Waxing Philosophicalish: Obama, Change For Nigeria And Some Comedy Grasshopper Drama

Moyo Ogundipe is a man? Are you kidding me?

I'm surprised for two reasons:

1. Because my friend (who I am going to tell off after this) said he met Moyo and that "she" was really impressive, and
2. Because his paintings are so appealing to the female eye! I know next to nothing about art, but his choice of colour, and the delicacy and overwhelming prettiness of some of his portraits had me totally convinced he was a woman.
   

On to a more poignant topic now... I feel today should be a public holiday. 'Obama Day' has been so inspiring, and has really given me (and the rest of the world I'm sure) such abundant hope. I can't wait till its our turn in Nigeria to celebrate as Americans are celebrating right now. There will come a day when the Nigerian Oprahs and Jesse Jacksons will stand shoulder to shoulder with thousands of other Nigerians, tearing up and cheering on our own beacon of change. And it will be incredible!

Things are changing here, however slowly, and one has only to look at the number of returnees or 'repats' flying home in their droves, to see that they are. I know several people who have come home determined to be agents of change because they believe, for the first time, that they can be effective and make a difference.

The change in Nigeria can be seen in the big things, like the gradual move towards transparency in our government or our dramatically improved freedom of speech, and in the littlest (and comparatively insignificant, I knooow) things like the improvements in the Lagos nightlife and social scene.

A lot of people seem to have forgotten, but I remember a time when night clubs were places patronised only by women of the night and their prospective clients. The only decent club worth going to was Pancho Villa (which by the way I've heard is coming back from the dead. Double yaay!), and the bar with the widest selection of drinks was Tribes. Now, on a Friday night, it may not seem like much, but we have a ton of choices! No. 10, Caliente, Bacchus/6 Degrees, Piccolo Mondo, Saipan, Churrasco, Suites XVIII, Auto Lounge, Volar... Speaking of which, I was at Volar last night to be part of the live audience watching 'The Comedy Club: Live in Lagos', a new comedy show to air soon on M-Net.

Volar
(Night Club)
Adeola Odeku, Victoria Island

Walking into Volar, it was great to see how much effort had gone into transforming the erstwhile dungeon of darkness into a smooth, sexy and cool comedy spot. The decor gave me high hopes for the show, which was to feature a newbie called Ogbolo, Teju Babyface, and the Sharp Band, but I was soon to be found gazing longingly at the exit 5 minutes into Ogbolo's opening performance. His 'unique talent' is making fun of disabled people it seems, telling jokes about blind, and deaf and dumb girls, and worst of all, parodying a disabled but horny man with his hand and feet gestures. It was humorous at moments, but oh so inappropriate. Teju Babyface was significantly better, but in between the two performances the audience was forced to endure long gaps of silence when literally nothing was going on and we were left to twiddle our thumbs. What started on a high (the effect of IK Osakiedua's hilarious MC-ing) ended on a disappointing low. Actually I tell a lie, I didn't make it to the end, so I can't say exactly how it ended. By the time the director was yelling "Cut!!" I was lip-deep in a raspberry mojito at my home away from home, Bambuddha.

I couldn't get out of Volar fast enough really. Did I mention that before the comedy show began, a clumsy waitress sent a ton of glasses containing the foulest, most disgusting, florescent green "Grasshopper" cocktail known to man, flying onto my lap, my watch, my phone, my shoes and into my handbag? Luckily for her I had literally just downed a pretty potent margarita, and so only took in the full force of the damage 10 minutes later when she was safely out of sight, and I was in Jade Palace territory wiping my legs down with a hot towel gratefully received from my faithful Chinese homie in Lagos, Akin.

Thanks Akin!

Tonight was supposed to be my night with the girls at the new-ish grill at K's Place, which I'm sure would've provided ample blog fodder, but I am far too tired from all this night-hopping and am looking forward to a moochie night in. Hoorah!

Two Jewels & A Lion

Terra Kulture
(Theatre)
Tiamiyu Savage, Victoria Island

I bought 'The Lion and the Jewel' a year ago, during one of my many "let's get down with Soyinka" phases.

I never made it past the first act.

At the time I attributed my impatience with the play to Soyinka's writing, judging the plot to be too creepy crawly and the language too long-winded, for a quick brained chica mohita like myself. Last night however, I saw it come to life at Terra Kulture, and I loved every second of it. It was snappy, downright hilarious at points, and brilliantly acted. I found myself wondering halfway through, if the actors, who were so clearly at home on their little wooden stage, would come off as well on screen. Based on my few and gladly forgotten experiences of Nollywood, I have always walked into plays in Lagos expecting a shambolic show. I suppose judging Lagos' theatre scene by the quality (or lack of) of the country's movie industry, is a silly thing to do. But I wonder if those few theatre actors, you know, the ones that can really act, ever get pissed off at the fact that their productions are poorly attended, as last night's was, whilst the likes of Aki and Paw Paw bill millions of naira a month!

The second pleasant surprise of the night, also at Terra, was 'Kaleidoscopes', an exhibition by Moyo Ogundipe, who I had never heard of until yesterday (shows how cool I am). I loved her work simply because it was so different from anything I had ever seen before by any artist anywhere, not just in Nigeria, which is a huge feat for a contemporary African artist.
Her use of colour was inspired, and in every nook and cranny of her paintings (some of them enormous) was a geometric pattern or sequence, each one different from the next. Her paintings must take hours to create! I plan to bid for one of them at the second Art House auction, which comes up on the 19th of this month. Somehow I don't see myself getting very far on my measly corper budget :(