I Now Pronounce You

Saturday night I was invited to attend the CD release party for Ms. Julia Nixon at the Lincoln Theater. Now, honestly, I didn’t know anything about Julia Nixon other than the fact that she’d been in Dream Girls and, I was told, she’s a DC icon…which to me means you gotta go check it out, right? I mean, the word “icon” isn’t something that I take lightly. Really, how many times have you gone to a show to see someone called a “legend” and thought, “what the hell are they talking about?” But, I figured why not…if it’s no good, I’ll write about that.

SO glad I went.

Right off the bat, I met up with our hosts and my man, Listen to Leon. If you can’t have fun at a free concert with Leon, you can’t have fun. Well, unless there’s an open bar. Which, ironically enough, there was.

Yee. Ha.

After a rousing introduction from Allison Seymour we all settled in for what turned out to be an extraordinary show…Julia stood in front of a full string section, drummer, percussionist, two guitar players, a pianist, a bassist, and 3 back up singers…and made you absolutely forget that they were there. From the second she opened her mouth you just knew that this was not some run of the mill singer. Oh no. God no. You can hear the Opera background…the stage training…the control and more than all of that…the straight up emotion. Honestly? It was nothing short of inspiring. To see someone perform when you know none of their music and have them capture your full attention? That’s a gift, and she’s certainly got it.

Personal favorites were the smoldering R&B song Southern Boy, which really, truly turned the heat up in the Lincoln, (not to mention the audience, who was lettin’ her here it with a chorus of “that’s RIGHT girl!”) and Bring Back Springtime which…umm…well…OK, see what had happened was that there was this spec of something that flew in to my eye right as she was really gettin’ in to it and, see…yeah…

It’s a sad damn song, ‘k?!

Julia engaged the crowd while sipping on a Martini between songs…explaining exactly what she was thinking about when she recorded her new record Keepin’ on Track and furthermore, what she intended to share with us, her audience. Understand, this is not a weak voiced trollop bouncin’ around in skimpy outifts to a song she didn’t write with an army of producers finding ways to make her sound like she’s talented. Julia Nixon is a powerhouse, and if you like this type of music (Adult Contemporary R&B) or you just appreciate truly talented people, you owe it to yourself to check her out.

You’ll see in no time why the word “icon” is, in her case, well deserved.

Special thanks to Livinston Buzz for the invite!