A DAY IN "THE LIFE OF RILEY"

Last night, Ant and I got the chance to experience a full concert with his diva Janet Jackson (www.janet-xone.com/) at The Madison Square Garden (www.thegarden.com/). This was a milestone for us as he's accompanied me to see Miss Ross a handful of times. And he and I have been an audience with Janet Jackson inside a couple of parties and TV appearances she's done. But this is the first Janet concert as she has not toured in a bit. Though oddly-paced-and-conceived in some spots, it still proved to be a GREAT SHOW. And I was SO EXCITED to see Miss Jackson perform a pre-"Control" medley of "Young Love"; "Say You Do"; and "Don't Stand Another Chance" - excerpts from the repertoire that first made me fall in love with Miss Jackson (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96AsdVThjXY). And Janet's career challenges-of-late have made her no less popular in the eyes and hearts of her fans - many of whom are our friends. It was Labelle last week, but this week Nathan Hale Williams (www.nathanhalewilliams.com/); "Noah's Arc" creator Patrik-Ian Polk (www.logoonline.com/shows/dyn/noahs_arc_jumping_broom/series.jhtml); and I were in place for Miss Jackson. My friend from MTV Luther Burke was there as well as good buddy Quincy Ballon (www.galleryqb.com). We got to enjoy listening to Janet's "Discipline" when it first came out earlier this year. Also, there was my "Theo" Perry; Mr. Diaz; Kareem; etc. --- all in the arena to see Miss Jackson. She brought BIG SMILES to our faces!!! As I've shared excerpts from my best friend Michael K. Watts' "LIVE! FROM FRONT ROW" e-newsletter (soon to be a full-fledged website that is currently under construction), I send you to the following link to see his review of Janet's show via my MYSPACE: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=122389377.