Subscribe To It: Black As Night

 

It's spooky season which means the air is getting crisp, leaves are falling, and it's time to sit down to watch some Halloween classics, cult classics, horrible B-movies, and hidden gems. I stumbled onto a new hidden gem available on Amazon Prime Video called Black As Night. Black As Night is a movie about vampires, and I love a good vampire movie. Even greater to see an vampire movie with a majority Black cast which is rare.

Black As Night follows a teenager Shawna played by Asjha Cooper over one weird summer where she notices vampires are lurking in New Orleans. After a traumatic event caused by these new neighbors,she along with some reliable friends set out to enact revenge on the creatures of the night. Headed by the always welcome Keith David who is creepy enough and loves to ham it up.

The movie has some socio-economic and political tones to it while the vampires are being hunted. The city of New Orleans with it's unique style and it's rich history of citizens practicing voodoo is shown some love. The vampires themselves even have a nice backstory that intertwines with the horrors of this country. 

Some of the dialogue is a little cringy, but Shawna will remind you of a modern day Buffy only with more style and flair. It's an relatively short film clocking in under 90 minutes, but it will be worth every minute. Every Halloween from here on out you will turn it on as part of your routine.

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Essence Experience Part 2

  

  On to the concerts which everyone anticipates. Held at the Superdome the concerts consist of the main stage, and several smaller lounges spread out throughout the building with various artist performing. Since I'm lazy I stayed in the main stage area. Let's start with Friday Night, due to working on C.P. time I missed a good portion of Miguel's set. What I saw Miguel put on a great show and he deserved a little more stage time. Next up was uncle Snoop D-o-double G. He performed previous bangers such as “Nuthin’ but a ‘g’ thang”, “who am I”, “ Beautiful”, “Drop it like it's hot”, and “Next episode”. He then invited Fred Hammond and The Clark Sisters on stage and took the crowd to church.

   The headliners for the night were The Roots with special guest’s. I like the Roots but I'm not sure they have enough star power to headline a event of this magnitude. Their special guest were Erykah Badu,Jill Scott, and Anthony Hamilton. Each performed their own set of songs and performed well but the whole headlining act seemed flat. Kirk Franklin made a surprise performance at the end of the night performing “I am here" and another song which slips my mind, before sending everyone home two stepping to “Stomp".

   Saturday night things got better. Again due to my C.P. time and traffic I missed Xscape performing, managed to catch a song and a half. Next up was Queen Latifah after a fire intro video she came out performing several jazz melodies and put the majority of the crowd to sleep. Queen Latifah actually has a nice singing voice but umm it wasn't working. Her set was saved by several special guest she bought in the later end of her set. Brandy, MC Lyte, and YoYo all came on stage for a rendition of “I wanna be down” remix. Next up was Remy Ma who bought mountains of energy for “All the way up”.

    Queens next guest never disappoints with her energy during performances Missy Elliott. Performing hits such as “Get ur freak on”, “Work It”, “Pass That Dutch", and “Lose Control". The mantle was then passed to legends Salt N’ Pepa who bought high energy as well coming out the gate with early hits such as “mic sounds nice" and “I’ll take your man" following up with “Shoop", “Whatta man", and “Push It". Queen returned to rap “Ladies First" with Monie Love, then ending her set with the classic still relevant today “Unity".

    Saturday night belonged to the Queen of Hip Hop Mary J. Blige. She gave her all her  heartbreak and heartache to the crowd, gave the famous Mary dance, and much more. I enjoy Mary's music and this was my first time seeing her concert. She more than held her own on stage belting out songs like “Everything”, “My Life", “Not gon cry", and “No more drama". Hitting them over the head with classic “Real love”, letting the audience know everything will be “just fine" and that we’re a family so let's celebrate a “Family affair”. Mary J. Knows her audience and gives them her all.      

    Which leads us to my personal favorite Sunday Night. I made sure I was on time to see Teddy Riley and the new jack swing experience. The new jack swing era is one of my favorites in music, it paved the way for the r&b/hip hop fusion sound that is so prevalent today and is still underrated. Teddy Riley is surprisingly a good showman and has a stage presence. He bought out guest such as Hi-Five to perform “Like the way" and their rendition of Ella Mae “Boo’d up". That part was a waste Hi-Five has several songs of their own they could have performed. They were  followed by Kool Moe Dee. Next up was SWV who gave us “Weak", “So into you", and “Right here". My complaint against them was they didn't perform “Anything" that is my shit, but cant win them all.

      Next up was Tank performing a rendition of Bobby Browns “My Prerogative” followed by Ginuwine performing “Remember the Time". Next up was Wreckx n effect “Shake your rump" and “New Jack Swing”, MC Lyte came aboard for “Rough Neck" followed by performing Queen Pens “A party ain't a party" to support Queen Pen during a health battle. Sadly at multiple points during this set, the performers were hindered by microphone issues to the point Teddy and Co. hijacked the show until it was fixed.

     Blackstreet next came on stage with Dave Hollister belting out lead on “Don’t leave” and “Before I let you go". Partytime  kicked in when the beat for “No Diggity" dropped and kept going from there. Guy reunited to “Groove Me", “Let’s Chill” “Goodbye Love", and of course “I like".

      The originator Doug E. Fresh stopped by for a never gets old rendition of “The Show", some beatboxing only Doug E. Can do. And a little Doug E. freestyle to let the masses know who he is to “teach me how to dougie".

     The last surprise of the New Jack set was an original new jack star Keith Sweat. Singing “Make It Last Forever" and “I want her" he had all the forty and over woman bout to let loose. The New Jack Swing Experience was a highlight for me and all those artist still got it.

      Fantasia hit the stage next for "Without Me", “Free yourself" and “When I see you". I honestly didn't know the other Fantasia songs, but this was my second time seeing her and she gives 110% at every performance. She sings, she dances or twerks whatever her heart desires at that time, engages the crowd, cracks jokes she does it all. Her set was kind of short and I wasn't sure if that was by design or time constraints. Either way she deserved more stage time

    Sundays headliner the Icon, sister to my favorite artist MJ, Janet Jackson. Despite being in her early 50s Janet still moves flawlessly. Playing hits from Control to Velvet Rope and beyond. Janet let everyone know she still has it and don't sleep on her.

    She performed “Scream" intercutting portions of the video with MJ and they had me on my feet the whole time. Ending the night with “Rhythm Nation" Janet reminded us that times have changed but haven't, and it’s up to the people to really change it.

    Janet's act did not end until after midnight and several people left to either get ready for their flight in the morning or were just tired. While not anyone's fault it was kind of disrespectful to the show Janet was putting on to see so many people leaving at one time during her performance.

    All in all it was a great weekend of celebrating the culture and music. I saw so many legends perform I wouldn't have seen perform otherwise. Looking for some good music and an experience check out Essence.

    

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Essence Experience Part 1

For the past 20 plus years, every first weekend in July New Orleans becomes the epicenter of Black culture. The Essence Music Festival, and not only is it a festival it’s a experience and a celebration of our culture.

 I was privileged to attend Essence this year and it truly is a bucket list item. Let's start with how many black people you see over the weekend embracing positivity and love. Multiple generations come to this event, primarily woman attended by woman a single guy on his A game would be in heaven during Essence weekend. If he doesn't get at least one phone number he needs to adjust his game.

 The Essence convention held every day during the weekend is a overwhelming experience. Backed by some big name sponsors such as Coca Cola, Disney,  McDonalds, Ford, AT&T and Wal Mart among others. The convention contains screenings for new films and television shows, celebrity interviews, independent vendors, meet and greets, workshops on financial literacy, building brands, gaining business, overcoming hurdles in life and so much more.

  Be prepared to walk the expansive space and stand in line for all the FREE stuff being given out. Most the free items and sample sizes given away are items you need. I received 3 bars of deodorant, some soap, and other trinkets from a Dove giveaway bag.

   Most importantly though you saw Woman taking their daughters, granddaughters, or little sisters to Essence and get inspired and learn young just great and beautiful they are.

  Nothing's perfect no matter how well planned out it is, and the Essence convention was no exception. I waited in a ridiculous long line to meet Regina Hall and the cast of Power, only for them to take photos for 20 minutes and maybe meet 15 people. There wasn't much communication provided to folks about what was what. Of course if you asked a staff member a question, you received a different answer than the last staff member you asked. All the meet and greets were confined to one space which didn’t help matters. I'm not sure how meet and greets were handled the rest of the weekend or in previous years, but it was horrible this year.

   There's also small companies and vendors selling their products inside the convention. Paintings, workout gear, fish fry, bbq sauce, statues, and more all available from vendors. Outside the convention there's even more vendors selling t-shirts, hair care products, soap, cd’s and more. There were also promotional giveaways outside the convention. Walk a few blocks away all food trucks selling food you can eat while your on the go.

    Now Essence should really send Universal Studios and the cast and crew of “Girls Trip" a thank you gift. There were so many groups of woman who were clearly inspired by Girls Trip and The Flossy Posse down there. A newspaper article mentioned there were over 500,000 people in New Orleans and it clearly showed. After Monday Morning it looked like a completely different place.

  Along with the girls trip inspired crowd, there’s somebodies ol’ uncle who still think they cool and can dress. Hell going down I felt like I was on soul plane.

  Essence is definitely catered to woman, and they throw a guy a bone here and there. If you like good music the concert is definitely for you. Love Black culture you’ll appreciate the convention's. It truly is a celebration and a bucket list item and I highly recommend attending one year if you can.

  

  

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WrestleMania 34 Experience

    Another WrestleMania is in the books and man did I have a great time. This was my third WrestleMania weekend and I think my experience at WrestleMania 34 trumps my other two experiences. My first Mania experience WrestleMania 27 I didn’t fully know what to expect and how to plan and navigate through the activities. WrestleMania 33 last year I did way more that time around and loved every moment of it. This year WrestleMania 34 was by far my best experience.


    Let’s start my experience off with WrestleMania Axxess and that whole atmosphere. Axxess is the annual fan festival WWE hold’s during Mania weekend. Before Axxess even began I stopped in the Axxess Superstore, which pretty much had every type of WWE merchandise you could think of. Diamond encrusted replica championships that cost $2,000, customized jerseys and hats, slammy awards, authentic turnbuckles, autographed signatures, pop figures, toys, pin collections. If you could think of it they had it, and people bought all that stuff up. I spent wayyyy more than I intended to in that store and WWE knows what they are doing.


    I did 3 of the 6 Axxess events this year and once again it was worth it. In addition to meeting superstars at Axxess, there are replica environments to take photos in, superstar entrances you can replicate, the Axxess staple the foampit, promos, even call a match with a member of the commentary team. The replicas this year included a set of Piper’s Pit along with replica fruit in case you want to smash a coconut over someone’s head. The steel “WCW” letters that were featured on WCW Monday Nitro during its heyday, the ECW entrance included with the brick backdrop and chain link fence. Also included was a trash can in case you needed to smash some heads on your way out. The old school RAW sign was back in addition to the Neon Raw entrance which you could walk through and make your own entrance.


   Every superstar and legend I met this year were all very nice, personable and took a few seconds to be playful or hold small talk to make your interaction memorable. This year I met Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel, Zack Ryder, The Revival, Aiden English, Dolph Ziggler, AJ Styles, Finn Balor, Teddy Long, Jimmy Hart, Cedric Alexander, The Brian Kendrick, Mike Bennett, Tye Dillinger, Tony Nese, Drake Maverick, Gran Metalik, Lince Dorado, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville who I was shocked were so playful and outgoing, and of course I had to meet Naomi again. As with every Axxess expect long lines and a lot of waiting for autographs, I waited in line for WCW legend DDP Diamond Dallas Page, he was very personable with every person in line which held the line up and unfortunately I didn’t get to meet him. I was also unable to meet the million dollar man Ted Dibiase which I was kind of bummed about. I often wondered why Axxess is held in “sessions” as opposed to all day and after observing all the activities going on, I realized it’s to give the staff and volunteers a break to rest and eat. If I’m tired from standing in line for a while I know those guys are tired, they work hard and are unsung heroes to making this process as smooth as it is.


    I also attended WrestleCon for the first time this go round if you’re use to Axxess, WrestleCon could be a bit of a culture shock. WrestleCon is just that..a traditional convention, you buy the initial ticket to get in the doors and then you walk around the room meeting various wrestlers, but to get a picture or autograph it’s going to hurt your pockets. The prices ranged from $10-$50 or even more for a pic or autograph depending on the wrestler, most of them were very friendly even if you didn’t want a pic or autograph. I heard some didn’t want to be bothered unless you were getting one but I didn’t experience any of that. I allocated some funds for this purpose and met D’Lo Brown, Eli Drake, James Storm, X-pac, and Al Snow. But after those funds were gone I was fine with just seeing what the vendors had to offer and doing some people watching. I would have liked to met some more wrestlers but as I mentioned the pockets talk. Even with having to pay to for autographs or pictures I would attend WrestleCon again.  I skipped the WWE Hall of Fame this year as one time attending was enough for me and I hear it was way to long.


   On the wrestling front I went to Impact vs. Lucha Underground Friday night. I regularly watch Impact Wrestling and hope that the tide turns for them as they have a talented roster, I haven’t watched Lucha Underground regularly but based on the crowd reactions I need to start watching it more. The best match of the night to me was LAX vs. Killshot and The Mack, Killshot and The Mack really impressed me. LAX is the best tag team in Impact and if given more tv time could really show people what they have to offer. The main event was Austin Aries vs. Pentagon Jr and Fenix, Alberto Del Rio was supposed to be included in that match but we all know how that went.  I enjoyed the event and hope people that never watch Impact will give it a chance, as Lucha Underground has a new fan in me.

   Saturday night was NXT Takeover, the six man ladder match with Adam Cole becoming the first N XT North American champion was everything fans were hoping for. Aleister Black vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas was very enjoyable and the right guy won. Roderick Strong joining the Undisputed Era was a complete shock and I look forward to seeing how it goes. Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa told a dope, psychological wrestling story, and was hard hitting and vicious. The story of best friends turned enemies is highly relatable, and had a curve ball ending. I just knew Gargano would lose and show up on Raw or Smackdown, so the next phase in their story should be interesting.

    Which leads to the big day WrestleMania 34, the day started off with the “feeling” in the air. A WrestleMania block party was thrown for fans leading up to the big event. Once inside the atmosphere was restless waiting for WrestleMania and for the most part the show did not disappoint, I give it a B-. The opening Intercontinental championship match was probably the best match on the card, followed by Charlotte vs. Asuka. AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke was a good match but maybe expectations from fans was a little to high.

   Overall it was a good show but ran into the issue I complained and several other fans complained about, WrestleMania is too damn long. Including the pre-show it lasted around seven hours, people cannot sustain energy or interest that long. Especially when you have been up all day enjoying some of the celebrations surrounded around WrestleMania. The WWE has to figure out a way to trim the fat back to a respectable time, making everything bigger does not mean it’s better. It has gotten to bloated.

     The experience of WrestleMania is unmatched and I highly recommend any wrestling fan try to bask in the glory of WrestleMania. There is truly a experience that cannot be replicated, I even was part of a focus group which shows just how much work goes into this event. There is a awful lot to do and you'll feel torn between doing things, fearing you'll miss one thing if you do another. That fear often turns out to be true.  I’ll live off the high I experienced for quite some time.

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