*On Valentine’s Day, my Valentine and I ventured to the Peacock Theater in Downtown Los Angeles for the Charlie Wilson Valentine’s Day concert, which for good measure also included Howard Hewitt and Stephanie Mills.
Considering it was Valentine’s Day, I was expecting most people to be wearing red, which was not the case. I was also expecting to see a fair number of couples, which I did; however, there were more untethered women in the crowd than women who were coupled up.
Up first to get the crowd warmed up was Howard Hewitt. He understood the Valentine’s Day dress code assignment, and was appropriately dressed, looking all fit, trim and dapper in a red shirt, jacket and hat and black pants. You could definitely put smooth on his resume.
Although I like most of Howard Hewitt’s songs, there are three songs that I love, and I was looking forward to hearing all of them. I knew since he was the opening act, he would not have as much time as the other two artists, but when he said he had 30 minutes, I knew that was enough time.
He started his set with ‘Show Me,’ and I was like YES, one down, two to go!!! Let’s just say he did not disappoint and sang the song perfectly.
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The next four songs were Shalamar songs: ‘Second Time Around,’ ‘Make That Move,’ ‘Somewhere There’s a Love Just for Me,’ and ‘The Lover in You.’ The audience was really rocking with him. At his request, they were singing with him.
His voice was like butter; theirs, not so much. LOL! On ‘Somewhere There’s a Love Just for Me’ he serenaded someone from the audience and on ‘For the Lover in You,’ he took off his jacket and said, “Babies were made to this music.” Howard took us to church with the final song of his set,
‘Say Amen,’ which was two of the three songs I wanted to see him perform. During ‘Say Amen,’ he mentioned praising God after the recent LA fires. I’m assuming his house was intact.
I did not get to hear him perform, ‘Once, Twice, Three Times,’ but what he performed, he performed well. I was happy to see there was a decent crowd for an opening act, as opposed to a half empty venue.
Howard Hewitt was worth being on time.
Stephanie! Stephanie! Stephanie! Her set began with her son being escorted across the stage, and her coming down some stairs in a sleeveless white and black above the knee dress. Not to worry; her background singers, three men who were off the chain, hook and hinges, wore white outfits and red hats, understanding the assignment.
First up in Stephanie’s arsenal of hits was ‘What Cha Gonna Do with My Lovin,’ ‘A Rush on Me,’ and ‘Something in the Way You Make Me Feel,’ which she sang her face off on. She then went into her favorite song to sing, ‘I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love.’ At 67, she is looking good and still hitting her notes.
She sang ‘Two Hearts,’ a song she made with the late Teddy Pendergrass. One of her background singers sang Teddy’s part. And speaking of Stephanie’s background singers … again, they all deserve recording contracts. Their voices were amazing; ask anyone in attendance.
Next up was ‘Never Knew Love Like This Before.’ While Stephanie said she is, “single by choice,” she congratulated actor Glynn Turman and his wife, who were in attendance, on 33 years of marriage. She then sang, ‘Feel the Fire,’ and Aretha Franklin’s ‘Call Me.’
When Stephanie sang her final song, ‘Home,’ the screen showed clips of her performances through the years. She mentioned it has been 50 years since she did the play ‘The Wiz’ on Broadway. The screen then showed several past greats, e.g., Kobe Bryant, Aretha Franklin and Michael Jackson. It was then time for the well-deserved standing ovation. Her son came out again at the end of her set and the stage lit up with yellow, red and green clinched black power fists. I have seen Stephanie Mills before, and once again she did not disappoint.
Charlie Wilson was the headliner. Uncle Charlie, dressed in a gold jacket and black pants, brought all the hits and left no stone unturned.
‘Party Train’ got the party started, with Uncle Charlie saying, “I don’t do concerts. I came to party.” He admonished everyone to stand up before he would start. Next up was ‘Forever Valentine,’ ‘Early in the Morning’ and ‘Beautiful.’ He then brought a two-year old girl on the stage who had been asking to be a part of the show and stood her on the piano. I’ll chalk that up as an unnecessary moment.
We were then treated to Zapp’s ‘Computer Love,’ which Uncle Charlie sang on and said 90% of the people do not know he sang on that song. We also heard a lengthy and funky sax solo while Charlie did a costume change. He and his entourage had the light up, aka party. jackets I have to come to expect having been to my share of Charlie Wilson concerts.
When he performed ‘Burn Rubber’ he said, “I must be bad, I sold out the building.” That assertion was pretty accurate considering the place did not thin out after Stephanie Mills, which usually happens when the headliner is not the one people came to see. Next up was ‘Humpin’, Zapp’s ‘Doo Wa Ditty’ and ‘My Name Charlie,’ which had so much bass that my chest began to hurt.
It was then time for another jacket change, this one was on stage, where he was helped into a white jacket. Uncle Charlie then engaged the audience with the men standing up if they were with the finest woman in the building. Well, it was Valentine’s Day, so it was allowed. A variation on the ‘My Name Charlie’ song was next, telling the men to replace his name with theirs. It was then time for ‘There Goes My Lady.’ Afterwards, Uncle Charlie gave kudos to his producer and manager and brought them on stage. He also brought a preteen boy onstage, who was a newly minted fan after hearing one of his songs.
It was back to business with ‘Yearning for Your Love,’ ‘I Wanna Be Your Man,’ ‘You Are,’ And ‘I’m Blessed.’ As part of ‘I’m Blessed’ he shared he has 30 years of sobriety, and that he went from rags to riches to rags and homelessness. By the time Uncle Charlie performed the final song of the evening, ‘Outstanding,’ you can tell he was tired, but it didn’t stop him from crip walking, something everyone wants to do now. I wonder why. LOL! There were a surprising number of first time Charlie Wilson concertgoers in the audience. Ya’ll come back now, hear?!
Marilyn Smith is a Los Angeles based writer/reviewer. Contact her via [email protected]
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