It's been a while since I posted -- hi! I've been wondering about Meshell's name change to Suhaila Bashir and have noticed that many of you refer to her as Bashir now. Do you know what prompted her change? And what does this new name mean?

Curiously yours,
Shana

P.S. I'll be in Richmond this week! Will I see any of you there?

I'm thinking about going...it really depends on my work schedule. Has anyone out there seen the Spirit Music Sextet yet? Is she playing all jazz at these shows or a mixture of old and new stuff? Any reviews?

hey tonib
are you the same tonib i met at the 930 club a few years back? if so email me, I need to send you some dvds i've gotten my hands on... And if you decide to go to the Richmond show just let me know, i owe you one. let me know... my wife and i live right here in town and we're going too.


to answer your question...i think it'll be the new instrumental jazz set here in richmond...i've heard from reliable sources that its great inspired stuff....

So, Derek.....The time is nearing for your Richmond concert. I know you're psyched. You'll be sure to give us a review. P.S. I was in Waynesboro for a family reunion this weekend. It was cold as heck at night there. Who knew the mountains were so cold? I needed a coat!!

oh yeah, you know i'm excited...but i'm trying not to get myself TOO psyched up because some of these Friday's At Sunset shows have been cancelled at the last second mainly due to bad weather...i just looked at the forecast though and other than being a little hot & humid it's looking like the weather shouldn't be the cause of any cancellation this week...

and yeah, i will definitely post a review of the show sometime this weekend as well...

ok, well i'm off to go do a REVERSE version of a Native American Rain Dance in order to keep it dry for Friday (picture a short dude moonwalking in circles in living room...his dog looking at him with head cocked to the side thinking 'what the #@## has gotten into pop? I know he NEEDs to cut that mess out and put some durn kibbles & bits into my tray dangit...")

anywayz, later ya'll

Yes, Derek I'm the same tonib. I'm going to try to make it, but my work schedule seems to be conflicting, and I'll definitely have to check the weather report before I get on 64. Hit me back though. I've got to update you on some things. trb6r@hotmail.com

sorry we;ve gotten so far off the original topic of the thread but to follow up on a post i made earlier about the Richmond show this friday....also although i stated at that it would probably be the Jazz set here in Richmond, the local paper said it she will be in town promoting 'Comfort Woman', and that the opening act will be 'The Spirit Music Sextet'...

now THAT would be GREAT...TWO different shows in ONE night?? you gotta be kiddin me....

but I'm not getting my hopes up...my guess is that the local papers just don't know what they're talking about and they just have their info mixed up...

but that shit would be crazy cool if it were true though....

i think i may have to sell a kidney and fly in to see this concert... if that's true

I've been lurking here a while, and just joined to tell you about the Richmond show.

It was the Spirit Sextet. Enjoyable, really nice music, but not what I drove from Maryland to hear. I'd been watching the site for the details of the show, and bought tickets back in April.

The DJ (?) introduced the group, and announced it would be an instrumental set. A handful of people left right then. Meshell stayed in the background and only addressed the audience once, to introduce the band toward the end of the set.

When the set ended, some people booed. (No, I was not one of them. That's too rude.) When they returned for an encore, the DJ person addressed the booing by saying Meshell was an artist, and this was one of her projects, and since it was a free concert, we should show some love.

It was not, in fact, free, and we did show our love by coming out on a holiday weekend. And it looked like people came from DC, NC and MD, too.

It was a beautiful night in a nice park. I just wish it had been billed at the Spirit Sextet. And I don’t want Meshell and Spirit thinking we didn’t dig her new direction. We just we expecting the Meshell we had been loving so long. So of course I had my own little concert in the car on the ride back home.

welcome to the message board. all of the concert dates from now until the rest of the year are spirit music sextet, and are labeled that on the tour page...

also, in kt's updates on the message board, he has told us multiple times that the dates scheduled are all spirit music sextet dates.

i'm sorry you didn't get what you thought you would be, but i think that at least kt, others on this message board & i have tried to do my best to let people know what to expect...

lastly... in the future you may want to post something like this in the 'concerts' forum under a new topic... since this has nothing to do with her name change(s)...

Thanks Matthew.

You are right. I should have posted my comments elsewhere, rather than piggybacking. My apologies.

In my haste to jump on the tickets, I bought them before the bill was clarified on this site. Outside of this site, nowhere else was there a mention of the Sextet.

It's all good. I still have the Meshell love, I wish her well with her new venture, and I'll keep her music at the ready in every cd player in the house and the cars.

Though it does not fit here, I might as well post my comments ont his thred since it was started here ...
your comments PenAndPages reminded me of one of Me'shell's first shows with the new (post bretheren) band in NYC back in 2003 where the band was brand new with very little rehearsal time prior to going on stage ( I'm sure some of y'all remember ... ) where the crowds reaction was probably similar to what happened that night ...
Just goes to show what type of a true artist she is, in my opinion. The Spirit Music sextet project is indeed very different then "Me'shell Ndegeocello" - That is why it is billed as the "SMS" ...
While I do find in this material a real departure from signature "me'shell" stuff we have grown to know and love, it is still very very Me'shell (in my opinion). I think any music fan will be able to appreciate the level of musicianship that the new material displays.