Simons (Double S), and thanks for another great party.

Second, let me say that Bermudians have a shockingly small level of appreciation and tolerance for live performance when they wanna get their dance on! For real, it's ridiculous at times... let me elaborate.

See, I went down to Club Azure on Saturday night expecting to have a good time partying with the birthday crew and a few hundred of their closest friends, and to see the advertised special guest: Mr. Timmy Maia.

Now, the place was packed and when I arrived the ample crowd was standing around listening to Mr. Ali Malik sing this R&B piece that had some very questionable lyrics. Most of us know Ali, so you know the voice was great, but they had him singing over some smoothed out bass beat that he was obviously not enjoying (hence the shadiness of the above mentioned lyrics).

It seemed that the party had been interrupted to let the live entertainment take the stage and the crowd was not very happy about this fact. Well, at least that was the vibe I got when I entered the place (probably later than I should have again -- I really gotta move earlier, huh?).

Anyway, I heard a few moans even before Ali was finished, and I know those disgruntled noises couldn't have had anything to do with the brother's performance (have we become that intolerant?). But then the groans were compounded when Timmy Maia was introduced.

The reception was lukewarm at best and the better part of the capacity crowd had decided to write the guy off well before he took the stage (my Ma would have called it a cryin' shame!).

Timmy was quite good... he was at least 200 percent better than the crowd treated him! I heard shouts of "Get off the stage!'' before the kid's first song was done... it was almost embarrassing! See, my first impression was that the congregation was fairly mature, but for some reason they refused to let this guy do his show (not that that is a sign of immaturity or anything, but the guy was really not bad). It was a bad scene for a while there, but Timmy was a warrior, and the show went on.

He opened with the Santana smash "Maria Maria'', which made even me raise an eyebrow, but the kid pulled it off, despite the negative vibes the spectators were shooting at him. He juked and jived and zigged and zagged and shot the original song "Can't go on'' back at the naysayers. His voice was impressive to the serious folk who actually listened to the brother, but the bulk of the crowd still wasn't tryin' to hear it! Timmy cracked on himself by acknowledging that his own songs weren't exactly instantly recognisable yet; (I was amazed that he still had a sense of humor at this point), and then he dropped the Joe classic "Don't Wanna be a Player'' right on our heads. The ladies liked that one there, but the impatience was getting to a fever pitch when he broke into the Montell Jordan hit "This Is How We Do It''.

All the songs were handled with quite a high level of style and flair (the kid was good!), but this crowd was not going to be swayed. Pity, they missed a pretty good show. Speaking of which, that reminds me of the guy who had the audacity to say, with disgust in his voice, that he paid $25 for this...

only in Bermuda can a live performance be seen as a bad thing. It's not like the guy was trying to stay on for two hours. Besides, he was advertised on all the radio spots and posters wasn't he? Anyway, rude crowds notwithstanding, Timmy Maia was quite impressive in this reviewer's opinion. And I was embarrassed for us all when the kid had to practically beg to do his last song, a very raunchy rendition of Joe's "I Wanna Know''.

No more than half an hour after he arrived, he left to sporadic applause and a few more fans than he had before the evening started (although he should have had a good bit more than that even). Hold your head up Timmy; you did a good show sun! So then the party started again and the bounce became king so quickly they should rename it Joseph Kabila. Lil' Bow Wow got mad love, as did Mystical, Nelly, Jay Z and the rest of the Jiggy Jammers who rule the airwaves these days. The dance floor filled again, having been surrounded by a large human semi-circle for the duration of the live entertainment for some strange (uniquely Bermudian) reason, and the party was on! Bubbles, Youngals, Double S and `Lethal Weapon' ran the crowd ragged for the remainder of the evening, and the jump was restored to the Southside hotspot for a few more hours. Ain't life grand? Again, happy birthday fellas, and keep runnin' like Forrest (Gump) Timmy...

next time they'll be beggin' for you to sing something! Vejay Steede REVIEW REV