Legend's Jazz Cafe' came to life last night at Acoustic Wednesday. Legend's is quickly becoming the place to be as you wind down your Wednesdays and last night cemented what so many people all ready know...Houston has got some tremendous talent!!

 The night started out with my good friend, guitarist multi instrumentalist Robin Kirby and her flute player Laurie.. They started the night with one song and that got the crowd, (small but into it), going. 

Next up, the Houston songbird Caretta Bell. Let me preface this by saying I LOVE CARETTA BELL. No one does what Caretta does as well as Caretta does it and she did it last night!! Once Caretta hit the stage, I knew it was going to be a magical night. Caretta is the real deal and she showed why she stepped out on faith two years ago and quit her job to pursue a career in music. Caretta can and will make it.

Her voice is mesmerizing and she had everyone in the building, (including Joe Carmouche himself), applauding. Caretta had an encore at the end of the night. That's how hot and on fire Caretta was last night.

Then came Mark Capon all the way from New York. Let me say this, this man can play a guitar like you've never heard! OMG, when Mark plugged in his gutiar and started playing that cool hand jazz I was in awe. I haven't heard anyone play with such smooth accuracy and mellow intensity like that since Joe!! LoL..This guy was all the greats, Wes Montgomery, Lee Ritenour, Jobim and more rolled into one. I purchased his cd "The Jazz Guitar of Mark Capon" and I'll be reviewing it real soon. Please note: T.L. and Angela Bonton...If you are reading this, you need to get this guy's cd...SOON..

Mark was later joined on stage by Ms. Evette Busby and that lady can blow the roof off any building anywhere in the USA!! They did the classic "At Last" and it was a real treat.

After that I hit the stage with Evette and we performed Prince's "Do Me Baby" acoustic!! Talk about wow!! Oh man, it was crazy. I then went into the classic soul song "Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay"..

Caretta Bell then closed the night out with an encore performance. 

It was a lovely night and for those of you who missed it. You really missed a treat...

Everyone has their definition of what it means to be a soul singer. To some it's Sam Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding or Luther Vandross.
To others it's Steven Tyler, Mick Jagger, Wynonna or Darryl Hall.
To me, it's a culmination of all those artist and more. See, Soul is something that comes from that place deep in the heart, deep in the soul, if you will. 

I witnessed Soul recently at The Last Concert Cafe' when I went to see Kenneth Scott and The Cosmic Party perform. At first glance Kenneth Scott doesn't strike you as someone with soul. Heck he doesn't strike you as someone who can sing.

Kenneth Scott has the appearance of a guy who loves rock and roll and going to the beach, just hanging out. But looks can be deceiving. Kenneth Scott is by all definitions a big guy, who is immensley talented, more kind than a teddy bear and real cool to talk to.  Forget the fact that Kenneth is a big white guy  who seems like he'd be more comfortable at a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert than an Al Green concert. Let's forget that for a minute and focus on the music. Ahh, yes..the music. Dude is bad assed. He's cold, he's superbad.

Oh, and he plays a mean guitar. His band, is by definition incredibly talented. The guys are, (in the words of James Brown), on the one, and they are good at what they do.

The most striking thing about this band though is the vocals. Kenneth has that old, aching soul in his voice and  his lyrics are acutely beautiful and haunting. He's a rock dude by every definition, but deep down you get every sense of a SOUL singer aching to reach out to the masses. The only thing missing from this band is two soulful/church bred female background vocalist, (ie; black soul sistahs). That's a small issue and I'm sure by the end of next month, one that will be remedied.

Having known Kenneth Scott for a few years now, I had no idea he was this talented. Sure, I've seen him perform acoustic shows, and yes we've sat down and chatted, had breakfast together and we've broken bread together, but I've never witnessed Kenneth Scott at home in his element; on a big stage. I can't say enough about his original compositions which are inspiring, and that's just saying the least of what could be said about them and if you read between the lines...that's a lot!

I left  the venue in awe at what I had heard and seen. I called a friend of mine I had invited and I told him he missed a great show. I told him that I had seen the best of The Black Crowes mixed with the cool of Bob Marley, the gospel of Steven Curtis Chapman and yes the soul...the soul of  
a true musician...a musician on a mission.

He has a beautiful wife, wonderful kids, (a son named after one of his musical and comic book heroes Prince-the singer, T'Challa-aka The Black Panther ) and a great job, (he owns his own businesses). But this Houston based soul man is not content.

"I plan on doing major things with my band the next few years," said Mr. Boogie, an irresistibly dynamic soul singer/producer/guitarist/bandleader who returns, with his band Collective Hallucination, to Houston stages April 21^st,  (after an almost 6 month performance hiatus), at the popular Jet Lounge. "I plan on single handily making things happen for myself and my band considering how hard it is to get good honest true help these days." Although the band does have a great support system, Ant still handles the day to day operations of his band's scheduling, rehearsals, appearances and more."

 These days seems like such a far cry from *1999* when Ant Boogie formed his band with friend Kenneth Bates aka The Time Keeper after the urging of Dallas based musician Montrose. "I started out with the knowledge  and resources I gained through the years from my time spent as a music retailer and faith that one day I'd be sitting pretty doing what I love most—MUSIC! It has been a hard road though. One I now can walk on or drive on with a big smile on my face."

On February 24^th, The band performed a 4 song mini concert at the Marriott West Loop Galleria as part of the Listen and Exchange Event held every year spearheaded by Ms. Dedra Davis. "The crowd was a hard bunch, filled with mostly rap music lovers and a few others, but we won them all over with our brand of funky in your face soul!"

"In Houston", said the 39-year-old Boogie, "it's hard to be in a band doing original tunes and get the respect, bookings and most of all money that's so deserved of one as good as Collective Hallucination."

Ant says it was so hard in fact that he had to make the ultimate sacrifice because he wanted to do it his way. Ant took his own money to finance his band's own shows, paying for the rental of the venues, flyers, advertisements, buying his own PA equipment, renting trailers or whatever else was needed to get from one show to the other. "I even set up everything in the early years from the drum kit, to the PA to the bass rig all by myself. All the band had to do was come in, plug in and play. I would then break everything down, pack it up and take it back to wherever it belonged. Most of the time I did it all by myself." These days Ant says he's not picking up anything but his axe as he has a real road crew and the whole works.

"This is something that went on for years," Ant says, "and I lost friends, band mates and so much more along the way. I was focused and determined. Something that a lot of "musicians/artists" these days aren't. They're looking for the overnight big break success story and it doesn't work that way. So I lost a lot of friends and band mates along the way, but it's cool. Looking back, it was all worth it!"

These days, the band is doing impressive things that not too many bands, (especially in Houston), doing original music can say. For instance, the band is working on a cross promotions event with Houston area McDonald's

restaurants

 as well as getting paid top dollar to perform at venues, (both public and private), doing their brand of funk/soul/rock and jazz. They were nominated in 2006 as R&B act of the year going against major label artist Brooke Valentine (Def Jam) and former Destiny's Child singer Latoya (Capitol). "That was a defining moment for us. It meant someone had noticed! Although Brooke Valentine won, Ant says it's great being nominated just because I've worked hard for a long time to bring the CH sound to speakers everywhere and people are starting to take notice and say, hey…that band is good!"

"Things are definitely different now than they were then. I'm glad I had the faith to keep going because there were times I just wanted to throw in the towel and just say to hell with it, but I couldn't. It was in me to keep going."

It took Ant Boogie a lot of faith as he had moments in his career where it just seemed like the floor was being pulled from right under his feet and he was falling into a bottomless pit. "I remember when the band had a show and the vocalist didn't show up cause she was mad or something", he says, "Luckily the band had been rehearsing some new instrumental tunes and a few other tunes. We pulled the show off without a hitch. There was even a show in the early, early years where the lead vocalist came for soundcheck and then left and never came back. Weird, huh?" LOL.

"It's all about faith and some folks just lost it after doing gig after gig and literally not getting paid for it. Imagine how I must have felt because I still had to shell out money to put these shows on. I kept the faith though. It's so easy to lose faith and give in to the whole idea of I won't get paid if I'm not doing someone else's tunes. I thought about it more than once, but I refused to go that route. Not that there's anything wrong with it, it just wasn't me."

Ant says he's gone through band mates like a drive through, "Band mate after band mate would come and go. Some were fired, some quit, others got sick and some moved out of town on the premise of the grass being greener. I remember one young lady came and rehearsed with the band for like two weeks before a show, did one show and quit that night right after the show saying she was moving to Cali because she felt like she had what it takes to make it!! 

The name stayed the same although the members changed. It came to a point when I felt like Carl McIntosh of Loose Ends, Bluey of Incognito or Jazzie B. of Soul II Soul, where I had a revolving door of musicians and vocalist. I kept focused though and kept going…moving ever forward to my goal of having a band of infinitely talented, faithful and driven individuals."

"I remember midway through recording our 2003 cd "The Peripheral Moment", I had to let go of the lead vocalist because it just wasn't working out the way I planned. (He recently had a scuffle with that former lead vocalist estranged husband).

"By the time that cd had come out I didn't have a band at all!!!!", he says laughing, "it was a really strange time as I was feeling the pain of the cost to record this cd and the need to recoup some of the money that had gone into it. I was sweating bullets. It was funny because if you read the credits the only consistent player on the cd on every song was me!! There was literally no band when the cd was recorded or released!"

Ant says he thought he had learned his financial lesson when in 2001 he spent all of his money to record the band's first cd "Heavy Rhyme Experience Part II", an ode to The Brand New Heavies who had recorded and released a cd called "Heavy Rhyme Experience Vol. 1" with some of the hottest rappers at the time. The Collective Hallucination cd was recorded with some of Houston's hottest poets and then shelved before it was released due to lack of funds to have it properly done. "Keep in mind this was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay before the digital age, so you couldn't just set up some songs and have them downloaded. I think at the time almost every poet featured on that cd was angry with me except maybe two of them. What they didn't understand was the fact that it cost to record, release, promote, distribute and market a cd. They just knew it had been recorded and it should have been out. Man, those were the days," Ant Boogie says reflectively.

These days Ant Boogie says he can look back at all those years as a learning experience which has prepared him for the inevitable...SUCCESS on a very good scale! The band is currently working on it's 5^th cd, (the 4^th cd comes out later this year and is already recorded and ready to be mixed and mastered). "I'm working with a bunch of great people who have faith, not only in themselves, but the music and me as well. They are all very, very spiritual in their beliefs as well. It's like from time to time we might have our own little band bible study when we're not joking and playing around or rehearsing. I talk to all of my bandmates everyday. We break bread together, laugh, joke and cry together. I love them so much. They are the greatest group of individuals to be around. It's the best band family experience I've ever had! The band also takes time out to roll up their sleeves, grab a shovel and dig. These cats will go out and help promote shows, help break down equipment and do whatever needs to be done to keep this well oiled machine on the tracks. That's a complete first to have a whole band pitching in."

Another great thing Ant says is he sells at least 3 CH cds a day almost everyday! "Both "The Peripheral Moment" and "Listen and Believe", (the band's latest cd) are currently selling pretty well as we are opening up to a whole new audience. We have a new single from our forthcoming cd coming out in April and I am anticipating high sells for it as well. Now's the time for Collective Hallucination and it feels good!"

Ant is also in the studio working with Dominique, a Houston based singer/songwriter who Ant says has the talent, drive and look to take her places. "This young lady can write songs just as quickly as I write the music. It's like we're an Elton John/Bernie Taupman team. She's awesome!" Ant just recently put a band together for Dominique and he says soon she'll be doing shows in and around the Houston area. He says there will be shows where Dominique and her band will open for CH and there will be moments when CH will open for her! I'm very optimistic about the future with Dominique as well as Collective Hallucination," Ant said recently.

The band also has a great support/help system in place. Just look at the information here.

Bookings:

Mary Minter
August Music
P.O. Box 11075
Spring, TX 77391
amiminter@yahoo.com
Office 281.895.8887
Cell    713.927.7265

Bookings:

West Coast Representative:

Debra Triplett
(916) 482-8418
P.O. Box 601225
Sacramento, CA 95860
satingun@yahoo.com

Bookings:

East Coast Representative:

Aaliyah Najieb

(973) 449-7091

PO Box 1103

Montclair, NJ 07042
Aaliyah@peakandvalley.com

Legal:

Bert Gieseman ESQ

(708) 408 6405

Not too many indi bands can say they have representatives on each coast and down south! "It's a real blessing to have so many people believe in what you believe in", says Ant, "soon we'll be playing on each coast and around the world and it feels good knowing it's right on the horizon!"

"I have no fear. My spirituality and faith are strong. My drive and talent will take me where I need to go," he said, clutching his day planner that he keeps close to him at all times. "These days my phone rings all the time with performance opportunities for CH as well as Dominique. I need to make sure I'm ready to answer any call for any opportunity".

For more on Montrose visit him at www.montrosemusic.com or www.myspace.com/montrose

For more on Dominique visit www.myspace.com/msdominiquemusic

For more on Collective Hallucination visit www.collectivehallucination.com www.myspace.com/collectivehallucination or www.highvolumemusic.com

You can catch Ant Boogie and his band Collective Hallucination live for the first time in in almost 6 months 21^st at The Jet Lounge with special guest Kuumba Freeque!AprilHouston

Sunnyside Posse Marketing and Promotions Presents:
THE RETURN!

Starring live in concert;
Houston's Hardest Working Original Band
Collective Hallucination with special guest Kuumba Freeque

Hosted by Donna McKenzie of 95.7 The Wave.

April 21-2007 @ The Jet Lounge
1515 Pease (next door to The Engine Room)
Houston, TX 77002

Collective Hallucination returns to Houston stages after a 6 month hiaus to quench your musical thirst!

Join CH with special guest Kuumba Freeque for The Return!

Doors open @ 8PM
Show starts promptly at 9:30PM

$12.50 Pre-sale
$15.00 Door

Each ticket sale will receive one free copy of the new Collective Hallucination single "Midnight Sun" with special guest Kyle Turner.


Presale tickets available at www.highvolumemusic.com