too.
So. That’s about the size of that. For now. Far as I’m concerned, it just gets gooder and gooder.
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