Houston Hall concert speaks to the heart

It wasn't yet Valentine's Day, but love -- and loud music -- were already in the air. On Friday night, Houston Hall echoed with the thumping beat of both music and the art of spoken word during a free show by the Jazzyfatnastees. The event, which headlined this year's LoveFest, was co-sponsored by the Social Planning and Events Committee, Tangible Change, The Foundation and the Perelman Quad Programming Board. LoveFest, organized by SPEC and Tangible Change, is a week of events created to help students celebrate Valentine's Day. Over 400 students and Philadelphia community members packed into both the balcony and lower level of the Hall of Flags to hear the concert, which also featured Kindred, Muses Wild and several spoken word artists. The concert interspersed musical groups with spoken word artists, providing variety throughout the evening. The event occurred in a casual atmosphere meant to facilitate "grooving" to the music -- instead of sitting, the audience stood in front of the stage, sometimes swaying and dancing to the songs. Since the event was a part of LoveFest, love was naturally a prominent theme. Each group or individual performed songs or pieces pertaining to all types of love -- romantic love, maternal love and self-love, for instance. Tonya Marie Evans, a self-proclaimed "lawyer by day, poet by night," kicked off the concert by performing some of her original poetry. Among other works, Evans performed "Find Your Own Shine," her signature piece. Muses Wild, a rhythm and blues group, also performed several songs. Stephanie Renee, a 1991 Wharton graduate, joined the group on stage. Besides performing, Renee helps run a monthly spoken word venue called Linguistics with The Foundation. "It's amazing to watch the growth of the Philadelphia neo-soul movement," Renee said. "And I'm just glad to be a part of helping the music community here to grow." Finally, the Jazzyfatnastees -- a group that melds hip-hop, R&B;, soul and rock -- came on stage. The Philadelphia-based group performed at the No Place Like Penn concert last September. The group has also performed with The Roots and Stevie Wonder, among other well-known musical artists. The audience applauded wildly for the group, and many members of the audience sang along to their songs. The group even took requests for some of their more popular songs. Bernard Collins, another spoken word artist, provided a "poetic interlude" between the Jazzyfatnastees and Kindred, the last group on stage. Collins performed poems with themes like the pain of childbirth to a hushed, riveted audience. Lastly, Kindred -- a prominent jazz group in Philadelphia -- performed. The group was the largest to perform at the concert, consisting of several instrumentalists, two lead singers and three backup singers. Although Kindred was advertised as the opening act for the Jazzyfatnastees, the audience received the group just as enthusiastically as if it were the featured group. Afterward, Karim Davis, a sophomore at Drexel University, said, "Kindred was definitely the highlight" of the night. Other audience members praised the event as a whole. "I loved it," Rosemont College freshman Adinia Bailey said. "[I] liked Kindred and the Jazzyfatnastees."