Still life, without Bradd Young

Last night I was pleased and honored to be on the shortlist of invites to pop phenom Bradd Young's birthday party. Sundays are usually sacred family nights for me, but I really wanted to show some love to Bradd, who did his best to schedule his frequent flying to studio gigs in Los Angeles to play a featured role in my movie Blind Cat Black.

His production partner Orlando "Pretty Boy" Watson is my oldest friend in the hip-hop scene, other than Adam Long, and I definitely need to catch up with him. The hostess with the mostest, Brooke HollaDay, is also my girl, with a bump or two in the road we don't need to go down no more.

So I made the scene. Brooke's reminder was to be on time. I was on time. Bradd was late. I had something else I had to do. So I split - before the birthday boy rolled in.

But, before I split, I sketched the neighbor's back porch. The venue for the party was the Central West home of a lawyer who is popular in the black club scene, and it was a beautiful night to stand on his back porch, look across the way and try to find my dormant instincts for architectural drawing.

I just wish Bradd's smiling face was in the picture. Next time!

And keep an eye out for Bradd's live band around town as he warms up for a projected major (inter?)national tour following his first major release as an artist.