Last night I attended two events, one on Ninth Avenue near Port Authority and the other downtown in Soho…..
My first stop was at a restaurant called “The Door” on Ninth Ave where a launch party was being held for Pristine Style Magazine (http://www.pristinestylemag.com/), a new online magazine and a new venture called “Rock Me TV” (http://www.rockmetv.com/) which bills itself as “The World’s first interactive television network”.
I got my invite from my publicist Mary Moore and decided I would stop through and show my support before I headed downtown where plus model Maiysha was having her album release after party.I pulled out a vintage crystal studded Franklin Rowe dress that I belted and wore as a top and I added a pair of white jeans, quickly got myself dressed and headed out the door. After taking a quick ride on the “A” train to 42nd street, I
arrived at a little after 9pm and after being checked in at the door I made my way to a room in the back where a live concert was going on. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the name of the band but I gotta tell you family – they were quite good (and ya’ll know I am a vocalist myself and can be very critical when it comes to music) and I thoroughly enjoyed them! The lead singer had a great voice and the two background singers where tight. 
I hung around until their set was over, took a few photos with the editor of the magazine (you didn’t take my number but I am interested in the interview that you pitched to me) and then I needed to hoof it back to the train station to meet up with Mia Amber for Maiysha’s party.So I retrieved my flip-flops out of my bag (never leave home without ‘em!) and walked the long underpass to get from the “A” train to the “R” train…Hey! Did you know that that passageway that runs under Times Square is an AWESOME place to get your “strut” on during low traffic hours? Baby!!! Now THAT’S a runway for your azz family!!! Lol…but I digress….
So after waiting like 5-10 minutes for an R train, I finally arrived at my stop – Prince Street and exited on Broadway, crossed the street, took out my salt & pepper sparkly mules, put them on and returned the flip-flops to my bag then walked the short block to the restaurant. The party was scheduled to begin at 10pm and I must have arrived at around 10:20pm or so and saw a nice line developing in out front. There was a beautiful poster of Maiysha’s album cover in the window (she looks amazing). Mia was already on line and together we must have waited oh…about 20 minutes before they began letting folks inside.
The party sponsored by Ford Models & Seraphin Cognac
was held at FR.OG Bar/Restaurant, which stands for France Origine. It’s narrow but long beautiful bi-level space decorated in white with deep rose & pumpkin colored sofas & splashes of rose on the walls which are also adorned with beautiful, abstract paintings & portraits on both levels. But the coolest thing for me was the mirrored, winding 
stairway….simply fabulous fam! 
Mia and I had actually taken seats in one of the white booths upstairs before we saw that staircase and realized that the party was probably downstairs…lol. So we made our way downstairs to the lounge and awaited the arrival of the guest of honor. The DJ was positioned right near the entryway to the lounge, so we decided to take some seats near the back where there were less people. The music was playing and we heard a song that we thought may have been one of the cuts from her album and a then the DJ began spinning some old school hip hop as the room began to fill up.
As we waited for him to return another friend of mine, 
a photographer named Jumanne who photographed my friends Julia & Perry’s wedding a few years back. I hadn’t seen him since my screening party for Mo’Nique’s F.A.T. Chance (season 1) and he looked great! We talked briefly and it was while I was talking to him that I noticed the LACK of plus sized models in the house – I was baffled, I really expected there to be more of a plus sized presence in the house…(perhaps they came after we left). Anyway, my invite said that there would be an Open Bar was sponsored by Seraphin Cognac (I am familiar with Seraphin because they were also the drink sponsor for author GL Henderson’s book launch a while back) and I was a little excited because I so enjoyed the cocktails I’d had at the book launch. 
Seraphin even had a signature drink for Maiysha called a “Mai Truth Serum”
….So you can imagine my dismay when I was told that there was no open bar! Mia doesn’t drink so this didn’t bother her at all…lol. After we had sat for almost an hour I decided to go outside for some air. As I was making my way through the now crowded bar I heard someone calling my name. I turned towards the voice and was pleasantly surprised to see my friend, Naeon smiling
at me. Naeon is a handsome male model that I met when I was down in Guyana for fashion week last year. He was alone, so he accompanied me outside and we talked until I got really cold and decided to go back inside.
When I got back to Mia, we sat and talked for a little while longer and then we both checked our watches, saw that the hour was close to midnight and decided to call it a night. I was tired and Mia had to head back out to Queens and Maiysha's concert ran late, so we never got to see her. But the turnout was awesome and I am sure that it was probably a blast once she arrived. I am expecting a copy of Miss Maiysha’s new album “This Much Is True” in the mail any day now and I can’t wait to hear it!
Mia and I ran into Catherine Schuller as we were leaving (she was on her way out too) and we decided to head east to catch a cab to Penn Station. 
As we talked about the evening’s events and we both switched back to flip-flops during the cab ride, Mia suddenly blurted out “Isn’t that your friend Eda??” and I looked up and there she was in the taxi next to ours…so of course I began screaming out the window like and idiot…lol. She quickly looked up and tried to roll down her window (which didn’t work) and she called me on my cell….I haven’t seen my girl in months so as we arrived at Penn Station (she was headed further uptown) we made plans to reconnect at a later date.
As Mia ran to catch a departing train I walked the underpass to the “A” train and hopped on an uptown bound train. It was after midnight so the trains were running local; when the train reached 42nd street I noticed two handsome brothers get on and stand near the doors. I put on my headphones (When I Grow Up by the Pussycat Dolls was banging on my ipod!!!) and relaxed for the ride to 125th St., when the train pulled into 59th Street; I looked up to see if an express train was on the other platform, there wasn’t, so I stayed put. The two brothers however decided to take the available seats flanking me. I found out that their names were Brian & Glen and they were twins from Washington DC. We also found that we had a mutual friend in Harvey “Star” Washington, (they are former protégés). As we rode uptown, they invited me to their church “The Rock Church” a small congregation located at 305 West 38th Street at New Dance Group Studio
lol…they told me that the congregation “break dances” for the Lord. As the train pulled into 125th Street and I got ready to exit, I told them that while I probably would not be doing “break dancing” of any kind, perhaps one Sunday I might get up early enough to check out their morning service.I stopped off at the store to get a cold beer (and a $1 price tag goes down much easier than the $7-8 bucks it would have cost me downtown) and walked home and went straight to bed.
I hear Maiysha’s album is doing well on the charts! Congrats girl and continued success mama!
"I have no pleasure in any man who despises music. It is no invention of ours: it is a gift of God. I place it next to theology. Satan hates music: he knows how it drives the evil spirit out of us."
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