Michfest Wrap Up 2011 - The Rest of the Week

More Fest!

The Week in Festival
I’m not going to give a full recap of all the rest of the shows that happened at Michfest, but I am going to hit you with my highlights. I can only tell you about what I caught so if you are reading this and you were at fest and I didn’t mention the dope thing you saw it’s because I wasn’t there. It doesn’t mean it wasn’t amazing. So here is the Michfest Rest of the Week in Review.

Wednesday August 3rd
Before I hit the stage on Wednesday night I went to see Climbing Poetree on the Acoustic Stage. Of course Alixa and Naima did their thing. I hadn’t seen them perform in a long time so it was great to catch up with them and their work on the land. I also had an opportunity to catch a bit of Andrea Gibson’s show. She is also a spoken word artist. I had never heard her work before, but it was amazing as well. I couldn’t stay for Alix Olson, but I did get to hear her and Andrea rehearsing a piece in Central Heating so at least I got to hear that. The opening day of festival was magical all around.

Thursday August 4th
On this day it was all about the Acoustic Stage for me. I had missed the first go round of Karma’s show Indigo: A Blues Opera because I had rehearsal, but I knew it was going to be something special. First C.C. Carter kicked things off with her amazing poems and her ode to the ladies with big hips! That is always fun an amazing.

C.C. Carter

Then Karma hit the stage with Mazz Swift (violin), Susan Alcorn (Pedal Steel), Gina Breedlove (vocals), Marcelle Davies-Lashley (vocals), Sokhna Heathyre Mabin, Naima Penniman and Adaku Utah (dancers), Clarival Ruiz and Ashley Brockington (actresses)! What?? It was on folks. That was my first real cry of the festival. If you are interested in knowing more about Karma’s piece please check her out at www.thisiskarma.net.

Indigo: A Blues Opera

Karma Mayet Johnson & Ashley Brockington

Susan Alcorn & Mazz Swift

Karma Mayet Johnson & Sokhna Heathyre Mabin

On Thursday night God-des and She rocked the house with their hip-hop and soulful vocals and Suzanne Westenhoefer came with her brand of funny! It was all in all a great night as well.

Friday August 5th
Friday was packed! I made it to 6 out of 9 shows and I worked the sweat lodge. It was a crazy wonderful day. Here are the highlights in the sequence of the day.

After I worked the Womyn of Color Sweat Lodge, which was really wonderful, I wandered down to the Day Stage to check out the rest of the Krudas Cubensi set. They are two sistas from Cuba who are MC’s. That show was off the meat rack! You know a show is killin’ when you see someone and you can’t understand all of what they are saying and you are still jammin’. Well that was me and a bunch of other folks at the Krudas show. Following Krudas was Invincible another MC out of Detroit. My girl DJ Rimarkable was on the set and Adrienne Maree Brown was on backing vox for another killin’ hip-hop set, which culminated with Krudas and Climbing Poetree joining Invincible on stage. I had to run and sadly missed Hunter Valentine, but Achuziam said that set will killin’ as well. Invincible will be on tour with Tamar-kali and Jean Grae this fall. You can find out about tour dates at www.bornintoflamestour.com.

Later that day on the Acoustic State there was more fire. First up was my auntie Vicki. I don’t know if she knows that I call her that, but now she will know. Vicki Randle along with Julie Wolf on keys and accordion and Lyris Hung on violin kicked things off. Vickie was amazing and I also got an “I <3 Black People” tank top out of it. Vicki and I both love black people.

Julie Wolf & Vicki Randle

I had never heard of the woman who was following Vicki, but as the stage crew was setting things up I knew I had to stay. Up next was Susan Werner. She was on guitar and keys and with Trina Hamlin on harmonica, vocals & drums and Gail Ann Dorsey on bass and vocals. Then on a couple of songs she called to the stage Natalia Zuckerman on lap steel! That just took it all over the top. That whole set was out of control. Trina played some makeshift drum kit that used her snare hard case as a kick drum, just a snare head, tambourine and harmonica. I know there may have been a couple of other things in there but seriously she just wore me out. The whole band did. It was also great to find out that Natalia and Trina are both in New York. Whoo hoo!

Trina Hamlin, Susan Werner & Gail Ann Dorsey

Trina Hamlin

Susan Werner & Natalia Zukerman

Finally closing out the day was Night Stage and what a night stage it was. The night started off with Thao another artist I had never seen before, but was hearing great things about. Well she did not disappoint. She also added a few special guests to her set including the star of the festival, LaFrae, as well as Vicki, Tory and I think Julie too. It was a really fun set. She took the opportunity to run the catwalk as well and she said she felt like Kenny Chesney. LOL! I totally understand. I think I felt like Bono. HA!

Thao

Then after Thao was the set of all sets. Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon took the stage with an all star crew. LaFrae (drums of course), Sue Hadjopoulous (percussion), Gail Ann Dorsey (bass), Marcelle Davies-Lashley (tambourine/vocals), Stephanie Battle (vocals) and of course Toshi as the MD and on guitar and vocals. This set had it all. Dr. Reagon sang freedom songs, told stories and of course the music and vocals were off the hook. Ri Ri and I were the amen/tambourine corner in the audience. The good Dr. Reagon was so dynamic that she got not one encore, but two! I have never seen anything like that at fest. I mean after the first encore the audience would not stop clapping. The next band was supposed to come on, but the crowd would not stop cheering. No matter what the MC said we would not stop so Dr. Reagon came back. Honestly she could have played all night and I think everyone would have rode with her for the whole three hours. We were primed for a tent revival that night. There was an amen around every corner. I felt truly blessed after that set. Amazing!

The Bernice Johnson Reagon Songbook

Dr. Bernice Reagon Johnson & Stephanie Battle, Photo by Abena Sharon Dale

MEN followed Dr. Reagon, but I only caught a part of their set. They sounded incredible though.

Saturday August 6th
This was another action packed day for me. I started the day at the sweat lodge for Native women, which was really powerful. I have sat many a lodge, but this was one of the most powerful. Since I was at the lodge I missed Animal’s set, but I could hear it and they sounded great. I’m sorry I missed this as well, but I know I’ll see Animal again. I missed the rest of the day stage, but I made it to Acoustic for three more of my favorite sets of the week.

First Valerie June kicked things off. I had been hearing so much about this woman and it was worth the wait. Anyone who can play the banjo has my vote and she did just that. Valerie plays bluegrass and I love some bluesgrass. She was really amazing.

Valerie June

Next up was Ferron and Bitch. The first time I saw them together was my first festival and I was in tears by the end of the set. They are just that good together. This time I wasn’t crying after the set because Ferron always has jokes, but it was just as amazing as before.

Bitch & Ferron

The stage closed with LAVA. They were so amazing because they managed to do trapeze in the woods! That was the best. Brooklyn does it again! They also performed excerpts from various shows they have choreographed over the last year or so. It was a really great show and lots of fun as usual.

Night Stage started with Slanty Eyed Mama. They are a musical comedy duo of Kate Rigg and Lyris Hung. Their set is always a lot of fun and this time was no exception. They warmed up the crowd and got people laughing and dancing.

Next up was Melissa Ferrick. Melissa came with just her and her guitar and it was a great. A really wonderful set.

The last set of every Saturday night is Chix Lix. Every year is a different theme and this year was the blues. There was a great lineup of vocalists on the set including Judith Casselberry, Karma Mayet Johnson, Susan Werner, Toshi Reagon, Nedra Johnson and many more. The set was a lot of fun and as usual a great way to end night stage at the festival.

The Chix Lix Crew

Sunday August 7th
Well we were supposed to leave this day, but we were having such a good time that we decided to stay until Monday morning. Sunday has pretty much the same lineup every year. Ubaka Hill starts the morning with the Drumsong Orchestra, which is always amazing, followed by the One World Inspiration Choir led by Aleah Long. That is always wonderful as well.

In the later afternoon the comedy sets started on the Day Stage. The year the featured comedians were Jessica Kirson, Karen Williams and Elvira Kurt. All three of their sets were funny as hell! I laughed for an hour and a half straight.

Karen Williams, Photo by Nívea Castro

Later that night was the candlelight concert and closing ceremonies. Always nice, but I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to the humming. LOL. Those who know, know.

Well folks. Michfest 2011 has officially come to a close.

Monday August 8th
Monday morning we got the crew together and hit the road. This time my girl Rachel drove back with us and we also caravanned with Alixa, Samara, Karma and her crew in her car. We took our time getting back. Stopped at Bob Evans for lunch. Yeah Bob Evans! Then we just kept going on our way. Before we knew it we were back in NY and back to reality. It was again great week of festival.

Thank Goddess for our safe return home. Until next year folks. Be well.

Sons d'Hiver: Hommage a Miles et James: Day 2 [Part 3]

Paris Day 2

I made myself get up to eat breakfast. I knew it was going to be a long one because we had to perform two sets tonigh. I must admit I don’t know what I did after breakfast. Went to my room, chilled, I don’t know, but I had to be ready in the lobby by 1:15pm to go to soundcheck for the days events.  In my sleepy fog, I made to to the lobby at the appointed time.  Then we all piled into the two vans and headed for the venue. The musicians went a little before the vocalists. Since I’m both I just headed out in the first shift.

Upon arriving at the venue we all made our way to the stage to set up for soundcheck. We had a big chunk of time since we had to check for two sets. Melvin Van Peebles band was also on the bill for that night. His band includes many of the members of Burnt Sugar so it was a very long day all around.

A bit of the Burnt Sugar set up

For those of you who don’t know, Burnt Sugar it is a huge band. Let me break down the personnel and instrumentation of the band (for this gig) so you can get an idea of what we are working with here. I’ll start with the rhythm section and move from there.

We had two drummers (LaFrae & Chris), two bassists (Jared [electric] & Jason [upright]), three guitarists (Andre, Asim & Greg), two on keys (Myles & Bruce), two strings (Mazz [violin] & Will [cello]), three percussionists (Myself, Mikel & Satch), five winds/brass (Micah [alto sax], Avram [tenor sax & bass clarinet], Flip [trumpet], Paula [bari-sax] and Satch [flute]), Electronics (Latasha) and 5 vocals (Karma, Lisala, Latasha, Mikel and I). That is a grand total of 21 folks y’all!

LaFrae, Chris & Jared

Horns & Strings

Part of the B.S. Crew

After soundcheck, we ate, chilled and then got ready to rock. The thing I really love about Paris is that there is wine with everything. Reminded me so much of Italy. Ah Italy…

We all got in our rock & roll best and waited for Melvin Van Peeble wid Laxative to wrap up their set. Well some of us waited while others played that first set. As soon as they finished it was time for us to hit our first set, which was “Bitches Brew” Hommage a Miles Davis. It was our interpretations of a few joints from Davis’s classic albums Bitches Brew and On the Corner.

Showtime!

Latasha & Micah ready to go!

Now, I’m just going to say without hesitation that that set was KILLIN’! I mean it was just incredible. I think it went better than any of us even imagined it would have been and we knew it was gonna be good.  Besides hitting the Miles stuff we also hit a quick bit of Aretha Franklin’s “Rock Steady”, which was a cool mash-up. Lisala ended the set with “Little Church” and just wrapped that joint all the way up. It was amazing! I got to play my Evian bottle, which is all that water is really good for. Ha! The bottle will make another appearance for sure. Oh wait, how can I forget my french name change.

When we were at the show the night before I picked up a program for the entire festival. In it listed the names of everyone performing on the Burnt Sugar set. I was somehow listed as Nicole Shelley instead of Shelley Nicole. I guess someone in Paris thought it sounded better that way. So in his best french accent, Greg introduced me to the audience as Nicole Shelley. I kind of liked it so I became her for the rest of my time in Paris.  I might have to bring her back again for another show. :-)

My percussion set up

When that set ended we really could have went home, but we still had one more section, the Hommage a James Brown. Yes, we were freaking the JB songbook once again. So after a short intermission we headed back to the stage. The James Brown set was a breeze after the Miles joint. We just went out there and had a whole lot of fun. From the very first note of the set the audience was on their feet and they danced in the aisles until the very last note. Of course there was a call for an encore so we went back and did and Miles Davis/James Brown mash-up at the end. Amazing!

Lisala, Micah & Karma! Yes Micah is having a great time. lol

Mazz, Micah & Myles

There were a few of things that really took that night over the top. The first was that I had my parents, aunt Helen and uncle Richard in the house. Second, my friend Heather that I have known since nursery school was also in the house. She now lives in the South of France so she took a short holiday and came up to Paris to see the me and the show. Yes! I hadn’t seen her in almost 20 years. Heather was kind enough to help my parents get a cab back to their hotel. I told my mom I would come see her the next day so we could hang out and see the city together, and off they went. Heather hung back with me and traveled back to the hotel with the band. She was more than happy to be a “groupie”. Her words not mine. LOL. Third, I got to see my friend Miles Marshall Lewis who told me he will be moving back to New York with his family after 7-years of being an ex-pat.  It's was really great to see him and we will welcome him home with open arms.

On the way back to the hotel lots of ideas were thrown around about what to do for an after party, but the idea of food won out for me. We hadn’t eaten since before the show so food was long overdue. One more big surprise at the hotel was Mike Ladd, another one of my poetry ex-Pats.  It was so great to see him even for that short minute.  He looks great!  So back to the matter at hand. Food! After some deliberation Greg, LaRonda, Myles, Karma, Will, Heather and I got into a couple of cabs and headed to the Bastille to find some late night eats.

The Bastille was hoppin.’ After walking a bit,  we picked a spot that was right on the square and they found a table for us in the back. We settled in and began our journey into food. It was a really great night. We talked, laughed and Heather got a little Burnt Sugar history around the table. I drank some very sweet beer that Karma hipped me to, and enjoyed the moment. Paris on the food tip was starting to redeem itself.

I was tired as hell when we got back to the hotel. Heather had to leave early in the morning. She was crashing with me and she said she wouldn’t wake me before she left. I just knew I would hear her leave because I sleep pretty lightly, but boy was I wrong. We didn’t go to bed until about 6am and she had to catch a 9:15am train. I didn’t even hear her alarm go off or feel her get up. The next thing I knew I was being woken up by housekeeping who came into my room because I did not answer the door when they knocked. I was KNOCKED OUT!! That is not my style at all. I don’t know the last time I slept so hard. I still can't believe Heather got up and out without me hearing a thing. It felt like a dream that she was there at all. If it wasn't for the note she left I would have doubted the whole evening.  It was kind of scary really. I could have been robbed! LOL. Not by Heather, but I’m just saying anyone could have come in there and I would have been none the wiser. Ah Paris. Another big day ahead.

Thank you & Goodnight!

Bonjour Paris! Day 1 [Part 2]

Paris Day 1

When we landed in Paris we were greeted by a representative from the festival who took us to our hotel. It was a short ride from the airport to the Novotel de Bercy on Rue de Bercy.  The hotel was great and right next to the sports arena where they happened to be holding a world judo competition at the same time we were there. So we were sharing space with athletes from all over the world. Interesting combo to say the least.

The rooms weren’t quite ready when we arrived because we were a bit early. So we just chilled in the lobby until things opened up. When I finally got into my room I probably should have just went to sleep, but it's Paris! I can sleep when I’m dead. Lol.

View from my room

Paris Arena [can't remember the real name/from my room]

It may not look like it, but it was the best bed ever!

The situation room. It really was it's own room! LOL!

Some of the ladies in the band were going to the Hammam at the Paris Mosque where there is a spa and baths. There you can steam, get scrubs, massages, etc. I really wanted to go, but I had €100 to work with for the next few days so I couldn’t drop €48 of that on the spa. I later found out I probably could have gone because just to go to the baths and steam it was only €15, but that’s okay. I WILL get back to Paris.

Near Rue de Bercy

So instead of the spa I just walked down Rue de Bercy a bit to see what was what. Mazz and I later went out to get some food. Sadly my first meal in Paris was not exciting at all, but it filled the hole. I then took a short nap. I was beat down, but I was trying to stay up so I could get my sleep pattern in order. The jet-lag was beating me down. Of course I could have stayed at the hotel and got some real rest, but it's Paris and we had passes to see some of the other bands in the festival! So I peeled myself up and went with some of the Sugar crew to check out Graham Haynes presenting Bitches Brew Revisited and Ebo Taylor and Afrobeat Academy.

Me at the Festival

We hopped on the Metro (my first time on it) to get over to the Bastille, where we caught a bus provided by the festival, over to the venue. The spot was a bit outside of the city, but it was nice to ride for a while. When we got to the spot, I got another bad sandwich (ugh), found a spot to sit with Mazz and Chris and we settled in for the show.

It was great to hear Graham Haynes and crew do Bitches Brew, but when jet-lag is riding you Bitches Brew sounds like sweet lullaby. LOL! It just put me in a trance and I was in and out of consciousness for the whole set. I saw them do the show at Prospect Park over the summer and it was amazing. So I know what I missed, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I just pray I wasn’t snoring.

Ebo Taylor and crew were way more upbeat. So I stood up and bopped to the music till it was time to head out. The bus took us back to the Bastille and we were hungry. Folks were talking burgers, but that wasn’t doing it for me. Karma and I found this spot called Léon de Bruxelles that was open and they was serving mussels. That was it for me! So we ate, talked and headed back to the hotel. The Metro had stopped running so we decided to walk home instead of getting a cab. I was dog tired, but I was in Paris! LOL. So we began our journey. It was going well, but then we got a little turned around.  Luckily we hadn’t wandered too far out of the way so we found out way back quite easily. By the time we made it home I fell right out. I have to say that that hotel probably has the best mattress I have ever slept on. I slept so hard I didn’t even dream. Big day ahead.