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Sunday Best: Marvin Gaye and Zulema in Chicago in 1972

 

Another rare Marvin Gaye gem. This time he is singing at a "Save the Children" concert in Chicago in 1972 just after  Zulema, a fabulous singer/songwriter who seems to have been lost to time.

My Little Brown Eye... By The Way, Meet Vera Stark. And @BSlade...

By The Way, Meet Vera Stark is a new play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage (Ruined) coming in April 2011 to Second Stage Theater in Manhattan. From Second Stage's website:

A seventy-year journey into the life of Vera Stark, a headstrong African-American maid and budding actress, and her tangled relationship with her boss, a white Hollywood star desperately grasping to hold onto her career. When circumstances collide and both women land roles in the same Southern epic, the story behind the cameras leaves Vera with a controversial legacy scholars will debate for years to come.

I am ALL over this...

In an age of artists who blog and tweet opinions, heartaches and promotional messages on an hourly basis, Sade, predictably, demurs. She is not on Twitter or Facebook, though the band has an official Facebook page. She does, however, search the Web "looking for bricks and railing" for her farm. [Nelson George on Sade in the Los Angeles Times]

Oh, and by the way, meet Brian Slade, or @BSlade, the artist formerly known as Tonex. He caused quite a stir in the gospel music world when he came out of the closet and confirmed the rumors that always followed his career. Now that he is truly being himself, his music reflects that, brilliantly.  He has released several mixtapes in the last year or so, but my favorite is his latest, A Brilliant Catastrophe, which features this FAB.U.LOUS homage to the late, great Sylvester. Listen to BSlade tear up Sylvester's iconic disco jam, You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real):

Mighty Real (Sylvester Cover) by supaci

And then there is his "Sylvester Screen Test," the ever hawt Get Over You.  Don't be distracted by the B. Scott silky smoothness of his hair - pay close attention to the run at minute 2:12:

 

That boy wail don't he? Dayum!

But don't try to lock him into the disco fabulous box just yet because he is too many things, darling. He's a singer (make that sanger!), rapper, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and a producer who seems to take on various personas ala Prince's Jamie Starr/Alexander Nevermind/Christopher Tracy-ness with names like BRUCE WAYNE™ and T-Boy.  I could be wrong about that... but I doubt it because the man is a musical chameleon! Check out his anti-bullying anthem BSFF(rated R), released days ago in the wake of recent suicides among gay teens, or Mantra of Zenlake, spoken word genius that speaks his truth about some of his experiences in the church. From Back (You had the best of me, my secret recipes, I gave them all to you and you used them on him, you bastard...) to Going Away (This song explains my exit from my foundational religious organization that I still deeply love and I'm grateful for.), to the reflective Add Me Up (add me up, and I equal 5) to the the title track, A Brilliant Catastrophe, I just can't get enough. He's coming to Joe's Pub in NYC in December and I will be there with bells on.  I highly recommend that you get thee to his website to download his entire mixtape while it is still free - because it shouldn't be for long!