The flier is an open invitation. "All we ask of you is an open mind, as we will take pleasure in doing the rest and providing this thing we call 'food for your soul.'"
It's a Friday night in February, but the arctic cold doesn't penetrate to the upstairs room of the Starr Hill Music Hall where tightly packed listeners eagerly divide their attention between the poet onstage and scanning the stylishly dressed crowd around them. Latecomers peer over and around milling bodies, enviously eyeing the lucky early birds who managed to grab a table and seat. Laughter flows generously and anticipation is high.
The night is young and Soul Cafe is going strong - courtesy of David Anderson, Kara Davis and Playa-Made Productions.
Fourth-year College students Anderson and Davis have designed the unique ongoing event of Soul Cafe "to bring together emcees, poets and musicians from diverse musical and cultural backgrounds" in a forum that the founders say embraces creativity. Tonight, that forum opens again as Soul Cafe features its eclectic talents at Starr Hill for its third show to date.
"We wanted to bring students, professors and the Charlottesville community together," Anderson said, as well as appeal to students "tired of the usual social scene at U.Va."
The preliminary sketchfor Soul Cafe shows how everything from "the scene" to the "target audience" is considered with ideas for a "dimly lit restaurant with a bar, small stage with lighting" and "light R&B, jazz" background music. An emcee "must be lively, energetic and captivating," and after the show everyone should be encouraged "to hang around and mingle."
The February Soul Cafe, the second ever, seemed successfully to apply most of these objectives with the popular venue of Starr Hill and the headliner group Unspoken Heard, a hip-hop group composed of University alumni.
Reginald Johns, a 1991 University graduate, was also there to perform and promote his book "Choices: Poetry for a Positive Direction."
"I heard about this through the assistant dean at the Office of African-American Affairs," Johns said, as he eagerly promoted his book, letting everyone within earshot know that "you can also get it on the Web."
A law student who goes by the stage name Jayquest was chosen to perform after a good showing at an open-mic night and was a hit. The Caucasian rapper, performing along with his Asian bassist, Victor, bantered with the crowd and had them singing along to his unlikely lyrics: It hasn't been washed in at least a year / But I still love my Chevy Cavalier.
In all, the audience was an amateur's dream - encouraging and often shouting out to friends onstage.
Second-year College students Natasha Logan and Monique Cooke huddled together as they struggled to be heard over the music.
"We came to see the people we know," Cooke said. Logan added that she "liked the girls singing groups."
Seemingly, the efforts of Anderson and Davis have paid off in the establishment of a unique entertainment format that appeals to a great deal of consumers.
Looking at Anderson's resume, Soul Cafe's success is hardly surprising.
As a 16-year-old from San Antonio, Texas, Anderson co-founded Playa-Made Productions with his best friend when they were looking for a place where they could hang out with their friends.
"We had different sets of friends and we wanted to bring them together, so we decided to throw a party at a club," Anderson said.
Knowing a good thing when they saw it, the friends decided to host another party, this time at a nicer club and charging $7 at the door. Two thousand people showed up and the organizers turned a tidy profit.
Soon the planning that the pair had originally done for fun became an official role.
"The club asked us to come back and promote for them," Anderson said.
And from that, Playa-Made Productions was born.
So Anderson, to the envy of college students everywhere, entered the business of putting on parties. In 1997, he brought the up-and-coming singing trio Destiny's Child to San Antonio for a concert in front of thousands. In 1998, he arranged a Hot Boys concert in Houston that again was attended by thousands of fans.
Surprisingly, when questioned about the difficulty of engaging performers, Anderson is very matter-of-fact.
"When you buy a CD, there's a booking agent listed," Anderson said. "Just call them."
Apparently, it's as simple as that.
Most recently, Anderson's event planning in association with Playa-Made Productions has led to the introduction of a new kind of entertainment to University circles.
Two factors prompted Anderson to create Soul Cafe. The first was the Inter-Fraternity Council decision to no longer rent their houses to unassociated University groups.
"That was definitely a spurt," Anderson said. "It might just have stayed in my mind otherwise."
Additionally, Anderson and Davis received both monetary and moral support from the OAAA.
LaTasha Levy, interim dean and director of cultural programming for the OAAA, was the primary liaison between the office and Soul Cafe.
"I felt like there was a need to provide a platform which would bring together African-American students, faculty and the Charlottesville community," Levy said.
When she found out that Anderson and Davis had a similar idea, Levy decided to back it.
"We donated some funding and helped publicize it," she said.
Levy said the aspects of Soul Cafe that originally encouraged her to promote the event also compel her to hope it continues in the future.
"When you create something as wonderful as Soul Cafe, you have to be ready to pass it on," Levy said. "Even if we don't have Soul Cafe five years down the road, we still need something that does the same thing."
Soul Cafe's prospects seem bright, however. With two appearances already this school year - 250 audience members at the first and 500 at the second - the response has been favorable.
The founders of Soul Cafe said they hope to continue the successful tradition with a third showing tonight at 8 at Starr Hill Music Hall themed "Survivor Slam - Featuring the Area's Finest Poets."
To attend, as the flier asserts, "All that is asked of you is an open mind"
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