Folle Sagesse
AnniKay
Sam/Mercedes/Puck
Disclaimer: I own Nothing…Murphy, Falchuk, and Brennen along with Fox and others own this fandom and all the characters there in…Anything you recognize obviously belongs to them
*****PLEASE NOTE: Thanks for this story's title goes to MsLadyThankYouVeryMuch. The Title translates into Foolish Wisdom.*****
****THANKS to everyone who has taken the time to review! Your encouragement helps more than you know!****
Thank all of you for being avid readers & reviewers of my stories:
I appreciate all of you.
Boredom Busting Book Reread Rec
Taltos by Anne Rice
Isis Aurora Tomoe You are the most awesome Beta ever. Thank you for being such a help in my time of need!
AN: PLEASE KNOW for the bulk of this serious, certain famous singer-songwriters were, quite unfortunately, never born in this alternate universe. Therefore, while in the real world all songs remain the property of their songwriters, singers and labels, in this AU these songs, unless stated as a cover, were written, recorded and are thereby the property of the fictional music group KAMA. Thank you for reading this disclaimer. (Yes, this includes Lily Allen, Megan Trainer and Rachel Patton among others)
Love Hangover (Diana Ross)
Brantley PoV
The office was quieter while most of the team was in LA with KAMA for the week. Not that I noticed. I was up to my ass in planning for the dinner concert that following Friday. While everything seemed to be going well, thank God, I was sure if we ever did it again, I was hiring an event planner. Concerts were easy…dinner parties were hard as hell. It didn't help that we couldn't get in until after eight on Thursday night and we had to be fully out of the space by noon on Saturday. I had to hire people to come in and decorate the space…thankfully Darcy and Hudson worked with Kurt during some of their down time and they sent me basically how the rooms should look. Yes, I did just say rooms. After selling out of all five thousand plus tickets in minutes at each of the two planned releases, someone, 'cough' Darcy 'cough' had the brilliant idea to just rent the other large room and expand our plans significantly. We added another thirty-five hundred seats to the tally. The morning of February fourth an email was sent out to all the people who had put their names on our 'just in case tickets became available' list. We offered them each a lot of up to six. Of course, not everyone bought all six. The tickets were not cheap. We ended up with two hundred and fifty tickets left thirty minutes after every single one of them had responded by buying at least two of the newly available tickets. Then Daniel IMed me, Darcy and Haja with a great idea…offer Warner Music Group, Sony Music, and Universal Music Group each the chance to buy up to eighty-five VIP tickets complete with the wine option and the unlimited drink option for a thousand bucks each ticket or a table, that actually only sat eight, for ten thousand. All three of them took the bait.
There was some argument as to whether we should give Warner its tickets at a cheaper rate, something more closely aligned with the normal ticket prices since they were our label. But, ultimately, since Mr. Cohen, Deborah, Anika and Christophe had all gotten two comped tickets, we decided that Warner could pay the same prices as the others in the music label big three. Besides price gouging them a little offset the radio station contest comp tickets. It really all averaged out in the end. Besides, to paraphrase the words of Smokey from 'Friday', 'They didn't put in on this, Man."
Things were running, comparatively smoothly. The office was pretty quiet. Yasmine, the management administrative assistant, and I were working our butts off. She'd planned a few weddings in her family, and she actually liked what we were doing, so she was such a god send. I was going to make sure that Mercedes, Sam and Puck hit her off with a bonus at the end of the night. In addition to the one I was planning on slipping her. We were working in my office Wednesday afternoon, the week before the Grammys, making sure that all the I's were dotted and the t's crossed when Ethan came walking in with a HUGE smile on his face.
"Richard Macardo…the son of a bitch that made the sex tape just turned himself into the LA county sheriff's office," Ethan said before we could even ask what was happening.
"Good…why did he turn himself in?" Yasmine asked succinctly.
The smile that crossed Ethan Harris' face in that moment was really damn scary considering that he was just a lawyer. He really did look like a fucking shark. "Because, Gino Puckett took exception to someone fucking with his cousin and said cousin's, aka Sam Evans', husband and wife. He sent Gabby a video of him working the asshole over. It includes a full confession, which would have been released to the public if he hadn't turned himself in by tomorrow morning."
"Man, damn…Sam said that his mom's family was almost like FAMILY." I muttered pressing my finger against my nose to bring the point home.
Ethan just laughed. "From the video…Macardo definitely has some bruised ribs, bruised spleen…and probably he's pissing blood for a while."
"Couldn't have happened to a better guy," I said honestly.
Yasmine and Ethan could only agree. Ethan changed the subject after that. "What time do you need us there Friday morning?"
"I'll be there at like five. All the tables and chairs and everything will be there at seven…the chef and his staff and equipment will be there before six. Their equipment will be delivered and set up before seven. The decorators and their people will be there around seven themselves. And the sound tech people are scheduled to get there before eight. So, I'd like it if the TEAM was there around seven and all of the staff should all try and get there before eight. We'll only have eight to ten hours to set up. In addition to the decorator team, there will be all the full timers and six of the FRTs, who are exchanging their work for tickets. The bar staff will arrive to set up at five."
"Darcy sent us a message about rooms at the Magnuson." Yasmine noted.
"Yeah, there will not be time to go all the way home to change. So, we'll all have rooms there to change in. I think you'll be sharing with Brigid unless she is bringing someone," I explained.
"Oh, that works," she said with a smile and we knuckled back down to work.
That Sunday night, I could not watch the Grammys by myself. It would have wrecked my nerves. So I headed to Fiamma41 which wasn't all that far from my apartment. It was a great Italian restaurant that had viewing parties for everything. Their Super Bowl viewing party had been pretty hype. Besides, their Linguine Fruitti di Mare was so amazing it was worth the headaches I always got if I forgot to specify I wanted the white wine sauce. It was a good thing that I called ahead. There was a wait for those who hadn't made reservations. When KAMA hit the red carpet, I was filled with pride. My bosses were the bomb. They looked great. Their answers to the interview questions were witty and yet concise. They displayed knowledge of their subject matter without seeming preachy. They didn't answer anything they shouldn't. They touted the 'Lucky in Love' Concert and the coming South by Southwest and Coachella appearances…and of course the summer tour without seeming like they were shilling. There was a tension in their shoulders that I couldn't quite place. But that may well have been nerves.
They had been nominated for six of the untelevised awards and won three. Their performance had people in the restaurant swaying and even a few crying. Women were discussing the dancing and fashion. The men were talking about the ladies on the stage and all the different types of sexy that were represented. It would have been easy to assume that Santana, Erika, Cassidy and the dancers would be the ideal. But there were quite a few Italian men there and they were looking at Cede and Xena like they were just as, if not more, beautiful than the 'ideals'. That was really nice to see. I had to admit, my ideals were somewhere between the three different extremes. I also had to admit that as much fun as my time with Ruth and my time with Ruth and Deborah was…I had reached the point where needed more than just no strings attached sex. Watching all the couples around me that night, I realized that I kind of wanted a relationship. I wasn't sure if I knew exactly what I wanted in a relationship or who I wanted to be in a relationship with, but for the first time in my life I found myself ready to try the whole relationship thing.
Five far too short days later, I was at the Javits Center as early as they would allow me entry. I'd been so busy in that week, even with Darcy and Daniel back that I'd not had a chance to even consider my thoughts from that night. Thursday evening, we packed everything for the event that we'd ordered and had delivered, all the merch, all the signs and print jobs, the autographed pictures…everything into a transport van that we'd rented from Rangeman. Darcy was driving it to the center. She would be there before eight. I was worried about a lot of things, but I knew that that she would be there on time, probably with Hudson and Lester. She had also gotten several of her Fan Response Team members to meet her there at that time to unload the truck.
There hadn't been any problem getting into the space. One of the Center's security guards checked my ID and paperwork and took me right upstairs, unlocking the three quarters of the floor that we'd rented. I was surprised when, just fifteen minutes later, Yasmine arrived. She carried a garment bag with her clothes for later. I showed her the coat closet where I'd hung my own. She also had breakfast sandwiches and she'd found the time to do a final map of the rooms which the decorator had asked us to have ready before the rental equipment arrived. She handed me the portfolio she carried and the two paper-bags before taking off her coat to hang it up. I don't know what it was about her professional apparel but I'd never realized that she was hiding a body like that. She was curvy as hell. To be real, she was kind of shaped like Nicki Minaj, just more realistically. She wasn't even dressed provocatively. Black yoga pants, a pair of brightly colored sneakers, and from what I could tell, a couple of shirts under a KAMA Staff Hoodie. Damn, her ass was like, Whoa. Her hair was ridiculously cute in a million plaited Bantu knots. I was so used to her usual bun, or French twist, it just threw me for a minute. I'd known since her first day that she was a cutie…I hadn't realized that she just let us see the cutie…she was really a hottie.
Turned out that Yasmine was also a beast at event planning. If it wasn't for her, a million things would have gone wrong before the rest of our people had even gotten there. She had copies of every contract, a printed spreadsheet of all the agreed upon terms. She had the completed map of the rooms I'd mentioned. She had a way of being stern and yet charming. She also had masking tape that we used to mark off places like the corners of the stage and the dance floor and such before the carpenters got there to do their building thing. By six o'clock, we'd marked off the bar spaces, the space for the small merchandise stand and had things ready to go when the equipment rental company arrived. Yasmine had even pre-assigned all of the staff and team to different projects so everyone had a job and everyone knew exactly what they were doing. When we were done, everything wasn't just done…but looked like we'd been building and setting things up a week or more in advance. It was perfect.
When all was in readiness, there were nineteen hundred and forty tables. The thirty large and five smaller VIP tables were arranged closest to the stage, with their 'RESERVED' signs on them. Two other identical large tables were reserved for KAMA's team and staff. Scattered around the room, which one really could not tell used to be two huge exhibit halls, were six hundred and eighty-nine double tables, four hundred and eighty-four tables for three, four hundred and eighty-five four tops and two hundred and fifty tables that sat five. There were round tables and square ones. Each had a deep purple square table tablecloth that brushed the floor which was topped by a round pale ivory one. Each setting had a large square gold charger upon which sat a beautifully folded purple napkin with a gold napkin ring. A top the napkins sat the amazing menus that Darcy had created. The ivory folded menu presented each person with five choices for each of the five courses; amuse bouche, soup, appetizer, main and cheese course and dessert. Well, I guess that it was more like five and a half courses. The menu allowed people to mix and match between two different vegan, vegetarian, shellfish, non-shellfish seafood, and non-seafood options. Their dinners would be served on square, white porcelain plates that had graceful bands of gold dance across each piece forming delicate hearts. We had matching mugs and saucers for those chose to have a warm beverage with their dessert.
To the side of each charger was a five-course place setting of 'gold' silverware. They were offset by one glass water goblet with a gold rim and a matching wine glass. The other drink glasses were behind the bars. Of which there were twelve. Two smaller ones would serve the VIP area, and ten other, much larger, bars would serve the rest of the concert goers. I'd worked out a deal where we got the dozen full bar packages, twelve mixologists, twelve bar captains, thirty-four regular bartenders and twenty-two bar attendants…all of that for an initial fee of a hundred and thirty-five thousand for the entire evening, including all setup and break down. The way they would make their money was with the bracelets. The NYC Bartenders would get twenty-five percent of our take on the drink bracelets. It was a boon for them and basically free money for us. Between two of the regular bars, was nestled a small, twenty thousand square foot dance floor.
The day went by ridiculously fast. By five thirty, Yasmine and I were there and joined by Flynn McGarry, who had enlisted an army of other chefs, sous chefs and pastry chefs to feed the multitude of expected diners. The kitchen equipment arrived at six. Within an hour, an army of chefs and delivery men turned fifteen thousand of the seventeen thousand square foot hall into a completely, fully functional restaurant kitchen. The sinks were centrally located and, unfortunately, a bit out of the way, but that was where the plumbing was available. Once everything was in place, Flynn and his mother Meg headed to the Union Station farmers market to go and do some serious fresh goods shopping. His head associate chef was ready and able to handle the deliveries that had already been arranged of the bulk of what would be cooked.
Right around the time that the kitchen was being finished, Darcy, Lester, Hudson, the FRT members and the rest of KAMA's team arrived. Apparently, Darcy had tapped everyone to carry a box up to decrease the total number of trips. They ended up making three trips, while Yasmine and I oversaw the arrival of the party equipment. We'd actually had to utilize three different equipment rental companies to get enough of everything, which meant that we had to rent chair covers too in order to avoid the fact that none of the companies all had enough matching chairs to not need them. For the chair covers we went with a simple ivory linen with a royal purple satin wide sash that was tied around the back of the chair. Then there was the company where we rented the tableware, silverware and drinkware from.
The rented dishes and stemware and everything associated with eating arrived and one of the kitchen staff immediately started running them through the two, big ass, conveyor dishwasher machines. Then they organized it by sizes and function. Later once we got all the tables up and dressed with the table clothes and the short, gold, three tea light holders that were the centerpieces. Each tea light was purple and gave off a subtle, fresh lavender and sandalwood scent. Anyway, once the tables were dressed, the wait staff added the chargers, glasses and silverware. Then the FRT went around and placed the napkins and the menus. To be honest the place looked like a blend between a really high end restaurant and a very fancy wedding reception.
As far as putting the room together, there weren't just the tables and chairs and stage building and dance floor building…we also had sound people come in and run sound boards that were then wired into the hall's sound system. The Rangemen contingent, other than Lester, arrived at four. By the time Chet, Ramon, Woody, Junior and Sybo Diaz joined Lester, we had everything in place. The room was beautifully decorated; purple, ivory, gold and red were the colors that transformed the room from an exhibit hall into a very beautiful restaurant that just happened to have a large stage and a big dance floor. The sound system was fully operational, the bars were assembled and waiting to be stocked. The merch booth was assembled and fully stocked, it accepted cash or chipped or swiped credit and debit cards. The stage was completely set up, KAMA's performance instruments which were kept at the office in the storage room, were all put together and waiting on the crew when they got there for their sound checks.
After Yazz, Brigid and Kurt walked the whole space to make sure that there was nothing else needed, Daniel, Grant and I released the ladies and the younger set to go and get dressed for the evening at a bit after four. Daniel and I stayed until the Bartenders arrived and were all checked in. We'd have stayed longer, but Artie and Cassidy showed up to make sure that sound boards were configured properly for them. Their arrival allowed us to head to the nearby hotel and shower and get dressed. I'd splurged on a new suit for the night and I had to admit that it was a good fucking suit. An Armani, three piece, slate gray suit with a light lavender dress shirt. I'd gotten a new tie to go with it, but I didn't wear it that night. I wanted to look more casual than I did at the office. A pair black ankle socks went on then I slipped my feet into my black leather Ferragamo drivers. I put on a Cartier watch that Mercedes had given me to thank me for all the work I put into setting up the tour. I put in my lucky half carat diamond earrings and brushed my fade, a small spritz of my Yves Saint Laurent La Nuit de l'Homme cologne…and I considered myself done. I made sure that I had my phone, keys, gum, business cards and Chap Stick before leaving the well-appointed hotel room. The hotel wasn't super high end, but everything was very clean and it was nicely arranged.
I happened to exit my room just as Yasmine and Brigid were coming up the hallway from theirs. Brigid kind of amused me. She was so Slavic that I was ninety-seven percent sure that she had naturally blond hair. But no one would ever know it. Her hair changed color every two weeks like clockwork. That week her hair was a rich, dark brown with icy white streaks throughout the front of the shoulder brushing bob. She looked cutely gothic, or emo, or artsy or whatever they called it. Her dress was black with a hi-low hem and a floaty, chiffon over skirt. There was a studded belt around her waist and lacing details down over her modest boobs. Her makeup was fierce, stark silver and black eyeshadow with a dark black cats eye liner deal…her lips were slathered in a darker wine lipstick. Her wrists were covered in wide, studded cuffs. And her earrings looked like black horns had pierced her lobes. Her shoes were pretty hard core too. They looked like someone had mated a pair of little girl Mary Janes with a pair of stripper heels. They were hot.
I probably would have appreciated them a lot more if she weren't standing there with Yasmine. That girl was looking fine as all hell. Over the course of the day working with, aka being ordered about by, I'd learned a boat load about Yazz. She was the daughter of a single mother…who was in turn the daughter of a single mother. She was one of nine, none of whom had the same father. She had grown up in Far Rockaway Queens. She'd made sure that she didn't get knocked up or drop out and gone to night school to get her AA in marketing. She had broken up with her boyfriend not long after she started working with us. He'd had some fucked up things to say about Mercedes, Sam and Puck's relationship. Yazz thought he was being stupid, small minded and dumped his ass with a quickness. "It was okay, the relationship was already on the way out. I mean, we were only together for three months and he kept trying to control my every action. I'm not the one for that bullshit." The more we talked for real, the more I realized that I liked who she was even more than I liked how she looked.
But damn, she looked good. She was dressed for a night on the town. Her rose gold metallic body-con dress had a cool, crackled texture. A deep V-neckline and wrap-front hem flaunt her more than adequate cleavage and thick, pretty brown thighs. It wasn't a long dress, though it was probably longer on her than it would have been on Xena…then again anything would be. Her skin glowed. Her makeup was freaking flawless. I was pretty sure that she had done that thing women do where they do really complex makeup tricks to make it look like they don't have to wear makeup because they 'have naturally flawless skin'. Her lips though were stained a dark apricoty pink which she'd then covered in a glossy wine gloss to make a three-dimensional color that was hot and sexy. Her only jewelry was a pair of large, rose gold and pearl chandelier earrings that were almost hidden in her hair, which she'd released from the plaited knots. It flowed down around her shoulders in waves, ripples and curls framing her face beautifully. Her shoes were cool. They had 'flowers' that went from the strap across the toes over and around the foot to the heel. The shoes were ivory and the flowers were ivory, black, peach and lilac. I saw them and knew in an instant that she'd found the shoes first. Her purse was a metallic clutch on a long rose gold chain.
"You ladies look lovely. Got your staff key card. Its how the Rangemen are going to verify we are us." Both ladies thanked me and held up their purses. Somehow, it was only then that I noticed they were both carrying their coats. I texted Lester to see if he was in the venue. If he was he could tap one of the FRT members there to act as a coat check person. I hadn't even thought of the fact that, even though the snow was holding off until Saturday, it was colder than a whore's heart and therefore everyone would have coats. "If you will give me a second to grab my coat, I'd be happy you allow me to escort you over to the ball…"
"Why thank you, kind sir." Brigid quipped.
Yazz was not playing coy. "You had better go and get your coat…the temperature isn't even a real number." She wasn't lying. I grabbed my coat.
The only reason Darcy had picked the, kind of, run down hotel was its close proximity to the Javits Center. The walk, even with two women in ridiculously high heels was really quick. Daniel had beaten us there. His fiancée had arrived with her partner and her wife, Grant's sister. I looked around and found Grant in the little hidden part of the unrented space on the floor where we'd stashed all our crates and everything. Apparently, Darcy had brought a few roll of easy rip raffle tickets with her thinking maybe we should do a door prize or something, but that idea hadn't really been fleshed out so the rolls stayed in the boxes. Once he found them, Grant took them over to the FRT kid who would be operating the coat check with help from Cleotha, apparently. The legal secretary was showing the guy how to best organize the racks that were now in the 'room' they had created for best use of space and efficiency. I wonder where they found those racks. Maybe it was better that I didn't ask. They had used solid partitions from unrented hall to create a contained area for the racks, it looked pretty well thought out and professional. Not at all like we'd completely forgotten to consider the need for the storage.
I did a last minute walk through to check out the bars and make sure that everything was ready to go. The bar attendants and the dinner waiters were having a meeting. They were dressed very similarly, white shirts, black slacks, purple ties, long ones for the bar attendants and bow ties for the waiters. There were several, maybe as many as twenty older men of every race imaginable, their only similarities were that they were all wearing black suits with purple cummerbund and bow ties. I realized that the men were the Matre Ds and would be showing the attendees to specific tables. I glanced over at Yazz who had joined me in the walk through. "Did you?"
"Yeah, it seemed like it would be too messy otherwise." She smiled. "When they finish their meeting, I'm going to talk to them and remind them of the difference in the tickets and that we want the audience well mixed otherwise. Go check on our bosses," she said and headed in that direction.
With my marching orders, I headed back to the two thousand square feet at the back of the kitchen hall to find KAMA and the KAMA crew, in their 'dressing room'. I also needed to make sure that everything was in readiness for when Jermaine Fowler got there. He had his own area curtained off to use as a space to get ready. He wouldn't arrive until eight. But it was set, a small cooler of bottled water, was already chilling underneath the rudimentary 'makeup' table. The lighting was good and he hadn't stipulated anything more was needed in his contract. But I had spoken with Chef Flynn, and after he arrived a small covered plate of the ten amuse-bouche selections would be brought to him. I crossed the 'room' to a hidden movable curtain panel that let me into the rest of the space where KAMA and their crew was getting warmed up and changed. They'd already completed their sound check and tuned their instruments, now they were warming up their voices for real and tuning up their bodies. The dancers had most of the space. The singers were huddled going through vocal scales and playing with trills. Cassidy, Erika, Artie, Justin and Dave were all doing complicated hand and wrist movements. I noticed that Sam and Puck both were as well, they would be playing too that night it seemed. Kurt and Blaine were with Ruth over by two racks of clothes. They were going over everything with a steamer.
We did a quick meeting just going over the time line for the night and everyone was set. I went back out through the connecting curtain to the kitchens then used the servers 'doors' to go back into the ball room. It was a quarter of eight, so the waiters, KAMA Team and staff were going table to table lighting the tea lights. Cassidy came out and bothered a few buttons on the sound board and romantic era classical music started to play quietly, creating a pleasant ambiance. Yazz had the Matré Ds assembled near the door. The Rangemen were outside in the atrium nearer the stairs. Attendees would arrive, show either their purple general admission tickets, black gen admin with the wine option tickets or their silver VIP tickets. Once Rangeman was sure that they were who they said they were and that their tickets were legitimate; Daniel and Darcy had created a few special fonts to make the printable PDFs fucking impossible to forge; they could buy the silver or flashy rings to get unlimited soft drinks or would move onto guest services where coat check now lived. The beautiful part was that the set up Cleotha and Ben, I think it was Ben, that they had set up, blocked off a set of stairs. It made all traffic flow through the Rangemen tables. After the attendees checked their coats, they would enter the hall…there were many doors available for exits, but only that one set was open for entrance…all the rest were locked, only openable from inside the hall.
The process went fairly smoothly. Elevators brought people to the Rangemen they checked them out and sent them through. At eight o'clock on the dot, the Matré Ds started showing people to their tables. We hadn't anticipated the celebrity guests who showed up. Robin Roberts, Matt Lauer, Eddie Murphy, Andrew Farfield and Emma Stone, Tom Hanks, Jim Carrey, Paul Rudd, Kristen Wiig, Q-Tip, Scott Pelley, Charlie Rose, Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis, Andy Cohen, Kelly Osborne and Zendaya and Billy Crystal all showed up with their significant others. Thankfully, they all had silver VIP tickets. I assumed they got them from one of the big three labels. With them in the VIP section, crowd control would be easier. Lester Santos, I really needed Darcy to lay it on him in gratitude for all he did that night. He personally escorted the celebs to the VIP bar and then onto one of the smaller top tables in the VIP section. SIR. PAUL muthafuckin' MCCARTNEY showed up with the Sony crowd. I kid you not. I swear, none of us knew what to do with that knowledge. By eight forty the hall was full. The bars were hopping and the servers were hauling ass taking the VIPs orders. We tapped a few of the bar attendants to make sure that the real VIPs didn't have to go and get their own drinks.
Ruth came out in a long, glamorous violet dress and moved through the VIP schmoozing people like the hostess in an old speakeasy. She knew a lot more of those people than I'd have thought, but it made sense. She'd been dressing people on soaps and morning and evening news shows for a long time. The amuse-bouche course came out. That course wasn't order specific…a small assortment was brought to each table and the servers quickly and efficiently took their orders. The VIPs did end up getting their small bites last, but they got the rest of their food first. Flynn McGarry must have been a spec ops man in a former life, because his kitchen ran with military precision. Despite the huge crowd, all the different orders, no one got cold food. No one had a wrong order, if they did they didn't complain about it. The food was served with the same almost brutal efficiency the orders had been taken.
At nine-fifteen, I personally went and got Jermaine Fowler and escorted him to the free side of the stage. Waiting at center stage, in front of the purple curtains, was a mike stand and a stool with a glass and a bottle of water on it. He was wearing slacks and a polo…which from all the videos I'd seen when selecting the comedian…that was dressed up for him. He had serious dreads but he had them pulled back from his well shaven face. Bubbie Ruth introduced him giving a few of his accolades, like having been on Craig Ferguson and his comedy special. The Maryland comedian did a full thirty-minute set that was hilarious. Though he was definitely black, his jokes were universal. There were certain ones that were slanted a bit that way, if you squinted and turned your head to the side. His working at Quiznos set had me in stitches. I carefully watched the VIP tables, everyone was laughing. Especially when he talked about his little brother Jamal and his enlarged tongue…which was a lot better than you'd have thought.
After his set, the bus people cleared the tables and the soup course was given out. We'd set the time so that people could enjoy their soup and discuss the comic. Then that course was cleared and the appetizer course was served. Hudson led the crew 'backstage'. There was a little shuffling as they got into position and readied their instruments. Lyor Cohen took the stage, I hadn't realized that he was going to do that, I thought that Ruth was going to be introducing them. "Ladies and gentlemen, I am Lyor Cohen, the head of Warner Music Group. Thank you for braving the weather tonight to come and enjoy the music of KAMA. Even after only having tasted the first two courses, I have to praise Chef Flynn McGarry for his culinary masterpieces. I am certainly grateful that he decided to bring his pop-up restaurant to New York and even more grateful that he brought it to us tonight. Now, the time has come that we've all been waiting for tonight. Please welcome to the stage, Mercedes, Sam and Puck, KAMA!"
The music intro for 'Make You Happy' started before the curtains even opened. It was apparently my hour for shocks. KAMA came through the crowd as the curtains opened. Mercedes was wearing a bright red, slinky dress that slid over her curves and displayed a serious amount of cleavage. Her jewelry was understated and her hair and makeup was sick. Sam and Puck were both in black slacks and pale gold shirts. Puck's a Henley with the arms pushed up and Sam in a pullover sweater. The three of them were already micced. They launched into the peppy love song as they weaved their way through the tables. By the time they reached the stage the song was over but for the riffs. For the next forty-five minutes, they gave the crowd some of the world's best love songs. They sang their own love songs and made every cover their own. They took a fifteen-minute intermission where DJ Ca$$ had the crowd dancing in their seats even as they finished eating their main course and their tables were bussed. When KAMA took the stage for the second half of their set, the servers were unobtrusively delivering desserts to the tables.
The second set started out with Mercedes alone in a spotlight with Sam and Puck holding guitars, sitting on stools with the band. She delivered a version of 'To Make You Feel My Love' that left not a single person in their seats and not a dry eye in the house. The group performed 'Stand By You' live for the first time. Fortunately, all the work was in to make sure that no one could steal their intellectual property. They finished their night with an expanded version of the 'ColorBlind' and 'Believe' mashup from the Grammys. "Thank you all for coming out." Mercedes said to the crowd. Then she introduced all the crew, from Dave all the way to Brittany. The audience gave them all nice applause. "Finally, I have to acknowledge a couple of people in the crowd. My Cheerio coach Sue Sylvester and her husband Don Motta are here from our hometown. I'm sorry to sound all girly or whatever, but that means so much to us. Also in the audience supporting us is the lady, and I don't use the term loosely or ironically at all, who saved our glee club and made all of this even possible is here tonight with her new husband. April and Victor French." Both couples stood and waved to Mercedes where she stood on the stage.
When she finished her comments, Sam took center stage. "I don't want to preach at you…you're all grown folks. But if you've had too much to drink please call an UBER or allow one of our staff to call you a cab. There are rooms available at the Magnuson Hotel across to way, just show them your ticket and you won't need a reservation. Let's all make it to make the love that our performance tonight has inspired."
Puck finished the comments off. "Like Sam said make sure that you all get home to bone the one or ones you love. Oh, and shout out to the Polyamory Society, both the National organization and the local tri-state chapter. All love is beautiful and equal. We hope that everyone had a great time. Also, we'd like to thank Sir. Paul McCartney for making time in his busy schedule to come out tonight. We really hope that you enjoyed the show. Now, not to ignore the other major celebrities who have chosen to grace our VIP area tonight, but I think we can all agree that when it comes to star power, Sir. Paul McCartney pretty much rules the room. The only other three who come close are Billy Crystal, Eddie Murphy and Tom Hanks…and thank you both for being here too. Seriously, thank all of you. Ladies and gentlemen, if you feel in any way uncomfortable waiting on your UBER or taxi, the Rangemen will be on guard duty and standing down near the taxi stand."
"Good Night, Everybody." They said with a big grin. They returned to the dressing room while the general admission tables were cleared, then they came back out and interacted with the VIPs on the dance floor as the servers and bartending staff started cleaning up. I noticed that Puck and Sam hadn't bothered changing their clothes, but Mercedes was somewhat more comfortable in a maxi dress that had a black, silk, long sleeved, deep V neck bodice with a metallic, snake print, kind of skirt. She looked amazing…and she was clearly still wearing heels even if they couldn't be seen. During the VIP reception, Mercedes, Sam and Puck made sure that Haja, Daniel, Ethan, Darcy and I all made contact with anyone who might like to utilize our talents. It was especially important for Ethan and Daniel who needed to build their client bases. At one point, I saw them conversing with Victor and April French, I noticed that they made it a point to leave Daniel there speaking with the couple. At another they were talking with the statuesque blond cheer coach and her 'wow does he look like a text book mafia don' husband. But I also noticed that they managed to get selfies of themselves with Eddie Murphy, Tom Hanks and Sir. Paul McCartney, in addition to the other big names who'd come out. I kind of loved seeing my bosses acting like teenage fans.
By one o'clock even the VIPs had cleared out and KAMA, the team, the crew and the staff all kicked off our shoes and pitched in to strip the tables and chairs and put the linens in the appropriate bins. Since Chef Flynn's payment had come only from the ticket sales, he'd been paid on Wednesday. There were tips to be given. Apparently in addition to, the tips a lot of the attendees had left servers on the tables and on the bars. The Merch booth had completely sold out. The only coats that remained were ours. The people had tipped the coat checkers too and KAMA told the two of them to split their take.
At two thirty we were all told to go home and that we'd have a meeting Wednesday evening to do the wrap up. Yazz and I asked certain people to remain and help us get everything wrapped up so we'd be ready when the rental people got there a few hours later. Thankfully everyone was good to pitch in. Mercedes, Sam, Puck, Daniel, Riker, Ethan, Mrs. Amanda and Cassidy had to leave. They were going down to a family wedding, which Cassidy was DJing at, so we let them go and we finished taking care of the rest. It had been a long day, but given how smoothly the night had run, and how great things seemed to have gone…it was all worth it. I'd be checking the feeds in the morning my damn self to see how everyone who had come out felt about things. When I finally was able to crash in my hotel room bed, I had an interesting thought…could we pull something like that off every year?
Everyday People (Sly and the Family Stone)
Reactions to 'Lucky in Love'
Twitter Reactions:
PolyDan: #Lucky in Love=lucky as hell Spent 1G 2 finally b able 2 go and b n public with both the women n my life wo weird looks or some1 pretending to b just a friend. 4 that alone it was WORTH EVERY PENNY
Justice4Justine: I saw GOD tonite at a music concert Went 2 c KAMA at Javits Ctr Dinner-concert Food was AMAZEBALLS Jermaine Fowler was funny DJ Ca$$ is my new fave DJ KAMA redefined romance PERFECT
OGLGBT: Great Music Great Food Romantic setting Bit pricey, but w dinner, comedian, DJ & KAMA turned into a great deal. Best night ever. PuckU did WICUS by Bd Englsh took me back
JusticeWarrior: #LuckyNLove Spent a GRIP but would totally do it again. Mercy J's solo of 2MakeUFeelMyLove #Thugtears #Perfect FlyMcGarry dinner was almost as good as the concert
EstrelladeOro: $350 for a concert ticket. Can we all say #overrated & #ridiculous. I refuse to pay that much for anyone whose only claim to fame is a sex tape.
YeahIKNOWILookFamiliar: Gold Star…more like sour grapes. Why r u always hating on KAMA and Mercy J…U mad Bro? That concert was awesome. Would have been worth it if I had 2 sell a kidney to be able to go.
KAMABIGGESTFAN: $760tix+$300train+$135hotel(KAMA discount YEA!)+$100Merch will b eating ramen til JUNE bt best 1st anniv n history. Night dreams r made of. Prbly expecting 1st kid in 40wks.
ByeFelicia: KAMA LnL tix w wine option tk my ent bdg 4 d whole 1st qtr D food alone was worth every 1¢ KAMA debuted new luv song saw #SirPaulMc shed a tear at beautiful music Nvr saw love personified b4
CountryFAN: Took SO to see KAMA last nite. He loves me=meh Spent 2 much on tix bt he=happy. R so I thought. I loved the whole nite. SamIAm's version of WUSN A was country at its finest.
UKidsGetOffMyLAWN: KAMA did a version of Bonnie Raitt's 'Something to Talk About' that gave me LIFE. Fave song of the night and that is more than saying something.
Equalityain'tPoliticalCorrectness: #AllLoveIsBeautiful Lucky n Love Concert was the 1st time me & both my boyfriends could go out together without lies or hurt. Perfect food, perfect music, PERFECT NIGHT
Freedomisn'tFree: Took wife to KAMA dinner concert last nite didn't expect to finally thank the man who saved my life in 07. The concert was awesome but that moment with 2LT Santos was worth everything 2 us.
GirlFreedom: KAMA hires vet run security for guards and events. Will never love another group more. 2LT Santos can never thank you enough 4 making sure my husband made it home to me.
StillTheOneINeed: Took my lovely1 of 35yrs to see KAMA live at Javits. They played our song. #OneMoreTry I nvr thought I could have a night like last night. #AllLoveisBeautiful. Worth more than gold.
GodsGrace: Was Blessed 2 go 2 LuckyinLove concert last night w my bf of 3yrs. Got to shake hands with Mercedes Jones & got engaged. Best night ever! I love u Nachez.
FelixtheCat: MusicGroup that cares about its fans=KAMA wine & bar bt had rooms nearby 4 cheap. Same sex couples & poly-ships, had guards to watch us the cab stands. They have a fan in me 4life.
Celebrity FaceBook Reactions:
Paul McCartney: Sir Paul McCartney attended Grammy Award winning music group KAMA's Lucky in Love dinner concert the night before his two-hour Valentine's Day concert Saturday at New York City's Irving Plaza. "They may be young, but they have an understanding of the beauty of true love and the possibilities of live music that I haven't seen present on a stage in decades. They will not be able to attend my concert as they have a family wedding on the holiday itself. I wish many years of love and happiness for KAMA and their cousin who is getting married."
Tom Hanks: Lucky to have been able to attend KAMA's Lucky in Love dinner concert last night. I honestly cannot begin to say which was better the food or the music. Given how awe-inspiringly good KAMA's performance was, that should tell you how good the food was. If you ever have the chance to see KAMA live…TAKE IT. Rita and I had a wonderful night and we took Sam and Puck's advice when we got home.
Billy Crystal: Janice surprised me with a weekend of great music and her wonderful company. Friday night, there was the foodgasm followed by the eargasm that was the KAMA Lucky in Love dinner concert. Found out that the chef was only sixteen…amazing…at his age I couldn't boil water without a fire emergency plan. Loved comedian Jermaine Fowler. Always enjoy getting to see fresh, young comics. But the highlight of the night was definitely the headliner. Couldn't have been on purpose, but one of the classics they sang was 'Love Is Here to Stay'. Love that song, one of my faves… MizMercedesJones is Ella Fitzgerald, for a new generation. Thanks to all three of them for giving Janice and I one of the best date nights ever. Still have Sir Paul McCartney to look forward to, Love you Janice Crystal.
Emma Stone: Most romantic music concert EVER. The food was awesome. The comedian was hilarious. The DJ had the place jumpin'. KAMA made us all feel love and joy and beauty and passion. This weekend will go down in history as the best Valentine's weekend in history. KAMA on Friday and Sir. Paul McCartney on Saturday. A weekend of love where we got to remember that ALL love is beautiful and life is about love. Thank you, Andrew, for making the holiday so very special.
Jim Carrey: My sweet Cathriona and I had a great time at KAMA's Lucky in Love. Left full of good food and great passion. Wonderful evening.
Olivia Wilde: JasonSudeikis promised me a weekend of love & he was determined to deliver. A weekend in a fireplace corner suite at the Greenwich Hotel. Friday night, KAMA's Lucky in Love concert where we ate spectacular food, laughed at good jokes danced to remarkable music. At the end of the night we followed Sam's advice and 'made the love that was inspired by' the beautiful serenades. Saturday night another music event, Sir Paul McCartney at Irving Park. Another night of love making before we headed home to our son, Otis. Jason, you are a funny, funny man…Thank you for loving me so well.
Paul Rudd: I think I may have been the last hero in the MCU to meet KAMA. It's okay though…I had the best meal, got a full concert/serenade, had SamIAm Evans and MizMercedesJones take great selfies with me and my beautiful wife Julie and followed PuckU's awesome advice when we got back to our hotel. Great night. Perfect kickoff to a fabulous Valentines Weekend. #ALL Love is Beautiful. Can't wait to see Sir Paul McCartney tonight.
Rolling Stones Review: Steven Friche & Frank Glass
A dinner concert is usually a small, intimate affair where one feels almost as if the performers are there just for you and your table. How do you manage to create that intimate feeling with over eighty-five hundred people in attendance? For the answer to that, one would have to ask KAMA. The Javits Ctr is usually home to car shows and product expos. But KAMA transformed two hundred and seventy-four thousand square feet of empty exhibit hall into a large, but beautiful, romantic restaurant. The event's tagline, 'ALL Love Is Beautiful' set the tone for the entire evening. The tables were arranged for couples, threesomes, foursomes and moresomes. No matter the number of people at the tables or the make-up of their relationship, they were treated with respect and their relationships treated as something to be nurtured and cherished even by someone as humble as a simple waiter. The room was decorated in shades of KAMA's signature purple, Valentine red, ivory and gold. There weren't flowers over flowing or any real attempts at 'traditional romance'. But the tables were well appointed with beautiful ivory and gold settings and a trio of tea lights providing intimate lighting, and a very subtle, but consistent, fragrance of sandalwood and lavender that made the pop-up restaurant seem like a perfect place for seduction.
This event offered a rare opportunity for Rolling Stones. While there have been many music event reviews, the magazine has never before had the chance to offer a food review. As I attended the concert with my husband, a noted food critic, he was kind enough to give me a breakdown of his opinion on the food delivered to us by sixteen year old Chef Flynn McGarry.
"Looking at the beautifully designed menus, my first thought was that the chef was far too ambitious for a pop-up restaurant serving so many people. They offered ten total options for each course. Two each for each of their gastronomic categories: Vegan, Vegetarian, Shellfish, Non-Shellfish Seafood, and finally, Red or White Meat. The server brought out a tray containing two of each to our small tabletop. The covered dome was removed to display vegan quinoa spinach bites with gingered orange honey dipping sauce. They were honestly amazing. Still hot, despite the large number that had to have been made. The quinoa had just enough structure, the spinach was deliciously seasoned. The gingered orange honey dipping sauce was nice with that one bite treat as it was with the red meat option. I'm not a mushroom fan, but in an effort to be fair, I tried the upside-down mushroom tartlets. They weren't bad. (high praise for anything containing a mushroom from my husband). But the Mussels with Garlic Butter and the Quinoa sushi rolls with salmon and vegetables more than made up for having to suffer the fungus. My favorite was the chorizo and pepper bread tapas. I drizzled them in the gingered orange honey dipping sauce and it was a symphony in my mouth. The fried risotto balls, Mediterranean crostini, oysters Rockefeller, bluefish pâté and baked zucchini and bacon rolls were all impressive, if less so than some of the other offerings."
"I went with the shellfish category for the rest of the meal. All the seafood was fresh. So lovely and perfectly cooked. The she-crab soup was as good as any I'd had during my childhood in Charleston, the home of the dish. The slight bit of sherry brought the dish alive. The crab meat was plentiful without being overwhelming. The blue crab beignets were a delight. I'd never thought to pair the two coastal staples. Amazingly enough I didn't get even a tiny piece of shell in either dish, which is almost unheard of. After much thought for my entrée, I chose the brown butter lobster, bacon, crispy kale and fontina pasta over the crab and shrimp étouffée. It was a difficult choice. But I did not experience a single moment of remorse or 'what might have been'. The lobster was perfectly cooked. The kale had a bite to it that was a little unexpected. The bacon may have been more honestly called pancetta…but it added a perfect bit of salty, smoky deliciousness to the dish. The only complaint I could have possibly have had was that there was not enough. I was pleasantly full after the meal and I would have enjoyed having some to enjoy the next day."
"For the cheese course, served much as the amuse bouche course had been with all options available on a dish with just enough for the two of us, I was surprised to see vegan and vegetarian choices despite the nature of the course. I didn't try either. Instead I tried the three 'real cheese' choices. Lavender honey drizzled over pungent Stilton accompanied by candied almonds, a Parmigiano-Reggiano, drizzled with a just enough drops of aged balsamic vinegar that were paired with warm pistachios Camembert drizzled with white wine and rosemary reduction opposite figs and grapes were all very delicious. The serving had been enough, but I still found myself wanting a bit more. However, the meal's proportions had been designed to allow room for dessert."
"I'd been ridiculously happy to see a chocolate marquise on the menu and ordered it immediately. When it was set in front of me, I was as giddy as a school boy. A square 'cake' displayed on the small white and gold plate was about the size of the palm of a dainty hand. Two large strawberries were sliced and along with a generous amount of pomegranate seeds was arranged atop the treat. A pomegranate and strawberry sauce had been drizzled artistically over the entire dish. It was rich and the dark chocolate 'cake' was brightened by the fresh fruit. As suggested by our server, I went with a small glass of a Chilean cabernet sauvignon over a more traditional coffee. It was a perfect paring. All the wine pairings were good, but the final one of the night was honestly superlative. I find it almost impossible to believe that the kitchen was run by a sixteen-year-old and it wasn't a fully functioning restaurant at all times. There was nothing at all I would change about the meal…except maybe the serving size. But I was comfortably full at the end of the evening, and able to take Sam and Puck's advice when we got home, so that was probably done by design. I found myself hoping that the 'Lucky in Love' dinner concert could become an annual event."
To appease your curiosity, this music reviewer will also say that upside-down mushroom tartlets (vegetarian) were actually the best ever, the carrot and ginger immune-boosting soup (vegetarian), Southeast Asian lamb skewers with spicy cucumber relish (red or white meat), steak Diane with Barigoule of spring vegetables (red or white meat) and rosewater and raspberry sponge cake were all so good that would be my new favorite restaurant if it was going to be there for more than just that night. The non-dairy smoked Gouda (vegan) was an abomination that shall never again be discussed.
Beyond the food, the night was primarily about the performance of KAMA. The evening's entertainment started off with comedian Jermaine Fowler. He was quite young, and it came across in his material. That wasn't to say that he was not funny…just that his material was still fairly superficial. Later in the night, a short intermission was filled by KAMA's resident spinner, DJ Ca$$. DJ Ca$$ got her start in the Atlanta party and club scene. Though only in her early twenties, this DJ is making a real name for herself outside the KAMA sphere of influence. When not working with the music group, she can be found spinning in some of the harder underground NYC hip hop clubs blending hardcore rap with lighter music and beats from far and wide. She has also been known to do weddings and Bar and Bat Mitzvahs if the price is right or the story compelling enough. It is rare to find someone who seems so 'real' in her world…but DJ Ca$$ seems to be the real deal. She will be acting as the mid card act on KAMA's coming 'Aesthetic Enjoyment' tour. Tickets for the seventy stop North American tour go on sale through Ticketmaster on March first.
The night's main musical even started promptly at ten thirty, as stated on the ticket. In dramatic fashion, live music started to play, replacing the romantic, classical, instrumentals that had been playing at a level that encouraged conversation, whenever the stage was empty. The curtain opened to reveal the band, but not KAMA. They actually came in through the tables. Singing 'Make You Happy' from their first album, the trio worked the crowd, stopping to shake hands and even, on several occasions, give hugs to happy concert attendees. Mercedes Jones was every inch a DIVA. She worked the room wearing a lipstick red, Lela Rose, plunging V neckline satin gown with a cutout at back. The dress was sleeveless with moderate shoulder coverage. Her signature cleavage was accented by the dress' band across the Empire waist. The mermaid silhouette followed her curves from shoulder to straight hem. The slight train at the back just added to the drama. Her hair was alive with curls and pulled back to show off her gorgeous Sevan Bicakci yellow and white diamond drop earrings that Warner Exec Lyor Cohen confided were his gift to her for her Grammy wins the previous weekend.
"KAMA really feels like they are my babies. If that makes any sense. I found them, I brought them into the WMG family. It has been my pleasure to watch them bloom and grow." He said when asked about the rather unusual move. It was rare for a label head to directly give a gift to an artist. Even more so when one considered that the earrings cost roughly fifteen grand. "Besides, it was a drop in the bucket compared to how much they made for the label in the last month alone."
Sam and Puck made their own ways, singing through the crowd. Each of them in black slacks and pale gold shirts. Neither was as dressed up as Ms. Jones and yet, when they joined each other on the stage they looked as cohesive a unit as humanly possible. The entire ninety minutes, broken down into two forty-five minute sets was nothing but love songs. They offered us new material. Four songs which will not be available until their sophomore album is released in April-May of this year. Every single song, whether one of KAMA's or an old classic or a more modern torch song, was masterfully performed vocally by Evans, Jones, and Puckerman with amazing background vocals. The vocals were supported by magnificent musical accompaniment provided by Artie Abrams on guitar, Justin Alexander on piano, Erika Chance on bass, and Dave Briggs on drums. My favorite KAMA song of the night had to be their much-anticipated Elton John cover, 'Believe'. The world was treated to a mashup of it, and KAMA platinum selling hit 'ColorBlind' at the fifty-seventh annual Grammy awards, however at the end of the evening each song was performed in full, giving us all an amazing cap off to a perfect date evening.
However, the group also gave us a glimpse of Lyor Cohen's dream. Imagine attending a KAMA concert where not only do you get to see an opening act, and a mid-card, plus the headliner…but also a solo performance by each of the trios amazing leads. During the first set, Sam Evans treated us to a warm, loving rendition of Keith Whitley's iconic 'When You Say Nothing at All'. The nineteen eighty-eight hit song had been previously rereleased in two thousand and two by Allison Krauss. Sam's version differed from both the original and the cover in that it lacked the traditional country steel guitar in favor of three regular guitars and a bass…and in the fact that the song seemed somehow more deeply personal coming from the young crooner. Later when returning from the intermission, Mercedes Jones showed us all how she and Jill Scott took two Grammys everyone believed to be basically in Beyoncé's hands. She stood in the center of the stage accompanied by her husbands' guitar and Justin's piano only. Her version of Bob Dylan's'To Make You Feel My Love' was gentle, romantic…it was compelling and wrenching. By the end of the song, there was not a dry eye in the house and no one remained seated as they gave their appreciation. The fact that they followed it by introducing us to a beautiful song 'Refill' that was a very touching tale of the early stages of love. Not long before their remarkable finale, it was Puck's turn to treat us to a solo performance. It had been many years since hearing 'When I See You Smile' many of the concert's younger attendees may not have realized that the song was, in fact, a Bad English cover. The KAMA Badass made the song his own so much so that many of the older attendees may have forgotten that it wasn't always his.
The evening was a musical and gastronomical delight. I would have preferred a smaller venue, but given the rarity of KAMA performances and the high demand for them may have been behind the vast and mysteriously intimate venue choice. All in all, this reviewer gives the evening four and a half out of five stars.
With the state of affairs in America beginning to affect other countries around the world, we could all use a little happiness. I hope that this chapter brings you all some joy.
I'm praying. I'm advocating. I'm marching. I'm writing by snail mail & email. I'm calling. I'm fighting every way I know how. But I have to say, I am so sick and tired of people who have only read the bits and pieces of the Constitution included in middle & high school text books, telling me...who has had to study it extensively to get my undergraduate degree...that I'm wrong about what is and isn't unconstitutional.
Thank you for listening/reading my little rant.
Please give me a little Joy...drop me a review to tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, what you'd like to see in coming chapters.
TTFN,
Anni
