So, I felt bad about not washing my car all weekend until I saw this parked outside of my gym today!

 

 

Anyway, welcome back to another edition of #DoubleFML FatDarrellPalooza! Before we begin, I first want to thank you all for the amazing response to my 9/11 post last week. The comments and feedback were humbling and it was fascinating for me to learn so many of your stories and memories from that horrific day as well.

It was also great to see so many safe check-ins from my friends in Florida after Hurricane Irma blew through last week. My heart still goes out to those affected by this storm and Harvey the week before.

 

Meanwhile, Hurricane Jose can’t decide what it wants to do. It’s been out there just circling the ocean like your lost uncle who refuses to ask directions. This “will he or won’t he” game is like the hurricane version of Jim and Pam on The Office. Just get it over with already! Oh yeah, and for the record, I was actually rooting for Jim to get with Karen (played by Rashida Jones) instead, but I digress. Hopefully Jose doesn’t make landfall and I wish everyone affected by the previous storms a speedy recovery.

 

Here in Atlanta, Irma (which was “just” a tropical storm by the time it arrived) had a much larger impact than I expected! Most schools were closed for several days and a few businesses still haven’t reopened yet! Considering that I haven’t had a full day off since May, I can’t say I would have minded a few more days at home but I returned back to the work on Wednesday. The Wal-mart across the street from our building however, was out of power for the entire week. Hopefully they donated all the perishable food from their grocery section to charity before it spoiled. I’ll have to investigate.

Oh yeah, and shoutout to my electric company! I’ll never complain about their service again because my power never went out even once during Irmageddon! One by one I saw local friends and co-workers checking in that they had lost power, meanwhile I was in my apartment like this…

I suppose it’s a good thing that my power never went out though because I ate nearly all of my hurricane snack stash within the first 2 hours of the storm! Whoops…

The Party Continues

So, speaking of having “the power” do you remember the song “I’ve Got the Power” by the popular 90’s music group Snap! (and THAT is how you write a segue kids…)? Well last Saturday, I had the privilege of watching them perform as a part of the line-up for the ‘I Love the 90’s: The Party Continues Tour’ held at Infinite Energy Center in Duluth, GA (thanks again for the hookup Marcia!). Here’s a quick recap and some photos from the show:

As I made the drive over to the arena with the windows down and the throwback 90’s hip-hop station on full blast, I began to notice more and more carloads of people doing the same.

Since we were all going in the same direction, it eventually turned into a sing-along that resembled the new Hyundai commercial…but with Bell Biv Devoe’s Poison as the soundtrack instead of Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline.

The parking lot was just as fun as everyone was singing their favorite throwbacks and reminiscing.

I almost wore one of my ugly retro 90’s outfits (see my flashback 90’s fashion show post for a few examples) but I decided not to since I wasn’t going backstage for this show. However, I did see several Baby Phat and Phat Farm outfits that night. I couldn’t tell if they were just being ironic or whether those clothes were still a part of their regular lineup but either way I thank them for dusting off those old relics and mentally transporting me back to my days at Hunka Bunka Ballroom and Club Abyss in Sayreville, NJ.

3 of the local throwback radio stations (including the one that I was listening to on the way over!) had photo booths and tents set up outside of the arena. They also had several large merchandise stands featuring vintage tees and hats.

Everyone was in a genuinely great mood and I was surprised to see so many kids at the show as well. I’ll have to make sure to also teach my little nephew Domonick about 90’s hip-hop so that he too can appreciate the classics lol.

Once inside, I was impressed by the set-up. They had an elaborate stage with a DJ playing all of the top hip-hop and R&B tracks from the 90’s while the music video footage played on the giant screen behind him.

That alone would have almost been worth the cost of admission (okay, granted my ticket was free but you know what I meant!) – he did a great job picking which songs to play to hype up the crowd.

 

He seriously had everyone singing along and so pumped that when “Back that thang up” by Juvenile came on, the 2 ladies dancing a few seats over almost knocked me into the next section!

 

After he was done warming up the crowd, the show surprisingly started right on time. If you’ve been to as many hip-hop concerts as I have, you know how rare that is!

The first act was the aforementioned group Snap! …or at least it was Thea Austin, the lead singer from Snap! The fun part about these concerts is seeing how much the artists have changed since they first debuted. When she walked out alone, I was confused because I kept looking for the dude with booming voice who used to do all of the rap breaks.

Since she was mostly known for hooks, I wasn’t sure how she was going to pull this performance off by herself but she did a great job! She started off with “Rhythm is a Dancer” and then wrapped things up with “The Power” – and she even nailed the rap vocals! It was the perfect way to start the show! Here are a few pictures of her performance plus an old album cover from back in the day:

After the DJ played a few more songs to dance and reminisce to, he introduced Color Me Badd to the stage! I had forgotten that they originally debuted on the New Jack City soundtrack with “I Wanna Sex You Up” until he mentioned that – I’ll have to stump a few people with that little factoid during a round of hip-hop trivia later.

I hadn’t seen these guys in ages, so I almost didn’t recognize them when they came out. Of the performers in this concert, they definitely changed their look the most since they debuted. One of the guys was also missing since only 3 of the 4 appeared on stage. I’m not sure if he just missed this particular show or if he’s no longer with the group but the other 3 still picked up the slack! They sounded great!

Since I own their debut album, I knew all of the songs but several audience members seemed a bit confused as they got deeper into their set. They still had great energy and kept the crowd moving. Here are a few pictures of their performance along with an old album cover from back in the day:

After they left the stage, the DJ came back out to hype the crowd again. He did another set that included Rumpshaker by Wreckx-N-Effect. After the “Back that Thang Up” incident though, I was better prepared this time around!

Next up was Montell Jordan who sang the R&B classic “This is How We Do It.” He’s actually a minister now at one of the local churches here in Atlanta now so needless to say, the roof nearly came off when he walked out to the stage. I had forgotten just how huge he was back in the day until he performed number one hit after number one hit…or at least parts of them. Since many of his songs were about womanizing, money and materialistic items back in the day and he’s now a happily married minister, there were certain verses that he had to omit.

He provided a little insight into his faith without turning it into a full-blown sermon before promoting his new book about maintaining a happy marriage. He also did a cover of a song that he wrote for Sisqo of Dru Hill that had new meaning in light of his new-found faith.

Like I said, he managed to share his spiritual journey without becoming overly preachy so that was impressive! Sticking to his morals while managing not to alienate non-believers was a tricky task that he handled masterfully. With that said, I’ll definitely have to swing by his church (Victory in Norcross, GA) one of these days. Anyway, here are a few photos from his performance…as you can see, he hasn’t changed much at all!

Next up was one of my favorite groups of all time! Naughty by Nature!!!! Here are a few photos of their performance:
Nope, lol they weren’t there. I’m not sure what happened since the original graphic for the concert had them included but the final line-up may have been affected by the severe weather in the area. Fortunately, I got to see these guys perform in NYC back in the day but I was really looking forward to seeing them again.

Other versions of this concert also included Biz Markie, Rob Bass, Kid’N Play, C&C Music Factory, Tone Loc, Young MC and Coolio so imagine if the entire line-up did a concert? Wow that would have been insane but I still extremely happy with this line-up already and we still hadn’t gotten to the headliner yet!

Oh yeah, that reminds me. Speaking of seeing all those acts together, they also advertised an upcoming Old School hip-hop cruise featuring appearances and performances by over 30 acts like Vanilla Ice, Blackstreet and the aforementioned Naughty by Nature as you sail across the Caribbean for a few days.

Unfortunately, they were advertising this event the same weekend that 2 separate hurricanes were bearing down on the region so um yeah bad timing…but interesting concept though!

Anyway, after a final set from the DJ, it was time to bring out the headline act (and top selling female group of all time) – TLC! They too hail from Atlanta so the building exploded once again when they hit the stage! They performed for nearly an hour taking everyone on a journey through their multi-platinum albums. They even performed a few new songs as well!

From their energy to their dance moves, the remaining 2 members of the group (iconic rapper Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes tragically passed away in 2002) put on an amazing show! Here are a few photos from their performance. They too look and sound exactly the same as they did back in the day!

As you can see, I was extremely close to all of the action the entire night, however I still would have preferred to have had the seat this lucky guy had!

The show ended around 10:30pm, which is good since it was an older crowd and we need our sleep! The entire Infinite Energy Center crew did an amazing job keeping everything smooth and organized so it was definitely a great time!.

I saw a few more stops on the tour website so if it comes to your city, I highly recommend dusting off your Cross Colors and Apple Bottoms to go check it out!

Speaking of checking things out, if you’re on Facebook and love food, you need to join my new foodie group PheNomNomNomenal!™
It’s a place to share food memes, recipes, restaurant tips, photos – anything goes so long as it’s food related!

Now, I don’t want to turn this blog into an endless Oreo forum but like I said in the Candy Cartel post, I keep getting pulled back in! That’s right, after a few people posted about the new apple pie Oreos in PheNomNomNomenal!™ I had to try them for myself! And boy am I glad that I did – they’re incredible!

 

They honestly taste just like apple pie but the trick is to chase them immediately with some milk since the moisture unleashes the full flavor. As regular readers would know, I’m biased to the original Oreos (not even Double Stuf, I’m talking the OG version) so no matter how many other varieties come out, they’re all likely fighting for second place. But with that said, these apple pie ones may have just claimed that number 2 spot. They’re seriously pretty awesome.

 

When I announced in the group that I was going to find the apple pie version (they’re a limited edition flavor), one of the members, Liz, posted a photo of a Cookie Butter flavor that she said I should find instead. That prompted me to ask what in the world cookie butter was. I’d honestly never heard of it before but since she claimed that it would change my life, I did a little searching and look what I found!

It came in both a creamy and a crunchy variety and I didn’t know which one to buy so I just bought both. As for the taste? Okay, wow Liz, you were right! This stuff is pretty good!

As for what it is? It’s a spread that made from cookies. I’ll have to do a head to head comparison to Nutella since they appeal to similar audiences but yeah, this stuff is pretty awesome…and pretty expensive. It was over $4 for each tiny container. Although I prefer crunchy peanut butter, for cookie butter? I actually preferred the creamy texture, but they both taste exactly the same so you can’t really go wrong either way.

I thought this would be in the peanut butter section but it was actually near the bakery at my grocery store. Wherever it is, find it. It’s delicious.

Do you have a restaurant or food item that we should check out? How about an amazing recipe you’d like to share? Tell us about it in the comments below!

Of course, I should point out that both Oreos and cookie butter should be saved for cheat meals only. The rest of the time, you’ll need to stick to healthy, balanced nutrition. One of the biggest excuses people make for relying on fast foods and frozen dinners is that they just “don’t have time to cook.”

As someone who’s also constantly busy, I get that but my way around the time constraints is to prep a bunch of meals when I do actually have time. For example, while I’m sitting around watching football on a lazy Sunday.
Between my slow cooker, pressure cooker, stove top, grill and oven, I can prepare a bunch of items for the week that I can grab and go when my schedule is more hectic.

Not only will this option most likely save you a few calories versus relying on fast foods, it’ll also save you money in the long run. Give it a shot this week and share how it goes! And if you’re already meal-prepping each week, please share your strategies below as well!

Do you have a fitness question that you’d like answered or an accomplishment you’d like to share? Tell us about it in the comments!

Before we wrap this one up, quick shoutout to Troy Pope for this awesome Suicide Squad Joker shirt!

The “hand-drawn” psycho lettering is the best part ha I love it! I hung it in the closet next to my Harley Quinn “Lil Crazy” tank top…

Today’s Soundtrack

Back That Thang Up – Juvenile

The Power – Snap!

All 4 Love – Color Me Badd

This is How we Do it – Montell Jordan

Uptown Anthem – Naughty by Nature

What About Your Friends – TLC

Do you have another song that fits today’s theme or that’s just so incredible we should check it out anyway?  Tell us about it in the comments below!

Alright folks, that about does it for today.

Again, my thoughts and prayers go out to those in the path of yet another hurricane this week and those who are still recovering from the previous ones.

You already know to drop a comment below before you leave but just in case you need a reminder, drop a comment before you leave! Please? 😊 Also make sure to follow me on social media by clicking on the appropriate tabs below – including the all new foodie group that I told you about earlier!

Let’s make it a great week everybody! Until next time my friends, May the Fork be With you…

-Darrell

“Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down” – Oprah Winfrey