Stevie Plays The Piano…

Friday January 11, 2008 – 3:32p.m…

I don’t get starstruck unless it’s Hulk Hogan or something, but Stevie Wonder just walked onstage. Sorry, but I’m not leaving until I get a pic with him.

5 Minutes Later…

I just had a brief ditzy moment. I turned around, saw the lyrics to “As” on a teleprompter and thought to myself, “ehhh, it’s not like Stevie needs it.” Duhh! It’s for the back-up singers. You gotta love my job though. At this point, I’m basically getting to see Stevie Wonder perform for free. I’m about to shout requests. “Do ‘Superwoman’ Stevie!” My co-worker, TP, got me covered. “Do ‘All I Do!’”

Ten Minutes Later…

I did get my Stevie pic, but I wasn’t cleared to post it on the blog. You may have to catch it on facebook. That’s it for now. Can’t giveaway much more.  But I do know BET has some nice surprises planned. I advise you to tune in on February 22 to catch the 1st Annual BET Honors.

–C.C.

Wyclef Jean with BET.com’s Carl Chery and Tonya Pendleton

Friday January 11, 2008 – 2:12 p.m…

“She’s a bad mama jama!” I don’t how Clef is gonna pull that one off. As we speak, Clef and the band are fine-tuning the transition between “The Sweetest Girl” and his own rendition of Carl Carlton’s “Bad Mama Jama.” It sounds rough for now, but I got $5 on it being flawless come show time.

2:44 p.m….

“Oooowwwwww!” You gotta love Stephen Hill. I mean, he’s so into it. Here he is bopping his head, pumping his fist, playing air guitar and singing along with Clef. Everybody else around is timidly tapping their feet. But not Mr. Hill, he’s getting down.

But back to Clef. While others were pretty nonchalant onstage earlier, Clef rehearses like his life depends on it. He even shouted out the person he’s honoring like they’re taping the actual show. He took the most time to prepare out of all performers. Once he got offstage, I had to ask. “Where did you get your rehearsal ethics?”

“Brooklyn,” he quickly responded.  “It’s like for me, they say there’s no business like show business. So watching the other cats before me…you know when my drummer stopped I yelled at him. I told him, ‘you can’t stop, it’s show business.’ What happens is, when the cameras are going, every show will be different, but you gotta always be able to feel it.”

–C.C.

Friday January 11, 2008 – 1:15 p.m…

Finally A Real Photo…McKnight Rehearsing Onstage 

I’m over there looking for somebody’s jacket when I hear a familiar voice. “Some way, somehow/ whatever it takes, I’ll never lay down/I’ll make sure they remember the naaaaaaamme.” I thought I saw some random basketball player walking around the theater earlier, but I just realized it was Brian McKnight himself. He’s type tall.

Ten Minutes Later…

“What’s the words again? I promised myself I wouldn’t let me down,” Brian quickly said during the intro to “Win.” See, that’s what rehearsals are all about, not looking crazy on TV. Imagine him blanking during the actual taping? Not a good look! He’s sounding good though. It’s effortless. So much so that dude is text messaging somebody in between hitting notes. He kicked his songs a few more times and then stopped by to have a brief convo with BET’s EVP of Programming, Music & Talent, Stephen Hill. Here’s how the brief exchange loosely went down.

Stephen Hill: How you like the set up?

Brian’s friend/manager/handler?: It was good, but we were looking for more pyrotechnics, strippers and all that.

Stephen right hand man: Oh, we’re saving that for Stevie Wonder.

[Laughs!]

They were joking of course. Did I mention they were joking?

McKnight After Rehearsal

–C.C.