Michfest Part 1 (Road Trip!)

Everything is just a little bit better on the land. You become just a little bit thinner. Your self-esteem gets a little bit higher. Your skin is just a little bit brighter. Your waist is just a little bit smaller and your hips just a bit bigger (if that’s what you are going for *wink*). You play just a little bit better and the art appreciation is just a little bit higher. Everyone is a little bit funnier. You’re just a bit tanner and your body is exactly how you have always wanted it. You realize the true beauty that you are. It’s Michigan in general and Michfest in particular. It’s a whole other energy and everyone is transformed. Even those who thought they never would be. People who don’t like the outdoors or bugs develop a whole new appreciation. It’s Michigan in general and Michfest in particular.

This was my third year at Michfest, but the first year bringing my band there. In the years past I was part of Hanifah Walidah’s bands. First, the Fuckin’ Ladies and now Black Patti. Either way it’s always lots of fun. So what’s my story? I’ll start from the top because I know you all like it like that.

The preparation for Michfest this year was so much different for me because I was bringing blaKbüshe. First of all Michfest is an ALL WOMYN’S event. So that means there are NO men allowed at all. Not on sound, not on lights, not on anything except cleaning the port-a-janes and they come in and out without notice. With that in mind I had to configure an all female outfit for this festival. None of my guys could go. Some of them said they would go in drag if possible, but as pretty as they are they would have been spotted in short notice at the open showers. Oh well. Lol.

My preparation for this festival began early in the year. I had to track down the players, which turned out to be a little trickier than I expected. Ganessa was on board, but that left guitar, drums, percussion and vocals. Chuz (vocals) couldn’t come because she was working a job that wasn’t letting her go for a week or even 3 days for that matter. After a conversation with Ganessa about asking her sister Tiffany if she would come to Michigan to sing with me, we took a shot at asking if she would be willing to fly from Austria to NY to Michigan to sing with me at the festival. I really thought she would not agree because the festival could not get her from Austria to NY, but with a little finagling we made it happen! Tiffany was on board. Next drums.

I have always admired Tamar-Kali’s drummer Lafrae. So I set out to get her on board. When I finally tracked her down we talked and it seemed like it was a go. Then suddenly, not to long into our conversations, she realized that the timing for the festival was not going to be good for her. I was bummed because I was back to square one for a drummer. Let me just insert here that I was really trying to assemble an all brown, all-female band. Shouldn’t be to difficult right? Well, back to the drummer situation. I was wracking my brain and then I remembered Luciana Padmore. Perfect! I got in touch with her and as the Universe would have it she was free! So now we had bass, drums and vocals. Next stop percussion.

Last year at Michigan there was an incredible all-female Latin band called CocoMama that played. One of their lead singers and sometimes percussionist is Christelle Durandy. We met on the land last year and then realized that we knew each other form various events around NYC. So I hollered at her to be the percussionist on the set. She was more than down and to make it even better her band CocoMama was asked to play at Michfest again this year. So she was coming anyway! That’s what’s up. So we now have bass, drums, percussion and vocals. The last and biggest missing link was guitar.

This seemed to be the hardest instrument to lock down. Black women who play electric guitar didn’t seem like a hard find, but it was really a challenge. Most of the black women I know are only acoustic players. I could think of various white women, but very few black women. Sounds insane right? Then Ganessa dropped the name Pamela Means on me. I had never seen her, but after Ganessa gave me the name and Jeff and I went out one night check her at a small spot in Brooklyn. I think it was either really cold or snowing on that night so there were only about 5 or 6 people in the house. Well, Pamela did the damn thing! She really blew me away. At that point I knew I wanted her to be a part of blaKbüshe. I asked, she said yes and the band was complete.

I won’t give you all the details of rehearsals and such before the fest, but I’ll just say that it all came together. Let’s fast forward to our road trip to Michigan.

Day Before (8/1) Saturday/Day 1 (8/2) Sunday
If you are someone who travels then you know how challenging it can be to get some sleep the night before you have to leave. This trip was no different for me. We left on Sunday morning, but Saturday was a trip in and of itself. Mind you I went home to MA on the bus on Friday night so that I could get up on Saturday morning and rent my grandfather a car, while we took his van to Michigan.

I got up on Saturday morning, had breakfast at IHop with my grandparents and then went to get the rental car. When I got there everything seemed to be flowing nicely until the guy at the car rental place told me that my credit card had expired…the day before! Now how could I miss getting a new card in the mail? Did I get one? I was beside myself. In the end we just put it on my grandfather’s, but that just shows where my brain had been. So we get the car, I go back to their house to get my bag, then I head to my parents house to say hello to them and take a shower.

After my shower I chatted with my parents a bit and then left because I had to get back to New York before it got to late. Yes my crazy self still had errands to run and I hadn’t packed a lick. So I hop in the ride, wave goodbye to my family and make my way back to New York.

I can’t remember what time I got back, but there was still work to do and sadly it took all night. Not to mention that my friend Shelly Martin a.k.a. Bombshell, who was going with me, was still in the process of moving from Brooklyn to the Bronx. There was a lot going on. Too much to even repeat. Needless to say when I got to Hanifah’s house to meet the caravan I was happy to turn the wheel over to Ri when she asked for the first leg. To say I was beat is an understatement.

So who was in the caravan? In my van was Olive, Hanifah, Ri Ri and Bombshell. In the next car was Gina, Karma and Cree and in the last car was Vanessa, Alex and Michelene. We had enough room for most of our stuff in the van, but a few things we had to be strapped to the top. About an hour after our scheduled departure time we were finally good to go. We pulled off the block and we were Michigan bound.

We decided that we weren’t going to really follow each other because we all had directions and cell phones, but it was still a caravan. Our first scheduled stop was Oberlin, OH for lunch. The driving shifts went as follows.

Ri started us off and I have to give her big props because I think she drove through most if not all of PA and much of it in pouring rain. If you have ever driven though PA you know that there is just no scenery out there. I mean the mountains are beautiful, but after a while you just need something else. Then to have to drive through rain too? All I can say is power to my girl for real.

Then I took over. I figured that I would get us to Oberlin. As I was going along I felt good, but I could the feel a wave of tired coming on me. Then as we were driving somewhere in Ohio we hear a load noise from the top of the van. Olive looks back and calmly said, “Is that our stuff flying down the highway?” What??!!!!! I look in the side mirror and low and behold it is! So I pull over and Hanifah jumps out of the car. I follow suit, but on her side so not to get hit by traffic. We can see our stuff on the highway. Luckily it didn’t hit anyone and luckily it was linens and a chair, but that chair could have hurt someone for real. Hanifah and I ran down the highway toward our stuff. She tried to slow down traffic, but they weren’t slowing at all. So we just waited until there was a clearing and when she headed out onto the highway I followed. She grabbed one set of linen and I grabbed the chair and we ran back to side. The strange thing was that the traffic didn’t stop, but folks did swerve around the stuff. I guess they saw us and knew something had to be up with these black women running down the road. LOL!

We were still missing Ri’s stuff and I looked down the road and saw a dot in the road that I knew was her linens. So I just kept running down the road while Hanifah took the other stuff back. When I got down to where it was it had fallen almost on the other side of the highway. My original plan was to wait for a clearing, run out and grab the stuff, then run to the other side and wait for another clearing. Well as the Universe would have it the road just opened up. It just cleared. No traffic at all and this is the middle of the day. So I ran out, grabbed her stuff and ran back before any more cars showed up. The folks waiting by the van said it looked crazy. My adrenaline was flowing so there was no fear involved. It was actually really invigorating. I know it sounds strange, but it’s true. Needless to say I was very awake now and I drove us the rest of the way to Oberlin, where we had lunch.



After lunch Hanifah took over until it got dark. I believe she got us into Michigan. Then Shelly took the rest of the way to get us to the hotel where we would be spending the night. Unfortunately Gina got a little turned around so it took her some time to find the hotel and she was spent by the time she got there, but we all arrived alive. Very tired, but alive. One day down, one to go (on the driving front).

Stay tuned...