A Four Season's Entourage

How did I end up at the Four Seasons with the cast of Entourage after a rambling day of getting things done and never quite changing from the skirt over Hanro long-johns combo I started out with in the morning, which after looking long enough resembles an Issey Miyake ensemble, but not quite. After a full day of computer focus with a break to chat over tea with friends, this evening started out with an idea to locate a pair of Adam's Boots for RG.   Lately he's been wearing mine and I am not quite sure why this works, save I wear my boots way too big and thankfully they fit him just fine.

After the boot search in the Haight-Ashbury district of SF, which included stumbling upon kids from The School of Rock playing Janis Joplin's Piece of My Heart, I grabbed dinner with my piece of heart at a noodle place with a plan to go to the gym and then grab a late night dessert at the Four Seasons.  Dinner at this noodle place proved to be too loud to hold normal conversations and almost too loud to twitter even though the food was good enough to eat.  We escaped with our eardrums in tact, raced to the gym, and spotted each other on a posterior, anterior and middle deltoid workout which I think was invented in the moment just to torture me.  Making it through was a miracle.  The gym was strangely filled with other Friday night workout folk whom I believe now may be my people.

Once dressed, I quickly changed my focus to our journey upstairs to the Four Seasons for a quite moment with the dessert menu.  Apple pie and Chocolate Cake with 2 glasses of grapefruit juice  This unique order put us on an interesting timetable as we suddenly became a part of the entourage of people attending the amfAR Benefit.  Just as we were leaving I was mysteriously recognized by a new neighbor I had seen for the first time ever early this morning.  He reminded me of our chance encounter and before I knew it began to introduce me to mmbers of the show Entourage who attended the benefit.  I started to smile when I suddenly realized I had quite a few friends in the mix.  One woman asked if I was wearing Angel perfume by Thierry Mugler and I was :-)

RG and I made the appropriate introductions and shook the appropriate number of hands and snapped the appropriate number of pictures. The inserted picture is of Drew Altizer, Rex, and yours truly, Nkechi.  My bud, Drew Altizer, is SF's top society photgrapher who listened to me paint visions years ago.  We talked about our hopes for entourages in the future of our respective creative careers.  So far so good,  as we are each resident members of the other's entourage.  Amazingly that future we spoke of is here and now. Imagine that!

So, today was one of those unplanned, beautifuly majestic string of synchronicities that resuted in a full circle perspective on how a day in Life works when we are open.  This entire day was in flow, before I even knew it when I waved at my neighbor.  A small gesture that proved to be the key that would synch me up to to finding A Four Season's Entourage.

Blessings :-)
NKECHI
http://www.nkechi.com

Cooking plus Service equals Music

Most recently I have found myself mercilessly domesticated and cooking .. a lot. As in breakfast lunch and dinner for me and mine. I am delighted to say that for some reason unknown to my naked eye, I am ecstatically delighted about this. Who knew? Who knew that the thinking about, the planning, the preparing, the coking and the serving would bring my Spirit such delight.

Since Monday 10/26/09 I have been starting at least one song a day. Yes, at least one song starter a day. Up until today I had been blessed with at least a melodic hook and lyric. Today after drawing a few blanks, enough to twitter about it, I made a simple breakfast. Apples sliced and yogurt. I arranged this meal on a plate and before I knew it, 3 rhythm based melodies emerged one after another. No lyrics, just the rhythm and the melodic baseline. Could there be a correlation between cooking, the serving =, and the receiving of melodic content from the Great Downloader in the Sky?

Well, I’ve learned to leave the pondering of such BIG questions to those more equipped with time and space to pursue the answer. My job now is to harness this newfound energy source and dive even more into the delights of cooking for me and mine and serving the delicious melody infused delights to … whomever’s coming to dinner. Are you?

Tonight’s dinner consisted of artichokes still steaming and whole grain pasta stir fried with porcini mushrooms, peas, sundried tomatoes, olive oil and a few cooked shrimp.

No we are off to finally see Michael Jackson’s This Is It. I think for now this really Is it. Cooking + Service = Music.

Blessings :-)
Nkechi

Cooking plus Service equals Music November 4, 2009
http://acousticsoulsongstress.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/cooking-plus-service-equals-music

RG

TONIGHT was a good night of re-stepping out in the rare form of “girl with guitar” after having soaked in the Presence of a gaggle of gal pals.   Gals who have been delicately placed in my Life by a host of Angels.   After leaving my crew I sauntered to The Barge in Sausalito to “watch” a few friends make music.  Meanwhile I was missing RG.   As a singer/songwriter I bask in the essence of missing those whom I dearly love.    So there I said it, I love RG.   Now this love is the inspiration I need to finish the song I started writing today titled “Your Grace is So Significant.”  Your Grace, Your Place, Your Presence, in My World.

Settling In

I feel somethang coming over me. A settling in, a good settling in of sorts. I guess today is just as good a day as any to settle in and let in all the good I’ve been accumulating lately. Right now my belly is full on fettucini with clams from a cafe in Sausalito and my eyes are feasting on a bunch of happy souls enjoying a fellow musical artist doing her thang. Sing-ang her jazzy thang. Nice. Watching the listeners smile through their discomfort of walking in front of everyone to fill up the tip jar…is exhilarating. I am amused and pleasantly delighted that this IS my life. Listening, learning, yearning, being, growing,singing and settling in

Bay Area Acoustic Soul Songstress NKECHI hosts "Vol 1 :: THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT" Fundraiser Party for Women in Africa‏

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Bay Area Acoustic Soul Songstress NKECHI hosts "Vol 1 :: THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT Fundraiser Party" for Women in Africa

CONTACTS: Media Contact: Evone Garcia (United to Stop Violence Against Women and Girls); evoneg@yahoo.com ; Sponsor & Donations Contact: Nkechi (Host & Creator of The Butterfly Effect Party) thebutterflyeffect@nkechi.com

WHAT: Bay Area Acoustic Soul Songstress NKECHI, Evone Garcia, and Radio Africa & Kitchen present "VOL 1: THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT Fundraiser Party" on Wednesday April 1st, 5pm - 12am at Project One SF Gallery & Lounge. "The Butterfly Effect" Fundraiser Party is a soulfully artistic and fashionable, art, fashion, food, dj and live music event created by NKECHI to raise funds for charities that benefit men, women, and children in Africa. The charity focus for this party is VDay.org and OneMama.org. Evone Garcia, a long time V-Day Organizer as well as Radio Africa & Kitchen, a nomadic African restaurant with sustainable products and methods are rallying in support of this event. FULL PRESS RELEASE http://www.nkechi.com/pressreleases.cfm

"If one flap of a butterfly wing can make an impact on the other side of the globe, so can our little BIG party in the US make an impact on the continent of Africa."

Doors Open at 5pm
Food Sponsored by Radio Africa & Kitchen 6pm - 8pm http://www.radioafricakitchen.com/ Fashion Show by the Fashion Department of CCSF at 7pm.
Live Music By NKECHI LIVE! Band at 8pm & 9:30pm. http://www.nkechi.com/
Special DJs Arisafari, Mama Bear & Voodoochop spinning before, after & in between
Goodie Bags Sponsored by Benefit Cosmetics http://www.benefitcosmetics.com/
And More Event Partners donating gifts for raffle prizes

DATE: Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

TIME: 5pm-12am

WHERE: Project One SF Gallery & Lounge, 251 Rhode Island, San Francisco, CA 94103

TICKETS: Advance Tickets $20 (includes food) ; $10 More at the Door
Brown Paper Tickets http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/60529
Eventbrite.com http://thebutterflyeffect.eventbrite.com/

ABOUT THE CHARITIES:
V-Day. Until the Violence Stops. Violence against women and girls in the family, in a relationship, at school, on the street, in the workplace, during war still occurs regularly in Africa, Asia and the Middle East with impunity. V-Day works to end this violence by partnering directly with women's organizations in these regions who are working to end violence against women and girls in all its forms changing minds, changing laws, changing lives. V-Day's Spotlight this year is the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) http://newsite.vday.org/drcongo OneMama. We are all OneMama on OneMother Earth. One Mama ties Uganda's communities together through sustainable health, family, and financial education in order for its people to overcome poverty and thrive. By specifically supporting the midwives at the center of these communities, OneMama empowers women, raises awareness, and makes positive change. OneMama is the nurturer, the protector, and the source of life for those in need. OneMama's mission is to bring prosperity and health to people all over the world by empowering women as caregivers, mothers, businesswomen and agents of change for their rural communities. We are all OneMama on OneMother earth. http://www.onemama.org/

ABOUT THE MUSICAL PERFORMING ARTIST AND HOST:
NKECHI (pronounced nnn-KAY-chee) http://www.nkechi.com/ is an alternative acoustic soul singer/songwriter whose evocative voice, lyrics, and melodies explore a wide range of musical territory, including indie alternative pop, folk, world, & soul all in her signature sound and style. NKECHI performs as a solo musical artist, a live vocalist with djs, a live emcee/host and as lead vocalist/songwriter of her self-titled band NKECHI LIVE! A Full Tilt Jam Band Experience. NKECHI has performed at venues such as Cafe DuNord, the Make Out Room, 12 Galaxies, Red Devil Lounge, the Make Out Room, El Rio, Hotel Utah, Rockit Room, Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, and many more venues and festivals around the bay area and east coast. NKECHI is a proud member of WomenROCK!, a Bay Area music, art and activist collective, which was formed with a vision to support female musicians and to use their music to bring awareness to charitable causes while reaching the listener in a way that entertains and educates.

NKECHI aka "Acoustic Soul Songstress" hosts and produces Alternative Live Music Shows and Events alongside an aggressive performance schedule for causes in which she believes. (http://www.nkechi.com/biographies.cfm) Her mission is to bring intuitive and creative live music productions into out-of-the-box environments as a tool to inspire, enhance, and bring creativity, consciousness, and connection to upscale parties all over the world. NKECHI is an experienced entertainment personality, who plans, develops and emcees Live Music Shows designed to meet the funds and consciousness raising needs of the charities she supports. NKECHI is gifted in her ability to improvise words and music which specifically speaks to highlight and raise compassion in the midst of her performing environments. “Vol1 :: The Butterfly Effect Fundraiser Party" is an upscale fashionably artful musical evening helping to raise awareness on behalf of a group of organizations that serve to better the lives of men, women, and children in Africa. NKECHI says "I thrive on creating live music in the moment which inspires a heightened perspective for worthy causes. Being that I am an African, I wanted to focus this time around on bringing awareness to issues concerning women from Africa. From that thought OneMama and V-Day suddenly appeared as inspirational causes that are affecting change over there from here, hence The Butterfly Effect. If one flap of a butterfly wing can make an impact on the other side of the globe, so can our little BIG party in the U.S. make an impact on the continent of Africa.”

NKECHI is collaborating with long term V-Day supporter and organizer Evone Garcia and Radio Africa & Kitchen founder Chef Eskender Aseged, to create an evening to be more than remembered.