18 Sept - WOD

"Mr. Wonderful"

Sunday night I was privileged to experience one of the greatest R&B recording artists of my era, live in concert. Stevie Wonder graced downtown Baltimore with a solo performance paralleled by none before and likely none to come. Mr. Wonder has more talent in the left hand with which he grasps his harmonica than most of the new recording artists of this generation combined. It was quite refreshing to witness a live performance by a band and an artist who sounded exactly like the albums that most of us have in our personal collection. This is just a testament to the fact that Stevie always gives us 100% authentic music. His hits were never watered down with studio preservatives such as enhanced vocal effects like T-Pain's vocoder or Pro-tools (musical instrument software) generated tracks.

I have been a Stevie fan since I was in pull-ups and a bib. I had very little choice in the matter. My Mom and my Uncle played SW's "Songs in the Key of Life" and "Hotter than July" albums so much that eventually I could decipher a Stevie classic after hearing only the first two musical notes of the song. Perhaps I have an "old soul" but this just happens to be my type of music. Stevie didn't have an opening act. Stevie didn't even have an MC to introduce him. It was just a very intimate evening of SW, his amazing band and a few thousand fans. Stevie started the show by sharing with us that he lost his Mother a little over a year ago. He remarked that the experience was so painful that he contemplated ending his illustrious career. Fortunately for us, Mr. Wonder reconsidered.

I nearly got goosebumps as Stevie belted out his classic like "Love's in need of love today", "You and I", "Lately", "Overjoyed" and "Ribbon in the Sky". The shows energy level climaxed though when he gave us his most popular playlist including "That Girl", "All I Do", "Do I do?", and "Sir Duke (You can feel it all over)", respectively. For three hours, SW gave us all of the classics and even infused some new (soon to be classics) as well. Seeing Mr. Wonder was indeed a big deal for me. His imprint will forever remain a staple of upper echelon music, as far as I'm concerned. If you have an opportunity to see Stevie when he passes through your town, do yourself a favor and be sure to witness "the musical genius" in person. In the meanwhile, I strongly recommend that you blow the dust off of your Stevie Wonder collection and re-discover the wonderment of old. Have a "Wonderful" day, on purpose.

Corey R.