Hip Hop Night Out: Fabolous Chamillionaire and Mya at Mezzanine

It was a wild night at Mezzanine, the premier South of Market San Francisco nightspot when New York city rap star Fabolous, r&b diva extraordinaire Mya and surprise guest Chamillionaire threw down at a rowdy, raucous hip hop party. The club was packed out with hip hop heads, and impresario/radio personality Big Von kept things moving with a couple of DJs playing crowd-pleasing hit after hit. The crowd most definitely came to party and party they did, shouting out the lyrics to the rap and hiphop standards at volumes that rivalled the rafter shaking bass lines. Mya took the stage about 90 minutes after the doors opened, and she is finer than ever, dancing, singing and seducing the crowd with her latest "Lock You Down" and "Ridin'," which whet our appetites for her forthcoming "Liberation" set, and working the crowd with some of her signature tunes like "Case of the Ex," "Fallin'," "If I Was Your Girl" and "It's All About You." The dancers and backup singers did their duty above and beyond the call, and left us begging for more.

Shortly after Mya exited, super surprise guest star, Chamillionaire, bounded onto the good-sized Mezzanine stage, unexpected and unannounced and thrilled the crowd with his hits, "Ridin'" and a preview of his upcoming "Ultimate Victory" CD, which drops September 18. Chamillionaire convinced the amazed audience that he has real star power with his brief and roof raising set.

At 12:10 AM, headliner Fabolous came on and did a blistering 25 minute set of truncated versions of several of his many pop hits, including his interpolation of Lesley Gore's "It's My Party," "This Is My Party" and a number of key cuts from his superb "From Nothin' to Somethin'" certified gold outing. Fabolous is one of the most underrated rap stars. He comes out with hit after hit and still is not typically listed among the rap giants, perhaps because he does so well on radio, or maybe because his flow elevates him past P Diddy, who wishes he could touch Fab's trouser cuffs. The set was brief, but exciting, and the price for a hot night of hiphop in one of San Francisco's best clubs, Mezzanine, was oh so right: $10. Top that!

Summertime Catch-Up: Lake Tahoe Getaway featuring Fergie and Angie Stone at the San Jose Jazz Festival

Lamarr and I broke in the new Honda Fit by taking a road trip to Lake Tahoe. It is so beautiful there. We had a ball visiting with my brother, Joe, his wife Kathy, and my nieces, Catie, Karri, Annie and Amy on the day we arrived after checking in at our Tahoe standby, Motel Six. It's such a nice Motel Six and the price is right! When we arrived at the condo near the Heavenly gondola, Kathy was baking homemade cookies and prepping homemade ice cream which of course we got to sample. We had a wonderful visit followed by a bonus two days later when Joe and Kathy met us at Harrah's buffet for brunch. I don't think we shut up for three hours!

We saw Fergie at Harvey's Outdoor Arena and the crowd was fun and having a ball. Fergie was marvelous. Her years with Wild Orchid, Black Eyed Peas et al have seasoned her and she is a terrific performer, plus...she has the material! "Glamorous," "Fergalicious," the unavoidable "Big Girl Don't Cry" and all the excellent songs from her "Duchess" solo debut were performed. The only glitches were the power outages in the middle of two songs that slowed the momentum. But we came to party and party on we did! We ran into a number of randy and well-tanked ladies at the concert and afterwards and had mucho laughs.

Tahoe is so beautiful and in addition to playing on their little casino strip and shopping, we rode the Heavenly Valley gondola over the top of the mountain. I love that ride. It's expensive but so worth it for the view alone.

Then a couple of Friday nights ago, we drove down to San Jose for the opening of their annual San Jose Jazz Festival, three days when they shut down their downtown, put up 10 stages and countless food booths, and showcase some international and local jazz talents. It's a fabolous street party and San Jose does it so well. My brother, Don, and his fiancee, Jane, live a couple of blocks from the party zone, so we met them and traipsed over to the main stage to catch the opening night headliner, neosoul diva, Angie Stone. Lamarr and I have seen her several times and she is always good. She has really opened up her show to her fans, having several of them on stage for extended production numbers, and she did a number of her signature songs, including "I Wish I Didn't Miss You," her irrestible O-Jays interpolation with the classic line,"All you wanna do is smoke chronic" and "No More Tears." Lamarr got to say hi to Miss Stone when she left the stage through the chainlink fence. We're eager to hear her new stuff on Stax later this year.

After the show, we walked over to one of Don and Jane's favorite haunts, a New Orleans style restaurant/jazz club where the musicians played while we scarfed our shrimp po-boys and blackened chicken wings. A great visit and a wonderful summer night!