Jaheim turns out the Imperial Palace (in a bad way).
“Just in Case” (get it) those of you who didn’t remember back in ’02 when Jaheim showed up 3 hrs late at the Missouri Black Expo, he gave y’all a stroll down memory lane with his unfashionably late performance at the Imperial Palace last Friday. Now while some of y’all are going to ride or die for Ja until the end, I know for a fact that he lost more than a few folks with his shenangans (y’all’s $12 word of the week). I hope that the promoters don’t think that I’m dissin’ them at all – all of the side-eye and “boy stop” action I’m about to spew is soley for him. I already knew he still has “y’all lucky I showed up at all” swagger so I took my time getting there. One of my homegirls is a fan, so I had her on standby to call me when he gets ready to take the stage. Shoot, by the time it was all said ane done, I was callin’ her like “are you sure he’s not on stage yet girl?” At 10:30 p.m. I just broke down and left the house thinkin’ that he would come on at some point during my commute. Come to find out he didn’t take the stage until close to 11 p.m. It would have been bad enough if he was just extremely late, but he truly showed out and took the cake with his pre-show foolishness. As I was comin’ in, folks were coming out saying stuff like “this don’t make no sense” . One of the people passin’ by said that he made everybody in the place get out while he did a sound check. That’s right. After the people showed up (early), took their seat, waited and got comfortable, he made them stand outside while he did soundcheck. If that wasn’t bad enough, he said that nobody who comes back in is allowed to smoke because of his voice. I hope that the club doesn’t take this as a dis, but everybody knows that the Imperial 54 is the Benson N Hedges, Newport, Kool Filter King capital of St. Louis. That would be like inviting someone to a bar and tellin’ them that they can’t drink tonight! As the clock got close to midnight (just kidding, but not really) he did his six-song set, which was cool, but I couldn’t get over how he did the folks. Then after the event was over, he starts talkin’ greasy about the venue. Help. A fan says “you really did your thing, you know you threw down.” He replies “I tried, considering what I was working with” as he motioned around to suggest the venue was raggedy – right in front of everybody. I was beyond words at this point. Now I will be the first to admit that the Imperial Palace is not the Chase Park Plaza, but three generations of my family (yep, my big granny too) have had a good time up in there and that is a conversation he should have had in his (which was raggedy for real) tour bus as he was drivin’ up out of there. How rude! Hopefully he will have purchased some class the next time he comes through the Lou.
Getting Posh with it. Posh was on and popping last weekend. And mature folks are really starting to see it for what it is: a place they can go on any given night. Last Friday, Stress-Free Fridays took their followers there and kicked it until late. I peeped State Rep. Talibdin El-Amin, the beautiful and smart State Rep. Candidate Tishaura Jones, William Gutherie, Anthony Robinson, James Hill, Kim Porter, Salaam, Yohannes, Theda Thomas, Tino and Kyran and of course, Mark Jones and Mario Wayne, Stress-Free Fridays promoters. I just have to give a shout out to the deejay because he got crazy on the ones and two. He might have to change his name from DJ OK to DJ Anything but OK. By the way, STL Entertainment Editor Bill Beene will celebrating his b-day there this Saturday, May 17 on his b-day. So family, close friends, associates, supporters and haters and former foes who want to convert to friends, feel free to swing on through and kick it. He said he won’t be sending out text messages because that money now goes to his gas tank. Hey you gotta sacrifice something. Oh, Bill will also take stroll that night down to Scape on Maryland for the Power Couple party.
Me-mo Day 2k8. The biggest non Fourth of July weekend in St. Louis history is next week and the idea of it has meso hype that I even gave it the fabulous nickname you just finished reading. I haven’t been so excited about a weekend since Freaknik was still around (what, like I was the only one, yeah right). And this time I won’t have to ride for eight hours with my soulful cousin – whose breath, feet and upholstrey smelled like stale Fritos. Everybody and their uncle’s probation officer is throwing a party and I will be at as many as I can in my shortset/jumpsuit from the one and only Qristyl Frazier Designs (don’t act brand new, she is puttin’ plus sexy on the map with her fly get-up www.qristylfrazierdesigns.com). 1st Friday, Koncepts, MPAC and Free Time have a weekend of to-do list worthy events that pop off at 8 p.m., Friday with special celebrity host Terrence J, host of BET’s 106th & Park at The Loft. On Saturday Amerie will be in the building for an All Black Affair at 8 p.m. Then they’re capping the weekend off at 7 p.m. with Elevate Your Night, which includes a sports watch party, featuring sports host Will Witherspoon of the St. Louis Rams at the Sky Box on the Landing. Checkout www.stlmemorialday.com for more of that info. And y’all know a party weekend ain’t a party without the Sygu, so I couldn’t leave them out. On Sunday you can kick it with them at the Old Rockhouse for their Teese party. I’ve said it before and I’m saying it again, ladies wearin’ graphic tees will be free until 11 p.m. You might not even have to carpool to save on gas with that kind of action. Who am I kidding?
McDonald’s Soul Search. It’s baaaack. But people please make sure you have the pipes or go into some type of vocal boot camp for the next two days. The McDonald’s Soul Search is looking for the next big thing on the STL music scene. The search is on starting this Saturday and the next (May 17 &24) at the Loft (from 12 noon – 4 p.m.). I’m tellin’ you now if you don’t bring it, I’m pullin’ cards. So don’t be salty if you don’t have it together because you’ve been warned.
All that black dance. Now I know y’all read Partyline to get the scoop on the nightlife scene. But this week I’m going to hip y’all to some for real culture. Better Family Life, Inc. (one of my favorite community organizations in the city) is taking over the Touhill at the end of the month for their 23rd Annual Black Dance USA festival on May 30 – May 31st at 8 p.m. I’m so excited about it I’ve been reenacting that engagement scene from Coming to America for weeks. And they are getting international with it too. They are bringing Sankofa Productions in from Barbados and for the first time bringing Forces of Nature, one of the best dance troupes in the world to St. Louis. Word on the street is that Forces of Nature can give Alvin Ailey and ‘nem a run for their money. The only way you’ll know is if you go see for yourself. They moved it from COCA to the Touhill just for you – so you and all of your friends would have room to check out what they’ve doing – so the least you can do is show them some love. For more information, call (314) 367-3440.
