Queen Esther

my friend knows that i’m crazy about stephen colbert and so he took me to a live taping of the stephen colbert report a month or two ago. when the q & a section of the pre-show antics came around, i stood up and asked him if he’d found a new black best friend and if not, could i be the one. thankfully, i was the only black person there so no one could pre-empt me. we exchanged some fairly witty banter about south carolina (he’s from charleston and i have family there) and that was the end of it. sort of. i’m going to send him a package for christmas. maybe i’ll make him some red rice. i’ll definitely leave him some of my music.

ps: he’s actually even better looking in person.

i sang back-ups for edgar winter at bb king’s in nyc for the moog festival a few years ago. what a sweet, sweet man. he’s humble, very down to earth and accessible and he’s effing brilliant. and still a texan, still has that accent, still very much a southern gentleman. i just adored him.

it was more than refreshing, to meet one of my rock n roll heroes and not be completely disappointed. i hope to shake his brother johnny’s hand one day. God knows that’s the closest i’ll ever get to Muddy Waters.

i have to say, though—being onstage with him in the midst of that rock ‘n roll epic “frankenstein” just about took the top of my head clean off. the intensity was almost tangible.

somewhere in the midst of his neverending “black filmmaker” controversy in the late 80’s, spike lee came to speak at UT austin while i was a student there. everyone mobbed him and afterwards they fawned all over him, asking stupid obvious questions—but i didn’t. i was reserved, polite and brief. my reward? a bit of a chat and an autograph wherein he wrote something that referred to our conversation.

it taught me a lot about how to deal with famous people (ignore them and they’ll gravitate towards you)—and how to behave if i ever became one (maintain privacy at all costs).

blink was brilliant. i can’t remember the last recently published book i read that i’ve enjoyed more.

well. the most recent de Kooning bio i’m in the middle of is pretty amazing, actually…

She’s an inspiration to me. I admire her outspokeness, discipline, good sense, and courage.

last year was a total blur. as far as i can remember, i spent most of it getting my label off the ground, promoting my cd and getting it reviewed, and gigging where i could—which is expensive when you have to hire your band. and i was auditioning my brains out, too. and gigging with another band. and taking piano/music theory lessons. and writing songs. and working out. if i drank or smoked anything or did recreational drugs, i suppose i would be exhausted.

i know that i’m doing a lot but it really doesn’t feel like it. that’s why i’m doing 43 people/places/things as well as my blogs kudzu mon amour and this rock ‘n roll black grrl’s high life: a cautionary tale—to document everything.

i’m always making lists—plotting out what i want to do and strategizing about how i’m going to do it, but more importantly, organizing and reconfiguring my goals and priorities. as far as i can tell, that’s the only real way to get anything done.

Queen Esther is doing about 43 million things, and when I say doing, I mean she is really DOING them. Not only that, her thinking is crystal clear, her artistic sense is fabulous, and her energy is boundless. whew She should be an inspiration to all of us.