A Not-So-Usual Night at the Apollo

I finally made it to Amateur Night at The Apollo last evening (after plotting to go for some 3 years.) Must say, it was one of the most entertaining experiences ever. Loved the venue’s acoustics, interactive crowd energy and the fact that we were explicitly instructed to ‘boo’ weak performances at the top of our lungs. I certainly got into it!

Highlight of the evening: a performance from K-Ci and Jo Jo. I know what you’re thinking: “Holy S**t, Jodeci?!” Indeed, but here’s the best part: they were terrible. Absolutely, ridiculously awful. When the MC pointed them out in their box seats, the brothers Hailey ran down on stage. At first I was excited because they were talking to the band and getting them to play background beats, but it soon became very apparent that K-Ci and Jo Jo were crunked off their asses! Then the awful singing began and the crowd came to a stand-still; no one had a clue how to react to those two clowns staggering around on stage. It’s hard to describe their ’singing’–it was like cats spewing out hairballs while trying to imitate James Brown. A repeated, half coughing, half choking “Ahhhh!” I was simply in shock.

And it didn’t stop there. Jo Jo began seducing the crowd and stripping/gyrating on-stage. The MC actually told the duo that Amateur Night is a family event and they’re not allowed to be so provocative. Jo Jo responded by tearing off his wife-beater and screaming “Jodeci is all about sexxxxxx!” And he refused to the leave the stage. After what seemed like an eternity (and me laughing so hard at the spectacle), the theater ended up cutting off their mics and security had to escort them off stage.

Wow. Just thinking about it makes me smirk in disbelief. What a night at the Apollo. There’s so much more I could write about: historical significance of the theater, differences/points of convergence in the culturally diverse crowd, ethnic-stereotyping from the MC (and how un-PC/lame/boring that is), group dynamics in the audience and so much more. But the K-Ci and Jo Jo incident just trumped all else. I’ll have to comment on these other things another time!