Don’t Call it a Comeback

Don’t say nothing else about music being dead. It’s alive, it’s living, it’s accessible.

It may not be on television, or the radio, but it’s here. That soulful, relatable, can’t help but groove with it kind of music.

Sometimes it needs to take a break, grow up and poke around in life in order to have something new to say, in order to keep up with you in a way that will make you want to keep listening.

Enter Teedra Moses.  Theblvdmag.com caught up with her as she prepared to take stage at New York’s R&B stalwart SOB’s in lower Manhattan. The last time we saw her, she was on the cover of her seminal album Complex Simplicity. Five years later, and a war chest of life lessons later she’s back to let her fans know that she’s grown, but ain’t nothing changed. She’s still that friend that understands.

The petite powerhouse has taken time to raise her 13-year-old twins Ras and Taj, move to Miami and get out of a sour deal with TVT music, her former label. That didn’t mean the music stopped. Moses released three mixtapes over the course of three years.

“The last time people saw me I was dealing getting out of a relationship,” she said. “I was dealing with stuff with my music and I just wanted to have fun and move out of the funk I was in. “

That feeling and other personal issues, including losing her mother, influenced her sound.  It gave young women a soundtrack to explore love with. Five years have passed since that 2004 classic, and it’s a different time for Moses.

“I was getting out of a relationship where I was very focused on him,” she said. “I realized that when you make someone your world you miss out on finding out what God has had for you all along.”

But it’s different now.

“I’m wanting love again, and I’m ready to talk about it” she said. “My fans are writing me and twittering me about putting out a new album, and I have something to say.”

The 33-year-old feels that while she’s been an adult for a while, she’s now a grown woman who has been and has used those life lessons and solid spiritual footing to find a strength that grows daily.

“This time around my sound is more aggressive,” she said. “I’m using my voice from a deeper place.” To Moses, she’s come a long way from “Caught Up,” her first song ever recording. “I have stronger lyrics now, and I’m anxious for people to hear my music.”

Moses’ fans look to her for her strong sassy cleverness, but there’s always a message within the melody.

“We really need to try to keep the attitudes positive, and start focusing on developing really good relationships with ourselves so we don’t tolerate stupid shit,” she said. “Before you work on anything else, make sure that you love and respect yourself.”

Her songs are not about checklists, and what a nigga should be driving and where he should be vacationing. They are about the tears, and smiles you share when you are so deep in love with that one person. The stuff you sometimes don’t want to admit you’re feeling. The stuff you love to be mad at, and the stuff you are mad to love. Sometimes it feels like she puts the words right in your mouth, and gives you the permission to feel it.

“She’s really soulful,” said Claudia Steer, a 27-year-old Londoner who stood outside waiting for her friend to arrive. “She finds a way to remain true to the R&B sound, but still be relevant.

“There’s something late 90s, early 2000s about her that’s filling a void in music today.”

The hopeless romantic in Steer, understands the kind of love Moses writes about. So does Mike Milan, 30, another fan of Moses.

“Her music is timeless and her sound is pure,” he said. “It’s like the R&B in the early 90s when the sound was rich and really yummy.”

Fans wonder why she hasn’t blown up from having such a diverse and deep fan base. Men love her. She’s intriguing without posing a threat, but sassy enough to you know if you are intimidated, that’s your issue. And women relate, mayne we relate.

Still major label success is not what keeps Moses writing and singing.

“This was not something I grew up wanting to,” said the former stylist assistant. “I wasn’t that interested in being a superstar. I knew I needed a way to take care of my kids, and I wasn’t having fun styling anymore.”

So, one tearful night she cried out to God asking Him to bless her with a way to provide for the most important people in her world.

“I’m grateful for my fans allowing me to take care of my kids,” she said. “I feel successful because I’ve been able to maintain a comfortable lifestyle for them and that’s all I asked for and he gave it to me in abundance.”

She’s written for people who have had commercial success. Christina Milian, Raphael Saadiq, Nivea, Teairra Mari, Trina and others. And even if selling out your local Wal-mart forever remains elusive, she’ll be happy with the blessings that God has granted.

“I am able to be around to be a loving mom and build strong young men who aren’t pansies,” she said. “I get to write songs that people love, and I must be doing something right because I can’t do this alone.”

She knows she’s got a loyal base. One that will wait with bated breath, scour MySpace and limewire and travel across the country to see her. Fans like Sarah Kapitanoff, a 28-year-old new York transplant via Wisconsin.

“I first heard of her in 1999 singing on other people’s tracks and I’ve been down ever since,” she said. Kapitanoff said she’s seen her in D.C. and has gone to shows by herself just so she can get the Teedra experience. “It’s not hard to drag my boyfriend to the shows though. She’s a beautiful woman with a banging body and she knows she’s talented. I can relate to her.”

Kapitanoff puts out her cigarette and gets inside just inside to see Moses glide on the stage greeting the crowd with the warmth of an artist who really does love what she does.

The love was shown back. Fans, old and new, sang loudly with Moses as she crooned about love lost, and love gained. About the joys of being happy and staying positive, and of course about that “Backstroke.”

Look out for new material from The Young Lioness in 2010.

Photography by Yeppi Yeebo

Letter From the B-Girls

Hey Houston, it’s Fall and it’s beautiful.

The weather’s finally cooling off and the leaves are falling off the trees. We’ve made our clocks fall back, and hopefully you’ll be falling into the arms of people who love you, and maybe falling in serious like with the person you’re choosing to snuggle with over the next few months.

The B-Girls have been busy plugging away finding newer, hotter, funner places to try, and a different way of thinking about your city. Like our piece about Houston’s bike culture. Philip Huffeldt gives a great account about the folks who live in the city and prefer to bike it instead of wasting money on gas. Who knew so many Houstonians ride out in crazy costumes at midnight? Well, now you do. Thank us in the comments.

Who also knew that one in three adult Houstonians can’t read or write? If you’re looking for a way to help someone out and make Houston a better place, let Benna Sayyed explain why helping out with Houston’s adult literacy issue might be the avenue for you.

Holiday season is officially upon us, which means many of us will be flying to and from wherever home may be. Friends and family alike will be converging on our great city. Why don’t you take them out and show them a good time? Charne’ Graham and Katherine Le hip us to some fun, affordable places to eat, drink and chill.

If you spent your Indian summer wisely, then you’ve already snagged a friend to keep you warm this winter. Check Grooming on tips for keeping them as your snuggle buddy. And send him/her e-mail with the article so they can get prepared too.

We’ve got plenty of Live Performances for that ass, and make sure to go see Precious. It’s a beautiful, transformative movie, and well worth the handful of bucks you’ll pay to see it. It’s one of those movies you can go see with anyone you love because at the core the movie is about love.

Oh, and if you’re thinking about buying clothing for a loved one for Christmas, be sure to check StyleWatch and make sure you’re not unwittingly throwing them into a Fashion Fail situation. Sophia Lecky gives you some new music to take with you while you shop.

This is a time of love and appreciation, and I know we say it a lot, but it bears repeating: we LOVE y’all and appreciate you all reading. Leave us comments, let us know how we can make this publication better for you. Share a hug, a smile and your time this season. None of those cost money and could mean the world to someone.

Be Well Houston.

Kisses,

The B-Girls

Raphael Saadiq | HOB 11/25

Treat yourself to a Thanksgiving treat and go see Raphael Saadiq at The House of Blues on November 25. The former frontman of 90s R&B legends Toni, Tony, Tone has evolved musically, but has so many hits the show promises to keep you on your feet all night long.

WHO: Raphael Saadia

WHERE: The House of Blues

1204 Caroline Street

Houston, TX

77002

WHEN: November 25 at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $22

Why? | Walter’s on Washington 11/7

Indie rock group Why? will be hitting up Walter’s on Washington Nov. 7. If Frankie B. and Maze ain’t your thang make your way out to The Heights to see the band perform. w/ Au and the Moore Brothers will be there as well.

WHO: Why?

WHERE: Walter’s on Washington

4215 Washington Avenue

Houston, TX

77007

WHEN: November 7 at 9 p.m.

Tickets are $10. Cash only.

A New Definition of Precious

Precious is not an Indy Film.

It’s a major motion picture release that has been blessed by Oprah and Tyler Perry, but that’s not why you need to see it.

In fact, pretend that you don’t know that they’ve touched it. This film is so raw in honest emotion and dialogue about how broken so many of our American homes are that it doesn’t matter who produced it, it just matters that work like this was produced.

Precious, is based off the novel “Push” by Sapphire. Arguments can be made that, as always, the movie cannot touch the literary work, but that argument is moot in this case because the film is a cinematic feat all in its own. Lee Daniels tells the sweeping tale of Clareece “Precious” Jones using lush fantasy sequences and juxtaposing them with jarring snaps back to Precious’s grim reality. If Daniels does anything, he makes sure he gets your attention through inspired editing of her story. In his own way, he forces you to get comfortable with being made to feel uncomfortable. Like a good South Park bit, just when you think that’s as far as he will go, he takes it to a cringe-worthy level. All the while showing how beautiful Precious and the people who have grown to love her are as she navigates simply trying to survive.

Mo’Nique is receiving well-deserved Oscar buzz. She plays a disturbing portrayal of Precious’s mother Mary with such contempt that there will be at least one point in the movie that will induce at least a shudder. However, even with all of the force of Mo’Nique’s performance, the star of the movie is Gabourey Sidibe, who plays Precious with such conviction and believability that it almost feels invasive to be watching Precious’s comings and goings. At some point, Sidibe leads you past Precious’s surface turmoil — which is so deep that the viewer accepts it as a way of life for her — and draws you into Precious by making her longings relatable to anyone. Her desire to be acknowledged as a person, her longing for love, her need for vaildation from a respected individual are so sincere that it’s impossible not to begin to love her yourself. Sidibe’s subtle development of her character through a simple grunt, or rolling of the eyes and her superb dead-pan make Precious likable. She don’t take no shit, and who doesn’t love a character you can respect?

The film is full of star power. From the lovely Grace Hightower cameo and Susan Taylor, the high priestess of black female empowerment, serving as Precious’s godmother in her fantasy (she would be somebody’s fairy godmother); the strength of the film is how the celebrity is stripped from the movie and you are left being impressed with the sheer dedication to the work by these mega-stars.

Paula Patton plays a tender, compassionate foil to Mo’Nique’s brash, and did I say dee-gus-ting, character. Patton is by no means a push over, but serves as the guide to Precious realizing her own strength and a reminder of all of the gentle spirits that have encouraged and motivated each one of us through simple insistence and a kind word or two. Erase Glitter from your mind — if you saw it. Mariah Carey gives a convincing performance as a case worker who grows to care about Precious while working with her. Lenny Kravitz is so unassumingly powerful, and may I say sexy, in this movie that you almost miss that it’s him. It’s always impressive when a man can maintain his masculinity, yet be tender. Kravitz mastered it. Oh, and look out for Sapphire, the author, as the day care worker.

The movie is punctuated by moments of sheer hilarity, and the supporting cast of Precious’s classmates add as much richness to the movie as the celebrities. They all move seamlessly together, yet through out all of the strong performances, Sidibe holds her own making sure that all watching know this movie is about Precious and her journey.

Even if your best friend has all but ruined the plot for you, the movie is beyond a must see. It’s a refreshing break from all of the formulaic “dude” movies (Pineapple Hangover anyone?), and corny romantic comedies to watch a gripping tale of one woman’s struggle to live. This isn’t a feel good movie, this is a be grateful movie. And hopefully, a be active movie. Once the credits role, and the lights rise, we suggest you talk about it. And then stop talking about it, get out and do something, so that Precious remains a movie and no longer anyone’s reality.

The movie is out in theaters this Friday, November 6.

Goodbye Halitosis

Holiday season is here, which means some spiked eggnog might lead you under some mistletoe if you’re lucky. The quickest way to find yourself standing there by your damn self is by having funky breath. That’s right folks, this post is about keeping the mouthpiece fresh, especially during this time of close contact. Think about it, not only will you be greeting relatives, but that good snuggle weather is upon us, and again — you gets none if your breath is foul. Here are some tips to keep people wanting to talk to you during the winter. Feel free to make them lifestyle habits:

- BRUSH at least twice a day. Get in the back of your mouth, top and bottom. Please don’t forget the tongue and the roof of your mouth. Bacteria will live, and die depending on how hot your mouth is, there.

- FLOSS. Seriously,  flossing is the most important thing you can do to keep a healthy mouth situation besides brushing. It’s important to get rid of the bits of turducken meat you might’ve eaten at Grandmommy’s. Not only can leftover food particles make your mouth smell like ugh, but it can cause gingivitis, which can lead to tooth decay and even tooth loss. Would you want to kiss a toothless person? We thought so. We recommend Plackers Flosspicks. They’re an easy glide floss that won’t make it feel like you’re sawing through your teeth. Keep in your purse or pocket along with your…

- BREATH MINTS. Gum is great, but if you’re looking for insta-fresh, a breath mint will be your best bet. Gum takes a few chews to activate and if chewed too long can become stale, defeating the purpose. Besides, there’s something classy and imperceptible about a mint over gum. We recommend DentaClean Herbal Breath Mints.

- BLACK TEA. Gentleman, want to impress your lady friend and avoid puppy dog breath in the morning? Make sure to keep some black tea in the cupboards, and fix her some in the morning. Studies have found that black tea not only improves cardiovascular health, but also kills the bacteria in the mouth that causes stinky breath. You can try peppermint and green tea, as well.

- SMILE. True enough, a smile won’t kill halitosis, but it will kill the notion that you aren’t confident about your oral situation. Besides, it’s the holidays, there’s plenty to be grateful for and a smile from me and you makes the world a better place.

BONUS: Whitening products. I think we can all agree white is alright when it comes to teeth. Invest in more than just sparkly looking toothpaste and buy whitening strips. We also like Listerine whitening pre-wash for before you brush, and Arm & Hammer Whitening Booster to put on top of your toothpaste while you brush. Do yourself one better and the next time you go get your teeth cleaned (because we know all of you are making efforts to go at least once a year), ask your dentist to make custom molds of your teeth so you can have your very own set of whitening trays. The trays can last you for years if you take care of them, and it will be easier to maintain, instead of create, a pearly white smile. Healthy diet and plenty of water are also essential to oral health.

Julian Marley | HOB 11/19

Julian Marley, member of the legendary Marley family, will be making his way to Houston mid-November promoting his latest album Awake.

WHO: Julian Marley

WHERE: House of Blues

1204 Caroline Street

Houston,  TX

77002

WHEN: November 19 at 8 p.m.

Tickets start at $21

Betty Says

So, many of you have been wondering who is the chick with the pinky ring? Well, her name is Betty and she is fired up about the lack of home training some of these privileged folk have been displaying. So listen up y’all Betty’s got something to say:

So far, September has been a month of public outbursts, tirades, embarrassment and overall bitchassedness from some of America’s high profile people.  It’s unacceptable that America’s finest are carrying on like they don’t know what manners and decency are.

September 4, 2009 – University of Orgeon vs. Boise State

Violator: LeGerette Blount, University of Oregon

Dear LeGerette Blount,

Football is an exciting game and it is understood that when adrenaline is pumping, competition can get fierce. However, it is not okay to sucker punch your opponent just because he talked trash to you. It’s football. You tackle each other, you talk shit, you score touchdowns and someone has to lose. Unfortunately it was your team that lost, and you decided to respond like a little biatch. Mr. Blount, not only have you been suspended for the remainder of the season during you senior year, but you brought it all on yourself just because someone was teasing you. What a sore loser. Good luck in the NFL draft.

Best wishes,

Betty

September 9, 2009 – President Obama’s Address to the House of Representatives

Violator: Rep. Joe Wilson, SC

Dear Rep. Joe Wilson,

Do you realize that you disrespected the President of the United States? And you had the nerve to say that you “will not be muzzled?” You insubordinate jerk. Even John McCain said that you needed to apologize. I don’t have very many words for you. It’s just funny that you thought you could just get away with doing what you did and not have to apologize. Too bad, you had to say you were sorry anyway.

Warm regards,

Betty

September 12, 2009 – Women’s U.S. Open

Violator: Serena Williams

Dear Serena,

You and Mr. Blount need to go sit in the corner for a while. You’re an athlete. False calls will be made. No, its not fair. Life isn’t fair. But guess what? You get to play a game for a living, and as a result, you get paid a pretty penny to endorse products. And, for the average American who has to get up every morning, go to work at the office or hot warehouse, its not fair to them that you get to get paid to play a game. I’m sure if they had the opportunity to play UNO for a living they would take a false call here and there.

Sincerely,

Betty

September 13, 2009 – MTV Video Music Awards

Violator(s): Kanye West & Lil Mama

Dear Kanye,

Enough already. It used to be funny, but seriously, sit your ass down and shut your mouth. Let other people shine even if only for a moment. Did you really have to interrupt Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech? Now you have given Taylor unintentional exposure. The truth of the matter is Beyonce didn’t need you to speak for her. It’s funny that you did all that ranting and raving and Beyonce won the award of the night anyway. Thankfully, Beyonce (and her camp) represented for Houston by exercising some class by allowing Taylor to finish her acceptance speech during her own acceptance. Even though we wish picture perfect “B” would have had a realistic reaction when the camera zoomed in on her.

Best,

Betty

P.S. Thanks for apologizing on Jay Leno – I must say you actually looked sincere. Looking forward to the next album.

Dear Lil Mama,

Coming on the stage at the MTV Video Music Awards with Jay – Z and Alicia Keys uninvited was just…lame.

Always,

Betty

Classic Face

One of the hottest looks this season is the Rhianna palette. Angela, a make-up artist with Nieman’s, gives some tips on how to achieve the look:

The best way to create Rhianna’s look is to keep it very matte. Get the face ultra matte with oil control skincare and good powder, and then do a soft cheek with a bronzer. To achieve a bold lip go for MAC’s Russian Red or Viva Glam and a good liner from MAC. Stay away from gloss on the lips for this look. a gel or liquid liner on the eye in black will make eyes sultry.  Be sure the line on the upper lid is very precise and brought out in the corner almost cat-like, but not too much. Eye shadow should be very subtle if any and matte like a beige or skin tone. If its shimmery then only apply a slight shimmer. Its more appropriate than other looks of the moment, so when you head out make sure to pair the look for when you have on your sophisticated outfit for the office, or solid colors. The Rhianna look is not so hot with prints and busy outfits.  It’s a simple look that is derived from the flapper and pin up girls. That Marilyn Monroes and Audrey Hepburn look is so simple, classy and sexy.

Special Shout Out to Angela Bartel for the Beauty Advice!

Frankie Beverly + Maze at the Reliant Arena 11/7

They said it wouldn’t happen, but supergroup Frankie Beverly and Maze will be returning to Houston on Saturday, November 7 at the Reliant Arena. The group, more than two decades deep into the game, will be performing as a part of the Houston Music Festival. The festival will also feature Teena Marie and Babyface. Tickets aren’t cheap folks, so better get them while the getting is good. Tickets start at $85 on up.

What: Houston Music Festival

When: Saturday November 7, 2009

Where: Reliant Arena

8400 Kirby Dr, Houston, TX  77054

 

 

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