Where to be Merry: Jammin’ R&B @ Jamie Foxx’ Foxxhole Mondays Live

Live R&B bands are enchanting. Mesmerizing. Watching band members’ wrestle with their instruments – twisted faces, clenched mouths, writhing fingers, prostrated bodies – is like watching them make love to their instruments. The rhythm in which they caress their bass guitars and saxophones is as sensual and seductive as the soul music that they create.

I used to get my fix of live R&B bands from Cozy’s in the San Fernando Valley, until it had the audacity to close on me, leaving me hanging out to dry, dazed and disheveled. Thank God for friends like Serena, who introduced me to Foxxhole Mondays Live.

Every Monday night from 9 p.m. – 1 a.m. at The Conga Room at L.A. Live, comedian host Mark Curry (pictured above) and the house R&B band The Foxxhole Players (pictured to the below, to the right) lead you through a night of soulful music, hilarious cracks and surprise special guest performances. Curry’s teasing jabs at audience members keeps the mood easygoing and lighthearted, but when singers – both amateurs and professional recording artists alike – stroll onto the stage, a quiet hush settles over the packed floor. It’s as if every knows: it’s time to get down to business.

The Foxxhole Players attentively picks up singers' melodies, which include covers of artists like Mary J. Blige and D’Angelo, and also original work. While some performers are honestly only mediocre, most can blow, and about thirty seconds into a song, they’ll have seduced audience members into swaying their shoulders and shaking their heads softly to the tender beat of the drums.

I like the Foxxhole because while it consistently guarantees great live R&B music and attention-grabbing entertainment, each Monday also contains an element of surprise – whether it’s a cameo performance by Keyshia Cole or an unexpected appearance by Jamie Foxx himself (see video below). It’s also a great place to people watch – famous athletes, actors, models and the fashion-forward trendsetters of this city grace both the stage and the audience area.

See you there next Monday!

Below are two performance snippets. The first is of Jamie Foxx with an friend of a friend of mine performing a powerful duet. The next is of Octavia, a Foxxhole frequenter who kills it on the mic every time. (Please note: Video quality is not as high as I'd like it to be, as I had to change a few settings in order to get it to load onto Blogger. However, the sound should give you a feel for what to expect at the Foxxhole).

MISS WILSON’S TIPS (So you know “What’s Up” when you go there):

- Here’s the deal: General Admission is $20 and VIP seating is a $25 food/beverage minimum. Seating is brutally sparse in the General Admission section and you’ll most likely have to stand if you don’t arrive early enough to stake your claim. Linen-covered tables circle the stage in the VIP section and bring you up close and personal to performers. Or, you can arrive super early (around 8pm) to catch The Cory Holcomb 5150 Show segment and then gain entrance to The Foxxhole, free of charge.

- The Foxxhole is taped live for Sirius Radio, so in case you miss it one Monday, you can always catch it on the radio.

- There are more music industry execs at the Foxxhole than there are bad drivers in Los Angeles. So if you’re scouting for your next big recording deal, make sure you look fly, do your thing onstage, network like crazy and of course, have a few demos to pass out.

For more information:
The Conga Room
800 W. Olympic Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90015
213.745.0162
The Conga Room website or Sirius Radio website