went to see femi kuti @ the new afrika shrine on valentine's weekend. the band, including femi's son, played a good hour before he joined them on stage, at which point his son promptly left and they all got really serious.

it'd been ages since the last time i saw him perform, and he seemed so much older and sterner than i remembered. they say jazz musicians' brains are a lot like those of mathematicians, with intricate and complex neural pathways corresponding to the many keys and chord progressions they have to memorize. looking at him perform, the frenzied way he conducted and paced on stage, i could only imagine what must be going on in that mind of his.

here's a little clip of the performance. enjoy! --AL.

Janelle Monae is playing a free concert at Highline Ballroom next Tuesday with DJ Moni. Super excited! And feeling her in "Tightrope."

Haiti, we are still with you.

Attended the most fabulous benefit concert last night, "Lift Every Voice," organized by my sister--a Brown alumna and former director of a cappella group Shades of Brown. There was a band, fancy hors d'oeuvres and all the feel good jams from Marvin Gaye to Beyonce.

It was truly special to see her taking center stage and singing again. She said something very touching at the beginning about how the earthquake survivors, having lost the most important people in their lives, could be seen walking through the streets of Port-au-Prince singing. That if they could sing, then surely she could, too. There was such a tremendous outpouring of support from Brown alumni, family and friends that the grace came full circle.

And Shades alum Gordon Chambers--a Grammy-winning songwriter--who was hawking his CDs at 50% off, gave me the strangest case of Eddie-Murphy-Coming-to-America-Sexual-Chocolate deja vu. LOL!