Zenology

CHICAGO (July 30) — En Vogue making a comeback? No way. From what I saw tonight at the National Urban League’s charity concert – where the ladies were the main act – the quartet has never been gone.

First of all, the funky divas came out looking as fly, as sexy and as sultry as they always have.

Slinking across stage in their all-Black costumes of short-short fringe skirts, ribbed corsets, fitted pants and stiletto boots, the group launched into the evening with favorites such as “Love Don’t Love You,” “Never Gonna Get It” and “Lies.”

Then the party really started.

Proving their physical and vocal stamina, the singers led the hyped-up audience in a fast-paced visit to the old school. From the airy heights of the Supremes’ “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” to the gritty funk of Donna Summer’s “Bad Girl” and Anita Ward’s “Ring My Bell,” the smooth groove of The Emotions’ “Best of My Love” and the brash soul of Aretha Franklin’s “Respect,” En Vogue took the audience along a well-remembered path. On to the sly sexual invitation of Labelle’s “Lady Marmalade,” the slow grind of Chaka Khan and Rufus’ “Tell Me Something Good” and ending with the rollicking sound of Ike and Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary” the journey just kept getting better and better.

By the time they were done, a few things were made very clear: the songs of today can in no way compare to the eternal tunes of yesterday; the NUL conferees were determined to have a darn good time and En Vogue’s Dawn, Terry, Maxine and Cindy could sure ‘nough sing!

You’d think after time apart and after an estimated 20 years in the business they’d crack a little bit here and there or drop the harmony in a few places but no, each of their voices rang as true as they always have and the harmony – man! – their synchronicity was ridiculously tight.

Case in point: the ladies’ cover of Curtis Mayfield’s “Giving Him Something He Can Feel.” Wow! Remember when that video first came out with them wearing the red dresses and getting the brothers in the night club all hot and bothered? Well, tonight, their rendition of that song tonight was just as potent. For a while I wondered if they were actually lip syncing – the harmony was that on point – and I kept monitoring them for any inconsistencies. But no, the improvisational riffs and occasional microphone snafus soon set that suspicion to rest.

By the time they got to their smash hit, “Don’t Let Go” from the Set It Off soundtrack, I was in raptures. I mean, I grew up with these ladies. My friends and I probably performed every one of their hits at our school concerts, complete with the synchronized moves – those were some good times.

And just when the audience thought they had gotten as much as they could take, En Vogue gave us more.

Offering a dedication to the King of Pop, the quartet launched into the well-loved strains of “Who’s Loving You” and the crowd went wild. Then they really pushed us over the edge, sliding into their first smash hit, “Hold On.”

It was a wrap after that point. The songstresses set out to prove that En Vogue is no fad and they did so emphatically.

So what’s left to say? Welcome back, ladies.

Too often the media gets caught up in its own hype–like in its coverage of the vice presidential debate between Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joe Biden.

As in the case of Gov. Palin’s performance, the talking heads in the news media chose their storyline and stuck to it–the debate was a clash between a lion and a lamb, Washington insider vs. Beltway outsider…–you know how it goes. But mostly, the media made it about Palin’s performance. After a couple of disastrous interviews (and not the ‘gotcha’ type, no matter what the McCain campaign says) in which the governor revealed her ignorance on a range of domestic and foreign policy issues, the media set the bar so low for her performance Thursday that she’d barely have to lift her feet to get over it. All she had to do was appear coherent for the media to give her a pat on the back and sing her praises.

I too was impressed by her performance…was quite entertained, although I was ready to poke her in the eye if she winked at me one more time. What left a more vivid impression, however, was the governor’s inability or unwillingess to offer any real discussion of policy. In fact, she dodged a number of questions about specific policy issues and even came out and baldly said, she would give no answers beyond the script she had rehearsed.

Asked about domestic matters, Palin pulled out the humor and folksy language, playing to the Joe Six-Packs, hockey moms and soccer moms, without giving them any real answers to the problems facing their pocketbooks beyond the tired rhetoric and cliches she crammed from the McCain campaign book.

On foreign policy questions, she was clearly out of her depth, throwing out long-winded generalities that said essentially nothing or repeated lies about Obama–he didn’t support funding the troops–that have already been debunked.

Instead of highlighting these inanities, however, the talking heads spent countless minutes talking about how poised Palin was and praised her ability to avoid major gaffes.

Sure, vice presidents typically don’t serve a major function. But with McCain being as old as he is and with his history of cancer, it’s possible that she would have to step up to the helm of a possible McCain-Palin White House.

So shouldn’t she be expected to demonstrate the necessary knowledge, the smarts, the ability to lead?

With the serious issues facing this country–failing schools, lost jobs, flagging economy, the war on terror and more–you would think the media, the supposed “fourth estate” of the American democracy would get down to the brass tacks and ask the hard questions.

Is that too much to ask?

Aug. 27–It’s always tough to see a Black man cry. It’s even tougher when you’ve seen the man in question playing the cigar-toting, no-BS-taking, nail-your-behind-to-the-wall-interrogating Detective William “Bunk” Moreland on HBO’s gritty crime drama, “The Wire.”

But, there Wendell Pierce was, trying to contain his emotions but failing miserably.

Actor Wendell Pierce, who plays Detective

“I’m in tears,” he says incredulously. Why?  ” I just witnessed the first African American nominated by a major party to be president.”

Pierce was hardly the only person who was emotionally stirred by that moment last night in the Pepsi Center when Sen. Hillary Clinton graciously conceded the nomination to Sen. Obama and he was officially named the Democratic nominee. Feelings of pride and exultation rippled throughout the hall, borne on a tide of cheers and applause.

Like Pierce, there was a feeling that people were ready to do whatever it took to see a President Barack Obama in the White House come November.  “I’ve reached the point in the last few days that I’m ready to fight and do whatever’s possible to make sure Obama is president and if I have to fight my own party to do it, I’m willing to do that,” he said.

Apparently art imitates life, after all, as in that moment of concentrated fierceness, I clearly could see “The Bunk” in the man. He continued to offer challenges: one to the Clintons, saying they needed to do all they could to get Obama elected and to the Clinton supporters who’ve been promising to vote for McCain.

“For all those Hillary Clinton delegates who are choosing to leave tonight and not hear Obama’s acceptance speech tomorrow, to be a part of history—shame on them. And when they leave? Keep moving. We don’t want you back in the Party because, here’s the deal: If Obama loses it won’t be because of the Republican Party. We have more Democrats registered now because of his movement and campaign and he loses it’s because we didn’t show up, because those Clinton delegates and supporters didn’t show up. And if that happens, because stubborn Clinton supporters choose ego and personality over policy…I Wendell Pierce will leave this Party in a New York minute and I will lead he tmarch of African Americans away from this Party because we have been loyal members of the Democratic Party for decades, even when we weren’t wanted.”

Pierce continued to throw punches, this time, calling on Black entertainers to do their part to get Barack into the White House.

“I put out a challenge: I want to see a picture of those 90,000 kids, 90,000 young adults that would go check out a hip-hop concert with Nas and Jay-Z beside a picture of those same people the morning of Nov. 2 at the polling place. That’s when you’re going to impress me. ’Cause nothing you say in your music about your voice and what you’re going through in your community can ever compare to the fact that if you don’t mobilize that populace to the polls, we could lose this election.

“So if you want to impress me, don’t show me how many people can flip the bird to Fox News at a Nas concert; show how many kids he can bring to the polling place.

“They should have concerts all over this country starting at 4 a.m. on Nov. 2. Do the concert and then walk straight from the concert to the polling place in two hours when it opens at six and vote for Barack Obama, the next president of the United States. If we don’t seize this moment now, what kind of people are we? What kind of people are we?”

I have always been a Hillary Clinton supporter–I admired her grace during the much publicized coverage of her husband’s unfaithfulness and I always believed she was a dedicated and effective public servant who truly cared for the people she served.

But my admiration for the New York senator and former first lady was somewhat tarnished during the 2008 primaries. I am a journalist and I must remain objective and I think I can do that and still opine that I thought she went too far in her attacks against Obama. She repeated innuendos and rumors, played up his race with the rural working class voters who were already wary of the skinny African American guy and generally displayed a ruthlessness that somehow struck the wrong chord in a time when we were already so jaded and divided. She tutned into someone I couldn’t recognize; she let me down.

Tonight, I saw the woman I had once admired. Putting aside her regret and the pain of her loss, Clinton showed she was a true stateswoman, a team player. She challeged her supporters that when they went to the polls they should base their vote not on their love for her but on the issues they all believed in and fought for; issues that Sen. Obama also cares about.

In standing firmly behind Sen. Obama, Clinton not only assured her continued success in politics, not only did she reconnect with many African Americans who may have been alienated during the primaries but she also regained the affection of those disillusioned in the past  months.

Way to go Hillary; you da woman!