Moon Mami Writes

I've been to four states in the past month along the east coast and in the midwest-- Florida, North Carolina, New York and Kentucky. While New York was for business (presenting in a conference), Kentucky and North Carolina were travels that were more personal. Kentucky's visit was one to determine if Kentucky will be our new home while North Carolina's visit was a sad send-off of my little brother to war in Afghanistan. So, the Florida two-day visit was a very well-needed vacay that didn't require much thinking, emotion, or prep. The biggest concern was deciding between going to the pool or heading to an amusement park. Everyone needs a break. Not sure if mine was long enough though. When I returned from Florida yesterday, the feeling of stress quickly grabbed ahold. I had to get into producer mode for the 7pm Liberated Muse event--Capital Rhythm and Soul. This was especially challenging because my business partner actually had another event he was co-producing with co-...

Ok, so for the Capital Hip Hop Soul Fest, I was an organizer of the event moreso than a performer. I did read one of my pieces from the book Liberated Muse Volume I: How I Freed My Soul , but that was a filler performance when we were having technical difficulties with one of the acts that forgot their cable cords to their keyboard. My biggest artistic display for the festival were the sign murals I created for the festival. (They are featured on this page). My first major foray in visual art, the murals were meant as welcome mantas for festival-goers to establish the nature of the event-- one of peace, love, soul and hip-hop. Check them out! Thanks to folks who came thru and photographed them. So, last night I checked out this wonderful event at Tryst located in Adams Morgan in DC. The event was one where visual art was the focus. Live art. We were watching it like it was a performance. Folks painting, drawing and just creating while we, the audience, watched. It was magnificent. The...

(Sharon Burton of GeminiVisions Art Studio hugging a doll made by her sister Sherry Ways-Burton) (Sherry Ways-Burton and DC Councilmember Yvette Alexander) (My business partner Maceo Thomas, writer Hadassah Ayodele and yours truly in the hot heat at the Capital Hip Hop Soul Fest) (Sharon Burton & Sherry Ways-Burton) Head-Roc of GODISHEUS is was host and performer (A couple getting their hand dancing on to tunes from E the R and B Rockstar) (Writer Hadassah Ayodele) Yesterday was the 2nd annual Capital Hip Hop Soul Fest that my business partner Maceo and I produce through our partnership Liberated Muse Productions. The turn-out was well and Mother Nature held in her rain urge until the very last act, noon:30, which did not get to perform due to the impromptu rain showers that came after an all day heat temp in the upper 90's. It was hot as Hades!!!! The event's turn-out was impressive to me given the massive reconstruction that the park site is going through and the ext...

Shooting this was way fun. Holly Morris was hilarious and my Saartjie sisters were on it with their beautiful organic dance while Nia and I sang. My daughter was there and being a big girl by not calling my name out in the middle of taping which I was so afraid she would do, lol. She's five. You can imagine my fear. She wanted to dance with Binah! If you can't see the video above, click here: http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/mornings/holly_live/072009_holly_morris_capital_fringe_festival http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/mornings/holly_live/072009_holly_morris_capital_fringe_festival

It's after midnight already, but I'm just waking up now. Lol. I crashed upon arriving home. Today was a long day, ending our three-show run of the show Deconstructing the Myth of the Booty in this year's Capital Fringe Fest. The house was packed and the adrenaline was pumping. So was the heat, which had me sweating buckets-- I'm sure almost literally. The audience response was very positive as it has been since the show's debut in the Capital Fringe Fest, so we were glad to go out with a bang. Loved reading this feedback from an audience member HERE. Looking forward to appearing on FOX 5 in the morning with Holly Morris to talk about our experience in the Capital Fringe Fest and show excerpts from our show. It is wonderful to have the opportunity to share with the viewing public information-- if only bits-- about the life of Saartjie Baartman, the woman known as the Hottentot Venus.

People ask me all of the time how do I find time to do it all. I have to admit that today, I have asked myself that question. There is a lot to do today given that the Capital Hip Hop Soul Fest is now in less than seven days. My business partner Maceo and I literally put this festival together ourselves logistically. We have the wonderful Rod Freeman coming back as our sound liaison again, but, our team is really a party of two. We attempted to have partners come on board this year, but a lot of folks were crying broke because of the recession. We were pleased to announce on Thursday, during a radio broadcast on 89.3 WPFW that we had received a new sponsor-- the US Cenus Bureau, which was such a wonderful occurence given our difficulty this year getting folks to partner. We usually go to the grassroots and small business folks to keep the festival for the people and by the people. Maceo and I earn absolutely no money from this annual festival. The reward for us is being part of this re...

So, right now, I am very, very, very tired. But I feel great! I am so tired that my legs are stretched out and I can barely move them. Maybe it has to do with my three-hour stay at the pool this afternoon with my family at friend's pool party and my non-stop flipping & diving off of the diving board. Maybe. But, I'm sure it has more to do with yesterday's fast-paced flurry of activity that ended with a late night performance with my sister circle The Saartjie Project at the Warehouse Theater in DC as part of this year's Capital Fringe Fest. That performance capped off a day that was pretty perfect in the way so many open projects and dilemmas closed with finesse. I also sold two copies of Liberated Muse Volume I: How I Freed My Soul ! Yeay! To begin, my car, has been in the shop since Monday. It's a 2007 Suzuki model, and, apparantly, according to my mechanic, Suzuki's are dying breeds and the maker is hard to get a hold of when parts are needed. So, for the...

I'm looking forward to performing with the Saartjie Project this summer in the Capital Fringe Fest. Tickets are on sale now. You can visit http://www.thesaartjieproject.org/ to purchase your tickets and get the dates. The photo shoot to create the photo above was fun as I got to participate with my kids. My photo is deconstructing the myth of the "perfect" mother when today's mom is usually working hard for the money and lucky to see her kids as often as likes.

Check out photos from the Capital Hip Hop Soul Fest by Khadijah Ali-Coleman HERE Read a summary of the Capital Hip Hop Soul Fest HERE (in photo: Poet Jade Foster) Photo by Khadijah Ali-Coleman

Singer Afi Soul at the Capital Hip Hop Soul Fest (Saturday, July 26, 2008) Rapper Substantial at the Capital Hip Hop Soul Fest 2008 All photos by Khadijah Ali-Coleman

"Planning for the Capital Hip Hop Soul Fest has included wearing many hats-- publicist, creative director, stage manager, media writer, photographer, administrative assistant, meeting planner, accountant, etc. etc. etc.... Recently, the Washington Post contacted us for pictures of artists who will be performing in the fest. I sent them five pictures of five different artists...the one pic of Dee Stone that she had sent in her press package didn't have a dpi that was large enough and I shot them a pic I had taken of the singer at a Memorial Day shindig. Out of the five pics, my shot made the story. Check it out HERE

On Sunday, July 6, 2008, BAP Living Radio interviewed me to speak on the topic of Black women in the media and the Capital Hip Hop Soul Fest. You can click HERE to listen to the taping of the show.

In the June 2008 issue of East of the River, I reviewed three CDs of up and coming artists in the Washington DC area-- Cool Cee Brown, Dee Stone and Tia Dae. All acts are performers in the Capital Hip Hop Soul Fest slated for Saturday, July 26th in Washington DC. Click HERE for the article.