By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Tuesday, August 11, 2015
More than 100,000 people, many who traveled to downtown Atlanta for the weekend, enjoyed three days with Steve Harvey at his parties, concerts, expo, comedy shows and the big Neighborhood Awards shindig at Philips Arena this past Saturday.
But Harvey wanted to make it clear: "This is the Hoodies!" he pronounced at the top of the show. That was the original name going back 13 years, changed a couple of years ago to make the show more palatable to sponsors such as State Farm and Ford.
"When we try to sell the Hoodies to people who ain't from the hood," Harvey said on stage, "we were running into problems... 'What is a hoodie? Do you wear it? Is it a thing?' So we had to stop and change the name to Neighborhood Awards. In my heart, deez are da damn Hoodies! Not 'these.' 'Deez!' It's important to keep an element of hood in your life because you may have to go back there!"
Harvey, who lives part time in Atlanta, moved the awards in 2014 here after many years in Las Vegas. Attendance is up 60 percent from 60,000 last year and guarantees a return visit in 2017. He certainly made the awards show worthwhile for anyone who showed up. (And the arena was at least 80 percent full.) The event lasted more than four and a half hours, well into early Sunday morning. In many ways, three shows in one.
First of all, it was a full-blown concert with a live band. Collectively, the three main musical acts - the R&B punch of three stars that need to go only by one name in the forms of Babyface, Tyrese and Usher - spent more than one hour and 45 minutes on stage. Combined, the trio have collected more than 50 hits, many of which fans heard Saturday. And in a smart move to keep people in the building to the very end and be there for the final winner, Usher didn't hit the stage until the end, the end being past midnight.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Secondly, it was a Steve Harvey comedy show. Part of that was planned, part of it not so much. There were technical delays that effectively forced Harvey to vamp for a good hour collectively. He brought his morning show out at one point before Tyrese midway through. Before Usher, he reprised his "I'm a shooter" for Christians story he used the day before during a break from his live morning show at Georgia World Congress Center. He mocked the poor stage manager who asked him to "stretch" via cue card. Since he's Harvey, he kept the crowd entertained no matter how long it took.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
And third, it was a two-hour awards show, featuring celebrity presenters galore, from Mayor Kasim Reed to Wendy Raquel Robinson to Sheryl Underwood to Kandi Burruss. The 12 categories ranged from best nail salon to best church choir to best barbecue joint, nominated and voted on by listeners of his syndicated morning show in 60 markets.
Harvey outlined facetious "rules" for the nominees, showing them how to climb the stairs and not trip if they win, who to thank if they make the dais and how to react if they lose. (No cursing, please, because the cameras will be trained on you, win or lose.)
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
During the awards, Atlanta didn't get as much love this year through Majic 107.5/97.5, the local affiliate, as it did a year ago. The city only received four nominees in 12 categories, down from eight a year ago. But James Jones, the head of Stockbridge-based non-profit Simply United Together, did end up winning final category of best community leader and pocketed $30,000 from Ford.
"God stripped me of everything," said an emotional Jones at the dais, clutching his award and looking toward Harvey. "When he strips of you everything, as a man, evil comes in. I started Simply United Together May 20, 2011 in a hotel room. Homeless, two kids. God gave me a message to ask every single person I run into to do his work. Day and night, in that shelter, day and night, I would ask people to join Simply United Together. The common man can do great works also."
The group, based on his web site, covers a lot of ground, with 30 initiatives, from feeding the hungry to autism awareness to civic engagement. He said he has more than 200 chapters and 250,000 members. His group is registered with the IRS but is not listed in Charity Navigator, which vets charities. Guidestar has no financial information, including any Form 990s.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Babyface brought verve and his top-notch vocals up front at 8 p.m. He crooned "Every Time I Close My Eyes," he covered some songs he wrote by the likes of Bobby Brown and Boyz II Men and whipped up the crowd with "Whip Appeal." He even unbuttoned his shirt at one point. He also brought up his brother Kevon Edmonds for a bit.
Tyrese upped the ante after Babyface partway through, pouring on the sexiness. He even had the ladies sing to him Mary J. Blige's "I'm Goin' Down," which heated up the arena several degrees. At the end, the "Fast and Furious" actor handed out roses because he can.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
One of the coolest spontaneous moments was when Harvey convinced gospel singer and actor Tamela Mann to sing along to "Take Me to the King," then just sing it on her own from the audience.
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
I arrived late for the "blue carpet" because I thought it started at 6 when in fact it started at 5. So I missed a bunch of stars and the carpet itself was packed with media. I spent what little time I had outside away from the carpet just catching folks getting out of their vehicles (sponsored by Ford, of course.)
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
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