Yesterday morning, Michael Henry Adams, author of Harlem: Lost and Found, invited me to a party he was throwing in honor of Brian Keith Jackson and Thomas Wirth, the respective authors of The Queen of Harlem and Gay Rebel of the Harlem Renaissance (a book of Richard Bruce Nugent's writings).
Well, if there's anything nice that I could say about Michael, it's that he sure knows how to throw a party - so I went and took Gordon with me. We headed out and walked up the block about four or five houses to Martha Dolly's exquisite home. She is quite the fixture in Mount Morris! Her family has lots of history here - her late husband Harold and his brother Cyril lived across the street from each other. Their father bought the lovely brownstone that housed the evening's festivities back in 1943 for $7,000.
The crowd was wonderful - lots of great people like Kevin McGruder, former executive director of GMAD, painter James Reynolds and actress Tamara Tunie. I also met Tommy & Kim, a lovely couple who operate an interior design business together. I've already invited them to my next Blue Lights in the Basement party! There was lots of laughter and bubbly conversation as people sipped champagne and gnoshed on fine pastries. The room was chock full of potential husbands, but one man in particular held my attention for most of the evening.
The guy pictured above is Dave Wilson who, along with readings from Jackson and Wirth, provided the evening's entertainment. It was amazing to see the effervescence of this 89-year old man as he sang and played the piano ever so beautifully! Michael eventually coaxed me over to the piano to ask Dave to play "Sophisticated Lady" as the evening came to a close. Dave's face lit up at my request and, while playing half of the song, he told me that he didn't know the chord changes. That tease! So I chatted him up and told him of my love for Sarah Vaughan. His face REALLY lit up and he began to weave her songs "If You Could See Me Now" and "Tenderly" into a delicious quintessentially Sassy medley that I will never forget! I swooned as he sang those songs - just for me! *swoon!* We talked some more at Michael's house later that evening. I discovered that he still plays regularly - every Friday at this spot in Long Island. You know I'm going to find out the details!
