Next stop: Paris!

Wednesday
 The night before I left for Paris with Burnt Sugar I had a fever 101.4.  I can't remember the last time I've had a fever.  It's just not something I usually get.  When I get sick it usually starts in my throat and this little sickness did just that. But while it was running it's course through my head, this time it decided to bring the heat. 

So on Wednesday night before I head to leave, I woke up in the middle of the night with chills. I couldn't believe it.  I'm not a pill popper so I didn't even know if I had anything in the house to break the fever. I needed something and fast. Luckily I had one last dose of sinus meds left so I promptly took that and tried to go back to sleep.  My saving grace was that my flight on Thursday was at 9pm so at least I didn't have to rush to get up and be at the airport.

Thursday
When I woke the next morning my fever was gone, but my head cold was not.  I was snotty to say the least and my head was killing me. I knew that would not make for a fun flight, but at least the fever was down.  I went out to run my last few errands, mainly to get more sinus meds to keep my fever and headache at bay, and when I returned home I leaned that our flight had been canceled and the new flight was almost two hours earlier!  OK, now I had to put the gas because I had to be at the airport two hours earlier than expected. 

I got myself together, was able to grab a list minute something from T-Kali to give to LaRonda to take to Paris and I was off.  T's husband Scott took me to the subway. I took the A train  to the AirTrain to JFK.  I made it in good time and saw some of the Sugar crew as I arrived at the terminal.  I checked in easily, I was carrying on my luggage so I went through security with Micah, and soon we were at the gate where we found Greg, Flip and LaFrae waiting.  Slowly the rest of the crew trickled in and we were off.

We never found out why they cancelled our first flight, but the plane was empty on the rescheduled flight.  We all had room to spread out and even lay down if we wanted to.  I was so glad because I was a walking commercial for Airborne. Anyone who would have had to sit next to me would have been mad about it because I was blowing my nose the whole way there and my head was killing me. I must have been up and down to the bathroom 5 or 6 times for all the tea and water I was drinking on the flight, but I was doing my best to push this cold out of me. 

One downside of the flight change was that was had to switch planes in London at Heathrow, which meant going through security all over again. Well if you know Heathrow then you know it can be a bitch to get through.  That day was no exception for me.  They were concerned that I had to many liquids so even though they were the right size they went through everything.  They ended up taking my saline solution for my contacts and my coconut oil. It's not in liquid form, but they said the container was too big. OK so now I'm sick and I'm going to have to be ashy??!! I was done.  I watched TSA do some other things that were just ridiculous and inconsistent, but I won't go into my TSA rant right now.  No time for that. Let's just jump ahead to us getting the hell out of there.  Can you tell I wasn't feeling good. LOL.

Friday
When we got to Paris, a couple of vans were there to greet us at the airport and then we were off to the hotel.  I was so done. I just felt like crawling under a rock. The cabin pressure made my head hurt so bad. So when I got to the hotel, I checked in, dropped my bags in my room, found pharmacy to get some lotion (no ash here), got a sandwich for lunch and then headed back to my hotel room to chill out.  While some of my other band mates headed to see the sites, I headed to the tub and to bed. I was needed to shake off this sickness before the show the next day.

I can't remember what time I went to sleep, but I didn't get up until about 7 or 7:30pm.  I knew I needed to get up to get some dinner or I would be hungry at some crazy hour of the night.  I had contemplated going to see Vernon Reid play with his other group the Free Form Funky Freqs, but I just didn't have it in me. Luckily I saw Vernon in the lobby before I went to get some food for the evening. I wished him well and he jumped in a van with the crew and headed to the show.  I got another sandwich for dinner and was going to head right back to bed when I spotted Vinia and Ben in the hotel restaurant.  I joined them and they told me about their day site seeing. We were soon joined by V. Jeff and it was a nice dinner vibe.  My head still hurt and I was still not all the way back so I headed back to my room, ate my sandwich, watched the Hunger Games in French (very cool) and went to bed. 

Saturday
I got up the next day in time to have breakfast. We had to meet the van that day to go to the venue around Noon. I was feeling much better. I wasn't 100%, but I could sing so I knew I would make it though the show.  Burnt Sugar was doing two sets that night and my set wasn't until about 8pm so I had a lot of time to chill and get myself together. 

The Stage at Theatre Jean-Vilar

View from the Stage and Jason D. reading the paper.

We were doing the Steely Dan show conducted by Vernon and a part of the David Bowie show conducted by Mikel.  Before that, another faction of the Sugar crew were performing a live soundtrack to Oscar Micheaux's Body & Soul starring Paul Robeson. That was off the hook! Really amazing. There was a brief break for a Q&A with Greg and then the rest of us were on for the Steely/Bowie hit.

It looks like pain, but it's really love.  Lafrea Sci, Micah Gaugh and a little Olu on the side.

Me and the ever funky V. Jeffery Smith.

Me and the beautiful songbird Vinia Mojica

The obligatory percussion set up shot!

Lewis "Flip" Barnes, V. Jeff, & Ben Tyree getting ready.

Abby Dobson, Vinia & Mikel Banks getting the Steely Dan lyrics together.

The show was really amazing and as one french review stated, we all looked fabulous! This was one of those shows were I felt very present. There was a moment while we were on stage where I felt a little choked up at the thought of my life.  It's surely not an easy road, but there I was in Paris, with my people, making music and having a magical time.  I mean really and honestly magical.  When these things are happening you have to be present because it goes by so quickly. Before you know it you are at the end of the set. I'm not saying I will never play Paris again, but it will never be like that again.  Every time will look and feel different, but hopefully every time will be just as grand. 

Ben warming things up and looking good doing it!

Latasha making sure Vernon is looking proper for the evening.

Abby tucking the braids under the wig for Micah.  Sista love!

I kept my cold at bay and felt better with every song. I sang "Monkey in Your Soul" in Karma's absence, my usual "Haitian Divorce" and "Show Biz Kids" with Vinia.  I also sang "Rebel Rebel" with Mikel and "Breaking Glass" with Abby & Vinia. There were so many highlights. I hope that Greg secretly taped the show. I would love to hear it all again. 

After the show we hung out at the venue for a bit and then headed back to the hotel.  Of course there is always the post-show high to contend with. So what do you do? You eat!  Thankfully there was one restaurant open across the street.  Greg, Vernon, Paula, Flip, Ben and Vinia headed over first. Soon I joined them along with Bruce, LaRonda, Latasha and Marc (for a brief moment).  We toasted the show, ate and talked until the restaurant gave us the "you ain't got to go home, but you got to get the hell out of here" signal. 

A little post-show chat with Ben, Paula Henderson & Dave "Smoota" Smith. A little Mike Ladd back there too.

My super post show Caesar salad!

Hanging with the cool kids!

There was a little after party happening at the hotel. I stopped through, but soon I headed back to my room to do some last minute packing and to head to bed. We had to be up early to catch our flight in the morning.

Sunday
I got up, checked out and caught the breakfast buffet. I had my last meal in Paris for this trip and soon we were all piling on the vans to head to the airport.  Thankfully we were flying direct this time. No more Heathrow, at least on this trip.  They did stop to look in my bag at Charles de Gaulle, but this time it was my instrument bag with my percussion.  They didn't know what my vibraslap was.  I assured them it would only make them happy. 

It was a packed flight this time, but we were on our way home.  I wish we could have stayed a little bit longer, but as I said, I know I will be back that way again and hopefully my stay will be a bit longer.

We're on our way home...

Au revior Paris.

When we arrived back in New York, thankfully Ben was able to give me and V. Jeff a ride home. I was so delirious between my sickness and the jet lag.  I came home and crashed out. 

Burnt Sugar does Paris 2013 is a wrap. Give Thanks!

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.

The Gift of Paris! [Part 1]

To get to London we must start in Paris. This is how I was able to get to the UK this time around, so we must start there.

Back in November I received the best b’earthday gift ever. Jared from Burnt Sugar asked me if I would like to join the band in Paris in February for the Sons d’Hiver Festival. They were invited to do the James Brown se and wanted me to come along. Of course I said yes! In my excitement I wasn’t even thinking past Paris. That’s when my friend Ian reminded me of how close I would be to London. He suggested that I inquire about extending my ticket, which never even crossed my mind. I haven’t been back to London since 2007 so I was long overdue.

Before contacting Jared to ask about the flight extension, I sent an email to my man Adam Rock at Jazz Re:freshed to see if he could book me for Feb. 10th, which would be the week I could be in London. He said he had something booked, but he would bump it and put me in. Yes! So I went back to Jared and asked about the flight extension and he said it would be no problem. With that, it was on!

I never thought it would have taken me four years to get back overseas, and now I can’t remember why it did. Sometimes the small things in life get in the way. But there I was, poised to go back to London and I was prepared to go it alone.

The last time I went Shawn, Achuziam, Lionel, Irv and Teddy came with me and we had an awesome time. I knew that it may not be a possibility for them to come this time as I could not secure anyone’s lodging or ticket except my own. So I figured I would pick up a band there and just go for it.

Somewhere along the line I told Jeff of my plans and he said he would be down to go and was really excited as he had been to London and really wanted to check it out. So it looked like it was going to be just two hairs in the U.S. büshe in London, but I digress. Let’s get back to Paris.

When I told my mother that I was going to Paris, she said she was coming. I didn’t know if she was serious, but then she kept asking me for travel dates and where we were staying so I knew it was really on.

As the departure date got closer I was in full swing of booking shows for the band in London. I managed to book four shows and two radio spots. Not bad for a gorilla operation. I was planning and squaring everything away right up until I got the plane for Paris.

I have to admit that before departing I was concerned about how much luggage I was bringing. Would it be overweight, would they let me bring my bass on the plane, etc. I was making calls to airlines and praying the whole time. When people would ask if I was excited I would tell them, “I’ll be excited when I’m through security at JFK.”

I wanted everything to go as smoothly as possible so I got to the airport mad early. I printed out my boarding pass at home so I wouldn’t have to do it at the kisok. I wanted to go straight to the line to check my bag and pray they don’t ask me to check my bass because I decided not to bring the travel case. For comfort sake I needed the bass to be on my back. I just had too much stuff for it to be in my other hand. I needed an angel.

When I got to JFK to the Air France counter it was empty. I mean totally empty. There was no one on line at all. Note: If you want to fly to Paris from JFK and not wait on line, fly on Thursday night, barring a holiday of course. It was sort or eerily quiet, but I was glad.

I walked over to the counter. Presented my passport and paperwork, checked my bag and headed for security. The woman at the desk didn’t ask me about my bass at all. Just gave me my boarding pass and a smile and off I went. [Angel #1]

Next shocker, the security line was damn near empty as well. I went through without any problem, but they wanted to look at what was in the pocket of my bass case. The guy at security went in and pullout out my screwdriver. I forgot I had it in there. I use it to take the battery in and out of my bass when I need to change it. Well I was prepared to leave that behind, when my man slid it back to me sort of on the sly tip! Wow! I mean I know that I’m not going to try and hijack the plane with my screwdriver, but how does he know? lol Oh well, I’ll take it. [Angel #2] I gave him a nod and headed to my gate. He was flirting with me a bit too so I think that’s how I got over. Lol.

I walked down to my gate and I was the only one there. The only other Burnt Sugar members who were on my flight were LaRonda and Lisala. So as I was there waiting I had to buy the obligatory overpriced sandwich in the airport. If there is time to kill that is a must, unless you are at Chicago, O’Hare and then you must purchase the obligatory bag of Garrett Popcorn. ☺

Before I was able to make my purchase I saw Lisala coming toward the gate. I was on the phone so I waved. When I got off the phone we chatted a bit and then out of the blue I see my old neighbor Chris from my Clinton Ave. days. Can I tell you how much I love running into people I know at the airport? I think this is the second time this has happened to me. I ran into Saul Williams at O’Hare actually, on my way to Michfest. It just reaffirms for me that I am doing what I supposed to be and that all my artistic people are living the life they want to live. Chris was on his way to the Sudan to teach illustration. Nice!

As I walked and talked with Chris, on my way to the obligatory sandwich, we ran into LaRonda eating her obligatory overpriced meal as well. Ah, the airport. Chris and I said a brief hello, moved on to get our overpriced meal and then parted ways.

Air France is incredible from before you even step foot on the plane. They don’t calls seat numbers or sections or any of that in order to board people. They just said “Air France flight 008 is now boarding” and that was it. Now that’s what I’m talking about. That’s just civilized. LOL!

My departure gate

When I got on the plane my bass didn’t fit in the overhead, but they gladly put it in the closet, in business class thank you very much. I also wanted a window seat, but I just ran out of time to request that so I was on the isle. Well when they closed the plane door the person in my row had not shown up so there I was with the window seat that I wanted! [Angel #3] I moved over, situated myself and soon we were off.

The Air France flight experience is incredible. People rave about Virgin America and Jet Blue and I have flown both, but right now Air France is giving both of them a big run for their money. Big! I had no idea flying could be like this. There was mad room in coach, lots of movies for free and the topper, wine! Red or white, and it was good. The food was good for plane food and you didn’t have to pay extra. The bread was on point and the cheese was amazing. They are serving France before you even get there. They were also offering Champaign! For Free! What? Just lovely.

I could hardly sleep, which would catch up with me later, but for the time being I was happy as a clam. I was on my way to Paris.

The French countryside from my window seat