As you can see, I have created a number of portraits around musicians. I had a friend some time ago to say she didn’t like Stevie Wonder. I began to stutter after she blurted this from her lips and I could never see her the same.

It’s not that I think friends have to be so much alike but I couldn’t fathom anyone close to me not being into the message Stevie delivered through his music. [Icky!] I mean, how could you tune that out? You’re cool with dismissing a musical prophet? Is that an Omaha thing or just her? Girl! [Hard eye roll].

You know what I miss though? Feeling the floor shake underneath my feet at a house party. Yes, yes. I don’t even know that they exist anymore. Everything and everybody is so different in this modern era of technology. Are people having a good time without their phones now? Is it possible to have fun or eat a burger without posting online?

Back in the day, I don’t ever recall  looking at a celebrity on TV and people saying that’s not really them. If they’re not really who we think they are, we’ll never get R&B back, but we won’t revisit that again.

Long gone are the house parties, where losing a slither of innocence was a slow drag against that boy or girl you breathed on the phone with when there was nothing left to say. That can easily happen with a FaceTime call now.

The loud speakers that beat music through your chest, where you couldn’t hear anybody, was the moment you lived for on the weekend. I fear now we’ve laid the house party to rest. Or have I been omitted from the group chat? Did I rub someone wrong? I can still rock a party and ring a bell, okay? So, put my number in the little chat…Wait a minute, you say I can’t do wha-…Excuse me? [Yaaaawn…]

Oh, forget it! I don’t require external validation. I can rock these pajamas and…and…watch Netflix!