Starting to look mighty purdy in our fancy custom bling for Ba-de-ya, Baby!, my all new/all hits LIVE show in a couple o’ weeks on SEPTEMBER 21st and 22nd in beautiful North Hollywood. I guarantee its unlike any other singer/songwriter show you’ve ever seen! Tickets here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/258274
See a sandwich dance and sing and more at my LIVE SHOW in LA on THE 21st night of SEPTEMBER (and 22!) http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/258274 NOW!
To read this nice and big: https://www.alleewillis.com/press/2012/press-music-connection-20120809.html
My favorite spot to go for a ride to was this collection of 52 family members and pets that used to be in front of a motel also handbuilt by Trapper John. When the Burbank airport expanded this went bye-bye but thankfully I got a few choice photos with the family before that happened.
On May 8 and 9, 2012, I took a giant leap in my evolution and broke through an almost 4 decades-long bout of stage fright, performing two sold-out performances of my Super Ball Bounce Back Review, a combo concert/sing-along/party extravaganza at King King in Hollywood.
Lack of performing has always been a raw, gaping hole in a long career that’s stretched across various fields of the arts, despite the fact that I’ve always had the balls to throw myself off cliffs as I periodically dive-bomb into pursuits I know nothing about. I’ve hosted multimedia theme parties where I’m perenially on mic so that even the conversations I have with everyone are blasted throughout my house or wherever else I host these beasts. And God knows I walk around in hair and clothes that makes peoples’ necks snap if they’ve never gotten a gander of me before. Throw in that I’ve sold 50,000,000 records despite the fact that to this day I have no idea how to read, notate or play music, and I sold hundreds of paintings before I realized that you mix colors to get different colors. So backing away from displaying myself publicly made absolutely no sense.
But then I realized that this theme of living fearlessly was at the heart of everything I ever created. View life as a creative process. You are the canvas. If you’re stuck with a weakness, for God sakes turn it into a hook. Nine times out of ten, you’re the bogey monster scaring yourself shitless so just get out the way! So I finally did.
So here then are four videos from my Super Ball Bounce Back Review. If you like them and are going to be in LA on September 21 and/or 22, I’m rising again at NoHoPAC in a salute to “September”, the first line of which mentions the date of the opening night.
“September”:
“Boogie Wonderland”:
“Neutron Dance”:
And the whole enchilada:
Badeya!
May 28, 2012 marked the end of a stupendous three-month run of the musical I co-wrote, The Color Purple, at The Celebration Theatre in LA.
Originally performed on Broadway in a 2000 seat theatre with a cast of 31, and later on tour with a slightly smaller cast but remaining in 2000+ seat venues, the Celebration performance featured 19 actors in a 99 seat theater.
Totally reconceived, this performance was wrapped with the kind of intimacy we wrote it with. I loved the original and this production rose to the same heights. To show my gratitude, I threw a party to thank the cast, crew, director and producers for pulling off the nearly impossible, stuffing a huge musical into a tiny yet fantastic theatre.
Way, way, wayyyy, more Purple party pleasure here.
Photos: Barry Weiss, Mark Blackwell, and Dina Duarte.
If you don’t know about my triumphant comeback live show a few weeks ago in Hollywood, start here.
After nearly sinking on the Titanic 6 months before, the success of these two sold-out performances meant more to me than anyone can imagine.
Not to mention the fact that I learned the importance of hiring professionals over friends who say they know how to do certain things, as well as learning the importance of rehearsals, something that prior to this was completely alien to my totally-spontaneous-fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants-without-a-net approach to every art form I participate in.
Many of the folks who appeared on stage with me as well as behind the scenes worked for gratis. I can’t thank all of you enough.
This was a massive breakthrough for me, the filling up of a big wide, raging hole in the gut of my career. Believe me, my gratitude extends a lot further than the soul food dinner thrown to thank you here at Willis Wonderland.
I can’t wait to get up on stage with all of you again. We’s family now. This was a life changer for me and you were all a massive part of it. Badeya!!!
A plethora of Super Ball Bounce Back cast party photos here.
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On May 8 and 9, 2012 I had one of the greatest experiences of my career performing my Super Ball Bounce Back Review at King King in Hollywood. It not only was only the second and third performances I’d done since jumping off the stage in the middle of my own show in 1974, but was an attempted – and I’m happy to say TOTALLY TRIUMPHANT – comeback after one of the worst experiences of my career seven months before when 90% of the technology my first attempted comeback show was dependent on failed. But I knew that I had to get back up and practice what I preach: From some of the worst situations come the greatest miracles and I had proven to myself time and time again that, if nothing else, I was someone who had the courage to make lemonade out of big, fat lemons.
So I’m happy to report that I have risen from the ashes and had two of the greatest nights of my life bouncing back as a performer in a major way. I can’t thank everyone who came enough. And I can’t thank everyone who worked with me on the show enough.
So I leave you with a whole lotta photos from both nights, videos to come and a big, loud Badeya-say-do-you-remember there never has to be a cloudy day as long as you have sunshine inside. ENOY THE SHOW!!
Just a sprinkling of the over 2000 photos I’m still going through from my “Super Ball Bounce Back Review” live show at King King in Hollywood last Tuesday night, May 8. There will be TONS more coming from both Tuesday and Wednesday nights performances at the top of next week, and a whole lotta videos after that.
Will post some from May 9 soon. And trillions of them this coming Monday. Badeya!
