I’ll be performing my first concert in 2 years on Sunday, November 17, 3:30pm at St. Marks Church…

I still remember the first time I walked into this simple 200 year-old church. It was back in 2003, when traumatized by 911, the world was preparing for another war. Sean (my roommate and an artist in his own right), and I wanted to produce a free peace concert.

I set out to visit all the churches in our East Village neighborhood, beginning with the one closest to our apartment – St. Marks Church. At the time, I didn’t know it was the second oldest church in Manhattan. I didn’t know poet Kahlil Gibran was once a member of its Arts Committee, or that Martha Graham had danced during its services, or how it helped launch the career of Patti Smith. I hadn’t heard of its long history of social justice activism, or how early rectors incorporated Native American, Hindu, Buddhist, and Bahá’í ceremonies and guest speakers into services. All I knew is it was close to where I lived.

Since that first day, Jeannine Otis, the musical director, has opened the church doors to me, welcoming me into St. Marks family. Over the years I’ve performed at their Pride Disco Mass, Good Friday Blues, and I even filmed my “Amazing Grace” marriage equality music video there. So it feels good to be performing my first concert in 2 years there.

I started singing in church as a child in Guyana. That church wasn’t as open and affirming as St. Marks, but it instilled in me a reverence for the sacred. All music, like all life, is sacred.

So if you are in NYC and are free on Sunday, November 17 at 3:30pm, join me and my guitar. This is a free show. I’ll be performing music from all my 6 albums and reading excerpts from my latest “Cherish Yourself: Journal of a Caribbean Man Who Loves Men”.

Nhojj Unplugged

Sunday, November 17, 2019

3:30pm

Free

St. Marks Church

131 East 10th street

NYC 10003