My One Night Stand With Trey Songz....

This past Tuesday I went to the Highline Ballroom to see Trey Songz perform for his album release concert. Although I've never bought one of his cd's for the first time I was definitely paying attention to him. I'd gotten a hold of his free mixtape "Anticipation" some time ago and loved every minute of it. If you haven't heard yourself it's definitely worth a quick search on the internet to find the free download.

I've never been to the Highline which is located downtown on 16th Street. It sits, awkwardly, next to a Western Beef grocery store. The venue is small but honestly there isn't a bad seat in the house which worked out well for me since I arrived much later than I'd initially planned and the line was wrapped around the corner by the time I did show. Of course, by then, it was virtually impossible to get to the front of the stage. DJ Self dj'd the event and if his set was any indication of what the rest of the show would be like I figured I was in for a big treat. Unfortunately, I was wrong. But first something else about DJ Self - I'd definitely go to any party where he's spinning. He's funny, entertaining and like I said he can put a set together that keeps the dancefloor packed, but I digress. .

Now back to Trey... I think I should, at least, preface all of what I'm about to say with "I'm certain that every thing was not 100% in his hands. Therefore, adequate blame must also be placed on the likes of his band, manager and the sound egineer who occupied the booth." I say this because DJ Self's set sounded perfect - Trey's, not so much. Here I was thinking I was about to hear and see the mastermind behind "Anticipation", someone who I felt had the sustinct possibility of bringing r&b/soul music back to where it belongs - sure underneath all soul songs are about love and sex generally speaking but the greats like Teddy Pendergrass, Marvin Gaye and Luther sing it with such tenderness and clever yet simple word play that it lasts through time. And I thought I'd found my guy...you can only imagine how suprised I was when a total stranger showed up in his place.

When he first hit the stage I could tell immediately that something was wrong with the sound...it seemed somehow muffled and muted, even with the band playing live fifteen feet in front of me. Didn't they have a sound check? Couldn't they hear it too? If they did they kept right on playing, pretending everything was fine. Trey Songz comes out looking cute enough. Donned in mostly black (slacks, shirt and jacket) he immediately goes into the intro to one of his songs but its all off. The tone, the band playing under water,his mic being too low...nothing meshed. I immediately wished he had back up singers. Now mind you the ladies up front are still screaming there heads off. I see a couple of people looking round like WTF but for the most part the audience was in it with him.

From every obviously contrived hand rubbing his jaw and chest to the even more comspicuous shouting of "It's getting hot in here!" while unbuttoning his shirt, **insert screams**, Yes they were feeding right into it - screaming louder than the muffled band at times. I wound up being totally distracted from Trey when the drummer and piano guy finally figured out how bad things were and trying, witout success, to straiten it out. If it weren't for the two shots of Patron and the Carona I had I might've gave up halfway through the set and left but I braved it out for the conclusion. I mean I did pay $30 bucks for this. Around this time I realized that Mary J Blige is sitting in the balcony watching as well. Yall know how Mary do. Sitting all cool behind dark shades. She wasn't dancing though. Not at all from what I saw.

Anyways, he did sing a wide selection of songs. He did a couple old joints I'd never heard of before getting into his older radio hits and of course you can't help but sing along at times. You cant deny it, he does have some hot joints under his belt. He also did some songs off the new album "Ready" and his mixtape "Anticipation". In the end I just couldn't get pass the horrible sound system and the wack, over exaggerated show that Trey put on. I felt like his heart wasn't in it. He looked like he'd done and said those exact same things at every show since he started this tour. He seemed to be simply going through the motions, not really connecting to the us, the audience, at all.

I laughed out loud when towards the very end, in true cheesey fashion, Trey balls up his sweat soaked long sleeve button-down and holds it high into the air. The sweaty ladies go wild!! Some are already jumping as if that'll give them a head start. "Whoever gets this has to sleep in this tonight!" he says, "So who wants it?!" Now, is it me or is that just nasty! I'm sorry but that's some "repugnant sh*t?" (c) Ordell Robbie - Jackie Brown.

Exuse me. Your telling me that you want me to put your sweaty rags on my freshly showered body and then lay in my clean and comfortable bed...and sleep....really? I mean who comes up with this stuff?! It was too much. Yet I couldn't turn away until I watched him toss it into the audience where, I'm sure, it was litterally ripped to shreads. Or so I presume....I honestly didn't stay long enough to witness the aftermath. I didn't have the heart. I didn't buy the cd either. They were selling them in the lobby for $15 when they know perfectly well you can get them for $9.99 at Bestbuy. *smh*

I left through the exit doors feeling cheated. All I wanted was to see the sexy, confident, R&B ladies man with so much potential that I'd imagined "Trey Songz" to be when in actuality he simply tried his best to pretend to be. The point is that I was highly dissapointed in an artist that I believe has extraodinary capabilities to be so much more. Please get your act together baby bro and tighten up your team, your only as good as those who surround you.

And My Weekend Begins...

This weekend started with the BET's Rising Icons taping with Ryan Leslie at the CBS Studios in the city. I was never a huge fan of his but I liked the few singles they've played on the radio (i.e. Diamond Girl, Addiction) so when I had the opportunity to hit up the taping I thought "why not?"

Of course it being a BET production they weren't prepared or professional but I guess to be honest with myself I new it wouldn't be. They told us to get there just before nine pm and that Ryan would be on at ten. Of course he didn't come on til 11:30pm but at least they tried to keep us preoccupied in the casting room with free sandwiches and non -alcholic drinks (yea, I know). They also asked random questions about BET's rising icons and offered up shitty gift bags if you answered correctly. I actually won one and found a "The Wire" t-shirt, a scully, a hat, a couple cd's of artists I've never heard of and and old ass Kelly Rowland dvd. If it weren't for the fact that I'd met a couple of people who weren't only cool and good looking but also intelligent enough to hold a decent conversation I probably would have left after the first hour passed.

Once they let us into the room where the show would actually take place things pepped up considerably. They proceeded to strategically place us where they wanted us to go but me and a new found friend (who had been there since 5pm) made a b-line for the white sofas. An audience coordinator asked to place me in front of the stage but then realized I was dressed too casual. I was glad to stay on the sofa. The veiw couldn't have been better.

For the most part it's not a show it's a television production so the artist only performs four songs, though he sings them all twice and they have us clap randomly as to get shots for editing purposes I presume. I can say Ryan Leslie has an abundance of energy that clearly radiates out into the audience. He's thinner than I expected but his swagger is multi-demensional and he's pretty funny. I can tell he loves what he's doing and watching him in process is quite entertaining. I'll definitely check for him in the future and watch his career with a curt eye.

We were leaving by 1am and so I texted my homey Village to see if he could get me into club Mansion (M2) since he throws a party there every Friday night. He told me to come through and I partied there until four in the morning. The crowd was just a tad bit ghetto, but the dj was aight and after a few drinks I didn't notice. Of course it was pouring by the time we left and I'd parked a block away so rather than run to my car and risk breaking my neck running in four inch heels I decided it would be smarter to simply walk. Of course I was drenched when I reached it but at least I had my good old Wire t-shirt from my BET gift bag to dry off with.

All in all the night was cool enough. Nothing too crazy happening either way and just tipsy enough to fall instantly into a deep sleep afterwards. Who could ask for more.