Meetings, Festivals, and Movies: The Weekend Wrap-Up

Friday:

I got off work and met with Jessica Powers of Slacker Central Productions (www.scpflicks.com). We spoke about future projects that I may be involved in. Before long, I will have worked with every production house in this city, which I feel is a good thing. After that, I ran some errands, and I attended the annual Memphis Gridiron Show. The Gridiron Show is a political satire that raises money for journalism scholarships. I acted in it last year, but my work schedule interfered this year. Everybody from last year gave me a hard time and told me that they wanted me back in it. I am going to try. It was extremely hard just watching the show this year. I found myself performing dance moves and singing songs at my seat. I was happy, because the show was very funny. Kudos to the actors playing Willie Herenton, and the actors that played the Fords. God bless them, but the Fords are such easy targets!!

Saturday:

I got off work, dropped off a birthday gift for "Uncle" Marvin Skinner at his apartment building, and then I went to Perkins on Poplar to eat. A fly landed on my breadbowl salad, and the manager did nothing. He said, "I can't give you a refund or anything, because we have to keep the doors open." That's lame, Perkins on Poplar, very lame. I'm not saying I will never eat in there again, but I think that we need some time apart. Gutless flunkies!!! My buddy Bryan Newcomb (Mail Call, Just the Two of Us) called, he said that he was back in town. He and I checked out the Highland/Walker Spring Fest. It was okay. I saw one of the guys from the group Bowling For Soup. I told him that I loved their song, "1985". I also saw Kennedy from radio station Q107.5. She was wearing a hat and shades, but she was still easy on the eyes. After that, I went to The Vault on Highland. They were supposed to be showing past films from Lil' Film Fests, but by the time I came, they were showing footage from Gonerfest, a rock-and-roll festival sponsored by the Goner Records store. Shout out to Location Scout David Merrill and the Live from Memphis crew. After that, I ran into Patrick Henry (What Goes Around) and his brother at the Lenny's on Highland. Another good buddy of mine, Steve Fox, was working inside the Lenny's. We chilled and talked about rap and other things. Patrick said that he was the trailer Rod and Naseera did for the Black Snake Moan contest, and he was shocked to see my face at the end.
After that, I made it downtown to check out Africa in April. I walked through the maze of vendors with superproducer Paul "P-Dub" West, his girlfriend Denna Greer (What Goes Around), Donovan, his girlfriend, and Terrence and his girlfriend Jill. I get more and more disgusted with Africa in April. It seems like there are less vendors every year. Also, everything is so congested and packed in. And, for the second year in a row, some of my good friends (like poet/rapper Queen Nilaja) were bumped or cut from the show for the more commercial rappers. I loathe Three Six Mafia, but Nakia Shine is cool. I just think that for an Africa in April festival that is honoring Liberia, that we could have some more positive rappers up there. Also, answer me this: You might have a hypeman, the main rapper, and two or three guest stars on the track, that's about five people on stage. I accept that. However, I see no reason at all for 100 of your "closest friends" to be on the stage when you perform. I could barely even see the rapper. Okay, the beat was cool, and I did break out a few moves, but the lyrics were garbage.
After that, I stopped by the booth where the son of one of my former coworkers was working at. I decided to buy a shirt from him, I bough a Marvin Gaye t-shirt. Luckily, it came in 3X...I've gotten big.

After all that excitement, I went to my side of town and watched a movie. It was a chick flick, In the Land of Women. In my defense, Adam Brody was in it. He's like the new millenium geek. He's geeky, but girls dig him. That's the kind of image I aspire to. Of course, somebody had cancer (Meg Ryan's character), and there was talk about seizing the day and enjoying the moment and all that "girl power" stuff, but it had some pretty snappy dialogue. Olympia Dukakis was Adam Brody's grandmother, and her character was a little bit off and had some of the best dialogue. I liked it. After that, I called it a night.

Sunday:

I stayed in the house for a loong time; eventually, I visited Keenon Nikita (Poor and Hungry, Just the Two of Us). I watched a commercial for his new acting school, The Academy. I also watched some music videos that he directed, and I heard his daughter Ashley's new song. The Nikitas are a talented family. We also watched Blood Diamond. We were talking through most of it, though. I eventually left, went to Borders, bought a graphic novel, went to Picadilly's, and headed back home.

Tonight, I am supposed to record some interludes for my good buddy Ennis' mixtape. He's a local rapper/producer named Fathom 9 (www.myspace.com/fathom9thebrotherhoodofdoom). I'm always ready to support artists who have something meaningful to say. Believe it or not, those artists exist in this town. Be easy, readers!!!