It Happened: The Love Neo Soul Tour

I had the wonderful opportunity to attend the Love Neo Soul Tour concert this past Saturday (September 29^th) at the Filmore in Silver Spring Maryland which featured the soulful sounds of Black Alley, Kindred The Family Soul and Rahsaan Patterson. I got to see all three acts perform lives as well as have few minutes to chat with each.

The venue was a beautiful setting for such great talent perform. First to hit the stage was Black Alley, a hip band hailing from Washington DC making all kinds of noise nationwide. With a unique custom sound described by their drummer Danny Henderson, affectionately known to many as Animal,  as “soul garage” the band is anything but typical DC with their very own unique genre of rock/soul garage/hip hop.

The band's Saturday night line up featured some original tunes laced with poetry ballads with references to the legendary Diana Ross as well as some covers, my favorite being We Are Young, by the band's one and only songstress Kacey Williams. While speaking with the band Kacey touched on the chemistry of the band as well as being the only lady in the group alongside all guys which was welcomed with playful sighs and outbursts of laughter.

While already having the DC area on lock I am sure we will be seeing much more of the band and their Soul Garage movement.Be on the look out for Black Alley’s already seemingly promising rise already having an album out Soul.Swagger.Rock.Sneakers and a new video coming our way soon Shake Stop.

With a great cap off of the evening the night was only slated for great things. Next up the dynamic husband and wife duo Fatin Dantzler and Aja Graydon of  Kindred The Family Soul  mastered their performance like true kindred folk. As some of you may know, I didn't, Aja has roots in the Washington DC area. When asking of their must do rituals when coming to the area Aja cited the Eastern Market stating that it was a neighborhood her mother was living in when she met her husband who quickly pointed out that his wife wasn't living too far from there herself when they met. I absolutely love the fact that they are a husband and wife duo and they obviously love it even more. When I gave Fatin that chance to "brag" on his wife who he celebrated a wedding anniversary with recently he said that he loved working with her because "She knows what she is doing and she knows me very well and we gel, we just gel. We have been a team for a very long time and we know our ins and out and it’s good playing with someone who knows you.". I gave the Mrs the same opportunity and like any two like minded individuals she said the same as her husband adding that it was good to work with someone who is  “watching your whole back and front” and “somebody who you know no matter what they are thinking of you first, they have you in mind”. How cute!

Be on the look out for great things to come from Kindred The Family Soul who are getting ready to film a video from the latest single, as well as hit the studio to record a new album, touring (a must see) and fulfilling their number one duty “raising a bunch of kids” per Dad.

Last but definitely not least was the biggest yet bearable personalities I've met in a long time, New York's own Rahsaan Patterson. Rahsaan's performances give major life, and the average non singer the illusion/delusion that he/she can belt out a tune just as well when you get captivated in his music, but just as he does that on stage he is more than able to do so off stage. Speaking with Rahsaan was nothing but fun from beginning to end. We spoke briefly about his music, and when I say briefly I mean one question, but the rest of the interview was very personable. I like to get personal with people…I’m just nosee like that. The name rings true.

I was able to pull (literally) out of Rashaan after a passionate “hmmmm” and a long pause accompanied by a smirk that he loved soft shell crabs which I think is beyond creepy and he liked to lay down when he comes to DC. Most notably I found out Sarah Vaughan, Chaka Khan, Donny Hathaway, Michael Jackson, Prince, and Billy Holiday are his musical inspirations with his most recent music purchase being Blue Jeans by Lana Del Ray, which took him 150 years to flip through his phone to figure out.

After our brief chat Rahsaan took to the stage to give the crowd exactly what they had been getting all night: good music. Throughout the crowd you could see couples and singles two steeping to many tunes like Spend The Night while some took on the typical unsolicited duty of singing along while Rahsaan hit a couple two steps as well and many soulful notes.

I hate that I didn't get a chance to ask about his start on Kids Incorporated as The Kid.

Anywho, great show brought to us by Lonye Nicole, Jamil Boozer, Terrance Brooks and a super kudos to FlyCandy Media.

check out some cool photos by Keith Estep!!