Black Celebrity Men

First of all let me say I'm mad as hell that they have Bobby 'Busted' Brown in the middle/front-and-center of that flyer as if he's still the King of R&B. This ain't 1987! Second of all, it is with tremendous shame and embarrassment to tell you all that I had no idea that New Edition members Ralph Tresvant, Bobby Brown and Johnny Gill have banded together to form a supergroup who goes by the name The Summit (the group is also referred to as 'Heads of State'...I'm still trying to figure this name issue out!). Not only will the guys perform together under that moniker, they will also incorporate fashion, fragrance, film, television, music and of course, touring under The Summit brand. The trio kicked off their tour (check Ticketmaster to see if they're coming to a city near you) with a concert performance at the Atlanta Civic Center on September 27th where they also confirmed their plans to record an album together. What is really going on and why? I guess they decided to go this route after failed attempts of reviving their solo careers. Can't knock their hustle. But can you imagine Bobby and Johnny on the same stage trying to out-sing each other? That has got to be a sight to see! A sight I would love to see even though I'm still beyond miffed at Johnny for lying to me two years ago when he was here in Tallahassee...but I'll digress...at least for now. Besides, this blog post is long enough already.

Anywho, as for the remaining members, Ronnie is busy operating his Atlanta-based real estate company. Last I heard, Mike scored a gig as a game announcer for the NBA. As for Ricky? An even better question would be are they still going to go through with releasing a 25th anniversary album and television special THIS YEAR?

Watch the guys talk about The Summit during an interview on My Fox Atlanta news broadcast.

Below is a concert review from The Summit's performance in Washington, D.C. last night (October 31st). The unedited review was posted by N.E. fan NewJackSwingDJ from the New Edition Fan Club messageboards.

I just got home from the Summit concert and I have to say it was one of the best concerts I've been to into 2008, and it was eighth concert of the year. The opening acts were SWV & Dru Hill. To my surprise, SWV was very mediocre, granted Coko still has the pipes, but watching her facial expressions to me it seemed like she was at war with herself. After SWV performed Dru Hill came out and let me that Sisqo needs to lay off the crab cakes as does Jazz but they still sounded good vocally. I do think Nokio was high because he seemed out of place. The next intermission was for about 25 mins and then our boys came out! They were dressed in black suits and looked very dapper. Bobby opened the show with On Our Own followed by Ralph doing Stone Cold Gentlemen and then Johnny doing Fairweather Friend. If I remember correctly Ralph then did Money Can't Buy You Love and then the fellas did all the slow jam favorites while Johnny played the guitar. Ralph and Bobby both sounded good on Home Again and Bobby sounded GREAT doing Girlfriend and Jealous Girl. It was great to see the unity between the three of them not just as strong black men but as brothers. All of three members also showed Obama a lot of love. My only compliant was no Can You Stand The Rain and the show could have been longer. All in all a great show.

SET LIST [Might Not Be The Exact Order but pretty close]
1. On Our Own
2. Stone Cold Gentlemen
3. Fairweather Friend
4. Money Can't Buy You Love
5. Every Little Step

Acapella Guitar Slow Jam Session

6. Home Again
7. Helplessly In Love
8. Jealous Girl
9. Lost In Love
10. Half Crazy
11. With You All The Way
12. Lost In Love

The fellas then did some more uptempo songs
13. Cool It Now
14. Mr. Telephone Man
15. If It Isn't Love
16. Roni
17. Do What I Gotta Do
18. There U Go
19. Get Away

After doing Get Away if I remember correctly Bobby made the mistake of telling the audience the show and I'd say about 5% left, but I knew that couldn't be the end. The fellas then came out dressed in street clothes for their encore

1. My Prerogative
2. Sensitivity
3. Rub You The Right Way

As I said before it was a great show and I could tell that despite all the BS & feuds between Bobby & Ralph that they've matured and have a new respect for each other. Bobby was also cracking jokes all night, when he was singing Roni he said something along the lines of I Can't Go Down Like That Anymore. Feel free to ask any questions.

Ooooooooh, I wish I was there!!! Aww man. Thanks again to NewJackSwingDJ for the review and to the rest of my N.E.F.C. family for welcoming me back to the board with open arms! Thank yall ever so kindly!
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