I Was MEant To MEet Master Jazz Diva @ReallyCassandra Wilson, But I Was Told ‘NO’ Just About By Everybody IN Her Management Team But GOD Veto Them & Said ‘YES’...Cassandra Wilson was suppose to perform IN Nashville at the gorgeous Schermerhorn Symphony Center on April 8…However, it was cancelled Because Sis. Wilson Participated IN the INduction of her muse and the INspiration for her latest musical masterpiece and true ‘eargasm,’ “Coming Forth By Day,” Sis. Billie Holiday, INto the Apollo Theatre Walk Of Fame on April 7 which was the honored songstress 100th Life Affirmation Day… Sis. Wilson was also doing her featured debut at the legendary venue later that week as well…The concert was REscheduled for April 23 which of course was my Life Affirmation Day…I was planning to go to Natchez, MS to commemorate the 200 plus Black lives that were lost on my Life Affirmation Day some 75 years ago IN the INfamous Rhythm Club Fire Of 1940 but the UNiverse had other plans…I did make it my business to MEet Cassandra Wilson and present her with the 2015 Jimmie Lunceford Legacy Award For ‘A Lifetime Dedicated To Excellence IN Music & Music Education’...
I sent several emails and phone calls to the venue as well as to Sis. Wilson’s agency, media and management team REquesting INterview time and some time to present Sis. Wilson with the award…Many times my e-mails and phone calls went UNanswered or were met with ‘NOs’ and INdifference, even after I dropped the INterview REquest…But I was determined BEcause I know that what is mine in this world I am going to have and thus claim my rightful INheritance…I am the type of person that REfuses to live with REgrets BEcause I try to do everything that I know of in my power to gain leverage and make any situation work in my favor, if I do all I know that I can do and it still doesn’t work out then I can REasonably say that it wasn’t MEant to BE...However I had one more trick up my sleeve…I called the Schermerhorn Symphony Center publicist Bro. Dave Felipe early in the afternoon and told him that I wanted a media pass to take pictures of the concert…He agreed to do so but warned ME that her management team was very strict and wanted complete control and copyrights to the pics I was to take...He thought that their demands were the most UNusual and strangest that he has every heard IN his line of work and told ME maybe it wouldn’t BE worth my time...I told him that I would agree to it with no problem and that I would sign their agreement as long as I wasn’t signing my soul to the Devil…I did not give a damn about no fukkking pictures, my mission was to meet the great Cassandra Wilson and give her an award that my mind conceived and that my heart knew she was very much deserving of…We As Black People Do Ourselves A Great DisService When We Wait For Others To Validate & Vindicate Us, Especially Our Heroes & Sheroes…
Bro. Felipe then assigned to ME a staffer from his venue, Bro. Dan Grossman who proved to BE sympathetic to my cause, especially once I REvealed to him the true nature of my objective and that my Life Affirmation Day was that day…He went out of his way to BEcome a liaison and ally for my cause…The arrangement was that I could only take pictures and video of the first song of the concert…During the concert I REported to her tour manager backstage and gave him my sd card so that he could copy the photos to his drive and erase them from my sd card as agreed upon…He said that they will review and send ME pics that I could use within 14 days…I then told him that would BE fine and that I had an award to present to his artist and that it would take only 2 minutes to do so…Bro. Grossman further added that I was a big fan and that it was my birthday…I told him that it would BE an honor to give Sis, Cassandra this gift on my day to honor the gift of her genius music that she has given so consistently to the world…He said that they were on a tight schedule and had to promptly leave and head straight to New Orleans for the music festival that she will BE headlining this weekend..However, he REversed his decision and decided to let ME MEet with her BEcause it was my birthday…I was grateful but not surprised BEcause I knew it was destined to BE...
Backstage after the concert, I had my moment…I was talking to Bro. Grossman and his wonderful boss when out of nowhere I was surprised by the sweet sounds of this goddess serenading ME with ‘Happy Birthday’ as IF I was #JFK at Madison Square Garden…Lol...It was Ms. Wilson herself!!! She gave ME some of the warmest hugs I have ever REceived IN my 35 years of living…It was as if we have known each other for a long time…She is, IN the words of the late great #DukeEllington, “BEyond Category!!!”She asked ME how old I was and I told her '35' and she chose to flatter ME by saying I was 25...It worked…Lol...I told her how much of a fan I was, that I enjoyed her performance at Bro. Chokwe Lumumba’s funeral last year and how her music got ME to 'RElisten' to Billie Holliday’s last album, the often UNnderrated yet hauntingly BE-YOU-TOO-FULL “Lady IN Satin”…She told ME that she didn't REally listen to Billie's last album UNtil later IN her career and has now grown to appreciate it...I also told her that I used to love listening to Billie Holliday IN college while going to sleep but had to stop Because I would wake up IN a fukkked up mood IN the morning...She laughed…And then I presented her with the award...She was blown away…She Loved It!!! I then told her the significance of Jimmie Lunceford, of course she knew who Jimmie Lunceford was, but the stuff I told her she didn’t know…She did not know that he started music education IN the Memphis City Schools as a volunteer or that he went to Fisk UNiversity or that his jazz orchestra was the top act at the Apollo Theater for a whole decade or that he owned and flew his own airplanes…I also told her that since they were both native Mississippians (she is from Jackson and he was from Fulton) and that she was IN Nashville (the location of Fisk University) that this award could not BE presented at any BEtter time…She also INformed ME That Her Grandmother or Great Grandmother was a graduate of Fisk University as well…CoINcidence Or By Design Fam???
The BEst & most important pictures that night were taken by her tour manager with my camera of the BE-YOU-TOO-FULL Sis. Cassandra Wilson holding her award with ME by her side…And Guess What??? I OWN THE COPYRIGHTS TO THOSE!!! MY INHERITANCE!!! Lesson: ‘NO’ Is A Temporary Condition…Learn How To Harness The Power Of Your Will, Creativity & Visualization & You Can Have Anything You Want IN This World #R2c2h2Says
Buy Sis. Cassandra Wilson's Coming Forth By Day Now:
http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Forth-Day-Cassandra-Wilson/dp/B00RUT3902
