I saw Tony! Toni! Toné! at Yoshi's and I have sadness. But before I had
sadness, I saw Raphael Saadiq at District
in Oakland, and I had all kinds of awkward happiness. Yall, I was up in that
tiny joint having a good ole time with my friends. Then, someone goes… Is that
Raphael Saadiq? Yeah, that is…they say he’s always hanging out with his
folks around here. And, they went on about their business, because
it’s true. Raphael is a son of Oakland,
so when he’s hanging out, he’s home. Only, it’s just that, he has no clue how
many times my sisters and I danced to Little Walter in
the large living room mirror in our house
on Baylor Street, so I should probably talk to him and say Hey! In this tiny, crowded bar. In
the most humble and awkward way possible. Because Sinbad was hilarious in that
video.
And find someone to take a
picture of you, gurl.
Happiness. I mean, so much
happiness, I totally forgot that earlier in the day I spilled something on my
shirt, and had been wearing a cream Banana Republic cardigan buttoned up as a
shirt. Because, science.
So, even though I knew that
the Tony! Toni! Toné! I was headed to see*, was not the exact same R&B,
funky, soul super group of my youth, I expected to be pleasantly entertained.
In my mind, it was not possible to mess things up, right? I mean, if every song
you have is a hit, then how, Sway – we ask in love. How, Sway?
Before the performance began (late),
there was a video showing. Timeless. I thought to myself, you know what, their music is timeless, so this must be
something important to watch. Pay close attention, gurl. The
video consisted of lovers on the beach, possibly slaves being sold, a cultural
dance circle with painted faces, and the group in the studio exchanging hats. On
repeat. For the entire time we were there.
The show begins with music.
That’s all I can say about it. I can’t qualify the type of music, but it was a
stage with people playing instruments so there was music. *shrugs*
D’Wayne Wiggins finally
emerges from the back and I think to myself, okay,
maybe they needed him out here to make the music better. I’ll wait. Well,
it’s Monday. Guess what I’m doing. -_-
But, it sounds something like
the sound I remembered from days since past. So I got time. Time enough to see
the second coming from Raphael Saadiq. Who is this tall, bald, bow-tied, brutha
trying to sound like Raphael? I mean, he doesn’t sound bad, but perhaps he should
have had that tea before the show. It’s like in math, there’s an order of
operations. When you do them out of order, you get the wrong answer in those FB
posts with McDonald’s fries, fans with missing blades, and clocks telling different
times. #YouDoTheMath
Beats are dropping, songs are
playing, and I have questions that are beginning to turn into sadnesses. Jigs
took a picture of me. I literally saw my soul broken. It wept, like Jesus, for
my eyes and ears. All I needed was Anthony Hamilton to come thru and give me a good raspy
bridge over my troubled spirit.
Halfway through the show, D’Wayne
gave the members of the band an opportunity to showcase their musical talents.
We also learned that he was unaware of some of their names, and the names of
the instruments. A baritone saxophone is also known as a "big ass
sax" and I really just wanted to go back to SF Jazz…like not even
to see a show. I would have been good at one of their staff meetings. This was
also a point in the show where I wondered if Sway was ever gonna tell us how
this all was happening. He never showed. He makes good decisions.
Well, now that we’ve given the
Raphael stand-in an opportunity to drink more tea, it’s time to play more of
those hits we once loved. Let's
Get Down begins, and I mean, I got kinda happy. It’s a classic. And it
features a classic – DJ Quick. Just as soon as my mood was beginning to lift, I
realize that there are dancers. Like two female-identifying persons dancing on
the stage. Doing interpretive dance. You know, interpreting the song lyrics
like you do with your friends when you’re in the car on the way to some
shenanigan. Like on first Sunday when the youth and young adult ministry is
performing before communion. Like, WHY ARE YOU DOING INTERPRETIVE DANCE ON THIS
SMALL ASS STAGE WHERE THEY HAVE A BIG ASS SAX?! This is not okay.
I can’t do this Jesus.
So, there are more body rolls,
tea being sipped, instruments being played by the forgotten, flatly held notes,
and D’Wayne reminding us constantly how Oakland he is while sippin on tequila.
I would blame my sadnesses on the tequila, but gin is the only alcohol that has
ever wronged me. And I hold grudges.
My thoughts, enumerated:
3. I
want a ginger ale.
11. Why
am I here, in this place, doing this, with people I like?
2. What
am I watching, exactly?
13. She
should do this routine to Safe In His Arms cause that body roll would go well
with that’s why I safeeee…don’t you feel safeeee?…
4.
They shouldn’t give some people weaves. Because they get them and think they
somebody, and really they just in my way when I’m trying to figure out if
that’s indeed a scene from the slave trade, or I’ve been watching this looped
video too long. If she stands up one more time, it’s gonn’ be smoke in the town.
22. I
don’t really feel safe, or anything here. But, now that Oakland is gentrified,
I kinda really actually don’t feel safe, but before the gentrifiers, I did. Is
that weird?
1.
It’s not over yet? Cause they promptly cut Rahsaan Patterson's set,
and we definitely could have had more of that.
17. I
don’t wanna do this anymore.
3b. I
really want a ginger ale. Cause I’m sick of this.
Eventually, I got to a thought
I continued to return to – #7. Why exactly isn’t Raphael part of this?
Apparently, everybody on that tiny stage was related or went waaaayyy back –
except for the people he just met that day and the instruments he renamed. I
mean think about it, Brandy – Queen Latifah – MC Lyte – Yoyo wanted us to all be down
again. Xscape gave us a reunion tour and reality show that we maybe didn’t want
with hindsight being 20/20 and we ain’t got Lasik in the here and now. Like, people
come back to a good thing, sometimes. The New Edition tour was hella dope! Remember? As out of shape as Bobby was, we all LIVED that night in Oracle!
If the absence of Raphael is a thing, it’s a warning to us all, about returning to things that have long
since passed. Like what Kandi
is (not) doing now, in real time. Whether you left them, or they left you.
Be it a happy departure, or one filled with words never to be recollected. Forever
has a beginning and an end. And the era of Tony! Toni! Toné! has long since
gone. D’Wayne is holding on to something so beautiful, letting it rust before
our eyes. I mean, Tony! Toni! Toné! – as much as I love my Daddie-given name –
made me want to be named Deja so somebody could sing about how much they really
loved me on the field at Drake Stadium at UCLA while people ran around the track. I
needed that.
But my name was never changed.
And other songs came along. I grew to learn to love to insert my own name in
them. And I found joy. D’Wayne hasn’t found any joy in the after, holding on to
what was. We all learned this the hard way.
Friday night, I went to see a
band do covers of Tony! Toni! Toné! songs. I give them a C. And we know that C’s
do not get cashed out during report card season, thought hey earn degrees. But, make good decisions with your
money and see Rahsaan
Patterson next time he’s at Yoshi’s.
If you ever ask me to go see
the different Tony! Toni! Toné! the experience following will be unpleasant.
______________
* Tony! Toni! Toné! crashed out of their Oakland neighborhood in 1988
with their Gold debut album Who? which spawned the hit "Little
Walter". In 1990, to both critical and popular acclaim, their second album
The Revival garnered four # 1 Billboard hits including "Feels Good,"
"Whatever You Want," "The Blues" and "It Never Rains
(In Southern California)" and went Platinum. The success of The Revival
and its subsequent headlining tour was realized during various awards shows:
1991 NAACP Image Award for "Vocal Group of The Year", 1991 American
Music Award for "Favorite R&B/Soul Group" and 1991 ASCAP Award
for "Feels Good". In 2006, D’Wayne Wiggins and Timothy Christian
Riley regrouped along with their cousin, Amar Khalil performing lead vocals.
They have been touring the United States delivering their classic hits to
sold-out audiences across the country. Tony! Toni! Toné!’s much anticipated
25th Anniversary album is due to be released later this year.
Nail. Head. Hit.
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