The Place to Be

My voice is hoarse and I'm a strange mixture of exhausted and pumped up from cheering, screaming, and dancing the night away down at the Apollo Theater, just around the corner from my house here in good old Harlem. Every Wednesday night is Amateur Night at the Apollo, a showcase for new talent, and great entertainment for both us locals and tourists from as far away as Japan and Norway. This was my second time at Amateur Night, and I think I ought to go more often. It's so much fun!

The show always involves a dance-off between people from the audience, a bunch of young performers (no booing allowed here, and anyway these kids are always too adorable), sometimes a semi-famous guest performer, and then the amateur performers, who either get cheered on, or booed off the stage. Tonight I went to support my friend Rachel, who is an amazing singer. And she did such a great job, and was so adorable on stage! And amazingly, it was a night of awesome talent all around.

Besides Rachel, I loved The Professor (a really good harmonica player), and a guy (I don't remember his name) who sang an amazing gospel song. There was a rap singer I wanted to boo, but I just couldn't because he was an Iraqi war veteran. Rachel came in 4th, but I don't think Franco the guitar player was better than she was. His guitar playing was aight, but his voice was just so so.

Anyway, I'm too tired to write anything really awesome. I just wanted to say that I had such a great time. I love living around the corner from the Apollo. I love the tribute wall to Michael Jackson that they have out there. And I love all the fun people that live in Harlem--the proud people, the crazy people, the people that dance in the streets, and the people that drive up in their convertibles to pick up their grandma from the curb outside the Apollo. I even love the guys that try to pick me up with ultra cheesy lines. I love Harlem.