Lenny Kravitz crashes the VOP Choir in New Orleans for "Fly Away"

June 29, 2010 3:44 PM

Let's say that you're Lenny Kravitz and you're relaxing on a balcony in New Orleans when you hear someone singing one of your songs. What do you do? Well, you could always join in. (SLYT)
posted by ColdChef (95 comments total)

I like how he didn't steal the thunder of the guy who was singing the lead, but took over drums instead.
posted by ocherdraco at 3:50 PM on June 29, 2010 [19 favorites]

Let's say that you're Lenny Kravitz

Them's fightin' words.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 3:50 PM on June 29, 2010 [32 favorites]

Let's say that you're Lenny Kravitz

Let's not.
posted by Tomorrowful at 3:53 PM on June 29, 2010 [2 favorites]

Awwwww. I thought it was really nice that he didn't grab a guitar or sing lead until invited.

Or, on preview, me too, ocherdraco.
posted by EvaDestruction at 3:54 PM on June 29, 2010 [3 favorites]

And how is this not staged?
posted by Fizz at 3:55 PM on June 29, 2010

I would sing an ode to Jimmy Kimmel's breasts.
posted by homunculus at 3:56 PM on June 29, 2010

I'm not a fan of Mr. Kravitz music at all, really, but how awesome for those kids that he just walked up on that and was so cooly enthusiastic about it. Good on him for making those kid's year.

Also, I got stabbed with a saxophone reed by a drunken clown making really impressive balloon animals not a block from where this video was shot. Long story.

*Still?
posted by Pecinpah at 3:59 PM on June 29, 2010 [3 favorites]

(oh, and please disregard the '*Still' thing. It makes no sense)
posted by Pecinpah at 4:01 PM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Yo Dawg, I heard my song, so I thought I'd go and put more of my song in my song.
posted by Catblack at 4:01 PM on June 29, 2010 [10 favorites]

heartwarming. really.
posted by gnutron at 4:02 PM on June 29, 2010

Well, I still want the money back on the one Lenny Kravitz CD I own. I gave him props for being the some of that lady on the Jeffersons, other than that. Meh.

Still, if this is what he did, that's nice.
posted by timsteil at 4:03 PM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

And how is this not staged?

If it were staged, the production values would be significantly higher, and Lenny's friend with the camera wouldn't have to ask the guitar/vox kid what his name was.
posted by dersins at 4:03 PM on June 29, 2010

Well. That was fucking cool.
posted by vito90 at 4:05 PM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Thought the answer to "What do you do?" would be, "sue them." Glad it wasn't.
posted by Some1 at 4:08 PM on June 29, 2010 [6 favorites]

fucking awesome.
posted by Lord_Pall at 4:10 PM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

As much as I would like to believe this was not staged, color me skeptical.
posted by Wordwoman at 4:12 PM on June 29, 2010

Did ponytail kid actually say "I want you to sing, baby?"

He might have said "Lenny." But, as a former New Orleanian, I can totally see "baby."

That's a great little outdoor performance spot, by the way, if I'm thinking of the right one. Right by the river. Seemed like people would pretty much just take it over when they had something to show off. Always liked to peek in when I was walking by, although it generally seemed to be a street dance team.
posted by Astro Zombie at 4:15 PM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Lenny Kravitz is cool. I suppose people think of him as kind of, uh, old and safe or something, check out Mr. Cab Driver (holy crap I'm old, that song is 20 years old!), Let Love Rule. Kravitz was weird, retro, and has serious chops. Oh, I also like his cover of Kiss's Deuce.

Here's the website of the choir: Voice of Praise / First Baptist Church / Lewisville, Texas
posted by artlung at 4:20 PM on June 29, 2010 [5 favorites]

Here's the website of the choir: Voice of Praise / First Baptist Church / Lewisville, Texas

I like how they mention "Oh, and we sang with Lenny Kravitz" waaaaay down at the bottom of their trip page.
posted by ColdChef at 4:23 PM on June 29, 2010 [4 favorites]

he might have serious chops, but am i the only one that thinks he's a mediocre drummer at best?
posted by msconduct at 4:24 PM on June 29, 2010

Diggit!
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 4:27 PM on June 29, 2010

On return: I'm really not a fan of his music. At all. But yeah, that's pretty cool of him, and kudos for letting them get the thrill of "he joined us!" without taking away their actual performance. Except for that drummer, obviously.
posted by Tomorrowful at 4:28 PM on June 29, 2010

No, his drumming's alright. He has a little extra feel compared to the choir's drummer.

I always thought of Lenny Kravitz as being like a screenwriter's version of a rock star, and about as interesting. Except for the name — a screenwriter wouldn't come up with that.
posted by argybarg at 4:30 PM on June 29, 2010 [7 favorites]

Thought the answer to "What do you do?" would be, "sue them." Glad it wasn't.

Now let's say that you're Prince...
posted by GameDesignerBen at 4:30 PM on June 29, 2010 [14 favorites]

That's the one Lenny Kravitz song that I genuinely like. It doesn't seem to be staged, and if not, it's really cool.
posted by zardoz at 4:36 PM on June 29, 2010

This was cool of him, and he handled it nicely and without ego. Good fun for the choir kids too.

Did ponytail kid actually say "I want you to sing, baby?"

That he did.
posted by cmgonzalez at 4:37 PM on June 29, 2010

I would mostly brag about having had sex with Lisa Bonet and be really worried about how hot my daughter is. But what he did was cool too.
posted by I Foody at 4:39 PM on June 29, 2010 [8 favorites]

Now let's say that you're Prince...

... then you hand everyone a copy of Watchtower and exhibit some Pussy Control. Next question.
posted by joe lisboa at 4:43 PM on June 29, 2010 [4 favorites]

You may not know that Lenny's mom is Roxie Roker, a co-star on The Jeffersons. Father was a Sy Kravitz.
posted by artlung at 4:44 PM on June 29, 2010

While it could be said that the cynical reaction is to assume it's staged, that's actually the charitable reaction. Because the alternative is that he really did just happen to hear it from a distance and really did just happen to rush over there, but he also just happened to say, "Dude, seriously, get this on tape" because he's a big bad celebrity and every little spontaneous thing he does is that important.

I don't care about Lenny Kravitz one way or the other, but I'd rather just assume it's staged so that I can keep being ambivalent about him.
posted by mudpuppie at 4:45 PM on June 29, 2010

And how is this not staged?

Those are risers. Stages are flatter.
posted by dobbs at 4:45 PM on June 29, 2010 [18 favorites]

Would have been so much cooler and trippier if the choir was singing the song that Lenny Kravitz wrote about himself for a very young Vanessa Paradis to sing: Gotta Have It.

He is so funky and he's looking good
And he does it like a good man should
And I would love him if I only could
But his heart is like a piece of wood

And then Lenny Kravitz looks up and says "Hey! They're singing about me!"
posted by grounded at 4:48 PM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Nothing kills the mood like the guy who wrote the song turning up out of the blue.
posted by fire&wings at 4:49 PM on June 29, 2010

""Dude, seriously, get this on tape" because he's a big bad celebrity and every little spontaneous thing he does is that important."

Uh, have you been to 2010? Everybody tapes everything on their damn phones here.
posted by artlung at 4:50 PM on June 29, 2010 [20 favorites]

"Tapes" I said. That's the 2nd time I felt old in this thread. I meant "records."
posted by artlung at 4:50 PM on June 29, 2010 [8 favorites]

What are records?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 4:56 PM on June 29, 2010 [15 favorites]

Nothing kills the mood like the guy who wrote the song turning up out of the blue.

No doubt.
posted by Balonious Assault at 4:59 PM on June 29, 2010 [32 favorites]

No Doubt? GRAR!1!!
posted by joe lisboa at 5:07 PM on June 29, 2010

He's rushing.
posted by tapesonthefloor at 5:12 PM on June 29, 2010

He's rushing.

Whatevs, recordsonthefloor.
posted by joe lisboa at 5:12 PM on June 29, 2010 [2 favorites]

I always thought of Lenny Kravitz as being like a screenwriter's version of a rock star, and about as interesting. Except for the name — a screenwriter wouldn't come up with that.

How about Romeo Blue?
posted by Sailormom at 5:12 PM on June 29, 2010

What Prince song would a Praise Choir sing? Bob George, with God as Bob?
posted by Eideteker at 5:15 PM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Look, Lenny Kravitz' music might be a little played out, and he just might be just enough of a self-absorbed celebrity to grate on one's nerves, but you know what? I don't think this was staged (although there is a weird edit in the video) and THIS WAS STILL AWESOME.

And while we're on the subject, 5 was really good album, until every track appeared in a commercial & Lenny decided to set his songwriting on autopilot forever after.
posted by KingEdRa at 5:19 PM on June 29, 2010

What's with all the cynical hate? This made me smile. The choir was having a blast, Lenny seemed like he was having a blast, and the guitar kid had to have been stoked, not to mention he carried the whole thing off with remarkable aplomb.

I always thought of Lenny as a super sweet guy. He used to come into to the bar I worked at on the UWS because he grew up with my fellow bartender, Raf (this was in the early 90's). He was always nice to me, and more importantly, very nice and tolerant of the drunken post-college frat boy types that used to populate the place.

To me that counts for a lot.
posted by newpotato at 5:23 PM on June 29, 2010 [14 favorites]

What are records?

They're what we listened to music on, back when music was good.
posted by FishBike at 5:24 PM on June 29, 2010 [11 favorites]

Dude, I never understood the hatred for Lenny Kravitz. Just because he makes accessible pop music doesn't mean he automatically sucks.

This video shows that he is a genuine, stand up guy to take the time to touch those kids' lives.
posted by reenum at 5:41 PM on June 29, 2010 [4 favorites]

Ugh, it's too bad that everything enjoyable on the Internet has to be debated is to whether it's staged or not. Did you enjoy it? If yes, stop there. Whether it was staged or not should not impact your initial enjoyment. Either you liked it or you didn't - there's no need to analyze it. If you didn't like it, move on, there are a billion other YouTube videos out there.
posted by desjardins at 6:06 PM on June 29, 2010 [4 favorites]

What are records?

They're what we listened to music on, back when music was good.
They're what pretentious old fogies harp about when music was made in the stone ages.
posted by Fizz at 6:09 PM on June 29, 2010 [4 favorites]

I'm a cynical bastard. I don't have much faith in humanity, and "cute" moments generally make me cringe.

But I liked this video. Made me smile! Made my heart go from "2 sizes too small" to "2 sizes too big."
posted by newfers at 6:17 PM on June 29, 2010 [2 favorites]

And while we're on the subject, 5 was really good album, until every track appeared in a commercial & Lenny decided to set his songwriting on autopilot forever after.

I don't know, I still like 5, despite all that. It may not be my all time favorite album, but every so often I realize I haven't listened to it for a while, and I think, yeah, I should play that now. So I play it, and I still like it.

And I liked this video. It seems to have made a lot of people happy. What's not to like about that?
posted by FishBike at 6:18 PM on June 29, 2010

No Doubt? GRAR!1!!

I have tried and failed to find an impromptu Gwen Stefani performance to assuage the grar. My apologies.
posted by Balonious Assault at 6:26 PM on June 29, 2010 [2 favorites]

Thinking about it, it's possible that the choir did so hoping Kravitz would join in. I mean, everybody knows he has a place in the Quarter, and sound carries well there -- I used to sit in my place on Burgundy and St. Philip and enjoy the sound of the steamboat calliope, which was 12 or so blocks away.

If so, my hat is off to them. That's just good scheming.
posted by Astro Zombie at 6:46 PM on June 29, 2010 [3 favorites]

The expressions on the faces of those kids in the front row is priceless; they all look like they're about to collapse from hyperventilation.

So ... the only question remaining is ...






...who does ASCAP send the injunction to?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 6:50 PM on June 29, 2010 [4 favorites]

Yeah, so that was rad. And the kid on the guitar was pretty good.
posted by wierdo at 6:53 PM on June 29, 2010

who does ASCAP send the injunction to?

Youtube, probably.
posted by odinsdream at 6:56 PM on June 29, 2010

neato
posted by found missing at 7:17 PM on June 29, 2010

Staged or not, aren't they kind of a shitty choir? I mean, as far as choirs go.
Bunch of swaying white people only singing the "Ya, Ya, Ya" part?
All on the same note? No harmonies even? Wanky ponytail guitar guy? No?
I felt sorry for the drummer.
posted by chococat at 7:19 PM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I didn't think the First Baptist Choir would be a bunch of white people.
posted by desjardins at 7:32 PM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

The drummer looked pretty nervous and uptight when Lenny was watching and was much more relaxed and happy when Lenny stepped in.
posted by kirkaracha at 7:37 PM on June 29, 2010 [2 favorites]

I'm putting my $0.02 in that this was not staged. As Astro Zombie said, it's pretty common knowledge that Lenny loves NOLA and has a place down here, and this kind of weird impromptu music shit happens all the time. This post made me smile a LOT, and I loved (as did other commenters) that he didn't grab the mic and the guitar immediately.

Thanks for this post. It made my night.
posted by komara at 7:42 PM on June 29, 2010

They're what pretentious old fogies harp about when music was made in the stone ages.

Can't roll a joint on an MP3.
posted by timsteil at 8:10 PM on June 29, 2010 [19 favorites]

I love how the kid on the guitar totally milked it.
posted by trbrts at 8:18 PM on June 29, 2010

I'm so gonna do that when I get famous.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:18 PM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

What are records?

They're what we listened to music on, back when music was good.

No, son, those were called instruments.
posted by erniepan at 8:19 PM on June 29, 2010 [7 favorites]

A propos to Lenny Kravitz sightings in New Orleans. . .

Last month I traveled to NOLA for the first time with my girlfriend. Our first night in town, we went to see the Rebirth Brass Band at the Maple Leaf Bar, and who should we spot outside but Mr. Lenny Kravitz and his daughter Zoe, who were quickly whisked away to a back entrance, entourage in tow. Later we spotted them again, sitting at a table near the stage. At midnight, we all learned it was Mr. Kravitz's birthday.

(I'd noticed someone videoing the whole affair, and had been wondering since if it'd turn up on youtube. Sure nuff. . .)
posted by flotson at 8:21 PM on June 29, 2010

yeah, too bad lenny kravitz sucks, but i guess it was nice of him not to be a complete tool and try to steal the show, which is what i expected of him
posted by hiddenknives at 9:24 PM on June 29, 2010

You know what? I went to a Lefty concert once, and I danced my heart out. And afterwards, the dudes thanked ME for my energy. So I bought the damn CD. And a t-shirt(*).

And this was fucking LEFTY. But they were nice guys, and that's all that matters sometimes.

* though admittedly, I bought the shirt so that as a lefty, I'd have something that said "LEFTY" on it in big letters so people would understand why the fuck I was taking up two seats in lecture halls without left-handed writing surfaces
posted by Eideteker at 9:33 PM on June 29, 2010 [2 favorites]

am i the only one that thinks he's a mediocre drummer at best?

Being an old person who has many more 'records' than those new-fangled CDs, I didn't even realize Kravitz played the drums at all. He didn't seem that bad to me, especially considering the circumstances. (It wasn't his kit, his band, etc.) And yeah, I thought he took his time and inserted himself into their gig very considerately.

this kind of weird impromptu music shit happens all the time.

That has been my experience in New Orleans as well. I especially remember one afternoon in the spring almost 30 years ago — I was walking around the neighborhood and came upon what seemed to be a pick-up band playing incredible music in the street. (Not on the sidewalk; in the middle of the street.) I just stayed there, listening in awe; only later did I learn that this seemingly random group included George Porter on bass, and James Black on drums.
posted by LeLiLo at 9:42 PM on June 29, 2010 [2 favorites]

This was awesome. I really would have liked a shot of the reactions when he first just strolled up out of nowhere, though.
posted by mrbill at 9:43 PM on June 29, 2010

I used to be Charlie Burchill (the guitarist) in a Simple Minds tribute band roaming the London pub circuit. This must have been back in the early 90s... We played a lot of the stuff that the Minds no longer played live, and, of course, the hits that everyone wanted to hear - it was great fun, if a little obsessive.

One evening, at The Standard on Walthamstow's lovely Blackhorse Road, we were backstage getting our shit together before going on when one of our FOH crew came breathlessly back stage... "Charlie's here! Charlie's out front!" "Charlie?" "Yeah, Charlie fucking Burchill! You!!"

I near as anything shit myself right there on the spot, but instead followed our guy out and he pointed across the smoky room to a short guy. He'd done nothing to disguise himself, but people weren't bothering him - either they didn't (expect to) see Charlie Burchill in the Walhamstow Standard, or they were being respectfully chilled about it - but it definitely was he.

So we get up to do the set and for 78 minutes I'm 100% aware that the guy who wrote every single note I'm was trying to play was out behind those lights somewhere; the guy whose little playing idiosyncrasies I was emulating, pitch-perfect and professionally was watching me pretend to be him. My brain turned to mush, the weight of all this ridiculousness squashing it dead. My fingers kept moving though, and thank god for muscle memory - every little Charlie twist and flatten of the hands came forth and I played like I was him, like he'd given me his brain by standing thirty feet away to replace my own that was currently trying to escape through my ears. I was sublime...

We finished. We encored. We finished again and went backstage. "Did anyone see him? Did he stay? Is he still out there?" A knock at the door - our FOH guy again: "I just spoke to Charlie - he wants to come backstage..." "Shit!" My brain woke up and I probably did shit myself - I was going to meet Charlie Burchill with shit in my pants, sweating my nuts off after parodying him in front of himself for the last hour and a half. "Bring him back then!"

Charlie Burchill is a great guy, a stocky, short Scot from Glasgow with an infectious smile and a rock-stars aura. We chatted for only a few minutes, and I can only really remember one line of what he said to me. And to this day, I don't know whether it was a compliment, or an insult:

"You know, until I watched you, I didn't realise just how much work that all was..."

(Postscript: 10 years later I'm running a karaoke show in Central London and a group of guys come in. One looks vaguely familiar. He comes over to ask to sing a song. "What name do I put on the ticket?" "Fucking hell man," he says, "I'm Charlie Burchill from Simple Minds. And so are you...")
posted by benzo8 at 9:52 PM on June 29, 2010 [202 favorites]

Why are all of you harshing my mellow? Why the hate on Lenny? This is real nice and very respectful and professional of Mr. Kravitz.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 10:07 PM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

Surprisingly, that was orders of magnitude more enjoyable and tolerable than the radio version of that song.
posted by Burhanistan at 10:47 PM on June 29, 2010 [1 favorite]

I had an unidentified earworm bugging the shit out of me last week, and it finally turned out to be Are You Gonna Go My Way, which is the last Kravitz song I remember liking back in the day (especially the video with the incredibly cool drummer.) Now this!

I won't be delving into the rest of his back catalogue because of the vid, but it was genuine and enjoyable. Kudos.
posted by Chichibio at 12:17 AM on June 30, 2010

This was awesome. I'm not a fan of Mr. Kravitz (although I don't dislike him), but anyway I'm pretty sure the quality of a choir's singing isn't dependent on the skin color of their members.
posted by cucumber at 1:44 AM on June 30, 2010

Kid on guitar was really, really good.
posted by toastchee at 4:12 AM on June 30, 2010

What Prince song would a Praise Choir sing?

When Doves Cry, of course. Hm. Copyright owners seem to have come down hard on better clips. I don't imagine this one will stay up indefinitely.
posted by clauclauclaudia at 7:44 AM on June 30, 2010

A friend of mine was once having a bit of the hangover-induced post-morning puke fest in a public bathroom at a ferry terminal in the UK somewhere. A dude walked in, used the urinal, and then helped my friend clean himself up. It was Lenny. Hate all you want, the guy seems like a much nicer celebrity than a lot of 'em.
posted by mbatch at 9:00 AM on June 30, 2010 [4 favorites]

Uh, have you been to 2010?

Yes, and I didn't like it much, so I went back.
posted by krinklyfig at 9:04 AM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

this is the kind of impromptu street jamming i miss so much from Puerto Rico. back in the day you could be listening in on some guys playing congas in the Calle San Sebastián plaza and next thing you know you'd see a Patato Valdés or a Rubén Blades drop in if they were in town.

good times.

i live in the East Village and if you go to Tompkins Sq part on a Sunday, you'll maybe see guys doing a batá or jamming to some jazz, but it's not as often as it used to be. times are changing.

inre: i had no idea Lenny was a half decent drummer. that makes me respect him even more. and yeah, the way he handled the whole thing was with respect.

PRINCE, or the artist currently known as pretentious douche, should learn a thing or two about how to handle fans from him.

oh, and i totally love how the guitarist called him baby. New Orleans reminds me a lot of Old San Juan :)


posted by liza at 9:09 AM on June 30, 2010

(Postscript: 10 years later I'm running a karaoke show in Central London and a group of guys come in. One looks vaguely familiar. He comes over to ask to sing a song. "What name do I put on the ticket?" "Fucking hell man," he says, "I'm Charlie Burchill from Simple Minds. And so are you...")

*sigh*
posted by Sys Rq at 11:07 AM on June 30, 2010 [3 favorites]

A dude walked in, used the urinal, and then helped my friend clean himself up. It was Lenny. Hate all you want, the guy seems like a much nicer celebrity than a lot of 'em.

Nicer than most everyday people, I'm thinking.

Liked him back in the day. Kind of fell off my radar years ago, but good on him.
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 11:24 AM on June 30, 2010

What a thrill for those kids!
posted by ericb at 12:04 PM on June 30, 2010

I don't think this was 'staged.' The kids were indeed surprised by his appearance.

“‘It was the last performance of the trip, but we had been performing all over the place,’ said 17-year-old Mike Smeaton. ‘And, you know, just as a warm-up to get people attracted to it, we would jam a little bit beforehand.’

Smeaton said almost everyone immediately recognized the big star.

‘For those in the choir that didn't know, it spread pretty quick,’ he said.

‘I was just sitting up on the terrace having a drink, and I hear some strange music,’ Kravitz says in a video as he approaches the choir.

After watching and dancing to the music for a few minutes, Kravitz joins in, first playing drums -- and jamming with Smeaton, the choir's guitar player -- and then singing.

‘He was just grooving for a while -- and that was the weirdest part, because I’m sitting there singing his own song to him, but then he started grooving on the drums, and it was fantastic,’ Smeaton said.

He said the choir was starstruck after the rocker left.

‘He did shake hands with the band, and we got a brief word in on stage, but nothing more than that,’ Smeaton said.”

posted by ericb at 12:26 PM on June 30, 2010

I still rock out when "Let Love Rule" comes up on the random mix. Great tune.
posted by Manjusri at 2:22 PM on June 30, 2010

You've got to admire the band, especially Pony-Tail Dude for keeping his cool and rocking a pretty good solo, after Lenny appears. It's one thing to play a cover in front of a crowd. It's another to continue to perform a pretty good cover after the dude who wrote and performed the worldwide hit song walks up and asks to sit in.
posted by ob1quixote at 2:27 PM on June 30, 2010

I can only imagine that there are few things more surreal than being an impersonator meeting the person they spend their time impersonating.

But the person being impersonated meeting their impersonator has to be one of them.
posted by jacquilynne at 3:12 PM on June 30, 2010

That right there was a little piece of awesome.

I'm not buying that it was staged, because this is a decidedly middle-weight choir. If you're Lenny Kravitz and you're going to set this up, you're going to set it up with a choir with serious pipes.

So I'm going with spontaneously overheard, cleverly joined in to make great TV or YouTube or whatever since he had a camera crew with him, and handled with a whole lot of class.

Also, all of you haters can hate as much as you like - that is a fine, fine looking man. He may not have weathered the years in perfect nick, but it works for me.
posted by DarlingBri at 3:19 PM on June 30, 2010 [1 favorite]

since he had a camera crew with him

Um, from the looks of the quality that wasn't the work of a camera crew, but of a friend with a handheld videocamera or cameraphone.
posted by ericb at 3:52 PM on June 30, 2010

I watched this last night and enjoyed it but it went on too long.
posted by turgid dahlia at 8:29 PM on June 30, 2010

You know what I like about musicians (as opposed to rock stars)? They enjoy listening to music, even if it's their own, and they enjoy playing with other musicians, no matter who they are or what the circumstances are.

In this way, I think we can say Mr. Kravitz is a musician, even if you don't like his music enough/he doesn't have enough hit records to be considered a rock star. So good on him, baby.
posted by davejay at 9:08 PM on June 30, 2010 [3 favorites]

I'm starting to regret calling him 'Leather Krevice' all these years now...
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 6:31 AM on July 1, 2010

What are records?

Hush, before us cranky old farts start flinging these at you from across the room.

This whole video is hot, sweaty sex-on-a-stick, and that's just that.

posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 9:27 PM on July 2, 2010

this kind of weird impromptu music shit happens [in New Orleans] all the time.

True. Although I didn't have the good luck to have seen anyone I'd ever heard of; rather, I saw this weird group of guys from France -- ten guys, all standing in a row somewhere in Jackson Square, playing on bongos and brass instruments and singing and doing a kick line when they weren't playing, with a hastily-made sign telling the world that they were the "Balley Flamboyant". They did this weird set that sounded like a combination of French jazz and Klezmer, but didn't pass a hat -- they just played because they'd seen so many other people doing it. Then some woman came out of one of the shops -- one of the shopkeepers, I think -- and yelled at them to keep it quiet, and someone else told them to try down by the water and they took off in a little parade, the sax player holding his sax up high so the rest could follow him.

One of the weirdest damn things I've ever seen.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:16 PM on July 4, 2010

late to this, but wasn't he miming his singing part at the end?
posted by johnny novak at 1:57 AM on July 12, 2010

I haven't re-watched the video but I seem to remember the audio and video being out of sync quite a bit - is that what you're referring to?
posted by komara at 8:15 AM on July 13, 2010