Performances, Filming, and Love (Ugh!): the Wrap-up of Last Week

Wednesday:

I got off work, and I rushed to the Hattiloo Theatre (www.hatilootheatre.org) to catch the taping of "Soul Cities", a new show debuting in the fall on Vh1 Soul. On Wednesday and Thursday, "Soul Cities" was in Memphis. The subject of Wednesday night's show was Tonya Dyson, a local soul singer. I have known Tonya for several years. She is a cool, intelligent young woman. She is also the founder of neosoulville.com, a website that lets people know about different events involving soul singers in Memphis. I had forgotten to RSVP, so I thought that I would have to settle for hearing the audio in the lobby. However, as time approached, I saw that all of the RSVP list had not shown up. I then paid an extra $5 and got into the very packed theater. It was a short concert, but Tonya and her band "Green Onions" rocked it!! I enjoyed when they started singing "One More Chance" by Notorious BIG. Tonya even sang a little bit of Biggie's rap. They soon stopped joking around and segued into singing Jill Scott's "A Long Walk" over the Biggie beat. Classic!! Tonya's original songs were also great. Shout out to David, a guitarist in the band. I have seen him playing in different bands around the city. Shout out to fellow actor Nia Glen-Lopez, who was in attendance. Shout out to my friend Dorian (long time, no see), Adrion, Harry Cash, and everybody else who I'm cool with. Shout out to Michael Joyner, formerly of the group Bella Sun. I bought his solo EP. Shoutout also to spoken word artist Hardface. I bought his CD as well. of course, extra special shout out to Executive/Artistic Director of the Hatttiloo Theatre, Ekundayo Bandele. Oh, yeah, Nelson George is the host of "Soul Cities". He is a hip-hop author and is a frequent panelists on talk shows when they discuss hip-hop. After the show, I told him that I enjoyed his book Hip-Hop America. I also told him that I appreciate the way he carries himself, showing them that hip-hop can be intelligent. He probably thinks I'm weird, but I had to tell him that.


Thursday:

I met up with DeAara Lewis and Rod Pitts and filmed something related to the film Tricks. I can't get into detail, but it will probably wind up on the DVD as an extra in the near future. It was good to work with those two again. It was also good to see DeAara's mom again. She's humorous and honest.

Friday:

I chilled out at home and watched wrestling. Markus needed some alone time.

Saturday:

I got my hair cut in the morning, then I went to my cousin Wysteria's wedding. She married one of my classmates from high school, Charles McGowan. The wedding was packed, and I had to watch from the back. That was a good thing, as it gave me time to recover from the anxiety attacks I almost get at weddings now. I guess my fear of dying alone kicks in. I held it back, for the most part. It was a good ceremony, but then the reception was held at my high school, Fayette-Ware Comprehensive High School. I hate that place. Everywhere I turned, I was reminded of my biggest failures, particularly in the realm of physical confrontations. I went to the bathroom, and memories of being bullied came bak to me. I walk the hallway, bad memories. You get the idea. I was in a bit of a foul mood, and sitting next to my mom didn't help. She began correcting my posture and all this, and I said, "Mama, I love you to death, but I'm grown." Yeah, I was probably wrong, so what? I also saw girls that I thought were cute, but didn't care for me. Some were still cute, and stll didn't care for me. I didn't speak to a lot of people because we weren't cool back then, so what's the point of faking now? I did speak to Wysteria and Charles and helped clean up. Yay love.

I went back home, changed clothes, and I watched The Dark Knight. I enjoyed it a lot, but, boy, is it dark!! That movie was a little disturning. Heath Ledger went all out as Joker. As an actor, I was a little jealous, but then I began to wonder about the effects of getting that deep into a character. I thought the film was a little long, but I gave it 4.5/5 on flixster.com.

Sunday:

I took part in 3 podcasts at Comics and Collectibles. I was on the Geekland Podcast (www.geeklandpodcast.com), the Entertainment Overload Podcast, which is free on itunes, and a special Batman Podcast. Shout out to Justin Vactor, Willie, and Ben. We talked comcis, argued TV shows, and they gave me crap for not giving The Dark Knight a five-star rating. Check those shows out when you can.

Afterwards, I went over my good friend Shomari's house and watched the WWE pay-per-view event, Great American Bash.

As of right now, I am scheduled to shoot additional scenes for a film tentatively titled What I Love About Concrete (working title), a film I started last year. Hopefully, my smaller size will not disrupt continuity too much. Be easy, readers!!