Diggin' Devaughn

Raheem Devaughn continues to impress. On his CD the most of the songs blend together and the tempo isn't varied enough. His live performances, however, are a must see. The diminutive singer's energy fills the stage. (And Amos' has a big stage). He's the sensual thug lover with his tattooed arms and cornrows. He's stepped up his show since I last saw him at Tonic. He has a four-piece band, two background singers and a painter. Yes a painter. It sounds too gimmicky, but it worked. He painted a piece with the Bobcats and Panthers logos.

Devaughn stretched and wound songs off "Love Experience" into more than an hour-long set. He didn't just stretch his songs into jams, but tossed in soul staples such as Marvin Gaye and Earth, Wind and Fire. He even threw in a go-go set and, of course, he got on the floor and danced with the ladies. After the show he signed autographs and posed for pictures for about an hour.

Thursday's show drew a who's who of the neo-soul scene: DJ Stacy Blackman, promoter Thomas Washington, Brian Springs of Groove Records, WBAV's Letha Taylor and Tempo's Juamane were a few of the folks in there.

Oh, I can’t forget J.C. He put it down as the MC and DJ D.R. gave fans a blazing' mixing of old school hip-hop, dancehall reggae and go-go.