You Told Harpo To Beat Me?

Sunday I saw the Color Purple live and in living color in Los Angeles. When those tickets went on sale I was on them suckers like hotcakes. I have been waiting to see this play for a long time, but going to New York was not in the budget, I just thank my lucky stars that it finally made it to the west coast. It goes without saying, but the place was packed, it was so many people in the theater we looked like sardines in a can. I was pleased to see so many parents brought their kids to the play. It brought back memories of when my auntie use to take me to the fabulous Fox Theater in St. Louis to see plays like Dream Girls, The Wiz, and Raisin in the Sun. I love the theater and can not wait to drag my own kids to plays.

The play was fantastic and all the actors were great. Jeanette Bayardelle is the actress that played Celie did the damn thing. Her diction and pitch were perfect, she brought emotion and strength to the character. I must admit I shed a tear or two and was totally pulled into the life of Celie. Latoya London from American Idol played the role of Nettie, not only can this girl sing but she can act too! When it came to the part were Mister made Nettie leave the house, Latoya put so much feeling into that act, I started crying again. Did I mention that Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child played the infamous role of Shug Avery? I was hesitant to accept Michelle in this role, but she was very good and gave a great performance. Lesbianism played a huge part in this play. In the film it is slightly hinted that Shug and Celie had a “relationship”. Well in the play they become a couple……. can you believe that. After Celie leaves Mister and goes to Memphis with Shug and her husband, Shug’s husband leaves her for Squeaky (the girl that was dating Harpo, after Sophia left). Once Shug’s husband ran off… she and Celie became an official item.


The play also tackled domestic violence and reiterated over and over that women should not subject themselves to the abuse of a man. The mantra for domestic violence was “HELL NO”. There were many other highlights but I do not want to give the entire play away so I highly suggest you see it… when and if you can. Plus I hear that Chaka Khan is getting ready to play the role of Sophia… I would love to see her in that role. The play will be going nation wide tour soon so when you hear about it get your tickets and get ready for a great show. I give two thumbs up.

Good Times

Hello Beautiful Ones,


Saturday I went to the Taste of Soul in LA and had a blast. I was really hesitant because I thought I would not have a good time but man I am so glad that I decided to go. First of all, there was so many beautiful black people there (75,000 to be exact, no kidding) and everyone was getting along and having a good time. I just kept looking around at the crowd and feeling like I was at home. To be honest with y’all I have not seen more than 15 black folks at one time since I left St. Louis. When I lived in AZ the only time I saw a group of black people was when I went to church, other than that I generally only saw 2-3 black people a week. Now that I live in Ventura I still see only 2-3 black people a week. My roommates are white and that my co-workers are either hispanic or white so I have grown accustomed to being the only black girl in many situations. Well the Taste of Soul provided me with my much needed fix of black folks. I wanted to personally hug every black person that day, all 75,000 of them! The Taste of Soul was on Crenshaw in Liemert Park so I knew that it would be in the hood, and personally I miss the hood. The food was great; I ate fried catfish, fries, and blackberry cobbler to my hearts content (restarted my diet today) . Y’all know those greasy spoons in the hood have the best food. That damn catfish was fried to perfection, and the old lady in the restaurant put her foot in the cobbler. I was smiling all day. There were plenty of black vendors to suite everyone’s taste. I was amazed that there was a Macy’s on Crenshaw. Macy’s could never exist in my old neighborhood, my people would have robbed poor Macy’s blind, and there were several Starbucks which I also found astonishing. People in my old hood would not pay $3.65 for a cup of coffee, plus my Aunt insists that White Castles coffee is much better than Starbucks anyway. I guess LA has classy ghetto folks.


Towards the end of the evening there was a concert and I had the pleasure of sitting with a few ladies that was about my momma’s age ( around 48) and boy did those ladies know how to party. The performers were Evelyn Champaign –King, Angie Stone, The Mary Jane Girls, Bobby Brown and Angela Windbush. I was glad that my momma kept those records playing when I was a little kid because I knew all the words to most of the songs. That concert took me back to when I was a kid, on Saturdays my momma would get her albums out put the records on the component set. She would make sure the needle was good, then she would place a penny on the top of the needle and we would be grooving all afternoon ( sorry nostalgic took over). Man Evelyn Champaign –King did her thang. I know that lady has to be in her middle 50’s and she looked like she was at least 35. I was grooving with my crew when the Mary Jane Girls began singing In My House, Candy Man, and All Night Long, we lost our minds. It was straight ole school, we were waving our hands in the air, chanting “Go Mary Jane, Go Mary Jane, Go.” Me and my crew were dancing, lip syncing, and having a good ole time. Speaking of looking good, Angie Windbush was looking fabulous. She told the crowd that she has been fighting cancer for the last 4 years and is now cancer free, but while fighting cancer she was also in the mist of a divorce from Ron “Mr. Big” Isley. I must say it looked like she recovered nicely and her voice is still very soulful. I was pleasantly surprised by Bobby Brown. He appeared to be sober, clean, and ready to rock the house. Bobby actually did a good job and gave a great performance; he worked the stage and came with plenty of energy too. I used to love the old Bobby Brown, he could sing, slow grind, and make you wish you were his tender roni. Finally Angie Stone came on the stage and tore it completely down. I just had a great time and went home full and happy.