Joy to Be Near You: Partying With Stevie Wonder at Wonder-FULL
Last night, DJ Bobbito and DJ Spinna convened a motley crew of Stevie Wonder fans for their 10th annual Stevie Wonder dance party, Wonder-FULL. At evening's mid point, a commotion occurred by the deejay booth, which me and the passionate assembled soon realized was caused by Stevie Wonder and his daughter Aisha's arrival at the venue.
The musical genius, who had phoned into a prior wonder-FULL, assumed the mic, addressed the crowd with kind and inspiring words before asking for a beat and running through at least three songs including "Superstition." Bodies that had been in motion were now pressed up against each other and the stage. The overeager elbowed their way to the front, camera phones at the ready. Wonder riled us to hoarseness, thanked us and disappeared through the stage curtains only to reappear and take a seat with his daughter on stage. He couldn't see us, he can't see anything, but he sat there pleasantly with Aisha amidst the chaos of the flashing lights and the din of his blaring catalogue. It was a generous gesture by both to sit as we danced to Stevie Wonder's music. Except we all pretty much stopped dancing, at least with the same pre-arrival fervor. His presence was awe inducing, something many of us couldn't stop trying to capture with our mobile devices. Some folks left not too long after Stevie appeared. He was the climax. Stevie Wonder making a surprise appearance at a twenty dollar dance party and singing his hits virtually a cappella a few yards away is hard to top.
After what seemed like an hour but could have been less, Stevie approached the mic again. As did I, in fact I hopped onto the stage, and stood catty corner to the deejay booth just 3 or so feet from Stevie and Aisha. I positioned my Blackberry and snapped photos in the residual light of the professional photogs' flashes. Stevie spoke of love and activism and the election and most important gratefulness, his gratefulness for our inspiration to him. Yep, our inspiration to him. It was moving but most of it I missed. I spent so much time trying to capture the moment with my shitty camera phone and berating myself for not bring my Canon and reflecting on how momentous an experience it was that I checked out as it seemed did some others. The party never really regained its footing and still was the hottest event I've been to in the '08 and probably will in its remaining months. It finished with "Sir Duke" not long after Stevie exited, but not before he sang a few more numbers including an impromptu "Isn't She Lovely" to Aisha. To be in the presence of celebrity, frivolous or earned, is often paralyzing. It's why I often say that I don't want to meet my idols. I don't think I would have anything to say. My brain would freeze. I'll make Stevie the exception though. I'm still convinced I'll get my audience (burger night maybe?) and when that time comes, I'll be all ears.
See Stevie Wonder performing last night at the 10th Anniversary Wonder-FULL Party at Manhattan Center's Grand Ballroom below.
Tags: Bobbito Garcia, DJ Spinna, Stevie Wonder, Wonder-FULL
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Comments
1.
Joshie_Pooh says:
I've always pretended that I'm too cool to be bothered to talk to celebrities when I see them. "They just want to be treated like normal people!" goes the internal dialogue. But they don't want to be treated like normal people, they want to be treated like famous people. I don't speak to them because I'm scared they'll see me acting dumb and think I'm dumb all the time. If I saw Stevie though, I think I could muster the courage to be unashamedly dumb.
06/17/2008 at 10:50 PM
2.
mb83 says:
ohhh look at us!!! stage crashers not so anonymous! how beautiful!
06/15/2008 at 9:26 PM