Bloom Bars– It’s all in a name!
When I heard the promoter from D.C has a space called Bloom Bars and that’s where Kissey Asplund and Shantell Martin would be performing- I thought- how can we turn this down. Too many subtleties and plus- my boy Shane Evans from Kansas City turned me on to John Chambers- Bloom Bars.
This space is very special. It’s raw, it’s a collective community art space. There’s no alcohol, you feel the growth and warmth as soon as you step in and furthermore- very artist friendly with the spirit of creativity and innovation seaping from the walls and oozing everywhere. They literally just finished the spray painting and building out the set right before doors opened. In fact- we didn’t make the 9PM doors- it was all complete about 9:30PM and we had a small crowd of people outside waiting patiently.
So with all that– we were treated beautifully. Went to a hot spot before the show to get something to eat. Busboys and Poets and drove by some HBO Poetry special- decided not to go in as performance time was approaching and Kissey had to change in to her gorgeous dress courtesty of L-Shandi Designs.
We picked out the dress from Lara the designer herself from the lovely shop on U Street - Caramel.
We had heard that the DJ on the bill was APEX- Kissey was very happy to know. He’s a beatmaker extraordinaire and great DJ/Producer. So suffice it to say- the night was lovely…
D.C was in the house! Progressive D.C- Lots of arts types, cool young folks who were curious and a lot of the industry/media came out to support.
Shouts to Kimani and Brandon, Worldspace’s Nikki Strong and Shawna Odour, Rhome of Wash Post, Jacarl Melton from DCIST, KUKU, Lazy K, Asheru, Kat, Fusicology, Soultalk Radio, and many others who came through to support. Shouts also to Kimberly Washington, Jay Stewart and WPFW and T.A Walters for their support.
We sold out of CD’s- people bumrushed me fast for them….
Was a super great night- watch some of it here…
