HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHAEL JACKSON

I want to send birthday wishes to Motown Legend and entertainer Michael Jackson, who is up in heaven celebrating his birthday, and looking down from above.
Michael would have turned 51 today had he lived, and while many are celebrating his life, music and legacy, there are many who are sad that he died so unexpectedly.
Michael did more than sing and dance, he helped raised the bar and standards of being a performer and he made it possible for Black artists to have their videos aired on MTV, who had refused to air Black artists.
He also gave millions of dollars to charites and he provided the soundtrack to many of our lives.

Michael it's your birthday
Happy birthday Michael.

MOTOWN LEGEND, FUNK-BALLADER AND AMERICAN IDOL BRINGS SOULS TO BROOKLYN

Last week, the borough of Brooklyn got their souls soothed when Soul singers Teena Marie, Jeffery Osborne and Ruben Studdard shared their God-given talents with the crowd who came out to Wingate field despite the hot weather and brief windy weather that slightly occured.

The show began with American Idol winner Studdard's band playing with the announcement of him being announced that he had become the second winner of "American Idol" and before you could blink an eye, the Alabama native, walked on stage in a cream-colored suit.
"How you doing?" he asked in a southern drawl before he performed his hits "Fly Away," "So Sorry" and "Why You Wanna Change Me?" which had elements of Gospel and Jazz thanks to the keyboardist and call and response between Studdard and his background vocalists during the performance of the former, while the later had the brothers singing along with him.
He then performed his current single "What It Would Take" before he closed his set with a tribute to Luther Vandross by peforming the late singer's classics "Bad Boy/Having a Party," "Never Too Much," "So Amazing" and "Until You Come Back To Me/Superstar", which for the later featured him showcasing his range by doing riffs away from the microphone. He also had the women scream sing it baby, while he sang 'it's alright, it's alright' just like Vandross who was Studdard's main inspiration and idol.

Former LTD member Osborne followed by appearing on stage wearing a black suit and performing "Come All The Way" and "Don't You Get So Mad About It", which had the audience out their seats singing and dancing. After addressing the crowd, he performed his classic ballard "I'm Only Human" with a LTD medley following before he performed his rendition of Teddy Pendergrass's classic "Close The Door," which should have had a slower tempo, but the band's breaks and Osborne's soulful vocals compensated for the loss. The sexy 60-year old legend also had fun with the audience with attempts to hook the brothers up with a potential date for the evening.
"I'm about to set you up for the night" he said before he performed the bride 'let me make sweet love to you baby' and asked the brothers to look to a female and sing the bridge to her as well. When they fell sort of short, he asked the females to sing the bridge, and they did in a soulful and sexy way.
"Damn you're making me warm up tonite" he told the brothers.
Osborne then performed his classic ballad "On The Wings of Love" where he removed his blazer and performed soulful riffs, and a sexy call and respsonses with her background vocalists during his performances of "Hold On" "Concentrate on You" and "Take Your Time" where his female vocalist sang 'take your time' as Osborne removed his vest, and grinded his hips.
"You know what I'm talking about" he said before he performed "You Should Be Mine (The Woo Song)." Wanting to have futher fun with the audience, he asked two members to sing the hook of the song, and while they didn't have strong voices, they gave it their all. He closed his set with his former group's top charting classic "Back In Love Again" which had the crowd dancing, singing and clapping their hands like they were at a party in the 1970's.

Motown legend Teena Marie's set began with photographs of her being displayed on the monitor before she appeared on stage in a white suit and performed a hot powerful version of Lynn Collins' classic "Think (About It)" which had the crowd out their seats pumping their first and snapping their fingers.
"Brooklyn, you're bad!" she said before she performed her classic "Behind The Groove" where she danced with her background vocalist, before launching into her ballads "Dejavu" where she incorporated Reggae music and chanting into her the classic, while she showed her sensual side during "Portuguese Love" which feature her singing "I got your back and leaning of the back of her sexy saxophonist Adam Flectcher, who along with her guitarist Dave played some hot Rock, Jazz and soulful solos. After acknowledging her musicians, she took the crowd down memory lane with her debut single "I'm A Sucker For Love" which she played guitar and gave props to President Obama and saying that all she wanted to do be the head of the music department in the White House as well as singing happy birthday to a female member of the audience. The show was going well until the stage hand told Marie that she had only fifteen minutes left to perform. Neither she or the crowd wasn't pleased to hear that and she decided to displayed her ghetto side be reminding the staff that she was contracted to perform a certain amount of time.
"My contract says 75 minutes" she said as the crowd applauded her for taking her stand.
After getting things straightened out, she performed a Jazzy version of her top charting ballad "Ooh La La La", putting the crowd in the mood for love, but one of the show's highlight was when she asked her daughter Alia Rose to sing Faith Evans' part on "Can't Last A Day", and both mother and daughter sounded great together earning a standing ovation from the audience, who was impressed with her daughter's professionalism and range (mother is raising her well). The touching part of her set came when she paid tribute to her late mentor Rick James by performing their classic duet "Fire And Desire" and let me tell you, she hit the notes higher and longer than the actual recording (something that Brintey Spears and Jessica Simpson aren't skilled to do). She sang that song with so much soul and passion that I though that Rick was going to make a surprise appearance from heaven to join her. She added some Gospel flavor to the song ad libbing sometimes I don't even know my name, which had the audience shouting and in tears. She then performed her Pop hit "Lovergirl" and closed with "I Need Your Loving" and "Square Biz."

The show was hot, but it would have been better had Studdard acknowledge Luther Vandross as he performed his songs, while Osborne should have performed his former group's hit "Stranger" as well as had his female vocalist join him to sing the duets "The Last Time I Made Love" and "Love Power" songs that he performed with Joyce Kennedy and Dionne Warwick. Marie's performance was good, but I would love for her to incorporate The Fugees' Fugee La along with the original version of "Oh La La La" which she had been doing since she returned to performing in the early 2000's. All in all it was a good concert and showed Brooklyn that people of all ages and races do have soul.

BROOKLYN BASED SINGER CHATS WITH BROOKLYN BLOGGER

FORT GREENE SINGER SPEAKS WITH HEART OF BROOKLYN WRITER

Brooklyn has produced a great talented singers including Lena Horne, Little Anthony & The Imperials, Full Force and Aaliyah, and Soul/R&B singer Nathaniel P, plans on keeping the legacy alive with his singing, and songwriting. Born and raised in Fort Green projects, Nathaniel honed his chops be singing in Church with his family, while listening to the Soulful sounds of Boyz II Men. He later stated to perform in a group that included his brothers, but decided to pursue a solo career, when the group decided to pursue other interests. Nathaniel has been making a name for himself by performing at various venues (with some upcoming dates in the Midwest next month) as well as shooting his first video for his single “Let Me In.”
I had the opportunity to meet this talented and cool singer at his video premiere party in Manhattan where he spoke about his influences, and the

DA-PROFESSOR: HOW DID YOU GET INTO MUSIC
NATHANIEL: My moms raised me in church singing in the choir like most of the best singers out their. They started in church. I’m trying to be like them.

DA-PROFESSOR: WHERE WERE YOU BORN AND RAISED?
NATHANIEL: Brooklyn, New York. Fort Green projects. Farside (laughs).

DA-PROFESSOR: WHICH SINGERS GOSPEL AND R&B INSPIRED YOU?
NATHANIEL: I would say as far as Boyz II Men. I’m still bumping my ole Boyz II Men (both laugh). I like real music like Carl Thomas, R. Kelly, Dave Hollister. All the real substantial artists, and on the Gospel tip, Smokey Norfil, Shirley Caesar, Tonex. Just the real Gospel artists.

DA-PROFESSOR: Nathaniel you brought up a good point about the real soul music . It seems that most record executives tend to sign artists who want to do the Pop computerized sound instead of signing the ones who wants to be original and have a authentic and original sound. How do you feel about that?
NATHANIEL: It’s true. I think that it’s kind of what the game is missing now. Labels are looking for the one single to push it to get rid of the artist instead of looking for an artists that they can groom and develop and put out substance. You know what I’m saying? I feel that there’s gonna be less money made in the game; our genre in R&B is gonna deplete if they don’t put out real R&B.

DA-PROFESSOR: WHEN DID YOU START PERFORMING PROFESSIONALLY?
NATHANIEL: Professional. I’ve been with my group five years, but solo, six months (laughs). That’s when I started solo; six months. I would say with my ground five years, so it’s been about five years since I stepped on stage.

DA-PROFESSOR: DID YOU RECORD ANY SINGLES WITH THE GROUP?
NATHANIEL: We recorded a lot of different songs,. We never put out one single. We just had a lot of different music, so it gave me that ear to develop harmony so now that I’m a solo artist, I still incorporate the same harmony because I’m used to it.

DA-PROFESSOR: WHAT PROMPTED YOU TO PURSUE A SOLO CAREER?
NATHANIEL: We went out separate ways just from us being grown men. We wanted to do different things. We all believe in each other and I listened to how I sounded doing solo material. A lot of people supported me and now I’m running with it and it’s looking real good.

DA-PROFESSOR: WHAT WAS IT LIKE FILMING YOUR FIRST MUSIC VIDEO?
NATHANIEL: It was official man. I had mad back-up dancers, I had real casted video girls. Everything was a big movement. It was new for me because as a group, we never did something of that magnitude so new to do it solo it let me know that maybe I should be doing this for real.

DA-PROFESSOR: YOU HAVE AN EP OUT. WHAT DOES IT CONSISTS OF?
NATHANIEL: I say it consists of a nice melody CD. You’ve got your slow jams. You’ve got your club joints. You got your I’m on the block joints. A quick collage of songs; I try to give you each side of me in five songs real quick.

DA-PROFESSOR: YOU MENTIONED SLOW JAMS. I LOVE BALLADS (BOTH LAUGH)
WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE BALLADS?
NATHANIEL: We all make love don’t we? (Both laugh loudly) I mean that’ s what it really is. I like that moment and freeze it. I don’t technically write. I kinda record and go along so I try to freeze and record it.

DA-PROFESSOR: I SEE THAT MICHAEL JACKSON WAS AN INFLUENCE BY THE DANCE ROUTINES IN YOUR VIDEO. HOW DO YOU THINK HE MADE AN IMPACT ON MUSIC?
NATHANIEL: I feel that was a big than M.J. did for us as African-Americans. Him going was way too soon. He made me realize that it’s a magnitude of fame and just touching people if you work hard enough and that’s the direction I’m going with.

DA-PROFESSOR: WHICH ARTIST YOU LIKE TO WORK WITH?
NATHANIEL: I would like to work with artists who are making numbers now. That’s making a positive change. Usher cuz I like him. Musiq Soulchild, definitely one of my idols, but let’s go back; Stevie Wonder. I would love to do a joint with him. John Legend. I would love to do joint with John Legend. Rap artists, Hova. He’s from Marcy. I’m from Fort Green. Fabulous.

DA-PROFESSOR: YOU MENTIONED YOU’RE FROM BROOKLYN. THERE HASN’T BEEN TOO MANY R&B ARTIST THAT EMERGE FROM BROOKLYN SINCE FULL FORCE. HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE PUTTING BROOKLYN ON THE R&B MAP?
NATHANIEL: I think it’s a good look. As long as I keep Brooklyn behind me, I think I definitely will fill changed like I got an battery in my back cuz I know I got to hold down. Brooklyn artists come out and they go hard so I’m not gonna drop the ball and mess it up from Brooklyn so I’m going hard.

DA-PROFESSOR: WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN THE NEXT 5-1- YEARS?
NATHANIEL: I see myself an entrepreneur with my own label. My clothing line. My own cologne. Production company. Publishing company One of the promising and provident writers out there. I want to write for everybody out there.

DA-PROFESSOR: HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR ARTISTS TO OWN THEIR OWN PUBLISHING?
NATHANIEL: Yes. Very important. Especially nowadays where labels are trying to take more and give less. If you come up with any ill melodies and you feel like you’re nice and you can come up with your own stuff, go with it! It’s important to know that’s where the money’s at.

MY DAY CHILLING WITH QUEENS BASED HIP-HOP/POP GROUP

DA-PROFESSOR’S ONE-ON-ONE WITH CONCRETE CITY

The borough of Queens have produced many talented and legendary recording artists including Run DMC, Salt-N-Pepa, Kwame, and Onyx, and R&B/Pop/Hip-Hop group
Concrete City plans on keeping Queens on the musical map with their talent, music and professionalism. Consisting of rapper Ace and singer Suave, the duo has been best friends since childhood, which I noticed when they called to confirm our interview and when they met me at the Long Island Rail Road, and spoke on the way to Burger King where they spoke about their friendship, career and the importance of not being placed in a musical box and staying on top of their business.

DA-Professor: How did you get involved with music?

Ace: When we were younger, we had a lot of different types of music we listened to, so I found out he sang, and he found out I rapped and we formed together and figured we can do it ourselves.

DA-Professor: Who are your influences?

Ace: Big L, Beyonce (all laugh) Usher.
Suave: Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder.


Da-Professor: You like some classic soul and old school music.
Suave: Yeah. I like a lot of old school music.


Da-Professor: How did you come up with the group’s name and what does the name represent?
Ace: We got the concrete part because we’ve been best friends since we were little, so if you was to go somewhere and they would see me alone, they would way where’s Suave at? And vice-versa. So we came up with the name Concrete because we have a tight bond together.
Suave: That came from the fact that we’re from New York and we always see the billboards and every time we see it, we’re like ‘we want to be up there one day. We came up with the city part basically we’re from. We basically put the two together.

Da-Professor: I listened to your music and I notice that you don’t have the typical computerized beats. It has a live sound. What made you decide to do that instead of looping?

Ace: We like the live sound of real pianos, organs, drums, violins. (We like to) think out of the box.
Suave: We don’t like to put barriers on ourselves as far as considering us as Hip-Hop and R&B cause we do all types of music as well. A lot of times, we refer to ourselves as a Pop/Hip-Hop group.

Da-Professor: You made an interesting point. It seems that white artists can do R&B and Hip-Hop and be accepted, but when Blacks and Latinos add other genres like Pop and Rock to their music, they sometimes find it hard to be accepted by the media and Black audience. How do you feel about that?

Ace: As for at the Black race, I just think there’s a certain way you have to go about doing it and the certain kind of music you have to make a certain type of determination you have to have with that market. When a white person tries to enter Hip-Hop, a lot of people say that he’s trying to be Black when its just not that; you have to work harder to get into that market.



Da-Professor: You recently performed at LaGuardia Community College. How was that performance?

Ace: It was a good show.
Suave: We had a very good response from the audience. They really took to our performance. They really like the songs. We had people come up to us after the show and shook hands.

Da-Professor: Your song “Best Friend” is hot and I can tell it’s one of our favorites. What was the inspiration for that song? (We all laugh)

Ace: From personal experience.
Suave: I think everybody can relate to it. Everybody been in a relationship or a situation where they had a partner and they met that person. Partner. Friend.

Ace: Best friend.
Suave: Friend. Cousin. Whoever it may be.
Ace Come into the picture and
Suave: and like why didn’t I meet that person first? (Both laugh).

Da-Professor: Another song I like is “So Confused” which deals with bad relationships and domestic violence. How important is it for you to discuss these topics?

Suave: It’s funny you asked that. “So Confused” is one of those songs you put in the Pop category and also with that song, we came up with that song before the whole Chris Brown/Rhianna situation. Even with that being said, it’s funny how that song relates to that topic. That song also talks about domestic abuse in relationships.

Da-Professor: When it comes to domestic violence, we hear about the females getting abuse they have sympathy for them, but when you hear stories about males getting abuse, they brush it off. How do you feel about that?

Ace: Well as far as the brushing off, I think that certain type of guys have a certain amount of pride so they’re not gonna break that pride. They’re not gonna say anything.
Suave: It does exist.
Ace: It does exist.

Da-Professor: In addition to music, what else do you do?
Suave: Model. Act. In our performances, we dance.
Ace: We write all of our songs and produce all of our songs.



Da-Professor: That’s interesting. What made you decide to take control of your music?
Ace: We like having a lot of hands on with our project.
Suave: We like knowing what’s being done because we like what’s being done.
Ace: Even with management. It’s the same thing. We can have a thousand people putting out posters, but at the end of the day, we’re gonna be out there putting up posters too.

Da-Professor: You’re from the borough where acts like Run D.M.C., Jam Master Jay and Onyx. How does it feel being born and raised in this borough and how you’re gonna add to the legacy of Queens musicians?

Ace: I feel blessed to be mentioned in the same town as these people.
Suave: (And) everyone you named, we listened to all of them and you will hear influences from those people in the music.

Da-Professor: It seems that artists who are talented and business-minded intimidate people. How do you feel about that?

Ace: As long as you know what you’re doing and you know everything about what you doing, then you’ll always be a step ahead of the competition.
Suave: You always gotta make yourself knowledgeable of what you’re trying to pursue.
Ace As well as being the artist.
Suave: Exactly.

MISS JODY SHOWED LOVE AND INNOVATIVE STYLE TO THE BIG APPLE

Original Shalamar member and legendary singer/songwriter/producer Jody Watley brought more with soulful singing and hot dance movements that had the crowd out their seats dancing and wanting more.
Her show began with her DJ playing dance classics including The Jacksons’ “Blame It On The Boogie” and Grace Jones’ “Pull Up To The Bumper.” After her band walked on stage, the Grammy-Award winning Icon did her own introduction live and twice, and she strutted on the stage donned in a black sequenced top, with a single black glove, black pants and shoes, and performed her rendition of Chic’s 1979 classic “I Want Your Love” which contained funky breaks, and a medley of her solo hits including “Your Love Keeps Working On Me,” “I Want You” before returning to the Chic classic. This was followed by her house hit “I’m The One You Need” where she posed by playing touching her Natural Afro (yes kids, Miss Jody was rocking a natural do and she has the looks and body that you would die to have) and making us feel that we were at a fashion show. She had the crowd empowered when she performed top charting solo debut “Looking For A New Love ” and “Beautiful” which had the crowd out their seats, clapping their hands and snapping especially when Jody sang the classic Hastalavista baby!”
“Thank you” she said before she launched into “Don’t You Want Me” which contained elements of Classical and Jazz and “Most of All” where she vogued, but one of the show’s was when she performed an updated of her innovative classic “Friends” that was originally did with Eric B. & Rakim twenty years ago.
“There weren’t too many rappers doing songs with singers. Not it‘s out of control” she told the audience before she performed both her and Rakim’s parts before she drove the crowd crazy and had couples dancing when she performed her first timeless ballad “Everything.”
“It’s nothing but a party” she said before she shook a female audience member’s hand and complimented her on her earrings.
“By the way, I love your earrings” she said in a lovely and fierce way.
Jody then introduced her band, and cracked a few jokes with the audience, and surprised the crowd by doing something that we thought that would never happen; no she didn’t ask former Shalamar members Jeffrey Daniels and Howard Hewitt to join her on stage. Instead she asked the she performed a medley of the groups hits and the audience was so shocked that they couldn’t hold their composures, while some fans were too chocked up to join her during impromptu performances of “ A Night To Remember,” “This Is For The Lover In You” and “Make That Move” with the latter being a request when she asked the fans what other of the group’s classics they wanted her to perform. She also spoke about not feeling bad for the mistreatment she received from the group’s former label executive and lead singer.
“When you’re at peace, there’s no anger. But I wouldn’t trade in that experience, because it helped me to be more business minded” she said and received a loud round of applause and ‘that’s right Jody’ from the audience.
She then performed her current single “Candlelight” where she had clips of her classic videos playing on the theatre’s monitor, before she performed tunes from her “Midnight Lounge” album, and showed the crowd how to work a stage while she performed her award-nominated classic “Real Love,” where she strutted, posed and vogued as the band played hot breaks, and laid across the stage.
She then surprised the crowd by performing with her mentor who taught her had to have stage attitude, before she invited some young kids to join her, and their performance was so hot that they could have easily make Madonna (who copied Miss Jody’s style) take a breather. Giving the performance extra spice was Jody performing her hit “Still A Thrill” and Michael Jackson’s classic “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” with her singing lead and the King of Pop’s chant playing in the background. Afterwards, she thank the crowd, shook the audience member’s hands, and received many flowers and gifts (including an autographed copy of longtime fan Donald Peebles’ novel “Hidden Fires”).
Jody Watley’s show was great. It would have been hotter had show included her hits “When A Man Loves A Woman, “ “Affection” “Love Hangover” and tunes from her album “Flower.” Hopefully she will add these songs to her repertoire, but all in all, her show was fabulous and she showed the crowd that a real diva knows how to work a stage and connect with her fans by showing them love.