Stuff WaPo Got Wrong Re: Prince Tribute at 9:30


Ugh, I hate to be a contrarian for general purpose, but--

There's so much wrong with this Washington Post review of the recent Prince Tribute at the 9:30 Club that my side-eye twitcheth with the frustration of a dozen underpaid fact-checkers at a nationally-recognized traditional media outlet. And how would I know? Well, for one, SOULBOUNCE WAS TOTALLY IN THE HOUSE, DAWGIES!

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The opening paragraph is riddled with wrongery! To the point I'm embarrassed for the person that wrote it (Chris Richards). Peep the numbered flags and corresponding card-pulling. Get into it:

The 9:30 club felt more like a karaoke bar [1] Friday night, with some of Washington's finest soul crooners assembling to pay tribute to pop super-genius Prince. "21/20: A Masterpiece Tribute to 'Parade' and 'Sign 'O' the Times' " featured Baltimore soul squad Fertile Ground as the backing band, while local [2] singers Eric Roberson, Navasha Daya, Martin Luther, W. Ellington Felton, Wayna, Deborah Bond, Curt Chambers and others [3] each took a crack at Prince's 1986-87 songbook.

[1] Mean!
[2] Eric Roberson, Curt Chambers and Martin Luther are not local. It might seem like they are because they dare perform at 9:30 on a $15 ticket with a few local cats, but no. So no!
[3] Others? Right, those guys would be called ZWEI. And Bilal Salaam did some backup, but we won't take you to task for that, Chris, since you obviously left before the announcement was made.

But nothing came close to the thrills provided by surprise guest Raheem DeVaughn.
The locally raised, Grammy-nominated singer took the stage for the
final two songs of the night -- the quiet storm of "Adore" and the
superlative funk of "Kiss." Only DeVaughn's pipes seemed athletic
enough to animate these jams properly, and he zigzagged through his
registers to the delight of smiling fans. Sure, DeVaughn may have been
paying homage to Prince, but that smooth, airy delivery evoked another
pop icon entirely: Marvin Gaye.

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We can see how that would read as authentic by someone up in nosebleed. But if you were up by the stage like us, you saw this:

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Why does Raheem keep looking down, you wonder? It's because some enterprising individual taped the lyrics to the stage before the concert started. That's me, Butta and Vivrant Thang talking greasy in the background. The conversation went something like:

"Ha! You got a shot of the lyrics!"
"You know it!"
"Girl wait 'til we post this SHOCKING video on SoulBounce.com, the TMZ of Soul Music™!"

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I know. There goes our interview! But, shoot, we keeps it real here! And we still got love for Raheem. The point of this is, Raheem was good, but he shouldn't be credited with "saving" the show. Fertile Ground's Navasha Daya brought the house down! Check her out doing "Housequake", easily the best performance of the night.

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Butta has more coverage (including videos and shots) of the show on the way. She didn't know that prior to me writing this, but blogging is supposed to be spontaneous right? Also, she's "hopping mad" (direct quote) with Mr. Chris Richards. Personally, I just want him to let me have his press pass next time.

Homage to Prince Ends on A High Note [WaPo]

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