When you first see the title, Love and Go-Go, you immediately think of the back-stabbing, gossip, and hair-pulling drama of reality television shows such as Basketball Wives, Love and Hip Hop or the Real Housewives series. And while I once had a conversation with a go-go wife about how such a series would make for interesting viewing, it wasn’t that conversation that inspired the series. That’s not to say that such a show wouldn’t be entertaining, but if that’s what you are hoping to see here, then you will be sorely disappointed, because this series is nothing but a love fest.
What did, in fact, inspire me to do this series, was Suttle Thoughts’ congo player Love. I’ve known Love for close to 10 years and met him when he was playing with the band Raw Image. I used to run into him from time-to-time and he always made sure I had the most up-to-date information for him because I sometimes got calls from people who were looking for a congo player. It seemed like in every conversation we had Love mentioned his wife in some way. He always talked about her. Last month he made a Facebook post on her birthday saying, “I love u & just want you to know dat WE R One like the clothes.”
A lot of Go-Go artists never mention their significant others and there are some that people don’t even know are married, so I thought I might have a hard time convincing people to participate. But, once I started making calls and sending notes I didn’t have a problem getting participants at all. Surprisingly, Love was the hardest one to convince. Not because he didn’t wan to do it, but because he didn’t see that how openly he and his wife express their love for each other was special. To him, how they are is ordinary and he seemed shocked when I told him that he inspired this series. I grew up with parents who were openly loving to each other, but it’s still refreshing to see in a world where songs with lyrics like “I’m into having sex, I’m not into making love” go to the top of the charts.
The couples I’ve interviewed have been together from little over a year to ten years. They are dating, engaged and married. The most mentioned ingredient to having a successful relationship was communication. I haven’t caught up with Love and his wife Tamicka yet, but I hope to before the end of the week. In the meantime, enjoy the interviews, which will start running tomorrow (Monday, February 13) and throughout the week of Valentine’s Day. At the end of each interview, I asked each person to dedicate a song to their mate that describes how they feel about them and their relationship and to not tell the other person, so they will be finding out what their song is once they read it here on Bobbies Beat.
Couples I spoke to include: Mike Dunklin (Backyard Band) and his wife Kashonda; William “Malachai” Johns (Lipstick and Congas) and Shawnta Ford; Calvin “Killa Cal” Henry (Rare Essence) and Natasha “MzLaydee” Kelly (Vybe Band); Frank “Scooby” Marshall (Familiar Faces) and Aleisha Hines; Jasen “O” Holland (Familiar Faces) and Tandra Williams; Mike Arnold (Familiar Faces) and Kenecia “Kee Kee” Taylor (Rare Essence) and John Agurs (Be’la Dona) and Cherie Mitchell Agurs (Be’la Dona and Chuck Brown).
Happy Valentine's Day!
Happy Valentine's Day!
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