Friday, November 21, 2008

Franti Friday

It's Franti Friday on my public radio station, WTMD, Towson. I plan on tuning in. Wednesday night he was playing in DC at the 9:30 Club. Li'l Sis, her hubby, My Handsome Prince, Peach and me all went to hear and see him. We were all loose and feeling the groove. Peach and I road with Li'l Sis and E, with MHP meeting us as he was at the shore. We were late, typical for some (teehee), but deciding to get our Mexican on beforehand made us even later. Still, laughing, eating tacos picante, talking about brown chicken/brown cow and #86, I get a text "Where you @?" MHP was apparently hanging outside with Michael Franti while he played soccer with fans with breaks for push ups, pumping himself up for the performance. Oh yeah.

The opening act was a group by the name of Soliliquists of Sound, a hip hop, rap, group that was waaaay out there. Not someone I would have chosen to see but actually quite fun. Cherine Anderson followed for just a couple songs, then....the man himself. He opened with "Hello, hello" and right away the crowd was singing along. The man was on fire all night, never stopped, played for 2 1/2 hours straight. Michael Franti puts on a show! I tried to get a photo of hands in the air for that was the position of the crowd most of the time. Crowds are just as much fun sometimes as the act and this crowd did not disappoint from the prom queens in front of us, the sweaty shirtless guy next to us, the 4 or 5 year old child on his father's shoulder holding a perpetual peace sign with his fingers, and the guys who Cherine chose to dance with her. It was totally different from the Jazz Fest performance but totally made me love Michael Franti even more.

This morning while listening to the radio, I texted my sister that he was on, now, live. "Where are you?" she says. Close to Towson I respond. "You know we are welcome to go to the station". We discuss do we go or do we not, and in a matter of seconds decide yes, the only thing holding us back is fear, yet the worst that could happen is we would not see him. So I called the station "Can we come in and meet Michael Franti?" Their response "Oh, I'm sorry, he's not here today, it's a prerecorded session." They never said no. Hmmmmmm.

1 comment:

mama chelly said...

Oh, I am still on some fantastic high. There was one point when we were all just jammed in tight, jumping up and down to the riddum, bouncing off one another, hands in the air, singing, the heat and scent of all the bodies flooding the floor and for a split second, I felt like we lost being individuals and became one giant organism.
Or maybe I was just hyp-no-tized.