TOP 5 REASONS INDIE ARTISTS ARE LATE TO THE STAGE

This message is for the fans that are at the shows wondering what is taking the artist so long to get onstage. Now I will say, some of us are divas. I won’t say names. Feel free to fill in the blanks… But for the most of us we are down to earth people doing music. So back to why its close to midnight and I am no where near the stage. Here are the top 5 reasons an artist is late. Oh yeah, this list has been compiled from my 5 years of constant touring.
1. The promoter doesn’t have your money, and is trying to give you a personal check. Now let me say that this is a big no no. Take that check and get on that plane if you want to and you will find it bouncing like a baby on your knee. Unless you have a relationship with the promoter, you should never set foot onstage with out half of your pay if not all. Or be prepared to give a free show.

2. The sound system at the venue is complete trash, so the band stays till damn near show time trying to get the amps and mics to work properly. So as you’re walking in, we are walking out to go wash up at the hotel. Most times we go straight to sound check from the airport, so I’ve mastered the art of ironing my clothes, shaving, taking a shower, getting dressed, calling my girl, and doing vocal workups all in 20 minutes.

3. Nobody picked us up, and we are sitting in the hotel lobby twiddling our thumbs. I can’t tell you how often this happens. The promoters and their staff have a lot on their plate, so once doors open they may very well forget that the performers are no where near the stage. So by the time they get their car or get their hommie to swing thru, the night is pretty late. And for those who are wondering why we don’t have limos picking us up, please read the title of this blog. It reads “Life of an Independent Artist”. And scene…

4. This one is funny, but happens a lot. We show up, warmed up and ready, only to find out the promoter has decided to put 3 opening acts on before us. Now I’ve been the opener plenty of times, and a lot of times I go over the time I am allotted, so I don’t trip much.. but now you know.

5. This doesn’t happen much, but it does happen. At times one of the band members are M.I.A. With the late shows, the early flights, and rock star mentality there are times we go days with a good night sleep. So it is very possible for a band member to get to their hotel and completely pass out. Now that’s some good sleep when you don’t hear your phone, alarm clock, wake up call, nor the entire band knocking and kicking on your door.

RIGHT BEFORE I WALK OUT THE BLUE ROOM

I just finished recording a new song called “Head To Toe” that will probably get us (the band and i) in a lot of trouble. You know Curt was practically serviced onstage in Chicago a couple of weeks ago. Hahahaha.. Lord I wish I had that pic in my computer. I will post it one day. Well there’s no telling what that woman would do to poor Curt when we play this song. You’ve been fore warned.
Speaking of Curt, please say a prayer for him.. He and his band, Franklin Bridge are competing in the band version of American Idol. It started with hundreds and now it is down to 20. I think they can win it, or do extremely well in general.. the show airs in October, so I will be pulling for my hommie. Now if we can just get him thru airport security without the machine always going off.. Sometimes I wonder if he has metal nipple rings or something.. hahahaha.. okay I am bugging.. let’s move on.

The road has been tough lately. The band has had there little scats, and I hope peace rains over us soon. Especially with a European tour and a Japan tour coming up in a couple of months.. At this pace someone is gonna get shanked like that cat in American Me. I think a lot of the problem has to do with a tough traveling schedule. For some reason these promoters keep booking us on super early flights. You know how tough it is to do a show, get to your hotel at 3:30am only to pack and head to the airport at 6am? We’ve slept more on the planes and stage equipment, than in our hotel rooms. I tell you one thing, those neck pillows you can buy at the airport are my prize possession. I can’t even get on a plane with out one now. Phoenix Arizona, thank you for opening your doors to me and my band. I had a great time performing my first show there. Next time we will come during the winter. Hahahaha.. Never have I seen it 96 degrees at 5:30 in the morning. Now that was impressive.

I’m very honored to be nominated for a Black web blog award. Just as surprised at that as I was with the BET awards. Writing my blog has been a pleasure, and I plan to dig deeper as I go forward. I’ve always kept a journal, so writing is one of my favorite hobbies. Some of my other hobbies are collecting sneakers (Raheem and Peekoso, I will see you at the FLY AWARDS), collecting pens and pads. (I only use two pad companies to write on. One is MUJI, and the other is IFS in NY) My birthday is coming up so feel free to send care packages to PO Box 37, Franklin Park, NJ 08823.. Just kidding people. I think.. Well I wont curse you out if you send me some pads. Ok don’t.. Wait, I don’t want to tell you what to do.. You make your own decision, but you know..

I HAVE TO BE UP IN 5 HOURS

Okay so I should be in the bed sleep. Well I’m actually in the bed, but obviously I am not sleep. I have to leave at the crack of dawn to pick up the band and head to NY for a flight to VA. Today I found out that my blog was nominated for entertainer blog of the year. That is dope and quite unexpected. Hmmmm, do I have a chance at winning? I digress.. Often I get busy, but truth is I’m rarely as busy as people think I am. With that said, I am probably busier than I have been in ages at the moment. For the last two days I have honestly been flustered trying to take care of it all. At the same time giving my poor assistant hell. But he cant complain, cause I’m right there in the trenches too. New music, new shows, band rehearsal, musician replacement, artwork approvals, credit approvals, purchasing the flights for the UK tour we are doing in October. (damn that hurt the pockets) where was i? Interviews, traffic court (yeh at 730 this morning), conference calls, mixing sessions, and I have to have 2 songs somehow recorded this weekend while I am in virgina and phoenix. I don’t think that’s necessarily going to happen though. But I will try. That’s all we can do people is try. *thinks to himself if this entry is deep enough to deserve a blog nomination..*
I was talking to a fellow artist the other day who was quite discouraged and a little down. The business will do that at times and she said she considers giving up at times. I wish I could have reached thru my blackberry and shaked the sh*% out of her, but I understood where she was coming from. What I told her is something that has helped me from time to time, and hopefully may help someone else out there. With anything there is nonsense, struggle and excuse my French but bullsh#@. Before you give up doing what you love realize that you will still have to deal with nonsense at times doing something else. So you might as well stick it out and fight thru it doing what you love. Let me tell you, I am not built to sit behind a desk wearing a tie every day. That maybe for someone, and they may love it. But Fam it aint my calling. So I will eat the stress that comes with the business of music. Let me give you an example. Say I love a woman with all my heart and she completes me. When I am with her I feel like superman, but her mom gets on my nerves and treats me like clark kent. If I love her and she is my everything, I will eat her mom’s nagging before I settle for a woman I don’t love who has a cool mom. Did I go too far? Let me bring it back to neutral. I love my job. I love the opportunity I have been given to share with the world. At times it kicks my tail, but in the words of the infamous Bill Withers, “If it feels this good being used, come on and use me.”

This Week

I’ve been dieing to write on here. I don’t want to give you the “wow I’m so busy” spill, but I really may apply at the moment. Outside of touring (I just got home from doing two shows with Kem, Chaka Khan, and Rachelle Ferrell in Detroit), trying to chase these songs out of my head, there’s a business we have to run. If we don’t take care of the business, the rest of the stuff wont happen.
We are putting together a European tour in October that I am quite excited about. To celebrate that I am releasing an album in Europe called “the Collection”, which will pretty much be like a greatest hits album out there.. but I am adding two new songs on there as well.. well that’s the plan that is. I say that because I haven’t written them yet. But I do have several ideas that I am very excited about. Anthony David is doing the tour with me, as well as my Japan tour that’s in October also. So I came up with the idea that he and I do a song together. All of it sounds great right.. now we just have to find the time to do it. I just got back today, and will be doing the family thing tomorrow. My dear sweet Aunt Ann is in town from North Carolina. Weds and Thursday I will be having band rehearsal to get Randy Bowland, my other guitar player up to speed, because Curt is competing in this new show that’s the band version of American Idol. Pray for him guys. I think they are gonna do very very well. So that’s the week, because we fly to VA on Friday to do a show with Erykah “My Boo” Badu. Just kidding shawn, but have you seen that fatty? I digress.. So somehow I have to find time to record 2 songs in between everything. The ballad is half written already and I think it is nothing but trouble. This other idea I have is a Smoke Signals song called “Pill”. I don’t know if the Eric Roberson audience is ready for that one yet. evil grin
Well for now I guess I need to get some sleep so I can have half a brain tomorrow.

Random Thoughts From My Chi Hotel Room

Last night we did Chicago. Crazy was an understatement. A woman in the front tried to service Curt while he played his solo. Hahahaha.. Okay that’s an exaggeration, but I do have blackmail pics if Curt ever wants to get out of line. It was an all white event, so the crowd looked beautiful.. Wait that sounds racist. I meant the people were all wearing white. There were a couple of white people there as well and they looked beautiful too.

It is 3:15pm, and I am still in the bed. This hotel bed feels incredible. I will be on vocal rest until I have to make a public appearance later today. I’ve already drank 2 liters of water, 64 ounces of Gatorade, and peed 3 times today, and will probably have to go again in a few. Yeah it’s not a game. But its one of the things I have to do in order to be 100 percent when I get onstage.

Tonight we were going to surprise Chicago by opening for Rahsaan Patterson. We were gonna do it for free just cause we were staying in town for the day. We made just one request. That they not advertise me performing at all, so not to upset the promoter of last nights event. Well sure enough they sent out an email blast, sure enough the promoter was pissed, and sure enough we aren’t performing there tonight now. Go figure.. It really was a simple thing.. Just keep quiet and we all get a chance to have fun. So I guess the band and I are gonna go bowling.

Hmmm. What else? The Soul Summit last week was cool. The people that came enjoyed themselves, and gained some knowledge so I was happy about that. Oh yeah I flew to LA to perform on Michael Baisden’s new late night show coming out on TVone. It was dope. Proud of him. Oh yeah, his band leaded is Morris Day.. Yo Morris Day MAN!!!! Show airs in October I believe, so check it out.

I’m surprised my phone is not ringing off the hook right now. One thing about me, I never check my messages. Ever. And for some reason, people keep leaving them. I will listen to it weeks later when my mailbox is full.. But hey I’m an email cat. What can I say.. That’s what the game has made me. E@#&*?@aol.com. It really ain’t that hard. True confession.. My girl has a boy’s name, “Shawn.” But she’s all woman. But when I’m on the plane and she calls me, and the name Shawn pops up on my screen and I answer and say “hey babe, I miss you,” I wonder if the person sitting next to me is looking at me side eyed. Hahahaha.. I love y’all.. Let me get up and get dressed..

WUTANG LOVES THE KIDS

07/07/07
3:35AM
What a week. I spent most of the week on a cruise, where my cousin got married. I had a great time chilling and catching up with my family. Of course I ate too much. I won 50 dollars on the blackjack table. Got a tan. Well as much as a light skin man could get.
So I flew home today (Friday) to do a concert in Philly. It was an out door concert at Penns Landing. Free to the public. And most importantly, thank God it didn’t rain. The concert was great. The crowd was beautiful and energetic. We sold a ton of cds and had 5 full pages done on my email list. Can’t complain about that at all. My parents sold my cds, and Shawn was my assistant for the day. She was a cute one at that.. Anyway what really stood out to me, and what usually stands out to me at these concerts are the kids. I cant tell you how many parents are fans of my music, which in turn makes their children fans. And because our shows are usually at night at clubs they rarely can attend. So a show like today is always special. I love kids in general. Especially fat babies. (big grin) so to see hundreds of kids dancing and having a good time is always a big lift. I took a lot of pictures with them today and each one was special in their own right. Some that stick out to me were my dear 5 year old friend Jaden from Delaware. Possibly my biggest fan, and one of my favorite people in the world. As soon as I saw him he said, “I love the baby song.” First words out of his mouth. Hahahahaha.. and how about Dena’s (from the ERF fam) little sister, who was 6. She said that I was beautiful. What 6 year old says that? Every other person in that cd line was introducing me to their child, who loves my music. I can’t tell you how much that means.
As if things weren’t great already. I stop by the mailbox on the way home, (I haven’t been home since Monday) and inside it is an original copy of Madhouse 8. I forgot that I ordered it off of Ebay sometime before I left. This was a jazz album that came out on Paisley Park around 85. Though they shot a video or two, the album produced no music credits, so it has always been greatly rumored that Prince played all the instruments. I had this album memorized note for note when I was younger. Anyway I could not find this album for the life of me, and finally bit the bullet and paid the price on Ebay for it. So it was here waiting for me, and now at 3AM I am up listening to it for the second time as I type this.
Okay so these pictures are not from today’s concert. Just random pics of kids.
1. Jaden (not to be confused with my nephew by the same name) at my Delaware concert.
2. One of the fattest babies I’ve ever seen. I stopped the line to go get her, and later found out she was my cousin. Adorable.
3. Kids at my Philly CD signing at Latte Lounge.
4. Brother Stark’s daughter repping the vault shirt
5. Shawn’s nephew Cedric, and neice Christina (My Stinka Pinka) at my Plainfield concert.

I was going to add more, but I could only add 5 pics..

THE BET AWARDS

Ok, so this was my first time coming to the BET Awards. As you may know I was nominated for BET J’s Cool Like That Award, along with Gerald Levert, Brian McKnight, Musiq, and Elizabeth Withers. Now in all honesty I didn’t think there was a chance in hell in me winning. Especially with Gerald Levert (one of my heroes) recently passing away, and me being the only independent artist nominated period. *stops to scratch his head* Well only moments after stepping onto the red carpet I found out that Gerald won. I quickly said a prayer thanking God for sharing Gerald with us, and giving me this opportunity. The entire experience was humbling to say the least, so lets start from the top of the day.
11:30am
We walk into the radio remote room. This room pretty much had every big radio station in the country set up in there, and artist ranging from Neyo, Fabolous, Bow Wow, Tank, Unk (Walk It Out), and the new rap group A BAY BAY going from table to table doing interviews. Being my hotel was super far away I was already dressed in my midnight chocolate suit and power red tie. Damn it I was trying to make a statement. Well I went from table to table promoting myself, and the movement to whoever would listen. Some were far from interested, and did the interview staring at the major artists who were coming up behind me. But most were professionals and did their homework on me. Some even had my records already, and knew all about the stuff we had been doing. It was so intense that I got my yearly headache during the process. Hours later when we were finished I stood at the door, taking it all in, and considering how it would all pay off.
3:15pm
We hit the red carpet. It is hot as all outdoors. My shirt under my suit instantly was soaked from the sun, as well as my nervousness. Shawn was looking absolutely beautiful, and I was the luckiest man to have her by my side thru this. So I took her by the hand, and we stepped on the first marker for the photographers. Would anyone be interested in shooting me I thought? My answer was sent thru the numerous flashes over the next couple of minutes. We had to move fast because Common, and Swizz Beats were right behind us. Then we did the camera interviews. Once again it felt good to have certain interviewers sprinkled through out the line who knew about me and what we’ve been doing. All in all, every interview went great, and I enjoyed that whole process.
4:30-ish PM
We head to our seats. What a beautiful stage. Wow this is going to be exciting I told myself. We had great seats. The 11th row(which was actually the 6th), and next to rappers, models and singers. All of our pictures sucked. I mastered the art of photographing the back of everyone’s head as they passed. Nic Cannon, Beyonce, Rihanna, 50 Cent, you name it I got the back of their head. The lights went out and Shawn and I were like a kid in a candy store. Half way thru the show, Elsa (my publicist) came and got me to go back and do more press and photos. During this time I missed 50 cent performance, the Gerald Levert tribute, as well as the Diana Ross tribute featuring my wife.. I mean Erykah Badu. No worries. I was here to work and promote my music and our movement. I was about to take questions from the press in their room backstage, until I was bumped out the way for T.I. I was more than willing to wait. Not out of fear of getting sucker punched or anything. (Read up if you don’t get the joke.) Hell I wanted to see what he had to say just like the rest of the people in the room. He didn’t say much thought, and before you know it I was up there doing my song and dance again.. I made a plate of food in the publicist room (thanks again Elsa), and then made my way back to my seat. And just in time to see Public Enemy do the James Brown tribute, which they rocked. That might have been my favorite part of the night.
8:45PM
The show is over but there is still more press to do. Most people are unplugging their equipment, but some we missed were willing to do quick interviews with me. Damn my feet hurt. I cant imagine what women go thru. Hmmm, maybe I should’ve worn my dunks.
9:30PM
Finally in the car, and headed to the after party. Now any one who knows me, knows that I am not a club cat. I spend most of the year in clubs performing, and when I am not singing I am far far away from them. But this is business and we have a brand and a movement to represent, so we go. Its cool.. There’s more food, a few more hands to shake and cards to exchange. We actually have another party to hit so we circle the party a few times and then head for the door.
11:00PM
Our names are not on the list for the next party, so we cant get in. Thank you Jesus, my Lord and Saviour. Hahahahaha… Its time to retire for the night. Our driver is a real nice guy. He was an older brother with 6 kids, and a wife of 25 years waiting at home. He picked up the right group tonight, cause he will be home earlier then expected.
Real talk. I know I work hard at what I do, but I really don’t know why I was lucky enough to have this honor. Before I go a second further I just want to say I appreciate everyone who has supported me over the years. I pray I continue to make the right decisions, and do what’s best for the thing that has helped me so much thru life. And that’s music. I love it, I know you love it, and we love each other because of it. I gained a new hunger while out in Cali. I got close enough to the fire to feel the heat, but not lose my life to it. Its time we take this business by storm, and I am going to set the bar even hire for myself and the people that I work with in this business. On you mark, get set, GO…