Monae, Monae

There's a pretty great triple bill with Erykah Badu, Janelle Monae and Philadelphia's own Bilal at the Tower Theater tonight. My interview with Monae about her mind-blowing new The ArchAndroid from last Friday's Inquirer is here. Badu's new New Amerykah, Part Two; Return Of The Ankh strips down her funk-soul approach, just as she laid herself bare in Dallas' Dealey Plaza for her controversial "Window Seat" video. That clip is here.  I took that picture of Monae at a club called Peckerhead's in Austin at SXSW in 2009. She got on the good foot, James Brown style, on her new single, "Tightrope," on Letterman last month, and the performance was enough of a showstopper to get both Dave and Diddy excited.

Previously: Bieber Fever