Adventure In The Bronx

06.28.03

I was in the midst of setting up my new email address (editor@chachacharming.com) when the power went out. All the messages were lost, so for anyone who sent me mail in the past few days, please can you resend your message? Thanks and apologies for the inconvenience.

To hear more about the wonderful Shindig! '60s pop party, check out the events page. I added lots of photos and a brief review of the night.

So the night after Shindig!, I threw a small party at my apartment for all the Spectropop members who had traveled from London, Tokyo, Seattle, Boston, and Manchester. It was a mellow evening with lots of record collecting talk, but at around 10 pm, the fabulous soul diva herself, Miss Maxine Brown rang my doorbell. For those who don't know Maxine, she had a hit in 1961 with "All In My Mind" and recorded "Oh No Not My Baby" (probably one of my favorite Goffin/ King songs). Her lengthy career requires a book of its own, so I'd suggest looking her up on the Internet to find out more.

To make a long story short, Maxine invited me to see her performance on Thursday June 26th at the Olympia Theatre in the Bronx. This performance was presented by the New York City Housing Authority as a treat for all the senior citizens in the New York area. These little old Chinese ladies from the LaGuardia senior center in Queens opened the show with "God Bless America." But this was no typical ode to America- these ladies had the strongest Chinese accents, and the whiniest, tiniest voices. It was brilliant!

When Maxine appeared in a full sequin gown and sang "All In My Mind," the audience went wild. As Maxine was singing her heart out, folks in the audience were hollering back to her, "I hear ya honey!" "Don't we know it sugar!" And who said senior citizens don't know how to have a good time?

The photo above is from the last scene in the play. That's Maxine up front in the sparkling gown. Doesn't she look divine?

I'm moving to Tokyo for six months on July 15th. I was excited, now I'm terrified! More on that later......

Sheila

Posted by Sheila at 12:00 PM