I was going to repost my review of John Legend’s show at the Clay Center with India Arie since Legend returns to West Virginia next week as part of the Marshall Artist Series… but it looks like that review in 2009 never got moved to the archives, which means it’s probably lost down the memory hole.
Kind of a bummer. The show was high water mark for the Clay Center. The theater was packed to the rafters and Legend’s performance was amazing –the kind of thing you’d like to see every time you go to the Clay Center.
So I don’t have a review, just some good memories from my seat up in the balcony somewhere.
Anyway, if you are so inclined John Legend is next week in Huntington.
Meanwhile, here’s the interview I did with him in 2009.
R&B superstar John Legend says not to believe everything you read about him.
“There’s just a lot of stuff out there that’s not true.”
However, it is very true the singer will perform Wednesday night in a sold out show at the Clay Center with guests India.Arie and Legend’s brother, Vaughn Anthony. He’s also currently on tour and mostly enjoying the summer, including the occasional side excursion, like a trip to the White House.
“It was very cool to see it,” he said. “I’d never been, but it was just a tour. The president wasn’t there. He was in New York.”
The singer-songwriter was a vocal supporter of President Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign and contributed a song that was available for download from the then-candidate’s Web site.
Legend is a man who seems to always be in motion, which is sometimes why what he’s actually done and what he hasn’t gets a little murky. Legend has six Grammys to his name and three albums. Two of them are certified platinum. His most recent, “Evolver” is certified gold.
He’s also appeared on numerous television commercials, programs and music videos. He’s had small parts in films and even sang “America the Beautiful” at the start of “Wrestlemania XXIV.”
“I like to have fun,” he said.
But he most definitely did not speak on behalf of The Polka Dotz, a high school-aged polka trio from Wauwatosa, Wis. at Milwaukee’s 2008 German Fest. He’s never heard of them.
Legend chuckled, “Somebody has a sense of humor.”
And so does Legend, which might not seem obvious, though he did duet with Stephen Colbert on the comedian’s Comedy Central show and also appeared on his Christmas show. Legend is best known for heartfelt, soulful ballads and also for his commitment to the Show Me campaign, an outreach effort to raise money and awareness to end poverty in Africa.
The program is managed by Millennium Promise Alliance, an organization dedicated to ending extreme poverty. Legend has been to Africa several times: sometimes to perform, other times for humanitarian work.
“We [Show Me] adopted a village in Tanzania,” he said.
He gets updates on how things are progressing a couple of times a year or as often as he asks. He says things are looking up.
“The rate of people contracting malaria has gone way down,” Legend said. “The number of young people who can go to school is way up.”
There is more access to clean drinking water, more health clinics and even the crop yields are up, he says.
“By every measure, things have improved significantly.”
Legend doesn’t take credit for it. Millennium Promise Alliance manages the business end of things, helps get the village what they need. The villagers and aid workers do the work. Legend improves awareness and helps with the funding.
“It’s all about having the right partners,” he said.
The same is true with music collaborators. Legend says he likes to work with people who show up, who know what they’re doing and are ready to work.
As for The Polka Dotz, they claim no responsibility for the Wikipedia entry, but said they would remove it – unless John Legend would like to make it true.