Mindstate Mix Unplugged

By: luminoUS - Editor @ Large

To quote David “Native Son” Ross, “I don’t live in Maryland, I reside in the Mindstate.”

Where do you reside? Well, on Saturday, June 6, 2009, I took up brief residency in the make shift living room of the Mindstate Mix Collective. Held on the newly renovated fourth floor of Baltimore’s Eubie Blake Cultural center, the Mindstate Mix Collective, decided to welcome the public to sit in on one of their jam sessions. Akin to MTV Unplugged, the visionaries of this collective thought it would be both innovative and fun to allow others to catch a glimpse of what happens when they decide to meet up and hang out. The doors were open to both artist and non-artist alike.

Being an artsy fartsy type, I’m familiar with what happens when you get a bunch of artist in one room together. Whether poets, painters, singers or musicians, there will always be that one person who wants to share the latest project that they are working on and then it’s the snowball effect from there. Before everyone knows it, hours have passed by and everyone is full of positive energy, smiles and inspiration to get them through until the next time. Welcome to a jam session




Well, the next time for me was on June 6^th and it was the living room jam session times ten. From live DJ’s to a live band, the MMC team went all out. There was no order of performance although there was a signup sheet for any audience member who felt so inclined as to join in with the swirls of positive energy that filled the room. The show was simply organic and fed my soul to the point of overflow. Taking a que from the A-list celebrity’s fellow ETM writer, Natalie Pinkey, and I decided to live tweet the event for all of our followers who couldn’t be in attendance. To my surprise, our live tweet feeds lead to Baltimore crooner and neo-Bgirl Carolyn Malachi coming through and singing about her “Organic Soul.”

It was an all around good night and truly a family affair. We had LOVE the poet playing guitar along side her dad, Pops G. C. Nelson and Wordslave beating the congas in cadence with his dad, Mr. Eldridge. I don’t even think I can begin to accurately eXpress the evening in words and honestly I wouldn’t even know where to begin. There were so many great performances. The MMC performed a few tracks from the mixtape, Em Sea Water free styled a verse eXplaining how he was given the name “water,” and Wordslave covered “Love and Happiness.” But I would be remised to inform you of Black Root’s rendition that had the crowd laughing with tears. ETM East Coast correspondent, Slangston Hughes, invited his twin cousin Slick Vic Low out to the event and he hit up the audience with some soul fire. Roscoe, one half of Until Then, told of a breakup, Quill Wordsmith sang and scatted about chances and opportunity and I grooved out as I spoke of the man of my dreams. Ab-Rock and the 5^th L also poured their creative genius on the floor in forms of libations and together we all offered our gifts to heal in the name of great artistry.

Be sure to check out http://www.mindstatemix.com for upcoming events and we hope to see you in the building for Mindstate Mix Unplugged 2.