A time to choose. I promised to keep y’all up on what’s going down with the inaugural St. Louis American Reader’s Choice Awards, powered by the one and only St. Louis City SC. In fact, I’m sitting here in my custom Tina Turner jersey right now! But back to my point. The nomination period has passed, but now it’s time to vote! You still have a chance to have an impact and make sure your favorite people, places and things get the love they deserve. Voting starts TODAY (Thursday, April 16). Y’all better get to it! Visit www.stlamerican.com/readerschoice/ for the deets.
Jessie Taylor’s Tuesday night sing along. I’m trying not to make a habit of hitting these streets in the middle of the week, but for the second Tuesday in a row I was out here living it up! Tenika (?) and ‘nem had me typing Partyline in my office with the lights off last week. And my boy Jessie Taylor had me hollering as I tore the club up thanks to his Tuesday night karaoke at Treasures. Y’all, it was sold-out…yes, on a Tuesday. And it was a whole entire vibe! Where else could you hear/see Earth, Wind and Fire, “End of the Road” and NWA being “re-enblacted” for my listening and viewing pleasure? Well, mostly for my pleasure. That poor thing singing “End of the Road” had heart for days, but no soul to speak of. I commend her bravery. And to be honest, can karaoke truly be the blast that it is capable of without at least one, “girl, what are you going through” performance? Absolutely not! So bless you “Girl to Woman,” for having the nerve – even when you knew you didn’t have the notes. Please don’t stop doing what you do. I was in my feelings about all the taxes I had to pay, and you made me temporarily forget all about Uncle Sam. And only at Jessie’s presentation of a karaoke moment would that tear-jerker ballad be followed up with some legit hood rat stuff. When ole boy got into “Gangsta Gangsta,” he was Ice Cube – and all of us were his N.W.A. I was cutting up like I used to do when I bumped “Straight Outta Compton” on cassette tape on the porch by way of a boom box. I was so fresh back then. You could catch me in a pair of blue Dickies and matching Chucks fresh from Gus and some Cholo French braids with black eyeliner on my lips. Tuesday took me back – and will bring me back to Treasures. So be ready to hear about some more of Jessie’s karaoke shenanigans sooner than later.
STL’s California love. A few of The Lou’s finest were doing big on the West Coast this weekend. First off, our boy SKB – also known as Sterling K. Brown – celebrated his big 5-0 and some of my faves were on hand to help him celebrate. When his nephew Anthony Slaughter hopped on “The Book” to report live from L.A. about the bash. According to Anthony, the festivities included a roast. I thought to myself, “I wonder if my girl Leslie Christian was going to be there too. And was! For those who don’t know, Ryan Michele Bathe a.k.a. Mrs. Sterling K. Brown, is Leslie’s little sister. Not only was Leslie and the fam on hand to join in the festivities, Leslie’s signature pheromone fragrance was included in special gift bags for the guests. I’m waiting for Leslie to get settled back in so she can give me the low down on how that roast went. ‘Cause y’all know that anybody from the STL can hold their own when it comes to jonin’. Now I know SKB was probably the “jonee” for the roast, but his STL family probably fired him up in the most loving way.
STL’s California love: take two. Speaking of firing somebody up, I have a bone to pick with Miss Skee Yee a.k.a. Sexyy Red. Miss Ma’am! At minimum, you could have dropped your auntie a hot note letting me know that you were going to be taking the stage at Coachella. At maximum, you could have flewed me out to check out your set. You are lucky I am Essence-Festival-years-old. If I were six months younger…who am I fooling? I heard your set was cute, and as much as I love you, you couldn’t have paid me to be in a mosh pit full of millennials who bounced themselves musty all day only to see Justin Bieber mail it in on that stage. What? That’s what the masses said, not me. Honestly, I’m not surprised that his show wasn’t giving after he came out on the Grammy stage in his drawls (yes, drawls) and some tube socks only to punch some buttons on a laptop while he sang his little song. I wasn’t mad at that little TV performance. However, I would have been furious if I went all the way to Cali for him to give a show that looked like he handed one of his roadies his game controller and said, “keep me alive on Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 while I do this little show.” Meanwhile, Beyoncé mounted a whole “School Daze: The Musical” production for Beychella when she headlined. Now I would suffer through y’all’s nieces and nephews in the desert for Beychella 2.0.
The R&B show of all R&B shows. While we are on the subject of top tier R&B shows, by now y’all have already heard, that Usher and Chris Brown are bringing their R&B Tour (as in Raymond and Brown, get it) to the Dome at America’s Center this summer. July 21 to be exact. But I feel compelled to mention it again. I don’t know what they will be serving us, but my expectations are high as all get out. The only show that would have me more excited is if Michael Jackson came down from glory to do a 78-second press conference announcing a one-night only performance! Can you blame me after Usher brought Skate King to the stage and Chris Brown hunched, high kicked and back flipped for hours for their solo shows at Enterprise Center? I just feel like all the antics and stunts are in store. The friendly competition of one trying to outdo the other is going to make for an unforgettable night at The Dome. Visit livenation.com for the details on the presale (which starts April 21) and general ticket sale (April 27) information.