This weekend, I accomplished this goal twice over by attending concerts at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. I'm going to share my favorite of the two in this blog.
On Friday, my BFF-R and I went to see Mary J. Blige perform for Black Heritage Night.
I'm a fan of Mary J's, but I would be lying if I said I knew ALL of her music or was her biggest fan of all time. However, since she released, No More Drama years ago, I have been so moved by her. When I see her perform on TV I am always taken aback - she dances, she moves, as she sings the words pour through her whole body and you can see the passion she feels. I teared up when she sang that song, just like I do whenever I see that video.
Another enjoyable part of the evening was watching these two women who were seriously shakin' their booties, groovin' to the music. My BFF-R actually captured it on her ... well I'll call it a video camera. It is one of those itty bitty video recorders that looks like a cell phone but I can't remember the brand. However, I'm going to ask her to send me the video so I can post it here. Hilarious is all I can say. Oh, and impressive!
But the most moving part of the evening was when she sang one of my two favorite songs, I'm Going Down. The music started, and I told my friend R excitedly which song it was. I'm not sure if Mary J. even got any lyrics out or not but I thought her sing, "Got time," before the audience took over singing, "since you went away boy / I ain't got no plans, no no no / And the sound of the rain / Against my window pain / is slowly, slowly driving me insane..." It was so loud and powerful - and beautiful. I loved that this song that so moves me seems to have the same affect on thousands of other people. Mary just held the microphone out and the look of pride and also still a sense of awe at the power of her music shown on her face. Thank goodness for the huge HD screens so those of us in the nosebleed section could see it, ha!
The crowd sang the whole song. I was singing so loudly and passionately that these women next to me stuck a pretend microphone under my mouth. That was pretty funny - and I imagine it might look funny to them to see this woman - this pasty white woman who is regularly told she needs some sun - to be singing the Queen of R&B Hip Hop's music with such joy, and hopefully with sufficient of soul (but I'm hoping not so much that I screeched out the sound of the crowd on R's video recording!). I can't help it, that song just moves me.
As I'm sure is often the case, she finished the night with what is probably her most famous song, the one whose lyrics I posted as my status update for Friday and my other favorite - Family Affair. How can you not get up and dance when you hear that? I play it over and over in my car - it is FUN (and I sing, "Michelle J is in the spot tonight" because, you know, it's all about me.It was a great way to leave people wanting more! And it was a great night.
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