Baby, Have No Fear...I'm Right Here. Won't You Come Around?

2 entries in a row I’m using song lyrics as titles. My reason, I suppose, is because I’ve had musical people to write about. I finally met Darien Brockington this passed Saturday. For those who aren’t familiar, he’s the guy I spoke about here. D is a very talented singer who hails from North Carolina. We’ve been in touch through myspace since late February/early March. The Toronto Urban Music Festival was Labor Day weekend at the Canadian National Exhibition which is really a HUGE fair that happens every year and it’s located about a 10-15 minute walk from home. Once I got confirmation from Darien that he would be there with Little Brother, I gave him my number and he said he would call me so we’d be sure to hook up.

As I woke up on Saturday and looked outside, my heart fell to the ground when I saw that it was raining! The weather channel did say that it would rain due to Hurricane Ernesto…I guess I was hoping they’d be wrong. We decided to go anyway. My sister, Carm and my friend, Amanda decided to wear hoodies and I brought an umbrella. We got to the CNE at around 6 and the rain never stopped! We went in and out of the buildings, doing a little shopping. We even walked through the midway where I won a Care Bear for Amanda. Manda also managed to get me on a ride! As we ate dinner, I looked at my watch and it was about 8:30. “I’m not going to meet him.” I stated. When Amanda asked why and said, “Cuz nothing’s going right. It’s pouring outside and Darien didn’t call. I bet you they’ll cancel the show cuz it’s outdoors or maybe they didn’t even make it here cuz of the weather. That would explain him not calling.” It was after 8:30 and we were making our way to the Bandshell Stage. Little Brother were scheduled to be on at 9. As we got closer, I heard the loud bass of hip hop music and Manda and I rushed towards the stage. There were about 40 people give or take a few. People were rocking their umbrellas, rain ponchos and hoodies and bouncing to the music. Because the benches were wet, people were standing on them to get a better view and we were no different. Frank N Dank just started doing a tribute to the late great J Dilla when they were stopped mid show. A guy came on the stage saying that they would have to stop the rest of the show due to the weather and safety issues. In fact, it was so windy that many umbrellas were turning inside out! Mine even broke! People started to boo and I wondered if Darien even made it. Next thing you know, the guy on stage said, “Don’t boo me, people. Blame Mother Nature…she’s winning this one. We’ve got all the artists here: Slum Village is here, Little Brother is here. We had a hot show for y’all….” Manda and I looked at each other. “He’s here!” I said, excitedly. Manda was determined for me to meet him...much to the dismay of my sister who was miserable all day because of the rain. We stood by the backstage doors in hopes of recognizing someone. It was REALLY windy and rainy at this point plus we were all wet and cold. We weren’t the only fools standing there though…there were a few people including these 2 white guys standing beside Manda. Apparently the dudes were talking about getting the guard’s attention and making plans to do so but before they did, Manda beat them to it. She got him to come over and explained that we were supposed to meet up with Darien, asking if he was back there. The guard sympathetically looked at us saying he was just security and he didn’t know who Darien was. We had been there for at least half an hour and I began to lose faith fast. My sister was losing patience plus I didn’t want us all to get sick cuz of me. I was telling Amanda to forget about it but she was insistent. “No! He’s here! You have to meet him!” she told me. “Manda, let’s go. Forget about it. It’s okay.” I told her. Then in the corner of my eye, I saw this guy walking towards the backstage doors. He was stopped by someone standing there and I recognized him right away. “DARIEN!” I called. He immediately looked up and smiled. He recognized me too. I was thrilled! We stood there hugging in the rain, I introduced my sister and Amanda…then Braveheart Vee took over. (Those who know me know that I am quite shy and not very assertive. Shoot, I could’ve met him back in February but my chicken shit self couldn’t even say hi!) I asked if we could go inside so we could take pictures and he agreed. I have to admit it felt pretty nice to follow him inside while everyone else was left outside. Manda took 2 pictures…Braveheart got real close to him too! She also got him to sign my entry pass for me. I don’t know what I would’ve done if Amanda wasn’t there! As Darien was up against the wall signing the pass, Braveheart went behind him to lean on him and put her chin on his shoulder to look at what he was writing! I’m telling you I don’t know where all that came from! All in all, everything was great. Darien was really sweet and easy to talk to. The personality that I picked up from the numerous emails we exchanged was exactly as I imagined. Not once did I feel like just a fan, I felt like we were friends. Also, he is a very, very handsome man…D, if you read this, your pictures really do you no justice!! Darien was so concerned about us getting home that he insisted that we take a cab and offered to pay for it! We refused to take his money but I promised we’d take a cab home. I’ll post pics of our day and you’ll see the smile on my face…even ‘til now that same smile has not left my face!