Alicia posted in her diary on her official website on July 10th 2004 and on July 13th 2004. Check ‘m out & enjoy!
Jul 13, 2004 11:34 AM Just a quick hello P.S BIG UP to everyone whose been supporting “The Reign” The Brand New KK mixtape. It’s crazy! This tape is hot like fire, I’m rocking to it right now! Love the fam Always,
Jul 10, 2004 12:14 PM We did the show that night and it was beautiful, magical and very exciting. Once again the whole time I was just thankful to be able to play in a place that had so much history. But honestly it wasn’t until the next day that I truly got the full spectrum of just how much history Montriux held. We were invited up to the house of the man who started the festival over 38 years ago. He lived up in the mountains and if the view was incredible from my hotel room down below, I can’t even begin to explain the way the view looked from up aobve. The mountains were immense. The sun was so warm and the way ever single chair and hammock was set up toward the vast view made you reflect as you looked out onto the water and the hills. It did feel like everywhere you turned could be a painting. As if you were merely a vision from an artist from above. Which we are, but you felt it. And it made me see how differently you can see life, depending on how you live it. I felt the beauty of the world from up there and the way that your mind can be clear to think. Anyway, that’s only some of the point. But the rest is what left me feeling…I don’t know I can’t describe, let me just explain. He put on the performance of Aretha Franklin in 1971, it was one of the most incredible things I’d ever seen. She had to be like 23 years old. She was a baby and singing and playing the piano with all her heart. You felt her spirit leap onto the screen. It was indescribable! But the most amazing one was to see Nina Simone Play in 1976. She had just come back from Africa and you could feel her anger. You could feel her intense feelings about the way that musicians, especially black Musicians were treated, the way people were treated and all that was going on in America that she obviously felt ambivalence toward. You could tell she felt like she didn’t really belong anywhere. But her playing…Oh my goodness her PLAYING!!!!!She played the piano as if her life depended on it. Her fluidity was incredible. She was speaking exactly from her heart and her pain and her insecurities and all the things that made her think, politically, personally, in every way came out through the piano and her voice. Her expression was genuine and real and deep! And it was really something that ripped through my whole core!!! All the times that I have ever thought about how much I wish I could see some of my favorite artists that are no longer here, and how I would just like to see the way they did it, what their approach was, things like that. And I was looking directly at it, with my own two eyes. I was mesmerized and inspired beyond belief. It got me to thinking. It’s like the thing about artists then, is how serious they were about their craft! How artists like Nine Simone, James Baldwin, and Langston Hughes, they THOUGHT! They had things to say! and opinions about what was going on around them, about things that others were afraid to discuss. They embraced the challenged and said what the heart of the people were thinking but never would have the voice to express. They were the leaders of a movement of a generation that needed to be heard. They were not so afraid and not so stuck on the fame or the money, but the message and standing their ground, creating their own freedom. Just a little recap on the experience, unreal, and provoking! Thinking about y’all…and feeling the vibe on the boards. This is going to be an unforgettable journey we are on together, I can’t even begin to imagine where it will lead us to…….;-) peace |
(special thx 2 youroldestfan)
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