“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>Before I really get into my instant replay for this show, I must give Harry Colbert and company a major shoutout for giving the for real grown folks (and obviously the black-to-the-basics conscious crowd) an opportunity to hang with good people and good music. It felt like the 5 spot all over again. I’m looking forward to more! Okay, on with the show. Julie Dexter and N’Dambi were the dynamic soul duo tapped to open up the all new Plush – which is located in what I’m assuming is the new capitol of the urban club scene. I know N’Dambi well, but was essentially introduced to Dexter by her performance on Saturday. While I was thrilled that she was only a set of tribal scars away from serving me Tashi of The Color Purple, nothing really moved me – or kept my attention – beyond the opening number. Her scat-filled jazzy remix of the Blue Ivy, Sr. hit “De Ja Vu” offered much life, but I noticed when she wasn’t scatting her voice was pretty unspectacular. Her British accent was cute though. The good news is once I had come to the conclusion that she wasn’t my order of the day, I was still able to be entertained by her bossing with the most aggressive hand gestures I’ve ever seen used as cues.
“font-size: 9.0pt; font-family: Verdana;”>N’Dambi came out with a bang – accompanied with high kicks and hunches – that exceeded my already stellar expectations. She popped and twerked to her most recent hit “Can’t Hardly Wait” and got the crowd hype at hello. I must admit her outfit, comprised of a tired combination of liquid leggings, a god awful mock turtleneck catwoman top and some George brand boots, initially had me judging her relevance. Any woes from her extremely late wardrobe selection were forgiven by her energy and game-killing performance. It was like Nona Hendrix and Nina Simone had a baby! Her vocals were absurd (imagine an entire evening of Rachelle Farrelle’s lower register) and her energy was non-stop. I caught so much life that I found myself doing re-enblactments throughout the week. That being said, hopefully my neighbors can forgive the ill-executed six-o’clock kicks I randomly punished them with while making my way to the car and/or taking out the trash.