Like Them Who Dream...

Happy Fall, y'all!

How's tricks? Hope all is well with you and those whom you love.

Aside from a brand new specialist milking me like Dracula's cow--let that image combo work on you for a moment or two--all is groovy like a ten cent movie. Plus, both lady doctor exams -- annual boob/cootch check -- came back normal. Thanks be to God!

Ladies, get your gear checked, ok? Promise? Ok. Good.

Yo, I was crazy on the fence about whether or not I should drop my mortgage money at Radio City last Tuesday. But that Concert was rich like grandma's gravy, so i would have been crazy not to.

After seeing the nicest liver doctor who has asked for the most plasma so far, it hit me, y'know? Like, is this living? Is this what I want to speak for me? And is there an award for most doctor visits in a year? Do I get some kind of prize for all of this skin popping and co-paying?

Or do I need to break out [or be clowned]?

So I began talking to my Savior, like, Lord what is up with this? This rut of a life that just five minutes ago was so ripe and bursting with promise? And, in a way that only God can, He sent me to a small church to pray and stretch my ears wide so I could hear Him good and clear.

He said, "you need to go see a Broadway show. like now." So I got up from the altar, jumped on the train and got off at 42nd & 8th.

As I approached Times Square en route to tkts, I see these three AfAm sisters, all fanning themself with Legally Blonde [funeral] fans.

Odd, right? I mean, big up to the PR folk over there to pull that deep from The Community!

Then four strides later I see three/four Latinas with the same hot pink paper fans.

Now, as my inner marketer is going, "what in the world...?", I am beginning to hear lots and lots of singing. In fact, I'm beginning to hear...show tunes!

My heart starts getting happy the louder and more decipherable the lyrics get because the Lord gave me my mandate to go see your first love, you need to go to Broadway on the very day of the annual Broadway on Broadway celebration! What?!?

The doing everythingbutperforming rut, the mourning for my Dad [two years ago this month] & good times past with my Mom [now in nursing home, two years] in our old house [sold, two years ago]...all kinda went *poof* as I stood in the middle of Times Square and joined a few thousand of my fellow citizens & theatre lovers in a rousing chorus of Greased Lightening.

I just got so light and happy. And if that were not enough, at the very end, they released the most colorful confetti you have ever seen. It just poured down like one big happy hippy dippy baptism.

And, believe me, my soul got drenched.

Once I got to the tkts booth, however, tiny wisps of sadness returned. This time for August Wilson. (Again.)

So after I finally decided to go head on and buy the tkts ticket for the excellent Curtains!, I went and ate happily at the Edison diner, where August sat, ate, ruminated and wrote some of the best text ever.

I won't go so far as to say that I felt August as I got my pre-matinee munch on, but your girl was feeling the Edison's way reasonably priced chicken on a bun. It was on point and had me feeling good all over again. I even ate my half pickle. (Yes, I got "The Deluxe".)

That was Sunday. And just two days later...mph mph mph!

Imagine a world where the carpets are so plush you could almost loose a shoe with each step, and then not miss the shoe until your foot hit cool & beautiful art deco marble.

Imagine a tribute to a history changing hero who, by stepping up to the plate & giving his very best ended up eternally elevating lives even though it cost him his own.

Imagine such a person with such posthumous inspirational power that voices from country to gospel to rap to rhythm and soul to classical thought it no less than an honor to share a stage for just one night...

If you can imagine this, you can begin to understand the supreme delight that was The Dream Concert!!

The Dream Concert, featuring just about every hot with the hotness vocal artist you can think of, was given as part of the fundraising mission to build the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial in Washington, D. C. So, not only was this a good reason to drop a benjamin or two, but the Concert itself was absolutely celestially wonderful.

And it was long.

Since your DivaCardista had a stockholders meeting in Harlem, USA in the am, then The Bloodening at noon, it was a long day's journey into night for your girl. Consequently when I got to my seat, I probably drifted off for a bit. Only to awaken to none other than Donnie McLurkin and the Boys/Girls Choir of Harlem opening the show.

So you know how high the bar had to have been with this as the opening act.

Then came Babyface. Then Santana. Then Bebe and Cece, Josh Stone, Garth Brooks, John Legend, Jessye Norman, Talib Kweli, Luda...

Crazy, right?

And as if all that were not enough, Mistra Stevie Wonderful himself came out to center stage. Lord have mercy! Then he had the audacity of bringing out our girl, India.Arie.

At this point I could have used one of those free pink fans they were handing out in Times Square. Or some straight up oxygen.

And to think: if I hadn't gone to that small church & jumped on that train or if I hadn't jumped off that downtown bus & cut through Rockefeller Center--if I hadn't jumped out of my rut-- I might have missed all of this.

Before the snow falls, I hope you check in with your first love.

Blessings,
DivaCardista
blessedstarcards.com
fab fall sale 10-1 thru 10-13.
(don't sleep...)

Watch LINCOLN HEIGHTS 2 nite!

Hey Mamasitas y los Papi Chulos,

Hope all is well on this 9/11 Day of Rememberance.

Wow. This is such a beautiful time of the year, but so much war talk and so much loss!

I almost can't believe Pavarotti is gone. But he was more than opera. He was all about music, no matter the genre. Peep these links if you think I lie. He was a baaad brother! Thank goodness for his legacy of excellence and passion.

In other news, this just in ...

from the up and coming writing genius of my most excellent pal Anthony--

... please tune in/TiVO/record/watch [and then email the producers and tell them how much you enjoyed]

LINCOLN HEIGHTS (ABC FAMILY network) tonight.
[His] first written episode of the 2nd season airs [2 nite!!] Tuesday, September 11th at 8pm. Or 7pm if you're in the Central Time zone. Please check your tv guide or cable scroll for the ABC Family channel in your area. The episode is
entitled "The Peacemaker".

And don't we need some peace right about now! Peace upon Israel... Peace upon Jerusalem... Peace upon Louisiana... Peace upon Darfur and all of Africa... Peace upon Mississippi... Peace upon Pakistan... Peace upon Haiti... Peace upon India... Peace in the Middle East... Peace in the Northeast...Peace in the Midwest... Peace on Broadway, Bollywood and Hollywood, Father God... Let's have more peace-writers and peace-actors and peace-agents and, good God, peace-producers...Peace be upon these United States, O God... Let us be united in a heartfelt desire for peace... Peace for the women & for the men, Lord... Peace upon the elder and the babies, Father... Peace for our present and our future... Peace for where you live, dear reader...

Not just the absence of war, but real & lasting peace is what I pray for on this day.

And if on 9/11 you lost a loved one, friend, co-worker, neighbor or even a classmate from back in the day, your DivaCardista and the blessedstar cards family wishes you peace and God's comfort this day.

Blessings,
DivaCardista
blessedstarcards.com