After-party with The Spinners

I ate breakfast with The Spinners. Well, not exactly.
We were in the same room at an after-party in their honor. They were mingling. I was eating. But I'm sure they ate too, eventually.

At first, I didn't know what to expect of this party at the Wadsworth House on Summit Avenue. It's a beautifully restored two-story frame house in the historic Wesley Heights neighborhood, just west of uptown. It's 4,500 sq. ft. and rented out for meetings, parties and wedding receptions.

I was invited to party with The Spinners after their Saturday night concert at Charlotte Convention Center. The 1 a.m. affair was hosted by the Charlotte Music Awards. But when I walked in, there was a Groove Phi Groove party going on.

The woman at the door made it perfectly clear: Don't eat the Grooves' food and don't drink their liquor. The Spinners party is upstairs.

But they were running late, so I went up to check it out. Great, they're serving breakfast. Eggs, bacon, sausage, grits, pancakes. I ran into a couple of Grooves I know, including Taylor, an emergency room doctor who graduated from Duke. You can pledge Groove at Duke?

About an hour has passed and still no Spinners. I've been mingling with others who've been waiting, too. There was the lady whose favorite Spinners song was actually a song by the Whispers. The guy in a pin-striped suit and hat who sings Sinatra at private parties and nursing homes. The Groove who gave me a beer.

Just as we were about to give up on the Spinners, their limo arrives. A crowd followed them upstairs. I took some pictures, shook hands with two of them and told them how much I loved "Sadie" and "Rubberband Man."

Then it was time to go. But first, one more trip to the breakfast bar.

Almost partied with almost Nelly

When your day begins at 6 a.m. Friday and ends at 4 in the morning, you know Saturday is going to be hazy. But it'll be that way for thousands of others, too.

After going to the "Steve Harvey Morning Show," I went to the arena to catch some games and talk to CIAA fans and snap their photos. Then I hit a couple of fish fries. Shout out to the Imani Chapter of Eastern Star #396. The fish sandwich and chicken basket hit the spot. After that I returned to work to write about the events of the day. The newspaper won't pay me if I don't.

I leave there about 9 p.m., dragging. But I'll have to find some energy before I get home. My wife and out-of-town guests wouldn't have it any other way. So we toast to the weekend and prepare for an evening of partying in the Queen City.

However, the women were taking too long to get dressed. So my brother-in-law, Matthew, and I set out alone. We'd been together much of morning so I know he's tired too. The highlight of his day was when a motorist flagged us down because they thought Matt was Nelly, the rapper. That's Matt pictured at top.

It's now 1 a.m and the uptown traffic is bumper-to-bumper. We decide to park at the newspaper and walk to a party at the Hilton, where about 200 people were hanging out in the lobby. It costs $40-$60 to go upstairs to the party, unless you're a VIP. You mean like my brother-in-law, Nelly?

Didn't work. By now my wife is calling on the cellphone to find out where we are. They're just leaving the house at 1:30. We meet up with them, then all decide it's too late to party, but we can always get something to eat.

We'll try it again tonight.

Steve Harvey Morning Show woke us up Friday

Ruben Studdard awakened a sleepy crowd at the Charlotte Convention Center this morning. And they were sleepy with good reason. Many of them had been in line since 3 a.m. to make sure they got a seat for the 6 a.m. "Steve Harvey Morning Show," which featured Ruben.

I stood in the back with the stragglers. We arrived around 6:30, just in time to hear Ruben belt out a couple of tunes. He sounded great. Then Harvey invited members of the audience to come on stage and sing. They didn't sound great. Actually, one of them was OK.

Off to the side of the stage was a sign-up table for aspiring JET Magazine swimsuit models. Don't get too excited, guys. They were just taking their information and head shots, fully clothed. But I shot some photos anyway.

Two people who applied were Lewis Steward (they need male models too) and his girlfriend Tukesia Garner of Trenton, N.J. They're in the picture above. Steward, who's from Philadelphia, asked me what I thought his chances were. I told him pretty good.

He was starting to get his hopes up, then realized I wasn't the JET photographer. My bad.

Swimsuit models and fashion shows, oh my!

You gotta love this job.
After watching basketball and talking to CIAA fans for half the day, I come back to the office and get another assignment: Cover the JET Magazine swimsuit model search Friday morning.

JET is asking aspiring models to bring their best headshots and swimsuit photos to the Charlotte Convention Center during a live broadcast of the Steve Harvey Morning Show. The show starts at 6 a.m., which is way earlier than I normally rise. But hey, I'm a trooper.

The swimsuit photos will be used in a calendar, an extension of the popular Beauty of the Week feature. Yeah, you know the second-most famous centerfold of all time. The one that always appears on page 42.

If that's not enough, I later learn that I'm also suppose to cover the CIAA fashion show Saturday.

OK, if I must.