Soundcity red carpet.

My good friend Denrel invited me to attend the recent Soundcity bash held in the Oceanview compound in VI. On the red carpet I was greeted by his Royal Highness himself dressed as fab as always in a plethora of clothes that made him look like Andre 2007 of Outcast( the picture does it no justice but keep an eye out for the programme to get the full effect). I have never seen so many stylish well dressed beautiful young people in one place. It has never been more official. Nigerians have serious style going on. And as we discussed the merits of my dress done by kfa fashions (me thinking I could have done with something a tad more trendy and young lol) Ruggedman drove up the red carpet in his new 4x4 and screeched to a halt in front of us. You see here in Nigeria we dont just walk onto the red carpet we drive onto it.

I have never been more proud of how far we have come in the entertainment business. I almost passed out with joy as I watched the MTV awards and saw Dbanj receive his award. Nigerian musicians are really beginning to be recognised not just here (I have observed our music is being brought to the forefront at the clubs with the likes of beyonce and co rarely getting played) but as stars with International merit. I almost wished I was ten years younger and could unearth my black spandex mini(as you know eighties clothes are back in fashion!) and bust some dance moves(do these young people still say that?) but I didn't want to break anything. I will save my move busting for me and my age mates at La Casa.

Crosstown Traffic

I look forward with some trepidation to XMAS in Lagos. My first xmas in 20yrs. It actually doesn't feel very Xmassy at all. The few decorations scattered round town by the various banks look hot, dusty and tired and the faces of the masses look all of the above plus vaguely desperate. I am also getting stopped at every check point and being asked "madam how far for xmas now?". Some of them I am just driving past when they flag me down cos I just cant be bothered to stop. I dare them to chase me down in my 4x4 for me then to utter that famous old sentence "do you know who I am?" and for them to look disconcerted, confused and a little apprehensive then just wave me off in case I am somebody or know somebody anyway. Try it, it works.

I'm off looking for turkeys and xmas puddings and I am determined to put on a good lunch for family and friends (at last count 30+ people oh) no matter what it takes. This means sitting in hours and hours of traffic along with my fellow country men and women looking for many different items in many different shops. Gosh how I wish for my local one stop shop - Sainsburys. Aisle after aisle after aisle. Sorry where was I?

By the way, when is everybody leaving town anyway? I thought Lagos was supposed to empty out over xmas with people returning back to the village to their second homes,and their second set of cars and househelp. I wish they would hurry up and leave already. I beg this town is over subscribed. At least let us that stay behind exhale during this holiday period, as we drive around Lagos with the wind in our hair,(erm down the lekki express way we would probably need face masks).When are they going to finish that road anyway? I'm not sure how much more road expansion we can take oh.

Maybe small bad belle dey do me. I wish I could retire to my second house in the village, except I don't have one (small technicality!!) unless you count my father's house. Ohh to wake up in Asaba early in the morning and take a walk round the compound inhaling the cool harmattan air whilst picking fresh hibiscus for my mother's vases and watching the river Niger flow languorously by. These were my xmases as a child and I miss them so. I thought about bringing up the topic of spending some of the holiday period in Asaba to oga, but my parents are not going until after xmas and they have already asked me to try to get them a police escort so they can go and come back in peace!. Needless to say sadly I don't think Toks will feel confident letting us go.

Tis the season to be giving and remembering who was born. My kids have been reminding me on a daily basis, which is nice, by singing xmas carols everywhere albeit not very correctly "While shepards wash their sheep by nite all seated on the ground an angel of the lord came down and heaven all fell round". We plan on visiting the local motherless babies home to give gifts to the orphans. We are trying to have a one present xmas this year and stay focused on what xmas means as opposed to getting tons of stuff that is mostly meaningless junk. Besides,in my experience, after opening the third present my younger ones just switch off and start playing with the wrapping paper.I know its going to be a beautiful day thank you Jesus.

Land of The Free? Or at least less expensive?

I am seriously considering going to America in January to do a big shop,things are so expensive out here especially kids stuff.My daughter was one of the dancers in her xmas school play and the dance teacher at the last minute decided that she wants everyone in black shorts and tights,I mean tights!! In this heat? Where are you supposed to get those from? Anyway I did a brief search and then gave up and focused on getting the black shorts which I thought would cost me at the top end N2,000 (yes I am still a JJC).

On reaching the only shop I could find on such short notice in Lekki the lady promptly told me they were available and as she began to rummage through her Aladdin's cave of spandex tops and trousers I perused around the shoe section stocked with frightfully colored shoes imported from China (you know the type you would only wear once before the heels fell off) and had a bit of a laugh trying them on. I eventually spotted a pair of slippers that were ok to do the school run in only to be told they were the equivalent of £60.00! I them mumbled that they were way past my pocket and handed them back fast thinking, I could get two pairs of leather shoes for that price in England or America.

As the sales lady called me back to the front of the shop to look at the shorts I knew I was going to be in for a rude shock, I gulped as she told me the sorry pair of cheap looking shorts were N4,800. "I mean come on" I said "these are not worth that!" She replied, "ahh madam the thing wey we dey go through to get these things". I suppose she had a good excuse and I wish they would lift the ban on importation as things are still coming in, but most of the stuff is a load of expensive rubbish. And oh whats up with the copious amounts of spandex materials in all the boutiques? Isn't it too hot to wear? Or is it just me?

So America here I come. I hear there are direct flights to Atlanta via Delta airlines which I am about to explore. I can't wait to get my trainers on and walk round the super-sized malls, inhaling the smells of freshly cooked pretzels and grabbing designer bargains off the TJ Maxx rails before sliding into Macy's department store to be enveloped in wafts of perfume,fabrics delicious to the touch and shoes! shoes! shoes!I have never done Atlanta though and not sure whether to rent a car or use their transport system any advice would be appreciated.

One day I hope we will get to a stage where this trip will be more local? With all the money in this country how come we still only have two (ok maybe three) half decent malls in the whole of Lagos. I am sure the people of Lekki Phase 1 alone could make a mall financially viable and profitable?

The Experience

What an experience it was ,I was privileged to get front row seats to one of the most inspiring shows I have seen in a while The Experience was held last week at Tafawa Balewa square.
The gospel event featured heavy weights like Tye Tribbet,Don Moen and CeCe winans leading us into the presence of God through praise and worship,followed by powerful prayer sessions focusing on lifting up Nigeria to the next level it was truly amazing,to be in the company of thousands of people with the same focus saying the same prayers,and when TD Jakes himself came out it was the icing on the cake for me as I deeply respect his ministry and all he stands for,and the thing I love best about TD Jakes is that when he preaches you dont see him, you see the power of God manifest,my brother had the privilege of meeting him a few times and has said he has never met someone so humble.All this has served to remind me how lucky I am to be part of such a great nation,a nation of proud prayerful people a people with a hope for the future.


Pastor Wayne Malcom from London England commented on the thousands of people waiting outside the square from 1..pm for a show that was starting at 8.00pm he he had never seen anything like it,people prepared to stand in the hot sun for 8 hrs to get in, to receive a touch from God, he put it so well by saying that we have no poverty here compared to the spiritual poverty in the western world were hardly anyone acknowledges the presence of God in there lives. The experience had an overall record attendance of 250,000 people coming to seek God I have no doubt that eventually Nigeria will pull herself out of physical poverty and corruption that has been a stain for so long.
My praise goes out to pastor paul Adefarasin and his staff at the Rock Foundation for putting on a show of this magnitude that went without hitch, and not even charging a gate fee.May we have many more events like this one.

New Dawn with Funmi - PT 2

You can see the video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lNBRlNyYdc. Happy viewing.