::RECAP:: PJ MORTON MOVES HOWARD THEATRE

::RECAP:: PJ MORTON MOVES HOWARD THEATRE
Post and photos by Kike Aluko

What a wonderful experience it is to have your expectations not only met, but surpassed, the first time you see an artist in concert! Such was my experience seeing my first PJ Morton concert, February 22, 2014 at The Howard Theatre. The mood of the night was immediately set before the show started with great R&B jams from the likes of Jill Scott, SWV, and Maxwell to get the audience ready for the atmosphere that was to come. The show then started with DC's own natives Black Alley who warmed up the audience with a few originals including "Bad Girl" and "Virgin Suicide," as well as some great covers of Imagine Dragons's "Radioactive" and Pharrell's "Happy," closing their set with their rendition of Beyonce's "Drunk in Love."

After a brief intermission, the time finally came for the unassuming, New Orleans-native keyboardist from Maroon 5 to grace the stage. Opening with "Hard Enough," it was clear that PJ Morton is a master on the keys as evidenced by his quick switching between two keyboards all while maintaining his vocal performance & eye contact with the audience. When he moved to "Heavy" (which features fellow Maroon 5 member Adam Levine), he started a dance party and had the crowd standing up & rocking with him for the rest of the show. Speaking of partying, PJ's lead background singer Josiah "JoJo" Martin is obviously the life of their band's party, with a commanding, fun-loving stage presence and a beautiful voice that is worthy of his own solo projects.

                                  A highlight of the night was when PJ slowed it down with a cover of Bob Marley's classic "Is this Love." Keeping it slow & smooth, a (very talented!) fan's dream came true when he brought her on stage to sing Tweet's verse on "Love You More" -- which she killed so well that she left PJ & his band visibly impressed. Continuing in the slow set, he then performed his hit "Work It Out" during which I overheard another audience member accurately comment that "PJ sings that type of music that makes you want to be in any kind of relationship -- good, bad, or indifferent." PJ's vocals during this gorgeous song were reminiscent of the beautiful & underrated style of Glenn Lewis. He rounded out the slow set by taking us to church with the inspirational & uplifting "Mountains and Molehills."

After the slow set, PJ started wrapping it up with Grammy-nominated "Only One," followed by a heartwarming cover of the Cheers theme song to close out the show. He introduced that final performance as the way he traditionally ends his shows, affectionately calling the audience his extended family. All in all, the night showcased PJ Morton's clear talent at making feel good music that you can groove to -- whether fast or slow -- that's simple, real, & beautiful.

Read more »

::RECAP:: DC LOVE FESTIVAL

::RECAP:: DC LOVE FESTIVAL 
Post and photos by Daniel Harris

It was all love in the nation’s capital as the Washington Convention Center played host to the first annual DC Love Festival this past Saturday evening.

This inaugural celebration brought together DC area vendors, photographers and of course artists and Djs with the hopes of highlighting the best of Washington’s arts community. For many of the area’s up and coming artists, DC Love Fest proved to be the best way to showcase their talents.

“I love performing for my people!” says Del Travar, an up and coming R&B artists from Richmond, VA. “To be on the ticket with the likes of Raheem Devaughn and Marsha Ambrosius is a blessing” the singer/songwriter continued.

The energy was electric as DC Love Fest got underway with DJ Phaze setting the tone for the evening’s performances.  For Washington native John Michael, performing in front of family members and people he grew up with proved to be a great experience.

Michael, who’s single “Sophisticated Lady” hit number 2 on the Billboard’s “Bubbling Under R&B/Hip Hop” chart this past September, says, “It feels good to be here…to be here, performing on the big stage, it feels great.” The Northeast DC born R&B artist goes on to say “I feel like I’m representing for people that are still making good music and there’s a lot of people here at DC Love Festival that are still doing real music.”

There was an amazing show of support by those in attendance for local R&B artists like Kyonte and Lysette Titi, proving that good music still matters on every level of the business. The ballroom floor of the Washington Convention Center literally moved as Black Alley gave the crowd an exciting and eclectic blend of R&B, funk, rock and soul. 

As the evening continued, the always soulful, Marsha Ambrosius took the stage and delivered an incredible performance. With so many of today’s R&B artists focused on charts and numbers, Marsha took her attentive audience back to an era when singer/songwriters drew from their own experiences to create beautiful pieces of work. She even exclaims at one point, “I live these songs!”

 

As the night came to a close and the energy still at a high level, it was hard to see how anyone could take this crowd any higher. Then, DC’s own, Raheem Devaughn took the stage.

With hits under his belt like “You”, “Bulletproof” and “I Don’t Care”, Devaughn has enjoyed national and international acclaim. The love shown to Devaughn by his hometown audience during his performance really shows that there is truly no place like home.

DC Love Fest showcased just a fraction of the great local talent in Washington, DC’s backyard. This festival did a great job of demonstrating the importance of supporting local, up and coming talent.

Special thanks to Tone Walters for always supporting Gypsy Soul and providing us access.

Read more »

::RECAP:: The Broccoli City Fest

::RECAP:: The Broccoli City Fest
Post by Agnes Erskine
Photos by Leo Wilson & Diamond Dixon

Photo by Leo Wilson

The inaugural Broccoli City Festival brought out a large and eclectic crowd with musical tastes ranging from rock to hip-hop. In reverence of Earth Day, the Broccoli City Festival was a health enthusiast’s dream with group Yoga and Zumba sessions on site, food trucks galore, and delectable smoothie concoctions containing only the freshest of fruits.

 Photo by Diamond Dixon

 Photo by Leo Wilson

The tables even had broccoli for centerpieces! DJs Spinser Tracy, Stereo Faith and Jerome Baker, III kept the crowd moving with matchless mixes of old-school, new-school, pop, hip-hop and alternative tunes. Multi-media mogul and DJ Vashtie held it down for the ladies on the 1s and 2s doubling on her duties as hostess of the festival. 

Photo by Diamond Dixon

The DC Fair Grounds served as an awesome venue for the BC Fest, located directly across the street from the Navy Yard Metro Station. As the audience started to pour in, the energy and anticipation for the show start began to build. The Broccoli City Festival brought out a stellar line-up with performances that included amazing artist on the rise (his upcoming project is called The Rise) Locke Kaushal, high energy and humorous band Dale and the Z Dubs and DMV native rapper extraordinaire, Phil Adé. DC’s own Black Alley Band really got the crowd pumped with tracks from their debut project Soul. Swagger. Rock. Sneakers. that included "Virgin Suicide" and "Bad Girl".

 Photo by Diamond Dixon

 Photo by Diamond Dixon

By the time the Black Alley Band had left the stage, the crowd was pumped for the event’s headliner, Big Krit who performed songs a mixture of songs from his EPs 4Eva Na Day, Live From the Underground, and R4 The Prequel. For this being the first ever Broccoli City Festival the outcome was pretty commendable. Not only was the show and purpose of Broccoli City Festival incredible, it didn’t even rain! Time and patience will only tell what kind of Earth Day fabulousness Broccoli City has in store for next year. 

Make sure to keep up with everything BC by liking them HERE. Special thanks to Marcus Allen for extending the love and access.

To view a lot more photos click HERE and follow us on Instagram @gypsysoulent

Read more »

::RECAP:: Kicks for Kids Charity Shoe Drive and Concert

Meek Mill

::RECAP:: Kicks for Kids Charity Shoe Drive and Concert
Photos courtesy of Everyday Lavan

This past Sunday on December 18th, Gypsy Soul had the opportunity to attend the fifth annual Kicks for Kids Charity Shoe Drive and Concert. This program, which was created by DMV tastemaker Ian Callender is a collaborative community effort to help support children less fortunate or in need in the DC Metropolitan area by way of sneakers.

Ian & Sunni

WPGC's Sunni and WKYS's DJ Iran hosted the event, while DJ Heat and DJ Lil Mic were the masters of music for the evening. Attendees ranged from all different age groups that all came together for the purpose of serving their community. Harmony Musik and The Board Administration's First Lady MZ Sasha opened the show and were received well by the crowd.

Up and coming artist Pro'Verb also graced the stage and did quite a few tracks including "Don't Be Mad", "Get Money" and "All Up in My Face". Uptown XO and Gods'Illa took to the stage as well and performed songs from their latest mix tapes, and the crowd went crazy when King Pen Slim performed "Goosebumps".

Gods'Illa

Another dope highlight of the evening was the rap cypher that featured local rappers from the DMV. Adversary also known as our local Mr. 106th & Park killed his freestyle and had incredible energy. The cypher definitely displayed how the DMV is making impressive strides in the music scene and there are a host of artists in this area with impeccable talent. In on other words - we got next.

For the main event, Meek Mill did a brief, but awesome set where he opened with "Tupac Back" and closed with his current hit singles "House Party" and "Imma Boss". Black Alley closed the show and they were well worth the wait. During their set celebrity artist and great friend of Gypsy Soul Demont Peekaso did a live painting and as always the band delivered an awesome performance. Their lead singer always brings it on stage and her energy is contagious.

Overall, the Kicks for Kids Charity Shoe Drive and Concert was a great event. By coupling music with acts of service the program was able to donate 500 pairs of shoes ultimately impacting a child this holiday season.

Check out a few pictures below from the Kicks for Kids Charity Shoe Drive and Concert.

Black Alley


Harmony Musik



Pro'Verb

King Pen Slim

Demont Peekaso

Read more »

::RECAP:: A Subculture Emerges with Eric Roberson & Others

Photos by Edith Williams

The adventures of Gypsy and Soulistic Diva aka Sistahofsoul, ah---what a way to start the week off right! ERRO or better known to most as Eric Roberson with Black Alley and Levi Stephens put on a SHOW at U Street Music Hall---you hear me? Subculture was a show that gave me food for my soul and I'm sure there were others at the venue that probably felt the same way. Opening Act, Levi Stephens brought a some acoustic funk to the event. At first listen, his music reminds me of Hootie and the Blowfish or Tracy Chapman.




Stephens leads in with "Sorry for the Pain I Caused You" and transitions into Aaron Neville's "Keep on Using Me". Stephens acoustic skills are mezmorizing and let's not even go into how he ripped it with his rendition of Al Green's "Love and Happiness" and transitioned into Musiq Soulchild's "Miss You". Performance was crazy and ended in a rock out session with the band. If you're looking for something a little out of the norm, check out Levi Stephens album "This Way".

*Gypsy Note this is my type of music! Levi and band provided an array of songs and their energy was pure and authentic. Baltimore should be on the look out.


Still captivated by the performance of Stephens and that rock out session, I try to mellow out and calm my excitement for the Eric Roberson performance. Just when I thought I had calmed down a bit, Black Alley takes the stage and takes it to another level. B.A. opens with "Runaway Boy", "Raise the Bar", "Push Play" with a transition into Jay-Z and Usher's "Hot Tottie" and then they take it up a notch further with "Tight Rope" by Janelle Monae. Band R.O.C.K.E.D it! I love how Black Alley always mixes in that DC GoGo Flavor to get the crowd hype. In saying that, it just wouldn't be right if they didn't end it with their rendition of Wale's "Pretty Girls".




Now at this point, I'm so hype I can't focus and I'm trying hard to remain calm given the fact that I am in arms length of the stage. I don't want to have security escort me out for getting too live and grooving way too hard, although, the guy on my left probably rocked a little harder than I. (Gypsy pointed that out several times during the show) So---I'm now ampted to the 20th power and the anticipation is killing me but Eric is still not ready to hit the stage.

*Gypsy note...yo dude was about to get whip lash he was movin so hard. The is the second time seeing Black Alley and I liked them the first time, this time...love! They rocked it...HARD*


Iyanna hits the stage and performs a rendition of "Sweet Love" by Anita Baker to ease the crowd and get us ready for ERRO Her performance was great might I add and too bad we couldn't get a little more vocals from her.

WHAT I HAVE BEEN WAITING ALLLLLL NIGHT FOR!!!

ERRO hits the stage opening with "Newness". LOVE LOVE LOVE this song---- For those of you who don't know it, song discusses being caught up with a new love interest and unaware of the REAL on that individual. I'm sure you all have been there.
Eric then leads into "Can I borrow You (Walk Away)" where he asks a woman to groove with him and pretend as though she's his for the night even though she's with someone else. Love the the instrumentals on this cut. Skip a few songs and he goes to "Dealing" which normally features Lala Hathaway but in the absence of Ms. Hathaway, Eric calls up an audience member to perform her verse. The young woman did a pretty good job with Eric encouraging her through the verse.



Eric leads in with uuhh hummm GRAMMY NOMINATED "Still" and finishes off with "She" a love ballad. Song is touching and makes you melt. I would give you all the FULL blown list of songs performed during the concert, however, I want you to feel slightly jealous you weren't there. (Wink) Overall---this was a show you really SHOULDNT have missed. The vibe from the audience was sick and the bands were off the hook. I know for a fact one of the drummers broke his sticks so the show was LIKE THAT!

*Gypsy Note: Attention readers...Eric Roberson Shows NEVER Get Old...we hope to see you at the next one!*

Well---signing off and again, next time Eric Roberson is in town, you might want to make sure you get that ticket!

Gypsy Soul cant wait to see what Zody Quan & Alley House Ent have in store for 2011 with the Subculture Series!

Until later---you know where to hit me @Sistahofsoul

Soulistic Diva

Read more »