About Last Night XI: Les Nubians

Last night Suite Suzy & I had another hot childless date & boy was it a great outing. It was great because we had tickets to see one of the best Afro-French duos ever; Les Nubians.

Last month when it was announced that Les Nubians were coming to town, I dropped everything to get to the Music Hall’s box office to get us tickets. I mean everything! I have been a fan ever since “Princesses Nubiennes” dropped in 1998. I have all 3 of their albums & listen to them all the time. The funny thing is that I speak no French but sing every word.

So last night, I cut class early turning in my English paper to pick up Suite Suzy so we could hit Twingo’s for dinner before the show.

Dinner was great & we had a wonderful conversation about the separation of Black socioeconomic. We also discussed our childhoods compared to our kids & I think we both learned something new about each other. So after we dined (I had the pork tenderloin topped with cherry cola BBQ sauce, chorizo polenta & maytag blue cheese coleslaw) we hit the road headed for the Detroit Music Hall.

Twenty minutes later, we were in our seats & 10 minutes after that, my girls Helene & Celia hit the stage looking Afro-Sharp!

The set lasted a good 1½ hours & they performed all of my favorite songs (listed in order):

Saravah

J'Veux D'La Musique

Sourire

Embrasse-Moi

Desolee

Insomnie

Tabou

Demain

Makeda

Temperature Rising

Upside Down (cover of Fela Kuti’s hit)

No Regret (unreleased)

After the set was over, I asked their road manager Angela if I could take a picture of them & get an autograph (yes I’m a groupie). She told me to hang around & she would get me hooked up.

Well we hung around & she more that hooked me up, she gave me a very special gift. I was able to go backstage & chill with them. We sat around talking about the state of Black Music with an emphasis on Hip-Hop. The entire conversation was being recorded by a film crew doing a documentary on Hip-Hop & it was tight!

We hung out for about 2 hours & I just felt like I was in heaven. After everything was said & done, I got some awesome photos of the ladies, got my “One Step Forward” album cover autographed & basked in the glow of spending the evening with people who made/makes impact my life artistically.

All the way home, Suite Suzy & I were just in shock of the experience. I mean, I was so geeked, I could hardly sleep & currently running on fumes at work while I pull this post together.

I tell you, when you have a camera & not afraid of asking for what you want, all kinds of doors open. Point in case, I also met the chairman of the board of directors of the Detroit Music Hall & told him I wanted to see the National Ballet of China. He was cool as hell & hooked me up with a theater manager who is getting me tickets to Saturday’s performance.

I was also able to talk to one of the Hip-Hop documentary interviewers & copped 2 tickets to see John Singleton next month, who will be discussing media portrayals of Black life.

I’m so happy that I am not afraid to be tacky & tenacious because it paid off like a mutha fucka last night!!!