The only thing I liked about Phoenix was.....

EVERYTHING!!!!!!!

Apr 13th 3:54pm

I'm already annoyed. I'm here at the airport. We're boarding and people are 
cramming the line to get on the plane. NOBODY WILL GET LEFT!!!! Why must we push 
and just about kill each other?? Geesh. 

5:34pm

Funny story. This woman who was boarding the plane, 

standing in front of me, she asked if I'd help place her 

luggage in the overhead bin. She explained that she 
had back surgery in recent months and blah blah blah. 

After she saw that I was a gentleman, she went on to tell me 

that her father, an elderly man, needed her to 
settle some very important documents for his estate and blah blah blah. 

And then she didn't bother to get room service at her hotel 

because the papers are so important that she didn't want the cleaning lady to steal them and blah blah blah. 

When we arrived at her seat, I put the bag in the bin. 

"Take care of that back" I said to her in parting, to which she pleasantly smiled and thanked me.  
I'm sitting in an exit row and my jacket was in the empty seat next to me. 

Right before we take off, the flight attendant changed the 

woman's seat and sat her next to me. When the woman saw my jacket in the seat she became infuriated! 

"Who's jacket is this" she yelled out as if she didn't know it 

was mine. "I need to put my things here?!?!?", she said in a 

frustrated, irritated tone. When I moved my jacket, she sat 

and said nothing else to me. What happened to the sweet 

lady that needed my help? And why was she so pissed off? 
About 20 minutes later the beverages were being served. 

She was trying to pull out her tray but she was trying the tray for the wrong seat. She was about to break it. I said "Ma'am. Your tray is on your left side." She replied "What would I do 

without you?" It was at that moment that I felt like 

Morgan Freeman while driving Miss Daisy. 

I truly believe that there are people in this world that will do 

things that will cause you to hurt and bleed and when they 

see you, they'll act as though nothing happened. You're standing there hurt and injured because of what they 
just said or did, and they act as if nothing just happened. 

That's when I know that my relationship with that person has expired. 

Of course in this case I didn't know this crazy woman to 

begin with. But she was so sweet in the beginning because 

she needed me. Moments later she showed me who she 

really is and got very nasty with me. But she needed me 

again so just like that, she was sweet again. 
I've had "friends" in real life do that same thing. And now that I've disappeared from their lives, they feel as though I've 

abandoned them with no cause. 

Can you really say or do nasty, mean, and sometimes hurtful things to people and expect them to stick around?
Anyway..... I'm going to Phoenix!!!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!

4:30pm

Random thought., why isn't there a house scene in 

New Orleans? Wouldn't that be HOT? Alligator sausage 

gumbo, crawfish, Cajun fried catfish, that's where we 
need to have a house music festival. We could eat all kinds 

of sinful foods and dance them right off. I sho be hungry right now. 

8:17pm. 

I forgot how long this flight is. 
Did you all know that people sitting in a coach 

seat have to pay for food? Yea. 
Pay for food. And with a credit or debit card only..
Sure, they'll give you a free soda. 

But $3 for a little can of Pringles and if 
you want a salad that's $8. And the salad 

is so small that I could put 3 of them 
away before you finish reading this sentence. 

6:45

I'm about to tell y'all something that I know 

I'm going to regret. But in the name of honest 

journaling I'll go ahead and hang myself. 
So I get off the plane and decide to go to 

the bathroom. And every man knows the 
bathroom rule. Even little boys know the 

bathroom rule. "When you go in the 
stall to pee, keep your eyes forward or down."
You never turn your head even if you hear 

a gun shot. Eyes forward no matter 
what. So I'm in the stall. Peeing out all 

of the free soda and juice. I didn't see the man 

in the stall next to me until I heard him. 

As a matter of fact, he 

startled me a little. I thought I was alone. 

So then it happened..
It was almost surreal. I felt my head turning, 

ever so carefully, to see what or who made 

that sound I just heard. And there was this 

short white dude there. 

He had to be 5'6 in his late 60's maybe early 70's.
No big deal right? 
Well I think I forgot all about the bathroom 

rule and my eyes slipped and looked down. 

And I accidentally looked at this mans dingaling. 

I scared myself! I almost screamed out loud. It was almost as if I lost my hearing. I could hear my 
heart racing and everything. And what really scared me was the size of that 
thing. It was like he was showing off. 

It almost looked like it was touching the stall. 

I know right? Touching the stall!! You realize how 

big a guy has to be to touch the stall? 

Suddenly a feeling of total insecurity came over me. 

I was torn. I thought to myself, "I didn't mean to look at it! 

The dude kinda snuck up beside me. 

What do you expect? It scared me. Hey I'm human. 

I get scared at things." 

I was saying all kinds of stuff to make myself feel like it's 

ok that my little rascal is smaller than grandpa's.
STOP LAUGHING!!! 

7:30

Sean picked me up and took me straight 

to the fried chicken spot. Lo-Lo's!! 

Wooooooooo!!!!!
These people did it right. Fried chicken 

seasoned to perfection and check this 
out, KOOL-AID!!! Yes. 

They had KOOL-Aid 

on the menu and Sean ordered red!!! I 
know right? Red!!!!
I couldn't believe it. Truth is, I've come 

to that point in life that all black 
men hate. I now have to lose weight. 

At one time I was at a point where losing 
weight "would be nice" but now I have to. 

And this juicy, succulent, seasoned by 
God himself chicken sho ain't helping. 

It's like grandma's chicken. It's a 
flavor that brings me joy. It'll make cry 

when nothing's sad. It'll make laugh 
when nothing's funny. C'mon and say 

it with me. CHICKEN!!!! Lawd I feel 
delivered from evil! This chicken can not 

be good for me. Maybe they fry it in 
Lard. It's that good. I just wanna tell the 

world that Lo-Lo's chicke....... OK. 
I think you get the point. 
Did I mention that the Kool-Aid was served 

in mason jars? So cold the sweat 
beads was trickling down the side of the 

glass. Lawd I can't take it!

11:19pm

 I must say. I feel a little crazy. My body 

feels as though it's 2:19am. 
My voice is scratchy and low. I'm going 

to have to push to get some of these 
notes out. I tried to sleep since 8:45pm 

but I couldn't. So now I'm in zombie 
mode. Did I mention that I'm congested? 

Lawd help me. My speaking voice is shot. 
How am I going to sing?

April 14th 1:32am

The people of Phoenix are the absolute 

sweetest people ever. My voice was so bad 
the notes weren't even coming out. 

On a scale of 1-10 my performance was a 1. 
Sure I played the piano and I actually 

enjoyed playing. Louie has been telling 
me that I should play keys more during my 

performances. And people seemed to dig 
that. But my voice was really gone. I drank water...

Gone. I cleared my throat..... GONE!!! 

No Voice. I apologized to the people 

and they still cheered me on. So sweet. 

I saw Azure Jones in the audience. 

Her smile alone was supportive. 

She has to be one of the most beautiful 

models I've ever known. 

And she's a sweet person. 

1:45am

My brother Ralph McNeal lives in Phoenix. 

The hotel was across the street. So we 

went back to his room with his brother 

Scott and wife Shermain. We talked, 
laughed and had a few drinks. We went back to 

the club and rode the rest of the night out. 

Natalia(Sean's wife) got on the keys 

and gave us an impromptu performance. 

She sang a few originals that were really 

good and heartfelt. 

Her music was moody like Sade. 

Sean was really happy. I'm going to reproduce a song 
on her. She had a vibe. 

Kind of singer/songwriter/acoustic vibe. 
Sean and his team are really doing there thing over here. 

Sure it's not recognized for being 

the Mecca of House music, but house music needs them. 

Sean needs DJ's, artist, producers, and the like from everywhere to support what he's doing. 
So yes. That's my story. I came to Phoenix and sucked. 

I blame it on lack of sleep and rest. 

Now I owe Phoenix a show. 

Off the subject a little bit. 

I wanna share something with you that I think you 
may like. Ralph presented me with a book that he wanted to 

help re-promote. 
Back in the early 90's, Newark NJ, and a few surrounding 

cities were starting a sound that would become the NJ House Music Sound. 

This sound overtook house scenes all around the world. 

It was a culture developing right in front of us. 
At that time, we didn't have Facebook. MySpace wasn't even out yet. I think Black 
Planet was just getting started. 
Anyway, a man by the name of Gary Jardim took the time out

to document not only what took place, but he gives you a 

peek at the musical events that took place leading up to the 

90's in Newark. 
There are interviews with some of NJ's finest artist. 

And they all have wonderful stories that will educate 

the reader of the important contribution that Newark NJ made to what we know today as house music. 
Gary's book never saw the success of, lets say E. L. James' 

book "50 Shades Of Grey".
But I believe in house music and I support anything that will 

help sustain it. 
I believe this book is important because the history of house music is important. The book is dangerously close to being 

out of print if it isn't already. But Gary is around and if you 

google him or his name plus the book 
title "Blue" you will find him easily. Try this link. 
http://books.google.com/books/about/Blue_Newark_Culture.html?id=iKRLpwAACAAJ
If that doesn't work, hit my inbox on FB and I'll give you his email address. 
See you all in Chicago in a few days.